A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (17)

“Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you 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 fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. 

You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them.  So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals.  

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 no one to search or seek for them.” (Ezekiel 34.2-6)


     We now have another series of events around the Sea of Galilee.  The Twelve return from their mission and excitedly begin to relate their experiences to Jesus; however, once again, the ever-present crowd prevents them having a debriefing session with their Master.  “…they had no leisure even to eat” (6.30-31; cf. 3.20).  Jesus hatches an escape and evade plan, and gathers the disciples into a boat and they set out across the lake.  Jesus knows that after a frenzied period of kingdom-activity, what is needed is rest, solitude and prayer (cf. 1.35; 3.13).  A game of cat-and-mouse ensues – the crowd notices them striking out across the waves, and they circumvent the Sea of Galilee on foot in order to intercept the fugitive rabbi upon his arrival on the far side (6.33).  When Jesus steps off the boat, the crowd is waiting (6.34; cf. 2.13; 3.7; 4.1; 5.21).

     Jesus “has compassion for the crowds, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (6.34; cf. 1 Kings 22.17; Ez. 34.5; Numbers 27.15-17).  This is a royal reference.  In the book of 1 Kings, the prophet Micaiah announces to King Ahab, who is preparing to go to battle, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd”.  In the Old Testament, a shepherd is a common image for the king of Israel (cf. Jer. 23.4; 50.6; Ez. 34).  Micaiah predicted that Ahab would suffer defeat in battle, and counseled him not to take the field against the Arameans.  By claiming to have seen all Israel scattered like sheep without a shepherd, Micaiah was cryptically foretelling Ahab’s death, the death of the shepherd (i.e., the king) of Israel (cf. Zech. 13.7 = Mk. 14.27).  Sure enough, King Ahab disregards the Word of the Lord spoken by Micaiah, goes to battle and is struck down by a stray arrow and dies (1 Kings 22.29-36).  As he steps off the boat, the king of Israel sees the people of God, in need of the Word of the Lord and of healing, and he has compassion on his flock.  Not only does the image of a shepherd refer to the king of Israel in the Scriptures, it is also used to speak of Yahweh himself, the Shepherd of his people (cf. Pss. 23.1-3; 95.6-7; 100.3).  “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want…”


“For thus says the Lord God:

I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.  As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered…

I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land… 

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” (Ez. 34.11-16)


Jesus orders the disciples “to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass” (6.39).  Though in this case, we might fairly say that the sheep sought out the shepherd (!), Jesus fulfills Ezekiel’s prophecy by feeding the flock of Israel, thus demonstrating himself to be “Yahweh’s servant David” (Ez. 34.23), i.e., the Messiah, the king of Israel.  More than that, by gathering and feeding the scattered sheep of Israel, Jesus shows himself to be none other than the One who says: “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep…” (Ez. 34.15).

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