Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Proper 29 (34) "Reign of Christ" - Year A
Part 1 - Revolution. Yahweh announces a radical change in the social life of Israel. Yahweh rejects Israel's leaders and promises to become Israel's pastor. A post-king theocracy pointing back to a pre-king time.
Part 2 - Judgment. The Christian Community Bible describes the fat sheep side of the judgment as "those that took advantage of the unjust social order." It fills that out - "They were not satisfied with having a standard of living higher than the rest, but they trampled the rest of the pasture : they grew nothing on the best land in the country; they deposited abroad the money which would have stimulated economic development; they prevented the access of many to education and culture.... They took advantage of their power and because justice was at their disposal, they imposed "their" will by force."
Theocracies don't have a particularly good name these days. We really do need to come to grips with the characteristics of the "Theo" that will be "cracing." What are we talking about here, beyond some utopia?
When it comes to judgment it would seem that this description is all too apt of some single-party rule.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/november2002.html
The New Interpreter's Bible groups this section in a slightly different way. The title they give to verses 17-22 is, Inter-flock Conflict . That language certainly brings a lot of pictures to mind.
The commentator speaks about responsible ecological stewardship - that G*D's creation is not ours to exploit. They bring this up-to-date with images of nuclear waste, chemical landfills, cracked-open tankers, and non-biodegradable trash.
As one of today's shepherds, how do these inform you?
The section we are dealing with began earlier. In some sense we need to hear again verse four with its reversed word order of direct object before verb (lost in most English translations) and emphasize our choosing to join G*D in reversing things.
Verse 4 - accusation against leaders (anybody today come to mind?)
A - the weak you have not strengthened
B - the sick you have not healed
C - the injured you have not bound up
D - the strayed you have not brought back
E - the lost you have not sought
Verse 16 - intention of G*D (is this worthwhile work for you?)
E' - the lost I will seek
D' - the strayed I will bring back
C' - the injured I will bind up
B' - the sick
A' - I will strengthen
What does it mean to you to place a need ahead of or before your action/re-action?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/november2002.html
The New Interpreter's Study Bible has a note: "The result will be a restored experience of public justice."
As you look around you do you see issues of private justice or public justice. In some sense this is the question of whether we are putting band-aids on individuals and groups of individuals or finding the root causes of that which plagues many.
One of the core values we have lost is a concept of public justice. It has been turned into a "whatever you can get away with" mentality. Justice is now oriented toward the theory of profit for the rich, particularly the corporation, not a prophetic empathy with the poor. It is oriented toward carrying forward prejudices and pronouncements of the past, not a participation in growing into a better future.
Are there those who are publicly lost? This is a justice matter that cannot be measured by trickling profits or propping up historic institutions.
Are there those who are publicly injured? This justice matter can't be assuaged by private insurance or schism into separate but unequal institutions.
Are there those who are publicly weak? Justice is not served by the whole political system that is oriented toward lobbyists and massive infusions of wealth from a few or toward rogue news organizations that bring a preordained political slant.
Can you think of an issue that doesn't end up being a matter of justice in this trinity of lost, injured, weak? In an interconnected world it doesn't matter which arena you are working in. What does matter is that you keep "public justice" always before yourself and the rest of us.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/november2005.html
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 100 or Psalm 95:1-7a
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46
With the eyes of your heart enlightened, hope lives in you.
Hope that you will be unscattered and hope that you can help return folks who have been pushed out. Such hope rises to the surface, becoming conscious. From there it is but a matter of applying courage to implement it.
And so, at the end of a long year, we are left with hope. After all the disappointments, we are left with hope. Even in the presence of current and in the anticipation of judgments now and yet, we are left with hope.
- - -
hope revealed
shyly and boldly
pokes its head out
to reveal its heart
in deeds of loving kindness
a bit of feast here
a tun of fun there
a goodwill stop also
a visit when all seemed lost
so hope travels
as we have been done unto
we are thankful
thankful enough
to hope to do well
to do well unto
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
In the sheep/goat model it is helpful to hear even finer distinctions being made. G*D can spot a sheep in goat's clothing. Even sheep come in different guises - "fat" and "thin". Even then there is a quality behind size - justice.
Here in a last week of our liturgical year we pause to reflect on our weight. Too heavy? Too thin? Must not have had your daily minimum requirement of justice. This is not just a personal reflection but one of family, religious judicatory, nation and environment. Too heavy? Too thin? Enough justice?
Since my "sheep within a sheep" detector is relatively unsophisticated, "justice for all" is probably still a helpful mantra.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html
Start the sub-categories. Ezekiel doesn’t tell us about the dualism of good and evil, sheep and goats, but the complexity of sheep. Here, what you do doesn’t put you in a category. What G*D chooses is what makes the difference.
G*D will bring back those who have strayed away from hospitality of food. G*D will bind up those who have been injured by their withholding of water from thirsty folks, because that withholding scars the soul. They will be made whole by being fed mercy.
And yet those very lost and weak ones are the same as the fat and strong ones who have disadvantaged others to their own advantage. They will be destroyed by being fed justice.
How are you going to bring Ezekiel alongside Matthew to investigate the ever present realities of human response, growth, and conversion? These two pictures of some form of judgment seem to need one another to correct self-perception. Blessings on juggling the intricacies of motivation, behavior, and the effect of change.
The Occupy Wall Street folks are reviving the Ezekiel storyline - a culture/society cannot exist that lets their fat-citizen sheep run over their lean-citizen sheep without a penalty flag being thrown, accepted, and enforced.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/11/ezekiel-3411-16-20-24.html
At least we are not categorizing sheep (good) and goats (bad). We've moved to distinguishing fat sheep (bad) from sheep (good). This helps us begin to define what is helpful behavior that builds up one another and delineate that which is out-of-bounds.
It is immediately obvious that not everyone will buy the understanding and boundaries of community. Profit of one kind and another always seems to enter in our decision-making.
The most difficult part of this passage is the way it ends with David being set up as a Fat Sheep among the Lean. Either the community is engaged in building one another up or allowing discrimination and hurt to find an entry spot and take hold. Servant leaders run as many risks, if not more for their intended benevolence, as Dictatorial leaders or Democratic leaders or just plain leaders.
If this is the best outcome of a church year, it is no wonder we shift immediately to an advent assessment.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/11/ezekiel-3411-16-20-24.html