Easter 3

John 10:22-30 - Misericordias Domini - April 13, 2013 

Good Shepherd Sunday

Jesus Christ is Lord.  This is the most fundamental confession of the Christian faith.  In Luther’s Small Catechism we confess in the second article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord.”   Immediately once we confess who Jesus is, namely, that He is true God and true man, we also confess what He has done.  This is important.  The two confessions always go together.  And so we continue, “who has redeemed me a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.”  It is not possible to separate who Jesus is from what He does for our salvation.  By calling Him Lord, we always confess both. 

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.