The Bishop Who Gathered the Scattered

In 1940, as Nazi forces swept across France, millions of refugees fled south in desperate chaos. Villages emptied. Families separated. The vulnerable — especially Jewish children — found themselves without protection, abandoned by the very institutions meant to shelter them. Into this void stepped André Trocmé, the Protestant pastor of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small village in the mountains of south-central France. While collaborationist leaders scattered their own people and handed the helpless over to destruction, Trocmé and his wife Magda organized their entire community into a network of rescue. Farmhouses became hiding places. Forged documents appeared. Schoolteachers became smugglers of children across the Swiss border. Over four years, Le Chambon sheltered roughly 3,500 refugees, most of them Jewish children whose own guardians had been torn away.

When asked why he did it, Trocmé answered simply: these were God's people, and a true shepherd does not flee.

This is the heartbeat of Jeremiah 23. The Lord thunders against shepherds who scatter the flock, who drive the vulnerable away through negligence and self-interest. But then comes the promise — God Himself will gather the remnant. He will raise up shepherds who actually tend. He will raise up a righteous Branch from David's line who will reign with justice and safety. Where faithless leaders scatter, the Good Shepherd gathers. That is the promise no tyrant can undo.