Fourth Sunday of Easter

Fourth Sunday of Easter (A)

April 30, 2023

Text: John 10:1-10

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

            “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10; ESV).

            If Jesus is your Shepherd, you have eternal and abundant life.  If you follow anyone else as shepherd, you will be led to death and destruction.  It is as simple as that.  Anyone or anything else that may pose as shepherd is a thief and a robber.  He does not enter the sheepfold by the Door… and the Door is Christ!...  He does not enter the sheepfold through Jesus Christ, but comes in by another way.  And his purpose is to steal you from Jesus, and from His Church.  To use you for his own ends.  And finally, when he gets what he wants from you, to kill you.  To destroy you.  Which is a reference to damnation.  Beloved, whatever such a pseudo-shepherd may say to you, he doesn’t love you.  And he will never lay down his life for you.    

            He who enters by the Door, and is Himself the Door, Jesus, calls His own sheep by name, and they hear His voice, and He leads them out.  He knows them, each and every one.  And they know Him.  They know His voice.  He goes before them.  They follow.  He protects them.  Watches over them.  Cares for them.  He will die for them.  He loves them.  The sheep are always safe when they can hear their Shepherd’s voice. 

            This is a thing, by the way, to this day among shepherds in the Middle East (and probably many other places).  The shepherds bring their respective flocks to pasture all in the same field, and the sheep all intermix.  But when it’s time to go, each shepherd will call his sheep, and the flocks disperse to their own shepherd.  Sheep, by all accounts, aren’t the brightest animals in the barnyard, which is good for us to remember when Jesus calls us sheep.  He isn’t calling us that because we’re so cute and cuddly.  Sheep get themselves in all sorts of trouble.  And when they do, they can’t get themselves out again.  But they do have one thing going for them.  They know the voice of their shepherd.  A stranger’s voice they will not follow.  When their shepherd calls, the sheep follow him.

            Jesus is our Good Shepherd.  But who are the thieves and the robbers?  In the Old Testament, they are the unfaithful priests, the wicked kings, and the false prophets.  Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah (Ez. 34; Jer. 23) make a big deal out of the fact that those who should be faithfully shepherding the people of Israel, are instead exploiting the sheep for their own comfort and wealth.  Slaughtering the fat ones.  Clothing themselves with wool.  Neglecting the sick and the injured, and leaving the lost to fend for themselves.  Scattering the flock on every high hill, which is to say, leading them to idolatry, the high places, sacrificing the people to false gods, to demons!  “All who came before me are thieves and robbers,” Jesus says (John 10:8). 

            What about in Jesus’ day?  Clearly the thieves and robbers are the Chief Priests, which is to say, the Sadducees, who hold tremendous power over the sheep at the pleasure of the Romans, and profit from them in the den of thieves that is the Temple.  And especially the Scribes and Pharisees to whom Jesus is speaking in our Gospel.  They would be shepherds.  But they do not enter by the Door.  They do not enter by the Savior of sinners.  They enter by the hedge around the Law, the traditions of the elders, the pious practices promulgated by mere men.  They exclude sheep from the safety of the sheepfold.  They couldn’t care less about the lost ones.  Leave them to the wolves.  Unclean.  Unclean.

            What about in our day?  Who are the unfaithful priests, wicked kings, and false prophets among us?  There are many false teachers with megachurches and bestselling books at Christian book stores.  These are the ones about whom you say to me, “I know they teach false doctrine, but it’s okay, because I know what I’m doing, and they say things I like.”  But do they direct you away from Jesus?  To yourself?  To themselves?  Do you allow them to shape your faith and piety?  Beloved, this is the voice of strangers.  Repent.  Of course, it’s easy for us to identify the politicians we don’t like with the wicked kings, and we may be right.  But really, the problem is we actually think our politicians will save us!  We put them in the place of Christ.  And we believe every promise from their high priests and prophets on our favorite podcasts and cable news channels.  They are directing us away from Jesus to their own methods of salvation.  “Save the nation!  Save the earth!  Save the whales, but don’t save the babies!”  Beloved, this is the voice of strangers.  Repent.  The whole world would direct us away from Jesus.  And our sinful flesh is all-too-willing to follow.  Whoever, or whatever, would promise you safety and security, health, wealth, and prosperity… salvation!... heaven!... life, and that in abundance… apart from Jesus, is a false shepherd, a false god.  A theif.  A robber.  A demon.  And it will only kill and destroy you.  Don’t follow the voice of strangers!  Sheep get themselves in all sorts of trouble.  And when they do, they cannot get themselves out again.

            But listen.  Do you hear Him calling?  Jesus, your Good Shepherd, calling you by Name.  Seeking you out.  Leaving the 99 to find you.  Freeing you from the clutches of the evil one.  Binding your wounds.  Hoisting you on His shoulders.  Bringing you home.  To lead you in and out once again.  Out to the good pastures.  In to the safety of His sheepfold.  The Shepherd is the Door.  That is true, also.  A good shepherd will always lay his body down in the doorway, so that no one gets out, and no one gets in, unless they go through him.

            That is what Jesus does, isn’t it?  Lays down His body, His very life, for the sheep.  For you.  On the cross.  That is what is what brings you safety and security.  The true wealth and prosperity of knowing Him and being in Him.  And life, abundant, healthy, whole.  Death cannot touch you.  Because He died.  And because He lives.  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. 

            Now He brings you here into His Church.  This is the sheepfold.  What, by the way, of the pastors?  The word “pastor” means “shepherd.”  If Jesus is the only Shepherd we are to follow, and all others lead to death and destruction, does that mean the pastors are really thieves and robbers?  Well, actually, they often are.  That is the problem.  When they think that they are the shepherd instead of Jesus.  When they preach their own words instead of the Word of Jesus.  When they fleece the sheep, slaughter the fat ones, and abandon the sick, the injured, and the lost ones.  Then they are thieves and robbers.  You must watch out for them.  You must watch that I not be one.  You must listen carefully, and determine whether I am speaking Jesus’ Word, in which you hear the voice of Jesus, or whether I am speaking my own words, with the voice of a stranger.  You should always flee the voice of a stranger.  When a pastor preaches false doctrine, show him his error, and call him to repentance.  Of course, extend him a little charity.  Maybe he misspoke, or maybe you misunderstood.  If he will not repent, do not listen anymore to his voice.

            But when he preaches Jesus’ Word, then you should listen to him as you would to Jesus Himself.  For it is the voice of Jesus, your Good Shepherd.  Jesus Himself is speaking when His Word is proclaimed in all its truth and purity.  The pastor is not THE Shepherd.  But he is an under-shepherd of THE Shepherd.  Perhaps we could even say, he is the gatekeeper our Lord says opens the door to the true Shepherd of the sheep.  He does it by preaching and Sacraments.  Faithful pastors are Jesus’ gift to His Church.  God grant that I be one.  You can’t see Jesus, for now, with your naked eyes, but you can see your pastor.  And when the pastor speaks the Word of Jesus, it is true, what Jesus says elsewhere: “The one who hears you hears me” (Luke 10:16).  When the pastor baptizes, it is Jesus calling you by name.  When the pastor preaches the Word, it is the voice of your Good Shepherd that you hear.  When the pastor absolves those who repent of their sins, and withholds forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.  And when the pastor hand-feeds you Jesus’ very body and blood in the Supper, it is Jesus giving you the Bread of Life, His own body, and the Cup of Blessing, His own blood.  It is His Supper.  He is the Host, and He is the Meal. 

            There are many false shepherds in the world.  St. John calls them antichrists (1 John 2:18).  Their speech is seductive.  But don’t listen to their voice.  They only want to use you, then kill and destroy you.  Listen only to the voice of your Shepherd, Jesus.  It is He, and He alone, who gives you life, and that abundantly.  Here is how He describes it over against the unfaithful shepherds in Ezekiel 34: “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 will I 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…  I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land.  There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD…  And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.  And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them.  I am the LORD; I have spoken” (Ez. 34:11-12, 14-15, 23-24).  And so it shall be.  And so it is.  The LORD’s Servant, David, has come.  It is Jesus Christ.  The 23^rd Psalm is our reality.  For Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  And so, in Him, we have life in abundance.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.