St. Paul's Lockport Sermons: Recent Episodes
Rev. Christopher Antonetti
We can apply this in a similar way with our faith, it is hidden, but it is not secret. Christianity is not a religion of secrets. As we see, once Christ rose from the dead, everything is told. When people join our church, they are not being initiated into something secret. We have here a public worship service where everyone is welcome. We teach publicly the Small Catechism and the Scriptures. This is what all pastors are to teach both in public and private. There is no levels, no extra bonus paid subscriptions.
So when Simeon sees this little baby, it’s not just that he’s cute. Simeon takes the child in his arms and blesses God and sings this song “Lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace…my own eyes have seen you salvation.” Simeon is saying “I can depart, I can die, because I have seen Jesus. I have seen the one who is going to save us all. I’m done, there is nothing more I need.” That is what Frank is confessing today at this funeral.
Second, we see Joseph and Mary’s faith in that they were always diligent in worship. We might think of the Jews as a people who universally observed all of God’s laws, but that was not the case at all. Especially in the north in Galilee, where the holy family lived, there was known to be a general lax attitude when it came to religion. Mary and Joseph don’t let their distance, their poverty, or the danger keep them from following God’s commands and receiving His promises in the temple. How much more for us, who don’t have to go far, who can get to church quite easily and are relatively wealthy in comparison? How much more for us, we who have the completion of all God’s promises in His Son, Jesus Christ?
So if this is what Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, says our pastors should be, we should hold him to it. Hold me to it. God has called me not to be Lord over you, but to lead you by example in teaching and life. If that doesn’t happen, the pastor has no right to be there.
But Jesus always saves the best for last. This is the miracle that looks forward to the greatest miracle. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, He takes on our sin and guilt, and pays the punishment for us. As He is crucified and all of God’s wrath is upon Him, He continues to be the innocent Son of God. Then He rises from the dead on the third day, Sunday, the day of new creation.
. For Jesus, all the world has set up as His enemy. He has come as a king into a world that hates Him. He comes as the light into a world that loves darkness. But Jesus does not fight against flesh and blood. He is not anointed to conquer all sinners, captured them, and sentence them to death. He is anointed to save flesh and blood sinners whom He loves from the true enemies – sin, death, and the devil.
Herod is not particularly religious. He feigns being Jewish, but isn’t. He has no piety at all, or interest in the scripture. He hires people to do that for him. But Herod must deal with the fact of this king of the Jews being born. It is not something which is left for theologians to debate, but is right there, affecting his very livelihood and life.
Epiphany shows us that a light has come into the darkness of the world. Jesus Christ is that light that shines in the darkness. When a light shines in the darkness either you come near to it, or you hate it and run into the shadows. You either embrace the light or wish everything to still be covered. Epiphany means that all must reckon with the fact of this light, Jesus Christ, shining in the darkness of the world and the darkness of our hearts. Epiphany means there is ONE religion, and everyone must deal with that fact, whether to love it or hate it.
For Christ to come in humility, he relates to every struggle of the humble. He isn’t some powerful king who doesn’t know what it’s like to be poor or despised. He knows what it is like to be hated, pursued, and cursed. All this He does out of love for us. When we face difficulty, mourning, or feel ignored or lonely, our Lord Jesus Christ is with us. He died and rose again to be with us through those times. He has redeemed us from them and promises ultimate good on the other side.
The twenty-fifth day of December.
In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world
from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth;
the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood;
the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham;
the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses
and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt;
the one thousand and thirty-second year from David's being anointed king;
in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;
in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;
the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome;
the forty second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus;
the whole world being at peace,
in the sixth age of the world,
Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,
desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming,
being conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and nine months having passed since his conception,
was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary,
being made flesh.
The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.
I hope you are familiar with A Christmas Carol, the short novel, by Charles Dickens, or have at least seen an adaptation of it on TV (the muppet one is the best). If not, to sum up, a wicked man named Scrooge is visited by three ghosts at Christmas to show him how wicked he has been, the last one, the ghost of Christmas yet to come, even showing him his death, which no one mourns.
This chapter of Nahum is the ghost of Christmas yet to come visiting the city of Nineveh, except unlike Scrooge, there will be no repentance, no chance of return. But like Scrooge, Nineveh cared nothing for any other people, only it enrich and empower itself.
Remember, though, that in prison, John was encouraged by the word of God. And Jesus also sends himself to you by word and sacrament to encourage you. You have a Savior who has died for you and risen from the grave. We can be sad, we can mourn, but we always have hope. Never despair, because Jesus Christ remains with you. Without him, Christmas season is empty of meaning anyway. With him, even a Christmas alone is never truly alone. As the introit today says, rejoice!
The good thing is that your marriage is not based on your feelings or your moods. You fortress is not built on feeling or even your actions. “With might of ours could naught be done, soon were our loss effected.” By coming here, having your marriage blessed by God, you are showing to all of us that the fortress of your marriage is built on Jesus Christ and his Word. “But for us fights the valiant one, whom God himself elected. Ask ye who is this? Jesus Christ it is.”
What hope would we have without this holy sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood? Our Lord came in His first Advent, born of Mary, before he departed gave us this holy meal. We have a taste of His presence with us as we await for His return. We can say that wherever and whenever we live, we are entering that continuity between the Last Supper in the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday and the Final Wedding Feast of the Lamb when Christ returns in Glory. Of these two feast, Christ promises to continue to give us a bite, so we can press on in this world which is filled with despair.
At the time Nahum prophesies, no one would ever think that Nineveh would fall. But this is exactly the message of Nahum. It is not Nineveh, or any great city, that rules heaven and earth, but God. This means two things: (1) Those who continue in wickedness will be judged by God and fall. (2) Yet at His essence, God is merciful and loving, and a fortress to even the weak who trust in Him.
To wake up is to realize that our imagination should picture and desire the things of God. To remember where God has answered prayer. Or the peace that comes with receiving forgiveness in the Supper or confession of sins. The strength that comes from bearing one another’s burdens as Christians. When we turn our desire to these things, when we will find true joy.
True thanksgiving means contentment is not found in things, or accomplishments, or anything else. That is idolatry. Whether it is about how much we have, how little we have, or how medium amount we have. Contentment which leads to true thanksgiving has no relation to what we have at all. It is realizing that above all else, God has provided for us and will continue to provide. And that only God provides.
Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year
I want to use the image of an ark, a box as a mental reminder of the necessity, type, and fruit of watchfulness. We have two arks in the Bible which you probably know of at least one – the ark of Noah, and the ark of the covenant. One is a boat, and one is carried on poles and put in the place of worship, but both are boxes.
Sermon for the Second Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 26)
As Jesus tells about the final judgment we get a description of the three stages of a Christian’s life – his election from the foundation of the world, his life of service to his brothers in faith, and his inheritance of the kingdom in heaven.
Sermon for the Third Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 25)
There were other things that God hates, that are offensive to Him, that raise his wrath. The Book of Proverbs actually speaks about many things that God considers abominable. God finds to be an abomination those of crooked heart, lying lips, false balances and unequal weights (that is cheating in the marketplace), for kings to do evil, and the thoughts, way, and sacrifice of the wicked. These all to God are like a rotten corpse, an abomination.
Sermon for the Feast of All Saints
All Saints is a day to remember the Christians who have gone on to glory before us. We know that God is a God of the living, not the dead, and they now live eternally with Him. We can learn about what life is like for those who are elect, that is those saints who persevered to the end, and compare to our life now. Most importantly – how living as a saint now, do I persevere to become like them?
Sermon for Reformation Sunday
Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight. AC IV
Sermon for the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity
We often think of faith as a binary thing – ones and zeros, on or off. We either have faith or we don’t. That is a Biblical way of looking at faith. There are believers and unbelievers. Without faith it is impossible to please God. No one enters the kingdom by kind of believing in Jesus Christ, you either do or you do not. There is no part way in that sense.
Faith can also be seen as something that grows and develops. For those who are already believers, those who have faith, one can have strong faith or weak faith or gradations in between. While faith is something that is purely a gift of God, it is strengthened as we exercise it in this life. Think of muscles as an analogy. They were given to you at your birth. In your life, you have opportunities to use those muscles, or not use them. They will either get stronger or weaker. This is the life of the Christian. If you did not have muscles, it wouldn’t matter what you did – that is the unbeliever, he can’t make himself have muscles.
Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
You can see that this parable does not let you rely on yourself in any way, or assume that you can be saved simply by hearing the call. But the solution is not despair. For the wedding is prepared by God out of love for lost sinners. He invites to the feast freely. His gifts are wonderful.
Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
But as baptized Christians, we have been given the new man in Christ. We are no longer stuck in the old way. As it says in the small catechism concerning what baptism indicates
It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
So we see more about Jesus’ agenda. He does not wish to just have a paralytic who rises and walks, but continues in futile thoughts, darkness, uncleanness, and alienation from God. What good is walking if that it is the case? Better, in fact, to be paralyzed and yet a new man in Christ, who lives in good conscience before God.
Sermon for Michaelmas
I thank you my heavenly father, through Jesus Christ your dear son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please you. For into your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
We pray that prayer every morning and evening – but what do we mean by “let your holy angel be with me?” There are many stories and lots of folklore about angels, we will focus on what is true from the Bible. As we go through the epistle reading from Revelation, this sermon will answer three question – what are angels, what do they do for us, and what should we do in regards to them.
Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
There are a couple times in the Bible where we have an image of people being rescued by being raised or lowered in a basket. The spies in Jericho sent out by Joshua were lowered in a basket to safety to avoid the city guards. St. Paul also was rescued in a basket from Damascus when there was a plot against his life. So we will use that image of a rescue basket, being taken from Sheol and up into the light and life of Christ, as we think about how Christ pulls us out of Sheol.
Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
God gives three remedies for worry – consider your importance compared to the birds and flowers who do not worry, consider that your heavenly Father already provides and you cannot add an hour to your life, and consider that true provision is found for body and soul in the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
Yet Jesus is ignored by the world. We know of the many who do not believe in Jesus at all, that’s one thing. Another are those who would be happy to use Him, and then ignore Him. These may even be those in the church. The nine lepers who did not return were happy to use Jesus for a need. Once they were cleansed, they did not turn from the way they were going. They did not turn back to Him. They were happy to stay far off, be healed, and be done. For them, the encounter with Jesus is just to get what they want.
Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
You are a Samaritan and have a demon. This is what the Jews say to Jesus in John chapter 8. To the Jews, being a Samaritan and having a demon are equivalent. 700 years before Jesus, when the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by God for their wickedness, the Assyrian Empire took the Israelites of the northern ten tribes and scattered many throughout their empire, while moving other people into the north part of Israel. Those new people, foreigners and pagans, married Israelites, and they all began a mixed religion that worshipped both the Lord and other gods. They were called Samaritans, after the old Israelite capital of Samaria.
Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity
Let not only the example of the destruction of the old Jerusalem, but the promise of the glory of the New Jerusalem to come, ever drive us to cherish our Lord’s visitation here and now above all things. Lord, help us not to neglect you and Your Word, but ever attend to it, hear it, take it into our hearts. Amen.
Sermon by Rev. Daniel Greg, pastor of Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit, Elk Grove Village, Illinois. For Family retreat vespers service.
Sermon for the St. Paul's Family Retreat Matins Service
“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”
“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of.”
Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity
Last week I spoke about our need to read the scriptures daily in order to distinguish between true and false teachers. You might have started reading, or have read before, and think, it’s mostly a bunch of stories, how does this help? Today I will tell you how to make the scriptures yours. They are your family stories. You are brought into the family of Christ, God’s people, and the scriptures, especially the Old Testament are a history of those who are in God’s family from the very beginning. Like you listen to your grandparents, and their story is yours, so the histories in scripture are also your story.
Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity
False prophets never appear to be false by outward signs (wool).
What is wool? Wool is not evil. Wool is good, but it is not a good indicator is someone is a true or false prophet.
Their fruits will be false teaching.
You know their fruits by knowing the true teaching of the scriptures.
Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity
Paul compares slaves to impurity and lawlessness to slaves of righteousness. As he says, when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Just like the slaves were free of all other duties, those who are enslaved to sin are certainly free from righteousness, from following God’s way. You hear people flaunt this all the time. They say, it’s so much more freeing not to live under those rules and morals, not to have guilt over what I do, I can do whatever I want! But in reality they are not free. You gotta serve somebody.
Are are two ways - the way of the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes, which leads to death, and the way of the higher righteousness of Christ, which leads to life. The way of life is a way of reconciliation.
Sermon for the Visitation of Mary
Mary’s song shows that God never forgets his promises. He remembers. His ancient promise to Abraham, the tenant of Hebron 2000 years before Mary, is fulfilled in her, his descendant, and her Son, Jesus Christ, as they come to his town to meet Elizabeth. It’s nothing to the eye, but all history is centering around this point, this person, Jesus, a little baby in her womb.
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity
Judge not, and you shall not be judged. There we have – there is a judgment! It’s not that there is no judgment at all. And you should have noticed from the creeds and other parts of scripture that we believe Christ is coming to judge all the living and the dead on the last day. Our command not to judge is not, don’t judge, it’s mean – it’s don’t judge, and you shall not be judged. If we judge we must always remember there is a judgement coming for us as well.
Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity
The Pharisees and scribes are indignant that Jesus would associate with open sinners, even though these sinners and repentant and want to learn from Jesus. Jesus masterfully demonstrates to them the value that God sees in sinners. First he deals with money, which the Pharisees love, and finally gives the example of two sons who reject their father's love in different ways.
Sermon for the Second Sunday after Trinity
Those who have the pride of man-made religion will never enter the Lord's banquet. True Christians show true humility.
Sermon for the First Sunday after Trinity
Jesus speaks of two men - a rich man who feasted sumptuously every day, and Lazarus, a poor beggat lying at the rich man’s door. Both of these men die. Both, we can assume, are Jews, and therefore in the flesh they are sons of Abraham. But Lazarus is carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom and the rich man is not. Even though they are both related to Abraham, only Lazarus is a true son of Abraham. It is clear that some will die and go to eternal life and some to torment in hell
Sermon for the Feast of Holy Trinity
Some may say the Athanasian Creed is all just words. But that is how we know things, by words, the words that God has given us. What difference does it make that God is Trinity? Why all these words are needed for us to know?
Sermon for Pentecost
Maybe you know Pentecost comes from “fifty” means fifty days after easter. Originally, it was a feast fifty days after Passover, the feast of first fruits. Traditionally it was thought to be the day Moses gave the law to the children of Israel on Mt Sinai. We can even connect the physical first-fruits in the OT Pentecost with the spiritual first-fruits the beginning of the church, with the NT Pentecost.
That all seems to make sense – but what about the main attraction of Pentecost? The big show – the tongues of fire and sound like a mighty rushing wind, and the speaking of different languages?
Sermon for Rogate
This means that Jesus here has laid out what is necessary for true prayer in the time of His resurrection and ascension – that is, our time now. You may have heard of many things that people have said are needed for a good prayer, or maybe just assumed some, and we will get to some wrong assumptions. But there are five things Jesus lays out here as necessary for true prayer.
The promise of God, faith, something for which we pray, desire that the petition be granted, the name of Christ.
Sermon for Jubilate, the fourth Sunday of Easter
As you may know, I have had close personal experience recently with the example from the gospel lesson today -
A woman, when she in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come, but as soon as she gives birth to the child she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Guest sermon by Rev. Richard Bellas on Misericordias Domini, the Third Sunday of Easter
Sermon for the Annunciation of Our Lord
We celebrate this because at this point God has become man, one of us, and will always be man. He is man then, today, and will be man forever. Our brother goes before us into eternal union with God. What does the Son of God do when he takes on human flesh? He releases us from our bondage to the Law.
Sermon for Good Friday Chief Divine Service
Jesus Christ is the King of Truth, who has freed us from fear of the kings of the world, and brought us into his kingdom by His blood, so that like Him we may fear, love, and trust God above all things.
Without the Lord’s Supper, even though we still have preaching but the commemoration of Christ’s death can become nothing more than a mental exercise, or a physical exercise of coming to church and thinking, speaking, or praising. These are all good things, but come up short of the fullness of what Christ wants to give us through His Passion.
Sermon for Passion Sunday
Yes the Jews, the Romans, and even we killed Jesus by our sin and rejection of Him. But in that Our Father made the way of our Salvation by having his son taking our sin on the cross and completing our redemption.
Sermon for Wednesday of Judica
We can hear the comforting promises, we who suffer for righteousness sake, but it seems like God is acting slowly. This is why James advises patience.
Sermon for Judica, the fifth Sunday in Lent
God’s goal has always been to dwell with us, to have heaven and earth come together. In the beginning, they were both good, but separate, and moving toward coming together.
Since the fall into sin, there is a separation where the earth is corrupted and no longer a good image of heaven. We get glimpses of this throughout the Bible. Heaven has a glassy, calm sea, earth’s image is a sea, but one that is turbulent and dangerous. Heaven has a city of God, the earth has worldly cities like Jerusalem who persecute and stone the prophets and kill Jesus Christ. But as we move towards Holy Week and the passion of Jesus, it is that death of Christ which ultimately brings heaven and earth together.
Sermon for Laetare, the fourth Sunday in Lent
Moses provides just enough, even the manna everyone gets what they just need for the day, there are no leftovers. Jesus gives in the wilderness even more and in abundance.
Sermon for Wednesday of Oculi
All beasts can be tamed, the cobra with his snake charmer is safer than the tongue in our mouth, which is apt to break through all training, all bonds and rules and spit out its poison on one occasion or another, unless we keep the utmost care. We have to watch it like a poisonous snake or rabid dog.
Sermon for Oculi, the third Sunday in Lent.
We fight against the devil, renounce him and all his works and ways, in the power of Jesus Christ. We are the soldiers, and he is our king and General, the Lord of Sabaoth.
Sermon for Reminiscere, the second Sunday in Lent
To struggle with God is to see all the circumstances be horrible like God won’t keep his promises. Feel like God won’t hear, doesn’t care, have absolutely nothing good for us that we can tell, and yet still hold on to Him in faith.
First Lent Midweek service on the epistle of St. James
Doers do not have to lie to themselves or anyone else. We have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus and only do because we have heard and believed. We live in freedom.
Sermon for Invocavit, the first Sunday in Lent
The devil attacks Christ for 40 days in the wilderness, yet Christ resists by the Word of God. Why does he allow himself to be led into the wilderness to be subjected to this? He obeys the will of his father so He may defend us from all the attacks of the devil.
We often do not think of how the devil wishes to attack and harass us, just thinking of the evil of man. But we are fighting against principalities and powers, and the devil wants us to have no peace wherever we are.
Sermon for Ash Wednesday
Everyone comes to the same end, no matter what your lot in life was – rich or poor, slave or free, man or woman, we all return to dust.
Sermon for Quinquagesima
Jesus reveals clearly what he has to do to enter his kingdom, but the disciples do not understand. Christ’s purpose in Jerusalem is hidden from the twelve, they are blind to it.
The disciples have the idea that Jesus is a victorious king, they don’t want Him to go to become king by suffering, but this is the more excellent way. This is the way that comes to us, that truly saves us in the low places where we are.
In contrast the blind man sees who Jesus is, that He is a man who will not go by a poor blind man on the road but will humble himself to come and heal him. This faith them follows Jesus on the road to the cross.
Sermon for Sexagesima Sunday.
Our own idolatry is believing that the Word of God Does not produce fruit. The solution is to hold to the Word of God with patience and steadfastness.
Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday.
Paul compares the Christian life to that of an athlete – all compete but not all win the prize. Just training and participating does not mean the crown is yours
All in the wilderness could claim being a part of Moses’ group, being their from the beginning, but they did not seek the prize – they fell in the wilderness and only Caleb and Joshua of that generation could enter the promised land.
Sermon on the Feast of the Transfiguration.
Only through Jesus Christ can we approach God. This is how he comes down and touches us. The thin place between heaven and earth is not on the mountain of transfiguration. It is here, where Christ promises to be. Where Jesus commands to baptize in his name, he is there. There in the water is God Himself, giving his life to these little children.
Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord (observed)
In John’s gospel, we run into John the Baptist where everything is done and over for him. He’s completed his mission. The baptism is done. He has identified the Christ, and now is pointing his own disciples, Andrew and Peter, James and John, to follow Jesus instead. As he says “He must increase, and I must decrease.” To reveal, to point, and bear witness to Jesus has been his life’s goal.
Sermon for Epiphany (Observed)
Nothing in the human senses can perceive over such great distances as the eye – and nothing transmits to the eye over such great distances as light. It’s said in good conditions can one can see a lighted match in the dark many miles away. From ancient times lighthouses have been used to keep sailors away from shoals – even in heavy storms the light comes through. And of course, we can see the light of the moon, sun, and stars in the heavens from thousands and millions of miles away.
Sermon for the Eve of the Circumcision and Name of JESUS
And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
What’s in a name? Now that my wife is pregnant with our third child, we are, of course, going through the exciting discussion of what to name the child. We know names are important – often we choose them to honor people we love – we can avoid certain names when it reminds us of people we don’t like – or the name could have a certain meaning we want to give to the child. My parents chose “Christopher” for me because of the meaning – bearer of Christ.
The gospel of John begins the same way as the book of Genesis at the start of the Old Testament: in the beginning. John wants us to know that this is a testimony of the work of God that is just as important as that creation account written by Moses at the very beginning. The Word who was there in the beginning with God creating the world is the same Word who John writes about in His gospel. When we hear that God created everything by His Word, it means the Word, the Son of God.
Sermon for the fourth Sunday in Advent, Rorate Coeli. Guest preacher - Rev. Richard Bellas
Sermon for Commemoration of Katharina Von Bora Luther, Advent 3 Midweek
Today’s saint to end our advent midweek services is a little different. In comparison to Nicholas and Lucia who lived in the 300s AD, Katharina Von Bora Luther is almost modern, dying on this day in 1552. She is not classically regarded as a saint, but is a saint both in the sense that all who have faith in Christ are saints, and she is an example of a godly woman. If as the Augsburg Confession says we remember the saints in order to emulate their virtues by their faith in Christ, then Kate Luther is a good one to remember.
Sermon for Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday in Advent
Today is a day of joy, even though we hear about John in prison. Because joy is not one that comes from circumstance, but from our Lord Jesus Christ. John directed his disciples to Christ in order to get final assurance that it was to him he would be accountable.
When we realize all things are accountable to Jesus Christ, we live in a different way.
Sermon for Populus Zion, the second Sunday in Advent
Christ describes the end as not a winter, but the end of winter, the beginning of spring leading into summer. What we experience now is the winter, even with all the marvelous gifts God has given us in this life, he has an eternal summer of even more gifts to bestow on us in the life to come.
Sermon for Advent Midweek Service on St. Nicholas' Day
What if our work here was not for us just to get the prize, like gifts from Santa, but to be the work of Jesus Christ in the world. That was what St. Nicholas thought that He was supposed to do. That is what we as Christians are really being a part of. We are the vanguard of the new world, established by Jesus cross and resurrection and continuing until it is completed on the last day.
Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent - Ad Te Levavi
You think it’s kind of weird how everyone acts at the triumphal entry? Here we have Jesus coming in on a donkey, and everyone is partying, shouting, people throwing cloaks and branches on the ground.
What is the true Christian expectation and preparation for Christmas?
Prepare for Christmas by recognizing our need for a righteous King.
Jeremiah’s situation with Judah’s Kings – God has promised to David that his descendant, his branch, would always rule the throne of Israel. His descendants have generally failed, been good here and there but not that promised one.
Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year
Thinking about the End of the World is not just a Christian thing. All sorts of people postulate an end all the time. They set forth their own prophecies, and because it is scientific or not put in religious language we don’t think to compare it to what God says in scripture.
In the Cold War, the popular description of the end was a huge nuclear war between the US and the USSR that would wipe out the civilized world. People described all sorts of scenarios, movies and books were written. Today it’s global warming or climate change. See how people talk about it – this is going to come, it’s going to destroy the world as we know it – there are signs now we need to heed – it’s up to us to change it for the future, buy electric cars or something
It's really a parallel to how God sets the end – there are warnings that we need to heed, the world is completely going to change at the coming of Christ, be destroyed and remade. But unlike man-made end scenarios, the End of the World which is described in scripture is beyond our control. It is even beyond our prediction. We can’t even say, oh it seems to be coming at this approximate time. No, the End is something which Jesus tells us just to “be ready” at all times, because we never know the day nor the hour.
Sermon for Thanksgiving Day
“IT’S MY MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW!” This is essentially what the man who calls out to Jesus is asking when he asks Jesus to help them divide his inheritance. It was the kind of thing Moses had to do all the time, so much that his father in law finally convinced him to delegate some of the authority. But Jesus says, who set me up to be your judge, and money-divider?
Jesus has no interest in helping men continue in covetousness, their desire for what others have. As we know from the ninth and tenth commandments, covetousness is the desire, scheming to get what is our neighbors, even in way which appear right, like through legal means. People can spend their whole lives, put a lot of effort into this, but Jesus says to beware of it, stay away, don’t waste your time. For possessions, money, whatever things you might desire are not what life consists of. Rather we should be rich toward the only one who really gives anything, God. Rather than spending all our time pursuing the wealth of this age, we should live as this holiday teaches us, in thanksgiving to God for what we do have.
Sermon for the Second Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 26)
St. Peter describes the Last Day and gives a diagnostic in a way about how we look at it and what our response should be.
I. Scoffers mock the last day.
II. Weak Christians fear the last day because they value earthly things over God and do not trust God’s love.
III. True Christians look forward to the last day in hope
The end times are a popular source of discussion among Christians. In America in the last 150 years or so, there has been a lot of speculation and interpretation about the end times. You can get these huge confusing charts that purport to interpret every prophecy in the Bible. But the stress of this can cause a lot of fear, not knowing, what do we need to know? Are we keeping up on current events enough?
This may have compounded for you with the events in Israel and Gaza in recent months. Maybe you have heard Christian commentators say that certain events are a fulfillment of this or that scripture, or the Bible says we must support the state of Israel no matter what, or even that they know from this when Christ will return.
Sermon for All Saints Day.
THE STATE OF BELIEVERS BETWEEN DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION
I. They are safe in God’s hand, dwelling with Christ in Paradise
II. They are not in any way interacting with this world
III. They are anticipating the great day of Christ’s Return with us
Sermon for Reformation.
Luther wrote, “O Lord Look Down From Heaven Behold” inspired by this psalm. It was sung in the town of Lubeck by a poor blind man, and when the town council heart it, favoring the papal cause, they banned him from the town. Then in St. James church the next Sunday, the preacher began to pray for the dead, as was custom, and two young boys began to sing this, followed by the congregation. From then on, when anyone tried to preach anything contrary to the gospel, Luther’s followers would sing this hymn until the offending preacher left the pulpit. By this the whole city was won for the evangelical cause.
This is just one example of the power of God’s Word.
God never wants us to doubt what he says. He is always sincere in His gospel call.
Gospel reading and Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity.
We never want to use alien faith in a way that assures people in their sin, falsely. But alien faith is a wonderful use and assurance for those of us who believe. Christ recognizes alien faith. He recognizes your prayers and intercessions for your loved ones. He is hearing you and he wants you to keep holding on. He shows it right here in the gospel with these men who bring the paralytic.
Zedekiah feared the opinion of powerful men rather than God. He did not love God with all his mind, but put fear as a priority over that love, and so did not defend his family either, loving his neighbor less than himself. This common way of life exemplified by Zedekiah, a son of David, was why Jeremiah preached that Jerusalem would be destroyed and Judah would go into exile.
Christ’s humility demonstrates three important things – the hatred of the world for the lowly, the example of his love we are to follow, and the way He won salvation for those who never asked.
We are able to continue with the daily death to sin and rising to repentance because we trust in the promise of the final resurrection. Without knowing that this promise is true, we would be like those who don’t believe in any resurrection -let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. We hold to resurrection to eternal life by faith.
Worry and walking in the Spirit are opposed to one another. One cannot be overcome by worry and also be walking in the Spirit.
Jesus says, “truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” Note that Jesus says “Truly truly I say to you.” This means it is something that Jesus really wants to get across, really wants everyone to pay attention to. This is not some side comment but something essential.
Jesus grants eternal life to whom? To those who hear His word and believe in Him. They do not come into judgment of God, but have already passed from death into life. That is the promise for Ralph today and for all Christians.
Christ only draws all people to himself as the crucified one.
Preached at NID Circuit S17 Winkel
Jesus heals many people throughout His ministry, but reading the healing can seem kind of shallow. It’s like a getting a “wish you were here” postcard from someone on vacation. Good for you, but this only makes me feel worse that I’m still stuck here at work. So what is the promise for you in this healing that Jesus does for this deaf and mute man?
By this healing, Jesus is concretely declaring the coming of the kingdom of God, which also comes to us by His word.
Let not your hearts be troubled. Jesus says, Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
You have probably been told at times to repent. You probably understand that the Christian life is one of repentance, or you have heard that said. Maybe you understand that we are saved by Jesus, by grace through faith alone, and not by works. Yet you also know that repentance fits in there somewhere. The action of changing your mind, living in a different way than you did before. After all, that’s what all Christians seem to try to do.
We know as Christians that Mary received a great blessing, and so did she, but then she does something strange, or at least unexplained. She goes with haste from Nazareth to the hill country of Judah. She goes from one part of the country to the other to visit her relative, Elizabeth.
Today is the true birthday of the Lutheran Church, June 25, 1530, the date of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession. In 28 articles, the Augsburg Confession defines from scripture what it means to be Lutheran, which is no less than to believe the true gospel of Jesus Christ, free from errors and impurities.
Although this genuine call goes out, and the invited guests hear it, they all alike begin to make excuses. All these excuses are lame excuses. No one buys a field before he goes out to see it, or a yoke of oxen, nor does marrying a wife forbid someone from coming. This is not a case of God’s call being at the wrong time, it’s the people decide they don’t want what He is offering and therefore make it the wrong time. If something is important, you will make time for it. You know this. There are few things so urgent that someone can’t reset their priorities. But in their sin, the priorities of the invited guests are not God.
Saint Barnabas is one of the fathers of the faith who is probably not well known to most people. More people are aware of St Paul of course, or even St Nicholas and St Valentine. But we actually know a lot more about Barnabas than we know about those other two. Barnabas is a prominent man in the early church, a companion of Paul on his first missionary journeys. As Luke writes in Acts, Barnabas was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.”
Nicodemus here is a step ahead of the other Pharisees who hate Jesus, but not much. The wisdom of the world isn’t much interested in what God is interested in. The world loves show and things that the eyes see. It loves great buildings, amazing miracles, and mighty works. God is interested in faith. He is interested in salvation. He is interested in birth and rebirth. This rebirth, being born again, or born from above – this is His great purpose and work among us, and we call this regeneration.
By the Holy Spirit, all people in the church who believed in Christ were boldly confessing the truths of the creed, that Jesus is Lord, He is the God of the Old Testament, the Son of the God who has taken on human flesh to save the world. His coming has begun the last days. As Christ has finished His work on earth, He now on Pentecost begins His work by the Holy Spirit through the church, to continue until the last day, when He returns to judge the living and the dead.
Jesus knows the disciples will naturally, in their sinful flesh, want to think back to the days when they were with Jesus, and not the post-Ascension future. It will seem strange and scary to be without Jesus, how can the kingdom of God continue if He is not there personally with them? Jesus gives them three important assurances here for after his resurrection:
1. Jesus will send the Helper, the Spirit of Truth, from the Father to testify of Him.
2. The disciples will bear witness to one another.
3. Jesus already knows all the terrible things which will happen to them.
Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon king.
And all the people rejoiced and said:
God save the King! Long live the King! God save the King!
May the King live for ever. Amen. Hallelujah.
Jesus says, “In that day you will not ask me anything.”
What is “that day”? We have to remember a couple weeks back, Jesus talks about two little whiles. A little while, and you will see me no longer, and again a little while, and you will see me. Jesus is talking about being taken away from the disciples as he is arrested and goes to the cross, crucified, and buried. Then after a little while, three days later, he rises from the dead and comes to them on Easter. The time after these little whiles is the new time after the resurrection. It is a new day. In this day of the resurrection, that day, the disciples will not ask Jesus anything.
Those who are in the know say this account written by St. Luke in the book of Acts is the most detailed account of a shipwreck in the ancient world in existence. There are all sorts of geographic points and nautical terms, and amid them is the continuing story of the Apostle Paul. Paul is traveling to Rome from Jerusalem by ship, to stand trial before Caesar. He is a prisoner, under guard of a centurion, a Roman non-commissioned officer, named Julius, and his friends Luke and Aristarchus are with him, as well as other prisoners. The sailors decided to depart from their last port at the end of the year which was a bad decision. Like the song says of Lake Superior, so too in the Mediterranean Sea the skies of November turn gloomy, and the ship became a bone to be chewed. St. Paul warned them, but they did not listen. For fourteen days the ship faces stormy seas, headed for certain doom.
This morning we return again to the Upper Room on the night when Jesus was betrayed, Maundy Thursday night, to hear his farewell address to his disciples. Last week we heard about the joy of the resurrection that Jesus here promises they will receive – a little while and they will not see him, and again a little while and they will see him and their sorrow will turn into joy. This joy is based not on anything fleeting, but a true and solid fact – the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
See, these little whiles are over, and now we live in the redeemed time, the time of the year of Our Lord, the time of the resurrection. We have now in the resurrection life given by Christ the gift of the eternal joy of the resurrection.
The people escaped bondage in Egypt, but then did not recognize the Shepherd who freed them. They were like sheep freed from wolves who wandered from their shepherd who saved them. While they were physically freed, they showed by their rejection of the sacrifice made for them that they were still in bondage in their souls, in bondage to sin.
Jesus is Risen from the dead, but sinful and fallible human beings still need his help to believe, and even believing, we need His help to be strengthened. Yet it is through these same fallible human beings that Jesus works in giving this help and strength. Through crooked sticks he draws straight lines and by the weakness of his ministers His own strength is shown.
That’s what’s so much better about Jesus’ message than any other. You can hold it as a precious promise for the future, but it’s not from someone far away. He is Here, He is risen. He is strengthening you to believe it more every time you read it in faith, holding those words in your heart. So receive Him not with fear and trembling, but like little children, hearing their new favorite story. All they want is to hear it again and again. It will be the story proclaimed forever in your resurrection from the dead. Amen.
Audio was cut off due to technical difficulties - here is the end of the sermon:
The angel of the Lord demonstrates how easy it will be. Moving the stone? Try moving the whole earth. Guards, already comatose with fear. The dead Christ? He is risen from the dead, and already has gone ahead of you to Galilee. Catch up! He was dead, but you’re the one’s who are late.
He gathers his people in Galilee and continues to gather now. His resurrection was the most sure and necessary thing in the universe and now he gives that to you through baptism into him. Even now it is certain that you can have victory over sin and temptation. He did – and you have his life. All things necessary he can do for your salvation without even moving his little finger.
When Christ was laid in the tomb, it was certain he would awaken. When you are laid in the grave, it is certain you will awaken. That’s what you do after you sleep, right? So sleep tonight, knowing that it’s very certain you will rise tomorrow. Either to Easter morning, or even better, the eternal Easter morning. That was the plan all along.
Christ is risen!
Amen.
Here Nicodemus sees the Son of Man who was lifted up and believes. We know he believes because He joins his fellow councilman, Joseph of Arimathea, in asking Pilate to take Jesus’ body for burial. What can they do at this point? Can they hope in the resurrection? Joseph gives his new tomb, just cut out, not far from the cross. Nicodemus buys much expensive ointment to anoint Jesus’ body. It’s not much, it’s what they give in faith.
Many of you have probably been involved at sometime in your life in the distribution of an inheritance. Someone close to you had left their last will and testament and it decreed that something they treasured would be given to you. Maybe this was as a child, and you just received something from a grandparent, or as an adult maybe you had to be involved in all the legal proceedings. Possibly the inheritance was contentious, especially if a lot of money was involved that everyone wanted, or a lot of stuff that no one wanted. Maybe like me, you got a memento – I remember when my grandfather died I asked to have his ham radio microphone, because his involvement in ham radio was a central memory of who he was to me.
Readings from Isaiah 53 and the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St. Luke. Devotional reading from The Timetable of The Lord's Passion by Valerius Herberger, translated by Matthew Carver.
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Reading from John 12:1-36 / Devotion from The Timetable of Our Lord's Passion by Valerius Herberger, translated by Matthew Carver.
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Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Mark, New King James Version. Devotion from Valerius Herberger, Timetable of The Lord's Passion, translated by Matthew Carver.
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The devil loves to work in secret. His attack against Jesus at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the temptation in the wilderness was in secret, out alone with no one around. That is part of the temptation – no one is around, certainly no one else will know. There is no one there to correct a wrong, no one who can call you out, no one to put you to public shame. When the devil can’t come against Jesus directly, he comes through secret work of the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees and elders.
Kings come up all over this discussion between Jesus and the Jews, although they use different words for them.
You could answer, well – it was only a test! Yes it was a test, but Abraham could not know that. Just like you don’t know the outcome of whatever you are going through in your life, but must trust in God to guide with His Word. Abraham knew that God promised that this son, his only son, Isaac, would be the father of a great nation. He also knew that God wanted him to sacrifice the boy. There could only be one conclusion for Abraham, he must do what God says and keep His word. God would be responsible to sort out the rest.
You are probably familiar with the prophecy of the virgin bearing a son, and calling Him, Emmanuel, quoted in the Christmas story in Matthew and also referenced and fulfilled here in Luke. Where does this prophecy come from? It was not just something mysteriously written down in the depths of time, but comes from the word of the prophet Isaiah in the time of King Ahaz of Judah.
This is something like what the pharisees act like here with the blind man – so smart they are stupid. They are so overwhelmed by their rules and how they see the world how they have interpreted Moses, that they refused to see a miracle right in front of them – a man born blind, healed by Jesus Christ. They are completely blinded themselves to the work of God.
We have been talking about spiritual warfare, there is need for supply and sustenance as we are in spiritual war in this life. Maybe you know there is a fight here, that you cannot fight on your own, but you must know where to receive the source of supply. Jesus is the source of our sustenance – he is the bread of life.
One may connect things being old with being traditional, like a way of craftsmanship that has been passed down for years. Traditional can take on other meanings – like some people would say we have “traditional” worship – which could take on the implied meaning of old, formal, or even stuffy depending on whom you talk to. But Jesus is not talking about the ancient provenance or the style of the command, just that it is something which has been only created by and handed down by men.
Jesus casts out a demon which is making a man mute, and people become angry at Jesus. One would think that casting out a demon so a man can speak would generally be thought of as a good thing. Why criticize Jesus, even calling him a demon? It would be like getting angry at a doctor who healed someone. As no one would say they are pro-disease, no one would claim to be pro-demon. But here we have members of the crowd becoming angry at Jesus for casting out a demon.
A mother brings a request to Jesus for the sake of her children, but it’s different from the mother’s request we heard on Sunday.
This area was never really under Israel’s control, though David and Solomon were in friendly relations with King Hiram, who gave them cedars to make the temple. Tyre and Sidon were known as a place where Israelites would go to pick up idolatrous practices of the Canaanites. The Canaanites were the children of Ham who the Israelites were supposed to completely wipe out when they came to the promised land. This did not happen fully, and so Israelites picked up Canaanite practices, worshipping their god Baal and goddess Ashtoreth. To a lesser or greater extent this was the norm for the typical Israelite – worship Yahweh and also Baal and Ashtoreth depending on what you need and how things are going. This is what led to Israel’s ultimate judgment.
When Jesus is talking many times in this gospel lesson about a this “wicked and adulterous generation” he is not speaking about generations in this way, as if he is looking down on those born with his parents or the next generation coming up. Generation means those born at a certain time, but it also means a kind, a class, a group – those who flock together with certain similarities. And the group of the Jews which confront Jesus looking for a sign are acting as a wicked and adulterous generation.
The Lord is calling his people Israel through Joel to return to the Lord with all their heart – with fasting, mourning, and weeping, rending their hearts, and not their garments – this is done by publicly calling everyone together to fasting and prayer, to seek deliverance from God. They have been told that a great plague of locusts is descending on them, a time of judgment, yet if they apply to God for mercy, he may relent.
We would assume that Isaiah is sent to proclaim this revelation of God, his glory to the people, so they would hear and turn back to God. It’s actually the opposite. Isaiah is called to tell the people, Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not to perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes – lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return and be healed! God wants Isaiah to preach so that the people will reject him, reject the word of God, and be destroyed by their own rejection of this word.
So we get to the parable – the kingdom of heaven is like a man – a man with a vineyard. Remember the man is who the kingdom of heaven is like. For the kingdom of heaven is the reign of Jesus Christ. Jesus is explaining how his lordship works, especially regarding Peter’s question of what the disciples will receive.
That Jesus came into humble circumstances was not a coincidence. God did not randomly choose to have his Son born poor instead of rich. The God of Lord of all did not just come into poor means but came in humility to serve. His humble estate shows both his service to us, to suffer for us, and to suffer with us, to take on all things we do. As Hebrews states, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
Today, on the cusp of lent, we remember the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus brought up the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, onto the mountain and was transfigured before them, his face shining like the sun and his clothes become as white as light. Jesus is revealed to them in all glory and purity as true God, testified by Moses and Elijah standing with him.
Naaman was a commander of Syria during the time of the divided kingdom. Syria was an enemy of Israel, but God had given Naaman victory and success over Israel because God was punishing Israel for their sins. We are told that he was a great and honorable man, and a mighty man of valor – the image of a military hero, like David or Joshua, but Gentile. And not just gentile, but having one other large flaw, he was a leper.
Here at Cana in Galilee, Jesus, his mother, and his disciples are at a wedding. Jesus is blessing a wedding as a guest, and has not performed any miracles yet. His mother comes to him with a problem, there is no wine. Jesus answers, “what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Remember, Jesus at this point has not done any miracles. His earthly ministry has not yet begun. Yet when his mother comes to him, she expects that he will do something about a lack of wine. Even when he lightly rebukes her, she just tells the servants to listen to Jesus, do whatever he tells them.
In the description of Jesus’ baptism in the gospel of John, we do not get an actual narrative of the baptism of Jesus, but John the Baptist describing it later. In this description, John begins by pointing out Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This, which we sing every week in the Agnus Dei, is one of the most important titles of Jesus.
In this section of Luke, and in the story of Jesus’ birth, Luke writes that Mary “kept all these things in her heart.” We know that Luke was not one of the twelve apostles, but an associate later of St. Paul. By guidance of the Holy Spirit, he would have likely written his gospel not from his own experience, like Matthew, but from asking first person sources, like a historian, and for this section, especially Mary. One could imagine Mary telling Luke the story he asked, the one of Jesus’ birth, that we heard on Christmas Eve – but then interjecting – actually, there’s another story, when Jesus was twelve, and it was actually quite embarrassing for me, at the time…
When the wise men arrive in the capital city of Jerusalem, people do not receive them with joy, as you might think. Everyone is greatly troubled. We know that King Herod is troubled, these foreign men have come in town and are stirring up questions about the one born king of the Jews. King Herod has no knowledge or relation to this recently-born child, besides apparently being in his throne. That the child would be announced with this odd sign of foreign dignitaries following an astrological sign from God is downright spooky.
The very short gospel lesson today describes what happened to Jesus at eight days old, one week after he was born, which is today, one week after Christmas Day. Jesus was circumcised, as were all Jewish boys on the eighth day, and received the custom of being named – here was named Jesus, a name already given to him by the angel Gabriel before He was born. The name Jesus, the LORD saves, indicates already that He will save His people from their sins.
New Year’s Eve is a time for making resolutions – turn over the new year, turn over to some new habit or activity. Try to improve yourself. I’m not going to say improving yourself is wrong. What is your preparation, or the goal of your improvement? Our gospel lesson tells us that God has given us a limited time to use on this earth – and we do not know necessarily when it will end. This helps inform us – what are we going to do with this next year, or whatever time we have? How should we focus improvement in the new year?
Children are the best, especially around Christmas, because they honestly say the things we are all thinking. You know the thing where a child gets a gift from some aunt or other distant relative, and has to be told not to say what they are thinking, because the gift isn’t something they wanted – it’s either something like socks or something they already have. We aren’t any better as adults, we have just learned not to say what we are thinking about the gift out loud.
This empty misery of separation from one we love is at the heart of what we know about St. Thomas, who we commemorate today. Thomas only comes up a few times in the gospels, but the longest and most well-known is here, where he gets his name “doubting” Thomas. The day after Jesus rises from the dead, Thomas is not there with all the other disciples and misses out on meeting him. The other disciples tell Thomas what happened. He then refuses to believe that Jesus is risen unless he can be with him physically, not just see him, but touch him, touch his very wounds by which he was crucified and killed.
For the final Sunday before the Nativity of our Lord, we hear the testimony of John the Baptist. Everything has been kind of criss crossed between the anticipation for the birth of Jesus, along with the anticipation of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which John the Baptist comes before and prepares us for.
The angel Gabriel comes to Mary with an important message. Very few times does God send an angelic messenger to deliver his message. Usually God works through the words of men, through the prophets. However, when the message is especially important and needs to be confirmed he sends an angel. An angel had come to women only twice before, to Hagar, the servant of Abraham and Sarah, and mother of Ishmael, and to the wife of Manoah, the mother of Samson.
Our readings tonight are from Malachi and Matthew. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. Between those books, in that one blank page in between, is 400 years. Back to the beginning of creation, 6000 years ago, God spoke through prophets – the patriarchs, Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph. He spoke through Moses who wrote down the law and the first five books of the Bible. Then God by the Holy Spirit spoke through many more prophets and leaders of Israel from the death of Moses for another 1000 years, until Malachi.
Disciples are asking Jesus about the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem. He tells them about this, but after this destruction in 70 AD will come the end. Here Jesus gives us the signs for us of the end of the world and His Second Coming.
Andrew is the apostle with the feast day first in the church year, because he is the first of all the apostles to be called. That first calling is not our gospel today from Matthew 4, but is mentioned in John 1. We know from John that Andrew was a disciple of the John the Baptist, and John pointed Andrew to Jesus as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Andrew then tells his brother Simon Peter, who becomes more prominent among the disciples.
Happy New Year!
Today is the first day of Advent, and the first day of the church year. We go back to the beginning - but not the very beginning, but the beginning like your dad telling a story – the first really important part, the part he really wants to tell.
There might not be many things more American than Thanksgiving. Every nation has its special days, independence days, national days, so the fourth of July really comes in second place here. Neither is a day of giving thanks to God a particularly American thing, or particularly new at all. The story we tell around Thanksgiving is so completely American. A group of pilgrims leave their land, face a difficult voyage and a harsh winter, in order to set up a place where they can live – not only live, but worship freely, as they see is right. Through many struggles, the hand of God, Providence, gives them success. For this they have a feast to give thanks to God.
Last week, we heard about the vision of Daniel, the beasts which are over the empires of this world, and the fact that it is the Lord, the Ancient of Days who truly rules over them. The Son of Man, our Savior Jesus Christ, is truly ruling today over heaven and earth. All dominion and pwer has been given to him, therefore we need not worry about the rulers of the world, for Jesus has the ultimate authority. Everything is under God’s control, and all will see this when Christ returns on the last day.
You probably remember Daniel from the story of the lions’ den, maybe Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace which we heard about on Easter Vigil. This Daniel also spoke many prophecies of the times to come. He lived with the exiles of Judah in Babylon, a land that did not generally recognize God. Much like our land, it was the most powerful empire on earth and hosted people from many nations which it had conquered. The Jews were one of these people, and they got along ok as long as the empire’s laws didn’t interfere with their worship, which Daniel found out when he was thrown into the lions’ den.
In the lesson we heard from 1 Thessalonians, St. Paul says, we do not want you to be uninformed brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as those who have no hope. When Paul is talking about those who are asleep, he means those who have died. We know that Lorraine is not merely asleep, she has died. Nor is she is some sort of soul sleep, her soul is with Christ now. By asleep, Paul is using the word as a substitute for “died” for a very specific reason – sleeping people wake up. That is the hope for those who grieve – those who have died, those who sleep in Jesus will one day awaken.
You have probably heard the common sentiment that “we are all God’s children.” In a way, it is true. God is the creator of all, so we all have our life and origin in Him, and in Him alone, whether we realize it or not. This is a limited way to view us as God’s children, for it really just makes us creations of an impersonal God, an absentee father. There is so much more to the one to whom we pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
Happy Reformation Sunday! Today’s first lesson comes from the book of Revelation, chapter 14, where an angel is flying overhead declaring an eternal gospel to the whole world. Many Lutheran reformers interpreted this angel as Martin Luther in his rediscovery of the gospel which he proclaimed to the world. So that is the historical reason why this seemingly out of place reading is one of our lessons for today.
Today our worship is on the occasion of the feast of James, brother of Jesus. There are many Jameses in the New Testament, so it is necessary to clear things up a little. This is not James the Greater, the brother of John and son of Zebedee, one of the three core disciples. Nor are we speaking about James the son of Alphaeus, who is another one of the twelve disciples, but less-known. The James we speak about today is not one of the twelve, but Jesus’ brother, or really half-brother, who after Jesus’ resurrection became prominent in the church of Jerusalem and wrote the book of James.
Jesus is teaching in the temple and the Pharisees have converged on him like vultures looking for the kill. The Sadducees have already come up and tried to beat Jesus, but were soundly defeated. The Sadducees were the main power group in Jerusalem, many of them priests, and though they were part of the Jewish people they were very critical of scripture and didn’t believe in the resurrection. They tried to stump Jesus with a silly question, basically a “could God make a burrito so hot he couldn’t eat it” question, and were completely shut down by Jesus’ answer.
THE CHRISTIAN LIVES IN HOPE OF THE PROMISE THAT THE EXALTED WILL BE HUMBLED AND THE HUMBLE WILL BE EXALTED
Jesus tells us in the gospel lesson today, “Do not worry.” If you notice, there is no threat of punishment here for worrying. Worry is the punishment in itself. Jesus is showing us that life in Him grants a relief from worry. Whatever worry Christians have is not due to the new life we have received in baptism. It is holding on to that secondary trust – it is putting something else above God that we fear, love, and trust in above all things.
One the way to Jerusalem, Jesus is passing between Samaria and Galilee, the land of the Samaritans and a land of mostly Jews. Into his way come ten lepers, calling out to him to have mercy on them. So we have these desperate men who find that the way they were going did not work, they have come into the way which Jesus walks. They see and know that it is the only way of life, and this is what heals them.
Jesus has come into this region and we know from Matthew that all the crowds are gathering around to have people healed. Here we also see there is a crowd, that the benefits of Jesus are for all, for the whole world. Here, more importantly, Jesus takes the deaf man aside, privately by himself. Jesus does not work automatically or in a general way, he is a person and not only cares for the whole world, but for each one of us individually.
Jesus’ friend and cousin, John the Baptist, was put in prison for a long time. King Herod put John there for no good reason – his wife was mad that John’s preaching had called her and her husband out on their sinful relationship. John was a preacher well-liked by many and was willing to speak truth to power. This put him into prison. So he sent messengers to Jesus, asking if he really was the Messiah. How could Jesus save the world if his very close friend and relative was rotting in prison. Shouldn’t someone do something about this wickedness?
Jesus presents the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector and it is not difficult to understand. The reason for the parable gives the explanation – there are those like the pharisee, who trust in their own righteousness and disregard others, and these will not be justified. They will not be declared righteous by God. Only those like the tax collector who humble themselves before God will be justified.
We are very concerned about things regarding our physical health. We have heard a lot in the last couple years about public health. How do we look at our spiritual health? What are we being fed? If our spiritual health is kept up by Christ, by the Word of God preached and the sacraments, then false teaching, a false word, is the most deadly poison. Jesus tells us to beware of false teachers, that identification of false teachers is the responsibility of the church. It is the responsibility of the Christian to determine and identify the poison so they may not be led astray.
The eyes of all look to you, O Lord, and you give them your food in due season. You open your hand you satisfy the desire of every living thing. Psalm 145:15-16 Martin Luther begins his table prayer from Psalm 145 with this promise. Those things which we need to fulfill our desires both physical and spiritual come from the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian knows and expects Christ to provide at the proper time.
Jesus says “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” We want to enter the kingdom of heaven, to be a part of what Jesus is doing, his reign in the world. How do we exceed the the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? Is it quantity? Is it quality?
The amazing thing is that Simon, James, and John do it. To all appearances, Jesus is just a man, a teacher, with no particular fishing insight. Yet knowing that He is divine, or maybe just understanding the power of God is with him at least – they heed his word, even when reason and experience tell them this would make absolutely no difference. This is true faith – to see everything which would speak against the Word of God and yet trust that Word above all others.
These words Jesus is saying right after he has called the disciples in Luke. Jesus lifts his eyes upon the disciples and says these things. This is central to being a disciple, being one of those blessed in the beatitudes. It is not just tangential to the life of the Christ to not judge, not condemn, to forgive.
Guest sermon by Rev. Jim Kress, Pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Englewood, Florida.
In Proverbs, King Solomon personifies wisdom as a woman who has prepared a great banquet. She has set out a feast for honored guests, but it is not an exclusive party. She in fact calls out to all people to come to her feast, even the gullible and the senseless. The fine things which she has to offer are for those who need it most. Wisdom here is a personification of God, in the same way that the king in Jesus’ proverb calls out to the people to come to his feast. And the beginning of wisdom, to come to the feast, is to have the fear of the Lord.
Our gospel lesson today presents a rich man, but the Old Testament reading also has a rich man, Abraham. These two men could not be more different. Abraham, though wealthy, lives by faith in God. The rich man in Jesus’ story does not. While Jesus’ story contrasts the rich and poor man, we can see with comparison to Abraham that it is not wealth, but faith, that makes the difference in salvation.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! That’s how St. Peter begins his epistle reading for us today. Here we remember Marlene and what Christ has done for her, and for that we bless God for what he has done. I will tell you, I did not know Marlene well, though we have met. Yet what is important is that all who trust in Christ will see Marlene again in the resurrection of the living and the dead. That is the “living hope” that St. Peter mentions. Marlene and all who are in Christ share a living hope that, just as Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, so will we.
The Feast of the Holy Trinity is a day where we commemorate a doctrine of the faith, theology. Maybe theology sounds a little intimidating to you. Theology is not for big brains in academia. Real Christian theology is found in the church. It is for you to know and to cherish. Don’t let others take theology away from you.
Pentecost means fifty, an Old Testament harvest feast that occurred fifty days after the Passover, also the Feast of Weeks, for it is a week of weeks, seven weeks. Luke begins the account in Acts with “when the day of Pentecost arrived,” as in this translation, but more literally, “In the day of the fulfillment of Pentecost.” Often the way a day comes in Greek and Hebrew is literally understood as the days being fulfilled. But that is not the only meaning here. In Pentecost, we have a fulfillment of all the things which Christ has promised throughout Easter, culminating in the fact that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Jesus says, “Truly truly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you…Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” What does it mean to ask the Father in Jesus’ name? You have probably prayed many times in Jesus’ name. It’s not just a thing we make sure to say. We can pray to the Father without saying in Jesus name. Even the Lord’s prayer does not include that, it’s not about a formula.
Jesus compares his death and resurrection for you to the necessary and difficult work of becoming a mother. When a woman is pregnant, especially for the first time, she knows and hopes for the future child, but does not completely understand what having the child will be like. She sees the effect on herself in bearing the child, but will not fully see the child until he is born. Then when the time to be born comes, she is no longer in joyful anticipation, but in great pain and sorrow. This sorrow only lasts for a time – when the child is born, a joy comes which is greater than the anticipation during her months of pregnancy.
Sometimes the common description of Jesus as our Good Shepherd is more sentimental than it needs to be. Maybe this is because outside of rural communities we are more familiar with animals as beloved pets than anything else, and so when we think of Jesus as our shepherd, we see him doting on us as a beloved dog or cat. Certainly Jesus does speak of caring for the sheep, seeking and saving the lost so that he would leave 99 behind to find the one which is lost. That is not the main point of what Jesus is speaking about when he says “I am the good shepherd.”
Truly today we continue to celebrate that Christ is risen from the dead. Our Lord has died and risen again for our salvation. Not only have our sins been taken away on the cross, but our Lord has sealed our salvation by rising from the dead, so we too, believing in Him, will rise. Certainly the Sunday of Easter is a great celebration of our Lord’s victory, and many were here to celebrate. But you can tell there are fewer people here this week.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
It is amazing how everyone in the gospel accounts of the resurrection seems completely floored that Jesus actually rose from the dead. They heard his promise many times, he openly told them in three days he would rise, and still when he actually does it they are filled with fear and wonder. Maybe they weren’t sure what to believe. The three women come to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body, they assume he is still dead, they saw him dead Friday evening. Then halfway there they realize it would be impossible for them to access the tomb! Do they expect him to be dead or alive? Is something stronger pulling them there to the tomb?
What’s the point of the Lord’s Supper? Why do we come here and partake? We know this bread is the very body of the Lord, and this wine is the very blood of the Lord. We know that in these we have forgiveness of sins, that is life and salvation. Jesus gives this to us not out of our merit, but out of his love for us. We receive in faith, trusting that what he says about His Supper is true.
“Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” If the people of the city of Jerusalem had known scripture, they would have known what was happening when Jesus entered the city riding on a donkey. Jesus comes into the city as a great king, with the acclamations of a king. The people shout hosanna – “Save us!” – to the Son of David, the true heir to the throne.
Many events, especially in the last two years, have served to challenge our normalcy bias. It is possible, with wars and rumors of wars, that it will be challenged even more in the future. Normalcy bias is when we assume that things will just continue as normal, what seems to be a coming threat or catastrophe is no big deal. Like ignoring a tornado warning, thinking, “well I’ve been in dozens of these and was never hit by a tornado before.” Then despite all warnings afterward saying, “I never thought it would happen to me.”
It’s hard to consider that people may not like us. We generally want to be liked. We assume that if someone doesn’t like us it’s a misunderstanding on their part, or maybe a bad impression. If they really knew me, they would like me. Well, this was not the case with Jesus. The more the Jews knew him, the less they liked him. Once he fully told him who he was, they wanted to kill him. Sometimes in the gospels, Jesus speaks in a hidden way so the people will not understand what he is saying. Not in our gospel reading today. Here, Jesus speaks in a very direct way. Without faith, Jews who hear Jesus’ words find them very disturbing. The words of Jesus divide, they force people to make a choice, and that can make things very uncomfortable.
We heard several weeks ago, at the end of Epiphany, about our Lord’s Transfiguration. To refresh your memory, Jesus had taken three disciples, Peter, James, and John, up on a mountain, and then was changed before them as his face and clothes shone with a bright light. Moses and Elijah also appeared and spoke to him, and a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!” The three disciples were told to tell no one about this until Jesus rose from the dead.
Paintings and movies don’t usually do justice to what it was probably like at the feeding of the 5000. Usually it seems to be depicted as everyone sitting or standing all orderly and quiet around Jesus. Yet how many groups of 5000 have you seen that are orderly and quiet? There was probably yelling, pushing, screaming children, people talking among themselves, all sorts of chaos. In the midst of this chaos is Jesus, ready to have compassion, ready to satisfy this huge group.
Monarchies have a singular worry that we never experience in our modern democracies – the stress over the king’s heir - especially traditionally when the birth of a son was needed to continue the family line. When no child is found to inherit, there is a great degree of uncertainty and stress. In our democracy, we do not have this issue, because our leaders are chosen by merit, not heredity. What is needed to merit the most votes in various circumstances is up for debate, but for whoever prevails it is certainly an achievement. A royal son comes into his rule by no achievement, only by who he is. So while our modern democracies don’t have the stress over heirs, we also don’t have the understanding of a ruler who rules without earning it, someone who is a ruler by grace.
The Christian life is a life of humility. This is a fundamental part of the Christian life, for to be Christian is to be like Christ. Christians are “little Christs” and as St. Peter says we follow “in His steps.” The Son of God became man and humbled himself, not coming in power, but as a poor infant. He grew up and lived generally holding back his divine power. He came not to overthrow kingdoms, but to establish his kingdom of forgiveness by humble means, preaching repentance and faith. Then he submitted to his death, suffering and being crucified for the sins of us, the very ones whose sins sent him to die. Rising from the dead, Jesus has given all through baptism the new resurrection life which he has won, completely free. Therefore, as Christians in this resurrection life, we have nothing to boast of and nothing to gain for ourselves. We are free in Christ, so we can live in humility as Christ did.
Jesus drives a demon out of a mute man, a great work of healing, and yet some of the people accuse him of working by the power of Beelzebub. Who is Beelzebub? He is their name for the prince of demons, or Satan. The name Beelzebub literally means “lord of the flies.” It was the name the ancient Israelites gave to one of the pagan gods but given that all pagan gods are really demons in disguise, it came to be a word for Satan. Jesus is accused of driving out demons by Satan. Jesus states the illogic of their claim – if Satan is working against Satan, how can his kingdom stand? A divided realm is one that is falling.
We have all heard the story of Noah’s ark and seen children’s books with the cute animals and such. God flooded the earth because of man’s wickedness, but preserved righteous Noah and his family in the ark, along with two of every animal on earth. As Noah and his family were the only people to survive, Noah, like Adam, is a father of all people today. We are all descended from Noah. More importantly, Noah is a father in the faith.
St. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians about their sanctification, that they become holy as God is holy. Many of the Thessalonians were Gentiles and did not grow up with the Old Testament or the Law of Moses. Among these Gentiles who followed pagan religions, there was no sense of being holy in the way God commands us to be holy through the Ten Commandments. So while believing Paul and becoming Christians, the Thessalonians were not used to living in a way different than the world.
St. Peter calls us Christians “sojourners and exiles.” We are not in the place where we are truly from, where we are supposed to be. He recalls the memory of the ancient Judahites who went into exile in Babylon because of their sin. These people were held far from their homes as second-class citizens, with no temple to worship God. They wept at the fact of their exile, even as their captors mocked them. This is the image we have of our life on earth as Christians. We are not yet in the place we should be. Baptized and believing in Christ, we have started on our way to our goal. That it our future hope, which we hold to by faith in Jesus, the resurrection and life with God forever. Even if we are living in the place where we grew up, we are still pilgrims and exiles to this place, for the life in Christ is opposed to the life approved by the world.
The first lesson in the catechism is the First Commandment, and hopefully all the confirmation students here should have this learned by heart, “You shall have no other Gods.” As you know from the explanation, this means, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” The story of God and humanity is wrapped up in the first commandment. We have a God who is worthy of fear, love, and trust, because there is nothing and no one greater, more loving, more trustworthy. Everything we have comes from him. The history of the human response is to fear, love, and trust everything else but God, to seek our good elsewhere. This is also known as sin. This was done first in the Garden of Eden by our parents, Adam and Eve, and through them passed down through the generations to all humanity. No one could get out of this trap, no one fully sought God alone until Jesus. It was Jesus who would face the temptation to seek other gods and, as a man, fully defeat it. The good news today is that this victory is given to you as well.
Why not be a hypocrite when you fast? Of course, no one wants to be known as a hypocrite, but Jesus doesn’t give instructions about hypocrisy for everything. Matthew speaks about hypocrisy in prayer, fasting, and judging others without your own repentance. The pharises are often called hypocrites for this kind of judgment. Jesus says they outwardly want to be seen as keeping the law but break it in practice.
Jesus tells a parable of the sower who sows one seed in four different places. Only in the good soil does the seed grow into a plant that yields a harvest, but in the good soil it yields a great harvest. In the other soils, the plant dies, or does not grow at all. As Jesus says, the seed is the word of God. It does not change, the same message of repentance and faith is broadcast to all. All people are characterized by the four different soils. While the word is good, the people may resist or fall from trust in that word. Jesus tells you this so you may in fact hold onto his word and bear abundant fruit.
Jesus Christ has given you good work to do, and all by grace. While you did not deserve to do anything but idle without any meaning, He has brought you into his vineyard to work, to do something that really eternally matters.
Jesus is made manifest in His Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is the final Epiphany on the final Sunday of the Epiphany season. Peter, James, and John, led to the top of the high mountain, see Jesus in His glory as the Son of God. His face shines like the sun and his clothes become as white as the light. Though Jesus is often portrayed in paintings with a sort of angelic look, there would have been a great contrast. Jesus, scripture says, was not a man who was much to look at. The vision the three disciples receive at the Transfiguration would have been really something to see.
Faith is trust in Jesus, and you should be careful not to hear this passage outside of faith. Outside of faith, the eyes are the ruler. The eyes say, I see everything is good and fine in my life, therefore God loves me, or, I see terrible storms and problems in my life, therefore there is no God, or He doesn’t care for me. If you look at Jesus calming the storm outside of faith, you would think it means that Jesus will make your life easy. Maybe you have heard misguided teachers say such things, that Jesus is here to calm all the storms in your life. They might act like faith is some sort of substance, that you can have more or less of and if you have a certain amount Jesus will make life easier for you.
In football, a long pass to the endzone, usually end of the game is called a “hail Mary” or sometimes “throwing up a prayer.” The idea is that of taking one last shot to win, looking more to providence or luck than skill or strategy. Of course, rarely is such a play done at the beginning of the game, when the coaches rely on their skill of their players and play calling, and no team would throw a hail Mary for every play of the game.
The miracle of the water into wine may be one of Jesus’ strangest miracles. It is completely unnecessary for Jesus to do. This isn’t Jesus cleansing a leper who has been suffering his entire life, or bringing sight to the blind, or raising a dead daughter. If the wine had run out and they were unable to get more for the wedding, nothing much would have been lost. It’s extravagant. It’s unnecessary. And that’s the point. Jesus is made manifest in his extravagant work for you.
JESUS comes to John in the wilderness to be baptized by him. John refuses. He has been giving a baptism for repentance of sins. John knows that Jesus has no sins to repent of. John knows that Jesus has no reason to be washed clean. Jesus is already clean. In comparison, John is the one who is sinful and unclean. They should switch places. Yet Jesus answers him, “Let it be so now, for this it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.”
Has God forgotten us? The Magi’s visit to the Christ child is great with their expensive gifts, but it means that now Jesus, the true King of the Jews, has come under jealous Herod’s radar. It seems every time things are going well Satan comes to throw up a brick wall. Is this all for nothing, the travel, the manger, the shepherds, the Magi? Will Joseph and Mary’s family end so soon?
Tonight’s sermon, is the last sermon you will probably hear in the year of our Lord 2021, as tomorrow begins the year of our Lord 2022. That is what A.D. means on our calendar, the Year of Our Lord. For these are the years after the coming of Christ, when God became man and dwelt among us. Secularists may try to erase the religious aspect of our years by calling them C.E., or Common Era, instead of A.D. Yet the years do not change, nor can they change the fact that Jesus Christ, God and Man, come to earth to fulfill the law for us, conquer sin and death, and rise from the dead and reign at God’s right hand. 2021 and 2022 are still the Year of Our Lord because the Lord Jesus Christ has put his name upon it by victory over his enemies.
The problem when we read a great martyrdom account like that of St. Stephen, is that we think we cannot relate, as we have never been persecuted for our faith. Our lives can seem petty and insignificant in comparison. This not true, persecution is not just the glorious death by stoning of St. Stephen or a Bible smuggler imprisoned by communists. Persecution is a spectrum, it is a wide array of attacks by the world which tempt us to abandon or compromise our faith.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. This creation of God in the very beginning, God’s absolute creation from nothing, was formless, empty, and dark. It was uninhabitable by anything – plant, animal, angel or man. The human mind cannot comprehend the first undifferentiated creation, without distinction of matter or energy. Yet God was there, and the Spirit of God hovered over this undifferentiated mass, this empty deep. And God said “Let there be light” and there was light. By the Word of God the very glory of the Spirit of God shone into creation.
After 400 years of silence, 400 years of no words from the prophets, the Savior is here, Christ the Lord. This Christ was foretold from the very beginning, the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head, the Son of David who would sit on the throne forever, the Ruler who would come from Bethlehem. This King is Son of God and born of Mary, both God and man, but He does not come into the world in a way that is impressive. For Jesus Christ has not come to establish a throne and kingdom in the world, but to save it.
In modern American Christianity, a testimony is often what one person tells another person, usually a friend or acquaintance, about what God has done for them. Sometimes it can be a long story about how they lived a riotous and dissolute life as a younger person and now have come to a moral life of faith in Jesus. Sometimes these can be self-serving and more about the person than about Jesus. If you look at a Biblical testimony, the testimony of John, you don’t see anything about a change in his life. Rather, John defines both who he is not and who he is. This is the mark of a good testimony – Jesus is the Christ, and you are not, but your life is now defined by Him.
Who is a God like you? As we hear the final sermon this Advent season from the prophet Micah, we end with Micah’s statement, who is a God like you? He is the God who forgives sin of those who repent and trust in Him.
Rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice! So begins the introit today on the third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete – or, Rejoice! All you blind, rejoice, for you will see! All you lame rejoice, for you will walk! All you sick rejoice, for you will be cleansed! All you deaf rejoice, for you will hear! All you dead rejoice, for you will be raised! All you poor rejoice, for you will have the good news preached to you! If Jesus is truly the coming one, the Christ, then this is what we believe. When you ask, who is this Christ? These are your answers. Who is the Christ? No other questions matter.
Why Bethlehem? Of course, you’ve heard the Christmas songs, you’ve heard of Bethlehem, the place where Jesus is born. What is so special about Bethlehem? Well, outwardly, it’s about as special as Tampico, Illinois. It’s a town so small that it wasn’t even worth mentioning when the cities were given out to the tribes of Israel as they entered the promised land. Like, Tampico, the birthplace of Ronald Reagan, its importance comes from whom it is associated with.
You heard last week that Advent is not only about the coming of Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem, but the coming of the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom came when Jesus was born, comes to you now through Word and Sacrament, and will come fully when Jesus returns. It should be no surprise then that while our church is now festively decorated, thank you Hannah Guild, we hear Jesus speak about the end of the world, his final coming.
At a time about 250 years after Solomon and 700 years before Christ, the people of God are divided into two kingdoms – Israel and Judah. While Judah has Jerusalem, the temple, and thus the place of true worship of God, Israel has made idols of golden calves to worship God by their own devising. This could lead one to believe by appearances that Israel is bad, while Judah is good. If you have read Micah up to this point, you know this is not true. Both have fallen away from God. Both worship idols and do evil in the sight of God. Micah calls them both to repentance.
Happy New Year! Today begins a new church year. It is the first Sunday of Advent. The world looks at this as the Christmas season, but for the church, that starts on Christmas day. Advent means “coming” and one of the “comings” the church looks forward to is the advent of Jesus Christ being born in the manger at Bethlehem. There is certainly nothing wrong with starting to put up decorations now and listening to Christmas music all December long. Yet as Christians, Advent does give us the opportunity to examine how we are celebrating Christmas. Do we understand what it means, what Christ means for Christmas, or do we see it as a general season of kindness and cheer? As Paul Gerhardt says in his hymn, “O Lord how shall I meet you, how welcome you aright?”
Four hundred years ago this year the Pilgrims at Plymouth colony held their harvest feast which came to be known as the first Thanksgiving. With the help of the local Indians, their settlement began to thrive, and their shared their bounty with their native friends. Yet this happened only after the hard winter of 1620-21, when half of the settlers died. Despite terrible hardship, these Pilgrims persevered and even saw fit to give thanks to God and share what they had been given with others.
“Wake, awake for night is flying!” the watchmen on the heights are crying, “Awake, Jerusalem arise!” Wake, and be watchful, for the bridegroom is coming! Get ready! This is what Jesus’ parable tells you today. Jesus is coming soon, and all those who are ready will enter with him into the feast, into eternal life. Yet those who are not ready will be shut out as Jesus says, “I never knew you.”
When Jesus, the Son of Man, returns in glory at the end of time there will be a final judgment of all the nations. The dead will rise and everyone who has ever lived will be separated as sheep from the goats. Those sheep on his right will go to eternal life, and those goats on his left will be sent to eternal punishment. For both, the judgment is eternal, there is no appeal and no parole. There is no taking back the life and no end to the punishment. Therefore, it is critically important that you find yourself on the right hand with the sheep in that judgment. As with many things, to pass the judgment is all about who you know.
Today we remember all those who have died in Christ and passed from this valley of sorrow into the arms of their savior.
What would you do to help a friend? What lengths would you go to for a loved one if you knew you could help them? In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus is teaching and healing in the city of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. He has just returned from the other side of the sea, where people told him to leave when he healed two demon-possessed men by driving the demons into a herd of pigs which ran off a cliff. Unlike that region, the people of Capernaum are clamoring for the healing Jesus brings.
If I had a nickel for every church tagline or mission statement that said “love God, love people,” I would be able to end the national coin shortage single-handedly. There is something particularly appealing in Jesus’ response to the lawyer’s question – which is the greatest commandment in the law? Yet the four-word phrase, “love God, love people,” while very catchy and memorable, doesn’t supply much meaning. What gives it broad appeal is that the meaning can be provided by whoever reads it. “Love God, love people” – what god? The god I want to love. What people? The people I want to love. What does love mean? What I want it to mean.
We know hypocrisy in others when we see it. We see it in the TV preacher who acts holy but seems most interesting in getting his viewers’ money. We see it in the politician who rails against the rich and goes to dinner galas where the plates cost more than an average car. We even see it close in home in false friends who betray us to look good in front of others. No one likes hypocrisy in other people. To say one thing and do another seems so unthinkable and cold.
As often happens in death, Mary and Martha grieved differently for their brother. People came from all around to console them. It wasn’t until Jesus came that they really moved. At least Martha moved. Mary stayed home. Martha went because she was the kind of person who could not sit in grief.
Imagine being the deaf mute man who is brought to Jesus by his friends. Your world is silent, you cannot speak rightly, then Jesus takes you aside privately and comes up close to you. He sticks his fingers in your ears and you see him spit and touch your tongue. You see Jesus look up to heaven and sigh and then “Ephphatha.” Ephphatha. Be opened. Not just a word, but the first word you ever hear. And the first word you hear is the word by which you hear.
As Jesus taught, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27). This, from the words of Christ in Luke, is why we remember St. Mary today. It would be truly wonderful to be the one who bore and nursed Jesus, the Son of God who became man. Mary is truly blessed among all women for this honor. Yet we are not pointed to look at Mary for herself. We see Mary as an example of faith, one who heard the Word of God and kept it.
Have you cared about a place so much you would weep to see it go? Jesus, having entered the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, now weeps over it. Jerusalem was never His home. He was not born there, that was Bethlehem. He did not grow up there, that was far north in Nazareth. Yet Jesus has been to Jerusalem many times. It was where the temple was, and for those who believed in God in the Old Testament, the temple was the place where God was present for salvation. Yet Jesus knew that this place where the faithful came to worship would be destroyed. Why? God was judging the people for their rejection of Him, which is a sign for the future final judgement. The temple was becoming obsolete. Soon all would worship in the name of Jesus, who comes to us, in spirit and truth.
“The country isn’t what it used to be. Everyone has abandoned their faith in God. No one follows the truth. Everyone follows those who say evil things, and those who speak the truth are ignored or canceled. The government is completely corrupt, the worst it has ever been. Even those who worship God are lukewarm and idolatrous,” so said Elijah the prophet, adding, “I am the only true believer left, and everyone wants me dead.” How broken down and despondent the prophet Elijah was! Even Old Testament Israel, the nation founded by God, could fall into deep idolatry and sin. Elijah wishes he could do something about it, but he finally despairs.
There are quite a few teachers and former teachers in this congregation, as well as many parents, who are the first and primary teachers in a child’s life. So many of you understand first hand that as a teacher you desire to form your student to whatever you are teaching. Especially for parents, you desire your child to learn from you and become more like you, at least in the good things you wish to impart, and not in your shortcomings. Even though no one expects the student to become a clone of the teacher, for a student to turn and reject what is taught is seen as a failure or even betrayal, depending on the relationship.
When Jesus comes, everything gets cleaned up. When something is not getting done which needs to be done, you take it into your own hands. That’s what Jesus does. This is what makes the Pharisees grumble against Him. Jesus is calling sinners to himself. He seeks and saves the lost. The Pharisees and the scribes, the leaders of Israel, the ones who knew the law, were supposed to be doing this.
A man prepared a party and no one showed up. What a terrible circumstance, it’s one that people have stressful dreams about. It’s one thing to ask for a favor, like helping you move, and no one wants to come. To refuse a free party must really put that host low on their priorities list. The man had even invited the guests already, he was just telling them everything was set and it was time to come. This parable could seem harsh, but if you put yourself in the place of the host of the banquet, you can see how offensive these responses would be to him.
Jesus presents this story of two men, the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man has what the world would consider the perfect life. Lazarus has what the world would consider a wretched, awful life. One might say Lazarus pulled the short straw, that chance worked against him. The rich man lucked out, won the lottery of life. Or maybe the rich man deserved it because he was such a great guy, and no one really liked Lazarus’ personality. Or Lazarus was the victim or an oppressive system that the rich man benefited from. Call it chance or karma or systemic oppression, the world seeks a reason to explain such differences in life between men. In our hearts we know there must be some kind of just reason why one person suffers and the other does not. For we all agree that the rich man had the better life.
Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity! While every other feast of the church year refers to an event – Jesus’ birth, baptism, resurrection, etc., the day of the Holy Trinity is one where we commemorate a doctrine. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is that we worship one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the reality of God which Scripture reveals to us, but we cannot rationally understand, because it means that 1 equals 3. In the Trinity we see how God is much greater than us and beyond our understanding. If we could fully understand him he would not be much of a God. As St. Paul declares, “How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
You are probably familiar with the story of Noah, that God sent a flood to destroy the earth, but preserved Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives, on the ark, along with pairs of every kind of animal on earth. After the waters receded and the ark rested on dry land, Noah’s family along with all the animals were commanded to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Humanity after Noah was intended by God to spread over the whole world.
Who is the Holy Spirit? He is not an impersonal force. He is not just some aspect of the Father and the Son. He is the Third Person of the Trinity, equally God to the Father and the Son. We confess in the Nicene Creed that He proceeds from the Father and the Son, as we read in our gospel lesson today. Jesus says the Holy Spirit is one, “whom I will send to you from the Father…who proceeds from the Father.” This is the Biblical way we distinguish the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from one another – the Father is not begotten and does not proceed, the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Beyond this, we leave to God, it is beyond our knowing. But what we do know is that the Holy Spirit is true God, a person distinct from the Father and the Son, and most of all He works to help us and bring us Christ in this life.
Jesus was not the first man to ascend into heaven. As we heard in our office hymn this evening, a man named Enoch was translated into heaven. As Genesis tells us, after walking with God for 365 years this great-grandfather of Noah then was not, for God took him. Elijah also, as we heard in the Old Testament lesson, was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire. This greatest of the Old Testament prophets by the works God did through him was allowed to enter into heavenly glory without dying. So ascending into heaven is not new with Jesus. It’s definitely rare, but it had happened before. What makes Jesus’ Ascension different? Why do we celebrate it?
In our gospel lesson, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us very clear and precious promises concerning prayer. While the Gospel of St. John does not contain the Lord’s Prayer, as do Matthew and Luke, Jesus speaks in detail about the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer after His own resurrection and ascension. Think of these words of Jesus along with the Lord’s Prayer, that prayer He gave to us, the perfect prayer which asks for all things that we will need from God.
The Christian life means a life lived in dependence on Christ, who gives us the Helper, the Holy Spirit. This is what our epistle lesson from James teaches us today. This is good to know not only for those new to the church, as Dan, who will be confirmed today, or those who return like Penny, who will be received by confession of faith. This work of the Holy Spirit is begun at the baptism of all Christians. It is strengthened and fed as the Holy Spirit works through the Word of the Gospel and the Lord’s Supper.
Something you may have wondered now in the Easter season is why we so quickly in our gospel readings move from the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection to words that He spoke before the resurrection. The women at the tomb make sense, the appearance to the twelve and Thomas make sense, but what does this teaching from before Jesus’ death have to do with Easter? Remember, the gospels are not a documentary or someone taking play-by-play notes of Jesus’ life. The Gospel of John and the other gospels were written after the resurrection. All of these gospels speak of the empty tomb, but tell us not to linger there. For the empty tomb is just the sign. The power of the resurrection comes to us in the forgiveness of sins through the Word of God.
Five hundred years ago today, April 18, 1521, also Misericordias Domini, the Third Sunday of Easter, Martin Luther made his “here I stand” statement. At the Diet of Worms, Luther confessed before the bishops, princes, and emperor that he would not take back any of his writings or teaching about justification by grace alone through faith alone unless he was shown his error by clear scripture. He heroically stood firm with the confession of scripture, God’s Word, even when many powerful men were against him and his life was on the line. As a result of this, the true gospel of Christ’s work alone for our salvation continued to be preached even to this day.
Alleluia. Christ is risen!
John always has a theological point he is trying to make in his gospel. One of John’s trademarks that the other gospel writers don’t do is to jump in and “take the mic” so to speak in order to explain the significance of what he is describing. Jesus will say “destroy this temple and I will build it in three days” and John will jump in and explain: he means the temple of His body. He does the same in this lesson. Here the sum of what Easter means, your salvation, is expressed in the words “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Hear the words of David from Psalm 30: “Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:4-5). This is most true on this morning, Easter morning.
Passion of Our Lord according to Saint John, read at noon Good Friday service, April 2, 2021. From the English Standard Version.
King David, from his palace in Jerusalem, heard that his eldest son, Absalom, had betrayed him. Angry with his father, Absalom had raised up many supporters for his own kingship and the people of Israel turned from David. Hearing reports of Absalom coming to Jerusalem, David had no choice but to leave. Leaving the city, David crossed the brook Kidron with his household and loyal foreign troops, and his loyal people wept as he left. He went up the mount of Olives and prayed that the Lord would restore him and turn the counsel of those who betrayed him for Absalom to foolishness. The Lord would vindicate David and return his kingdom to him, at the cost of his son.
Memorials are an important part of our lives. It is not an exaggeration to say that the practice of gathering to remember, to memorialize things has been devastated in the past year. Perhaps this has helped you to realize how important these gatherings are in your life. These range from the common and personal, like birthdays, to one-time and personal, like funerals, to the community-wide events, like Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. Without these remembrances you can feel disconnected from time and history, the rhythm is life is lost and becomes a little more dull. Memorials focus you on something outside of yourself. Even a birthday remembers an act that was completely performed without your input.
Reading of the Passion of Our Lord from the Gospel according to St. Luke from the English Standard Version. Read at Holy Wednesday Matins, March 31, 2021.
Passion of Our Lord according to St. Mark, from the English Standard Version, recorded at Holy Tuesday Matins service.
Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Matthew, read from the English Standard Version.
Today begins Holy Week. Why is it holy? It is holy because we set this week apart to hear and remember Jesus’ suffering and death for our sins, His Passion. This so we can look forward to and understand all the more the joy of Easter, Christ’s resurrection. So why is it a week? Well, for one thing these events did take place over a week. Jesus’ triumphal entry was on Sunday, His Last Supper the following Thursday, crucified Friday, and then rose again very early Sunday morning the next week.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. This creation of God in the very beginning, God’s absolute creation from nothing, was formless, empty, and dark. It was a formless mass uninhabitable by anything – plant, animal, angel or man. The human mind cannot comprehend the first undifferentiated creation, without distinction of matter or energy. Yet God was there, and the Spirit of God hovered over this undifferentiated mass, this empty deep. And God said “Let there be light” and there was light. By the Word of God the very glory of the Spirit of God shined light into creation. This light was the first thing created that was good, and God divided the light and darkness thereby creating the day and night and time. This was the first day.
Often in life we have to make compromises. Sometimes this is to reach an agreement with an equal, sometimes in love of someone who we care for, but the hardest compromises come when we are forced to do so by someone who holds power over us. This last one was the case for the three young men in our reading tonight. Along with their friend Daniel, and most of the nation of Judah, these three men were prisoners of war, deported from their homeland in Palestine to the city of Babylon. God had allowed this deportation, this exile of His people, due to their sin and idolatry. They knew it too – God had sent many prophets to warn his people, but they largely ignored the warnings and went on with their life as usual. So these three men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were brought into King Nebuchadnezzar’s diverse team of nobles and renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – good Babylonian names.
The great blessing of having the Bible, the Word of God, so accessible to us is that we can come back to it again and again to re-orient ourselves in the midst of life. To be ‘oriented’ is to be faced east, the way that our churches face, even if they face north like ours. It is to be set in the direction of Jesus Christ, our Sun of Righteousness who rises with healing in his wings. In his life, death, and resurrection He is primarily our gift, but also our example, for He lived a perfect human life. So as we read and hear the scriptures preach, we are both “transformed by the renewing of our minds” by the Holy Spirit, an act of God upon us, and we are shown how to live in response to this. This is nothing less than keeping Christ’s word.
When God saves there are always winners and losers. We sing every week to God in the Sanctus, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.” Sabaoth means hosts, armies, massive groups of soldiers. Our Lord is a Man of War, as the Song of Moses says. When God saves his people from evil, He truly does defeat evil. Those who oppose God, who oppress God’s people, will be on the receiving end of God’s mighty right hand.
This Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, is traditionally seen as a little lighter than the rest of Lent. In some places the colors are changed to rose instead of violet to show the lightness of the week. The name of the Sunday, Laetare, means “Rejoice!” as we heard in the beginning of the introit today from Isaiah 66. Rejoicing isn’t something we usually associate with Lent, the time of repentance and fasting. Yet we need to know that even in repentance, even in fasting and preparation and sorrow for our sins, there is rejoicing. We rejoice because we have a gracious God who provides for all we need. As we hear in our gospel reading today, our Lord provides for all, even in the wilderness.
For one hundred years Noah preached to his neighbors to repent, for God was going to destroy the earth by water. The world was incredibly wicked, and no one but Noah and his family would survive. Noah was righteous before God and blameless among his generation, yet the least effective evangelist of all time. How did the world get to this point? Why was Noah’s message not heeded?
A popular ethical point of view today is that “the ends justifies the means.” That is to say that any action taken is ok as long as it is working toward a good end. Coupled with this is the common view that something is ok if “their heart was in the right place.” The supposed Christian version of this is “God knows my heart.” All of these statements take something that is objectively wrong and justify it by saying it serves some good end or goal. In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus eliminates this type of thinking. For there is only good and evil, the work of God or the work of the devil, and nothing justifies in this life except Jesus Christ himself.
Now one way to sum up the message of the Bible in six words could be, “Kill the dragon, get the girl.” Now this implies that Someone is doing the work of killing and getting, and we’ll get to that, but certainly this theme comes through most clearly here in the beginning of the Bible and secondly at the end in Revelation. There’s certainly a reason for that as all things made good and innocent in the beginning will be remade and restored to perfection in the end in Christ.
Lent comes before Easter. Advent comes before Christmas. In the church calendar this fact is built in – God never gives anyone great fortune without first giving great hardship. We try hard to remove the curse of Adam, that all our work must involve toil and hardship. We want the benefit without the work. We want feasting without fasting. This is why we fall so often for the temptation of the devil – fall down and worship me, and all the kingdoms of the world will be yours. If there’s an opportunity to get ahead, to make things easier, to make life what we want, we seize it – regardless of the will of God or the good of our neighbor.
We often think of Peter’s first sermon as the one at Pentecost. After the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples, they see tongues of fire above them and begin to speak in many languages. Peter then preaches powerfully to the Jews who have gathered in Jerusalem and three thousand are baptized that day. What we hear in our lesson from Acts is before that. This is truly Peter’s first sermon, after Jesus’ ascension, but before Pentecost. Imagine the state these first 120 Christians were in. Jesus rose from the dead to their great joy. Forty days later, and he has ascended. His earthly ministry is complete. Now what?
Sometimes when we think of Jesus as our God and Lord, which He is, we put Him into a place so beyond ourselves that it seems hard to relate to Him. When we view Jesus as one who is far beyond us in power, majesty, and glory, it is certainly easy to understand that He can do things for us. He rules for us, he died for us, he answers our prayer for us. This is good, but we cannot forget that Jesus is God and man, and therefore is with us. As it says in Hebrews, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
Some of the best stories in the Bible involve fasting and ashes. In the book of Esther, before Esther goes to speak to her husband, the king, she fasts, and her cousin Mordecai sits in sackcloth and ashes when he hears the Jews are going to be destroyed. Esther successfully convinces the king to save her people. In the book of Jonah, after Jonah gets spit out by the fish, he goes to Nineveh to preach to the pagan Assyrians, “Repent, or in 40 days you will be overthrown.” This short sermon brings the brutal Assyrians to repentance, and the whole city of Nineveh fasts in sackcloth and ashes, even the animals, and God relents from destroying them.
Everyone has heard of Valentine’s Day, despite not being a government holiday, though depending on your relationship status and expectations of your significant other it can be a day look forward to with joy, fear and dread, or simple acknowledgement. Saint Valentine seems to be generally known, as the day is often called “St. Valentine’s Day” References to various legends about him saving Christian married couples or writing notes from prison fill various children’s books. Yet despite being one of the most well-known saints by name, we actually know very little about him. We know he was a pastor, and he died by martyrdom about the year 270. That’s it. All the other love stuff accumulated later, but his love for Christ, enough to die confessing His faith, was there from the very beginning. For Christian love is something that last forever. It never fails. It endures all things.
“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.” (1 Peter 1:24a) One doesn’t have to have been alive very long or very perceptive to recognize that almost nothing in this world lasts. Things that are extremely popular one day are forgotten the next. The newest tech item that is impossible to buy anywhere one day is found on shelves at Goodwill a few years later. The popular singer who attracts millions to stadium concerts is doing the county fair circuit in a few years. Things fall in and out of fashion seemingly from day to day. It is good to recognize this. For nothing in this world lasts, and when we recognize that then God is beginning to tear down our idols, tear down things we fear, love, and trust in besides Him. For “The grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” (1 Peter 1:24b) It is Christ’s Word that is the only thing we should ultimately trust for it is the only thing which endures to the end.
The Feast of the Purification of Mary and Presentation of Our Lord may be one of the longest names for a feast day in the church year calendar, if not the longest. For many years in English-speaking churches it has been also known as Candlemas, like Christmas, but with candles, because it was the day the new candles were dedicated in the church, remembering Jesus as the “light to lighten the Gentiles.” This day, exactly forty days after Christmas, brings us a great lesson capping off the very end of the Christmas season. In this final account of Jesus’ birth and early years, the scriptures give us a clear example of Christ submitting to the law on our behalf, and wonderful examples to Christians of the life of faith.
The people of Israel may have been the most forgetful people ever. Four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, and God sends Moses to deliver them from it. They see the great work of God in the ten plagues, bringing the mightiest empire in the world to its knees while they remain secure in God’s care. Freed from Egypt, God leads them to the Red Sea, where He parts the waters so they can cross and drowns Pharaoh’s mighty army. In the wilderness, God makes bitter water sweet. God provides bread from heaven for them to eat. They complain every step of the way.
After six days, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to a high mountain by themselves. Like the six days which led to the culmination of creation, this sixth day leads to the culmination of Jesus’ earthly ministry. This is the peak, the highest he will go in glory in his ministry. After this, he heads to Jerusalem to suffer and die for our sins. As it was in Jesus’ life, so this Sunday celebrating the Transfiguration comes at the perfect time at the end of Epiphany and before Lent. We have heard of Jesus’ birth, the glorious angel hosts announcing. The arrival of the wise men bowing before the king. The baptism of Jesus, revealing the glory of the Trinity with a voice from heaven and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. Jesus miracle of new creation – turning water into wine. Finally the Transfiguration – Jesus showing His full divine glory in the presence of Moses, Elijah and the three apostles! Certainly as Peter says “Lord, it is good that we are here.” And then we head to Lent.
“This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” In this final sentence of our gospel reading, we get the full summary of this lesson and why Jesus performed this miracle. Jesus, coming in humility, being God in human flesh, had not performed any miracle before this or shown his divine nature. Here at Cana he did so to show His glory – make manifest, give an epiphany. Therefore, his disciples believed in Him. Ultimately Jesus does this work to create faith, that we may be saved.
The baptism of Jesus is recounted in three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and in John it is mentioned after already having happened. You can be sure that when an event in Jesus’ life is in all four gospels, it is important. Obviously it’s an important enough event that we have a whole Sunday dedicated to it. The Baptism of Our Lord is a key day that has many aspects that connect the other parts of the church year as well. We are brought back to the work of John the Baptist that we heard about in Advent, bookending the Christmas season. We also hear of a glorious revelation of Jesus in the Holy Trinity, which we will hear again on Transfiguration in a couple weeks when the Father yet again says, “This is my beloved Son.” Most importantly, in His baptism Jesus takes the place of sinners, pointing to Good Friday and Easter: His death and resurrection for you.
Who were the wise men? Well, traditions around the wise men seem to have filled in a lot more of the story than we actually hear in scripture. The Bible calls them “magi” meaning magicians or astrologers. The idea of them being “we three kings” came about 500 years after their lives and is influenced by our Old Testament reading in Isaiah 60:3 “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” They fulfill the roles of these kings of nations who were to come bow to the promised Messiah as prophesied in the Old Testament. It was not until another couple hundred years that they were known as “wise men,” on account of being pious and godly rulers who come and worship Jesus. We can also say that we don’t actually know if there were three, there are three gifts, but that’s all we know. That’s ok, scripture doesn’t give all the details about everything because it is not written to give a detailed step by step account or police report, but to teach us from true history about Jesus.
While you should not consider this a law from God, it is usually best to baptize a child as soon as he is able to come to church. His need is great – despite innocent appearance every child born is corrupted by original sin and under the dominion of death and the devil unless Christ frees him. The good news is that Christ has died for us and taken away all our sin. In baptism, all the benefits of Christ are given to him - It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare (SC IV). Here in baptism, we are delivered from the reign of death and the devil through the work of Jesus applied to us by water and the Word. Our old man of sin dies and a new man rises in us, the beginning of our resurrection unto eternal life. Just as we would give medicine to a sick child when needed, we should be willing to bring baptism, and therefore Christ, to them as soon as we can.
There is no need to dwell on such things that we hear every day, but no doubt practically everyone here had some kind of disappointment or loss this year, if not just stress from the constant bad news that people love to report in the media and social media. Along with this, there is an odd trend of people treating the year 2020 itself as if it were a person who brought about all these problems. As if something inherent in the year brought about the various troubles, and if we just get to 2021, we will be ok. It is true enough that each day has troubles of its own, but take this too far and we begin to lose focus on the actual problem and Who the solution is. The world groans as in birth pains because it anticipates the coming of Jesus. It is not the year that causes our problems, but sin, often our own sin. It is not the passing of time that saves us from the evil day, but Jesus Christ. Therefore, we should rest our comfort for today and hope for the future new year on Christ, the one who rules all of creation.
“Fear not!” Cries the angel appearing before the shepherds. Why does the angel cry this? What is there to fear with angels? Aren’t they pretty feminine creatures in robes? Or cute chubby babies? Aren’t they just the spirits of our lost loved ones?
God sent a man named John to bear witness about Jesus. He was not Jesus, but he came to bear witness about Jesus. God sent John into the wilderness to preach and to baptize. John preached, “Make straight the way of the Lord.” Many came to John. They repented of their sins and were baptized. John gained a following. He preached and baptized. He did not waver in his mission.
Here in Isaiah we have the Law and the Gospel given in clear terms as the Lord speaks through the prophet. As we just spoke in the Ten Commandments, the Law tells us what we should do and what God’s eternal will for us is. The Gospel, as we spoke in the Creed, tells us the Good News of what God has done for us, especially that He has forgiven us, as we cannot keep the Ten Commandments on our own. How is this possible? What is the connection between the law and the gospel? The very death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is Christ who is the center of Scripture’s message, as we will hear in this passage from Isaiah today.
“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Why does John the Baptist send his disciples to ask Jesus this question? It is a question of doubt from the very one who was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. Could the very one who baptized Jesus, who saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descend like a dove, who heard a voice from heaven saying “This is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17) really be wondering if Jesus is the Coming One? Or is John sending these disciples in order that the disciples’ faith may be strengthened? Scripture isn’t clear on this, but it doesn’t matter either way. Jesus Christ gives assurance for those who doubt through His word and work.
On a Day of Thanksgiving unlike any in recent years, when many of us may not be able to gather with family and friends as we wished, it may be hard to get into the thankful mood. When old traditions stop it can make us uncomfortable. So here’s something traditional, something always associated with Thanksgiving – the Pilgrims - those hardy Englishmen and women who came to the new world seeking religious freedom and a new way of life. Especially appropriate this year, since it is the 400th anniversary of their landing at Plymouth Rock.
On this last Sunday of the church year, we hear about the last things – Jesus Christ returning in glory to judge the living and the dead. In the last two weeks, we heard of the parables of the ten virgins and the talents, to know we need to be watchful for Christ’s return, and that to everyone who has, more will be given, and an abundance. Today’s reading from Matthew is often called the parable of the sheep and the goats, but it isn’t really a parable. It is a description of Jesus’ real judgment at the end of time. Jesus reveals this future event to us so we may be ready, and be judged as one of those blessed by His Father. We want to be sheep, and not goats.
Our world is full of distrust. We don’t have to look around much to see that trust seems to be at an all time low. Divided, polarized, split – all these terms are constantly used to describe the state of our society. Every election is the most important ever, more critical than the last, which was also the most important ever. Every change seems like it will bring doom, or every time things don’t change doom will come faster. What is the cause of this fear, division, and strife? Distrust. Distrust fuels division, it fuels contempt for others, it fuels competition to come out ahead.
On the night he was betrayed, after the last supper, Jesus led his disciples out to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Going a littler farther, he took Peter, James, and John with him and asked them to keep watch with him. Then Jesus went on his own to pray. Knowing that he must suffer and die for the sins of the world, Jesus prayed to his Father that this cup may pass from him, but ultimately that the Father’s will be done. When Jesus returned to the disciples, they were asleep, not keeping watch, for “the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Jesus woke them and two more times he went to pray while they watched, and two more times they slept. As Jesus woke Peter, James, and John the final time, Judas and the crowd came to arrest Jesus in the garden in order to take him to be crucified.
All Saints Day is the most comprehensive of all commemorations in the church year. While most feast days remember a moment in Jesus’ earthly life, or the people who knew him, All Saints Day remembers all the faithfully departed in the church, that great cloud of witnesses – Christians who have died and are now with Christ. This is a day of great comfort, for we see that Christ our Good Shepherd cares individually for each Christian, and in the end those who are sealed by his Word shall never again face suffering, but worship our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in glory forever.
“A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is probably Luther’s best-known hymn across all denominations and one of the most well-loved by Lutherans. We identify it with Reformation Day, calling it “The Battle-Hymn of the Reformation.” No one is completely sure when Luther wrote it. One of the most dramatic and appealing theories is that it was written for the Lutheran princes to sing as they came to present the Augsburg Confession – the core Lutheran beliefs – to the emperor.
Sermon Text: Matthew 22:15-22
If you’ve been paying attention the past few weeks as we hear from Matthew 21 and 22, you should notice that the Pharisees and the leaders of the Jewish people have been taking a pummeling from Jesus. He has spoken parable after parable showing that they have not been faithful in the leadership position they are in. They have instead been hurting their own flock by trying to hinder them from the one thing they really need – Jesus. Instead of repenting and turning to Jesus, the very message that John the Baptist had been preaching from the beginning, they cling even harder to their own position and try to take Jesus down.
Sermon Text: Matthew 22:1-14
Several hundred years before the time of Christ, in the land of Persia, the Jews had a great feast because a man had been hanged. That man’s name was Haman. Haman was a high-ranking official in Persia with an extremely high view of himself. He expected everyone to bow down when he went down the street. One day a man named Mordechai, a Jew, didn’t bow down. This ticked off Haman, so he tricked the king of Persia into making a decree that all Jews be killed for treason. Yet Mordechai was connected – his cousin Esther was a wife to the king, but no one knew she was a Jew. Esther had the courage to invite the king and Haman to her own banquet, and Haman accepted graciously, certain it was a great honor. Instead, Esther exposed Haman at the banquet, begging the king for mercy for her people. Haman was thrown out of the banquet and hung. That is what led to all the Jews in Persia holding a celebration feast for deliverance from the hands of Haman.
Sermon Text: Matthew 21:33-46
The sunk cost fallacy is a principle in business and economics where investment is continued in something simply on account of the amount already put into it. The sunk cost is the amount that has already been invested, and cannot be recovered, which is compared to the prospective costs, which may be added in the future if no action is taken. Say you have a car, which you have owned for 20 years and have put hundreds of thousands of miles on it. The last few years you have been putting more and more money into it – a/c goes out, water pump has to be replaced, timing belt breaks. Then the transmission goes out. You could say, “I’ve put so much money and time into this car, I might as well fix the transmission.” That’s the sunk cost fallacy – no amount put in already means you need to invest future money into it. At some point it’s better to cut losses.
Sermon Text: Matthew 21:23-32
“We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” (Small Catchecism I.2) This is Luther’s explanation of the First Commandment in the Small Catechism. God says “you shall have no other Gods” (Exodus 20:3) and Luther deftly explains what a false god means in a way much more broad than merely talking about Allah, Shiva, or Zeus. A god is whatever we put our fear, love, and trust in above all things. This could be some false god, made of wood or stone, but more often in our time gods are things like health, money, or even other people.
Sermon Text: Matthew 20:1-6
When I was teaching on today’s gospel lesson in seminary, someone asked me, “If the first men who were called to work didn’t get good pay, why did they even go? I would have gone to work somewhere else.” I thought that was a legitimate question. Questions like this that dig into the meaning of the parables are great. Too often we just take parables, or any scripture text, as is and in a sort of piety say, “mmm…hmm…yes, very true. Very wise. Nice lesson.” We act as if since we are Christians everything in the Bible should just be obvious and non-threatening now.