Reflection National Lockdown Wednesday 19 August 2020

Ezekiel 34:1-11         Psalm 23            Matthew 20:1-16

Good day dear friends,

Ezekiel turns from the people, to their leaders (kings, priests and prophets as civil and spiritual leaders) who have the greatest guilt and were fleecing the flock for personal gain, rather than to attend to them in a righteous manner, which stands in stark contrast to the Lord as shepherd. The leaders of the faith community and the secular authorities are being reprimanded for not caring for God’s people with love, kindness and the patience required of shepherds as their primary task and responsibility. Being a civil society leader or occupying a position of leadership in the faith community carries with it a grave responsibility and requires the bearer to make sacrifices that would benefit those to be led and not to serve self-interests. A key part of the shepherding responsibility is to keep the flock together, to ensure unity and to fight of the divisive attempts of the enemy to tear into the flock.  The flock should not be divided to become easy prey for the devouring wolves as was the case when Ezekiel delivered his prophecy. It is a known fact that the wolf is not afraid of the sheep, but of the shepherd whose responsibility it is to drive it away and to save the sheep. The prophet Ezekiel is reminding the shepherds, of the civil and sacred institutions of God’s bias towards the weak, the marginalised, the fringe, poor, downtrodden and the sick, who needs specialist care on matters sacred and secular from the shepherds. There is a stern warning for the ministers and secular leaders of the nation not to compromise on principles or to water down God’s word, but to be careful to feed the sheep and not to enrich themselves. God will not allow a careless leader to go on, but will replace them with others who do care for the people as protectors and guides.

The lost and those struggling to survive in our world today are like those sheep on the mountain referred to in our reading and are in need of care and shepherding by committed and loving shepherds in the form of spiritual and civil leaders. Our people need to enjoy the protection offered by the state and when the shepherds acts absent, it is the responsibility of the other arms of shepherding namely the church to find its voice and challenge the state in its moral duty. Sacred and civil ministers should not live above the conditions of the people but should be able to identify with their struggles and pains as a means of teaching them true doctrine and warn them of the dangers of not living according to God’s word and principles. This they will do best, by living these very same principles as an example to the people. They should strive to build unity and encourage fellowship with others by providing pasture and security to the people. Like God promised to search out Israel and restore her to her homeland, He will search out our country and restore her to a position of glory, where all her citizens will be provided for and kept secure. This is not someone else’s responsibility, but ours. From here on, Ezekiel’s messages are mostly comforting, telling of God’s grace and faithfulness to His covenant promises. 

Psalm 23 is commonly used in the context of death and the funeral service, but its language and imagery  is more fitting for the season of Easter when the Church discern how to live in light of Christ’s resurrection. It is about how a believer lives in relationship to God and not just about how one faces death or finds security beyond the grave. It acknowledges God as the one who protects and guides and who rules over the life of the believer as one who has completely surrendered to the will to God. God’s shepherding care provides all that is essential to life and verses two to five should not be seen as a restrictive list (e.g., food, water, safety, protection etc.) of the needs of the believer. There are not just basic provisions to be enjoyed, but abundance as well.

The final verse continues the language of riches and blessing with two hopeful claims to “goodness and mercy” and to “dwell in the house of the Lord”, not just for a while, but for all time and eternity and qualifies God’s nature of abundant provision enjoyed by the writer.

The shepherd metaphor, with all its wide-ranging expressions, raises the historical memory of a people shepherded by God not only as part of the Old Testament salvation story, but as a life-giving part of the New Testament as well, pointing to Jesus as the “good shepherd”. These connections are appropriate for reading Psalm 23 in the Easter season, as Jesus’ own prayer to His Father and reminds us of Him, Jesus as the chief example of one who depended on God while in trouble and who sought God above all else. We will do well in following the example of our redeemer, Salvador Mundi (Saviour of the world). Where God reigns, His followers will never suffer want. 

The parable of the labourers in the vineyard is essentially about the commandment not to “covet” and whilst it may not seem the most apparent word to describe what is going on here, it does fit both the importance of Jesus’ teaching and the central emphasis in Matthew on the Law and Jesus’ representation of it in a way that changes our thinking and doing. Coveting lies at the heart of this parable in a couple of ways.

We covet what God chooses to give to others and it is not about the fact that others also receive blessings from god, but that they undeservedly receive the same as we do, whilst putting in much less effort than we did. As late arrivals, they are worthy of less, not nothing, but less and certainly not entitled to a portion equal to ours. It shows us up as being resentful of what others receive from God.

As a direct result of this, we covet God’s power to forgive and God’s control over who is forgiven and how. The parable of the labourers in the vineyard is about coveting, about our frustration with the grace of God as it relates not to us, but to others.

Second, the parable of the labourers in the vineyard is about the first and the last and it’s displaying a reversal of expectations; “the last will be first and the first will be last” or should it be “the last shall be first, and the first shall be the same”

The last are factually first in that they are paid first. And the first, who have laboured longest, must also wait the longest to get theirs. This reversal of expectation, of our sense of justice, and even of our hopes, is a central message of the New Testament. The message is simply that we are all equal recipients of God’s gifts and the fact that we are often envious and bitter when God’s gifts of forgiveness and life are given to other in equal measure.