Church of the Holy City

He Shall Tend His Flock

He Shall Tend His Flock
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
November 20, 2011-11

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-27a Matthew 25:31-45 Psalms 95, 100

Through the image of the lamb, the Bible teaches about God’s love for us and also our response to God’s love. In our reading from Ezekiel, we heard about how God will call everyone to Himself and care for us as a shepherd does his lost sheep. We have the promise that no matter where we stray, or how far we wander from God, God will always be with us, and call us back to Himself. In Ezekiel we read, “I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness” (34:12). It is God who forms His church from the outpouring of His love and wisdom. But it is up to us to remain open to God’s call and to respond. When we accept God’s love in our hearts, we are lifted up into heavenly joy. This is the symbolism of the mountains on which the flocks will feed. Ezekiel says that God’s flock, “shall feed on rich pastures on the mountains of Israel” (34:14). The mountains are high places in our spiritual life. They are those times when we feel particularly close to God. The mountains also symbolize a final state in our regeneration. The mountains are when we are elevated up into heaven and we are acting out of love for God and love for our neighbour. When we are acting from God, we are in a state of rest. When we respond to God’s call, we will rest on His bosom, and find peace. So the prophet tells us, “The mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good pasture land” (34: 14). We can summarize our reading from Ezekiel as being about our relationship to God and God’s relations with us.
Our reading from Matthew is about how we integrate our union with God in our lives. It is about our relations with each other. We are called to show care to each other. Our spiritual relations are not only between God and ourselves. Our spiritual life is also about how we relate to each other. In fact the two—our relations with God, and our relations with each other—these two are intimately related. The one is the measure of the other. When Jesus talks about separating the sheep from the goats, the deciding criterion is how we relate to each other. The sheep, who will go to God’s kingdom, are those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, who welcomed the stranger, who clothed the naked, who took care of the sick, and who visited those in prison. Jesus tells these good people, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40). This is a clear statement about the relationship between God and our relations with each other. When we do good to each other, we do good to God. And when God is in us, we care for each other.
These two passages are all about the two great laws that Jesus gives us. There are no greater commands than love to God and love to our neighbour. These two commands are actually one. God is in each one of us. What we do to each other, we do to the God who is in each of us. We are each created in God’s image and likeness. And as images of God, we are creatures of God. And further, since all the life we have is from God, God is inside each one of us at our deepest and most profound level. God’s Divine Human gives us our humanity. Seeing each other as a finite image of God’s divine humanity makes us treat each other with great care and respect. Since God’s image and likeness is in us, we are to treat each other as we would Jesus Christ. I do not mean that we would worship each other. That would be carrying this point to an absurd conclusion. What I mean is that we regard each other with the same reverence that we would Jesus. For when we see one another, we are seeing the Divine Human; we are seeing Jesus’ face. “Just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40).
Swedenborg distinguishes between God’s image and God’s likeness in us. God’s image is the truth that we know. But we are not a likeness of God until we act upon this knowledge. God’s likeness is the love that we embody. We can be an image of God without being a likeness of God. This would be the case if we only know about spirituality. We can elevate our consciousness into the light of heaven and learn deep truths. But knowledge alone is dead without life based upon this knowledge. “Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead,” says the Apostle James (2:17). And our passage from Matthew is clear. We are the sheep that Jesus gives His kingdom to when we treat each other well and with caring. When we act on our spiritual knowledge, we become likenesses of God. When we put into practice all we know about God’s love, then we are both an image and also a likeness of God. In different words, the image and likeness of God is the union of truth and good, or wisdom and love.
We are formed into God’s image and likeness over time. This process is done by God with our cooperation. God calls to us wherever we are in our faith journey. Our reading from Ezekiel is comforting and reassuring. Wherever we are, we can never stray beyond God’s voice. He calls to us wherever we have been “scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness” (34:12). The darkness that can oppress us in our lives will not have the final say. Wherever we have been scattered by worldliness, self will or other distractions of this world, God will call us into rich pastures and lead us to the mountain top. It is God’s will that everyone, everyone be joined in ecstatic love with Himself. Swedenborg tells us that, “the Lord wills the salvation of all” (TCR 142). God wishes to give joy to all through Himself. Swedenborg writes,
The third essential of God’s love, which is making them happy from itself, is known from the eternal life, which is blessedness, joy, and happiness without end, which God gives to those who receive His love in themselves; for God, as He is love itself, is also blessedness itself; for every love breathes forth from itself enjoyment, and the Divine love breathes forth blessing, joy, and happiness itself to eternity (TCR 43).
Through our lives, through struggles and setbacks; through uplifting and inspired moments, God is calling, calling, to bring us into His spiritual home, to our spiritual home. As we respond to God’s voice, we are formed into an image of heaven, and our whole personality becomes gentle, meek, and innocent. We truly become the lambs whom Jesus brings into His kingdom. We become the sheep who rest in Israel’s mountains. This innocence and meekness was caught beautifully by the poet William Blake. He was influenced by Swedenborg, and read some of Swedenborg’s works. I can’t help but think he had some of these ideas of heavenly progress mind when he wrote his poem THE LAMB:

THE LAMB

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, & bid thee feed
By the stream & o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek, & he is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

As we respond to God’s call, we acquire that tender voice of the lamb. We become meek and mild. And like the Holy One who is called the Lamb of God, we become like Jesus, who is in each of us with His innocence, peace, and loving joy.