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Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 34:1–11
The shepherds of Judea were tough men.
They watched their flocks day and night.
They protected them from wild animals and thieves.
They needed vigilance,
courage,
and patient love.
Some ancient shepherds even gave their lives to defend their sheep.
For this reason, from the time of Moses, the image of the shepherd was used for the leaders of Israel.
A leader was not meant to dominate.
A leader was meant to guard life,
protect the weak,
guide the people,
and seek the lost.
But Ezekiel says that Israel’s shepherds failed.
They fed themselves, but not the flock.
They cared for their own power, but not for the people.
They ignored the weak,
the sick,
the wounded,
and the lost.
And because the shepherds failed, the people were scattered.
Ezekiel, like the other prophets, sees a connection between bad leadership and national disaster.
The fall of Samaria in 721 BC,
and the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC,
were not only military events.
They were spiritual and social tragedies.
When leaders forget justice,
when they forget truth,
when they forget the poor,
a nation becomes sick.
The Church’s social teaching uses the expression “the common good.”
It means the conditions that allow persons and communities to live with dignity.
The common good includes respect for every person,
the well-being and development of society,
and peace.
These were precisely the things missing in the time of the prophets.
People were not respected.
The weak were not protected.
Peace was not built on justice.
The shepherds had forgotten why they were shepherds.
This message is not only for ancient Israel.
It is also for our world.
We often reduce the common good to the good of our own group,
our own party,
our own nation,
our own economy.
But the Church reminds us that the common good is universal.
Before we are divided by nationality,
language,
culture,
race,
or religion,
we are human beings created in the image of God.
Every person has dignity.
Every life matters.
Every people belongs to the one human family.
Globalization has made this impossible to ignore.
What happens in one place affects people elsewhere.
War,
pollution,
poverty,
migration,
and economic injustice do not stop at borders.
So we need shepherds with a larger heart.
Not leaders who use the flock,
but leaders who serve it.
Not leaders who protect only themselves,
but leaders who protect life.
Not leaders who scatter,
but leaders who gather.
At the end of today’s reading, God says:
“I myself will look after and tend my sheep.”
This is our hope.
When human shepherds fail, God does not abandon His flock.
And in Jesus Christ, the promise becomes flesh.
He is the Good Shepherd.
The Shepherd who does not feed on the sheep,
but gives His life for them.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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© 2025 Krakus.
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