Hireling

There is an occasion during Jesus’ ministry where Jesus heals a blind man, which causes an uproar among the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were the ones who taught the common folk the Scriptures, but despite being teachers of God’s word, they were hypocrites.  Outwardly they seemed to “follow all the rules,” but inwardly their heart was full of junk:  pride, lust, selfishness, ambition, greed, ego, gossip, sanctimony.  They loved the recognition and approval of other people, they sought greatness, they wanted followers, they wanted to be seen as important and well-learned.  They wanted large ministries and notoriety, and they did it all in God’s name, deceiving themselves that they were doing God’s work.

On this particular occasion when Jesus healed the blind man, the Pharisees condemned Jesus for doing it on the Sabbath, and therefore refused to acknowledge that the miracle that took place was a work of God (John 9:16).  So Jesus tells them that one of the reasons He came into the world was to judge them, “so that those who do not see may see, and those who think they see will become blind” (John 9:41).  It is this episode that sets up the context of what Jesus says next in the Parable of the Good Shepherd at John Chapter 10, which is also the point of what I’m about to share with you.

When Jesus gives the Parable of the Good Shepherd, He is not only explaining His own faithfulness and trustworthiness to care for His flock, but He is also condemning those He refers to as “hirelings” or “hired hands” (John 10:12).  Hirelings are those who may tend sheep, but they do it for the wrong reasons and they are more interested in their wages than any self-sacrifice for the sheep.  Jesus says that when hirelings see the wolf coming, they flee and leave the sheep, and “the wolf snatches them and scatters them” (John 10:12).  When things begin to look their bleakest, when the wages run out, when the paycheck stops and the bricks of their own efforts begin to crumble down all around them, the hirelings abandon the sheep.  Jesus lays His life down for the sheep, but hirelings flee, “because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep” (John 10:13).  Most of the Pharisees were hirelings, because their motives for serving the people were self-centered and more due to their own ambition, rather than any genuine calling of God.

At Ezekiel Chapter 34, God tells the prophet to “prophesy against the shepherds of Israel” (34:2).  God condemns Israel’s shepherds for being more concerned about themselves than their flock.  He says that they have not strengthened the weak, or healed the diseased, or bound up the broken, or brought back the scattered or sought for the lost; but instead, they were more like those who drive cattle, than those who tend sheep, and because of that, God’s flock had become prey to the wolves (34:4).  God said they were more concerned about feeding themselves than feeding the flock, so He said, “I am against the shepherds and I will demand my sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep, so that the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver my flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them” (34:10).  Compensation had turned into career, and the sheep had become food for the shepherds.

As I watch all this hysteria play itself out over the Corona Virus, and I contemplate the impact it may make on our economy, I can’t help but wonder what will happen to many churches when the wages run out and the paycheck stops.  At Matthew Chapter 24, when Jesus is talking about the time of His return, He talks about two kinds of shepherds:  one who is faithful, who doesn’t abandon the sheep and gives them the proper teaching at the proper time, and one who is evil because of a lack of humility and who lives a hypocritical life (24:48,49).  Something that I don’t think a lot of people understand is that when God brings judgment, He starts with His church.  He begins with His own-- those who are supposed to be examples of Jesus’ teachings, those who are supposed to be examples of faith, examples of humility, examples of meekness, selflessness, and purity of heart.  The Pharisees were blind because they thought they were in no need of repentance.  They thought that their outward appearance of “following all the rules” and their teaching of God’s word, somehow exempted them from allowing God to examine their own heart.  Right after Jesus speaks of the faithful and evil servants at Matthew 24, he tells the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.  The wise virgins recognize God’s call to allow their hearts to be examined, but the foolish virgins ignore it.  All of them hear the “shout heard round the world” and wake up (25:6), but only half of them are ready when the bridegroom comes.