We have all seen the pictures of Christ the Good Shepherd. Dressed in the artist's vision of what either Jesus would have worn or a shepherd worn or in whatever iconographic trope inspires them with a lamb draped across His shoulders like a living wool cape. It is an ancient image, going back to even before Constantine, when the Church had to operate in code and symbols for survival's sake.
Today's Gospel of the Good Shepherd (you may find it here along with the rest of today's readings for Mass) is one of a few passages that inspire this image. In it Our Lord describes a close relationship between Him and His followers. It is the counter-example of the hired hand that proves a bit confusing. In the past, those who study the Gospels denoted these to be cult leaders or the teachers of some great new heresy (or even some dusty old heresy that seems to crop up with stunning regularity). That's not necessarily untrue, but it is somewhat ignorant of context.
All Judea at that time was looking high and low for God's next Messiah, or anointed leader of the People of Israel to lead them to deliverance from foreign oppression. Rome was the oppressor du jour. Their history is full of anointed leaders who worked deliverance, from Moses to Judas Maccabaeus. New enemy, new Messiah. The thing was, this situation was different.
Jesus knew that Rome was not like other oppressive powers. Israel would not be able to kick this one to the curb. He knew that anyone who promised this was delusional. He knew that anyone who promised this was going to get thousands of people killed. His message was not one of armed resistance, but of righteousness, resisting evil with good, enduring everything so that the Kingdom of God shines through the murk of Sin and Corruption more brightly. Rome was an enemy, Death and Corruption were bigger enemies, and anyone who taught any different
Many did teach differently. They, like Jesus, were taken and executed by the Romans. They, unlike Jesus, did not rise from the dead and commission their disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God. They, unlike Jesus, brought untold misery, death, destruction, and political annihilation to Judaea. It would be centuries before Israel would have a homeland again.
Today, we are confronted with the same again and again. The stakes may be high, middling, or low, but again, the results are the same. Keeping our eyes on Our Lord and on His voice brings unity, life, and the Kingdom of God shines through. Wandering away from His voice, perhaps following a self-help teacher focused on some new fad, or a politician espousing some policy, or a spiritual leader teaching something different, obscures the Kingdom of God. In its wake is sown strife, discord, oppression, even destruction and death. Sometimes we find them outside the institutions built up around the Church, many times we find them spreading their venom inside the Church, but the end result is the same: Death and Corruption. The results may be a congregation gone cold and uncaring, a nation plunging into civil war, an oppressive economy, or a Jonestown massacre.
The false shepherds are out there, proclaiming this news or that, often in His name, but let us keep our eyes on Him and listen only to His voice. In listening to Him are the hungry fed, the threadbare clothed, the sick healed, and liberation from the ultimate Enemy proclaimed. When Jesus is the focus, the Kingdom of God is near.