Rev. Charles Lehmann + Misericordias Domini + 1 Peter 2:21-25
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
Alleluia!
Here’s something that never happened when you were a kid. You were in the
third grade. During recess you bumped into a bigger kid. They grabbed you by
the shoulders and pushed you down. Instead of lying there and taking the
beating that was coming to you, you got up swinging. You landed a few good
punches and the bully ran away. While the bully made his escape, your friends
pointed at you and laughed. “Wow, he really showed you! Look at you! There’s
not a scratch on ya!”
That’s just not the way it works. Nine year olds aren’t mocked by their
peers when they manage to chase a bully away. Instead, they receive respect.
They hold their heads high. They know that at least for awhile, they’re going
to be safe during recess.
Little boys don’t tell their friends to “sheep up” when they defend
themselves on the playground. They don’t tell them to take the punches and let
the bully have his way. Little boys don’t praise their peers when they get
beat up. Nine year olds just aren’t that sophisticated. They back the winner.
If they do anything besides laugh at the loser of the fight, they tell the
loser to “man up” and show the bully who’s boss next time.
If we look at his words honestly, we have to admit that Peter’s description
of the Christian life makes no more sense to us than it does to be mocked on
the playground for fighting off a bully. The Apostle writes, “For to this you
have been called, because Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example,
so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit
found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he
suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who
judges justly.”
Nobody wants to follow in these steps of Jesus. Not really. The steps of
Jesus leave bloody footprints. The steps of Jesus are the steps of one who is
tortured and put to death. The steps of Jesus lead us down a path of suffering
and death. Those seem to be just the sort of steps we should be trying to
avoid, not those we would want to be an example for us.
Our Lord has not given us a way out of life in the world. While we are
here, in our sinful flesh, there will always be suffering. We will never in
our earthly lives experience the pure bliss and joy that will be ours in
heaven. Living as a human being in a world ruined by sin will always have
suffering as one of its components.
In this, Christ is our example. As Peter says, “He committed no sin,
neither was deceit found in His mouth.” Jesus is the only man who has ever
lived in the way that man was always intended to live. Only He was perfectly
innocent and perfectly holy. Only Jesus has ever lived His whole life in
complete and perfect trust for His Heavenly Father. But there is pain even for
the Holy and Innocent One. There is suffering even for the lamb without
blemish. There is pain even for the One who came to give us perfect peace,
perfect joy, and the eternal life that can never be stolen away.
When the world encounters one such as Jesus, it kills Him. Sin cannot
abide the presence of the Holy One any more than God can allow unforgiven sin
in His most holy presence. Because of this, the life of a Christian is
difficult. If you examine the life of a faithful Christian in the way the
world would look at it you will not find that the Christian’s life is
measurably better than that of the unbeliever.
It’s far more likely to be the other way round. Loving the Lord your God
with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself is not the path to
living your best life now. The life of the Christian should resemble the life
of Christ. The life of the Christian is a life lived for others and not for
oneself. The life of the Christian is the life where strength is made perfect
in weakness, and where the good of the neighbor is a person’s first and most
important concern and the good of self doesn’t even make the list.
This is the sort of life that brings Jesus to the cross. It is the sort of
life that ends in crucifixion. This is why the Lutheran pastor Dietrich
Bonhoeffer once said that “when God calls a man, He calls him to come and die.”
Death to self is not the way of the world. The life of the Christian will
necessarily exclude many choices that the unbeliever would consider to be
legitimate options.
The unbeliever feels free ignore the Law of God in ways that are be
advantageous to him in the dog-eat-dog world. They can lie, cheat, and steal
their way to the top. They can climb and climb in the eyes of their friends
and neighbors by stomping on the crushed lives and reputations of anyone who
gets in their way. If they are caught in crime they might be able to hire an
unscrupulous lawyer who will get them out of it. Even if they are guilty, an
unbeliever may see no problem in coming up with a scheme to get out of the
consequences. No so-called option is closed to them. They don’t have to worry
about who gets hurt in the process. An experienced unbeliever can make life in
this world very pleasant on the surface.
But though an unbeliever might see their way of life as the best that could
ever be had, every sin scars their soul. Every transgression hurts them
deeply. Every missed opportunity to show love for their neighbor reveals how
much the individual actually hates themselves. We do not love ourselves when
we hate our neighbor, and we do not love our neighbor when we hate ourselves.
Both you and your neighbor are souls for whom Christ died. Both you and your
neighbor are of infinite value because Jesus was willing to shed His blood for
you.
Christ has called you to a life different from any you could ever imagine.
He has called you into a life of self-denial and loving service to all those
who He places in your path. He has called you to follow in His steps, carrying
the crosses that He has given you, and being obedient to Him even unto death.
But the world will hate you for it. It will hate you for it even as it
hated Him. The world has no more respect for the loser of a fight than a 3rd
grader does. No one tells you to “sheep up” when you win. Your parents were
right when they told you that you should never give a bully the fight he wants.
They were right when they told you that the way of true courage is to suffer
patiently knowing that you have done no evil. But though that advice is true,
it too often sounds like foolishness in our ears.
The way of Christ is a way that will always be nonsense to the world.
Christ went to the cross as a sheep goes to the slaughter. He did not
complain. He loved those who cursed Him. He forgave those who condemned Him.
He bore all of their inquity. By His stripes they are healed. Peter writes,
“When [Jesus] was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he
did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”
Jesus always entrusted Himself to His Father. He knew that it was not His
to dispense justice. He knew that His suffering would end and that in the
resurrection He would receive only those good things that His Father eternally
had in mind for Him. Jesus knew that life in the sinful world had to be filled
with suffering, but He also knew that He would overcome the world. He knew
that His Father would raise Him to a life that could not be touched by evil.
He knew that He would receive vindication.
We can see by the way Christ lived and died that we have a shepherd who is
familiar with our suffering. We have something that we could have never
imagined. We have a shepherd who has lived the life of a sheep. We have a
shepherd who has allowed the wolf to kill him instead of us. We have a
shepherd for whom the life of a single sheep is so dear that He was willing to
live the life of a sheep and die the death of a sheep.
Our shepherd is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The
Lord is our shepherd. We lack nothing. He makes us lie down in green
pastures. He leads us by the still waters. He leads us in paths of
righteousness for His Name’s sake. He feeds us with His own body. He gives us
His own blood to drink. He blesses us when we curse Him. He showers His love
on us even when we turn to Him in hate.
What more could our shepherd have done for His flock that He has not done
for it? Nothing. Nothing at all. He has done all that we could ever ask Him
to do and He has done ten thousand other things besides.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
Alleluia!
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and
minds in faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Rev. Charles R. Lehmann
Pastor, Saint John's Lutheran Church, Accident, MD
http://www.stjohncove.org
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