The Wolf and the Sheep

This parable was originally told by Pr. William Weedon. Reprinted from

http://weedon.blogspot.com/2008/03/jump-on-miscericordias-domini-good.html .

Much thanks to Pr. Weedon.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

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

Once upon a time (a real time, mind you, not an imagined one), there was a wolf. He was a fat old thing. You see, he had it pretty easy. Whenever he wanted to eat, he only had to walk his door of his cave and look at the sheep that fed right outside. He’d eye this one or that one. And then he’d go after it and with a pretty minimal struggle, he’d bring the sheep down and eat away. And the more that he ate, the bigger he got, and the bigger he grew, the hungrier he got. He was a wicked old thing; sometimes he’d just poke his head out the door and howl. All the sheep began to shiver at the very sound of him. He’d chuckle to himself. “Yes, you better be afraid, you stupid sheep because one of these days I am going to eat you, and it won’t be pleasant, oh no it won’t. Ha! Ha!” This big, bad wolf, you see, had a name. A name of fear. The sheep had only to think of his name and they’d get wobbly on their knees and some would faint outright. His name, you see, was Death.

Out of Hiding

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

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

In the beginning, everything was very good. No sin soiled creation. No sorrow marred the joy of our forebears. Adam and Eve were at peace with God and in perfect harmony with one another. They were good stewards of the bounty of Paradise, and they walked with God in the cool of the day through the Garden. Nothing separated them from the Lord Himself, and He talked with them face to face.

But then sin entered into creation upon the temptation of the serpent. The perfection and harmony were marred by discord and doubt. The eyes of Adam and Eve were not opened, but instead blinded by their new-found sin. In shame, they ran and hid instead of appearing before the Lord God as they had formerly. These newly fallen sinners could not face the Holy One because they were no longer the holy creatures He had created in His image.

“My Lord and My God”

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

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

Today, we celebrate a curious occurrence in the Church's calendar. Because of the intersection of the solar calendar with the date of Easter, we celebrate the Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary right alongside the resurrection of our Lord and His appearance to His disciples. While it may seem strange, it is also peculiarly fitting that we consider the beginning and the end of our Lord's work among us.

How does the story begin? In Luke, chapter one, the angel Gabriel appears suddenly to the Virgin Mary and speaks to her, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” The archangel speaks to her and proclaims to this blushing young maiden that she is with child and will bear the Son of God, the savior of the nations. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

“He Is Not Here”

He is Risen! Alleluia!

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

The women came to the tomb very early on the first day of the week, after the Sabbath of the Passover. They had bought the spices necessary to do for the body of Jesus according to the custom of the Jews. They arrived, and were thrown into a tailspin. Instead of a sealed tomb and a dead body, they found a rolled-away stone and a young man dressed in a white robe.

The women had come to the tomb, expecting to do for the body of the Lord according to the custom of the Jews, to do for Him what was fitting for the dead. They had good intentions. They were seeking to perform a last act of kindness for Him who had shown them such great love throughout His life.

But Jesus is not there. They come to the tomb and find it devoid of a dead body, and instead an angel showing them the place where Jesus had lain. They have seen the signs and wonders that Jesus performed. They have witnessed the things He has done, and the things He has endured, through the past week. And yet, they do not understand. Where is the body of the Lord?

“They Have Taken Away My Lord”

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

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

Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb where they had laid the body of Jesus, wishing to do for Him as was custom, to wrap the body in spices and myrrh. She came to the tomb and found, much to her dismay, an open tomb and no body! “They have taken away my Lord!” she exclaimed in grief-stricken horror. She stood, weeping, even after seeing the angels and the empty place where her Lord had lain.

It is no wonder that Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. After all, she had, like all the others, pinned great hopes on Jesus to be the savior of the people. She had witnessed the events of the past week, seen the kangaroo-court trial and gruesome execution of Jesus upon the cross. She was there to hear His final cry and to see Him give up the Ghost. Now, she had come to mourn as was proper, and someone had committed sacrilege upon sacrilege – someone had stolen away the body of the Lord.

I AM He

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

The rabble, stirred up by the priests and the elders and led by Judas, comes to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Seeing them coming, the Lord steps between them and the drowsy disciples. He asks them, “Whom do you seek?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they say. A simple answer to a simple question. But the problem is: Is Christ it? Is He, the Son of God, what they seek?

Yes, He is, but He is much more than a simple carpenter's son from a Galilean backwater. To the horde's query, Jesus responds, “I AM.” Not simply “ya, that's me.” Jesus identifies Himself with the holy Name of God, the name above all names, the name too sacred for the Jews even to utter. And the reaction of the horde: “they drew back and fell to the ground.” What else can one do when you come face to face with God Himself. No one else could even begin to assert that he is the Lord God of Israel. They were thrown to the ground with the realization that they were getting much more than they bargained for. This is not just some looney heretic from Nazareth – this is the Son of God!

"You Have Said So"

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

Three times in St. Matthew's account of the Passion, Jesus utters the words, “You have said so.” Tonight you have heard one, and tomorrow night you will hear the other two. All three are replies to something said by one of His opponents, to turn the tables on them with their own words.

In tonight's lesson, Jesus predicts the things about to come, saying, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” The disciples all in turn express dismay at this revelation, and each responds, “Is it I, Lord?” Finally, the focus comes to Judas, who had already contracted with the priests and scribes for such a thing. To save face, he also says, “Is it I, Rabbi?” And Jesus said, “You have said so.” That is to say, Judas, you are guilty in your own conscience, and you know it. I will not comdemn you, for your own actions do that. You speak rightly.

The next time Jesus speaks the words is before Caiaphas, the high priest. Attempting to trap Jesus in blasphemy, Caiaphas commands Jesus, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” There the high priest speaks the truth of who Jesus is, and he binds himself under oath before God. Upon this confession, Jesus answers, “You have said so.” That is, Yes, I am the Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of Hosts, and all the other things your Scriptures declare Me to be, and you yourself have confessed it to be so.

The Gates of Righteousness

[note: This sermon was preached first at New Hope Lutheran Church in Charles City, IA on 31 March 2012, when I filled in for their pastor. It was then preached at St. Peter on 1 April.]

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

“Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.” So we pray in the Psalm for today. We ask the Lord to open the way before us, that we may enter into the place of righteousness, that we may enter into the place to which He has called us. And He has done just that.

After all, the Lord is in the business of opening gates, of letting His people into places of blessing. He admitted them into the Garden of Eden, the paradise whence sprang all of the wonders of creation. There He fed and nourished them, and walked and talked with them. There it was good, very good.

God opened the womb of Eve with the gift of a son, Cain. By this opening, He brought forth the whole population of mankind, for all who have lived have come from the womb of our first mother. Even our Savior was born of a woman, born of the lineage of man according to the flesh.