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Easter 4 2024
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud April 21, 2024
Acts 4:1-12, 1 John 3:16-24, John 10:11-18
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You are on a business trip driving down the road with a coworker when you hit a bone-jarring pothole. Your coworker looks at you with a grimace and softly says, “Ouch!” You calmly reply, “No worries, it’s a rental car.”
It seems that human nature is to care for something better when it is your own rather than belonging to someone else. We have some ugly expressions that reflect this idea. We say, “That team got beat like a rented mule”, or more horribly, “beat like a red-headed stepchild.” If it is not your own then you are thought not to care as much for it. And it seems that this is nothing new.
Jesus says, “11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
This is unbelievably good news. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does not treat you like a rented mule; like someone else’s sheep. He cares for you as one of His own sheep. Jesus loves you as His own. You belong to Jesus.
You are the sheep, Jesus is the shepherd. So, who is the wolf? It is the devil. The devil is ever prowling. Ever looking for another sheep to drag away and devour.
You are one of those sheep out in the field doing what sheep do. You hear a noise in the grass and look up and you see the gray fur moving through the meadow. You stare and see the wolf raise up his head and look right at you. You can see the look of hunger in his eyes; you see his sharp teeth as he snarls. You are in great danger. The wolf is coming to destroy you. The wolf is coming to tear you apart and consume you, leaving nothing but a lifeless pile of bones.
You panic, but don’t know what to do. The wolf senses your panicked confusion and pounces toward you, bounding over the grass in gigantic strides. You freeze in fear and await certain death. The wolf is going to get you.
But, just as the wolf takes his final leap to snatch you, the shepherd steps in between you and the wolf. The shepherd blocks the wolf with his staff and the wolf turns his attack to the shepherd. The wolf’s long, sharp teeth tear at the shepherd’s flesh bringing forth blood and agony as the shepherd offers Himself to the wolf in order to protect you. The shepherd continues to give himself to the wolf until the shepherd lies dead in the grass.
All this you watch, trembling with great fear. Now the shepherd is dead. The shepherd gave his life to protect you. But for what purpose? You are now left all alone to face the wolf.
The wolf circles the dead shepherd for a few moments and then slowly moves toward you… licking his lips… already tasting your flesh.
But then, incredibly, the shepherd is back… standing between you and the wolf. He has come back from the dead, and the wolf, seeing the resurrected shepherd flees--with his tail between his legs.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
You see Jesus’ love for you for you in that He is willing to die to save you. He willingly lays down His life to redeem you. He lays down his life… out of love… for you.
John talks about this love in the epistle reading today, “16By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us,”
And then John teaches what it means to be one of the Good Shepherd’s sheep. Since we know His love, in the same way we should love one another, “and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
Jesus cares for us as the shepherd, not as a hired hand. We are to care for one another not as hired hands, but out of great love for one another. We cannot treat each other like rented mules.
We are certainly called to love our own. We are called to look after and love our families. We are called to care for our loved ones. The question is, who are our loved ones?
In marriage men promise to love their wives the way Christ loves the church. That is a heavy responsibility. If a man is out walking with his wife and a big, angry dog approaches, the man’s duty is to step between his wife and the dog and, if necessary, get bitten to protect his wife.
As we marked the remembrance of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, it is good to note the many men who gave up their places in the life boats in order to save the women and children.
So, who are your loved ones? As a follower of the Good Shepherd, as one for whom the Good Shepherd has laid down his life, you are called to love not only your family, but you are called to love one another. You cannot treat others like they don’t belong to you. You are united as sheep in the Good Shepherd’s flock. These others belong to you. You belong to them.
You are called to lay down your life for your brothers and sisters. And while we pray it will not come down to actually having to die for one another, you are called to selflessly love one another. To give up your own desires in service to others.
There is great teaching about love in 1 Corinthians 13 which is often read at weddings, but this scripture is not particularly about married love. It is about how you should love one another as fellow sheep in the Good Shepherd’s flock.
With the Good Shepherd you are safe from the wolf; safe from the devil. The devil has no power over you to snatch you away or scatter the flock.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV and my translation) 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 [Love supports without limits, trusts without limits, hopes without limits, never gives up.]
This is the love you are to have for each other because you have already been saved by the Good Shepherd. This is the kind of love you have for each other because you already are part of the Good Shepherd’s flock. The Good Shepherd is the one who has washed you clean and poured onto you His very name. The Good Shepherd is the one who feeds you with His very Body and Blood, the same body and blood that He offered to the wolf in your place. The Good Shepherd loves you because you are His own.
With the Good Shepherd you are safe from the wolf; safe from the devil. The devil has no power over you to snatch you away or scatter the flock.
But the wolf does not give up easily. He will do all he can to stir up dissension among the sheep. He will do all he can to get the sheep to bite and harass each other. He will try to get you to treat others as if they do not belong to you. He will tempt the sheep to act like there is no shepherd. He will entice the sheep to run away from the Good Shepherd. He will accuse the sheep, telling you that since you are not able to perfectly love one another that you must not really be the Good Shepherd’s sheep. As you deal with others, the devil will try to get you to treat them like rented mules instead of treasuring your fellow sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd.
But the wolf has no standing. The wolf is powerless against the Good Shepherd. The wolf has been undone through the power of the cross of Christ. So do not give the wolf any leeway. Do not try to fight the wolf on your own as if you could go toe to toe with the Prince of Darkness. Do not engage with the wolf. You will just end up a tasty snack for the evil one.
Rather, resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7) And when the wolf comes prowling; when the wolf comes stirring trouble; when the wolf comes accusing, simply point him to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and say, “I belong to Him.”
Amen.