GOD SHEPHERDS HIS FLOCK Having chastened the foreign enemy (Chapters 25-32), God demands from His people the true repentance (Chapter 33). Now, He starts to rebuke the wicked shepherds who feed themselves and not their flock. He Himself is going to take over their care, establishing a new kind of shepherding. 1- Irresponsible and selfish shepherds 1-10. 2- God the true Shepherd of His people 11-22. 3- Establishing a new kind of shepherding 23-31. 1- IRRESPONSIBLE AND SELFISH SHEPHERDS “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; But with force and cruelty you have ruled them”(Ez 34:2-4). The shepherd’s heart, that gets diverted from the people of God to himself, cares for his own benefits; works for the sake of his own dignity, possessions, and the comfort of his body, etc. Instead of caring for their needs and benefits, he does not care for the sick, the wounded, the broken, the lost, or what is driven away, among them but cares for his own selfishness. Such a man is not counted as a shepherd, but as a hireling; who seeks the wages but not the sonhood; sometimes he is even counted as a thief who steals the flock instead of protecting and supporting it. There are hirelings who work in the church; of whom the apostle Paul says: “They seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:21). What does “seek their own,” mean? They do not love Christ for free. They do not seek the things that are God’s, but seek the temporal benefits; they open their mouths for gain; and seek dignity from people. When an overseer seeks such things, and serves God for the sake of getting them; this man, whoever he is, is counted as a hireling, and would never be counted among the children. About such people, the Lord also says: “Assuredly, I say to you, they have got their reward” (Mat 6:5). Hirelings are there among us. Yet God, who knows the hearts, recognizes them, even if we cannot; Having not uttered in vain, in His talk about the wolves: “By their fruits you will know them” (Mat 7: 16, 20)1. St. Augustine The selfishness of the shepherd makes him lose the compassionate fatherhood for the weaklings2; and would turn him, not merely into a hireling, but also into a cruel domineering; This cruelty would lead the people to be scattered, “to become food for all the beasts of the field,,,, to wander through all the mountains, and on every high hill..., and over the whole face of the earth” (Ez 34:5). Man would become prey for all kinds of demons that devour the flock of God, because of the slothfulness of the shepherds and their preoccupation by themselves. The flock would walk with no aim nor shelter; would wander from one mountain to another, .497- 1 للمؤلف : الحب الرعوي،ص 496 . 2 ا رجع كلمات القدیس یوحنا الذهبي الفم عن الرعایة كأبوة، في كتابنا :القدیس یوحنا الذهبي الفم، 1980 5 from one hill to another, and from one place to another, with no discernment, wisdom, or knowledge; would become the plaything of the demons, cast from one to another until completely destroyed. “I am against the shepherds; and I will require My flock at their hand” (Ez 34:10). Fr. Caesarius of Arles, says: [As long as the Lord sets us to pilot His ship, let us, with His help, and the guidance of the two Testaments, try to control the ship of His Church; to keep it from diverting, through our negligence to the right or left; but to keep it on the right course in the midst of the dangerous waves of the sea of this world. As long as no ship can get earthly gains without troubles; so also the ship of the Church, cannot get the gains and joy of eternity without passing through many troubles.] The Lord cries out, saying: “You shepherds, hear the word of the Lord...: My flock became a prey” (Ez 34:7, 8). He makes them responsible; as they became the cause of destruction and perdition of the souls, instead of being for them a refuge and a good hold, against the wild wolves. Pope Athanasius the Apostolic wrote to Bishop Dracontium about his pastoral responsibilities, saying: [Before you gain the grace of Bishopric, nobody knew you. But now, you became the one, from whom the congregation expect to get their food; namely, the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Now, in case they suffer hunger while you fulfill only yourself; when the Lord Christ comes, and you stand before him, How will you defend yourself, when He finds His flock hungry?1] Sometimes things do not stop at just drinking the fresh water alone or feeding on the spiritual food, leaving their flocks hungry and thirsty; they sometimes, selfishly keep for themselves the deep clear waters to drink from, and do not even leave the shallow waters for their flock, but foul them with their feet. “Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture - and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet?” (Ez 34:18, 19). St. Jerome believes that the muddy feet of the heretics foul the clear waters, and corrupt the faith of the congregation2. 2- GOD, THE TRUE SHEPHERD OF HIS PEOPLE “For thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out’” (Ez 34:11). For God, there is nothing more valuable than the human soul that he created in His image, and according to His likeness. If he would entrust His people to the hands of shepherds, this is for the sake of dignifying humanity, to share with God, and in His name and power, the care for the souls. Yet God dearly keeps that divine work to Himself, saying: “I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.” In His care for His flock, God does not bear the selfishness of the shepherds He set to minister to His children. That is why He Himself stands in their faces; counting every negligence or fault on their part, as though personally directed against Him. He addresses every soul, abused or neglected by the shepherds, saying: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand. I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more. For I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them” (Ez 34:10). He takes the care for His people on Himself! It gives Him pleasure to call Himself 1 Ep. 49:2. 2 Ep. 127:9. 6 “A Shepherd,” repeating the word, “My flock” 14 times in this chapter; confirming that they are His people; saying: “My people;” They are His own, He saves them from the wicked shepherds, as well as from the foreign enemy, and receives their life Himself. If the shepherds have devoured the flock; the great Shepherd will receive His flock, to judge on behalf of the weak flock against the violent shepherd: “Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat (the aggressive shepherd) and the lean sheep (the poor flock)... Therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep’” (Ez 34:20, 21). All will be equal before Me - the shepherds and the flock - I will judge all, and between a sheep and a sheep. As such should be the successful minister; he is the one who looks forward to the coming of the great Shepherd to judge all with impartiality. He does not look at the faces, and does not care for dignities. On the contrary, the more someone is given, the more he will be asked to give! The clever minister is the one who always hides in the Good Shepherd; he will only minister through Him, by Him, and according to His divine thought. By that, the minister would never raise himself above his flock; and would never think of himself as someone better than his brothers. 3- ESTABLISHING A NEW KIND OF SHEPHERDING Having spoken of God’s care for mankind, He proclaimed the summit of this shepherding through the Lord Christ; the true spiritual King - the Son of David; saying: “I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them - My servant David - He shall feed them and be their shepherd” (Ez 34:23). No doubt, “My servant David” does not imply that king David will be risen from the dead to reign anew; but the appearance of the Lord Christ; the Son of God, who became a Servant to reign over us through His love and humility. Concerning this, St. John Chrysostom says: [As for Ezekiel and other prophets, their talk about the coming of David, does not mean him who is already dead1.] Origen says: [It is not the Patriarch David, who will rise and judge the saints, but Christ2.] And St. Augustine says: [Ezekiel speaks prophetically in the person of God the Father, proclaiming ahead about the Lord Christ, in a prophetic way, as being David, who took the image of a Servant and became Man - He who is the Son of God3.] He speaks of this good Shepherd; the Savior Messiah as such: a- He will make a covenant with humanity (Ez 34:25); that He will write, not on stone tablets, but will inscribe with blood on His holy body, by His divine love; to bring us unto Him, and to accept Him an eternal Groom. b- “He will cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods” (Ez 34:25). What are these wild beasts that He will cause to cease from the land, but the works of the old man, full of violence; that will be uprooted from the land of our body, to let us live in peace? By the wild beasts, He probably means the Gentiles. They receive the faith and turn from their wild nature, to live by a new spirit and a new nature. c- “I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing ; and I will cause showers to come down in their season” (Ez 34:26). That will be when the Lord 1 On Matt, hom 2:6. 2 Comm. Joan 1:23. 3 City of God 18:34. 7 Christ Himself descends from heaven, to dampen the soul and quench its iniquities. d- “Then the trees of the field - that is the church - shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase” (Ez 34:27). He plants the tree of the New Covenant (the Church) in His holy body, to yield much fruit. He plants us in Him; to bless our nature in Him, for the land of our body to become in permanent peace. e- He will “break the bands of their yoke and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them” (Ez 34:27). On the cross he tears and wipes out the written code of requirements that was against us, to set us free from the bondage of the devil that enslaved us. And as the apostle Paul says: “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us. And He had taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col 2:14, 15). That is why the prophet Ezekiel again confirms on the tongue of the Lord Himself: “They shall no longer be a prey for the nations; nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid” (Ez 34:28). Namely, they shall no more be a prey for the devils, nor be devoured by the beasts of the land (body lusts); but they shall be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, the Grantor of comfort and conquest. f- His work will not stop at breaking the yoke of the bondage of evil, and driving away the wild nature, but He also presents the positive side: “I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops) (Ez 34:29). He uproots the old nature, and grants a new one, according to His image to fulfill man with Him personally. g- What gives the Lord pleasure is to make them “His people,” and to be “their God,” who dwells in their midst and unites with them. “‘Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,’ says the Lord God. ‘You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord God” (Ez 34:30, 31). That is the climax of all His gifts to them: He Himself will be their God, and they will become His flock, His people, in whom He finds pleasure. That is why St. John the beloved heard a description of heaven or the eternal life as such: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God Himself will be with them and He their God” (Rev 21:3). 8 AN INSPIRATION FROM THE BOOK OF E ZEKIEL 34 YOU ARE MY SHEPHERD! You are amazing, O my Lord, in Your care for me! Threatening selfish shepherds; Who seek what is their own at the expense of Your flock! You Yourself judge between the suppressive shepherds and the suppressed flock! You came to our land as the good Shepherd; You gave Yourself up for my sake, and for the sake of every man! You opened up Your heaven as a fulfilling pasture! You surrounded us with Your Holy Spirit, as dew that dampens our hearts. You presented to us the fruit of the Spirit in our depths! How sweet are Your words; and how powerful! You say; and You act: “I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out;” I will bring them over to a good pasture; I will shepherd My flock; and seek the lost ones; And bring back the one driven away; I will tend to the broken; bandage the wounded; and I will control the fat and strong; I will shepherd all with justice!
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