Sermon Text: 1 Peter 2:19-25
Date: April 30, 2023
Event: The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A (Good Shepherd Sunday)
1 Peter 2:19-25 (EHV)
For this is favorable: if a person endures sorrows while suffering unjustly because he is conscious of God. 20For what credit is it to you if you receive a beating for sinning and patiently endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and endure it, this is favorable with God.
21Indeed, you were called to do this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you would follow in his steps. 22He did not commit a sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. 23When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself carried our sins in his body on the tree so that we would be dead to sins and alive to righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but you are now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
We Have Returned to the Shepherd of Our Souls
Sheep wander. That’s kind of their trademark action, almost their whole personality. They mindlessly go off on their own path even when where they are is good and pleasant. A sheep is likely to go from plenty of food to a place with no food, to go from a place with abundant water to someplace dry, from a safe place to a place filled with danger and peril.
This is not because the sheep has a death wish or is filled with self-loathing. The sheep is just kind of mindless. He will absentmindedly go from a good place to a bad one because he didn’t even notice.
There’s a reason that God often uses sheep as a picture and example of us. How often don’t we wander from what we know is good because God has provided or willed it, and moved on to someplace we thought would be better and wasn’t? That’s sin in its most basic essence. If we think back to the Garden of Eden, what was Satan’s primary temptation? “What God here has provided is bad. Listening to him is limiting. Everything will be better for you if you just disobey his cruel commands.” And we know how truthful Satan was being—all mankind since has paid the price because Adam and Eve trusted his lie.
“We all have gone astray like sheep,” Isaiah says in his prophecy, reflecting not only of his countrymen of his time but of all people of all time—you and me included. We have wandered from what our God has said and done and instead sought our own desires against his. We have gone far from God, this path of seeking out sin instead of God has left us in the same position as the people the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about: Some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.
Sheep may wander away and inflict suffering on themselves by their own doing. We may have a sense of sorrow for an animal in that condition, but we might also recognize that they kind of did it to themselves. In our Second Reading for this morning, Peter has a similar observation, not about sheep, but about us: For this is favorable: if a person endures sorrows while suffering unjustly because he is conscious of God. For what credit is it to you if you receive a beating for sinning and patiently endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and endure it, this is favorable with God.
Someone who suffers negative consequences, who endures punishment because of something wrong they have done are experiencing justice. And while we might not wish harm on any other person, we probably would also look at that situation without a ton of pity. To the convicted murderer who must spend the rest of his life in prison, we might not grieve. We may not see as much sorrow in that situation as we see justice: these are the natural results of these actions.
And that’s Peter’s point. If you, dear sheep, suffer hardship because you are wandering away from God and embracing sin, what credit is it to you? Will anyone commend you for your patience in such a situation? Is anyone going to feel for you if you’re getting the just results for what you have done? Probably not.
But this is the path of sin. Sin always seems enticing and exciting, but never leads to anything positive, only negative. The person who is obsessed with money is consumed by his greed. The person who seeks sexual fulfillment outside of God’s design for sex and marriage brings heartache, depression, and perhaps even disease on themselves. The person who abuses drugs or alcohol may be impaired, and their relationships or even their freedom may be jeopardized based on what they do while under the influence. What credit is it to you if you receive a beating for sinning and patiently endure it? That doesn’t say anything positive about your character other than perhaps you can do the time for doing the crime.
But sheep don’t just suffer because they wander away from the safety and abundance that the shepherd supplies. Sometimes there are dangers that come seeking them out. Predators arrive to try to tear the flock apart and kill some of them. Hardship and dangers may come through no fault of their own—even if they were listening to their shepherd completely.
Peter acknowledges that this same thing is true for you and me, sheep of the Good Shepherd. You and I may endure sorrows and suffering because of our faith in God. Peter says that while suffering because you did something wrong is not to your credit at all, suffering for doing good and even suffering because you are a Christian is favorable with God.
Why is this favorable with God? Because this is part of his calling to you to be his follower, to be his disciple. Jesus described this as bearing your cross and following him. Peter expounds upon this thought: You were called to do this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you would follow in his steps. He did not commit a sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. Jesus suffered; those who follow him will endure suffering. As what happened to the Shepherd, so it will happen for the sheep.
Jesus suffered for a very specific purpose. He himself carried our sins in his body on the tree so that we would be dead to sins and alive to righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but you are now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. Our Good Shepherd took the sins that separated us from him and brought punishment on our heads on himself. And whether our minds are drawn to some of the sins we mentioned before—greed, lust, substance abuse, or something more subtle like trying to hide away from our faith because we don’t want to endure any suffering because of it, all of these Jesus has forgiven. Every sin was placed on our Good Shepherd when he laid down his life for us.
And because of that, he has become the gate, or the door, for us to enter back into fellowship with God. We couldn’t make that happen, but we have access to God once again through Jesus’ death and resurrection, which has paid for our sins and proved our forgiveness.
Being forgiven means we have returned (or perhaps even better, we have been turned) to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. No longer are we sheep wandering away from God. No longer are we sheep in danger from predators who will tear us to pieces. The Good Shepherd has curbed our wandering and brought us to himself. He has defeated our enemies so that we are his. And nothing will change that. No suffering in this life, no failures on our part. Our Good Shepherd is infinitely patient, infinitely loving, infinitely forgiving, and infinitely protective. Whatever happens to us, good or bad, our dear Shepherd will work for our eternal good.
So, my dear fellow sheep, let us stick tightly to the Shepherd who loves us, who takes care of us, who even corrects us for our good. He suffered for us so that we would never suffer again after this life. He laid down his life and took it up again to rescue his wandering sheep. By his wounds you were healed. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
