When the shepherds fail
The Western Schism
For most of a century the medieval church faced a disorientation entirely of its own leaders' making. First the papacy left Rome for Avignon, settling for decades under the shadow of the French crown, the Bishop of Rome no longer in his own city. Then, in 1378, came the deeper fracture: a disputed election produced two men each claiming to be the rightful pope, one in Rome and one back in Avignon, and they excommunicated each other and divided Europe's loyalties between them. Kingdoms chose sides. The breach, the Western Schism, dragged on, and a council called to heal it managed only to elect a third claimant, so that for a time three rival popes each insisted he alone was the true shepherd of Christ's flock. An ordinary believer of those years could not even know with certainty who his shepherd was, or whose absolution counted, or which voice in the quarrel spoke for God. It was not heresy from outside that disoriented the faithful here. It was the shepherds themselves. And through the prophets, God had long ago declared Himself against shepherds who scatter the sheep and feed only themselves.
“My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray.”
— The LORD, through Jeremiah — Jeremiah 50:6 (WEB)
“Behold, I am against the shepherds; I will require my sheep at their hand.”
This is Disorientation of a peculiar cruelty: the crisis is not an enemy outside but the shepherds themselves, corrupt or divided, the very leaders meant to guide. The phase asks you to grieve that betrayal honestly while refusing to let it become the final word, learning that your faith does not finally rest on the ones who failed it.
Few things disorient faith as deeply as the failure of the very people who were supposed to lead you to God. A bad idea you can argue with. A heresy you can argue with. But when the shepherd falls, or deceives, or wounds, or splits the flock to guard his own position, the wound goes to the root, because it was through them you learned to trust at all. When the shepherds fail, the sheep scatter, and you may find you no longer know whom to believe. Hear this carefully. Your faith was never meant to rest finally on them.
God Himself stands against the shepherds who scattered His sheep and fed only themselves; He says He will require the lost flock at their hands, and He has promised to seek out His sheep personally and gather them. The undershepherd may have failed you catastrophically; the Chief Shepherd has not, and He outlasts every one of them. Do not let a leader's collapse persuade you that God collapsed with him. The voice that first called you was never theirs. It was His, and it is still calling.
The Church has endured seasons when its own leadership was the scandal, divided and corrupt and self-serving, leaving the faithful disoriented and betrayed by the very ones meant to guard them. The Western Schism is a stark case: for a time rival claimants each insisted he alone was the true shepherd of Christ's flock, and ordinary believers could not know whose voice spoke for God. Through the prophets the LORD declared Himself against shepherds who scatter the sheep and feed only themselves, vowing to require the lost flock at their hands and to seek out His sheep Himself. Before a watching world quick to read the failures of the Body's leaders as the failure of its Lord, the Chief Shepherd outlasts every undershepherd who betrayed His name.
When the shepherds fail and the flock scatters and no human voice can be trusted, the Chief Shepherd does not fail. What cannot be shaken is His own commitment to His sheep, His promise to seek them out Himself. He outlasts every undershepherd who ever betrayed His name.
- How has the failure of a leader I trusted shaped, or shaken, my faith in God Himself?
- Where have I let a shepherd's collapse persuade me that God collapsed with him?
- Can I hear the Chief Shepherd still calling me, beneath the voices that failed me?
Lord, the ones meant to lead me to You failed, and the wound went deep, and I have not known whom to trust. Thank You that You stand against the shepherds who scatter, and that You seek out Your sheep Yourself. Gather me again. Let me hear the voice that was always Yours. Amen.