The Good Shepherd
Ezekiel 34:1-6; 11-16;23-24; 30-31
Children’s Story
Just before school started, I invited four kids from next door to go with me to the city library. These kids ranged from 7 – 10 years old and had never been to the library.
We went upstairs where they have all the books for kids and we spent an hour looking at books of all sizes, colors, and shapes.
One book I pulled off the shelf was this book of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. As we paged through the book, I found that the kids knew some of the rhymes.
If you have learned some of these rhymes, you know that several of them are about sheep. There’s Mary had a Little Lamb, of course, which goes on and on, verse after verse. And then there are a couple of others about sheep that got lost.
Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn.
Where’s the little boy who looks after the sheep?
Under the haystack, fast asleep.
The problem with Little Boy Blue is that he fell asleep on the job. The fancy name for that is dereliction of duty. And the sheep got out of their pen and were wandering in places where they shouldn’t have been. What kind of shepherd is this Little Boy Blue, who doesn’t do what a good shepherd should be doing? He should be paying more attention to his sheep.
And then there is Little Bo-Peep.
Little Bo Peep
Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep,
And can’t tell where to find them.
Leave them alone,
and they’ll come home,
Bringing their tails behind them.
Now we don’t know why Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep, but if she is going to take care of her sheep properly, she should watch them more carefully. They might not come home on their own. She might have to go out and find them.
In the Bible, Jesus told a story about a shepherd who had 100 sheep and he lost one of them. Did he just let it go? No. He left the 99 sheep where they were and he went to find the one that was lost. And when he found it, he put the sheep on his shoulder, and when he got home, he threw a big party to celebrate. And Jesus said that’s what happens in heaven when someone gets rid of his sin and decides to follow Jesus. Everyone is full of joy.
And if you have been here when we baptize people, you know that we celebrate, too. We have coffee and punch and people hang around and let those who were baptized know they are welcome here because it is a wonderful time. We look forward to welcoming people into God’s family.
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Message
Chapter 34 in Ezekiel is about sheep and shepherds. When we talked about this passage on Wednesday evening, I learned that the most likely place to see a sheep these days is at the county fair. Some of us, though, have had first-hand experience with sheep on the farm. And even though pictures show sheep that look woolly and friendly and ready to follow you wherever you go, I know that sheep are not always that way. When I was small, we used to have a sheep buck that would sneak up behind me and butt me with his head. I never learned how to sneak past him. If only I could have pulled the wool over his eyes.
Punishment
Ezekiel 34 is not really about sheep, of course; it is about people who acted like sheep. They needed a good shepherd to lead them. And the shepherds Ezekiel wrote about were not really shepherds, of course. They were the kings of Israel who had the responsibility of leading their citizens. For you students who study literature, this is called allegory. This way of comparing people with sheep and leaders with shepherds sounds like a nice way to talk about the relationship between kings and their subjects. But there was a problem.
Shepherds are supposed to look out for the sheep and kings are supposed to look out for their subjects, but the prophet Ezekiel says that is not what the kings in Israel were doing. Instead of caring for the weak, the sick, the injured, the strayed, and the lost, these shepherds, or kings in this case, were mostly looking after themselves, feeding themselves, fleecing their subjects, and lining their own nests. Ezekiel said, “You drink the milk, you clothe yourselves with the wool, etc., but you do not feed the sheep.” And so, instead of helping their citizens, these national leaders were getting richer and more powerful at the expense of their citizens. The head honchos were getting huge benefits while the peons were barely eking out an existence. Greed was the name of the game. They were doing things to their own advantage. Does that sound like something you’ve heard before?
As a result, Ezekiel says, the sheep are now scattered over the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them. The situation, as we know from the Old Testament, was that the people of Israel were deported from their country because their kings were not godly leaders. If you look at the record, you find that out of 43 kings, only three were consistently loyal to God: David, Hezekiah, and Josiah. Another 8 or 9 did some good, but all the rest were rotten apples.
So, after all the years of these kings, here were these people without anyone to lead them. They were like scattered sheep on the hillside, exposed to storms, wild animals, and famine. In fact, they had been carried off to another country. They had been exiled to Babylon. So what would happen to them?
Last week we learned that Ezekiel told the Israelites that as a result of their disobedience, God’s judgment would come. He announced that their holy city Jerusalem would be completely destroyed. And he urged the people to repent of their wrongdoing in the hope that God would not carry out his punishment. But, by the time we get to the middle of the book of Ezekiel, it’s clear that God’s punishment will be carried out.
Promise
Old Testament prophets had a tough assignment conveying God’s message to the people, because quite often the message had to be about sin, punishment, and judgment. But that wasn’t true all the time. We find that prophets didn’t just speak about sin, punishment and judgment; they also spoke of promise. And Ch. 34 is one of those messages. Chapter 34 is about God’s plan to bring a new King, a new shepherd, into the world.
In the first 10 verses of this chapter we hear God using the word “You” quite often. You shepherds of Israel have been feeding yourselves. You eat the fat. You clothe yourselves with the wool. You have not strengthened the weak. You have done this and not done that. And the whole description of their behavior just seems to go down hill.
But when we get to v. 11 the message shifts from one that chastises the shepherds to a message that focuses on a new way of shepherding. (Read 34:11) In the verses following, God says “I myself will search for my sheep. I will rescue them. I will feed them.” And on and on. God has a plan.
We are now out of the punishment mode and into the promise mode. Now we don’t have to look back anymore. We can look forward to the Good Shepherd who will take over. Now that God has fired the shepherds who didn’t live up to His expectations, God will take care of his sheep. “I will seek out my sheep.” “I will rescue them.” “I will feed them.” Each new promise adds a point of progress. Instead of going downhill, the vision gets better and better. “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep,” he says. Doesn’t that sound comforting?
But how will that happen? Listen to what God says in v. 23. “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them and be their shepherd.” So, God has someone in mind, someone who is completely different from the selfish leaders they knew. And we know that this shepherd is Jesus, the Son of God. God is bringing a whole new world into existence.
As a result, he says once more, “They shall know that I am the Lord.” (v.27) And he concludes with the words, “You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture and I am your God, says the Lord God.” (v.32)
This is the language of promise. This is the language of hope. This is the language of salvation. God is bringing something new to replace the old. He will save his people. And God will do it with a new kind of King, one that comes through David’s line, one who would be true to God, and one who would be a true shepherd.
The True Shepherd. We know now that the true shepherd he was talking about was Jesus, the Messiah, not an earthly ruler, but a heavenly one. In John 10, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” And the people who heard those words knew immediately that Jesus was taking the words from Ezekiel 34 and applying them to himself. The religious leaders didn’t want to accept it, of course, but they knew what he meant.
What are the characteristics of a good shepherd? The line that comes next in John 10:11 helps us understand. Jesus said that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. What does that mean? A shepherd was responsible for the life of his sheep and sometimes he had to risk his own life for the sake of his flock. It wasn’t only wild animals that threatened the sheep. Sometimes thieves and robbers attacked to steal the sheep and in one case I read about, a shepherd tried to fight off three robbers and was hacked to pieces. He died among the sheep he was defending. (Barclay)
Most of you are probably familiar with the picture of Jesus as a shepherd, tenderly carrying a lamb and leading a flock of sheep. It is such a picture of protection, security, and safety. And as we know from the story of the Gospel, Jesus gave his life so that we might live.
There is one thing Jesus said in John 10:7 that may seem strange to us. He said, “I am the gate for the sheep.” At night, the sheep were kept in a cave or a corral and the shepherd would lay himself down across that opening to sleep. Any sheep that wanted out would have to cross over his body. Any attacker coming in would have to cross over his body. In the morning, when he got up, the gate would open for the sheep. The Bible makes clear that Jesus is the gate to salvation. He said, “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out & find pasture.”
Some of you are looking for a shepherd to open the gate to you. You feel lost. You have strayed. You have been hurt. You are ready to enter in, to become part of the flock of Jesus, to experience his safety, his healing, his protection. If you have not yet made that decision, you can do that here today.
Jesus says that a shepherd knows the names of his sheep and they know his voice. Jesus knows your name. He wants to save you. He wants to lead you, if you will let him. In a moment, I want to give you the opportunity to give yourself to him. Can you hear his voice calling you?
All of us who live for Jesus are to be shepherds to one another, binding up wounds, carrying each other’s burdens, bringing back those who have strayed. Our ministry to each other and to the world follows the example of Jesus’ ministry.
From time to time I hear of ways the members of this church minister to others and I see Jesus in you. All around us people are waiting for the touch of Jesus. Last week as Sue and I knocked on doors we met a young man who was hurting because of the death of his mother. He said he used to work as a youth minister and play drums in his church, but when his mother died, he suddenly felt angry with God and has been unable to get past that. There at his doorway we prayed for healing in his life. And when we were done, I was surprised when he said, “Not many Christians are willing to take the time to pray with someone who is in need.” I wonder why not? God calls us to minister to those in need wherever they are.
Resource: Millar Lind. The Believers Church Commentary: Ezekiel. 1996.
