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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy
against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the
Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of
yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds,
clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do
not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the
sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched
for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered
because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food
for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every
high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or
looked for them.”
“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As
surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because My flock lacks a
shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild
animals, and because My shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for
themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of
the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will
hold them accountable for My flock. I will remove them from tending the flock
so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue My flock
from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.’”
Ezekiel 34:1-10
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Read enough of the scriptures and you will find a common analogy
used not only by God but His Son Jesus when it comes to describing the
relationship between them and their people. That analogy has to do with a
common laborer in biblical days, the shepherd, and the sheep within their
respective flocks.
It was a great comparison but you would have to know
something about sheep and why the shepherd was so vital to their well being to
fully understand why God and Jesus chose that relationship to represent theirs
with us.
For starters, we need to know that sheep are relatively
helpless if left to their own inclinations. They will wander and wander,
grazing from place to place, with no real sense of navigation or way of
defending themselves against attack if it were to come. In fact, even when
sheep are within a flock and moving with the flow of their fellow sheep, any
one of them could wander away from the rest becoming an easy target for a
predator or at risk from other perils in the wilderness.
For these reasons, sheep needed a shepherd, someone who
would watch over them, protect them, and keep them from going astray.
Now to us and why God and Jesus would call us sheep.
First, we are prone to wander away from the flock and find
ourselves lost and without direction. Without God and Jesus, we are like sheep
who are astray and in danger. That leads to the second comparison.
For just like the sheep is prone to attack when they are
lost, so too are we when we turn from God and Jesus, our shepherds and try to
walk life alone. We know our enemy, Satan, is waiting for any opportunity to
devour any of the people of the Lord. It’s why the scriptures say this about
him:
Your enemy the devil
prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
For this reason, we had better stay close to our divine
Shepherds who will always offer us the protection we need against our enemy.
So God and Jesus are our Shepherds and we are the sheep of
their flock. This much is certain.
But as we look at the opening verses of Ezekiel 34, we can
see that sometimes the Lord may delegate shepherding duties to others. Look at
this passage again here:
The word of the Lord
came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and
say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of
Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the
flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the
choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not
strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not
brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly
and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when
they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep
wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered
over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.”
“‘Therefore, you
shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the
Sovereign Lord, because My flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and
has become food for all the wild animals, and because My shepherds did not
search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore,
you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for My flock. I will
remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed
themselves. I will rescue My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be
food for them.’” Ezekiel 34:1-10
The Israelites had plenty of people in leadership positions
who were supposed to take care of them, just as a shepherd takes care of their
sheep. But note that these shepherds had not carried out their shepherding
duties properly. In fact, God, through His words to the prophet, convicts them
of only being concerned about their own wellbeing and neglecting the flock. The
end result of this negligence and neglect was that the flock became scattered
and vulnerable, lost in their sins as Satan had their way with the sheep.
And so God opposed His shepherds and promised He would hold
them accountable for their ineptitude and careless attitude toward fulfilling
His expectations. Such was the penalty for failing to care for His flock.
Today, there are many people God has put into the role of
shepherd. Many are serving as pastors, elders, deacons, stewards, or teachers of
churches. Others may be tasked with developing and nurturing young people to
grow up to be the Lord’s disciples or servants. School teachers fall into this
category but even more so parents who are accountable for bringing up and
shepherding the children God entrusts to their care.
With this, there’s one other thing that hasn’t changed.
For God will still hold shepherds accountable for caring for
the flock He has given them.
If you have been called to shepherd, how are you doing in
carrying out your responsibilities?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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