Acts 20:17-35; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30
After the bombing at the Boston Marathon, this quote from “Mister Rogers’ Parenting Book” spread across social media: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” The practical aspect of this thought is that it redirects children from the bad things that are happening to the good things that are going on. But behind that practical application is a horribly false premise, one that has misdirected many people in our society: people (or at least most people) are basically good and evil is exceptional. The reality is that we live in a fallen world filled with fallen people who are, by nature, predisposed to evil. While people are capable of doing acts of goodness, our natural response to things is selfish and self-centered. Looking for the helpers requires us to look past the many more people who are acting to help themselves as well as the evil doers.
When we function from the premise that people are basically good we are doing more than deceiving ourselves, we are making ourselves vulnerable to those who would take advantage of our naiveté. This is especially true within the church. When Paul said his good-byes to the pastors of the churches in and around Ephesus, he knew that he would never see them again and that he needed to prepare them for what he knew would happen. He told them to be on guard against false teachers. He warned them that evil people would work to destroy God’s flock. He explained that they would twist God’s Word and use it to get people to follow after them instead of Christ. Paul pleaded with the pastors to be diligent in their care of those whom God had called them to shepherd. And he shocked them by telling them from where these ravenous wolves would come: from among those very same pastors. Some of those called to be helpers would be wolves instead.
Looking for the helpers will not keep us safe. Trusting in the goodness of other human beings makes us vulnerable. Where can we turn for safety and security? Whom can we trust to be faithful and true? How can we be sure that we will not be destroyed by ravenous wolves? Only by looking to the Helper, the Good Shepherd who has laid down His life for His sheep.
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