Scripture: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 (NRSV)
DEVOTIONAL:
The theme for this week of advent is “Restore us.” But whom do we really need to restore? Ezekiel 34 speaks from the tradition of those held captive in a foreign land. The Hebrew people had been forcibly brought to Babylon following the destruction of their holy city and temple at the hands of their captors.
The verses leading up to it condemn Israel’s leaders for failing to act appropriately as shepherds of their people. They did not care for the weak and they allowed the flock to be scattered. In light of the failings of Israel’s leaders, God makes a commitment to fill the vacant role of guidance and protection, as shepherd to the flock.
Many people today are disenchanted with their leaders. One does not need to be a misanthrope or believe in an approaching apocalypse to appreciate that there is a crisis of corruption, inequality, and environmental degradation in our world.
The hope that Ezekiel brings to us is that despite the failures of humankind, there is a shepherd to tend the flock. But there is a warning to accompany that hope. The shepherd brings care for the sick and the hungry, but brings condemnation on the fat and the strong. God sympathizes with those who have been excluded from the table of prosperity.
I cannot say that I as an individual or we as a civilization have lived up to the calling of Ezekiel 34. However, the inadequacy of those in power is not justification for apathy or pessimism. In times of moral vacancy, God calls us to personal accountability to our fellow sheep.
In the season of advent, ask God to help restore our guidance.
Scripture: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 (NRSV)
For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. 14I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. 20Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, 22I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.