+ 4th Sunday of Easter – May 12th, 2019 +
Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton
Series C: Acts 20:17-35; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
There’s a fantastic children’s book we read regularly at our house. Maybe you’ve read it before too, called Are You My Mother?
The story follows a baby bird looking for his mother. Along the way he asks a cat, a hen, a dog, and a cow, a boat, a plane, and a snort, “Are you my mother?” Finally, placed back in the nest by the snort (excavator), the mother bird returns and says, “Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, I know who you are. You are not a cat, a dog, a cow, a boat, or a snort. You are a bird. You are my mother.”
The baby bird knows its mother by her voice. Her voice is comforting. Soothing. Nurturing.
The same is true of us, Jesus’ own beloved, baptized children, his little flock.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
The voice of Jesus is the voice of our Good Shepherd, who declares:
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The Good Shepherd who has washed our robes and made them white in his blood, the blood of the Lamb shed for you.
The Good Shepherd who will guide you to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from your eyes.
The Good Shepherd who declares to you, his flock, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
As comforting as the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd is, it reveals the uncomfortable truth about us. My sheep hear my voice. Yet we don’t always want to listen, do we?
We’re sheep. And while little lambs are cute, they grow up. They grow stubborn. They wander. They get lost. And they can be downright ornery. “All we like sheep have gone astray”, Isaiah reminds us.
Not a pretty picture, is it? Without a shepherd, sheep scatter, get lost, and are devoured by the wolf. Sheep need protection. Sheep need to be fed and tended. Sheep need a shepherd.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Jesus’ words remind us that the church isn’t a 24-hour fitness for our weekly spiritual weight-lifting; nor is it an auto-body shop to kick out the spiritual dents. The church is a flock of blood-bought sheep who hear the voice of their Lamb and Shepherd calling to them from out of their Baptism.
“And they follow me.” Here, in his sheepfold, we follow Him. We hear His Word. He gives us eternal life, and they will never perish. Death cannot harm you. The devil is no threat to you. Sin and the Law cannot touch you. Though we go through the dark valley of this world, we hear the voice of Jesus calling and leading us. He’s gone ahead of us through death and the grave. He’s risen from the dead, and now like a shepherd calling his sheep to follow him through the valley, He leads us from death to life.
That’s what it means to follow Jesus: to die and rise together with Him, something already declared done to you in your Baptism. It means to walk through the darkness, despair, and danger of this present age fearing no evil knowing that Christ, your Lamb and Shepherd is with you.
The miraculous, outrageously good news is that the Good Shepherd who knows us – knows all our sins, our doubts, disbeliefs, and times we’ve not listened to his Word. - and yet… He loves us anyway. He loves us to death. Jesus the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. For you. And here, in his sheepfold, we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” The Good Shepherd calls you his own... “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
The Good Shepherd cries out again and again: “I forgive you all your sin, in the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” And you are absolved – the sin is gone; you are freed from it!
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
Every week we hear the voice and promise of our Good Shepherd: “This is My Body, given for you. This is My Blood, shed for you.” Jesus gives everything to protect and nourish and nurture His sheep. He gives Himself! When you hear these blessed words, you are embraced by them, wrapped up in the ultimate and boundless love of Jesus. You hear His voice – the voice of God’s mercy – the voice of our Good Shepherd who knows you perfectly – better than you know yourself! And He brings you to follow Him!
Other voices may clamor for your attention. Others may claim to know you. But your loving Savior is your Good Shepherd. And now and always, He causes you to hear His voice, and He knows you, and you follow Him.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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