John 21:15-17

The book “A Shepherd’s Look at the Twenty Third Psalm” provides a lot of insight into how a good shepherd tends the sheep of his flock. One of the things that particularly stood out to me is how sheep respond only to their own shepherd’s voice.

As God’s people, chosen by the Holy God, you and I are like sheep under a shepherd’s care. Jesus speaks of those who believe in Him as His sheep when he speaks to Peter in the Gospel reading for today. And that’s where we will focus in today’s meditation. The celebration of St. Timothy, Pastor and Confessor, gives us opportunity to consider what it is to have Christ as our Good Shepherd—to be under a shepherd’s care. As we shall see from the Gospel, what Christ gives to Peter--comfort, surety and freedom, we also receive under a shepherd’s care!

1. Under a shepherd’s care there is comfort! What comfort to know Christ is so long-suffering with his sheep! This quality of long-suffering is something that God wants modeled among those who serve as undershepherds of His sheep. It is a quality that I desire to model to you. But, it doesn’t always appear that way, I know. Perhaps this is why I identify with Peter, the impetuous apostle.

Peter was quick to boast of his faithfulness, yet, he failed miserably and repeatedly. Remember what he said to Jesus who had just told his disciples, “you will all fall away on account of me?” Peter very confidently replies “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” Oopsie! It seems that every pastor I have ever talked to has expressed the same kind of desire to be faithful, while at the same time acknowledging the awful failures in their ministry. It’s the same with me.

With that acknowledgement I can only say, thank God for Christ’s forgiving restoration that followed Peter’s failure. I need that same kind of restoration. And I know that you need it too. And in Christ, we have it!

What comfort for us to see that Christ is not only a forgiving, but also a restoring Shepherd! How comforting to know that we can be honest with him about our failures. How assuring to know that under a Shepherd’s care we can be honest with ourselves about our failures. What comfort it must have been to Peter when his Shepherd says, “Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep!” What confidence the Shepherd shows toward his erring follower. Comforting, isn’t it?

2. Under a shepherd’s care, there is surety! How does the surety of Christ’s words to Peter come down to us?

Well, God in Christ has determined that the forgiveness and restoration offered Peter also comes to us here and now. Thus we receive the Word of forgiveness in our liturgy, in preaching, in the pronouncement of absolution, in Holy Baptism, and in the Holy Supper. Luther speaks of this under the third article of the Apostles’ Creed article three. “For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Gospel.”

The Festival of St. Timothy and its Gospel regarding the apostle Peter show us that the Chief Shepherd, Jesus, uses the office and work of pastors to feed his sheep with forgiveness, life, and salvation. Preaching, absolution, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper come to us in the concrete ministry of a real person called by the church to stand humbly under the Chief Shepherd’s head to speak Christ’s words and do Christ’s work.

But, we see in the failings and humanness of two great undershpherds—Peter, with his impetuous spirit and denials, and Timothy, with his youthful timidity and illness—that confidence in God’s grace must not be based on any man, including the pastor. Like other Christians, they also are sinners who struggle against the sinful human nature.

Nevertheless, Christ has called the undershepherd. So sure is the calling that the Holy Spirit may leave the man, but not the Office of the Ministry. A pastor may undergo severe moral failure, yet the pastoral acts hold good. Why? Their power rests in Christ’s office and work, not in the man. That, my friends, is where our surety exists, not in our own efforts, but in the office and work of Christ the Chief Shepherd.

2. Under a shepherd’s care there is freedom! Now, it would not be a good idea for you to equate the freedom found in Christ with a freedom to sin. It isn’t sin that Christ has called us to.

Even so, there is freedom to recognize our failings and to be forgiven by Christ.

There is freedom to know that forgiveness is found in the objective merits of Christ delivered through another Christian and especially through a congregation’s called undershepherd, the pastor

There is freedom to serve Christ in our respective vocations, and occupations, assured of Christ’s forgiveness and restoration.

There is freedom to forgive others as we have been forgiven by the grace and love of God in Christ! It is comforting! It is sure! It is free!

This sermon opened by recounting how sheep typically respond to their own shepherd’s voice. They do that because the shepherd feeds and cares for them in such a way that they learn to trust. You and I are under the Chief Shepherd’s care. Through the power of the Holy Spirit working through the written word we know his voice and follow him. It is my sincere prayer that you also hear the voice of the Chief Shepherd through my preaching and teaching and care. May we all hear his voice as he goes about fulfilling his work, feeding, leading, protecting, and keeping this flock. By God’s grace we are under a shepherd’s care. In that may we all find comfort, surety, and freedom! Amen.