Our Good Shepherd tells us who we are and Who He is (April 25, 2010)
By Rev. Bert Thompson

In our Gospel lesson, the Temple leaders come to Jesus and demand an answer, “If You are the Christ, tell us plainly!”

Jesus answers, “I told you, but you do not believe.” Jesus has already made it plain to them that He is the Christ, the Good Shepherd, Son of the living God, Savior of the world.

They hear what Jesus says. They are not ignorant. But these Temple leaders do not want the real Christ. They do not want a Shepherd. They do not want a Savior. They want a different Christ. They want a Christ Who is an earthly king, a political leader, a Christ Who will drive out the Roman army and make their nation powerful once more. They think that if they obey God’s Law, this Messiah will give them protection and power. They even invent new laws because they think their obedience will make God owe them what they selfishly want.

It’s not a coincidence that our Gospel lesson takes place during the celebration of Hanukkah, a feast of victory, a feast that became a feast of national pride.

Between the Old and New Testaments, between Malachi and Matthew, there’s a span of about 400 years. During this time, the Greeks invade the nation of Israel. The Jews fight back but they have little success until a man named Judas Maccabaeus is born. He drives out the Greeks. Jerusalem is finally free. The Temple is cleansed. The little oil available for the Temple lights lasts far longer than expected. The Jews declare a festival of lights, which we now know as Hanukkah. However, this victory is temporary. Judas Maccabaeus, dies in battle and in a few years, the Romans conquer Greece and then conquer Jerusalem.

By the time of Jesus, Romans have ruled Jerusalem for 90 years. The Jews want the Romans out of their homeland. They want a Messiah Who will be a political leader, a national hero, to give them a good life free from high taxes and from Roman law.

It’s the same in our day. Many people want a Christ Who is a king Who will give them the good life. Perhaps a political solution will give us the good life we want! Perhaps if only Christians run our government, then Christ will owe our nation a blessing and He will give us jobs and health and prosperity!

I certainly want capable Christians in political office, but if we think Christians in office can twist God’s arm to get the life we want, then it’s not about Christ, but it’s about our greed and selfishness. We must not mix up Christ with political victory or try to use a kingly Christ to get what we want. Remember: Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

However, the desires of our Old Nature go far beyond just political power. Our sinful Old Nature wants Christ to be our earthly king, because kings grant favors and if we can get Jesus on our side, we can get all the things we want. Thankfully, Christ shows us that our Old Nature is lying to us. We are given a New Nature at our Baptism. And our New Nature in Christ knows that Jesus has not come to fulfill our greed.

However, when the Temple leaders discover Christ will not fulfill their greed, they get angry. What they need is to have their sins exposed, so they can be led to repent, run away from those sins and run to Christ for forgiveness. But they do not want that. When Christ exposes their sin they reject Him. He tells them the truth when He says, “You are not of My sheep.”

Christ comes to many people in our day also, but many reject Him once they find out that He will not give them what they want. Some come to worship, expecting that if Christ sees them here in God’s house, if He sees them trying to be good, that He will give them the kind of life that they want.

What do they want? They want all the effects of sin to disappear. They want their husband to be a better husband and their wife to be a better wife. They want health. They want a better job. They want a comfortable retirement. They want a life without trouble. All these are good things, but we must not try to manipulate God to get what we want.

But, when Christ does not give them the earthly blessings that they want, they get angry and reject Christ. They stop coming to worship and they stop hearing His Word.

However, you are here to listen to your Good Shepherd. You are here to listen to the words of Christ. Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me.” Yes, Jesus does give us earthly blessings, although we deserve nothing, but Jesus has not come to feed our greed. Instead, our Good Shepherd tells us who we are and Who He is. He tells us we are sheep.

Well, sheep have problems. Sheep are stinky. Their wool collects mud, filth and parasites. They cannot cleanse themselves. They need a Good Shepherd to shear that filth off of them. Sheep are stubborn. They go where they should not go. They need a Good Shepherd to guide them. Sheep are helpless. They have no natural protection against their predators. They need a Good Shepherd to protect them.

Christ Jesus has come to give us what we need. He has come to be our Good Shepherd. He cleanses us of all our filthy sins. He leads us in His paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. He protects us from all danger to our souls. Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me.”

Sheep do not choose their shepherd. Instead, their shepherd chooses them. When Jesus Christ says to us, “My sheep!” what wonderful and comforting words. We have not chosen Him, but He has chosen us. We are His and He is ours. We come here to our Father’s house to hear the voice of His Son, our Good Shepherd.

We know our shepherd’s voice and our shepherd knows our voice. He exposes our sins and shears away all our sins. He guides us by leading us to run away from those sins. He defends us from those three predators who wish to devour us, those three predators of sin, death and the devil. He calls us to "Remember the Sabbath Day" because He is ringing the dinner bell for a feast that never ends, the feast of His Word and the feast of Himself, the feast He died to give us, the feast of His body and His blood. He calls us here because He loves us. He wants to feed us with the words and the food from heaven.

Our power and protection is in Christ, not in ourselves. Earthly blessings are temporary, but our Good Shepherd gives us eternal blessings of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

Our Good Shepherd does not push us where He wants us to go. Instead, our Good Shepherd goes ahead of us. He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. He goes first, through the temptation and persecution and abuse and hunger and fatigue and weeping and pain and suffering of this world. Every pain we feel, He has felt. Every temptation we endure, He has endured. He knows what we are going through.

Then, He goes ahead of us, through the darkest valley, the valley of the shadow of death. He goes into to the complete darkness of the grave, as a lamb, as one of us, into our death. But He rises from the grave and comes out alive, never to die again, paving the way for our resurrection.

This Good Shepherd has made us His own and no one will be able to snatch us out of His hand. Through His shed blood, giving us the forgiveness of our sins, our Good Shepherd will lead us even through the valley of the shadow of death to join Him in the house of our Lord forever. Comfort one another with these words. Amen.