Sheep
Sermon
Object:
We English are renowned as a nation
of animal lovers to such a degree that other nations often regard us as
slightly touched when they see how we care for our animals, especially our
domestic pets. Many of us give our pets the best food and the best living
quarters and for many, the pet is a treasured member of the family. On the
whole, we rather like other animals too, as long as they're warm and furry.
Some of us are less keen on spiders, snakes or scorpions, but there are those
who feel as strongly for reptiles and insects as the rest of us do for dogs and
cats, sheep, goats, squirrels and rabbits.
Here in the UK, sheep probably fall into the warm and furry category, but our sheep are very unlike the sheep still to be found in Palestine. In the Holy Land, sheep are small and thin, wiry and nimble with curly horns, and are often seen apparently roaming wild on the mountains. In Palestine it's very difficult, especially from a distance, to distinguish between sheep and goats, for goats too are small and thin, wiry and nimble with curly horns. Hence the parable Jesus told about the sheep being on the right hand of God and the goats on the left (Matthew 25:31-46). The point of the parable is that we human beings can't tell who are sheep and who are goats. Only God can determine those who will be on his right and those who will be on his left.
Today's Old Testament passage from the book of Ezekiel may have provided the inspiration for Jesus' parable. All his hearers would know the Old Testament passage and would expect the parable to be very similar, but Jesus introduces some differences. In Ezekiel's story, all the animals are sheep, but some are fatter and richer than others and Ezekiel targets these "fat cats" as those who will be faced with God's judgment. In the Ezekiel passage God says: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
In the first part of the passage God describes himself as the Good Shepherd. He says: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 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; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
Clearly this passage is also the inspiration for Jesus' discourse describing himself as the Good Shepherd, in John's gospel, chapter 10. After Jesus referred to himself as the Good Shepherd, we're told that the Jews described Jesus as demon-possessed (John 10:19-21), but as Jesus goes on to tell the Jews, "You do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:26-27), the Jews pick up rocks to stone Jesus to death, accusing him of blasphemy.
The Ezekiel passage shows why their reaction was so extreme. Jesus was describing himself as God, a blasphemy punishable by stoning, and moreover by saying "you do not belong to my sheep" is equating the Jews with the fat sheep whom God will destroy.
Today's Old Testament passage finishes with God making a promise, "I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken."
Jesus is described as "son of David" in the very first verse of the New Testament and in the gospels there are a further thirteen references to him as "son of David". Again, the implication is clear through today's passage from Ezekiel. God himself describes the Good Shepherd as David, the king forever remembered with awe and reverence as Israel's greatest king. But when this passage was written, David had already been dead for nearly 500 years, so God must be referring to a new David-like figure, a promised Messiah. The fat sheep had pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with their horns until they scattered them far and wide. But the new Good Shepherd will feed and nurture his sheep and care for them.
We don't describe people today as "fat sheep", but we do describe them as "fat cats" and the allegory is very similar. Fat cats are seen as those who tread on the weak and powerless in order to reach the top and to make themselves richer and more powerful. Here in Ezekiel, God is very explicit in condemning that sort of behaviour, as Jesus too condemned it in the gospels. The thrust of the whole Bible, both old and new testaments, is to support the weak and powerless and to care for the poor and the hungry, those who are lost and forgotten, those in prison and those on the margins of society.
As Christians we are called not to work all out for our own wealth, but to support the poor and the hungry and all those who are somehow outside polite society. And this support must come from the heart. For remember the words of the goats in the parable: "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?" And remember Jesus' reply, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." (Matthew 25:44-45).
Here in the UK, sheep probably fall into the warm and furry category, but our sheep are very unlike the sheep still to be found in Palestine. In the Holy Land, sheep are small and thin, wiry and nimble with curly horns, and are often seen apparently roaming wild on the mountains. In Palestine it's very difficult, especially from a distance, to distinguish between sheep and goats, for goats too are small and thin, wiry and nimble with curly horns. Hence the parable Jesus told about the sheep being on the right hand of God and the goats on the left (Matthew 25:31-46). The point of the parable is that we human beings can't tell who are sheep and who are goats. Only God can determine those who will be on his right and those who will be on his left.
Today's Old Testament passage from the book of Ezekiel may have provided the inspiration for Jesus' parable. All his hearers would know the Old Testament passage and would expect the parable to be very similar, but Jesus introduces some differences. In Ezekiel's story, all the animals are sheep, but some are fatter and richer than others and Ezekiel targets these "fat cats" as those who will be faced with God's judgment. In the Ezekiel passage God says: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
In the first part of the passage God describes himself as the Good Shepherd. He says: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 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; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
Clearly this passage is also the inspiration for Jesus' discourse describing himself as the Good Shepherd, in John's gospel, chapter 10. After Jesus referred to himself as the Good Shepherd, we're told that the Jews described Jesus as demon-possessed (John 10:19-21), but as Jesus goes on to tell the Jews, "You do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:26-27), the Jews pick up rocks to stone Jesus to death, accusing him of blasphemy.
The Ezekiel passage shows why their reaction was so extreme. Jesus was describing himself as God, a blasphemy punishable by stoning, and moreover by saying "you do not belong to my sheep" is equating the Jews with the fat sheep whom God will destroy.
Today's Old Testament passage finishes with God making a promise, "I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken."
Jesus is described as "son of David" in the very first verse of the New Testament and in the gospels there are a further thirteen references to him as "son of David". Again, the implication is clear through today's passage from Ezekiel. God himself describes the Good Shepherd as David, the king forever remembered with awe and reverence as Israel's greatest king. But when this passage was written, David had already been dead for nearly 500 years, so God must be referring to a new David-like figure, a promised Messiah. The fat sheep had pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with their horns until they scattered them far and wide. But the new Good Shepherd will feed and nurture his sheep and care for them.
We don't describe people today as "fat sheep", but we do describe them as "fat cats" and the allegory is very similar. Fat cats are seen as those who tread on the weak and powerless in order to reach the top and to make themselves richer and more powerful. Here in Ezekiel, God is very explicit in condemning that sort of behaviour, as Jesus too condemned it in the gospels. The thrust of the whole Bible, both old and new testaments, is to support the weak and powerless and to care for the poor and the hungry, those who are lost and forgotten, those in prison and those on the margins of society.
As Christians we are called not to work all out for our own wealth, but to support the poor and the hungry and all those who are somehow outside polite society. And this support must come from the heart. For remember the words of the goats in the parable: "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?" And remember Jesus' reply, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." (Matthew 25:44-45).
