The Good Shepherd

A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter - Misericordias Domini

John 10:11-16

April 19th, 2026

Standing up here looking out toward all of you I am constantly reminded of Jesus our Good Shepherd. The image in the stained glass window will not let me forget. Jesus the Good Shepherd tending His flock. Holding one of His dear lambs in His arms. My eyes are continually drawn to it throughout the service.

There is a point in the liturgy when I especially notice the window. It comes during the Service of the Sacrament. As I complete the Words of Institution and turn away from the altar and lift up the chalice and the host and say, “The peace of the Lord be with you always” as I make the sign of the cross with the host over the chalice.

There are three things that happen in that sequence of the liturgy that I notice. First, as I turn and lift the chalice and host, in my vision they start below the baptismal font and then pass in front of the font as I lift them up. It’s a reminder that the Good Shepherd brings us into the fold, the Church, through baptism. We the sheep needed to be washed clean, our sins forgiven, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

From death to life, we are taken into and covered in Jesus our Good Shepherd. We are now in the fold, one of the sheep in the flock. Once in the fold it is time to eat. The Good Shepherd desires to feed us with His Words and His Holy Supper, all of which is Himself.

After the chalice and host pass the font I continue until they get to the image of the Good Shepherd in the window. The chalice stops directly under the Good Shepherd’s image, with the host partially covering the image. The body, the blood, lifted up. The real presence of Jesus the Good Shepherd for all to see as we prepare to feast on Him.

The Good Shepherd was lifted up on the Cross, His body given into death, and His blood poured out to save us. His body crucified and risen is the host, the bread that we eat. His blood poured out to cleanse us from all sin is in the cup lifted up from which we will drink.

We eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus our Good Shepherd. It is true food for the sheep. Food we need to stay strong and survive in the wilderness.

I then make the sign of the Cross with the host over the chalice and say, “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” As I do that the image of the Good Shepherd stays behind the host at the center of the cross in my vision. The peace He gives is the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Then, while I am still holding up the chalice and host, you the congregation begin singing the Agnus Dei, O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.

The Good Shepherd is the Lamb of God. He became one of the sheep in order to lay down His life and die for the sheep. His flesh is true food. His blood is true drink. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who became one of the sheep, but He’s also the pasture in which we find rest and nourishment for the difficult journey in the wilderness. We feed on Him, we rest in Him. Jesus the Good Shepherd is everything for us.

At the first church I was called to, St. Paul in Fort Wayne, the senior pastor, Pastor Cage, would hold the chalice and the host up until the congregation finished singing that first verse. It makes sense when you understand what is going on at that moment. The true body and true blood of Jesus is elevated for all to see.

We don’t in anyway worship that host of bread or chalice of wine, but we recognize what it is and acknowledge the necessity to receive it often for the nourishment of our faith.

It is the true and very body and blood of Jesus Christ Crucified and risen for you that is lifted up. With Jacob we can rightly cry out every Sunday Divine Service: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

The font, the chalice, the host, the image of the Good Shepherd, the peace of the Lord spoken and the Agnus Dei sung, such a fitting and beautiful confession of Jesus our Good Shepherd who comes to tend and feed us His sheep with Himself.

That moment the chalice and host is elevated is the high point of the Divine Service. It is how Jesus the Good Shepherd wants us to see Him. In the Words spoken and sung and in the bread and the wine which is His very body and blood laid down in death and then risen and alive today - taken into us. There is no greater or better way to see our Savior the Good Shepherd than in His Word and Sacrament - they are the Fruit of the Cross which He won and brings to us as often as we gather together around Him.

I cannot imagine having a Sunday church service without the heavenly banquet of Jesus body and blood. Without His real presence in the bread and wine available it’s only a prayer service. But with the real presence of Jesus in the bread and the wine with the Word it is a Divine Service of the Good Shepherd. I praise God that we get the full Jesus every time we gather together here on a Sunday morning.

The image of the Good Shepherd in my sight along with the Word and the Sacrament is a constant reminder of the work the Good Shepherd wants done for His sheep. It’s all about feeding the sheep with Himself.

We don’t have anything to offer the Good Shepherd when we gather together. We don’t obey the Third Commandment to earn something for our good work. The Good Shepherd does not ask us to bring anything to Him except our sin and imperfection. And He takes our sin and imperfection from us and gives us His perfection. And once again we are cleansed and forgiven.

The Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep. But He didn’t lay it down so we could simply remember it. In remembering it He also wants us to receive the Fruit that He earned when He laid His life down on the Cross. He wants the remembering and receiving to be the most important thing in our life. The thing we schedule all other things around.

There is no greater or higher “religious” experience anywhere in life than right here on a Sunday morning in the Divine Service. You could go to an auditorium with tens of thousands of people praying and singing praise songs to Jesus, with their hands in the air, an “amazing experience” I am sure, but it would pale in comparison to what is actually happening right here in the Divine Service every Sunday morning when the Good Shepherd gathers us and feeds us.

Even if there were only two or three of us gathered together around the Word and the true presence of Jesus in the bread and wine it would be the greatest and most holy experience in the world. Because ultimately it’s not about the experience or how you feel. It’s about what you receive from your Good Shepherd when He gathers us together.

We belong to Him. He purchased us with His own blood. We hear the Good News, and we follow Him. We gather in the fold. He tends and feeds us with Himself. He speaks His Words of life into our ears. His Law kills the sinful flesh, and His Gospel raises us to new life and saves us.

The Good Shepherd deals with us as His own dear lambs in His way. When we run towards the wolf, He calls out with a stern warning before it’s too late, lest we reach the jaws of the evil beast and perish eternally.

Turned back from danger He carries on His shoulders back into the fold. He tends our wounds, replenishes our faith, and puts us out into His pasture by the still water. He reminds us that we are baptized into His death and resurrection. He puts His very body and blood crucified yet alive into us. We listen, we eat, we drink and we live eternally.

This work is done to us individually and yet not separate from but intimately connected to and a part of the fold, the Church, the gathering together, which is the body of Jesus. It is a community that we cannot be separate from in order to survive in the wilderness. In here we are protected from the wolf who wants to attack and kill those who wander from the fold.

In the fold He will not let us be harmed by the wolves. He will not let us eat from poisonous pastures or polluted waters. Jesus is the green pasture in which we find rest and nourishment. From Him flows still living waters in which we drink and will never thirst again. He is pure and holy. He makes us pure and holy with Himself.

The Good Shepherd’s desire is that we stay in the fold and feed on His goodness as one body gathered together. That’s what church is.

In here the lost are brought to repentance and forgiven. Those who’ve strayed are restored back to the body of Jesus where we are reconciled and made one with each other. The brokenhearted, the injured, the sad and depressed, the sick and dying are fed with rich pasture and strengthened in the arms of the Good Shepherd for life eternal.

May we desire to always abide in the fold and let the Good Shepherd care for us, feed us, and love us as He desires. Then we can know for certain that the goodness and mercy of the Good Shepherd will follow us all the days of our lives, and when this life ends and we depart this veil of tears, the Good Shepherd will pick us up and carry us home and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Thanks be to Jesus, our Good Shepherd. In Jesus name. Amen.