Sermon manuscript:
The relationship between shepherds and sheep is not a
relationship of equality. Shepherds are one thing. Sheep are another. Their
roles are not interchangeable.
It is also not the case that sheep need to have their say in
what is going on. They are not asked for input on where they should go or what
they should do. All the decisions, or at least all the good decisions, are made
by the shepherd. I say “good decisions” because the sheep are able to wander
away, get lost, and manage to get eaten by wolves. but none of these things are
in the sheep’s best interests. All the good decisions are made by the shepherd
who leads the flock into good grazing land, who keeps them safe from predators,
and so on.
The Scriptures speak in several places about God being the
Shepherd, and his people being sheep. For example, “The Lord is my Shepherd,
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me
beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul.”
Then we have the readings we have heard this morning. In
Ezekiel God says that he is the Shepherd who will seek out his sheep. Ezekiel
was a prophet who lived later than most of the prophets that we are familiar
with. He was a prophet while God’s people were at an exceptionally low point.
Their nation had been decapitated. All their leaders had been taken away to
live in Babylon. Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed. This was a time
of clouds and thick darkness. But God would shepherd them.
In our Gospel reading Jesus says that this Shepherd who gets
talked about in the Scriptures is him. He is the Shepherd whose rod and staff
comfort you. He is the Shepherd who will gather his people from all the places
where they have been scattered. Jesus knew Psalm 23. Jesus knew Ezekiel. He
wasn’t pulling illustrations out of thin air when he says, “I am the Good
Shepherd. … I lay my life down for the sheep.” So when the Scriptures speak
about the Lord being the Shepherd, we need to know that is talking about Jesus.
I began today by speaking about the great inequality that
exists between the shepherd and the sheep. Let’s apply this to our relationship
with Jesus.
In our reading from Ezekiel, it is clear that Jesus’s sheep
are not all neatly gathered together with a bow on top. God is emphatic as he
preaches through Ezekiel. He says, “I, I myself will seek the welfare of my
flock and carefully search for them.” The shepherd has work to do because
of the way that the sheep are. One has gone over here. Another has gone over
there. He pulls in these sheep wherever they might be found so that they may be
safe under his protection.
This shows us that God is not the way that he is often
understood to be. Oftentimes God is thought of as sitting alone on a throne
very far away. It is up to us to make our way to him. We also do this with the
idols we falsely worship. The god of success and personal glory sits high up on
a throne very far away. It is up to us to work hard and never give up so as to
make our way to him.
So, for example, those who choose to worship the God of
athletic greatness have to do their prayers, listen to their Scriptures, and
make their sacrifices every day. Their prayers are their dreams of success and
glory. Their Scriptures are the motivational speakers they listen to, or the
songs that they have put on their playlists. They listen to these Scriptures
while they make their morning and evening sacrifices of punishing their body in
the gym. Folks don’t think that this is worshipping gods, but as our Large
Catechism says, “Whatever we cling to with our heart, that, for us, is our
god.” So whatever we devote our heart, soul, strength and mind to—that
obviously is our God, whether we recognize it or not.
Of course none of these idols, or false gods, actually
exist. There is only one God. And he is very different than the false gods of
people’s imaginations. In fact, it’s almost the opposite. False gods are always
demanding more of us. Once you’ve made one sacrifice, another is required. Once
you’ve given your heart to your dreams of glory, you also need to use your mind
to get the right strategy and your will to carry it out. You are the one who is
always active.
With the true God it is practically the opposite. Not one sparrows
falls to the ground without God knowing of it and working it. All the hairs of
your head are numbered. God gives daily bread to everyone, even to all evil
people. Each and every day he gives us our food, drink, clothing, shoes, house,
home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children,
devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, peace, health,
self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.
His mercies are new every morning, and great is his faithfulness. With all the
goodness that is showered down upon us it is like he is shaking out a piggy
bank of goodness every day, showering us with riches.
What you have did not come from you. You have not deserved
it. If we wanted to talk about what you deserve, then we’d have to conclude
that you deserve nothing but punishment. But God gives you all these things by
grace, despite your sins.
“But what about all your hard work? What about all your
achievements?” you might ask. Who gave you the ability to work? Do you really
think you gave yourself this ability? And what of your achievements? You made
your own success? There is some law of the universe that says you have to be
rewarded? I think not. This too came from God. Paul says, “What do you have
that has not been given to you?” The answer is “nothing.” The Lord is your
Shepherd. You are the sheep. If you’ve found some good grazing land, it is
because the Lord has led you there.
So it is not right for us to believe that we, with our
various practices, are responsible for our own success. All success is given by
God. To believe otherwise is to believe that your success has been given to you
by some other god—even if that other god be yourself. But no other God exists
besides the one and only true God.
This hold true also for spiritual things. Thus far we have
mainly spoken of earthly things—things that have to do with our body and life.
It is also true that all spiritual goods also come from God. What are spiritual
goods? Defeating the devil and demons is a spiritual good. Being on good terms
with God is a spiritual good. Having a true faith is a spiritual good. Being
able to pray is a spiritual good. All these things and more come from the Good
Shepherd just as truly as our daily bread comes from him.
It is very common for us to be deceived on this point. We
take the kind of relationship that we have with idols, and we transfer it over
to our relationship with God. Just as a person might dream big, destroy his
body in the gym, and sacrifice every aspect of his life to attaining success
and glory, so also we tend to think the same thing about our relationship with
God. We tend to believe that we have to do everything in our power to be good,
then God will like us. We have to do our part for God to do his part.
This, again, confuses the Shepherd with the sheep. It is not
the sheep who find the Shepherd, but the Shepherd who finds the sheep. It is
not our love for the Shepherd that draws us to him. It is the love of the
Shepherd for us that makes him go out looking for us, or, to use the language
in our reading from Ezekiel, to search diligently for us. He doesn’t just go on
a leisurely stroll, and if he happens to find a sheep, then well and good. No,
he searches diligently.
And notice how the Lord goes on and on about the nature of
his searching and shepherding. He talks about how the sheep have been
scattered, terribly scattered. He says, “I will seek the lost. I will bring
back the strays. I will bind up the injured. I will strengthen the weak.” Why
be so emphatic about Jesus’s activity? It is so that we do not think that Jesus
only goes for the good ones.
Those people who are lost are lost because they have
wandered off. Those people who have damaged themselves with their sins are
damaged because of their own fault. The Law says that people should get what
they deserve. Jesus, though, is the Good Shepherd. He lays down his life for
the sheep. He doesn’t need to lay down his life for the sheep. He is under no
compulsion to do so. He does it gladly. And why? So that we don’t get what we deserve. Jesus got
what we deserve—namely, the punishment that should have been upon us. He died
that we, the sheep whom he loves, can live. We belong to him. We hear his voice
and follow him.
But how does Jesus do all this searching and finding,
feeding and healing? He does it by the preaching of his Gospel. Last week we
heard Jesus tell the apostles that whoever’s sins they forgive they are
forgiven, whoever’s sins they retain are retained. In another place Jesus says,
“Whoever hears you, hears me. Whoever receives you receives me. And whoever
receives me, receives the One who sent me.”
So this means that the way that Jesus ordinarily finds and
gathers together his sheep are by his Christians who speak his Word to those whom
they come across. This also means that wherever the Word of God is put in use
is a very special occasion indeed. It is very common for folks to think that a
sermon or a conversation or a prayer are blasé and no big deal. It’s dismissed
as mere church ritual. What is really going on is that God’s own Son is doing
his work. He is particularly looking for those who are lost, sick, and weak.
That is to say, those who know that they are sinners, those who are at the end
of their rope, those who need to be comforted.
Those who believe that they have no need of the Jesus’s
services are the ones who cannot be converted until they are brought low.
These, also, are spoken of in our reading from Ezekiel. Perhaps you noticed it,
because it is a little jarring. As we’ve been saying, God will seek out his
sheep. He will find the lost, gather the strayed, bind up the injured,
strengthen the weak. Then he says, “I will destroy the fat and the strong.”
There is one gracious thing after another. Even sins and terrible failings are
overlooked. Then there is this harsh judgment: The fat and the strong will be
destroyed.
It is not as though these people are somehow automatically
excluded. Jesus’s salvation—the way that he laid down his life for the sheep—is
for absolutely everyone. Whoever hears the Gospel, no matter who the person
might be or what the person might have done—whoever hears the Gospel may apply
its forgiveness and salvation to himself or herself. But those who believe that
they are fine on their own—the fat and the strong—will stay away. Those who are
capable and strong in their own eyes cannot receive the Gospel.
It’s like what Jesus says when he weeps over Jerusalem. He
had wanted to gather them together like a hen gathers her chicks, but they
refused. They had no need for God’s Son. The prostitutes and tax collectors
were willing to listen to Jesus, but not the chief priests and scribes.
Thus we find something strange about the Christian Church.
Not many who are wise according to the flesh, not many who are strong, not many
who are noble are found to be in the Christian Church. Those whose lives are
all fine and dandy resist the preaching of Christ’s cross. They do not believe
that they really need it. They believe they can get by without it. Accordingly
they stay away from the Gospel. They stay away from the Sacrament of the altar,
whereby the death of Christ is proclaimed until he comes. Wealthy, white
suburbanites, and those who try to be like them, are too busy pursuing success
in every aspects of their lives. They do not need the Good Shepherd—or so they
believe. They have been blinded by the prince of this world.
Let that not be so for you. The Good Shepherd seeks you and has found you, even in your hearing of this message. I do not say this by my own authority, but with the authority that Jesus has given to me and to all Christians. Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven. Your Good Shepherd has laid down his life for you.
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