“I Give Them Eternal Life”
John 10:27-28

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fourth Sunday of Easter—May 3, 2020

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Today is the fourth Sunday of the Easter season, which is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because the traditional Gospel Reading appointed for today is from John chapter 10, where Jesus declares, “I am the Good Shepherd.”  The older, Latin name for this Sunday is “Misericordias Domini,” which means, “the merciful heart of the Lord.”  So, the theme of this Sunday is that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who reveals to us the merciful heart of the Lord. 

When Jesus spoke the words of today’s Gospel Reading to his first listeners, he was using an image they were intimately familiar with.  For, the ancient Israelites were originally a nomadic tribe of shepherds.  Even after settling in the promised land, shepherding was always the #1 industry and occupation. Everyone knew all about sheep and their shepherds.  

But, for most of us in the 21st century, even though we live in an agricultural area, sheep and their shepherds are not a familiar image.  The closest most of us ever get to sheep is at a petting zoo. Those little sheep in the petting zoo are cute, but, when they grow up, sheep are notorious as stubborn, high-maintenance animals. Prone to straying, eating poison weeds, drinking from polluted waters, and butting heads with fellow members of the flock.  Defenseless against predators, they are dependent on their shepherd to protect, lead, and feed them.  

So, when the Scriptures so often describe us as lambs or sheep, it is not a compliment.  As Isaiah says, “We all like sheep have gone astray.”  We foolishly wander away from the green pastures of the Lord and his watchful care into all kinds of sin and trouble.  We balk at going where the Lord directs us and instead go off on our own. We would stumble right off the cliff of eternal death and damnation and never notice until it was too late unless the Lord intervened.  By nature we are helpless, hopeless sheep.

But, at the same time, it’s great to be a sheep!  Because, the flip side of the Bible bluntly describing us as helpless, hopeless, wandering sheep is Jesus’ declaration, “I am the Good Shepherd.”  This image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is more than a nice figure of speech for the children.  It’s a profound, solemn revelation from Jesus of Nazareth, of who he really is. 

During Lent this year we had a sermon series on all the “I AM” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John: “I AM the Bread of Life”; “I AM the Light of the World”; “I AM the Door”; “I AM the Resurrection and the Life”; “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life”; “I AM the True Vine”; and “I AM the Good Shepherd.” 

The Hebrew name for God in the Old Testament is “Yahweh,” which literally means, “I AM.”  So, when Jesus uses this “I AM” formula to describe himself, he is declaring that he is more than just a carpenter from Nazareth; he is more than just an itinerant rabbi; he is more than just a great teacher; he is more than just a miracle worker.  He is in fact “I AM,” Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, come down to earth and made man.

The prophets declared that the Messiah would be the great shepherd of God’s people.  Isaiah says, “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them close to his heart.”  The Lord says in Ezekiel, “‘As a shepherd seeks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I seek out my sheep and rescue them . . . I myself will tend my sheep and make them lie down,’ declares the Sovereign Lord. . .  ‘I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.’”  And Micah beautifully prophesies about the Messiah, “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.  And he will be their peace.”

So, when the people heard Jesus say, “I am the Good Shepherd,” they immediately thought of all these prophecies of the Messiah, and especially Psalm 23: “Yahweh is my shepherd.”  And now here is Jesus, God in the flesh, saying, “That’s me.  That’s who I am for you.  I AM the Good Shepherd, of whom the prophets spoke.” 

“I am the Good Shepherd. . .  and I lay down my life for the sheep.”  His identity as our Good Shepherd is confirmed by the cross.  For, the “Good” of Good Shepherd is the “Good” of Good Friday.  Peter puts it this way in today’s Epistle Reading: “Christ suffered for you . . .  He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  Your Good Shepherd paid the penalty himself for all your sins, bearing them in his body on the cross.  “By his wounds you have been healed,” your sins are all forgiven because Christ suffered for you.

In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus uses the imagery of an ancient sheepfold, into which the sheep would be driven at night.  Last Sunday I mentioned a mission trip I took to Kenya 15 years ago.  I saw a sheepfold exactly like Jesus describes when we visited a village of the Masai tribe.

The Masai are a bit like the Amish in the way that they shun much of the modern world and live like their ancestors.  However, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya has had huge evangelistic success among the Masai, and many members of this tribe are very devout, conservative, fellow Lutherans, with whom our Synod is in formal fellowship.

I was invited on the trip by Rev. Matthew Harrison, the President of our denomination and a friend of mine.  Because Kenya was once a British colony, when we visited this Masai village we “took tea” in the home of the village elder, a woman in her 80’s.  Her house was actually a domed hut, shaped like an igloo and made out of dung.  President Harrison and I are both tall, so we stooped over in her house, and enjoyed tea and cookies with this elderly matriarch, who was dressed in a very colorful, traditional tribal gown.

Because the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya had bad experiences with liberal Lutherans in Europe and America, one purpose of this trip was to convince them that we in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod are conservative, “old Lutherans” like they are, and to persuade them to enter into formal fellowship with us.  Still, it came as quite a surprise when this elderly matriarch, in her dung hut in the wilds of Kenya, asked us a question that goes back to the early history of Lutheranism, when at one point after Luther’s death some tried to change the basis of the Lutheran faith. “You say you’re Lutheran,” she asked, “but do you follow the altered Augsburg Confession, or the Unaltered Augsburg Confession?  We don’t want to get involved again with anyone who doesn’t follow the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.”

Not only are the Masai “old Lutherans” theologically, they also still herd sheep the traditional way, just like the tribes of ancient Israel did thousands of years ago back in Bible times. Their village’s sheepfold is made of large branches driven into the ground to form a fence, with one opening.  The shepherd would lie down and sleep across this opening, so that even while he slept he protected the sheep from predators.  In the morning he would rise and call out his sheep, who would follow him from the sheepfold.  For three days our Good Shepherd lied down and slept in the tomb.  But, on the third day he rose, to lead his sheep out of the sheepfold of this world, into the green pastures of eternal life.

Our Good Shepherd went ahead of us, through death to eternal life.  Because sheep are led, not driven.  A herd of cattle you drive from behind, but a flock of sheep are led from in front.  The shepherd goes first, and the sheep follow.  Even when he walks them through the dark valley of death, they will follow him.  And so Jesus went ahead of us, through the suffering and death of the cross to resurrection and eternal life.

Life under Good Shepherd Jesus isn’t necessarily always easy, or happy, or free from pain and sorrow.  He warned his disciples at the Last Supper, “In this world you will have trouble.” We have been reminded during the present crisis that as Christians we have no special immunity in this world, from disease, danger, difficulties, and despair.  And finally we must all walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death.  But, no matter what happens you needn’t fear any evil. 

It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel now.  But, Good Shepherd Jesus has gone ahead of us.  And he will lead us—not to dwell forever IN this valley of the shadow of death—he will lead us THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death, to dwell with him in the house of the Lord forever.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

Amen.