The verse that struck me as I was reading today's first passage (Ezekiel 34:11-16) is this one: "the sleek and the strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly."  I wondered what that was about, since I had always thought that shepherds wanted strong, sleek (aka healthy) sheep.  I understood why God would want to seek out lost sheep, but why would God want to destroy any sheep, especially the most healthy?  

 

So that's when I went to look at the surrounding verses and that gave me much more of a clue to what is going on here, and I encourage you to go look up these verses as well.  Notice that in the beginning of chapter 34, Ezekiel is speaking to those who have seen themselves as shepherds - the leaders of the people of Israel.  They were supposed to be caring for God's flock but did not.  Most especially they did not care for the weakest members of the flock but only sought to satisfy themselves.

 

So in our verses, God is reminding us that he is rightly the shepherd of the flock, and he will care for all the poor, sick, injured sheep that the leaders did not.  Indeed, God is reminding the leaders that they too are sheep!  If you look toward the end of chapter 34, you can see Ezekiel describing all the ways these self-proclaimed "shepherds" have actually been fat, sleek sheep who have been hurting others in the flock, and ultimately destroying the flock.

 

The reading from Ezekiel serves as a reminder to us that God loves all of us, especially the poor, and God is therefore always seeking to overturn our preferences for what is big, strong, and powerful.  

 

We are reminded of how God over turns things in the gospel too (Luke 15:3-7) where the shepherd leaves ALL of the other sheep in order to look for the one that is lost.  Our usual ordering is to say that we should do what is best for the majority.  If the shepherd leaves all the other sheep, what will happen to them while he's looking for the lost sheep?  They might get eaten by wolves or run away or any number of other horrors - better to save the many than the one, we think.  But Jesus does not advocate the path of the majority, nor does he advocate possible "what ifs".  In that moment, there is one sheep that is lost and the others are fine.  If something happens to the others, we can presume that, Good Shepherd that he is, he would do likewise for those.  

 

Thus, Jesus advocates intense love and care for each and every single sheep that is lost.  This is good news and is one of the messages of today's solemn feast of the Sacred Heart, in which we are reminded of Jesus' intense love for us.

 

Yet, the combination of Ezekiel with the gospel ought to make us reflect hard on our own lives.  Are we genuinely in need at this moment, or are we one of the fat, sleek sheep who are actually okay?  If the first, pray for, search out and accept the help God gives.  If the second, be one of the people who helps, in the name of God.  In both these ways, we will be able to receive God's intense love for us.

 

- Jana M. Bennett