Epistles from Exile: Sermon for 4/23/23: Third Sunday of Easter

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Sermon for 4/23/23: Third Sunday of Easter

Life Under the Cross

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Living as God’s faithful and obedient children is no guarantee of a life free from adversity or suffering. On the contrary, those who confess as Lord the One who suffered injustice even unto death should expect nothing but the same as He experienced. But this is something we resist hearing. We have grown accustomed to quick fixes, to almost instant relief from pain, to lives that are largely carefree and unburdened when compared to previous generations. There is a gigantic gap, cultural and otherwise, between the Church of the Twenty-first Century and that of the First, when Peter wrote these words.

But there is one factor that unites Christians now with Christians then. To confess Jesus Christ as Lord means following in the footsteps which led Him to death. That shouldn’t come as a shock to you, unless you have made the mistake of divorcing the joy and victory of Easter from the pain and sorrow of Good Friday. There is only one way to the resurrection, and that is through the cross. Without fail, the life of faithfulness to God’s will is accompanied by the experience of suffering.

It could be no other way. In the eyes of those outside the Church, a God-pleasing life is seldom welcomed. Unbelievers will be quick to attribute evil motives to all that you say and do. You need only consider how the views of Christians are received these days in public discourse. We are nearly always accused of trying to force our “bigoted morality” on everyone else. Even so, Peter encourages us, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

This ill-treatment is to be expected, for our Lord received the same treatment. “...When [Christ] was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten…” He suffered because He was the faithful servant of God all the way to the cross. Though He was reviled as a fraud and a deceiver, He did not revile the real deceivers. And as He told His disciples: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. …If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of His household.” From our Lord’s example, we learn that suffering is the expected result of faithfulness to the will of God. Because you do that which pleases God, you suffer. But as Peter says, “…If, when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 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.” Persecution and ridicule of God’s holy ones is one of the ways unbelievers rebel against God. They try to get at Him by maligning you.

Experiencing suffering for doing the will of God is one of the marks of your communion with Jesus. You are “participating in the sufferings of Christ,” as Scripture puts it. He has set the pattern, and you follow in His footsteps. What He has endured, you can expect to endure also. Again, as Peter said: “In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God...”

Ultimately, a God-pleasing life is marked by death. Death was the price our Lord paid to free us from our sin. Only by the Good Shepherd’s sacrifice of His own life have we, the sheep, been given life. This is among the great paradoxes of our Christian faith: life comes out of death. There can be no resurrection without the suffering of the cross. That is true of Jesus, but it is also true of you. You can live a life made right before God, but only when you have died. It means drowning in the waters of Holy Baptism. It means dying to those sinful desires that are at war within us. And that is where suffering comes in.

Suffering and death go hand in hand. Suffering helps us stay alert to that tempting self-delusion that we are no longer bound by death. But of even more importance, suffering and death are the twin signs of your baptism. Your baptism has drowned your sins and brought you forth to newness of life. You now have life with the One who gave His life for you, a life which gives purpose to the faithful suffering of those who would follow Christ in faith.

In Jesus Christ, faithfulness and suffering, cross and resurrection are brought together. And just as Jesus avoided none of this as He faithfully carried out His Father’s will, so we, too, need not worry about experiencing the same on the road to eternal life. It is what we are to expect as sheep who follow the Shepherd who gave Himself into suffering and death for us, that we might be His, both now and forever. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.