One of the Flock (Misericordias Domini, 2011)

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“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

Peace Be With You (Easter 02 – Quasimodo Geniti 2011)

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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2, May 1, 2011, revised from 2001)
John 20:19-31

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon Preached on September 11, 2001

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[I am sitting here in my living room, waiting for President Obama to speak and formally announce that Osama bin Laden has been killed. Like the rest of the country, this whole thing is a flashback to that horrible day nine and a half years ago. Here is the sermon from the prayer service we had at Messiah ten and a half years ago. -Peperkorn]

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

September 11, 2001 (week of Trinity 13)

Vespers with the Litany, 8:30 p.m.

On the occasion of the bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

TITLE: “With the Lord there is Mercy”

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for tonight is from Psalm 130, O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption, and also from the Lord’s Prayer, but deliver us from evil.

There are sometimes events in this world that shock us to the core, and serve to remind us of the power of sin and evil that is so hard for us to understand. This is just such a day. We’ll probably never know all of the events that led up to the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As I’ve watched the news today, what keeps running through my head is the shock of this actually happening in the United States. How can this be? Why? What did we do as a nation and a people to deserve such wrath? How is it that we have received the brunt of what President George Bush has called “the worst of human nature”?

The answer, of course, lies in the Scriptures themselves. We can’t ultimately point to a particular event or person or thing to place the blame. It would be useful if we could, because then we would all be off the hook. But as St. Paul says in Romans chapter six, The wages of sin is death. That is the way of the world. It may come one at a time, or it may come in the form of a violent disaster or attack like we have seen today. But that is how things work in the world. Because of sin, your sin and mine, death is what awaits all of us. The Scriptures are full of such examples. The flood; the tower of Babel; Sodom and Gomorrah; Jonah and Nineveh; and even Jerusalem itself was destroyed because of unbelief.

And as a nation we have played no small part in dolling out death ourselves. Whether it be in stem cell research, the rising fascination with euthanasia, or the most gruesome death of all, abortion, we as a country claim to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but we murder our own children for the sake of convenience or money or whatever excuse we may put up for taking the easy way. We have not defended the helpless. We have killed them. So it should not surprise us when violent death strikes at our own doorstep.

Now don’t misunderstand me. This does not excuse the murderous attacks of the terrorists who have invaded our shores. They have received their own reward for their evil deeds. But it is at just such a time that we cry out with the church of all ages: deliver us from evil.

If we truly want to place the blame for this attack where it belongs, it is on the shoulders of the devil himself. He prowls around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. There is nothing the devil would love more than to see Christians fall into shame and despair over this calamity. He seeks to murder and destroy wherever he can, and it is the destruction of your faith that is his final goal. This is why we pray deliver us from the evil one.

Thank God that He does what He promises. He does deliver us from evil. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus Christ paid the penalty and wage for your death. He died, so that you might live. In the midst of death and calamity, the work of Jesus Christ for you is the only thing that can give hope. Everywhere else you look will finally lead to despair. He is the one who will lead us through the valley of the shadow of death. Why? Because he’s been there. Jesus Christ has been to death and back again. With Him there is a hope and a future. As we heard in the Psalm, if you O Lord kept a record of sins, or Lord who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you; therefore you may be feared (Ps. 130).

God’s forgiveness extends to all. Many of us here tonight face feelings of hurt and anger over what has been done to us. But remember that the love of God in Christ Jesus extends to all. This is why we gather here tonight. We gather to hear God’s Word and to pray. We gather to pray for the wounded and the families of the dead. We come to pray for our leaders. But perhaps most importantly, we come to pray for our enemies. Yes, we pray for those who hate us, and bless those who persecute us. Why? Because of Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has paid the ultimate penalty for sin in His own sacrificial death. It is there that we put our trust, and we leave all things to God’s direction.

So put your trust in the Lord, not in governments or the things of this earth. They, as we have so clearly seen today, will always fail in the end. They can’t protect us. But Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the one who can give hope to the hopeless, comfort to the bereaved, and healing to the wounded soul. Do not be afraid. God is still in control. Perhaps the words of Psalm 46 express our hope the best:

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD, Who has made desolations in the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.

So come and pray to the Lord for mercy, for He will give it to you. In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Why So Serious? (Easter 2011)

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2011easter

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.