He is a follower and he’ll follow another sheep right into danger. By hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd they receive that spiritual food that gives them eternal life.Ī sheep has two characteristics that we would do well to consider.įirst, a sheep isn’t very bright. The pure and wholesome word of God is their daily bread. The pasture of the Good Shepherd’s sheep is the word of God and the sacraments of Christ. A shepherd leads his sheep to good pasture where they can eat good grass and drink pure water and lie down in safety. A sheep’s relationship to his shepherd is like the Christian’s relationship to Christ. Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd and calls his Christians his sheep. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish no one can snatch them out of my hand. My sheep hear my voice I know them, and they follow me. God chooses his children from eternity and no one can take them away from him. They are given to him by the Father and this choosing of the sheep does not happen as a result of a divine measurement of the value or quality of the sheep. The sheep of the Good Shepherd are chosen by the Father. One doesn’t become a Christian on one’s own initiative. They are his because he chose them as his own. He doesn’t say, “I know the sheep.” He says, “I know my sheep.” The sheep of the Good Shepherd belong to him. He knows what we are like.īut more than that, he knows us as his own. He knows our sins because he suffered for them. He knows our weaknesses because he felt them. The transcendent God who lives in that unapproachable light that no man can enter has become a man. They belong to the God become man, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. The sheep of the Good Shepherd don’t belong to any mere man. He didn’t send them out to feed their own sheep, but to feed his sheep. He sent out the apostles to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. Last Sunday’s sermon was about the pastoral office, the office that the Good Pastor, Jesus, established on the day he rose from the dead. He does not say that he is a good shepherd. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father and I lay down My life for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
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