The Friday after Misericordias Domini Sunday
Posted on May 9, 2025 by under
Scripture: Jeremiah 23:1-6 (NKJV)
23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. 3 “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 “In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”
Devotion
The pastors that the Lord threatens in today’s reading are motivated by something besides love for Jesus. The text says that they do feed the sheep, but apparently not with Jesus’ presence in the Word and Sacraments.
What then are these evil shepherds feeding the sheep? Just as Satan tricked Eve into thinking that the forbidden fruit was good for food, so false pastors feed their churches with things which appear to be spiritually satisfying, but are not. They offer a supportive community, or affirmation in life’s daily struggles. They prepare stories that pull the heart strings and captivate the imagination. They serve up music that powerfully moves the emotions. But none of these things truly nourish the sheep or gather them together. Instead, they destroy and scatter them.
The Church is unified and properly fed only when Jesus Christ Himself sends out pastors who speak with His voice and gather His believers together around His presence in the Word and Sacraments. As our Augsburg Confession states, “And to the true unity of the Church, it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments” (Article VII).
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.
