The (Real) Good Shepherd
Zech 11 October 26, 2008
Intro:
I want to rewind a little bit in our study of Zechariah, before diving in to chapter 11. In our previous discussion, we’ve talked about how the exiles were returning from slavery and beginning the process of rebuilding their nation – physically rebuilding the temple, but also rebuilding the spiritual health and faith of the people. The complimentary book of Haggai focuses on the physical building of the temple, while Zechariah’s focus has been on not so much the physical rebuilding of the temple but on the temple as the centre of the spiritual life of the people – the temple as the place of worship, and worship as lifestyle of obedience. It has been about the whole renewal of faith, not just the building.
I want to begin with that rewind both because it sets the stage for the passage we are about to consider, but also because I see that in the ministry of our camp which Michael introduced to us just a few moments ago. Yes, there is a physical rebuilding component – and a significant one! Yet the ministry and the impact and the purpose of those physical structures is in the spiritual formation of the next generation of children and teens. God has repeatedly used the ministry of camps to significantly impact the lives of people – I have a number of theories on why this is something God likes to use for building His Kingdom, but I’ll save those for another time. Suffice it to say, for now, that we believe it is a ministry which is worth investing in. So even though we are raising money for our partners in Bolivia, have launched a campaign to do some needed maintenance on our own facility, and have encouraged attendance at the upcoming YoungLife dessert night fundraiser, we wanted to make you aware of this opportunity to give financially in a way that builds God’s Kingdom.
Back To Zechariah:
Coming back to Zechariah, and his goal of rebuilding the faith of a nation, we come to Zechariah 11. I came to my time of preparation and study, ready to dive in, and the very first thing I read (after reading the passage over numerous times in different translations), was this: “Zechariah 11 may be the most difficult and controversial chapter of the entire book… the most enigmatic passage in the whole Old Testament.” (Klein, Zechariah, NAC, p. 311. The first observation is his, the second quotes S.R. Driver). So I dove in, did my research and study, listened for the voice of the Holy Spirit, and am ready to share with you my interpretation and application of the passage. But I do so with this qualifier: my interpretation is by no means the only one, and I won’t take the time to dive in and try to answer all the questions and make sense of everything here. We’ll do our best, recognizing there is much more that could be explored.
Beginning with the (Real) Good Shepherd: (Jn 10:11-16)
We will read the chapter in a few moments, but that is not where I want to start in Scripture. We’ll see that Zechariah 11 is an allegory, with the prophet acting out a couple of roles – one is the “good” shepherd, then the “bad” shepherd. So before reading that, I want to go to Jesus’ words in John 10:11-16:
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. 12 A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13 The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
Why start there? Commentator Mark Boda writes, “Zechariah 11 was a key text for the early church’s understanding of Christ’s ministry.” (Haggai, Zechariah, NIV Application Commentary, p. 473). So I want to start with Jesus, recognizing Him in the role of the good shepherd, and then see the parallels as we read Zech 11.
Notice from John 10 the contrast already between Jesus (the good shepherd) and the “hired hand”: the good shepherd cares, is involved, takes ownership, protects, even with his very life; while the others are only in it for the money – they don’t really care, and so run at the first sign of trouble. We’ll see this same contrast, and a few more links to Jesus, next as we look into Zechariah 11.
Zechariah 11:4-17 (NLT):
4 This is what the Lord my God says: “Go and care for the flock that is intended for slaughter. 5 The buyers slaughter their sheep without remorse. The sellers say, ‘Praise the Lord! Now I’m rich!’ Even the shepherds have no compassion for them. 6 Likewise, I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” says the Lord. “I will let them fall into each other’s hands and into the hands of their king. They will turn the land into a wilderness, and I will not rescue them.”
7 So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor and the other Union. 8 I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month. But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too. 9 So I told them, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!”
10 Then I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 That was the end of my covenant with them. The suffering flock was watching me, and they knew that the Lord was speaking through my actions.
12 And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.” So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the Lord.
14 Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it in two, showing that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd. 16 This illustrates how I will give this nation a shepherd who will not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.
17 “What sorrow awaits this worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword will cut his arm and pierce his right eye. His arm will become useless, and his right eye completely blind.”
The “Good” Shepherd (vs. 4-15):
Sometimes in the Old Testament the Lord calls His prophets to “act out” the message. Ezekiel was told to lie on his side for 390 days and make a dirt map and dirt walls and put an iron skillet in the middle (Ezek 4). Isaiah walked around naked and barefoot for 3 years (Is 20). Hosea was told to marry a prostitute (Hos 1). And here, in Zechariah, our prophet is told to act out the role first of a good shepherd. Now, there is lots of argument and discussion about whether he actually did this or whether it was more like an allegory which he told, but the story is reasonably understandable.
There is a flock of sheep. The shepherds don’t care, the owners are just trying to make a buck, and the buyers are just going to butcher them (vs. 5). They have been sold for slaughter. God commands Zechariah to go and care for this flock, which he does (vs. 7). And as part of the “acting out” of the message, he takes the traditional shepherds tools of the “rod” and “staff”, and gives them symbolic names: “favor”, symbolic of the favor of God upon His people, and the other “union”, representing the united people of God.
Things don’t go well for this good shepherd. Even though he cleans house of some evil shepherds (vs 8), the sheep “hated me” (vs 8), and so the result of their rejection of the good shepherd is the list of nastiness and unpleasantries which we read in the text. The two named staffs are symbolically busted in half (vs. 10, 14), obviously symbolizing the breaking of the covenant and the disunity of the people. Then the shepherd tells the owners that they can pay him for his service, “whatever I am worth, but only if you want to.” (vs. 12). The payment is given – 30 pieces of silver – and the drama concludes with the disgusted shepherd throwing the money in the temple and rejecting the payment.
Let me return to Mark Boda: “Zechariah 11 was a key text for the early church’s understanding of Christ’s ministry. He was God’s shepherd, who set out to care for the flock, protecting them from poor shepherds and abusive owners. For thirty pieces of silver he was removed from his leadership, rejected by the flock (Jews), shepherds (priests), and owners (Romans). Yet God used this rejection to bring salvation for his flock… As we read this chapter, we catch a glimpse of the frustration and betrayal Christ experienced as he sought to lead a rebellious flock. We also catch a glimpse of God’s anger toward the rebellious and the power of Christ’s forgiveness of those who betrayed him.” (Haggai, Zechariah, NIV Application Commentary, p. 473, 474).
The “Bad” Shepherd (vs. 15-17):
Zechariah is then told to go again, and act out the part of a shepherd a second time. But this time he is told to act the part of a “worthless shepherd”, so that the contrast will be even more plain. Vs. 16 describes this bad shepherd as one who “will not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.” Notice especially the focus on the vulnerable: the “dying”, the “young”, and the “injured”. The “bad shepherd” doesn’t care for them, and they cannot care for themselves. It gets worse, in that this shepherd doesn’t even do the bare minimum of feeding the healthy sheep, and instead just gorges himself on the meat and then senselessly mutilates them.
And once again, we see the contrast most clearly in Jesus. When Jesus walked this earth in bodily form, He deliberately focused His ministry on the weak, the outcasts, the people that the society had rejected and marginalized, those who could not care for themselves. It cost Him the respect of the “establishment”, led to accusations that He was a “friend of sinners”, that He was a drunkard and a party-goer, that He must be of questionable morality Himself if He chooses to associate Himself with tax collectors and prostitutes. He could have had a brilliant career as a Rabbi, He demonstrated His intellectual ability in more than one argument, but He was, you know, just a little too radical for the “nice” people of the day. Why didn’t He just give money to the poor, why actually get to know them, spend time with them, touch them?
We find the answer, at least in part, in the image of the shepherd. Which sheep need the shepherd more – the “healthy” or the vulnerable? And the good shepherd, according to Zechariah 11, is the one who invests Himself in the lives of those who can’t care for themselves.
“The Lord is my shepherd…”
There are a number of ways we could apply this passage to our lives. It certainly comments on the role of earthly, human leaders among the people of God. It raises issues of obedience and punishment. Of faithfulness. But as I’ve chosen to interpret this passage backwards from the person of Christ, I want to instead apply it by going to Psalm 23:1. Many of us love this passage. We find great comfort, peace, and hope in it. And it begins with five very familiar words, say them with me: “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Zechariah 11 expands that truth out for us. “The Lord is my shepherd,” meaning that He has come as the good shepherd, kicked out the “evil shepherds”, fought on our behalf when we were injured or vulnerable. He has come, and taken over a “flock” of people like us, destined for slaughter, and He has become our shepherd. As Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.” (Jn 10:14-15).
Now for the question implied in Zech 11: how are we responding to our good shepherd? Obediently? Allowing Him to “lead us…”, as Psalm 23 promises? Allowing Him to lead us even if it looks like the “green pastures” are a long way off, and we have to walk all the way, not allowed to settle for the “brown pastures” that are maybe closer and easier, but instead willingly follow on the journey laid out for us by our “good shepherd”? Are we allowing Him to tend to our wounds, even if it means pouring some disinfectant on them that stings, or setting a broken bone by snapping it back into place?
A bunch of years ago my son was running through our old house and managed to get a rather large wood sliver embedded in the bottom of his foot. Now it was, initially, quite painful to him, and he wanted it out. But as I tried to get it out, the process of removing it hurt even more. So he insisted I stop, and just leave it in his foot, and in his four-year-old reasoning he even demonstrated how he could walk along just on his heel and would be just fine. Of course, as loving parents we couldn’t leave it like that, and actually ended up with him at the medical clinic where the doctor froze the area, two nurses and me and Joanne all held him down, and the doc dug it out.
The “flock” in Zech 11 rejected the good shepherd. The people that Jesus came to 2000 yrs ago rejected Him also. What about us? What about you? Are we willing to follow and obey, even though the road is harder? Even though it hurts more in the short term to have the slivers dug out than to leave them in? It strikes me that the flock in the chapter was meant for slaughter – what kind of a life does a sheep enjoy between the sale and the knife – is that not when they are being fattened up, catered to, left to lounge in the pen, soaking up the food, living the easy life? Sounds easy, even pleasant; but it does not end well for the sheep…
Conclusion:
“The Lord is my shepherd…” That means I choose to follow. Obey. Listen to His voice. Go where He sends, do what He says, accept what He gives and trust where He is taking. Even when the road is difficult. Because I know that with the Lord as my Shepherd, my good shepherd, the “Real” Good Shepherd, (say it with me)… when
1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever. (Ps 23, NKJV)
