Ezekiel 34:11-16; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 4:12-5:14
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Once more the Apostle addresses you with affection and comfort, beloved. Once again he prepares you, encourages you concerning that which is to come; exhorting you to full participation in the divine life of Christ Jesus our Lord. For it was necessary that the Christ should suffer. It was of Divine necessity; a heavenly imperative. It was the holy and just will of the Father that the Christ should suffer and enter into His glory. And if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of the household?
You, beloved, are of the household of God, the family of Christ, heirs with Abraham and co-heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him (Rm 8:17), as St Paul writes to the Christians in Rome. At the writing of this Epistle, St Peter is there. In Rome. Babylon. The Church of God in Christ present in the capital of a pagan and idolatrous empire. A city rife with licentiousness and immorality, teeming with greed and lust and vice.
Yet there, amidst such decadence and sin, the Lord preserves His little flock, His lambs and sheep, gathering them to Himself around His Word and according to His blessed gifts. He preserves them in mercy and feeds them in justice. He prepares a table before them in the presence of their enemies and anoints their head with oil. That is, He sets His Holy Supper before them even though surrounded on all sides by those who seek to destroy the Gospel of God and the work of Jesus Christ. He anoints them with the oil of His forgiveness and His free Spirit.
And some of those Christians suffered intolerably for that Name. Some were fed to the lions. Others were captured, tortured, and set on fire to be used as street lamps down the dark alleys of seduction in Rome. Such tests of faith produce perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given us (Rm 5:3-5).
Now it is true, beloved, that you at times, according to the will of God, suffer the temporal effects for your sin. This is no less the will and wisdom of God which He uses to conform you to the image of His Son through repentance and faith and amendment of life. But it is not bearing the cross in patience and trust. We justly suffer the consequences of our sins as we transgress the Ten Commandments. To slander our neighbor, to cheat him or refuse to help him, to gossip and spread rumors and hearsay and to suffer the effects of these sins is not what St Peter means to be insulted for the name of Christ. Such behavior against the Decalogue does not bring blessing and can drive out the Holy Spirit.
Repentance is needed, lest we be destroyed along with the fat and the strong who preyed on the weak and abused the flock of God. For in our presumption we have abused the mercy of God. We have given into greed and lust and sensuality. We have returned like a dog to its vomit and soiled ourselves once more. Repent. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you.
For this reason, beloved, He sends you faithful under-shepherds, elders and bishops. Pastors are fallible men to be sure, full of their own sins and vices, temptations and trials, yet they have been set into the Office of the Holy Gospel, the Ministry of the Forgiveness of Sins for your sake. In eagerness and humility they serve you as under-shepherds in Christ. As Luther says regarding this text:
A pastor must not only lead to pasture by teaching the sheep how to be true Christians; but, in addition to this, he must also repel the wolves, lest they attack the sheep and lead them astray with false doctrine and error. For the devil does not rest. Now today one finds many people who can let the Gospel be preached, provided that one does not cry out against the wolves and preach agains the prelates. But even if I preach in the right way and tend and teach the sheep, this protecting and guarding does not suffice to keep the wolves from coming and leading the sheep astray. For what is built if I lay down stones and watch someone else knock them down? (AE 30:135)
This is how the Church and Christian life is so ordered, beloved, for the sake of the Gospel and for you. The comforting Rod and Staff of Christ Jesus, that is, the Word of His Law and His Gospel, is with you through the Preaching Office; those men who are called to be servants of Christ Jesus for your benefit and aide, not for shameful gain or under compulsion, but willingly. Thus it is by the grace of God in Christ Jesus that faithful pastors throughout your life have led you beside the still waters of your Holy Baptism, that refreshing laver which restores your soul in Christ. Through faithful catechesis and preaching in the Name of Christ they have guided you along the righteous path of God’s own Word. Always toward and from the Table of the Lord, the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, set up before you in the midst of an enemy and hostile world where Satan prowls like a roaring lion.
For none of this is to suggest, beloved, that all things are going to be easy. That being a Christian, a little Christ in the world, living by faith in God and love toward the neighbor, is easy or simple. It is not for the faint of heart. What St Peter here describes is a battle. A fight. For even as you rage against the fiery trials of your own lusts and temptations, your own fleshly passions and desires, you may also be privileged, beloved, according to the will and wisdom of God, to suffer the effects of the sins of others. This is the meaning of the Proverb quoted by the Apostle: If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? (Pr 11:31).
Therefore, you who suffer according to God’s will, whatever form that suffering may take - quietly and patiently, under torment and duress, through persecution and famine, in fear of false brothers - entrust your body and soul, your whole self, to a faithful Creator while doing good.
For He has not only created you, in body and soul, together, but He has also redeemed you in body and soul and sanctifies you in body and soul, as one person. You are His dear lambs and sheep, the people after His own heart.
Has your Good and Chief Shepherd Himself not sought you out? Did Christ Jesus not only suffer for you, but suffers with you, enduring the very sufferings of His Christians in His Body the Church? He made Himself prey for the ravenous lion, Satan. Laid down His life in the mouth of that tortuous beast, being devoured in death. Yet He is indeed your Sampson. He has torn apart the lion with His bare hands. He has trampled death in His death. And from it gives you something sweet and good - His own self, His Body and Blood back from death to life.
So that after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
This He does, even now, not only by His pastors and overseers, but also by your faithful brothers and sons in the faith. Through your brotherhood throughout the world who pray for you and suffer with you, bearing your burdens even as you are given to bear one another’s in the love of Christ Jesus. This is how you are clothed with humility, that is, adorned in the very garments of Christ’s own righteousness by faith and so live in humility toward one another, exercising your faith in goods deeds according to your vocation.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow and lead and envelope you all the days of your life. You have been received into the household of faith and the family of God with the kiss of love in Christ Jesus. You shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Peace be to you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Once more the Apostle addresses you with affection and comfort, beloved. Once again he prepares you, encourages you concerning that which is to come; exhorting you to full participation in the divine life of Christ Jesus our Lord. For it was necessary that the Christ should suffer. It was of Divine necessity; a heavenly imperative. It was the holy and just will of the Father that the Christ should suffer and enter into His glory. And if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of the household?
You, beloved, are of the household of God, the family of Christ, heirs with Abraham and co-heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him (Rm 8:17), as St Paul writes to the Christians in Rome. At the writing of this Epistle, St Peter is there. In Rome. Babylon. The Church of God in Christ present in the capital of a pagan and idolatrous empire. A city rife with licentiousness and immorality, teeming with greed and lust and vice.
Yet there, amidst such decadence and sin, the Lord preserves His little flock, His lambs and sheep, gathering them to Himself around His Word and according to His blessed gifts. He preserves them in mercy and feeds them in justice. He prepares a table before them in the presence of their enemies and anoints their head with oil. That is, He sets His Holy Supper before them even though surrounded on all sides by those who seek to destroy the Gospel of God and the work of Jesus Christ. He anoints them with the oil of His forgiveness and His free Spirit.
And some of those Christians suffered intolerably for that Name. Some were fed to the lions. Others were captured, tortured, and set on fire to be used as street lamps down the dark alleys of seduction in Rome. Such tests of faith produce perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given us (Rm 5:3-5).
Now it is true, beloved, that you at times, according to the will of God, suffer the temporal effects for your sin. This is no less the will and wisdom of God which He uses to conform you to the image of His Son through repentance and faith and amendment of life. But it is not bearing the cross in patience and trust. We justly suffer the consequences of our sins as we transgress the Ten Commandments. To slander our neighbor, to cheat him or refuse to help him, to gossip and spread rumors and hearsay and to suffer the effects of these sins is not what St Peter means to be insulted for the name of Christ. Such behavior against the Decalogue does not bring blessing and can drive out the Holy Spirit.
Repentance is needed, lest we be destroyed along with the fat and the strong who preyed on the weak and abused the flock of God. For in our presumption we have abused the mercy of God. We have given into greed and lust and sensuality. We have returned like a dog to its vomit and soiled ourselves once more. Repent. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you.
For this reason, beloved, He sends you faithful under-shepherds, elders and bishops. Pastors are fallible men to be sure, full of their own sins and vices, temptations and trials, yet they have been set into the Office of the Holy Gospel, the Ministry of the Forgiveness of Sins for your sake. In eagerness and humility they serve you as under-shepherds in Christ. As Luther says regarding this text:
A pastor must not only lead to pasture by teaching the sheep how to be true Christians; but, in addition to this, he must also repel the wolves, lest they attack the sheep and lead them astray with false doctrine and error. For the devil does not rest. Now today one finds many people who can let the Gospel be preached, provided that one does not cry out against the wolves and preach agains the prelates. But even if I preach in the right way and tend and teach the sheep, this protecting and guarding does not suffice to keep the wolves from coming and leading the sheep astray. For what is built if I lay down stones and watch someone else knock them down? (AE 30:135)
This is how the Church and Christian life is so ordered, beloved, for the sake of the Gospel and for you. The comforting Rod and Staff of Christ Jesus, that is, the Word of His Law and His Gospel, is with you through the Preaching Office; those men who are called to be servants of Christ Jesus for your benefit and aide, not for shameful gain or under compulsion, but willingly. Thus it is by the grace of God in Christ Jesus that faithful pastors throughout your life have led you beside the still waters of your Holy Baptism, that refreshing laver which restores your soul in Christ. Through faithful catechesis and preaching in the Name of Christ they have guided you along the righteous path of God’s own Word. Always toward and from the Table of the Lord, the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, set up before you in the midst of an enemy and hostile world where Satan prowls like a roaring lion.
For none of this is to suggest, beloved, that all things are going to be easy. That being a Christian, a little Christ in the world, living by faith in God and love toward the neighbor, is easy or simple. It is not for the faint of heart. What St Peter here describes is a battle. A fight. For even as you rage against the fiery trials of your own lusts and temptations, your own fleshly passions and desires, you may also be privileged, beloved, according to the will and wisdom of God, to suffer the effects of the sins of others. This is the meaning of the Proverb quoted by the Apostle: If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? (Pr 11:31).
Therefore, you who suffer according to God’s will, whatever form that suffering may take - quietly and patiently, under torment and duress, through persecution and famine, in fear of false brothers - entrust your body and soul, your whole self, to a faithful Creator while doing good.
For He has not only created you, in body and soul, together, but He has also redeemed you in body and soul and sanctifies you in body and soul, as one person. You are His dear lambs and sheep, the people after His own heart.
Has your Good and Chief Shepherd Himself not sought you out? Did Christ Jesus not only suffer for you, but suffers with you, enduring the very sufferings of His Christians in His Body the Church? He made Himself prey for the ravenous lion, Satan. Laid down His life in the mouth of that tortuous beast, being devoured in death. Yet He is indeed your Sampson. He has torn apart the lion with His bare hands. He has trampled death in His death. And from it gives you something sweet and good - His own self, His Body and Blood back from death to life.
So that after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
This He does, even now, not only by His pastors and overseers, but also by your faithful brothers and sons in the faith. Through your brotherhood throughout the world who pray for you and suffer with you, bearing your burdens even as you are given to bear one another’s in the love of Christ Jesus. This is how you are clothed with humility, that is, adorned in the very garments of Christ’s own righteousness by faith and so live in humility toward one another, exercising your faith in goods deeds according to your vocation.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow and lead and envelope you all the days of your life. You have been received into the household of faith and the family of God with the kiss of love in Christ Jesus. You shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Peace be to you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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