Misericordias Domini—The Only Good Shepherd
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As you progress from childhood to adulthood, there are certain realities you become increasingly aware of when it comes to those who are in authority over you—the leaders or shepherds in your life. You realize that they aren't any different than you. They are also imperfect. And they can stumble. Whether it be a teacher, a pastor, a parent, police officer, or some other shepherd, you see as you mature that they aren't like Superman or Gandalf—they are not perfect. They have faults. They make mistakes. They might even have persistent struggles that you don't realize as a child. But you begin to notice that when you grow older. They are not any different than you.
Unfortunately, those God has placed in our lives to shepherd us can sometimes go beyond the fall into sin that every Christian experiences. There are times in life we are faced with someone we looked up to and depended on for guidance, encouragement, even protection, who ends up committing acts that range from disappointing or disheartening to abominable and detestable. You find out that your mentor was an alcoholic when you hear that they are dying of liver failure. A teacher or a pastor that you depended on in important moments in your life is suddenly exposed as an adulterer or a pedophile. Your parents or your friend’s parents—who you thought loved each other and served as an example to you of godly marriage—suddenly get divorced, and there's not a justifiable reason for it.
I'm sure many of you have had a similar experience like that. When a leader in your life disappoints you or scandalizes you and leaves you feeling rudderless, abandoned, disillusioned—maybe even despairing and betrayed—to use a scriptural illustration, like a sheep without a shepherd, it leaves you feeling that way.
Our Old Testament for today is right in the middle of God talking about shepherds not doing what they should be doing, before and after the great promises He makes in that Old Testament reading. Just a few verses after what you heard, the Lord says:
“Isn’t it enough for you that you feed on the good pasture? Must you trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? Isn’t it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you muddy the rest with your feet?” (Ezekiel 34:18)
Commenting on that passage in his book On the Pastoral Office, Gregory the Great writes:
“Indeed pastors”—and you can insert ‘leaders’ in general—“drink the clearest water when with an accurate understanding they imbibe the streams of truth. But the same disturb the water with their feet—muddy it up—when they corrupt the study of holy meditation with an evil life. Obviously, the sheep drink that which was muddied by feet, when as subjects they do not attend to the words that they hear, but imitate only the depraved examples that they observe. While the laity thirst for what is said—the Word of God—they are perverted by the pastor’s works, as if they were to drink mud from a polluted fountain. Consequently, it is written, ‘Bad prophets are a snare of ruin.’ Likewise, the Lord speaks again of evil priests through the prophet: ‘They were a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel.’ No one does more harm in the Church than he who has the title or rank of holiness and acts perversely. This is because no layperson presumes to refute the delinquent. Moreover, because such a sinner is honored by the dignity of his rank, his offenses spread considerably by way of example.”
That was written a long, long time ago, but it is still very true today.
When someone is in a place of authority and they commit public sins and scandalous behavior, it leads people astray in the Church—even Christians. But it's not just that they do damage by leaving a bad example through their words and actions. It's not just that. Because pastors aren't perfect—and leaders in general are not perfect—it’s not just that they give a bad example. Because we're going to do that.
Their scandal can cause people to dishonor and disrespect those in authority in the future because of this or that past abuse. Movements like feminism are in some part a rejection of God's order—I'd say a majority rejection of God's order. But if we're going to be honest with ourselves, it's also a reaction against abuses of men in authority as well. That is why oftentimes Christians can fall prey to the ungodly ideology of feminism: because they experienced abuse from a leader.
The same can be said of those who seem to disrespect the office of pastor or distrust pastors in general. It is wrong to just look at your pastor—or others placed in spiritual authority over you—with this sense of suspicion constantly, just looking at them with a magnifying glass, mistrusting them and disrespecting them. That's wrong.
But honestly, there are times when people are doing that out of response to the scandalizing and abusive behaviors of pastors. We have to take a good look at ourselves—and leaders need to take a good look at ourselves—and realize how we led to these problematic ways of thinking.
It is worth acknowledging that these past abuses of power and past sins of other men and those in authority will never justify abandoning God's commandment. But the effect we who lead have on future generations is real. It's why God says in the close of the Ten Commandments:
“I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.” (Ex. 20:5)
Sin is a carpet bomb—especially when it's done by those in authority. It doesn't just affect the person they sinned against in particular, but everyone who has witnessed it. And for generations.
Whether a leader in weakness causes public offense by behaving as a hireling, or they are an outright thief or wolf seeking only to steal, kill, and destroy—real damage is done. And a Christian can be left thinking: Who can I trust if I can't trust them? I thought I really knew them. How could they do this? If these are the best we have, then what in the world are we going to do? These men are supposed to be shepherds.
In our cynicism, despair, grief, rudderlessness—in those times when we feel abandoned by those who were supposed to care for us—Jesus reminds us who the true Good Shepherd actually is. He says:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:11–16)
There is no other shepherd.
Our Lord sends under-shepherds. He sends pastors, parents, teachers, and other authorities. And He does work through those under-shepherds to provide for us in body and soul. He does this—God does this—our Lord Jesus does this. But there is only one Good Shepherd: Jesus.
Think of every time you've been disappointed by your leaders. Every time they caused you great grief and made you feel abandoned. Every time they, in their weakness, scandalized you and the rest of Christ’s flock. Every time a respected pastor—a pastor that you respected—sinned in some grievous and public way. Or you came to realize that a pastor you loved and respected was teaching false doctrine and wasn’t repenting of it. Every time you've seen a pastor or other leader give up responsibility to maintain peace in the congregation or to hold people accountable—or behaved in some other disappointing or despicable way.
Think of those moments. Remember how it felt. Let that settle in for a second. Think on it. How it felt.
And then answer in your mind: When, during any of these difficult moments, did your Good Shepherd leave you alone?
Never. Never.
When you had to leave this or that congregation, when you had to cut ties, when you were abandoned by mere human leaders, was there ever a moment that your Lord Jesus wasn't there giving relief to you?
No.
Our Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The only one. He isn’t like the false prophets of Ezekiel’s time that said, “Peace, peace,” when there wasn’t any peace. And then the destruction of Jerusalem took place, and they were gone—they were surprisingly silent. Jesus isn’t like that.
Our Good Shepherd isn’t like the Pharisees in His time, who He even said:
“sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works.” (Matthew 23:2–3)
Those men—those false shepherds—who "bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers" (v. 4). Jesus is not like that.
Your Good Shepherd isn't like those leaders who, when Judas Iscariot came begging for help—repenting of betraying his Lord, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood”—those so-called shepherds said to him, “What is that to us? You see to it!” Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself in despair (Matthew 27:3–5). They were supposed to be shepherds. Our Lord is not like that.
He is the Good Shepherd. Your Lord has never left you as sheep without a shepherd.
When you were surrounded by wolves—enslaved to your own sin and unbelief, enslaved to the devil—your Lord came and snatched you away. He came and stood between you and that murderer, and He laid down His life to satisfy God’s Law—the Law that the devil used, and was right in his accusation, but used to accuse you before God, to say: You cannot be here. You are wicked. The devil, who would blasphemously look at God and say: You can’t bring them into Heaven with You. They can’t be in Your presence. They are evil and unbelieving.
Our Good Shepherd stood between the devil and the Father and laid down His life to satisfy the Law and to shut the devil’s mouth—to shut down those accusations for you. And He picked that life up again. And He is still now here as your Good Shepherd and has never left you alone, not for a single second. He laid down His life for you, and He took it back up again. And He knows you. And you know Him.
You don’t really know other people’s hearts. That’s why it’s true, when you see leaders do bad things and you say, “I guess you really can never know a person. I thought I knew them.” It’s a little truth that you’re experiencing in that moment. The truth the Scriptures say: “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man” (Psalm 146:3). They are men. They will die. Their plans will perish with them. Do not put your trust in them. It doesn’t mean you reject authority. But you don’t put your eggs in that basket.
But you do know your Shepherd. You know Jesus. You know the Father's heart, because the One who eternally is in the bosom of the Father—our Lord Jesus—has made it known. You know Him. He is not a liar. He is never going to shock you with wickedness. You know Him. And you can rest in Him. And He is always your Good Shepherd.
You can never really know a mere human person. But you, dear Christian, know your Good Shepherd. And the One you know—He knows you. He knows you from before the foundation of the world.
There are so many times in the Gospels where it feels as though Jesus is talking to the people right there in front of Him, and then all of a sudden, it's like He's thinking of someone else—or kind of looking in the background at us—and saying some things in particular to us, like an aside in a play. It feels that way sometimes.
Last week, I feel like the example of that was with Thomas. He says, “You’ve seen and you believe because you’ve seen,” and then all of a sudden, He looks up at us and says, “But blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
This week, something similar has happened. When He says:
“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” (John 10:14–15)
That’s to us. It’s also to that crowd right there. But it feels as though He’s still talking to the crowd, and then He looks past them at us and looks us in the eyes and says:
“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (v. 16)
He’s looking at you—even 2,000 years ago—and before the foundation of the world, and knows you are His sheep and knows you will hear His voice and knows that you will know Him and knows that He will bring you into those pastures, through all the times that wolves and thieves and robbers and hirelings scandalize you. He knows it. He knows you. He knows when you are enduring the affliction of unfaithful shepherds in this life. And it is to you that He says, in response to that unfaithfulness:
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel’” (Ezekiel 34:11–14)
These are the mountains of Israel, by the way.
“‘Yes, I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,’ says the Lord God.” (v. 15)
All those thieves and robbers and hirelings that came before—let them go their own way. But our Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, He will—and has already—bound us up, gathered us together, daubed us with oil, washed us, and given us living water. And He is about to give us that good pasture again, and will continue to do it.
He will never stop. And you will never be alone, no matter what leader in this life disappoints you.
Let us pray. Lord God, heavenly Father, in Your fatherly goodness, You have been mindful of us poor, miserable sinners and have given Your beloved Son to be our Shepherd, not only to nourish us by His Word but also to defend us from sin, death, and the devil. Pour out Your Holy Spirit on us, so that as our Shepherd knows us and provides for us in every affliction, we also may know Him and, trusting in Him, seek help and comfort in Him, obey His voice with all our hearts, and obtain eternal salvation. Through Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
