The Good Shepherd and His Elect

Sermon for Misericordias Domini – Easter 2

1 Peter 2:21-25  +  John 10:11-16

There are two Sundays in the Church Year that, I think, really illustrate the doctrine of election: the 20^th Sunday after Trinity, with the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, and today, the 2^nd Sunday after Easter. And neither one is a dry, doctrinal discourse. They’re both full of real imagery and practical application. I mean, what could be clearer or more personal than the image of the shepherd tending his sheep?

Now, there are many good images of Jesus as Shepherd. There’s a famous picture of a rugged, short-haired Jesus smiling and carrying a sheep on His shoulders. That’s a good picture. There’s another famous picture of Jesus standing in the middle of a sheepfold, holding His shepherd’s staff—another good picture. There’s the picture in the back of the sanctuary here with Jesus sitting down with a pair of sheep, or maybe lambs in his lap. A great picture. They all illustrate an aspect of what Jesus does for His sheep.

But the best image I can think of is simply the crucifix itself, the image of Jesus hanging from a cross, the image of the dead Shepherd. That’s the image that the Apostle Paul used as a summary of the whole Christian doctrine: We preach Christ crucified. It’s also the aspect of His shepherding that Jesus highlights in today’s Gospel. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Notice, He doesn’t say that the shepherd is “willing to” lay down his life for the sheep. He actually does it. Not long after He spoke these words, He actually did it.

He did it “for the sheep.” Who are the sheep? The sheep are the elect, the ones whom God chose in eternity to live with Him for eternity. Whom did He choose? Well, He chose sinners. No one but sinners, and none of them more worthy of salvation than the rest. He chose sinners who were all dead in sins and trespasses, who lived for themselves, who didn’t know God rightly or believe in God rightly. In fact, not just the sheep, but all of humanity is born in that state, and in a real sense, Christ died for all. He paid for the sins of all and wants all men to be saved, He calls out to all men to repent and believe in Him and His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, to believe and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

But in a special sense, Christ, the good Shepherd, laid down His life in particular for the sheep, because He didn’t choose all. He chose those for whom He would die, AND whom He would call through the Gospel to repent of their sins and believe in the good Shepherd, AND who would actually believe the Gospel by the powerful working of His Holy Spirit, AND whom He would sanctify in love, AND who would diligently use the Means of Grace that He provides, AND who would wrestle with the flesh and pray for God’s help, AND who would by God’s help persevere in the faith until the end. Those are the ones whom He elected or chose to spend eternity with Him. Those are His sheep. The Gospel invitation goes out to many. But the sheep are the “few” who actually believe it and, at some point in their lives, hear the Gospel and enter into Jesus’ sheepfold, who call Him their shepherd, who call Him Lord, who love Him who first loved us, who will live with Him for all eternity. So it’s with good reason that Jesus says, “I lay down My life for the sheep.”

Then He goes on to contrast the good Shepherd’s determination to lay down his life for the sheep with the hireling’s cowardice and lack of care. The hireling, who is not the shepherd and to whom the sheep do not belong, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees, because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

There’s an application here to pastors, of course, who are supposed to shepherd the sheep of the good shepherd in the way of the good shepherd, but who are sometimes found to be no better than hirelings. When their life or livelihood or reputation is in danger, they run away. This applies to those who only preach what people like to hear, so they don’t get accused of being mean or of not being nice. It applies to some who have abandoned all Word & Sacrament ministry to their flocks in the midst of this pandemic. So there is a warning in this Gospel for pastors, and for all Christians to watch out for pastors who show themselves to be hirelings.

But primarily this text isn’t a warning. It’s a contrast. A contrast between the hireling who abandons the flock because he doesn’t care about them, and Jesus the good shepherd, who cares with His very life, with His whole life, with His whole heart, with every drop of His blood, because He knows that His death will not be in vain. He knows the ones who, throughout time, will believe in Him and remain in Him.

I know My sheep, Jesus says. That takes us back to eternity again and to God’s election of those sheep in eternity. He didn’t get to know you after spending some time with you. He didn’t even get to know you after you were born. He’s known His sheep from eternity. He has always known which ones would be brought to faith in Him and which ones would stubbornly resist the Gospel.

And just as He knows who His sheep are, He knows also what each one of them needs in order to be brought safely through this life. He knows what kind of family you need, whether you need a spouse and when. He knows what opportunities you need and what crosses you need to bear. He knows what personality traits you need in yourself and in those around you. He knows, and He provides, like the shepherd who makes his sheep to lie down in green pastures, and leads them beside the still waters.

And I am known by My own, Jesus says. The elect, the sheep, are the ones who know Him, who trust in Him, who hear His word and don’t think it sounds crazy, or even if it sounds crazy, they still believe it. You know the one who laid down His life for you, and you know Him who rose from the dead. You know Him who sits at the right hand of God, and so, even though you may be troubled by the things happening around you, you know you don’t have to fear as the world fears or despair as the world despairs, because you know Jesus.

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Here we step one last time into eternity. The Lord Jesus looked out in time and saw His sheep in the world, wherever and whenever they were, almost exclusively in Israel for a while, and then far beyond the sheepfold of Israel to the Gentiles throughout the world who would believe in Him, and He said, “The Gospel must be preached here, so My sheep can hear! And over here! And over here! I need a pastor here to baptize. I need a pastor here to preach. I need a pastor here to warn and to correct and to comfort and to forgive and to teach. I need a pastor here to feed My sheep with My body and blood. And I need a gathering of My sheep here to support one another and to support the work of the ministry. And here. And here. And here.”

Preaching seems so futile much of the time. Faithful churches are shrinking to a handful here, a handful there. Our country has become increasingly godless and faithless, and I think we’re seeing just how faithless now, as panic and fear have spilled over into our daily life, as hatred of those who are not afraid has blossomed, and as even Christians have turned away from God toward science, toward their precautions, toward their “staying at home” as the solution to the pandemic. And very few are dealing with the root cause of viruses and illnesses and death, which is their own sin and this world’s curse, which will never be lifted, and this world’s destruction, which will not be delayed. Only faith in Christ saves. Only God truly rules over the world. And only in the Christian Church is there safety from the curse and from the destruction that’s coming. No one, it seems, wants to hear about that anymore. Hardly anyone seems to know Jesus or want to know Him anymore. The world’s tolerance of the preaching of Christ is waning.

So if, because of the world’s hatred of Jesus and therefore of Christians, we have to suffer here on earth for a while and feel the world’s hatred and experience the world’s rejection, so be it, For to this you were called, Peter writes, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in his steps. But the Church doesn’t exist by the world’s authority or because of the world’s tolerance. The Church exists, in spite of the world’s hatred and rarely with the world’s tolerance. The Church exists, because our good Shepherd laid down His life for us and rose from the dead and sent out His Gospel to be preached, in order to gather His sheep, just a few here, just a few there. And if death itself couldn’t stop Jesus from shepherding His flock, then nothing will be able to stop Him from gathering His flock until the very last day, when He will guide His sheep, His elect, whom He has known and chosen from eternity, into the house of the Lord, where they will dwell with Him forever. Amen.