“You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured 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.” (Ezekiel 34:3–4, ESV)

The shepherds weren’t doing their job. Rather than feeding the sheep, they were slaughtering the sheep to feed and clothe themselves. They weren’t strengthening the weak, healing the sick, or binding the broken. Instead of leaving the ninety-nine in search of the one lost sheep, they were bullying and beating the poor sheep left in their care while predators consumed the strays. But worst of all, they were misrepresenting God of whom David wrote, “The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

Who were these shepherds? They were the princes, priests and prophets of Judah. In short, they were the leaders—the ones in whose hands God entrusted His sheep. And rather than serving the LORD by protecting, feeding and loving the sheep, they were serving themselves.

It is a great responsibility to shepherd God’s flock. If we apply this to the church today, leaders are called to shepherd the sheep by imitating Christ. And while pastors, teachers and elders will be judged more strictly for their stewardship, every parent is a “shepherd” over his or her children. Sunday school teachers and helpers shepherd the children entrusted to them. Whether we like it or not, people are forming their opinions about God by what they see in us. So who is sufficient for these things?

Certainly, we all need much, much grace. We need God’s patience and kindness, which are attributes of His love. We need the Lord to give us His heart for the sheep—even for the most stubborn, rebellious and demanding ones! And it isn’t enough to be keepers of the flock; we must walk in the footsteps of the Chief Shepherd who came to seek and to save the lost .

God gives us a clear picture of the Good Shepherd. He brings back the strays, binds up the injured, and strengthens the weak. But the ones who have fattened themselves by consuming others, He judges and even destroys (v. 16).

To some extent, we are all called to be shepherds who represent Jesus. How can we love, feed and tend His sheep today?