Easter IV Year B [John 10:11-18] (26-Apr-2015)

This sermon was preached at the Lutheran Heritage Foundation Africa Chapel, Karen, Nairobi, Kenya.

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

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.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, send out your Holy Spirit upon us, so that we may feed richly on the living pastures of your word today. Amen.

In our Gospel reading today, there are two animals: the first animal is a sheep, the second animal is a wolf. Now it’s quite an easy life being an animal, as long as you can eat. And so Jesus talks about two animals – a sheep and a wolf – and these two animals are similar in that they like to eat. Sheep like eating, and wolves like eating.

But these two animals are very different also, because they eat very different things. Sheep like to eat grass, but wolves like to eat – sheep! Wolves have got no interest in eating grass – they don’t want grass; they want blood – they want to eat sheep.

Now in our reading today, you are a sheep. You are a sheep that belongs to God because He created you. He has formed you and shaped you as his wonderful creation. He has created you to live in a peaceful field, a green meadow, and not only has he created you but he also preserves you and leads you and guides you and gives you his wonderful word to feed on each and every day.

But there is a problem – sin has entered the world. The devil was created by God as one of his holy angels. But he didn’t want to feed on God’s word anymore, and the more he didn’t eat, the more hungry he became. The devil has a wonderful position as an angel, so that he could sing praises to God forever. But he wanted more – he was hungry for glory, hungry for power, hungry to become like God. But here’s the problem – the devil becomes hungrier and hungrier. But God is not hungry, he doesn’t need to eat! God is the one who feeds! And so as the devil gets hungrier, and wants to be like God, he falls into darkness and sin, because he is not God and he is nothing like God.

And so, God feeds the sheep. We people, we human beings, were created in God’s image, and he has given his wonderful word to feed on. The devil, though, is a wolf – he doesn’t want to feed on God’s word, but wants to make himself into God. But because he is not God, he is hungry, not hungry for beautiful, fresh, green grass, not hungry for God’s word – but he is hungry for the only other thing which is in the field. He is hungry for sheep, and he is not satisfied until he sinks his teeth in and devours the sheep.

We see in the Garden of Eden, how the devil went and destroyed Adam and Eve, and also tricked them into joining him to be hungry to be like God. He wants Adam and Eve not to feed on God’s life-giving word, but he wants them to become hungry like him, to take away their life, to take away their food, to take away their happiness and contentment, and he turns them from being alive like God into being dead like him. The devil turns them from being living sheep who eat, into dead sheep for his own food.

So we are sheep and the devil is the wolf. And yet, now, because of our sin, the bible says that we are dead. Ephesians says: You were dead in [your] trespasses and sins. And if we are dead, then we are the devil’s food. But the problem is that we think the devil is our friend, because he shares in our hunger. He is hungry, and so are we – but the only thing that can satisfy us is God’s word. But as sinners we have turned away from God’s word, we don’t realise that we are dead, dead sheep, ready to be eaten by the wolf, by the devil.

So how are you going to survive? A wolf is much stronger than a sheep. His appetite is furious. He sees the sheep from a distance, and a sheep has nowhere to go, and before he knows it, he is the devil’s dinner. How are you going to protect yourself from the devil?

If we were to try and work out the answer, we would have no idea what to do and where to go. And so, Jesus himself tells us what the answer is, and this answer is completely beyond our understanding. This is an answer than simple sheep like us would never think of.

Jesus says: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus is our good shepherd. Hang on a minute? Isn’t Jesus a human being like us? Isn’t he one of God’s creations like us, another sheep like us? Actually, no. Yes, he is a human being, he’s a real man. But Jesus is also the God who created us; he is the one who made each and every sheep with his own hands. But also he entered into the world as a human being – he is both true God and true man. This man Jesus is our good shepherd. So why did our maker become a man? Jesus explains this too: he says: The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus is our good shepherd. He made us and he feeds us. He is the one who makes us like down in green pasture. And instead of the wolf eating you, Jesus gives himself as a sacrifice, and lets the wolf eat him instead. The devil was hungry for power, so Jesus came to be like us, one of his sheep. And the devil’s hunger is not satisfied until the blood of this lamb, the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, drops to the ground and devil licks it up like a dirty, hungry wolf. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

But this is not the end of the story. Jesus didn’t simply lay down his life for nothing. He laid it down for the sheep. The devil licks up the blood of Jesus, but this blood is a poison to him. But for the sheep the blood of Jesus is a medicine. So Jesus lays down his life just so he can make for himself a church with his blood. And so Jesus puts his blood on us when he baptises us and then he gives us his word to feed on and says: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So when you feed on this word, like a sheep eating grass, you can be strengthened in the fact that your sins are forgiven and the devil has nothing to feed on anymore, you are rescued from the wolf’s power and you will never be a dead sheep ever again for the devil to feed on. This is not because of you, but because your Good Shepherd has laid down his life for you, his sheep.

But you know, the devil wants to keep trying to attack us right inside our hearts and our minds and wants to trick us into thinking that Jesus’ blood only lands on the outside of our bodies, like the water in baptism washing off of us. But it’s not true. The water hits the outside of our bodies, but God’s word enters right into our ears and into our hearts. And so Jesus wants to stop us hungering anymore, so he gives us his body and blood to eat and drink. Our Good Shepherd lays down his life and gives his body and blood for the sheep to feed on. This is such a wonderful gift! And when we take our Good Shepherd into our bodies, his body and blood destroys our sin for the devil to feed on, he destroys the devil’s work within us, and makes us living sheep feeding on his word again just as he is living and he lets u share his victory over the devil. The Lord’s Supper is a poison for the devil and all the devil’s work in us, and yet for us, his sheep, this same Lord’s Supper is a wonderful, powerful medicine and it is our most precious food. And with this wonderful supper, Jesus lets us also feed on his powerful words: Given for you. Shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. What a wonderful rich gift Jesus our Good Shepherd gives to us! Hosanna in the highest! Thank you, Jesus, our good shepherd.

Now, in our reading, there’s a problem. Jesus is our good shepherd. He is our true God. He has died for us, risen for us and has baptised us, so that we belong to him and he owns us.

But there is something also which is called a “false god”. A false god is something that has not created us. In fact, even false gods are created by God, but he didn’t create them to be gods but to serve him, the true God. So when we make a false god, we make something which God created into a god. We replace God with something that He made. And when we do this, then we make an idol.

Jesus is our good shepherd. But an idol is not a good shepherd. Can Jesus protect the sheep from the wold? Yes. But can an idol, a pretend Jesus, protect us from the decil? No. An idol has no power at all. It has no power to forgive us, no power to rescue us and save us. IF we have a false god, an idol, instead of Jesus, the good shepherd, then the devil will make mince meat out of us.

So what’s your idol? What you fear more than Jesus? What do you love more than Jesus? What do you trust more than Jesus? Is it money, your honour, your family, your health? Is it a false prophet who promises you wealth, health and success instead of forgiveness?

You see, an idol is a false god, and every false god demands a sacrifice. We have to pay something to this false god to protect us from the wolf. A false good does not feed us, but is hungry and wants to rob us. He wants to be paid.

And so, Jesus calls a false god a hired hand. The false god is not an eternal creator like Jesus. He is just on a contract until his payment is paid. When the contract is over, he runs away. He doesn’t care about you.

So Jesus says: 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.

Jesus, on the other hand, he does own you – he made you his in baptism. When the wolf comes, Jesus poisons the wolf with his blood, blood which condemns the wolf and saves the sheep. Instead of running away, Jesus stays with you. Jesus is not under contract, he is the eternal God. He can never be fired from his job, because all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him. Instead of letting the sheep be scattered, Jesus gathers them together. He baptises them in his name and takes them up in his arms, just like he did for you. And he will be with you always to the end of the age, and he will never be fired. A hired cares nothing for the sheep. But with Jesus, you can cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

So Jesus says: 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.

Jesus says: I know my own and my own know me. Sometimes we might think, maybe Jesus doesn’t know me and maybe I don’t know him. Maybe I really belong to the devil after all, and I’m just waiting for him to feed on me, and to sink his teeth into me.

But you know, only Christians worry about sin and temptation and the devil. The unbelievers don’t worry about these things at all, because the devil has already done his work on them. But Christians make the devil jealous, and hungry. But you can say to the devil – you might be a wolf, but to me you are just a baby kitten. Jesus has baptised me, and I belong to him. He knows me and I know him. He became a man, a human being just like me, and He is also true God – he knows the Father and the Father knows him. And this Jesus, who baptised me, this Jesus, who is my good shepherd – He laid down his life for me. He laid down his life for the sheep.

You see – our faith doesn’t rest on our feelings, but it rests on his word. We know he is here, because we hear his voice in the Scriptures.

Jesus also says: I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will—do what?—they will listen to my voice. Isn’t it a wonderful thing to listen to the voice of Jesus?

Today in our church here we heard our pastor speak the absolution, the forgiveness of sins. This is not his voice, but the voice of your good shepherd, Jesus. This voice of Jesus is the voice that forgives your sins, and everything we need for our Christian life comes from this forgiveness. And so when we come to listen to this voice of Jesus, in the pulpit, in baptism, in the absolution and in the Lord’s Supper, we are brought together as one flock with one heart and one mind. Jesus says: They will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

But then, sometimes, maybe we think Jesu really isn’t a good shepherd? It’s one thing for him to say this, but can he really do it? The church often looks so small, so weak, so poor, and yet the unbelievers are much richer, much larger, much stronger.

But what do you think? Did Jesus die so that his bones would stay in the grace? Is Jesus still dead? No—Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.

Jesus says: For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

Yes—Jesus is risen from the dead. He wants to be your shepherd, and he loves his sheep, and he has the power to do it. He is risen from the dead, and all the authority in heaven and earth belongs to him.

He says: No-one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

So, have no fear, little flock. You have a good shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has laid down his life for you, and he has taken it up again. He is our good shepherd, and he has laid down his life for the sheep.

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, our good shepherd, strengthen our faith, and send us your Holy Spirit so that we may feed on your living voice from the Holy Scriptures, which promises us the free forgiveness of all our sins. Thank you, Jesus, for laying down your life for us, and for taking it up again. Amen.