Easter 3—
Beloved. Throughout the history of the Christian Church, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd has been one of the most comforting and popular. We see images of Jesus the Good Shepherd in the catacombs of Rome dating from the early years of the Church. Even today, when so many people in the industrialized world are so far removed from shepherds and their way of life, this is still a popular image of Jesus. What Christian does not know and relish the psalm of the shepherd, King David: The Lord is my Shepherd…? For centuries now, the Church has set aside one of the Sundays after Easter as Good Shepherd Sunday. For us, today is that Sunday. Our text comes from the verses right before He makes that beautiful statement: I am the good shepherd. And why is He the Good Shepherd? Because, as He continues: The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. And then shortly after that tells us another reason why He is the Good Shepherd: I know My sheep, and am known by My own. How beautifully the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd fits into the Easter season! He lays down His life for His sheep. That’s what we have in Lent, on Good Friday—Jesus willingly giving His life for us. But His death would do us no good unless He also rose again, unless there was also Easter! What good is a shepherd who is killed by the wolves attacking his sheep? He can’t defend them! But with Jesus it’s different. He truly died; He entered death; life and death struggled and He defeated death, rising from the dead Easter Sunday morning. Now the victory remains with life. Now Jesus lives—our Good Shepherd—to guard and protect us from our spiritual enemies: sin, death and devil. Because He lives, He gives us the fruit of His victory: the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. And He leads us in a life of faith and good works. Listen to the blessing of the holy writer [Hb 13.20,21]: Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
As we think today about Jesus being the Good Shepherd, it is also worthwhile to remember that when Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd, He is also pointing to His divinity, that He is the true God. After all, throughout the OT, God depicts Himself as a shepherd, good and faithful shepherd. After all, we have heard David: The Lord is my Shepherd; and again in another psalm we read the pleas of the people to God [Ps 80.1]: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock. The prophet Isaiah [40.11] writes: Behold, the Lord God… 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. And the prophet Ezekiel [34. 11,15] records: For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out….I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down.” So when Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd, He is saying that He is God, the Shepherd of His people. What a blessing and comfort to us!
Jesus says in our text: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and robber. The sheepfold in those days was a walled enclosure—the walls maybe even being a wall of a building or house—to keep the sheep safe at night. Often flocks of several shepherds were kept there. There was usually only one way in, one door/ gate. The gatekeeper knew who was the right and proper shepherd of the sheep and would let him in; if it wasn’t the shepherd, the gatekeeper wouldn’t let him in. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. Even by their very actions of climbing over the wall, not entering through the door/ gate, the false “shepherd” shows himself to be a thief and robber. By Jesus coming to His sheep through the gate/ properly, He shows that He is the rightful Shepherd of the flock.
And what is the way that Jesus came to/ for the sheepfold of His Church? He did not come in a show of power and might, which He could have since He is God. Instead, He came in all lowliness and humility in order to die/ lay down His life for the sheep. Elsewhere Jesus says of Himself [Mt. 20.28] that He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Jesus showed Himself to be the Good Shepherd/ True Shepherd/ Rightful Shepherd by His suffering and death. Only by His holy life and His innocent suffering and death is He great Shepherd of the sheep. Going through the gate, entering by the door of the sheepfold, the only way Jesus could be the Good Shepherd, is by His becoming true man, obeying God’s law perfectly for us and suffering and dying for our sin.
Think back to Lent and the Passion account—how many times the devil tried to derail Jesus off that path of suffering and death! He tried to get Jesus to sin; He tried to get Jesus to think that He could be King without suffering—if you are the Son of God…; think of all the torment Jesus endured and during it all Satan certainly telling Him—there is another, easier way. Of course, Jesus recognized the lie and continued on that path of suffering which leads to the reconciliation of sinful humanity with the holy God, the forgiveness of sin and the salvation of the world. By that He showed He is the true God, the Good Shepherd. He entered through that one door to the sheepfold—the one of suffering and death.
Jesus is the Lord, that natural and rightful shepherd. He has shown Himself to be the Good Shepherd who has the authority to the flock. After all, not only did He die but the God of peace … brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep. And what happens? To him the gatekeeper opens. And then what happens? The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. What a beautiful picture of the Church and Jesus’ relation with His dear Christian,[Ps 95.7] the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Jesus as the Good Shepherd calls His sheep by name and leads them out. That shows both His authority and His loving closeness. Calling them by name/ calling us by name means that Jesus knows us personally and individually. To the Lord, the Good Shepherd, we are not a mass of humanity; we are not a number; but we are a person—one whom He created and one He died for. He knows our hurts and pains. He knows the best way to lead and guide us—in fact He knows us better than we know ourselves.
And let us not forget the great blessing that is ours in holy Baptism! We became part of the flock of Christ, the holy Christian Church in baptism. There in the waters of holy baptism we were called and brought into the Church. Of us, at Baptism, we hear the word of Scripture [Is 43.1]: But now, thus says the Lord, who created you…and He who formed you… “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; You are mine.” By Jesus, the Good Shepherd calling His own sheep by name, He is claiming us as His very own. We belong to the Lord; He called us and claimed us as His very own at our Baptism. And as Jesus knows us by name, so too, do we know Him rightly in faith. Not only does He know us and we know Him, but through baptism we are gloriously and wonderfully united with Him. We have been clothed with Him; we are united with Him in His death and resurrection.
And what does Jesus, our Good Shepherd do when He calls us? He leads us to follow Him. The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all His own, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. And where does the Good Shepherd lead His flock, His Church? –To the best pastures and the best water, as David puts it in the psalm: He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. And for what purpose? He restores my soul. By leading us to the best pastures and still waters, Jesus is giving us exactly what we need—the forgiveness of sin and peace of conscience. When our sins bother us, when we feel guilt, when the devil wants us to think that God is now our enemy, then Jesus brings us the refreshment of the Gospel—His holy word which proclaims His work and also gives us the blessing and benefit of it; He brings us to the refreshment of the holy absolution where He announces and again gives us the forgiveness of our sin; He brings us to the refreshment of the Holy Sacrament of the altar where He unites with us giving us His very body that bore and was cursed for our sin and His very blood that was poured out for our forgiveness and giving us that forgiveness. There is no way we can doubt that He is our Good Shepherd as He gives us in His holy word and Sacrament the true and lasting refreshment we need.
When Jesus leads [His sheep] out, [w]hen He has brought out all His own, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him. The thing is, when Jesus leads us, His flock, His Church, He leads us through the midst of wolves. Yes, we are surrounded by our spiritual enemies; they are all eager to jump and pounce on us—sin, death, devil, hell—and all their allies: despair, suffering, guilt, loneliness, etc. But don’t forget, Jesus, the Good Shepherd is leading us. He is leading us to good pasture, to peace, where our souls find refreshment and finally to heaven. Yes, it may look harrowing at times; it may look like our spiritual enemies are ready to get us. But Jesus, our Good Shepherd, is leading us. He is there to watch over and protect and help us. –And He will do so in the right way and at the right time and in the way that best serves for our salvation; remember: He knows our name, He knows us better than we know ourselves; we are His and He won’t allow anything to rip us from His hand. He is the Good Shepherd and it is vital that we remember that, even when it seems to us He isn’t.
Jesus says in our text: And the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice….A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voices of strangers. Our Lord’s flock, His Church, His Christians hear/ listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd as He speaks to us in Holy Scripture. In Bible, there is the voice of the Good Shepherd. There are so many other voices in the world all calling to us to follow them. But we, dear Christian, know the voice of Jesus and follow that alone. To follow the voice of Jesus means that we must know it; and we come to know it as we read and study Scripture and as we are faithfully in church. We cannot know the voice of our Good Shepherd just by a superficial read of Scripture, or listening with half an ear in church. But to know the voice of the Good Shepherd, we need to hear His word daily and then ponder/ think about that word and apply that word to our hearts and lives. Because there are so many voices all competing for our attention—and our soul—we must be faithful and diligent to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd in Scripture—that is truth and life and peace!—and then to compare everything in light of that and to reject everything that is contrary to it.
And the sheep follow Him also means that we are not self-willed, wanting to do our own thing. Instead, we humbly submit our will to the will of the Lord and go where He leads, where He knows is best for us. A self-willed sheep will not follow the shepherd; but what will be its fate? It will easily be picked off by the wolves.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His flock; He is leading us so that we may have life and have it abundantly. INJ Amen.