Fourth Sunday of Easter

Fourth Sunday of Easter (A)

May 7, 2017

Text: John 10:1-10

He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            When Jesus refers to us as sheep, it is not a compliment.  He is not calling us cute, cuddly fuzz balls.  Sheep need the vigilant and meticulous care of the shepherd, particularly the way they raise sheep in the Middle East.  The shepherd leads his sheep out to graze on the hillsides where there are predators and other hazards.  The sheep are unbound, and for the most part, unthinkingly follow the rest of the flock, which offers its own perils.  “If everyone jumps off a bridge,” and all that…  But worse is when one sheep wanders off on its own.  Now, some shepherds will argue this point (and methinks they doeth protest too much), but sheep are not the smartest animals on earth.  They get themselves into all sorts of predicaments.  When a sheep is threatened by a predator, it is literally paralyzed with fear.  It doesn’t run.  It doesn’t hide.  It lies down and refuses to move.  Sheep have been known to get so close to a pond or a stream for a drink, their wool starts to soak up the water, and before you know it they’ve fallen in and they’re too heavy with water to get themselves out again.  This is why shepherds carry crooks.  They aren’t just walking sticks.  They yank the wanderers and the stragglers out of harm’s way.  This is why there are sheep dogs.  They may be man’s best friend, offering companionship to the shepherd, but they’re there to bark and growl and nip and bite to keep the sheep in the safe orbit of the shepherd.  No, sheep aren’t all that smart, and frankly, they’re a pain in the neck.  Jesus calls you a sheep, O sinner.  Chew on that one awhile.  He’s talking about how you run off on your own, away from your Shepherd, Jesus, off to gnaw on poisonous weeds, the fleshly pleasures of this world, the things that take you farther away from our Lord; how you meander right into the clutches of the wolves and the robbers and even play with their fire as if you can escape them, only to lie down paralyzed when they come in for the kill; how you run from the still waters of your Baptism and fall into the Dead Sea of sin and unbelief.  Repent, O sinner.  Repent, O sheep. 

            But know this.  You aren’t just any sheep.  You are a sheep of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  You belong to Him.  A good shepherd is one who will lay down his life for the sheep.  Like young David in the hills of Bethlehem, he’ll wrestle with the lions and the bears.  He’d rather be torn to pieces than let a predator make off with one of his precious lambs.  It’s the strangest thing.  These silly, rebellious, stupid sheep… The shepherd loves them!  And there is one thing sheep have going for them.  They know the voice of their shepherd.  They won’t follow the voice of a stranger.  Shepherds will often gather their flocks together for grazing.  They’re all mixed up with one another.  But when evening comes and it’s time to return to the sheepfold, each shepherd will call, and the sheep know which voice to follow.  This is also what it means that you are sheep.  You may not know much, but you know your Shepherd’s voice.  You know, in the cacophony of all the would-be shepherds calling you in the world… you know the voice of Jesus.  You know His Word.  And you follow Him.

            Now, at night, the shepherd calls, and the sheep gather to him, and he leads them to the sheepfold.  Here the danger is that thieves and robbers will break in and steal, or predators may try to sneak in through the gate.  So the shepherd sleeps in the entrance of the fold.  If you want my sheep, you’re gonna have to get through me!  And so Jesus says, “I am the door” (John 10:7; ESV).  He means that quite literally.  He’s saying, “If anyone wants to get my sheep, you’re gonna have to get through me!”  You’re safe in the sheepfold.  And what is the sheepfold?  You’re in it!  It is the holy Christian Church.  Jesus is the door to the Church.  You enter by Him.  That is to say, you are baptized into Christ.  The water and the Word, the font, that is where you enter through Jesus.  You enter through His death and resurrection.  You are made one with your Lord.  And here, in the sheepfold, He tends you.  He cares for you.  He leads you in and out with His voice, His Word.  He provides you with green pastures, sets a table before you in the presence of your enemies, His body, His blood, given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.  Your cup overflows.  And He keeps you safe.  He teaches you His voice, and warns you against the voices of others, the thieves and the robbers and the snarls of the adversary who prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  You Shepherd puts Himself on the line, lest these enemies steal or consume you.  And it’s not just for show, God against some lesser creatures that are no match for Him.  Your Shepherd, your God, is a man, Jesus Christ.  And He dies for the sheep.  He dies for you.  That is what it means that He is your Good Shepherd.  When others would run away, He confronts the danger head-on, and gives Himself in sacrifice.  For you.  To save you.  And on the Third Day, He rises from the dead, and now He ever tends you and cares for you, vigilantly and meticulously.  You belong to Him, and you are precious in His sight.

            In our text, Jesus spends a great deal of time and energy warning us against the thieves and robbers.  Who are these characters?  These are the false teachers who, by trickery and sneakery, and in service to the wolf, Satan, want to steal you away from the sheepfold.  Now, this is the part of the text nobody likes.  This gets a lot of pastors in hot water with the sheep.  But I don’t work for you.  I work for the Good Shepherd.  So here you go.  There are false teachers who claim to be Christians, but are not.  And there are false teachers who sincerely think they are Christians, but are not.  And there are false teachers who are, in fact, by a felicitous inconsistency between their teaching and their faith, Christians, but are nonetheless dangerous because they lead other sheep astray.  That is to say, some of the books and movies and television programs you like because they claim to be Christian, aren’t good for you!  (I told you you wouldn’t like this part.)  And some of the religious personalities you admire may lead you astray.  “But Pastor, they’re so sincere!”  Yes, yes they are.  They are sincerely wrong.  You’ve heard the old saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”  “But Pastor, a little bit of false doctrine isn’t going to hurt anyone.”  Neither is a little bit of arsenic, until it builds up in the system and kills you.  “But Pastor, some of the stuff they say is pretty good.”  And not everything the serpent said to Eve was wrong.  Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all for her to give him a hearing, and take the good and leave the bad.  (That was sarcasm, by the way, for those of you in Rio Linda.  The point is, no, she should not have listened to the serpent, at all!)

            Now, don’t walk away thinking I’m saying things I didn’t say.  No, I am not unchurching all the Christians who aren’t Missouri Synod Lutherans.  No, I am not saying all the other Christians are going to hell.  If you walk away thinking that, you aren’t listening.  What I’m telling you is, doctrine matters.  All of it.  Jesus’ voice matters.  If He said it, it’s important.  Even if you don’t think it is.  Even if you don’t understand it.  Even if you don’t like it.  He does not lie.  He is your Good Shepherd.  He knows what is good for you and what is bad for you.  You follow His voice, and His voice only.  All other voices lead to deadly peril.

            And this teaches us something about the Holy Ministry.  The word “pastor” means “shepherd.”  When kids get this wrong and accidently call me “pasture,” they aren’t all that far off.  Same root for both words.  Pastors are undershepherds of the Good Shepherd.  Which means what they speak better be the Word of Jesus.  It better be the Good Shepherd’s voice you’re hearing.  There are thieves and robbers, and they’re sneaky.  They love to pose as pastors.  Now, on the one hand, God gives pastors to help you sort out the voices, to warn you against false teachers.  That is my job.  To warn you, and to name names.  But on the other hand, it is so important that you, as a sheep, know your Good Shepherd’s voice, in case I turn out to be one of those false teachers.  How do you know?  How do you learn to discern the voices?  This is where it is so important, beloved, to drink deeply of God’s Word.  To be in it always.  To immerse yourself in it.  As we pray in the collect, God grant that we hear the Word, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it.  The very most important thing is to be in the Divine Service at every opportunity.  Don’t be a sheep wandering off by yourself!  God will send the sheep dogs after you.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Be in Bible study and Sunday School.  Be in prayer and devotion at home each day.  This is so important.  Be like the Berean Christians, who heard Paul’s preaching gladly, and then searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so (Acts 17:11). 

            Then recognize what God has given your pastor to do for you.  He’s to be Jesus’ mouth and hands in this flock.  In other words, he’s to do the dirty work.  Shepherds don’t just hike around the hills all day in the green grass with their sheep.  There is the sheering and the binding of wounds and the manure and the stink of it all.  There is the constant counting and watching and, for the Christian shepherds at least, the leaving of the 99 to go find that one rebellious sheep who wandered off, and carry him back as he kicks and bleats and bites the shepherd.  The life of the pastor isn’t all glitz and glamor.  Yes, there’s the preaching and teaching and baptizing and feeding with the Supper.  All wonderful stuff.  It’s the stuff you usually see.  There is also the wrestling in prayer for your soul, the spiritual battle that goes on daily behind the scenes.  There are the visitations, the delinquent calls, the vigil at the bedside of the dying Christian, making sure the sheep can hear the voice of the Shepherd through the Word until he hears that voice for himself before the throne in heaven.  There are the wounded and angry sheep to be tended.  There are the frank discussions about sin.  Sometimes there must be discipline.  There is Confession, and of course, Absolution!  There is joy, and there is sorrow.  There are the tragedies of the sheep, and there are the triumphs.  When a bishop is consecrated for his office, he is given, quite appropriately, a shepherd’s crook.  Every pastor ought to have one.  It’s a rod and staff of comfort for the sheep.  It’s also a hook to yank you back when you wander and sometimes give you a little knock on the behind.  In other words, the pastor’s job is Law and Gospel.  It’s the Word.  It’s the voice of Jesus. 

            Beloved, Jesus calls you a sheep, and it’s not a compliment.  But it is a comfort.  Don’t be insulted.  Embrace it.  It means you are loved and cared for by the Good Shepherd, your Savior, Jesus Christ, who will never leave you or forsake you.  So good is He, He gave His life for the sheep.  He gave His life for you.  But that’s not all.  He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.