Misericordias Domini, the 2nd Sunday after Easter + John 10:11-16 + April 15, 2018

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

When Christ calls Himself the Good Shepherd He calls His people sheep. Israel sang in Psalm 95, “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” Even though the Lord is the true shepherd of Israel, He used undershepherds throughout history. Psalm 77:20 says, “You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” The undershepherds appointed by the Lord were to lead the flock with the Word of the Lord, guide the sheep into repentance, teach them to avoid sin, and protect the lambs of God’s pasture from those who threatened the safety of their faith with false teachings which would scatter and destroy the flock. After Moses and Aaron, the Lord appointed priests and the Levites to teach the flock the Word of God. But mostly they were hirelings who didn’t care for the sheep. The Lord condemned such false shepherds. He said in Jeremiah 23:2, “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the LORD.” In Ezekiel 34, the Lord condemns the shepherds: “The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them” (Ezekiel 34:5). These words were spoken in the Old Testament but they could very well have been spoken of the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees in the New Testament. They cared nothing for the sheep of God’s pasture, they cared only for their own profit and honor.

When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, He saw people who had not been taught rightly about God’s mercy and graciousness to poor sinners. He saw masses of people who hand not been protected from error but had been fed with false teaching. St. Mark writes in his sixth chapter (6:34) that Jesus “saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.” Jesus made them to lie down in the green pastures of His Word so that they may be fed with truth. He led them beside the still waters of the Gospel to satisfy their hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jesus Himself compares His hearers to little lambs. A shepherd had one hundred sheep and loses one, so He leaves the ninety-nine and seeks the lost one, putting it on His shoulders to bring it back to the fold. At the end of the age the King will separate the sheep from the goats to give His lambs a kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. In Luke 12:32 He speaks tenderly to His lambs who are plagued with worry about the future and the things of this life. He tells them, “Do not fear, little flock.” He knows His sheep, that is, He knows precisely what they need, and He promises to give them what they need when they need it.

This makes Him a good shepherd. But He is THE Good Shepherd because “The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” This is the full extent of His love for mankind. He willfully lays His life down. It is not taken from Him by wicked and evil men. He lays down His life, that is, He submits to the death of the cross, for the sake of His sheep. Isaiah says, “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” (Isaiah 53:6). Like sheep we have each wandered from the fold of the Good Shepherd. By our sin we forsake the green pastures of the Lord and venture into the wilderness. We would rather have things our way in this life. Because we are sinful men, women, and children, we like to listen to our own voice instead of the Word of God. Our flesh wants to sin and seeks out ways to gratify its lusts. We put more stock in ourselves and our opinions than we do our God and in doing so we wander straight into the jaws of the wolf, the devil. He tempts us with worldly pleasures and the delight of our eyes so that we grow complacent and apathetic about hearing God’s holy Word and living holy lives according to His Word. The wolf offers us safety in this world and good, comfortable life all for the low price of compromising parts of God’s Word which are difficult to live with. Through sin and false belief about God He scatters us away from the true God, leads us down the broad path and there devours ours souls. For our many sins, the Good Shepherd lays His life down on the altar of the cross.

In humility, the Good Shepherd becomes as the sheep. To lay His life down for our sakes the Shepherd must become a lamb, so that as a lamb He might be the sacrifice sin. John the Baptist points to Jesus in John 1:29 and says: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” The Good Shepherd, the only-begotten Son of God, who is of the same substance with the Father, condescends to take on human flesh so that He might become fully man. He does so not for His own sake but for ours. He becomes fully man so that as a man He might die to take away the sin of the world. Even in His sufferings and death He shows Himself to be a true lamb. The prophet Isaiah foretold, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). The Good Shepherd becomes a sheep, taking our nature upon Himself in every way, except sin, so that He might be our Lamb, spotless and without blemish, a perfect sacrifice. In that first Passover Lamb that was slain in Egypt, the Lord painted a picture of the Christ to come who would deliver sinners from the destruction of death. In every sacrifice slaughtered and immolated upon the altar God revealed the contours of a mystery to be revealed in Christ, that He would die as THE Lamb of God in order to atone for the sins of the entire world. There is no sin for which He did not die. There is no sin so dark, so vile, or so putrid that it is outside the reach of His redemption. The blood of Jesus covers every sin.

Jesus also says, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” He is speaking of you when He says this. During His earthly ministry Christ was the Good Shepherd, teaching, guiding, feeding, and protecting His lambs, even laying down His life for them. And although He is ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, He is still the Good Shepherd. Now He shepherds His flock, which is the church, by sending out undershepherds, pastors (which is Latin for “shepherd) to preach His gospel all people. His undershepherds are to do what He did. They are to guide the flock to repentance with God’s Word, lead Christ’s little lambs into green pastures and beside still waters of His Gospel and Sacraments to refresh them, and protect the sheep from the wolf’s false doctrine lest they be scattered and devoured. Christ is present in this ministry still, working through His Word and Sacraments, offering you all the benefits Christ earned when He laid His life down for the sheep. Dear lambs of Christ, rejoice in the goodness of the Lord. He has laid His life down for your sins and continues to shepherd you through the ministry of the means of grace, offering you again all He has earned for you. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.