My Shepherd, My Lord :: 1 Peter 2:19-25

For you were like sheep, wandering. But now, you have been returned (to the sheepfold), upon the shepherd and overseer of your souls. 

The Lord is your Shepherd. He calls you by name. He has chosen you. He has made you his own. He leads you. He comforts you. He carries you. He serves you. He anoints you. He restores your soul. He guards and protects you. He lives for you, has died for you, and most of all, He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah.

The Lord is my Shepherd. I have no want.

For some reason, when many people think of God, they don’t think of him this way. The Lord is NOT their shepherd. When children are asked to draw a picture of God, they come up with a variety of images ... a man on a throne, a smiley face, a shining sun, or a cross-legged Buddha type.

I read a poll that revealed 28 percent of Americans think of God as authoritarian, the one who lays down the law and chops off your head if you don’t follow the rules. ... Another 22 percent ... mostly evangelical women ... characterize the almighty as a benevolent God. This is a picture of the hugs-and-kisses-at-the-door God ... you know like your grandma, who says, of course, you can have chocolate cake for breakfast. ... 

There are two other images of God: the critical God and the distant God. The “critical God” is removed from daily events but in the end will render judgment. This image is popular among the poor and oppressed. ... Then, there is the distant and disengaged God. Believers in this god are apt to be less suspicious of science and more likely to agree with the idea that he doesn't give a hoot about you.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today Saints David, Luke, Peter, and John have painted for us a better, more fuller picture of God ... The Lord is my shepherd. I will have no want. He leads and comforts and carries and serves and anoints and restores and guards and protects you. When reviled, he doesn’t retaliate. When suffering, he doesn’t threaten. He is more than simply refreshment. He is more than a good example ... OR as you’ve heard me say so many times before, nothing more than a good man with a good word about good living. 

THE LORD IS THE SHEPHERD AND THE OVERSEER OF YOUR SOUL.

Thank God. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah. 

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, and appropriately for such a day, our readings are filled with the images of a shepherd leading, comforting, carrying, serving, anointing, and restoring your souls ... guarding and protecting ... bearing your pain, finding you when you’re lost, lifting you up, and carrying you home out of the valley of death. 

This is the true image of God. 

I am the door of the sheep, Jesus says in John 10. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ... And then day by day, Luke says in our reading from Acts, Christians everywhere began attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, receiving their food with glad and generous hearts. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 

They were being saved because they heard the truth of who God really is. The Lord is my shepherd. He is the one who has laid down his life for me. He has rescued me from the valley of darkness.

Today is an opportunity to revel in this truth, of what Jesus has done and continues to do for you. 

It is hard to imagine a better picture of Jesus than than that of the Good Shepherd, who leads, and comforts and carries and serves and anoints and restores. But this is exactly who Saint Peter is describing in our epistle reading. Sheep need Shepherds, Peter is telling us. And we have found him in Jesus. 

You’ve undoubtedly seen the icon of the Good Shepherd many times. You know ... this is the image of the shepherd carrying his lamb ... you ... on his shoulders. It is one of the most loved icons in the world. If you have having a hard time visualizing it, try googling it. It’s an image of strength and comfort. Another picture is that of the shepherd in the field amid the sheep ... a beautiful field of deep green grass, under a rich blue sky ... with white puffy clouds and crisp clear water. The sheep are as white as snow. It’s idyllic and calming. The Lord is my shepherd. I will have no want.

If you happen to wander off into the valley of the shadow death, searching for clover, you have no need to fear. The Shepherd is near. 

We are certainly prone to wandering, aren’t we? Especially in times like today when you can barely remember the last time you wandered into our sanctuary to nourish your souls on heavenly food. Thankfully, though, your good Lord, the good shepherd has come to find you in the midst of one of the more pressing trials of your life, following the voice of your shepherd during a time of darkness in our world, a darkness that has kept you separated from his gifts of the sacrament.

To be honest, I know almost nothing about real sheep. I know they are described as stubborn, and very prone to wander. They are always looking for tender sprouts to munch on. But left unattended, sheep in the wild are nothing more than dinner. 

That’s why, sheep need a shepherd. 

In the book of Ezekiel the Lord laments for all of his sheep. They were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. When you have been separated from your congregation, much like we have for these past 42 days, the tendency to wander and do your own thing grows quickly with each passing day. The longer we wander, the more likely we are to embrace sin. 

To use Peter’s words, Beloved, I implore you as sojourners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against your soul. Instead, devote yourselves to the apostles teaching, and to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread. 

Don’t forget, this has been part and parcel of your lives for as long as you can remember. This is the good example Peter speaks of in our epistle. This is the model Christ calls us back to. Here, through his word and sacrament, your Good shepherd provides eternal nourishment for your souls. 

You were called to this life ... that is, out of the darkness of sin and death and blindness and deafness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Thank God we have a shepherd. 

God has heard your pleas for mercy, and sent his Good Shepherd into your lives to deliver you from death. This is the heart of Peter’s message today. 

Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the virgin is our Lord. He has redeemed you, the lost and condemned sheep of the world not with gold or silver but with his innocent precious blood. Jesus has lived the perfect life for you, to become the perfect spotless lamb for you. When you strayed away, he stayed on the straight and narrow. When you broke the golden rule, he kept it. When you were cursing, he was praising. 

That is what Peter is showing us. Not only did Jesus know no sin, he didn’t do sin, as Peter says. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. Being reviled, he didn’t even begin to retaliate. Suffering, he didn’t even begin to threaten. But he handed himself over the one judging righteously, knowing full well what that meant ... that he would bear the full wrath of God as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world ... for your sins yesterday, for your sins today, for your sins tomorrow. 

Now all who confess Jesus is Lord will be saved.

Jesus Christ died the most excruciating death for you on the cross to pay for your sin. But death could not hold the one true God, who raised him for your justification. 

Now he is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! And all who believe God raised him from the dead for your justification will be saved. You will be saved. 

And through this baptism, your Good Shepherd has given you the greatest gift of all ... his righteousness and the eternal life in paradise with him.

Today, we can see now that God hasn’t ignored your sin. He is righteous and just. He condemned sin in the beginning, and he executed his judgment ... on the cross of Christ. Now you who have faith in Christ ... that he is who he says he is, and does what he says he does ... have been given life. This is his promise to you. 

Our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, who has laid down his life for you and given you new life. 

Yes, the Lord is my shepherd. I have no want. He has chosen you and made you his own. He leads you, comforts you, carries you, serves you, anoints you. And he restores your soul. 

Hallelujah!