Eighth Sunday After Pentecost - Proper 11
July 22, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
Jeremiah
23:1-6 Ephesians 2:11-22 Mark 6:30-44
Grace, mercy and peace
to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. Our text today is the Gospel lesson,
especially these words, “he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion
on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ. Sheep without a shepherd are at
risk in a variety of ways. There is no
one to guard them, no one to lead them, no one to gather them together, and no
one to feed them. Sheep without a
shepherd live their lives in chaos, running amok, giving into their own desires
as a leaf blows in the wind. There is no
right and wrong, and when faced with danger, the whole flock can stampede over
a cliff together.
And yet, it is
this phrase that Christ uses about the people in our text today. He and his disciples have tried to go off by
themselves to “a desolate place to rest.”
But the crowds of people run ahead of them to meet them as they get off
the boat. There will be no rest for
Christ or his disciples, for these people need a shepherd. They need someone to have compassion on them,
to care for their weaknesses and to provide for their needs even as they are
protected from their enemies. And so the
Lord will be their shepherd, so that when they are with him they shall not want.
Jesus takes time
to “teach them” many things. Things that
they need to know. He proclaimed to them
the Gospel of God, and said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is
at hand! Repent and believe in the
Gospel.” (Mark 1:15) Believe the Word of God, that you are a
guilty sinner. Because of your sin you
must die. Because of your sin you must
suffer. Because of your sin you will
walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
In your sin you
are sheep without a shepherd – but even so the shepherd is coming. The Shepherd
who shall make all things right – who is even now before you. “Behold, the days are coming, declares
the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land. He shall be, as David was a
Shepherd King. And he will give peace to
his people, through his own blood and sacrifice.
When Christ is
done teaching the Scriptures to these people, when he is done restoring their
souls with God’s Holy Precious Word, and giving them comfort for sin, their
bodies are still hungry. Their bodies
are weak from the heat of the day and the lack of food in that desolate place. So there on the side of the still waters of
the lake, Jesus sets a table before them – a few loaves of bread and a few
fish. Jesus broke them into groups of
hundreds and fifties – congregations – and sets each group down in the green
grass – green pastures – and gives them a meal that truly satisfies them, the
cup Christ gives them overflows. On that
day he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to
them to eat, along with two fish. He fed
them, and they were full.
The Good Shepherd,
on the shore of the water in the green grass fed his sheep, and became their
shepherd. He fed their soul with His
Word, and he fed their bodies with bread.
He gave them direction, he gave them purpose, he gave them… forgiveness,
and peace, and protection even forevermore.
5,000 men – filled. 5,000 men and
their wives and children – stuffed! What
a shepherd! What a gift! What a
blessing!
And dear friends,
it is a blessing that God extends to you as well. You too are sheep without a shepherd are you
not? You too wander to and fro so often
without a care in the world. But even as
you do, you are scared, you are worried.
What will tomorrow bring. Will my
health hold out? When will my end come –
years from now, or tomorrow? Who will
protect me as I strive to protect those that I love? How can I ever do what I need to? For you are full of sin. You are guilty beyond belief. You have sinned in thought word and
deed. You’re a sheep whose run away from
God your shepherd. And in your
wanderings all you have found is the valley of the shadow of death.
So hear the words
of your Good Shepherd as he speaks in the Old Testament lesson, “I will gather
the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them,
and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and
multiply. I will set shepherds over them
who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither
shall any be missing, declares the Lord.”
Jesus is your
shepherd. He leads you beside still
waters – Nay! through them in baptism.
He breaks you into congregations – groups of hundreds and fifties – just
as Jesus does in our text. He teaches
you many things as here in this building His Word is proclaimed to you. It heals your soul, because His Word tells
you the truth: “YOUR SINS ARE ALL
FORGIVEN! Every one of them – all in the
blood of Jesus your Good Shepherd. Having
given you his word, he sets you down in good pasture and sets a table before
you – an altar filled with bread and wine that is not just bread and wine, but
which is very body and blood of Jesus Christ in with and under bread and wine,
again for the forgiveness of sins.
And just as Christ
gave the bread to his disciples to hand out to those gathered in our text, so
too does he give an undershepherd to you – to give you his gifts. An undershepherd, whose job – entirely by the
grace of God – is “to care for you, that you shall fear no more, nor be
dismayed, nor shall any of you be missing,”
To remind you of Jesus who is the true shepherd. The one who gave all to be with his
sheep. The Good Shepherd Jesus who has
compassion on his sheep.
That’s what today’s
Gospel says for you: “The Lord is your
shepherd, so you shall not be in want.
He makes you sit down in green pastures, he leads you beside still
waters, and restores your soul.” “He
sets a table before you” “And now, in Christ, in his name, in his gifts, in his
promises, “Goodness and mercy shall surely follow you all the days of your
lives.” And at long last, when your
journey is over, “you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
God’s promise to
you, from the mouth of the Good Shepherd, through the mouth of your lowly
undershepherd is this. You are forgiven,
so come and eat that you may be satisfied.
Amen.
