Last Sunday of the Church Year 2020
Typically we focus on our Gospel lessons. The Old Testament, the Psalm, and the Epistle readings are all certainly the inspired word of God, but there’s a reason we hold the Holy Gospels in the highest esteem. There’s a reason we stand for it and sing Alleluia before it. The Gospels tell us plainly about the fulfillment of Jesus as the redeemer of God’s people. The Gospel of Jesus is what the Old Testament, Psalms, and Epistles all point us towards, and so it is fitting that we meditate on the Gospels the most.
But as clear as the Gospels are, as plainly as they tell us of Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf, occasionally we can find readings in the other parts of scripture that contain the same clarity and comfort that we find about Jesus in the Gospels.
Our Old Testament reading today from the prophet Ezekiel chapter 34 is a perfect example. Most of Ezekiel, really or any of the Old Testament Prophets is foregin to us, we simply as a people today don’t know our Old Testament history very well. But Ezekiel 34 has familiar language to our ears. Chances are, it made you think of Psalm 23 with the Shepherd and Sheep language, feeding in good pastures by ravines and waters. We know Psalm 23 is about our Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd.So it is also here in Ezekiel 34
But let’s take this familiarity as a chance to build a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Prophet Ezekiel. Why was he speaking about God being the shepherd of the people? It was because this was to contrast with the earthly king they had. It was common in those times to call a king a shepherd, and for good reason. A good king should be like a shepherd over sheep, guarding and caring for them with his own life. But for God’s people, their kings had become less like loving shepherds, they had neglected their sheep, letting them starve and go astray while they filled their own bellies.
So in contrast to the Old Testament kings who failed to rule rightly, we heard God proclaim through Ezekiel earlier.
11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. He will no longer watch others neglect his sheep.
12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
The earthly shepherds who had ruled over his sheep had been more like wolves. His people were thirsting and starving spiritually, and had been led to follow foreign gods. So God would take it upon himself to bring all of the scattered sheep back into the fold, out of the darkness of this sinful world.
13 And I 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 ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.
God emphasizes here that he will bring his faithful sheep out of peoples and countries, that is to say, not just from Judah or Israel, but this is indicating how he will find faithful people even amidst the Gentiles, from all all around the world.
He will bring these sheep from all around to come together as his true Israel, that is to say now, his Church, for them to graze on his mountain heights. God meets his people on the mountain tops, and high places make for safe grazing, where dangers could be spotted from miles away.
15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
The Lord is the shepherd for those most neglected, the lost, the injured and the weak. Suffering sinners. But he will destroy those who have taken advantage of these neglected ones, that is, the sheep who have become fat and strong. He will judge between those who have suffered and those who have taken advantage of others’ suffering.
23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.
We know what God means here. This servant David is his son Jesus, who is both the Son of God and therefore God himself, but also the son of Mary, descended from the kingly line of David. We know that today Jesus is our Good Shepherd, but we should appreciate how God told his people it would be so even from Old Testament times through his prophet Ezekiel.
We heard it fulfilled in our Gospel Text. Jesus spoke about how he will separate the believing sheep from the unbelieving goats, what sets them apart.
While we know we are made his people by faith alone, when we receive the Holy Spirit and believe, yet Jesus here points to our works as the evidence of our faithfulness. It is not that God demands perfection from us, yet there is a telltale sign of our faith. That is, how we treat another.
To the faithful Jesus said that: 35 I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.
The righteous will be astounded, asking, Lord when did we ever do this for you? And his answer is simple. ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Jesus points to how we treat one another as the sign of our faith. Now, when he says to the least of these my brothers, he is specifically naming our fellow believers. Granted, we should treat all the world lovingly as those who Jesus has died to forgive their sins, yet some will not believe. So while we should all the world with love an, even more so should we love those who share our faith in Christ. We cannot say we love God and hate our brother or sister in Christ, or neglect to help them in their needs.
For you here today, you probably don’t know many people who are physically thirsting or starving, or who are naked and need clothing. But during this time we have many brothers and sisters in Christ who are feeling neglect. We have members who are in senior-living facilities that are understandably under strict quarantines. We have members who are similarly confined to their homes. It is good that we have many here now who have been able to gather here now as the Body of Christ. To gather together is who we are. But we should have in mind those who are unable be with us, whatever the reason may be.
The effects of his virus have lasted longer than any of us could have or wanted to imagine. This is not a new normal, to be distanced and separated is far from any kind of normalcy God intended for us. But it is a reality we are dealing with now. As Christ’s faithful, we ought to now especially have in mind the fellow sheep who are suffering the most because of this. You may know some who are struggling financially because of the virus, and that is a way we can be of help to each other. But more likely you know those who suffer from loneliness and isolation.
No matter what year it is, whether we’re suffering from a virus, a disaster, or even when life seems almost normal, we are called as Christians to suffer for and with each other. That is the perfect example Christ gave, suffering on behalf of all of us in our sin to give us eternal life. Now he calls each of us to suffer with each other in our needs. He says to suffer for a brother or sister in Christ, to serve them, is to serve himself. That’s not an exaggeration or metaphor. We cannot offer burnt sacrifices to please or serve our God, but we can serve and suffer for each other, and that is the most pleasing sacrifice to our Shepherd and King.
We can put aside our own needs for the sake of each other knowing that our Shepherd will provide for us all. We may all become lean and sickly sheep in his life, whether now by a virus or years later in our age, but our King will bring us into his eternal fold. Let us bear the suffering of this life together then. It’s simply not worth becoming fat and strong in this life at the expense of others, only to dishonor Jesus’ sacrifice and be left out of his eternal pasture.
Encourage one another, build each other up. No matter what we suffer here, no matter who is serving as president of the United states, we have a king who suffered and died for each one of us, searching each of us lost ones out to bring us into his fold. Jesus is the only shepherd and king that we need.