Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Wolves and sheep are, you might say, wired differently. Wolves look to devour and to consume their prey. Sheep, on the other hand, look for cover, and run away for protection. They cower, they readily acknowledge the wolf’s ability to destroy them. Wolves are aggressive. Sheep are timid. Wolves, while they tend to travel in packs, are really quite independent most of the time. They can fend for themselves. Sheep, on the other hand, are communal. They are dependent on the flock, and as a flock all of them are dependent together on their shepherd.

It wouldn’t be right for a shepherd to allow wolves to enter into the sheep’s pen. For sure, the wolves would love it! If the sheep could think, they’d have to wonder about that shepherd who would allow such a thing to happen. What kind of a shepherd would do that, anyway? What kind of a shepherd abdicates his responsibility to his flock, thinking it’s okay to allow his flock to be devoured by their arch enemy? What kind of a shepherd puts his own well-being above that of his flock? Think back to the Old Testament about King David. He was a shepherd before he became a king. He ascended to the throne after having dispatched with Goliath, that giant enemy and blasphemer of Israel. Before facing Goliath, David tried to persuade Saul that he was, in fact, up to the task. Saul was reluctant to send David into battle because he was so small. In fact, Saul was a tall man, so his personal armor was so large that it engulfed the youthful David. David, of course, chose to forego the armor and to fight Goliath with the simpler tools of a shepherd: the rod and staff, and don’t forget the slingshot and stones.

In his momentous effort to convince Saul to assign him the task of slaying the giant, David countered Saul’s skepticism with evidence as to why he, of all people, should be able to go up against Goliath. In his defense he drew on his experience as a shepherd, faithfully tending to his flock in the fields. He said, “I, your servant used to keep [my] father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”

Such powerful words from a little shepherd boy! Those words demonstrate that David was bound to his flock in the same way that he was bound to uphold the honor of the living God. He spoke from deep conviction within. He had a vested interest, you see, in the precious things that he defended. As a young boy David’s flock was his life. He could no more let a bear or a lion take one of his sheep than he could let that same bear or lion attack him without a fight. David, you see, was a true shepherd, one of the good ones, because he had more than a casual interest in the flock. In fact, He was willing to put his life on the line to save his flock from those who would destroy it. A mere hired hand, he was not.

It isn’t at all uncommon today for the flock of God, the Church, to be attacked by wolves. Sometimes those attacks will come from outside of the church and they will be quite evident, and even the sheep are moved to stand up together and oppose it. Other times, though, attacks can come from inside the church. In fact, Jesus warns that sometimes wolves will sneak in. “Beware of false prophets (He says), who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” (Matt. 7:15). Certainly the attack that comes from within is much fiercer than the one that comes from the outside. The great danger posed by the wolf, the false prophet, is that he seems to pose no danger to the physical wellbeing of the flock. The flock grows quite accustomed to the wolves’ voice in its midst for the sheep sense that there’s no immediate danger, no threat. The wolf’s words seem harmless. His false teaching can seem acceptable, often it even sounds right. But, finally, as is the character of wolves, having disarmed his prey, at the right time he devours, he consumes, as the souls of God’s people are led astray into the wilderness to consume the poison of false teaching.

Jesus warns us at length in this parable about following such a false shepherd. In fact, He doesn’t refer to the false prophet in John 10 as a shepherd at all. Rather, he is a hireling. You could call him a “rent-a-shepherd.” When he sees danger on the horizon he leaves the sheep to fend for themselves because he has no vested interest in the welfare of the flock. And sadly, the sheep, having followed the voice of the hired hand, have walked too far into the path of danger.

Faithful is the shepherd who defends the flock against such heretical teachers, even though his words may be taken as an affront, as an offense to “ecumenical ears,” that is, people who favor no distinctions of belief whatsoever so that everyone, it is hoped, will get along. The early confessors of our Lutheran Church saw fit to include this portion of God’s Word, from John chapter 10, when they discussed the need for pastors to teach what is right, but also for them to expose what is wrong. The Formula of Concord says, “In order to preserve the pure doctrine and to maintain a thorough, lasting, and God-pleasing concord within the church, it is essential not only to present the true and wholesome doctrine correctly, but also to accuse the adversaries who teach otherwise. ‘Faithful shepherds,’ as Luther states, must both pasture and feed the lambs and guard against wolves so that they will flee from strange voices and separate the precious from the vile.'” We need more pastors who see this as their solemn duty, and are called, rather than just hired so that the congregation is the flock that has been given into their pastoral care and responsibility. They above all else need to emulate Christ, the Good Shepherd.

But how good is the Good Shepherd? Which person today would be more likely to be called “good” by most people? Is it the firefighter facing a blazing building or hillside? A police officer running towards, not away from, danger? Or the football player using his freedom of speech to opt out of showing respect for the flag? And yet of those three, all of them sinners, you couldn’t tell who was really good on the inside. Most everyone wants to say of themselves, I am a “good” person, at least more good than others. God’s Word, of course, tells us otherwise, “for we all like sheep have gone astray, everyone has turned to his own way.” We wouldn’t have needed baptism, if it weren’t true that we were born afflicted with sin, and that we do sins of thought, word and deed every day. That is hardly good. We need to acknowledge that we are sinners, or else we would deceive ourselves. We the sheep need a Shepherd.

Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd. He emphasizes the word “Good.” No other good that we can think of, nothing comes even close to the Good that Christ our Shepherd is. As a shepherd, Jesus is, of course, the greatest. He instills faith into the hearts of called pastors, His servants of the Word to lead His flock faithfully as His under-shepherds, to defend the flock, to fight off wolves. Most importantly, though, the Good Shepherd Himself gives to His faithful servants His soothing Gospel voice of forgiveness of sins, even as He does what is necessary to protect the sheep for life lasting to eternity.

Jesus’ “goodness” as a shepherd goes even further. He was sent from the Father to become one of the sheep that He might suffer and die for the sake of the sheep. This is not putting on sheep’s clothing in an act of deception; this is our Shepherd actually becoming a lamb for the slaughter, all for our sake. Yes, you would have looked for Jesus to act more like brave young David, and take up the shepherd’s weapons to slay the wolves that attack you each day, but instead Christ offered Himself in weakness to the wolves so that you might go free. Avoid preaching or devotion books that tell you to do this or that as an improvement to your standing before God. But when you hear words about substitution, as in Jesus’ life being given for your life, or about God’s strength being found in weakness and the cross, then you can rest assured that you are hearing the true voice of your Good Shepherd. From this one, clear voice, you have your sins forgiven, and you have all the other blessings that come from the forgiveness of sins, namely life and salvation, and as we say together in the creed, you have also the future blessings of resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. That’s the voice of our Good Shepherd, He is the good beyond all that is good, and His goodness is yours free of all exceptions, conditions and strings. Any other voice is that of a hired hand, a wolf whose employer is the Evil Foe. His is the voice we heard in the baptism today and His is the voice that will sound out an affirmation of that baptism for those who will make a public confession of their faith. They are joining our Communion, our flock in which we depend on one another and promise to believe the same thing together, the full teaching of Jesus our Good Shepherd. Thanks be to Him who gave Himself as a lamb to be slain and now lives and reigns in Divine glory to all eternity!

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

Readings:
Acts 4:1–12 the stone rejected by you builders no other name under heaven
Ps. 23 The LORD is my shepherd
1 John 3:16–24 we know love, because He laid down His life for us
John 10:11–18 I am the good shepherd