1.
Please
pray with me. May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock
and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word this 4th
Sunday of Easter is taken from John 10:1-10, and is entitled, “Jesus Our
Good Shepherd,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
When a young
girl named Jonalyn, was learning Psalm 23 from her grandmother, she questioned
the first line. "The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want," read her grandmother. To which, little Jonalyn
innocently replied, "Why don't we
want him?" Had the little
Jonalyn taken the verse correctly, she would have known that when the Lord is
our shepherd, we won’t lack anything we need. God will be our shepherd. He
will lead his sheep to fresh food and drink. When we walk as sheep through the
terrible dark valley of the shadow of death, where the wolves, lions, and bears
are settled in their caverns, we have nothing to fear. There are real enemies that seek our doom—the
devil, the world and our sinful flesh. Jesus our Good Shepherd is with us to protect us. This is
what I pray that our confirmands, who have/are been confirmed in the Christian
faith today will take with them all their lives.
3.
With the Rite of
Confirmation our confirmands are confessing before God and the world, “This is what I believe, teach and
confess.” This is the faith that
Jesus my Good Shepherd died and rose again to save me. This is the faith that came with the washing
of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
This is the faith that is mine by the Word of God. This is the faith that allows me to receive
the very body and blood Jesus gave on the cross, in with, and under the bread
and wine in the Lord’s Supper. For
faith believes and trusts Jesus’ own words that say, “This is my body; this is my blood, given and shed for you for the
forgiveness of sins.” This faith
also tells me that, “where there is forgiveness, there is also life and
salvation.”
4.
Many people today look
upon confirmation as a sort of graduation from the church. But, this isn’t true. This weekend simply begins another part of
the journey of faith that our Lord has set before our confirmands and before us
as well. And for this journey we’ll
all need strength. When you go on a
hike, you might walk 10 miles the first day, but without rest and food, the
second day will bring only 8 or 9 miles.
So it is with faith. It
needs to be fed and nourished with God’s Word and with the Sacraments. If it isn’t it will weaken to the point of
death. That’s why God has given to us
His Church to freely offer God’s nourishing means of grace through Word and
Sacrament for all our lives.
5.
In the New
Testament, Jesus uses the title shepherd to speak of himself to his disciples
in John 10. He’s the Good Shepherd. He knows his sheep. His use of this
figure of speech for himself is another hint that he’s equating himself with
the Shepherd of the Old Testament, God Himself.
6.
The lover and
protector that he is, Jesus teaches us as his followers in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." The
thief comes as an imposter. That’s what
the devil is, he’s a thief and the Father of Lies. He only seeks our doom and destruction and
he’ll do everything he can do lead us away from Jesus our Good Shepherd. He comes to harm our lives, suffocate our
souls, and keep us captivated by lies, guilt, greed, ignorance, and selfishness.
Jesus's message is clear that the only kind of life worth living, the only
fruitful life full of fresh-air, green pastures, mountain waters, and wide-open
sky, is the kind of life that he
provides.
7.
Let us take
some moments today to sit at the feet of this Good Shepherd. He’s the only
one who offers the eternal kind of life full of peace, safety, and friendship.
He’s the only one who can completely take care of the needs we know we have and
the needs we don't yet know we have (John
10:28).
8.
Be reminded
that that thief, the devil, comes to boost our pride for he delights that we be
aimless wanderers. He encourages us to harbor resentments and grudges because
he knows it cuts us off from the love of others. He keeps us focused on
other sheep and our wooly coats of self-satisfaction rather than allow our gaze
to fall on the Master who keeps us clean of burrs. When the thief comes to
steal, kill, and destroy, remember again that the Good Shepherd is the only one
who will lay his life down for his sheep (John 10:11).
9.
During these
days of meditation on the Shepherd's sacrifice, take stock of where you are
wandering in the fields of life. Are you in step with Jesus Your Good
Shepherd? Or are you restless, hurried, and full of internal noise? Jesus
comes to bring us rest and refreshment. His sacrifice gives us access to the
holiest and most loving place. When
we are sick, Jesus our Good Shepherd, helps us and brings us help and
healing. In fact, Jesus not only brings
to us physical healing, but also spiritual healing through His cross, by dying
the death we deserve to bring to us the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus said in Matthew
9:12-13, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and
learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to
call the righteous, but sinners.”
10.
In 1985 a
man was backpacking through the country Jordan. It was late afternoon or
early evening when he stopped and watched three shepherds watering their flocks
at a well. As the flocks had mixed together, the man wondered how the
shepherds would separate them. Eventually, one stood up and called out, “Menah,” which is Arabic for “follow me.” Unbelievably, 30 sheep
immediately walked out of the large flock and began to follow their shepherd up
the hill. The second shepherd shouted, “Menah,”
and his flock followed after him. As for the other sheep, they acted as if
nothing had happened. When the third shepherd stood, the backpacker asked, “Would your sheep follow me if I called them?”
The shepherd shook his head. Having received permission to try, the
backpacker called out, “Menah, Menah!”
The sheep looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “Will they always follow you?” the man asked. The shepherd said, “Always, except when a sheep is sick; then
the creature follows anyone.”
11.
Over the
centuries, the Lord, using the power that comes from the means of grace, that
is Word and Sacraments, has called a great many people to Him. Many of them, in
fact, all of them, in some way were sick. Some had a sickness of the body,
but all of us have a sickness of the soul. When by the power of the Law of
God we recognize that sickness, Jesus steps in to help us with the Gospel’s
healing power. The Great Physician makes us well.
12.
What’s
your illness? Do you, like the ex-tax collector Matthew, feel alone and
avoided? Have you been disappointed in love or hurt by uncaring hands? Are you
frightened by the world’s hatred and prejudice? Jesus sends His Holy Spirit
to call you to peace. Maybe you’ve been let down by those you counted on or
betrayed by those who are closest to you. If so, be confident; Jesus won’t ever
desert you. He will never let you down.
13.
This
healing transformation can be yours. Today Jesus your Good Shepherd speaks to
each of us saying, “Come, leave behind
your life of sin and separation. Come, believe on Me and I will give you a new
life worth living. Sick and sinful souls, come as you are; believe and be saved
through your Physician’s healing hand.”
14.
Can we
ever sufficiently thank Jesus our Good Shepherd for His complete mercy and love
in dying on the cross for our sins? We’re
in the sheepfold, that is the church today, not because of any great wisdom or
merit of our own. But, only because
of our all-powerful Shepherd Jesus, who has brought us into the fold through
the innocent blood that He shed on the cross for us. Jesus our Good Shepherd has laid down His
life for the sins of the whole world.
He’s willingly died for all people.
He’s died for you too! It’s so
wonderful that Jesus our Good Shepherd had us in mind when he freely laid down
His life for us to give to us eternal life.
Amen.
15.
The
Prayer: Dear Lord, You are my doctor and
my Good Shepherd, and I need Your protection, Your healing and guidance.
Sometimes I hear Your voice loud and clear. At times, I hear it in the distance
or not at all. I'm pleading with You today to open my ears and heart, so I can
hear Your voice through Your Word. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
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