Sermon - Misereicordias Domini - John 10:11-16

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! There is a cacophony of voices vying for your attention, seeking to gain your listenership and your approval. Desiring to influence your very thoughts and dictate each step you will take in life. Who do you listen to? Whose voice resonates in your ears? Jesus identifies three different voices in the Gospel lesson: the hired hand, the wolf, and the Good Shepherd. Of these three, Jesus instructs us to beware the hired hand who flees and the wolf who kills and scatters, but listen to the voice of your Good Shepherd who gathers you together and lays down His life for yours. 

Now, out in the world it can be relatively simple to discern good from evil; to decide which voice you should listen to, and which voice you should ignore and shut your ears to. But here in the Gospel lesson from John 10, Jesus is speaking about the church on earth. He’s speaking about the baptized children of God who are found in Christ’s fold, the church. 

Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security that just because someone dresses up like a sheep or a shepherd, like a Christian or a pastor, that everything out of their mouth must be pure gold. For within the visible church on earth, we find hired hands and wolves alongside the Good Shepherd. Of these Jesus says, “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”

Don’t be fooled, within the visible Christian church on earth there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing. “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.”His greatest con is to convince you that he’s just another sheep or that He’s just another shepherd. When Satan is active in the world, it can be easy for us to identify his actions and flee from him. But when he hides himself in the church, we sheep have such a hard time recognizing him and his errors, and he is able to lead so many astray in the name of Jesus. 

The wolf’s attacks within the flock are evident when we take even a cursory glance at church history. From the very beginning the wolf has been snatching sheep and causing them to scatter. For example, within less than 300 years after Jesus ascended into heaven, a church man named Arius taught that Jesus was not equal in Godliness to the Father. Arius’ teachings were the teachings of the wolf, seeking to snatch people out of true faith and causing God’s flock to be divided. His were the teachings of demons, not the teachings of God’s pure Word. 

There are many examples of such wolves existing in the church even to this day. The wolf’s teachings through Arius divided the church of God and has caused many to fall astray from saving faith. Because if you don’t believe that Jesus is true God, then His death for you isn’t valid and you are still in your sins and you’re not saved. In our day the cults of the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are still going strong, as they together with Arius teach that Jesus is not true God coequal and of one substance with the Father and the Spirit. 

These cults today fall outside of Christendom. It’s weepable and lamentable, a tragedy of epic proportions that these dear people know of a man named Jesus, but they don’t know the Jesus of scripture who was crucified, died, and raised for them to save them and forgive them their sins. It causes me so much sadness to think that these people are so close, and yet they will not be saved because they don’t know the Jesus of the Bible who is their God and Lord. The disgusting wolf has snatched them away and scattered the flock. 

Unfortunately, it’s not only outside of Christendom where the wolf attacks. But his errors creep into the church, causing division upon division. Everywhere that God’s almighty Word is replaced by the teachings of man is the work of the wolf attempting to snatch us away from the shepherd. These errors run rampant throughout all Christendom. 

It is the wolf who weakens our trust in God’s Word and says that the Lord’s Supper isn’t Jesus’ true body and blood, contrary to the words of Christ. It is the wolf who lies that baptism doesn’t save us, but is merely an outward sign of our inward conversion. It is the wolf who says that by our works and by our prayers we can merit our forgiveness ourselves. It is the wolf who says that the Bible isn’t the word of God and is filled with errors. It is the wolf who has created all of these divisions we have within Christendom. 

In response to all of these errors, God’s undershepherds must speak against them. God demands it of His preachers and His pastors to expose the lies of the wolf in order to protect the sheep. “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.” And again: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” “Rebuke them sharply.” Christ warns his beloved children against false prophets: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves,” and as such, so must pastors warn the flock against these ravenous wolves.

A pastor who fails to do this is no more than a hired hand. “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” Instead, pastors are to be undershepherds who tend to Jesus’ flock at St. Peter instructs pastors: “shepherd the flock of God that is among you.” Peter himself was instructed of this by Jesus who commanded him three times: “Feed my sheep.” If a pastor loves Jesus and loves the flock, then the pastor will shepherd Jesus’ flock and defend the flock against the wolf. The pastor is to be the undershepherd of the Good Shepherd, and treat the flock like Jesus would.

This can be a real challenge for pastors, especially since the time has already come “when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”We sheep are not always the sharpest tools in the shed. Anyone with any experience raising sheep can tell you that sheep are infuriating stubborn animals. Such are we so much of the time. Yet a pastor’s job is to shepherd the flock, feed the sheep, tend to Jesus’ sheep like Jesus does.

But only Jesus is the Good Shepherd, all undershepherds will fail since they too are sheep apart of the flock; I am a stupid stubborn sheep, just like you all, please forgive me for all of the times I’ve failed you and will fail you. So when I speak and act, I pray that my words and actions would not be my own, but would be that of Christ Jesus, your Good Shepherd. For your Good Shepherd says “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep… I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me… and I lay down my life for the sheep.” 

Your shepherd lays down His life for you, dear sheep. He is not just any shepherd, but He is the the Good Shepherd. He is good because He owns the sheep, we belong to Him, and He loves His sheep even to death. Even though we sheep are so stupid and so stubborn, even though we sheep abandon the voice of our Good Shepherd, even though we sheep follow after the wolf in sheep’s clothing, He, our Good Shepherd, lays down His life for us. 

When the wolf has led us astray and has prepared us for dinner, Christ lays down in front of the wolf, and gives His life for ours. Your Good Shepherd laid down His life on the cross, He let that old wolf the devil bite and chew and claw Him to bits so that you would be spared your foolishness. Though the Good Shepherd died, He lives! “ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” By dying He destroyed the devil and the wolf was crushed and now Christ has risen from the grave and calls you together as His flock.

So listen to the voice of your Good Shepherd. He is calling to you clearly from His inscripturated Word and He is gathering you together in His one flock. “So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Thus says your Good Shepherd: “Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”

We sheep have been scattered across the face of the earth, and the wolf has mimicked the voice of our shepherd, causing us to stray this way and that. But now know for certain that your Good Shepherd speaks to you the words of the Holy Bible in their truth and purity. Don’t wonder which voice you should listen to, but listen to the voice of Jesus. Your Good Shepherd is calling, and He causes you to lie down and feed you in the green pastures of His Word. Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!