As we read yesterday, it was nearly twelve years since the time that Ezekiel came to Babylon as part of the first wave of the Exile when word came to him that the city of Jerusalem had (again) fallen (Ezekiel 33:21). God then gave Ezekiel a harsh message for the religious leaders of Israel. “Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? … You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost” (Ezekiel 36:2-4).

We should especially notice the imagery of scattering: “they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them” (34:5-6). It is for their own sins that God’s people were condemned to exile, scattered among the nations; yet God laid the responsibility for this particularly on the religious leadership, the shepherds who had failed to search out and regather these lost sheep.

Ezekiel went on to proclaim that God’s response would be to shepherd them properly himself, gathering them back from all the places they have been scattered: “As 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. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land” (36:12-13).

Some six centuries later, this theme – those who were the designated shepherds failing in their task and thereby scattering the sheep, and the Good Shepherd taking action himself to rescue and gather them – would be reflected in famous sayings of Jesus like “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). Moreover, this background is foundational for understanding harder and more obscure sayings like: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). It forms a stark warning for all leaders within the church that we must be about the business of gathering in the lost sheep of God’s flock.

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We are no better than our ancestors, Lord; we fail to seek your lost sheep, and indeed by our negligence we often help scatter the flock. Yet you gathered us in when we were lost, and your grace reaches far beyond us to so many others. Teach us to see all the lost souls the way you see them, that we may help bring them home.

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