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Christ is risen. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you may be aware that today is a special day. Today is that one day, that particular day, that Sunday each year that we, if we’re smart, mark on the calendar, and we honor the one who has given us life. The one who cares for us in our helplessness, the one who washes us clean and wipes away our tears, the one who feeds and nourishes us and protects us. And we’ve even given this day a special name. And I’m sure you know exactly what I’m referring to. Today is Good Shepherd Sunday.
This morning’s reading should have been a clue to that. We’ve heard first this very often quoted, probably the most used psalm ever that there ever was, Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd Psalm: “The Lord is My Shepherd.” A psalm that we hear most often, I think, prayed in times of trouble and distress, particularly during a period of illness or in dying, and we certainly use it in our funeral services. We also heard St. Paul telling the elders of the Ephesian Church how they are to care for and attend to their flocks, and they need to be ready for these wolves that are going to come in and scatter the flock. We heard in the revelation to St. John how the Lamb will be our shepherd and the shepherd of his people. And of course, in the gospel lesson, we heard Jesus giving this rebuke to these unbelieving Jews with his words about how they don’t believe in him because they are not part of his flock.
Sometimes it might seem strange to us that the Lord has decided to use this characterization of his relationship with us as shepherd and sheep, especially if we think that today our estimation of those roles isn’t quite appealing to us. We don’t really think highly of shepherds or sheep in terms of something that we would aspire to be. We don’t usually like being called sheep. It’s not usually good. It’s not usually used as a term of endearment for us. Because to be a sheep is to be someone who follows blindly or doesn’t think for themselves, who goes along to get along, who doesn’t ask questions, maybe someone who trusts too much. But isn’t it that last part, that trust, that makes us cry sheep? We’re his sheep because we trust him.
This vocation of shepherd, I doubt it’s one that any of us can really relate to. You can’t drive around Austin or even out in the country and find a shepherd tending a flock anywhere nowadays. The shepherd is really this picture of a lowly servant, someone really looked down upon. I remember seeing shepherds in Afghanistan. I was quite shocked to see them because I didn’t even know this vocation still existed. But even in that country, where they kind of take pride in being about a century, maybe two, behind the rest of the world, they still had these herdsmen and shepherds out there. And they, too, were considered to be the lowliest of the occupations. The shepherds were stinky and filthy and nasty and dirty and smelly. Shepherding was even still then a dangerous job; there were wolves around, and the shepherd really never got any time off. It was always with the flock, always attending to them.
In scripture, we might remember when Samuel came to Jesse. The Lord had sent him there to find one of Jesse’s sons to anoint his king, and the Lord led Samuel to pass over the seven. Samuel asked Jesse, “Is there another son?” He said, “Yes, the youngest, the smallest. He’s out there attending the sheep.” His words were, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is with the sheep,” as if to say, “I don’t think you want him anyway, and he’s out doing what he’s meant to be doing.” Now, of course, the Lord had other plans, and he had much more for this lowly servant to do. This ordinary lowly servant was exactly the one that God had chosen to lead his people.
Now, you may say, “Well, you know, this comparison, that’s because of this time of the Scriptures, where there were sheep and shepherds and all over the place, so it’s no surprise that the Lord uses this relationship.” And yet, it’s really what we see throughout all of Scripture. And that’s why we ought to know what this relationship is like. As Jacob was dying, he blessed Joseph and he said, “God has been my shepherd all my life long to this day.” When David was actually anointed king over the people of Israel, they said to him, “The Lord your God said to you, you shall be shepherd of my people, Israel.” In Ezekiel, the entire 34th chapter is about this prophecy from the Lord about shepherds and sheep, where Ezekiel particularly gives this warning to the leaders of Israel, saying that because they have been unfaithful shepherds, the sheep have scattered. So the Lord says through Ezekiel, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I will seek the lost and I will bring back the stray.”
In other places, prophets speak of the shepherd and the sheep also. In the Psalms, we hear things like, “We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered,” and, “We are the sheep of his hand and the sheep of his pasture.” And the Lord Jesus here, especially in the gospel of St. John, claims this title of shepherd. He tells the disciples that they are being sent out as sheep among wolves, but at the same time that they are to tend and feed their own sheep, for they are his sheep.
But for now, in John, Jesus is here at this temple, seeking shelter from the cold. It’s the feast of dedication, the feast of lights—Hanukkah, as we call it today. This celebration of the cleansing and rededication of the temple that happened in 164 BC after it had been desecrated. And now it all seems to us, right, that the Jewish authorities are looking to have an opportunity to catch Jesus by surprise, to confront him about something when he least suspects it. But we also need to be sure that Jesus is doing the same. He is also looking for every opportunity to teach them a lesson—not really hatefully in animosity or to embarrass them, although maybe he wants to embarrass them just a little bit, but more so to bring them to repentance.
And so here are the Jews, the authorities, the Jews as John calls them—probably Pharisees—and they’ve crowded in around Jesus to try to trap him, to question him, to publicly humiliate him. And what they ask him, they don’t ask this out of some kind of sincere desire to get the truth, because if so, the answer would make them fall down and worship him. So they ask him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” They want him to say yes, again, not so they may worship him and praise him, but so they can charge him with blasphemy. They want Jesus to tell them plainly so he may incriminate himself.
And Jesus responds, “Well, he has indeed told them.” They didn’t believe him. More than that, he has shown them. The works that he had done prior, such as healing the man in Bethesda, the blind man in Jerusalem, and all these miracles that Jesus had worked, he clearly proclaimed, not of his own, but the works of him who sent me. So again, he tells them that he is doing all these works in the name of the Father. And so, therefore, these works bear testimony that he is the Christ, the Son of God. But they won’t listen, just as they previously hadn’t listened or believed even what they’d seen.
As he did previously, about two months prior, Jesus again starts to tell them about this relationship between the shepherd and the sheep. He is trying to show them the difference between how sheep respond to a shepherd whom they know and trust and how they react to strangers who want to do nothing but lead them astray. And also, importantly, he’s showing them how a shepherd cares for the sheep, how the shepherd does all those things that David sings of. For these religious authorities are of the same ilk as those in Ezekiel, whom he warned—the unfaithful, and yes, even wicked shepherds who have only been feeding themselves. And that’s why they are not following them. The people don’t trust them; they are strangers to them, for they don’t recognize their voices.
And they, the authorities, don’t know Jesus’ voice. But he wants them to know Jesus’ voice. He wants them to know his voice. And that’s why he’s explaining this relationship to them. He wants to forgive them. He wants to give them grace and mercy if they will only listen and believe. And he wants them to be good shepherds. But more than that, he wants them to be sheep—his sheep. Jesus is called the good shepherd because of what he gives us, and that is eternal life.
And though Jesus is the shepherd over the entire church on earth, this vast flock throughout all the world, he does call and appoint others to look after their own sheep. Before his ascension, Jesus gave the disciples this charge of caring for their flock here on earth. We heard this last week when Jesus restored St. Peter and told him to feed his sheep and tend his sheep. St. Paul was also called in the same way, and he is now reminding these Ephesian elders how he himself has lived among them, just like a shepherd among the sheep. He didn’t neglect the call that the Lord had given him directly, and he sacrificed a lot for them and for the sake of the gospel.
So as he’s leaving them, he says, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock.” He reminds them that that flock is precious because they have been redeemed by the Lord’s blood. So as shepherds, they must be on guard and be ever watchful for the fierce wolves who will attack the flock and scatter it, and also for those false teachers—wolves in sheep’s clothing—who will try to destroy the church from within with false doctrine and dissension. But we know the church will get past this and will prevail. In this revelation to St. John, he gives us a beautiful picture of that—a foretaste of the marriage feast of the lamb and his kingdom.
Now, I know it doesn’t make any sense to us that the Lamb of God is also the good shepherd, or that the lamb’s blood washes our robes and makes them whiter than snow. We pastors try as we may to get these albs white, and it never happens. But the Lord Jesus is the one who can do that. And we see that he indeed does do all the things and will do all the things that his servant David has praised and thanked him for in the 23rd Psalm. He prepares the table so that we will never hunger. He guides us to springs of living water so that we will never thirst. He lays us in green pastures where there is neither scorching sun nor blistering heat. He comforts us and wipes away all our tears. And with his voice, he calls us to himself so that we may dwell in his house forever.
So don’t mind being called sheep, brothers and sisters, because we are exactly the opposite of what the world’s perception of sheep is. We don’t follow blindly; we listen to God. And in his wisdom and creation, he gave sheep this innate ability to know and hear their shepherd’s voice, recognizing that he has given us the same by his Holy Spirit. For we know and trust and believe that he is our God and our shepherd, that he feeds us and keeps us safe from harm because he loves us. And though we are the sheep of his pasture and the sheep of his hand, we will still always be, to him, little lambs.
Now, I know I’ve told this story before, but Pastor likes to tell stories over and over again, so I figure I can get away with it. When my family and I were at St. Peter in Bowie, we always sang to him, “I am Jesus little lamb,” when we had a baptism. We’d sing it just right before the final prayer of the rite. As the congregation sang, Pastor Brumma would take the baby, and he would carry the baby around in his arms and down the aisles to show everyone their new brother or sister in Christ, this new little lamb who was now a member of the flock.
And we would sing to him, “I am Jesus little lamb, ever glad at heart I am. For my shepherd gently guides me, knows my need and well provides me, loves me every day the same, even calls me by my name.” Did you pick up on that last verse, that last section? Have you ever really thought about it—that he calls you by your name? Your Savior speaks your name. Of all the billions of people who have ever lived, will live, he knows you. And we know him because we know his voice.
Now, yes, today is another special day—Mother’s Day. And we are right to give mothers thanks and praise for all that they’ve done—not just today, of course, but at all times. For from a woman, a mother would come the one who would be the redemption of all mankind, the one who would die for the sin of the world. And I was thinking about this; you know how a baby’s eyes kind of light up when the baby first starts to recognize the mother’s voice? The eyes light up, and maybe they turn to face the mom. I’m sure their heart is swelling in their chest, and they smile.
Well, it should be the same with us in Christ. We hear his voice, and our eyes light up, that our heart swells in our chest, and we smile. Because in hearing his voice, we hear that he bids us to come to him, just like the little children, that we may receive his kingdom as little children. This voice we hear when he calls our name in Holy Baptism and when he puts his name in our hearts. His voice that we hear in the proclamation of the Word, when the Holy Spirit brings us to faith. His voice that we hear in the words, “This is my body and this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
So brothers and sisters, he knows us and we know him. He calls to us, and we hear his voice, and we follow him. As the Father and Son are one, the Father has given us out of the world, has given us to Christ, and has made the Son our shepherd. And all that he has given us is given to us by the Father. And we know this and we trust this and we have confidence in this because we know the voice of our Savior. For he is your good shepherd, and no one can snatch you out of his hand. Amen. Christ is risen.