Our Shepherd
In one of our recent Sunday morning classes on Mark’s gospel we happened across Mark 6:34. This is where Jesus crosses the lake with His disciples to escape the crowds, but the people figure out where He's headed to and meet Him at the other side. In the NASB it reads:
When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.
[Mark 6:34 NASB]
Reading this verse, I'm reminded of Ezekiel 34. If you’re not familiar with it, take a few minutes and go read the whole thing. It’s a fascinating indictment by the Lord against the corrupt religious rulers and leaders of Israel. He proclaims the guilt of these unfaithful shepherds and points to the ruinous effects of their narcissism:
Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them."'"
[Ezekiel 34:1-6]
But there’s more: He doesn’t just condemn what’s wrong – He promises to make it right. He’s going to step in and shepherd the people for Himself.
For thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord GOD. "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment.
[Ezekiel 34:11-16]
I’ve always read this passage with a Zionistic bent. It has often been interpreted as an end-times prophecy, with Jesus returning to Israel to set up a millenial kingdom; here the "wild beasts" he speaks of clearing from the land in the second half of the chapter are the foreign nations who continually threaten Israel's security, and the flock that is gathered to Jerusalem from among the nations are the Jews, plus the Gentile Christians who've been "grafted in" a la Romans 11.
But the passage in Mark makes me wonder: what if this is actually a Messianic prophecy? It changes a lot. For one thing, Mark's gospel and Paul's writings both proclaim that God placed all demons and spiritual powers in subjection to Jesus' authority when Jesus finished His work on the cross; in which case, these “wild beasts” become not political nations, but spiritual powers set against God's people. Perhaps God is describing not an eschatological victory in this physical realm, but rather the present salvation of the saints in the finished work of Christ!
Think about it: all of the promises of Ezekiel 34 were fulfilled spiritually by the life and ministry of Jesus. He says He was sent from the Father “to the lost sheep of Israel”. He calls himself “the good shepherd”. He bound up the broken and strengthened the sick. And in Him, we have every spiritual blessing. He’s disarmed the powers set against us in His work on the cross, and now He sits at the right hand of God, ruling as “prince among [us]” (Ez 34:24).
If this is the right reading, then the benefits of security and peace described here are spiritual blessings we already have in Christ; not apparent to the world, as if we were protected from physical persecution, but even better than that – a whole new life lived in bounty in a spiritual Kingdom, where we no longer fear what the enemy can do to us; for our Shepherd is greater than all, and we are fed and led and cared for. We are truly dead to this world and alive in Christ!
Right after class, as the enormity of this thought was still fresh with me, Danny got up and preached from Psalm 23, about the Lord as our Shepherd. Wow! Talk about connect the dots! It's one thing to think about God watching out for us, especially out in the future, when we die. But I'd never actually seen Psalm 23 as Messianic before. Now, I'm not sure I'll ever see it any other way. See, the “valley of the shadow of death” isn’t where we die, it’s where we live every single day, and in complete security. Jesus really is our Shepherd; He was not content to leave us scattered and vulnerable. He come for us with power and might and ran off all the wolves! He really is our Prince, the Son of David, who leads us beside still waters and in green pastures day by day... Praise God! We're cared for, fed, and led and truly have nothing to fear.
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