Sermon for 5/22/22: Sixth Sunday of Easter

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Testing God

Numbers 21:4-9

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

 

For over 400 years, the people of Israel had lived in Egypt, much of that time in a bitter slavery. But that was over. In a unique and remarkable way, God revealed His presence to them in the pillar of cloud that led them by day and the pillar of fire to light up their night. And all along the way, the Lord provided for them. He fed them with manna. He protected them against the many perils of their journey. Still, their courage failed them frequently. They became disheartened and put God to the test. Why this change of heart toward God? Why did they begin to question God’s wisdom, mistrust His guidance, and discourage one another? Why did they become despondent and test God?

Why do we do the same? We, too, are God’s people. By the grace of God, we are making our journey from this earthly home, which seems so often like a kind of bondage, to our eternal home. God is gracious to us for the sake of Jesus. He daily and richly forgives all our sins; He guides and protects us and provides for us. In many perils, even some we don’t recognize as perils, He graciously preserves us. Through His holy Word and blessed Sacraments, He preserves and strengthens our faith. As we weekly gather here where His Word is proclaimed and taught to us, we also pray for grace and for guidance. As the Small Catechism says, “For all this…we thank and praise, serve and obey Him.”

But at the same time, there is no day in our journey to heaven in which we are not confronted with the danger of testing God. There is no experience in life—no joy or sorrow, no success or failure—that does not lead us to put God to the test. The devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh frequently entice us to test God. However disguised and clever the sin of testing God may be, however timid or bold it may be, however learned and courageous it may even appear to be, its consequences bring only ruin. The result described in our text is as certain as it is sudden.

“The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.” This response of God reminds us of the words of the apostle Paul: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked.” It clearly shows that God is jealous and protective of His honor, and that this unusual way of dealing with the sin of testing Him is to be a warning, even to the end of days. But God, who warns us in His Word against testing Him, also graciously provides the necessary tools against testing Him. We can and should use these tools daily.

The people of Israel said to Moses: “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.” The children of Israel repented of their sins. True repentance is a tool in our struggle against testing God. When we sincerely repent of the sin of testing God and seek His mercy and forgiveness—which He gladly and freely gives—there is also the implication that we intend to amend our sinful lives, to carefully watch over our hearts in regard to this sin. Repentance is responding to the pleading of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. It must not simply be put off.

Again, our text says: “And Moses prayed for his people.” Moses did this at the urging of those people that he pray to the Lord to remove the serpents. As He anticipated their need, God had told Moses to make a fiery serpent and lift it up on a pole, and promised healing and life to all that were bitten if they would but look at the uplifted serpent. Prayer is another tool in our struggle against the sin of testing God. In our prayers, we ask God for help and strength. In times of severe affliction or trouble, we ask Him for a special measure of His grace. And we also pray for others, knowing that others, too, are in danger of testing God.

Just as Moses’ proclamation to Israel was to look to the serpent on the pole and receive healing, so too we are to look up in faith to the Christ lifted up on the cross. Faith is the only way to lay hold of the blessings of our Lord’s work of salvation: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Faith grabs hold of these promises as a blessed possession. Faith in God’s mercy was what Israel needed then; it is what we need now so that we may have the peace and the strength to resist the sin of testing God.

In our present age, the mockery of things holy and righteous, the ridicule of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, reaches new heights almost daily, it seems. And it is fearfully easy to succumb to the feeling that God is abandoning His world, and us, as well. Resisting the sin of testing God is, therefore, increasingly more difficult. The only answer, the only hope that we have, is to look to Jesus, to behold again what He has done to redeem us from sin and death, to know that the only way to resist the sin of testing God is to acknowledge that sin. Our only hope is to receive again the forgiveness Jesus has provided through His cross and His glorious resurrection. Thanks be to God for this priceless gift! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.

HYMN: The World Is Full of Torments

As I said, I’ve drafted two texts for the Easter Vigil project while I’ve been on vacation. I head back to Faith and the kids tomorrow, so I’ll get the second one posted before I go. 

I’ve worried about what I’m going to do with the Job 19 text in the Vigil for a while. I mean, one doesn’t just rewrite “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.” Some texts are just too iconic to mess with. So I didn’t try. I went for a nail-on-the-head paraphrase of Job 19. I’ll leave it to my readers to determine if they think I’ve succeeded. As always, feedback is love.

The World Is Full of Torments

1. The world is full of torments.
My allies seek my shame.
The hand of God has touched me;
My flesh sticks to my frame.
Have mercy! Oh, have mercy!
From sorrow do I flee.
Like God, their words pursue me;
Why do they follow me?

2. Pay heed to my confession.
With confidence I cry:
He lives, my great Redeemer!
And even when I die,
I know that I shall see Him.
Yes, I myself shall see!
On earth He will be standing.
How yearns my heart in me!

HYMN: The Evil Seek the Downfall

At the urging of my wife—and because I really needed it and needed to do it—I’ve taken some vacation time and have returned to my childhood home to spend time with my mom. Between my father’s death in February and my father-in-law’s death this past August, it had been about a year since I’d taken a real vacation. So Faith sent me off on my own, and I’ve enjoyed my time back in Western New York so far, hanging out with Mom, spending time with friends, and enjoying not having to think very hard for a few days.

I’ve also been somewhat productive. I won’t be posting a sermon this week, but I’ve drafted another two hymn texts for the Easter Vigil project. I’m not quite ready to debut the second one, but the first is one I’ve been working on since the Southern Illinois District Convention in February, where I wrote the first verse. Life happened, and so the progress stopped for a while. Then I wrote the second verse during the Southern Illinois District Pastors Conference (funny how that works!), and I thought maybe it would work better as a short stand-alone hymn text instead of part of the Vigil project  Then I decided that it needed more than just the two verses (even if I divided the two verses into four verses), and I reverted back to the original idea, a hymn based on the Daniel 3 text in the Easter Vigil. If you look at verses 1 and 10, you can probably see what made me think they might stand along as a text, especially considering the virulent protests for the right to murder infants in the womb after the leak of the Supreme Court document which could undo Roe v. Wade. And with events like the supermarket shooting in Buffalo yesterday, we see evil manifested clearly in the acts of sinful mankind. 

Because this is a project I’m working on with another writer, I haven’t done anything about tunes yet. That’s something that can be worked on when the texts are all completed. Anyway, here it is. Feedback is love.

The Evil Seek the Downfall

1. The evil seek the downfall 

Of all who will not kneel 

Before the golden idols

Of silicon and steel.

Man’s sin-perverted reason 

Confuses wrong from right. 

God’s children must be faithful 

To walk within the light. 

2. The king produced an idol,

An image formed of gold.

He ordered his officials

This idol to behold.

The king said, ”O my peoples,

Bow down at my command

And praise the golden image

Commissioned by my hand.”

3. The people knelt in worship.

But three did not pay heed.

Three Jews refused the order

The king himself decreed.

Chaldeans then came forward.

“O king,” they said with zeal, 

“These Jews refused to listen.

These men refused to kneel.”

4. The king called out with fury,

“Young men, now answer me.

You saw my god, all golden;

Did you not bend the knee?

What other god could save you?”

The king commanded, stern:

“Now kneel before my idol,

Or you will surely burn.”

5. “O king,” the young men answered,

“Our God is strong to save. 

The flames will not consume us.

We shall not face the grave.

Our God will guard and keep us;

His might He shall reveal. 

We will not bow to idols.

O king, we will not kneel.”

6. The king became indignant. 

The men he ordered tied. 

The soldiers stoked the furnace

And threw the men inside.

Those soldiers died in torment,

By heat and flame were doomed;

The Jews, instead of burning,

By grace were not consumed. 

7. The king was thus astonished.

“Did we condemn just three?

Behold the great inferno:

Now four men do I see.

The flames have failed to harm them. 

What is this awesome sign? 

My people, see this wonder:

The fourth man looks divine!

8. “Come forth, young men, I pray you,

Who serve the Lord Most High.”

The governors, the prefects

And council gathered by.

They saw, unburnt, the clothing.

They smelled no smoke or flame.

The hair, not singed, bore witness

Unto the young men’s claim.

9. “My people, hear my order. 

Pay heed to my decree:

The Jews in flesh gave service

To God most faithfully.

The Lord has sent His angel

To spare them from the rod.

 Give honor to their master; 

Blest be their mighty God.”

10. The day is surely coming 

When truth will be a crime. 

The Gospel, still a scandal, 

Remains our light sublime.

God grant that we be faithful 

To face the fiery test,

To stand in bold confession 

When faith is sore oppressed.

Sermon for 5/8/22: Fourth Sunday of Easter

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No video recording. My apologies.

 
Freed for Submission
I Peter 2:11-20

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

 

One of Martin Luther’s earliest and most influential works is called The Freedom of the Christian. In that work, Luther laid out the Biblical case for the Christian life as one that is lived in the joy and freedom of the Gospel, but which at the same time carries certain holy responsibilities. At the very beginning of that work, he says: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” These two statements—and Luther acknowledged this—would seem to contradict each other. However, through a careful reading of Holy Scripture, they are found to be true. As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.” And this was based on that great truth that, though Jesus Christ was Lord of all, He came as the Servant of all, to redeem this world from sin. In our Epistle reading, Peter is making the same case. We are free Christian people, but our freedom also binds us to an obligation of love for God and for our neighbor.

To be sure, it is a different freedom than we usually think of. For Americans, the word freedom has always had a unique charm about it, something for which we have long been willing to sacrifice much. Christian freedom, however, has to do with another important truth: according to the words of Holy Scripture, Christians are actually “strangers and pilgrims” on this earth, meaning that we are free from certain things to which the children of this world are still bound. We are free from the bondage of the Law, because Christ perfectly kept the Law for us. Salvation is in Christ, whose obedience to the Father’s will is placed into our account. And then, through faith in Him and what He has done, we are accounted as righteous before God.

We are also free from any bondage to sin, for the blood of Christ has cleansed us from sin! Yes, sin remains because we remain bound to these mortal bodies as long as life here lasts. But we live always in the forgiveness of sins. Sin’s condemning power was fully absorbed by Jesus at His cross. And now, for that reason, there is no longer any condemnation for all whose faith is in Jesus Christ and all that He has done to save us.

We are free from bondage to death, for Christ has overcome death. That is what our Lord’s resurrection was all about. How comforting that is. At some time or another, we must all stand at the graveside of a loved one. How final that can seem. To the eyes of our flesh, it appears there that death has won the victory. But eyes of faith see in that grave the tomb of Jesus and the knowledge that His grave did not hold Him. He defeated death. Our graves will not hold us, for on the day of our Lord’s return, He will call us out of those graves to enjoy unending life with Him.

And we are free from the bondage of the devil, for Christ has crushed his power. And that is vitally important to know, isn’t it? As we look around us in this world, we see that the devil’s influence is still significant. Though he has been defeated by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and though he will be finally consigned to the hell which has been prepared for him and all who serve him, it is evident that he is still very much a factor in this world. But you and I need not fear this. We are free from his bondage, and we will remain free so long as our faith is fed and nourished by God’s Word and Sacraments. We are free from bondage to these things.

But while we have been set free so that we may avoid the things that are evil, we are also set free to do the things that are good. Peter lays this out very nicely for us in his Epistle. Our freedom in Christ enables us to avoid those dangerous fleshly lusts that wage war against our souls. Peter puts it this way: “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

And now we are free to do all those positive things Peter describes as good and glorifying to God. We can freely and truly fear God and stand in awe and wonder at both His grace and His power. We can freely, and with good conscience, be subject to all governing authorities and all proper earthly ordinances, knowing that God desires to govern His world in these ways. We can freely honor all people as fellow creatures of God, whose lives are invested with a value and dignity only God can give. We can freely love our fellow believers as the wonderful gifts of God they truly are. We can freely serve those who are placed over us in the various walks of this life, even those whose ways with us may leave something to be desired. We can freely and even joyfully endure affliction, even when such afflictions are endured unjustly.

So, then, out of gratitude to God, let us serve God and man, avoiding evil and doing good. This is for the glory of God, the welfare of our neighbor, and even our own good, as we await that day when the glory of the Lord will finally be eternally revealed in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.  

Sermon for 5/1/22: Third Sunday of Easter

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Sheep, Shepherds, and the Good Shepherd

Ezekiel 34:11-16

 

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

 

The words “leader” and “leadership” have become buzz words in the language of the Church. You can read plenty of books about church leadership, but they sound more like instructions for operating a business than providing pastoral care to the people of God. Scripture uses the actual word “leader” only a handful of times, and almost never to refer to those who are called to spiritual office in the Church.

In this text from Ezekiel, it is clear that God wanted His people to be served by something more than mere leaders. He showed this when He called both kings and prophets “shepherds.” And through His prophet, the Lord told His people in captivity in Babylon that their shepherds had failed them. These bad shepherds cared more about themselves than the sheep. Therefore, the Lord said He would replace them. He Himself would become their Shepherd and take the place of those wicked shepherds.

When the Lord said He wanted His people to be shepherded, He was comparing them to sheep—and it is not a flattering comparison, because sheep are stupid. It is said that a mother sheep sometimes will not recognize her own offspring. Can you mothers imagine not recognizing your children? Sheep can be kept in a pen even when the gate is open; lay a pipe or rod on the ground across the opening, the sheep will usually not pass it. Sheep rescued from a burning barn have been known to try to run back into the flames.

Do you sometimes feel like a sheep? Please pardon the directness of the language here, but sin makes people stupid. As the prophet Jeremiah said, “Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swift and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But my people do not know the judgment of the Lord.” Ignorance is not bliss. Sin makes us stupid, like sheep. Left to ourselves, we stumble around defenseless and lost, in need of help and hope that we can never generate. No wonder the Lord was angry at those shepherds who did not care for the flock. And their biggest failure? They did not feed the sheep.

As this text makes clear, feeding the sheep is the chief duty of the shepherd. You can gather the straggling sheep and bandage the wounded, but if you don’t feed them, those things will not make a difference. And so the Lord declared that He would be the Shepherd of His people. Everything the others did that was wrong, He would do right. He would take care of His sheep, gathering them and binding up their wounds and, yes, He would feed them. He would be their Shepherd, and they would want for nothing.

In light of today’s Gospel, we understand that Ezekiel’s words are a prophecy of the coming of Jesus. Jesus is God, but He did not hesitate to become our Good Shepherd. He did the dirty work involved in being a shepherd. The Good Shepherd “lays down His life for the sheep,” Jesus said. On the cross He was protecting us from the peril of our sins by taking those sins upon Himself and dying to pay for them. And then this Good Shepherd rose from death, and He lives to keep on protecting and guiding us. And now He lives to feed His Church, His flock, on His Word.

How great is His love for us! Not only did He do the work of salvation; not only has He sent His Word into the world, even by inspiring the prophets and apostles to write it down; but He has also given to His Church those men who now preach that Word for Him. He has given His Church pastors, under-shepherds of the Good Shepherd. St. Paul told the pastors in Ephesus, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the Church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.” Pastors feed the flock on the Word of Christ. That is the essence of their work; all that they do involves feeding the sheep.

And what about the sheep? If you read on in this 34^th chapter of Ezekiel, the prophet issues warnings. One was about the sheep carelessly trampling the food. Thus, the Lord warns us about false teaching in the Church; He wants us to retain the standard of healthy words that come from Him. The Lord also warned the sheep not to trample one another or push each other aside from the food. How do we treat each other? It’s a fair question to ask. Is anyone disregarded in this church? Do we have unloved sheep who are pushed to the side by others? It is amazing how insensitive we can become without realizing it, without even meaning to do it.

But these reminders simply bring us back to the fact that we are sheep, and sheep are stupid. That is what sin does to us. We need Jesus, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep, and then took it up again. We need Him to pay for our sin— which He has done—and to see to our safety forever. No other Shepherd will do! And the good news is that the Lord does not forsake us; He is pleased to be our Shepherd. And He is the Shepherd who is just right for us. He is the Shepherd we can live with, and the Shepherd we can die with. For sheep like us, none other but the Good Shepherd will do. ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 4/24/22: Second Sunday of Easter

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Video link to come.

Water, Blood, and Spirit

I John 5:4-10

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

            This Sunday following Easter is something like what the disciples experienced following the Transfiguration: it’s back to those every day realities. It’s not that we forget about Easter. The resurrection of our Lord is that great hope that is always in front of us. We know our resurrection is a certainty; we will eventually experience that for ourselves. But for now, we are still bound to the realities of life this side of paradise. And those realties are sin, repentance, and faith, and the knowledge that our bodies will one day return to dust if Jesus has not already returned.

Our lives look more like Holy Week than Easter Sunday, and that is as it should be. We are given reminders of this in today’s readings. The Old Testament reading reminds us of Israel’s demise because of sin and their need to be revived by the Spirit of God. Today’s Gospel sets Thomas before us, with his all too human desire to see before he will believe. And the Epistle takes us to the cross and the body of our Paschal Lamb hanging dead, having given His life to cover the sins of the world. St. John saw for himself that of which he now speaks; we have a reliable witness.

Pilate had his soldiers check to see whether any of the condemned were still alive. When they came to Jesus, they found Him already dead. There was no need to break His legs to hurry His death by suffocation. Instead, one of the soldiers took a spear and pierced His side, and from His side flowed water and blood.

But what does it mean? Listen to what John says: “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only, but by the water and the blood.” And then John tells you who is at work in the water and blood: “And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.”

John is telling you why water and blood flowed from the Savior’s pierced side. Water, blood, and Spirit testify—together they give witness that Jesus is indeed the Son of God! Just like the sky going black, the earthquakes, the rocks splitting wide open, the temple curtain torn in two from top to bottom, and the tombs of many of the saints breaking open—so, too, the water, the blood, and the Spirit cry out that Jesus is truly the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

And still today, water, blood, and Spirit testify to Jesus. The Spirit, always at work in the Church through the Word, proclaims that Jesus did the job of accomplishing salvation for you. Do you remember our Lord’s promise to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion? He said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare the things to you that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” And today, the holy Office of preaching is the very office of the Spirit. Through this Office, He calls you by the Gospel and enlightens you with the gifts of Christ—all the benefits of Calvary! The water of Holy Baptism and the blood of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, connected to God’s Word, are the Spirit-filled witnesses to the Savior who died for you on that Friday before the Resurrection. These Holy Sacraments are the Spirit’s own witness that you are forgiven, redeemed, saved only for the sake of Christ. Indeed, they are the very means, the instruments, by which He grants you the benefits Jesus won for you at the cross.

Water and blood from the side of Jesus: the Holy Spirit uses these two Sacraments in the Church to wash and cleanse you from all sin, to quench the thirst of God’s wrath against you. You are saved through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit in the Baptismal flood. And now you are sustained in that baptismal faith through the cup of the New Testament which holds the very blood shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins.

After all, the water and the blood that flowed from our Lord’s side are the water and blood of God’s own Son, that One in whom all the fullness of the deity miraculously dwells. Life-giving water and life-bestowing blood, together with the Word, the faithful witness of the Holy Spirit: in these gifts, you receive the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternity with your Lord. This was all included when Jesus said from the cross: “It is finished!”

These are the ways the salvation He won for all are delivered to you. Jesus says that this is so. “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” All of this—water, blood, and Spirit—are for you, for your salvation! 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.   

Sermon for 4/17/22: The Resurrection of Our Lord

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No video recording this week.

The Great Reversal
Mark 16:1-8

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

On this day, the Church celebrates nothing less than the greatest reversal in the history of the universe. We are talking here about reversing things that simply cannot be reversed, at least not in the way we are used to thinking of them. The blackest sin you have ever committed is reversed into perfect righteousness. The most grievous sadness you have experienced is reversed into ecstatic joy. Darkest death itself is reversed into eternal life. We are talking, of course, about the resurrection of Jesus. He who was dead is alive forevermore! The world will never be the same!

When those two women named Mary went to the tomb on that morning, they were certain what they would find: the dead body of Jesus. Jesus may have talked about hope, but in the end, He had not been able to escape crucifixion. Death, it seemed, had the last word. The women were simply returning to the tomb to complete the burial rites that had been cut short by the onset of the Sabbath the evening of that past Friday. And they hoped that someone—perhaps the Roman guards stationed at the tomb—could roll the stone away so they could finish their work.

But when they arrived at the tomb, the huge stone had already been rolled away. Entering the tomb, they were met by a young man sitting there—an angel actually, clothed in a long white robe. To these women, downcast and dejected by death and defeat, the angel proclaimed eternal light and life and victory. He announced the world’s greatest reversal. “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him...” Against all odds, against all the power of sin and death and this world, Jesus has won the victory, and it is your victory. Open your eyes and see!

The very natural reaction of the women was to be alarmed. Who wouldn’t be? People dead and buried don’t just come back to life, do they? But the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed.” It is a fact! Jesus, who was crucified, is risen from the dead. That is the first point we must get right if we are to take into our souls and our bodies this incredible victory and experience for ourselves our Lord’s reversal of sin and death. Initially, the women did not know what to think. They knew something had happened, but exactly what, they didn’t know. But that’s not good enough. Indeed, even today there are those who say things like this: “Well, just what happened on that first Easter, we can’t be sure. All we can know is that for those disciples, at least, Jesus was alive; and what matters for you and me is that Jesus is alive in our hearts.” Well, that is not good enough, either. And if you ever hear a preacher say that, run away from him as fast as you can go. Do not listen to the voice of the devil. The angel gives us the facts: Jesus was dead by crucifixion; He was buried; and on the third day He was literally raised from the dead in his very own body. It’s the greatest reversal in the history of the world, and it’s a fact.

The Scriptures testify that Jesus, as God and Man in one Person, was the man who was without deceit, without guilt, without sin. Jesus presented Himself to death and the devil, to be mocked, ridiculed, beaten, spit upon, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross, and finally killed. Of course, death and the devil were overjoyed. But they got more than they had bargained for. Being a man, Jesus could be killed. But being God, He must live and reign forever. On Easter, the eternal life that Jesus had within Himself as God triumphed over death and the devil.

Jesus took on this mission for one reason, and it was not for Himself. After all, He was pure and sinless by nature. He undertook this battle for you. He took your sins into His own body and was tortured for your sins all the way to death. He did this to reverse your situation, that you need never be tortured for your sins; so that you may have His peace. He reversed your situation so that you could stop fearing death and start rejoicing in His resurrection. He rose bodily from death to reverse the dark history of your sin and sadness and death, and to replace it with His righteousness and joy and abundant, everlasting life. And He gives the gift of His resurrection triumph to all who believe and are baptized into His name. His innocent suffering, His bloody death, and His victorious resurrection are more powerful than all the sins and deaths in the world. He reverses all of that. How desperately sad that anyone would think he did not need this reversal, and refuse to be reversed by Christ!

But this great reversal is ours now through faith, and it will be ours in eternity, when we will see our Lord face to face. Jesus will reverse our sin and death and bring us into His righteousness and life in heaven forever, with all the saints of all time. It is the greatest reversal in the history of the world. The Christ, crucified in our place, has been raised. In so doing, He has overcome death and the devil for us. He has brought us to righteousness and eternal life. The world will never be the same! 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. 

Sermon for 4/15/22: Good Friday (St Mark Passion series)

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Creation Groans in Expectation
Mark 15:33-39

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

 
        For three hours—from the sixth hour until the ninth hour—the sky darkened over the land while Jesus hung on the cross. The other Gospels include this detail while also mentioning that the earth shook and graves were opened. To understand why, we must consider several important prophecies found in the Old Testament. For example, Amos declares that the day of the Lord will be a day of judgment: “And it shall come to pass in that day…that I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight…” Zephaniah describes it as “a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness…” Here is what we need to understand: human sin did not only impact the relationship between God and his human creatures, and the relationship between a man and his neighbor; it impacted the whole of creation.

When God created Adam, He created man from the ground, and He provided for us from the earth. He gave us a place to live on the earth. He gave us the responsibility for the care of His other creatures and His earth. But Adam and Eve were not content to live as creatures who lived from God’s gifts and depended on His goodness. When they sinned in their attempt to become more than creatures—to become like God—God handed out the death sentence He had promised. How did He execute judgment? He cursed the earth, making it difficult for them to wrest their life from the earth. And eventually, they would return in death to the dust from which they were created.

When God executed judgment, creation comes apart at the seams. All one has to do is skim through the Old Testament to see how this happens time and time again. The flood is, of course, the best-known example: God returning the earth to a state where it was formless and empty, just as it was before God spoke the Word to create the heavens and the earth. There was also the plague of darkness which accompanied the first Passover, where Moses stretched out his hand over the land and darkness covered the land for three days as a sign of God’s judgment. But perhaps the most descriptive, the most reminiscent of the flood, is found in Hosea: “Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away.” When God exercises judgment, creation falls apart.

And that’s exactly what happens on this day. On Good Friday, God poured out His anger against His human creatures who ruined the harmony of His creation. But the Son of God stood in the place of the human race. He died on our behalf. The rest of creation felt it. In the presence of God’s anger, the created order turns into chaos. And so the sky darkened and the earth shuddered.

What makes this all the more devastating is that the judgment doesn’t fall upon a mere human creature, one who is only human. It falls upon the Son of God, the One through whom all things were made. The One through whom all things were made now dies as a human creature. And with His death, creation crumbles. It’s remarkable that the Son of God would be sent into His own creation by His own Father for this purpose. The Son of God became a human creature to rescue God’s prized human creatures, and with them to rescue His whole creation. Only months ago we celebrated the birth of the Son of God into the creation He Himself had made; now, as a human creature, the Son of God, the Agent of creation, now dies for His creation.

But since the death of the Son of God involved the entirety of creation, it did not end there, for Death has no claim on Jesus. And so the darkness of Good Friday would be replaced by the light of Easter morning. The unraveling of creation brought about by the wrath of God against sin would be replaced by the new creation; creation would be reconciled to God. As St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Just as Adam brought about death and corruption for all human creatures and, indeed, for all creation, so Jesus would bring about new life and renewal, beginning with His human creatures and extending to all creation. God would raise Christ from the dead. As the One who embodied the entire human race in bearing the Father’s righteous wrath against sin, Jesus then rose from the dead, raising the entire human race with Him. Sinful humanity has been redeemed. Corrupted creation has been restored. We are made a new creation. The darkness of the curse of sin will be shattered by the rising of the Christ, the Word made flesh, the Light of the world. 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. 

Sermon for 4/14/22: Maundy Thursday (St Mark Passion series)

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Believing Is Seeing
Mark 14:12-25

 
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

           Throughout this season of Lent, we have looked upon our Lord’s Passion through the eyes of St. Mark the Evangelist. And we’ve had a recurring theme: We do not see things the way the Lord sees them. We want to believe only those things we can see. We call it the scientific method, and it works pretty well for us in our daily lives. But when it comes to the things of faith, everything is turned on its head. In fact, as we hear in Hebrews 11, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” So it is not that seeing is believing; in fact, it is only through the eyes of faith that we can see what our Lord is doing for us and for our salvation.

          The disciples ate the Passover with Jesus that night. The Passover was the great feast of Israel’s redemption, the meal that recalled Yahweh’s deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Egyptians. In eating the Lord’s food for pilgrims, the disciples recalled and gave thanks for Israel’s deliverance. They called for the Lord to rescue them from all their oppression and to establish His reign forever. But the Twelve, like the rest of God’s people, weren’t concerned so much with their past deliverance; they were more concerned with their current Roman oppressors, and they wondered if deliverance would ever come.

          The disciples had eaten the Passover with Jesus before; that night would be no different. Oh, they were aware of the building opposition to Jesus from the authorities. They had seen the strange anointing from the unnamed woman earlier that week at Bethany, when Jesus claimed that she was preparing His body for burial. But they were not going to let their Rabbi’s melancholy predictions spoil their celebration of the Passover. But the Passover is not merely an event from the past; it pointed forward to the sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb of God. And the disciples were blind to that present reality. Jesus had told them—and we’ve heard these words already this Lent—“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.” They could not see the reality Jesus revealed to them: that He was the greatest Passover Lamb and the fulfillment of the Passover. They wouldn’t believe it. They wouldn’t believe that their Master would suffer and die. Blinded by their sin, they couldn’t see it. They had missed it.

So Jesus found another way. Hear again these words: “Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.’” Since they disciples wouldn’t believe what was right before their eyes, Jesus place His Word in their mouths.

          What about you? Is this just another Maundy Thursday? Is this just another night for you to come to church? Another night singing those boring, stodgy old hymns? Another night to listen to that tiresome man in the pulpit, to get your snack of bread and wine, and then be on your way? Are you just receiving simple bread and wine in your mouth? Or is there something more happening here tonight? We desperately want there to be something more here, but our eyes, blinded by sin, cannot see it; our ears, attuned to the whispers of that satanic serpent, cannot hear it.

So Jesus finds another way. He invites you to eat His Word, too. Here on the altar, the Passover Lamb of God is here in tangible form, hidden in bread and wine. He invites you to know that He is the Son of God, and that He will establish God’s reign of mercy, grace, and love through the Passover of His own body and blood, present through His Word and promise. The blood of Christ is painted on the doorway of your heart, and the angel of death passes over you. Death is defeated; Satan is chained. Here is deliverance: signed, sealed, and delivered in His Word.

So come. Come: eat and drink the Word of God. Believe it. He has a plate and cup, filled with His body and blood, filled and waiting. Take it and eat; take it and drink. Believe, and you will see. 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.