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The Feeding Trough of Justice
Ezekiel 34:11-24
by Rev. Randy Quinn

I don’t know much about sheep.  I’ve known people who raised sheep, and I’ve seen sheep at fairs and in petting zoos.  But I really don’t know much about sheep or raising sheep; nor do I know much about being a shepherd.

What I do know is that sheep and the people who raise them are common sights in many parts of the world today and were a common sight in the land of Israel throughout the biblical era.

I didn’t know sheep had been a part of the local history until I read about it in the Yakima Herald-Republic this week.[1]  The series of articles in the paper suggested that the sheep industry has changed significantly over the past 50 or 100 years for a variety of reasons – as many other industries have changed over the course of time.

But one of the articles implied there is a need in the lives of sheep for a good shepherd.[2]  The article spoke about a herd of sheep that is no longer domesticated and began to run free and wild on Decatur Island, one of the San Juan Islands. 

Apparently, early settlers had brought them there and set them free.  The cost of their freedom, however, was an enormous amount of disease.

It became clear from reading the article that sheep need shepherds.

That isn’t just the opinion of someone who was trying to protect their job as a shepherd, either.  There was sufficient evidence of their need for a shepherd that people who had never been close to a sheep could see there was a need for some sort of care for these “wild” animals.

Ask any teacher what it’s like when they leave their classroom and you’ll know hear some of the same kinds of stories – and I don’t think it matters if they teach First Grade or Sixth Grade or High School.  When a teacher leaves the room, it doesn’t take long before the classroom is in some sort of an uproar.

Ezekiel seems to know all about that, too.  I don’t know if he had seen a “wild” herd of sheep running loose or not, but he could see what happened to his own people when there was no leadership.  He translated that into a powerful metaphor of sheep and shepherds – an image so powerful that even those of us who don’t know much about sheep can recognize the problem.

You may remember that Ezekiel was writing to a people who were in exile.  Due to a variety of circumstances, the capital city of Jerusalem had been overcome and overrun by enemy soldiers.  The city lay in ruins.  King Zedekiah had watched as one by one members of his family were murdered before his very eyes.  Then, to make sure the last thing he saw was their death, the King’s eyes were put out with a branding iron (2 Kgs 25:7).

The King and most of the leaders of the country were led away to Babylon in shackles.  On that day, the Proverb that said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” was fulfilled in a rather literal way (Pr 29:18, KJV).

They had become like “sheep without a shepherd”.[3]

Some of the kings sounded like the shepherds Ezekiel describes, who were more interested in their own wealth and their own comfort than the well-being of the people (Ezek 34:3-4).  But as bad as the worst monarch had been, it soon became clear that a bad shepherd was better than no shepherd!

Ezekiel is writing to the exiles living in Babylon – at a time when they were longing for any shepherd.

Many people had come to the conclusion that the destruction of Jerusalem was God’s punishment on a failed monarchy.  Their shepherd-king had failed to provide good leadership, so the entire flock of Israel was dispersed throughout the world.

In the first part of this chapter, in fact, Ezekiel shows how those given the responsibility for caring for and protecting the people had focused on their own wants and needs rather than the needs of the people.  Their failure to lead properly led to the destruction of the city and the dispersion of God’s people.

So God promises to step in and be a good shepherd (Ezek 34:11-16).

But Ezekiel says the truth isn’t quite as clear as it might seem.  You see, it wasn’t just the monarchs who were corrupt.  The sheep were guilty, too!  It wasn’t just the leaders who had abdicated their responsibilities – the sheep had failed, too.  Their way of life had been destroyed, but rather than trying to strengthen their community, they were caught in the violent and inhumane actions of individualism.  Their motto went from “I am my brother’s keeper” to “I need to keep what is my brother’s.”

What was true then, is still true today.  We can blame our leaders – whether they are elected leaders or religious leaders or even business leaders.  But we also need to examine our own roles in the failures of society.

Ronald Reagan may have popularized the concept of “trickle down” economics, but I think it’s time for the church to popularize the concept of “trickle up” morality.

Ø      I think it’s time to find ways to share our bounty with our neighbors.

Ø      I think it’s time we take the courageous stand of being citizens who willingly pay taxes to support the infrastructure of our society rather than the simple “nay-saying” that people like Tim Eyman suggest.

Ø      I think it’s time we make the politicians respond to the needs of the voiceless in our society – and in other parts of the world.

I think that’s part of what happened to Gordy Hutchins, the United Methodist pastor in Tieton.  Gordy has made a dozen trips to Israel in the 18 years he has been a pastor.  He has taken tour groups and youth groups.  He has participated in archeological digs and spiritual pilgrimages.  But his most recent trip was for a different purpose.  He went to help people right a wrong, a wrong we have unwittingly supported through our tax dollars and national policies.

But he didn’t go to change policies.  He went to help one family in an effort to model for us what “trickle up” morality might look like.  He went to help harvest the olives for one particular family that has been cut off from their land by a wall the Israelis are building.  He went to confront the Israeli soldiers who have become unwitting participants in the violence and with the hope that the story of this one family will be heard by their “shepherds” and the Israeli “shepherds” and our “shepherds”.

Whether the shepherds hear the story or not, Gordy insists that the “sheep” hear the story.  So he stood between the Israelis and the Palestinians – to protect both the soldiers and the farmers from harming one another.  He stood between the Israelis and other protestors to protect both parties.  He stood as a witness to God’s justice as Ezekiel had envisioned it.

Ezekiel looks around and sees a people without a shepherd who have become so narrow in their focus on the individual that they have forgotten the importance of community.  They had become just like the “wild sheep” of Decatur Island.  They were sick and dying and in need of a shepherd.

God wants to be their shepherd, but that means the sheep can no longer be treated as special pets but part of a flock.  God wants to be our shepherd, too.

When I titled in this sermon earlier in the week, I had the image of sheep eating from a common trough.  It’s the image I want to convey.

But as I thought about the image, I remembered another use of the word “trough.”  When we take Melissa in for blood work, they want her medicine levels to be at their lowest – a “trough” level.

Maybe it’s appropriate that I’m speaking about justice when there seems to be a dearth of it.  We are at a “trough” level and we need to get back to the common trough of God’s justice.

In the end, I know God’s justice will prevail.

Thanks be to God.

Amen


[1]  Four different articles ran this week, two under the common headline, “A Passing of the Old Ways” on November 18 and “Lifestyle Almost Gone, But Not Forgotten” and “The Decatur Island Sheepherders Club” both ran on November 19.  (All were written by Rhina Guidos and included several photos by Brian Fitzgerald.)

[2]  “Decatur Island Sheepherders Club.”

[3]  A phrase used in many scriptural passages.  See Num 27:17; 1 Kgs 22:17; Is 13:14; Mt 9:36.