29
April 2007 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Easter
4
Vienna, VA
Jesu Juva
“Good
Shepherd, Good Life”
Text:
John 10:22-30 (Acts 20:17-35)
Grace, mercy, and
peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
I am the Good
Shepherd,
Jesus said. You’ve heard that many, many
times in your life. Today I want to ask
you one simple question about that: why? What makes Jesus the Good Shepherd?
Is it because He
takes care of us? Yes . . . but
there are many others in this world who take care of us. Parents and grandparents, teachers, friends
and neighbors, doctors and nurses, and many more.
Is it because He is
looking out for us and protecting us? Yes
. . . but there are many others in this world who look out for us and protect
us. The government, policemen, firemen,
the military, and more.
Is it because He
loves us? Yes . . . but there are
many others in this world who love us.
Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and more.
Is it because He lays
down His life for us? Yes . . .
but there are even others who have done this for you as well. The aforementioned policemen and firemen;
soldiers give their lives for us. One of
the professor at Virginia Tech gave his life by blocking the classroom door
with his own body to save his students.
So what makes Jesus
the Good Shepherd? Is it because He
does these things better than all the rest?
Or for more people than all the rest?
Is it because He provides all these people for us, and works through
them for us?
All of that’s true .
. . but none of it is the answer.
For the answer is
simply this: Jesus is the Good Shepherd, because He is the One, the only
One, who can make us good and give us the good life. He is the Good Shepherd because He is the
shepherd who is and does good.
Now, I have to
explain what I mean by that, because usually when we use the word good we mean
as the opposite of bad. And it’s a term
open to much interpretation – especially in our day and age when there are
varying degrees of good, when what’s good for me may not be good for you, and
so good is in the eye of the beholder.
That’s not what I
mean by good, for that’s not what the Scriptures mean by good.
Good, rather, is what
the world was before sin, when God saw everything that he had made, and
behold, it was very good. (Gen 1:31) Good is a world created in perfect
harmony. Good is right knowledge of
God. Good is life unaffected by disease,
uninterrupted by death, untouched by tragedy, and unstained by selfishness.
Good is God’s plan. The way it should
be, but no longer is.
And so it is to
restore this good life in us – this is what Jesus has come to
do. All the other people in our lives
who “shepherd” us – who care for us, love us, protect us, provide for us, look
out for us, and so much else – they can sustain the life that we have,
they can improve our life, and they may even be able to lengthen
this life, but they cannot give us the life that we lack. For this there is only One. The Creator who made all things good has now
come to “good” it again – to re-create His broken and fallen world.
And so the Good
Shepherd does good and gives good – healing the sick, giving
sight to the blind, raising the dead.
Restoring creation. But these
things not as an end in themselves, simply to improve our lot in life here and
now, and make us healthy, wealthy, and wise – but as signs of the “greater
gooding” that the Good Shepherd has come to do.
The good of both body and soul.
The good for both this life and the next. The good of the forgiveness of sins. Giving us the good life.
Now before we go on: a
warning. Like St. Paul warned the
Ephesian pastors in the reading we heard from Acts: that fierce wolves
would come in after him and speak twisted things – twisting his words
to deceive us and mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great
shame and vice. (Small
Catechism, Explanation to the Sixth Petition)
And indeed, this is what has happened to our understanding of what is
meant by the good life that Jesus has come to give us. And in two ways:
First, there are those who
hear these words – the good life – and think only of pleasure and ease,
of indulgence and getting everything I want.
That the good life means pleasuring myself to death, freedom from
responsibility, and Jesus as “the great Pez dispenser in the sky,” giving us
all the candy and riches of this world that we can desire. Catering to my every wish and whim. TV commercials encourage this; some TV
preachers preach this; and it’s exactly what our Old Adam wants to hear. But this is twisting God’s Word.
But second,
there are those who hear these words – the good life – and hear them in
exactly the opposite way: that this is something I have to
do. Being a Christian means I have
to live a good life. I have to
live up to a certain standard. I have
to do good. I have to be
good. Good is as good does. But this too is a twisting of God’s Word.
For both of these
things are the very opposite of the good life.
The first is called license, and second is called legalism. The first is not the good life – it is
what destroyed the good life in Eden!
When Adam decided to indulge, and eat the forbidden fruit, and do what
ought not be done. And when we
indulge, and eat the forbidden fruits of this life, and do what ought not be
done – we are not living the good life, but dying. Just look around. Families dying, relationships dying, cultures
dying . . . But the second is not
the good life either! Because no matter
how hard we try, we cannot fix a dying world.
We cannot be the good we need.
For this there is only One.
And so into this
world then comes our Saviour Jesus, the Good Shepherd. To work a different work. To give us not the fullness of this
dying life, but to give us the fullness of Himself and His life. The real good life. To forgive our sins and give us a new
life. Not one or
the other – forgiveness without new life (which leads to license), or new life
without forgiveness (which leads to legalism) – but both forgiveness and
new life. Both grace and gift.
And so into your
life then comes your Saviour Jesus, the Good Shepherd. To work this different work. This new work. This good work. That His dying and rising be your
forgiveness, your life, and your salvation. That in Holy Baptism you be joined to Him and
His cross, the old man in you slain, and a new man be raised to life. That in Holy Communion the new man in you be
fed with the very body and blood of your Good Shepherd, who gave His life for
you and now puts His life in you. And that in Holy Absolution, this dying and
rising with Christ take place every day.
And all this that His death and atonement for your sins, and His
resurrection and life, be a present reality for you. The gift of new life, the gift of the good
life, even now.
This is why the
Gospel is called the “Good” News. This
is why the works that we do are called “good” works. And this is why Jesus is our “Good” Shepherd. Not just because the Gospel is better news
than other news, or our good works are better works than other works, or our
Good Shepherd a better shepherd than other shepherds. For while all that may be true, it is much
more than that! It is that they are all
Easter good. New life good. Resurrection good. New creation good. Because it was not only in the beginning that
God saw all that He had made, and it was very good . . . but also now in
Christ, everything is again very good.
And so too now your
life. Your life is the good
life. Filled with good works, filled
with forgiveness, filled with love, for you are filled with Christ and the
fullness of His life. It is who you
are. And so you hear His voice, and you
follow. He gives you eternal life, and
though you will one day die, you will never perish. For no one is able to snatch you out of His
hand. For your Good Shepherd, who is
greater than all, has made you His own.
And how good it is to be in His flock. Very good.
Easter good!
In the Name of the
Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.