Obey your leaders

and defer to them,
for they keep watch over you
and will have to give an account,
that they may fulfill their task with joy
and not with sorrow,
for that would be of no advantage to you.
Hebrews 13:17

Yeah, but what if my bishop/pastor is a jerk?

This verse from today’s first reading can be a challenge for us and, like much of Scripture, it should be!

To be sure, the verse does not say, “Be ye sycophants!”

We ourselves must think, we must act, and we must speak, but we ignore this verse at our peril.

It is something to consider.

May the God of peace,
who brought up from the dead
the great shepherd of the sheep
by the Blood of the eternal covenant,
furnish you with all that is good,
that you may do his will.
May he carry out in you
what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.