Hughs reflection on the readings for Sunday, November 23, 2014 Christ the King Ezekiel 34:11-12,15-17 Psalm 23:1-3,5-6 1 Corinthians 15:20-26,28 Matthew 25:31-46 Most of the readings this weekend use a metaphor of a “shepherd” to help us understand the relationship and caring of our “King.” Shepherd and King, how do they go together in our minds? Neither concept is familiar any longer to our way of life. It is a rare person who has tended sheep and can have an understanding for what it may mean to be a shepherd. There is a penetrating book entitled, “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23” by Phillip Keller that helped me appreciate Jesus as shepherd. I encourage you to get it and listen to the wise viewpoint it expresses. It will open to you a renewed sense of God’s love. Specifically, Ezekial says in the first reading, speaking for God, that “I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep.” I think we can infer an important understanding Jesus, at least, would like us to understand, so isn’t it important we stop and consider what this relationship might describe? How does a shepherd tend his flock? It was very familiar to the people of Ezekiel’s day. We, understandably, need help. Keller hones a picture of a shepherd who loves his flock throughout his book. Repeatedly he emphasizes that the lot in life of any sheep depended upon the kind of man who owned it. A flock or single sheep can not manage on its own. Left to its own devices, sheep wander into trouble, bicker for territory, and find themselves cast down (a sheep is cast if it is on its back and unable to right itself. Left in this condition it could die within hours). Strangely, a common phenomenon is that the presence of the shepherd brings contentment and needed rescue to the flock. A flock untended will perish. We have the promise of the Psalm to know that the Lord’s flock is well tended. It doesn’t say we will like it all the time or that it will be easy or that we will understand it all. It does say we should realize where it comes from. God does know what is good for us. He declared his creation to be good and that includes you and me. He gave us as a gift, the unique opportunity of the life given to all of us to search for him and within that search to discover Him. What we eventually find is a relationship of love. Our picture of Christ as our shepherd should bring us to realize a profound truth. Entering into the role as a sheep under the Good Shepherd implies a practical working relationship between us and our God. “It links a lump of common clay to divine destiny – it means a mere mortal becomes the cherished object of divine diligence” (Keller) What a gift! It is almost too big for us to grapple with. Think about what it means to be “…an object of divine diligence” this week. Pray about your response to that diligence and act upon it. As we celebrate Christ the King, remember that he is Shepherd also and as the Gospel rings clear, we are given eyes to see need and respond. Write in your Bibles, your intimate conversation with your Shepherd. God Bless, Hugh
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 02:40:30 +0000
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