The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 229: Shepherds of Israel (2024)

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

Fr. Mike explains the beautiful connections between all of our readings today. He emphasizes how good shepherds are willing to face the truth, and also sacrifice for their sheep, like Jesus who laid down his life for us. In our reading of Jeremiah, Fr. Mike also explains that the experience of shame points to the reality that there is something good within us that ought not to be violated. Today we read Jeremiah 6, Ezekiel 34-35, and Proverbs 14:25-28. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 229. We are reading today from Jeremiah chapter 6. We're trucking along there in Jeremiah, the beginning chapters of his book. We're also reading Ezekiel chapter 34

and 35 about the false shepherds, about the good shepherds, about prophecy against seer. So good, so good. My gosh, praise the Lord for this. We're also reading Proverbs chapter 14 verses 25 through 28. As always, the Bible translation I am reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receive daily episodes and daily updates and all those daily, daily things. As I said, it is day 229. We're reading Jeremiah chapter 6, Ezekiel chapter 34 and 35,

and Proverbs chapter 14, verses 25 through 28. The book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 6, a warning to Judah. Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem. Blow the trumpet into Koah and raise a signal on Beth-Hakarim, for evil looms out of the north and great destruction. The comely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion. Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her, they shall pitch their tents around her, they shall pasture each in his place. Prepare war against her, up, and let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen. Up, and let us attack by night. Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen.

Up, and let us attack by night, and destroy her palaces. For thus says the Lord of hosts, hew down her trees, cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city which must be punished. There is nothing but oppression within her. As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard within her. Sickness and wounds are ever before me. Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated from you, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land. Thus says the Lord of hosts, They take no pleasure in it. Therefore, I am full of the wrath of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out upon the children in the street and upon the gatherings of young men also.

Both husband and wife shall be taken, the old folk and the very aged. Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain. And from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They did not know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord, stand by the roads and

look and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find rest for your souls. But they say, we will not walk in it. I set watchmen over you saying, give heed to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not give heed. Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth, behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not given heed to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it. To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble. Fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish. Thus says the Lord, behold, a people is coming from the north country. A great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. They lay hold on bow and spear. They are cruel and have no mercy. The sound of them is like the roaring sea. They ride upon horses set in array as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Zion. We have heard the report of it.

Our hands fall helpless. Anguish has taken hold of us. Pain as of a woman with labor pains. Go not forth into the field, nor walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword. Terror is on every side. O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. I have made you an assayer and tester among my people, that you may know and assay their ways. They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders. They are bronze and iron. All of them act corruptly. The bellows

blow fiercely. The lead is consumed by the fire. In vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed. Refuse silver, they are called, for the Lord has rejected them. The book of the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 34, Israel's false shepherds. The word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God, ho 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.

The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 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 none to search or seek for them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts since there was no shepherd. And because my shepherds have not

searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths that they may not be food for them. God, the true shepherd. For thus says the Lord God, behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad. So will I seek out my sheep and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the

peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them into their own land. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 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 crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over. I will feed them in justice. As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God, behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, rams and he goats. Is it not enough

for you to feed on the good pasture that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture and to drink of clear water that you must foul the rest with your feet. And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them, Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep, because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad. I will save my flock. They shall no longer be a prey and I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God. And my servant David shall be

prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken. God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken. I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season. They shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in the land,

and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them prosperous plantations, so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. And you are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture. Chapter 35, Prophecy against Mount Sire and prophesy against it and say to it, thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against you, Mount Sire, and I will stretch out my hand against you and I will make

you a desolation and a waste. I will lay your cities waste and you shall become a desolation and you shall know that I am the Lord. Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment. Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and the blood shall pursue you, because you are guilty of blood. Therefore, blood shall pursue you. I will make Mount Sire a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go. And I will fill your mountains with the slain, on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines. Those slain with the sword shall fall. I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not

be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Because you said, these two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them. Although the Lord, because you said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them, although the Lord was there. Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy which you showed because of your hatred against them. And I will make myself known among you when I judge you. And you shall know that I, the Lord, have heard all the revilings which you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to devour. And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me. I heard it.

Thus says the Lord God, For the rejoicing of the whole earth I will make you desolate. As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you. You shall be desolate, Mount I will deal with you. You shall be desolate Mount Sair and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord. The book of Proverbs chapter 14 verses 25 through 28. A truthful witness saves lives, A truthful witness saves lives, but one who utters lies is a betrayer.

In the fear of the Lord, one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. In a multitude of people is the glory of a king. But without people, a prince is ruined. Father in heaven, give you praise and glory. We thank you so much. Thank you for your word. And thank you for, gosh, Lord, these prophets have just called us, called me to repentance and called me to just want to belong to you with everything I am, with everything we are. Help us, help us to please turn to you completely,

to belong to you fully, to be yours now and forever. Make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Gosh, you guys, what an incredible theme of today's reading. It's just kind of accidental, maybe even more providential that Jeremiah 6, Ezekiel 34, and Proverbs 14, they're all connected in incredible ways.

For example, we're reading in Proverbs. We'll start with that because it's kind of the quickest. Proverbs 14, verse 28. We have this. In a multitude of people is the glory of a king, but without people, a prince is ruined. This is that role of the king, the role of the prince, the role of the one who's entrusted. I mean, that's the whole thing, right? It's the role of the person who has been entrusted with the people of God. And without a people, there's devastation. Without a people, there's a great loss. But it's also possible to lose the people, right? It's possible to lose God's people.

And that's what in chapter 34 of Ezekiel, you know, this is one of those sections of scripture that as priests were invited by the church to read and reflect on multiple times a year. In fact, it comes around in our readings quite often. Those shepherds of Israel who have not been feeding the sheep, have not been taking care of the sheep, have not been seeking out the lost, who have not been binding up those who are weak or wounded, and not even be strengthening those who are strong, but have only taken care of themselves. And gosh, you guys, here we are.

We've been journeying together for 229 days. And so in so many ways, I want to say we kind of know each other. I know you in the sense that I've been praying for you, and some of you reach out to me and offer those prayers for me and those words of encouragement. But you know me in many ways, because this is just who I am, right? Talking about the word of the Lord and talking about the Bible. And so that sense of like, really, gosh, I remember even as a teenager

reading these words and wanting to be that, right? Sorry, not wanting to be the false shepherd, not wanting to be the shepherd that only cares about themselves, but doesn't care for the people of God, the sheep who are lost, the sheep who are strengthened, you know? So every year as priests, we read from St. Augustine, especially in the fall, we read from St. Augustine and he has this massive reflection for maybe it goes on for like a week. We kind of break up the reading on this, on the false shepherds. And Augustine has these words and he says, okay, priests, like here in the new covenant, that's you. In the new covenant here, you are the pastors of the people here. Of course, Jesus himself, he's the great high priest. He is the good shepherd. But here we've been put in this

position and he asks that question, like, are you just feeding yourself? Are you just taking care of yourself? Or are you actually giving your life so that the sheep can have life? So that's the conviction part. But then there's also this consolation part. And the consolation part is in 34 verse 7, where it says, therefore, you shepherds hear the word of the Lord as I live. My sheep have become my prey. Sheep have become food for all the wild beasts. Therefore, hear this, I am requiring much of you. But going on, he says in verse 11, therefore, I myself will search out my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep and I'll rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered

on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And that's just, I'm taking it out of context here in Ezekiel, he's talking about the people of Israel, right? He's talking about those people who are still left in Jerusalem, those people who will be exiled. He talks about the people who are in Babylon still and are not being cared for. And yet in our day, we recognize that here is God who says, I myself will seek out my sheep. And we know that Jesus Christ has fulfilled that.

He has fulfilled that promise. And especially when he reminds us that he is the good shepherd who takes care of his sheep. He actually not only takes care of his sheep, but what does he say? He says, I'm the good shepherd and I will lay down my life for my sheep, which is so good.

So again, there's that conviction in all of us who are given a role of authority. Would that be priest, parent, be teacher? And we just feed ourselves, just live for ourselves. You know how good that goes. If you're a parent and you just live for yourself, it doesn't go very well. Same thing with a priest. If you're a priest and you just live for yourself, it doesn't go very well. But we are still given that word of consolation that here's God who says, even in the midst of that, even in the midst of these people living for themselves, I myself will seek out my sheep,

and I myself will give them pasture. I myself will rescue them. And this is so important because as we've mentioned yesterday, this time of Ezekiel, but especially this time of Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter six has been marked by false prophets and marked by false prophets. And that's just so false shepherds, false prophets, this whole thing. And there's this section in Jeremiah chapter six. Now we're moving from Ezekiel, right? So Ezekiel, he's already gotten the word that says that Jerusalem has been destroyed, but here is Jeremiah in chapter six and the destruction of Jerusalem has not going to happen for a while now. It's still not going to

happen, but there are false prophets who keep saying, as it says in chapter six, verse 13, for from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain from the prophet to the priest. Everyone deals falsely. Again, this is the connection between what Ezekiel was talking about when it came to the false shepherds. Every one of them, from the prophet to the priest, deals falsely. They're just taking care of themselves. They're not living as true priests, not living as true prophets. They're dealing falsely. This is how bad things have gotten, and this is how it goes so often. Where our leadership goes, the rest of us follow. Where those who are put in trust, entrusted to them, the rest of us follow, right? Where those who are put in trust, entrusted to them, the rest of us can follow. That'd be again, parents, teachers, counselors,

priests, pastors, all of these roles that we've been given, politicians, maybe even these roles of authority that people have been given. If they fall, it's so hard for the people under them to stand upright. It says in verse 14, they have healed the wound of my people lightly. What does that mean? I heard someone say about this one. They said, you know, when you're a kid and you might fall down and scrape your knee and maybe your parent, your mom comes up and gives you a little kiss and like, I'm going to kiss it and make it all good. You know, kiss the boo-boo, make it better. That's fine. You're not really healing anything, but also it's not really a big wound, but imagine you have like a compound fracture and someone says, let me give it, let me give it a kiss. That's what Jeremiah is talking about here. They have healed the wound of my people lightly. They basically said, yeah, I know things are bad,

but like, how about this? Throw them a bone. Here's a word of consolation. And the word of consolation they give is saying peace, peace when there is no peace. This is the false prophets. They're prophesying that no, no, no. Listen, God's going to bring us peace. Don't worry about this. We're living in a time of peace. Peace is coming. We might be difficult right now, but this is going to be over in a heartbeat. And that is not true.

Saying peace, peace when there is no peace. You know, we can lie to ourselves and we can lie to each other. And we can say that things are fine when things are not fine. But it takes a great deal of courage to be able to tell the truth. Jeremiah is calling out all of us, all the prophets, all the priests, all those who speak at all to not lie to ourselves and to not lie to each other. Especially if we find ourselves in this moment where, you know, actually I have been lying to myself.

I have been saying things are fine and things are not fine. I actually need help. I actually need help. Maybe that's you today. You know, this is a large community of people journeying through the Bible. Maybe this is a day where, you know, you don't lie to other people. You know, you have a lot of virtue in you, but you have been lying to yourself about your need for assistance, about your need for someone else to just come along and say, hey, let me walk with you. Be able to ask for help as opposed to just, again, kidding ourselves or as he says here, kidding the people around us. Here's the last little note here. In that same section of Jeremiah chapter six, he says, were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They did not know how to blush. There's something about this.

There's something about, how to say this? You know, shame gets such a bad rap in our world today because we only imagine shame to be toxic shame. But not all shame is toxic, right? There is such a thing as toxic shame, and that's the shame that keeps us hidden in the darkness. It's the shame that keeps us from stepping into the light of God's mercy. It's the shame that keeps us from really revealing our heart, our wounds to the people around us that we can trust. That's the toxic kind of a shame. But there is a good kind of a shame

that points out, wait a second, you're made for dignity. In fact, John Paul II, he talks about the discovery of shame in Genesis chapter three. Here's the man and woman, Adam and Eve, who were naked but knew no shame at the end of chapter two. But then they eat from the fruit of the tree and their eyes are opened and they covered themselves. And that sense of, it was John Paul II calls the introduction of shame into the life of humanity, right? But he says there's a second, and that's that sense of like, I need to cover myself.

But there's a positive element to shame here. And that positive element is you're worth covering, right? The positive element, the negative element is, oh my gosh, I need to cover because there's something shameful here. But the positive element is there's a goodness here that needs to be protected. I recognize in someone else's eyes that they want to use me in my vulnerability. Someone else wants to use me in my brokenness. Someone else sees that woundedness.

They see that, whatever that is, you know, that again, as I said, the woundedness, the vulnerability, and they want to use it against me. But there's a positive note when it comes to shame. And that's the fact that my desire to cover up, my desire to hide some in some ways indicates and reveals and affirms the fact that, no, you're worth protecting, that this is something that's good, that's worth hiding. There's something that's vulnerable that ought not to be violated. And so what we see here in Jeremiah chapter six is there are people who are, they're not ashamed. They don't even know how to blush, meaning that they've even forgotten the goodness of their hearts. That even if their hearts are broken, they've forgotten the fact that

like, wait a second, you're made for more than this. And that think about how, how much we have to be wounded. If we forget, if we become shameless, right. If we think of how wounded we must be, if no matter what we do or no matter how someone might use us or hurt us, we're not even ashamed of that in the sense of we just forgotten the innate and intrinsic goodness. And I know that, again, big community, a lot of people who are walking with us, your dignity has been wounded. Your dignity has been violated by others. Your vulnerability or your woundedness has been trampled upon by others. First, don't be afraid to step into the light of Jesus, the light of Christ, and to let yourself be seen and known and loved.

Also, second, if there are people around you that you can trust, to not be too afraid to step into the light of their trust and to let yourself be seen, known, and loved by that person you can trust. But also, even in the midst of that pain, that pain of shame, to recognize, wait a second, the only reason I feel pain is because something good in me has been wounded. There is still good in you. There is still so much good in you. And if we feel this experience of shame, where we blush or where we suffer, that is just

a great and almost like just reflexive, instinctive reminder of the fact that you've been made in God's image and likeness, you are still beautiful. You are still worth, you are still full of love and you are still worth loving. You're still worth loving. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me because all of us find ourselves in that position. And so all of us need, not only the Lord, we also need each other. So what a gift from the Lord. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.