Today is Christ the King Sunday, one of those lesser known “high and holy” theological days that actually is the last one in the liturgical year. As you might expect from the name, this Sunday celebrates the rule of Christ as Lord over all creation, the King of Kings. And in this, we have the opportunity to pause and consider what it means exactly to call Jesus our Lord, and what king of King he really is. But frankly, royalty isn’t really a concept we deal with too often nowadays. The most news I seem to hear about royalty revolves around the hairstyle and clothing choices of Kate Middleton, or glimpses of royalty with King Friday and Prince Tuesday in the land of make believe in Daniel Tiger. None of these seem to be particularly helpful to me in understanding Jesus. In fact, that make it quite comical.
Fortunately, the Bible is full of illustrations of kingship, including our texts today, which call attention to Jesus and God as a shepherd. Interestingly, this was quite the common way to refer to kings and rulers in secular settings as well dating back centuries. Leaders were expected to show kindness, protect the vulnerable, pursue justice, and guide people through every difficulty, as shepherds care for a flock. That was the mark of an excellent king. So, to say Jesus or God is a shepherd is to affirm that the very nature of God is to care for all of us sheep, and at the same time, to proclaim the reign of God and Christ over all.
Although Psalm23 might be the first to come to mind with this concept, Ezekiel 34 offers a rich commentary on what it means for God to be a shepherd, reminding us of the very nature of God, the one who came to us in the person of Jesus Christ, has always been interested in the care of the flock. This morning’s text from the prophet speaks words of hope in the midst of many passages that serve as sobering oracles of doom for God’s people[i]. Ezekiel is a book full of visions recorded by the prophet, dated in the opening verses as “in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month,” which most scholars date at the start of the sixth century BCE in the time leading up to the fall of Jerusalem in 586, making this a book written to God’s people during the exile and Babylonian captivity, with some even noting it may have come from oral speeches[ii]. The language is complex and themes sophisticated, suggesting the author to be among the intellectual elite of his day, speaking and writing to other leaders from the southern kingdom of Judah who would have been equipped to understand the intricacies of the historical-political situation of the day.
Chapters 34-48, however, contain oracles of restoration, in which Ezekiel insists that Israel’s exile will not be permanent, for that would be a contradiction with God’s reputation among the nations, instead:
God will regather the people from the nations, return them to their homeland, and ensure that the sins of the past are never repeated . . . [and] will enter into a new covenant with the people[iii].
This is the work of the shepherd outlined in chapter 34, with promises for the sheep of Israel and also for us today about the one we proclaim is king.
Shepherds give up all semblance of a normal life to care for animals that may not even be their own. . .This shepherd image is about love and compassion for another living thing – to the point of self-sacrifice. . . . Being a shepherd means getting dirty, sleeping with the sheep, carrying them to safety, binding their wounds, and caring for their nutritional needs. (vv. 11-16)[iv].
The promise here and throughout our Scriptures is that we will be “well-fed”. How many of you experienced that this week as you celebrated Thanksgiving? According to the small sampling from the poll posted on our church’s Facebook page earlier this week, almost half of your enjoy stuffing or dressing the most, followed by turkey, with a three way tie between cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie for third. For many of us, the image of Thanksgiving is an abundant feast, with countless dishes spread on a large table surrounded by family and friends, that usually ends with some sort of “food coma” as we are all well satiated by the meal. Have you heard of “Thanksgiving pants?” (https://thanksgivingdinnerpants.com/) The Stove Top stuffing brand marketed them this season for $20. They SOLD OUT, confirming that for many this holiday seems to bring with it the notion of overconsumption and extravagance. They are basically yoga or legging type pants with pockets, with a top panel almost like maternity clothing (a familiar joke to those familiar with Joey’s “Thanksgiving pants” from an old episode of the tv show “Friends”), so that as you eat, there’s room for your stomach to literally expand without the restrictiveness of an ordinary waistband[v]. One might wonder what the line is between being “well-fed” and “stuffed” is. I think it might be somewhere around when you order special leggings.
The promise in Ezekiel is that all the sheep will be well-fed by God, but with that comes some commentary about those who have become the “fat sheep.” The second section of verses for today speaks of God’s judgment of those who have gotten too fat and happy at the expense of others, pushing and scattering the other sheep for personal gain. In biblical times, these “fat sheep” are equated with those who have failed to be good shepherds. Scholars debate if they might have reference the royal leaders of Israel and Judah, or even foreign rulers who have dominated or plundered from the Israelites. But even with the exact identities unknown, we might guess exactly what the prophet means. A modern day equivalent might be the image of people pushing and shoving their way into stores on Black Friday, literally trampling one another in order to get a low priced tv. Clearly, something is amiss.
As MaryAnn McKibben Dana notes:
Today’s passage is God’s way of saying, “Step aside, shepherds, and let me show you how it’s done.” . . . Ezekiel is vivid here, but not vitriolic; his words are saturated with detail, but not outright disgust. We find no litany of curses, no ranting, not exclamatory hyperbole. God seems resolute but weary – and almost grieved at once again having to set people straight on the path of justice. . . . Like a parent intent on teaching her child, who remembers that calm consistency is the key, God does not fly off the handle. God just quietly but firmly corrects. Again. And again[vi].
God does this because God is a shepherd, and that is what shepherds do in caring for their flocks. You know how I said I didn’t know much about kings? I may know less about shepherding. But this week I learned a bit more as I searched for this week’s bulletin cover image.
The photo captured me right away as I looked for an image of a shepherd, and I found that it was posted on the website for a historic sheep farming property known as Tarndie in south-west Victoria in Australia. I e-mailed the owners, and got this reply from Tom Dennis:
Dear Elizabeth, I’m more than happy for you to use the image of my father Dave. He does know a thing or two about looking after sheep, and they in turn, look after him.[vii]
What a wonderful perspective on what it means to shepherd. I wondered, if this might not be a great way to look at how this description of God as shepherd is meant to connect to our lives today. God knows a thing or two about looking after sheep, and outlines it clearly multiple times in our Scriptures. And, in turn, might we as faithful sheep, be called to look after him?
Jesus’ parable in Matthew’s gospel seems to answer this question. In these familiar words, we also discover the image of the Son of Man, Jesus, God Incarnate, as a shepherd. Like God intervenes with the fat and lean sheep in Ezekiel, Jesus intervenes with the sheep and goats of the gospel, ushering in a meal of justice that humbles the powerful and empowers the humble. And, as Jesus has continued the work of God and demonstrated the same nature of God as shepherd described in Ezekiel 34, here he indicates that his followers are to carry on that same mission: feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and incarcerated. That is the essence of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, a sheep in God’s pasture.
It starts by recognizing our shepherd. A study released earlier this month revealed that sheep, and other animals, are actually able to both recognize and remember each other’s faces and the face of the shepherd, using similar neural networks as humans. The author of the study, Keith Kendrick, is a neuroscientist at the Babraham Institue in Cambridge, England, and worked studying sheep to find that they could easily be trained to associate the particular faces of others in relation to receiving food. And, more than that, he found that the sheep could retain that memory for up to 600-800 days[viii].
“When did we see you? When did we not see you?” are the questions asked by the sheeps and goats in Matthew, both to the same reply, “As you did (or did not) do it to the least of these . . . you did (or did not) do it to me).” The heart of this parable is being able to see the face of the shepherd in the face of those in need. And it’s something even sheep can do.
Seeing the face of the shepherd and recognizing other sheep is what enables us to act in Jesus’ name. As Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon write:
We can only act within a world we can see.
Vision is the necessary prerequisite for ethics[ix].
Jesus’ parable in Matthew helps to give us that vision for what the kingdom of God can be, one in which he is present on the throne of glory, the eternal shepherd. Ezekiel’s description of God as the shepherd does the same thing, speaking to those who may have felt like “the least of these” themselves in the midst of exile. To those who have much and those who have lost it all, the message is that God offers care and compassion, justice and relief, working tirelessly until all the sheep are safely in pasture. The Lord indeed is our shepherd, we shall not want. May we receive that care, and also extend it to others, so that all of God’s children are well-fed. That is what the kingdom of God is meant to look like. Amen.
~Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford
November 26, 2017
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[i] For other passages of hope, see Ezekiel 36:1-15; 37:1-14; for examples of the oracles of doom, see Ezek. 5:1-17, 8:1-11:13, among other texts. As outlined in: Walter Brueggemann, Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa, and James D. Newsome, “Proper 28,” Texts for Preaching- Year A, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995).
[ii] Katheryn Pfisterer Darr, “The Book of Ezekiel,” The New Interpreter’s Bible: Volume VI: Introduction to Prophetic Literature, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994).
[iii] Katheryn Pfisterer Darr
[iv] Karyn L. Wiseman, “Homiletical Perspective: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24,” Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).
[v] Go to https://thanksgivingdinnerpants.com/ for pictures and a video commercial.
[vi] MaryAnnMcKibben Dana, “Pastoral Perspective: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24,” Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).
[vii] E-mail correspondence between Tom Dennis and Rev. Elizabeth Milford, November 20, 2017.
[viii] Amanda Onion, “Study: Sheep Recognize Other Sheep, Even People,” ABC News,
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98209&page=1, accessed 11/22/17.
[ix] Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon in Imaging the Word: An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Volume 3, (Cleveland, Ohio: United Church Press, 1996).
