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CBN.com – Why is it so difficult to get to God? After all it is Jesus Himself who issues the invitation to come and follow Him; and that He is the door to God the Father, and that anyone can come in and out through Him and find pasture. That is, spiritual food to eat and drink. The problem is not the Lord Himself, but rather those who claim to represent Him. This is not a new problem.
In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel the prophet, God speaks to Ezekiel about the religious leadership of Israel. It is a searing indictment:
"Woe to you shepherds who feed themselves instead of their flocks. Shouldn't shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the best food and wear the finest clothes, (and drive the nicest cars and live in the biggest houses, and have the nicest jewelry and have the highest hair) but you let the flocks starve".
How we may ask?
"You haven't taken care of the weak nor tended the sick nor bound up the broken bones nor gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead you have ruled them with force and cruelty. So they were scattered, without a shepherd. They have become a prey to every animal (or rip-off artist, false prophet, spiritual con-man, counterfeit counselor, demon disguised charlatan) that comes along.
My sheep have wandered through the mountains and hills and over the face of the earth (Lookin' for love in all the wrong places) and there was no one to search for them or care about them."
God then says He is going to take His sheep away from these shepherds who are not doing the job and He will "feed the sheep, strengthen the weak, bind up the broken, search for those driven away and seek the lost," And He will do it by raising up a Shepherd who will do the job.
That Shepherd is Jesus and the sheep are the people.
Later in the New Testament, Jesus looks at all the people who are following Him as He travels through all the cities and villages announcing the Good News of the Kingdom of God. But it isn't just talk or sermons:
"Wherever He went He healed people of every sort of disease and every sort of illness. And what pity and compassion He felt for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn't know what to do or where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd."
It's interesting what happens next. Jesus tells His disciples (in contrast to the multitudes) to pray for workers to take care of the people. And then He calls the disciples to Himself,
"and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of sickness and disease....and those who welcome you are welcoming Me. And when they welcome Me they are welcoming God who sent Me.... so they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick."
To those who of you who may be wounded wanderers -- Please forgive us for not doing our job.
To the Church who has been given the assignment -- I wonder what would happen if we did?
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