The Shepherd with His cross

Sermon for Misericordias Domini – Easter 2

1 Peter 2:21-25  +  John 10:11-16

Psalm 23: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

That’s a favorite Psalm of many. It was read just last week at Art’s funeral, as it is at many funerals. Why is it so beloved? Because it emphasizes the care and concern of the LORD for His sheep, His providence, His comfort for us in the valley of the shadow of death, the final victory over our enemies, and the eternal banquet at the Lord’s table, in the Lord’s house. All beautiful thoughts!

Unfortunately, for some it’s a beloved Psalm and a beloved image because of what it doesn’t discuss. It doesn’t get into the unpleasant problem of sin on the part of the sheep. And while the whole Psalm is really pointing to the Lord Jesus as the LORD and the Shepherd of God’s people, as an Old Testament Psalm it doesn’t come right out and name Christ Jesus as the Lord—Christ who took up the cross and laid down His life for the sins of the sheep. So people can and do rip the Psalm out of its context, avoiding the reality of sin and the offense of the cross.

But the sinless have no need of a shepherd. And a shepherd who fled from the cross wouldn’t be a very good shepherd at all. The Shepherd-Lord and the cross on which He paid for the sins of the sheep are inseparable.

I am the good Shepherd, Jesus says. The good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

You notice that, when Jesus claims to be the good Shepherd, this is the very first reason He gives, the overarching thing that makes Him good. His goodness is tied to His cross. Why? Because His death was the only thing that could accomplish the main purpose for which He came.

Just before He said these words, Jesus said: I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Jesus came, not to give people a better earthly life, but to open heaven to all believers. He came to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. He came to give us life and a place in the house of the Creator of the universe. He came to restore us to sonship and to life, because our sin—both our inborn sin and our actual sin—had separated us from God and had doomed us to death, both temporal and eternal.

That’s what the devil wanted for us—death, separation from God. But he masks it so that it doesn’t look so bad. He hides it under promises of happiness and fulfillment and even God’s approval somewhere other than in Christ and His Word. The world, too—the unbelieving world—wants you to believe that true happiness is found in earthly success, earthly comfort, earthly praise, earthly pleasure. But the devil and the world will destroy you if you follow them. If the Christian faith is true, then there is only one Door to life, and that Door is Jesus Himself.

But the only way for Him to be that Door, to save you from your sin, to open heaven to you, the only way for Him to give you life—was for Him to give His life, to suffer the cross, to lie down in the valley of the shadow of death, so that, having risen from the dead, He could be there with you with His rod and His staff, to walk through the valley with you and to bring you safely to the other side.

So always keep the cross in view when you think of Jesus as Shepherd. It’s fine to picture Him as the gentle Shepherd, carrying a little lamb on His shoulders. It’s fine to picture Him calmly walking side by side with His sheep in green pastures. But in those images, you should always include the nail prints in His hands. He’s the Shepherd who saw the wolf coming and threw Himself at the wolf in order to spare the sheep. That’s the main reason you should call Him ‘Good.’

Keep the cross in view also when you hear the good Shepherd say: I know My sheep and am known by My own. Because He had the cross in view when He said it! He knows those who belong to Him, because He purchased them with His blood. He knows those who belong to Him, because He has cleansed them by His blood in the washing of water with the Word, in Holy Baptism. He knows those who belong to Him because He gives them His body and blood to eat and to drink—His body given into death, His blood shed for them for the forgiveness of sins. This is how the Shepherd is known by His own.

Keep the cross in view also when you hear the good Shepherd say: And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Jesus knows and must bring the rest of His sheep into His flock—those who will yet believe in Him before He comes again. But how? By sending out His voice so that they may hear it, by sending out His Gospel into the world. And as you know, the Gospel is not, “Come to church, because it’s so much fun and it’ll make you feel good!” No, the voice of the Shepherd goes out, as St. Paul wrote, We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Finally, keep the cross in view also when you consider to what kind of life the Shepherd has called you. To this you were called, St. Peter wrote in today’s Epistle. To what? To “do good and suffer patiently.” This is your calling as sheep, as those who have heard the voice of the good Shepherd and have trusted in Him for the forgiveness of sins. This is your calling: to do good. To love God and your neighbor according to the commandments of God. To be devoted to hearing and learning God’s Word and to serving others. And then also to be prepared to suffer for it willingly, patiently, without hating in return, without complaint. Why? Because this is the way of the Shepherd with His cross. Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.

The gift of eternal life was purchased by the Shepherd with His cross. The giving of that gift of life comes through the preaching of the Shepherd with His cross. And the life that the sheep are now to lead is exemplified by the Shepherd with His cross.

Know the Lord Jesus as your Shepherd. But know the Shepherd through His cross. The Word of His cross—and the Word of His Easter victory over death—is the green pastures in which He makes you to lie down, the still waters beside which He leads you. The Word of the cross is how He restores your soul with the continual forgiveness of sins, and how He leads you in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. The Word of the cross is how He comforts you in times of sorrow, and even in the face of death, so that you don’t despair, so that you fear no evil. The Word of the cross is how He makes you victorious over your enemies—sin, death and the devil—how He fills your cup with gladness, how He pursues you with His goodness and mercy all the days of your life, and how He preserves you even to the end, that you may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Cling to the Shepherd’s cross and hold it ever before your eyes! And remember that this is why you call Him ‘Good.’ Amen.