Daily Prophets
Day 154
“To the shepherds: thus said the Lord, God: you shepherds who have been tending yourselves, is it not the flock that the shepherds ought to tend? You partake of the fat, clothe yourselves with the wool…but you do not tend the flock. You have not sustained the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, have not brought back the strayed, or looked for the lost…I will rescue them form all the places to which they were scattered…I will tend them justly”(Ezekiel 34:2-4,12,16)
God is so deeply disappointed in the leaders of Israel and of Judah. They were given the charge to care for the people, protect them, feed them, heal them, etc. The priests were charged with the spiritual care of each individual, this is what the priesthood is all about. It is not about the empty rituals that the priests were performing at the time (as many clergy do now), it was using the rituals to bring the people more in touch with their own soul and more connected to God.
Yet, what did the leaders do then? They continued to get fat off of the people, they continued to use and abuse anyone and everyone for their own personal gain. They came across like they are these wonderful caring people, all the while only doing what was good for their own sake, only good for their bottom line and the bottom line of their investors(other wealthy people). God is calling them out in a most public and powerful manner. God is not giving them any leeway to talk about their good works, progressive thinking, conservative values, etc. God is telling them that whatever ‘good’ they did was a byproduct of their greed, their callousness and their attempt to look good and holy. They were engaged in mendacity and deception to the max and God is telling these charlatans that their subterfuge isn’t working. How refreshing to hear God call out these lying leaders, these disgusting antics of trying to hide behind God’s words and ways when really you are only trying to look good yourself.
What they did wrong, of course, is the same thing that is happening today: letting the sick suffer, watching the weak slowly disappear, laughing at the injured, shooing the homeless from their street corners, laughing at those wandering and stopping the places set up to help people from doing their work with mindless paperwork that is more important than healing the sick, sustaining the weak, bandaging the injured, rescuing the strayed and finding the lost.
No, according to the current day shepherds, it is more important to spend precious time on ridiculous paperwork than to do God’s work, God’s charge and God’s call. Listening to all the politically correct shepherds makes God want to puke, much less those of us dedicated to fulfilling God’s call to us to be shepherds. And, they are good liars and deceivers because most people believe them and keep bowing down to them and following their directions without challenging them. Today, as then, the suits are in charge and the people suffer because the suits only care about their next million/billion.
Rabbi Heschel teaches: “The prophets consistently singled out the leaders, the kings, the princes, the false prophets and the priests as the ones responsible for the sins of the community.”(The Prophets pg. 203). Of course they did because they were not interested in being ‘soft, quiet, meditative’ nor were they concerned with political correctness. The prophets were so identified with God that they could not stay silent. We see this today with some leaders, some people, the ones who constantly call out the bullshit and the lies of the people in power at every level of government, organizations and families. When I had power, I was responsible for the entire community and, when I screwed it up, I admitted it, learned from it and ‘failed forward’- today I am saddened to see leaders of communities seek to grow themselves, their egos and leave these communities in the lurch for a better job or, “on the advice of counsel” turn out the very people who made the organization, company, house of worship relevant and meaningful-all in the name of progress. Taking the dignity and spirit of an individual, org, company, country is what the prophets held against the leaders, I believe after reading Rabbi Heschel’s teaching.
In recovery, we have taken our proper place as the shepherds of people who reach out to us, we sponsor people, we guide people and we care for the poor, the stranger, the weak, the lost and seek out those who have strayed from the path of God and the path of recovery. It is our honor to do this because someone did this for us and we are grateful to pay it forward. We hear God’s call to tend God’s flock and are imbued with God’s love, strength and power when we engage in this work.
Like the last verses speak of, I have been privileged to follow God’s guidance to seek out the ones who strayed and those who are lost because I was rescued, healed and brought back to path by Rabbis, family and people who cared for me. I know the pain of being a leader who falters, I have been that person. I also know the pain of feeling: lied about, dealt with falsely, exiled, pushed out, and being told that I have “founder’s syndrome” and “politically incorrect” because I say what I mean, sometimes harshly, and I want to see the power of spirit that can heal people preserved and promoted. Like Sinatra says: “I took the blows and did it my way”, which is the way God has shown me. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark