Nov. 26-Ezek 34, Bob Dylan's song catches the sense of this first part of our text effectively:
Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall… There's a battle outside And it is a ragin' It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a changin'. The people's leaders have failed but there is a search and rescue operation going on. Everyone knows the story Jesus told about the good shepherd who went in search of the one sheep that was lost (Luke 15:3-7). Now, says Ezekiel, just such an operation is going on.
The Lord, the Good Shepherd, has not forsaken those who are scattered in the gloom and darkness of exile, but is searching them out. That God will rescue them and bring them home (13-14). That God will make them to lie down in green pastures and will be their caring Shepherd (15-16). And they will be fed with justice (Hebrew, mishpat) which is the final, climatic word in this saying in both the Hebrew and English.
Justice (mishpat) is the expected response of God's people to what God has done for them (Isaiah 5:1-7). It is a response which is not static but dynamic (Amos 5:21-14; Micah 6:6-8) and which involves taking up the cause of the powerless -- represented by the widow, the orphan and the poor (Isaiah 1:17; 21-26; 10:1-4). In our time, as in Isaiah's, the special responsibility for those in positions of public responsibility is care for the powerless (Isaiah 10:1-4; Bob Dylan's song).(Klein)Justice means that God holds power accountable. The "shepherd" metaphor takes an ironic turn in verses 20-22: God's judgment will fall on those sheep that harm the weaker sheep. Here Ezekiel satirizes any complacency on the part of "sheep" who might have dared to become overconfident in the images of God's loving care. God will tend these sheep, all right! Those who belong to God are those who do the will of God (Matthew 12:50, Mark 3:35), and it is never God's will that believers injure one another, jockey for advantage, or exploit resources that should be for all.sharpe
Xt, the king and queen maker from Ex. 19 Eph. 1 cosmic christ
Mt 25:31 Just Like last week, I think this is less about ethical norms than about kingdom vision. It is not about doing or not doing acts of charity, - Mother Teresa vision of seeing the christ in those whom she served.It ou touches on what Luther called vocation, in our callings in life, are we seeing Christ in our work?kingdom ethics not self-serving (see Hays) the "good works" has less to do with ethical actions than with living a life of mercy in which the Son of Man is revealed -- if only on the last day. This entails, for the believing community, a considerable change in self-perception. Rather than considering themselves holders or keepers of the mystery of God (in their liturgy, in their works, in their piety), they discover that God is always already outside the circle they draw and the boundaries they create. Mission itself becomes redefined when we consider the move outwards as a move towards God! The community is sent out from the Lord's Supper as body of Christ only to discover that the body of Christ is already waiting for the community in those suffering in the world. Then, in yet another Gospel reversal, it would appear that the judgment we are all subject to is not one from on high but a judgment that is spoken through the need of our neighbor.Lange
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