The Monday after Misericordias Domini Sunday
Posted on May 5, 2025 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
This is not a neat and clean analogy, at least in the estimation of human reason, which would prefer a one-to-one correspondence. How can Jesus claim to be both the door and the shepherd? How can He be the one who leads us and the thing through which we are led?
But this is not the only place we see this kind of curious paradox in the Scriptures. Consider the fact that Jesus preached the Word of God, and, at the same time, He Himself is the Word (John 1:1). Or consider Baptism, how Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8), and, at the same time, He is also the one into whom we are baptized (Gal. 3:27). Again, consider the Lord’s Supper, that He is the one who sets the heavenly feast before us, and, at the same, He Himself is the food and drink.
We realize that Jesus is teaching us about the means of grace. As our Good Shepherd, He leads us into the abundance of eternal life through the narrow gate of His Word and Sacraments, in which He Himself is truly present. He is the Preacher and the Word, the Baptizer and the Living Water, the Servant and the Bread from Heaven, the Shepherd and the Door.
Collect: 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.
