Easter 3 Misericordias Domini

John 10:11-16 – Misericordias Domini – April 22, 2012
What Makes Our Shepherd Good

If someone were to say that he is a good cook, we would expect him to be good at cooking food.  If someone were to say that he is a good athlete, we would expect him to be coordinated and quick.  To say that someone is a good this or a good that is to say that he does this or that well.  For any given discipline, there is a specific set of criteria to distinguish the mark of excellence.  So then, what makes a good shepherd?  What are the criteria?  Well, he must tend the sheep.  This means he needs to lead them to green pastures and still waters; he needs to keep them from straying; and above all, lest it all be for naught, he needs to be equipped and willing to fend off predators that would snatch the sheep and scatter the flock.  A shepherd who does this is a good shepherd. 

It doesn’t make any sense to call a shepherd good apart from saying what the shepherd does.  And so when Jesus calls himself the good shepherd, he immediately follows up his claim with his qualifying credentials.  “I am the good shepherd,” he says. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”  Who Jesus is and what he does always go together.  His sacrificial suffering and death sum up for us all the duties of the good shepherd.  The tending, the feeding, the leading are all found wrapped up in his dying on the cross. 

Jesus doesn’t say that he is a good shepherd.  He says that he is the good shepherd.  He is the only one.  There’s none like him.  Only Jesus lays down his life for the sheep.  When I was younger and in college and would get into debates with unbelievers, I was often asked, “Of all the religions out there, how do you know that you believe in the right god?” They asked this as though it ought to disrupt my Christian faith and throw me into a whirlwind of uncertainty.  But to such a question we can simply respond very matter-of-factly: “Because only Jesus gave his life for sinners.  That’s how I know.  No other god does that!  And that’s exactly what I and every other sinner needs God to do.”  Nowhere is God’s goodness more evident than where the Son of God takes on our human flesh in order to humble himself and lead us and carry us to eternal salvation.  The love of God is found in Christ alone. 

Jesus is not just one shepherd among many.  He is the only one who does the job the way it needs to be done.  A shepherd is supposed to tend the sheep.  We are the sheep – or as we teach our children to sing: “I am Jesus’ little lamb.”   But the imagery of a shepherd and his sheep is not just a quaint picture that we use to sentimentalize the gospel.  No, the Psalms and all of Scripture are rife with this very image.  And there is much to be learned by considering each part of the picture. 

A few weeks ago my family and I were at the arboretum; the daffodils were at their prime and the scent of blossoming trees filled the air.  Another family was there taking pictures of their children in this idyllic scene, posing with, of all things, two little lambs.  Boy they were cute.  It’s no wonder that folks have so readily taken to this imagery.  What precious little animals. 

But as Christians, when we identify ourselves as lambs or as sheep, we are identifying not with innocence and beauty – at least not our own.  No, we are identifying ourselves according to our spiritual foolishness and impotence.  Sheep are stupid.  Sheep cannot function or survive without a shepherd.  They’re not even clever enough to find their own food or to stay clear of hazardous waters or earthen pitfalls.  When wolves or other predators come, they are utterly beside themselves and become easy targets.  All they know how to do is scatter aimlessly without any hope.  Sheep need a shepherd. 

And so likewise, we need Jesus.  “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way.”  We don’t by nature know what we need.  We choose, by nature, our own way.  That is, we choose according to our selfish desires of pride and lust – and we do it all the time.  And then when our consciences accuses us and bring to the front of our minds all our various sins – our judgment of others, our worldly values – we try to justify ourselves and calm our stormy breasts by blaming someone else, or by painting the situation up as though it were more complicated than that.  But it isn’t.  It’s precisely that simple.   We have gone astray.  That’s what sheep do.  Just as sheep even in the midst of self-inflicted danger continue to bleat with the air of innocence, so also do we - in the midst of our erring lives mired by our own sin - make excuses and play the victim.  And this is why we need to be instructed by the law to shut our mouths and learn from God our true condition and plight. 

“All we like sheep have indeed gone astray; we confess it.  We have indeed  turned to our own ways— yes, it is true.  But we are not left without a shepherd – and see here what your shepherd does to gather you home: the Lord lays upon Him the iniquity of us all.”  What else could save us?  And so as our substitute – counted by God his Father as the sole transgressor – the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.  He gives his spotless life that never did what we have done, that never failed to do what we have neglected.  He took this life that he lived in service to his neighbor and in true fear of God, and he gave it of his own accord to suffer what we deserved. 

What punishment so strange is suffered yonder!
The Shepherd dies for sheep that loved to wander. 

But this is what the good shepherd needed to do in order to do his job well, because this is what his sheep needed.  We needed innocence.  He gave us his.  We needed to be led.  He leads us to where he secured us life — and leads us still today to the waters of Baptism that give us life in abundance — and to his holy Supper that makes our cup overflow with his own righteousness.  We needed to be rescued from the wrath of our Maker who duly punishes what the law exposes in us, and so Jesus in humble silence allowed himself to be led as a lamb, as a sinner bearing the weight of all our guilt, to be slaughtered in our place.  He made no excuses for the sin he took the blame for – although he was innocent in his own person, he opened not his mouth as the divine judgment against the world was exacted upon him and him alone. 

And here we see what makes him so good.  Jesus gave his life as a ransom for all.  Who he is and what he does cannot be separated.  Jesus is the good shepherd.  He shepherds us.  He’s good at it.  We find this goodness—this quality of his—in that he lays down his life for the sheep.  That is why we love to hear of it – Christ crucified for us.  

His sheep hear his voice.  That’s what sheep do.  In fact it’s their one skill.  But it’s a skill that finds its value not in the strength or cunning of the animal that needs help, but solely in the reliability of its caretaker.  And so this is where we find the value and strength of our faith – not in what we can muster in our own hearts, but solely in what our good shepherd speaks in accents persuasive and tender.   We listen to his voice. 

Jesus is the good shepherd.  He is our shepherd; we are his sheep.  He has purchased and won us, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death that we may be his own and live under him. 

We live under Jesus.  This means we live under his rule and care as he feeds us with the words of eternal life, and leads us to where his word is preached in its truth and purity.  But Jesus is not the only one speaking.  And this brings us to the final requirement of the good shepherd.  He must be equipped and willing to defend his flock against predators. 

Wolves eat sheep.  And so likewise, the devil roams around seeking whom he may devour.  He attacks us on a double front.  By tempting us to sin, he attacks our lives as Christians who are called to present ourselves as holy and pure.  And by telling lies, he attacks the pure doctrine that God has taught us.  He attacks the very words that give to us the pure and holy life that Jesus earned for us on the cross.   A good shepherd must defend on both these fronts.  Jesus does. 

There is plenty to tempt us and lead us into danger in the world.  And there’s no shortage of false preachers either.  Jesus warned us that this would be the case.  “Behold,” he said to his disciples, “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.”  But he didn’t send them out without defense.  No, Jesus sent them out with his word and with command to preach it – to reprove sin with all the harshness of the law and to forgive sin with all the sweetness of the gospel.  He sent them out as undershepherds of the good shepherd, with the very weapon and shield that is needed to ward off the wolves and lions that would steal our souls.   “He who hears you hears me,” Jesus said. 

We call them pastors.  Pastor simply comes from the Latin for shepherd.  The words that we are called to preach are nothing more and nothing less than what the good shepherd tells us to speak.  Only his words can defend us from danger and lead us to the safety of our shepherd’s arms. 

But Jesus warns us about another kind of enemy.  He poses as a pastor – he looks like a shepherd; but he’s not.  He does not guard the sheep with his life, because they are not his.  He did not purchase them.  He works for wages, so when he sees the wolf coming he flees.   O, he can offer some pretty good shepherdly tips.  His advice might even be pretty helpful as he guides you to a better marriage, or as he employs his techniques on how to grow the church and gather more young people into the fold.  His methods might look really successful from a worldly perspective. 

But then the wolf comes.  He comes in the form of lies and false doctrine.  He comes in the form of accusation that burdens your conscience.  He comes in the form of temptation to regard your suffering as senseless and your sorrows as forgotten by your God.  The wolf comes in order to snatch up Christians and scatter Christ’s sheep.  And the hired hand says nothing to defend you.  He doesn’t have the words to do it because he doesn’t know how to preach Christ crucified for sinners.  He’s an unfaithful pastor.  The wolf comes.  The hireling flees. 

But where the hired hand slinks away in silent flight, the good shepherd speaks.  He who bought the sheep with his own blood sees the wolves coming.  He sees the lies and he battles them with the truth of his word.  He engages the devil and all attacks on his sheep – the temptations, the bad conscience, the confusion that ensues and he answers all the bleating prayers of his lambs.  The good shepherd does what makes him so good.  He shows the devil in the presence of all his flock the victory he won by laying down his life.  He is the good shepherd.  This is what makes him good. 

As Christ’s sheep, we learn to recognize his voice and ignore every other.  No other voice can save us.  No other voice can pardon us.  No other voice gathers us from every corner of the world and from every pit of regret and pain.  No other voice gives eternal life.  There is no other voice because there is no other shepherd.  There is no other way of identifying Jesus as worthy to be praised than as the Lamb slain.  In his suffering and death, we see his credentials.  This is what makes the Lamb of God our Good Shepherd.  And so this is what we expect to hear when we come to church.  It is here that Jesus gathers us together as his own dear lambs, as one flock under one shepherd here and forever in heaven. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.