Simply Lutheran

GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY 2020

"Following the Good Shepherd" is the summary phrase of the little gallery at the bottom of the page: Pic #1 portrays Jesus wearing the crown of thorns as He, as the Good Shepherd, lays His life down to rescue the sheep; Pic #2 is Pope Pius XII wearing another crown (the Triregnum last worn in public by Pope Pius VI) symbolic of power and not sacrifice; Pic #3 is the Papal flag showing the Triregnum and the binding and losing keys of Peter's successor regarding sins (although these keys were given to all in the church and the pastor who acts on behalf of the church); and Pic #4 is the irenic scene that gives all Christians comfort who, knowing the voice of The Good Shepherd, gladly follow Him. This brings me to my address for this Good Shepherd Sunday:

“Contrasts in the ‘Good’ Shepherds”

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. 7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:1-11 NKJV

My Christian friends: Jehovah-ra’ah means the Lord is shepherd. King David, in the very first verse of the Twenty-Third Psalm was expressing the deepest assurance of the personal care he himself had come to know in having the Lord God as his shepherd. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” In other words, Jehovah-ra’ah is truly Jesus, the second person of the Triune God, who tends to all the needs of His sheep so that they will not be in want of any good thing.

All people, without exception, need a personal shepherd. Isaiah 53:6 explains, “All we like sheep have strayed; we have turned everyone to his own way.” And when we stray you can be sure of one thing: there will be many false shepherds, who are for hire, that will be trying to bring you into their sheep pens.

Pope Francis, whom many appropriately identify with Pope John XXIII the Congenial Pope, needs also to understand that Jesus is the only head of the Christian Church (being Lord of all) and how Jesus is The Shepherd and the very Door of the sheep, which alone is your comforter and who alone is the literal Door or Gate that opens heaven to you. The world may lay accolades before a kindly Pope Francis, or a personable John Paul II who was declared to be a saint along with John XXIII, whom the older generation knew as the “Congenial Pope.” It was Pope John XXIII who began to walk instead of being carried about in the sedan chair above the crowds, hailed as a god, and it was Pope John XXIII who met with his people on a personal basis and was greatly loved by Catholics as well as others.

Here lies a problem: The problem contrasts crowns of gold with the Good Shepherd’s crown of thorns which only Jesus could wear as He lays down His life for the sheep. Here is the information about the Papal crown taken from the Holy See Press Office of 2001: “The Triregnum, the Papal Tiara formed by three crowns symbolizing the triple power of the Pope: Father of kings, governor of the world and Vicar of Christ is from the 18th Century, with which the bronze statue of Saint Peter is crowned every June 29th, the feast day of Saint Peter. Use of the Tiara, a ritual during solemn ceremonies, was completely abandoned during the Papacy of Paul VI.” Don’t be deceived by the name Vicar of Christ, for vicarius, in Latin, is commonly defined as simply a “substitute.”

History recalls that it was Pope Paul VI that continued the Second Vatican Council, which had been convened by John XXIII, until it ended in 1965. It was in the fourth session of the Council where faith was thrown out the very windows that the Council was to open up and God’s Mercy in Christ was, by canon law, deemed to be insufficient for man’s salvation.

But even renowned protestant ministers like Rick Warren who dresses casually and makes bundles on his “purpose-driven church” stuff, has great universal appeal simply because he sincerely cares about people; but, as Jesus once told His disciples: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.” The Rev. Franklin Graham of Samaritan Purse, the son of Billy Graham, is to be commended since he knows Whom he is serving and is mostly despised by the world because of his reliance in the Bible in a changing world. (cf. John 15:18 19)

The LCMS pastor, who became a famous Roman priest and news commentator, the late Father John Richard Neuhaus, stated on EWTN during the funeral of John Paul II: “This Pope came to the world and the world came to him.” This quote, by the way, was repeated on the cover of Time magazine. This also describes the way in which the world has embraced other popular popes, especially John XXIII as he convened the Ecumenical Council of Vatican II that would make sweeping reforms and was welcomed by the world as well as all the major religions of the world.

Contrast this with what St. John testified about Jesus, saying in John 1:10 13, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Let it be clear, however, that in my criticisms regarding certain ecumenical shepherds that I am not condemning those who choose to follow such shepherds. I , on the other hand, and according to Luther there is always “the other hand”, have no objections if you choose to have a Roman Pontiff as your bishop. But beware not to demand that all people need to fall in line with the Pope. My criticism would have reason to change if any Roman pope were to publicly denounce the teachings of the Council of Trent that damns me and all other believers to hell because of our trust in divine mercy alone without the works of the Law. This was the reason the Council of Trent was convened, namely, to condemn (make anathema) Martin Luther and his followers, as it still does to this very day.

Contrast Jesus the Good Shepherd as ruler over the Kingdom of heaven and how the present Pope is seen as both a head of State and the “First among Equals” as he rules over the Church, exercising what is known as the two swords theory. This is important because, as Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world!” This is very important because the world, which exalts Pope Francis for his humility, had also exalted Pope Boniface VIII. The United States first established the office of ambassador in 1984, when Ronald Reagan appointed William Wilson to the post officially acknowledging the Pope as a head of State and head of Christendom. But being that as it may, who really has the right to be the head of Christendom?

It was Boniface VIII (1294-1303) who first gave the shape of the crown to the papal miter. Pope Boniface appeared his first day in pontifical garb similar to those worn by emperors in celebrating the feasts of Jupiter and Ceres the 5th Century Roman goddess of agriculture. Seated upon the throne of Constantine, Pope Boniface shouted, “I am Caesar, I am emperor!” Then on November 18, 1302, he issued the Bull Unam Sanctam (One Holy Church), which became canon law and summarized the claims of the Papacy to be supreme over both Church and State.

The Papal Bull Unam Sanctam teaches that the Church cannot have two heads otherwise she would be a “monster” and that it was Pope Peter who was told to “feed My lambs.” The Bull also stated that Jeremiah witnessed, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over kingdoms.” The Bull states furthermore that Paul testifies, “He that is spiritual judges all things; yet he himself is judged by no man.” Hence, the two swords theory is concluded with this quote of Thomas Aquinas: “We declare, say, and define, and pronounce it to be necessary to salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” The Bull Unam Sanctam is only defended by a few today in the Roman Catholic Church, and yet one is hard pressed to find anyone who will deny that it is the actual teaching of the Roman Church.

And yet it is our Lord Jesus Christ who alone is the only true Good Shepherd, the One sent of God to tend, feed, and lead His sheep by the ministry of the holy office of Word and Sacrament. All others are false shepherds/teachers whom Jesus Himself calls thieves and robbers of the sheep's soul and body. JESUS Himself calls these people thieves and robbers and this includes especially those that might pontificate contrary to the written Word of God. Harsh words, indeed, but nevertheless true in Jesus’ day, as it was in Luther’s day, and just as true today as we see many Christian leaders teaching contrary to the plain words of Scripture.

The true shepherds today are those men who are under the only Good Shepherd. These shepherds enter the public ministry focusing their eyes on Jesus only, as did Peter, James and John, desiring to glorify God both in the pure teachings of Law and Gospel and not desiring to be loved by the world. These shepherds do all their works in the strength of Christ, the Good Shepherd, preaching only Christ’s doctrines, walking only in His footsteps, and laboring and praying for the souls of mankind to bring them to the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of their souls, Jesus Christ.

Sheep of a congregation who fail to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice through their pastors start to wander from His teachings and begin to listen to teachings of men. They fail to see how that old, old story of salvation is relevant today. They start to doubt that Jesus is alive to help them in times of need. For example, today, with the pandemic Coronavirus, people doubt that Jesus is relevant when they see grandma or a loved one die without being allowed to be at the bedside to kiss and hold her and pray together. Theodicy again rears its ugly head in order to seemingly defend the truth that Jesus comforts and heals the sick and broken-hearted.

We, as Christians are never to lie, under any circumstances, and we are taught by our Lord to obey our government unless it demands go contrary to God’s rule; then, as Peter said in Acts 5:29, “We ought to obey God rather than men”. But let me tell you what Jesus says to do when difficulties present themselves: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock and it will be opened to you” (Luke11:9). And again, in Mark 11:24, Jesus says, “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Jesus invites His brothers and sisters to pray and seek all goodness and relief through Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov.3:5-6).

The 23rd Psalm reads, “He leads me beside the still waters.” That is, Jesus knows we need the calming of our souls, away from the turbulence and dangers of the rapids which can carry us all away. Jesus is that calm, Living Waters. It isn’t unusual at all that sheep, outside the flock, will feel as Jonah inside the great fish when he exclaimed, “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head!” (Jonah 2:5) And yet the 23rd Psalm reminds us of what John 4:14 records Jesus to have said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

All these things, Word and Sacrament, being fed in the pastures of our Savior, and taking drink from His springs of water, have the promised result, without failure, namely, “He restores my soul.” As Luther commented on this Sunday’s text: “Pastors can never become any more than the mouth of our Lord, Jesus Christ and the instruments whereby He continues to proclaim His Word visibly here on earth. He permits His Word to go out into the public so that all may hear it; but the inward acceptance of the Word in the heart is a spiritual experience that takes place through faith.” Luther speaks of your life being hidden in God in which you place your faith until it shows itself to be a reality. Commenting on Colossians 3:4, “Christ who is our life”, Luther says: “In this verse Paul comforts them, showing where to seek and surely apprehend their life…Through Christ’s death you are now redeemed from sin and from death eternal and are made imperishable…But this risen life you cannot perceive in yourselves; you have it in Christ through faith.”

Congregations may have member sheep that aren’t around to be fed, nourished and restored by Jesus. And because they are absent from the flock, they seem to be fair game for secular humanist “shepherds” and, after they are disenchanted with human theories of philosophy and psychology, they may turn to others who may relieve their pains and anxieties and guilt from sins. As Scripture records, “For in much wisdom is much grief.” Too many hirelings lead their flocks the way of politico-economic and the man-made philosophies of too many main-line denominations, and even in the way of mysticism of the Vatican that now embraces all religions.

Lastly, the sheep pen consisted of four high walls with sharp objects along the top to keep robbers out. In one of the walls, there was a space a little wider than a man’s body. The shepherd stood in this gap facing outward. As the sheep moved toward the pen, the shepherd turned his body so that the sheep could move past him safely into the pen. 

The shepherd, in this instance, became the door of the sheep. Jesus used the figure of the shepherd in His speech, but the Bible records that His hearers still did not understand what He was telling them. So, Jesus went further and said, “I am the Door of the sheep.” Saint Augustine once exclaimed: “Whoso would enter the fold, let him enter in by the Gate; let him preach very Christ. Let him not only preach very Christ, but seek Christ’s glory, not his own.” And again, desiring to create faith in his hearer’s hearts, Augustine proclaimed, “I, seeking to enter into your hearts, preach Christ; if I preach other than that, I shall be striving to climb in some other way. Christ is my Door; through Christ I win your hearts.” Amen.