Misericordias Domini

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The tenth chapter of John finds Jesus in the middle of an argument with the Pharisees. They were the spiritual leaders of God’s people. They were supposed to care for the flock of God. Instead, they used their position of leadership and authority for their own advantage. They were false shepherds, who cared only for their own bellies and not at all for the sheep. Listen to what God says to them through the prophet Ezekiel.
“Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts… Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths… Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep… 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, [but] the fat and the strong I will destroy” (Ezek 34).
These words from Ezekiel set the stage for Jesus’ confrontation with the false shepherds of that time, the Pharisees. Jesus never had anything good to say about them. The harshest words of condemnation that you will find in the Bible are spoken to false shepherds, to men who use their positions of authority for their own gain. And Jesus is angry about this. Why? Because he loves his sheep. Because he is the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd stands in contrast to the wicked shepherds. Jesus says, “All who came before me are thieves and robbers. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I came that my sheep may have life and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:8–11).
There were many false shepherds in Bible times, and so there are today. Turn on your TV. Listen to your radio. Browse the Christian books section and you’ll be sure to find them. They peddle their own ideas and their false teachings. They tell you how to feel better about yourself without repentance. They promise to make you comfortable and happy. They fill your head with their own ideas that have nothing to do with God’s Word. The hireling is the false teacher. He will scratch your itch, but when the wolf attacks you’ll be on your own. The hired hand always abandons the sheep and flees when he sees danger. Why? Because he’s only there to get a paycheck and cares nothing for the sheep (Jn 10:12–13). Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He never abandons his own. Instead, he lays down his life for his sheep.
Jesus says, “My sheep follow me. My sheep hear my voice. Another voice they will not hear” (Jn 10:3–5). Sheep don’t trust just any voice. They know and trust the voice of their Shepherd. And what does that voice sound like? What does our Shepherd say? He says who he is—the Good Shepherd. And he says what he does—he lays down his life for the sheep. Why must he lay his life down? Because of our sin. We are sheep who went astray. We were happily led away by the smooth words of false teachers who took us down the road of destruction. You don’t need to look out there to find a false teacher – on TV, the radio, the bookstore. Why is that? Because there is a false teacher within each one of our own sinful hearts. Have you heard its voice? My heart tells me that I don’t need a Shepherd. It tells me that my problem with sin isn’t really that bad. My heart tells me that with a little bit of effort, I’ll be able to clean up my life and get back on the right path.
But Jesus lays down his life for his sheep. This means that the heart is wrong. We can’t solve the problems we made for ourselves. We can’t fix what we broke. Only the Crucifixion can take care of sin. That’s how bad our problem was. Only the death of the Good Shepherd could rescue his lost sheep from the jaws of the wolf and the voice of the false teachers. And because of his love for you, Jesus allowed his body to be rent by the teeth of the wolf. He confronted all human evil with his innocence, and he conquered. He gladly laid down his life for you, his sheep.
“No one takes my life from me,” Jesus said, “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” (John 10:18). Jesus has the authority and he used it. He laid his life down for you, and then he took it up again. This morning, on the third Sunday of Easter, we are gathered to celebrate our Shepherds victory over death. And why are we gathered this morning? How did you come to be here listening to the words of Jesus? Perhaps you thought that you brought yourself. You woke yourself up. You got in your car. You brought yourself here. That’s true enough. But actually, Jesus gathered you.
Listen, he tells you about it in verse 16: “I have other sheep that are not of this fold.” The original sheepfold was the Jewish nation. But Jesus told the Jews that he had other sheep: “I will gather them also, and they will listen to my voice” (Jn 10:16). Two-thousand years before you were born, Jesus had already made a promise to you. “I have sheep that are not yet in this fold. I must go find them. I must gather them. I will be their Shepherd, and they will hear my voice.” Jesus kept his promise as he always does.
Look back in your life and you will see him gathering you. You were born a lost sheep, a child under the curse of sin, with no inheritance but death and damnation. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, sought you ought. He found you, gathered you in his arms, and brought you into his fold through the saving water of baptism. After that, there were many times since that you have wandered away, back into the old habits of sin, back to false teachings that appeal to the soul and tickle the ear. Jesus comes and leads you back into his fold. The Good Shepherd gathers his flock with his Word. He gathers his sheep by preaching to us the Law, that exposes our sins and shows us our guilt, and the Gospel, that brings us forgiveness of sins from God himself. The Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and he reveals himself to them.
Sheep don’t trust just any voice. They trust the voice of their Shepherd. They won’t listen to any other voice. The voice of the Good Shepherd is the voice that gives us the true gospel and bestows the sacraments rightly. Here is where our Shepherd reveals himself to us. “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Jn 10:20). Here we are, gathered in his name. But who gathered us? Our Shepherd did. He knows us. He doesn’t just know about us; he knows us. Jesus knows his sheep and he loved us from before eternity began. Jesus calls and gathers his sheep. He washes us clean with his precious blood. He feeds us with his holy Word. He keeps us safe within the fold of his church. And when the time comes, we will follow him into eternal life. Amen.
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