1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word for this 5th Sunday of Easter, and also this weekend, as we celebrate the Rite of Confirmation for our confirmands, Eddie & Tatiana. The message is taken from 1 Peter 2:2-10, it’s entitled, “God’s Chosen People,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. A nursing infant gazes at her mother’s smiling face while that mother ponders the wonder she cradles in her arms. She marvels at the tiny little life that the Lord has knitted together in her womb (cf Ps 139:13). Her heart bursts with love for her little child, and she ponders with hope her baby’s future, praying it will be filled with meaning and purpose.
3. In so many ways, this little child is you, the Church of Jesus, for you in Baptism have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3). For this new life, God is nourishing you with “pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). Joined to Christ, you are chosen and precious to God. And he has work in store for you as, “a spiritual house, . . . a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). Today, the living Savior exalts your status as God’s newborn, chosen, priestly people.
4. Joined to the resurrected Christ by baptismal grace, you are a newborn people. Baptized into the risen Christ, his people are “like newborn infants” (1 Peter 2:2). Life is pure gift. In confirmation class I have taught our confirmands that we can give ourselves neither physical nor spiritual life. But, God, our Father in Christ, “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3).
5. We are growing up into salvation (1 Peter 2:2). This is not growing toward a salvation we do not yet possess, but growing into a salvation fully bestowed upon us in Christ. For this growth, we need and receive the nourishment of “pure spiritual milk,” the Word of God. Our confirmands have learned that there are two teachings to God’s Word, God’s Law, and God’s Gospel. God’s Law warns us against the empty calories of idolatry, which simply “does not satisfy” (Is 55:2). God’s Gospel offers the nourishment God has lavishly supplied in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Here, we have tasted that the Lord is good (v 3, Ps 34:8), calling to mind the Lord’s Supper and all of God’s Means of Grace that our confirmands have learned about these last few years.
6. Faith craves that Word over the empty and harmful food the world offers in its word and wisdom. A healthy newborn does not find nursing a chore. She lives for it. When Jesus told his disciples they must become like little children (Mt 18:2–3), he spoke of this absolute dependence on his grace. To grow, we also need and receive nurture from God’s Word and Sacraments.
7. A newborn is nearsighted and can’t see very far away. But the distance from her mother to her face is just the right distance for the newborn to gaze upon her mother’s loving face. In a similar way, as the Church is nourished by “pure spiritual milk,” she is able to look upon the loving face of God in Christ.
8. From that nurturing love, the infant children of God learn their identity as chosen people. Granted, the Church is not chosen or precious in the world’s eyes. In the world’s eyes, her Lord Jesus was “rejected by men” (v 4; Is 53:3), seen in his Passion and death. She shares in that rejection, as exemplified in Stephen being martyred for his Christian faith (Acts 7:51–60). This rejection tempts her to doubt her status as chosen. But she is chosen and precious in God’s eyes. Her Lord Jesus is chosen and precious, the living cornerstone upon which God builds his Church (vv 6–7; Ps 118:22; Is 28:16).
9. We have the expression, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” On the one hand, you may think some abstract work of art is ugly or even offensive, even though art experts somewhere have valued it at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, stuck to your refrigerator door with a magnet is a simple drawing from your little child or grandchild, which leaves much to be desired in terms of technique and would mean nothing to anyone else, but to you, it’s a treasure.
10. God treasures us. This is not due to some special beauty or quality in us. In fact, our sin had earned us the names “No Mercy” and “Not My People” (Hos 1:6, 9). Yet God in his redeeming love has joined us to Christ through Holy Baptism. Our confirmands are going to affirm their baptism in the Rite of Confirmation. Although the world sees no beauty in God’s people, we are connected to Christ and therefore, chosen and precious in God’s eyes (1 Pet 2:4).
11. As she feeds on God’s pure spiritual milk, the Church is reassured: First, there is no reason to envy the world, which (apart from repentance) can only face eternal separation from God in hell (1 Peter 2:8). Second, her true status in God’s eyes is an exalted one. Once lost in sin, she was “Not My People,” but grace has made her the people of God. Once, her name was “No Mercy,” but now she has received mercy (1 Peter 2:10). In Christ, she is the Father’s beloved, infant child.
12. Living in Christ and sharing his status, you also share in his priestly purpose. Joined to Christ, the Christian becomes a living stone (1 Peter 2:5), and is being built up: Into a spiritual house—the dwelling place of the living God (1 Peter 2:5), For a holy priesthood—qualified by grace to serve in God’s presence (1 Peter 2:5), To offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).
13. Her spiritual sacrifices are in no way atoning sacrifices for her own sins. That work belonged uniquely to Jesus (cf Heb 7:27; 10:10). And “it is finished” (Jn 19:30), something his resurrection has confirmed.
14. Rather, the Church shares in his priestly work of glorifying the Father. This includes sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise (1 Peter 2:9). It also includes the work of praying for others—including our enemies (as did Stephen, Acts 7:60). It finally includes our witness, in word and deed, to God’s love for all in Christ.
15. As “elect exiles” (1 Pet 1:1), the Church will not enjoy an exalted status in the world’s eyes. But joined by baptismal grace to your resurrected Lord, you, his Church, our confirmands, have become his newborn, chosen, priestly people who glorify God and witness to his love for the world. Joining in his priestly work, you pray for the world and bear witness in word and deed to your risen Lord, whose love is working through his Church’s ministry, inviting the world to become with you his chosen people. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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