The Good Shepherd’s Voice
St. John 10.11-16
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. John 10:14,15: “I am the Good Shepherd … and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… “Why should you forgive the person who hurt you and repented? He doesn’t deserve it.” “Why should you bear with that woman any longer? You see how she treats you.” “Your pleasure matters most of all – do whatever feels good; forget what God says.” “Aren’t you tired of this Christianity business? Ignore it for a while and take care of yourself first.” “That under shepherd, that pastor of yours – he doesn’t care about you. Besides, he’s a hypocrite.” “You are a terrible sinner, and your sins can never be forgiven.” “Your life is worthless … throw it away!”
These, dear friends in Christ, are the words of the devil, the wolf, the one who may even come in sheep’s clothing. His words are silky smooth. And those words may make sense at the time, and we want to follow them, but they are ultimately lying words, they are words of death. They are devilish and demonic words, and they lead to the edge of the cliff. And when this wolf, masquerading as your friend, has led you away from the flock, then he unmasks himself; but then, well, then it is too late. The teeth of this ravenous beast sink into your neck. His will is not for your good. The sweet words soon taste bitter… and you are undone.
Has this wolf led you astray? Indeed, because of your weak and sinful nature you stand in danger every single hour of every single day. Truly this is the story not only of your own lives, but the of all of humanity. Lured away from our God by that wolf, we have obtained another shepherd, an evil shepherd. Psalm 49:14 says, “Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them.” When our first parents, Adam and Eve sinned, that is when death became the shepherd of mankind, leading us into the valley of its shadow, never to return.
What joy it was then, it was for us to celebrate Holy Week and Easter! What joy still is ours! For the true Shepherd, Jesus Christ, has come to rescue His lost sheep. And this is how He did it: He braved the thorns of our out-of-control vineyard and He stood fearless against the wolf’s rage. Condemned and rejected by the very sheep He came to rescue, Jesus presented Himself willingly to the snapping throat of that beast who threatened all mankind. On the cross, the beast’s mouth was dripping with the Good Shepherd’s blood; but incredibly, his jaw is broken, his teeth are shattered. Christ is risen, and even more pathetic than the toothless Bumble in the cartoon Rudolph, the wolf’s growl has now become a toothless and empty threat.
Remember that dear Christian. Remember that, for the wolf is enraged and furious and he still seeks to recapture his ancient prey. That means he continually longs for your return to the darkness. But you, dear fellow redeemed, you who have been called into Christ’s kingdom of forgiveness by God-given faith, you are children of the light. The wolf’s snapping jaws are powerless to harm those who are in Christ.
What sort of shepherd would die for his sheep? No earthly shepherd, to be sure. It is preposterous, it is reckless. By any shepherd’s reckoning, the sheep are simply not worth it. Sheep, after all, are lonely sheep; they are expendable, they are replaceable. And given the choice, the shepherd will save his own skin every time. That’s what Jesus is referring to in today’s Gospel reading when he calls some of the so-called shepherds “hirelings,” because they do not care for the sheep; they are only in it for themselves.
And that is exactly why your Lord Jesus Christ is called the Good Shepherd. He made the selfless decision to choose your life, your forgiveness, your restoration, and He laid down His life for you, the lost and scattered sheep.
What that means, then, is this: no longer are you destined for the sheep-pen of that other shepherd called Death. No longer do you follow the voice of the wolf and his false shepherds urging you to be unfaithful to your spouse, lie to your friends, cheat on your taxes, gossip about others in the church, deny Scriptural truths, and engage in self-absorption and self-destruction. Now, by Holy Baptism, you are in the flock of the Good Shepherd and you are kept there by the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies you through Word and Sacrament.
And please remember, dear fellow redeemed, how it is that you got there. It was not by your own choice; it was not by your own works or actions; it was not by your feelings; it was not by your birth. It was not by your “own reason or strength.” Indeed, it was by your rebirth, which, of course, comes from God and not from yourself.
You, child of God, are not a lamb of the Lord’s flock by your own right. It is, rather, a privilege, and by the words of our Lord we see that we can be cast out and declared not one of His flock. Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left”[Mt. 25.31ff]. What is there to desire more than to be among the sheep on that day, and not the goats?
Ah, but we live in a world that values “choice” above all things. You can choose your political party. You can choose which college to attend. You can choose which job to take. You can choose to have Cheerios instead of Cocoa Puffs for breakfast. You can choose to self-identify as a gender you were not born with. You can even choose legally to kill your unborn baby. What a country!
And how quickly we translate this culture of choice to the area of religion as well. We suppose that we can make our religious choices and then dictate them to God. How does this affect our church life? When a family moves to a new area, they should look for the church that is totally and uncompromisingly faithful to Holy Scripture, and not “settle” for whatever is in the area, even if that means a much longer drive. Perhaps it is better to find that faithful church and pastor first and then re-locate. Yet too often, churches are evaluated based on their programs, their people, their pastoral personalities.
Further, consider the promises made in church membership: “Will you suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from this faith and confession?” Sadly, those promises are discarded with less consideration than changing your socks or your breakfast cereal. How easy it is, in these decisions, to really be saying to God, “I will determine the terms by which I am part of Your flock.” How arrogant. How self-centered. How dangerous.
Dear friends in Christ, every year on this Sunday we celebrate those comforting words, “The King of love my Shepherd is.” Remember that these words are not a declaration of choice, for Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” When we say and sing with great joy, “The King of love my Shepherd is,” we are confessing that He has called us by the Gospel; that He has, entirely out of His divine goodness and mercy, brought us into His flock. It is always His flock, not ours. When we sing those words and when we read Psalm 23, we confess that this is not a matter of my choice for Him but His choice for us, His words and promises to us.
And what does He promise? He promises to lead you and to guide you all the way through the valley of the shadow of death. He promises that He will bring you even to the resurrection of the body. He promises to cause you to dwell in the house of Yahweh forever. When Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd,” He is declaring that Psalm 23 is all about Him, and when we sing about it, we are confessing with the deepest gratitude His inestimable sacrifice for us.
Don’t ever forget what really makes you the Lord’s sheep. It is not all of your bleating and scampering, it is not your activity; it is His activity to you and for you. Blessed Martin Luther explained in the Smalcald Articles that the Church, the flock of the Good Shepherd, is not defined by bureaucracy, whether it is the papacy or another structure. The Church is not a corporation or a social organization. Thank God, Luther said, that “A seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.” (Smalcald Articles Part III XII:2)
So, pay no attention to those false and misleading voices you hear when they tell you it’s fine to go on sinning, it’s fine to withhold forgiveness when someone repents, or that your life is worthless and empty. None of those things are true.
Listen only to the Good Shepherd’s voice, the voice of the One who tells you again and again in the Psalms, the Gospel, and in Divine Service, “I am your Shepherd, and you are Mine. Abide in Me. I have washed you, and you are clean. I have paid for all of your sins. I have fed you from the finest pasture, and I will be with you through the valley of the shadow of death, and the wolf shall not harm you.”
Come now and feed on His body and blood given and shed for you. Come and feast on your Good Shepherd who gave His life for you, His sheep, and through this Holy Meal feeds, guides, and strengthens you, and keeps you in His flock.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
