Shepherd

If you were to rouse God or move Him “in the guts,” where would you bring Him?

For a clue, check the jeremiad in the first reading today against bad shepherds and the gospel story of the Shepherd being stirred by the crowds (“for they were like sheep without a shepherd”). If you want to see God agitated, bring Him to a place where bad shepherds roam or take Him to a vast gathering of people all adrift and shepherd-less.

The Word of God today offers us an intimate view of the heart of God by giving us a glimpse of what moves Him. Today, we see Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise to gather us and bring us to live under a new king who “shall reign and govern wisely,” doing “what is just and right in the land.” The scriptures today tell of Jesus our shepherd, and the offer He makes of Himself to lead our lives.

Yet, while these readings point us to Jesus, these can be as good a guide as any to the kind of leaders we seek for our country. A close reading of these passages led me to this negative list, a top-10 list of the qualities that make for bad leadership (or bad shepherding). In the style of David Letterman, I list the qualities in reverse. The top-10 traits of bad leaders are:

Number 10: Bad leaders or bad shepherds have a knack of scattering the flock. They cannot galvanize our people to action because their motives and integrity are always being questioned. They continue to exhort unity but they cannot see that they (more than our tribal allegiances) are the source of disunity.

Number 9: Bad shepherds rely on fear and trembling to rule over the flock. This manner of lording it over others reveals only weakness and insecurity on their part. Bad shepherds are not sure of themselves or of their mandate to lead and so they become like over-staying tenants who terrorize us with “guns, goons, and gold.” Now, gold is not necessarily a fearful thing. But once you’ve learned to live with it and on it, losing it can be a terrifying thing.

Number 8: Bad shepherds end up with missing sheep during their watch. Bad shepherds spend time fussing over the 99, rather than seeking out the lost (“or the least or the last”). If you are a hard-hitting, truth-telling journalist or radio announcer or disfranchised farmer, you do not want to be under a bad shepherd. The number of desaparecidos (forced-disappearances) increases in proportion to the badness of the shepherd.

Number 7: Bad shepherds do not care for the sheep. Of course no shepherd will ever confess they are callous or uncaring at all. They rise to shepherd-status by their demagoguery and photo-ops of compassion. By their misdeeds (and non-deeds) and accrued assets you shall know them.

Number 6: Bad shepherds don’t do what is just and right in the land. The rot festers in the human heart and embeds itself in human systems. The injustice swells along with the greed and fear and intoxicating power. The moral corruption and compromises are rationalized by intelligent people with a thousand reasons. Whatever the reasons, the price of undoing justice and right is unjust violence and wrongful death.

Number 5: When bad shepherds take charge, the land and people do not dwell in security. The land dwells in security when ecological lifelines are not pillaged for short-term gain. People dwell in security when their dwelling is their own and they live without fear of their rights or property or their very spirit ever being stolen.

Number 4: If good shepherds do not have so much as time to eat, bad shepherds have all the time to travel halfway around the world to watch Pacquiao live and at ringside. Good shepherds miss meals; bad shepherds are fed all the time.

Number 3: When bad shepherds gaze at the vastness or confusion of the crowd, they are not “moved with pity” (the actual Greek, esphlangnisthe, suggests a wringing or wrenching in the guts). If they see our people adrift and rudderless, their guts do not develop ulcers. They only see votes, not faces.   Votes are magnets that move them to do terrible things.

Number 2: Bad shepherds do not teach because teaching feeds the human spirit and broadens a person’s horizons. When good shepherds confront hunger, they teach first with words that hearten and matter, and then they feed the thousands with bread and fish. Bad shepherds are clueless when it comes to this Eucharistic pattern of word fellowship and table sacrifice.

And the Number 1 trait of bad leaders: Bad shepherds are unfazed by jeremiads, even from Jeremiah. That is because bad shepherds do not know how bad they are. Even the fires of hell will not deter them. But since the good Shepherd does not lead by intimidation or fear, we can only infer (or wish?) that their emptiness of heart is their own empty reward, now and forever.

Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin SJ is President of Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan. For feedback on this column, email [email protected]