Fourth Sunday of Easter: Never Snatched from the Shepherd's Bleeding Hands

Unedited Transcript Follows:

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit. Amen. So, here we are. It's the fourth Sunday of Easter. It's, uh. Good Shepherd Sunday, right? So, it's kind of interesting to me, uh, we Good Shepherd Sunday. We've been like talking about. We've been looking at post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, right?

Really? Since Easter, so. Talked about doubting Thomas and the story of Jesus with Thomas. We talked, so we've been since then, looking at Jesus, um, after his resurrection, um, prior to his Ascension. And then, we like, rewind. Fourth Sunday, and we look at. Good Shepherd. His sermon about being the Good Shepherd, and I think it's instructive for us.

Um, this is something that the whole Western Church does. The Roman Church celebrates Good Shepherd Sunday today as well. It's a reminder that the one who rose from the dead. Rose to Shepherd us. Rose to be our Shepherd, and we have a Shepherd who's living and alive. Because Jesus rose from the dead.

So, we're going to take a few moments and look at this Good Shepherd. What does it mean that Jesus is the Good Shepherd? What does that mean for us? As I looked at these readings today, I was impacted by, first of all, just recognizing our need for a Shepherd.

Our need for a Shepherd. So, sheep need a Shepherd. Our reading today started with this interaction between God and Moses, right? And what's going on here? With Moses not being able to enter into the process and this has always been a hard saying for me, guys, because, uh? Moses was a pretty good one, uh, he he, uh, he, he dealt with a lot.

A lot of, uh, wrangling of these people. He was a pretty good Shepherd, and he doesn't get to go into the promised land. I'm always like man. Yeah, like he hit the rock when you said talk to the Rock. I get it, and it seems it just seems like man like he went through a lot, and it feels like a lot to me.

And so, but I think it's important to recognize that he doesn't argue. Um, he doesn't art. He seems to know what we realize is, it's not just speaking to the wrong or hitting The Rock instead of speaking to The Rock, something about what he did and the way he presented himself was, what God, what, what the Lord said to him is you did not uphold me as holy among the people.

So something about what he did? I don't always understand it when I'm reading the narrative, but it's maybe an exalting of himself. Maybe something that's going on? That's, that's saying, hey, I'm not upholding God as holy among the people as set apart as distinct among the people. Right?

And he doesn't dispute this any, but he still maintains this friendship that he has with God, right. Moses has this interaction with God that displays this intimate friendship that didn't go away. Because he messed up. Do you know what's crackling? I don't know. Is it like? Is it this mic?

We can just. Turn it off. Um, I mean. Like, yeah, let's just turn off this mic, uh? We don't have to hear that the whole time. Yeah. That'd be good, uh, um, but, uh, so, yeah, it's. So he Moses has this interaction looks face to face. He maintains a friendship even as he's not able to go into the promised land.

He maintains this friendship that he has with God, right? And he asked God. Don't let them be sheep without a Shepherd. That's what he says. Don't let them be sheep without a Shepherd, still showing a shepherd's heart, right? Don't let them be, and it's not like, I don't know if you guys have, like, seen sheep.

Like, they're not like. They're not a great thing to be compared to, like, like? I, I don't know, uh, I mean, I don't. I don't think we ever be probably because of like this. Good Shepherd language and the way the people of God are called sheep. But like, we don't hear that.

Actually, that's been a new insult. I'm not a sheep, right? I'm not a sheeple. Some of the political language, but it's not like nice to call someone a Sheikh. They're not that bright, right? They're not like, particularly bright, they they kind of just go along, and they go. They, like, kind of like they, they don't.

There's nothing great about sheep and the people of God. Here are being called sheep. Like, not that bright. Don't have it all together. In need of a Shepherd? Don't let them be sheep without a Shepherd. We've we've established their sheep, like two weeks after crossing the Red Sea. They're saying, why?

Remember, back in Egypt, when we had it, so good, like they are steep. It's like, don't let them be without a Shepherd. They need a Shepherd. God give them a Shepherd and he does. Any answers by giving them Joshua? Right, Joshua. Hey guys, this is the slam dunk for.

Like, remember, I'm teaching you to read the Old Testament is like, christological, and typological. Jesus taught us that the stories about him, okay. Joshua has the name Jesus. Okay, Yeshua is Jesus name. So you have Moses saying, don't leave them with sheep without a Shepherd, and then you have God responding by giving them Jesus to Shepherd them.

Learns about Jesus right, and so we're seeing that Jesus is the one that meets the need for the people of God who are sheep to have a Shepherd, Joshua, Yeshua, Jesus. He's the one who meets the need that we all have to have a Shepherd. We're all sheep. We're all the people of God.

We're all sheep. We all need a Shepherd, and Jesus is the answer to all of our need for a Shepherd, and he's the good one. So Joshua was also a good one, but the but Jesus, the one that he points toward is going to be the ultimate Good Shepherd.

To uphold. God is Holy. Because he is God, the one that will never hit the rock when he was supposed to talk to it. The one that won't ever shrink back the one. Like, he's the Good Shepherd. He's the one that Joshua points toward we need a Shepherd. We've always needed a Shepherd.

We've always been like sheep. And Jesus is the shepherd, right? So, we learn about the need for a Shepherd and that Jesus. The one who meets that need? But we also learned our readings today a little bit about the character of that Shepherd. The shepherd. This is interesting. The shepherd is a slain lamb.

The shepherd is a lamb who was slain. So, Revelation 7, 17, says the lamb in the midst of the throne. Will be their Shepherd. The lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd. Remember who the lamb is? The lamb is Jesus, yes? Because Jesus is the answer to our need for a Shepherd, right?

But remember what we read about this lamb last week? In Revelation 5. That he was like a lamb who had been slain. So this lamb is a lamb who had been slain. Now, I know, I just said that sheep are kind of dumb animals. But imagine for one second if the lands could come to together and pick a leader by a popular vote.

Right that they could come together and pick a leader for themselves. We're picking a Shepherd by popular vote, we Lambs. Do you think? They would pick a lamb, first of all, and a lamb who had been slain second of all. Like, if I'm looking for the one that's gonna lead?

I'm not looking for the lamb that's been slain. He's obviously. Not that good at it, right? Like the whole goal of being a lamb is not to get slain, right. Like, like, that's it. That's like your whole goal is, like, don't get slain stay alive, right? So you're not gonna pick the one that hasn't fulfilled that task to be the leader, right?

He's he's failed. The only thing that Lambs do, which is, don't get killed, right? He did. He got himself slain. He got himself sling. He would never be the one. And just like that, we people. Who are as dumb as sheet, right? If we were picking a leader by popular vote, you would never pick the one that went and got hung on a Roman cross.

That's not the one you pick. No. I don't want the one that got slain. I want the one that's powerful and mighty, and going to destroy my enemies. Think about how our elections looked. Are we looking for the meek and Mild-mannered? That we can put in office never. We're never looking for the meek and Mild manner.

We're looking for the one that'll flex and Destroy our enemies, right? That's who that's who sheep pick when they pick their own leaders. But Jesus shows that he's a weird type of leader, right? He's a leader that gave his life for the Sheep. He's the leader that allowed himself to be slain.

And then raise victoriously. We aren't good at picking Shepherds guys. We stink at it because we're sheep, just like sheep stink at picking Shepherds. We're not good at picking Shepherds to lead us.

But yeah. We will know the true and Good Shepherd. And we can have confidence that the people of God will recognize their Shepherd. How can we have confidence? Jesus tells us. Because according to Jesus. We know his voice. My sheep, hear my voice. My sheep know me? My sheep when they hear me talk, even though I'm a slain lamb.

They know. They know my voice, and they'll follow after me. You hear those words. We prayed in the collet today. Oh, God, whose son, Jesus Christ, is the Good Shepherd. Grant that when we hear his voice, we may know him who calls us each by name. And then follow where he leads.

That's what we just prayed to God. That when we hear the shepherd's voice, we would know it. And follow him.

I'm convinced that many of us don't take time to ask God to just teach us to know his voice. Just to know when God's speaking? You know, the the various ways that God speaks to us, right? We we've probably talked about this some, but God speaks us through Holy Scripture.

God speaks to us through each other. People of God, who are indwelt by the spirit of God. God speaks to us directly as he can give us words of knowledge or prophecy. Um. And. We have to be a people that learn to hear the voice of God. What would it look like to?

Just ask the Lord. To teach you what his voice sounds like, so that you can follow the Good Shepherd. To just continue to teach you to hear his voice when he's talking. And to be able to respond Faithfully to his voice. Will you ask God to teach you to hear his voice and recognize it?

Maybe that's a good response to Good Shepherd Sunday, say. Father teach me to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Teach me to hear the Lord so that I can follow him. Teach me to know his voice.

The last thing that stood out to me or struck me as I? Pondered these readings this this week. Will be just the success of the shepherd that the shepherd is successful. That P. That is, people that his sheep will never be snatched from his bleeding hands. Realize this, he says.

No one will snatch you out of my hands. You hear those words? Just rest in that. For a moment, St John's, there are a lot of opportunities to doubt. That God will keep you and hold you. Maybe you've fallen into some grave sin and wondered? Is there a way back?

To God. Maybe you've seen leaders Christian leaders that you respect fall and prove to be Hypocrites and liars, and sometimes they are the worst of them. Right? Maybe you've received a terrible Health diagnosis and you're afraid? What Jesus says is no one? We'll snatch them out of my hands.

No one. These are Jesus promises. But you might remember that just two weeks ago? We saw Thomas touch the wounds of those hands. Place his finger in the nail holes that was in those hands. Put his hand in his in his side. And then believe, right? We just talked about that two weeks ago.

And now. We have Jesus talking about these very same hands. These nail scarred hands. That will never let us go. The lamb that was slain is the shepherd, the one who is bleeding is the shepherd, and he is the one that will always hold you in his hands. You will never be snatched out of our Lord Jesus bleeding hands.

They hands that bled and died for you will never let you go. The hands that were will the hands of the one who was willing to lay down his life, for you will never let you go. Jesus did not lay down his life in vain. He laid down his life for you, and he will not let you slip away.

You will never be snatched from the Shepherds bleeding hands. The bloody hands of Jesus are the sure sign that he is for you that he is with you and that he will see you through until the end.

He will hold you in his hands, and he will never let you go because he's the very same Shepherd. Who allowed those hands to have Nails go through them for you? And for me?

So, we look at the Good Shepherd. On this fourth Sunday of Easter. We look at the fact that Jesus risen from the dead is a Shepherd who continues to lead us that we are not left as sheep without a Shepherd. Because Jesus is Our Risen Shepherd. We come to grips with the fact that in light of our foolishness and sinfulness, we need a Shepherd because we're like sheep.

And Jesus is the one who meets that need? God gave Israel Joshua Jesus, and he gives us Joshua Jesus, right? The Good Shepherd, the one who meets our needs for a Shepherd, but he's no ordinary Shepherd. This Shepherd shed is very own blood for his sheep. This Shepherd. Took on.

The Flesh of his sheep? And died for us. He isn't the shepherd that we the Sheep would have ever chosen by their own wisdom, but he's the Good Shepherd who gives his life for us. And although we might not have picked him with our wisdom, we know him because we know his voice.

The one who shed his blood for you will never let you go. He will let no one snatch you out of his bleeding hands. He loved you enough to purchase you with his blood. And he'll never let you go. So, let's thank God that we'll never be lost from the Shepherds bleeding hands.

Amen.