Sunday, Feb. 5, The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany also, Lutheran Hour Ministry Sunday. Readings include Isaiah 40:21-31, 1 Corinthians 9:16-27, Mark 1:29-39. LSB Divine Service I, hymns 726, *578, +579, +580, +407, and 698.  The Lord’s Supper is celebrated. Communicants are reminded to prepare themselves for proper reception using Luther’s “Christian Questions and Their Answers” in the Small Catechism, Lutheran Service Book, 329.

The Son of God, Christ Jesus, Makes Us a New Creation The Lord alone “is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Is. 40:28). He “sits above the circle of the earth” and “stretches out the heavens like a curtain” (Is. 40:22). Yet, His almighty power is demonstrated chiefly by His mercy and compassion. “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength” (Is. 40:29). The only-begotten Son of the Father, the very Word by whom all things were made, becomes flesh and takes all the poverty and weakness of our sin and death upon Himself, bearing it in His Body to the Cross. As He dies for us there, He also raises us up, a new creation, in His Resurrection from the dead. Thus, by the preaching of this Word, He heals “many who were sick with various diseases,” and He casts out “many demons” (Mark 1:34, 39). And His preaching continues through those whom He has sent, who are “entrusted with a stewardship” to “preach the Gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16–17). Thus we are set free by the Word of Christ, and we exercise our freedom in loving service to others.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There are many things that quite possibly can interrupt the Sunday morning service.  Certainly an unruly child is the most common, but everyone is willing to overlook even a prolonged crying spell. If anything, we feel for the parents.

Someone becoming ill during a service can also be disruptive, but understandably, at the same time it is absolutely necessary to attended to them. We’ve had a few scares since I’ve been pastor here, but all had good out comes.

Lights can blink, power can fail, and microphones can give out in the middle of a sentence. We might notice these things and then go on, if possible, without making too much of them.

The people in our Gospel reading for today attending service at Capernaum’s synagogue on the Sabbath had a completely unexpected experience in the revealing of a demon and its exorcism by Jesus.  From the last part of the our reading we can see that nobody came to church expecting that. “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

This morning’s Gospel Lesson tells of Jesus’ authority over the powers of darkness.

The famous Christian author C.S. Lewis writes about these very things in the introduction to his Screwtape Letters, noting that in our modern world there are those who are obsessed with the demonic, and also those who see them as total nonsense.

Lewis says both approaches are off. And I agree. The demonic is something that we cannot deny, but neither should we be fascinated by it.  The people in the Capernaum synagogue observed rightly.  These are matters that are best dealt with on the basis of authority and Christ’s Word.

A strange fact is that in the ancient world there was a great presence of the demonic.  The religions of Egypt and of Babylon all have the stuff.  But when you go to the Old Testament there is hardly any.  There are very few references to Satan in the Old Testament.

And then, if you go from the Old Testament to the New Testament, something surprising happens after Jesus’ baptism.  He is led into the wilderness by the devil and is tempted there.   And right away we come to this story about the demon possessed man in the Synagogue.  And it is everywhere.  Wherever Jesus goes the demons are uncovered. Until that time the devil and the demons are hidden.

The revelation of the light is also the revelation of the darkness.

St. John in the first chapter of his Gospel speaks of Christ as the light of men coming into the world.  There had been nothing like Jesus and the incarnation and God becoming man before this.  When we speak of Epiphany as the season of the manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God and the light coming and dispelling the darkness of our world, then this reading makes perfect sense to be read at this time in the church year.

St. Paul points out that the devil and the demons disguise themselves as angels of light.  That is, that they hide themselves and rarely show themselves as they are: as agents of darkness and of evil. (2 Corinthians 11:14)

The devil has two attributes and they are that he always lies and he always murders. He is never to be trusted.  Our Gospel Lesson is a window into this.  A dramatic scene.  Jesus has been baptized.  He has been tempted and has defeated the devil in the wilderness.  He has called his first disciples.  And they go into the Capernaum and on the Sabbath he teaches.

And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. (Mark 1:22-26)

Probably this guy had been going to the synagogue his whole life, but what was the difference on this day? Jesus and His Word: Jesus’ preaching. There was the preaching of Jesus: The Word of Jesus. Jesus’ presence brings out what was hidden in darkness out into the light. And Jesus uses His Word to deal with the demon.

Luther says of the devil in his great hymn “A Mighty Fortress” that he is already defeated by Christ. “One little Word can fell him.”

And there is an important thing we shouldn’t over look here: it wasn’t the man, it was the demon. St. Paul writes,

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

We need to remember this when the powers of darkness and the demonic become apparent, especially in dealing with others.  Our brother and sister is not the enemy.  Even when they sin–and even when they sin against us–they are not the enemy.  They simply have been tempted and led by the devil and the unclean spirits who are our real enemies and seek our destruction.  That means we can always pray for one another, especially when they seem to have fallen under the power of such forces.  And with our prayers help them and ask that they be released.

Now another thing.  Rather than call them demons, it is certainly better to identify them as “unclean spirits.”  And that is more accurate to say because their domain is uncleanness and impurity.  That is their domain.  And unclean spirits work in filth.  They dig up dirt.  They work in what is impure.  And that is how you can identify their work.

Also notice how the unclean spirit is attracted to Jesus.  This is a very holy setting described here.  Not only is it at the Synagogue but Jesus is also there!  And the unclean is attracted by the clean and holy.  The unclean isn’t going after the unclean but is attracted to the clean and holy.

And we also see the cosmic battle that is going on.  Jesus and the demon.  The Holy Spirit and the evil spirits.  The unclean spirits and we ourselves.  Jesus comes from being baptized and is filled with the Holy Spirit and He comes and preaches the Holy Spirit and the unclean spirit is drawn to Him.  And this continues throughout Mark’s Gospel as Jesus’ opponents side with the powers of darkness, eventually to have him killed. 

And what’s more, this explains why we suffer so much from the devil and his unclean spirits.  And why they seek us out.  Recall what the Catechism says about the Sixth and Seventh Petitions of the Lord’ Prayer, “lead us not into temptation” and “deliver us from the evil one.” (And that’s really what that is saying there: “the evil one”–meaning the devil.

The Catechism says,

And lead us not into temptation.

What does this mean?

God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.

And, also,

But deliver us from evil.

What does this mean?

We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

Another thing I want to address here is the importance of a good conscience.  Our Epistle Lesson brings that to our attention today as Paul writes to the Corinthians, speaking about: “sinning against your brothersand wounding their conscience when it is weak, [that] you sin against Christ. (1 Corinthians 8:12)

This comes under what I was saying about the unclean spirits working in the dirt and filth.  And they do this to hurt our conscience when they cause us to recall and dwell on sin and such things that bother our consciences because we know it is evil and wrong.  That’s also demonic work.

And when we sin, and harm the conscience of others, leading them to sin and also harming them, this is also sin.  And, and as Paul says, it is a sin against Christ.

St. Paul writes to Timothy,

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

And good conscience is of absolute necessity in all this if you are to withstand the onslaughts of the devil.  Thankfully, where we are weak and unable Jesus has already completed the work; won the battle; defeated the devil.  The forgiveness we have in Christ means we have a good conscience as we stand before God and justified for Christ’s sake because of his death on the cross.  The darkness of Good Friday was overcome with the brightness of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus meant that sin, death and the devil are defeated and have no more power.

And our Baptism is so important for this. The Apostle Peter writes,

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus promised his disciples and the Church, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” (Luke 10:19)

This promise means that we speak with authority when we speak the Word of Christ. When we baptize.  When we announce forgiveness in the absolution of sins.  Where Christ is present and His holy Word is spoken and His gifts are given the light shines forth and darkness is repelled. This God gives to us. But only on the basis of Christ’s authority.

But is it a comforting Word and casts away all fear.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

God’s Word for our glad hearing and learning this morning is the Old Testament Lesson from 1 Samuel, chapter 3, as was read. (1 Samuel 3:1–10)

Let us all pray, All glory Jesus be to Thee at this Thy great Epiphany, whom with the Father we adore and Holy Ghost forevermore. Amen.

Dear Fellow redeemed of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The story we have for our Old Testament Lesson this morning about the young boy Samuel is one of the most delightful stories in the Bible.  I’ve always liked it.

Having grown up as a P.K., or “preacher’s kid,” I was very familiar with the sanctuaries of the churches my father served, and­ (without his knowledge, of course) my brother and I would assume full reign of these sacred spaces and entertain ourselves in a whole variety of ways.  In other words, what Dad didn’t know was that we would get into all sorts of mischief.

At one church my dad served, there was an intercom system between the office, which was in the church, and the parsonage kitchen.  It was so that the pastor’s wife (our mom) could call to the pastor without having to use the phone (which cost in those days) or having to walk over to get him.

And so, one day my brother and I came up with a brilliant idea.  We took the church’s intercom unit, which was portable, and extended it out of the office and put it into the pulpit.  And then we had the neighborhood kids pay us a nickel or a dime to be brought into the church to “speak to God.”  Of course, I was on the other end doing the talking. I also got the worst of the punishment when we were caught.  I was the oldest and should have known better.

Quite different from our Old Testament Lesson for this morning that tells how God really called to Samuel for the first time when he was just a little boy.  Like I said, I always have enjoyed hearing and reading it.

Martin Luther tells how as a child he never knew this story about little Samuel because it was not part of the medieval church’s lectionary the regular readings of the church at that time.  It was only later, when he was studying the Bible at the university, he came across this story of young Samuel and God calling him in the night.  Experiences like this were partly behind Luther’s desire to translate and get the Bible into the hands of the German people so they could hear stories like this.

If you listen to this account carefully, however, you will notice a couple of things that at first are quite easily overlooked.

First, in verse 1, it says, “the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.”  And second, in verse 7, it adds, “Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.”

“The word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision,” and, “Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.”  Do we realize what these things mean?  They tell us that at this time in the history of God’s people a separation existed that meant the people were not hearing from the Lord.  They were not receiving His word from Him on a regular basis.

And there were two reasons for this.  One was their sins, as we learn from the rest of the story (which you can read for yourselves– about the priest Eli and his sons, who exemplified the general attitude of the people toward the word of God at that time.)  And the second reason was, like Samuel, the people were not listening for God to speak to them.  They didn’t recognize the Lord’s voice because they hadn’t heard it–for sure, but they also hadn’t been listening for the Lord to speak to them.

Samuel did not yet know the LORD.  I believe there is much for to learn from this.  If we want to hear God speaking to us–and I assure you that He wants to speak to us–then we need to listen.  And listening requires first, that we repent of our sins and be forgiven so that we can approach Him to hear from Him, and second, that we be quiet, and listen.

Now what sins do we need to confess in order to hear from God?  ALL SINS.  Including those sins the Apostle Paul warns us about in our Epistle: (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

I find it remarkable as a pastor how I will address the sin of adultery with a person who is having an affair or with a couple preparing for marriage and are fornicating and they seem to be unable to comprehend or accept the fact they are sinning.  As a matter of act, they often refuse to hear God’s Word all together–the Word they have been taught since a child–and arrogantly and brazenly continue in such sins.

Is it a wonder then that such people begin to fall away and are more and more unable to hear God’s Word or have it applied to their lives?  They’ve driven the Holy Spirit from their bodies. God’s Spirit is a spirit of cleanness and holiness.  He can not dwell where there is sin and filth. He will not stay long.

And parents and grandparents support this sort of thing and think that the welfare of the son or daughter­, grandson or granddaughter, is in not upsetting them toward the church, rather than a genuine concern for the soul.  And they’re even proud when they find another church that will tolerate and bless this sinful behavior.  Is it any wonder they cannot comprehend the things that are spiritual? Jesus told Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”( John 3:6)

God speaking to us must take place in the context of a temple that is made holy and suitable for His presence.  If hate, or sexual impurity, or covetousness, or even despising the Word of God is in the heart and on your mind, how can you then expect God to speak to you, let alone come to you and remain with you?

Thankfully, we have forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He has forgiven us all our sins. The writer of Hebrews tells us, (Hebrews 12:22-24)

 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Jesus’ blood gives us complete remission of all our sins.  And as we receive it today it cleanses us so that we may be in the presence of God and the angels and the righteous, and we may also have God speak to us.

For you see, God talks to us all the time.  We’re just not listening.  That is, we don’t take time to listen to Him speaking to us through His Word, yes, but also in the Service, the liturgy, hymns, prayers, anthems. And especially we miss God speaking to us through one another.  Remember how Eli helped Samuel? (1 Samuel 3:8-10)

Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the young man. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

Yes, God speaks to us through one another.  No matter who that person might be.  And especially through your Pastor.  God has given each of us to one another to speak words to each another.  Words to comfort, to teach, to sing.  And to pray and praise and glorify God together.

And most importantly, to forgive.  To speak about forgiveness but also to speak forgiveness.  And when those Words are from God–and I am not speaking about some special revelation someone might claim to have in the form of a dream or vision–which we would rightly be skeptical of–but when it is the Word of God in the Service and prayers of the church, especially, then God speaks.  And it is time for us to say, “speak Lord, Your servant is listening.” Amen.

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

God’s Word for our glad hearing and learning as we commemorate the Baptism of our Lord is from this morning’s Gospel,

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. (Mark 1:9)

Let us all pray, All glory Jesus be to Thee at this Thy great Epiphany, whom with the Father we adore and Holy Ghost forevermore. Amen.

Dear Fellow redeemed of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The verse I have chosen to preach on this morning is a very simple verse that is short and direct and to the point.  I’ll read it again: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”

This verse is typical of Mark’s Gospel, which is the shortest of the Gospels and also the most concise. One of his favorite words is immediately.

And although Mark doesn’t use the word immediately in our Gospel Lesson until he describes Jesus coming out of the water and the Holy Spirit appearing to John in the form of a dove, nevertheless, we get Mark’s typical sense of great urgency when we realize that within just a few verses – at the beginning of the Gospel – we are told about the appearing of: John, Jesus; the baptizing ministry of John, and the Baptism of Jesus.

Just a short time ago we celebrated Christmas (which Mark doesn’t even mention) and now today, we hear how Jesus was anointed by the Holy Sprit to begin His ministry, which we will now hear about for the next several Sundays!

Like I say, with Mark things move rather quickly! (And I image that like his Gospels, his sermons were also shorter in length–which some how I have to admire!) But that doesn’t mean Mark doesn’t have anything to tell us.

Consider our verse: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”

Right away Mark tells us that the Baptism of Jesus was a real, historical event that took place in real time and that happened at a real location. In other words, the baptism of Jesus is not a myth, but rather, it is a great event that the Church has deemed worthy to recognize and commemorate every year at the start of the Season of Epiphany.

Jesus left home and headed into the wilderness where John was preaching and baptizing at the Jordan River.  There Jesus is baptized by John.

“And was baptized by John in the Jordan.” These are remarkable words. Here in Mark’s Gospel there is no record of John’s attempt at preventing it. No report of John’s questioning Jesus that we get from Matthew –John asking “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14)

Mark doesn’t even feel the need to tell us that John consented. Simply: “…Jesus came…and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”

John had been preaching repentance of sins in connection with his baptism. He appeared by God’s direction and was given the task of the fore-runner of Christ. He came in fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah, and he dressed and ate and preached like a prophet. But he wasn’t an Old Testament prophet. And he wasn’t a New Testament apostle, either. And when questioned he also made it clear that he wasn’t the Christ.

John had the unique role of preparing the Lord’s way. To some he was a curiosity –an oddity.

To others he was theologically compelling. To King Herod he was an embarrassment and, quite possibly, he also thought a threat.

But for many others John was a teacher, a preacher, one to be heard and followed. “And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Mark 1:5)

Why? Because he pointed out peoples sins, he preached baptism for forgiveness of those sins and he heralded the coming Christ. He proclaimed God’s salvation. And he was successful. However, John’s chief reason for appearing and preaching repentance and baptizing was that one great event celebrated by the Church today: the Baptism of Our Lord. John was there above all so that Jesus could be baptized.

Which might at first glance seem as no reason at all and even an utter disappointment because there was no need for Jesus to be baptized for Himself at all. No need for confession on Jesus’ part. No sins to have washed away. No alienation from God and the need for reconciliation.

He already is the Son of God! He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary.

He is, after all, Jesus! No need here for a baptism!

But it was because we need Baptism that Jesus was baptized. He does it for us. For you, and for me.

He leaves Nazareth, where he has passively been obedient to the Law of God as a child and teenager, and now, as a thirty year old man he comes to John because He knows that it is the Father’s will. He knows the plan of God for our redemption. He was there at the beginning. When God spoke, and heaven and earth came into being. When the Sprit of God hovered over the face of the deep. He is the eternal Word of God of whom we heard the Evangelist John say on Christmas Day “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

What’s more…He was there before the beginning and heard the counsel of the Holy Trinity plan that the only-begotten Son of the Father would assume our human flesh in order to save us and be our Lord. That He would take on human flesh and soul and dwell among us full of grace and truth. That He would suffer and die, and that the sprinkling of his blood would be the means by which we are cleansed of all our sins and our souls and hearts and consciences made pure before God .

He would become our Lord, and the old lord and all his wicked works and all his wicked ways would be expelled from us and a new, life-giving Sprit would occupy us. He would makes us a holy people for his own, to live with him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.

And He would do this by water and the Sprit.

And so, “Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”

We also, have been to the same waters. Only the waters we entered in Baptism have been sanctified–made holy–before we ever entered them by Jesus. Without the Word, the waters of baptism would be just what too many say they are, plain, simple water and nothing more. But because the waters of Baptism are connected to the divine command to baptize and combined to the Word of the name of the Holy Trinity, father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they are something far different. They are a life giving, saving water.

All because Jesus entered them and also because he went up from them and continued on the way assigned him –all the way to the cross and then beyond in His resurrection. So, then, says St. Paul,

…all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3-5)

And there also is assigned a way for you, too, ever since your Baptism. It is also connected to Christ’s dying and rising to life. It is the way of the cross, which probably why many don’t want to go there. It means that in this life because Jesus suffered, we will have suffering too.

That we are marked as one of God’s. A child. A soldier.

But it also means that what the father said of Jesus as He came out of the waters is also said of us, “Because of my Son, you, too, are my son –my child– in whom I also am well pleased.” Amen.

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

God’s Word for our glad hearing and learning is the Gospel for this New Year’s Day, from Luke chapter 2.

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. (Luke 2:21)

Let us all pray,

The old year now hath passed away;  We thank Thee, O our God, today   That Thou hast kept us through the year  When danger and distress were near.   

Oh, help us to forsake all sin,  A new and holier course begin!  Mark not what once was done amiss;  A happier, better year be this. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Again, I extend to each of you wishes for a very blessed and happy New Year, begun this day, January 1, in the 2012th year of, and in the Name of, our Lord Jesus.

And to our new officers and board members who, in just a little while, will be installed, I wish not only God’s blessings on your upcoming service, but also sincerely wish to extend my hopes and prayers for a year of God’s blessings upon all our endeavors as we work together here at Immanuel.  He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1Thessalonians 5:24)

The New Year, 2012, is not even a half day old. How have people started it?

Some, we know, are starting the new year in bed sleeping off the festivities of last night.  And, when (or more likely, if they get up sometime today) they will also start this new year with a terrible headache and a sick feeling in their stomachs and bad taste in their mouths.

Too much partying will do that.

Too much drinking and getting drunk will especially do that to you.

And to those who are Christians and who carried on that way they would do well to heed the Word of God and of Jesus our Savior who warns, “watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life.” (Luke 21:34)

And also the words of the holy Apostle Paul who writes in Ephesians 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”

And also, “Do you not know that the unrighteouswill not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,  nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

You see, my dear friends, as we heard in last evening’s New Year’s Eve sermon we have a choice about these matters and you have made a different choice. You have chosen to start the New Year 2012 here in the Lord’s house, and to begin it in the Lord’s name.

So just what does it mean to begin the New Year in the Lord Jesus’ name?  It means that we have faith in Jesus; that we believe in Him as our Savior; and that we recognize Him as our Lord.

And what does it mean to begin a new year? It means that another year has passed.

Growing up my family always watched the ball drop from Times Square in New York City.  My mother was from out east and living in the Midwest that was something that still connected us with her side of the family.  Back then it was Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.

When I recall celebrating New Year’s Eve’s past I am reminded of those who are gone: loved ones and friends.  To begin a new year means we have left behind loved ones and friends either in the past year or that another year is added to the years since we’ve parted–since they were removed–by God’s mercy–from this valley of sorrows and tears.

Beginning a new year means we are made well aware enough of the effects of sin, and of our own sins.  Recounted for us at this time of the year are all the evidences of sin in the world.  Of sin’s curse.  Of the suffering and alienation that sin has brought upon mankind.  

In our own lives we see this as we watch ourselves age. As we are confronted by illnesses and weaknesses.  As we take honest assessment of ours lives and of ourselves and recall our sinfulness the many ways break God’s commandments:

Jesus says in Mark 7:21-22,

“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”

Also, we read in Galatians 5:19-21:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,  envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Beginning the New Year in the name of Jesus means that we stand before the Lord’s altar and can only begin with prayer, saying “Lord Jesus, God’s Son, have mercy upon me, a sinner.”

That we come today confessing our sins and our unholy lives and thoughts and words and actions.  And that we desire to be made clean of them so that we may proceed in this new year as God’s children holy and without and sin and filthiness to our lives.

And that can only happen when we begin this new year in our Lord’s name.

What does the Lord’s name mean?  In our short Gospel reading this morning we learn that our Lord’s name is Jesus.  Jesus is the name given by the angel.  It is a name that comes from heaven and is the name by which we are saved.

Jesus means Savior and we recall how the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him that he was to call his name Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins.”  Jesus is God made flesh. God coming from heaven to dwell among us.  God acting in time to bring about the redemption of lost human beings such as ourselves.

It is appropriate to remember this on new year’s day and so close to our celebration of Christmas because in it we see the true meaning of Jesus’ birth; His coming into this world; His being conceived by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary. The Roman census, the journey to Bethlehem, His birth and the manger.  Of the angel’s words and the glad tiding’s of great joy: unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)

All this makes sense when we see it on God’s timeline of redemption for us.  Paul writes in Galatians 4,

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

And also in Ephesians chapter one,

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10)

Notice how Paul speaks of the redemption we have is in Jesus’ blood.  That’s what makes speaking about the circumcision of Jesus’ on the eighth day (New Year’s Day to us) so perfectly sensible–and, I would even suggest, so joyous.

In the recalling of the shedding of the baby Jesus’ blood we see His active obedience of placing Himself under the Law of God and submitting to the ancient demands that were part of God’s will for His people from whom would also one day come the Savior of the world.

Then we also recall the greater shedding of His holy, innocent blood on the cross for us on Calvary, where he passively fulfilled the Law on our behalf and on behalf of all mankind–by paying sin’s price.

Recalling the circumcision of our Lord is not just a way to rain on the parade of New Year’s celebrating.  It is the only way to begin the New Year for it draws our attention to the source of our redemption which is the blood of Jesus poured out for us, and makes us holy people of God and redeemed–washed clean in our Baptism. As such we can rejoice and go confidently into the New Year knowing we do so with the Lord’s blessing.

St. Paul also writes in Romans 8:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 

(And, as we heard last night)

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can beagainst us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?  Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,   nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-30)

What then does it mean to begin the new year in the Lord’s name to you?  It means doing so with the promises of grace and every blessing.  It means having the baby born of Mary in Bethlehem as your Savior.  It means that the blood poured out on your behalf also comes to you today to drink, so that it might sprinkle your soul and make you forgiven and holy before God.  It means you can go confidently into this New Year 2012 knowing that God is on your side and with you.

It also means that all your sins and foolish mistakes, no matter how terrible they might have been are left behind and forgiven and forgotten.  It means that 2012 is for you and for all of us the year of our Lord, our Savior, our King, and our God.

It means that whatever may come, and that whatever by earthly standards may seem wrong and even sad and despairing.  That in Jesus’ name it is all made right and joyful when we live in faith in Him and in His name every day of this year.

May God grant this to each of us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Services:  Sunday and weekday (e.g. Advent and Lent midweek),  The decision to cancel services will be made by Pastor, the head elder, and the elders on duty for thst day—in the consultation with the head trustee if necessary.

The decision will be based on  weather conditions and forecast, road advisories issued by the county or state, cancelations by sister churches, other closings in the community, and condition of the facilities (heat, electric, parking lot, etc.)

Cancelations will be communictaed to all the elders, announced on radio station WSGW 790 AM and local television stations, posted on the church’s web site, and announced through the school’s information phoning system.

Members are advised that when conditions are doubtful to call the church office, Pastor’s cell phone, or contact your elder before coming out in bad weather.

On days when public school is canceled public school catechism class will also be canceled.

Since 1997, more than 38,000 visitors have made their way to Bethlehem via this unique presentation of the familiar Christmas story.

Some fun facts include:

268 costumed cast members participated in 2011 with 93 helping from outside our congregation. Each night over 140 cast members presented, with a combined cast and crew of approximately 170 people. The ages of our volunteers over the years have ranged from 3 – 92 years old.

From start to finish, this year’s production took  approximately 300 volunteers -from rolling scrolls, mending costumes, baking cookies to building Bethlehem and cleaning-up.

2502 visitors kept Caesar Augusts’ census takers busy as they journeyed this year to be counted, listened to the shepherds tell of  the angel’s message, heared prophets recall ancient promises, and visited the town alive with villagers. Going from inn to stable, they heard and saw that God has come to us in human flesh—as a baby lying in a manger.

For more information about the 16th annual presentation for 2012, click here: 2012 Living Nativity Information

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God’s Word on this National Day of Thanksgiving for our hearing and learning is from the Old Testament book of First Chronicles, chapter 16, verse 34.

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34

“Let’s not leave the table before we give thanks!” –how many times must a father have to say this to the children? And even we adults sometimes forget. We’re all so busy, and in the middle of the week we’re barely lucky enough to eat together, let alone able to do so properly. And by “properly” I mean that we remember to say the meal prayers.

Some families remedy this by saying both the “before” table prayer and the “after” table prayer together. I guess there is nothing wrong with that. However, I also think it is better to just give thanks afterwards, like Luther suggests in the Catechism. There he says:

The children and the members of the household shall go the table reverently, fold their hands, and say:

The eyes of all look to You, O Lord, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing (Psalm 145:15-16).

Then shall be said the Lord’s Prayer and the following:

Lord God, heavenly Father, bless us and these Your gifts which we receive from Your bountiful goodness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

For Returning Thanks, Luther also says,

Also, after eating, they shall, in like manner, reverently and with folded hands say:

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever. He gives food to every creature. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. Psalm 136:1, 25; 147:9-11 (NIV)

 Then shall be said the Lord’s Prayer and the following:

We thank You, Lord God, heavenly Father, for all Your benefits, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Notice that in addition to prayers of thanks Luther also adds the praying of the Lord’s prayer. This is chiefly because of The Fourth Petition,  “Give us this day our daily bread.”

 What does this mean?

God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread?

Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

Wilhelm Loehe, the founding pastor inGermanyof our Franconian colonies expected that the Lord’s Prayer be said at the Sacrament. He was, of course, following the Church’s ancient practice. Saying the Lord’s prayer follows our Lord’s Testament and to do as He had done in instituting His holy Supper. We are told that on the night Jesus was betrayed that he and the disciples with Him sang Psalms and prayed. He also gave thanks. The apostles record:

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples..in the same way also he took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them…

At the close of our celebrating of the Lord’s Supper the, we properly repeat these words,

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endures forever.”

And what mercy is this? Like patriarch Jacob, each of must say, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant” Genesis 32:10 (KJV)

In truth, more often we behave like the nine lepers in our Gospel who gave no thanks when Jesus healed them than as the foreigner and alien who returned, thanking and praising God and to worship at Jesus’ feet.

Notice how when they had approached Jesus their cry also was one for mercy.

“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’

Notice also that Jesus sent them to the Temple to be declared clean. We come to this holy house of God to be cleansed. In the Kyrie we cry as sinful human beings, acknowledging our sin and asking for forgiveness and cleansing,

“Lord have mercy upon us!

Christ have mercy upon us!

Lord, have mercy upon us!”

That cleansing for us is much more than the ten lepers received. Our cleansing comes from the blood Jesus Christ, which cleanses all unrighteousness. Our Lord

–who provides us with all things, all the First Article gifts that we have including, our body and soul, eyes, ears, and all our members, our reason and all our senses,

also clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all that we have; also richly and daily providing us with all that we need to support this body and life; and, defending us against all danger and guards and protects us from all evil. –our Lord has given us the greatest gift we have in the redemption we have in His Son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for us, and also the faith given to us to believe in Him.

Look around you. Everything about his place is about your redemption. About God coming and serving you. About the mercy of God being shown to you. And how have you responded? Like the nine, or the one?

Why are we such a financial crisis in this congregation? Shame on us for being so ungrateful! May God have mercy!

When David sang,  “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endures forever,” it was on the occasion of the ark of the Covenant being brought into the city of Jerusalem to be placed in the tent he had set up for that purpose. 

IN A TENT! There was no Temple at that time. Yet the people rejoiced that the ark was brought to them because it was the presence of God among them. It held the Ten Commandments, some of the manna, and Aaron’s rod. These were reminders of God’s mercy to His people despite their disobedience and grumbling as God led them through the wilderness to the promised land. He fed them. Gave them water to drink. Protected them. Their clothing lasted the journey and their sandals miraculously did not wear out.

His mercy had been great to them as God had given them  the land He promised to them and had established His people as a great nation under David. David conquered their enemies and had received back the ark from the Philistines who had captured it. He established Jerusalem as his city–all by God’s blessing and approval. And then we read in First Chronicles 16:

⁷ Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the LORD by Asaph and his brothers. ⁸ Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! ⁹ Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! ¹⁰ Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! ¹¹ Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! ¹² Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered, ¹³ O offspring ofIsrael his servant, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! ¹⁴ He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. ¹⁵ Remember his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, ¹⁶ the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, ¹⁷ which he confirmed as a statute to Jacob, as an everlasting covenant toIsrael, ¹⁸ saying, “To you I will give theland ofCanaan, as your portion for an inheritance.” ¹⁹ When you were few in number, and of little account, and sojourners in it, ²⁰ wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, ²¹ he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, ²² saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!” ²³ Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. ²⁴ Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! ²⁵ For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods. ²⁶ For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. ²⁷ Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place. ²⁸ Ascribe to the LORD, O clans of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!  ²⁹ Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; ³⁰ tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.  ³¹ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!” ³² Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! ³³ Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. ³⁴ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever! ³⁵ Say also: “Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise. ³⁶ Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!” Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the LORD. 1 Chronicles 16:7-36

Before we bring our offering to the Lord’s altar we cry for mercy and thank and praise Him that He has been merciful to us and has forgiven us all our sins. We also show mercy by forgiving others. Cain’s offering was rejected because he came to the altar with hate in his heart towards Abel. Our offerings will do us no good and will testify against us if we dare approach the altar of God without thankfulness for the mercy we have received by showing mercy to one another.

The apostle Paul writes, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:10 (ESV)

As we look around us we see much for which to be thankful. The fields are once again being put to bed for the winter, having yielded their fruits as promised by God. Families gather today to feast and enjoy one another’s company.

And the people of God gather at His holy House. To plea for mercy. To come before His altar with gifts. To hear His Word. To offer prayers and sing hymns.

 How blessed we are on this Thanksgiving day–that these words are truly fulfilled to us by God, “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endures forever.”

 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Religious News Article for the Frankenmuth News November 2, 2011

By Pastor Mark Loest

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:16-17 (ESV)

Yesterday, November 1, was All Saints Day for the Christian Church. Our popular culture gets just about everything wrong concerning the state of the souls of the dead and their relationship to the living.

Take the popular Twilight vampire series of books and movies. Not only is Twilight the culmination of recent teen vampire-frenzy, it also feeds the frenzy with its demythologizing of vampires–doing away with all that we previously thought about them, so that the whole genre has gone through a sort of revisionism.

There are no vampires, nor are there ghosts, nor any of the other creatures that roamed about in people’s minds and fantasies Monday night. The dead cannot return. David said of Bathsheba’s dead son whom she bore David as the result of their adulterous, murderous affair. “He will not come to me, but I will go to him.”

The state of the dead in Christ is blessedness in paradise. The living are separated from the dead; the departed may not return. We experience this separation in the grief we feel as we mourn the loss of loved ones in death–even in the death of a loved one who has died in Christ.

John, the exiled apostle, experienced a similar sense of separation from those he loved as he remained banished on the Island of Patmos and could only gaze across the sea towards Ephesus and the congregation he had served. There he received the visions that he was told to write down as the book of Revelation. And that sense of separation comes out in Revelation when he speaks of the “great sea.” Even later, in chapter 21, in his description of heaven he says there will come a time when there will no longer be any separation between God and man. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Revelation 21:1 (ESV)

In the Revelation to John God is in control. Satan has been defeated. The dead await the resurrection. And in the presence of the Lamb, the faithful departed are with the Lord and they know rest. This is how it is for those who have gone before us. And this is how it will be for us, unless we live until judgment day.

Therefore we can already sing in preparation of our future joining with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:12 (ESV) Amen.

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

Our text is the Gospel Lesson just read, especially these words of the angel to the women,

“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. See, I have told you.”

Dear Pilgrims celebrating the Paschal Feast!

Let’s –for a moment –think of that first Easter morning.  From sun up there was a lot of activity.  There was an earthquake, and an angel of the Lord descended from heaven.  The stone in front of the tomb was rolled away.  And the guards became as dead men out of fear.

Soon thereafter, women came to the tomb seeking to finish the burial preparations of Jesus’ body.  Instead, they found all the things that I have just described, and were told the words of our text.  So they went with fear and joy to tell the disciples about all this, and as they left they met Jesus and worshipped Him. Then He told them to tell the disciples to meet Him in Galilee. –Quite a bit of activity.

Since Ash Wednesday we have been considering the Miracles of Lent which took place on Good Friday at Jesus’ death on the cross. From 9 o’clock in the morning until noon there was a lot of activity.

And then noon came. It was at that time when God performed the first miracle of Good Friday. Of it we read: “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed.” (Luke 23:44–45)

From what we read, we receive the impression that a halt came to all the activity. Silence fell over the crowd.

Then Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).

As He hung on the cross, Jesus experienced the Father’s just judgment—wrath and punishment upon the sins of the world. A while later, after He had received the punishment for the sins of the world in full, He cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

Then, we read:

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:51–53)

This morning, on this Easter Sunday, I would like to direct our attention to the miracle of Easter.

Let’s listen to our text again:

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” (Matthew 28:1–10)

Jesus’ rising from the dead is the Miracle of Easter.  But this is not the end of the Miracle of Easter, just as it is not the end of the activity after Jesus’ resurrection.

We know that late that same day, Jesus met several of His disciples traveling to Emmaus.  They had not believed the words that were told to them by the women and were very distraught. He said to them,

O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory? (Luke 24:25–26).

Perhaps you might feel the same way about Easter. Perhaps somehow you do not think that it is miracle for you.  Perhaps you doubt the words of the women too, like those disciples –that Jesus is alive.

I can’t convince you of the truth of it.  There are other preachers that have some things to say about these things that are probably more convincing than I could ever be.  Dr. Paul Maier is a Lutheran pastor and professor at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo and he has done a marvelous job of showing how the New Testament Witness stands up to the critics concerning Jesus death and resurrection.  Even the writer C. S. Lewis has written about the miracles and the authenticity of Christianity.

We have God’s Word this morning and it says that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter.  That we have faith to believe it is yet another miracle of Easter.

Those disciples then turned around and returned to Jerusalem where the other disciples were.  Jesus miraculously appeared before them and said, among other things:

These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. (Luke 24:44)

And,

Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46–47)

But the Miracle of Easter doesn’t end there, either.  The preaching of the resurrection is also the Miracle of Easter, which extends back to the days of those first witnesses.

Fifty days later on Pentecost, St. Peter said to the crowd that had gathered:

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up. (Acts 2:22–24)

Some years later, St. Paul said in Antioch of Pisidia:

[Jesus] whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:37–39)

About twenty years later, St. Paul wrote to the Romans,

Jesus…was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Romans 4:25).

About the same time he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, his Resurrection chapter, these words:

I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred. (15:3–6)

The Miracle of Easter can be lost the furry of activity of the day.  Baskets and bunnies, eggs and jelly beans, new clothes, dinner and getting together makes a busy Easter.  Just getting to church can be a daunting task in the midst of all those other things.  But all of these would hide the Miracle of Easter –even if they all happen right according to plan –if we didn’t have the words of the angel and the assurance of Jesus that He is risen and that because He lives, we will live also.

At the very end of our text for this sermon, the risen Christ told His disciples to meet Him in Galilee. St. Matthew concluded his Gospel with that meeting. Many believe that it was at that time when Jesus met with five hundred of His disciples.

St. Matthew wrote:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (28:16–20)

Amen.

*adapted in part from the Lenten series Miracles of Lent (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2010).

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

Our text this morning is a single verse from our Gospel Lesson, the last verse John 11:53:

So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

Let us all pray: Oh Savior Jesus, help us to see through your holy Word, the sufferings of this world in their true perspective. May we learn from you patience and submission in face of all suffering, even when we suffer many injustices. Teach us to forgive our enemies just as you said on the cross “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” Enliven our faith to trust in you, always, that we might do good to others, even as we would have it done to us. Amen

One of the great injustices behind the trial and death of Jesus has to be the role of the Jewish leaders in bringing about Jesus’ crucifixion. They should have supported Him. They should have spoken up for Him. They knew better. But as it was, they did very little to help and, by all appearances, were the chief instigators.

The question is, did they really know what they were doing?  Did they know Jesus was the Messiah and so sought to kill Him. Or did they sincerely believe that he was a dangerous criminal guilty of blaspheme and speaking against the Temple?  In other words, did they act with a good conscience–only with limited resources and knowledge–or did they act with cunning and plotting, in order to rid themselves of a man they did not want around?  Or perhaps even worse: did they act against God and try to seize the Kingdom for themselves?

Our text taken from our Gospel this morning offers us a “behind the scenes view” on this matter–taking us into the hearts and minds of those who plotted against Jesus.  And our question is answered by the words spoken by the chief priests and the Pharisees,

Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. (John 11:47-48)

This word shows this that it was their prestige and authority they were trying to protect.  It was not a matter of who Jesus was, or what He said and did.  They wanted to protect themselves.  And so they decided it was more expedient to have him killed than to risk losing what they thought was theirs for the keeping.

As we consider these words and as we now continue to make good progress through this season of Lent–with Palm Sunday and Holy Week just a short time away–we are compelled to pray with the hymn writer, “O dearest Jesus what Law hast Thou Broken?”  What was it that made these people plot to do such a wicked thing against Jesus as to kill Him?

The answer is Jesus suffered and died because, first of all, His enemies hated Him, plotted against Him and decided to have him killed.  But we also know that Jesus suffered and died because of the sins of the whole world. Your sins. My sins.

We’ve all had enemies–or at least at times felt that there were people against us. We’ve all experienced another’s burning hate toward us in one way or another. At some point in our life –or perhaps, even now. The bully on the playground. The antagonist at our job.  Perhaps it came from a person you thought to be close to you—like a friend. Maybe even a member of your family. I venture to say that everyone here today—unless you are the littlest baby or the youngest child—has thought that somebody intended to do you harm.

Perhaps it was through gossip: It might have seemed insignificant, except that much of it was lies or just taken out of context. Or maybe it was a betrayal that you experienced: from a person whom you thought was your friend, a co-worker; a family member, who stabbed you in the back. Perhaps it was slander: driven by jealousy or envy–word spread around against you, and it was not a good word–and it seemed that everywhere people were talking behind your back, snickering or shaking their heads.  Perhaps it was your good reputation that was damaged. Having a good reputation is important, but because of another’s words you’ve lost something among other people. 

Such things as lies, betrayal, slander, and a hurt reputation can cause a great deal of damage to person physically and emotionally, so much that God has at least two commandments against such sin. The Seventh Commandment, You shall not kill which our Catechism explains as meaning, “We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.” And the Eighth Commandment, You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. And our Catechism also explains, “We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the best possible way.”

Now, a person might ask, “What am I to do when such things happen to me? Ignore it? Do I get back? What?”  Well, the first thing is to hear what God has to say in His holy Word.  There you will find that you are not alone in such matters.  Jesus Our Savior–the spotless Lamb of God–suffered the very same things.  That He willing endured the hate of people who should have been His friends and worshipped Him.  Jesus is sympathetic on such matters.

Then too, perhaps we have been on the giving end, rather than on the receiving end.  Maybe this is a sin you struggle with day after day.  A time when we got together with one or more persons,  as the Sanhedrin in our Scripture, where they got together.

Joseph Scriven knew about such matters.  Great scandal arose after the mysterious drowning of his fiancé. Joseph Scriven was to suffer much from friends and those who should have offered him sympathy at his great loss. But they wouldn’t believe he wasn’t some how complicit in her death. So he was driven to write these words in 1865…

Do they friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer; In His arms He’ll take and shield thee, Thou wilt find a solace there.

 …the last stanza of his great hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus”

Jesus, we know, suffered much worse. Who was there to defend him? The prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus long before He endured the cross,

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not…Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted…He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,  make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53)

Jesus took all our sins to the cross.  The sins of those who hate us and are mean and hurt us. And our sins, when we hurt people, whether knowingly or unknowingly.  The important thing to remember is that Jesus did not suffer and die in vain. His death and resurrection mean we are forgiven all our sins, even those we commit against our neighbor.  And being forgiven by Jesus means we too forgive our neighbor and especially our enemies.

It might seem hard to believe or accept at the time, but God allows such troubles and hardships such as gossip, betrayal, slander to come into our lives for a reason.  Why must there be this kind suffering in this world?  The Bible clearly tells us it is because of sin.

Yet, the theme of hope in the midst of the sadness and disappointments of this life, and even death, comes through strongly in all of today’s readings. This is where Lent has been leading us. The sure and certain hope that lies on the other side of the cross gives strength to face our earthly afflictions and trials.

As we said together in our Introit:

In the midst of trouble and sorrow we know that the Lord will deliver our souls “from death, our eyes from tears, our feet from stumbling.” (Psalm 116:8)

 Christ will rescue us from them all and bring us into His incomparable glory. Jesus death puts all of the sins and trials we face here on earth in perspective when we realize with St. Paul,

 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)

Amen.

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

The Word of God for our meditiaion this morning is the Epsitle Lesson, from Ephesians chapter 5:

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light  (Ephesians 5:8 ESV)

Let us all pray:

“Love caused Your incarnation; Love brought you down to me. Your thirst for my salvation Procured my liberty. Oh, love beyond all telling, That led you to embrace  In love, all love excelling, Our lost and fallen race.” (O Lord, How shall I Meet You? Lutheran Service Book 334)

Dear fellow Pilgrims journeying to the Paschal Feast:

I don’t know if you have visited anyof the web sites on the internet that show a satellite view of the earth below at night. It is rather fascinating to see where the great cities lie and where people live –just by their light. The ocean coasts are outlined distinctly with millions of dots of light. Places like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston can easily be found –as well as many other great cities of the world.

It has also been pointed out that there is a dramatic difference between the developed nations and the third world.  Botswana, in southern Africa, has very little light.  My missionary friend Daniel tells me about being able to see other parts of our galaxy at night, as they gazed up into the sky at the Milky Way.

From a light and dark perspective, the contrast is strong between capitalist South Korea and communist North Korea. North Korea is eerily in perpetual darkness.

The light and darkness picked up by a satellite’s complex camera is not the same as the light and darkness spoken of in our text.  We know that that light is the light of Christ that comes from within us, that shines on sin and reflects God’s love. Yet we do not always appear as children of light: reflecting Christ’s light: showing Christ’s light.

Maybe our sins too often get in the way.  Perhaps we think we are not qualified to reflect Christ’s light.  “Not so!” says the Apostle Paul.  We are all children of light and as such we are sent by Christ to shine to those who remain in darkness!  Our text begins:

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light  (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),  and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Eph. 5:8-10)

When I was a pastor in Southern Indiana I had a member who stilled lived with out light. He and his brother and two sister had never married and while on their farm they did not have electricity or running water. The first Sunday I visited before my installation as pastor I happened to sit next to him. He told me after the service: “you’re the new pastor!” I asked how he knew. He said, “You’re the only one here I don’t know.”

At the time I became George’s pastor he was 94. Once in a while George would mix his German and English.

George lived alone in town and after a while he couldn’t make it to church.  I went to see him late one afternoon and as the day went on it was getting darker and darker in the house.  There was an old –what they called an “Aladdin” lamp–the oil kind–on the parlor table. I wondered when he would light it.

With that George jumped up and said, “Pastor it’s getting dark! Let me make some hell!”  Good thing I knew enough German to know that the German word for light is hell!

But isn’t it that way with us so often?  As God’s children we are no longer children of darkness.  We are not hell bound – but heaven bound.  We’re not to “raise Cain” as my mother used to call it.  Yet we often times act that way.  We let our old nature get the best of us and we forget who we are!  The Christian we expected makes a little hell! And sometimes a lot!

The Apostle Paul warns us,

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  (Eph. 5: 11–12)

Now those of you born and raised here at Frankentrost; who were batized, confirmed and lived here all your lives; you might protest and say, “we never were children of darkness” –but the evidence speaks against us.  If we search our hearts there are things that come from us that at times even surprise ourselves.  Jesus says,

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (Matthew 15:19)

If you trace back our ancestors back far enough and where they came from, you will find a time when they did not know of the love of Christ and were people of dark deeds. 

I’ve said to my boys that on my mother’s side they have Iroquois Indian in them. –just a drop: but it’s enough.  Greater and more potent however, are the drops of Jesus blood that He shed for us to make us His people.  The Apostle John expresses the same thought as our text when he says,

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

 Since coming to Michigan over seven years ago, I have tried to find some interests unique to this  part of the country.  I have become fascinated with lighthouses and have visited several.  I’ve even been on a boat tour in the Mackinac Straights (some friends took us a couple of summers ago) and have seen lighthouses that are almost inaccessible otherwise. Lighthouses are a significant feature on the great lakes. More than tourist attractions: they shine out and save lives.

This has led to me collecting miniature light houses and with any collectible, there are all kinds in all price ranges.  I have a few rules for my collection: 1. I must have seen the lighthouse, 2. I want an authentic reproduction, and 3. No one disturbs Dad’s lighthouses.

I have only one lighthouse that lights up. It is of the lighthouse at White Fish Point. When the boys and I are in the man-cave and it is dark we light it up and its powerful LED bulb flashes. Compared to the others, it is the real lighthouse –the others do us and all our imaginary ships at sea no good not shining in the dark.

Paul concludes in our text,

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,  for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Eph. 5:13–14)

We are made visible to all by Christ who has redeemed us on the cross.  The light of the love of God has shown on each of us and we have the light in our Baptism which has awakened us from the dead of our sins.  Having been thus lulled from our sleep we are to go as God’s people and share the light of His grace.  We do so when we live lives in keeping with His Word. We do so when we forgive and help each other. We do so when we extend the ministry of His Word by supporting it. Otherwise we’re just lighthouse statues with no lights!

May God continue to keep us in the light of His grace, that we may continue to walk in His light –showing others the light of Jesus. Amen.

1 Lent A Matthew 4:1-10

Earthquake Destruction in Japan March 2011

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

Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and     him only shall you serve.’”  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to  him. (Matthew 4:10-11 ESV)

Let us all pray. “Love caused Your incarnation; Love brought you down to me. Your thirst for my salvation Procured my liberty. Oh, love beyond all telling, That led you to embrace In love, all love excelling, Our lost and fallen race.” (O Lord, How shall I Meet You? Lutheran Service Book 334)

Dear fellow Pilgrims journeying to the Paschal Feast: 

For almost three days now we have been shown the terrible destruction caused upon the country of Japan and its people by Friday’s earthquake.  It is possibly the worst Japan has ever suffered. Certainly it is the worst in recently recorded history. 

It was followed by tsunamis and now failure at nuclear power stations.  The earthquake brought down buildings. The tsunamis brought in tidal waves and further devastation and flooding.  The inability to cool nuclear reactors have meant melt downs.  And what we are shown looks like a Hollywood disaster movie –or possibly even the end of the world. 

When such events come we Christians can’t help but think of the end of the world.  The rest of the world might scoff, and the scientists might objectively tell us that the earth shifted and all of Japan moved eight feet –but we also remember the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 24, 

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Matthew 24:5-8) 

Not long ago we took our kids out to eat.  That was a treat for them, since it was in the middle of the week.  When we sat down –and after we had ordered –we told them we had something we wanted to talk about with them.  Anna said, “Oh, no!” and Andrew, thinking he had already been left out asked, “what? what?”  Anna said, “Andrew –I remember a time when Mom and Dad took us out eat and said they had something to tell us…and we ended up finding out we’re were going to have a brother!” 

Mindy and I sat there taking it all in with amazement.  All we wanted to do was talk about spring break this year.  That’s the idea about the signs of the end times.  Christians don’t know when the end will come.  But we know the signs.  We may very well not know the hour, but we can say that the end is near.  No wonder thoughts of the end of the world pop into our heads when we see such death and destruction! 

But if you are still skeptical–remember the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 13:11, 

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 

So, why do such terrible things have to happen in the world?  Why doesn’t God prevent them? And where does evil come from?  The answers to these questions are found in our Lessons for this first Sunday in Lent (Genesis 3:1-21). 

Sin is the reason for earthquakes and every other natural and man made disaster.  Adam and Eve were given a beautiful earth and a beautiful garden to live in our.  Our first parents chose to listen instead to the devil and rebel against God. They brought a curse down upon us all. 

The Apostle Paul explains in today’s Epistle Lesson, 

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned – (Romans 5:12) 

God did not make evil or sin.  The devil did. God does not tempt us, the devil does.  We have lost the image of God with which we were created.  We walked and talked with God.  We were meant to be friends with God, and as his creatures to love and serve him in holiness and righteousness.  In that world we were made to be happy. 

The Apostle Paul also tells us elsewhere about the devastating effects of sin upon the whole creation.  Just as people suffered in the earthquake, so did the planet.  The ocean left its limits.  The earth shifted and left huge cracks.  Plants and animals too, were washed away or buried in mud and debris by the tsunamis.  Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, 

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Romans 8:19-22) 

We might even be tempted to think that since the Japanese are a godless people as a whole and that Christianity makes up a very small number of the people–perhaps one or two percent–that they are suffering because of their sins.  People thought that way when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf region.  They said that God was judging those people for the way they carry one–especially just before Lent at Mardi Gras; that the drunkenness and prostitution and everything else that goes on brought God’s wrath upon those people at that time. 

But good people suffered along with the evil ones who do those things.  Our St. Paul’s Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in downtown New Orleans suffered a great deal of damage then, too. 

In Luke 13:1-5 we read about Jesus answer to the idea that all suffering is direct punishment because of particular sins. 

There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

 I remember this text as the assigned Gospel Lesson for the Sunday following 9/11!  I also remember one of my former seminary professors telling me later that he lost a nephew in one of the towers. 

Jesus says, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

In our Gospel Lesson Jesus contends with the devil.  He takes up the battle with Satan where Adam and Eve left off.  God told our first Parents the first Gospel: 

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) 

We have now entered the Time of Easter and the Season of Lent.  Lent is a penitential season.  We ponder the holy Passion of our Savior, Jesus.  The devil did go after Jesus heel and bruised it.  He struck him terribly in the foot and hands and side.  Our Savior’s brow bled.  His beard was ripped out.  His face was struck multiple times.  He was beaten to a pulp.  He was psychologically mistreated.  Spat upon.  Abused.  Murdered. 

But that was just a heel wound in comparison to what our Savior did to Satan.  You see, Jesus struck the devil down.  He stomped on him.  He crushed his head.  Jesus fought with Satan and He won.  And our Gospel Lesson shows that all the temptations and ways that Satan comes to us and would try to harm us –it is undone by this one word: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. 

As we see the world get worse around us.  As we see the effects of sin upon our bodies.  As we wonder what might be happing to us and our loved ones as each disease and hardship threatens us, we keep in our minds these words and promises of God.  That He sent Jesus into the world to suffer and die for us –to save us from the sin of Adam, and from all of our sins.  That He is victorious over Satan.  That He will come again some day to take us to be with Him forever.  And that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit Amen.

Our Gospel this morning is known as the “Beatitudes” and is the opening words of Jesus to His discourse known as the Sermon on the Mount.  Matthew describes the scene for us–how Jesus went up into the mountain side to teach His disciples.

Our readings from Matthew chapter 5 and Matthew chapter 6 for the remaining Sundays after the  Epiphany manifest to us that this Jesus is the Teacher sent by God and that He is God.  Moses went up into the mountain to receive the Words of God and came down and taught them to the people.  Jesus is greater than Moses.  The Evangelist John tells us: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)  God is in the midst of His people teaching them His Word.

Having been baptized by John, and beginning in Galilee, Jesus preached the nearness of the Kingdom of heaven and its coming to the believer through the repentance of sins.  He called men to follow Him, and, in time, chose twelve to be part of His inner-most circle.  They are now taught so that when the Kingdom is ushered in through His death and resurrection, they may go into the whole world and make disciples of all nations–teaching everything that He has commanded them.

The primary hearers are Jesus’ disciples–not just the crowds who gather around Him because of His growing fame and popularity.  They have ears to hear and they hear.  While the others may listen in, those who are called come to Him.  Many are indeed are called–but are few chosen.

They are invited into the Kingdom and are told what to expect as its citizens.  We might call these the benefits of discipleship.  Some of these “benefits” are for this life, and some are for the life to come–when the kingdom fully appears and the full reign of God is made known and we will reign with Him forever.

Governments and employers give benefits; there are some benefits for the present and some for the future. Governments offer protection and other services to their citizens now, and–in addition to these­­–the promise of a future monthly check and medical assistance in retirement.   Usually Governments do these things because they have to, and not necessarily out of great concern for the citizens; but to maintain stability and prevent unrest such as we have seen recently in Greece and Tunisia, and presently in Egypt. 

Employers give benefits in the way of healthcare and by investing in the retirement of their employees.  They do so out of concern for their employees–but mainly to retain their workers.  Benefits are a way of showing the worker his worth.  But it is rarely out of affection.

The lack of love and care is what distinguishes the benefactors of this life from the Lord and His church toward people.  These come to us by love.  The benefits of our citizenship in Christ’s kingdom were won for us by the Savior on the cross.  His love for us was so great that He willingly paid the price that God demands of us because of our sins.  Forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are ours by our baptism, which, by Jesus’ baptism and His fulfilling of all righteousness, makes us people of God.

So Jesus describes for what a disciple is like; what citizenship in the kingdom offers.  It is at the same time informative and comforting.

What may easily be mistaken as impoverishment, mourning, meekness, hunger and thirst are the daily experiences of discipleship, and we are daily taught by God’s Word that in the coming kingdom comfort–even the earth itself in its restoration on the last day–and complete satisfaction are promised to us.  We are, indeed, truly blessed by God.

Therefore, we look to discipleship not as a disadvantage but as a blessing.  We see that we are called by God into His marvelous light.  We see our selves differently.  And we see others as God sees them.

And so the disciple is merciful. Knowing that his sins are forgiven, he forgives others their trespasses against him.  The disciple has a pure heart, so that the way of the sinner is unknown to him and that he may approach the altar of the Lord with innocence.  The disciple seeks always peace and considers it a priceless blessing to be treasured and vigorously maintained.  The disciple is glad in persecution, whether it comes to him because he is a follower of Christ or because he exposes the evil around him as salt and light of the world.  And when we are persecuted we are glad, because they we have been considered worthy to be counted with Christ–and all who have suffered because of His name.

Such is the nature of discipleship and the benefits our Lord promises to us. Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit Amen.

 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 God’s Word for our meditation this morning is from the Gospel just read, Luke chapter two, and I would like to re-read part of that selection again,

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature1 and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:49-52)

Let us all pray: Christ, Our Lord and Savior dear, Be Thou ever near us, Grant us now a gladnew year. Amen, Jesus, hear us.

Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Yesterday’s unseasonable New Year’s Day weather made it tempting to start taking down some of the Christmas decorations. If you had some outside this year, then maybe you did. I decided not to –partly because it is still Christmas until Epiphany, which is this Thursday, –partly because we had company and I didn’t want to be rude, –and mostly because we’ve had church for three days in a row now–on top of Advent and Christmas–and I was not in the mood to do much of anything! (Not that I am complaining)

But this morning when I saw our Michigan weather was back to winter I was already regretting that I didn’t take some of them down. But then again, it’s Michigan–if you wait 10 minutes the weather will change.

I suppose the same thoughts apply to the decorations in our homes, and at the stores and malls–so festively decorated recently. It all has to come down. Soon, even church will become undecorated and the church year will move us on. Like all baby boys and girls, Jesus does not remain little for long. Next week we will hear about Jesus being baptized by John in the Jordan.

But does it mean that because we put the decorations away, that somehow Jesus is put away, too? Of course not! He is Immanuel: God with us, and He is still with us. The prayer we sang in Old Little Town of Bethlehem remains as much our prayer today as it was Christmas Eve.

O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in, Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell:
Oh, come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel!

Yet one of the things that always amazed me about Christmas is how quickly things go back to routine. This afternoon we’ll be checking to see if there was any homework to be done. Buses will have to be caught Monday morning. There’ll probably be a basketball game this week.

Even Epiphany and all its wonderful accounts of Jesus made manifest as God and man: the visit of the wise men; Jesus’ Baptism; His first miracle at Cana; His other miracles like calming the storm on the Sea and healing the sick; and finally His transfiguration showing His glory –even with all the brightness and glory of the Lord at Epiphany, for too many of our members worship will be back to the same old routine habit, or even worse, back to the routine of not coming to church at all.

This morning God Word teaches us two thing important things about our services at the end of our Christmas celebrations: that, while our worship may become routine–and that can have it advantages and disadvantages–with Christ present, our worship is never “routine.”

Take Mary and Joseph. It was routine for them to go up to Jerusalem for the Feast. St. Luke writes that they went “according to custom.”  Luke also tells us that the whole family went. (Now, Mary was not required, but she loved her God and her family and willing went). Jesus at Twelve was expected as a “son of the law.”

Now isn’t it true that a regular worship routine is easy? We like to open up our hymnals and find the service is familiar and that the hymns are ones we know. Nothing can be more upsetting than having to sit through a hymn we can’t sing or to try new a liturgy with which we’re not familiar.

But routine worship can also become mechanical. We easily sit there and don’t even open the book–saying the parts we know. The mind can be easily elsewhere while the mouth is still going. We may wake up during the singing of the offertory wondering how we got there? “Did anyone hear me snoring” (You know, I can see you wives poking your husbands to wake them up from up here!)

One of the dangers of routine worship is that it can become legalistic–and I don’t mean having to do certain things a certain way without some flexibility. I mean that we get it into our heads that if I go to church, and if I make the required communions, that I have fulfilled my obligations to God and won’t hear from the elders or the pastor.

It was amazing to see the last two days of this past week–all the people trying to arrange to get their offering in for the year. What time does the office close New Year’s Eve? Can it still count if I put it in on Sunday for this year? (We might wonder why God rejected Cain’s offering even though he brought one to the Lord. –Perhaps it was New Year’s Eve and his heart wasn’t into it!)

But for all the complaining we might do over routine worship, our Gospel Lesson shows us that sometimes regular worship leads to non-routine results. Take the Temple teachers and those who heard the twelve years old Jesus. They were amazed.

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. Luke 2:46-47

For Mary and Joseph their routine worship also produced unexpected results! They didn’t expect to loose Jesus. They hadn’t planned on a u-turn and a return trip back to Jerusalem. And it took them three days to finally check the Temple!

But what really made their routine worship different was that Christ was present. This was not just another twelve year-old home-schooled Jewish boy from the hinter-lands of Galilee. This was the Lord.

The prophet Haggai said long ago,

“The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the LORD Almighty. “And in this place I will grant peace,” declares the LORD Almighty.”  Haggai 2:9

And Jesus “changed” the worship life for His mother, Mary, and for all mankind when He continue to pursue His father’s work of growing up and going to the cross and suffering and dying on our behalf. At His trial He was charged with blaspheming the Temple, but He was the Temple–God’s presence among men.

Jesus fulfilled all the Scripture that they possibly could have asked Him, and in addition–He shed light on what they and we don’t understand because of our fallen condition. He completed the Father’s plan that Paul speaks about in our Epistle Lesson this morning from Ephesians 1, and by rising to life makes us all adopted children through faith in Him.

Luke says that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.  By His death and resurrection He has “brought us into favor with God.” And today Jesus is present with us in Word and Sacrament. And the Holy Spirit enlightens and teaches us so that we may see these things with the eyes of faith.

When Christ is present, worship really is never routine–even when it is most familiar. Jesus makes our worship different because He is present–serving us first. And He will guide and keep us throughout the new year, through the means through which He reveals Himself and promises to be present–with great blessings for all of us. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to [Joseph] him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:  “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:20-23 (ESV)

A few weeks ago, at the annual presentation of our Living Nativity, I was over in the gym talking with our guests and answering their questions and hearing their compliments and thank you’s–which were many–when a young man came up to me and said, “you are the pastor.” Now he didn’t ask me; he told me–and in such a way that I knew something was on his mind.

With this young man there was a young lady who seemed to be his wife and their baby–although you don’t know; he didn’t say, and you can’t be too sure about such things in a culture which we were recently told 40 percent consider marriage “optional”.

In a way this couple reminded me of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. They were dressed to be outside–obviously they had come to go through the Living Nativity–but like travelers. And the baby was wrapped-up tight and warm with its little mouth and cheeks and eyes only visible. And they were young.

This young man next went on to ask, “What is so important about the virgin birth?” Obviously something had impressed upon him that we believe Jesus was born to Mary, who was a virgin–like our Gospel Lesson speaks of this morning.

Now I don’t know whether this young man was a Christian or not. I didn’t ask. And I couldn’t tell by our conversation. But I do know that for a twenty-year old young man, the idea of virginity is probably as trivial and unimportant a thing as anything. To talk about such things like the Sixth Commandment and leading lives that  are sexually pure and decent in word and in deed is–to most young people today–like talking a different language, as if you’re from another planet. So I wondered what he was getting at.

I didn’t have to wonder long. Because then he asked me, “Why do you believe that Jesus had to be born of a virgin?”

So I told him.

“First, we are a church that believes the Bible. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is true. The Bible says that the Christ would be born of a virgin and it says that that virgin was Mary.

“Second, we believe that Jesus was both man and God–fully human and fully divine. It was necessary for him to be a man so He could keep God’s law for us completely and come under the wrath of God and die for us, and He had to be fully God so that He could keep God’s law perfectly and in so doing win Salvation for us and rise from the dead.”

That young man had asked me a theological question–and I gave him a theological answer. He had walked through the Living Nativity and was asking whether he could believe it or not. Was this just a nice bed-time story or was it historical fact?

I believe that for a moment that young man was confronted by the question, “Who is Jesus Christ? Is He the Son of God and the Savior of the World as I was just told and as I just heard and sang? Or is He an ordinary man, born by ordinary means under–perhaps–extraordinary circumstances?”

Whether this young man and his family’s Christmas was lacking fulfillment or not…I can’t say–people seek and find fulfillment in a lot of ways. But was their Christmas lacking Christ? That is the real question. Did they know Jesus Christ, as we hear Him described for us today by Matthew, and as Joseph heard from the angel over two thousand years ago–Jesus, the Savior of the world; His Savior and the Savior of his young wife and their pretty baby.

Now this young man wasn’t the first to be troubled by these things. We’re told that Joseph, to whom Mary was pledged (and in those days, there was little difference between what we call engagement and marriage, except that the couple didn’t have sex), was also troubled when he was told Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit. He was expected to believe and accept that the woman he loved and for whom he had already made a great deal of sacrifice and commitment was pregnant not by his own action–but by divine intervention. That that, for which Israel had hoped for hundreds and hundreds of years–and that humankind had waited for thousands, was now happening to Mary–and through Mary, to him, too. This would have taken a person of extraordinary faith to believe all this. And we are told that it troubled Joseph.

Being troubled isn’t the same as doubting or not believing. We find Joseph seeking to do God’s will. He loves Mary and struggled with the law allowing divorce–and possibly her death. Yet he was righteous and feared God with his body as well has his mind. He determined to uphold the law in both ways, to love God with heart, soul and mind, and love his neighbor–Mary–as himself. He chose to break things off quietly. But this was all a real problem for him and troubling.

 But just as he was figuring these things out God intervenes. “Take Mary without fear,” he is told. “This is the activity of God.” “What you have heard is true.” “Don’t be afraid.”

This is the Gospel for us today and for every day of our lives. “Do not be afraid.”

Do not be afraid of the things you have heard. This is the activity of God and not of men. God has intervened in human history. God has gone to extraordinary means to rescue you. God has sent His Son down to earth to be born of a virgin.

And do you think that it was easy for God’s Son to be born outside of ordinary means? We include the conception of Jesus of the Virgin Mary as part of Jesus’ state of humiliation and not part of His exultation. People later sneered at Jesus during His ministry, calling Him the “carpenter’s son” and saying they knew his brothers and sisters. No doubt tongues wagged regardless of how hard Mary and Joseph tried to carry out their godly assignment to raise the Savior. Just the trip to Bethlehem and then to Egypt had to have been unnerving–no wonder God sent an angel to convince Joseph.

We, however, don’t need angels. We have the Word. And it is a good thing. I don’t think there is one of us who could match Joseph’s piety and Mary’s humility–not in what they did, but how they responded. By confessing their sinfulness and seeking the will of God in their lives. By turning to the Word and promises of God and applying it to their situation as well–which is a good thing for us to learn today, and to do every day.

Certainly it is good to sing and talk about these things and to recreate them–to a certain extent–each year–but only if they are not the end in themselves. Jesus is the object of our faith. He is our Savior and our Redeemer.

How many people walk away from Jesus’ birth and never posses the Savior as their own? Never know that Jesus forgave their sins on the cross–and that he removes the fear of sins and our own catastrophes–as He did Joseph’s.

That God has a plan for each of us as His own child, adopted by His grace. That God’s mercy is overflowing and limitless for you and me. And that the peace of Christ is not just a temporary fix of life’s inconveniences, but eternal Salvation in which we live forever.

I pray we believe all that we hear about Jesus in the coming days of Christmas, and that each of us receive the Word about Him with joyful and thankful hearts. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This morning’s Scripture is from the Gospel Lesson just read: Matthew, chapter 11 and I would like to re-read a couple of verses to you again,

“the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Matthew 11:5-6)

Prayer: All praise, eternal Son, to Thee, Whose advent sets Thy people free, Whom with the Father we adore, and Holy Spirit evermore. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ,

“Christmas Time Is Here” –Not only is it true, (and today’s weather especially seems to want to prove it!) but that is also the title of one of my favorite holiday songs. We’ll remember it as the theme song from the Christmas television special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” I’ve always been a big fan of the Peanuts characters–especially when I was young. I had Peanuts paperbacks, bed sheets, and even a Charlie Brown waste-paper can.

It was a really big deal for me when Peanuts creator Charles Schulz made a Christmas special. I was a big Charlie Brown fan. But I also really liked Linus, too. He and his sister, Lucy, were preacher’s kids. Linus always had the philosophical and intellectual answers to life’s problems. And in the Christmas special, Linus is the one who–in my mind–saved the day, when he stood on stage in the town’s auditorium and recited the Christmas story from St. Luke, chapter 2 and tells Charlie Brown, “and that’s the true meaning of Christmas.”

A few years later Charles Schulz came out with another special for Halloween. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was also hugely popular. In a comic strip from that time, Linus and Charlie Brown were discussing their corresponding beliefs in the Great Pumpkin and Santa Claus. Linus says, “It doesn’t manner what you believe in Charlie Brown, as long as you’re sincere.” When I saw that I was devastated. Somehow Linus’ theology had become flawed.

This morning’s Gospel reading from Matthew chapter 11 flies right into the face of that kind of thinking. Jesus says that it does matter what you believe, and–more pointedly–it matters greatly what you believe about Jesus. Either you believe Jesus is the Christ and Messiah, and the Savior of the world or you are offended by Him. And John the Baptizer, like the prophets who came before him, and the apostles after: they all believed, preached and confessed that Jesus was the Christ: the Savior of the world.  And blessed are we to know this and to believe it also!

Now admittedly our Gospel reading isn’t an easy one. And the real difficult part is about John sending his disciples to Jesus to ask if He indeed was the Christ. Some modern Bible interpreters have misunderstood this portion of Scripture to mean that John somehow faltered in his faith and wasn’t sure. They think that perhaps he was having second thoughts and doubts about his ministry–especially since he had landed in prison. They suggest that John became unsure about Jesus because he didn’t see Jesus ushering in the kingdom of God like he had hoped.

Well, they are wrong. There is no doubt here in John’s mind. He isn’t faltering. For one thing it doesn’t make any sense that John, who pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” is unsure about the content of all his preaching those many months–perhaps a year and a half. As Jesus points out–John wasn’t the kind to be easily shaken in a wind; he wasn’t so fancy that time in prison would make him rethink his faith and preaching.

Now there are plenty of preachers in the world today like that, as I am sure there were in Johns’ day, who only go with the popular notions or current trends in theology–but John wasn’t one of them. Jesus makes that clear when speaks so highly of John.

Second, John was a prophet! Jesus even says, more than a prophet! John bridged the gap between the Testaments. Like the prophets, John spoke about the one Who was to come–of the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand, of the Christ being near–ready to glean the harvest of grain and burn the chaff.

But John also saw the Christ. He pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” John call people to repentance of their sins. He baptized. And in these ways he was like the apostle’s and evangelists. And yet, he–John–who among those born of women is the greater, did not see the outcome of Jesus’ life and ministry.

How Jesus suffered and died, fulfilling the Law and the Prophets by his active and passive obedience to will of the Father. John never heard the Father’s voice at Jesus’ Transfiguration which spoken, “this is my beloved Son”–just as it had done at His baptism. John never knew of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem; of His betrayal and trial; of His death on the cross of our sin and shame–where He fulfilled all Scripture–even saying that He thirst and “It is finished!” Nor did John hear the good news that Jesus was arisen and that He ascended to heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand and that He is coming again in judgment. John knew none of these things, as we are blessed to know because a short while after these things described in our Gospel took place –Herod had him put to death.

But John and his disciples had the miracles. And John desires that his disciples hear from Jesus own lips what the coming Kingdom was like.

In the salvation we have in Jesus Christ we, too, look for a time when we will be completely healed of all our sicknesses, diseases, troubles and weaknesses. We know it will be that way in heaven. But we also know that the comfort of the forgiveness of sins makes the hope and joy of life and salvation real for us now.

Some people refuse to believe in Jesus because they don’t ever get to see miracles. While John didn’t need that, apparently his disciples did.

C.S. Lewis says this about miracles and the need for them,

You are probably quite right in thinking that you will never see a miracle done:…They come on great occasions: they are found at great ganglions of history–not of political or social history, but of that spiritual history which cannot be fully known by men. If your own life does not happen to be near one of those ganglions, how should you expect to see one? If we were heroic missionaries, apostles, or martyrs, it would be a different matter. But why you or I? Unless you live near a railway, you will not see trains go past your windows. How likely is it that you or I will be present when a peace-treaty is signed, when a great scientific discovery is made, when a dictator commits suicide? That we should see a miracle is even less likely. Nor, if we understand, shall we be anxious to do so. “Nothing almost sees miracles but misery.” Miracles and martyrdoms tend to bunch about the same areas of history–areas we have naturally no wish to frequent.[i]

What Lewis is saying is that requiring a miracle in order to believe is to demand more from yourself than from God. God can do a miracle all right. But are you able to go with what comes with miracles? Presumably all of John’s disciples suffered deaths similar to John’s and Jesus’.

But we shouldn’t be discouraged. For Jesus says here that “yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11) What this means is that while our lives may not be filled with great miracles–and even great preaching–what is least should not be looked down upon. God works mighty things through the humblest of means.

Mary was a humble virgin of lowly means. Joseph was a righteous man with a fiancé that was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Bethlehem was not at all a great city. And the shepherds were the ruffians of their day. But God worked miracles through each. And He does with each of us today.

As we gather around Word and Sacrament–His Means of Grace strengthen and support us in faith. As Jesus says, “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Amen.

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

Our Scripture this morning is from the Gospel just read: St. Matthew chapter 3. I would like to read again a couple of verses:

Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  (Matthew 3:5–6)

Let us all pray: Lord God, long ago you delivered your people from the wilderness by bringing them thorough the waters of the Jordan into the land promised to their fathers. And when they had all but forgotten this, you sent John to prepare the people to receive your Son Jesus through repentance of sins and in baptism. We ask that by Your holy Word you would   prepare the hearts of your people to receive Him, so that when He again appears we will all be ready to greet Him. In Jesus name we ask this. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Of all the biblical characters and personalities that we encounter at Advent and Christmas, perhaps the most difficult is John the Baptizer. After all, he doesn’t appear in any nativity scenes. You won’t hear him crying out along the paths of our Living Nativity tonight. I’ve never seen a Christmas card with him on it. And even one of the hymns we sing, “When all the World was Cursed” is borrowed by our Lutheran Service Book from it’s previous use as the hymn of the day for the Commemoration of John the Baptist, which is June 24.

No… John the Baptizer characterizes the awkwardness of Advent, making it hard to resist not decorating as soon as possible and get on with Christmas. And no doubt his message as we have it recorded today for us by the evangelist Matthew has a lot to do with this. No doubt it is considered too hard by many. And yet John is a part of our Advent preparation. Why is that?

Well, if John the Baptizer presents a public relations problem for the kingdom of heaven, it is only for those who refuse to listen to his message. For today’s Gospel clearly tells us why we hear from John again on this Second Sunday in Advent. Long ago John was sent by God to prepare the way of the Lord by preaching repentance and by baptizing. And we, too, need to be reminded that in order for us to greet the Lord with true hearts, we must be prepared.

Matthew tells us that John appeared in the Judean wilderness dressed like a prophet. His diet was a prophet’s diet. And he preached like a prophet. His message was similar to that of the prophets. But his ministry was also very different. He preached repentance and baptism.

John came dressed as the prophets of old–as one neither heard nor seen in Israel for 400 years. If the Word of the Lord was rare in Samuel’s day, by the time of John’s appearing the Lamp of the Lord had all but gone completely out in Israel.

Many of the people in John’s day were hoping for the kingdom of heaven. But they did not look for it in the manner John preached. They hoped for the kingly rule and restoration of Israel through the Prophet or the Christ. But they didn’t figure that they would to start from the very beginning and “straighten” their lives so that the Lord would to come to them not as their judge, but as their redeemer and savior.

John’s appearing in the wilderness at the Jordan called the people to repentance. Recalling when they had first been ushered into the land long before–after their deliverance from the Egyptians  and their long journey through the desert through the waters of the Jordan. John’s preaching and baptizing was to make Israel right with God through faith in Christ.

John comes preaching the Old Testament in New Ways. Yet his appearance is old. He is not the fulfillment of the Old. Christ fulfills Moses and the prophets. John prepares the way for the Christ. The Christ’s identity has not been revealed. But John gives a pretty sobering description of Him, nonetheless.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

But if the Christ’s identity is unknown, there is no second-guessing about John. He is the fore-runner of Christ. The Holy Spirit reveals this to us through the Evangelist: “This is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.” John’s voice and message was spoken of long before he was conceived and born.

Matthew tells us that the crowds came to John from everywhere and that they confessed their sins and were baptized by him. This is new to Israel. John’s baptism was not a part of the purification rituals of that day, or a re-interpretation of the practices of the various religious sects that existed then.

John’s baptism is a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. He says so. “I baptize you with water for repentance.” Baptism follows the repentance of sins. Baptism removes sins.

With John’s baptizing then, faith began to re-appear in Israel. The crowds recognized this, but the religious elite did not. They were more worried about John’s popularity. These things were happening outside of Jerusalem, away from the Temple, and threatened their religious monopoly.

When the Pharisees and Sadducees showed up in the wilderness John didn’t hold back. Filled with the Holy Spirit he lets them have it.

“What rock did you crawl out from under?” “Who disturbed your nest?” “Having Abraham as your father won’t help.” “Nepotism will get you nowhere in the kingdom of God.” “The hard stones of the Gentiles will sooner repent and become children of Abraham by faith than your hardened hearts of stone”

John preached in the spirit of the prophet who had spoke of his coming. Isaiah had said, “[These people] honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13). And, “…I know their works and their thoughts…” (Isaiah 66:18)

 John’s preaching includes a call for the fruits of repentance. The Lord comes looking for a harvest of repentance and faith, which will show itself in the changed lives of His people. He expects more than anyone person can produce. And yet He expects it. And he who does not produce to his expectations will be thrown into the fire.

I remember as a young boy going to what can best be described as a farmers’ market just outside of Chicago. I had never seen so many different varieties of fruits and vegetables –all kinds of produce. But I’ll never forget how I was stricken with terror when I saw the open incinerator they had there burning the crates and boxes and all sorts of other stuff being thrown into the fire. It was raging and instantly consumed whatever was thrown inside. I’d never felt such heat. –Before I was a teenager, I contemplated thoughts of hell.

John preaches the only way to avoid hell: repent and believe and be baptized. That is the way to escape the coming wrath. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16).

And so, long ago the people came repenting and were baptized. And John’s message of repentance echoes down through the centuries–through deserts and over mountain tops. Across oceans and rivers. He preaches repentance and faith in Christ. He points to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes the worlds sin away.”

Because he points to Jesus, John needs to be a part of our every Advent. Amen.

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

Our Scripture this morning is from the Gospel just read: St. Matthew chapter 21. I would like to re-read the last part of that selection, verses

And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21:10-11)

Let us all pray. Praise to Thee and adoration, Blessed Jesus, Son of God, Who, to serve Thine own creation, Didst partake of flesh and blood. Teach me that I never may From Thy fold or pastures stray, But with zeal and joy exceeding Follow where Thy steps are leading. Lutheran Service Book 692

Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ,

We have again come to the beginning of another Church year. Our Gospel Lesson shows us that Jesus wants to come and be with us. How will we receive Him? Are you prepared to receive Him?

The Gospel reading this morning shows that Christ is the Messiah—the Anointed One of God and the Savior of the World. Many people long ago hailed Him as such, shouting:            “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9) They strew branches before Him and placed their fine outer clothes down along His path. They rejoiced at His coming.

But our Gospel Lesson makes it clear that He did not come to all these people we hear about who were in, and outside, of Jerusalem. And it wasn’t His intention to come to all of them either. The prophet had said, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you’” (Matthew 21:5a). On that Sunday long ago, Jesus was came to the daughter of Zion. 

Jerusalem is not Zion. Zion was a portion of that ancient city. Jerusalem was full of people. Some were residents there. Others were visitors who were there for the upcoming Feast. Many were disinterested in Jesus, and even more hated Him and sought to kill Him. Out of these a remnant was preserved for God who waited on the Lord.

The daughter of Zion can only be those who in faith wait for the Lord. She is the Church which now waits in readiness to greet her Lord anew. And He will surely come to her, just as He had in the past church year.

In all meekness He comes in Word and Sacrament—bringing salvation to her that believe on Him. The church has appointed this Gospel for the First Sunday of the church year to remind all her sons and daughters that the Lord will not fail to come to them in the coming year.

But are you ready to receive Him? Perhaps you are fearful of the Lord’s coming. Your sins from the past year are numerous. Your doubts seem to loom larger than ever. Your troubles seem to be endless and growing. And now you are told that your Lord is a King and that He is coming. This can be frightening.

But today He shows you that He is not the ordinary sort of earthly kings. He comes on a donkey’s foal.

True, He is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the Son of David. But He chooses to come according the Father’s plan—in order to save you. He comes meek and gentle, because He knows we sinners are in need of that kind of help.

But also don’t think that He can’t help you—save you. He is also all powerful. He is all knowing. He shows us that right here by directing the affairs of men’s lives. He knows of the animal in Bethphage. He can direct men’s actions and wills. He directs things so that faith is preserved and strengthened. He makes things happen to His will and the will of the Father.

And that will is to save us. To save you and me. To come to all who believe in Him and to enter in a wonderful way so that we might have Him as our Lord. Luther explains this in the Large Catechism. In the Second Article of the Creed he says,

Now, if you are asked, “What do you believe in the Second Article about Jesus Christ?” answer briefly, “I believe that Jesus Christ, God’s true Son, has become my Lord.”

“But what does it mean to become Lord?”

“It is this. He has redeemed me from sin, from the devil, from death, and from all evil. For before I did not have a Lord or King, but was captive under the devil’s power, condemned to death, stuck in sin and blindness”.

For when we had been created by God the Father and had received from Him all kinds of good, the devil came and led us into disobedience, sin, death, and all evil [Genesis 3]. So we fell under God’s wrath and displeasure and were doomed to eternal damnation, just as we had merited and deserved.

There was no counsel, help, or comfort until this only and eternal Son of God—in His immeasurable goodness—had compassion upon our misery and wretchedness. He came from heaven to help us.

So those tyrants and jailers are all expelled now. In their place has come Jesus Christ, Lord of life, righteousness, every blessing, and salvation. He has delivered us poor, lost people from hell’s jaws, has won us, has made us free, and has brought us again into the Father’s favor and grace. He has taken us as His own property under His shelter and protection so that He may govern us by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness.

Let this, then, be the sum of this article: the little word Lord means simply the same as redeemer. It means the One who has brought us from Satan to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and who preserves us in the same. But all the points that follow in this article serve no other purpose than to explain and express this redemption. They explain how and by whom it was accomplished. They explain how much it cost Him and what He spent and risked so that He might win us and bring us under His dominion.

It explains that He became man, was conceived and born without sin, from the Holy Spirit and from the virgin Mary, so that He might overcome sin. Further, it explains that He suffered, died, and was buried so that He might make satisfaction for me and pay what I owe, not with silver or gold, but with His own precious blood.

And He did all this in order to become my Lord. He did none of these things for Himself, nor did He have any need for redemption. After that He rose again from the dead, swallowed up and devoured death, and finally ascended into heaven and assumed the government at the Father’s right hand. He did these things so that the devil and all powers must be subject to Him and lie at His feet until finally, at the Last Day, He will completely divide and separate us from the wicked world, the devil, death, sin, and such.

To explain all these individual points does not belong to brief sermons for children. That belongs to fuller sermons that extend throughout the entire year, especially at those times that are appointed for the purpose of treating each article at length—for Christ’s birth, sufferings, resurrection, ascension, and so on.

Yes, the entire Gospel that we preach is based on this point, that we properly understand this article as that upon which our salvation and all our happiness rests. It is so rich and complete that we can never learn it fully.^[1]

This last point of Luther explains just how Christ will come to each us in the coming year. As we go through the church year we hear about all these things. This year we will do so with St. Matthew’s Gospel. And each time we gather it will be to receive Christ. His life was lived that we might have salvation. He came to this earth in order to redeem us—as we just heard. He is the One that comes to us today and will continue to come for the remaining 364 days of this the church’s year.

And He will come to forgive you, and to help you, and to strengthen—and quite possibly He may come to you to take you to Himself and the Father in heaven. And if that happens, then you will find yourself in an eternal procession of holding Palms and praising the Lamb—just as we are shown in Revelation.

And there we will abide in the eternal New Jerusalem with all of Zion together. Amen.

Let me never, Lord, forsake Thee, E’en though bitter pain and strife On my way shall overtake me; But may I through all my life Walk in fervent love to Thee, In all woes for comfort flee
To Thy birth, Thy death, and Passion, Till I see Thy full salvation. Lutheran Service Book 692

Last Sunday of the Church Year C, Luke 23:39–43

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

Our Scripture this morning is from the Gospel just read: St. Luke chapter 23. I would like to re-read a small portion of that selection, verses 39–43

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Let us all pray. Praise to Thee and adoration, Blessed Jesus, Son of God, Who, to serve Thine own creation, Didst partake of flesh and blood. Teach me that I never may From Thy fold or pastures stray, But with zeal and joy exceeding Follow where Thy steps are leading. Lutheran Service Book 692

Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ,

We have again come to the end of another Church year. And although it’s not celebrated with nearly the same fan-fare as the close of calendar year, it does set our minds on things above, and not below on earth. For, as we heard last Sunday, this world will soon give way to new and far better one.

Notice, then, that the last words of Jesus’ which we hear in this church year are words spoken to a dying thief, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Ah! To be with Jesus eternally! That is everything that we are striving for! The past church year has shown us the Savior in His birth, death, and Passion. The font has washed those brought to its saving waters, as the name of our Triune God was spoken. We were fed at the rail before the Altar of our God, as the Lord offered forgiveness in the very body and blood that was given and shed on the cross. And the words of Holy Absolution have promised that as far as East is from the West, so our sins are removed from us. We have been on a pilgrimage this church year.

Notice the penitent thief dying next to Jesus asks, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” He does not ask to be in Paradise. He wants to be in Jesus’ Kingdom. All his life this man struggled—forcing the Kingdom of God to come—attempting to rout-out the Romans through insurrection and even murder. This had become his religion—what people today call “extremism.” He lived it and he was dying for it.

Hanging on the cross in bitter agony and shame he comes to realize that the Kingdom cannot be grabbed or forced. It is not ours for the taking. It is given, and first it must be won by the One to whom it rightfully belongs. Only then can we hope to be a part of God’s Kingdom.

In the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer Our Savior teaches us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” Our Catechism explains,

The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.

How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

Luther says that to believe God is omnipotent takes faith, for He has yet to prove it—we can only believe what He says in His Word that He is almighty—we don’t see it. Yet while we are alive we live in the Kingdom of Power, and even those who do not believe or do not acknowledge God are under this rule of Christ.

The thieves crucified along with Jesus were being executed by the Romans because the authority to carry out capital punishment is given by God to the government. These two malefactors—who were probably more like today’s terrorists—understood power. They had assumed it for themselves; used it ways not given to them to do so by God; and now were—as the one says, “receiving the due reward” of their deeds.

Now in the cross, God’s Kingdom is greatly revealed. Yet in this life God’s power is made great in weakness. No one has ever been closer to seeing the Kingdom of power in this life than that thief. Yet it remains mostly hidden.

We also have yet to see the Kingdom of Glory, for we do not see the angels and saints in heaven. That will also come on the last day. As with the hiddeness of God’s power—we are given glimpses, which come to us by God’s Word, and which at this time of the year we’ve been hearing about—the saints in particular—who are now triumphant and who in glory shine.

But not all the Church is Triumphant in heaven. We, on earth, feebly struggle in the Church Militant.

But we have been blessed this past church year –for we have traveled this way seeking the Kingdom with the apostle Luke –who specializes in the teaching of the Kingdom of God. We have been shown the Kingdom of God.

Luke begins his Gospel with Gabriel saying to Mary:

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:32-33).

Then, at the beginning of his ministry in Luke 4:43, Jesus says, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

 And again, the hidden nature of the Kingdom is addressed in Luke 17:20–21. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed,  nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

It is Luke, who also records the Lord’s Prayer with Matthew, so that we are taught to ask for the Kingdom. So then, Thy Kingdom come are the words of a dying penitent thief to Jesus.

And how does Jesus respond? “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” In essence, Jesus tells the dying man who has faith in Him, “You are experiencing the Kingdom of Power now even though you do not see it; from the Kingdom of Grace, you are quickly being removed; but the fullness of my Glory will soon be revealed to you! This will happen in paradise where you will be with me forever.”

How marvelous these words are!  These are the words of Jesus to a sinner, like each of us here –words we never can hear too often.

And what about this time of Grace? God’s Kingdom of Grace—it is swiftly fleeting. For each us it is of great concern and we remain in it whenever we hear the Word of God and believe it for ourselves to be true and when we make use of God’s Means of establishing it among us.

Like God’s Power and Glory we can not grab the grace of God. We are all like that thief. Even in our dying hour. Without the Holy Spirit we are unable to do anything for ourselves to usher in the Kingdom or lay hold of it.

But faith makes all the difference. And through His Word Christ gives us faith so that we might believe. Faith apprehends for us, lays hold for us and makes Christ ours. Faith given to us as a gift—and the salvation that comes with it, when we believe.

The dying thieves needed to repent. They thought that what they believed was right and that it had to be forced—even if it meant murder and theft. Yet it in all their religious zeal they were greatly mistaken and were on their way to hell.

The one was unable to grasp these things without the Holy Spirit, and even his attempt at speaking to Jesus was blasphemous and damning—Jesus couldn’t save Himself. It was not His father’s will—and He kept the Law and will of the Father perfectly—loving the Father completely, and his neighbor as himself.

The other man, to whom Jesus’ words are addressed, believed what he heard about Jesus and had faith in him. 

Perhaps it was Jesus’ Words of forgiveness spoken just before this—as the nails were being driven into the Savior’s hands—that gave him faith in Jesus. Perhaps it was the sign that named Jesus a King—that gave him the dying desire to gain admittance into the Savior’s eternal realm.  Maybe at one time he had been a follower of John the Baptist—or even Jesus.

Perhaps he had been misled away from the Lamb of God.  But now at the last hour of grace, he recognizes that truly Jesus is the One that takes the world’s sin away.  With that he repents of his sins, prays to Jesus, and receives the promise, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

What a glorious thought! To be with Jesus.  To think of our loved ones who have gone before us with the Lamb.  That they truly know no pain, or suffering, no sadness –not a tear.  That they rejoice night and day in the company of the angels and prophets and apostles and saints.  What glories they behold at the end of this pilgrimage we call life.

For we are all pilgrims.  Journeying towards heaven.  A journey started in Baptism and ending in death.  When one travels the thought that death might come is hardly a pleasant thought –we’d stay home if we thought such a thing would happen.  But in the body we are away from our real home, and we seek a different city, not made by hands.  And so we continue along life’s way. Ever walking with Jesus.

For God has no pleasure in the death of the sinner (Ezekiel 33:11), but desires that all be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), and that blessed is the death of his saints in the eye of the Lord (Psalm 116:15).

So then it came to be that, hanging between two criminals shortly thereafter, was the very One who saves sinners.  And it was in repentance and faith, that the one thief received assurance of a blessed entry into heaven.

None of us are excluded from these promises.  No matter what our sins may be or how many.

And even if we may be way overly qualified to sing “Chief of sinner though I be” we too may add, “Jesus shed his blood for me. Died that I might live on high. Lives that I might never die. As the branch is to the vine I am his, and he is mine.”

We conclude the Lord’s Prayer by praying, “For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever, Amen.” The church has added these words. They are at the same time a doxological and eschatological confession. In these words we proclaim that the power and glory is God’s.

And we know that the time of the full consummation of these things will be a time when the Kingdom of grace will be over. The kingdom of power is revealed in part now—on the last day, when Grace come to an end—but then God’s power will be fully known, and we shall see His Glory in all its fullness. Amen.

Let me never, Lord, forsake Thee, E’en though bitter pain and strife On my way shall overtake me; But may I through all my life Walk in fervent love to Thee, In all woes for comfort flee To Thy birth, Thy death, and Passion, Till I see Thy full salvation. Lutheran Service Book 692