Good Shepherd, Bad Shepherd

In Ezekiel God condemned the leaders of Israel saying,

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel… Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them (Eze 34:1, 2-4)

Because of their great mismanagement of the sheep, God would remove the sheep from their hand and would become their shepherd himself and would seek out the sheep that had scattered, heal the sheep who were sick, restore the flock of God under a godly shepherd who would be the Lord.

Then in the Gospel of John we see Jesus. He said,

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

And again, right after that he said,

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (Joh 10:11-16)

We know Jesus is the shepherd God was talking about because he is the only one who did and does what God said he would do when he came as our shepherd: He cares for the flock, lays his life down for the flock, feeds the flock.

We are that flock. Jesus has provided a meal for us before myriad and myriad angels and saints in the heavenly places. We are here today to join with them in eating and drinking the body and blood of the good shepherd who laid his life down for us. And so as we partake we once again proclaim that we are his, the sheep of the shepherd. Let us pray.

Father we come to you this morning very glad that you rescued us from our enemies, from the brambles we constantly drift into and the sins that so easily beset us. We are very blessed to come to the feast thrown by your son Jesus and we are very grateful for your kindness to us in Jesus’ Name. Amen.