Sunday, March 17, 2024

Judica - The Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent 5)

(Audio)


John 8:42-59; Hebrews 9:11-15; Genesis 22:1-14

 

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

The First Gospel proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures occurs quite early, in Genesis 3:15, immediately following our First Parents’ rebellion against God and His Word and their consequent fall into sinful concupiscence and its fruits of spiritual death now, and physical and eternal death in time for themselves and for all their progeny. The First Gospel comes as part of the curse spoken to Satan: “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.” Our First Parents understood that the LORD intended to provide a human man, a son of their own flesh, who would destroy the power of Satan even as He suffered a fatal wound from the devil Himself. So literally and immediately did they understand this Good News that, when Eve gave birth to her firstborn son Cain, believing that the Gospel prophecy had already been fulfilled, she exclaimed, “I have gotten a man, the Lord!”

However, Cain was not the promised Messiah. In fact, Cain became the first murderer, shedding the blood of his brother Abel: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Origins matter. Who’s your daddy matters. Adam and Eve had plunged themselves and all of God’s creation into sin, corruption, decay, and death. Adam was a sinner, bound to die. Eve was a sinner, bound to die. Together, all they could produce from their own flesh were sinners, bound to die. This is true for you and me as much as for Our First Parents, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our own parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and for all. Everything we produce from our flesh – our words, thoughts, and deeds, our children – is sinful, corrupt, decaying, and destined for death. Thus St. Paul exclaimed, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

The scribes and the Pharisees in particular, and the children of Israel in general, prided themselves that they had Abraham as their father. Their fear, love, and trust, their self-righteous security, was not in the LORD, but it was in their blood descent and lineage from the man they called their father, Abraham. However, Abraham was no less a sinner, corrupt, and destined for death than was his father Terah, and his father before him. To be a child of Abraham and of the Gospel promise and of the covenant the LORD made to Him – which was truly a reiteration of the First Gospel promise made to Satan in the hearing of our First Parents in the Garden – was to be a spiritual descendant of Abraham, believing and trusting the Word of the LORD as their spiritual father Abraham had done so many centuries before. Thus, Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and I am here.” “Why do you not understand what I say?” Jesus continued, “It is because you cannot bear to hear My Word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.” And then, showing that their sinful, blind misunderstanding was really no different than was Adam and Eve’s at the birth of Cain, Jesus said to them, “He [Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

It is Jesus who is the true Son of Abraham, the true Son of the LORD’s Promise to Abraham, the true Seed of the Woman, who would bruise, even crush, the serpent’s head. When the LORD commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to test his faith and trust, Abraham believed and trusted in the LORD once again as he did when the LORD first called him and made His covenant promise to him to provide him a land, a son and a people through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed. The LORD spared Abraham’s promised son Isaac and provided a sacrifice as a substitute, just as Abraham prophesied as they made their way to the mountain saying, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Abraham sacrificed the ram caught in the thicket by its horns in the place of his son of promise, Isaac. But, Abraham believed, knew, and confessed that that ram was but a type and a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, whose blood would take away the sins of the world.

This is what Jesus meant when He said to the scribes and the Pharisees, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” What Abraham saw was that God would indeed provide a sacrificial Lamb that would be a substitute, not only for his son of promise Isaac, but for all men of all times and all places. The LORD spared Abraham’s son and kept His covenant promise that, through an heir from Abraham’s own flesh, He would bless all the nations of the world. Abraham’s son was spared and lived and became the father of Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel. But, the LORD’s only-begotten Son, His Beloved, He did not spare, but gave Him over as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of all humanity. Of this the preacher to the Hebrews proclaims, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not be means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

In Jesus’ death, Isaac was redeemed, Abraham was redeemed, Adam and Eve, you and I and all the humankind were redeemed. All those conceived of the seed of man are conceived and born in sin, bound for death. But Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and the seed of the woman. Jesus’ father was not a human man, but God Himself was His Father, thus He bore not the taint and corruption, sin, and death of original sin. The death He died was not for His own sin but for yours and all men, the sin of the world. God, His Father offered up His innocent Son as a sin-offering for your sin and guilt. Jesus, God’s Son, willingly laid down His life in love and obedience for His Father and for you. And the Holy Spirit was given to create faith in your hearts that you may trust in Jesus and become true sons of Abraham, born not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. If God is your Father, you will love Jesus and you will hear His Word, you will listen to, believe, and trust in His Son, his Word made flesh, crucified, died, risen, reigning, and returning. “Whoever is of God hears the words of God.”

Two weeks ago, on Oculi Sunday, the Third Sunday In Lent, the scribes and the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, Satan. That was blasphemy, even the sin against the Holy Spirit, for it was the Holy Spirit, the Finger of God, in and through the Word of God, who exorcised the demons. Today, once again, the scribes and the Pharisees utter blasphemy by calling the work of the Holy Spirit in and through Jesus, the work of demons and of the devil. Thus, Jesus now pronounces His harshest rebuke of the scribes and the Pharisees saying, “You are of your father the devil.” Their accusations continue, even in the face of the clear fulfillment of the Word of the LORD in Jesus’ teaching and miracles. Like Pharaoh of old, they hardened their hearts against the Word of the LORD, against Jesus, and against the work of the Holy Spirit. Hearing, they do not hear; thus, seeing, they do not see. For, the sin against the Holy Spirit is a willful and intentional rejection and opposition to the Holy Spirit. Such a sin is unforgiveable because only the Holy Spirit can create and sustain faith, and He is rejected and refused. The scribes and the Pharisees knew precisely who Jesus claimed to be, and that He backed up His claim with the clear Word of the LORD and with miraculous signs fulfilling Messianic prophecy. When they rejected Jesus, they knew who they were rejecting. Thus, when Jesus finally proclaimed the Divine Name of Yahweh for Himself saying, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” they reacted violently, full of rage and hatred, and attempted to stone Him to death. As Satan was a murderer from the beginning, so are his children murderers, hateful, and liars. They cannot convict Jesus of sin, therefore they call His holy works by the Holy Spirit sinful and demonic. That is blasphemy, to call the work of the Holy Spirit sinful and demonic. They call good evil and evil good – just like their father Satan.

Origins matter. Who’s your daddy matters. If you have God as you Father, you will love His Son and listen to His Word. The Holy Spirit will make His home with you and protect and keep you, equip and send you as light in this world of sin, death, and darkness. As Jesus taught His disciples, His mother and His brothers, His family, are “those who hear the Word of the LORD and keep it.” You are the true spiritual children of Abraham, the New Jerusalem. You are marked, named, and claimed as God’s own children in Holy Baptism, with a circumcision of the heart and rebirth of spirit. You have been judged already, vindicated, declared “Not guilty!” in the holy, innocent shed blood of Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God’s own offering. Because of this, you need not fear death, for, truly, you will never taste it! You have already died with Christ and have been raised with Him. The second death cannot harm you. Abraham died, yes. The prophets died. You will die, but death cannot hold you, because it could not hold Jesus, and you are baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection. But, those who reject Jesus, who reject God’s Word, who reject His Holy Spirit cannot be saved. There is no other way.

You will be rejected by those who reject Jesus, for the disciple is not above his Teacher. As they did to Him, so will they do to you. Today our Lenten pilgrimage to the cross intensifies as we meditate more deeply upon Jesus’ Passion and our sins for which He suffered and died. Jesus is our ram caught in the thicket of biting whips, piercing thorns and nails. Nonetheless, take heart, have hope, and be comforted, for you have been vindicated, you have been judged “Not guilty!” in Jesus’ cleansing blood. Already you have died, have been raised, born again into a new life that cannot die! Your Great High Priest Christ Jesus has entered into the holy presence of God His Father for you, with His own holy, innocent blood. He is your head, and where your head is your body will soon be. Until then, Jesus communes with you, forgiving you, feeding you, strengthening you, preserving and protecting you with His precious body and His holy blood. He who has begun this good work in you will bring it to completion in day of Christ Jesus. “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Lenten Vespers in the Week of Laetare (Lent 4)

(Audio)


John 15:1-17; 1 John 4:7-21; Hosea 14:1-9; Psalm 85

 

Christ’s Suffering as Proof of God’s Love for Us

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

“Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.” – Luther’s Small Catechism

To confess is “to say the same thing” that the LORD has said about you, to use his words to say that you have sinned against the LORD and have fallen short of the purity and holiness he demands of you. What word of the LORD are you to say back to him? “Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?” There’s no need to torture yourself to come up with something truly damning, this simple self-examination will be sufficient to expose your sin and guilt.

However, truly is not your confession that is the most important part. That is only the first part. Confession has two parts. First, that you confess your sins, and second, that you receive absolution, that is forgiveness, from the pastor as from God himself. It is the second part that is of greater importance. In truth, you should confess yours sins in order to hear the absolution, because you know the absolution is already there. If there were no absolution, there would be no reason to confess your sins. No, you confess yours sins before the LORD because you know that he will forgive them, because you know that he has already forgiven them in Jesus.

God was calling Israel to confess through the prophet Hosea: “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words [, my words,] and return to the LORD.” What words were they to take with them? The LORD’s words, his commandments and law which exposed their sin and guilt. They were to confess their sins, to “say the same thing” about themselves and their thoughts, words, and deeds that the LORD in his words, commandments, and law said about them. That was the first part. The second part was that they would receive absolution, that is forgiveness, from the LORD. They were to confess their sins for the sake of receiving the LORD’s absolution. Confession is good for the soul, but absolution is even better!

“Take away all iniquity, accept what is good”; we will no longer put our trust in the strength of foreign nations or the horse or the work of our hands, but we will find mercy in you O LORD. And the LORD said, “I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.” We have turned our face from God; he doesn’t turn his face from his people. Instead, God turns his face from his only-begotten Son who carries the sins of the world. God turns his face away from Jesus who suffers in our place, and the Father turns his face towards you, he hears your confession, and for the sake of Christ, you are absolved. He takes away your iniquity and clothes you with the righteousness of Jesus.

The LORD is ever the Prodigal Father scanning the horizon for his rebellious son to return. Upon seeing him in the distance, the Father runs to him, embraces him, and restores him before the boy can utter the words of his blasphemous offer to work and pay off his debt. The son was looking only to be a servant or a slave, but the Father has made him his son once again. “Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from God Himself.”

But why? Why does the Father forgive his rebellious son? Why does the LORD forgive us, his rebellious sons and daughters. Because God is love. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Christ’s suffering is the proof of God’s love for us.

St. John is often called the Apostle of Love because his Gospel and Epistles expound upon God’s immense love for us in his Son, and the Son’s immense and perfect love for his Father that moved him to sacrifice himself that we should be forgiven and restored to him to live with him forever. In John’s writing he reveals that God is love, that love is sacrifice, and that the greatest love possible is to sacrifice one’s self for another. John 3:16, the “Gospel in a Nutshell,” proclaims that God loved the world in this way: He gave his only Son over to death on the cross so that whoever believes in him need not perish but have everlasting life. It is also in John’s Gospel that we are provided Jesus’ words from the Last Supper, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, so you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, when you have love for one another.” I like to paraphrase Jesus’ words this way: A new commandment I give to you, that you sacrifice yourselves one for another, just as I have sacrificed myself for you, so also are you to sacrifice yourselves one for another. God is love. Love is sacrifice. So, we are to love and sacrifice ourselves for others as God has loved and sacrificed himself for us in Jesus. Christ’s suffering is the proof of God’s love for us.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Christian Funeral for Darla Kay Spier

(Audio)


John 5:24-30; Romans 8:31-39; Job 19:21-27

 

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

In preparation for today, unsurprisingly, I looked back to the message I prepared for Richard’s funeral almost two years ago. I was reminded that Richard was a bit of a homebody, a family man who enjoyed simple things with his family like gardening with his daughters, attending their basketball games, hunting and fishing, but with family, not with large groups of others. In his own quiet, unassuming way Richard showed his love for his family and for Darla, whose ear he would twiddle each morning.

I asked you to share a few things about Darla. Again, unsurprisingly, what you shared with me sounds a lot like, and compliments, what could be said about Richard. Darla enjoyed long bike rides with her dear friend Joyce and her girls, rides that would end with popcorn or Dairy Queen, or at the Wartburg fountain to see the colored lights. Darla enjoyed playing cards with Joyce, for which the girls would provide the “half-time” entertainment performing songs and dances, which always received a standing ovation. And Darla enjoyed the excitement of the casino, the lights, the penny slots, and the thrill of the chase for the jackpot, even if it proved elusive.

I didn’t know Darla very well until Richard died; then I got to know her and some of you as well as we made preparations for Richard’s funeral. However, Darla began to attend services more regularly at St. John after that, particularly those Wednesday afternoons. She told Joyce how much she enjoyed those services. When Darla moved to The Ledges she sometimes attended with Clarence and Rosemary Huck who lived in the same building. I remember a Christmas or two when church members visited The Ledges to sing Christmas carols. Darla was there among the residents gathered in the common room singing along. When Darla was hospitalized back in November, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from Lori to inform me that Darla was in the hospital and that she was asking specifically for me to come. I arrived there shortly thereafter and was able to bring a bit of Christ’s peace and comfort to a rather difficult situation. I know that the days, weeks, and months following were difficult and unpleasant at times. But not every day. Still, you were there for Darla when she needed you, and you helped her and comforted her, just as she had done for you for so many decades and years. That’s what families do. That’s what Christians do.

We all need help at times, even when we don’t realize it. The death of a loved one is always a wake-up call to that reality. Death is the wage we earn for sin. It is unavoidable. We all know it. But when things are going well and we’re relatively comfortable we tend not to think about it. Then, when it happens, it catches us off guard, it shakes us up, like a rude alarm clock going off unexpectedly and way too early. But Christians look at death differently, and so we look at life differently too. We are not like those who have no hope. We know that we have a helper, a God who loves us and is always there for us, even when we go through dark and difficult times, even when it may seem like he is not there at all, yes, even when it may seem like he is the one permitting our affliction, or the one causing our affliction.

That is because our hope is not in ourselves – if it were, it would be shaky and uncertain, like our emotions which are up and then down and then up again, often within the matter of a day or an hour. No, our hope is not in ourselves, but our hope is in something, someone outside of us. Our hope is in our LORD who made us, who gave us life, who provides everything we need for our bodies and lives, and who has purchased us from sin, death, and the devil, and who has himself died for us and defeated death for us.

That’s why we focus on the things that God has done for us at a time like this, the things that God has done for Darla throughout her eighty-two years lived in his grace. God claimed Darla and named her as his own child in Holy Baptism. He created faith in her heart and nurtured and protected her in faith throughout her life. He brought her to confess that faith in her Confirmation and in her vocations as wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and more. God was with Richard and Darla throughout their married life as they raised their daughters in the faith, who in turn have raised their own sons and daughters in the faith.

The passages of Scripture we heard a moment ago each speak to the confidence, certainty, and hope we have in our God who loves us, who is faithful and unchanging, and who will never fail us. God permitted Satan to afflict the Old Testament Patriarch Job terribly. Because Job’s faith was in the LORD, and not in himself, even in the midst of severe affliction, suffering, and temptation, Job remained hopeful, even confessing his faith in a Redeemer and in the resurrection of his own flesh and blood body over two thousand years before the birth of Jesus saying, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”

Two thousand years later St. Paul expressed this very same confidence grounded in God’s promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ saying, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against 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 separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? […] 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.”

Our Lord Jesus, Job’s Redeemer and Paul’s confidence, our Redeemer and our confidence, confirmed our faith in the Gospel saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” What is so wonderfully comforting and hope-inducing about these words is that hope for life and resurrection is not merely some future hope, but it’s a right now, every day of our life hope that can carry us through dark and difficult times like now. When I hear about the lives of God’s children, like Richard and Darla, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness, how he is always with us even as the shadow at our right hand. He is with us in times of prosperity and joy, and he is with us in times of want and sorrow. Blessed are those who remember this and find comfort and hope and peace and joy and courage and confidence in the never-failing truth that God is for us, always, and that nothing can separate us from his love in Jesus Christ.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Laetare - The Fourth Sunday in Lent (Lent 4)

(Audio)


John 6:1-15; Galatians 4:21-31; Exodus 16:2-21

 

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

The large crowd that followed Jesus across the waters of the Sea of Galilee because of the signs and the wonders He performed on the sick were not so unlike the children of Israel who followed Moses and Aaron out of Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea. They were the ecclesia, the assembly of those who had been called by the Spirit through Holy Baptism; they were the Church. And, now they were in trouble. They were in the wilderness, just like Jesus after His Baptism, far from the villages and the cities, having only meager provisions that would feed but a few people for but one meal. Moreover, it was the Passover, and they were not prepared to celebrate the Feast. Jesus’ disciples remembered all too well how the Israelites responded to their situation when they were filled with fear and despair. They picked up stones to throw at Moses and Aaron. And, so, they, too, despaired when their Lord questioned them saying, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

Our little ecclesia today is in similar trouble. We are in a cultural wilderness with only meager provisions, and we are tempted to despair that we will be able to survive. As the children of Israel in the wilderness, and as the large crowd across the Sea of Galilee, we too, are being tested: Will we look only to our meager provisions and despair? Or, will we trust in the LORD, who is truly all that we need? Do not be afraid. We were baptized for this. For, our Lord, who resisted Satan’s temptations by trusting in the Word of God, is able to sustain us even as He satisfied over five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two small fish.

The first thing we have to do is stop doing and just sit down and listen to our Lord and His Word. Jesus had the people sit down in the grass, and then He commanded His disciples, His pastors, to feed them. What they held in their hands looked just as foolish, weak, and impossible as what I hold in my hands each and every Sunday in this Divine Service – only enough for each to get a little, certainly not enough to satisfy. And, yet, even a crumb from this, your Master’s table, bestows His forgiveness of your sins, eternal life, and salvation! And, how much more than crumbs does He provide for you each and every day of your life? Jesus “took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.” Who’s doing the work here? And, who’s doing the receiving. That’s right. That’s why you come to Church, to be served by the Lord.

The Lord needs nothing from you, but you need everything from Him. Still, He loves the sacrifices that you bring, not bread and wine, and certainly not your time, talent, and treasures – these are already His, and they are His gifts to you – but He loves the sacrifice you bring of a broken and contrite heart, a broken spirit, the sacrifice of your body and your self, a living sacrifice. Indeed, the highest worship of God is to receive His gifts, just like the Israelites in the wilderness, just like the five thousand and the four thousand in the wilderness, and just like the disciples at the Last Supper in the upper room – so, here, in the Church do you receive His gifts and worship and glorify Him in receiving them.

Ironically, it’s hard for us to live in freedom. It’s hard for us to live in grace. Why is that? Because of our sinful flesh. Our flesh wants to do for itself and take credit for its self-providence and self-righteousness. That’s why we secretly crave the Law and seek to submit ourselves to the Law again and again. Because, the Law is clear and precise, it’s knowable, certain, and unchanging. Of course, the Law is impossible for us to do and to fulfill on our own, but our flesh is nothing if not prideful, confident, and self-righteous. After the LORD delivered the children of Israel out of bondage and slavery in Egypt, quickly they grumbled and were anxious about food. They were ready to submit to slavery in Egypt once again in exchange for the certainty of three square meals per day. And, we do the same. For the sake of comfort, or a sense of security, we readily forsake our freedoms. Moreover, spiritually, we act more like the children of the slave woman, Hagar, than like the children of the free woman, Sarah, the children of promise.

You see, anxiety and fear are a very real kind of spiritual slavery. And, worse, they are the fruit of unbelief, mistrust, and a heart turned inward upon itself. These keep us focused inward upon ourselves and our needs, and our inability to meet our needs, instead of upon the LORD and His Word and Promise to provide us all that we need to support our bodies and our lives. He provides us daily bread – that is, literally, bread for one day: today. We are not to worry about tomorrow. If tomorrow comes, the Lord will provide what is needed for that day as well. That is the lesson of the manna in the wilderness. The children of Israel were to gather only enough manna to feed their family for one day. If they gathered more than they needed, it spoiled; and, if they gathered less, by some chance, they found that everyone still ate and was satisfied. The LORD was teaching His children that He knew their needs, and that He loved them and would provide for them what they needed, even if that was sometimes not what they believed that they needed, or wanted. And, so, our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day, our daily bread.” Literally, we pray, “Give us our bread, our manna, for the day.” If tomorrow comes, by the grace of our LORD, we’ll pray for daily bread again, and each and every day we are blessed to live in His grace.

Daily bread is grace and freedom. It’s only uncomfortable if you do not trust and believe. Then your fear, love, and trust will be captive to slavery under the Law, a slavery of anxiety, worry, and unrest. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. Jesus is the Bread of Life of which a man may eat and live. And, Jesus is the Word of the Law fulfilled. Thus, those five loaves of bread represent the five books of the Law written by Moses. Jesus took them and fulfilled them, and His disciples gathered twelve baskets full of leftovers after all had eaten and were satisfied. For, the Law finds its goal and fulfillment in Jesus Christ, whose people continue steadfastly in the doctrine and fellowship of the twelve apostles, and in the breaking and receiving of the Bread of Life, which is the body of Christ together with His precious blood, and in the prayers, the liturgy of Christ’s Church.

And yet, we look at our world and our culture, and we look at our meager provisions, and we begin to fear, and panic, and despair. We look longingly at the fleshpots of Egypt, and wind up submitting to slavery under fear and anxiety, submitting ourselves to the judgment and condemnation of the Law rather than living in the freedom of grace and the Gospel. What are the fleshpots of Egypt for us today? Well, there is the temptation to not trust in the LORD to provide for His Church through Word and Sacrament, and to think that we must devise some new program, some new marketing campaign, some new form of worship, some new outreach scheme, or whatever else, in order to attract new admission paying customers to our little sinking ship. There is also the temptation to compromise and soften the Word of God to make it more palatable to our world and culture, particularly when it comes to those hot-button topics like life, sexuality, and marriage. But, all of these temptations are temptations to submit ourselves once again to slavery under the Law, to be the children of the slave woman, Hagar, for, they are responses motivated by fear and anxiety and worry, not by faith, and love, and trust in God. They are the temptation to believe that we have to do something, because whatever God is doing isn’t working.

No, we are not the children of the slave woman, Hagar, but we are the children of the free woman, Sarah, children of promise. We live under grace and the Gospel, not under the Law. Yes, because of the weakness of our sinful flesh, grace and freedom can be frightening. Do not be afraid. Fear, love, and trust in the LORD. The LORD knows what we need – the LORD knows what you need – and He graciously provides you everything you need for your body and life. Therefore, set your hearts and minds on the spiritual things, and let God take care of everything else. But, first, stop doing, and sit down and listen. Eat and drink and be filled and forgiven with the overflowing life of Jesus. The LORD receives us as His children and provides for all our needs of body and soul. May we heartily acknowledge His merciful goodness, give thanks for all His benefits, and serve Him in willing obedience.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Lenten Vespers in the Week of Oculi (Lent 3)

(Audio)


Mark 14:26-50; Acts 4:23-31; Zechariah 13:1-9; Psalm 22

 

God Himself Punished Christ

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

Last week we heard from the Prophet Isaiah, “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.” Three times Jesus prayed to his Father that there might be some other way, but he ended each prayer with the words, “Your will be done, not mine”; then Jesus went to the cross, suffered, and died. Tonight, you heard from the Prophet Zechariah, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” The “I” is the Father; the “shepherd” is his Son, Jesus. We are the “sheep.” “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.” God himself punished Christ for our sins.

Jesus had just celebrated his final Passover with his disciples. It was a somber setting, but not morose. During the long meal it was customary for a rabbi to teach concerning the meaning of the Passover and the Exodus. That is precisely what Jesus did. While Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and St. Paul in 1 Corinthians, provide us Jesus’ words over the bread and the wine, it is St. John who provides us five chapters of Jesus’ teaching from that Last Supper.

Jesus began by washing the disciple’s feet, teaching them to love selflessly and sacrificially. He came and died to make us clean, and we can only be clean if he washes us in his blood. He gave them a new commandment, which was really the only commandment, the First Commandment, to love God, which bears the fruit of love for the neighbor. By this, all the world will know that we are his disciples, when we have love for one another. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, and he warned them that the world would hate them just as it had hated him. The Holy Spirit would counsel them and comfort them, and he would guide them in the way of Jesus and protect and strengthen them as they face suffering, persecution, and temptation. Jesus ended his teaching with a high priestly prayer that he and his disciples would be one, as he and the Father are one. Then they journeyed across the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed that there might be some other way, but that the Father’s will be done. “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.” God himself punished Christ for our sins.

As they were journeying to Gethsemane, Jesus continued his teaching saying, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered’.” He was quoting the Prophet Zechariah. Indeed, that night Judas betrayed Jesus in the Garden with a kiss, Jesus was arrested by the Temple Guard, and his disciples fled and were scattered. Throughout that long night Jesus was tried by the High Priest, Pontius Pilate, King Herod, and Pilate again who finally washed his hands of the affair and handed him over to be crucified. And yet, Zechariah’s prophecy was not Law but Gospel. The LORD promised to send his Shepherd to redeem his people. How would the LORD’s shepherd redeem his people? He would strike his shepherd; he would crush him. The LORD promised, “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” That fountain poured forth from Jesus’ pierced side in death upon the cross; Jesus’ blood has washed away the sin the of the world to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

“It was the will of the LORD to crush him.” The Scriptures had to be fulfilled. God himself punished Christ for our sins. The Apostles confessed this saying, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed – for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

And yet, Jesus’ will was in complete agreement and submission with the will of his Father. Jesus Christ possesses two perfect wills, a divine will and a human will. While his divine will is the same as his Father’s, Jesus’ human will is both human and perfect. In his humanity, Jesus willingly and obediently submitted to his Father’s will that he suffer and die for the sins of humankind. Paul Gerhardt captures this well in our hymn “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth”: “Yes, Father, yes, most willingly I’ll bear what you command me. My will conforms to your decree, I’ll do what you have asked me.” Jesus even said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me,” and “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.” God himself punished Christ for our sins. As in all things so also in his Passion our Lord Jesus gladly and willingly submitted to his Father’s will. He became obedient unto death on the cross because he wanted to pay for our sins. Thus we rightly sing of Jesus, “He bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies, the mockery, and yet replies, ‘All this I gladly suffer’.”

God himself punished Christ for our sins. This was his plan of salvation before the foundation of the world. Thus did St. John describe Jesus in the Revelation as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Yes, this is a holy mystery that is beyond the scope of our reason and can only be apprehended in faith, but it is a source of great comfort, peace, and hope that, even with all the human hands involved, going back to Adam and Eve in the beginning, it was always God’s hand at work, doing what God’s plan had predestined to take place.

To confess that God himself was responsible for all that happened to Christ in his suffering is ultimately for our comfort. For nothing, not even his own suffering and death, was outside of Jesus’ control. He testified, “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” Though it was at the hands of both Jews and Gentiles alike, it was ultimately God’s hand which struck down his Son, according to his eternal divine purpose for our everlasting salvation.

We praise you, O God, for you have loved us from eternity and so planned for our salvation from the foundation of the world.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Oculi - The Third Sunday in Lent (Lent 3)

(Audio)


Luke 11:14-28; Ephesians 5:1-9; Exodus 8:16-24

 

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

As Jesus was about to set His face to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die for the sins of the world, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They responded with a myriad of answers ranging from John the Baptist, to Elijah, to one of the prophets. Then Jesus asked them, “What about you? Who do you say that I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), the Son of the Living God.”

In his classic apologetic for the Christian faith, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis tackled this important question, “Who is Jesus?” Lewis wrote that there are three possible answers to the question – Either Jesus is a liar, or He is a lunatic, or He is who He says He is, and He is telling the truth.

This question, “Who is Jesus?” is part of what is going on in the first part of today’s Gospel Lesson from St. Luke. Jesus had cast out a demon from a man that had kept the man from speaking. The crowd watching was amazed, and they marveled at this miracle. But then the questions came, “Who is this Jesus?” “From where does He get His power?” Some accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan. Others demanded that He provide them a sign from heaven before they would believe Him. But Jesus Himself claimed that He cast out demons by the “finger of God”, the Holy Spirit. So, either Jesus is a demon possessed lunatic, or He is a liar, or He is who He says He is, and He is telling the truth.

Isaiah prophesied “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) The good work that Jesus performed in casting out an evil demon is called by some in the crowd an evil deed itself! But Jesus refutes this attack by stating that evil does not cast out evil, for a house divided against itself cannot stand. Yet, the second group also calls Jesus’ actions evil, demanding a sign to prove that He is not a liar. No, the demons flee at the command of the finger of God, for, in Jesus, the kingdom of God has come and is present.

The power of Satan is strong, and on our own we have no defense against him. But Jesus is stronger than Satan. He takes the devil’s armor of sin and death and destroys them from the inside out by the holy cross. He exorcizes and frees us by water and the Word. We were once darkness, but now we are light in Christ the Lord.

Oh, what pitiable, half-hearted, milquetoast, fence-straddlers we are. We think we can have our cake and eat it too. We have had our demonic original sin cast out of us in the cleansing flood of Holy Baptism. We renounced Satan and all his works and all his ways. The demons fled from that Holy Water, cast out, searching for dry and barren habitations. But how quickly the flood waters have receded, and we have returned to our casual and unconcerned way of life, thinking that compromising our faith to avoid the worldly scorn of others does not matter. We think that a little sin won’t hurt. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. We hear the Word of the Lord, but we do not keep it. Often, we act as if we cannot stand it. Do we believe that we are saved, and we need not worry about the forces of evil, that we are freed from sin only to keep on sinning?

The demon is gone, for now, but he will come back, and he will bring others, more evil than himself, with him next time. The only way to keep him out is to have the house of your soul occupied by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit does not and cannot abide with sin. “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” If you are not with the Lord, then you are against Him. There is no fence-straddling. There is no middle ground. You cannot be a little bit sinful or a little bit holy any more than a woman can be a little bit pregnant. Only blessed are those who hear the Word of the God and keep it.

For you, this is impossible, but for God all things are possible. Apart from the Holy Spirit, you are a sinner, and you will continue to sin, you are not holy. But the Stronger Man Jesus Christ has defeated the strong man Satan for you and has stripped him of his strong armor. He has poured into you in the Baptismal flood and in faith the Holy Spirit. Though He will not share you with sin and devils, He will defend you from them. And when you sin, He calls you to repent that you may be forgiven and restored in the innocent, shed blood of the One stronger than Satan, Jesus Christ. For, to keep the Word of God is to cling to it in the face of temptation, to trust in it in humble and contrite repentance, and to give thanks for it in love, and praise, and service.

Even now you are invited to keep God’s Word in Sabbath rest as He feeds you, forgives you, and strengthens you as you eat and drink the body and blood of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Today, your Lord stands ready to forgive and renew you by the Spirit of God, the Spirit who drives out the demons as the finger of God and strengthens people for bold, uncompromising witness to Jesus Christ. He Himself wishes to take up residence within you through His Holy Body and Blood, once offered for you as that "fragrant and sweet-smelling sacrifice to God."

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Lenten Vespers in the Week of Reminiscere (Lent 2)

(Audio)


John 3:13-21; Galatians 3:10-14; Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12; Psalm 103

 

Christ’s Suffering as Payment and Sacrifice for Sin

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

There is truly only one commandment, the First Commandment: You shall have no other gods. To obey this commandment, to have the LORD as your first and only God, is to be blessed. To disobey this commandment is to be cursed. And to be cursed is to die, temporally and eternally. There is no other possibility, and no other possible outcome. You are either with the LORD and so are blessed, or you are against the LORD and so are cursed. When our First Parents rebelled against the LORD and disobeyed, they became cursed, just as the LORD had said, and their progeny and all creation along with them. There was no other possibility. The curse is death. The wages of sin is always and only death, spiritual death now, physical death still to come, and it would have been forever if not for Jesus.

Make no mistake, Jesus became a man because of the curse; Jesus became the curse for us, in our place. The wages of sin is always and only death, and cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. In Christ crucified we see both the will of the Father and the love and obedience of the Son. “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.” When God the Father commanded his Son to humble himself to become a man, to suffer mockery, ridicule, spitting, scourging, crucifixion, and death at the hands of men, and the wrath and forsakenness of the Father, he wasn’t kidding. That is what it would take, and nothing less, the death of the Son of God, the death of God himself. Man, humankind, had committed the sin, had made himself subject to death; for man to die would merely pay the debt that was owed and would gain nothing. No, if man was to live, then God must die. God cannot die, but God become man can suffer and die, and that was the will of the Father for his Son. “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.”

In the catechism, concerning the second article of the Apostles’ Creed, we speak of Jesus’ humiliation: “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.” All this Jesus did willingly and obediently out of love for his Father. But it was humiliation, and it was suffering of the greatest intensity physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The cost of our redemption was impossibly high. Nothing less than the death of God himself could satisfy it. “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.”

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” “For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 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.”

Yes, becoming man was part of Jesus’ humiliation. Everything about his conception, birth, life, suffering, death, even his resurrection, was scandalous to our fallen reason, our misconceptions about virtue and glory, our denial of the seriousness of our sin and God’s wrath against it. And so, men rejected him. There was nothing special about the carpenter’s son from backwater Nazareth. Nothing to see here, move along. And when he was arrested, tried, scourged, mocked, and crucified, they concluded that he was only getting what he deserved from God and from men. They accused God of being a sinner. They accused God of being a blasphemer, when it was for they, when it was for we and our sins for which this happened, for which he was born, for which he suffered and died. Christ became cursed for us. Christ became our curse. “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”

It was by a tree in the Garden that our Enemy first overcame us. So, it was by the tree of Jesus’ suffering, shame, and death that our Enemy was overcome. This is how God so loved the world: He gave his only Son over to suffering, shame, and death upon the cross. St. John compares this to Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness. There, as in the Garden, and still today, there is truly only one commandment, the First Commandment: You shall have no other gods. In the wilderness, the children of Israel feared the Edomites more than they feared, loved, and trusted in the LORD and his promise to provide for them and protect them. Therefore, the LORD sent poisonous serpents to bite them, and many of the Israelites died. They cried out to the LORD that he should take away the snakes. The LORD did not take away the snakes, but he commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and raise it up on a pole that anyone bitten might look upon the snake and live. The snakes still bit, but the LORD provided a way that those bitten need not die. No one wanted to look at a snake on a pole; it seemed absurd, ridiculous, pointless, offensive. But it wasn’t about the snake, or the pole, but it was about the Word of the LORD, his promise, his command, and their fear, love, trust, and obedience. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so was the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, lifted up on the tree of the cross “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” “It was the will of the LORD to crush him.” Jesus became the curse for us that has set us free.

After their forty years wandering in the wilderness because of the rebellion, disobedience, and sins of their fathers, the children of Israel stood on the banks of the Jordan about to enter the promised land of Canaan. Moses set before the people once again the First Commandment: “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.” Truly there is only one commandment: You shall have no other gods. To obey this commandment is to have the LORD as your first and only God and to be blessed. To disobey this commandment is to be cursed. Jesus became the curse for us, in our place. God has poured out all his wrath against our sin upon him. It is finished; there is nothing left.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Reminiscere - The Second Sunday in Lent (Lent 2)

(Audio)


Matthew 15:21-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7; Genesis 32:22-32

 

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

“Lord, how wonderfully You associate with Your own. You struggle with them not to conquer them but to be conquered.” Those words begin a prayer of C.F.W. Walther, the first President of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and of the synod’s first seminary. Indeed, the patriarch Jacob wrestled and struggled with God all through the night and overcame Him. Thus, the LORD changed Jacob’s name to Israel, which means one who has striven with God and has prevailed. The LORD blessed Jacob because Jacob would not let go of Him, even when the LORD Himself seemed to be against him, to be fighting with him, and even when the LORD caused Him to suffer. Indeed, Jacob walked away from that encounter with God blessed, but He also walked away permanently changed, permanently wounded and limping from the struggle.

Similarly, St. Paul complained of a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan he called it (!), with which the LORD afflicted him. Three times did Paul plead with the LORD that He might remove the thorn, but the LORD answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” – yes, in your weakness. So also, there was a man who was born blind. Jesus’ disciples asked of Him, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered them, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” And, who can forget the answer the LORD gave to Job concerning why he had to suffer so immensely? – Effectively, it was that God’s righteousness might be revealed. Truly, the LORD struggles with those He loves, He wrestles with them, He pins them down and permits them, He even causes them, to suffer, not to conquer them, but that they may conquer Him and receive His blessing.

Last Sunday we heard of the great battle between Satan and the Son of God, Jesus, and of how Jesus overcame Satan by the Word of the LORD, though He suffered mightily; He was hungry, and He was physically and emotionally weak. This Sunday we hear of Jacob’s wrestling bout with God and how the LORD wounded Jacob even as He blessed him, and also about a Gentile woman whom Jesus at first ignores and calls a dog, but who refuses to relent, accepts Jesus’ chides, and, refusing to let go and give up, is ultimately blessed and praised by Him for her great faith. Sometimes God is for you even when He seems to be against you. Truly, the LORD is always for you, but the LORD’s ways are not your ways, His thoughts are not your thoughts, and the foolishness of the LORD is wiser than your wisdom. “Oh, teach us today from Your Word,” Walther continues in his prayer, “how to struggle with You and conquer, that You can also someday gloriously crown and lead us into Your eternal kingdom.”

As Jesus arose from the waters of His baptism, only to be thrown into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, so too, upon your baptism, have you gained a relentless enemy who ceaselessly seeks to destroy and to devour you. The Canaanite woman was one of those heathen whom the LORD had instructed Joshua and the Israelites to destroy when they entered the Promised Land. Because they disobeyed the LORD and did not destroy the Canaanite women and children, in time they intermarried with them and they adopted the Canaanite gods, and fell into apostasy and the sorry, cyclical history of judgment, repentance, restoration, and apostasy again and again which comprises the bulk of the Old Testament Scriptures. However, this particular Canaanite woman was a believer of a sort. Seemingly, through the hearing of the Law and the Prophets, the Holy Spirit had created faith in her heart. And, for her faith, what did she receive, but ridicule and mockery from her countrymen, hatred and despising from the Jews and Jesus’ disciples, a demon-possessed daughter, and rejection and chiding from the Son of God Himself. As soon as faith is kindled and begins to burn and glow, Satan furiously seeks to stamp it out and destroy it. Indeed, God Himself begins to wrestle with you and pin you down and wound you that His power may be made perfect in your weakness.

For, it is not only Satan’s attacks upon us with which we struggle, but often God Himself struggles, wrestles, and strives with us, as He did with Job, and Jacob, and David, with Paul, and even with Jesus on the cross. Truly, as St. Luke records in The Acts of the Apostles, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Tribulations are good for you, for they drive you into more fervent and stronger faith, dependence, and trust in the LORD alone. Indeed, when you are at your weakest, God’s power is made manifest. Job’s trust was not destroyed, though God permitted Satan to reduce him to dust and ashes. Jacob’s faith was not crushed, but he held on to the LORD even when He afflicted him and sent him away limping in pain. David’s dependence upon God was increased as he faced seemingly insurmountable enemies and trials. And, St. Paul’s thorn in the flesh was not removed, despite his pleas and prayers, even as he received the LORD’s grace to persevere and flourish in fruitful works and deeds.

We do not know exactly what the Canaanite woman believed about Jesus. The Canaanites were heterodox at best. They worshipped Baal and a host of other gods, and undoubtedly mixed a little bit of the Jewish religion in with their pantheon of gods. Nonetheless, she addressed Jesus by the Messianic title Son of David, which she had to have heard from the Law and the Prophets. Regardless of what she understood and the likely heterodoxy of her faith, it is clear that she believed that Jesus could help her, that He could exorcise the demon that oppressed her daughter. “Everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.”

We shouldn’t be surprised that there was demonic oppression and possession in Canaan, for Satan flourishes in lands and cultures where the LORD is not honored and His Commandments are not obeyed. Truly, there are no other gods, but all idolatry is the worship of demons. Foolishly does our own nation and culture believe that Satan and demons are not real, because we are an enlightened, scientific, and materialistic people. Indeed, we have fallen for the devil’s greatest deception, believing that he doesn’t exist. No, Satan and his demons are running rampant among us, perhaps even more so than in first century Canaan, for the devil does not need to make himself visible and obvious in a culture that so blindly immerses itself in all that is profane and immoral, hedonistic, wicked, and just plain evil. Today, people in our nation routinely call evil good and good evil. Demonic infestation, oppression, and possession are all too real and are regularly experienced even by Christians in their homes, churches, relations, and lives.

Why then did Jesus ignore, shun, and insult this woman of faith? Not to conquer her, but that He Himself might be conquered by her. Jesus put it another way elsewhere saying, “to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” The Canaanite woman had faith, faith that clung to Jesus even when He seemed to be against her. In fact, the more Jesus rejected her and chided her, the tighter she clung to Him, the more fervently she pleaded with Him, “Lord, have mercy on me!” “Lord, help me!” She would not let Jesus go until He blessed her. Truly, this Canaanite woman was also Israel, one who has striven with God and has prevailed. The Canaanite woman had faith, even if it was small and heterodox faith. Because she had faith, Jesus wrestled and struggled with her and even wounded her, and then He gave her even more faith, and He gave her what she pleaded for – He exorcised the demon from her daughter and He healed her saying, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” “To the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Faith trusts that what God ordains is always good, even when it seems to be bad, even when it seems like God has abandoned you, is not listening, doesn’t care, or seems to be the one who is afflicting you. “What God ordains is always good: He never will deceive me; He leads me in His righteous way, and never will He leave me. I take content what He has sent; His hand that sends me sadness will turn my tears to gladness.” “What God ordains is always good: His loving thought attends me; No poison can be in the cup that my physician sends me. My God is true; each morning new I trust His grace unending, my life to Him commending.” “What God Ordains is always good: Though I the cup am drinking which savors now of bitterness, I take it without shrinking. For after grief God gives relief, my heart with comfort filling and all my sorrow stilling.”

And so, God’s Word for you today is about faith and prayer: Faith that clings to the LORD come what may, and prayer that never wavers, even when it seems to go unanswered, or that God Himself is against you. Prayer is good for you, always. You don’t pray to get what you want. You don’t pray to change God’s mind. But, you pray because prayer is good for you. It’s a First Commandment thing. It is good for you to have no other gods but the LORD. You pray that God might change you, and He will, and He does. God will change you, God is changing you, through sorrow and suffering, through trial and tribulation, and ultimately through death – God is changing you back into the image in which He first made you, His image, the image of Jesus who is the express image and icon of God. Day by day, year by year, bit by bit, blow by blow, trial after trial, tribulation after tribulation – The LORD is chiseling you, carving you, shaping you, pruning you, forming you back into His image. It is a good thing! The LORD struggles with you, not to conquer you, but that He may be conquered by you. The LORD teaches you this day from His Word how to struggle with Him and conquer, that You may also one day, in His way, and in His time, be gloriously crowned and lead into His eternal kingdom. But a crumb from His table bestows forgiveness and life, and yet He gives loaves to those who trust in Him and do not let go. Come and eat the children’s bread from the Master’s table. Come and drink His precious blood of forgiveness and live. Let this be your desire. And, it will be done for you as you believe.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Lenten Vespers In the Week of Invocabit (Lent 1)

(Audio)


John 6:35-40; Romans 5:1-21; Isaiah 50:5-10; Psalm 16

 

The Obedience of Christ for Our Righteousness

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

Everything Jesus did, he did for you; he did it as you, in your place. Jesus was conceived and born for you. Jesus was circumcised for you. Jesus was redeemed with the sacrifice of two turtledoves for you. Jesus was baptized for you. Jesus was tempted by the devil and overcame him in the wilderness by the Word of God for you. Jesus was mocked, ridiculed, and spat upon for you. Jesus was flogged, whipped, scourged, and was crucified for you. Jesus died for you. Jesus rested in the tomb on the Sabbath for you. On the third day Jesus rose from death for you. Forty days later, Jesus ascended to the right hand of his Father in heaven for you.

However, when I say that Jesus did all this for you, what I truly mean is that he did it for you because his Father demands this of you, and you are incapable of doing it yourself. You were conceived and born in sin, corrupted by enslaving concupiscence so that any good work you want to do comes out corrupted as filthy rags. You are a skeleton in the valley of dry bones of Ezekiel’s vision, dry, lifeless, dead. You are Lazarus dead in his tomb four days, you stinketh. There is no help, no hope for you within yourself. If there is any help or hope for you it is going to have to come from outside of you, from God himself. Yet, God is love, and God loves you in this way: He gave his only-begotten Son over to suffering and death for you. And the Son went willingly out of love and obedience to his Father. The obedience of Christ has obtained your righteousness, which you receive as a free gift of God’s grace through faith, which he has created within you. Your justification and righteousness is all God’s doing, pure grace, which you receive by faith, which is also God’s doing.

Paul Gerhardt captures this dynamic in a conversation between God the Father and God the Son in his hymn “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth.” “Go forth, My Son,” the Father said, “And free my children from their dread of guilt and condemnation. The wrath and stripes are hard to bear, but by your passion they will share the fruit of your salvation.” Jesus replies to his Father’s command saying “Yes, Father, yes, most willingly I’ll bear what you command me. My will conforms to your decree, I’ll do what you have asked me.”

We hear the same in prophecy in our reading from Isaiah which is known as the Third Suffering Servant Song. The Messiah says, “The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. I gave my back to these who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” “Yes, Father, yes, most willingly I’ll bear what you command me.” Jesus suffered all this for you. We hear still more in Isaiah’s Fourth Suffering Servant Song: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Why would Jesus do this? You must resist the strong Christian sentimentalism that enjoys believing that Jesus suffered all of this out of love for you. While it is true that Jesus loves you, it was truly out of obedience and selfless love for his Father that he laid down his life. It was the Father’s love for you, not Jesus’ love, that moved him to sacrifice his only-begotten Son. God the Father was moved by love for you; God the Son was moved by love for his Father who loves you so much that he gave his Son. Perhaps you think I’m splitting hairs or making much about little. And yet, the Scriptures are clear that God acted, not because of who you are, but because of who he is, so that, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will,” says Jesus, “but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Why would Jesus do this? Yes, there is more to the story. Jesus also feared, loved, and trusted his Father above all things. That is to say that, even though it meant excruciating suffering and death for him, because it was the Father’s will it was just and good. The Messiah confesses his faith in his Father saying, “But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.” Because of his fear, love, and trust in his Father, Jesus was steadfast and resolute even in the face of intense suffering and death. Three times Jesus prayed in Gethsemane that there might be some other way, that he might not drink the cup of God’s wrath that was prepared for him. Still, Jesus ended each prayer with the words, “Not my will, but your will be done.” And Jesus faced and endured the cross the Father laid upon him, for “it was the Father’s will to crush him” for you.

We can draw strength from Jesus’ fear, love, and trust in the face of suffering and as we bear the crosses the Father has laid upon us. “Not only that,” St. Paul writes, “but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been give to us.” And our Lord Jesus also encourages us saying, “He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty?”

Everything Jesus did, he did for you; he did it as you, in your place. The obedience of Christ has obtained your righteousness. “Since, therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.