Sermon for Misericordias Domini (Easter 3)

John 10:11-16
Third Sunday of Easter—4/6/2008
Emmanuel Lutheran Church—Dwight, IL

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“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 I will seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Ez 34:11-12).

It was also on a day of clouds and thick darkness that Jesus hung upon the cross. As the light of the sky failed on Good Friday, He who called Himself the Light of the world was drawing His last breaths. Yet at this same time, He was also fulfilling another name given to Him. For on that day of clouds and thick darkness, the Lord God made flesh was rescuing His people as a shepherd rescues his scattered sheep. This is no ordinary shepherd. And He seeks His sheep in no ordinary way. “I AM the Good Shepherd,” Jesus says. “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (v 11).

THIS SHEPHERD IS GOOD BECAUSE HE LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE ON THE CROSS

I.

Jesus makes a great distinction between what a shepherd does and what is done by a hired hand. “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” (v 12). He who is a hired hand cares more for his own life than for those of the sheep.

The reason why the hireling does what he does is because he is only on the job because of what he can get for himself. In contrast with the shepherd, the hireling doesn’t own the sheep; he has no vested interest in their well-being. The only thing the sheep are for him is a source of income.

The hired hand has only one interest in dealing with the sheep—payday. It’s no big deal if a sheep is injured or lost, as long as the dough keeps rolling in. He will still get paid if the sheep suffer—at the very worst he might lose his job. But he can always find another.

So when the wolf comes, the hired hand runs away and lives to be hired another day. “No need to put myself in harm’s way for the sake of these nasty animals.”

Shepherds are a recurring theme in Holy Scriptures. Another word used for shepherd is pastor. It’s also the name given to ministers of the Church, for they are given to shepherd God’s flock.

But often times Christians don’t like the idea of being sheep with a shepherd. In fact, many times they hate it. They would rather be employers who hire a ministry staff.

Christians find this prospect comfortable and attractive for the simple fact that, with a hireling, you can have control over him. You’re the boss and he’s your employee. You give him his job description, and he had better follow it (and you’ll make sure of it in his regular performance reviews). And if he does not meet your expectations, it’s simply a matter of firing him, because after all, you hired him.

This hire and fire mentality that’s found all too often in our churches is indicative of a deeper desire that’s found in each one of us. Because treating a pastor as a hireling isn’t just to have control over him—it’s to have control over God’s Word.

One very important aspect of the vocation of pastor and shepherd is to make you feel uncomfortable—uncomfortable with your sins, that is. A true servant of the Word is duty bound to preach the entirety of God’s Word, including His Law and repentance of sins.

But if you have a hireling—someone you’ve interviewed and screened—then you can be sure that he won’t ask you to change anything about your old, sinful life that you don’t want changed. And if he does, he’ll be looking for another job.

In my role as Circuit Counselor, I am called upon to help congregations through the call process. I remind them continually of the difference between calling a pastor and hiring an employee. You may have a hireling if you desire, I tell them. You may even choose to treat your called pastor as a hireling by demanding that he conduct the ministry according to your way. But, if you do, don’t be surprised if he’s nowhere to be found when the wolf comes.

When the devil besets you with serious temptations and sins, a hireling will refuse to deal with the sin, but instead try to make you feel better about yourself to mask the disease that lies underneath. When the world attacks your faith in Jesus, a hireling will answer with pious platitudes, but nothing of substance. When your own sinful flesh feels the ravages of its own sin through disease and illness as you lie in the hospital bed, a hireling will more likely be found on the golf course spending the paycheck you gave him, rather than at your side with Christ’s body and blood.

II.

“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” (vv 14-16). The Good Shepherd is the one who Shepherds the sheep by laying down His life for them in order to bring them back to His fold.

The Good Shepherd is not a hireling because He knows His own. And because He knows His own, He lays down His life for them.

The hireling does not own the sheep, but Jesus, the Good Shepherd, purchased and won you, along with the whole world, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death—so that you may be His own.

Jesus has a vested interest in you because He invested His whole life in you. You are the reason He became flesh. You are the reason that He healed the sick and raised the dead. You are the reason He suffered and died. Jesus’ payday was not the payday of a hireling, but when He paid for your sins by suffering and dying.

He now knows you just as He knows His own Father. You are His family. You are His beloved.

And so He placed Himself between you and the wolf by willingly laying down His life. This Jesus is no hired hand.

You are one of His beloved sheep, and you have been brought into His fold through His life laid down. But though He laid down His life for you, that was not the end, for He took it back up again. And He now lives to lay it down for you another day—but in a different way.

For Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep sends out undershepherds—His called and ordained pastors—to lay down for you, not their own lives, but the life of Jesus.

Through their preaching, you learn of Christ’s life—the life He lived, the life He laid down, the life He took back up, the life He now lives, risen from the dead in the flesh, seated at God’s Right Hand, delivering immeasurable gifts to His beloved flock.

Through the Holy Absolution spoken by His undershepherds, Christ the Good Shepherd takes the devils temptations and your sins head-on. No sin is beyond the Absolution spoken by the voice of the Good Shepherd. And though it is uncomfortable to confess your failings, the Good Shepherd offers surpassing comfort. The prophet writes, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. 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, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice” (Ez 34:15-16).

And because this Shepherd is superabundantly gracious, He also lays His life down on your tongue with the bread and wine of the Sacrament. And where Christ’s life is, there is also forgiveness and salvation.

Through these, as through instruments, Jesus calls His wayward sheep. Those who hear His voice in the Church’s preaching and in the Sacraments know that He calls to them. In the one flock of the holy Christian Church, the sheep hear the voice of the one great Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

“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” (Heb 13:20-21).

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.


Rev. Jacob Ehrhard
VD+MA