Isaiah 12:1-6/James 1:16-21/St John 16:5-15
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

As it was last Sunday, so today, the Gospel puts us back in the upper room on the night of our Lord’s betrayal, on the eve of His death.  He is going back to the Father by way of His Cross and Passion, in His blessed death and the handing over of the Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life.  

For He who came from the Father, full of grace and truth, who in His Person reveals the love and life of the Father who dwells together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity, has come down from above in order to make men His again.  He has joined Himself to you in flesh and blood in the womb of the Virgin Mary in order to join you to Himself by way of His flesh and blood, crucified, risen, and ascended that you might have fellowship in Him together with His Father by His Spirit.   

Though the prospect of His imminent death fills the hearts of His disciples with sorrow, much as it did Elisha as his dear father in the faith, Elijah, was taken from him, Nevertheless, Jesus says, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away; to your advantage that He go to the Cross in His innocent suffering and death.  This is for your benefit.  His death is for you.  It avails for you; His crucifixion sets you free from sin and sorrow.  It slays bitter death on your behalf in order that you may live with Him forever.  

For He who goes to His Father by being lifted up in death, likewise hands over His Spirit.  The self-same Spirit who hovered over the natal waters of creation, the Spirit, by whom God breathed life into Adam, the Spirit who spoke by the prophets, the Spirit who descended from heaven like a dove and remained upon Jesus the Christ, anointing Him the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  The Spirit who drove Jesus into the wilderness in order to be tempted by the devil in place of idolatrous and adulterous Israel, to be tempted in your place, and yet remain without sin.  

Our Lord Jesus hands over this Spirit, His Holy Spirit, to His Father in His Crucifixion and death, in the faithful obedience of the Son who obeys His Father’s will.  

But the Spirit who is the Lord and Giver of Life, who breathed life into Adam in the beginning, likewise breathed new life into the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, and raised Him from the dead on the third day (Rm 8:11).  On that same day, the first day of the week, that is also the eighth day, the day of the new creation, Jesus Christ appeared to His disciples in the locked upper room, breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit, as the Father has sent Me, I am sending you to forgive the sins of terrified and repentant sinners (Jn 20:21, 22).

Indeed this is the blessing and comfort of the Helper, the Spirit of Truth.  This is His Office and work.  “Here Christ makes the Holy Spirit a Preacher” Dr Luther preached in a sermon on this same text, saying:
    He does so to prevent one from gaping toward heaven in search of Him, as the fluttering         spirits and enthusiasts do, and from divorcing Him from the oral Word or the ministry.          One should know and learn that He will be in and with the Word, that it will guide us into     all truth, in order that we may believe it, use it as a weapon, be preserved by it against all         the lies and deception of the devil, and prevail in all trials and temptations.  The Holy         Spirit wants this truth which He is to impress into our hearts to be so firmly fixed that         reason and all one’s own thoughts and feelings are relegated to the background.  He         wants us to adhere solely to the Word and to regard it as the only truth.  And through this         Word alone He governs the Christian Church to the end (AE 24:362). 

For this reason St James places all emphasis on the preached Word when he says, Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, that is, quick to hear the Word of Christ read and preached, to hold it sacred and gladly learn it.  For this implanted Word alone - sola Scriptura - is able to save your souls.  As the Holy Spirit hovered over the Blessed Virgin Mary and by the Word conceived through her ear the very Word-made-Flesh within her womb, so too does the Holy Spirit, by the Word, conceive faith within your heart by the hearing of the Word of Christ, crucified and risen, for the full and free forgiveness of all your sins.

For He who drew all men to Himself when He was lifted up on the Cross, is now lifted up in preached, as crucified before your very eyes.  And whereas He handed over the Spirit to His Father in His crucifixion, now, in the preaching of His Cross, He gives the Holy Spirit to you, the Spirit of truth and of adoption, by which you are able to cry, yea to sing, Abba!  Father!

Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done gloriously, let this be made known in all the earth.  Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. 

And the new song that you are given to sing is the song of repentance and faith, confession and absolution; as He convicts you of unbelief evidenced by your various sins and transgressions, your lack of proper fear, love, and trust in God above all things.  But He also causes you to sing of righteousness, one not your own, but Christ’s, bestowed upon you by His Word and Spirit, received in faith.  And indeed you sing of judgment, not in fear and trepidation, but in joy, for the ruler of this world, the evil foe, Satan himself, the accuser of Christ’s brothers, has been cast down and defeated.  

This song is not new, per se, but fulfilled in Christ Jesus, and given to you by His Spirit.  For this is the song the Church has sung since Adam and Noah, Abraham and Moses, through the prophets and judges, in slavery and captivity, by Zechariah and Elizabeth, by their son, St John the Baptizer, in Mary’s Song.  The song of Jesus, God’s salvation, and His victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil, and His bestowal of that victory upon you by His Spirit in His Word. 
For the Spirit of truth is the Spirit of Christ Jesus, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who spoke the Truth of God’s Holy Word by the prophets and who gives all glory to Christ by taking what is His and declaring, that is, preaching and delivering it to you.

In Holy Baptism the Spirit was over the waters and in the Word to rescue you from Satan’s jaws and bring you safely into the Holy Ark of the Christian Church.  

In the Holy Absolution the Spirit of Christ announces the grace of God unto you, bespeaking you righteous with the very righteousness of Christ.  This absolution, that you are forgiven for Christ’s sake, is the verdict of the Last Day, the final judgment, slipping out ahead of time.  

And in the Holy Communion, the Holy Spirit, again, by way of the Word of Christ, declares to you concerning the bread and the wine, the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  In this way He guides you into all the Truth, bringing you by the Body and Blood of Christ into the very fellowship of the Blessed Holy Trinity.  All that the Father has is Christ’s; by His Spirit all that Christ has is yours.  

And what the Holy Spirit does for you He does for the whole Christian Church on earth, keeping it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.  Therefore do you, who partake of one Body, dwell together in unity with one another in the one Body of Jesus Christ, whose head is God the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory, power, might, and dominion, now and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Isaiah 40:25-31/1 John 3:1-3/St John 16:16-22

Alleluia!  Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

The Easter lilies have wilted and been removed.  They cannot remain forever.  You cannot stay on the mountain top of the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord.  You must come down.  You must go home.  Live.  Work.  And even as the festival continues and you greet one another with joyous words of ‘Alleluia,’ still you walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  You have sorrow and sickness.  Death still looms about you.  

Our Lord Jesus knows this.  He prophesies and prepares His disciples for it.  Not only the Twelve that fateful night in the upper room, but also you.  The words of the Gospel are for you.  They are the living voice of Jesus.  They are not locked away in history, separated and distanced from you, from your circumstance, from your situation.  The Word of the Lord is living and active.  And since the Resurrection they are always viewed in the glorious light of His blessed and holy Cross.  

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, spoke these solemn words to His disciples, A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me.  For sorrow and for sin, they did not understand what He meant.  Before their eyes were blind to seeing Him on the Emmaus Road after His Resurrection, their ears were also deaf to comprehending Him before His Passion and Crucifixion.  Unbelief dulls the senses.  Sin clouds the mind.  

But just as the Lord spoke to Israel through the prophet Isaiah when they thought they could endure no more, when their sorrow was great, and they sat in confusion over the Lord’s promises, He said, Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these [stars]?  He who brings our their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of His might, and because He is strong in power not one is missing.  He comforted them and assured them of His protection and provision, His mercy and love.

So as the Lord comforted Israel, now the God of Jacob, YHWH enfleshed, Jesus of Nazareth, who sits at table with the Twelve, speaks words of comfort to His people.  He catechizes them in the meaning of His Word.  And His doctrine, rightly taught, consoles their timid consciences and troubled hearts.  Pure doctrine always does.  

A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see Me.  Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.  You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
He is saying to them, “In a little while, in just a few hours, I will be taken from you, though I will go willingly.  The mob shall come, carrying club and sword and spear, and haul Me off to a mock trial.  I will not open My mouth.  I will not defend Myself.  I will go willingly, because in this way I will make you Mine again.  I will bring you to My Father and you will have eternal joy.  A little while I and you will see Me no longer.  I will go to My Father by way of My death.  But in being lifted up I will draw you to Myself.  I will endure the Cross and despise the shame for the joy set before Me.  And My joy is you.”

We view these Words in the Light and Truth of the glorious Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is not seen for a little while as He is taken from them in death.  The Twelve and the women, all the disciples of Jesus weep and lament.  The world rejoices.  The devil rejoices.  He dances on the grave of the Son of God, mistakenly assuming he’s won.  

But then the little while of the three days and they see Him!  Glorious and new, back from the dead never to die again!  They know Him by His wounds, for He still and always will be the Crucified One; but He now imparts to them by way of His Word and Spirit a joy that cannot be taken from them.

And these sweet words of Jesus are for you as well, dear Christians!  Though not yet seen with your mortal eyes for He has gone to the Father by way of His ascension, you will see Him again.  You have sorrow now, you weep and lament, over your own sin that clings so closely, over that of others that affects you directly and indirectly.  You walk through the valley of the shadow of death and you become more and more weighed down, bowed in sorrow and agony.  Lift up your eyes and see, look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2).  

Lift up your eyes and ears and hearts and minds, for He comes to you, with words of comfort and joy, bringing heaven down to earth in His Word and promises, by His Sacraments, through the holy liturgy.  In many ways the Divine Service is preparation, is it dress rehearsal for death; your constant movement to and from the Altar of Christ, the Table of His Body and Blood; the Lord watching over your going out and your coming in at all times and forever.  

He has brought you in, watching over your Baptism by which you are begotten from above by water and Spirit.  There you died with Christ.  But there you were also made alive in Christ.  You were brought through the narrow and painful birth canal of the font, birthed into new life, a life hidden with God in Christ Jesus, seen under the cross and sorrow, but in truth, possessing the eternal bliss and joy of heaven that is already yours.  You shall follow Him through suffering and death, in sorrow and pain, into the joy and peace of the resurrection and everlasting life.

St John drives this point home: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that is did not know Him.  Beloved, we are God’s children now.  And in a little while, when He appears, you shall see Him; you shall be like Him, immortal, imperishable, sons and heirs of your Father in heaven, brought to Him by way of His Son.  

Your hope is in Him.  And this does not put you to shame.  Even though the world rejoices, though it rage and fight, though it threaten and persecute, you have a joy that cannot be taken from you: the joy of sins forgiven, of life and salvation bestowed, of grace and mercy overflowing, of the love and favor of the Father, even in the midst of sorrow.  For the Word Jesus spoke to His disciples on that fateful night endures for you, dear ones, His disciples.  

So also on that sacred night our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and after blessing it, broken it and gave it to His disciples, both them and you, saying, Take and eat; take and drink.  And His Word is not merely for them, locked away in history, but is for you, here and now.  His Word causes this bread to be His Body, this wine to be His Blood.  His Word gives you the forgiveness of your sins, strengthens your faith, turns your sorrow into joy.  For here you see Jesus and in Him your heart rejoices.  This cannot be taken from you, but is given to you.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.  

LCMSU Event, Immanuel - Terre Haute, IN
1 Peter 2:21-25

In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

I watch a lot of Netflix.  I like to think that because I’m an anthropologist I do it to study the human condition, the nature of man.  Good television is art.  And art mimics life.  Therefore my Netflix binging is, while not purely, at least somewhat academic and edifying.  Or its that I’m just lazy and prefer movies over reading.  The latter is more likely the case.

Either way I’ve been watching the show Daredevil.   Its the screen adaptation of Matt Murdock, the blind son of a boxer from the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City.  Like most terrestrial superheros, Matt lost his sight by a freak accident and in exchange gained heightened awareness in his other senses, especially hearing.  He can hear the heart beat of a man three six stories below him.  He can isolate the cries for help from the voluminous city noises.  Plus he’s got super-cool martial arts training and does wicked crazy parkour tricks off buildings and stuff.  By day he’s a lawyer with his best friend Foggy.  And they’re both pretty good at that too.  

What’s all this have to do with 1 Peter 2?  Good question.  In addition to being a lawyer and a superhero, Matt Murdock, Daredevil, is also a practicing Roman Catholic.  He goes to Mass and confession.  His priest knows of his superhero alter-ego and encourages him along the lines of serving his neighbors in need according to his ability within his vocation.  Okay, he doesn’t say it quite that way, that’s Lutheran speak.  

But he does abide by the law.  Daredevil has a conscience and he exercises it.  Matt never kills anyone; doesn’t execute any villains.  He works to stop evil and defend the good, but in the end he leaves them for the police and allows the legal system to handle it.  I suppose we could say that he entrusts them to Him who stands behind all authority and judges justly.  All the while the politicians and police think he’s evil and dangerous and needs to be stopped.  

And in this way, though a bit odd and maybe farfetched, Matt Murdock, the Daredevil, is like Christ; that is, he is Christian.  Maybe that’s why I like him.  Most superheroes become substitutes for God.  Daredevil acknowledges the true God and exemplifies Him in his own vocation:  despised and rejected by men, scorned, hated, reviled, unknown to His community and even among His family.  An example to those who love the good and abhor evil and ultimately combat true evil in a brutal and violent way.  (In that last one their methods are quite different, though.)

First Peter 2:21 is the only time in the entire New Testament were Christ is specifically said to be our example!  And notice its context!  Not in His Baptism, not in His miracles, not in His care for the poor, but specifically and especially in His suffering, is Christ said to be your example; leaving behind for you a pattern that you may follow; walking in His very steps as you daily take up your Cross and come after Him.  

For to this - St Peter says - to this you have been called.  That is, if when you do good you suffer for it, you endure; this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.  For to this you have been called.  Called to defend life at all stages.  Called to uphold traditional marriage.  Called to protect family.  Called to keep sexuality sanctified.  Called to love your neighbor, not merely as yourself, but as Christ Jesus has loved you.  

This may be the other time in the New Testament that Jesus is spoken of as example.  Where He says, For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (Jn 13:15, 34-35).  

In this way Christ loved you: He Himself bore your sins, your failures, your weaknesses, and inadequacies, your broken promises and silent confessions, He took them into His Body and put them to death on the tree.  Christ, the Son of God, came in the “costume,” if you will, that is, in the form of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, and allowed Evil to have its ultimate way with Him: to put Him to death in the most violent and bloody way.  For He is not merely your example, but chiefly your substitute.  He battled the forces of wickedness, your villainous foes: sin, death, the power of the devil, hell, and defeated them in a bloody showdown in which He gave Himself up for the life of the world.  By His wounds you have been healed.   

I like Daredevil.  We live vicariously through such characters.  But we receive Life through the vicarious death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  But you are not called to don mask and costume and go galavanting over the rooftops to stop evil.  But you are called to die to sin and live to righteousness, to daily halt the wickedness of your own flesh and drown that foe the Old Adam, with the weapons of God own Word, emerging as new man through the waters of Holy Baptism, entrusted to Him who judges according to the Righteousness of Christ Jesus, your Savior and Hero.  

And then, living in that freedom of sins forgiven, tread in the footsteps of your crucified and risen Lord Jesus, submit, in faith toward God and love for your neighbor, to rulers and those in authority, doing good and silencing the ignorance of foolish people.  

Love your brothers and sisters in Christ.  
Pray for your enemies, even those with whose worldviews, politics, and ethics you disagree.  
​Do not be overcome by evil, but fight evil with good.  

For you were once straying life sheep, but have now returned, been welcomed home, safely and soundly, by your Champion and Defender, the Shepherd and Bishop of your soul and body, even Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen. 

Indianapolis Central Circuit Winkel
1 Peter 2:21-25
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

For you were straying like sheep. As it is for the flock of sheep, so does it also apply to the gathering of undershepherds.  We have, every one of us, pastors and people, strayed. Often have we wandered from the good, green pastures of our Lord’s Word and wholesome Sacraments, been unfaithful to the blessed doctrine of the Small Catechism and our Lutheran Confessions. We have sought our sustenance elsewhere; in seemingly greener pastures.  

We have committed sin, some we fear to name, even to our father confessors.  Deceit has been found in our mouths. Either by the soft peddling of the Law, as mirror or as guide, in the guarded statements spoken in fear of rejection or in the full out denial of the whole counsel of God as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word.

When we are reviled, beaten down, or abused, often our first reaction is retort, complaint, and retaliation. When we suffer, for certain we threaten. Threaten to leave, threaten to get even, threaten to break the seal.

Return to the Shepherd and Bishop of your soul; that is to say, Repent. Your Good Shepherd, in laying down His life for you has left you an example; more than that, Your Chief Shepherd, in laying down His life for you has taken your place under the Law. 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. He Himself bore your sins in His body on the Tree. By His wounds you have been healed.

Brothers, lambs of our Good Shepherd, die then to sin and live to righteousness. For there is but one flock and one Shepherd; pastors and people, gathered together by and around the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and is Himself your Good Shepherd.  Heed, therefore, the living voice of His Word. For by it He not only forgives your sins and cleanses you from all unrighteousness, but He also comforts you in your weaknesses that you may be able to comfort and strengthen your brothers, and so fulfill the Law of Christ and serve one another in love. 

For He who has healed you all by His stripes has so constituted and ordained the blessed Office of the Holy Ministry and the priesthood of all believers, that you may live together as members of one Body, with Jesus Christ as your Head.  

Therefore He has appointed some to be a bishops and pastors in His Church.  And He knows how unfit you are for the Office.  But because He has called you and the people need the Word, preach. Feed His lambs. Tend His sheep. Feed His sheep. To this you have been called. 
Beloved lambs of Jesus, obey your rulers and submit to their authority.  They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.  Obey them so that their work will be a joy and not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you (Heb 13:17).  

For you, pastors and people, are brought together within the selfsame pasture of the Word; to be feed with the same Body and Blood of the Good Shepherd, the very Lamb of God who has ransomed you and called you, placing you within your particular vocations.  Some as bishops and pastors, others as hearers and of the Word.  It is as Clement of Rome wrote, “Where the Bishop is there is the Church,” that is, where lambs and sheep hear the voice of their Good Shepherd, there is the flock, gathered around their under shepherd in Christ Jesus, overseer of both Sacraments and sheep.  

This is the orderliness of both the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.  Consider the Augsburg Confession: “So that we may obtain justifying faith, the ministry of the Word and Sacraments was instituted.  Through the Word and Sacrament, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given.  He works faith, where and when it pleases God in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake.” 

In an ordination address given December 28, 1961, Swedish Lutheran Bishop Bo Giertz said,
"Paul says that he holds his ministry high. He knows that he has been given it from God.         He knows that God has given this commission specifically to him. This forms and shapes         his entire life. He is not only a Christian like all others. He also has this special             commission, this ministry. And the pastor should be aware of this. The world already         knows it. It feels it, maybe with a certain uneasiness. Perhaps it ridicules, even despises,         the ministry. It looks upon the [Lutheran] pastor as something pompous and strange,         before which one feels a little unsure or artificial. All this the pastor shall take with great         composure. He shall not try to convince people that he “is just an ordinary person.” He is         not. He has this ministry." (Hammer for God, p282)

Your Pastor, your father confessor, your overseer and under shepherd in Christ, has this ministry, beloved, not for His own sake, but for yours.  For the sake of your timid conscience.  For the sake of your weak heart.  For the sake of your wavering faith.  For the sake that you may hear and know the voice of your Good Shepherd, who has, in love, suffered for your sins, the Righteous for the unrighteous.  He has laid down His life for you, His sheep, and Has taken it up again.  He calls you, pastor and people, in and to and around Himself, by and through the goodly ordering of His Church.  

As Dr Luther’s sacristy prayer, prays, “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Thou Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, send Thy Holy Spirit that He may work with us, yea, that He may work in us to will and to do through Thy divine strength according to Thy good pleasure” (Luther’s Sacristy Prayer), for Thou liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, to whom be glory, honor, and might both now and forever. Amen.

Ezekiel 34:11-16/1 Peter 2:21-25/St John 10:11-18
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
​
Once upon a time - a real time, not a fictitious time - there was a large, beautifully green pasture in which a flock of sheep freely grazed.  Throughout this pasture flowed gentle, rolling streams and dotting its picturesque hills were flowing trees providing ample shade for rest.  

Now at the edge of this pasture there was a cave, dark and ominous.  From this cave blew the most putrid of smells, a vile stench that not even the blossoming trees of the pasture, with their wonderful aroma, could mask.  And the entrance to this cave was streaked with blood.  Blood that stained the stone and served as a warning to all the sheep of the thing that lived in this cave.

For inside this cave lived a wolf; a terrible beast of a thing.  He had the most voracious hunger and whenever he wanted he could just stick his head out of his cave and gobble up some tasty sheep.  He would pick them off, a few each morning, five or six in the evenings.  Always eating, but never satisfied.  Sometimes, just for fun, he would howl and laugh and terrify all the sheep, causing them to run and hide.  For he knew that he would have them all.  No matter how many lambs were born, no matter how far away they’d try to hide, he’d hunt them down and eat them.  

Now this wolf had a name, a terrible, awful name that struck fear into the timid hearts of these sheep.  Some would only need to think of his name and they’d get weak kneed, others would even faint.  For this big bad wolf’s name was Death.  Death was always eating and never satisfied.  Death stank a putrid smell.  The wolf named Death was the bane of the flock and the terror that haunted all the sheep.  

Some of the hired hands would try to comfort the sheep, pacify their fears.  But they would just lie to them.  Tell them the wolf really isn’t that bad.  Tell them he wasn’t real or at least wasn’t a problem for them, just for the old, slow sheep, easily picked off.  But when that wolf named Death came bounding over the hill, jaws wide for a meal, even those hirelings would flee and leave the sheep.  Nothing and no one could stop him.  

One particular morning the wolf woke up especially hungry.  And as he opened his eyes he could not believe what he saw.  Grazing right in front of his cave was a little lamb, a succulent, tender thing.  The wolf drew in air to fill his vast lungs and let out an ear splitting howl.  All the sheep tucked tail and ran.  They were afraid.  All, that is, but this One that still grazed just outside.  That lamb paid him no attention at all.  Just kept on eating like he never heard him.

The wolf was getting mad now.  He came bounding out of his cave and right up to this impertinent animal.  He huffed and he buffed, this time breathing right into the sheep’s face.  The sheep looked up as the hideous odor of decay blasted in his face, and he just blinked.  Blinked and starred.  
Now the wolf was furious.  “Do you know who I am?” He snarled.  The sheep looked at him, “Yes, I know.”  Calm.  At peace even.  The other sheep quietly crept back to watch, staying at a distance.  They couldn’t believe what they were seeing!  No one had ever stood up to the wolf before.  Not like this!  

“Well,” snarled the world, “aren’t you afraid?”  The sheep looked Death, that big, bad wolf, right in the eye and said, “Afraid?  Of you? You’ve got to be kidding!”  Now the wolf was livid!  He spoke low and menacing, “You’re in for it lamb chops.  Its not going to be easy.  I’m going to devour you, slowly, painfully.  I’m going to savor every bite, slowly.”  

A moment of silence.  Then the Lamb just said, “I know.”  The other sheep had been watching, listening.  They had never seen or heard anything like this before.  At the moment the wolf pounced they couldn’t bear it.  They turned away.  A great sadness filled the,  They had thought, scarcely dared to hope, perhaps it was possible, just this once, the wolf wasn’t going to get his way.  Death wouldn’t win.  

But their hopes were dashed.  It was an awful and ugly sight.  The wold chowed down.  It was slow and painful just as he said.  And in the end, there was nothing left.  He turned his repulsive face, red with blood, toward the other sheep and he belched.  Afraid, they all ran, knowing he'd becoming for them one day soon.  

As the wolf returned to his cave he thought, “I’ve never tasted a sheep quite so good before.  Good, tender meat.  Rather satisfying.”  The though surprised him.  For the first time his insatiable hunger actually seemed to be quenched.  The thought was a little disturbing to him.  “Well, no matter,” he thought.  And off he went to bed.

When morning came the wolf wasn’t feeling quite himself.  It was as though he was getting a bit of a stomach ache.  Such a thing never happened.  He always woke up ravenous.  He always started eating first thing.  A half-dozen sheep or so before the dew was off the grass!  But not this morning.  His stomach was grumbling.  By noon he was feeling more than discomfort.  He was ill!  He who had brought such pain to those poor sheep was getting a taste of pain himself.  And it was unpleasant.

He kept thinking back to that impertinent sheep yesterday afternoon, the One who had tasted strangely good.  “Could it have been poisoned or something,” he wondered.  It wasn’t long before he stopped thinking altogether.  The pain was too great.  He rolled around on the floor of his cave, hollering and whimpering.  

The sheep heard the sound and didn’t quite know what to make of it.  They crept cautiously closer to the cave, turning their heads to see.  They’d never heard the wolf cry like this before.  He was really crying.  But what could it mean?

Sometime in the dark of the night the wolf let out a shuddering howl, one like never before!  We woke with fright as looked down at his stomach: something was alive and moving inside his gullet!  Something pushed and prodded, stretching his vulgar belly until with a sudden burst, his gullet was punctured and ripped open!  And something, rather, Someone, stepped right through the hole, right out the massive, sticking stomach.  The wolf felt as though he was dying.  And in a way he was.  

The figure who stepped out of the wolf’s belly was totally unknown to the wolf.  It looked like a Shepherd.  He’d heard of such a creature, but never actually seen one.  Not like this.  With staff in hand the Shepherd walked around and stood facing the wolf.  The Shepherd blinked and with a curious smile, He began to laugh.  He laughed and laughed.  His laughter broke open the door of the wolf’s house.  He laughed and the sheep were bewildered, wondering what’s going on in there.  He laughed and He looked the wolf right in the eye.

“So, old foe, you don’t recognize Me?  It was I who ate right outside your house three days ago.  It was I that you promised would die horribly.  You kept that promise.  But what do you have to say now?”  

“You?!” The wolf gasped.  The voice was the same, he recognized it.  This Shepherd was indeed the Lamb he has swallowed down three days earlier.  “You?  But how?,” cried the wolf as he writhed in pain.  The Shepherd smiled again and sad, “Well, you’re pretty harmless now.  Go on and try to eat some of My sheep.  I promise that as fast as you swallow them down I will lead them out through the hole I made in your gullet!  Then you’ll never be able to touch them again!”  

The wolf howled in fear and rage, but there was little he could do.  The Shepherd had tricked him.  He was once the bane of the sheep; now nothing but a shadow, a ghost.  He had no power.  He seethed in his rage as he looked out upon the flock and saw how they looked right past him to their Good Shepherd.

And the Shepherd turned and walked into the pasture, calling His sheep to Himself.  For they knew His voice too.  They’d heard it before.  And as the Lamb who is their Good Shepherd stood in their midst, back from the dead, He lovingly told them what He had done and what would now happen to them.  “In a few days the wolf will come crawling out, hungrier and angrier than ever.  His rage will fuel him.  He come and snatch you up, swallow you down.  And you’ll die too.  But don’t worry.  Don’t be afraid.  I punched a hole right through his belly and I promise that I’ll bring you out again to be with Me.  He can’t have you.  You’re mine.”

Once upon a time - a real time - two thousand years ago, this promise was made and still stands: My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  I am the Good Shepherd and I lay down my life for the sheep.  

Come.  The Lamb the sheep has ransomed.  Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, fear no evil.  For your Good Shepherd is with you, His rod and staff, His Word and Spirit, they comfort you.  Behold, He has prepared a Table before you, a feast of rich food, given to you in justice, in the Righteousness of His atoning death, even His Body and Blood, swallowed by death, alive from the grave, given you to here as the Food of Immortality.  The wolf may howl, he may snarl and rage, but death cannot have you, its sting is lost, its power is done.  You belong to Christ, the Great Good Shepherd and Bishop of your body and soul, who gathers you together as one flock.  His mercy and goodness follow you alway.  You shall dwell in His house forever.  

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

Ezekiel 37:1-14/1 John 5:4-10/St John 20:19-31
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

The first mistake that St Thomas made was not being gathered together with the other disciples; whatever his reasons may have been for not being there.  His sinful doubts and fears and unbelief are not relieved but fostered and exacerbated by his absence from that fellowship of the Church.  He does not see the Body of Christ on the First Day of the week because he is not gathered with the Body of Christ in the company of his brothers.  

He is there on the Eighth Day, however, on the Octave of the Resurrection, the Second Sunday of Easter - which is today - because of the confession and witness of the other disciples who had seen the Lord.  In this they begin to serve their Office and vocation as holy apostles of Christ Jesus.  

So also should you seek out your brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow sons and daughters of the King, when they have been missing from the Divine Service.  Search them out and confess and testify to them what He says and does for you here in the fellowship of His Body, the Church.  Encourage them to come with you, to be here with the disciples of the Lord Jesus, even, or especially if they are struggling with doubts and fears and uncertainty.  Even though they may be weary, weak, and wounded in heart and mind, in body and soul.  Invite them and encourage them to come.  Bring them along with you.  It is as simple as St Philip to St Nathanael, Come and see.  

For the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is precisely the place for the weary, the weak, and the wounded, for those who are hurting, doubtful, and afraid.  

It is the place for you, no matter what your wounds may be that might not even heal in this life on earth.  No matter the scars you bear on the inside or outside.  The Body of Christ is where you belong, regardless of your personality and precisely because of your pain and skeptical sadness.

The wounded Body of Christ is the place for you.  Reach here with your finger and your hand, to see and touch and feel and handle His holy wounds, to trace His sacred scars.  For He has been wounded in His love for you and for all, in order to love the weary, the weak, and wounded with His sacrificial flesh and blood.

St Thomas had that part right, even in the depths of his doubts, depression, despair and unbelief.  He looked for the Lamb who was slain.  He knew that the real Lord Jesus is the Crucified One - and that remains so, even in His Resurrection.  His glorified Body bears the scars of His Cross, because His Body has been glorified by the wounds He has suffered in love for us poor, miserable sinners.  He is recognized not in spite of His wounds, but especially by His wounds.  Indeed He is recognized in His wounds.  He is not only Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified, He is your Lord and your God, your Savior and Redeemer.  
It is remarkable how visual the Gospel of St John is.  We are constantly told, Look!  Behold the Lamb of God.  Come and see.  You will see.  We testify to what we have seen.  The one who saw bears witness and his testimony is true.  No one has ever seen God; the begotten God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.  If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.  Unless I see.  Jesus is recognized by His wounds.  His disciples are at peace when they see His wounds.  St Thomas longed to see His wounds.  

So where do you see and touch those wounds of Christ in His Body?

First of all, you reach out and lay hold of them in His means of grace.  He primarily approaches you by the preaching of His Gospel, which is the preaching of His Cross and His Resurrection, the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of all your sins in His Name.  That preaching breathes life into your body, through your ears, by the Holy Spirit of Christ, who is the Lord and Giver of Life.  He comes by way of the Word.  

For Christ Jesus who received the Holy Spirit in His Baptism, yielded Him up, that is, handed over the Spirit in His Crucifixion, only to be raised by the power of the Holy Spirit in His Resurrection.  Unto whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given, even Christ Jesus, now comes and breathes His Spirit in His Word read and preached which raises your weak and weary body from the dust of the earth unto life everlasting.  

Secondly, the preaching of His Cross also brings you to His Baptism, whether to be baptized in the first place, if you have not been, or to return you to the significance of your one Holy Baptism in which He has drowned your old Adam in that death-dealing and life-giving flood.  He has brought you through the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River, out of Egypt into the safety, peace, and rest in the Holy Ark of His Church, which is even His own Body.  

For the side of the Ark of Christ was opened for you, as is was for Noah and his family, by which they entered and were rescued from the damning flood.  So it is for you.  The side of Christ was opened and out flowed water by which you are washed clean, birthed from the womb of the font, given life as newborn infants, longing for the pure spiritual milk of the Word.  

Thus do you also, through Holy Baptism, enter into Christ Jesus, dying with Him and rising with Him in His Body, and thereby having fellowship with Him together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  And in the on-going significance of your Baptism, through daily contrition and repentance, you are daily united with the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.  

And by way of His Holy Absolution does He raise up your dead, dusty bones by His Spirit-breathed Word of forgiveness.  For this reason does He send His Apostles, St Thomas and the Twelve, all Ministers of His flock, the Church, to forgive and retain sins, to comfort weak consciences, to heal wounds hearts and minds, to bind up the sinful and broken with the salve of His Gospel.  Thus you can be certain that the forgiveness of sins spoken to you through the mouth of your Pastor, a called and ordained servant of Christ, is as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ, your dear crucified and risen Lord, dealt with you Himself.  

For by your Baptism into Him, by the Catechesis of His Word, He has made you His disciple.  You are a member of His Body, a sheep of His green pastures.  So it is that you belong in this place where His disciples are gathered.  Where the crucified and risen Lord Jesus comes into your midst and invites you to behold His wounds.

For not only have you entered His wounds through Holy Baptism and receive His life-giving Spirit in the Word of Absolution, you are given to feast upon His wounded Body here in the Holy Communion for the forgiveness of all your sins.  And where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation.  For this is how He kindly and graciously deals with you, even as He did for St Thomas, to see His hands and His side.  And with His own flesh and blood, the fruits of His sacrifice, He enters into your wounded body to dwell with you and abide with you in peace, in order that He may strengthen your faith toward God your Father and grow in fervent love for one another.

Therefore do not be afraid to care for those who are weary and weak and wounded, those for whom Christ Jesus, your Lord and your God, has been wounded and scarred in love.  Love your neighbor, your brothers and sisters in Christ, as He loves you in both body and soul.  For in doing it unto the least of His brothers, you have done it unto Him.  In them you are given to see Christ Jesus and serve them in love.

For it is true, you have not yet seen the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.  But His Apostles have seen Him.  They eye witnessed His Baptism, His life and ministry, His preaching and miracles, His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension.  And as they have seen and heard and touched and handled the Word made Flesh, so by their confession of His Word are you blessed by His grace, to believe in Him, sight unseen, hidden under the Cross, and revealed not yet in power, but in His wounds.  

Here within His Church, as a member of His Body, you taste and see by faith the Glory of the Lord by His Word and in His flesh and blood.  You see the bread and win, which by His Word are His Body given and His Blood poured out for the forgiveness of all your sins.  You hear His Gospel of forgiveness.  You touch and handle, eat and drink His wounded Body, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, risen from the dead and glorified.  He is here with you and for you, that you should also be with Him where He is.  

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!