“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

Dear Baptismal Candidate, dear Confirmees!
You are baptized and confirmed on a day that is called ‘Misericordias Domini’, also known as ‘Shepherds Sunday’. The day is called this, because the biblical readings for this Sunday remind us of two very important aspects of Christianity by means of this picture of Jesus as our good and merciful shepherd.
The first of these two aspects is that we as Christians indeed have a good shepherd, who takes care of us. This might sound a bit odd at first, but some of you might still remember Joe Burnham’s sermon from a couple of weeks ago, where he talked about what makes our faith in Jesus Christ so special compared to other religions: And it is exactly this fact that we have a God who has taken care of us rather than to just leave us with the expectation of leading a ‘good’ life. Because: It isn’t by far the strife for an ethically and morally correct life that makes us different and unique in the religious world. There are lots of devout Buddhists or Muslims, or Hindus. What makes Christianity unique is the fact that we acknowledge in faith that, even though we try hard, we are utterly unable to live up to God’s expectations. We acknowledge in faith that we constantly fall short of what God demands. In the same faith how-ever we also know that we are still accepted by God, because He, himself, made up for our mistakes, and He is willing to forgive and to help us through Jesus Christ. There is no other religion in this world, which can claim to have such a caring, merciful and good God.So, we defiantly have a good shepherd, who takes care of us. And the consequence of belonging to this good shepherd, Jesus Christ, who redeemed us, is that we are His flock, the sheep of His pasture. This however means, if we look at it from the other side of the relationship, that we are not autonomic or self consistent, or totally independent. Christians do not live their lives without consulting God, without listening to his advice, without bearing in mind his good will. As Christians we rely on our Lord, who guides us in our lives. And with this thought we come to the 2nd important aspect that we should always remember as Christians: In faith we accept that we will see and taste the care and protection of our Shepherd, only where we trust in his leadership, meaning where we stay close to our shepherd, always following Him on that path that He leads us. And where does he lead us? > To eternal life! Absolutely! This is the final destination, but what about the path leading there? Isn’t it interesting to see, where Jesus went in his earthly days? Jesus went to preach to the people and to discuss with the Phari-sees. He went to comfort those, who mourned, and to be merry with those who celebrated life. And although He, himself, didn’t follow the temptations of the devil, he went to help sinners, sick, and outcasts like prostitutes, rather than to exclude or condemn them together with the mob. And this is what we can see as the major principle in His life and way: Jesus didn’t go with the flow. What led his steps was the trust in his loving and compassionate Father. It is therefore no wonder that it was a part of Jesus every-day life to go to a silent place to pray, or to go the synagogue on a Sabbath day to listen to God’s word. This steadfast trust in God and this compassion for others – especially for those in need – was however also the reason, why His way was and is inseparably connected with suffering and rejection – as we can learn it from today’s Bible word which says: “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” The way, that Jesus leads us, isn’t the way that is normally chosen by humans, because it is a way that trusts in God alone and cares about others rather than to just think about one’s own advantage. This it is the way, how Jesus has overcome the vicious circle of mistrust, violence and guilt. It is the way that leads us to the Easter victory; the victory, which we can happily celebrate, be-cause God lets us participate in it through the suffering of His Son Jesus Christ. Following Christ as our shepherd – and thus to benefit from his care and guidance –therefore means to imitate Jesus’ example of God’s compassionate care. For instance by: Talking good about others rather than to gossiping about them. By focusing not only on our own advantages, but behaving and dealing with others in a just and merciful way. By helping others rather than watching how they suffer. By coming to someone’s defence rather than to join the choir of those who condemn and say: We have known it all along! But most of all it means to keep the contact with God, our heavenly Father. Even if others should make comments about us going to church or praying before meals or reading the bible or praying for his spiritual guidance. I know; every day we are tempted as Christians to choose the line of the least resistance; a temptation also Christ had to endure. If we however permanently give in to this temptation not to follow Christ on his way, we will definitely go astray, just caring about ourselves. And thus finally we will be alone; apart and far away from the shepherd, who is willing to take care of us. I personally don’t want to imagine, what would happen, if God eventually – at the end of my life, or at the end of all times – would see just me, and what I have done in life; not looking at his Son Jesus Christ, and what He has achieved in order to help me!
It is for this reason that all Christians, not only newly baptized or confirmed Christians like you; no, all of us do more than good to listen and look at our shepherd Jesus Christ, following his lead and example, in order to be returned to the path that leads us to the eternal feast of Easter. That you, together with all of us, will always recognize Jesus’ voice, and follow His call and example, this is my wish and prayer, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. May therefore peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus! AMEN

“We are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Once, it was still in Germany, I visited someone, who had been seriously ill, but eventually was cured by means of a transplanted organ. Perhaps you can imagine that this person told me in very positive way about Organ transplantation, and that it is so wonderful to get a new chance. Now I know that organ transplantation is a very controversial issue, even if things are done properly and in a legal way. Even if an organ is solely transplanted, when the person, who decided in life to become a donor, dies – let’s say, because he or she was involved in an accident. And even if the recipient not finds out, whose organ he or she received, in order to make it easier to live with the new organ, to enjoy life that without the organ would have ended very soon. Even in such a case, where everything is handled in a proper and leagal way, organ transplantation remains a controversial issue. Nonetheless, let me use organ transplantation as an example in view of today’s bible word.
Imagine you had an incurable heart disease. Your heart would be extremely weak; so weak that it would be just a matter of time until it would stop beating. Every part of your life would be affected by it. It would trammel and deprive you of joy, because it would force you to live constantly with death on your doorstep. Now imagine that someone voluntarily died to help you; and this without your knowledge, without consulting you. Imagine this person as someone close to you: Let’s say your spouse, or your child, or a dear friend of yours; someone, who was healthy, with a still high life expectation. This loved one of yours would have died out of love on your behalf to donate a healthy heart to give you another chance to live. And the only thing, that would need to be done, would be to give your permission to the doctors to operate. What would your reaction be? Would you refuse to do the operation: Maybe out of grief over the death of your loved one; or out of pride, because you could not accept that someone had to die, in order to give you the chance to live? Or would you accept the new heart, live the new life; so that the sacrifice of your loved one wasn’t in vain? Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! We humans are seriously ill. We have a disease, which is so severe that no doctor in the world could ever cure it. Many wouldn’t even be able to detect it, because it is so deeply connected with our nature that for most people it doesn’t even appear as a disease. We humans are suffering from sin, which corrupts our hearts, senses and all other parts of our bodies. Thus it affects many areas of our lives in a destructive way, and eventually it causes death. We would be doomed without god, who is the only one, who is able to help, and who did help us in Jesus Christ. Because: Jesus, who as the only human being ever committed no sin, sacrificed his life – even before we were born – to offer us his strong and healthy heart, and with it the opportunity of anew chance, a new life. Jesus suffered the pain and consequences of our disease. He paid, what is actually our bill, and died on our behalf. Your brother, Jesus Christ, died on your behalf,  N.N.  , because He, the sinless suffered the consequences of our sin. This is, what Paul points out by saying: „God made him who had no sin to be sin for us“. And the story of Christ’s suffering shows us, how literally we have to understand this: You know that the religious leaders of Israel, the devout teachers of the law, the Pharisees, and Priests were hostile to Jesus because of the way he taught the people about God. They didn’t agree with him; his teachings didn’t fit into their picture of God. They didn’t like the idea of a righteous God, who humbles himself to associate with sinners, in order to save them. So they made a plot against Jesus, arrested him in secret, accused him by means of false testimonies, and convicted him, the Son of God, of blasphemy. However they weren’t able to execute the judgement because of the occupying power of the Romans. So they brought Jesus to the Roman Governor Pilate, accusing him to be an agitator. They said, Jesus tells the people not to pay taxes, and to refuse the authority of the Roman Emperor, even though Jesus publicly said: Give to the Emperor, what belongs to the Emperor. Pilate on the other hand, who despite of all their lies couldn’t find any fault with Jesus, still sentenced him to death. Because: He feared the crowd, who hysterically demanded Jesus death, and a real agitator and murder to be pardoned instead. Bearing all this in mind, we can see that Christ was accused and sentenced for all offences that his opponents actually should have been blamed for. Jesus bore the blame of the blasphemy of the religious leaders, who presumed, God has to conform their ideas rather than to obey and to believe. Jesus bore the blame of their false testimonies, which they arranged and get Jesus out of the way. He bore the blame of the agitation of those, who incited the people to call for His death. And last but not least Jesus bore the blame of those, who killed Him by taking his life, although He was not guilty of anything. However – coming to the essence of his passion – while Christ suffered the death penalty for all these crimes, a murderer and agitator was pardoned instead of Jesus, getting a new life, a new chance and new freedom. Now as we look at this pardoned agitator and murderer, Barabbas, which in English means: ‘Son of the Father’, we are actually looking at ourselves. Because: We benefit in the same way from Jesus suffering as Barabbas did, who was acquitted of all charges and received a new life, and a new chance.
Jesus suffered and died on our behalf. With him all our guilt died and is forgiven by God. He, the sinless, bore the consequences of our sin to give us a new chance; the chance of a new life. The only thing for us to do in order to get this chance, and in order to be called sons and daughters of God, is to accept Jesus’ sacrifice in faith, to accept God’s therapy. It is for this reason that Jesus committed this message of reconciliation to his disciples, to Paul as well as to us. Because: He wants us to implore each other on his behalf, to accept his self sacrifice; to accept his new and righteous heart, so that his death was not in vain. Sp be reconciled to God, who made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Amen

If someone is ill, and there is a medicine that can help, it is good to know, which medicine it is, and how one must take it, in order to get better. Or is it for instance of great use to dissolve an Aspirin and rub it onto your sunburned skin? > No! It wouldn’t help at all; on the contrary, it would make your skin even worse, because it contains acid. So; it can even have devastating consequences, if one acts without knowing what exactly is wrong, and what treatment is needed for a cure. The same applies to the Sacrament of the Altar, as we can learn from Paul’s words from his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 11: „For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.“
Speaking about ‘eating/drinking in an unworthy manner’, Paul describes in view of the Lord’s Supper, what I meant by pointing out the consequences of unknowing, or even ignorant behaviour. But what is this unworthy eating and drinking in view of the Sacrament? Paul himself gives us an answer to this question a couple of verses before today’s word for the sermon. There he refers to incidents and behaviour in the Corinthian Congregation, which conflict most blatant with the Lord’s Supper. He writes there: 17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. [And] 20When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without wait-ing for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not! What Paul points out with these words is the following: Whoever receives the Lord’s Supper, should receive it in awareness and responsibility of the unity, in which Christ places us by means of his sacrament; namely the unity of his body and blood, which is nothing else than the congregation that is united in his meal. Jesus unites us at His table like a family comes together at one table. And like family members take care of each other, Jesus wants us to take care of each other, and not to ignore one another. So; receiving the Sacrament regularly in a particular congregation without showing any interest in, or compassion with any of its members, would be like letting yourself being tied together with people, whom you are afraid to touch. It would be like eating con-stantly at a table of strangers. It doesn’t make any sense; and sooner or later it will cause trouble as you can imagine. On the other hand – says Paul – it is the given body and blood of Jesus Christ, which one should always bear in mind, when one receives the sacrament. Because: This is, what makes us children of God, which makes us a family despite of all differences, it is the forgiveness of our sins, which we receive for the sake of Christ’s sacrifice. Now you could say: Of course we have Christ’s body and his blood in mind, when we come to receive His sacrament. What else should one have in mind? Well, let me tell you that I experienced and learned over the years from ‘Christians’, that there are sometimes seemingly more im-portant reasons to go to the sacrament than the forgiveness of sins. Once for instance I talked to a man, who said: I can’t stand to remain seated while all others go. Even if I actually don’t want to, I rather go and receive the sacrament, just because I don’t like to stand out. So his reason was peer pressure rather than the desire to receive Christ’s forgiveness. Or: There was a sponsor, who said, he wants to go to the sacra-ment at the confirmation of his Godchild to show their bond. But to demonstrate such a bond by means of the sacrament is not only nonsense. It is devastating. Christ invites us to receive the forgiveness of our sins and an aid in faith through the unity that HE makes possible by means of his presence in the sacrament. This is the purpose of the Lord’s Sup-per, nothing else.
It is for this reason that only those people should receive the sac-rament, who – like the disciples – were taught in the understand-ing of God’s word and the meaning of the sacrament. And this is also the reason, why we admonish people before we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. How else should someone benefit from the Sacrament, if he or she doesn’t know, what Jesus offers in His meal? If people celebrate the Lord’s Supper just as a nice ceremony with bread and wine, but with no deeper meaning, they won’t see what Christ offers in his forgiveness and help.
Because: Only those, who know, what’s wrong, and what medical treatment can help, are able to use the right medicine in the right way. It is this, what Luther puts in simple terms saying in his Small Catechism that only „that person is truly worthy and well prepared [to receive the Lord’s Supper] who has faith in these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words “for you” require all hearts to believe.” It is for no other reason why in former times many Pastors in the Lutheran Church also examined those who wanted to receive the Sacrament by means of questions before each service. They tried to prevent that people eat or drink judgment on themselves. However, this is – as Paul points it out – the responsibility of each and every single Christian rather than that of a Pastor. Paul explicitly implores therefore all Christians to practice this self examination seriously. Because: As it is with medicine that is taken in the wrong way, it is also with the Lord’s Supper. Whoever – says Paul – receives it in an unknowing or ignorant way won’t benefit from it. He or she won’t receive what Christ offers by means of his meal, namely forgiveness of sins, peace with God, comfort, and strengthening in faith. And if someone doesn’t receive all this, what else does that mean than judgment; a judgment that is caused by people’s disrespect and ignorance! Let us therefore examine ourselves over and again:
Let us remind ourselves, before we receive His body and blood, whose death and sacrifice we proclaim in this meal, so that we may benefit from his presence and help. AMEN