"Fat shepherds"
"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. (Ezekiel 34:2-6, 12 ESV)
My wife & I love to eat. We plan whole vacations around food. Whenever we got to a new city, we search foodnetwork.com for the best eats!
Imagine though, a restaurant that only fed itself. What if you were to hit up a local restaurant only to find that they were only feeding their staff? No outsiders were welcome, just those that work at the place.
Wouldn't this defeat the purpose of starting a restaurant?
Every restaurant needs something to stay open: customers. Without customers, a restaurant will undoubtedly close. So, a restaurant that wants to thrive must have customers!
Similarly, God gave his shepherds the task of feeding his people. The problem is that they only fed themselves. Like a restaurant that only feeds its employees, is a shepherd that only feeds himself.
While there are many applications here for us, I see something in this text that is deeply convicting to me.
The church represents the shepherds & the sheep represent the world around them. Rather than reach out to those with great spiritual & physical needs, the church instead has spent all of its time & energy on feeding itself. The church is bloated with self-feeding programs & activities. While the world around them goes to hell, they go to their third Bible study of the week. There is nothing wrong with Bible study, in fact, it's essential. But, when the focus of the church becomes feeding itself & not looking to the needs around it, the end of that church is near. It will share the same fate as a self-feeding restaurant. Soon it will close its doors.
We as the body of Christ must fight the tendency to be inward. We must combat the desire to focus on ourselves & our needs. We must look outward to those that are far from Jesus. We must follow our Good Shepherd out of the comfort of the flock & go in search of the lost sheep. We must refuse to feed our already fat bodies & give our food away to the emaciated & hungry. We must seek out the marginalized & lonely. The sinners & outcasts. We must do this for such were all of us at one point. And our Savior, as well as some of his followers came looking for us.
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