Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Text: (John 10:11-16)
I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows Me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Prayer: Sanctify us with the truth, Lord. Your word is truth. Amen.
It’s strange. Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd” still seems to be one of the most popular psalms.
And nevertheless the picture in the bible of Jesus as a shepherd and we as sheep still is not one that is all that popular today. There are very few new songs that are written which speak about Christians as sheep and Jesus as our shepherd. In old times, it was popular – it was popular to see pictures of Jesus holding a little sheep in bible story books, or on stain glass windows. Now it doesn’t seem to be as popular.
People would be happy to call Jesus our Saviour, our friend, our Lord, maybe even our God, but to say that he is our shepherd is quite a different thing altogether.
Why do you think that is?
Australia has been a country that has had a lot to with sheep. We have old songs about sheep-shearing. Maybe it’s because they are seen to be stupid that we don’t like to call ourselves sheep.
But all that aside, Jesus in our reading says: “I am the Good Shepherd.”
This picture of a shepherd is found all over the bible. There are sheep and shepherds all over the place!
In Isaiah 53, we read: “All we like sheep have gone astray, every one to his own way.”
A shepherd is one who calls the sheep together. Sheep on the other hand want to do their own thing and go off by themselves.
And it’s funny, we’re living in a time where people are really seeking a deeper unity. When there is a new housing development somewhere, there are often signs advertising “community”. A sense of community, a sense of belonging and unity is something which people think they can almost buy! But people try to sell community because it’s something that people long for so much!
And now that there is a lot more technology available, people are able to make contact with people that suit them a lot more than they used to. People are much more able to gather teachers around themselves to suit themselves.
St Paul says: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
So even with all the promises of technology to bring people closer together, there is still a great sense of loneliness and lack of community around us. People might have 1000 friends on the internet, but don’t even know the person across the street.
And a mid all these disparate sheep all throughout the world, our country, our state, and even our parish area, Jesus says: “I am the Good Shepherd.”
Jesus is the one who does the gathering. He is the shepherd and he is the one who gathers the sheep around him. He brings the sheep into the fold so that there will be one flock, one shepherd.
We on the other hand want to gather multiple teachers around themselves. We all want to have a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B. But we as sheep need to stop looking to gather teachers around ourselves, but we need to be gathered by Jesus, and sit at his feet, and listen to his teaching.
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If you translate the word “shepherd” into Latin, you get the word “pastor”. That’s where the word pastor comes from. It’s Latin for shepherd.
So when Jesus says that he is the Good Shepherd, he is saying that he is the only shepherd in the church. He is the only pastor who is present in every church throughout the world all of the time.
In 1 Peter 5, Peter says to Pastors: “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”
Pastors in the church are called to shepherd the flock, under the Good Shepherd. Pastors shepherd the flock on behalf of Jesus, in his presence.
But a pastor’s job is to show to the people the Good Shepherd, and that he is the one who has laid down his life for the sheep. A pastor who doesn’t do this is called a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep, but cares about himself. Then the wolf, the devil, comes in and catches the sheep and kills them.
But as a pastor, our calling is to speak the words of Jesus to you, to speak the words of the Good Shepherd to you. If a pastor isn’t doing this, you need to tell him.
In the church, we say that pastors exercise the office of the keys: This means they forgive sins on behalf of Jesus in his presence.
And this is the strange thing: Jesus can read our thoughts and our minds and our hearts. Pastors can’t. But even so, pastors still give the forgiveness of sins to people who confess their sins. This is because pastors give the forgiveness of sins not because they can read people’s minds, but because of what they said.
So when the pastor says the words of forgiveness, the absolution, it starts by saying, “Upon your confession…”
So when you have doubts in your own mind about whether or not you really meant what you said, or that your thoughts running in your mind were so holy and pure, and you say, “Maybe I’m not forgiven, because I didn’t really mean it”, Jesus says, “I know that when you confess your sins that your confession is not perfect! Never mind! You came into the presence of God and said it. And whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” And so when a person says, just like you do today, that they confess their sins and want the forgiveness of sins, Jesus says, “I forgive you.” The promise in 1 John chapter 1 is still strong: “If we confess our sins, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Jesus doesn’t deal with us spiritually by making us put our trust in what happens in the dark recesses of our mind.
Psalm 19 says, “Who can understand his errors?”
If we had to judge our Christianity on what we see inside of ourselves, we’d all be up the creek!
Instead, Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and he deals with our sin outside of ourselves.
He dies on the cross in history outside of ourselves.
He rises from the dead outside of ourselves.
He washes us clean from our sin in Holy Baptism outside of ourselves.
He speaks the forgiveness of sins to us through the ministry outside of ourselves.
He gives his body and blood to us outside of ourselves.
And this is the way in which Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He is our Good Shepherd in the church, gathering the sheep together into one flock with one shepherd. And it is by giving us all of gifts outside of ourselves, not from inside of us, that he is the Shepherd of our souls. It is by continually making our eyes look to him outside of ourselves that he is our Good Shepherd.
Let’s say a person says, “I don’t know if I’m a true Christian”. Someone might say, “Well, do you feel happy inside? Have you made a real effort to believe in Jesus? Do feel like Jesus is with you all the time?”
For some people, the answer will be “yes” and for some the answer will be “no”. But anyway, this isn’t the point. Anyone who makes people trust in themselves, in their own efforts, in the own feelings is a hired hand, and that person is opening the door for the wolf to come in and attack.
But if a person says, “I don’t know if I’m a true Christian”, then you should say, “Well, did Jesus die for you? Did Jesus lie when he said to you in church “I forgive you”? Are you baptised or are preparing to be baptised? Is the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you in the church?” When sheep are pointed to the shepherd’s work on them from outside of themselves, then they are showing people the Good Shepherd. When people are pointed to the Good Shepherd, then the Good Shepherd gathers the sheep. When people are pointed to themselves, then the sheep has to gather itself, and it won’t be long before the sheep finds itself deep in the bush, being made mince-meat by raging wolves.
I remember a good friend of mine once went to a talk, and the speak said that “we all have to listen to the voice of God in our lives.” Now this is true. We should. But this young man didn’t know where to listen to it. He said, “What am I supposed to do? Is God going to talk to me as I walk down the street? What’s does it mean?”
This sort of thing isn’t Christianity. It’s possible that God might speak to you directly out of heaven as you walk down the street, but he hasn’t promised it.
The thing is: You are baptised. When you were baptised, God said, “I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
In church, God says, “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
And Jesus says to you, “Take eat, this is my body. Take and drink, this is my blood.”
Those words of God are the best words of God that you’re ever going to hear. They are promises for you in the church. The sheep listen to the voice of Jesus not in their heads, but in the church from the Scripture. When people think they have heard Jesus speaking to them in their heads, but it’s not in the Scripture, then it’s not Jesus. You can be absolutely positive that it’s not Jesus. St Paul says: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Don’t listen to angels – they haven’t been asked to speak to you anything that’s not written in the Scripture. Listen to the Scriptures, listen to the word of preaching in the church, listen to the forgiveness of sins. It’s your Good Shepherd speaking to his sheep.
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Jesus says: I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives up his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
So have no fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Your risen Lord Jesus speaks to you and stands with you just as he did with the disciples after Easter. And he is your Good Shepherd: he has laid down his life for you. And he knows you all by name and he has gathered you into his flock.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Amen.
And the peace which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus, our Good Shepherd, our Saviour who is risen from the dead. Amen.
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