Sunday Before Advent - Year A

Meditation – Sunday before advent Year A
Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24
Psalm 95 or 100
Ephesians 1: 15-23
Matthew 25: 31-46

There is a message of intense intimacy, and some startling surprises, in the Bible readings for this week. Ezekiel paints an amazingly tender portrait of the Lord as a shepherd who “himself” searches for his sheep, rescues them, gathers them, pastures, tends and heals them. (Ezekiel 34 v 11-16a) There is a shock in verse 16b, though; “the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the sheep with justice.” The explanation follows in verses 20-24; it is the sheep who mistreat the weak, shoving and butting and driving them away, that the Lord will judge so that his flock will no longer be plundered. It is hardly a realistic picture of farming practices; what sort of farmer would rid his flock of the strong, sleek and fat sheep in favour of the weak? But it gives us the image of a superlatively kind and just shepherd who seeks to protect those most in need of his care...

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