Monday after Misericordias Domini Sunday
Posted on April 24, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. John 10:1-11 (NKJV)
10:1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Devotion
Jesus is both the Shepherd and the Door of the sheepfold. But He speaks of others, also. Those who enter the sheepfold through the Door (through Jesus) are legitimate shepherds; those who climb the wall (bypassing Jesus) are “thieves and robbers”. Our Lord calls us to distinguish the true pastors from the frauds. Those legitimately called by the Church and performing what Christ commands are true shepherds. Those who force themselves on the Church—who merely “inherit” the office, are biologically female, or are openly perverse—are not shepherds, but “thieves and robbers”. The Lutheran theologian Johann Gerhard explains what it means to “enter by the door”: “The ordinary shepherds must be heard, but only if they themselves also hear Christ speaking in the Word, if they teach those things that Christ commanded, if they bring forth none other than the true doctrine of Christ” (On the Ministry, part 1, pg. 123).
To this, God has added both a command and a comfort. The command is this: legitimate pastors must be obeyed, notwithstanding their personal sins; illegitimate “pastors” must be rejected, notwithstanding their personal strengths. The comfort for the congregation is this: if you obey the legitimate pastor, you obey God. The comfort for the pastor is this: since his call is not from himself, he can fulfill his duties with confidence that God is truly working through him.
Prayer: God, Who, by the humiliation of Thy Son, didst raise up the fallen world: Grant unto Thy faithful ones perpetual gladness, and those whom Thou hast delivered from the danger of everlasting death, do Thou make partakers of eternal joys; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
