2026-04-26 Easter 4

Scripture Readings

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Old Beatrice Brown was known as the ‘chicken lady’. She loved chicken and made the best chicken soup this side of Parkbeg! She went down to the local butcher shop to go and buy a fresh chicken. “I’ll have a chicken please” said Edith. The butcher went into the back and grabbed his last remaining bird from the cooler. After weighing it he said “that will be $12.54 ma’am.” “Do you have a larger one?” Beatrice asked. The butcher thought fast. He returned the chicken to the cooler, waited a minute and brought the same one back out. Weighing it this time he said “That will be $14.85 please ma’am.” “Oh” the woman replied, “in that case I’ll take both of them!”

Oh to be a fly on the wall of that butcher shop! I’d have loved to see what happened next! Not a very scrupulous butcher! We could say he was lacking in the ol’ integrity department more than just a wee bit. Sadly this kind of thing is all too common. Crooked business practices, crooked politicians, scandal after scandal, ripoff after ripoff. We don’t even bat an eye at this stuff anymore. We simply come to expect it. We expect big tech companies to spy on us and steal our data. We expect politicians to embezzle us and steal our tax dollars. Truly, a sad state of affairs.

Our Gospel reading today was spoken to a likewise sad state of affairs. John 10 comes right after John 9. The keen Lutheran will recall what happened in John 9. The whole chapter is devoted to Jesus healing the man born blind. Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles! You remember that one. Mud and spit, go and wash, was blind but now you see! “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind” (JN 9:32).

Everybody was blown away by such a miracle! Never even heard of before right now! Everyone thought this was absolutely incredible except one group: the Pharisees. Yes, you guessed it, the very shepherds of Israel. They don’t marvel. They’re not excited that the Messiah has come. They’re not fired up that God has drawn near to them. They refuse to see the miracle. Instead, “some of the Pharisees said,”This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath”“ (JN 9:16). They remain utterly blind to the signs of wonders of the Messiah in their midst.

Truly, a sad state of affairs. The people who you would expect to be the most excited and full of zeal for the Kingdom of God were the biggest nay-sayers and wet-blankets of all! This is the scenario that sets up our Lord’s teaching on the Good Shepherd. He gives them a huge jab with the contrast He lays down between Himself and these false shepherds: “8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to 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 comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (JN 10:8-10).

Jesus really lays the smack down on the Pharisees with this teaching. They had tyrannized the common people with their interpretations of the Law, claiming that they themselves were “the door” to knowing God’s will. Like thieves and robbers in the night, they would sneak in that they could thieve, steal and slaughter and destroy the sheep. Their voices were false. They were imposters. They did not speak for God.

Jesus continues with His teaching that He alone is the Door. He is the key to salvation. Just as the sheep would use the door into the sheepfold, so the true people of God would recognize Him, and would find all they needed in Him alone. It was the same with the sheep: in the evening they would enter in through the door to find safety in the sheepfold. Once safely inside, they were indeed saved from the wolves and predators. In the morning light they would go out through the door and find green pasture - a beautiful vision of abundant life in Christ. By using the door, they would have all they ever need. It was the same with Jesus. By following Him, by listening to His voice, the people of God would have salvation and abundant life in the age to come.

Where do we hear the voice of Jesus today? In the Scriptures. When we read them, hear them, mark them and inwardly digest them, it is then that we hear the voice of our Good Shepherd. This is where we hear the voice of Jesus, Who readily lays down His life for His sheep on the cross. This is where we hear the Gospel that creates faith and gives us abundant life. This is where forgiveness, life and salvation fill our ears with blessed assurance. This is where we learn the difference between the message of God and His Kingdom vs. the message of the false shepherds and worldly nonsense.

Bob’s Famous Ice Cream Parlour in Bethesda, Maryland, was the victim of a robbery. The crazy thing was that the manager, Nathan Peabody, was warned ahead of time about it. Moments before the robbery he received a phone call. The voice said, “Are you the manager? Listen carefully; don’t panic. This is the police. You are going to be robbed. Do NOT resist. Let the robber take all your money. We will be waiting right outside your store and we will catch him red handed! Thank you for your cooperation.” Sure enough, a man with a scruffy beard and a knife stormed in demanding money. Mr. Peabody took all of his cash out of the drawer and gave it to him. Peabody watched as the robber ran out of the store. With a smirk on his face, he waited with baited breath for the cops to close in! Instead, the robber just got in his car and sped away. And as Peabody saw the taillights disappear in the distance he realized what had just happened. He realized that the voice on the call wasn’t police headquarters - it was the thief.

There are many such voices in our world today. False prophets with false theology. Ferocious wolves and wolves in sheep’s clothing. Scammers and spammers. Fake news. Deceitful government propaganda. The list goes on and on. Where can we hear the truth? Where can we hear the message that brings abundant life? Where can we hear the Good News of the Gospel? We need to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd. His is the voice we need to focus on. How do we come to know His voice? We hear His voice as we read the scriptures. So to know it, we need to read them often. We need to hear them and internalize them. There really is no substitute for this. If you don’t want to be bamboozled by the world and it’s myriad of false teachings, then spend a lot of time reading the scriptures. Just as St. Paul encouraged Timothy:_ “from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”_ (2Tim 3:15).

And not only do we have to watch out for the wolves and predators out there, we have to be very aware of our sheepishness in here. Our own sin comes like a loud clashing, clanging gong to drown out the voice of God, who calls us by name to follow Him. We tend to want to go our own way, and stray off from our Good Shepherd. Sheep tend to do this. Isaiah the prophet says “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way” (53:6). In our sin we wander away and leave the presence of our Shepherd. We forsake our Lord’s leading us to abundant green pastures for our own desolate and dried out grasslands. We need to repent of this wandering and return to our Good Shepherd, listening to His voice above all things.

By His cross and glorious resurrection, Jesus shows Himself to be the Good Shepherd. Our Good Shepherd. He is the one who has laid down His life for the sheep, and He has taken it up again. He is the door, as we heard this morning, “If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (JN 10:9). Jesus is the only way to salvation, mercy and grace. He is it! All other religions, are false and empty. They are a den of thieves and robbers and strangers. The voice of the One True Shepherd Jesus Christ calls us to Himself and all who would be saved from sin. He calls us to Himself that we “may have life and have it abundantly.” There is no life without Christ, the Good Shepherd. There is only a meaningless existence, chasing feelings of excitement, one after another, that comes to a meaningless end. Christ is our Good Shepherd, come and hear His voice. Listen to Him. For He has gone through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and leads us to abundant life forevermore.

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!