"The Shepherd and Overseer of Your Soul" Third Sunday of Easter Misericordias April 19, 2015 John 10:11–16
"He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." Who is the hired hand who flees the sheep and cares nothing for them? He is simply a worker. He’s doing his job to get paid, not because he cares for the sheep. When the wolf comes he takes care of his own life rather than the life of the sheep. On the other hand, the shepherd is the one who cares for the sheep and does not flee when the wolf comes. The shepherd saves the sheep. The sheep are at the mercy of the hired hand. They seem to be fine when he’s doing his job and taking care of them. But when the wolf comes they are on their own. If they are being taken care of by a hired hand they are not being taken care of at all and so are at the mercy of the wolf. The wolf will come and snatch them and scatter them. In a few verses Jesus shows what it means that He is our Shepherd. He does this by contrasting Himself with a hired hand. A hired hand is one who is not there for the sheep but for himself. He cares about his own life and so will not truly care for the sheep. But Jesus is the shepherd who is there for the sheep. He truly cares for them and truly takes care of them. He’s not there because He has a job to do but because He loves His sheep and saves them. That is why the hired hand is just a hired hand. And it is why Jesus is not just a hired hand and He’s not just a shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd. He says twice in our Gospel reading, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” When the wolf comes, He doesn’t flee. He doesn’t save His own life, He lays down His life. He saves the life of the sheep. The sheep are the ones who are at His mercy. Without Him saving them, they are lost. They will be snatched up and scattered. They will be lost, like sheep without a shepherd. In the Epistle reading Peter quotes Isaiah, “you were straying like sheep.” Once you stray, you are at the mercy of hired hands. You are at the mercy of the wolf. And there is no mercy with a hired hand or the wolf. There is only being left on your own and then snatched up and scattered. The hired hand is there for himself, the wolf is there to destroy you. Jesus is the Good Shepherd because He lays down His life for His sheep. Where you will not find mercy in a hired hand or the wolf, you will find it in your Good Shepherd, your Lord Jesus Christ. He loves His sheep. He cares for His sheep. He lays down His life for His sheep. Satan wants to snatch you up and scatter you. That way you cannot hear the Gospel. If you are scattered then you cannot receive the receive the forgiveness you need. The hired hand does not care about you. He will feed you what fills your stomach. He will tell you what you want to hear. Any pastor who does not tell you that you are like a sheep who has strayed is a hired hand and cares nothing for you. The word pastor itself means shepherd. A shepherd cares for his sheep by feeding and protecting. He gives his sheep what they need, not just what they want. He protects them even if they don’t think they need protecting. A pastor who does not tell the people of God that they sin and need to be forgiven is a hired hand who will flee when Satan comes to snatch the people of God and scatter them. We too often confuse caring for people with giving them what they want. But someone is truly cared for when they receive what they truly need. The hired hand will not warn the sheep of the coming of the wolf, he’ll get out of there before the wolf is able to do any harm to him. Pastors who do not truly care for the welfare of their flock are ones who do not call their flock to repentance for their sin. If there is no calling sin sin and no calling to repentance then there is no forgiveness offered because the sheep are already scattered. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. When you are in His fold you are fed and protected. You are receiving His forgiveness in His Gospel that is proclaimed and in living in your Baptism and in hearing the forgiveness of sins being pronounced to you in the Absolution and in eating and drinking the bread and wine of His Meal in which He feeds you Himself, His very body and blood for your forgiveness. You are fed and nourished in this way, being forgiven and being strengthened in your faith. You are protected from the evil one, the one who seeks to snatch you and scatter you and destroy you. The hired hand, the pastor who does not call you to repentance and preach to you salvation in Christ alone, seeks not your life but his own. Satan himself seeks only his own life and the destruction of your own. It is Jesus who is the Good Shepherd. He lays down His life for His sheep. He seeks not His own life but yours. Even though you are like a sheep who has gone astray, He provides for you. He cares for you by feeding you with His forgiveness and protecting you from the evil one. The stunning contrast between His being a true and loving shepherd and one who is just there for himself is brought out in the Epistle reading. Peter says that Christ “suffered for you.” He saw that Satan snatches up and scatters, so He laid down His life for His sheep. Peter says that “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” He is the Good Shepherd. He is your Shepherd not for Himself but for you. He gives His life so that you may have life. He who has no sin has died for you who are full of sin. No deceit was found in His mouth but He laid down His life for you who are full of deceit. He bore your very sins in His body on the cross. He has laid down His life for you. And in quoting Isaiah again, Peter says of Jesus your Shepherd who has laid down His life for you, “by His wounds you have been healed.” In this world you will fall prey to hired hands; those who seek to convince you that your sin is not all that bad, that your sin does not separate you from God, that you just need to be a good person. This is why you need to continue to be fed and protected by one who is not a hired hand. You need actual forgiveness for your actual sins. In your thoughts and in your words and in your deeds you have strayed from your Good Shepherd. But Peter says that now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul. Satan scatters. Jesus gathers. He brings you into His fold, the Church, and He feeds you and protects you. In Baptism you were brought into Him into His death and resurrection. He is, after all, your Good Shepherd who has laid down His life for you. And in Baptism you have been brought into this life with Him where He now feeds you and protects you. In giving you food that is not only for your body but also your soul, He guards you and strengthens you in the face of the attacks of Satan. There is one flock and one shepherd and your Good Shepherd feeds you at His Table in His Holy Supper. In giving you His body and blood He forgives you and you return again and again to Him, the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul. He is your Good Shepherd and He has laid down His life for you so that you have life now and forever. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
