Easter 3 Misericordias Domini/Good Shepherd

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft Ezek 34:11–16; 1 Pt 2:21–25; Jn 10:11–16; Ps 23; antiphon: v. 6   –     4/19/26

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

There is an idea I have heard, and I’m sorry I don’t remember where, that a number of Christians believe that passages like our Old Testament reading remain yet to be fulfilled, but not because they refer to the great and final Day of judgment, but because they think these refer to the modern state of Israel. They would say that because not all Jews have returned to nation state of Israel Ezekiel 34 and other passages have not been fulfilled. But once all Jews believe in Jesus as the Messiah and return to the land of Israel only then will God be able fulfill what He has said here and reign on earth among them. The problems with that belief are manifold, some of which I already dealt with last week regarding the valley of dry bones: that this passage like that one last week was fulfilled in its particular reference to the nation of Israel in the events Ezra, Nehemiah, and Josephus record—no, not all Jews spread throughout the world returned to the land during this era, but that is to be expected since the return of the exiles is a foreshadowing of God gathering in His flocks of sojourners on the Last Day where He will dwell bodily among His faithful in the new heavens and new earth, which is the greater fulfillment of this prophecy. Sadly, we cannot expect all the Jews of the world to suddenly believe in Jesus, would that they all would hear of the Good Shepherd and be brought back into the fold; history has shown us they will not. Nevertheless, we ought always pray that they would repent of their false teachings about Jesus and rather turn and believe the truth about the Messiah.

This Sunday goes by two names, Misericordias Domini, “The Steadfast Love of the Lord” from the traditional Introit for the day, Psalm 33: The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. And the second name Good Shepherd Sunday, because of the common theme of sheep and Shepherd from the readings, which teach how first Israel, and then all of the world, are like foolish sheep who have strayed, whom the Lord Jesus comes to gather together into the sheepfold which is the Kingdom of God. God uses this language of wandering sheep because it is something with which all of Israel and the surrounding nations would have been very familiar. If you have ever dealt with herd animals then the picture of wandering Israel, and the wider lost world, fits well with the frequent frustration God faced. Numerous times in the Old Testament Israel wanders off to foreign gods and wicked practices, just like sheep, goats, or horses escaping the safety of the paddock in search of what they think is greener grass but really is just greater danger for themselves. Then God, through His judges, through His prophets, and through a few faithful kings, chases them down, punishes them, and brings them back into the safety of the fold. Growing up on a goat farm the numerous times I had to do that make me sympathize greatly with the work of God’s Old Testament servants. Then we have the wanderings of the people in the Church of our era, listening to the sweet lies of false teachers, heretics who deny the person of Christ, the Trinity, or some other doctrine. These people follow the false shepherds because they believe here, at last, they have found the full truth, their consciences will be soothed, they will have assurance of salvation, and they have the good feeling of being right. But what they actually always have is darkness, spiritual junk food, and the path to hell. Yet God is steadfast in His love and faithfulness, and He chases these wandering people like He did Israel.

Not all Israel would let themselves be gathered back into the fold, nor would many of those who had, and these days have, wandered from the faithful church after wolves in sheep’s clothing. That is the sad state of the world, always has been and always will be.

There are a few questions we should then ask. First, how do we identify where the sheepfold of Christ is? That is, where the true Church is? To answer that, we must understand two things about the Church, that the Church consists of a mixed flock of sheep and goats, that is, the faithful and the unfaithful, most of whom outwardly would appear to us as if they were Christians in truth though only God knows their hearts. Jesus Himself makes it clear that the Church on earth in its visible appearance will be mixed with true Christians who are the sheep and fake Christians who are the goats. For that you should read Matthew 25:31–46, and in our own church’s writings the Augsburg Confession, article VIII. So we cannot necessarily identify the true sheepfold by mere outward appearance or even the attitude of those within a given church whether they are faithful to the Good Shepherd or not.

The second thing we must understand about the Church is what God Himself has given to her as the signs to all people that He is present with her. The first of those are the faithful proclamation of God’s Law, for which we can take the example of St. James in his second chapter, If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law (8–11). But who can keep God’s Law as St. James has portrayed it to us? Hear what S. Paul says in Romans 1 and 3: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (18). Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God (19). Who has actually been fully consistent in keeping the royal law in loving his neighbor as himself in all matters perfectly, none of us. The church which faithfully teaches that no man can keep the Law, and yet God requires that of him, teaches faithfully.

Likewise the faithful proclamation of the Gospel, not a vague term but specifically referring to the life of Christ. Thus St. Peter preached, For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you.… He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. And the death of Christ in the place of the sinner, which St. Peter also preached: Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we having died to sins may live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now turned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. And His resurrection and ascension, which are recorded in the close of the books of the Gospels. Without the preaching of the Gospel there is no hope given to the hearer that He may be saved from his sins. He would hear the Law, see that he cannot hope to keep it fully and perfectly all his life, and would then fall into despair. Thus God provides through the faithful church the proclamation of the Gospel, that Christ For our sake God made to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). The church which teaches both of these together is faithful to the Good Shepherd in proclaiming both the standards of God and the work of Christ to redeem man.

Then that church is faithful which does not only teach the Law according to its first use as I have described, but also teaches the Law according to its use for the one who has been redeemed already in Christ, has heard the Gospel and believed. It is this use which Jesus teaches in John 14:21: Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him, and Matthew 28:20, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And St. James likewise, For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead (2:26). And St. Paul elaborates, in Galatians 5 and Romans 13: For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (14) And, For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (9–10). It is in this teaching of the Law especially where we see the point of St. Peter saying that Christ’s life is an example to us, because Jesus kept the law perfectly in our place, first so that He might save us from its condemnation because in the past God expected us to keep the Law though we could not since we inherited the weakness of the flesh from fallen Adam, and second that we might live according to Christ’s example once He had redeemed us from the Law. St. Paul says in Romans 8: For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (3–4). That is, Jesus fulfilled the Law in your place and attributes His keeping of it to you. God did this out of love for you, and in so doing He shows us that now the keeping of the Law for the Christian is possible because we bear the Holy Spirit. Now as one washed in the Good Shepherd’s blood we are able to love God and love neighbor. We are able to show our faith by our works. To follow Christ’s example is to love brother, neighbor, and enemy as Christ loved, not agreeing to the sin of the other but warning him when he is in error, and in our own lives to keep the Ten Commandments. The faithful church then teaches the whole of the Law, its application to the sinner and its use as a guide for the Christian.

Then the next mark of the church after the faithful proclamation of God’s Word in both Law and Gospel is the faithful distribution of God’s physical gifts in which He has placed His forgiveness for His sheep to receive. Those are Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Absolution. Regarding Baptism, Jesus says in Matthew 28:18–19, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. As you are going therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism then is a part of the Church’s work of bringing the lost sheep into the fold. But what does Baptism do? St. Peter  tells us in his first book, Baptism, which corresponds to Noah’s ark, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but the baptism appealing to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (3:21). Just as God saved Noah and the other seven from the flood which washed away all the other sinful men of that day, so through this washing God cleanses your sins. And St. Paul says in his letter to St. Titus, But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (3:4–7). This washing of regeneration is baptism through which God makes those who are dead in sin regenerate to the new life in Christ. The church which teaches baptism saves, not as our work but God working salvation in us through the water and the Word is faithful.

What of the Lord’s Supper? Three of the books of the Gospel record Christ’s institution of this meal, and St. Paul records it in 1 Corinthians 11. St. Matthew’s record is thus, Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (26:26–28). St. Mark’s  is essentially the same. St. Luke records, And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (22:19–20). And St. Paul writes, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself (23–29).  Jesus says clearly that not only is this bread and this wine His body and blood which the apostles ate and drank, He also is clear in saying that this meal, what we eat and drink in this meal is given to us for the forgiveness of our sins. The church that teaches in the Lord’s Supper that we receive Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins is faithful.

Time lacks to deal properly with Absolution. Suffice it to say that in John 20:21–23 Jesus grants to the Apostles, and through them the Church, the work of forgiving sins in His name. Jesus has given this gift to be used by His under-shepherds the pastors, and one Christian to another, for the sake of releasing the repentant from their sins and comforting their consciences. The church which teaches that in absolution you truly receive God’s forgiveness is faithful.

The summary is, “Also they teach that one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. And to the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike. As Paul says: One faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, etc. Eph. 4:5-6.” (AC VII)

And now we come to the second question: how do we identify whether we have fled the sheepfold to follow false teachers and doctrines? How do we know if we have fled from the Good Shepherd? The answer to that, once we understand who the Good Shepherd is and what He has given to His Church, becomes easy. If we listen to a teacher who does not teach the Law faithfully, but changes it so that there are laws added which God has not given or laws taken away which God has given, we are following a wolf in sheep’s clothing or at least a hired hand. Or one who does not teach the Gospel faithfully, but makes it about what we are to do for God rather than what He has done for us, we are following a wolf in sheep’s clothing or at least a hired hand. Or one who denies baptism saves, but says it is our work for God and only an outward sign of our confession, we are following a wolf in sheep’s clothing or at least a hired hand. Or one who denies that we receive Christ’s body and blood in the bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins, but says it is merely a spiritual meal or just a memorial meal, we are following a wolf in sheep’s clothing or at least a hired hand. Or one who denies that the forgiveness proclaimed by the pastor is God’s forgiveness, we are following a wolf in sheep’s clothing or at least a hired hand. These men or women do not proclaim the steadfast love of the Lord, but obscure it and would deny you the good and gracious gifts of God, including the forgiveness won for you by Christ on the cross. Rather listen to the true Word of Christ, in that faithful Word you will know the faithful visible church. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep…. and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. Amen.