Christian Funeral for William John "Bill" Clemen

(Audio)

John 14:1-6; Romans 5:1-11; Isaiah 43:1-3a, 25

 

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

Some men will tell you that they love you. Other men will show you that they love you. Bill was the latter sort of man. It was rare that you would hear him say it – in fact, it was rare that Bill would say anything at all – but Bill showed you that he loved you in numerous ways, typically without words. If you needed help with anything mechanical or electrical, around the house, the farm, the garage, or whatever, Bill was your man. If he didn’t know how to fix it, he would find a way, nonetheless. He would help you, no matter what, because he loved you. Likewise, if you were taking a shower, Bill might turn on the hot water in the kitchen so that your shower went cold, or he might steal your bread right off your plate just after you finished buttering it because he loved you, and that was how he showed you that he loved you. Let’s face it, Bill was ornery. You could see it in his smile and in that glimmer in his eye. Bill was ornery, and Bill loved you.

Bill was a regular jack-of-all-trades and a Mr. Fix-It. There wasn’t anything broken he couldn’t fix, and there wasn’t anything that wasn’t broken that he couldn’t make better. He rigged ladders and tractors and pulleys and loaders and cherry-pickers and more so that he could do the job himself. He installed his own solar panels and even managed to lift, turn, and reposition a roof all by himself. He had a brilliant mind for engineering and regularly pushed things beyond what they were designed to do. Once he built a magnificent horse trailer, only the measurements were wrong, and it was too big to get out of the garage. Together Barb and Bill flipped homes, before it was called that. They lived in the homes, fixed them up, and then sold them for a profit. They did all the remodeling together; Barb was the interior decorator and Bill figured out how to do it. However, he did put the wrong spray on the lawn and killed it. Hey, nobody’s perfect, right?

Bill didn’t have to tell you that he loved you. You knew that he loved you. You could see his love in his ornery smile. You could see his love in his playful pranks and jokes. And you could see his love in the way he would help you with absolutely anything at any time. Bill didn’t talk about his love for you, he lived it, just like Jesus taught: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Bill also showed his love in service of his nation and its citizens in the United States Army. Bill served in the Korean War, near the front lines of the DMZ and the fiercest battles of that bloody war. When visiting the Korean War Memorial on an Honor Flight to our nation’s capital, Bill looked on silently for a few minutes and when he finally spoke, he said, “A lot of boys lost their lives. I gotta go,” and that’s all he had to say about that. Bill was a lifelong member of the V.F.W. where he drank beer with other veterans. A lot of boys lost their lives. Those veterans didn’t. That’s something to drink to, remember, and to love.

Bill was an honest and trustworthy man. Bill owned and operated Shell Rock Ford for twenty-one years where he stood behind his product, and he kept his word. His motto was, “If I can’t make it right then Ford will.” Honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity are rare and treasured values, particularly in a small town in Iowa. Even the hint of impropriety will spread like wildfire through dry grass. Bill had a good reputation in Shell Rock and beyond. He was a man of few words, but you knew you could trust him and that he would stand behind his word and promise.

Now, I’ve talked quite a bit about Bill so far. Everything I’ve said you already know. Maybe you are surprised that I’ve focused so much on Bill and his life and have said precious little about our God and our Savior Jesus Christ. I would beg to differ. Bill was baptized into Jesus Christ on January 14, 1933, just nine days after his birth. On that day Bill was born again of water and the Word. God the Father claimed and named Bill his own child, washed him in the blood of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, forgiving his sins, and blessed him with His own Holy Spirit to guide, protect, and to make Bill alive and fruitful with His spiritual fruits and good works all his life until February 25, 2022, the day the LORD called Bill home to rest in His love and peace.

Being a Christian is not so much about what you do as it is about what God has done for you and to you and ultimately through you in service of others. So, yes, what you do is extremely important, but that is because what you do is the result of, the fruit of, what has been done for you and to you, and now through you. In other words, all those good and loving things Bill did for others were the fruit of what God had done and was doing for Bill throughout the eighty-nine years of his long life. In his own quiet and often ornery way, Bill exhibited the love of God in Jesus Christ for you and for all in his life and deeds, if not in all too many words.

The kind of love Bill exhibited is called agape. Agape is a selfless and sacrificial love that thinks more of others than the self. Agape is the love that God is and has for the life of the world, the love He poured out in the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ for Bill, and for you and me, and for all the world. In that love, God called Bill by name in Holy Baptism so long ago and promised Bill, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. […] I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” While we were still sinners, Christ died for Bill, for you and for me, and for all the world, for God so loved the world in this way – He gave His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Because of God’s love in Jesus our hearts need not be troubled. Jesus ascended to the right hand of His Father in heaven to prepare a place for Bill in His many-roomed mansion. Because of God’s love in Jesus, Bill is there right now. Because of God’s love in Jesus, there is a place for you in heaven as well. Do you know the way? Follow Bill, who trusted in Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the only way to the Father. Good works will not get you there. Church attendance will not get you there. Only faith, faith in Jesus will get you there. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Quinquagesima

(Audio)

Luke 18:31-43; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; 1 Samuel 16:1-13

 

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

The cross of Jesus Christ is a scandal and a stumbling block for you. However, you should know that it is also a scandal and stumbling block for me, and for every Christian preacher and believer, and for unbelievers as well. For, when it comes to Christ crucified, your eyes are blind, even though you see. When it comes to Christ crucified, your reason and your wisdom, your stolen knowledge of good and evil, these get in the way, they cannot understand, and they reject the only means of your salvation.

In our Gospel reading this morning, Jesus was about to lead His disciples up to Jerusalem and to His cross. You, Christian, are about to go there too. He said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise.” “But they understood none of these things,” and neither do you. In fact, “This saying was hidden from them,” and from you, “and they did not grasp what was said,” and neither do you.

For, the scandal of the cross of Jesus Christ has made you blind. It has confounded your reason and your wisdom, which are fallen, corrupted, and broken by your sin so that you cannot possibly see the wisdom of God’s ways, you cannot possibly understand His knowledge, because your sight and your reason and wisdom are fallen, corrupted, and broken by your sin. And so, you are no better than either the disciples of Jesus “who understood none of these things” or the blind beggar alongside the road who needed to be told that Jesus was present – that is, except that, the blind beggar knew that he was blind and that he needed healing and restoration. Therefore, upon hearing the Good News that Jesus was present, he cried out to the only source of healing and comfort for mercy, and nothing but mercy, through faith alone.

Those who were in front rebuked the man and told him to be silent. You do the same. This weak, pitiful man, they thought, has no business in the presence of our Rabbi and Master. Who is it that cries out to the Lord for mercy that you despise and wish to silence? This blind beggar had nothing, no money, no food, no clothing, no home, and no sight – and he knew it. Therefore, he did not offer anything to Jesus, or to anyone, but he begged, he pleaded and he cried out to Jesus alone for mercy. That is what you cannot understand or tolerate, that is what you want to silence – singular, focused, unwavering trust in Jesus, God’s Word made flesh, and no one and nothing else. This blind beggar did not cry out to the government, he did not cry out to the church, he did not even cry out to the disciples for anything at all, but he cried out to Jesus alone, for mercy alone, in any way that Jesus might choose to dispense it. He doesn’t ask for your approval or your prayers. He doesn’t ask for your grudging handouts or tolerance. He doesn’t ask for your councils, programs, rules, policies, or laws. He begs for, he needs, he clings to Jesus’ mercy alone – period.

Jesus’ mercy scandalizes you and causes you to stumble for the same reason that you are scandalized by Jesus’ cross and Jesus crucified. Jesus’ dead body on the cross communicates something to you. It is repulsive. It is offensive. It is morbid. It is weak. It is foolish. It is scandalous and it causes you to stumble. You don’t want to look at it. You don’t want to be reminded of it. You want to look away from it – and Satan wants you to do just that. You see, don’t believe that nonsense that Hollywood puts out about the devil. Don’t believe that nonsense that the horror writers scribble about. Satan has but only one goal, to take your eyes off of Jesus, to get Jesus out of the way. And, he has only one way of accomplishing that goal – lies. He tells you lies, he deceives you, so that you will take your eyes, your faith, off Jesus and put them on, well…, truly anything else will do just fine.

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, Jesus taught that the seed is the Word of God. When the seed falls upon the hard trodden path, upon the heart hardened by sin, it does not penetrate, it is not received. Then, Jesus teaches, “the birds of the air devoured it,” or, “then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” The central teaching of Jesus’ parable is that it is the Word of God alone that creates faith. This is one of the three Lutheran Solas – Sola Scriptura, or, Scripture Alone. You heard about another Sola two weeks ago in Jesus’ Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. That Sola was Sola Gratia, or Grace Alone. In today’s Gospel of the Healing of a Blind Man you hear of the third Sola, Sola Fide, or Faith Alone. Thus, over these three weeks of Pre-Lent, the Gesima Sundays, you have heard that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and that faith is created by the Word alone, that is, by Scripture alone.

Yet, there are two other Solas in the Lutheran Christian faith. They are Sola Christus, or Christ Alone, and Soli Deo Gloria, or to God alone be the Glory. Sola Christus is absolutely essential and is confessed in all the other Solas, for it is through Christ Alone that grace is given and faith is created, and it is Christ Alone that is the object of faith. Further, it is in Christ Alone that God is Glorified. And so, it all begins with Christ, and it all comes back to Christ, and in the end, God is glorified for His goodness, His love, His mercy, His compassion, and His forgiveness which are in, and through, and with Jesus Christ alone.

God so loved the world that He has graciously given and put forth His Word, His Son Jesus, as a seed into soil that, in His death, He might draw all men to faith in Him and to the life He is and bestows. In doing this, God is glorified, not only by Jesus’ self-sacrifice, but by your self-sacrifice in rooting out all the stones and weeds, and thistles of sin in your hearts in repentance and by bearing the fruit of love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness towards others that has been showered upon you in God’s gracious gift of Jesus Christ.

Sola Gratia, Grace alone – What does this mean? It means that salvation comes to you from outside of you, without your works or merit, as a free and perfect gift. It is given to everyone the same, no strings attached. Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone – What does this mean? It means that God gives you His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation through His Word alone, and not through mysticism or nature or human reason, wisdom, philosophy, or any other way. Sola Fide, Faith alone – What does this mean? It means that Faith itself is a gracious gift of God that comes from outside of you through the Word alone, but is planted in your heart where it is nurtured and grows by the Word alone and bears the fruit of love and mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Yet, all of these are included in Sola Christus, Christ alone. And, through all of these, Soli Deo Gloria, God alone is glorified.

St. Paul, in his epistle today, exhorts you to put aside faith and trust in anything but Jesus. Paul speaks so eloquently and beautifully about love that this passage has been misunderstood as speaking primarily about the love between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife. It certainly does instruct us in the nature of love, and so this application is not inappropriate. However, that is not the primary meaning or purpose Paul has in mind. What Paul does have in mind are all of the lies that Satan speaks to you about what God has said and about what Christian faith is really is. Paul addresses tongues, prophetic powers, mysteries, knowledge, sacrifice, and even faith, but he warns that, without love, these are nothing. The devil lies to you so that you believe that these fruits are the main thing that is important so that your faith is not in Christ, but in these signs, these fruits of faith. So very subtly he gets Jesus out of the way; he takes your focus off Christ and Him crucified and puts it on, well…, anything at all. And, he is very successful, for you often believe his lies and, unwittingly, in your striving to follow Christ, follow the devil on the path that leads only to death, taking others along with you.

The love that St. Paul is talking about is not a feeling or an emotion, or even a disposition, but that love is a person, that love is Jesus Christ. God so loved the world…, God loved the world in this way: He gave His Son. Jesus is God’s love for the world; Jesus is God’s love for you. Jesus, dead on the cross, is the ultimate image of God’s love for you, for He was patient and kind; He did not envy or boast; He was not arrogant or rude; he did not insist on His own way; he was not irritable or resentful; He did not rejoice at wrongdoing, but in the truth; He bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, and endured all things. God’s love in Jesus never ends.

When Jesus talked to His disciples about what He must do in Jerusalem, they didn’t understand Him and the saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp what He said. That’s because they did not have their eyes focused on Jesus alone, but their eyes were on, well…, anything else. Ironically, the blind man could see better than those who could see. When he heard that Jesus was present, he cried out to Jesus alone for mercy. He had faith, not in outward works and signs, not in human wisdom or reason, but he had faith in Jesus, faith that had come through Jesus’ Word, by God’s grace. Whichever soil he may have been, he wasn’t the hard trodden path, and the devil was not able to lie to him and steal the Word from his heart. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The man answered, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God.

Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man to see that, despite the humility and the weakness of Jesus’ appearance and, despite the horror and the repulsiveness, the scandal and the offense of what He must accomplish on the cross in Jerusalem, Jesus was the love of God for Him and for all the world, poured out. Faith which receives the gift of love that God has given, and is not offended and does not stumble over it, will bear fruit a hundredfold, and God will be glorified. May you so in love put away your impatience and meanness, your envy, pride, arrogance, and rudeness, your selfish insistence to have things your way, your irritability and resentfulness, and bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and selflessly endure all things for the sake of love, for the sake of Jesus, who alone is your life and salvation, the object of your faith, the grace of God given through His Word, in whom alone God is glorified.

Satan wants to take your eyes off Jesus and to place them on, well…, anything else. But you, Christian, must remember that, despite what you see or feel, Christ crucified is precisely how God has loved you and the world. The Church of Jesus Christ, along with St. Paul and all the Apostles, continues to preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, as the only Way, Truth, and Life through faith in whom alone we are saved. Though you were blind, through grace, by faith in the Word of God made flesh Jesus Christ, now you see. Glory be to God alone.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Sexagesima

(Audio)

Luke 8:4-15; 2 Corinthians 11:19 – 12:9; Isaiah 55:10-13

 

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

The rain and the snow fall upon the hills of Decorah, the rolling prairies of Western Iowa, the fertile fields of Bremer County, and the tarmac-like pavement of I-35 alike. There is no distinction. And three-quarters of these will most certainly spring forth with life, if not fruit, but one-quarter most certainly will not. Yet, without the rain and the snow, there would be no growth anywhere. Likewise, without the seed, there would be no life. The earth might as well be formless and void, barren, empty, and dead. But so was the soil of your heart until the Seed of God’s Word and the Rain of His Holy Spirit fell upon you. These came from outside of you and fell upon you as the LORD willed, just as “the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout.” Therefore, if you have faith, give glory to God. This is His will and work within you and for you, His sustenance and nurture that sustain you. But will you be fruitful? Will you bear His fruit? Yes, you will, for that is what God’s Word does through you, unless you willfully resist His work and Spirit, reject Him, and choose to go your own way.

A great crowd had gathered to see and to hear Jesus. The crowd consisted of the four types of soil of which Jesus spoke in His parable: The hard path heart, the rocky soil heart, the thorn-infested soil heart, and the good soil heart. The Rain and the Snow of His Word and Spirit fell upon them each alike as seed that is broadcast here and there by an indiscriminate sower. But what kind of foolish Sower is this who so scatters His Seed without distinction upon both good and poor soils? Why would He not cast his Seed upon only the most fertile and receptive soil that He might reap an abundant harvest? The Sower does not discriminate because He knows that fruitfulness lies in the Seed that is sown and not in the soil, and that the Seed that He sows contains within it the power to turn even hard, rocky, and thorny hearts into good and fruitful soil.

As the master of the vineyard went out in last Sunday’s Gospel to hire workers to work in his vineyard, so today a Sower goes out to sow His Seed. This is how the Gospel begins: with Jesus acting, by Him coming to us because we could never come to Him. Even the good soil does not choose to accept the Seed. Indeed, soil cannot make any movement towards the Seed whatsoever. Soil is entirely receptive. You are the soil. The Father is the Sower. And the powerful, performative, and creative Word of God is the Seed, even our Savior Jesus Christ. But, the hardened path, just as the hardened heart, cannot receive the Seed of the Word. Its ears are closed to it, and the Word is snatched away by the devil as good seed by the birds of the air. The only hope for the hardened heart is the patient, long-suffering, merciful, and continual sowing of the Sower. He will not give up on you, but time is running out. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Some of the Sower’s Seed also falls among rocky and weed and thorn infested hearts. Under each of these conditions, the Holy Spirit creates real and true faith, however, because of the rocks, remnants from the broken-up hardness of the heart, and weeds and thorns, the fleshly, worldly, and materialistic cares and anxieties of the heart, faith is not able to grow to fruitfulness. Sadly, many who are brought to faith by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God fall into these categories – fifty percent in Jesus’ parable. The rocky remnants of the hardness of heart keep faith from becoming deeply rooted, and so faith lacks the fortitude to withstand trial, tribulation, and temptation just as a seedling lacking depth of root lacks moisture and nutrients and is uprooted by wind or flood or withers in scorching heat. Likewise, faith that is forced to coexist and compete with fleshly, worldly, and materialistic cares and anxieties may grow well enough, but it is prohibited from bearing much or good fruit. Moreover, the weeds and the thorns are not interested in coexistence, but in the elimination of faith in the heart. Just as God is jealous and will share your heart and faith with no one and no thing, so Satan is also jealous and will not share you with God.

But then, some of the Sower’s Word-Seed will undoubtedly fall upon good soil. Why only some, you ask? Because God’s ways are not your ways, and God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s wisdom. Further, God would have you fear Him and love Him and trust in Him freely, without coercion. Thus, He created you with the freedom to reject Him, and not as an automaton. However, it must be noted that the good soil is known only by the fact that it produces good fruit. The Sower does not distinguish the good from the bad in His sowing, but He preaches His Word to all and lets the Seed of His Word and His Holy Spirit fall where they may. The fruit is born from the Seed, not from the soil. The soil can only hinder the growth of the Seed and the fruitfulness of faith by its hardness of heart or fleshly and worldly idolatries. Thus, Jesus teaches that you will know His children by their fruits. And St. James teaches that faith without works is dead and no faith at all. Moreover, in St. Matthew’s telling, the Seed sown in good soil produces fruit yielding thirty-fold, sixty-fold, and, in some cases, a hundred-fold. The amount of fruit produced is not the point, but faith alone is.

And the point is also this: The Seed of the Word ALWAYS produces results. If it is received in faith – faith given and created by the Holy Spirit through the Word – faith will begin to grow towards the potential to produce fruit. But there is competition. Worry and anxiety and desires for worldly wealth, material, and pleasures compete in a battle for the soul. These must be resisted, a feat that can only happen with the assistance of faith, and faith must increase and prevail over these distractions. Likewise, the rock and stone remnants of the once hardened heart must continually be uprooted that faith may flourish and grow. But, when one gives themselves over to idolatries and fear, resentment, anger, and hatred, the same Word-Seed that created faith and caused it to grow will harden the heart to stone once again. Yes, it is true! For the hardened heart only became broken and receptive by the Word, but when the Word is rejected, it returns to its hardened state once again. This is what happened to Pharaoh when Moses preached the Word of the LORD to him and he rejected it. Similarly, Isaiah was sent to “make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes.” Thus, Jesus teaches in parables so that “seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”

All the soils, all the hearts, all the ears hear, for they are passive in their hearing, they are receivers of the Word-Seed of the Sower. They all hear, and yet, many do not hear. Is this a paradox? No, it is not. For, there are many reasons that hearers do not hear – just ask any parent or teacher of children, or any pastor of a congregation. Distraction, laziness, boredom, apathy – these are all typical obstacles to a hearer’s hearing, and Satan will encourage you in all of these. Therefore, what is a hearer to do?

Jesus concludes His explanation of the Parable of the Sower to His disciples saying, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” “We cannot take refuge in the fact that we hear God’s Word; so does everyone. Hearing the Word, while necessary for salvation, does not guarantee salvation. We do not trust hearing the Word, but we trust the One of whom the Word speaks: We trust Jesus. The Father is the sower who sows in all manner of soil, who would rather His Word-Son be trampled and snatched and scorched and choked than that we poor sinners would be without it. His Word is like Him: Jesus is the Word that was sown on the Stone Pavement as He stood trial before Pilate and was taken away by the devil. Jesus is the Word that was sown on that rocky hill called Golgotha where He sprang up on the cross and withered away. Jesus is the Word that was sown among the thorns of Chief Priests and Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, who competed with Jesus out of love for the world. And it was by being sown in our wretched soil, by dying and rising, that He made a little plot of good soil: people who are saved for His sake.”

What is a hearer to do? Remain hearing. And how do you do that? Hold fast to the Word in fear, love, and trust – in faith – and receive His help through His means of grace: The Word of the Gospel which proclaims your sins forgiven in His holy shed blood through Holy Baptism and Holy Absolution, in His body broken for you and in His blood shed for you that you may be strengthened in faith and live, and in His Word of Law and Gospel which equips you for every fruitful work the LORD has prepared for you to do before the foundations of the world. In this way His Word will prevail in your hard and rocky, weed and thorn-infested hearts and you will bear fruit. How much? That is the Spirit’s concern. Do not judge yourself or others and you will not be judged. We are all on the receiving end of His Grace.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Septuagesima

(Audio)

Matthew 20:1-6; 1 Corinthians 9:24 – 10:5; Exodus 17:1-7

 

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

“Is the LORD among us or not?” That is the question, isn’t it? Truly, a whole lot depends upon your answer to that question: How you view worship – Is it your work, or is it God’s work? How you worship – with deep reverence, humility, and awe, or with unfettered revelry and emotive expression? How you understand the Lord’s Supper – Is it merely a symbolic or spiritual presence, or is the real and true body and blood of Jesus Christ present in the Supper for the forgiveness of your sins? How you view baptism – Is it merely lawful obedience, or does it actually create faith and give the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, and bestow the Holy Spirit, as the Word of Scripture says? The answer to all these questions and more are bound up in your answer to the question, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

“Is the LORD among us or not?” Does God actually keep His Word? Did the Word of God, the Son of God, really become flesh and make His dwelling among us? What say you? Truth be told, you answer this question even without words, by your actions, in what you place your fear, your love, and your trust. That is because we are confessional beings. That is to say that your words and your deeds make a public confession of what you truly believe in your heart. And so, your answer to the question “Is the LORD among us or not?” will determine whether you live in contentment, peace, and hope, or if you live with restlessness, anxiety, and fear.

“Is the LORD among us or not?” That is the question the children of Israel had to answer in the wilderness. “Is the LORD among us or not?” Or, has God abandoned us? Does God have our best interests in heart and mind? Is God able to help us? Does God even want to help us? The people were thirsty and there was no water to drink. And so, they complained to Moses, they complained to their pastor, “Where is this God whom you say loves us? Why doesn’t He provide for us? Maybe you brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst.” Do their questions make you uncomfortable? They should. You know what the LORD had just done for them. The LORD led them out of captivity, bondage, and slavery in Egypt. And, before that, the LORD provided for His people in Egypt and made them a great nation. And, but a little bit earlier, the LORD had even provided sweet water for His people to drink. Why would they so quickly disbelieve and, even worse, blaspheme to think the LORD evil and wicked?

Do you not, at times, do the same? “Why has this disease befallen me? I’ve trusted in the LORD. I’ve tried to be a good person.” “Why does God permit evil to go on unchecked? Why do so many children die from war, disease, poverty, hunger, and thirst?” “Why does our church struggle so? Why don’t more people come? Where are the young families and children? Is it the way we worship? Maybe we’re too old-fashioned, too rigid, too irrelevant?” “Maybe it’s our pastor. If he’d just preach more about the problems we face in our lives, if he’d just lighten up and tell some stories or jokes, if he’d just not talk about moral and social issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, or if he’d accept evolution, women pastors, and open communion, then maybe we’d be growing instead of declining.”

“Is the LORD among us or not?” If your answer to that question is “Yes,” then you have nothing to fear, to worry, or to be anxious about. But, if your answer to that question is “No,” then you, and all men, are to be pitied, for my preaching is in vain, and your hope is in vain. Though your thirst may be well sated and your bellies full, though you may have ample clothing and shelter and many luxuries and material wealth, if the LORD is not among you, then you will die in this wilderness and will never enter the land of promise. God have mercy on you and turn you in repentance.

For, the LORD is indeed among us, even as He was among the children of Israel, guiding, providing for, and protecting them throughout their wilderness wanderings. Sweet water, water from the rock, manna and quail, all that the people needed to sustain their bodies and their lives, the LORD graciously provided them. They never went hungry and they never thirsted, though the LORD did test them as a father disciplines his children, that they would learn right from wrong, good from evil, and put their fear, their love, and their trust in Him alone. And, like rebellious children, they accused their heavenly Father of doing them evil. But “the LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” He calls His children to repentance that He might shower them with His blessing.

And so, the LORD is with you in the most intimate of ways, in your very flesh and blood. Jesus is Emmanuel, which means, literally, “God with us.” In Jesus Emmanuel, the LORD is with you to forgive your sins, to strengthen your faith, and to give you His life and the benefits of communion with His Son. The LORD is with you to guide you in the ways you should go that you might live and prosper and be a bright light, leaven, and salt to those walking in the darkness of sin and death. The LORD is with you might be protected from the assaults of the evil one, resist temptation, persevere through affliction, and find the glory of God in the things to which He has attached His Word and promise instead of in the things that the flesh and the world value and deem to be glorious and good.

The LORD commanded Moses to strike the rock with his staff, promising that the people would have water to drink. St. Paul tells you that the Rock was Christ. Christ was with them all along. The Rock followed them wherever they went. Today, still, Christ the Rock is with you, providing you food and drink that you may not perish, but live. The LORD struck Christ, His Son, upon the cross, crucifying, crushing, and breaking Him for you that you might be forgiven and live. The LORD pierced the side of Christ the Rock, from whence flowed His cleansing blood and purifying water. Now the LORD is with you in the waters of Holy Baptism and in the meat and drink of the Lord’s Supper to sustain and keep you in your wilderness wanderings until He returns as Lord and King. Spiritually, you have already passed through the Red Sea in Holy Baptism and have entered the Promised Land. And, in His time your body will be raised from death to new and everlasting life. “Is the LORD among us or not?” Yes! Yes, He most certainly is!

Then why do you grumble and complain? Why are you anxious and fearful? Your words and your deeds are confessions of what you believe in your heart. You fear that the LORD will not provide for you because He does not do it in the ways that you would expect or that seem wise to men. You think that the LORD will not help you if you do not first help yourself, or that He isn’t able to help you, or that He doesn’t want to help you. And, when you see others prosper who do less than you, you are filled with anger and outrage at the inequity and the unfairness of it all, as were the laborers who were hired at the beginning of the day who were paid the same as those who were hired near the end. Is the point that you should not grumble because no one is deserving of anything good at all? Well, yes, that is true. However, the greater point is that the LORD is among us and provides for all of us without exception or distinction. Indeed, St. Paul teaches that there is no distinction, not between Jew or Gentile, male or female, master or servant, but that all are one in Christ and are equally justified through faith in Him. For, the LORD is among us to forgive and to save and to sustain and to protect. The LORD is among us for each of us, for all of us, and for all. There is no distinction. Thanks be to God that He does not pay us what we deserve, the wages we have earned – death, but that He gives us the grace that we do not deserve and could never earn – the forgiveness of our sins, life, and eternal salvation.

And so, again, your answer to the question “Is the LORD among us or not?” is a confession of what you believe in your heart. Your answer will shape and determine how you view yourself in relation to God and to your neighbor, how you view your own works and faith, and how you view the works and gifts of the LORD that He provides for you. The children of Israel grumbled and complained and blasphemed the LORD saying that He was not with them, that He had abandoned them, and that He meant them harm and evil. They did not see and believe that He was among them as He had promised in His Word and had demonstrated repeatedly through miraculous signs and wonders. Similarly, the LORD is among you in His Word and Blessed Sacraments performing miraculous signs and wonder – creating and strengthening faith, forgiving sins, feeding, nourishing, and protecting His children – just as He has promised in His Word. Will you grumble at the ways in which He provides for you? Will you complain that that He favors others more than you, or the same as you? Will you blaspheme that He means you evil and seeks to harm you or abandon you? Or, will you confess that His ways are not your ways, that His foolishness is wiser than your wisdom, and receive the gifts that He gives to you in fear, love, and in trust of His Word and Promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ?

Your life, words, and deeds are the confession of your answer to the question, “Is the LORD among us or not?” You answer that question “Yes” by receiving His gifts faithfully and regularly in the Divine Service. You answer that question “Yes” by confessing yourself unworthy of such holy gifts. You answer that question “Yes” by not begrudging others mercy, compassion, grace, and forgiveness, but by readily, freely, and gladly sharing these with all. And, you answer that question “Yes” by trusting that the LORD is present and active for your good, and for the good of all, in the ways and through the means to which He has connected His Word of Promise, regardless of how humble, weak, foolish, and inglorious they might appear. For the LORD has chosen what is weak in this world to shame the strong, and what is foolish in this world to shame the wise, and what is not to bring to nothing things that are.

“Is the LORD among us or not?” If your answer to that question is “Yes,” then thanks be to God, for the Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, and will sanctify and keep you in the true faith. But, if your answer to that question is “No,” then you have deemed your wisdom to be wiser than the LORD’s and have made yourself to be god and, therefore, must save yourself. Good luck with that. But, thanks be to God that He is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” He will continue to call those who turn away to repentance that He might bless them. But with each passing day and hour time is running out. The LORD is among us now through Word and Sacrament in His Church, but soon He will come in unveiled power and glory as King and Judge. May we be found among His gifts when He returns and enter with Him behind the veil into His glory and light and life.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord

(Audio)

Matthew 17:1-9; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Exodus 34:29-35

 

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

In the Transfiguration of Our Lord, our God grants us sinful and corrupted mortals a peek behind the veil. Through the eyes and the ears of Peter, James, and John, we are granted to see, for just a moment, what even the High Priest in the temple could not see when he entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. We are granted to see what Abraham and Moses could not see, and what Isaiah could see only in a vision. For, what we are granted to see in the Transfiguration of Our Lord is the fullness of the glory of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we see the fullness of God’s glory located in the human person of Jesus, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.

On the mountaintop, we see the full, unveiled meaning of the Incarnation, of Christmas. We see Emmanuel, God with us as a man, and more importantly, man taken up into God. This is our future glory. But, this is also, though hidden, our glory now. Our glory is not in ourselves, but our glory is in Jesus who has taken up our flesh, has died for our sins, has been raised for our justification, and who has ascended to the right hand of the Father in our human flesh in the full glory of God. A flesh and blood human man now sits and reigns in the full-on presence of God’s glory as His Son. And we are baptized into Him. All that belongs to Him He shares with us, even His new and everlasting life. This is the meaning of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. We will not experience the fullness of Jesus’ glory until the Resurrection or our own bodies, but, spiritually, we are living that glorious resurrection life already now.

Moses and Elijah were there talking with Jesus. They were living witnesses of the promise that those who die in the Lord will live. They were witnesses of God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises as they stood in the fullness of His glory and were not consumed. St. Luke tells us that they were talking to Jesus about the Exodus He was about to lead in Jerusalem. Imagine that! Moses, God’s prophet and anointed leader of the Exodus out of Egypt and Elijah, the greatest of God’s anointed Old Testament prophets were discussing the new and better Exodus that Jesus, the New Moses and the Great Prophet, was about to begin. Jesus’ Exodus was not out of slavery and bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt, but Jesus would lead His people out of slavery and bondage to sin and death through His own crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Jesus, the New Joshua, would lead His people across the River of Life into the Promised Land of Heaven, into the full-on presence and glory of God forever.

Now, if you were Peter, standing in the glorious presence of Jesus, with Moses and Elijah by His side, I suspect that you might also say, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” Peter was overcome by the original of what we now commonly call a “mountaintop experience.” Peter wanted to preserve that experience – and I know that you want to do the same – so he proposed that he might “pitch a tent” for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. “Pitch a tent” – that’s a form of the same Greek word used John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and [pitched His tent] among us.” It’s the same word that is translated as tabernacle in the Old Testament. Peter wished to provide a shelter, a tabernacle for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. You can see now how absurd and backwards was his thinking. Jesus does not need to be tabernacled, but Peter, James, John, you, and I need to be tabernacled and to be sheltered by Jesus. Jesus is the Word of God tabernacled among us. Jesus is the tabernacle made without human hands that provides shelter for all who take refuge in Him. Let us all, and always, seek refuge in Jesus Christ and His gifts. His Word and His Sacraments are the means of His grace through which He preserves, strengthens, keeps, and protects you until the resurrection of your bodies and their transfiguration to be like His glorious body.

While Peter was still speaking, while his confused, sin-corrupted thoughts were still babbling out of his mouth, the bright cloud of God’s glory tabernacled over Peter, James, and John. Then the Father spoke, just as He had at Jesus’ baptism, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” Suddenly the terrible reality of their mountaintop experience was made fully apparent. Their arrogance, their pride, and their self-righteousness in presuming that they could stand as they were in their sin, with their sin-corrupted good works like filthy rags, before the LORD in His glory was shattered, and they fell down on their faces as though dead. This was the same reaction that Isaiah had when he beheld the LORD’s glory in a vision. Just as Isaiah’s guilt was taken away and his sin atoned for as an angel touched his lips with a glowing coal from the altar of sacrifice, so Jesus reached out His hand and He touched His disciples and absolved them saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” Which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or “Rise and walk?” Jesus’ Word is His absolution. Jesus’ Word brings into being what it says. Where there is forgiveness there is no fear, but there is life and salvation.

“When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” Moses and Elijah had withdrawn to the realm of those who have died in the Lord and await His return and the resurrection of their bodies. They, like the repentant thief who was crucified with Jesus, are with Him now and forever in paradise. The cloud of glory, too, had gone away, and Jesus’ face and clothing and flesh veiled His glory once again. They were granted but a peek behind the veil that their faith might be strengthened and that they might persevere, bearing their own crosses in the way of their Lord as He soon would take up the cross and their sin and the sins of all men and suffer and die for the life of the world. They followed Jesus down the mountain, leaving the glory behind to suffer under the cross. There will come a holy and permanent mountaintop experience, but now is not the time. The lesson of the Transfiguration of Our Lord is that we have that glory now, though veiled, in Jesus and in His gifts of Word and Sacrament. These seeming humble, foolish, and weak things the LORD has invested with His glorious Word and Promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation. They are our food and drink, the very air we breathe, by which we are forgiven, faith is strengthened, and we live until He comes and raises our bodies and unveils their glory, glory like His, the only-begotten Son of the Father from eternity.

God knows that you in your flesh, with your fallen reason, wisdom, and desires, are attracted to things that dazzle the senses, that have worldly value, that bring sensual pleasure, and seem wise in the minds of men. You count as glorious and as evidence of God’s blessing large churches, overflowing coffers, numerous parishioners and programs and parking lots. Weakness and humility, poverty and lowliness, an emphasis on sin and your need for forgiveness, a preference for the mutilated body of Jesus upon a tree instead of an empty cross or, even better, a resurrected Lord with lifted hands and a smile on His face, make you grimace uncomfortably and wonder if maybe, just maybe, we’ve just got it all wrong. God knows this about you. And, God knew this about His disciples. Therefore He granted them this peek behind the veil in the Transfiguration of Our Lord. It is meant to encourage you and to strengthen your faith that you might persevere through temptation and tribulation, most of which come from your own sinful, fallen reason and desires.

Years later, long after Jesus’ resurrection, St. Peter told the account of his mountaintop experience in an epistle to the Church saying that, despite the glorious vision they were granted to see, “we have something more sure, the prophetic Word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” That “something more sure” is here for you today. You are invited, not to peek behind the veil, but to see with the eyes of faith the glory of God that is hidden, right here, right now, tabernacled among you. The word of absolution, Law, and Gospel proclaimed by this sinful man is God’s Word of promise to you that you can trust and take comfort in. This ordinary water is the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who are washed and believe. This humble bread and wine is the resurrected and glorified body and blood of Jesus just as He promises in His Word for the forgiveness of your sins, the strengthening of your faith, for life and for salvation. And, because of your Holy Baptism into Jesus, His glory is hidden within you as well. Once you dwelt in darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord. Walk therefore as children of Light.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.