The relationship between Jesus and believers, recorded in John Chapter 10, is that Jesus is the good shepherd who would like to sacrifice his life for his sheep. "I am a good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me."(John 10:14)
So many people like calling those who share the gospel "shepherd." They cultivate believers' spiritual life just like a shepherd raising his sheep.
However, it's not the case in many churches. For example, three generations of a family are all the senior pastors of a church in the Central Plains region of China. There are about three thousand believers in the church. Every Sunday morning, the grandpa will nod to every believer of the church at the front door.
In fact, he is preventing any stranger from coming into the church. He'll grill every stranger. He claims that he wants no heretical thoughts to influence believers. He is just responsible for the spirits of believers on the surface.
In another church of the same region, a sister was also rejected. She received the grace from another church and wanted to introduce other sisters to that church. Then the person in charge of the original church said she was undermining the church's foundation and threatened her with phone calls and messages.
Here is another case: a church is located in a prosperous district of East China with a large area and good conditions. Two groups of people fight with each other in order to control the church. The fight alarmed the police.
The story above is part of my personal experience. These people are very clear that they rely on the church to live. They regard the church as their own wealth. Any threat from the outside may affect their control of the church.
They will not be able to survive without the church. They have received theological education since childhood. They could do nothing except shepherding.
They are afraid to lose their position in the church. They are afraid to face the society and the secular world because they have no skills or high-level knowledge. A scholar from Peking University says that religion is like a closed world for pastors and offers them a safe cage.
The shepherd defined by Jesus is quite different from them. In Jesus's opinion, a shepherd is to protect the sheep and he would like to sacrifice his life for the sheep.
A farmer will protect the sheep and repair the sheepfold. He was afraid that beasts steal the sheep, but he won't sacrifice life for the sheep. These sheep are just his property. He only focuses on the quality of the wool and the price of the mutton. In fact, a farmer has no difference with workers. They are all the slaves of benefits and money.
The mission of a true shepherd is to protect the weak. If he has 100 sheep, he would put aside 99 sheep to find the lost one because the lost sheep is fragile.
However, it is not the case in the church. Some sisters suffering from domestic violence seek the help from the church. In most cases, the church will not help sisters to protect their rights. The sisters are told to tolerate the domestic violence because "it is God's will" (they claim like this).
When the wolf goes into the sheepfold, the shepherd doesn't drive away the wolf. He just comforts the sheep. He tells them when the wolf is full they will not be eaten anymore.
Today, many shepherds act like farmers. If they help those sisters who suffer from domestic violence, they may lose the support of men. The husband may not allow his wife to the church if his wife learns to protect her rights in a marriage. The church just makes those vulnerable women weaker.
Jesus said: "I know my sheep and my sheep know me". Once the sheep run into danger, they would seek help from the shepherd. So the sheep must know the shepherd.
We must understand that these sheep are Jesus's instead of ours. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved God. Peter said:"you feed my sheep." We usually think the pastor's mission can be traced back to this dialogue between Jesus and Peter.
The position of pastors came from Jesus and we're just the sheep of Jesus. We should feed sheep with Jesus's words so they would know Jesus, a true shepherd. Jesus also told us to teach his lessons to believers.
Few shepherds would share the words of Jesus. They feed sheep with additive instead of grass. They hope these sheep will grow quickly with long wool and fat mutton. Many pastors \will cater to believers' pleasure and only talk about their interests. In this way they can get more money from believers' pocket. The shepherd won't know Jesus and Jesus won't know the sheep.
God gave us the title of Shepherd. We shouldn't depend on stealing wool to get rich. Such behavior is just taking advantage of Jesus because the sheep are actually his.
To some extent, I don't think a pastor should work full time in the church. A full-time pastor will only regard the sheep as his own wealth. His life depends on believers. Although he said his position is sacred, he is just covering his guilty conscience. He knows he is a man who stole wool from believers.
Translated By: Emma Ma
