The Good Shepherd: The Second Sunday After Easter (May 4, 2025)

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

“How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” These words from Jesus in St. Matthew’s Gospel help us understand the heart of the Good Shepherd. Last week, Fr. David talked to us about St. Thomas the Apostle who wouldn’t believe until he not just saw Christ, but actually touched his wounds. I like to read the story of St. Thomas with the understanding that the way Jesus goes after Thomas and gives him what he needs is an example of what it means to be the Good Shepherd, to go after the one lost sheep. To help us better understand what makes him so good, Jesus compares the Good Shepherd against hirelings.

Caroline and I like to watch a TV show called Bar Rescue. The premise is that the host, Jon Taffer, goes to failing bars, identifies their problems, gives the place a facelift, trains the staff, and hopefully sets the bar up for success. Time and again, the core issue isn’t the menu or the lighting—it’s the staff. They don’t clean. They don’t care. They drink more than the customers and don’t pay for their drinks. They’re not invested. They’re just there for the paycheck. They’re hirelings. And when the pressure mounts, they vanish. The hirelings run away at the first sign of danger because they’re not invested in the flock; they don’t care about the sheep and, as a result, the flock is scattered. <Story of Origen>This is a foil for the Good Shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep; he knows them and they know him. The hireling sees risk and runs. The Shepherd sees danger and stays. Even more, the Good Shepherd has multiple flocks that will eventually be made one. If you were a sheep—and, make no mistake, you are—would you entrust your soul to a hireling who flees at the first sign of danger, or to the Shepherd who lays down his life for you? I know I want the Good Shepherd who is actually invested in caring for the flocks.

When Jesus employed this metaphor of the Good Shepherd and the hirelings, he was contrasting his ministry, and by extension the ministry of the Apostolic Church, over and against the Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders. Biblically, Jesus draws from Ezekiel 34 to describe the Pharisees: “Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered” (vv. 3, 5). Ezekiel was of course talking about the Jewish religious leaders during the exilic period when the Babylonians came and captured the people of Israel, forcibly relocating them. But Jesus is applying this imagery to the religious leaders of his day. And he had good reason: just a few decades after the life of Jesus, the Romans invaded and razed Jerusalem to the ground. And where were the religious leaders then? They had run off to Jamnia to escape the Romans and the Jewish people were scattered in diaspora as a result. Jesus, on the other hand, is the Good Shepherd who doesn’t flee when the going gets tough, but suffers with us; he doesn’t allow the flock to be scattered, but anticipates a greater unity between the two flocks: the Jews and the Gentiles. The Good Shepherd doesn’t keep save from a distance. He doesn’t cross to the other side of the road like the priest and the Levite. He comes to us, binds our wounds, and shoulders our burdens. He walks into danger and lays down his life for us. And that is why we can trust him. “Come unto me all ye that travail and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” That’s a juxtaposition of Jesus’ ministry and that of the Pharisees who would pile on regulations without concern for the well being of the flock. Jesus always gives the flock what it needs because he knows us better than we know ourselves.

Like most of Scripture, the meaning of our text isn’t locked away in the ancient world of Second-Temple Judaism, but makes a claim on us today. One need only look around at our culture briefly to realize that people are looking for a shepherd; everyone wants someone who can tell them what they should do and who will look out for their best interests. The problem is that it’s a world full of hirelings who don’t actually care for the people who follow them: influencers, politicians on both sides, influencers on social media, and even some pastors. They talk a big game but they leave us when we need them. “But when [Jesus] saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matt 9:36). The good news for us, though, is that we do have a Good Shepherd and he doesn’t run away, but gives his life for us. This is not just who Christ was—this is who he is. Risen. Reigning. Shepherding still. We don’t have to sell our souls to every grifter who comes around; we don’t have to wander like sheep without a shepherd; God gave us one that surpasses what we could have asked for or imagined.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” If Jesus is the Good Shepherd, then we should trust him: trust him when things are good, bad, or when we find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death. He protects us from the predator, the devil who prowls like a roaring lion. Because we have a good shepherd, we don’t have to trust the hirelings of our age; his rod and his staff, his rule, are where we find comfort. Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a reminder that we were the lost sheep and he sought us out. Or maybe, we should say we are “prone to wander” and he regularly goes after us and brings us back. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll go after someone else using us. Having Christ as our Good Shepherd is a reminder of what Fr. David told us last week: God’s words to us are “I got you.” What would change about our lives if we really believe that? What are some ways that you need to trust our Good Shepherd this week?

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.