Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song of David.

Israel Is Like a Flock of Sheep

34 The word of the Lord came to me. He said, ² “Son of man,^[a] speak against the shepherds of Israel for me. Speak to them for me. Tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘You shepherds of Israel have only been feeding yourselves. It will be very bad for you! Why don’t you shepherds feed the flock? ³ You eat the fat sheep and use their wool to make clothes for yourselves. You kill the fat sheep, but you don’t feed the flock. ⁴ You have not made the weak strong. You have not cared for the sick sheep. You have not put bandages on the sheep that were hurt. Some of the sheep wandered away, and you did not go get them and bring them back. You did not go to look for the lost sheep. No, you were cruel and severe—that’s the way you tried to lead the sheep!

⁵ “‘And now the sheep are scattered because there was no shepherd. They became food for every wild animal, so they were scattered. ⁶ My flock wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My flock was scattered over all the face of the earth. There was no one to search or to look for them.’”

⁷ So, you shepherds, listen to the word of the Lord. ⁸ The Lord God says, “I swear that wild animals will catch my sheep, and my people will become food for all those animals because they did not have any real shepherds. My shepherds did not look out for my flock. They did not feed my flock. No, they only killed the sheep and fed themselves!”

⁹ So, you shepherds, listen to the word of the Lord! ¹⁰ The Lord God says, “I am against the shepherds. I will demand my sheep from them. I will fire them. They will not be my shepherds anymore. Then the shepherds will not be able to feed themselves, and I will save my flock from their mouths. Then my sheep will not be food for them.”

¹¹ The Lord God says, “I myself will be their Shepherd. I will search for my sheep and take care of them. ¹² If a shepherd is with his sheep when they begin to wander away, he will go searching for them. In the same way I will search for my sheep. I will save them and bring them back from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. ¹³ I will bring them back from those nations. I will gather them from those countries and bring them back to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the places where people live. ¹⁴ I will lead them to grassy fields. They will go to the place high on the mountains of Israel and lie down on good ground and eat the grass. They will eat in rich grassland on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ Yes, I will feed my flock, and I will lead them to a place of rest.” This is what the Lord God said.

¹⁶ “I will search for the lost sheep. I will bring back the sheep that were scattered and put bandages on the sheep that were hurt. I will make the weak sheep strong, but I will destroy the fat and powerful shepherds. I will feed them the punishment they deserve.”

Joy in Heaven^(A)

15 Many tax collectors and sinners came to listen to Jesus. ² Then the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to complain, “Look, this man^[a] welcomes sinners and even eats with them!”

³ Then Jesus told them this story: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has 100 sheep, but one of them gets lost. What will you do? You will leave the other 99 sheep there in the field and go out and look for the lost sheep. You will continue to search for it until you find it. ⁵ And when you find it, you will be very happy. You will carry it ⁶ home, go to your friends and neighbors and say to them, ‘Be happy with me because I found my lost sheep!’ ⁷ In the same way, I tell you, heaven is a happy place when one sinner decides to change. There is more joy for that one sinner than for 99 good people who don’t need to change.