Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter / Good Shepherd Sunday

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Jesu Juva

“The Good Shepherd vs. the Death Shepherds”

Text: John 10:1-10; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:14 (Introit)

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The question is not whether you will have a shepherd or not, but which shepherd?

The question is not whether you will follow another or be your own boss, but who will you follow?

Life is not multiple choice. You can do it this way, this way, or this way - whatever you think or like best. Certainly there are choices we make in life, to do this or that. But those choices also come with consequences. Life and death consequences, sooner or later. And contrary to popular belief, like gender, life is binary. There is a way and choices that leads to life and there is a way and choices that lead to death. 

Which will it be for you?

Stupid question, right? Except it’s not. It’s something not just other people, but you are choosing everyday. To help us think about this, consider these words from Psalm 49 (vs. 10-14a):

For [we see] that even the wise die;
    the fool and the stupid alike must perish
    and leave their wealth to others.

Their graves are their homes forever,
    their dwelling places to all generations,
    though they called lands by their own names.

Man in his pomp will not remain;
    he is like the beasts that perish.

This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
    yet after them people approve of their boasts.

Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
    death shall be their shepherd.

Did you hear that? At the end? Death shall be their shepherd. So there it is: that’s the choice before you today, on this Good Shepherd Sunday. Which will it be for you: the Good Shepherd or a death shepherd?

Again, stupid question, right? I mean, who would pick a bad shepherd, a death shepherd? But people are. Because the death shepherd isn’t going to call himself that. He’s going to call himself the good shepherd and make himself look good, and life-giving, and fun, and logical. Let’s look at a few, shall we?

How about first, one of the more popular ones: yourself. Follow your own instincts, your own desires. Do what you think is best and best for you. Do what feels good. That’s living! But is it? Does that give life? A lot of really smart people make really bad decisions. What feels good has led to record setting levels of drug addiction. And how often have you done something today that tomorrow you regretted? It may have felt good to play that video game instead of studying, but . . .

How about the wisdom of the world? Or, let’s say, of the majority of people in the world. The pooled wisdom of the world. That’s got to be a better guide, right? Well, how often have we been told one thing today and then later the exact opposite? What’s good for you today is bad for you tomorrow. And has the majority always been right? And not just 55, 60, or 75 percent - in the days of Noah, all but eight people - 99.99 percent or so! - thought one way, and it was the eight who were right, who lived.

Science! Follow the science! Well, science can be good, no doubt. Science has done some wonderful things. Science has also caused a lot of death. See Covid. And pain. See transgenderism. And how often has science changed it’s conclusions? What we were so sure of today, new data proves wrong tomorrow. 

How about social science? Social science which tells us any lifestyle you choose is good. But look at the evidence all around us. Same-sex relationships cannot create life. Has unbridled sexuality led to fuller and more abundant life? Or an epidemic of broken families, abandoned families, fear, poverty, crime, unwanted babies, and abortion? Has social media brought us life and brought us closer together? Or actually caused us to be more unsocial than ever before? And caused more separation, isolation, confusion, and stupid challenges that lead to death?

Well, those things could be good and life-giving, we’re just doing them wrong. We just need better leaders. This is those who look to politics to be their shepherd. . . Do I even need to go there? Look how politics is driving us farther apart, not closer together. And how about this delicious paradox: we’re fighting a war to prevent a future war! Using weapons of death to prevent weapons of death. 

And I’m sure you can think of a few more for this list . . .

But how many are following these, looking for life? Thinking that this will make my life better? When the reality and the evidence show exactly the opposite. How many times do we have to keep running head first into the same wall before we realize that’s a stupid thing to do! That wall called death. That wall we cannot go over, under, around, or through. We’ve been trying for a very long time now. Thousands of years, or millions or billions if you’ve bought into the myth of evolution. And we’re still dying. There is no fountain of youth. No magic potion to make you live forever. No progressing beyond death. If fact, if anything is evolving, it’s death! Not life. New ways to die keep cropping up - new diseases, new weapons, new lifestyles, new ways to strip away life.

Death shall be their shepherd. Yeah, when you look around, pretty accurate isn’t it?

And so it is into this world, into all this, that Jesus comes and says: I am the Good Shepherd, and I am the door. The door through death to life. And then says, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Pretty bold claim! How do we know we should follow Him? That this is the way we should go? That He is the way of life? How do we know? Well, one very simple fact. The fact that we are proclaiming especially this season: because His is the only grave that is empty! Everyone else who says Follow me is still in the grave that swallowed them up. Still on the wrong side of the wall named death. Only Jesus punched a hole in that wall and passed from death to life. And so to follow Him is to find that way to life. And not just life, or a little life, but, Jesus says, abundant life. Lots of life. Overflowing with life.

Because that’s the kind of life Jesus is, and has, and gives. Life filled with love and hope and joy and peace and contentment and forgiveness. Life filled with Himself and His Spirit. Life as He created it to be in the beginning, but which we, following our first parents, like straying sheep, have wandered away from. 

But Jesus still wants that life for you and has that life for you and so is here with that life for you and has brought you here to give that life to you. Yes, the fact that you are here is the work of your Good Shepherd, who brought you here to restore you and heal you from the disease of sin with His forgiveness, to give you the water of His Word to refresh you with the truth, to wash you clean from the filth and stench of sin in His Baptism, and to feed you with the food of His Body and Blood. That after another week of life-stealing sin, persecution, attacks, doubts, fears, lies, and death, Jesus is here with His life-giving Spirit. For there is life in no one else. Jesus is the door from death to life.

Which makes Him the Good Shepherd. There are lots of death shepherds. Only one Good Shepherd. Only one who can make things good again. Who can make you good again. Objectively good, not just what you think is good. Good as in what creation was before sin came into the world. That’s the good your Good Shepherd wants for you. 

But is that even possible? I mean, there is so much sin in us and in our world, is it even possible to restore it all? In all people and in a creation falling apart because of sin? We certainly can’t do it! But nothing is impossible for God, right? So He will. But as Jesus showed us, the way to that good, the door to that life, is through death and resurrection. So there will be a new heavens and a new earth, Jesus said (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). The old will die and a new will be brought forth. A new creation. Good again. But there must be a new you as well. So you must die and rise with Jesus.

And that begins for you in Baptism. That’s where Jesus joins you to Himself, so that you join Him in His death and resurrection and begin to live a new life. A good life. But not what the world thinks is good. God’s good. And as we heard from Peter today, you might suffer for doing that good, for living as the Christian you are. As He did. For what did Jesus do to warrant His death? Healing the sick? Casting out demons? Raising the dead? Speaking the Word of God? But, you see, living that good also highlights the bad and the errors that are in the world. And we don’t want to admit, confess that of ourselves. That we are sinners. That we haven’t been good. That we’ve gone our own way. You know it. You don’t like to do that.

But that’s the good breaking into this sinful world. You see, that’s what the door also does. When Jesus knocked a hole in the wall of death to life, that also enables life to flow into this world of death. And so after His resurrection, Jesus sends back His Spirit of life to give us life, and sends out His apostles to give His life-giving forgiveness and to baptize. To baptize more people into His death and resurrection. That more people pass through death to life already now. That you do. To live a new and good life. A good and godly life. Following the Good Shepherd, not the death shepherd.

It seems like such an easy choice! And maybe on paper it is. But in real life it’s hard. Because those decisions not to sin and not to follow the crowd and not to do what everyone else is doing and not to do what you want . . . that’s not easy. Others will think you strange at best, dangerous at worst. Dangerous to them and the way they want to live, and so persecute you. Even if you’re not really doing anything against them and just want good for yourself and for them. Maybe you’ve had that happen to you. In words of ridicule, in actions at work, some Christians having lawsuits filed against them. Sure doesn’t seem like abundant life when those things happen to you!

But don’t be fooled. Don’t be deceived and misled. That’s exactly what the devil wants you to think. The devil wants you to think the way of Jesus, the way of life, is actually the way of hardship and death so you’ll give up and give in and follow others. The death shepherds. Which promise life and good and fun . . . but as we considered earlier, cannot deliver in the end. Which many find out too late. That they’ve been swindled. Robbed of the life they were pursing. 

But Jesus isn’t here to rob you of anything, but to give you life. He died for you so you may have life. A brutal death by crucifixion! But He did so to break death and the grave for you, to punch a hole in that wall of death with His resurrection, so there be life for you. And that you not have to wait for that life, He gives it to you now. And yes, living this life in a world of death will be hard. But it is also good. And good trumps hard! Because hard is only for a while. Good will be forever. 

So take a look at your life. How’ve you been? Who have you been following? If you’re like me, it’s a mixed bag! Some good, some . . . So repent, hear those wonderful words of absolution, remember you are baptized and have passed from death to life in Jesus, and come through that door to the green pasture of His Supper, to eat His Body and drink His Blood and be nourished in the good life. Abundant life. Because with Jesus, there is no other kind. 

Because Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] 

To life! And so in Him, so are you. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Virginia March for Life Pre-March Homily

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Jesu Juva

“God Became Man for Life”

Text: John 10:11-18; 1 Peter 1:3-25; Psalm 1

 

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

Yesterday was the day of commemoration for Anselm of Canterbury, who lived in the eleventh century and whose most famous work was Cur Deus Homo, or, Why God Became Man. The answer to that is both simple and mind-boggling. The simple is that God Became Man to die. The Son of God takes on human flesh to die for human flesh. The Son of God takes on human flesh to take upon Himself the sin of all human flesh and atone for it. The Son of God takes on human flesh to give our human flesh hope. The hope of life now and life forever. That’s the simple answer. Jesus as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for us.

But that’s also the mind-boggling part! That God would do that for us. For a world and people who ever since Adam and Eve said to God and His creation: Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll do things our way. We don’t need you. Yes, we know what You said, but we disagree. We’ll take what we want, use our sexuality as we want, end our marriages when we want, love myself, not my neighbor, and anyone who gets in my way . . . yeah, they’ve got to go. The elderly, the inconvenient, the bothers, the troublesome, even the baby You gave in the womb.

That’s the world into which the Son of God came. A world definitely in need of His love and saving, but completely undeserving of it. And He came anyway. Because that’s who He is. A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Exodus 34:6, et. al.). He saw His good creation taken captive - captive to sin and death, and did not stand idly by. He acted. He invaded. To battle for us. To battle sin, death, and the devil. To rise from death victorious. To undo death. All death. All the death caused by sin. And not just the death of people, but also the death of families, marriages, and faith. To give us new life and hope.

Which is what we heard from Peter this morning. That we have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And Peter knew a little something about that. He knew the struggles of life and hope and toil; of working all night and catching nothing. He knew the fear and threats of a creation gone wild. He knew rage and spite and lashing out - both against him and from him. He knew despair, he knew failure, he knew death. 

And because Peter knows all that, he also knows joy. The joy of Jesus’ victory. The joy of salvation. The joy of forgiveness. The joy of hope. The joy of having an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us. A joy that can last even when grieved by various trials, because we are being guarded by God - by grace through faith. 

So we gather today in hope and joy. Hope that by the Word and Spirit of God, hearts will be changed and we will change from being a culture of death to a culture of life. Hope that every life will be valued and wanted. Hope that those in positions of authority and responsibility will use their vocations for good and for life. 

Such hope is not easy. It is a struggle. It’s not easy to endure when there is so much death around us, and contrary to what we sang in the Psalm, when the way of the wicked does not seem to be perishing.

At such times, though, we know where our hope and strength will come from. Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord - the Word of the Lord. Who drinks deeply of the words and promises of God  and so is that tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. And, we could say, whose hope does not die. So even if we do not see the way of the wicked perishing now, we know that it will. It must. Just as the darkness perishes in the light, so will all wickedness and evil perish at the coming of Jesus. 

Knowing this, Peter exhorts us to prepare our minds for action. To be holy. To conduct ourselves throughout the time of our exile in fear and faith, knowing the struggle, but also knowing our future, and knowing the victory of Jesus. That we have a Good Shepherd who died for all and wants all as His children and in His flock - even the littlest boy or girl in the womb. And if marching today means even one baby saved, one heart changed, one more person hearing the Word of God and repenting, it is worth it. The Good Shepherd knows each and every sheep. He leaves the ninety-nine in search of the one.

Peter knew what it was like to be that one. Hopeless and lost. And so he knew the joy of being found and born again to a living hope. A faith and hope tested each day by fire, but a faith and hope also renewed each day by the love and forgiveness of Jesus. 

So Peter doesn’t blow smoke - he speaks the truth. And so must we. For only from the depth of sin comes the joy of forgiveness. Only from the depth of the grave comes the joy of the resurrection. And from the deception of the lie comes the joy of the truth. The truth that the Author and Giver of Life is also the lover of Life, who in love laid down His life for your life. He is the man who is blessed, and gives that blessedness to us. 

That is Why God Became Man. That great sinners, grave sinners, all sinners . . . that the deceivers and the deceived . . . that the abortion provider and the abortion user . . . that those blinded by sin and those who see sin and welcome it . . . that all those and all that and more - be subsumed in the love and forgiveness and cross of Jesus. That all be dead and buried with Christ, and rise to life with Him. To a new life, a living hope, a genuine faith, a steadfast love, and an endless joy. 

Joy, for Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] 

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter

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Jesu Juva

“Restoring Hope through the Word”

Text: Luke 24:13-35; 1 Peter 1:17-25

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

We had hoped.

We had hope. 

Now we do not. It’s gone. It died on a cross.

So it was for those two men walking, trudging, back to Emmaus. Maybe the longest seven miles of their lives. Two of them, Luke says. Two disciples of Jesus. Two who knew Him . . . or thought they did.

We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.

We had hoped.

We had hope.

Now we do not. 

Their hopes are dashed. No, shattered. No, obliterated. The kind of obliteration there’s no coming back from. Crushing. Death does that.

You probably know something of that. If it hasn’t happened to you, you’ve probably seen it happen to someone else. 

When I was in Seminary, my second year, a fourth year student, Ray, just a couple of months from receiving his call, graduating, and becoming a pastor was killed in a car crash right at the front gate of the Seminary. His fiancée in the car with him survived, but was critically injured. We had hoped . . . 

Marriages start with great hope and joy and celebration. Til death us do part. The hope of children. A future and life together. But how many end too soon? From death, from sin, from selfishness. We had hoped . . .

And we could say the same thing about many careers, friendships, churches, dreams . . . The detritus of shattered lives all around us. Bits and pieces of hopes and dreams. No one wants to be the man on the median begging for money. No one wants to be a single mom. No one thinks it will happen to them. We had hoped . . .

And we wonder why? Why do these things happen? Sometimes there’s an answer. Fault. Blame. Sometimes not. Either way, we think, we just have to make the best of it. 

But is that the life God wants for you? A life where you just have to make the best of it? Trudging, slogging along.

For those two men, trudging back to Emmaus, there was no best of it to be had! There was no picking of these pieces. They had to figure out LIFE again. They thought, they hoped . . . Now, they need NEW thoughts and NEW hopes. But what can compare to this one? What could replace this one? That the Messiah had come! Nothing else will measure up. Or even come close.

Or so they thought . . .

There was a lot of confusion, too. Compounding things in their rattled brains. The report of the women . . . an empty tomb, a vision of angels . . . But that’s what often happens with tragedies or major events. Lots of rumors, stories, reports, many of which later turn out not to be true. We have to wait for the dust to settle. The investigation to take place. Then the truth will come out.

They weren’t there yet. Still too much dust in the air. Too much confusion. Too much pain. 

We had hoped.

We had hope.

Now we do not.

So Jesus cuts through it all - all the hopelessness and confusion. But not just by appearing to them and giving them a glimpse of Him alive - the time for that would come. But first giving them something more steadfast and reliable than that. Something OLD that wasn’t like the many and varied reports coming in that may or may not be true. Something that wouldn’t change because it couldn’t change. Jesus gives them the Word of God. The Word written long before this that not only said all this was going to happen, but that it HAD to happen this way. That it was necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory. That He HAD to die and rise from the dead. This was known, as we heard Peter write in his Epistle, from before the foundation of the world. And then revealed by God through the prophets. Now it has happened. God did it! Why are you surprised? Why are you dismayed? Why are you not rejoicing?

Well, you know why. It’s hard! They’re conflicted. They want to believe, they want to hear more. But once your hopes get shattered, its hard to hope again. Don’t get fooled again! Once bitten, twice shy. So stay with us, stranger. Teach us more. Renew our hope.

And Jesus does. But just for a moment. For now that He has revealed Himself to them in the words of the prophets, now He reveals Himself to them in the breaking of the bread. Not as proof, but as confirmation that the Word of God was true and right all along. So that their faith and hope are firmly anchored not in what they see, but in the Word of God. The Word of God that will last. For the word of the Lord endures forever. 

This we must learn as well. For us, if we see the detritus of shattered lives all around us; bits and pieces of hopes and dreams - even our own! - why are we surprised? If we are hurt, if there is pain, if we are sinned against . . . If there is persecution, opposition, evil in the world . . . If we are betrayed, used, shoved aside . . . Did not the Word of God say this would happen? Jesus Himself also said so. If they hate me, they will hate you. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. The evil one will try to deceive you and mislead you. He will attack and harass you. He will give you no peace. Jesus himself said so . . . so why are we surprised when he does? 

Well, maybe it’s not so much the what as the who. When those we thought we could trust, we could rely on, are the ones doing the hurting and betraying. And then realize, I’ve done it, too! I’ve hurt, I’ve betrayed, I’ve failed, I’ve sinned against my loved ones, I’ve done the shattering, too . . . 

There’s only one who never did. The one who saw the detritus of this world, all the shattered lives, all the broken pieces, who looked around and saw a world harassed and helpless, wounded people like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), and so came to be that shepherd, to pick all up all the shattered pieces, all the dry bones, and renew our hope. So that for all the shattering you’ve done, to say to you I forgive you. For your wounded souls, to say to you I love you. For the betrayal you’ve suffered, to say to you I will never leave you or forsake you. To take your shame away from you and make it His. To wash away your uncleanness. And to feed your hungering and thirsting soul with His own Body and Blood. To restore hope . . . not just to a broken and fallen world, but to broken and fallen you.

Hope even while we are walking through this world. Or slogging, or trudging. Like those disciples. Jesus didn’t immediately reveal Himself to them and make their aching hearts magically go away, and He doesn’t make all our troubles magically go away - though that’s what we want. But He walked with them and stayed with them and gave them what they needed, though they didn’t realize it at the time. 

And He does for us, too. We know what we want, but He knows what we need. The day will come when Jesus will reveal Himself to our eyes, and we will arrive and feast at His eternal table. That day will come, but is not yet. We’re still on the journey. And there will be days of pain, and days of joy. There will be days we are strong and days we are weak. Days of happiness and days when the challenges seem too much for us. Don’t be surprised. It was that way for the patriarch, prophets, and apostles, too. But through it all, they were never alone. 

And as a baptized child of God, baptized into Jesus, you are not and will not be either. You cannot be, for Jesus is risen from the dead and has given you His Spirit. Maybe your sin will make you doubt, maybe like those two disciples on the road, Jesus will hide Himself from you for a moment. But He was there all along. 

So as Jesus taught those two disciples, don’t believe what you see or feel, or the reports coming out of the world that God is irrelevant, or a myth, or dead. You have the Word and truth of the one who said He would die and rise and did so - for you. So that we never have to say . . .

We had hoped.

We had hope.

Now we do not. 

But instead say: Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] 

And rejoice! Rejoice that we are children of God. Even when its hard. For in the midst of an evil and constantly changing and shifting and uncertain world, and people who let us down, and when we let ourselves down, our hope is not here, in this. Our faith and hope and life are in God, the empty tomb, and all His words and promises fulfilled for us by that stranger - but a stranger no more! - walking on the road to Emmaus. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.