The crucified and risen Shepherd shepherds His sheep

Sermon for Misericordias Domini – Easter 2

1 Peter 2:21-25  +  John 10:11-16

Today, the Second Sunday after Easter, marks 12 years since I was installed as shepherd of this congregation. And I preached my first sermon here the following Sunday, the Third Sunday after Easter. Like today, the Gospel for that Sunday was from John chapter 10, about Jesus the Good Shepherd, since the WELS liturgical calendar is off by a week from the historic calendar we now use. So both this day in the Church Year and this chapter from John’s Gospel hold special meaning for me as I’m still privileged to stand before you 12 years later.

Regardless of whether we hear about the Good Shepherd on the Second or the Third Sunday after Easter, it’s fitting that we hear this text after Easter, because it took Good Friday and Easter Sunday to show us the full import of Jesus’ words. It’s the crucified and risen Shepherd who shepherds His sheep. He did that shepherding by living and dying. He does that shepherding by sending and bringing.

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. He calls Himself good in contrast with the bad. The bad shepherd, the “hireling” as he’s called in our Gospel, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. Who is the wolf? He is the devil. And he has power over people because of sin, power to accuse them before God, power to hold their guilt over them, power to drag them to hell. And no one could be free from his power, because no one is without sin, no, not one. As Isaiah wrote, we all like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way.

When did we last hear those words? Oh, that’s right. We heard them on Good Friday. Why? Because, as Isaiah’s prophecy continues, the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The Scriptures of Good Friday should still be fresh in your minds. Now tie them to Jesus’ words: the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. He gave it in every way, by living and dying, by His life and by His death. The Son of God took on our flesh and lived among us as both God and Man. He devoted His life to serving us by preaching the truth, about us as sinners and about Him as the One who freely forgives sins to all who trust in Him. And, finally, He laid down His life as the atoning price for our sins, and not for ours, but for the sins of the world. It’s the Good Shepherd you should envision bloody, dying, and dead on Good Friday. That’s what it meant to see the wolf coming and to stand His ground for the sake of the sheep, so that He might be attacked and killed in their place. He shepherded His people by living and dying.

Of course, it’s the same Good Shepherd whom you should envision risen from the dead, perfectly healed and alive again on Easter Sunday—healed, except for the marks of His suffering which He chose to retain in His hands and in His side, as He showed them to Thomas in last Sunday’s Gospel. Those are the scars of the Shepherd from His battle with the wolf, and even as He wants you always to remember His resurrection from the dead, so He wants you always to remember His crucifixion, so that you never look at sin lightly, but always remember the blessed cost of your redemption, the holy, precious blood of your Shepherd.

Jesus’ life on earth and His innocent death and His glorious resurrection are His great shepherding acts in the past. But He isn’t done shepherding His sheep. He has more shepherding to do, and yet, it was never Jesus’ plan to stay on earth in visible form and to shepherd His flock, from Jerusalem or from some other place. Imagine how sad that would be! A Shepherd who lived on the other side of the world from where you are, who had only so much time to spend with each one of His sheep. No, the Lord had a different plan for this New Testament era, with a different form of shepherding in mind.

Jesus says in our Gospel, other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. But that “bringing” into the one flock didn’t happen, or at least, was far from being finished during Jesus’ life on earth. This is the bringing the Good Shepherd does through the shepherds whom He has been sending into the world since Easter Sunday and whom He will continue to send until all the sheep are found who are to be found, until the whole flock is gathered into the One Holy Catholic—that is, Christian—and Apostolic Church.

So it is Jesus who sends the shepherds, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, Christ Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. That means that every pastor of God’s Church is placed exactly where the Good Shepherd wants him, in every time and in every place, so that He might preach to men through the humble service of men, so that He might gather His sheep, minister to His sheep, forgive the sins of His sheep, and preserve them in His flock through that very same preaching and through the administration of the holy Sacraments.

So, too, it is Jesus who brings the sheep, who went looking for each and every one of you, who brought you to Baptism and to faith. I know My sheep, He says, and am known by My own. He knew you from before the foundations of the world were laid, and He knows you still. Even if no one else on earth truly knows you, He knows you—who you are, what you need, what you’ve done, and what you will do. And He ministers to you, to supply your every need of body and soul.

And now, as St. Peter wrote in today’s Epistle, He calls you to do good to others and for others, just as your Good Shepherd did, and to be willing to suffer for doing good, just as your Good Shepherd was. That means living as the light and salt of the earth. That means taking this Christian faith seriously, living a life that stands out in the world, that stands out in goodness, that shines with the truth, that honors God’s Word above all things. You will suffer in this world if you live like that. But then, you’ll just be walking in the footsteps of your Good Shepherd, following behind Him wherever He goes, first to shame and then to glory.

May the voice of the Good Shepherd ring in your ears today and every day. You know Him. Now follow Him. He will make you to lie down in green pastures. He will lead you beside still waters. He will restore your soul. He will be with you as you walk, even through the valley of the shadow of death. And He will follow you with His goodness and with His mercy all the days of your life, until you dwell safely in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.