Grace, Mercy and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
Being a pastor in Christ’s Church is not child’s play. It is a serious task; one with eternal implications both for the man in the office and for the people under his care. For the job of a pastor is to be the caretaker and physician of people’s souls. And the pastor is held accountable by God for those souls under his care, as to whether or not he did what he was sent to do for them.
We see just such an accounting today in the Word of the Lord given to Ezekiel to speak against the priests of the Old Testament Church. The prophet writes: “And the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, “Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.’” The priests had failed to do what God had sent them to do. Instead of feeding the flock of Israel, God’s chosen people; they fed themselves, not with the things God had given them, but with that which they demanded and took from the people. Instead of using their position to serve God and be a blessing to His people, they took advantage of it, seeking only to serve themselves.
And what were they supposed to be doing? They were sent to feed the people; not with mundane physical food, but with the Word of God and the grace bestowed by Him through His Word and through the Old Testament sacraments of circumcision and sacrifice. By these things the Lord incorporated the people into His Church and gave them forgiveness of sins. And the people could find these benefits no where else. God had given them the Temple for this very purpose, and the priests who served there as shepherds to feed them. But these shepherds refused to do it.
And what was the result? The Lord tells us through Ezekiel: “So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.” When the priests fail to do their job, the people suffer, grow weak, are scattered, and become easy prey for all their foes who seek to draw them away from God and slay them. Without a shepherd, they are lost.
And so the Lord promises to shepherd them Himself. He would come Himself and gather together His flock: “I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel… I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down… I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick…” What the priests of Israel had failed and refused to do, God Himself would accomplish. He Himself would feed His people’s souls. He would gather them together to Himself and in His presence their wounds would be bound up, their sickness relieved, and they would be strengthened by Him. And in His presence they would feed in safety and lie down in peace in His pastures. All this God Himself would do for them as their shepherd.
And He did do it. God Himself came down to earth and became a Man that He might shepherd and feed His flock. Christ, Our Lord says today: “I am the Good Shepherd.” He is the One who came down that the flock might be gathered back together again, that they might be fed in good pasture, and that they might be safe from their enemies and have peace. But He accomplishes all of this in what may seem a strange a way. He accomplishes it by dying. “The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Now I suppose over the ages there have been many shepherds who have died in the course of their duties, protecting the sheep from fierce wolves and lions. But with these other shepherds, death is a failure. At best it provides a one-time reprieve from the peril facing the flock. For when the shepherd dies, the sheep are again left to the mercy of their enemies, until another shepherd picks up where the first left off and resumes to keep vigil over them. But this is not the way of things when the Good Shepherd dies. The death of the Good Shepherd brings more than momentary safety. His death brings eternal safety by permanently defeating the enemies of His people. For when Christ died, all of our sins were forgiven; the devil’s right to accuse us was forever taken away. And when we are Baptized, we are baptized into Christ’s death. Our flesh is mortified, nailed to the cross with Christ, and we are given new life. And that life is nourished by the fruits of Christ’s death; His flesh and blood sacrificed on the altar of the cross become our food, giving us life.
How can all of this be so if He has died? And what makes His death different from the deaths of others? The difference is that Christ Jesus did not remain in the grave, but rose again victorious on the third day. Death could not hold Him who is Life itself. And this is why He can now bestow on us the fruits of His sacrificial death. Because He lives and continues to be our Good Shepherd. He continues to gather, feed and protect us as His flock. God did not come down to become our Shepherd that He might again lay that office down in death. He still is and will forever be the true Shepherd of His Church.
But that we might know Him, He sends other men to proclaim Him and to bring us to Him. He gives them the job of under-shepherds, ambassadors of the One Good Shepherd. And these men are charged with doing His work, the work of feeding and guarding His people’s souls. After the resurrection, Our Lord asked St. Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” Each time Peter answered “You know that I love You.” The first time Jesus said to Him “Feed My lambs”; the second: “Tend My sheep”; and the third, “Feed My sheep.” This is the Office of the Holy Ministry. And this is why St. Peter’s Words are now directed toward you, Ryan. “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you.” And this is why you, dear Christians, need to have a pastor today, and have called this man (Ryan) to this place.
All men are sinners, and without continual shepherding and feeding by Christ they are scattered, just like the people in Ezekiel’s time were scattered. People fall into this sin on one side and another sin on the other, and eventual fall into misbelief, or into complete unbelief and lack of faith. This is what we do and become by nature. And so it is essential that you remain connected to Christ and fed by His grace. And that is what the Holy Ministry is about. It is about proclaiming Christ Jesus to you, and actually giving Him to you.
For He, the Good Shepherd, has established this Office of the Ministry that you might receive Him and the fullness of His grace. How so? Because He has made His pastors to be stewards of His mysteries. They are the ones who are called to proclaim His Holy Word through public preaching. And in that Word we encounter Christ and hear His voice. They are the ones who are sent out to Baptize. And in that water we are crucified with Christ and raised up again and incorporated into Him as a member of His body. They are the ones who are sent to teach us and give us counsel from God’s Word, that we may grow in our faith and be guided in our lives by Christ Jesus. They are the ones who are given the power to forgive and retain sins. And in those Words spoken we hear the verdict of Christ Himself. And they are the ones who feed us with the Sacrament of Holy Communion, in which we eat the very flesh and blood of Him who died and rose again. With these things, the Good Shepherd Himself comes to us now in our own time and in this place, to feed us and tend to us as His flock. And the pastor is but His instrument, His ambassador and under-shepherd.
But he is no hireling. He is God’s servant sent to serve you the Gospel. He is not your servant to order about as you please, but God’s. And so, as St. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 4, the pastor is not to be concerned about how people judge him, but about how God will judge him. And likewise, you are to consider him not according to how well you like him or how greatly you dislike him, not according to whether or not he pleases you, but rather according to his faithfulness to God and the work God has given him to do among you. And you are to support your pastor in that work; not only financially, but also with your prayers and cooperation.
In other words, you are to be true and faithful sheep. And what do such sheep do? Our Lord tells us today: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” This is, at a very basic level, what it means to be a Christian: to hear Christ and to follow Him. To hear, you must first of all, be where Christ has said He will be found. You must be here in Church to hear Him speak through the preaching of His Word and to receive Him in the Eucharist. And having heard and received, you are then empowered by His Holy Spirit to live in faith and to follow Him. When the pastor is faithfully performing his office as Christ’s under-shepherd, you hear the voice of Christ in Him. And therefore, you also follow where he leads you as the one who is sent to you in Christ’s stead. But, may God protect us from it, should he rebel against the Good Shepherd, you are bound to follow God rather than the man He has sent.
Either way, your pastor will have to give an account. Ryan, you must always strive to be faithful to God and perform the task you have been given, and to listen to God’s will rather than the will of men, however well intentioned man’s will may be. Do not be like the priests of Ezekiel’s day, who sought only their own gain and honor. Never play the part of the hireling. Remember that this Office into which you are being ordained was not established for your good, but for the Church’s good; not for your honor, but for Christ’s honor.
Being a pastor, as I said at the outset, is serious business. And so is being a Christian. May God grant all of you grace, that you may be kept faithful as His servant and pastor, and all of you as His faithful people. And may His Word abound in this place and bless you all with life and salvation through Jesus Christ, our true Shepherd and Pastor; who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, to life everlasting.
Rev. David Kind
University Lutheran Chapel
Minneapolis, MN
Preached at St. Peter on June 20, 2010
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