Sermon preached at Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, SD, by Pr. Benjamin Tomczak.

"No wonder the Jews thought Jesus demon possessed and picked up stones to murder him when he said, “I am the good shepherd.” He wasn’t just painting a parabolic picture of what a wonderful guy he is. He made the stupendous claim: “I am that ‘I’ Ezekiel spoke of.” And while he came to lift up the lowly and cast down the mighty, to expose the subpar shepherding of throne and altar, he came to do it in an utterly unexpected way: “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus united throne and altar, prince and pastor, into one person, into himself. He let the world mockingly hail him as “the King of the Jews,” as he went about his kingly, shepherding work: finding his sheep and dying for his sheep. Then taking up that life again, showing himself to be the shepherd and king par excellence, the shepherd and king who, as Paul said today, destroys the last of our enemies: death"
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Listen here: http://www.bethelwels.com/home/180012820/180012826/audio/Chris-King-2014.mp3