John 10:12-16.
I am a good shepherd; a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. But a hireling that is not a shepherd, that owneth not the sheep, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep. But the hireling fleeth; for he is a hireling, and regardeth not the sheep. I am a good shepherd, and know mine own, and am known to mine own; as my Father knoweth me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. And these I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and shall become One fold and One Shepherd.
(1) This is a comforting gospel, which beautifully illustrates the Lord Christ to us, and teaches us what kind of person he is, what kind of works he does, and what his attitude is toward people. But it is not to be misunderstood, for if one sets light and darkness, day and night, that is, a good shepherd and an evil shepherd, as the Lord himself does.
2. you have now often heard that god
*) Called Misericordias Domini. This sermon is only in a b c. It also appeared in nine separate printings from 1523. Cf. Erl. A. 12, 1 f.
D. Red.
has sent two kinds of preaching into the world: one is when one preaches God's word, which says: You shall not have strange gods; item: You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, Ex. 20:3, 13, 14, 15, and besides this threatens that whoever does not keep it shall be put to death. But the same preaching makes no one devout in heart. For though a man is compelled by this to pretend to be righteous outwardly before men, yet inwardly the heart is hostile to the law, and would that it were not.
3. the other preaching office is the gospel: which says where to take that one may
Do what the law requires; do not force or threaten, but entice people gently and kindly; do not say, "Do this and do that," but rather, "Come, I will show you where you should take it and get it, so that you may become righteous; behold, here is the Lord Christ, who will give it to you. Therefore the two are like taking and giving, demanding and giving; and the difference must be well understood. God has ruled the world in this way and is still ruling it. The law must be preached to rough and raw people who do not feel the gospel, and they must be driven until they are worn down and recognize their infirmities; when this is done, the gospel must begin.
These are the two divine sermons that come from heaven; above these are also others that do not come from heaven, but are human deeds that the pope and our bishops have brought up to shake the consciences. These are not worthy to be called shepherds nor hirelings; but they are whom Christ here calls thieves, murderers, and wolves. For if one is to govern people blessedly, one must do it by God's word; if one does not do it by God's word, then it remains unregulated.
Now Christ takes before Him the other office, and writes what it is, saying how He is the chief Shepherd, yea, the only Shepherd; for what He feedeth not is unfed. This comforting and lovely *) sermon we want to see.
(6) You have therefore heard that our Lord Christ, after his suffering and death, rose from the dead, and was set in an immortal being: not that he sat idle in heaven, and had pleasure in himself; but that he took the kingdom into his hands, and reigned, and was a king, of whom all the prophets and all the Scriptures speak much. Therefore let him be present without ceasing and sit in the reign; do not think that he is sitting up there idle, but that he is filling and ruling all things from above, as Paul says to the Ephesians Cap. 4, 10, and especially to be aware of his kingdom, which is the Christian faith.
*) Instead of "lovely", a b have "laudable". D. Red.
his kingdom must go with us here on earth. We have said of the kingdom that it is so ordered that we all increase day by day and must become purer, and that it is not ruled by some power, but by oral preaching, that is, by the gospel.
7 This preaching did not come from men, but Christ himself led it, and afterwards gave it into the hearts of the apostles and their descendants to fast, and into their mouths to speak and preach it; this is his kingdom, so he rules, so that all his power stands and rests on the word of God. Whoever hears this and believes, they belong to this kingdom. And the word then becomes so powerful that it creates everything that is necessary for people and brings all the goods that one may have. For it is God's power that it can and may make blessed all who believe in it, as St. Paul says to the Romans Cap. 1, 16. If you believe that Christ died to help you from all misfortune, and thus cling to the word, it is so certain and firm that no creature can overthrow it; just as no one can overthrow the word, so no one can do anything to you either, because you believe in it. So with the word you overcome sin, death, the devil and hell, and must come and flee to where the word is, that is, to eternal peace, joy and life; and recently, all the power that is in the word you will share. Therefore it is ever a strange kingdom: the word is there, and is preached orally before all the world; but the power thereof is almost hid, and no man perceiveth that it is so active, and worketh such great things; for they that believe must themselves feel and taste it in their hearts.
(8) Therefore we preachers can do no more than be the mouth of our Lord Christ, and his instruments, by which he preacheth the word bodily. He lets the word go forth publicly, so that everyone may hear it; but that it may be felt inwardly in the heart, this faith accomplishes, and is a secret work of Christ, where he sees that it is to be done according to his divine knowledge and pleasure. This is what he says: "I am a good shepherd." And what is a good shepherd? "A good shepherd."
says Christ, "lay down his life for his sheep; and I also lay down my life for my sheep." In this virtue the Lord understands it all together and sets a lovely likeness of the sheep. You see that the same animal is almost foolish and the most simple animal, that one also speaks when one wants to say of a simple one: It is a sheep. But it has this way before other animals, that it soon hears its shepherd's voice, and follows no one else but its shepherd, and is always so clever that it clings to its shepherd and seeks help from him alone; it cannot help itself, nor feed or heal itself, nor guard against wolves, but stands in foreign help.
(9) So Christ is like the same kind and nature of this animal, and makes himself a good shepherd. In this way he finely indicates what his kingdom is and where it stands, and wants to say this much: My kingdom is nothing else than that I rule the sheep, that is, the poor, meager and miserable people on earth, who well see and feel that nothing else can help them or advise them.
(10) But that we may make this the more clear, and that it may be understood, let us take a saying from the prophet Ezekiel, where he speaks of the evil shepherds who are against Christ, and says Cap. 34, 2. ff.: "Should not the sheep let the shepherds feed them? Why then do you feed yourselves? You have eaten the milk of the sheep, and with the wool you have covered yourselves, and that which was fat you slaughter. But my flock ye have not fed; that which was weak ye have not strengthened; that which was sick ye have not healed; that which was broken ye have not bound; that which was rejected ye have not restored; and that which was lost ye have not sought; but ye have ruled over them with severity and violence. And now my sheep are scattered, because they have no right shepherd; and all the beasts have devoured them, and are scattered upon all the mountains, and upon all the face of the earth"; and how more follows there. So God punishes here the shepherds who do not feed properly. And see how he writes. His serious opinion is here on this
He wants the weak, the sick, the broken, the rejected and the lost to be strengthened, made whole and healed, sought out again and not shaken or scattered. This ye ought to have done, saith he to the shepherds; but ye have not done it: therefore will I do it myself, as he saith soon after v. 16: "That which is lost will I seek again; that which is rejected will I fetch again; and that which is sick will I heal and make whole."
(11) Then you see that Christ's kingdom is to deal with the weak, the sick, and the brokenhearted, and to take care of them, that he may help them. This is a comforting sermon, but all that is lacking is that we do not feel our need and infirmity; if we did, we would soon run to it. But how did those shepherds do? They ruled with sharpness and enforced God's law with great violence; they also added their laws to it, as they do now; and if one does not keep it, they cry out and condemn one: so that it is nothing else but always enforced and enforced, commanded and commanded. That is not shepherding well, and governing souls, says Christ. And he is not such a shepherd, for no one is helped by this, but only spoiled to the full, as we shall hear. Now let us act the saying of the prophet one after the other.
012 First, he saith, The sheep that are weak shall be strengthened; that is, the consciences which are weak in the faith, and have a heavy spirit, and are weak in mind, shall not be driven, saying, Thou must do this, thou must be strong: if thou be weak, thou art lost. That is not strengthening the weak. So St. Paul says to the Romans Cap. 14, 1: "Receive the weak in faith, and confound not consciences." And soon after he says Cap. 15, 1: "But we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak." Therefore they should not be driven with severity, but should be comforted, though they are weak, so that they do not despair; in time they will become stronger.
(13) So also Isaiah the prophet says of Christ, Cap. 42, 3.: "The crushed
He will not break the reed, and he will not extinguish the smoldering wick." The crushed reed is the poor, weak and crushed conscience, which is easily shaken, so that it fidgets and despairs of God. He does not go to it and trample it underfoot, that is not his way; but he handles it carefully, so that he does not break it. Item, the smoldering wick, which still burns a little and there is more smoke than fire, are also the same; they should not despair, he will not extinguish it at all, but will always kindle it and strengthen it more and more. This is a great comfort to anyone who recognizes it; therefore, anyone who does not guide weak consciences carefully is certainly not a good shepherd.
14 The prophet says to the other: "Those who were sick should have been helped by you. Who are the sick? They are those who have outward infirmities in strange works. The first affects the conscience, when it is weak; the second the outward walk, so that a man may purr and be strange, and here and there err, transgressing with anger and other foolish works; as also the apostles sometimes stumbled in rude things. Neither will he cast away them that are outwardly weak in works before men, that they should be offended, saying, They are strange and odd: for his kingdom is not this time arranged, that there should be therein all strong and wholesome, for that pertaineth unto that life: but Christ is therefore set to take care of such men, and to help them.
015 Therefore, though we be weak and sick, yet shall we not be dismayed, neither shall we say, We are not in Christ's kingdom: but the more we feel our infirmities, the more and more shall we draw near unto him: for he is there to heal us, and to make us whole. If then thou art sick and a sinner, and feelest thine affliction, thou hast all the more cause to come unto him, saying, Dear Lord, I come for this very reason, that I am a sinner, that thou shouldest help me, and make me godly: so thou art driven by necessity. For the greater your affliction, the more it is necessary for you to heal yourself. He also wants to have this, and so he entices us that
we will go to him with joy. Those, however, who are not such shepherds, think they want to make the people pious when they shout and drive hostilely, and thereby only make it worse and worse; as one can see that it is now going on, that it has come to this through the perverse nature, that it is all so miserably scattered; as then the prophet says here.
16 To the third: What was broken you did not bind up. Broken is as when a leg breaks in two or is otherwise sore, that is, when a Christian is not only weak and has an infirmity that he stumbles at times, but also comes under great temptation that he breaks a leg. As when it comes that he falls and denies the gospel, as St. Peter did when he denied Christ. Now, even if one stumbles in such a way that it drives him back or even knocks him down, you should not throw him down as if he never belonged to this kingdom. For you must let Christ retain his characteristic, that in his kingdom there remains only abundant grace and mercy; so that he only wants to help those who feel their sorrow and misery and would like to get out, that it is indeed a comforting kingdom, and he is a comforting, friendly shepherd, that he entices and stimulates everyone to come to him.
(17) Now all this is done through the gospel alone, by which the weak are strengthened and the sick are healed, for it is such a word that ministers to all things where the conscience is lacking, and gives all comfort, so that no one may despair, no matter how great a sinner may be. Therefore Christ alone is the pious shepherd who heals all kinds of harm and restores those who have fallen. He who does not do this is no shepherd.
18 The prophet goes on to say, "What was rejected, you have not brought back. What is the rejected thing? It is a despised soul, which has been put to shame, so that it is thought that all is lost in it; yet Christ does not want it to be dealt with harshly. He does not want his kingdom to be so narrow that only the strong, the healthy and the perfect should be in it; that belongs to the future kingdom after this life.
As God promised the children of Israel in Exodus 3:8 that the Promised Land would flow with milk and honey. As St. Paul also says that the more dishonest members are honored, 1 Cor. 12, 23.
(19) In the fifth place he concludes, What was lost ye sought not again. That which is lost is that which is condemned, so that it is not thought to come again; as in the gospel are the publicans and harlots, and even now the reprobate savages; which nevertheless ought not to be left, but every thing that can be done to bring it again. This is what St. Paul did when he gave two of them to the devil, as he says to Timothy, 1 Ep. 1:20: "I have given them to the devil, that they might be chastened to blaspheme no more." And to the Corinthians he says 1 Ep. 5, 5. "I have already determined to deliver him up to the devil, to the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be blessed in the day of the Lord. JEsu." He threw them down as the damned, and yet fetches them again.
20 For this reason Christ is to be preached in such a way that he will not reject any man, no matter how weak he may be, but will gladly receive, comfort and strengthen everyone, so that he will always be exemplified as a pious shepherd. Then the hearts are added of themselves, that one may no longer force and drive people. The gospel entices and makes willing, so that people gain a desire for it and go up to it with all confidence, and that a love for Christ springs up in them, so that they gladly do everything they should, who before had to be driven and compelled. If we are driven, we do it with unwillingness and reluctance; God does not want that; therefore it is lost. But when I see that the Lord deals so kindly with me, he takes away my heart, that I must run to him; so then follows all joy and gladness in the heart.
21 Now behold, how evil it is for one man to judge another. Christ's kingdom, as we have heard, is designed to make only the sick and poor souls healthy and devout; therefore all must be lacking who with their eyes see only those who are strong and holy. Therefore the
a great mighty knowledge, if one recognizes Christ rightly. It is implanted in us by nature that we are boys in the skin and yet want everyone to be pious; we open our mouths and want to see only where there are vain, strong Christians; we do not want to look at the sick and weak ones either; we think that if they are not strong, they are not Christians, and we want to think that the others, if they are not completely holy, are evil; and we ourselves are more evil and worse than the others. This is done by the evil nature and our blind reason, which wants to measure God's kingdom according to its own liking, and thinks that since it is not pure before its eyes, it is not pure before God either.
22 Therefore you must put this out of your sight; for if you look much to it, you will at last come to the mind, that you will think, Well, where will I stay, if there must be only such Christians as are strong, healthy, and devout; when will I also come there once? And so you will do that you will never get there. Therefore you must finally be driven to say, "Dear Lord, I feel so weak, so sick and despondent; yet I will not let this deceive me, yet I will come to you to help me; for you are ever the good and pious shepherd, for this I hold you, therefore I will despair of my works.
(23) Therefore let men be wise, that they may know Christ, that in his kingdom there are only weak and sick people, and that it is nothing else than a hospital, where all the sick and infirm lie, which must be waited for. But very few people have understanding; this wisdom is very hidden, so that even those who have the gospel and a spirit may lack it; for it is the greatest wisdom that can be had. Therefore, even though they look at the Scriptures and see that they praise the kingdom of Christ and say how it is such a wonderful thing, they still do not perceive what the words mean and do not see how there is true wisdom in them, which is far above all human wisdom. For our prudence is not to deal with sensible, wise and prudent people, and from this
but to deal with fools and fools, and to take care of them; not to delight in them, but to help men out of them, that they may come out of sin and foolishness into righteousness and a right mind.
(24) You see that Christian wisdom is not to cast up one's eyes and look at what is high and wise, and be reflected in it, but to look down at what is low and foolish. He who knows this gives thanks to God, for through knowledge he becomes such a man that he can judge and send himself into all that is in the world. Therefore you will still find many (even those who preach the gospel) who have not yet come to it. Until now they have not been taught otherwise, and we are all so accustomed that we cannot come to Christ unless we are first completely pure; therefore you must come out of your senses and come to a right understanding, so that you may know Christ rightly, as he is a right shepherd. We have now heard enough about this.
025 Now he holds one good shepherd and one evil shepherd or hireling against another, saying:
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; but a hireling who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf catches and scatters the sheep; but the hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and respects not the sheep.
(26) Though he alone is the shepherd, yet, as he alone is Christ, and yet communicates the same name to us, that we also may be called Christians; so also, though he alone is the shepherd, yet he also gives this name to them that are to have the preaching ministry in Christendom. So he forbids in Matthew Cap. 23, 9. that we should not call anyone father on earth, because One is our Father in heaven; yet Paul calls himself a father of the Corinthians when he says: "I have given you birth in Christ Jesus through the gospel," 1 Cor. 4, 15. Thus God acts as if he alone wanted to be a father, and also gives the name to men so that they may be fathers.
But they have it not of themselves, but of Christ: as we also are called Christians, that we have nothing of ourselves, but that all things are given us through him. Now, "the hireling," saith he, "which is not a shepherd, and of whom the sheep are not his own, when he seeth the wolf coming, he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. "etc. This is truly a hard saying, that even those who preach and practice the gospel rightly, and strengthen and heal the sheep, are finally carried away and run away when the sheep need help the most. Because there is no wolf, they are diligent and feed well; but when they see the wolf coming in, they abandon the sheep. When they have fed well, so that the sheep are strong, healthy and fat, they are all the more dear to the wolf, for he has fed them before.
How does this work? So Christ means: In my kingdom, which is nothing else but strengthening the weak, healing the sick, comforting the despondent and so on, the holy cross will not remain outside. For if one preaches in this way that Christ alone must take care of, strengthen, heal and help us, who are the poor little sheep, and we ourselves are not able to help with our own strength and our works; so that all works must fall away, and what the world pretends to do, that it holds many services, it cannot suffer this sermon. So that the natural way of the gospel is that it brings with it the holy cross: whoever wants to confess it before the world must put his neck to it.
28 Because this is so, here on this road the right shepherds and the hirelings are separated. He who is a hireling preaches the gospel as long as he is said to be a learned, pious and holy man; but when he is attacked, and is called a heretic and a wicked man, and is urged to contradict, he recants, or runs away, leaving the poor sheep to sit there in misery; and it is worse than before. What good is it for the sheep that they were well fed before? If they were true shepherds, they would leave life and limb with the sheep, and for the sake of the gospel, they would leave them.
for the sake of the Lord's will. Therefore, those who preach in such a way as to gain honor, good and profit are certainly hirelings, for they also seek their own in the righteous doctrine and Word of God. Therefore they do not stay longer, because they have honor and price. Therefore, when the wolf comes, they step back and deny the word, or run away, leaving the sheep to hold out their mouths, wishing they had pasture, and the shepherd to protect them from the wolves; but there is none. And there they are left when it is most needful that they should be strengthened.
(29) So shall it be now; when it shall come to pass that we shall be attacked and persecuted, then shall the preachers draw in their mouths, and flee, and the sheep shall be miserably scattered, and shall pluck out one here, and another there. God grant that some will remain standing, who will risk their lives to save the sheep. Thus Christ has pictured the hirelings here. And says more:
I am a good shepherd, and know those who are mine, and am known to those who are mine.
30 These are wide words, would be too long to act through and through. He speaks here of the special office that belongs to him. I know my sheep, he says, and they know me again. How does this happen? He transfigures this further and speaks:
As my father knows me, so I know the father.
How does the Father know him? Not by worldly knowledge, but by divine knowledge. Of this we have said more before, and this is the sum of it: Christ knows us for his sheep; so we know him again for our shepherd. Now we have heard what a good shepherd is, and again what the weak sheep are. He recognizes us for such sheep as are weak, sick and broken, that is, he does not ask that his sheep be weak and sick, does not despise or reject them, but takes care of them and heals them, even though they may be so sick.
are fragile, so that the whole world thinks that they are not his sheep; and this is the knowledge of the world. But Christ does not know them in this way. He sees not what they are like, but whether they are sheep or not, whether they have a name, whether they are called sheep: it is the sheep he sees, not the wool.
(32) Now these are true shepherds, who follow Christ, and also discern the sheep in such a way that they look at the person, not at the infirmity, and make a distinction between the sheep and the disease.
(33) So also the Father knows me, says Christ, but the world does not know me. Now when it comes that I die an ignominious death on the cross, all men will say, "Yes, should this be the Son of God? he must be a damned man and of the devil, body and soul. So the world will look at me and recognize me; but my father will say: "This is my dear son", my king, my savior. He does not look at my misery, not at my wounds, not at my cross and death; but at the person I am. Therefore, even if I were in the midst of hell and in the devil's jaws, I must come forth again; for the Father will not let me. So I also know my sheep and they know me. They know that I am the good shepherd and know me; therefore they come to me and cling to me, not asking that they are weak and sick, but knowing that I want such sheep. Now he concludes here and says:
I have other sheep, which are not in this fold: and these I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and shall become one flock, and one shepherd.
(34) Some have also interpreted this saying to mean that it must be fulfilled soon before the last day, when the last Christ will come, and Elijah and Enoch. This is not true, and it was actually the devil who caused it to be believed that the whole world would become Christians. The devil did it because he obscured the righteous teachings so that they would never be understood. Therefore beware, for this saying came true and was fulfilled soon after, since Christ
has gone up to heaven, and is still going on. When the gospel began, it was preached to the Jews; this people was the sheepfold. So now he says here: "I have other sheep, which are not of this sheepfold; I must bring them also." Then he says that the gospel should also be preached to the Gentiles, that they should also believe in Christ, so that Jews and Gentiles might become one Christian congregation; which he then did through the apostles, who preached to the Gentiles and converted them to the faith. So now all is One Church or
Church, One Faith, One Hope, One Love, One Baptism and the like. This still continues today until the last day. Therefore you must not understand that the whole world and all men will believe in Christ; for we must always have the holy cross, that theirs are the several parts which persecute Christians; so also the gospel must always be preached, that we may always bring some to become Christians; for the kingdom of Christ is in process of coming, not of happening. This is what this gospel has recently proclaimed.