Sermon - Easter 4 - John 10:11-18

 

I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb

Today is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday”.  As the 4^th Sunday in the Easter Season, each year, our lectionary directs us to readings which draw us into one of the grand metaphors that run throughout Scripture – that Christ is our Shepherd, and we the people are his sheep, his flock. 

This is a picture that begins with the first shepherd, Abel.  It is seen in the lives of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  God leads his people Israel, his flock, through the wilderness to the green pastures of the Promised Land.  The kings of Israel are called “shepherds”, though they were often wicked.  And of course, David, the most famous of these, was himself, literally, a shepherd from boyhood.  And of course David wrote our beloved Psalm 23, “The Lord Is My Shepherd”. 

Jesus, the Son of David, is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, but also takes that life up again in resurrection, also for the benefit of his sheep.  In John’s Gospel, especially, we see this picture of Jesus, the gate for the sheep, the good shepherd, the one who knows his sheep and the sheep know his voice.

Today, I’d like to preach less on any one particular passage, but on the whole of this biblical theology of sheep and shepherd – and to do it through the framework of one of our beloved hymns on the topic.

Our Lutheran Hymnody is rich and robust, and many of our hymns are as much a sermon in and of themselves.  They are time-tested and well-worn.  As old as some of them are, they have a timeless quality, and many of them are also accessible even to children. 

Today I want to look closer at the hymn, “I am Jesus’ Little Lamb” Written in the 1700s and appearing in most of the hymnals that you and I have known in our lifetimes, this is certainly a well-loved treatment of Jesus as our Good Shepherd.  Its simple words and melody also lend itself as a beloved hymn for children.

When I grew up at St. James Lutheran Church in Baltimore, our local tradition was to sing this hymn every time we had a baptism.  The children of the congregation were also invited forward for a close-up view of the baptism (usually of a baby, of course).  I’m sure it was a bit of a chaotic scene as skads of us kids crowded around the font, jockeying for a better view of the baby, and of this special thing called “baptism”.  Yet thinking back, what a wonderful way to teach little ones that Holy Baptism is precisely how God makes us one of his little lambs, and welcomes us into his loving arms.

The hymn begins, “I am Jesus’ little lamb.”  And therein is already a profound confession.  We are little.  We are helpless little lambs.  We aren’t Jesus’ fierce lions or mighty predators.  We are sheep, and baby sheep at that.  Defenseless, practically helpless, in need of protection and guidance.  That little phrase “Like a lamb led to the slaughter” reminds us how vulnerable lambs are, and of course, that ultimately refers to Jesus’ own sacrifice as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world.  We are little lambs, vulnerable to all the evil and sin of this miserable world – not the least of which comes from our own fallen nature.  With all these dangers around us, and even within us, yet we are still not without hope.  For I am Jesus’ little lamb.  I belong to him.  And that changes everything.

“Ever glad at heart I am – For my shepherd gently guides me, knows my need and well provides me”  Yes, Jesus, to whom I belong, is my shepherd.  And he is a gentle shepherd.  He doesn’t beat the sheep into submission with his rod or staff.  That would be the power of the law, which always accuses, and always kills.  No, he gently guides me with he loving voice of his gospel.  And the sheep know that voice.  It’s a voice of grace, mercy and peace.  It’s a voice that offers free forgiveness.  And it’s the only guidance that brings about any good from me – for the law can’t force good works but the gospel coaxes them out of us.  A joyful response to the grace of God in Christ.

He knows my need – my greatest need – for forgiveness.  And well does he provide it.  Not just by his once and for all death on the cross, but also repeatedly in the means of grace – through his word and in his sacraments he well provides me – forgiveness, life and salvation. 

Yes, he also gives even more – all the physical blessings of this life, and promises of future blessings in a life of the world to come.  “Well provides me” kind of understates the case, doesn’t it?

He “loves me every day the same”.  His love is not fickle or fleeting, but it is constant and sure.  His love doesn’t depend on me, or how naughty or nice I’ve been that day.  But each and every day his unchanging love for me in Christ is just as certain and unwavering.

He “even calls me by my name” – again, in holy baptism each of us is called by name and given God’s gift of forgiveness in such a particular way.  His love is for everyone.  But his love is also very much for you.

“Day by day, at home, away, Jesus is my staff and stay”  Our good shepherd watches over us wherever we go.  There is nowhere we can go that he can’t see us, or won’t watch over us.  Even when we think he’s forgotten us or it seems he’s abandoned us, he hasn’t.  He won’t.  He knows just what his sheep need.

“When I hunger, Jesus feeds me” Yes, daily bread, but also his body and blood in the sacrament.  Jesus feeds me, his little lamb, even in the presence of the enemies.  “into pleasant pastures leads me.  When I thirst he bids me go where the quiet waters flow.”  The pleasant pastures here in this life are where his sheep can find rest, sustenance and water to quench their thirst.  And that can only be the green pastures of his holy church, where our Good Shepherd distributes the goods to his sheep.  But we also have greener pastures ahead of us, in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

“Who so happy as I am?  Even now the shepherd’s lamb” The Christian’s joy runs deeper than anything the world can offer.  For we belong to the good shepherd now, and forever.  “and when my short life is ended by his angel host attended, he shall fold me to his breast, there within his arms to rest”

It’s true.  Life is short.  What do we have, 80 years, 100 at the high end?  The older we get, shorter it seems.  And while this life is a great gift, it isn’t the best of it – we have something even greater waiting beyond.  So when God at last sends his holy angels to carry us to his side, when we are finally with Jesus in paradise, he welcomes us into his loving arms like a shepherd picking up a dear little lamb.  That’s the picture.  But it’s just an earthly picture.  The reality is so much greater, and indescribable, of the joy that we will have in that day, and even more, in the resurrection and life everlasting. 

So on this Good Shepherd Sunday, rejoice in Jesus Christ, you his little lambs.  Your shepherd loves you, cares for you, and will bring you home to himself at the last.  There within his arms to rest.

Sermon - Easter 3 - Luke 24:36-49

 

The Risen Christ’s Agenda

Christ is risen!  (He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!)

In this Easter season, we of course celebrate Christ’s victory over sin, devil and death.  That Jesus died and Jesus rose is of paramount importance for us, for our faith, and for our future.

But simply being alive isn’t all.  Our risen Lord has quite an agenda, and our reading from Luke’s Gospel today shows us a risen Christ who is still very busy doing things for his people, making promises and giving gifts.  Let’s take a closer look.

For starters, if today’s reading reminds you of last week’s Gospel reading from John 20, that’s because it seems to be telling us about the same event.  John, of course, emphasized certain aspects of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on that Easter evening.  But here Luke shares other details.  Just prior, Luke tells the account of the 2 disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.  After he appeared to them in the breaking of the bread, they turned around and ran back to Jerusalem to report all this to the 12.  Now, Jesus appears to the whole lot of them, even though the doors are locked. 

Luke isn’t concerned with Thomas being absent.  He doesn’t mention the breathing on them or the charge to forgive sins.

But he does also mention Jesus showing them his hands and feet.  These wounds, these scars, they both prove he is the crucified one and testify to that most precious work he had just completed.  By his wounds, we are healed.

And Luke tells us that they are conflicted, confused and afraid.

They thought he was a ghost!  Their superstitions got the better of them with the risen Jesus himself standing before them.  But they couldn’t believe their eyes, and fell back on their homespun spiritual misconceptions.  And if he’s a ghost, maybe he’s an angry ghost, a vengeance spirit here to punish us for deserting him in his hour of need! 

But Jesus dispels their superstition and shows them what is real – and it’s him!  He is no ghost.  He’s a resurrected man, with very tangible hands and feet.  He even eats some fish in their presence to further prove it.  “See and touch!” he says.  And they do.

Superstition isn’t there only problem.  They find themselves in disbelief.  Thomas wasn’t the only doubter, it seems.  But Jesus chases away doubt by his peaceful presence, and his wonderful words.

Their emotions, too, got the better of them.  Fear and joy all mixed up and leading them in so many directions.  But Jesus’ calm presence cuts through it all.  He is there for them.  It’s all going to be ok.

Those dear disciples are just like us.  We, too, have spent our time with Jesus, learned from Jesus, trusted in Jesus.  And yet our fears and doubts can get the better of us, too.  Our emotions can lead us astray, our hearts chase after assurance in all the wrong places.  Sometimes, free and full forgiveness seems “too good to be true” and we doubt Jesus.  But he always sets us straight, too.

My friends, the risen Christ is here, for you, too.  Not visibly, but just as present.  Not to see and touch, but certainly to hear.  He comes to you today, not in vengeance but forgiveness.  He comes with peace.  And he shares a meal with you, too.  Giving you his own body and blood in the Sacrament.  Just another proof of his grace, a pledge of his sure and certain forgiveness for you.

But the risen Jesus still has more business with the disciples, and with us.  First he sets them straight about his resurrection, and proves he is alive.  Next he opens the disciples’ minds to understand the Scriptures.

They surely knew the Scriptures.  They probably knew them, in many ways, better than we do.  They would have sung the Psalms, and perhaps known those words as well as we know so many pop-song lyrics.  They would have known the stories and genealogies of the Old Testament, and likely so much of its prophecies.  They would have also known it in the Hebrew, which most of us have never learned. 

But Jesus must still open their closed minds to understand.  And here we are in the same boat.  Natural man, apart from Christ and his Spirit, cannot understand the Scriptures.  Our mind closed, and our heart darkened, sure we can read the words on the page.  Sure we can make sense of the vocabulary and grammar.  But we do not receive the Scriptures properly, understand them as they are meant to be, until our minds are opened.  Christ did it for the disciples directly, and he does it for us through his Spirit.

Apart from Christ, the Scriptures are a closed book of contradictions and moralisms and esoteric ancient history.  For most of the world, it remains this way.  But only in Christ can we see the Scriptures rightly, and that the Scriptures testify to him!  And in him is life!

From the beginning to the end, Jesus Christ is the heart of Holy Scripture.  First, the promise of his coming, then the unfolding of his birth, life, death and resurrection.  Then the promise of his return in glory and the life of his body, the church, until that day.  The Bible is all about Jesus Christ, Son of Man and Son of God, and all that he is and does for you!  Jesus himself says so, both here in Luke, and even more tersely in John 5:39  “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me”

His appearance proves he is alive.  Check.

He dispels their doubts and fears, confusion and superstition.  Check.

He opens their minds to understand the Scriptures.  Check.

And yet there remains some unfinished business on the risen Christ’s agenda.

He commissions his witnesses to go and proclaim this good news!

“…repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus – that’s the message of the Christian faith, that’s the Gospel in the wide sense.  That’s the very thing that Peter preached in our reading from Acts, and that the disciples preached as they went forth into the world.  It’s the same message of law and gospel that sounds forth from faithful Christian pulpits around the world today.  Repent, sinner, turn away from your sins, and turn to Jesus Christ in faith for the forgiveness of your sins.  And just as surely as Christ has come, has died, has risen, and will come again, so also as surely are your sins forgiven in him and your life, even to eternity, is just as secure.

The disciples are witnesses of everything Christ had done.  And it was given, first, to them, to proclaim that witness.  But the witness carried on, as churches were founded all around the Roman empire, and then all around the world, and down through history’s twists and turns, and even up to this day, the witness of the disciples echoes on and on.  We have it written in Holy Scripture, the full testimony to Christ.  And we preach it and teach it faithfully, and take it to heart fervently.

This is the ongoing agenda of the risen Christ – that repentance and forgiveness continue to be proclaimed in his name.  Thanks be to God.

The risen Christ is a busy Christ.  He has much to say to his church, much to promise, and much to give.  He spoke to appeared to those disciples, set them straight, opened their minds, and gave them a mission. So also he shows us himself today, in the Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread.  He calls us to repent of our sins, and receive the forgiveness that he won by his death.  For Christ is risen, and still doing amazing, wonderful, blessed things for you.

Sermon - Easter 2 - John 20:19-31

 

The Spiritual, The Material, and Jesus

Every year, right after Easter, we have the reading that is often called, “Doubting Thomas”.  For whatever reason Thomas missed the first appearance of Jesus in the locked room, and only a week later did he get his wish – to see and touch Jesus and even put his hand’s in Jesus’ side where the spear had pierced him.  Thomas confesses his faith, “My Lord, and my God!” and Jesus commends him for seeing and believing, but even more those who do not see and yet believe.

You’ve maybe heard some treatment of this text which sort of downplays the importance of seeing – and suggests that all we need is the word!  And there’s some truth to that.  But a closer look at today’s reading shows that Jesus is concerned about both the seeing and the hearing, both the spirit and the material.  For he is the Savior of all people and the Savior of the whole person.

Bear with me today as I get a little bit more into the weeds of philosophy than we usually do.  We have two errors to avoid when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus:  materialism and spiritualism.  Both have a long pedigree and both lead us away from the fullness of Christ’s work for us.  What do I mean by these?

Well, Thomas, it seems, was somewhat of a materialist.  He disregarded the word of the disciples, and doubted the miracle of the resurrection.  All that mattered to him, at least, at first, was what he could see and touch.  The material world.  He needed concrete proof, firsthand experience, he needed something physical and real. 

We have a hymn, a more recently written hymn in our hymnal, that expresses this well: “These Things Did Thomas Count as Real”:

These things did Thomas count as real:  The warmth of blood, the chill of steel, the grain of wood, the heft of stone, the last frail twitch of flesh and bone.

The vision of his skeptic mind was keen enough to make him blind to any unexpected act too large for his small world of fact.

His reasoned certainties denied that one could live when one had ded, until his fingers read like braille the markings of the spear and nail.

May we, O God, by grace believe and thus the risen Christ receive, whose raw imprinted palms reached out and beckoned Thomas from his doubt.

This skeptical posture of Thomas is really quite similar to many today who doubt or disbelieve the resurrection.  Mainstream science has largely hitched its wagon to a materialistic worldview that also considers only what is physical, real, provable, and most importantly- doesn’t need God.    Science has to do with observation and evidence, hypothesis and theory, testing and proving.  The very word “science” comes from the word for “knowledge”, and the great temptation of the scientist is to overestimate his own knowledge, and the ability of humans to know and learn all things that can be known. 

And many Christians fall prey to this modern version of materialistic skepticism, at least in part.  Many, for example, deny the bible’s teaching of creation in favor of a Darwinistic evolution.  They simply can’t take God at his word that he created everything from nothing by his word.  It’s the same foolishness of Thomas that doubts the truth of God on any subject matter, which idolizes reason and senses over and against divine revelation.

Somewhat in reaction to materialism, we have, today, a growing movement of spiritualism.  Reaching all the way back to the philosopher Plato, this is an elevation of the spiritual over and over against the material world.  For Plato the idea of a thing is far better than any example of the thing itself.  For Plato, the body isn’t nearly so important as the spirit.  This leads to a denial of the physical blessings of God, the blessings of creation.

We see examples of this influence today in the New Age Movement, in all manner of people who declare themselves, “Spiritual but not religious”, and even in the Christian church where the spiritual aspect of life pushes out almost entirely the theology of the body.  But We confess a God who is the creator of heaven and earth, and that the stuff, the physical stuff of creation is good.  That the body that he has given me is just as much a part of who I am as the soul or spirit.  And Jesus died for the whole person and saves the whole person, not just the spirit.

We see this neo-platonic influence, sadly, in many Christian funeral services, when the preacher may wax eloquently about the promise that our loved ones are with the Lord, that they rest in peace, and that their spirit is in heaven with Jesus.  But they neglect to preach the resurrection of the body, that is the resurrection of OUR bodies on the last day.  That’s our final and ultimate hope as believers, to share in a resurrection like his.

Sin always twists the truth, and so we have a constant need to return to the touchstone of God’s word to correct and set us straight.

Notice how Jesus regards both the physical and the spiritual in this text:

He breathes on his disciples.  A very physical action, something they can feel.  But as he does so, he bestows on them the Holy Spirit.  A presence just as real, but not something to be seen or felt.

What charge does he give them, but the authority to forgive sins!  Here is certainly a spiritual matter – for sins aren’t things that you can typically touch and see.  The corruption of our nature is a darkness to us that we cannot fully comprehend, but can only confess.  And yet, sin does bring with it a very real and tangible consequence – the wages of sin – is death.

Jesus has forgiven our sins, in the water of baptism, in the word of absolution, in the sacrament of the altar – thus taking away the sting of death.  And though we still die, like Jesus, death will not be the last word on us.  Christ will return in glory and raise his faithful dead, to a very real, very material, very physical body once more.  But now, body and soul will be glorified and incorruptible, just as Christ’s resurrected body is glorified and incorruptible.  “We will be like him for we shall see him as he is.”

Take note, Jesus showed his disciples – he appeared to his disciples – he even made Thomas stick his finger in the wounds.  He doesn’t despise the material evidence, but gave “many convincing proofs” that he was alive.  Those early disciples were eyewitnesses of the resurrection, and Paul tells us that once Jesus even appeared to a group of over 500 of them at the same time!  If seeing and touching and physical proof meant nothing – why would he bother?

And yet, still he knows that not all who believe in him will have had such an occasion.  Like you and me.  We rely on the word of the apostles, the testimony of the church, the teachings of scripture that have been handed down to us.  And Jesus says we are even more blessed for such.

Only in Jesus, then, do we see the right and proper tension, the true and eternal realities of both things spiritual and things material.  In him, we have it all.  He is the transcendent God who becomes human in time and space for his people.  He is the Lord of Life who gives up his life to redeem his people.  He is the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, but also in bloody sweat on a Roman cross on a certain hill named Golgotha, on a certain date in human history. 

What is left for us but, like Thomas, to stop doubting and believe!  Believe in all of God’s word.  Believe in Jesus who lives.  And believe especially in his word, proclaimed through his pastors, that your sins forgiven on earth are forgiven in heaven.  And confess, like Thomas, my Lord and my God, Jesus Christ, who lives and grants me daily breath, who lives and I shall conquer death.