Jesus is our Good Shepherd, we shall not want.

Fourth Sunday After Easter
John 10:11-18 - Ezekiel 34 - Ps 23

In the name of Jesus, our Good Shepherd. Amen.

I could be wrong, but I am going to assume that we do not have any shepherds here in church today. For most of us, our experience with shepherds is limited to setting up little shepherd figures in a Nativity Scene. And Sheep? I am pretty sure that none of you have any sheep grazing in your back yard. For many of us, the extent of our contact with a sheep is wearing a wool sweater or eating lamb chops.

But for the people living in Palestine in the first century, sheep and shepherds were apart of everyday life. Many people earned their living tending sheep. Not only that, but Moses and David, two of the greatest leaders in Israel’s history had been shepherds. So the people of Jesus’ day would know that a “shepherd” also means one who guards, protects, and leads. And in fact, here in our gospel text in John 10, the leaders or “shepherds” of Israel - the Pharisees - were listening in as Jesus spoke.

We notice in the beginning of the Gospel text that Jesus makes a distinction between two people - the Good Shepherd and the hired hand. First, we will look at the hired hand. Jesus says in verses 12 and 13: 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.

What stands out about the hired hand is that he cares nothing for the sheep. He will collect his paycheck, but when trouble arises, he is out of there. His prime concern is for himself and what he can get out the situation. He thinks, “What’s in it for me?”

When Jesus spoke of these hired hands or “false shepherds”, it may have brought to his hearers’ minds the word of the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 34, God speaks against the false leaders of Israel. It reads:
“Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 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.”

The false shepherds in Ezekiel are like the hired hands that Jesus speaks of. Their concern is for themselves. They do not take care for the sheep that God has placed in their hands. They have the attitude of “It’s all about me.” They do not see anything but themselves. God has established them as leaders, but they seek their own advantage. The Pharisees - these leaders that Jesus was talking to - would have known that Jesus was speaking about them; giving a word of rebuke to these “spiritual leaders” of Israel.

The hired hand that Jesus spoke of and the Pharisees that Jesus spoke to cared first about themselves. They were more interested in what they could get than what they could give.

Now this is a problem that we all have.

I think of myself way more often than I would like to admit. When I look in the mirror, I see a hired hand that does not care for the things God has placed into my hands: money, time, possessions, thoughts, friends, and family. It is convicting when we think about how we treat what God has placed in our care. We are too often first concerned with ourselves.

Our work is a gift from God. Yet we treat our work as an obligation rather than an opportunity to serve God where he has placed us. What about our “free time?” Even that phrase “free time” implies that time is “mine.” All that we have is a gift from God, yet we continually seek to find what we can gain rather than what we can give. We don’t spend our money wisely. We don’t have minds focused on God. We don’t need to think too long before we realize that we fail in our roles as workers, as students, as sons and daughters, as fathers and mothers. We all seem to resemble the hired hands that Jesus speaks of.

If we truly were just hired hands, we would deserve to suffer the punishment of the shepherd because of our mismanagement. But I have good news for you. We are not hired hands. We are sheep. That may not sound like good news. Yes, a sheep is not the smartest of animals. It is prone to wander. But we are indeed the sheep that Jesus mentions in this gospel lesson and it is wonderful news for this means that we are cared for and provided for, because we are sheep that belong to the Good Shepherd.

We will now look at the other person described by Jesus - this good shepherd that we sheep belong too. The people of Jesus’ day would have known of a true shepherd, a good shepherd. David writes in Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” God was seen as a shepherd. And also in the passage in Ezekiel that speaks of the false shepherds, it also speaks of a true shepherd that would come. It says” And I (The Lord) will set up over them one shepherd…and he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

That one shepherd did come, for Jesus says in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd.” This word “good” has the sense of perfect. Not only is Jesus a shepherd but also he is the perfect shepherd. He is good beyond the best thing that we could ever imagine. Unlike the hired hand, Jesus cares for us sheep so much that he laid down his life for us. Instead of receiving judgement for our wanderings, we receive blessings on account of the Good Shepherd. “All we like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on Jesus, our Good shepherd, the iniquity of us all.”

When we are tempted to have the “me-first attitude” of a hired hand, think of the sufferings of our Good Shepherd. I paraphrase the following from a section in the book “The Quest for Holiness”: “When you have a bad day or feel sick, think about how small it is compared to the crown of thorns and the nails of Christ. When you are feeling unsatisfied with your responsibilities remember how Christ was bound up and made a prisoner, how he submitted to the will of his oppressors. If you feel pride in your accomplishments, see how our Lord was mocked and ridiculed. If lust attacks you, think about how the flesh of Christ was scourged and pierced. If hatred, envy and revenge come upon you think how Christ with tears in his eyes prayed for you and all his enemies when he could have easily avenged himself.”

We may not know much about sheep and shepherds, but the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for us, knows us and he knows what we need more than we will ever know. We may never be satisfied on our own, but in Christ, we will never be in want. In this life we may be restless and tired, tired of our job, tired of our responsibilities, tired of all the struggles, but Jesus restores our soul. As a shepherd leads his sheep to grass to eat and to water to drink, Christ leads us to His church and gives us his own body to eat and his own blood to drink to restore our souls through the forgiveness of sins.

We have no need to fear, whether a wolf comes to attack or whether we walk through a dark valley and feel death all around us. We cry out to our Good Shepherd. He rescues us from every evil – from sin, from death, from the devil, from our own sinful natures - and he will take us safely from this valley of sorrow to himself in heaven.

How do we know? How are we sure that the Good Shepherd will protect us? Verse 4 of our Hymn of the Day tells us: “In death’s dark vale I fear no ill / With thee, dear Lord, beside me / Thy rod and staff my comfort still / Thy cross before to guide me.”

Jesus did not carry a staff, but a cross as he willingly suffered death for you. In his death, He defeated sin and rescued you from destruction. You are forgiven of all your sins. You are forgiven of our your selfish desires, of all your wandering. The voice of the Good Shepherd comes to you today by the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not just speak to you whatever we desire; we speak to you the Words of the Good Shepherd. You hear His voice through the Words of Absolution - “You are forgiven.” His voice comes to you now through his Holy Scripture and you will hear the Voice of the Good Shepherd as you come to the rail to “take and eat his body” and to “take and drink his blood” for the forgiveness of sins.

We are in the Easter Season and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, so we know that while the Good Shepherd laid down his life for us sheep, that that is not the end of the story. Jesus says in verses 17 and 18: 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.

In Jesus’ resurrection, He conquered death, once and for all. We do not need to fear the valley of the shadow of death for the cross of Christ comforts us. Since our Good Shepherd Jesus has the victory over death, we, his sheep, also have victory and we have the promise that the goodness and mercy of Christ will follow us all the days of our life.

We also have God’s promise of Eternal life with him. We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We are no hired hands, but we are sheep who gladly follow Jesus, our Good Shepherd. We shall never be in want.

I close with the benediction from Hebrews chapter 13:
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”