So many hired hands

This Sunday's reading, John 10:11-18, is usually preached focusing on  the good shepherd,

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Most sermons will totally ignore the story of the hired hands, for good reason.

I have seen so many hired hands occupying leadership roles in various churches that it no longer surprises me when I hear of a priest, bishop, or archbishop abandoning Jesus' teaching on marriage or his teaching on the relationship between men and women. These leaders have either bought into the arguments supporting same-sex marriage or they have no backbone to stand up for what the Bible has to say about it.

Clergy with no backbones, like so many hired hands.