March 8, 2009
Background Scripture: Ezekiel 34
Devotional Reading: John 10:11-18

It is sometimes said the analogy of the shepherd and his flock is too archaic for people today, most of whom have never seen either a shepherd or a flock. Still, the 23rd Psalm remains a favorite passage of the Bible for Christians, Jews and others.

Even in this technological time, the figure of the shepherd and his flock is not so remote that its message is obscured. We still speak of “pastors” and “flocks,” but we do not have to be either clergypersons or mental giants to use this passage in examining and evaluating our own Christian discipleship.

Ezekiel, of course, was not concerned with the leaders of their captors, but was holding up this model for the leaders – official and unofficial, spiritual and secular – of the Jewish exiles. And he was not giving them a passing grade, for it all boiled down to: “… you do not feed my sheep”! (34:3).

Feeding yourselves?

The writer of the Gospel According to John must have had Ezekiel 34 in mind when he reports that Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” and Peter replied, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

Three times Jesus asked, three times Peter answered and Jesus responded: “Feed my lambs … Tend my sheep … Feed my sheep” (10:15-17). Notice that Jesus was not saying, “Simon, your creed is shaky, your rituals are wrong and you’re not keeping the congregation ‘pure.’”

If you want to get it right, tend and feed my sheep.
Our newspaper recently reported that in this time of economic chaos and deprivation, with the ranks of the unemployed rising by the tens of thousands every day, our Congress – Democrats and Republicans alike – voted overwhelmingly to give themselves raises.

The leaders of the Israelite exiles whom Ezekiel challenged are comparable in many ways to our politicians today.

When they run for office, many politicians make a great deal of their identification as Christians and their respect for the Bible.
So, I would think the words of Ezekiel are quite relevant today: “Ho, 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 fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep” (34:2, 3).

Show me

Whether clergy or laity, the test of our love of God is not in the way we use the word, but in how we practice it.

In “My Fair Lady,” Eliza Doolittle says to Professor Higgins, “Don’t speak of love, show me!” And that is what God says to us.
Preparing for ordination, candidates are informed of the promises they will be asked during the ritual. Charles Gore tells of a bishop who prepared candidates with these words: “Tomorrow I shall say to you, ‘Wilt thou, wilt thou, wilt thou?’ But there will come a day when Another will say to you. ‘Hast thou, hast thou, hast thou?’” Will we not all experience such a day?

Whether our vows are for ordination, joining the church or arising from our concourse with the God to whom we pray, the challenge is always to tend or feed God’s sheep. That flock may be our families, our circles of friends, our neighbors, the people with whom we work and that growing multitude, “the needy.” For, we are both sheep and tenders of the flock.

So the challenge in Ezekiel 34 is for all who seek to worship and serve God: “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled 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” (34:4).

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.