1 Peter 2.21-25 & John 10.11-16
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“I am the good shepherd.” With these words, Jesus separates Himself from all the wicked, lazy hirelings who had assumed they were good shepherds. Jesus speaks these words to a group of Pharisees, men who thought of themselves as shepherds of Israel in the same vein as Moses and Aaron, David, and the prophets. They were not the shepherd of God’s flock, though. They were hirelings, wageworkers who didn’t care for the sheep because the sheep weren’t theirs. They were no better than the false prophets and elders of Israel who shepherded Israel before the exile, whom the Lord condemned through the prophet Ezekiel. Like those Old Testament hirelings, they eat the fat of the sheep and clothe themselves with the wool. The weak they did not strengthen with the gospel. They did not heal those who were sick with sin but taught them to rely on their own works. They did not bind up the broken with God’s promise of mercy. They didn’t bring back those the world had driven away, nor did they seek the lost sheep who had strayed from the flock by sinning. Instead, these men ruled over the flock of Israel with force and cruelty, teaching the commandments of men as if they were the doctrine of God, enriching themselves and their egos at the expense of people of God’s pasture and the sheep of His hand.
“I am the good shepherd,” Jesus tells them. What makes Him the good shepherd? “The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” The Pharisees—who sat in Moses’ seat as the self-appointed teachers of Israel—did not give their lives for the sheep. Theirs wasn’t a ministry of service to the sheep. They didn’t defend the flock from the wolf, which signifies every spiritual danger to God’s flock: sin, spiritual death, and the devil. These men were unwilling to put themselves between the flock and the wolf to save the sheep. The hireling, Jesus says, “who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.” When the wolf came they fled, so that sin, spiritual death, and the devil were allowed to devour the Lord’s lambs and maim the members of His kingdom. These men fled because strengthening the weak with God’s promises, healing the sick with the promise of God’s mercy, binding up the broken, and going after the scattered and lost was just too much work. They styled themselves shepherds of Israel, but they only deserved the name “hireling.”
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” Jesus does not come as a hireling. He is the good shepherd. He sees the wolf coming—sin, death, the power of the devil—and doesn’t run. He puts Himself between the wolf and His flock. This is what David had done as a shepherd. When he stepped forward to fight the giant Goliath, he told king Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it” (1 Sam. 17:34-35). Jesus is the Son of David, the new David, whom God promised shall feed Israel and be their shepherd (Ezek. 34:23. Like His ancestor David, Jesus stepped forward, placing Himself between the wolf and sheep. But unlike His ancestor David, Jesus allows Himself to be devoured by the wolf. He was reviled by sinful men in order to pay for our reviling of God and our neighbor. He was insulted to atone for every sin with which we have insulted God’s holiness. He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Pt. 2:24), allowing the wolf to destroy Him, so that He might rescue all who believe in Him from the jaws of that wolf. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. But Jesus is no hireling. He is the good shepherd. He knows His sheep and is known by His sheep, and they know Him as the Son of God, whom the Father knows from eternity and who knows the Father from eternity, because He is of substance with the Father. This one, the Son of God Himself, who lays His life down for the sheep.
Jesus not only lays His life down for the sheep. As the good shepherd, He gathers His sheep—believers—into His flock—the Holy Christian Church. He says, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” Who are these other sheep? The gentiles. Jesus, as the good shepherd, lays His life down to atone for our sins and takes back up His life on the third day so that He might justify believers and bring them into His fold. The weak of faith He strengthens with His Holy Spirit. Those sick with sin He heals with forgiveness. The brokenhearted He binds up with His peace. Those who are driven away by falsehood He brings back with His truth. Those who have been lost because of their sins, He seeks with repentance and the promise of mercy. He does this first with His disciples after His resurrection. Then He sends them into all the world as His undershepherds. The apostles and the minsters that follow after them do this work of shepherding, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to them, but being examples to the flock (1 Pt. 5:2-3). Every minister whom Christ calls—unless He be a hireling in His heart—shepherds Christ’s flock, not His own, and follows Christ’s example of laying down His life for the sheep, giving of Himself so that the Lord’s lambs might be fed and protected.
And as ministers, as Christ’s undershepherds, are to follow in the steps of the good shepherd, all of us, as His lambs of His flock, are to follow the example He left us. Peter says, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” We often think of following in Jesus’ footsteps as living as Jesus lived. But Peter specifically encourages us to follow in Jesus steps by suffering as He suffered. Everyone wants to avoid suffering at all costs, but those who following a suffering Savior know to say with St. Paul in Acts 14:22, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” While we aren’t to go looking for crosses to bear and impose suffering upon ourselves, when God lays the cross on us, when He sends afflictions, we aren’t to try to throw off the cross or wiggle free from the affliction He sends. We are to endure it patiently, following the pattern Christ established: ‘Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
When God lays the cross upon us—which is suffering specifically for the sake of Christ and His word—we do not bear it alone. When God afflicts us in our body, mind, or life, or when He afflicts us in the body and mind of a loved one, we do not bear the affliction alone, for we have, by faith Christ’s suffering and death, returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. As the shepherd and overseer of our souls, our Lord Jesus Christ leads us through every cross and each affliction. Sometimes He lifts the cross from our shoulders. Sometimes He removes the affliction from us or our loved one. But that is not how He leads us as our good shepherd. In the midst of every suffering, He makes us to lie down in the green pastures of His word and leads us besides the still waters of all His promises, so that by His gospel promises He may restore our souls. He leads us in the paths of righteousness, for we have died to sins and unrighteousness. He comforts us in the valley of the shadow of death by the fact that He has walked this valley before—and lives! He protects us from the wolves which seek to devour us—our sin, the world, and the devil—and even prepares a table in the presence of our enemies, with a cup of blessing which overflows with consolation. He is not a hireling. He’s in it for the long haul because He cares for the sheep. He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him because He has laid down His life for the sheep, and taken it up again, so that they might have live eternally in His fold. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
