April 21, 2026

Today's Reading: 1 Peter 2:21-25

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 34:1-28; Luke 7:18-35

“...leaving you an example…” (1 Peter 2:21b)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Peter preaches Jesus in two ways. The first and foremost way is that Jesus, “the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls,” is the SALVIFIC GIFT for you. You were like “straying sheep,” as Peter quotes Isaiah 54, but Good Shepherd Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the tree.” This is so deliciously wonderful! Jesus was completely pure and holy, and yet on the cross, He carried all your sin. He answered or atoned for it all as He sacrificially in love shed His blood FOR YOU. The blood that gushed from His crucified body is the blood that cleanses and purifies from all sin (1 John 1:7). So, your sin does not belong to you anymore. All of it and all of its hellacious punishment was reckoned to Jesus in His very good, Good Friday death. “By his [Good Friday] wounds you have been healed.” This is Peter’s preaching of Jesus as GIFT for you and for your salvation. To which faith says: “Amen.” 

Then Peter preaches Jesus as EXAMPLE, namely, how you are to live before others, especially those who want to or actually harm you. Christians suffer for confessing Jesus as “the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” It goes with the territory. So, learn how to suffer discrimination, hate, injustice, and injury from Jesus because you are a Christian. “For this you have been called,” Peter declares. Jesus suffered for you, “leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” The Shepherd has taken the lead. Willingly, for your salvation, He marched to the cross. So, then, His sheep will follow and bear their crosses following His example.

As Jesus Good Friday-ly suffered, He didn’t sin. He didn’t argue or complain. He did not appeal to justice as He stood before the High Priest and Governor Pilate, and He “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” Moreover, when Jesus was reviled, He did not berate back. As He suffered, He did not say: “Just wait until I rise from the dead! I’ll get you!” Instead, Jesus, “entrusted himself to him [His Father] who judges justly.” 

FOR YOU and for your salvation, Jesus permitted Himself to be viciously demonized, scorned, mocked, and brutally murdered. And yet He only opened His mouth to pray: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34)! Stephen prayed that way in Acts 8:60, and Mrs. Erika Kirk recently prayed that way for the murderer of her husband Charlie: “that man, that young man, I forgive him.” 

So, follow Jesus’ example, dear disciple. Do not argue and complain when you are wronged. Have compassion on those who hurt you. Suffer it, forgive, and leave the matter to God the Father just as Jesus did. In such living, you “die to sin and live to righteousness.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.