Zechariah 13: Strike the Shepherd

In the first part of Zechariah 13, we read about the Big Day when sins will be washed, idols will be removed and false prophets will be silenced and humiliated. It ends with:

7-9
“Sword, get moving against my shepherd,
    against my close associate!”
        Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Kill the shepherd! Scatter the sheep!
    The back of my hand against even the lambs!
All across the country”—God’s Decree—
    “two-thirds will be devastated
    and one-third survive.
I’ll deliver the surviving third to the refinery fires.
    I’ll refine them as silver is refined,
    test them for purity as gold is tested.
Then they’ll pray to me by name
    and I’ll answer them personally.
I’ll say, ‘That’s my people.’
    They’ll say, ‘God—my God!’”

The gospel (Matthew and Mark) reads this text as a prophecy that fulfills when Jesus (the Shepherd) was taken by the soldiers and the disciples abandoned Him. Zechariah goes on saying that two-thirds of the sheep will be devastated and one-third will survive that will pass through refinery fires. At end, there will be a communion between the Lord and the remaining.