THE MESSAGE OF ZECHARIAH
Number 31
FOOLISH SHEPHERDS
Zechariah 11:15-17
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IN THESE verses the prophet is again called to take up a symbolic roll. In the previous verses the symbolic roll was that of Christ, and predicted the events leading up to the crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus, and the judgement that followed on the Jewish nation. In this symbolic roll the prophet is predicting what happens to a people who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, and upon their leaders. In the case of the historical period which the verses before us refer, the reference is to the evil rulers that were in power at that time.

THE PROPHETIC IMAGE.

The prophet is again told to take on a symbolic roll. This time it is the roll of the foolish shepherd and the equipment of such a shepherd. We are not told what that equipment is, but we can assume that it is descriptive of the way and the means by which such shepherds carried out their office.

Then in the next verse God says that he is going to raise up a shepherd for the land who will do nothing but harm the sheep and look after his own interests. This shepherd is described as not caring for the lost, or seeking the young, or healing the injured, or feeding the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, even tearing off their hoofs.

The description is of rulers who will exploit people for their own ends and have no concern for their needs or suffering. These rulers and leaders will even use the suffering of the people for their own ends, without any heart or caring.

The last verse tells us that even these shepherds will eventually receive their just deserts. They will become weak and become blind, and in turn suffer the abuse that they has shown to others in their time of rule.

In reference to the immediate situation of the Jewish nation at the time of Christ, because they rejected God and their Messiah, God gave them over to such foolish shepherds in their religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and in their king, Herod, and in the oppression of the Roman rule. These in their turn suffered the judgement of God for their actions. The Roman empire in turn grew old and weak and received from the Barbarians from the north all that they had served out to the people they had conquered. 

THE APPLICATION OF THIS PROPHECY.

 What is revealed to us here is the result of departure from the Lord of the people of God. Because the Jewish nation departed from the Lord and finally rejected their Messiah, they received this judgement of being ruled by foolish shepherds. They are called foolish shepherds because all their actions are folly and lead the people further away from their roots of faith in God and in the promise of a Saviour. Together with this the Jews found themselves having kings ruling over them who also did not have their best interests at heart, but also led them away from Jehovah. Together with this came the loss of their own autonomy so that they could not govern themselves but were placed under the thumb of a foreign power.

Notice the nature of this judgement and punishment. It is not in the first instant direct judgement which later followed, but an indirect judgement whereby God withdrew his presence and his guiding and caring hand, and gave the people over to the sort of life they craved. They wanted to be free from the shackles of the rule of the Lord, and desired this because they wanted to live and do what their sinful nature desired to do, so God gave them over to this fatal wish.

The people did not realise the fatal action they were pursuing, and this blindness came from their blindness to the corruption within the human soul, which if left on its own, only leads to fatal results. Rulers who are not under the guiding hand of God and under his direction will inevitably become corrupt. God in his mercy curbs such corruption when he is active for his people, but if they seek to be severed from his blessed dominion, then he withdraws his gracious keeping power, and also gives the people over to themselves, where the corruption within soon spawns corruption in life.

APPLICATION FOR THE CHURCH OF TODAY.

I have been reading the summer issue for 2005 of the Bible Society magazine. In it are a serious of interesting and challenging articles concerning the spiritual state of the western world. I found this reading of immense interest even though my intellectual equipment falls far below the standard of the articles, so the grasping of the thoughts being expressed was difficult for me. Also the articles represented research and reading quite beyond my orbit.

However the central message being given was plain and this was that whereas people are turning away from the traditional churches, and attendance at church of mainstream Christianity is declining, there is still a deep spiritual hunger present in the western world, and this is being expressed in the pursuit of alternate spirituality to the traditional Christian spirituality. After this, after only one reading, my grasp of this alternate spirituality being described is very patchy. What came over to me was that people were seeking spiritual meaning to life in everywhere but in Christ. There was a search into all forms of alternate spirituality, from the occult to the spirituality of eastern religions, and a focus on coming to terms with human identity and meaning in the world, and relating to our environment. In this pursuit people seemed to believe anything or everything, picking out from different sources what was meaningful to them, and then turning to something else if what they had latched on to did not work for them.

What was plain in all this reading was that there is a tremendous spiritual need and hunger, but the satisfying of this hunger was not being looked for or found in the Christian faith represented by the traditional church.

What does this tell us concerning the traditional Christian church. People have deep spiritual longings but they are not finding this longing satisfied in the Christian faith represented by the traditional church. What has happened to the church that this is so?

INSIGHT FROM THESE VERSES IN ZECHARIAH.

Since I retired I have had more opportunity to attend different churches. My experience of church life is still very limited because its focus is around where I live with a wider input from attending church elsewhere when on holiday. My experience is solely in the UK and most particularly in the Church of England into whose ministry I am ordained.

What has been impressed on me briefly is the following. Church life is very active, and worship is conducted reverently in the main and well. Church buildings are well cared for, and there is much extra activity embracing all sorts of interests. On the whole the preaching has been good and of a high standard.

Having said all this I have found one startling factor which I believe is crucial. In all this activity and excellence I hear little of Christ. Preaching seems to be on everything but on Christ. This does not mean that Christ is not believed in, or that his name is not mentioned, though not very often. Rather the failure is that Christ himself is not preached. I do not hear sermons on his person and his work. I don't here much if anything about his cross and its meaning. I do not hear Christ and his death for sinner explained and how this works out in our lives; nor do I hear the promises concerning the victory that Christ brings to people who believe on him. I don't seem to hear anything much about fellowship with God and living in the love of God through the victory Christ won against the world, the flesh and the devil. I don't hear in preaching Christ as the one in whom to trust and know, so that the purpose of my life may fulfilled, and real meaning to life found.

The apostle Paul determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, but the message of the church today seems to be to speak about everything but Jesus and his cross. In some places there is much emphasis on the Spirit and living in the Spirit but often this seems to be separated from Christ crucified through whom the Spirit is known and given.

The question that is raised in my mind is this? Is God giving us foolish shepherds in the sense of leading us to everything except the root and foundation of true spirituality which is found in Christ and him crucified. My experience in ministry around the locality where I live leads me to believe that there is a deep spiritual hunger, and when Christ is preached as the only one who can meet human need, and they are told of the wonder of the salvation that he won for us, and what this brings to those who believe on Jesus, then people yearn for it and reach out for it. When Christ is preached and people are led to believe on him, they find not only that he meets their need, but they dwell in a relationship of love with Christ that is rich beyond anything else.

Paul expressed this in Philippians 3. He speaks with passion "I consider everything as loss compared with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Paul goes on "I consider everything rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him......I want to know him ....."

Is God judging the church today? Is this judgement seen in that Christ has withdrawn himself from us because we have withdrawn ourselves from him.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the preaching of Christ and him crucified, where it is still preached, and when he was preached in the past, was defective in the sense that it was not, as it should be, the true expression of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, but rather a defective and marred image of Christ that distorted his true image, and so people turned away from the Christ they saw.

I am not sure what the problem is. I have found much love and acceptance in the church today, and also much hurt and rejection. The love and acceptance I have found where I least expected it, and rejection where I would most naturally have expected it. Things are mixed up.

What I am sure of is that Christ and him crucified is true spirituality, and Jesus is the lover of my soul and he showed this by dying for me to bring me to God, and that he brings me to God in a vital and living way. From this I am sure that until the church turns back to preaching Christ and his cross people will not find the spirituality that they are looking for and will seek it elsewhere. I further believe that unless people returned to the love of God expressed in the gift of Christ given in sacrificial death for us, God will give us over more to foolish shepherds, because when we forsake Jesus and him crucified, we are forsaking our Christ and our Messiah, just as the Jews did as Zechariah was given to foresee and speak about.

God will judge his church by withdrawing from us if we continue to sideline Christ and his death for us.