3rd Sunday of Easter

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The Good Shepherd, it conjures images soft and sweet. The bulletin cover, a little lammy on a ledge all alone though, but Jesus with warm sunlit face calmly reaches out to help. Or the stained glass with the little lammy all snuggled in. Peace, security, calm, safely grazing. That's what I think of when I think of the Good Shepherd. And I don't think I'm that crazy on that one, at least. The Easter season has moved us quickly from Christ's death and resurrection and our creation as his holy people to last week's acknowledgments that we are newborns, craving spiritual milk and needing nurture. Is Good Shepherd Sunday the answer to that? Doesn't the reading from Ezekiel 34 and John 10 bring the nurture that we newborns need? Yes, but in an unexpected way. Tucked into these readings are some hard truths too. In Ezekiel 34, God Himself will search for the sheep, because all the other shepherds were hirelings. The flock itself was scattered. Just think of who he goes after the lost, the strayed, the injured, the weak. Any herd animal outside of the herd is in a precarious position. The sheep needed rescue. A storm was brewing, thick clouds and darkness. There were fat and strong ones attacking the sheep. Where's all that painted on the cover of the bulletin today? In the gospel reading, it's a similar story. In John 10, the Lord Jesus tells us of a thief and a robber who sneaks in to steal, kill, and destroy, strangers with strange voices trying to lure the sheep away. Wolves, hired hands who don't care about the sheep, but cut and run. And then Jesus even says this I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I have yet to see a good shepherd painting where the good shepherd is dead. I've yet to see a good shepherd image that paints all of that side of the picture. There's plenty of nurture, peace, and calm, but there's little portrayed about the spiritual battle and the warfare that's happening. Having been baptized, God has washed our robes white in the blood of the Good Shepherd and has raised us with him. We're his sheep, he's our shepherd. We hear his voice, for he has called us by name at the font. His word has joined us to him. This is God's doing. For us newborns, born of God, born of water in the Spirit, we long for the nurture that God provides. And you must also recognize that there's a battle going on. If we were to paint the picture of you as a sheep and Jesus as your shepherd, what would that look like then? Is it just you out on some wilderness ledge and Jesus glowing white calmly coming to help you? What if we painted the true dangers that you face in your earthly life? I imagine our minds immediately go to worldly concerns. After all, it's the dangers we're facing today. Money. Oh. The uncertainty of the future. Our place and purpose in this life. All the things that we have to get done. Health. And with the mention of health, we know why we worry about that so much. It's because of death. That's why. The painting, all of a sudden we're not on those bright color sides of the spectrum anymore. The yellows and the bright oranges and the whites, but we're bringing in a little purple and gray and darkness. The clouds are gathering. There are plenty of temptations that you do face in this world. What are they? Think of them. Too often we just go about our lives plotting one foot after the other, going from point A to point B to point C, and we fail to even recognize that we are under threat. So paint those temptations in. And if you can't think of any, then be inspired by the Ten Commandments, maybe, and how you failed at each of them, every one of them. Now the enemies are gathering, that are gathering in the picture, start to get a little bit more detail. It's not just a general gray or a general purple or darkness. It's one who's painted very specifically and you know intricately in that painting. One who's there who's showing us how easy it is not to read God's word. Perhaps it's a picture of yourself this past week. Maybe it's how easy it is to despise authorities. Hate rather than love. Slander rather than support. And that picture gets a whole lot more detailed. And another terrifying figure stands in the darkness. You couldn't see him at first. He was almost hidden because of that thick darkness. But with keen eyes, you see the dilated eyes of a lion. And that's not our champion, the lion of Judah, but one hidden, crouching, hunting, ready to strike you. And you're a sheep. And it's almost comical, but against this dark force, you look at your fellow herd, and there are painted are some fat and strong sheep that are biting other sheep and ramming them to the ground. It's a mess. Even on the bright side of the page. Between the sheep and you, between the sheep and you, and sin, you know, between you, the sheep, sorry, it's hard because sheep is plural and singular, so it's hard to communicate that. Between you, singular, the sheep, and sin stands Christ the Good Shepherd. Between you and Satan stands Christ the Good Shepherd. Between you and temptation stands Christ, the Good Shepherd. Between you and death stands Christ the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for you. I've never yet seen a good shepherd painted as one who's been punched, beaten, whipped, bloody, or for that matter dead. It's good that our noble shepherd was willing to die for us. But if he only died and stayed dead, then that would mean that our enemies had overcome our good shepherd. There'd be nothing to stand in their way. And what's a sheep to do against all that, the wolf, the lion, I mean, all of these things that painted on that dark side of the page, it would get overcome by the dark side of that page. I do think the images should note better the peril that sheep could be in. And I think we're missing something when we leave that out and just paint it like a Thomas Kincaid, peaceful little setting where a gnome lives, right? It's more than just one some dumb one dumb lamb ran off on his own and got into trouble. Temptation, sin, death, the devil stand opposed to you, and they want to deceive and mislead you and steal you and drag you into hell. That's spiritual warfare. There is darkness. But the paintings that we know and love, and the images of the good shepherd that we know and love, are bright, pastoral, soft, gentle, peaceful, and calming. It's the side of the painting that the baptized, that all believers in Christ, are happy to be safely on. For Christ who laid down his life, took it up again. I do wish the paintings would have holes in Christ's hands and feet, at least. Because that's who he is. Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen shepherd and overseer of our lives. I hope you believe that and all that it means that he's the one who oversees your life. Between you and your enemies stands Christ with his forgiveness, with his word, with his washing, with his body and blood, with his life. And that's why it's such a nice, pretty pastoral scene. Because the peace of our good shepherd is yours. Enjoy his pasture, for you are truly safe and secure in Jesus Christ. Amen.