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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.
This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock
marked for slaughter. Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who
sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare
them. For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord.
“I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They
will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”
So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter,
particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one
Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. In one month, I got rid
of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them and said,
“I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let
those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” Then I took my staff called Favor
and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. It was
revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me
knew it was the word of the Lord.
I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but
if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the
handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver
and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.”
Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the
family bond between Judah and Israel.
Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a
foolish shepherd. For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will
not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the
healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.”
“Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May
the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!”
Zechariah 11:4-17
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
In yesterday’s devotion, taken from the first three
verses of Zechariah 11, we find ominous words of a coming fall for the nation
of Israel, a fall that would happen well into the future from the time the
prophet shared God’s words of judgment.
Why was that judgment coming?
We find out as we look at the rest of chapter 11 and a
story of two shepherds, both sent by God, one who was rejected and the other
who was just plain foolish. Look again at these words here:
This is what the Lord
my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. Their buyers slaughter
them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’
Their own shepherds do not spare them. For I will no longer have pity on the
people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of
their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not
rescue anyone from their hands.”
So I shepherded
the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I
took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the
flock. In one month, I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested
me, and I grew weary of them and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the
dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s
flesh.” Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I
had made with all the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed
of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.
I told them, “If
you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty
pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the
handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver
and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.”
Then I broke my
second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.
Then the Lord said
to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For I am going to raise
up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young,
or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice
sheep, tearing off their hooves.”
“Woe to the
worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his
right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded!” Zechariah 11:4-17
Note here that the prophet is speaking but the character
he is representing is none other than the Messiah Jesus Himself, who proclaimed
Himself to be the Good Shepherd, sent by God to save His people.
Jesus came and shepherded Israel, the “flock marked for
slaughter” who were being led down the road of destruction by those who were
supposed to be their shepherds, in this case the Jewish religious authorities.
Jesus stepped into this scene to get rid of the wicked shepherds, using the
staffs of Favor and Union to lead, guide, and protect them. All the flock had
to do was follow this Good Shepherd sent by God and all would have been fine
for them.
But that’s not what happened, did it?
For the testimony of the Good Shepherd Himself tells is
that the “flock detested” Him and held Him in such low esteem, they wanted to
pay Jesus the price paid to a mere servant, 30 pieces of silver, an amount so
paltry that Jesus ordered it given to the potter at the house of the Lord who
was seen to make the most worthless of vessels.
And so the staff of Favor was snapped in two and with it,
the refuge from danger and harm as Jesus revoked the covenant with the Jewish people.
If the flock wanted to live without their Good Shepherd, they could give it a
try and see how much of a mistake it was to abandon Him but they would do it
scattered as we find Jesus breaking the second staff of Union, thereby breaking
the bond between the northern and southern kingdoms.
Where there was once blessing and stability, there would
now be judgment and chaos, all orchestrated by a new shepherd, a foolish
shepherd who would be sent to the Israelites Note the similarities here between
the foolish shepherd and the hired hand Jesus speaks about as He testifies to
being the Good Shepherd:
The hired hand is
not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming,
he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and
scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for
the sheep. John 10:12-13
The hired hand was not concerned for the flock but rather
getting his wage and self preservation. He wasn’t about to put Himself in harm’s
way to protect a flock of sheep.
The foolish shepherd talked about in this passage cares
nothing for his flock. He refused to mindful of the lost or go out to look for
the young or tend to the healing of the injured. He had no concern for feeding
the flock but would not hesitate to eat one of the sheep if it suited him. Remember,
this foolish shepherds concern is all self-centered and it would be that
selfish attitude toward caring for others that would bring on God’s judgment.
So who are the players here?
We already know the Good Shepherd is Jesus, but what
about the foolish shepherd?
That would be the Romans who around AD 60, brutally
subjugated the Israelites into a deeper oppression that they had ever experienced
during the time of Jesus. God had sent His Son, the Good Shepherd, to take care
of His people, His flock. But the flock had rejected the Shepherd, putting Him
to death, and so God removed His covering over His people and made them fully
subject to the domination, repression, and tyranny of the Romans.
One can’t help but think things could have been so very
different if the Israelites had only seen Jesus for who He was, the fulfillment
of so many prophecies, the predicted Messiah, sent by God Himself to save them.
Today, so many people are like the Israelites of Jesus’
day. Presented with the Good Shepherd and the favor and blessing He offers in
His salvation covenant, they choose to reject Him and live their lives without
Him, doing so to their own demise. I don’t know about you but I am consistently
praying for these people every day, people who are following a foolish shepherd
to their own doom when they could simply commit themselves to Jesus and find
themselves within His eternal flock that will not only live in peace and safety
today but forever more.
For the Good Shepherd is always seeking and searching for
sheep who have gone astray, wanting them to be found and included in His flock.
My prayer is that every day, more and more are found.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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