For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. I Peter 2:25
Return to the Shepherd
From time to time, the Bible calls us “sheep.” That isn”t very flattering, is it? If a wolf is bearing down, how could a single sheep protect itself? The score every time is: Wolf 1, Sheep 0. If there is a drought, where would the sheep find decent water and grass? And the very worst? If a sheep goes astray into real but invisible danger, they have no way of escaping it.
How incriminating it is to hear the apostle Peter tell us, “you were like sheep going astray.” Perhaps you thought you could handle a little temptation on the computer. Or you thought you could get drunk just once and then get behind the wheel. Or, you thought you deserved the right to stay angry at so-and-so. The danger became oh-so-real, oh-so-fast.
It’s time to return to the Shepherd. No more excuses. No more wandering. No more thinking that you can stare temptation in the eye and handle it alone. No more thinking that you can solve all your problems. No more being deceived into thinking that you’re in control when you are not. Return to the Shepherd! Let him be your Overseer. Let his promises guide your way. Listen to him as he tells you, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). There you are safe for eternity.
Prayer:
Dear Shepherd, I don’t want to wander from you. Please watch over me that I might never go astray and be safe under your promises. Amen.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:6
With Jesus My Shepherd, I Am Home
By the time David was finally crowned king of Israel at the age of 30, he had spent nearly half of his life on the run from the jealous King Saul, who saw him as a rival to be eliminated. At one point, David pleaded with the king to give up this pointless manhunt, saying, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of?” (1 Samuel 26:18). Although the king relented that day, it would still be some time before David could settle down in one place.
How exhausting it must have been to be constantly hounded that way for so many years! You likely do not have a mortal enemy like young David did. But maybe you have felt chased in a more metaphorical way—constantly pursued by memories of past mistakes, of words or actions that make you blush or inwardly moan just to think of them years later. Hounded by a guilty conscience, we may even begin to doubt whether God will forgive us. David had that experience too, after making some terribly sinful choices later in life. He wrote in Psalm 51: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.”
In the closing verse of what is probably David’s most famous psalm, he writes of a very different kind of chase: “Surely your goodness and love will follow me [literally, pursue me] all the days of my life.” David had learned that no matter how great our sin, the Lord’s love for us is even greater. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, pursues his wandering sheep and gently restores us to himself. During our life on earth, the Lord invites us to find shelter in his house of worship; and when we depart from this earth one day, he will welcome us into his heavenly home, where “the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd…. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17).
Prayer: (CW, 552:6)
And so through all the length of days
Your goodness fails me never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing your praise
Within your house forever! Amen.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5
With Jesus My Shepherd, I Am Honored
The story arc of Psalm 23 moves fast enough to make your head spin. It begins with David identifying with a lowly sheep, content to recline in the presence of the Lord, his loving Shepherd, knowing that plenty of green grass and clean water are available. Then Shepherd and sheep are up and walking, and the paths seem right—until suddenly all is dark and scary. Fortunately, David is aware that the Shepherd is with him in that shadowy valley, fending off unknown and unseen assailants on every hand. One verse later, the darkness is lifted, revealing the enemies before him, but the tables have turned in an unexpected way. The lowly sheep from the pasture is now the guest of honor at the Lord’s own Table. Those who meant harm to him can do nothing but watch in humiliation and defeat, as he receives every sign of hospitality and honor.
Perhaps this sequence of events reflects the way King David looked back on his own life. He went from a young man tending his father’s sheep to a giant-slayer to being hunted by the king as a traitor to being anointed and crowned king himself. How could a young shepherd ever imagine receiving such honor? In gratitude for all these blessings and more, David prayed, “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?” (2 Samual 7:18). He knew better than anyone that it was only by God’s grace that he was blessed in this way.
Jesus Christ—both David’s descendant and his Lord—is the Shepherd King who displays lavish hospitality on us, the sheep of his flock. He took our shame and lowliness upon himself, dying in our place, so that he might share his glory with us. When Satan points out our sin, Jesus stuns him into silence, graciously inviting us to his Table where our Lord’s own body and blood assure us of forgiveness. Jesus, our Shepherd, welcomes us as honored guests, anointing us with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Prayer: (CW, 552:5)
You spread a table in my sight,
A banquet here bestowing;
Your oil of welcome, my delight;
My cup is overflowing. Amen.
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25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And on the earth nations will be in anguish, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the surging waves, 26 people fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. [1]28 But when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near.”
29 He told them a parable. “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 As soon as they are sprouting leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is actually near. 31 So also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Amen I tell you: This generation [2] will not pass away until all these things happen. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Be Ready!
34 “Watch yourselves or else your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the worries of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly. [3]35 For it will come like a trap on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Stay alert all the time, praying that you may be able to escape all these things that are going to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 During the days, Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, and each night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives. 38 And all the people came early in the morning to listen to him in the temple courts.
Footnotes
Luke 21:27 Daniel 7:13
Luke 21:32 Or kind of people
Luke 21:34 A few witnesses to the text read suddenly like a trap. Yes, it will come on all those . . .
1 Jesus looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the offering box. 2 He saw a poor widow there putting in two small coins. [1]3 He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow put in more than everyone, 4 for all these put in some of their leftovers as gifts to God, [2] but she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on.”
The Destruction of Jerusalem and the End of the World
5 As some were talking about the temple, how it was decorated with beautiful stones and offerings, Jesus said, 6 “These things that you see here—the days will come when there will not be one stone left on another—every one will be thrown down.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what is the sign that these things are about to happen?”
8 He said, “Watch out so that you are not deceived! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 Whenever you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end will not be right then.”
10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be horrifying sights and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13 It will turn out to be your opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand how to defend yourselves, 15 for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, [3] relatives, and friends. They will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By patient endurance you will gain your lives.
20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are inside the city get out. Let those who are in the country not enter the city. 22 For these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that has been written. 23 How terrible it will be for those who are pregnant and nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken captive to all nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Footnotes
Luke 21:2 Literally lepta. One lepton was a coin worth about 1⁄128 of an agricultural worker’s daily wages.
Luke 21:4 Or put in gifts to God from their abundance
Luke 21:16 Greek adelphoi. Depending on the context, this plural word may refer to brothers or siblings (including any sisters). See Luke 14:26 where the text literally says brothers and sisters.
47 Every day he was teaching in the temple courts, but the chief priests, the experts in the law, and the leaders of the people continued to look for a way to put him to death. 48 They could not find any way to do it, because all the people were clinging to him and listening.
Jesus’ Authority Is Questioned
Luke 20
1 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the good news, the chief priests and experts in the law came to him with the elders. 2 They asked him, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things. Or who is the one who gave you this authority?”
3 He answered them, “I will also ask you one question. Tell me: 4 the baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?”
5 They discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
8 Jesus said to them, “Neither am I going to tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
9 He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to some tenant farmers, and went away on a journey for a long time. 10 When it was the right time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenant farmers beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. 11 The man went ahead and sent yet another servant, but they also beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 He then sent yet a third. They also wounded him and threw him out. 13 The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my son, whom I love. Perhaps they will respect him.’
14 “But when the tenant farmers saw him, they talked it over with one another. They said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. So what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others.”
When they heard this, they said, “May it never be!”
17 But he looked at them and said, “Then what about this that is written:
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? [1]
18 “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush the one on whom it falls.”
19 That very hour the chief priests and the experts in the law began looking for a way to lay hands on him, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.
Paying Taxes to Caesar
20 They watched him carefully and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, so that they could trap Jesus in something he said, and then deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor. 21 They questioned him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right and show no partiality to anyone, but you teach the way of God on the basis of the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But he was aware of their deceit and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. [2] Whose image and inscription are on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they answered.
25 He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 They were not able to trap him in what he said in the presence of the people. They were amazed at his answer and became silent.
The God of the Living
27 Some of the Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him. 28 They asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother. [3]29 So there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died childless. 30 The second took her as a wife, [4]31 and so did the third, and in the same way the seven died and left no children. 32 Finally the woman died too. 33 So in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”
34 Jesus said to them, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy to experience that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 In fact, they cannot die any more, for they are like the angels. They are sons of God, because they are sons of the resurrection.
37 “Even Moses showed in the account about the burning bush that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord: ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ [5]38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”
39 Some of the experts in the law answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 Then they no longer dared to ask him anything.
David’s Son and David’s Lord
41 Jesus said to them, “How is it that they say that the Christ is David’s son? 42 David himself says in the book of Psalms:
The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 43 until I make your enemies a footstool under your feet.” [6]
44 “So David calls him ‘Lord.’ Then how is he his son?”
Beware
45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the experts in the law, who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and offer long prayers to look good. They will receive greater condemnation.”
Footnotes
Luke 20:17 Psalm 118:22
Luke 20:24 A denarius was worth about one day’s wage.
Luke 20:28 Deuteronomy 25:5
Luke 20:30 Some witnesses to the text add and this one died childless.
29 As he came near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ahead, 30 saying, “Go to the village ahead of you. When you enter it, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you will say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 Those who were sent ahead went and found things just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 They said, “The Lord needs it.”
35 Then they brought the colt to Jesus. They threw their robes on the colt and set Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their robes on the road. 37 As he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to praise God joyfully, with a loud voice, for all the miracles they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! [1] Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 He replied, “I tell you, if these people would be silent, the stones would cry out.”
41 As he came near, he saw the city and wept over it. 42 He said, “If you, yes you, had only known on this day [2] the things that would bring peace to you. But now, it is hidden from your eyes. 43 In fact, the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 Within your walls, they will dash you and your children to the ground. And within your walls, they will not leave one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time when God came to help you.” [3]
Jesus Cleanses His Father’s House
45 Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling [4] things there. 46 He told them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ [5] but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!” [6]
Footnotes
Luke 19:38 Psalm 118:26
Luke 19:42 Some witnesses to the text read this your day.
Luke 19:44 The time when God came to help you is literally the time of your visitation.
Luke 19:45 Some witnesses to the text add and buying.
1 Joseph put his face against his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him. 2 Joseph commanded the physicians who served him to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were set aside for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians mourned for him for seventy days.
4 When the days of mourning for Jacob were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh. He said, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak directly to Pharaoh for me and say 5 that my father made me take an oath. He said to me, ‘Look, I am dying. Bury me in my tomb that I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will return here again.”
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, just as he made you swear to do.”
7 Joseph went up to bury his father, and all the officials of Pharaoh went up with him: the senior officials of Pharaoh’s household, all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 Both chariots and horsemen went up with him. It was a very great entourage.
10 They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is on the other side of the Jordan, and there they mourned with a very loud and bitter lament. Joseph mourned for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, witnessed the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very solemn mourning by the Egyptians.” That is why they named the place Abel Mizraim. [1] It is beyond the Jordan. 12 His sons did for him just what he commanded them to do: 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field at Machpelah, which Abraham had purchased along with the field. He purchased it from Ephron the Hittite, as a piece of property for a burial site near Mamre. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt—he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
Joseph and His Brothers
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and will pay us back in full for all of the evil that we did to him.”
16 They sent the following message to Joseph: “Before he died your father commanded us, 17 ‘You are to tell Joseph, “Please forgive the offense of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.”
Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 His brothers also came and fell down in front of him, and they said, “See now, we are your servants.”
19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring this to pass and to keep many people alive, as it is this day. 21 Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them and spoke to them in a kind way.
The Death of Joseph
22 Joseph lived in Egypt, he and his father’s household. Joseph lived one hundred ten years. 23 He saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Makir, the son of Manasseh, were placed on Joseph’s knees when they were born. 24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Joseph made the descendants of Israel swear an oath. He said, “God will surely visit you. Then you shall carry my bones up from here.” 26 So Joseph died when he was one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Footnotes
Genesis 50:11 Abel Mizraim means mourning of the Egyptians.
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The Conference of Presidents (COP) met for its spring meeting April 8-9. Here are some of the items they discussed or decided: Three new COP members were chosen as COP […]
Under the theme “Rest,” the conference included worship, devotions, Bible studies, and free time for fellowship. Guest speaker Don Patterson, WELS’ South Central district president, developed Bible studies to help […]
Over the past week, severe weather in the Midwest has impacted many WELS congregations as well as their members and neighbors. Pastor Dan Sims, director, WELS Christian Aid and Relief, […]
At its spring meeting, the WELS Board for Home Missions approved three new mission starts, continuing its work of bringing the gospel to growing communities across the United States while […]