Easter 2—Misericordias Domini
Dear friends in Christ. This Sunday has the name Misericordias Domini Latin for mercy/ compassion of the Lord and comes to us from the first few words of the psalm verse beginning today’s Introit [Ps.33.5].
What a beautiful verse that ties in with today’s Gospel where we hear Jesus telling us: I am the good shepherd. That gives us the nickname for this Sunday: “Good Shepherd Sunday.” It is only natural that we think of Jesus being our Good Shepherd here in this Easter season because, as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That’s why Jesus is the good shepherd—because He laid down His life for us; He willingly sacrificed His life for us. That’s what Lent and Good Friday, in particular, was all about—Jesus willingly laying down His life for the sheep, willingly sacrificing Himself for all people, so that all people could have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven. Instead of us suffering the results/ effects of our sin—death and God’s wrath eternally in hell—Jesus, the good shepherd [laid] down his life for the sheep. He, the holy and sinless One, took all of our sins on Himself, was made the world’s sinner, was cursed for our sin and there on the cross endured our sins’ effects—God’s wrath and hell. The good shepherd [laid] down his life for the sheep. But when Jesus died, He died having lived a holy and sinless life to fulfill God’s holy Law for us; He died having paid the price for the sins of all which were placed on Him; He died having reconciled the whole sinful human race to the holy God. And now that both God’s righteous demands were kept—by Jesus for us—and that His wrath over sin has been poured out—on Jesus in place of us—Jesus rose from the dead on Easter. That was the Father’s acceptance of Jesus’ work/ sacrifice for us; that was the Father pronouncing the world/ us “forgiven!”
So what does that mean? Simply this—now, truly, the world is full of the mercy/ compassion of the Lord. In Jesus, God can be and is merciful and compassionate to us. Jesus reconciled us sinners to Him; Easter has shown that! Now that forgiveness and peace with God—His mercy/ His compassion—are everywhere. Now He has His saving word proclaimed into all the world, that word that Jesus, the good shepherd [laid] down his life for the sheep, and by that brought us forgiveness of sin and eternal life; Jesus has His Church proclaim the holy absolution/ forgiveness to all repentant sinners; Jesus has His Church baptize people into His death and resurrection and in that baptism also to clothe them with His holiness and righteousness; Jesus has His Church give that forgiveness along with His body and blood in the Holy Supper. The earth is full of the Lord’s mercy/ compassion. He is rich in giving it out. We need not fret that we might miss it, like a bus or train if we’re a few minutes late. The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord because Jesus, the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for the sheep.
1. But the fact that in Jesus we enjoy every heavenly and spiritual blessing already now; the fact that Jesus, the good shepherd [laid] down his life for the sheep, and rose again from the dead Victor over sin, death, devil and hell does not mean that we are in heaven yet. We are still in this world; we are still subject to our own weaknesses and sins; we are still subject to and suffer as a result of the sins of others; we are still in the daily grind fighting our own sin as we are sinners in a sinful world. We shouldn’t, then, be surprised at what we daily experience and feel as we live out our lives. But as Easter teaches us and has brought about: the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord, His compassion, His devoted steadfast love.
That’s why we have Jesus as our Good Shepherd. Not only is he the Good Shepherd because He [laid] down his life for the sheep, but also because He rose again and now as our Good Shepherd guides and leads us throughout our earthly life to Himself in heaven. This is the thought that St. Peter picks up at the end of today’s text: For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Notice Jesus’ work of mercy for us poor sinners. Not only as the Good Shepherd did He [lay] down his life for the sheep, but now He calls us to Him—us who were straying like sheep. We already came into this world as lost, condemned sinners and left to ourselves and our own devices we would only continue more and more down that path. We would only keep going our own way, a way that leads to more sin and, finally, eternal damnation in hell. Not only that, but while straying, we would forever be looking for something, would forever have unrest in conscience. On top of that, what does straying imply? –It implies that you are not getting closer to your goal and, in fact, you are getting further away. Long story short, on our own, we would never come to God; we would never make our way back to the Good Shepherd. We would only be left wandering and hopeless.
But Jesus doesn’t want to leave us wandering, going the way of sin and death. Remember what He also says in today’s Gospel: And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd! In His holy word and Sacraments which He has in His Church throughout the world, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, comes and brings people/ sheep into His fold, the Church. Most of us, He brought into His fold, the Church already as babies in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Through the faith He worked in us in Baptism we then recognized Him as the Good Shepherd and began to listen to His voice. Of course others He brought in later on in life through His holy word by which the Holy Spirit created faith in Him in our hearts.
But whenever it was, we now know Jesus as our Savior and we are certain that He is guiding us, leading us on the right path—the one that leads to eternal life in heaven. Yet, we do well to remember that Easter doesn’t mean that we’re in heaven yet; we now are sheep of the Good Shepherd who is still in the process of leading us to heaven—we’re not there yet. So it means we are still sinners living in a sinful world.
This is why our text from St. Peter is so helpful for us and is a wonderful reminder to us that nothing changes—even though everything has changed because of Easter and the Good Shepherd who is now leading us. We, as Christians/ sheep of the Good Shepherd live as though nothing has changed, even though everything has changed. Our text is from a portion of his epistle in which St. Peter is addressing Christian slaves. These people were slaves, had become Christians/ sheep of the Good Shepherd—so everything had changed; but they were still slaves—so nothing had changed.
Our text: For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you… What’s this they have been called to? The verse right before our text: But when you do good and suffer for it, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. And why? For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you. In other words: To willingly endure injustice, to do good and yet suffer wrong, to suffer wrong and be forgiving. These Christians were slaves. Their calling/ work as slaves did not change when the Lord brought them to faith; their Christianity did not make them masters or even free. Instead, they were to live out their faith even in the midst of suffering, even suffering for doing the right thing.
How we all need to hear this! The fact remains: we are, in Christ, heirs of heavenly glory, but the way leading to it is one of much trial because we are sinners living in a sinful world; Easter doesn’t mean we’re in heaven yet. In fact, what does St. Peter say? For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you. Our calling as Christians is that we bear suffering, for Jesus’ sake, for doing good. Just because you are a Christian does not mean that all will go swimmingly for you in the work place or your various relationships. As a Christian, led by the Good Shepherd, following the Holy Spirit in you guiding you, yes, you will strive to do the good. And doing the right thing may not/ often will not get you accolades—and in fact may get you the opposite.
2. In the nitty-gritty of daily life, living in a sinful world and ourselves being sinners, dealing with that difficult co-worker, neighbor, relative or whatever the relationship and doing the right thing will require patient endurance. Here we have the example of Jesus: 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. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd. The sheep follow the Shepherd. Even though Jesus never sinned once, He still suffered at the hands of sinners—should we expect anything different?—and yet He did so patiently: 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. The point? Why should I complain in my suffering, even my suffering wrongly/ for doing the right thing, if Jesus, the holy and sinless One didn’t? It is really sinful arrogance on our part if we think we shouldn’t follow Jesus in His patient endurance in suffering unjustly at the hands of others. It is sin to lash out at the other, to revile in return, to threaten. Isn’t this hard? Sure it is! It goes against our natural—sinful—inclination. Butto this you have been called.
Our patient endurance of wrong, even for doing the right thing/ good, is made easier when we realize our own sin and that we have wronged others. Just like we would like them to show us mercy, so also may we show mercy and forgiveness to those who do wrong to us. Let us remember our sin and Jesus’ suffering for that sin: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. Faith in Jesus and His saving work for us gives us the power to be merciful to those who have wronged us. We, whose sins have brought and nailed Jesus to the cross, were shown mercy and we show to those who sinned against us, even wrongly, that same mercy we ourselves have experienced.
Again, isn’t suffering wrongly hard? Isn’t patient endurance hard? Of course! But remember what Jesus’ death on the cross means. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Did you catch that? In Jesus we died to sin. Sin has lost its power over us; we need not follow it and in Jesus is the power to live a life of mercy, patient endurance and forgiveness. When we were baptized we were baptized into Jesus’ death—we died to sin; the bond that kept sinful man a sinner has been loosed and we now can live in holiness and righteousness. When we died with Jesus in baptism, we died to sin and now live and present ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness, a holy and godly life.
To be sure we are still sinners who struggle our whole lives against sin and that’s why we find it hard and often still do not show mercy to those who sinned against us. But as we follow in his steps, our Good Shepherd strengthens us by His example, His work, His word, His sacrament so that we have compassion on those who wrong us. We pray for them asking God not to punish them for their wrongs against us, recognizing their wrongs harm them more than us.
Easter doesn’t mean we’re in heaven yet, so we follow the Good Shepherd in all patient endurance, not surprised when we are sinned against—even while doing good—and we show others the same mercy He has shown us. INJ Amen.