Preparing for Worship - September 11, 2022

There is always a Good Shepherd Sunday on the 4th Sunday of the Easter season, showing that our Lord Jesus is our Good Shepherd. The readings this Sunday have a similar emphasis, but reminding us that we have all been lost sheep in this troubled world, with a sinful nature and many temptations to sinfulness. We would stay lost if it were not for God’s merciful help for us, in finding us and bringing us to Himself.

The Old Testament lesson is Psalm 119:169-176. The Psalmist has written verse after verse, speaking of the greatness of God’s Word and how much he loves and appreciates the Lord and His Word. Yet at the end of this long psalm, the writer still has to cry out for the right “understanding of the Word” and “longs for the Lord’s salvation.” He has to admit that he has “gone astray as a lost sheep,” and needs the Lord to “seek him” and draw him closer to Himself.

The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 34:11-24. God speaks and promises that “He will search for His sheep and will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” Some may neglect His sheep, but the Lord Himself will “seek the lost and bring back the strayed and bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.” There will one great Shepherd, from the line of David, Who will especially “feed His sheep” -  our Lord Jesus

In the Epistle lesson, 1 Timothy 1:(5-11) 12-17, Paul sees himself as “the foremost, the chief, of sinners, as a blasphemer and persecutor and opponent” of Christ and Christians. Yet even he received mercy because “Jesus came to save sinners” and if Paul could be saved, anyone can be rescued, by Christ's grace, no matters what we are struggling with or where we are spiritually.

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 15:1-10, Jesus Himself is being criticized for receiving “sinners” and even showing care for them by “eating with them.” Jesus tells parables of lost sheep and lost coins. If only one is lost, there is still the greatest of care and concern for that one sheep or one coin until it is found and restored. No one can repent and find his own way home. It is the Lord’s doing, by His mercy and forgiveness for the lost, even us. He rejoices over each one of us, who has been brought to faith in Him, through His Word and Baptism and all the good gifts He gives to us.