Fourth
Sunday of Easter (A)
Good
Shepherd Sunday
May
3, 2020
Text: John 10:1-10
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
“Thank
God, a seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, the
holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.”[1] That is what Dr. Luther says in the Smalcald
Articles, a confession of our Church in the Book of Concord. And that is us. Holy believers in Christ. Lambs who hear the voice of their
Savior. Or as Jesus says it this
morning, the sheep hear the voice of their Shepherd, “and he calls his own
sheep by name and leads them out. When
he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice” (John 10:3-4; ESV). Jesus is our Good Shepherd. We are His sheep. And by His call, by His voice, by preaching
and God’s Word, He gathers us safely into the Sheepfold of His Church. Think about that in this pandemic and in
these uncertain times. You are safe in
the care of the Good Shepherd who loves you and knows you by name.
But
Jesus uses another image to describe Himself this morning, and it is
exceedingly comforting. Jesus says, “I
am the door of the sheep” (v. 7).
This is, first of all, another of the famous “I AM” statements in the
Gospel of John. Jesus is telling us that
He is YHWH, that He is God! But then
note what this flesh and blood God, Jesus Christ, does for us, His sheep. He places Himself right there in the doorway
so that if any predator or enemy wants to get to us, they’ll have to get
through Him first.
This
is actually what good shepherds do when they gather their sheep into the
sheepfold at night. They lay themselves
in the doorway, the only entrance to the fold.
They become the door. So thieves
and robbers can’t enter by the front door without encountering the shepherd. If a wolf, or a bear, or a lion desires a
lamb dinner, it will have to tear apart the shepherd first. And remember what that good shepherd of the
Old Testament, King David, did to such predators? As he said to Saul on his way out to slay the
giant Goliath, “Your servant used to tend sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and
took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it
out of his mouth. And if he arose
against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and
bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has
defiled the armies of the living God” (1 Sam. 17:34-36).
Jesus
is the Son of David, and like His forefather, He is a Good Shepherd who puts
Himself on the line for the lives of His sheep.
If our enemies, sin, death, the devil, want to get to us, they’ll have
to go through Jesus first. He is the Door. And He’ll die before He lets them have
us. Of course, there is great risk in
that kind of shepherding. But that is
just the point. A good shepherd will die
for his sheep. That is what Jesus says
just one verse beyond our text: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep” (John 10:11). And that is
just what He does, isn’t it?
He
stretches Himself out on the wood of the cross as the doorway to our
salvation. And the predators
pounce. Nails, spears, a thorny
crown. Lifted up in naked humiliation
for all to see and mock. He goes into
this willingly, gives Himself into the jaws of our enemies, for the sake of His
sheep, for you. The enemies do their
worst. Sin, death, the devil… He grabs
them by the beard and… they kill Him.
But
that is their undoing. By His death,
Jesus defeats them. His death is the
atonement for our sins. By His death,
Jesus raids death. He goes through the
valley of the shadow and leads a host of captives in His train. He goes after the lost sheep and brings them
out. Death can’t have us. It swallowed the wrong Shepherd! Jesus blasts a hole right through its belly. The devil can’t have us. Jesus has slain that Goliath! The head of the serpent has been crushed. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
And
now we are His blood-bought sheep, and there is no getting to us now that He
has died. For having died once for sin,
death no longer has mastery over Him. He
is risen. He lives. Forever.
And with Him, we live.
Forever. And He will raise us on
that Day.
Now,
there is another point to this idea that Jesus is the Door. That is, He is the only way in. Not just for blocking predators, but for the
entrance of the sheep. He is the only
way into the safety of the sheepfold, His Church, His Kingdom, salvation. If you are to be saved from the predators,
sin, death, and the devil, it must be through Jesus. You are not saved by good works or good
intentions. You are not saved by being
“basically a good person.” You are not
saved by money or social standing, good health or good family values. You are most certainly not saved by the
government or politicians. And you
cannot be saved by any other god. “I
am the way, and the truth, and the life,” Jesus says a little later in the
Gospel. “No one comes to the Father
except through me” (John 14:6). “No
one comes into the sheepfold except through Me.” Jesus is the only Savior, the only way to be
saved.
This
is what our Lord is talking about when He speaks of thieves and robbers who try
to get in by another way. In the original
context of this Holy Gospel, the thieves and the robbers are the Pharisees and
scribes and others who taught salvation by keeping the Law. That is to say, like thieves and robbers who
try to enter the sheepfold by other ways than the door where the shepherd is
laying, these false teachers try to enter the Kingdom through other ways than
Jesus. And what is true of the Pharisees
and scribes is true of any false teacher.
If they try to break into the Kingdom by another way than Jesus, they
are thieves and robbers! And they are a
mortal danger to the sheep.
This
is important for you to know. We don’t
like labeling anyone as a false teacher in our day because it isn’t politically
correct, and it isn’t nice. It makes
people feel bad. Well, get over it! Anyone who teaches you any other way of
salvation than Jesus is a false teacher, a thief, and a robber. He may be a very nice robber. He may have the best of intentions. But that doesn’t make him any less
dangerous. Don’t follow him! His way leads to death and hell. You follow Jesus’ voice, and Jesus’ voice
alone. Remember what He says about His
sheep: “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for
they do not know the voice of strangers” (John 10:5). Sheep of Jesus Christ follow Jesus Christ
alone, and the undershepherds of Jesus who speak with His voice, Christian
pastors, who enter by Jesus Christ alone, preaching salvation by Jesus Christ
alone, by grace through faith, apart from works and apart from anyone or
anything other than Jesus Christ. That
is the voice you know. That is the voice
to follow.
For
thieves and robbers come only to steal and kill and destroy. But Jesus comes that you may have life and
have it abundantly. You enter the fold
of Jesus through His death and resurrection, to which you are united in Holy
Baptism. He calls you to Himself by His
Word. Following His voice, you go in and
out and find pasture. You lie down in
green pastures. He leads you beside
quiet waters. He sets a Table before you
in the presence of your enemies. You eat
His body and drink His blood. And you
fear no evil, for He is with you. He is
tending you. He is keeping you safe. Therefore goodness and mercy shall follow you
all the days of your life, and you will dwell in His house, His sheepfold,
forever.
Jesus
is the Door. He is the Good
Shepherd. Listen to His voice as he
calls you by name. Follow Him into
eternal safety and peace. He will never
fail you. He will never forsake you. Alleluia!
Christ is risen! He is risen,
indeed! Alleluia! In the Name of the Father, and of the Son
(+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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