Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
April 19, 2026
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
Easter 3A
Instruction For The Baptized
And if ye call him “Father,” the one who judges impartially according the each man’s work, then conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile; because you know that you were not ransomed by perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life, handed down from your forefathers. But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb unblemished and spotless.
He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in the last times for your sake; you who through him are believers in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him, so that your faith and hope are aimed towards God; having purified you souls by obedience to the truth unto sincere brotherly love, ye love one another fervently from the core; since ye have been born anew (pf) not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God. 1 Peter 1:17-24 (dkv)
—
Today the Holy Spirit reminds us what it means to live in with and under our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is what the Christian faith is.
It is to possess Christ, and to be possessed of him in turn.
It is to be rid of sin’s impairment of our vision, of our hearing and of all our faculties; so that they no longer hold ungodly opinions, so that they no longer lead us into “false belief, despair and other great shame and vice.”
It is unending glorious life in Christ that begins now, even if weakly so compared with our life in heaven. We are like children learning to ride a bike: a little wonky at first. But before we know it we will be soaring like eagles.
To understand and to obtain the power for this “high calling,” the first thing we must do is to take full advantage of the gifts given us in our baptism: summarized in today’s first reading “and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
And to enjoy such growth spurts of faith, we must know the “Book of 1 Peter,” which is not technically speaking a book, or an aimless collection of religious instruction. But is specifically and intentionally a baptismal address that Peter is writing to the newly baptized who are: scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia … And that is significant because the Lord carefully instructed Peter three times, once for each of his denials,
“Feed my Lambs;
Tend my Sheep;
Feed my Lambs.
And so let our throats be filled with praise and worship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ this day, that Peter got the message: our evidence being this very epistle that we hear today. And for the record this has been the job of pastors ever since, right up to this very day in the city of Cleveland Ohio.
As a holder of this high office Peter worked daily and tirelessly wherever he found himself: be it Jerusalem, Caesarea, Antioch or Rome tending to the churches the Holy Spirit placed under his care. But here we see that he also extends his reach into distant lands – always to the end that the baptized may realize what it means to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4) What it means to no longer live life clawing through the slime of the earth, in the cesspools of the world. But to soar with the eagles. And indeed to be magnificent eagles even if caged for the moment.
Patience.
More on Peter’s baptismal address. It was written some 30 years after Pentecost, about the year of our Lord 63; and it demonstrates that in the first 30 years of the church’s existence; the Holy Faith had spread like wild fire. Sometimes attracting 3,000 at a time as it did when Peter preached his first sermon on Pentecost, or in other cases a few at a time as in the case of Cornelius.
We also cannot help noticing that by this time the church, which is by definition, “Eucharistic Assembly of the Baptized” had not only developed its core beliefs, but also its holy practices: the foundation of which is the much derided Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
But let the “Lakewood Churches” and the “Liquid Churches” mock this incomprehensible formula of ordinary water mixed with the extraordinary Gospel of Jesus Christ; let them mock as they will. To quote one current social media meme: “When you are baptized you enter the water as a dry sinner, and emerge as wet sinner.” May the Lord not charge such “flexi-doxy” to their account. But bring them to repentance and bathe them in light. Because Blessed Baptism is our factual entrance into the mystical body of our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Father and the Holy Spirit.
And there is nothing better than that.
But Peter especially teaches us here about baptism’s power source, which does not consist of, “perishable things like silver or gold … but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb unblemished and spotless.” Yes beloved. Blood was required, not suggested we say, but required to redeem us from the sin and death and devil that fascinate our base desires. Just like the Tree in the Garden mesmerized our Biological Parents and brought the whole shebang down on the heads of their children. As Scripture says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Lev. 17:11)
Recently Cleveland EMS was given permission by its medical director to transfuse blood in the pre-hospital setting. Before that medics could only administer normal saline, which is salt water and which helped counter hypovolemic shock. But the difference between using actual blood v. this watery substitute is remarkable! CEMS has saved some 30 lives in the last 12 months. People who would otherwise have died, except that they received actual blood with all its nourishment and God-given life-giving qualities.
While we praise God for such First Article blessings, human blood cannot purify sinners. It may extend human life – but that person will still die someday, as will we all. Instead soiled souls, impure hearts, seared consciences and polluted minds, can only be purified by “God’s own blood” (Acts 20:28). By “the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb unblemished and spotless.”
Now this makes absolutely no sense to the uninitiated, and sometimes our own Flesh may doubt it. But hear these words. And understand that at the time of your baptism: whether infant or adult, you were therein: sprinkled with living blood by which we live in obedience to the truth and sincere and fervent love for one another.
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom. 13:10)