Circuit Winkel on The Thursday of Trinity 25 – November 14, 2024Also, the Commemoration of Emperor Justinian, Christian
Ruler & ConfessorPsalm 46; 1 Peter 4:17-5:4; St. Luke 12:42-48
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The context of St. Peter’s words is the
suffering of Christians. The time of judgment is the time of suffering which
all Christians are promised to endure. There are those portions of Scripture
that deal with the sufferings of Christians that are a call to lament, a cry
out to God for help in time of trouble. That is not the focus of St. Peter’s
teaching. He says, ‘Don’t be surprised or think it strange when you suffer in
this world. Rather, rejoice because you are partaking of the very suffering of
Christ.’[1]
In Holy Baptism, Christ was put on you.
It was not just Christ’s righteousness or His merits that were applied to you,
but Christ joined Himself to you. You became a member, an appendage or a piece,
of His body. When the Head suffers, the body suffers. So too, as Christ has
suffered, so too do His dear children. But by this we know that we are united
to the life-giving head. We know that we are the beloved children of God, so
that “when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”[2]
It is in this context of suffering that
St. Peter speaks of the time of judgment that is at hand. There is an urgency
in St. Peter’s teaching. You must understand that your suffering should lead to
rejoicing because the judgment of God begins with His own household, the
household of faith. The parable of the Sower especially reveals how few in
number of the faithful when compared to the number of the wicked. “O Lord, look
down from heav’n behold And let Thy pity waken; How few are we within Thy fold,
Thy saints by men forsaken! True faith seems quenched on ev’ry hand, Men suffer
not Thy Word to stand; Dark times have us o’ertaken.”[3]
Yet this urgency is not for the sake of fear, or to drive you to good works for certainty of your salvation. The urgency is for the sake of calming your conscience. If you suffering is in fact a participation in the scorn, suffering, and death of Christ, then so too is your resurrection! And that endures forever. If your suffering is a participation in Christ, then you don’t need to worry or be anxious over suffering. Certainly, your own sins, the sins committed against you, and the sins of others should be concerning. Flee from them! Hate your own sins, repent of them, and flee from them! But you need not be anxious over them. Your suffering for your sins is only a small portion of the suffering Christ endured for the sins of the world and yet you get to receive the entirety of His righteousness that His blood won for you on Calvary.
And from this position, commit your
soul to God in doing good.[4]
Commit yourself to fulfilling the vocations God has given you, growing into the
man or woman God has created you to be. In the midst of suffering,
rejoice that God has sought fit to bring you closer to Himself, and recognize
that suffering as the opportunity to grow in faith and knowledge of Him.
And here, only after emphasizing this
point, does St. Peter turn specifically to the elders, the pastors. St. Peter
witnessed the suffering of Christ. He witnessed the scorn and torture of our
Lord and according to these words, perhaps even the crucifixion. My brothers in
the ministry, St. Peter is also our brother. Hear his words as comfort and
exhortation. “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as
overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the
flock.”[5]
Neither St. Peter nor our Lord bases
the work of the ministry on the “felt needs,” the wants, or the emotions of
God’s children. The work of the ministry is based on what they need—and what
they need is to hear the pure Word of God and to receive His Holy Sacraments.
They need to hear that they will suffer. They need to hear that the wages of
sin is death. Death is not a failure of medication or even an expiring of the
body. It is the working out of sin in the flesh. They also need to hear, to
know, to drink in the fact that they have been united with Christ—both in a
death like His and in a resurrection like His. They urgently need to hear these
things. They urgently need to put on Christ and be united to Him in Holy
Baptism. They urgently need to be united to the Holy Body and Precious Blood of
Christ in the Eucharist.
Our suffering in the ministry is
magnified. We suffer to a greater extent than the rest of Christendom for the
very name of Jesus. A mother and father may suffer greatly at the apostacy of
their son, but we suffer with the apostacy of hundreds of sons and daughters
given into our care. And yet even this suffering is a partaking in the
suffering of Christ. He who weeps over Jerusalem knows our suffering in the
ministry. If not for Christ our Head, we could not endure in His stead and by
His command.
Be encouraged by this. Do not let the
ministry become a burden of manual labor. It is not and never will be. Serve as
overseers, eagerly, and as examples to the flock; “and when the Chief Shepherd
appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”[6]
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
