TEXT: St. Luke 10:1-20, Pentecost VI 2007

THEME: Wolves into Lambs

In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Lucky wolves. For now unsuspecting and naïve lambs have been provided for the wolves to pounce upon, to destroy and devour. Is this what Our Lord intends, for His pastors to be attacked, cut down, and devoured by the men of this world and their prince? Most assuredly yes. Yet, those sent in the stead of the Lord have nothing to fear, for if they are lambs, they are protected by the Lamb, the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd shall guide them, He shall give them the words to speak, He shall protect them. But the wolves will still attack.

Who are these wolves? To be sure, they are Satan and his minions, who do whatever they can to attack the Word and those who proclaim it, trying to cause doubt in the minds of those who hear. But look around you; look in the mirror. We claim to be lambs, but let’s face it: left to ourselves, we are really wolves in sheep’s clothing. Woe to you wolves, whose itching ears listen to every lie and untruth, giddy to hear more. Woe to you wolves, who devour and destroy the reputations of others; who chew out friends and family without second thought so that you always get your way; who speak and spread various heresies and blasphemies with complete and utter glee. This is our very nature, an ugly, snarling, and vicious nature of sin that continually rears its ugly head; our natural instinct is to reject the Word of God; to reject those sent by Christ, to reject Christ, and to reject the One who sent Christ. Should we be exalted to Heaven? No; we should be cast down to Hell. We are nothing more than beastly offspring who kill and destroy by what we do and say.

But behold, the Kingdom of God has come near to you. Christ has freed you from bondage to sin, death, and the devil: you are proclaimed to be a wolf no longer, for Christ has been proclaimed to you; He has extended His peace to you like a river. Satan has been cast down, crushed and trampled under by the nail-pierced heels of the Lamb, and now cowers in the shadow of the cross. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world has come to even take away the sin of the wolves; this is the peace proclaimed by those who are sent. This is true peace: that the Lamb has come to give His life for the wolves that the wolves might become lambs. This is the word you have heard from Christ through those He has sent. This is the word which has healed us of the infirmity of our sin. We who were not a people have been made children of God and heirs of Heaven. Yet the wolves still attack, they still devour; and so some hear and yet are content to remain wolves: they continue to reject the Lamb and the Father who sent Him. Yet, you who are wolves have heard the Word of Christ, the peace of His forgiveness, and are now His lambs.

When did this change from beastly offspring to divine children happen? You were changed when the Lamb sent His messengers unto you, proclaiming His peace, teaching His truth, healing your sins. You are wolves, but the Good Shepherd has taken you into His arms and declared you to be one of His flock, one of His precious lambs. In Holy Baptism, your name is written in Heaven; you have been crucified to the world and the world to you; no longer does one of Satan’s hellish pack live, but now lives the new creation of Christ, a precious lamb of His Kingdom. You are wolves, but the Lamb who was slain places His sacrificed Body and His shed Blood into your mouth. As you graze upon this Lamb, you are changed. In eating the Flesh and Blood of this Lamb, the old wolf is put to death and a lamb of the Kingdom lives instead in all blessedness and righteousness.

Rejoice! For the Lamb who was slain lives again. He has cast down Satan in defeat and has freed you from his clutches. We once were wolves, sinners and enemies of God, but Christ has sent to us His pastors to instruct us in His divine and saving truth, to proclaim to us His peace; no longer are we wolves but precious lambs of Christ’s Kingdom. Now we can expect attacks from our former comrades as the Lord spreads His peace through our daily interactions with others. But He will protect us as we face attacks from the wolves, traitors to their demonic cause; traitors who are now the children of God, bearing the name of Christ. But do not rejoice that the Good Shepherd protects us from those who would still attack us. Rejoice, instead, that our names are written in Heaven; rejoice that Christ sends unto us pastors to preach the Gospel; rejoice that we have been Baptized and fed with Christ’s holy Body and precious Blood; rejoice that Christ has thrown down Satan and defeated him for us. Boast in the cross of Christ, by which our names are written in Heaven and by which Christ has made us a new creation, He has made us lambs out of wolves.

In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.