A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them (John 10:1–6). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus speaks to His Jewish opponents. Having just healed the man born blind, the Pharisees are seething at Jesus’ implication that they are spiritually blind; so blind, in fact, they are completely oblivious to their...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! No image of the Lord and His relationship with us strikes closer to the core of our being than the one we see as our theme for today: the image of the Lord as our Shepherd and us as His sheep. We sing about this relationship in our hymns for today: “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want” and “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us.” We hear it in the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” In Revelation: “The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd” (7:17). And in our text for today, John 10:27, Jesus tells us, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”   Shepherd and sheep: Why do you suppose this image has such power for us? Perhaps it’s because we link them together with peace and quiet. “He makes me lie down in green pastures… He leads me beside still waters.” Or maybe it’s because of how we think of sheep. Some people have ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Psalm 23 is the most familiar of all the psalms, and like an old friend, many of us have known it since childhood. This is the psalm that we want to hear when we are facing our own mortality, or lying in a hospital bed, or overwhelmed by disaster, or stricken with grief, or standing at the grave of a ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Dear family members, friends, and neighbors of Helen, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! We have the same readings for today that were read at the funeral of Helen’s husband, Jim, over 11 years ago. We were pretty sure that since Helen picked them out then, she would be happy to have them read today as well. Perhaps you noticed that three of the readings have a common theme: Following the Good Shepherd. In our Gospel, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” Then He promises: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29). The Good Shepherd called Helen to His flock when she was baptized as an infant at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Scarville, Iowa. There, in the water and ...