Easter 2—Misericordias Domini
Dear friends in Christ. This Second Sunday after Easter gets the nickname “Good Shepherd Sunday” because the readings all point to Jesus the Good Shepherd. Although most Christians in the western 21st century world have really nothing to do with sheep and shepherds, have no close connection with sheep and shepherds except for a sweater or maybe an occasional leg of lamb, this theme of Jesus the Good Shepherd still resonates to us and is still a very comforting image to us. Many churches are called “Good Shepherd” and the image of Jesus, the good Shepherd, of Jesus holding the lamb in His arm, still is a favorite in Christian art—just as it was in the early centuries of the Church when people still knew a thing or two about sheep and shepherding. And, of course, ask people their favorite psalm and for many it’s Psalm 23—“The Lord is my Shepherd.”
As we look at Psalm 23—The Lord is my Shepherd—and other OT verses like today’s OT reading from Ezekiel: For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.’; or in Isaiah [Is. 40:11]: Behold the Lord GOD shall come…He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young, what is it that we see? We see that it is the LORD, the God of the OT people who is described or describes Himself as a Shepherd, as a Good Shepherd. By His actions He is recognized as a Good Shepherd who goes out to gather His sheep and bring them into safety and Who protects them and gives them the best possible care.
What, then, is Jesus’ point when He says in today’s Gospel reading: I am the Good Shepherd? Simply this: He is saying that He is the true God, the same God who revealed Himself to the OT people. He is saying that He is the one, true eternal God. Not only does He say He is the Good Shepherd but He goes out and proves it by His life, suffering and death: The good shepherd gives His life in place of the sheep. As wonderful and comforting as it is to think of and remember that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, Jesus can only be the Good Shepherd because He is the true God. The fact that Jesus is the Good Shepherd goes hand in hand with the fact that He is true God—the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
There is no shepherd without a flock. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, not only because He is the true God but also because He has sheep, His dear Christians: I am the Good Shepherd… I know My sheep, and am known by My own; and other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must lead, and they will hear My voice. As we examine our text today we, dear Christian, will discover our blessed condition/ state of who we really are: sheep of the Good Shepherd.
1. Jesus begins: “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life in place of the sheep.” And then He emphasizes this again a few verses later: I am the Good Shepherd; first, I know My sheep, and am known by My own… and secondly I lay down My life in place of the sheep. Jesus shows that He is the Good Shepherd, the one true God and the Savior of the world by laying down His life “in place of” / “for the benefit of”/ “on behalf of” the sheep. That’s what we just remembered this past Lent—especially Holy Week: Jesus laying down His life, suffering and dying for us and our sin. This is exactly what the prophet said [Is. 53:6]: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. All our sins—the sins of the whole world—were placed on Jesus and there on the cross He endured all of God’s wrath and punishment over our sin instead of us; God’s righteous anger over our sin has been stilled; the sin that separated us sinners—us sheep who love to wander—from God has been done away with: Jesus reconciled all of sinful humanity to the holy God. That’s what Easter shows: by raising Jesus—the One who had taken all our sins on Himself, the One who had been loaded down with the sins of the world, the sinless One who had been made the world’s sinner—from the dead, the Father was declaring the world forgiven; by raising Jesus from the dead, the Father was declaring that the debt of the world’s sin, which Jesus had taken on Himself, was paid in full. That’s the glorious pronouncement of Easter for all people.
Dear Christian, we are the sheep of the Good Shepherd because He bought us with His holy precious blood; He saved us; He rescued us. Yes, His death produced help and deliverance for the whole world, all people, as the apostle testifies [1 John 2:2]: Jesus Christ Himself is the [atoning sacrifice] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world, but, sadly, most reject Jesus’ work and for them Jesus’ work was in vain, they do not receive the blessing and benefit of it, even though it is there ready and available for all.
Dear Christian, notice our Lord’s work here. His is the work of gathering—gathering the lost, wandering sheep into His flock. That’s precisely what He did here with us. We were just as lost, wandering and condemned as the rest of humanity—but what did Jesus do? He gathered us into His Church, just as, again, we heard in today’s OT reading: For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out’. We do not and cannot claim any credit for ourselves that we are Christians, part of Christ’s Church, that [Psalm 95:7] He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Instead, Christ rescued us from our sins and sought us out. That’s His whole work now—gathering people into His Church, His flock, His pasture. Notice in our text Jesus describes the work of the devil as scattering: the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. That’s how we all are as we come into the world and would remain that way—scattered in the wilderness of unbelief, sin, guilt, death, damnation. But because Jesus bought us and rescued us, He can and does now gather us into His pasture—the Church.
I am the Good Shepherd; first, I know My sheep. This isn’t just any knowing; it’s certainly not just knowing “about.” Jesus’ knowing us is His knowing us in love and holding on to us as His very own; and that knowing/ loving shows itself in His actions toward us! Here is grace upon grace, Jesus doesn’t just let us think that He knows and loves us; He doesn’t leave us to flounder whether we know we are His and He is ours. Instead, what does He do? He claims us as His own in holy Baptism and brings us into His fold/ pasture. In holy Baptism He comes to us and covers us with His holiness and righteousness; in holy Baptism He comes and connects us with His death and resurrection; in it He gives us faith, the Holy Spirit and every other heavenly and spiritual blessing. Here is a close intimate knowing because we are Christ’s own; we are the sheep of the Good Shepherd; we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
What a glorious comfort for us that we know—and in baptism are certain of—we are sheep of the Good Shepherd. Often it does look like the wolf coming—for the devil is always approaching to try to destroy our faith, to rip us away from the Good Shepherd. Very often Christ’s, the Good Shepherd’s, knowing us is concealed by cross, trial, sin, weakness, and suffering. Very often it seems to be the furthest thing from the truth that we are the sheep of the Good Shepherd. But here is where faith comes in. We hold, in faith, to the certainty of the fact: I am the Good Shepherd… I know My sheep. In faith we know His knowing us is a knowing of love; that He heartily and fervently loves us and like the Good Shepherd faithfully cares and watches over us. The path that the Good Shepherd leads us on may indeed be through the valley of the shadow of death, but what? I fear no evil for [Christ, the Good Shepherd] is with me; [His] rod and staff comfort me. The rod and staff of the Good Shepherd is His holy word and Sacrament. Through these He is always at work to give us forgiveness of sin, peace, comfort and joy—even in and precisely in the valley of the shadow of death. As He gives us through His rod and staff—the word and sacraments—these greatest of heavenly gifts and blessings, we can be absolutely certain that He is leading us to salvation and to our heavenly home on the best possible way—after all He is the Good Shepherd who knows us and claims us as His very own and is showing that loving ownership in such works of love that we cannot even imagine.
The other comfort that we have as Christians, being the sheep of the Good Shepherd, is that He loves and values us despite our weaknesses. Don’t let your sin and guilt ever get you to think that there’s no way you can be a sheep of the Good Shepherd—that’s the wolf/ devil coming to scatter and destroy. Instead, as you recognize your sin, know that it was for that sin too that the Good Shepherd died for you. Hear His voice in the absolution. Cling to His promise to you in holy Baptism. Run to the Holy Supper to receive His body that was cursed for you, and His blood that was shed and offered for your forgiveness. You, dear Christian, are a sheep of the Good Shepherd.
2. In faith you then rightly know Him and follow Him. I am the Good Shepherd; …I know My sheep, and am known by My own. Remember, that you are a sheep of the Good Shepherd and know Him rightly as the true God and Savior of the world is because He sought you out. For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out’. It’s not that you decided to follow the Good Shepherd and be one of His sheep; it’s not because you are so good or made yourself so worthy that Christ, the Good Shepherd, sought you out. Instead, from all eternity He loved you and sought your salvation; from all eternity He has known and claimed you as His own: other sheep I have which are not of this fold. That’s pure grace! Jesus describes how He draws and leads us to Himself: them also I must lead, and they will hear My voice. Here Jesus says that He draws people to Himself and works faith in Him in their hearts and by that makes them Christians, His sheep—the sheep of the Good Shepherd.
Jesus has given His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in the word and sacrament that Jesus has entrusted to the Church and now through the Holy Spirit’s work in the word and sacraments Jesus is leading people, drawing people, the other sheep He has non-Christians who will one day by His grace become His sheep. By His Holy Spirit’s work, Jesus is working true faith, right knowledge of Him and His saving work in the hearts of people. I am the Good Shepherd; …I know My sheep, and am known by My own. From Jesus’ holy word you, me, all Christians, both past, present and future come to know Jesus, the Good Shepherd, rightly as true God and Savior; by His grace we are brought to the knowledge of salvation which is in the forgiveness of sins. That’s knowing Christ, the Good Shepherd rightly; that’s why we love Jesus. Because in faith we know Jesus rightly and recognize Him as the Good Shepherd, we thank Him now by our lives of love—as we follow the leadings and promptings of the Holy Spirit in us; as we thank Him both now and one day eternally in heaven. By knowing our Good Shepherd rightly we, then, in faith, cling to Him, love Him and want only to follow Him. We delight as we hear His voice in Holy Scripture guiding and leading us; telling us more about Himself; promising and giving us forgiveness of sins. That’s why we sheep of the Good Shepherd will never be far from His holy word and sacraments. We are His own and we know and follow Him through life into our heavenly home.
In the Name of Jesus, Amen