In today’s Old Testament Reading (Ezekiel 34:1-11), Ezekiel indicts Israel’s leaders (the shepherds) for their failure to care for the nation (the flock). In Ezekiel’s time, Israel’s leaders oppressed the people by looking only to their own interests by clothing and feeding themselves at the expense of the needs of the flock. Instead of strengthening and healing the sheep in their time of need, or pursuing them when they were lost, the shepherds instead dominated them, leaving them vulnerable to wild beasts (hostile nations) and allowing them to be scattered throughout the world. But God promises to save the sheep from the “mouths” of the shepherds, search and care for his sheep, and bring them back from where they are scattered. He will lead them back to their own land, feed them, and have them lie down in safety in good pastures. Ultimately, God will judge between the fat sheep (beneficiaries and participants in the oppression) and the lean sheep (the weak and oppressed). This deliverance climaxes with the future appointment of the ultimate shepherd, a second David, who will feed and care for God’s flock as a prince should under God’s kingship. This will mark a time when God makes a covenant of peace with his sheep/people that will ensure God’s blessings of protection, fruitfulness and freedom in the land. By this, all will know that God is with his people and that He is their true God.
Today’s psalm, Psalm 23, is one of the best known and best loved of all the psalms. Psalm 23 begins by stating that “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.” The psalm is saying that the Lord is the only necessity of life since the Lord provides for everything else. Just as a sheep owes its life to the shepherd, so we owe our lives to God. God provides life and for all our true needs. In verse 4 we read, “Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil, for you are at my side, with your rod and staff that give me courage.” Evil is real, but it is not to be feared, as the shepherd protects us when we are threatened. The psalmist ends by writing that he will live in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. May we build our church community into a place where all may encounter the protection, refreshment and peace of Christ.
Being a shepherd is not something with which most of us living in the modern age are familiar. Some years ago, a national magazine ran a story about the memoir of a young lady named Laura Bell who, after graduating from college, took a job as a shepherd in Wyoming. For the next three years Laura was on call every day tending 2,000 sheep. During this time, she was alone, except for her horse, her dog, and her sheep. Once a week someone rode out to where she was to bring her food, mail, and rifle shells. Her experience with the sheep taught her why St. John described Jesus as a Good Shepherd. She learned that a good shepherd must be a committed person who lives for the flock. A shepherd must also be courageous. Just as shepherds must confront danger to protect their sheep, so Jesus laid down his life in order that we might have eternal life.
Today’s Gospel parable (Matthew 20:1-16) tells us about a landowner who needed workers for his vineyard. He goes out at nine in the morning, again at midday; again, at three in the afternoon and then, again, an hour before sunset. With the workers that he had hired in the morning, he had made a contract: if they worked in the vineyard, he would pay them a just day’s wages. The parable goes on to recount this scenario at the end of the day: The landowner calls his steward and asks him expressly to do two things when paying the wages to the hired workers: to begin the payment with the last-comers, and to give the last-comers as much as he gave the first-comers.
The intention of the landowner in the parable is that the first comers should see that the latecomers were paid as much as them. Then, naturally they would complain, as indeed one of them did and it would be the opportunity to teach a lesson: “These last have worked only one hour; and you have made them equal to us who have borne the heat of the day.” The landowner could very well have begun with the first-comers; and after paying them and sending them away, given as much as he wished to the last-comers. But Jesus wants to give a message to His people, through the landowner in the parable. “Friend,” says the landowner, to the one who complains, “I do you no wrong. Did you not agree with me to be paid what was just? Have I not fulfilled my contract? Is it against my contract with you that I give the last-comers the same amount as I gave to you?”
At first, this experience would tempt anyone to envy. Envy is a sort of sadness or anger at the good fortune of others. Perhaps we can all understand the envy of those who put in a full day. The objection is not to what they have received but about the fact that the others have received as much as they did, and they regard that as unfair. The difference is that they have received what is theirs through their hard work and effort; the others received what they have because of the landowner’s generosity. If we identify with the group who complains, then it is time that we check our motivations. Can we sincerely rejoice and be filled with much gratitude at the success of others? Can you sincerely be grateful to God when others are blessed with the unexpected and unwarranted generosity of others? Envy is a sin, and it’s a sin that leaves us dissatisfied and sad. The only way it can be overcome is by being grateful.