St. John 10:11-18
Dearly beloved,
The apostolic task is to listen to Jesus. Here we
are…living and breathing in this world of ours. Much is going on around us.
We are busy. We work. We go to school. We raise children. Our lives are
filled with tasks and concerns. We look for some relaxation. We desire
some peace and down time. Here we are standing right in the middle of a
mixed up and crazy world. Delivered right to our ears and into our hearts
are the very words of Jesus—the very words of the eternal God. From one
world to the next comes Divine speech.
Think for a moment, if you will, of the impact of the words
of heaven breaking through our atmosphere and coming into our lives. Today
we hear some of those words of Jesus Christ. It is the Easter season, and
we hear more of the love of Jesus. He is the Good Shepherd. These words
are critical for the church. The ancient piece of artwork that often
depicted Jesus as the Good Shepherd is such that there stands Jesus with a
sheep on His shoulders, each hand holding onto the legs of the sheep.
Jesus ransoms. He carries the sheep gone astray. He does
not abandon. The unfortunate thing about our relationship to Jesus is this.
In order for Jesus to have put that sheep on His shoulders, means that that
sheep had gone astray. He left the sheepfold. This is done by one’s heart
going astray. As I said at the start, there is so much going on around us.
Temptations are everywhere. Distractions are many. Your heart, because of
your sinfulness, loves the enticements of the world.
Your heart is drawn to things that are evil. Your heart
yearns for worldly things. What you may come to realize as you grow in this
Christian faith, is that the more you journey in Christ’s sheepfold, the
more the world will tug at your heart and entice you. You know what it
feels like. You also know what it feels like to fall into temptation. So
did Peter, which is why Jesus says to Peter, “Truly, truly I say to you,
Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your
faith may not fail”(St. Luke 22:31).
Ah, but there goes the Good Shepherd even before His
suffering and death being the Good Shepherd to Peter. In fact, this is the
mark of the Good Shepherd. A verse that is easy to overlook in the Gospel
is where Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows
Me and I know the Father…” Christ’s own are the baptized. Those who have
been baptized with water and the Word of God are Christ’s sheep.
This is you. You belong to Jesus, and Jesus knows the
Heavenly Father. They are one. Why this is important for you is not easily
discerned, but needs to be highlighted. If you are not Christ’s through
Holy Baptism, then as you live and breathe in this world, you are just a
poor, lonely, singular entity. You are vulnerable to the attacks of Satan,
the wolf, who desires to devour the sheep. A sheep left alone in the
wilderness will not last long in that dangerous and dark forest. Its’ just
a matter of time before the hungry wolf smells the blood of the sheep.
But those who belong to the Good Shepherd through Holy
Baptism have the oversight and nurturing care of Jesus. He carefully guides
the sheep. He steers them away from dangerous areas. The Good Shepherd
knows where the wolf likes to hide. He, therefore, steers the sheep clear
of those areas. If a sheep strays off, Jesus will take His shepherd hook
and pull back that sheep. If the wolf does try to attack, Jesus will take
the other end of His shepherd hook and repel the wolf.
One side is meant for the protection of Christ’s sheep, the
other side for the infliction of injury upon the wolf. Which is that side
of the staff that inflicts injury upon the wolf? The cross of Jesus Christ.
His suffering and death and resurrection is that which spells the end of the
wolf, but while we wait for Christ’s second coming, the wolf is allowed to
roam for a time. The shepherd hook that pulls the sheep back from straying
represents the Word and the Sacraments. I am thinking especially of the
Lord’s Supper.
This is because we had to have already been baptized to be
in the sheepfold, the church. Now we abide with the Good Shepherd and the
other sheep. The sheep are also safer in numbers, in a pack. This is the
church. We keep one another together, close to one another. Jesus leads us
this way. The Good Shepherd wants us together. But how does this play
itself out in your life today? The Good Shepherd gathers us around His
altar. Here we are, on our knees before the Lord’s altar with repentance
and prayer on our lips. The shepherd staff that leads us back close to Him
is the preaching of the gospel and the receiving of Christ’s body and blood
in the holy sacrament.
To go to the Lord’s Supper is holy living. Christ’s body
and blood is given for the forgiveness of your wandering and wayward heart.
Jesus beckons you back. He wants you here. Jesus puts you on His shoulders
and carries you back to the sheepfold, where you are to reside. Jesus is
merciful and tender, showing love in exchange for your sins and protecting
you from spiritual harm. The preaching of God’s word and the right
reception of the holy sacrament gives you a loving heart.
Jesus teaches you forgiveness; He teaches you what love is;
He nurtures you to become humble and meek. St. Paul echoes this, giving us
a visual snapshot of what the church, the sheepfold looks like. St. Paul
says, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who
are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly
and respectful in every way”(1 Timothy 2:1-2).
Jesus will never stop forgiving you if you live the life of
repentance. If you live with disregard for Christ and His church, then you
will find a much different end. But faith and repentance is what Jesus
seeks. As Jesus continues to feed you here at this altar, He will also
continue to nurture your heart. You will still live in this world and deal
with all the things that this world affords us, but Jesus will bless you in
the midst of it. He will lead you on this journey, feeding you and caring
for you.
But He wants you in the sheepfold, the church. Don’t leave
yourself alone and cut off from the holy Christian church. Gather, repent,
love, believe and rest in work of Christ. Bask in His faithfulness and
rejoice in the care and love of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd who died on
the cross and rose from the dead granting you the victory and abiding with
you now and forever. Amen.
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
www.frchadius.blogspot.com
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
www.trinitylowell.org
