Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Old Testament, Ezekiel 34:11-24            

Ezekiel 34:11-24

Any discussion of shepherds, sheep, wolves and the like are loaded in the Bible. What do I mean? Well, early on God himself portrays himself as a shepherd of his people. His people are sheep and they must be wary of all manner of enemies, many times pictured as the lurking wolf. It makes sense. God’s Old Testament people had thousands of shepherds at any given time. And one reason was to supply the tabernacle/temple with animals necessary for sacrifice. 

Apart from that, the very word shepherd pointed not only to the man in the field, but to the King on the throne. When David opens the twenty-third psalm with, “The LORD is my shepherd,” He is making a declaration that his God is King. In our Old Testament reading this week, God is speaking to the false shepherds who had fully mishandled the charge God had given them to care for his people. They were to rule well and they blew it time after time. And not only as unwitting dupes, but many times they intentionally kept from God’s people the very truth they needed to live. In our text God “comes to the rescue” declaring that he will be stepping in to lead and guard his sheep. He owns them. He loves them. His will matters.

Verse 15 reads, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.” Sounds a bit like that twenty-third psalm referenced before. It should. For that is exactly what God does with his sheep. Whether in the days of Moses, Abraham, David, our Lord Jesus and beyond, God cares for his sheep and provides them safety and security. Men will fail. Leaders will abdicate responsibility and pastors are sinners. If you are a child of God, one of his sheep, do thank God for your undershepherd and pray that he is faithful to his call. But remember also that we have ONE TRUE SHEPHERD.

He never fails. His care is flawless. In Him we find true pasture.