Lent Day 40: April 7--Easter Saturday

Lenten Reflection for Day 40

Date: Holy Saturday April 7, 2012

Author: Howard Shaffer

Bible Passage: Ezekiel 34:11–12 (NRSV)

¹¹ For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹² 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 on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Reflection:

Ezekiel was a prophet who lived in exile in Babylon and was there waiting for the Jews when those who were taken in captivity arrived. The exiles had been marched from their destroyed homeland to the capital of their conquerors as captive slaves. Imagine their despair!! Some or many may have lost faith, given up hope, and turned away from God.

But God had a plan for them! Their situation was due to their own making. Back home their leaders had turned from God and broken Commandment number one-Have no other Gods, worship no other Gods.

In the first part of the chapter for today’s reading, Ezekiel describes the sad and terrible history of the sheep. They were scattered and killed because their leaders failed them. The leaders were concerned with their own comfort and not their job as leaders.

In today’s verses, God assures the faithful that he has a plan, and he himself will rescue them.

Does all this sound familiar? Are we in a time when leaders have failed and the sheep are wandering? Do we have the responsibility to be new leaders who follow and spread God’s word? We can be assured that God has a plan for each of us and for the world.

That plan is Salvation through belief in Jesus Christ and eternal life!!!

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for being our shepherd when earthly leaders have failed us. Thank you for the guidance you have given us through the prophets, through Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, help us to be thankful all the time, and to be the leaders in faith, in the plan you have for us and for Community Lutheran Church.