Ezekiel 34:11-16/1 Peter 2:21-25/St John 10:11-16
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
So much in this fallen, broken world is not good. It is not good that the woman has sorrow in conception and pain in child bearing. It is not good that only by the sweat of his brow can man obtain bread. It is not good that the ground brings forth thorns and thistles. It is not good that woman seeks to manipulate man. It is not good that men abuse the women in their lives.
It is not good that the seas rage and the earth quakes. It is not good that nation rises against nation. It is not good that tyrants oppress their people. It is not good that men suppress natural law and flaunt their blasphemy.
How about with you? This broken world produces many things that are not good. They cause you grief, anxiety, anger, despair. It is not good that your knees are ailing, that your lungs are weak. It is not good that your hearing is failing, your eyesight lacking. It is not good that your husband left, that your child made poor choices.
But that which is not good is by no means limited to what you have had to suffer and endure. You are no mere victim of circumstance. All mankind fell in Adam’s fall. One common sin infects us all. You were not simply born into a world that is not good, but your nature which is not good has produced in you all manner of things that fall short of the glory of God - a host of evil thoughts, malicious word, selfish deeds.
Who you are by nature and what you have become is not good. Your boasting is not good. Your failure to respect your husband, to sacrificially love your wife, is not good. It is not good that you devour entertainment but starve yourself on God’s Word. You make excuses for your own harsh words, but give no grace to others. It is not good. You expect to be forgiven, but are slow to forgive. It is not good.
All this culminates in the last enemy. Everything you suffer, everything you are, everything that you do that is not good, all ends in dust and ashes. Men die, and it is not good. You will die, and it is not good. It is not the way God made the world. For the world God made was good, and after making the man and the woman, He declared it very good.
But He is not the cause of evil. That which is not good is yours. You must own it. You must confess it. You are the guilty man. Yours is the fault, not the stars. You are not good.
Into that world which had become not good, the Good Shepherd stepped. Our human nature the Good Shepherd assumed. Our flesh, fallen and sick, the Good Shepherd took upon Himself. Jesus the Good Shepherd, took all that is not good and made it His own. In exchange He offers you a goodness you could never earn, never achieve, never merit. A goodness He alone can give.
When Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd, He speaks as the Lord spoke concerning the goodness of creation. It is beautiful, it is noble, it is praiseworthy. If then He is good, how are we to explain everything that is “not good” in your life and in the world?
One theologian put it this way: “In calling all suffering evil God must be absolved from all blame. Thus the theologian of glory adds to the perfidy of false speech by trying to assure us that God, of course, has nothing to do with suffering and evil. God is “good,” the rewarder to all our “good” works, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of merit. But is this prettified God the God of the Bible? Is it not quiet probable that just these attempts to whitewash God are the cause of unbelief? Meanwhile, suffering goes unabated. If God has nothing to do with suffering, what is He involved with?” (Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross)
Consider the distilled beauty of St Peter’s sermon in the Epistle: Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. “If God has nothing to do with suffering, what is He involved with?” Indeed.
Dear children, not all suffering is evil. And suffering certainly is not sin. This is a lie of the dastardly wolf. To be sure we suffer the consequences of our sins, we suffer the consequences of other people’s sins against us; but suffering is not sin. Christ committed no sin, yet He suffered.
It is not that suffering is good, but it is for our good so that God may break down and destroy everything in us that is “not good.” And first and foremost that which is “not good,” in you is your pride; especially your religious pride; that snare of the wolf that believes that by your own reason or merit, you believe and become strong and good.
You are not good. The Lord is, but rarely in the way that you’d expect. For the great day of victory, the crucifixion of Jesus, which appears at the time to be the greatest failure, the greatest loss, the worst of all evil, this one day of the year we now call “good.” Good Friday. Because this is precisely how the Good Shepherd is good: He lays down His life for the sheep. His is the good death, the beautiful death, the noble death, the praiseworthy death.
And for this reason the Father loves Him, because He ransoms His fallen creation, purchases “not good” men by His own blood and makes them His again; declares them good with His own goodness. In bearing your sins in His body on the Cross He is your Good Shepherd, who gives you His own righteousness and life.
All of this is to say that when you see wickedness and do not understand, when you experience pain and do not know why it doesn’t end, when you see the final breath depart from one whom you love and feel you cannot bear the agony, when you prepare to exhale that final breath yourself, hear the Word which is the living Voice of your Jesus who says, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Where He is, though everything be lost, He has won. Where He is, though death seem to prevail, He lives. Where He is, though everything is fallen, He is risen. The Good Shepherd has power to lay down His life, and power to take it up again. And when your life is lost, He has power to raise it up again. And He promises He will. He shall lead you through this valley of the shadow of death, His goodness and mercy following you. Your sin eternally pardoned. Your tears wiped away. Your sorrow turned to joy. Your mourning to dancing.
Even now your Good Shepherd prepares a Table before you in the presence of your enemies. Here He feeds you in righteousness with His own Body and Blood. The Good Shepherd, the Lamb, the sheep has ransomed. You need fear no evil. The Paschal Victim is also the Victor. He is risen and in Him you see the end prepared for you, even your own resurrection from the dead and the life of the world to come. And on that day you shall repeat the words of your Good Shepherd and say of all creation once again, “it is very good.”
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
So much in this fallen, broken world is not good. It is not good that the woman has sorrow in conception and pain in child bearing. It is not good that only by the sweat of his brow can man obtain bread. It is not good that the ground brings forth thorns and thistles. It is not good that woman seeks to manipulate man. It is not good that men abuse the women in their lives.
It is not good that the seas rage and the earth quakes. It is not good that nation rises against nation. It is not good that tyrants oppress their people. It is not good that men suppress natural law and flaunt their blasphemy.
How about with you? This broken world produces many things that are not good. They cause you grief, anxiety, anger, despair. It is not good that your knees are ailing, that your lungs are weak. It is not good that your hearing is failing, your eyesight lacking. It is not good that your husband left, that your child made poor choices.
But that which is not good is by no means limited to what you have had to suffer and endure. You are no mere victim of circumstance. All mankind fell in Adam’s fall. One common sin infects us all. You were not simply born into a world that is not good, but your nature which is not good has produced in you all manner of things that fall short of the glory of God - a host of evil thoughts, malicious word, selfish deeds.
Who you are by nature and what you have become is not good. Your boasting is not good. Your failure to respect your husband, to sacrificially love your wife, is not good. It is not good that you devour entertainment but starve yourself on God’s Word. You make excuses for your own harsh words, but give no grace to others. It is not good. You expect to be forgiven, but are slow to forgive. It is not good.
All this culminates in the last enemy. Everything you suffer, everything you are, everything that you do that is not good, all ends in dust and ashes. Men die, and it is not good. You will die, and it is not good. It is not the way God made the world. For the world God made was good, and after making the man and the woman, He declared it very good.
But He is not the cause of evil. That which is not good is yours. You must own it. You must confess it. You are the guilty man. Yours is the fault, not the stars. You are not good.
Into that world which had become not good, the Good Shepherd stepped. Our human nature the Good Shepherd assumed. Our flesh, fallen and sick, the Good Shepherd took upon Himself. Jesus the Good Shepherd, took all that is not good and made it His own. In exchange He offers you a goodness you could never earn, never achieve, never merit. A goodness He alone can give.
When Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd, He speaks as the Lord spoke concerning the goodness of creation. It is beautiful, it is noble, it is praiseworthy. If then He is good, how are we to explain everything that is “not good” in your life and in the world?
One theologian put it this way: “In calling all suffering evil God must be absolved from all blame. Thus the theologian of glory adds to the perfidy of false speech by trying to assure us that God, of course, has nothing to do with suffering and evil. God is “good,” the rewarder to all our “good” works, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of merit. But is this prettified God the God of the Bible? Is it not quiet probable that just these attempts to whitewash God are the cause of unbelief? Meanwhile, suffering goes unabated. If God has nothing to do with suffering, what is He involved with?” (Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross)
Consider the distilled beauty of St Peter’s sermon in the Epistle: Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. “If God has nothing to do with suffering, what is He involved with?” Indeed.
Dear children, not all suffering is evil. And suffering certainly is not sin. This is a lie of the dastardly wolf. To be sure we suffer the consequences of our sins, we suffer the consequences of other people’s sins against us; but suffering is not sin. Christ committed no sin, yet He suffered.
It is not that suffering is good, but it is for our good so that God may break down and destroy everything in us that is “not good.” And first and foremost that which is “not good,” in you is your pride; especially your religious pride; that snare of the wolf that believes that by your own reason or merit, you believe and become strong and good.
You are not good. The Lord is, but rarely in the way that you’d expect. For the great day of victory, the crucifixion of Jesus, which appears at the time to be the greatest failure, the greatest loss, the worst of all evil, this one day of the year we now call “good.” Good Friday. Because this is precisely how the Good Shepherd is good: He lays down His life for the sheep. His is the good death, the beautiful death, the noble death, the praiseworthy death.
And for this reason the Father loves Him, because He ransoms His fallen creation, purchases “not good” men by His own blood and makes them His again; declares them good with His own goodness. In bearing your sins in His body on the Cross He is your Good Shepherd, who gives you His own righteousness and life.
All of this is to say that when you see wickedness and do not understand, when you experience pain and do not know why it doesn’t end, when you see the final breath depart from one whom you love and feel you cannot bear the agony, when you prepare to exhale that final breath yourself, hear the Word which is the living Voice of your Jesus who says, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Where He is, though everything be lost, He has won. Where He is, though death seem to prevail, He lives. Where He is, though everything is fallen, He is risen. The Good Shepherd has power to lay down His life, and power to take it up again. And when your life is lost, He has power to raise it up again. And He promises He will. He shall lead you through this valley of the shadow of death, His goodness and mercy following you. Your sin eternally pardoned. Your tears wiped away. Your sorrow turned to joy. Your mourning to dancing.
Even now your Good Shepherd prepares a Table before you in the presence of your enemies. Here He feeds you in righteousness with His own Body and Blood. The Good Shepherd, the Lamb, the sheep has ransomed. You need fear no evil. The Paschal Victim is also the Victor. He is risen and in Him you see the end prepared for you, even your own resurrection from the dead and the life of the world to come. And on that day you shall repeat the words of your Good Shepherd and say of all creation once again, “it is very good.”
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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