The Shepherd And His Cross
John 10:11-16
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… Psalm 23 says, “Yahweh is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh Forever.”
That, of course, is a favorite Psalm of many people, and it is often read at Christian funerals. This Psalm is so beloved because it emphasizes the care and concern of Yahweh for His sheep, how He provides for them, how He comforts them in the valley of the shadow of death, how He gives the final victory over our enemies, and how He invites us to eternal banquet at the Lord’s table, in the Lord’s house. These are all very beautiful thoughts.
Unfortunately, for some Psalm 23 is beloved because of what it doesn’t discuss: it doesn’t get into the unpleasant problem of sin on the part of the sheep. And while the whole Psalm is really pointing to the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd of God’s people, as an Old Testament Psalm it doesn’t come right out and name Christ Jesus as the Lord; it doesn’t overtly proclaim Christ who took up the cross and laid down His life for the sins of the sheep. So, people can and do rip this Psalm out of its context; and by doing so, they avoid the reality of sin and the offense of the cross.
But the sinless have no need of a shepherd. And a shepherd who fled from the cross wouldn’t be a very good shepherd at all. It is vital for us to understand and believe that the Shepherd-Lord and the cross on which He paid for the sins of the sheep are absolutely inseparable.
“I am the good Shepherd,” Jesus says. “The good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
You notice that, when Jesus claims to be the good Shepherd, the fact that He gives His life for the sheep is the very first reason He gives; it is the overarching thing that makes Him good. His goodness is tied to His cross. His death was the only thing that could accomplish the main purpose for which He came.
Just before He said these words, Jesus said: I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (Jn 10:7-10)
Jesus didn’t come in order to give people a better earthly life; He came to open heaven to all believers. He came to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. He came to give us life and a place in the house of the Creator of the universe. He came to restore us to sonship and to life, because our sin, both our inborn sin and our actual sin, had separated us from God and had doomed us to both temporal and eternal death.
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But the only way for Him to be that Door – the only way to save you from your sin, and to open heaven to you – the only way for Him to give you life was for Him to give His life, for Him to suffer the cross, for Him to lie down in the valley of the shadow of death, so that, having risen from the dead, He could be there with you with His rod and His staff, to walk through the valley with you and to bring you safely to the other side.
So, dear fellow redeemed, always keep the cross in view; always keep the Shepherd and His cross connected when you think of Jesus as Shepherd. It’s fine to picture Him as the gentle Shepherd carrying a little lamb on His shoulders. It’s fine to picture Him calmly walking side by side with His sheep in green pastures. But in those images, you should always include the nail prints in His hands, and His mutilated body on the cross. He is the Shepherd who saw the wolf coming, and as such He threw Himself at the wolf in order to spare you and me, His sheep. That is the main reason we call Him ‘Good.’ The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Keep the cross in view also when you hear the good Shepherd say, “I know My sheep and am known by My own.” Jesus has the cross in view when He says that. He knows those who belong to Him because He purchased them with His blood. He knows those who belong to Him because He has cleansed them by His blood in the washing of water with the Word, in Holy Baptism. He knows those who belong to Him because He gives them His body and blood to eat and to drink – His body given into death, His blood shed for them for the forgiveness of sins. This is how the Shepherd is known by His own.
Keep the cross in view also when you hear the good Shepherd say, “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.” Jesus knows and must bring the rest of His sheep into His flock, those who will yet believe in Him before He comes again. And He does that by sending out His voice so that they may hear it; He sends out His Gospel into the world. And, as you know, the Gospel is not, “Come to church, because it’s so much fun and it’ll make you feel good!” No, the voice of the Shepherd goes out, as St. Paul wrote, “We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (I Cor 1:23-24)
Finally, keep the cross in view also when you consider to what kind of life the Shepherd has called you. To this you were called, St. Peter wrote in today’s Epistle, to “do good and suffer patiently.” This is your calling as sheep, as those who have heard the voice of the good Shepherd and have trusted in Him for the forgiveness of sins. This is your calling: to do good; to love God and your neighbor according to the commandments of God; to be devoted to hearing and learning God’s Word and to serving others. And then also it is our calling to be prepared to suffer for it willingly, patiently, without hating in return, without complaint, for that, too, is the way of the Shepherd with His cross.
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; (I Pet 2:21-23), who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.”
The gift of eternal life was purchased by the Shepherd with His cross. The giving of that gift of life comes through the preaching of the Shepherd with His cross and the giving out of Jesus in His Sacraments. And the life that the sheep are now to lead is exemplified by the Shepherd with His cross.
Know the Lord Jesus as your Shepherd. But know the Shepherd through His cross. The Word of His cross and the Word of His Easter victory over death is the green pastures in which He makes you to lie down. The Word of His work on the cross for all mankind is the still waters beside which He leads you. The Word of the cross and how He paid for your sins is how He restores your soul with the continual forgiveness of sins, and how He leads you in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
The Word of the cross is how He comforts you in times of sorrow, and even in the face of death, so that you don’t despair, so that you fear no evil. The Word of the cross is how He makes you victorious over your enemies—sin, death and the devil—how He fills your cup with gladness, how He pursues you with His goodness and mercy all the days of your life, and how He preserves you even to the end, that you may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Cling by God-given faith to the Shepherd’s cross and hold it ever before your eyes!
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” The sheep: that’s you!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
