Easter 3 Misericordia Domini – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 10:11-16 “My Life for You”
May 4, 2025 | 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:
“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 sees you as a little lamb, cares for you, feeds you, and redeems you with His life, dear fellow redeemed:
What is the price of life? You can ask anyone, and most people will tell you that life, or someone’s life, is precious. We can easily see this by watching how people interact with each other. In the government, we have laws and there is severe punishment if you take someone’s life. No matter who it is, most will help someone if they believe their life isn’t worth living. While the world puts the value of life as being important, as Christians we know that life is very important. It is important from its humble beginnings with its conception in the womb. We see in God’s natural law written on our hearts that it should be protected. As we deal with a sinful world, even with protecting life and teaching us to see there is value every day, we know that accidents can happen. Diseases can weaken the body until they don’t work anymore. As death hunts to snuff out life, the devil is also sending his agents out to inflict the death of body and soul. Our lives do have value. In wake of our Savior’s death and resurrection we learn how much. Jesus teaches, with His life, that He lays down it for you.
That could not have been an easy decision. We know this because we know how scary death is. If it was up to us, we would live forever. While the unbelievers struggle with the fact of maintaining their lives, Jesus is teaching about all the danger that face those who believe. Before our text, Jesus is teaching how there will be those who try to gain access to the sheep pen. They will not come through the gate. They will climb over the fence and once they make it in, they will look as if they belong. While on the outside this can look okay, the focus isn’t on the lives of those who are in the pen. The focus is on the One who stands in front of the pen taking care of the sheep. Following what Jesus teaches, the people of His day would be able to tell who was supposed to be in the pen taking care of them and wanting them to eternally live.
For the people of Jesus’ day, they had the examples of their ancestors. The Old Testament people learned their lives came from God through the under shepherds He had sent to them. Unfortunately, many didn’t listen and tried to take control of their lives for themselves. St. Paul writes, “Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened” (Romans 11:7). Knowing Israel’s history, we know the elect was only a remnant. Even when it looked all was lost, Go revealed to them how much He cared that they would turn from their wicked ways and live. After learning that God will keep them safe from danger in the sheep pen, even the under shepherds of the flock would begin to stray because devouring the spiritual lives of the sheep made them wealthy. As they tried to lead as hired hands, they explained, “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” (John 11:48). Power looks to be of more value than life.
Even with one thing being worth more than life, this is too much. While the way of the world is to do everything in its power to live, they are giving up on life and choosing death. What good is our life if we spiritually die? There are many who close their eyes to spiritually living. Part of the reason this happens is because of seeing the physical life of the unbeliever. When we stack up our life of rules against their life of fun, of course we would like to live in the life of fun. While the world is crafty in its temptations, there is much more danger than simply wandering out of the sheep fold. Some do see the good that the sheep have in the sheep pen, and they want to snuff it out. So, they jump the fence and once inside, they try to teach a message that doesn’t quite match up to the full teaching of Scripture. A dangerous “wolf snatches them and scatters them”, devouring many sheep.
To stay safe from the wolves, the sheep have been told who takes care of all the protection. We all know the words to Psalm twenty-three. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1-3). He does all of this for His name’s sake. He wants to keep us safe. While the shepherd has been there since the beginning, having our best interest in mind, we run into the problem of ignoring His help for the help of the hired hands. A hired hand can be just as dangerous as a wolf because they can mimic the shepherd. The hired hand wants to be a leader, but ultimately his life will be more important than the lives of the flock. He may attempt to protect the herd for a little while. 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.” Everyone’s goal is to take our spiritual life. The only One who will always be concerned for the life of the sheep is the One who leads them and makes the price of their life as His own.
The One who gives up His life, knows that hired hands will flee and the wolves are hungry. He also knows that the wolves will never be able to kill the flock. After the words of our text, Jesus would say, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). The disciples were about to see the damage the wolves and hired hands could do. The shepherd would be struck. Even in the striking of the shepherd and the sheep scattering, we see from Jesus’ Word, the wolves can’t get the sheep. They may be able to devour physical life, but they cannot destroy spiritual life. Through the work and life of the shepherd that is worth more than silver and gold, the shepherd gives the sheep eternal life. To Him, our life is worth living forever. In the season of Easter, we celebrate this joy of living forever. A joy the disciples would see in the cross and the empty tomb.
Knowing the cross and empty tomb were coming, Jesus reassures His disciples they would be safe. Jesus reveals to them who He is. He echoes Psalm twenty-three when He 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.” The emphasis is that He pays the price for their redemption. He pays the price with His life. He willingly shed His blood and died for them. This will keep them eternally safe from all their enemies. This will not be easy. It will even trouble Jesus. Yet, He is not swayed to abandon His flock. He instead continues His work, which means His life is given up in their place.
How is this not counter protective to saving the sheep? How can the sheep still live, even though the shepherd is dead? It is hard to wrap the mind around this concept because it is completely putting someone else in front of you. It reveals the ultimate price of life. Life truly matters because no matter what has happened or what has been done, life is saved. Life, the shepherd had to pay for with His holy blood as St. Paul writes, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). With His death on the cross, you find the greenest grass ever to dwell in. Grass that has forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The three blessings that protect you from your enemies of sin, death, and the devil. The value of life is to live without any of these causing you suffering. This life is the new life you have. New life that has been freely given to you from the work of the shepherd.
You might wonder, “but I still see these dangers with this new life. The world wants me to value my life and meaningless. It wants me to dwell in shame and sadness because it looks like the gate is open for the hired hands and the wolves to have their way.” While they try to point you away from Easter, Easter was only two weeks ago. The shepherd protects you by first teaching you about forgiveness. Then He points you to His eternal protection. While Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you,” (John 13:37) he only grasped part of the protection that comes from the shepherd’s love. Jesus says what Peter says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13) and He takes it even farther. The shepherd lays down His life for you, and then He does the only thing God can do by taking up His life again to declare to you, your life is saved. No matter how hard this life gets, your shepherd will protect you and guide you into the eternal flock of heaven.
You will always have this protection, and it still comes to you through the shepherd’s voice. You hear Him say, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). No one in the world can declare that the true shepherd isn’t still speaking to them. His voice of comfort, strength, and healing is still heard through the sharing of the Easter message. When the enemies look to get into the pen and lead the sheep astray, Jesus’ Word stands to point out error. St. Paul writes to you how you can live in the world of enemies and struggles. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:20-21) You are equipped by the shepherd, who protects you by giving up His life for yours. Through Him and His blessings you eternally live. And as His children you can rejoice in the Easter message of the shepherd, admitting, “I am Jesus’ little lamb, ever glad at heart I am, for my shepherd gently guides me, knows my needs, and well provides me. Loves me every day the same, even calls me by my name” (ELH #177 v. 1). 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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