Ninth Sunday after Pentecost: Old Testament, Jeremiah 23:1-6      

Jeremiah 23:1-6 

My how the Lord loves His flock. There can be no doubt of that when one carefully reads the Scriptures. And the reason we know of His love is that God gives Himself to His flock as their Shepherd. Psalm 23 and John 10 are just a couple passages where that is made certain.

In our reading today, the Lord calls to the human “undershepherds” who are to carry out His will in the care of His sheep. They have abdicated and in Jeremiah 23 we have God declaring that it will be His task to regather those who have been scattered by pitiful efforts of their leaders. “I will bring them back to the fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply” (23:3b).

God so loves His flock that if all else fails, He will rescue rather than allow His sheep to be scattered outside the bounds of hope. That’s a good Shepherd.