April 29, 2012 at Calvary
Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA
“I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, just as the
Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
And 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.”
A shepherd owns his sheep; the
sheep belong to him. That fact forms the basis for Jesus’ statements about
Himself that you heard in today’s Gospel Reading. Jesus says that He is a
shepherd, One who has a flock. This identity differentiates Jesus from other
leaders in Israel. Jesus says about Himself: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the
sheep.” But then He adds a statement about His audience—the elders,
scribes, and priests in the Temple Grounds of Jerusalem: “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep,
sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them
and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for
the sheep.”
Ownership is the key issue that
Jesus raises. Having it or not having it affects the actions of individuals.
The hired hand does not own the sheep, so his concern is not for them. The
sheep are put under his watch, but that is all. The sheep are not his assets.
They do not define his identity. So when the flock is attacked and the hired
hand’s life is endangered, his concern is for himself and his own preservation.
But Jesus points out the different relationship that the shepherd who owns the
sheep has for his flock. The shepherd is connected to them. The sheep are
almost part of who he is. They are his substance. Having the flock under his
possession makes him a shepherd. That is a bond that drives him even to protect
and defend his sheep.
This is what Jesus wants His
audience to know about Him. He is taking the people of Israel back to what the Lord had said in ancient days: that He
owns a people and is bound to them. That connection which He has with them
drives His actions to work for their benefit. And that action will be
culminated in what the Messiah does, what the Promised One will perform for the
life of the people. What the Messiah does will stand in great contrast to what
the other “hired hands”—the rulers,
scribes, and priests of the people—had done through the centuries.
So what would the Messiah do?
Jesus declares it: “I am the Good
Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” The act is
sacrifice. That is what the Messiah will do in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise. It is the act that
brings salvation by enduring the assaults of the sheep’s enemies, but
overcoming it. It is a willful act that the Good Shepherd does in order to keep
His sheep alive. Jesus reveals the nature of His work: “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I
may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.
I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This
charge I have received from My Father.”
Jesus’ words are critical to
hear. He explains what He is present in the world to do. His sacrificial act is
done of His own volition. His choice is to lay down His life, even to suffer
humiliation and death that would come from the hired hands that want nothing to
do with the Good Shepherd who is fulfilling the charge of the Father. Jesus
gives of Himself, so that His flock may live. Not only does He lay down His
life; He takes it up again. The wolf attacks and devours the Good Shepherd, yet
He rises from death to put down the wolf for eternity. And the hired hands that
fled or who themselves had turned on the flock are dismissed and replaced. That
is what Jesus is present in the world to do. And as you have heard from Palm
Sunday to last week, He has fulfilled that task.
There is another important
statement that Jesus makes in the Gospel Reading that you must hear. The matter
of Jesus’ fulfilling the Father’s charge in laying down His life for the sheep
and taking it up again was what He accomplished for the descendants of Abraham
who had the great promise given to them. The people of Israel had been the Lord’s flock, the people of His pasture
and the sheep of His hand. The Messiah’s work was done for them. The sheep who
had the Good Shepherd lay down His life for them were all the people in Galilee
and Judea and scattered who had Jesus in their midst.
But Jesus also includes an
interesting statement in His description about the Good Shepherd: “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and
My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay
down My life for the sheep.” Now here comes the statement: “And 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.” Jesus’ words indicate another group of people
who will be brought into His ownership. His flock is not limited to a
particular breed of sheep. No, it will have all types of sheep in it, others
who will know Him and listen to His voice. That statement is made concerning
you who were not in Israel. The declaration is given that you will have Jesus
as your Good Shepherd.
Jesus’ statement about other
sheep that would be brought into His flock forms the basis for Peter’s
statement before the Sanhedrin. The apostle was “proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” When questioned
by what authority he was doing so, Peter answers: “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead—by Him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone
that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.”
And then Peter makes clear the universal nature of Jesus’ work and authority in
bringing salvation to the world: “And
there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.” Jesus’ laying down of His life
and taking it up again was to bring salvation to people of Israel, though most
of that people reject their Messiah. But Jesus’ action was done for other
nations, too. Gentile sheep are meant to become part of the fold that has Jesus
as their shepherd, so that there will be one flock.
This is where Jesus’ statements
about Himself begin truly to apply to you. You are called to be part of the
fellowship with Jesus. Jesus’ declaration about the relationship that He has
with His sheep reflecting the unity He has with the Father is made about you: “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and
My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay
down My life for the sheep.” You are united with Jesus. You know Jesus. You
hear Jesus. You belong to Jesus. You are in His flock, the group that has only
one Good Shepherd.
Jesus’ laying down His life and
taking it up again was done for you. That is why you can rightly say about
Jesus in the words of the Small Catechism: “[He] has redeemed me, a lost
and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death,
and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy,
precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be
His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting
righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead,
lives and reigns to all eternity.” It is why the words of today’s collect were validly
prayed: “Almighty God, merciful Father, since You have wakened from death the
Shepherd of Your sheep, grant us Your Holy Spirit that when we
hear the voice of our Shepherd we may know Him who calls us
each by name and follow where He leads.” Your belonging to Jesus’ flock is
affirmed in such words—an affirmation that comes from belief that through Jesus’
name you are saved.
So as you belong to Jesus’
flock, as He is your Good Shepherd who laid down His life for you, a knowledge
is made yours, as the apostle John points out: “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought
to lay down our lives for the brothers.” Your identity as one of Jesus’
sheep comes with a charge, just as Jesus’ identity as the Good Shepherd did: “And whatever we ask we receive from [God],
because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. And this is His
commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one
another, just as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps His commandments abides in
Him, and He in them.”
Your being a sheep in the fold
brings responsibilities to you. The first is to follow the voice of the Good Shepherd,
believing in Jesus’ identity and work. You are not a shepherd; you are a sheep.
Sheep do not lead themselves; they go as the shepherd directs them. So wherever
you are wandering away from Jesus’ leading or following voices other than His,
you must stop. Repent and turn back and be led again. The second responsibility
is to recognize that there are other sheep in the fold who also belong to
Jesus, who are bound to Him. You are all united with Jesus and with each other.
That means you cannot tell other sheep to find another flock. It means that you
can’t be biting other sheep or taking your dirty hooves and muddying up their
water or eating all the grass and leaving none for them. No, you are called to
love them, just as your Good Shepherd commands and as He demonstrates by His
actions. But when all this is happening, then the flock moves in the direction
where the Good Shepherd leads them in this life and to life everlasting.
So from what you have heard this
day, you can come to the confession of faith that a shepherd owns sheep. It is
not just a statement about sheep husbandry, but also a profound statement about
Jesus: He has a flock that He has purchased and won for Himself. You are in it.
You are part of that fold. Jesus’ bond with you is sealed by His laying down
His life and taking it up again, so that you may live. That is the expression
of His divine love for you. Receiving it, then you can rightly say: “The Lord is my Good Shepherd. I know Him and
He knows me.”
+ In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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