Lost Sheep

Are we to tend the sheep we have or find the ones who are lost?

Thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. - Ezekiel 34:11-16

In today's Old Testament reading, Ezekiel is told that God will seek out the lost sheep, gather them, and bring them together.

Of course, God is talking about his beloved who have been scattered and lost.  He wants them to have a homeland where they can thrive and be safe.

That homeland is Israel.

Here we are so many centuries later, and the world wants these sheep to be scattered and lost once again.

It is unsurprising that we, children of God, have chosen to rebel against Him again, as we have throughout history.  What is surprising is that He puts up with us when we do.

What has turned the world against the Jews is this.  Knowing they will do all in their power to seek out and find the sheep that were stolen away and hidden among the people, the enemy has set up the Jews as evil.

The plan is working.  Sacrificing men, women, and children to turn the world against those who come to find the lost has caused a worldwide backlash of Antisemitism.

Isn't sacrificing your children to turn the world against your enemy evil?

There is a term for this strategy, Suicide by Cop.  It is when a criminal chooses to be a threat so that he will be taken out by a cop, making the cops look evil.

We who are witnesses to the end result can't help but feel for the one who looks like the victim, the one who instigated the attack.

More to come...