Manuscript for the Third Sunday in Easter

 P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C Amen.

 

709 THE KING OF LOVE MY SHEPHERD IS

5 Thou spreadst a table in my sight;
    Thine unction grace bestoweth;
And, oh, what transport of delight
    From Thy pure chalice floweth!

6 And so through all the length of days
    Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
    Within Thy house forever!

Text and tune: Public domain

 

COLLECT OF THE DAY

P O God, through the humiliation of Your Son You raised up the fallen world. Grant to Your faithful people, rescued from the peril of everlasting death, perpetual gladness and eternal joys; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

 

OLD TESTAMENT READING Ezekiel 34:11–16

¹¹“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. ¹²As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. ¹⁶I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”

A This is the Word of the Lord.

 

PSALM 23

¹The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
²He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
³He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 

 

HOLY GOSPEL

P The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the tenth chapter.

  ¹¹[Jesus said:] “I 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. ¹⁶And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

 

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C Praise to You, O Christ.

 

APOSTLES’ CREED

SERMON

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” So says, our Lord Jesus. (John 10:11)

Through the ages, the Lord God comforts people with words like these, “You are my sheep, I am your Shepherd.” In the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel, you can hear God tenderly telling how “As a shepherd. . . will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered.”

King David taught all God’s people to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

Then, about a thousand years after King David, Jesus picks up this same message, but he can explain it better, clearer, in more detail. In Jesus and in His work on the cross, We sheep learn fully what it means to have a Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep.

There have been bad shepherds, careless, thoughtless, lazy shepherds, only in it for the money. There have been mean shepherds, who mistreated the sheep. There had been weak and scared shepherds who wouldn’t stand up to the wolves and the thieves. So because of bad shepherds, many sheep of God’s flock have been scared and scattered, scandalized and discouraged, left hopeless and lost.

Remember some of the examples of bad shepherds. At Mt Sinai, just as Moses is getting the 10 Commandments from the hand of the Lord God, down at the base of the mountain some influencers among the people are saying, “Wouldn’t it be better if we had a god we could see? Let’s make a god for ourselves, a gold statue, we can worship it.”

One of the descendants to King David was King Ahab, who favored and sponsored false prophets, bad shepherds who led the people to worship Baal and neglect the true God. The sheep were led down the murky paths of idolatry.

Then by the time of Jesus there were the Pharisees, leaders of the Jews who had the arrogance and self-righteousness to believe their goodness and their worth was to be found in themselves. They looked up to God not with repentance and faith, but with smug pride, as if they deserved the most special, preferred treatment. And the yeast of the Pharisees was spreading through the whole loaf.

These cases have been recorded for the sake of future generations of believers, like us. We have to listen to the voice of the true Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and learn His word. Then when the false shepherds try to lead us away, we recognize their tricks and lies and return to the Good Shepherd. Jesus would have us not be surprised, and caught with our guard down. There will be bad shepherds, even in the Christian Church, the church founded by Jesus, by his message.

Some bad shepherds are out to make an easy buck at the expense of those who can be duped. Some bad shepherds act out of arrogance, supposing that they know better than the Bible, as if they know better than God, what is good and what is right, and what people should do and believe. Some bad shepherds act as children of Satan, the father of lies. They go along with his lies and even make up some of their own to boot.

You know this already. This is just a reminder. You know, if you’ve been around enough people, over the years, that there will be people who lie to you from time to time. Some will find ways to benefit by deceiving you. In spiritual matters, moral matters, financial matters, in heavenly things or in earthly things, people will be dishonest and deceptive. We gotta expect it. We gotta be prepared for it. But we don’t necessarily have to be discouraged by it. We don’t have to be cynical about everything, just because we’ve been duped a time or two. On the one hand, it’s a shame that sometimes we are too gullible. On the other hand, it’d be a shame if we never trust anyone or anything. Lord help us be discerning. And, Lord forgive us our pessimism.

Jesus invites you to trust Him completely, absolutely, unhesitatingly. Take heart. There is someone you can count on. He says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” If a person gets too cynical, too desperate, too knocked down by a life of abuse and mistreatment, it’s hard to trust anyone. You get to thinking even the Lord God in heaven has some other ulterior motive, unknown motive, that’s got nothing to do with what’s good for you. So Jesus tells you otherwise. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That’s the Lord you got in heaven. That’s the Lord you’ve got to pray to, to entrust your ways to. That’s the Lord who comes to us as He has promised, wherever two or three are gathered in His name. That’s the Lord who feeds us, and leads us and guards and keeps us.

On Friday I watched the funeral service of Iowa State Patrolmen Jim Smith. In the line of duty, he was brutally shot down in a criminal, evil act of violence. It would be an exercise in futility to try to find some reason, some good purpose in that tragedy. We trust, even when we don’t understand. One good to come out of it all is that many of us go to know about a godly man. Before this, he was just another cop, another guy out doing his job. Now he has been a testimony of faithfulness, an example to follow, as being faithful in his office, good and faithful as a husband and father, a good leader in his church, a witness to Jesus Christ and an encouragement in dark times. God hasn’t abandoned us all. He still raises up people who will serve him, work in their vocations, serve the good of others and glorify their Savior. The Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, still guides them tenderly, cares for them and provides for them.

There’s a long standing tradition of reading this Good Shepherd Gospel reading on the third Sunday of Easter. So 500 years ago, Martin Luther would have had this passage in church on Sunday and then later in the week, presumably with the Good Shepherd’s promises still on his mind, he would have to go before Emperor Charles V, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Charles was trying to get peace and uniformity in his empire. Luther was stirring up trouble, calling into question the false teaching, anti-Gospel in the catholic church of that time. The Emperor ordered him to stop preaching the Gospel and in fact, to take back all that he said and written so far. Luther boldly stood before the most powerful man in the world, and confessed the the Gospel and the Lord Jesus. He was willing to lay down his career, his future, his reputation, his freedom, even his own life for the sake of the Gospel, and for the sheep of God who would hear the Gospel and be fed in it’s green pasture.

This is the 500^th anniversary of Luther’s bold stand. It’s a lesson for Christians today, to listen carefully to the messages coming at us. Take caution for the bad shepherds, the hireling who would lead you away into false belief and confusion. Know your Good Shepherd Jesus. Listen to Him. And when you hear other competing voices, ask, “Does this sound something like my Good Shepherd would say.”

But don’t get cynical. Don’t give up hope. Trust the Lord is still at work. He is still gathering us sheep into his flock, and leading his flock by the preaching of His pure and true gospel. He leads us to follow him throughout our life and even through the valley of the shadow of death, that we may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.

 

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

P Let us pray:

P Dear Lord, our Good Shepherd, you have sought out your sheep and gathered us with them into one flock. Keep us always in His fold and guard us from every wolf and snare. Lord, in your mercy,

C Hear our prayer.

P Bless and keep your Church, Dear God. Send faithful shepherds to care for your flock scattered throughout the world; We especially remember before you today, Missionary Michael Paul in Taiwan and the pastors and people of the China Evangelical Lutheran Church in Taiwan. Keep them devoted to You and Your truth; Spare your flock from hirelings who serve ego, belly or the world’s doctrines; and give discerning ears to Your sheep to listen for the voice of our Good Shepherd, Lord, in your mercy,

C Hear our prayer.

P Lord, God, the Maker of heaven and earth, Giver of Life, comfort those who mourn. . . Comfort them with the hope of a glorious resurrection for all who believe. Lead all of us to remember that we are mortal so that we will ever prepare our hearts to fall asleep in faith and finally receive the glory promised to all who trust in your Son. Lord, in your mercy,

C Hear our prayer.

P We give thanks to you, everlasting God, for you glorified your Son Jesus in his resurrection form the dead, after he had given himself into death as the payment and for our sins. You transformed the “little while” of sadness and defeat into the joy and victory of the resurrection. Grant us the consistent hope and assurance that our eyes shall yet behold him, when according to your promise, our Redeemer shall at the end stand upon the earth and receive us and all who believe in him into the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. Lord, in your mercy,

C Hear our prayer.

P Bestow your favor upon our land. Give us a government that preserves liberty, upholds justice, seeks righteousness, curbs lawlessness, and provides order. Prosper everyone in their rightful calling. Let all Christians citizens in accordance with your will accept our lawful obligations cheerfully and dutifully, giving respect and honor to all.

C Lord, have mercy.

P Lord God, out of Your fatherly goodness You have remembered us poor, miserable sinners and given Your beloved Son to be our Shepherd — not only to nourish us by His Word, but also to defend us from sin, death and the devil. Grant us Your Holy Spirit, that even as this Shepherd knows us and helps in every affliction, we also may know Him, trust Him, seek help and comfort in Him, heartily obey His voice and obtain eternal salvation; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

 

LORD’S PRAYER

C Our Father who art in heaven,

     hallowed be Thy name,

     Thy kingdom come,

     Thy will be done on earth  as it is in heaven;

     give us this day our daily bread;

     and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;

     and lead us not into temptation,

     but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

  

BENEDICTION

P The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord look upon you with favor and T give you peace.

C Amen.

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Divine Service, Setting One from Lutheran Service Book

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2021 Concordia Publishing House.