Shepherd of my Sheep
Ezekiel 11 – 16, 20 – 24
I have good news for you or maybe in the spirit of the upcoming Advent season I should say it this way, I bring tidings of great joy, the year 2020, as far as the church is concerned this year is nearly over. Today is the last Sunday of the church year. In a calendar year that has brought so much angst, bewilderment, and isolation, it will be good to see it go.
Since 1925 the churches of the world have set aside day to celebrate the one that is king over the world, not the high and mighty that rule over us with flawed personalities and character, not the ideologs that desire power and authority over man, but rather this is Christ the King Sunday the day in the church year when we celebrate the reign of Christ. Our scriptures show us that Jesus is an unusual kind of king—a shepherd king, much like his ancestor David.
What does that mean? It means that Jesus, in all his glory, lays aside a crown and picks up a shepherd’s crook. In our Old Testament text, Ezekiel prophesied that God himself will search for his sheep and seek them out.
For context we need to know that Ezekiel was a Jewish priest in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BC. During his lifetime Jerusalem fell to the Assyrians and many of the powerful and influential in Jewish society were taken from Jerusalem and put into exile in Babylon. Ezekiel was one of those people. Without a temple to preach in, he served as a Jewish “street preacher” in Babylon for 22 years, telling everyone about God’s judgment and salvation, and calling them to repent and obey.
The book of Ezekiel chronicles the prophet’s life and ministry. Beginning with his call as a prophet, Ezekiel immediately began to preach and demonstrate God’s truth, he also predicted the approaching siege by the Assyrians and the ultimate destruction of Jerusalem.
This devastation would be God’s judgment for the people’s idolatry caused by ineffective and immoral religious and secular leaders in Judah. Because of poor leadership, the sheep in the flock of Israel were scattered, some staying in Jerusalem, some in Babylonia and others were strewn about in the region, hiding from possible captivity by the Assyrians.
Interestingly, it was quite common in those days to refer to kings and rulers as shepherds. The shepherds, the leaders were expected to show kindness, protect the vulnerable, pursue justice, and guide people through every difficulty, just as shepherds care for a flock.
A shepherd does so much more for his sheep than simply turning them loose in a field. The shepherd makes sure that they have plenty of rest and goes after the lost sheep, collecting those who have strayed. The shepherd heals those who are hurting and binds up those who are frail.
In those days God knew that his chosen people needed new shepherds to lead and care for them. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises to become their shepherd. God will seek out the lost and wandering and bring them back. God will not wait for them to return but will search out the lost sheep. God will feed and nurture them and will heal them. God will provide justice for them by confronting those who have failed them.
The Lord God said:
I will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep.
To do that He sends his Son into the world, the lamb of God to find the lost sheep of his Father.
For experiencing displacement, God will bring them back. For their misery, God will nurture and feed them. For their hurt, God will heal them. For their neglect and mistreatment, God will vindicate them. He promised that he would send a Shepherd of my Sheep, a true shepherd (the Messiah) would gather up the lost.
Jesus knew the oppressive nature of secular kings, and in contrast to them, he defined his role as king to humble service, and commanded his followers to be servants as well. While Christ is coming to judge the nations, his teachings spell out a kingdom of justice and judgment balanced with radical love, mercy, peace, and forgiveness.
When we celebrate Christ as King, we are not celebrating an oppressive ruler, but one willing to die for humanity and whose “loving-kindness endures forever.” Christ is the king that gives us true freedom, freedom in Him. Thus, we must never forget that Christ radically redefined and transformed the concept of kingship.
A shepherd, like any good shepherd, leads his sheep in the way to go. Just as Jesus spent his time on earth with those society looked down upon, with those who most needed him, Jesus expects his sheep to do the same.
Jesus walks along that path and waits for us to follow. This shepherd is not content for his sheep to simply be like other sheep. We have more potential, and so part of his feeding us involves leading them to a truer understanding of whom they are and to whom they belong.
Jesus is the shepherd king who seeks us, feeds us, and leads us so that we can prosper. It is up to us to decide what kind of sheep—what kind of citizens of God’s kingdom—we will be.
Sometimes, even with our good intentions, the storms of life scatter us. The good news is that Jesus is still a shepherd king today. Jesus still seeks us out, wherever we may have wandered, to bring us back to the meadow where we can be safe under Jesus’ watch.
And if we are his, we acknowledge who we are and what we’ve done. We’re weak, not self-sufficient. We’re outcasts in one way or another, little as we may want to admit it to ourselves. We’re damaged, we’re riddled with sin.
Let him tend your wounds. Let him love you with the love of the Eternal. Let him unmask you for how weak and vulnerable you really are, how much you need others. Then let him put new clothes on you. Let him reshape your story. Let him turn your self-reliance into humility and your boasting into thanksgiving.
Max Lucado tells us you are the one God is seeking. God is the waiting Father, the caring Shepherd in search of his lamb. His legs are scratched, his feet are sore, and his eyes are burning. He scales the cliffs and traverses the fields. He explores the caves. He cups his hands to his mouth and calls into the canyon. And the name he calls is yours.…The message is simple: God gave up his Son in order to rescue all his sons and daughters, the sheep of his fold, to bring his children home.
Here the Good News Friends………
The good news is that the search is on. Like a shepherd, God seeks us. Sometimes we run. Sometimes we hide, but God always seeks us. For we are lost and the lost must be found.
There is a story that sitting on a table near a sanctuary was a Lost and Found box. It was just a cardboard box with “Lost and Found” written in bold letters. But in the box was a little girl’s doll. The doll looked as if she was resting comfortably, waiting for her little girl to claim her. Her arms were extended, and it looked as if she were saying, “Please come get me. I’m lost and I need to be found. Search for me and take me home.”
That’s the lesson for today. Sometimes we think that God has forgotten us or left us sitting on the pew in church, or on the couch at home when we have lost our way. The good news is that Christ searches for us still.
We don’t have to go in search of our salvation. God came to us in Christ. God loves us so much that Christ sought us out. And if we will but stretch out our arms to God through Christ, then we will become the lost who have been found. God will rescue us. And once we are found, God will lead us to good pastures. God promises to send Jesus to be the Shepherd of God’s sheep. Friends next week we will begin to celebrate the season of his arrival. Amen