Easter 3
Jn
10:11-16
5/4/25
Surveys and research have documented
that there has been a steady decline in the work ethic in our country. It has declined in each generation – from the
Boomers, to Generation X, to the Millenials, and on to Generation Z. The largest decline has been observed during
the last five years in Generation Z – those born between about 1995 and 2012.
This decline in the work ethic is
seen in the Labor Force Participation Rate - the percentage of able-bodied
workers who are either employed or are looking for work. In 2024 it stood at
62.5%. This means that over 37% of able bodied Americans who are not students,
retired, or caring for children at home have chosen not to work.
Businesses often struggle to find
workers to fill positions. And when they
are able to hire people, the decline in work ethic is a concern. After all,
employees are often the face of a business. The impression formed by the public
about a business occurs in large part on the basis of the interaction that
people have with its employees. If the
employees just don’t care all that much about the way they carry out their job,
the public is unlikely to have a good experience.
In our Gospel lesson this morning,
Jesus describes a first century employee who doesn’t really care about the way
he does his job. He refers to the hired
hand who doesn’t care for the sheep when there is danger, because they don’t
belong to him. In contrast, our Lord
describes himself as the good shepherd – the shepherd who lays down is life for
the sheep.
As we read the Gospels, we want to
recognize that on many occasions, the text we are reading has a relationship to
what has just preceded. That is certainly the case in our text this morning
from John chapter 10. In the previous chapter, Jesus had healed a man who had
been born blind. Christ had done this miracle on the Sabbath. And so the
Pharisees accosted the man and his parents about what Jesus had done.
The man confessed that Jesus had worked this miracle. He said to the Pharisees, “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” But the Pharisees replied, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
As religious leaders, the Pharisees
were supposed to care for God’s people. Instead,
they were causing harm as they opposed Jesus. Unfortunately, this was nothing
new. In the same chapter as our Old Testament lesson, God chastised the
religious leaders of Ezekiel’s day using the metaphor of a shepherd. He said, “The weak you have not strengthened,
the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the
strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with
force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because
there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.”
The Pharisees had harmed the man as
they rejected Jesus. Now, in chapter 10,
Jesus describes himself in a way that stands in marked contrast. He said, “I am
the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Christ
used the language of the Old Testament in order portray himself.
Jesus says that he is the good
shepherd. This adjective “good” is
defined by the following statement: “The good shepherd lays down his life
for the sheep.” Christ states that he is
the shepherd who cares for the sheep in the greatest way possible – he
sacrifices himself.
Our Lord immediately distinguishes himself from the behavior of
others. He adds, “He 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. He flees because he is a
hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” The hired hand has no
investment – no commitment to the sheep. In the face of danger he abandons them.
Because of the Gospel lesson, today is often called “Good Shepherd
Sunday.” “Good Shepherd” has become a
commonplace in the life of the Church. After all, our congregation is named
“Good Shepherd.” Yet the phrase “good shepherd” is so familiar that the
absurdity of it often escapes us.
Jesus says, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
That’s just not how it works. Shepherds
do not die for sheep. Sheep are a
commodity. They are sheared so that their wool can be used to make clothing and
textiles. They are slaughtered in order
to provide meat. No one dies for sheep.
In this metaphor, Jesus is the shepherd and we are the sheep. That
is not particularly flattering. Sheep
are followers – they have a natural tendency to flock together and follow one
of the sheep. The whole flock will
follow that one sheep even when it is a terrible idea. Sheep have been known to
follow off of cliffs to their death and into rivers where they drown. In the face of danger, the herd panics and
follows one sheep no matter where they are going.
Like sheep, we are followers. We follow the guidance of the world
as we define happiness and success on the basis of the things that we own – a
life that always leave us wanting more. We follow the world as we accept its
attitudes about the use of sex, and view pornography. We follow the world as
its eagerness to speak ill of others becomes our habit and we harm the reputation
of others. Instead of living lives that
are guided by God’s will, we speak and act in the ways of the world. As Isaiah wrote, “All we like sheep have gone
astray.”
We are sheep who go astray from God’s ways. We are people who sin
against the holy God. But in his love,
God acted to save us. Earlier in the
Gospel Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but
the will of him who sent me.” The Father sent forth the Son – the Word became
flesh as he was incarnate by the work of the Spirit. Jesus Christ, carried out the Father’s
will. He did it out of love for the
Father. He did it out of love for us.
No one dies for sheep.
Certainly, there was nothing about us to prompt Jesus to lay down his
life. But because of the grace and mercy
of God, he did just that. On Good
Friday, Jesus lay down his life as he allowed himself to be nailed to a
cross. He suffered and died for us.
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a
slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son
remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Christ
set us free from sin through his death.
Because of him, we have forgiveness before God.
Jesus died for us and was buried. But during this season of Easter
we rejoice that this was not the end. In
the verses immediately after our text the Lord goes on to say, “For this reason
the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up
again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I
have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up
again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Jesus is the risen Lord who has begun the life that will be
ours. Because of him we no longer fear
God’s judgment, and we already have eternal life now. Christ said, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal
life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to
life.” This defines our present, and we know that Jesus will raise up our
bodies on the Last Day. Jesus continued by saying, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will
hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”
Christ says in our text, “I am the good shepherd. I know my
own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I lay down my life for the sheep.” We know Jesus the good shepherd
because we have heard his voice. At the beginning of this chapter Jesus spoke
of the shepherd and said, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep
by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before
them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”
Jesus speaks about us in this
text. He says, “And 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.”
We were not part of Israel. We were not descendants of God’s people. But
through Christ we have now become the people of God.
We have heard Christ’s voice and
listened as he called us. He did this
through his Word and baptism. In baptism we were born again of water and the
Spirit. Because of the Spirit’s work upon us we have been called to faith. We have been born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jesus says this morning, “I am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” This is not the way of the world. Shepherds don’t die for sheep. But Jesus
Christ did. He lay down his life for the
sheep – for us, and then he took it up again on Easter. The crucified and risen Lord is the reason
that we now live in ways that do not fit this world.
On the evening of Maundy Thursday
Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you.
Greater
love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus loved us as the Shepherd who gave his
life for the sheep. Now through the work
of his Spirit, we love others and put their needs ahead of our own. Jesus said,
“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to
be my disciples.”
Sacrificial love is not the way of
the world. The world tells people that their own needs must come first. People end marriages because they declare
that “it is time to be about me.” In a
world of Tik Tok people are trying to call attention to themselves, and not
focusing on others.
However, we are not of the world.
Jesus said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but
because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world.” Jesus has called us out of the world. We have heard his voice and follow him as
those who have been born again of water and the Spirit.
And so by his Spirit we love others
as he has loved us. This love is shown as husbands and wives choose to do
things that will assist their spouse. It is shown as sons and daughters help
their parents with chores, without being asked.
This love is shown as a people take the time to help their neighbor or
provide a caring ear. We do this because
we believe in Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd who lay down his life for the
sheep, and took it up again on Easter.
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