Pious Lutheran

Christ as the Good Shepherd, Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1540 Jesus is the Good Shepherd The sheep go astray through sin There are many false shepherds who lead the sheep astray and devour them Jesus finds His sheep and  gathers His sheep together and nourishes them by giving Himself to be devoured by them. We follow His example. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! I love this Sunday when we get to hear Jesus say: “ I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. ” We sing some pretty delightful hymns on the 23rd Psalm, we think of all the Good Shepherd artwork, it’s just very comforting and pleasant. Who doesn’t want to meditate on our Lord carrying us who are weak and frail. It’s a very paternal image of a big strong Shepherd carrying us, perhaps reminiscent of our childhood and seeking refuge in the arms of our parents. But these texts are also quite humbling, because if Jesus is our Shepherd, then that makes us sheep. St. Peter sa...

Good Shepherd ,   Catacomb of Priscilla, Italy, Rome, 3rd Century Jesus is the Great I AM God revealed Himself in the Old Testament as I am who I am, or YHWH. God in the New Testament revealed Himself more fully through Jesus finishing the sentence I am… Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the only human of the I Am statements. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Who does God say that He is? We say that God is Triune, and He is, because that is how He has revealed Himself to us in the scriptures. He is one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But in the Old Testament the personal name of God is recorded as four consonants, in our alphabet it’s YHWH, which is usually pronounced like Yahweh. Although from what we’re aware the pious practice was to not even say God’s name, which is still retained in our English Bibles where we have the word LORD in capital letters. Whenever you see the word LORD in capitals in the Bible it’s actually the Divine Name, YHWH....

The Good Shepherd , Pieter Breughen the Younger, 1616 Jesus lays down His life for His people The Danger: Wolves Response of the hireling: offer happiness in times of ease, but flee when problems arise, thus the sheep are scattered and devoured Response of the Good Shepherd: lay down His life to save the sheep and bring them together Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Today is popularly called Good Shepherd Sunday, and it’s one of my favorite Sundays in the church year. The readings today are all quite lovely and very comforting, if not a bit humbling since we’re referred to as sheep. But that’s okay, I know it’s a pretty apt comparison to myself at least. Nevertheless these are comforting readings, are they not? Ezekiel talks about God seeking the lost, bringing back the strayed, binding up the injured, and strengthening the weak. The 23rd Psalm speaks of our Shepherd’s strong and loving care for us. Peter says that we are healed by His wounds, and have been retu...

  "Luther at the Diet of Worms" by Anton von Werner Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! A few years ago, in 2017, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. In 1517, Martin Luther had posted the 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg, which we mark as the beginning of the Reformation. But honestly, the posting of the 95 theses wasn’t that interesting nor that groundbreaking. The real excitement was yet to happen! Posting the 95 Theses was no more than posting an academic paper on a board filled with numerous other academic papers, so no excitement there. And the 95 theses themselves weren’t even all that good, they mainly focused on the abuses of indulgences and purgatory, but otherwise weren’t really Lutheran. They did get the ball rolling, however. Over the next few years Luther studied the scriptures more deeply and he became an actual Lutheran. No longer was it just about indulgences, but it was about the Gospel and salvatio...

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! The Bible is chock full of shepherds! Right at the beginning, Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd. Jacob herded the sheep of His father-in-law Laban. Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. Moses herded his father-in-law, Jethro’s sheep. David, in particular, is the most popular of the Old Testament shepherds. But all of these shepherds simply point to the true Good Shepherd of our souls: our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Good Shepherd who rescues us from Satan’s jaws by laying down His life and leading us into His fold. It is just as Christ has said: “ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ” Usually it does the sheep no good when the shepherd dies, but in this case, it’s absolutely necessary that our Good Shepherd lay down His life for the sheep. The reason it’s necessary that the Good Shepherd must go to such great expense for the sheep is because of their predicament. I...