Sunday, April 25, 2021

Good Shepherd Sunday Sermon

 



I am the good shepherd says Jesus, who lays down his life for his flock in contrast to the hirelings who run from the wolf who scatters and devours the sheep. That in mind, consider the gang of rapacious frauds, hucksters and mountebanks who lead us. Hirelings, in it for themselves as opposed to the people they supposedly represent. Who pays them?

We can get down in the weeds, zoom in and go microscopic on the various pay to plays which fund our betters' mansions, and what a stenching mass of corruption it is. But zoom out and ask who really pays these people, who do they really work for, consciously or otherwise. Well, it's not God, is it.

Yea, though I walk through the valley and shadow of death I will fear no evil. Pray for the grace to follow the true Shepherd and Bishop of our souls who leads us, yes, to the Cross but from there to the Resurrection and eternal life, to the green pastures and still waters of paradise. 

Here endeth the lesson, and behold, I haven't mentioned sheeple or mask zombies once.

God bless,

LSP

++++

"The Shepherd whose voice we listen for always wants to draw us to him, to make us more fully his own. For the sheep, discerning the voice of the shepherd is a matter of life and death: get it wrong, and you find yourself responding to the hired hand, or the thief, or the butcher. For us, too, discerning the voice of the shepherd is a matter of life and death: to hear and respond to his voice is to live into the abundant life he promises. To ignore it shuts us off from the life and love for which we are made. ‘My sheep hear my voice’, says Jesus. ‘I know them, and they follow me’. The sheep follow because they are known; because the shepherd is trustworthy. For even when we get it wrong: when we listen to the wrong voices, or fail to discern the voice of the shepherd, he will come and find us and call us home. For nothing can snatch us out of his hands." (Br. Dominic Austin, Oratory of the Good Shepherd)


God of peace, you raised from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant. Help us to know him as our Lord, to listen to his voice, and to follow him wherever he leads; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

5 comments:

Undergroundpewster said...

This Sunday I could not get "All We Like Sheep" from Handel's "Messiah" out of my head. We have a Good Shepherd, but we the Sheeple have turned and gone our own way. https://youtu.be/bOaSa78_NM0

drjim said...

Thank you, Parson.

Paul M said...

With LL’s morning Sermonette, this was a perfect segue for our Sunday evening Bunkhouse devotional time. h/t

LSP said...

Glad it helped, Paul. And I liked LL's short reflection on Scripture very much. Faith seeking understanding, sort of thing, as opposed to the other way around. A serious distinction.

drjim said...

"Faith Seeking Understanding" pretty much describes me....