The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The Gospel lesson this morning, John 10:1-18, is part of a larger discourse called the Good Shepherd discourse, which consists essentially of the entire 10th chapter of the Gospel of John. The Fourth Sunday of Easter has been set aside to highlight this fundamental relationship between the Christian and Christ: you and your Lord, the Good Shepherd, and His flock, you the sheep. Christians treasure the image of the Good Shepherd, as you know, and Jesus’ self-portrayal as the shepherd who loves his sheep so much that he willingly, not just is ready to die for the sheep, but willingly lays down his life for the sheep. The portrayal demonstrates just how loving and caring the Lord God is toward His people, and does so also through the use of contrast.
When Jesus came along preaching and teaching, His voice was different from all the other preachers and teachers of the day. It was a voice of somebody who really not only cared about theology of the Old Testament, but He cared about the people. He understood that right preaching and right teaching brought about true Christian faith, and thus a love for His sheep. He cared about the people. Thus Jesus said, they, that is His sheep, will listen to my voice. And how would they know He cared, when so many other people came by preaching and teaching? Well, it wasn’t just because of the words that He spoke. As John says in his epistle: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” The love of Christ was demonstrated not only in His words, in His preaching and teaching and interpersonal reactions with people, but by His actions, the way He lived and the way He died. After all, they say actions speak louder than words, and that is certainly true in the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
In verse 11, this section of the Good Shepherd discourse began: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” In John 10, Jesus claims for Himself a title known to the Hebrew people at the time: Good Shepherd. First, to the word “good.” Kalos is the Greek, and it can be translated good, noble, excellent, honorable. The idea is that it is of the highest quality. There is no wavering or doubt or shadow in this Good Shepherd. He will always do what is good for the sheep.
Second, He uses the image of Good Shepherd as a way to contrast His stewardship over the sheep of Israel from that of the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees and Levites and high priests and religious leaders of the day, who are definitely not good shepherds. Third, Jesus is claiming for Himself a title that is assigned to the promised Messiah in Ezekiel chapter 34. And this is further reinforced when Jesus uses the Greek phrase ego eimi. Now what’s that? If you look at the banner in the middle there, where you see the lamb and you see the phrase “the Good Shepherd,” you’re going to see in fine print “I am.” That is ego eimi in Greek, and it comes from Moses and his interaction with the Lord God on Mount Sinai, Exodus 3:13-14: “Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.'” That’s in Hebrew. If He had said it in Greek, He would have said ego eimi, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” By connecting ego eimi to the Good Shepherd, Jesus is making it absolutely clear that He is the Son of God in flesh who has come to shepherd His people Israel. He is also making the connection that He is in fact the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Now a shepherd’s job in the ancient world wasn’t an easy one. It was hard work. It was tiring, and it was hazardous. In biblical times, you see, families relied on sheep to provide food and wool and sheepskin. Sheep were so valuable, shepherds stayed with the flock to protect them against wild animals and thieves, 24/7, all the time. Somebody was always with the sheep. Usually it was the youngest son in the family. He served as the family’s shepherd. As other brothers were born into the family, the previous older son would grow into adulthood, and he’d be transferred from the duties of shepherding the family’s flock to helping his father plow, plant, and harvest the crops. And the process would continue until the last male son would be born, and he would unfortunately have the task his whole life of shepherding the sheep of the family.
In 1 Samuel 16, we get the most notable example of this process, of one son passing on the shepherding duties to the next son, and so on and so forth. The prophet Samuel came to Jesse’s house to appoint the upcoming future king of Israel. Jesse had seven sons, and each one of them passed before the prophet Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse the father, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” None of these seven is to be the king. So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons that you have?” And Jesse answered, “There is still the youngest. He is out tending sheep.” So the prophet says, “Go get him.” And then anoints David, the future king of Israel.
By using the image of a shepherd who owns the sheep versus hired help tending to the sheep, Jesus is contrasting His stewardship, care, and love for the flock with the bad shepherding and stewardship of the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees. These men He calls hired hands. The Old Testament, by the way, has a unique term for Good Shepherd, ro’eh, lover of the flock, and it teaches us that a shepherd is not just responsible as an overseer, providing just basic care, but rather he’s a father figure to the sheep, tending the flock out of a deep sense of love for the sheep. The prophet Isaiah tells us that this kind of shepherd “will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom,” close to his heart, Isaiah 40:11. The point is, the bond between the Good Shepherd and the sheep has all the qualities of a family.
The hired man, however, is distinguished from the Good Shepherd by his lack of concern and commitment to the sheep and to the job itself. He is interested more in the paycheck, in his own self-interest. When danger comes that might threaten his own life, he flees, and he looks out for self-preservation. That’s the message of our generation, isn’t it? Me first. I have to take care of me. Well, that made for bad shepherds back in Jesus’ day, and even that attitude today, me first, employers and customers second, make for bad customer service as well. We know that. One who owns the business tends to the business much more attentively than those who don’t. Why? Because it becomes a part of an extended family. Here in John chapter 10, the Good Shepherd owns the sheep. He has a commitment to them, a relationship, unlike the paid-for shepherds. Jesus cares for His sheep as members of His very own family. He does what is necessary to keep and protect His sheep, even though He knows it will eventually cost Him His life.
This all began in John chapter 9. Some religious leaders confronted Jesus over an alleged violation of the Sabbath laws. He healed a blind man on the Sabbath, and instead of celebrating the blind man’s restoration to health, the Pharisees and Sadducees were more concerned about the alleged violations, His breaking of the rules and regulations, than they worried about the man who had formerly been blind. Jesus responded to the challenge with three short sermons about the nature of the Good Shepherd and the sheep, and that’s what chapter 10 consists of. By the time Jesus was finished, however, He called shepherds who preached and enforced a works-righteousness religion hirelings, thieves, and robbers, the kind of people that the Good Shepherd was sent to guard against.
The feature Jesus most highlights in describing His relationship to His sheep is the shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. Laying down the life is not spoken of as a possibility, or even a probability in the future. It is a certainty. He states it as a fact: this Good Shepherd will, in fact, lay down His life for the sheep. Now ordinarily, shepherds protect sheep. They don’t die for them. But the Good Shepherd cares for the sheep so much, He’s willing to come between them and the devil himself. The hired man doesn’t put his own life at risk when he sees sheep in peril. Instead he runs, runs, and leaves them for somebody else’s dinner.
And when Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd,” He had in mind Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 is the Old Testament version of John chapter 10. It’s a discourse about good and bad shepherds of Israel. Verses 2 and 3, the prophet wrote: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?” “Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds.” Bad shepherds, bad employees, like hirelings, look out for themselves. They aren’t interested in serving those whom God has given to them to care for. Then Ezekiel says of the Good Shepherd: “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak.” If you want something done, this Good Shepherd says, you have to do it yourself. And so He does.
Jesus strengthened the tie between the Good Shepherd of chapter 34 and Himself when He said, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” The image of the Good Shepherd of the sheep became ingrained immediately in the hearts and minds of Christian congregations. Those early Christians, about three decades after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, Peter wrote his first epistle to Christians in primarily Gentile territories who were being persecuted intensely for their Christian faith. And Peter wrote this to buttress their faith: you were once continually straying, like the one that gets lost, that goes astray, that Jesus has to come look for.
By the way, the word “pastor” becomes really popular in the 1520s. That’s because of Martin Luther. He picked up on the shepherding theme in the Bible, and thereafter around the world, priests were called pastors. Our English word “pastor” simply means shepherd. The pastor, then, is to feed, tend, guard, protect the flock entrusted to him. 1 Peter was written by Peter to Christians who had been dispersed and were under persecution. In 1 Peter 5:2, he wrote to the pastors who were charged with taking care of the struggling Christians the following: “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly.”
The author of Hebrews actually creates a benediction based upon this Good Shepherd image. In Hebrews 13:20: “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will.” Then of course there’s the Old Testament, Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.”
When Jesus commissioned Peter to work in the church as a pastor, He said to Peter, “Tend my lambs. Feed my sheep. Tend my sheep.” Thus Jesus established the pastoral office to teach, feed, and shepherd the flock in all times and in all generations, so that the sheep would hear and know the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him, that His own will know who He is. Hearing, knowing, and following the Good Shepherd is what the Christian is to fundamentally be about.
As for the Lord God, as He was to King David in Psalm 23, who wrote Psalm 23, the Lord God has now become our Good Shepherd too. He can be trusted to lead and guide you, renew and restore you, through even the most difficult times in your life, even in the face of death. Jesus is present with His sheep in the Word and Sacrament ministry, and He will, as promised, be with us all the days of our life, and with the church even to the end of the age. He has promised that He will lead you beside the still waters of heaven. He will restore your soul. He’ll lead you in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. That is, He leads us home to heaven through this brutal wilderness in the world.
What does God want you to hear from this Good Shepherd this morning? It’s just two words: for you. He laid down His life for you. He instituted the sacraments for you. He comes here into this place in the Word and Sacrament ministry for you. He’s putting a written copy of the Bible in your house for you. They are two words spoken to you personally, and by a loving and caring Good Shepherd. And you hear the words here: in the words of absolution, in the words of the Gospel lesson, Epistle lesson, Old Testament lessons read each Sunday, in the sermons each Sunday, in ordinary bread and wine when they’re turned into extraordinary things, that Jesus gives Himself directly to you, for you, for the remission of your sins. Now hear the words of the Hebrew benediction: “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” He is the great Good Shepherd. Amen.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.