The Good Shepherd Comes to Rescue and Restore - Ezekiel 34:11-16
For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I myself will search diligently for my sheep and I will seek them. As a shepherd seeks out to care for His flock in the day he is among His scattered sheep, so I will seek out to care for my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on the day of cloud and thick darkness.
500 years ago today, Martin Luther answered the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Emperor who questioned his teachings. If he were to recant and take it all back, the Diet of Worms would barely be a blip in history. If he did not recant, he would be putting his own life in absolute, mortal danger. Being held captive by the clear Word of God as found in Holy Scripture, Luther stood up before the authorities of the church and the of world and gave his famous “Here I Stand” confession.
He rested his case on Jesus as his only Shepherd - not the leaders of the Church or the Government. He relied solely on the Good Shepherd who promised never to leave him or forsake him. He rested his conscience on the breath of the Holy Spirit who declares that neither death nor life nor anything else in all creation could separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus. He rested his body and soul and all things into the hands of the Good Shepherd who laid laid down his life for him, who rose for him, and who continued to feed him in the green pastures of his gifts and promises. With literally every aspect of his mortal existence on the line, Luther rested all things under the care of His Savior, Jesus.
Through Luther, the Holy Spirit rescued the Gospel from those that obscured Christ’s cross with the clouds and thick darkness of twisted Scripture and false teachings. Through Luther, the Holy Spirit restored the proclamation of Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen for the complete forgiveness of all of your sins and the restoration of all of your hope. The Holy Spirit declares openly that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who has rescued and restored us by laying down his life for us, taking it up again, and who has gathered us together as One Flock under his tender care.
This is good news to you who struggle day to day with wonder or worry about the ways of the world and other churches. Even today we are bombarded on all sides with different voices that teach what is good, helpful, and right - who can you trust? The bookstores are full of different techniques, tips, and tricks for health, wealth, and refuge. Countless ideas are broadcast and, instead of filling you up with joy in the cross of Christ, they conjure up feelings of dread. Luther can be seen as a faithful example in our day as well. He was obedient to the desires of the Good Shepherd as he stood against the Roman Church that taught Christ wasn’t enough. Luther stood against the prevailing ideas of the times. It would have been an easy thing to set aside his confession and fall in line with what was popular - but that would mean forsaking God’s clear Word – and easy things are not worth it in the end. Ezekiel and the people of Israel learned that the hard way.
After over 400 years of life in the promised land, the people were driven into captivity. It would have been an easy thing to blame God for their misfortune, but if we’re being honest, God didn’t give them up - the people scattered themselves. They all, like sheep, had gone astray. Since the day God planted them in the promised land, these people chosen by God sought after their own pleasures and joys – they saw God as one cog among many in the wheel of life – they saw their brothers as objects for their gain. The nations around them had strange - and intriguing - teachings. Over time the clouds and thick darkness that they allowed themselves to walk through became a valley of the shadow of death. Lost and perishing, broken and weak, the people of Israel forfeited God’s care and drove themselves into captivity– a just payment for their continual sins.
But God is not a God of wrath - not even in the Old Testament. Throughout their history, God continued to send his prophets, pleading for their return to him. But they would not have it. God continued to be compassionate and merciful in their captivity so that none would die in their self-made shadow of death. He declares through Ezekiel that He has not forgotten or forsaken his people, but makes them His responsibility.
As a Shepherd calls out for his lost sheep – to forgive them, rescue them, and restore them as His protected flock - so God calls out through Ezekiel - He has taken the work of rescue and restoration upon himself: For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I myself will search diligently for my sheepfold and I will seek them. As a shepherd seeking out to care His flock on the day he is among His sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out to care for my sheep and I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on the day of cloud and thick darkness.”
With the stern, yet caring voice, of a shepherd, God calls out to all who have allowed themselves to be lost in the shuffle, who went after other gods, and who have been beaten up by the world and sin. He seeks them out to carefully investigate them – that receive they be rescued from the land of death and illness. He will be their Shepherd, and He makes it His own duty to properly care for those who are scattered, broken, and gripped in death.
This promise of rescue is fulfilled in Jesus – our Good Shepherd, whose greatest desire is obedience to His Father. He has come to seek and save the lost – just as the Father has commanded him. And as your Shepherd, He loves you to death. He rescues you from the ravenous wolves that desire to feast upon you by laying down his life for you. He not only takes the responsibility for your care, he takes responsibility and blame for your sins. He gives himself over to the shadow of death as the sun is darkened while He bleeds and dies on the cross – the just payment for your continual sins. Unlike the false shepherds that feed their own pride and ego and leave the sheep when they are in greatest need, Jesus the Good Shepherd rises again, calls you to come to His flock, and He feeds you in the good pastures of His Word and Sacraments.
As he rescues you from the jaws of death and rises again, His work as Shepherd continues on today: I will seek the lost and perishing; return those driven away; bind up the broken; and strengthen the weak.
Though we still wait for the complete fulfillment of this promise on the Last Day, we can be confident that it is being done. Jesus has already died, putting all sin, sickness, and death to an end. He is risen and is living, leading us to His gifts of restoration. Surely you can find yourself in this list. If you are lost in the confusion of our times, take heart - for Christ in His Word seeks to care for you as a Good Shepherd. If you ever question Christ’s love for you, take heart - for Jesus gathers you to His flock, where we, with the care He has given to us, care for one another. If you are broken in heart, spirit, body or mind, take heart - Jesus has provided the medicine of healing by giving you His own body and blood in the Sacrament, to strengthen you in the forgiveness of sins and restore your hope for the life to come. If you are weak and heavy laden, hear his voice calling to you to give you rest.
Keep your eyes fixed on this Good Shepherd, who has died and yet lives. Let those who think they are strong, be watchful lest he fall, for the rich and the strong (The Shepherd) will destroy; (He) will feed them with justice. So, remain in prayer. Continue in worship. Hear and follow the voice of Your Good Shepherd, and come to the abundance of His rich pasture in the flock of the Church where you receive the forgiveness of your sins and the restoration of your bodies and souls.
On this we stand, rescued from sin, death, and the devil and rescued from the cleverly devised myths of the world. We stand with the One Flock, the Holy Christian Church, with Jesus as the One and Only Good Shepherd, promised by the God who has called us, baptized us, and made us His own. We have been fed with justice - for the Good Shepherd has laid down his life for our sins, risen from the grave to restore us as His beloved people, and He gathers us together to bind up our wounds, comfort our sorrows, forgive our sins, and give us the riches of His promised land. Amen