Ninth Sunday after Pentecost July 20-21, 2024
“The Failings of a Shepherd” Jeremiah 23:1-6
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Do you know your importance in this world? I hope you know the influence that you make on others. If God has allowed you to have children you will touch the life of another for as many years as they live. Far beyond the days that you have on this earth, your ways, your words, your attitude toward them, will touch their lives until they leave this earth. Wow!!
Can you remember a teacher that you had – either the best one or the worst one – from your years in school? If they were the best maybe you can remember their concern for you, their ways of making learning exciting, their determination to care for every member of that class, including you? Some of you are teachers – your impact on others is life changing.
Maybe God has placed you over others at work. You supervise others. You teach others. You are their buddy who tries to make sure they get off on the right foot.
There are so many things that you do in life. There are so many relationships that you engage in. You are important to many people.
Do you know what you are? Do you know who those that I mentioned specifically are – the parent, the teacher, the supervisor? All of them, and all of us, are shepherds. A shepherd is one who cares for another. They concern themselves with the welfare of others. They worry about the direction that others may take. They protect and love and nurture those they have been given. That’s you. You are a shepherd.
Last Saturday evening I was watching the Baseball Game of the Week and all of a sudden I wasn’t. The network quickly turned to the Trump Rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and I got to see the video of the awful assassination attempt on the former President. Then I heard that one man had been killed at the rally. Corey Comperatore, protecting his wife and their child, covered them with his body, received the bullet and gave his life. Do you know what he was? He was a shepherd. Like Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
There can be good shepherds and there can also be bad shepherds. There can be shepherds who would do the will of God for others and there can be shepherds who plan evil for those under their care. In our reading from Jeremiah the prophet speaks “words of woe” to the shepherds who were in positions of great authority. He speaks to the kings and rulers, and also to the pastors, the priests. “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture! declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: ‘Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,’ declares the Lord”. (Jeremiah 23:1-2)
Jesus makes the comparison between a good shepherd and one who is not. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” (John 10:11-13)
You’re a shepherd. I’m a shepherd. The title pastor means shepherd. I’m called to care for you with the care of Jesus. You are a shepherd. You are called to care for your family, your students, your neighbors, your friends, the kids you coach. By such warnings to those who fail in what they were called to do, God is telling us that shepherding is a divine and godly work that we all are called to do. In Ezekiel 34 some more harsh words are given to shepherds, and now the prophet enumerates their failings, “You do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the flock or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.” (Ezekiel 34:3b-4)
That’s a pretty heavy burden that God has placed on us, isn’t it? Life as a follower of Jesus can bring with it a heavy load. Life isn’t just about self and what brings us happiness. It is a calling to lay down our life for others. We are to consider others first.
You are shepherds, and so am I. But even shepherds need a shepherd. And our God provides one. Listen. God says, “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:3-4)
We have a Shepherd who has not failed us, nor has He failed those who are under our care. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. All those things that shepherds are to do – protect, care, save, have compassion and love – He has done and He still does. There are no failings in our Shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)
We have a Shepherd who cares for us – not just when it is convenient, but when it is not. In Mark 6 we read about Jesus feeding the 5,000. That day started with Jesus needing some time away. It says that “So many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat.” (Mark 6:31) He told His disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” And they did, for a few moments. But soon a crowd of many thousands was surrounding Jesus. The reading says, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34)
When I think about how Jeremiah 23 begins, “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture”, I realize that there are no perfect shepherds among us. No perfect parents, teachers, supervisors, coaches, pastors. None. But once again, God has a remedy for our imperfection and our sins. Jeremiah gives the hope of the Messiah, the Christ, the Promised One – the one who is Jesus, “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King, who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
Do you know who “The Lord our Righteousness” is? Do you know who this “righteous Branch” is? Do you know who this “King” is? I think you do. Jesus. Jeremiah is telling us that the Lord becomes our righteousness. We are considered righteous, holy, complete – all as a gift from God. The Shepherd has rescued His sheep. Paul would say about this gift of God to us, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.’” (I Corinthians 1:30-31)
Two weeks ago, on the July 4th weekend worship, the Benediction spoken was a compilation of words from Romans 12 and I Thessalonians 5. A number of you remarked about the impression it made on you. I think these are words of how we, as people shepherded by Jesus, will shepherd and care for those whom God places into our life:
Go out into the world in peace, have courage, hold to what is good, return no person evil for evil, strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak, help the suffering, honor all people, love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. The almighty God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – bless you. Amen.
