Laying It Down

Rev. James Harris

Easter • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Goal: That the hearer become not afraid of the wolf as our Good Shepherd, Jesus, has laid down His life for His sheep

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An American, traveling in Syria, saw three native shepherds bring their flocks to the same brook, and the flocks drank there together. At length on shepherd arose and called out, “Men-ah! men-ah!,” the Arabic for “follow me.” His sheep came out of the common herd and followed him up the hillside. The next shepherd did the same, and his sheep went away with him, and the man did not even stop to count them.

The traveler said to the remaining shepherd, “Give me your turban and crook, and see if they will not follow me as well as you.” So he put on the shepherd’s dress and called out, “Men-ah! men-ah!” Not a sheep moved. they know not a voice of a stranger. “Will your flock never follow anybody but you?” inquired the gentleman. The Syrian shepherd replied, “Oh, yes; sometimes a sheep gets sick, and then he will follow anyone.”

This is why Jesus had to come. His sheep were sick. They were being led to the slaughter instead of to the sheep fold. The context of our text today is when Jesus healed the man born blind. The Pharisees had brought this man in to be examined because it was the Sabbath when Jesus healed the man, as they were always out to trip up Jesus in what He did or said.

So, Jesus begins to teach in parables because of the blind man and the Pharisees who were standing by eavesdropping on the now seeing man and Jesus’ conversation. He begins with the verses just previous to our text today with the parable of Jesus being the door of the sheepfold. “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (vv 9-10). However, “This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them.” (v. 6).

So, Jesus shifts gears and begins a different view of the same parable. He speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd. He compares Himself with a “hired hand”, someone who is simply in the vocation simply for the money. “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.

Shepherding is a full time job, and not something that should be taken lightly. A true shepherd cares for the sheep in his care. He will protect his flock from all harm and danger, he will lead his sheep to fields to graze in and fresh water to keep his sheep nourished and healthy.

Protecting from harm and danger is what the Shepherd is most concerned about. Jesus brings up this issue with the wolf, as well as the hired hand. The ‘wolf’ of Satan is always prowling around seeking someone to devour. Wolves are predators, and will stop at nothing to satiate his hunger. And with this knowledge, the shepherd is ever vigilant.

A certain Wolf could not get enough to eat because of the watchfulness of the Shepherds. But one night he found a sheep skin that had been cast aside and forgotten. The next day, dressed in the skin, the Wolf strolled into the pasture with the Sheep. Soon a little Lamb was following him about and was quickly led away to slaughter. The wolf gets his lunch.

That evening the Wolf entered the fold with the flock. But it happened that the Shepherd took a fancy for mutton broth that very evening, and, picking up a knife, went to the fold. There the first he laid hands on and killed was the Wolf. Evil comes to harm through its own deceitfulness.

The hired hand flees, the wolf attacks and scatters. In the kingdom of God, the wolf is always prowling around looking to lure and entice us away from our Lord. He does this through deceitful ways. People the wolf controls often don’t look like Hitler, or Mao, or Mussolini. They often look peaceful and subdued, beautiful and attractive, and speak with forked tongue. Their deceit is like honey flowing from the honey comb, yet is poisoned with deadly toxin causing doubt, confusion and acceptance of false teaching and empty lies. This can cause the sheep to get “sick” if you will to the point where the sick sheep will follow anyone. And some of God’s people have been led astray to their own eternal damnation.

But, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He says “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.” (vv 14-15).

Jesus knows His followers, the ones who believe in Him. He knows you personally, He knows every thing about you and me. He knows our successes. He knows our failures. He knows your strengths and your weaknesses. He loves to hear your praise and thanksgiving, and He loves to hear you cry out to Him in your distress. He knows so much about you that He even says to those who see themselves as little to no value, “Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Luke 12:7). He even knows what is in your heart, and what’s on your mind. He knows our struggles against our sinful flesh. He knows that our struggles are often lost as we give in again to those things we feel we need to make this life more livable, those times we give in to the wolf because we get tired of fighting. Jesus’ sheepfold is filled with spotted and imperfect sheep. It’s filled with prostitutes and sinners, people like you and me who live on the fringe of society. His sheep are poor and needy. And even though He knows…He still loves you.

And this is exactly why He gives Himself as the Good Shepherd. This Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. For you and me, Jesus endured suffering, shame and death on a cross in order to make you His sheep. The blood shed by Jesus on the cross cleanses each and every one of His sheep from all that would kill us eternally.

And that blood of our Good Shepherd is dispensed to His sheep by means of Holy Baptism. In that act of God, as the water was poured over your head in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the Shepherd claims you as His own. He clothes His sheep with new skins that He gives us from Himself, “For as many of you baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3.27). You and I have been baptized into our Shepherd’s sheepfold. He knows us, and through the Word of the Shepherd, we know Him.

He says He has “other sheep that are not of this fold”, that is He is also the Shepherd of the Gentiles. Praise be to our Father in heaven because of this. Why? Because most of us here, our heritage is Gentile. Somewhere along the line Jesus brought our ancestors into His sheepfold and has kept us there as well. This is the most awesome of news for you and me.

But our Shepherd was not a victim of the violent onslaught of the wolf, even though it appeared that way. Satan did his best to defeat our Shepherd. But little did He know that “No one takes it from [Him], but [He] lay it down of [His] own accord. [He] has authority to lay it down and [the] authority to take it up again” (v 18). Our loving Good Shepherd received this authority from His Father. Not only the authority to do so but also the command. This is why the Good Shepherd came, that He may lay down His life for His sheep in order to save us from the violent onslaught of the wolf. That is the love and mercy of our Heavenly Father through His Son, the Good Shepherd.

You see, when God was about to create man, says a Jewish legend, He took into His counsel the angels that stood about His throne. “Create him not,” said the angel of Justice, “for if You do he will commit all kinds of wickedness against his fellow men; he will be hard and cruel and dishonest and unrighteous.” “Create him not,” said the angel of Truth, “for he will be false and deceitful to his brother man, and even to You.” “Create Him not,” said the angel of Holiness, “he will follow that which is impure in Your sight, and dishonor You to Your face.”

Then stepped forward the angel of Mercy (God’s best beloved) and said: “Create him, our Heavenly Father for when he sins and turns from the path of right and truth and holiness I will take him tenderly by the hand, and speak loving words to him, and then lead him back to You.”

And that is what our Father in Heaven has done for you and for me. His love and mercy extend infinitely to all of God’s fallen sheep. His mercy sent His one and only begotten Son, our Good Shepherd, to lay down His life for us, speaking loving and tender words from the cross, “It is finished.” His authority to lay down His own life has been accomplished. And three days later, His authority raised our Shepherd from the dead. Never to die again, He opened to eternal doorway to the sheepfold and softly and tenderly speaks love and mercy into our ears and hearts. You are mine. I love you with an everlasting love, and I will keep you safe in My sheepfold now and forever, forgiving all your sin and giving you and I all the benefits of His innocent life, death and resurrection.

And when our Shepherd returns, He will separate us sheep from the nonbelieving goats and we will enter His eternal sheepfold, lead to streams of living water and great green pastures for our nourishment. He does this now for us, as He protects us with rod and staff, beating away our predators and pulling us out of the thickets of thorns we get caught in. He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies, where He feeds and nourishes us with His own body and blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. He continually fills our cup of blessings so much that it over flows in acts of love and mercy for other sheep, like those who are nourished and cared for by the people who give of themselves for others like Moses House, or Victor Valley Rescue Mission, or Orphan Grain Train and many other organizations like that.

And through these acts of love and mercy, other sheep are brought into the sheepfold of our Good Shepherd, expanding it more and more each day with tender words of mercy and love of the Gospel spoken or acted out. St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel in all the world, and if necessary, use words”, and that is what we do with our acts of mercy and grace.

I am Jesus' little lamb, Ever glad at heart I am; For my Shepherd gently guides me, Knows my need and well provides me, Loves me ev'ry day the same, Even calls me by my name.

Day by day, at home, away, Jesus is my staff and stay. When I hunger, Jesus feeds me, Into pleasant pastures leads me; When I thirst, He bids me go Where the quiet waters flow.

Who so happy as I am, Even now the Shepherd's lamb? And when my short life is ended, By His angel host attended, He shall fold me to His breast, There within His arms to rest.