You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your
God, declares the Sovereign Lord (Ezekiel 34:31).
The prophet Ezekiel rebukes the shepherds of Israel. This would include anyone
and everyone whom God had placed in a position of leadership within the
community: kings, priests and self-appointed prophets. They have abused their
authority and exploited the poor and the weak, while they grow rich and fat.
I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I
will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong
I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice (v. 16).
Jesus was almost certainly thinking of Ezekiel when he
announced, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for
the sheep (John 10:11). The
Pharisees had to recognize his inference that if he was the Good Shepherd, willing
to lay down his life for the sheep, then they were filling the role of
Ezekiel’s self-serving shepherds, what Jesus would call hired hands (John 10:12). Rather than laying down
their lives for the sheep, they sacrificed the sheep to benefit themselves.
It is a relief to know that God cares about the weak sheep
and the wounded sheep, because sometimes I’m weak and sometimes I’m wounded.
Thank God for his promise: I will bind up the injured and strengthen the
weak (34:16).
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He
restoreth my soul (KJV, Psalm
23:1-3).
TODAY’S MEDITATION
What wounds can the
Shepherd can heal for you?
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