Quinquagesima

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft 1 Sam 16:1–13; 1 Cor 13:1–13; Lk 18:31–43; Ps 89:18–29; anti: v. 20   –     2/15/26

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our texts for today are from the Gospel reading: Taking the twelve, [Jesus] said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” And from the Epistle: Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Why these two? Because all that Jesus has done, all that He endured, He did so because He loves God the Father, and because He loves God the Father, He loves you, as St. Paul said, For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:7–8). More than that, Jesus endured ridicule, starvation, rejection by those in His home town, betrayal by His dear friend, abandonment by all who were dear to Him, and torture none here could survive.

Then, these two texts because we have approached the verge of Lent, the time of the Church’s historical discipline, where I must ask you: Do you embody the image of love and steadfastness that Jesus portrays through His life, suffering, and death? Do you imitate of St. Paul in love for God and love for neighbor? Such arrogance lies in our hearts. No one of us here can truly look at himself and answer yes to either question in honesty if we once consider the full ramifications of the discipline under which Jesus held Himself, or even the weaker discipline of St. Paul or St. Samuel. We say we love God with our whole heart and our neighbors as ourselves, but have we really reckoned the cost and what love really means? Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (Lk 14:27–28)

Look at what Jesus, God’s Suffering Servant, endured for the sake of love, Isaiah says, I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting (50:6). And later, But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken (53:5–8). And David, writing for his greater Son, gives these words, But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” (Psalm 22:6–8) Then Jesus Himself warns, Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (Mt 10:37). Are you willing and able to undergo like ridicule and rejection for the sake of Christ? Do you really love Christ more than your own flesh and blood?

What of the saints who came before us? How did they love Christ? The writer to the Hebrews says, Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth (11:35b–38). These saints, apostles, disciples, patriarchs and matriarchs, loved Christ to the point of death. Our brothers in the faith even endured rejection by their own family, as Jesus had warned: Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law (Lk 12:51–53). Why? Because the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed (Jn 3:19–20). Are you willing and able to face such horrifying torment and death for the sake of Christ? What about rejection by friends and family because you stand on the Word of God, on such simple statements of fact that men cannot become women nor women men, or that the rights of the child to her biological father and mother outweigh the desires of barren adults, or that God made marriage to be between only one man with one woman and that sex belongs solely within that male-female bond. Because you do not rejoice in wrongdoing but in the truth, are you willing to say to your neighbors, and even to your family that homosexuality is unnatural and wrong, that abortion is murder, that transgenderism is rejection of God and His creation, that surrogacy robs the child of all God given rights, and that salvation comes alone by faith in Christ and in no other way?

I hope and pray  that when the day comes that God asks of each of us to make such confession, even at the risk of losing blood-brother or blood-sister, I and you will love Christ more than these. For Jesus Himself says, Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him (Jn 14:21). And further, Jesus promises, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life (Mk 10:29–30).

We have reached the end of the time of preparation for the great fast. Gesimatide, of which this Sunday is the third and last, comes to its close and we face the hard blows and harsh pangs of depravation, if we but follow Christ to His cross. Lent is our time to strengthen our bodies and our minds against the trials and temptations which await us. Our training is fasting from those things on which we rely for comfort most, but also in the exercise of our faith through taking up disciplines which often ought already form part of our daily lives. This fasting and this added discipline do not make you more righteous in Gods eyes, for you are already righteous because you have been baptized into Christ. God already loves you and will provide for you because your sins and your failings, especially that you have failed to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself (Mk 12:30–31), these sins Christ out of great love paid for by His death on the cross. No, fasting and disciplining your body and your mind are the work of the soldier as he prepares for battle. The respite we have had since Christmas is over, the time to baton down the hatches, to gird up your loins for the task ahead is here. So what will you be starting this next week? Whom will you ask to struggle along with you? How will you encourage one another to endure, to imitate the saints and martyrs, to strive to follow in the path Jesus trod to your own crosses?

These are choices you each must make, I cannot make them for you but I will advise. First, if you are pregnant or nursing, do not fast from food, the Church has never demanded something like that from you. Now for all of you, do not try more than you are able. Begin your discipline light, and begin it tomorrow not Thursday. Build up your fast slowly, increasing the strictness day by day so that you do not overwhelm your willpower—none of the disciples faced death without years of preparation, and most of the martyrs likewise. What should you give up? Whatever you realize you would miss most but don’t actually need: sweets, carbs, meat, alcohol, tv shows, video-games, gambling, youtube, snapchat, instagram, facebook, tiktok. Take today to study your life and habits and identify what eats away at your time or your body then set a simple goal for tomorrow, but a greater goal of fasting from it by Holy Week.

What of disciplines? First and foremost, how are your devotions? Could you read the Bible more? Of course you can! Put down the devotional books and take up the Bible itself. Read a psalm or two, or three, each day. Begin with Matthew and read a chapter or two or three every day. I urge you to increase whatever your devotions are so that you read more and more of the Bible—just don’t start with Leviticus or Numbers because you are setting yourself up to fail. How much of the Small Catechism can you quote from memory right now? (pause) What is the first commandment? __ What does this mean? __ You had better strive to memorize it again. Have you ever read the whole of our church’s Confessions? If you have the newest edition, Concordia the Lutheran Confessions, there is a reading plan on page 34 (in Latin numerals). Have you ever had a cold shower? or how about a walk every day? Whom do you pray for every day? What about having the church directory open before you when you pray in the morning or the evening? We, your brothers and sisters in Christ need your prayers.

Men of the congregation, there is an LCMS-wide discipline happening right now, called Memento70—you should have seen an article of one of the newsletters. I am doing that, as are members of my extended family and many friends across the country. You should join us. Ladies, I am sorry I have nothing equivalent for you; let us pray there is something next near. All these things and others you should consider today, then make a plan of how you will start slowly incorporating one or more disciplines into your day with a goal of something greater by holy week, then find someone to walk alongside you during the long fast.

Strive to be pure as He is pure! God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you (1 Thess 4:7–8). I pray that with your fasting and discipline in the coming season you will grow stronger in body and mind, equipped for whatever trials the devil has in mind for the Church in the coming years. I pray also that your neighbors and family see your faith acting in love and give glory to Christ and God who is your shield and King forever. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen