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John Makey

Christ Lutheran,

Good Shepherd Sunday, May3, 2020

TEXT: John 10: 1-10

(Jesus said) “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but

climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of

the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own

sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them,

and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact,

they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure

of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again,

“Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and

robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be

saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and

destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

THEME: The Shepherd’s Voice

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, as I said in the bulletin message this Sunday, for me, this

ranks up there with Christmas and Easter. It makes me sad to think that I can’t celebrate it with you

this year. My hope upon hope was that we would be worshipping again by Good Shepherd Sunday.

But, it was not to be. We can take comfort and be thankful that our Good Shepherd is holding each of

us close to himself during this time of self isolating and the pandemic. The compassion of our Good

Shepherd shows God’s limitless love. The picture in the Bible of Jesus as our good shepherd is one of

the most popular images in the Bible. We know from Scripture and history, and the nature of sheep

that they need to be protected from wild creatures, and also about their wayward tendency to wander

off and get lost. The sheep gate was an enclosure designed for protection of the sheep . It would be a

sheltered area with a gate to get in and out of and to be closed off to protect the sheep. Often a cave in

the hills could be used and the Shepherd would sleep across the entryway to protect the sheep from

wild animal and thieves. He was the guardian of the sheep. In the evening when the shepherd returned

the sheep to the fold after a day of grazing, the shepherd stood in the doorway of the pen. There he

inspected each animal as it entered. If a sheep had cuts or scratches from thorns or burrs, the shepherd

rubbed it with oil to speed the healing. If the sheep were thirsty, they were given water to drink. The

sheep were counted and brought into the pen. Each sheep mattered. Once the sheep were all in then

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the shepherd laid down across the entrance, the doorway to the pen so that neither animal nor beast

could enter without his knowing about it. The shepherd looked after the health of the sheep. So does

Christ our Lord. He came into the world not that we should just have life, but as Jesus says today in

the Gospel: “ I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

We are also told in Scripture, “We all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to

his own way”(Isaiah 5:6), “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; “ “There is no one

righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned

away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good not even one.”; “the

wages of sin is death.” In Proverbs (14:12, 16:25) we read: “There is a way which seems right to a

man, but the end thereof are the ways of wrath”. Adam and Eve thought the fruit they were

forbidden to eat looked good to eat. So Adam and Eve listened to Satan’s voice, (the wolf who

comes to destroy us), and this is where it got them, and got us, --- mired in the swamp hole of

sin. Psalm 51 puts it this way, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother

conceived me … For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only

have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” You and I were born in sin and can’t do

anything to change it or come to Christ on our own. However, the good news for each of us

today is, “He (our Good Shepherd) himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, 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.” (1 Peter 2:24-

25)

In Ezekiel God tells us, “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a

shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I

will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and

darkness. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and

strengthen the weak” (Ez. 34:12,16) Jesus is the merciful good Shepherd who looks after his

flock. Jesus is your shepherd and mine. We are told, “the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his

own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of

them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” The voice of our Good Shepherd spoke

to us at our Baptism. It was through the powerful Word of God spoken over us and the water

poured on us at our Baptism we were given the gift of faith and the blessings of the forgiveness

of sins, rescued from eternal death and the devil, and given eternal salvation. As baptized

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children of God we know our Good Shepherd’s voice. It is the voice that cried from the cross, “It is

finished”. It is the voice that announced to His disciples after his resurrection, “Peace be with

you.” It is the voice that promised, “I am the resurrection and the life. I have given them

eternal life.” His is the voice that reassures us “no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

These are words of comfort and strength for us as we struggle through this covid pandemic,

knowing we are in the care of our Lord no matter what befalls us. We can turn and listen to the

voice of our dear good shepherd, and receive comfort and strength to endure the fear, the

loneliness, the isolation, or whatever is bothering us.

There is a neat story I want to share with you about the reality of the sheep knowing their

shepherd’s voice. During World War I, some Turkish soldiers tried to steal a flock of sheep from

a hillside hear Jerusalem. The shepherd, who had been sleeping, suddenly woke up to see his

sheep being driven off on the other side of the ravine. He couldn’t hope to recapture his flock by

force single-handedly --- suddenly he had a thought! Standing up on his side of the ravine, he put

his hands to his mouth and gave his own peculiar call, which he used each day to gather his

sheep to him. The sheep heard the familiar sound. For a moment they listened and then, hearing

it again, they turned and rushed down one side of the ravine and up the other toward their

shepherd. It was impossible for the soldiers to stop the sheep. The shepherd got away to a safe

place with them before the soldiers could make up their minds to pursue them --- and all because

the sheep knew their master’s voice. In our Gospel lesson this morning Jesus uses this

relationship between the shepherd and the sheep to teach us: “the sheep listen to his voice. He

calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. … they do not recognize a stranger’s voice. All

whoever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.” To hear

and know the voice of our good shepherd is to be constantly reassured of our shepherd’s care for

us. And how is this accomplished. We learn from the early church in our lesson today from Acts

2, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and

the prayers.“ It is in Holy Scripture we learn to listen to our good shepherd’s voice.

In the 23 Psalm we hear: 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” How comforting

and reassuring those words at to us in whatever stage of life we are at. But note, at the end of

Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd Psalm, we are told “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” You know, so often

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we just speed read those final words and concentrate on the beginning: “The Lord is my

shepherd I shall not want”. But, when we really connect the beginning and the ending it

becomes a WOW moment. Up until this last verse of the Psalm we are told about all the

blessings that come from the care of the good shepherd. But here in this last verse it takes a

significant turn. We are told in most English translations that the “goodness and mercy “ of God

“shall follow me:” It almost seems to be in the sense of a little puppy following us. However,

and listen closely to this, the actual Hebrew word really means “pursue” or “chase after”, even

in the sense of “gallop”. God pursues us, he chases after us all the days of our life with his

awesome goodness and mercy, His amazing grace, His amazing love! The goodness and mercy of

our shepherd pursues us all the way to heaven’s gates and into the arms of our Father. And to

top it all off we are promised: “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This is the voice

of our Good Shepherd speaking to us.

If we listen to the voice of the world and the devil, our hearts will be deceived and we will

turn to the ways of the thieves and the robbers, and we will be destroyed. But, Jesus’ voice holds

out a hope and a peace that only God in His love can place in our hearts. God through the power

of the Holy Spirit gives us an inner strength to battle all that our sinful nature, the world, and the

devil can throw our direction in life. As we picture in our minds the good Shepherd, holding His

lambs, or inviting the little children to come sit on His knee, this picture is more than a

sentimental thought. It is a message from God speaking to us of His great love for us, and how He

tends us, feeds us, and nourishes us as we hear the voice of our good shepherd speak to us words

of forgiveness, comfort, and love. My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, “May the God of peace,

who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that

great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in

us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

(Hebrews 13:21)

MAY THE PEACE OF GOOD WHICH TRANSENDS ALL OF OUR HUMAN UNDERSTANING KEEP

YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR GOOD SHEPHERD WHO LAID DOWN HIS LIFE

FOR US. AMEN.