The Good Shepherd

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, powerful blessings of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen. On the basis of the Old Testament lesson this morning, “God as Shepherd.”

Today’s text from the Prophet Jeremiah parallels the activity of God and Israel to be that of a relationship in the form of shepherd/sheep. And what we see from the text is that God is portraying Himself to His creation as a shepherd. The idea is that God cares for His people. God is a god who shepherds His sheep and does not lead them astray. God likes this so much that even in our own church He has set up the shepherd/sheep relationship. The word pastor, for example, is a Latin word that means “shepherd.” The Church uses the Latin word for shepherd to describe the spiritual leader of the congregation. God gives to the church the Holy Ministry where the pastor preaches the Word and delivers to us the sacraments. The pastor is called to tend a flock, and that flock being the congregation.

Although, not everyone is called to be a pastor, in our families God has us shepherd or care for one another. The idea here is that God wants us to love one another. Just as the pastor exercises God’s care for His people, the people of God as a family look out for one another, and even the “lesser of these.”

In Old Testament times the Kings of Israel had certain responsibilities. They were to guard the religion, protect the people, and give of themselves when needed. Essentially they were shepherds over the nation, the people, of Israel. They were to look out for the best interests of Israel, namely that they were worshiping the One True God and not the pagan gods of other nations. Notice that God’s anger in the Old Testament is not so much because the people sinned, but because they worshiped other gods. That is how a man like David, who had his many faults, was able to be called a man after God’s own heart. Although the king was not to be somebody who carried out the priestly functions of the office, he was to look out for the people of Israel and that they were being spiritually fed and not led astray. So the king would keep an eye on the priests to make sure the religious functions of Israel were being properly carried out. It was almost set up as a checks and balances thing of sorts. The kings were not the priests and could not carry out priestly functions, but they made sure the priests were doing just that. And don’t we see this today in our own lives? God has set up pastors for us, parents, guardians, friends, family, etc., etc. who guard us, guide us, and give to us. It is a very consistent way of working, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, isn’t it the case that we do not hold to this care? When we look inward at ourselves, do we look like that shepherd? Are we a reflection of God’s plan for being shepherd’s over the people entrusted to our care? Notice in the text right away Jeremiah conveys that the LORD is declaring a “woe” or some word of lament, as was a common thing in Jeremiah, to those shepherds who scatter the sheep of the flock. The LORD is especially upset with the neglect of the flock by leaving them unattended and by not visiting them. The false shepherd’s who are out there scattering the flock are those leaders in the church that teach false doctrine and would lead the congregation down a path of destruction because of them permeating this false teaching. We see this all the time with false preachers. It is also the case that false shepherds will even appear outside the context of the church in a cult like situation. These type of situations usually end in destruction. Waco, Texas was the scene of a false shepherd leading followers, or sheep, to a path of utter destruction. What happened there? A man claimed he was Jesus, gathered a large following of people and, regardless of how you may think it became out of control and violent, it did. The people who followed this false shepherd died because he led them astray.

But it’s clear that the leaders in church or society are not the only ones who are capable of being bad shepherds, right? Whether it is an immediate family member, extended family, or family of faith, there are definitely times, more often than not unfortunately, when we neglect to care for those in need. God gives to us those who are in need of care and we neglect to give them care usually for our own selfish and sinful reasons. We make it a lesser priority and not one that has any real meaning or substance in life. Maybe we’re bad siblings, maybe we’re bad children, maybe we’re bad spouses. In fact at times I would venture a guess that we are all capable of being those things. By treating those entrusted to our care as an afterthought we wind up treating God as an afterthought. And treating God as an afterthought is not the best course of action because it is a course that leads nowhere. It is a dead end, so to speak. Dead because the only path that sin leads down to is death! Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray…” We appoint our own shepherds who feed us with empty promises and a food that is not everlasting. We lead ourselves blindly in the direction of the world whose prince is Satan and whose chief means is sin and death. It is not good to follow this path, because even if it feels good, it is only for a while before it comes crashing down and literally burns us all. The sheep will be fed to the wolves, and we come up oh so short and oh so empty searching for nourishment that lasts.

How is it that people can be so easily led astray? The funny thing is the parallels Jesus makes about humans being sheep works because we often behave like sheep. You usually hear conspiracy theorists claim people who go with the status quo are “sheep”, right? The reason for this is because sheep are pretty easy animals to manipulate and to have follow you. They will follow those who feed them. That is how a herder or farmer can get a whole flock of sheep to follow him or her because the sheep will most likely associate the shepherd with food. So because of this they follow out of a yearning to be fed. So it goes with humans and especially in our society. Everyone is constantly looking to be fed. And humans will usually follow in one way or another. If someone comes by with these lofty false promises that sound good the sheep may very well follow because they are not being properly led by the shepherd. Or in the clear difference between the animal and people, people are sinful beings who follow after things to itch their ears with. But the same rule of thumb applies that in their search, and in their wandering astray, we human beings are looking to be fed with something.

So where do we turn? Where is it that we can go to enable a true nourishment or fulfillment? We see it in todays Gospel where Jesus shows compassion for those who seemed like sheep without a shepherd and was to them the Good Shepherd as we satisfied their hunger. But we know it extends further beyond that very point. Yes, Jesus provides for our physical needs and does bless us out of His grace, but more than that we are satisfied in our soul with a hunger that all of humanity cries out for in their search for meaning and contentment. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He says so Himself in John 10. There again we see the ever so visual picture of Jesus being our shepherd.

Jesus as Good Shepherd is certainly a stark contrast between Him and the false shepherds out there. Think of those “shepherds” you may see on the television or out in our culture. Some may rally a cause that keeps the attention on themselves and not on what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Others try and guilt or bribe viewers into sending seed money to give them so that they can send back “blessings” and you can watch your wealth grow. What utter nonsense! What a distraction to the real message that we see here today. Jesus is the Good Shepherd! Jesus is the One who has gone ahead of His sheep to save them from their sins. Because of this, out of grace, Jesus leads us to be shepherds in our own lives.

How is it that we can envision ourselves as shepherds, in the proper sense, in our own families? Anyone ever hear of the Portals of Prayer? The prayers of the Small Catechism which instruct families how to do family devotions? There are many resources out there that can help us lead those we have been called to shepherd, or care for, in our own lives. Try and envision yourself as a shepherd in that manner. Bringing those in your care to church, sharing with them the Gospel, and getting to live that out not only in the home but also out in the world.

Witnessing in the workplace is another way to lead those under our care. Heck, this is different from family because it may be obvious children are under the care of their parents or guardians but is this so obvious in the public square? Do you see yourself sharing this message of the Gospel with those who need to hear it? Sharing our faith is a way to follow the lead of the Good Shepherd who sacrificed Himself for us in order that we may live. And in our living, that we would shine before others to let them also know of this Good News! Jesus the Good Shepherd leads you in that way in life as well. What a blessing that is to know and to receive. The New Testament sheep shared the Gospel with great joy, and what a wonder it would be to be able to share that same message that is timeless and endless to those we see in our lives. There are those out there who wander like those who are sheep without shepherds, like Jesus, let us have compassion on them as well!

I think the best thing to take away from this lesson today is that ultimately the Good Shepherd is also the Good Sheep, or the Good Lamb. Say it another way, Jesus has gone ahead before us as a sheep led to slaughter in order that though we die, we may live forever. That passage in Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, and the LORD has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.” We sheep have gone astray and do go astray but Jesus had the iniquity of us all laid upon Him. In today’s text of Jeremiah 23:5-6 we see the ultimate promise of the LORD speaking to His people when he declared, “In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely.” God spoke a promise to His people that even in the midst of their scattering that they would be brought back into the fold. And this same message applies even to us today in New York City, to those of you here in this great congregation of St. Paul’s! God brings us back to the fold and keeps us as there as He has claimed us as His very own. And He did it by sending His Son, at the same time Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God sacrificed for our sins and iniquities. Try and envision this brothers and sisters, the shepherd went to the shearer ahead of His flock. Jesus went ahead of us into death and hell to suffer the punishment we deserved to suffer. The Good Shepherd turned Sacrificial Lamb did that for you and He did that for me. He did that for Brooklyn and all of New York City. He did that for all of New York State, and the United States of America. He did that for this continent, and He did that for this world! Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. In Him and in Him alone there is life everlasting!

Just a short while ago we read from Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd.” God is our shepherd, and His Son Jesus Christ is the very Good Shepherd, sisters and brothers. It is through Him that God claims us as His sons and daughters and as His very own sheep. We read further that the LORD our Shepherd leads us beside still waters and restores our soul. In that vein don’t we see a Shepherd who leads us to the still, peaceful waters of Holy Baptism and in that manner restores our soul? Jesus walked with us through the valley of the shadow of death and told us to stay back as he literally went through the punishment of death and the torture of sin and hell to bring us back into the fold.

In the fold we are brought to the table that the LORD has prepared for us and we receive Jesus’ true body and blood that He, the Good Shepherd, gave and shed for us and for our salvation. God anoints our head with oil, and our Cup overflows with the very blood of Christ, which saves mankind. It is the LORD who makes us righteous by giving us His very righteousness that He won for us on Calvary. In Jeremiah 23, verse 6 we see right there in plain sight that the LORD is our righteousness. We see this refrain repeated in Chapters 30 and 33 of this same book, that the LORD is our righteousness. We cannot shepherd ourselves or lead ourselves, but thanks be to God that Jesus is our righteousness and that saves us from our very sinful selves. Because of this righteousness that has been given to us, Jesus gives the power to the church to shepherd through the proclamation of the Gospel. The pastor, as spiritual leader of the congregation, takes care of this and by the gifts of God given through His grace the priesthood of all believers, or the flock, are equipped to carry that message of the Good News into the streets and to those who need to hear it. God has brought us back into the fold, the LORD is our shepherd, and our righteousness. Thanks be to God we just get to live in that. Be a sheep, be a shepherd, but know who the Good Shepherd is, and follow Him! Amen.