Today you should read: Zechariah 11
Welp, since you’re only receiving commentary on this chapter and not the next one, we’re going to end on a bit of a down note here. As you can tell, this oracle shows the judgment of God on those who were supposed to be shepherds and leaders to God’s people. When trying to make comparisons to certain prophets, kings or nations to this oracle, much smarter people than your good ol’ trusty CPC Staff have interpreted this in many different ways. Many do lean on the analogy that they believe is being made to the leaders of Israel and Judah, whether it’s the actual shepherds, priests or kings. What we do know is that they were horrible, horrible leaders going through them in a short period of time like fast food restaurants go through employees (except Chick-Fil-A, at least I assume). This leaves Zechariah with the burden of leading the flock in which he gets sick of the people and they get sick of him (v. 8) which sadly happens way too often with pastors in churches these days as well. I wish I could say it goes up from there but like I said in the beginning it doesn’t as long as we stick to this chapter. In fact, it’s quite the opposite and Zechariah leaves the flock with who he calls a “worthless” shepherd who never cared for the flock in the first place and will end up exploiting it for his own selfish benefits.
When reading this chapter, we should be reminded how the sometimes stupid and suffering flock and incompetent and sometimes false shepherds are still around today and both face the same type of consequences and judgment from God. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus loves His church. After all, it’s His bride in which He pursued, sacrificially loved and brought into a forever covenant with. He wasn’t using hyperbole when He said the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But in the same way that God loved Israel and they were the apple of His eye, it doesn’t mean that sin and deceit will not creep in certain factions and flocks. We’ve seen it throughout church history and we’ll still see it today. We must keep guard as a church, not only of what is going on on Sunday mornings or in Connect Group’s and discipleship relationships but within our very own hearts and lives as well.
By: Erik Koliser — West Campus Pastor
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