“One of the Flock”

2011easter03-misericordias

This is one of the most beautiful images in all the Bible.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  How many hymns to we have which confess this faith?  I am  Jesus’ Little Lamb.  Have no Fear, Little Flock.  Shepherd of Tender Youth.  And that isn’t even counting all of our Psalm 23 hymns like The Lord’s My Shepherd Leading Me, or The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll not Want.  The picture we get from so many of these hymns, which I love as well as you, is that of a kind shepherd, holding a little lamb over his back, bringing it to safety, leading the lamb beside the still waters, caring for it as if it was his own son or daughter.

But shepherding is not all quiet, pastoral scenes with gently braying lambs.  Far from it.  It doesn’t take much time around a flock of sheep to realize that they, well, they’re kind of loud and bossy.  They want to eat when they’re hungry, and they won’t take no for an answer.  They are going to go do their business whether it is a good place for it or not.  And they are always, always getting lost.  You would think that a sheep didn’t know what is best for him, far less a little lamb!  But there they are, hungry, in need, not always the brightest, but always in need.  And they look to the shepherd for all of this and more.

So what does it mean when Jesus says “I am the good shepherd”?  What it means is that Jesus is going to step in and do the dirty work.  Yes, he will carry the little lamb on his shoulders and bring it to safety.  But He will also guard and protect the flock from ravenous wolves who want nothing more than a mutton sandwich.  He will feed this flock, even if it means feeding the flock with His own flesh and blood.  He will hear their sins, and He will forgive them.  And what’s more, this Good Shepherd of ours will search out the sheep, near and far, lost and loud or cowing and hiding in silence.  That is what a good shepherd does.  He cares for the flock as his very own.

But this Good Shepherd, Jesus our Good Shepherd, He goes even farther.  Jesus not only cares for you.  He lays down His life for you.  He does this purely out of love.  Unlike the hireling who flees at the first sign of trouble, Jesus puts Himself squarely between the sheep and the wolf.  He stands between you and all even.  In fact, He made Himself from a shepherd into a Lamb so that you might live.  By His wounds you have been healed.  For when the shepherd turned Lamb lay down at the altar of the cross, He was sacrificed for all your sins, all of your needless bleating and braying.  He was sacrificed for your straying and listen to false voices and the siren allurement of the wolves who would destroy you.  He took all of it into Himself.  When you and I would fight back, would retaliate or try to get even, He did not.  In an amazing act of trust in His Father, Jesus stood His ground, the ground of Golgotha, and bore all of your suffering and sorrows to death itself.

He did this for you, because He is the Good Shepherd.  He is the God Shepherd.  The Lord says in Ezekiel:

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”   Ezekiel 34:11–16

This morning our Lord shows His love for two of His little lambs, who will be fed with His own body and blood for the first time this morning.  Our Lord does this because He loves them with an everlasting love, and because He promises to feed them all the days of their lives.  But this day is not about them.  At least not them alone.  It is about you.  God loves you with an everlasting love, a love so strong that not even death itself could hold Him back from caring for you and forgiving your sins.

Come now into the fold of His Church, His flock.  We are all sinners here, lost ones brought back to the fold by the voice of the One who died and rose again for us.   “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25).  Come and be fed along the waters once poured over you in Holy Baptism.  Come and be fed in the good pasture of His own Body and Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  Come, for all things are ready.  Come, return to the Lord, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Come, you are part of the fold.  Come, you are one in the family.

In the strong name of Jesus.  Amen.

And now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith to life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Easter 3 – Misericordias Domini (May 8, 2011)

John 10:11-16

On the First Communion of Lauren Noble and Isabella Peperkorn

easter02-2011

TITLE: “Peace be with you”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for this morning is from John 20.  We focus on the words, Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, Peace be with you.

We have heard the story of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  We have heard how he crushed Satan and won salvation for all who believe His Word.  This is the victory of God over all the powers of darkness and despair.  So why is it that the Sunday after Easter always seems like a letdown?  In the Church year this Sunday is sometimes called Low Sunday.  I’m not sure if this refers to low attendance or how low the disciples felt in our Gospel lesson, but it is certainly true that things are different for the disciples and for us.

Our Gospel lesson takes place the evening Jesus’ rose from the dead.  Last week we heard of the morning’s events.  Jesus rises from the dead, and appears to Mary Magdalene, and says her name.  When she went to tell the disciples, though, they didn’t believe her.  They thought she was crazy, or perhaps was drunk.  So that brings us to this week’s lesson

In our text the disciples are hiding behind closed doors for fear of the Jews.  Jesus has risen from the dead, but the disciples are afraid.  They are afraid of the Jews, they are afraid they are going to be found out, they are afraid that they have put their hope in a dead God.  What could be more pathetic than that?

That is how it goes with our faith, too.  It’s easy to feel good on Easter morning.  The music, the readings, the beauty of the service, everything points to the wonder of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  But what about later?  What about after the glow of the resurrection seems to wear off?  What about those times when you are alone with your sins.  What about those times in your faith-life when you feel like you can get no breath, when you feel like you are choking or being asphyxiated because it just isn’t in you?

We’ve all been there.  Like the disciples, our emotions as Christians ebbs and flows.  There are times when we feel close to God, but there are other times when we feel far away and distant, unconnected, afraid and alone.  That is where the disciples were that first Easter evening.  They were there with you.

This is how Satan seeks to work on you, my friends.  The last thing Satan wants you to believe is the connection between Easter and your faith.  If He can convince you that Christ’s death and resurrection were just events from a storybook a long time ago, if he can convince you of that, then Jesus’ resurrection from the dead has no meaning.  That is Satan’s ploy.  He seeks to convince you that you don’t believe.  He is willing to lie, deceive, convince, do whatever he can in His power to draw you away from Christ’s words of forgiveness and life.

Left to yourself, you are stuck, right there in league with Satan.  But you are not left to yourself.  That is the point of our Gospel lesson today.  Jesus appears in the midst of them and says, Peace be to you.  Jesus knows His disciples don’t believe in Him at that time.  He knows that they are filled with unbelief and doubt.  He also knows they are full of fear at the Law and that they need to hear words of comfort and hope.

So He says to them, Peace be with you.  Notice how tender these words are in the ears of the disciples.  Notice how tender these words are to you.  Peace.  The wall of separation between God and man was broken when Jesus burst forth from the tomb.  God and man are not longer at enmity; they are no longer at war with each other.  They are at peace.  But like prisoners of war, the disciples have not heard the news.  They haven’t received the fruit of Jesus’ work on the cross and in the tomb.  So Jesus preaches to them and says, peace be with you.

They are great words.  With those words Jesus comforts you and gives you hope.  Jesus died and rose again from the dead to put those words in your ears.  Peace be with you.  He doesn’t pummel with the Law, he doesn’t mock them or condemn for their unbelief, although I suppose the disciples deserved it, as do we.  No, Jesus gives them the only thing that could actually make a difference.  He gave them peace.  As Jesus uses the word here, it means the same thing as forgiveness.  He forgives them their sins.  They are gone.

But Jesus isn’t satisfied to simply forgive the since of the eleven some 2000 years ago.  No, He then gives them the peace again, and says to them: whoever sins you forgiven, they are forgiven; and whoever’s sins you hold back, they are held back.

In Lutheran theology we call this the Office of the Keys.  Jesus gives the Keys to the disciples, now called the Apostles or sent-ones.  He gives them the keys and says that their work, they life task is to be about forgiving sins.  They are to release sins, get rid of them and cast them into the depth of the sea.

That is the work of the Christian Church.  That is why we gather here Sunday after Sunday.  God draws you to this house week after week so that He can say to you, Peace be with you.  I forgive you your sins. That is the point.  God does forgive your sins.  Remember the words from the end of our Gospel lesson, These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.

God puts His peace on you.  He gives it to you, freely, not because of any merit or worthiness on your part, but because of His great and abundant mercy, which knows no bounds.  This is what the world doesn’t get about Easter.  For so many, even for many Christians, Easter is about the drama of the event or the pageantry or whatever.  Now we do make a big deal about Easter.  But we do so because Jesus died and rose again for us.  Remember again the words from the Creed: who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the virgin Mary and was made man. God came down to earth with a purpose.

The old title for this Sunday is Quasimodo Geniti, from the Introit, which begins, “As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word.”  The power of Easter lies in the Word of God.  For it is in that Word of God, peace be with you, that all of Christ’s work on the cross and in the tomb becomes yours.   He puts those words into your ears here on Sunday.  He puts those words on your heart in Holy Baptism.  And He puts those words of forgiveness in your mouth in His Holy Supper.  As we prayed in the Introit, open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. Our Lord gives you His very Word made flesh here today.  Receive it with thanksgiving, for all of God’s work is now given to you.  Peace be with you. In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26 ESV).  Paul really sums up so much of life under the cross with those words. So much of our lives are really about cheating death.  Makeup, diets, slimming clothes, bigger or better muscles.  We have medicines to make us happy, to mask pain and hurts, or to numb everything.  Our daughters put on makeup at younger and younger ages, and we put makeup on those who have passed away, to keep them looking good as long as possible.  We have cars to make us feel younger, gadgets to keep us on top of the latest trends, and memories to keep the dreams alive.  We long for the so-called glory days which pass us by all too quickly, as Springsteen once sang.*

But death is no dream.  It is very, very real.  And while we relish the release of pain and suffering, death itself is still the last, great enemy. A family struggles with the question: when do you “pull the plug,” as some say so crassly.  It is so hard to let go, and it seems wrong not to do everything in your power to keep the one you love alive.  Where is the line between letting someone die and killing them?  What is right?   How do I know?  You feel guilty whether you zig or zag.  The pain and sorrow and grief are no less with all of our science and medical technology.  In some ways, it is worse.  We live longer than our parents and grandparents, but that doesn’t mean we live better.  So when do you say goodbye, and how do you know?  How many times can you say goodbye?  I’m sure some of you have struggled with those heart wrenching moments.  Maybe you are struggling with it now.

The women knew this grief and sorrow, as they came to anoint their dead Lord and found Him gone.  Talk about insult added to injury!  You don’t mess with a grave.  Never.  It is just not done.  But there it is.  He is gone.  Not just dead.  Gone.  Peter sees, rushes in, saw the empty tomb and the linens folded up all nice in the corner, and went off.

Mary Magdalene is left to mourn, alone. Two angels come to comfort her.  They ask why she is weeping.  Why am I weeping, she in effect says to them.  I’m weeping because Jesus is dead and now they’ve stolen Him from me!  There is no body.  Everything is gone.  I have no place to mourn.  Even the place of my grief has been taken away! Suddenly the gardener appears, or is it Jesus?  He, too, wanted to know why she wept so.  She replies, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away” (John 20:15 ESV).

All she wanted was to mourn in peace.  The thought that things were better than they ever imagined, well, it never even occurred to her.  Grief has that way about it.  It sucks us in, as Satan tries to pry our faith from us. But life interrupts death.  Jesus is alive, and says her name, Mary.  In the blink of an eye, everything, everything is different.  Now, the mourning doesn’t seem to fit quite the same.  Now, Mary can see that when Jesus raised her brother, Lazarus, from the dead, that was just the beginning.  When Life conquered Death in that strange and dreadful strife, everything that we thought we understood about the world was turned upside down and inside out.

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the story of our lives, that we forget we know the ending.  It reminds me of one of my favorite movie scenes is from the cult classic, The Princess Bride.  In the movie a grandfather reads a story to his sick grandson.  The son reluctantly agrees.  As the story of death and mayhem and romance goes on, the young boy gets further and further engrossed into the movie.  At one point the grandfather has to stop the story and remind the boy “she doesn’t get eaten by the eels at this time.”

I know, it sounds silly.  But it is important as we journey in joy and sorrows and romance and grief to remember that we don’t get eaten by the eels, so to speak.

In the world, death is the end.  There is no more story.  We either seek to defeat death by taking life on our own terms (e.g. Euthanasia, abortion, suicide, and the like), OR we try to defeat it at all costs by covering it up, extending life no matter what, and masking its reality.  But Jesus’ resurrection means that death is not in charge.  St. Paul wrote, “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Romans 6:9 ESV). Death is not your master.  Our living Lord, Jesus Christ, has died and risen again, so that your dying will always mean life in the end.  St. Paul wrote again, “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8 ESV).

For thousands of years Christians have faced death with a remarkable grace and confidence.  That doesn’t mean we aren’t afraid to die.  Of course, death is still scary, and none of us long for the unknown like that.  But at the same time, because of that empty tomb and living Lord, you are free to live or die.  It is all the same. Eternal life is your inheritance.  Jesus has conquered it all.

Easter morning, Christ is risen. Come behold the empty grave.
We deserved the fiery prison.  Hear the pardon which He gave.
Be refreshed, renewed my people, Stooped and beaten since the Fall
You, in Him are more than conquerers: Cruel Death is killed for all.*

Be at peace, dear children of God.  Christ has done it!  You know the end of the story.  Sing with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven!  Nothing can defeat you in Him.  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  Everything else, even death itself, pales by comparison.  Rejoice, Oh Redeemed, for your Redeemer bids you feast on Him and live forever.

Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! In the strong name of Jesus.  Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
The Resurrection of Our Lord (April 12, 2009)
Job 19:23-27; I Cor. 15:12-25; Mark 16:1-8

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE.

TITLE: “A Bright Future in Jesus”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is from St. Mark Chapter Sixteen.

The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

“Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” This was the question that the women asked one another that first Easter morn. Their Lord was gone forever. That’s what they thought. All of the talk about Jesus as the Messiah seemed cold and dead on their lips. But they wanted to do what was right. They wanted to bring the spices and anoint His body. If he could not live, at least He should die with honor and respect as a great teacher.

We all fight this battle. This battle with death. Sometimes the battle seems to be going well. We’re healthy, the kids are doing okay, and tax season is almost over. God is gracious, and there is much to rejoice about. Other times, though, it seems as though death and Satan are winning. A loved one dies. There’s a sickness that just won’t go away. The economy. Jobs. School. Divorce. Fighting at home. Sometimes the fight is long and the battle hard. Sometimes this earthly strife which we all undergo never seems to end. It can feel as though there is no future, no hope for things to ever get better.

We, of course, are not the first Christians to ever have this battle with Satan and sin and death. St. Paul writes about it in I Corinthians 15 about those who weren’t certain of the resurrection of the dead. They didn’t know whether the dead would rise. They thought you lived and you died, and that was the end. To that fear and concern he wrote: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19 KJV).

How often have you been miserable because you have forgotten the basic, most fundamental core of the Christian faith? How often have you lived as if Jesus’ dead body were still decaying outside of Jerusalem somewhere? When we allow the trials and crosses of this life to define us, it is as if we are asking that question with the women at the tomb. I don’t mean that we should always be happy, or that if we simply have a more positive attitude, that things will automatically get better. Heaven knows that there are times when things are hard. We do suffer in this life. And that suffering is real, it is painful, and it may feel as though it will never end.

But Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. And for poor, weak sinners like you and I, that is good news indeed. No, it is the very best of news. Already with Job we saw that hope. If anyone had reason to complain against God, it was Job. His wife gone, His children gone, his house, his livelihood, his health. His very life was hanging on by a thread. Everything had been taken away from him. Yet even still Job was able to pen those great words of faith,

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:25-27 ESV)

Job points us to this great, beautiful reality. No matter what happens, no matter what sin, the devil and the world throw at you, Jesus is risen from the dead. Everything can be taken from you, even life itself, but that will not separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Death has no sting, because Jesus is risen.
Your sins cannot weigh you down, because Jesus is risen.
You have a future that is bright and clear, because Jesus is risen.
What is broken and messed up today will be mended, because Jesus is risen.
You are not in prison, you will be free, because Jesus is risen.
Christ’s blood now marks you as His own, because Jesus is risen.

Rejoice this day and be glad. The things of this life which weigh you down will pass. God is at peace with you, and you do not need to be afraid of anything which comes your way. Jesus is risen, and that is all that really matters in this life. Believe it for the sake of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
The Resurrection of Our Lord (March 23, 2008)
John 20:1-18
For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “Death Swallowed Up”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The Lord is Risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb Early that first Easter morning to anoint Jesus’ body. They did have time to do it right on Friday. Things were crazy. The betrayal, the trials, the scourging, the horrible crucifix, the makeshift tomb borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea, these things just piled one upon the other. It was horrible, and it went so fast. Passover one day and the Sabbath the next all meant that nothing was going as it should. Nobody expected Jesus to die, even though He had predicted it many times.

We never really expect death to catch up with us though, do we? Even with the severely ill or aged, where death might seem a release from pain and suffering, even with them death is a shock. You can know it is coming, have everything planned out just right, and you are still numb when it hits you. Death is final. Death doesn’t wait for anyone. Death is no respecter of persons, but consumes us all. Death is still and always the great enemy. We have no power over it at the end of the day. We can’t fight it. We can’t avoid it or defeat it. We cannot do a thing to death, because of our wretched sinfulness. As we just sang in our hymn:

No sun of man could conquer death,
Such ruin sin had wrought us.
No innocence was found on earth,
And therefore death had brought us
Into bondage from of old
And ever grew more strong and bold
And held us as its captive. Alleluia! (LSB 458:2)

The disciples knew no different. It was all they had ever known. Abraham had died, the prophets, all of their forefathers had died. Why should things be any different for Jesus?

But it was different. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, but it was empty. She ran back and told Peter and the other disciples, and they rushed back to the tomb. When they stooped into the tomb, they saw the linen clothes, and the facecloth lying by itself apart. It was folded and placed there. This was no grave-robber’s work. This was something else entirely.

But they still didn’t get it. The disciples went back home, and Mary remained behind, weeping. It’s one thing to see the tomb empty; it’s another thing entirely to believe that Jesus has risen from the dead! She was so distraught and upset that Jesus Himself came up to her and spoke and didn’t even recognize Him! Eventually He called her by name and she knew Him by His Word.

Our dead God is alive again forevermore! In the flesh, body and soul, He has come back from the dead. Isaiah proclaimed it when He prophesied:

He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 6:8)

He wiped away Mary’s tears, and He wipes away yours this day. For Jesus as Jesus rose from the dead, in the same way you and all of those who have died in the faith will rise again from the dead. Our hope in Him never disappoints, no matter what the trials and pains this life may bring to us. Jesus has risen from the dead, and everything is new.

Our Lord continues to come to you now just as He did with Mary Magdalene that first Easter morning. He hides Himself in bread and wine, the very feast of Heaven. We only know Him by His Word. But what a great and mighty Word it is! This is my body; this is my blood given for you for the forgiveness of sins. With these words the feast of Easter is sealed, you are no longer in your sins, and death has no more part of you. Luther said it best in the hymn:

Then let us feast this Easter Day
On Christ, the bread of heaven;
The Word of grace has purged away
The old and evil leaven.
Christ alone our souls will feed;
He is our meat and drink indeed;
Faith lives upon no other!
Alleluia!

Come and feast forever more on Him who died and rose again so that you might live. The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.