The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people, and especially of governments, always have effects that are unanticipated or “unintended.” We live in a world that is a complex system with interconnections we do not know, can’t or have not yet imagined, or as the American naturalist John Muir offered: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter. Jesus uses the figure of the Good Shepherd to differentiate his ministry from that of false shepherds of the scribes, Pharisee, and in fact, all the kings and leaders of Israel. Jesus will also stress the voluntary nature of the shepherd’s sacrifice for his people. This chapter should be read in the light of Old Testament passages that castigate shepherds who have failed in their duty (see Jer. 23:1–4; 25:32–38; Zech. 11; and especially Ezekiel 34, the Parable of the Shepherds (which I encourage you to read). Equally as condemning is this passage from the Prophet Isaiah: “All the sentinels of Israel are blind, they are without knowledge…Shepherds who have no understanding; all have turned their own way.” (Is 56:10-11) In this passage the leaders are both “shepherds” and “watchmen” and are castigated as “blind” and as those who “lack knowledge” (cf. John 9:40–41; 10:6). Continue reading
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