Ezekiel 34

Ezekiel lived through the days of the exile of the People of God when they had been overrun by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and now we hear that the failure of those who were meant to be shepherds for the people will result in God stepping in to be their shepherd. We rightly hear a pre-echo of the words of Jesus about being the Good Shepherd in John 10. The trouble is, it wasn’t just the shepherds who had failed; the sheep were pretty bad too, trampling the pasture, stirring up mud in the water, the strong taking advantage of the weak. Will we allow the Good Shepherd to turn us into good sheep by following his voice, his instruction, his footprints, allowing our hearts to be swapped from stone to flesh?

The Revd. David Hildred