Easter 3 Misericordia Domini – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 10:11-16 “A Shepherd’s Protection”
April 14, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, out of Your fatherly goodness You have been mindful of us poor, miserable sinners, and have given Your beloved Son to be our Shepherd, not only to nourish us by His Word, but also to defend us from sin, death, and the devil: We beseech You, grant us Your Holy Spirit, that, even as this Shepherd knows us and helps us in every affliction, we also may know Him, and, trusting in Him, seek help and comfort in Him, from our hearts obey His voice, and obtain eternal salvation; through the same, Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 155)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
[Jesus said,] “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.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who reveals the goodness of the Lord, laying down His life on the cross so that all will see their redemption, dear fellow redeemed:
When you ask children if they could be an animal, they will usually list animals that they define as a cool animal. They will usually pick animals that can run fast, are expert climbers, or maybe they can fly. It is through the animals that they are able to imagine having certain powers. The children will think of being fierce predators and as the animals have a lot of benefits, I bet they never would have imagined themselves as sheep. Who in their right mind would ever imagine themselves as sheep? Sheep are not the brightest of animals. They get stuck in places and they certainly have no way of defending themselves except to run. Scripture constantly makes comparisons of people as sheep and as Scripture talks about us as being sheep time and time again, most of the time we feel it is an unfair assumption. Deep down we know Jesus is right when He calls us sheep. And as the wolves creep up to devour you for eternity, Jesus informs you that you are under the good shepherd’s protection and this protection rings out through the ages.
To receive this protection, first you have to know where this is coming from. The disciples were listening to Jesus who was teaching them different analogies to describe Himself. With these analogies, He began by saying, “I am.” As we heard only a few weeks ago, the words “I am,” are the divine name of God. Jesus continues to state that He is God, and He will say that He and the Father are One in the next chapter. If Jesus is God, then the protections that you receive from Jesus are also coming from God as He is One with God.
Jesus tells His disciples that He is the good shepherd, but while He is there for protection, there are hired hands that work the same 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.” Here is a warning from Jesus. The disciples can recognize that there are hired hands who are abusing the sheep. The religious leaders do not care for the sheep. They are worried about their power and influence. When the powers that be come after them, they will abandon the sheep and run to save themselves. Now while the hired hands take flight, the good shepherd who is with them is later struck. Unfortunately, with the shepherd struck the sheep scattered into the night.
That verse, Zechariah 13:7, comes to fulfillment when Jesus is arrested in the garden. We remember these words as we heard them not long ago. The disciples did not see the parallel. Jesus was their protection and they ran. While the disciples ran from the good shepherd, we tend to think that we will do no such thing. We always think about ourselves running to Christ. And that is usually how we can see pictures portrayed of us in our imagination. While we have a hard time picturing ourselves running away from Christ, it might be easier to picture ourselves as wandering sheep. We know Jesus is serious about keeping us protected, but when we see the sins that we desire to have and we don’t want Jesus to see us observing them, we try to wander just outside of His gaze.
While we try to wander to the field edge to see if the shepherd is noticing, we also need to pay attention to who is leading us in the field. Is it an under shepherd, or is it a hired hand? There are some hired hands who will look like under shepherds, but their message might not match with what the good shepherd teaches. If the hired hand encourages you to go out by the fields edge, that is a sign that the hired hand does not care about your wellbeing because he knows there are wolves out there. Maybe the hired hand finds you on the other side of the fence, he knows that what you did is wrong, and he tells you that the good shepherd is going to still take care of you even though you are not inside the fence. He fluffs up his message, but in the end when life gets tough, “He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” The blame can fall on the sheep. Blame can weigh you down as you see the wolves coming out of the woods towards you. Scripture teaches sheep to watch shepherds and to warn other sheep of hired hands.
When the wolves show up, it doesn’t mean that it is all over. As you repent, you can search the Scriptures and hear how it is God who is merciful and protects His flock. He says according to the prophet Ezekiel, “I Myself will be the shepherd of My sheep, and I Myself will make them lie down,” declares the Lord GOD. “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice” (Ezekiel 34:15-16). Who does that sound like? The disciples witnessed this in action. They watched as Jesus found lost souls who repented of their sins. Some had strayed and some needed to be healed by His power. They watched Him go after the religious leaders. And when the disciples fled and thought it was over, it was on the cross that they saw how great their good shepherd is.
[Jesus said:] “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” The good shepherd was their protection from the wolves. The greater wolves of sin, death, and hell were destroyed by the good shepherd. He stood His ground to those wolves. They snarled, bit, and sank their fangs into the shepherd and this was the plan of God. The good shepherd was crucified for them. The hired hands run, they can’t beat back sin, death, and hell no matter how hard they try. As the wolves’ circle in, there stands the good shepherd. It is through this protection the disciples were able to carry out their mission to share the Gospel. They didn’t cower. They stood boldly and proclaimed until they were martyred. In their physical death, the wolves did not stop them from being united with the good shepherd.
The good shepherd hasn’t left you, even if you have found yourself outside of the fence. When you make a mistake, it doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. You hear the same words that the disciples heard, “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. Those wolves can’t harm you because the shepherd has laid down His life for you too. He was mangled, beaten, nailed, and speared on the cross for you. Your shepherd who cares about you so much, even when you are all sheep who like to wander. He finds you and protects you because He loves you. You know Him because He doesn’t change and He doesn’t run.
Peter writes of this comfort. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.” When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His wounds you have been healed.” For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:21-25). He oversees you through His Word and Sacraments. It is through these beautiful gifts that you see and hear your good shepherd. He’s not leaving you, not now, not ever.
The good shepherd not only stands before you today for you to hear His saving grace, but He stands to be heard by all. If His death was for all, why wouldn’t His message be for all who desire to hear and learn it? Jesus tells His disciples that He protects a number of 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.” The wolves will try to disrupt this message. They will try to eat the sheep that have been left in the dust by the hired hands. Jesus’ death on the cross was for the sins of the world. It is the cross where the goodness of the Lord hangs, the God of humiliation, the good shepherd, laying down His life for the sheep. As people return to the shepherd who comes to them in the Means of Grace, they will find something that the world can never offer them. The wolves can only attack the body and the good shepherd gives eternal peace.
This is peace that we can crave, but we have to realize we won’t find it here on earth. This is an eternal reward that is given and not earned. There will be times we will try to imagine ourselves as something other than a sheep. We will try to be a predator, looking out for ourselves. We will like this message when we hear it from the hired hand. As Jesus gives us under shepherds, it is those under shepherds that help bring the truth of the good shepherd. The under shepherds look after their flocks bringing to them what isn’t earned. The flock receives the good shepherd through the faithful administering of the Means of Grace. There they see the good shepherd and hear His Words. He protects them in the fold, laying down His life so that they may live. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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