Called, Gathered, Enlightened, Sanctified
ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS
RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the waters of
Holy Baptism, you receive the Holy Spirit. You should remember from your
Catechism that “the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me
with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” That is what the
Holy Spirit does; it is His work. That is what Jesus tells His disciples.
Honestly, though, this is not what usually comes to mind when talk turns to the
Holy Spirit. Mention the Holy Spirit, and most think of televangelists, faith
healers, speaking in tongues, special knowledge, and those who say, “God spoke
to me in my heart.” All of that misses the real work of the Holy Spirit and
destroys the Gospel.
Baptism,
Absolution, the Word proclaimed and preached, and the Lord’s Supper: these are
the Means of Grace, the things through which the Spirit works. Everything else which
people claim is the Spirit’s work is a man-made idol. Baptism is where sinners,
condemned to death and hell, are buried with Christ into death and raised with
Him to walk in new life. It is with water dripping from your head that you
received the Holy Spirit with all of His gifts: victory over death and devil,
forgiveness of sin, God’s grace, and life in Christ. God makes Christians by
water and Word. Faith and life do not come by the ears of God being filled with
our words of promise, for those words are worthless and weak. Faith comes when
you hear the Word and promise of God, for those words and promises are most
certainly true.
You don’t have to
be good to go to heaven. In fact, you can’t be good. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus says, “I came to seek and save the
lost”— condemned sinners. Through the goodness and mercy of the Father, for
sake of His suffering, dying, and rising Son, eternal life is yours as a free
gift, delivered into your ears by the preaching and work of the Holy Ghost.
The holy Christian
Church on earth is the hearing Church, not the seeing Church. The Word of God
is first and foremost preached into the ears, not delivered into the eyes. This
is preaching and Absolution. “Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” When
you come to the altar, looking with your eyes, you see only bread and wine. But
if you listen with your ears, then you behold Christ´s body and blood for you
to eat and to drink for the remission of sins. Witness a Baptism with your eyes,
and you see plain water. Listen with your ears, and you hear the washing of
regeneration and renewing by the Holy Ghost.
The Church lives by
“every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God.” We live by faith. So if you wish to see Jesus, then stop relying only
on your eyes; put your trust in what your ears hear. Just as the Virgin Mary,
the mother of God, received Jesus into her womb by the preaching of the Holy Spirit
in her ear, so too our Lord Jesus dwells within you by the work of Holy Spirit,
who preaches Christ into your ears.
My dear brothers
and sisters in Christ: You have been declared righteous for the sake of Jesus, who
went to the Father through suffering, death, and resurrection. You are
righteous because He put your sin to death on the cross. You are righteous
because He gave to you His righteousness in the waters of Holy Baptism. You are
righteous because He is your Mediator with the Father in heaven, imploring the
Father to see in you the perfect righteousness of His Son. You are righteous
because the Holy Spirit preaches the righteousness of Christ into your ears and
into the very depths of your being, so that you may live eternally. ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen
indeed! Alleluia! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God
which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
always. Amen.
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