Cantate - The Fifth Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

John 16:5-15; James 1:16-21; Isaiah 12:1-6

 

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

In what ways is the Holy Spirit a helper? Quite likely not in many of the ways of which you’ve heard in popular Christian devotions, articles, and studies, from Christian televangelists, or have even thought yourself.

For example, the Holy Spirit was not given that people should have a reason to boast. Yet, even a brief pass through the “holy channels” on your TV will reveal smartly dressed preachers on gaudy stages boasting about their gifts of healing or prayer or tongues or any number of things which merit the admiration of their disciples and the luxurious homes and cars and clothing they own and desire to own. Yes, the Holy Spirit does provide spiritual gifts and fruits, but they are never given that people should have a reason to boast, but they are given to benefit the Church and the world, that God’s Name may be glorified as people come to believe and to confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

Additionally, the Holy Spirit was not given to protect people from temptations. Nonetheless, it is not uncommon for Christians struggling with temptation to be chided, by other Christians, with the accusation that they are tempted because their faith is weak, or that they lack the Holy Spirit altogether. This is the worst kind of legalism and confusion of Law and Gospel, serving only to rob those suffering temptation of Christ’s comfort and peace because they are being assaulted by the devil. This is precisely the time that they need to hear the clear proclamation of the Gospel, that Christ has withstood all temptation for them and has defeated the devil. You are not saved because you are able to resist temptation, but you are saved because of Jesus Christ who has withstood temptation for you. No, the Holy Spirit will not protect you from all temptation, - the Scripture nowhere says that He will - but He will counsel you with the Gospel that you may persevere through temptation.

Neither was the Holy Spirit given to keep people always well. While it is true that sinful, indulgent, and abusive behaviors can lead to illness and other great harm, it is incorrect to claim that the Holy Spirit will help a believer to be always well. This is actually taught among some popular sects of Christianity. Ill persons are told that their illness is the result of weak faith, or that it is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s absence. Or, those who are ill believe it wrong to seek medical attention for their illness, believing that, to do so, would be to disbelieve, or to not have faith and trust in the Holy Spirit to protect and to heal them. Some Christian parents refuse inoculations and vaccines for their children, and some cancer patients refuse treatments for this very reason. While the Holy Spirit certainly has the power to heal, and the power to heal people through other people, the Spirit does this when and where He pleases. The healing power of the Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated or coerced. Likewise, it does not depend upon a person’s faith, but upon the will and the Word of the LORD alone.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit was not given to tell people whom to marry. The Holy Spirit was not given to cause people to roll on the floor, laugh maniacally, or to be slain in the spirit. The Holy Spirit was not given to harm or injure people. And, the Holy Spirit was not given to make people indolent and not read the Bible, believing that the Spirit gives all instruction and guidance necessary for life and salvation apart from the Word of God.

Then, for what purpose did Jesus send the Holy Spirit? In what ways is the Holy Spirit of God a helper? Well, there is no better place to go for an answer than the words of our Lord Jesus Himself. Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit “will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” But, what does it mean to be convicted of such things? The word convict, in this usage, is very similar to the way it is used in a contemporary court of law. Convict means “to bring to light, to expose, to set forth,” therefore, the Holy Spirit will bring to light, expose, and set forth the nature of sin and righteousness and judgment. “Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me”: Sin is unbelief. “Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer”: Only Christ is righteous and can enter the Father’s holy and righteous presence. “Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged”: Satan has been judged a liar, a fraud, an usurper, and a murderer. These things are true, they are facts, but men’s sinful minds, corrupted by sin and deceived by the devil, cannot see them or know them. Thus, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of these truths; He brings them to light, He exposes them, and He sets them forth, that you might repent and throw off the shackles of the devil’s lies and deceptions and live in the freedom of Christ and the Gospel to the glory of God the Father.

This is the purpose for which Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. And, this is how the Holy Spirit is a helper. The Holy Spirit helps you to see things for the way they are. That is to say, the Holy Spirit exposes the Truth. And, that is to say that the Holy Spirit leads you to Jesus. In fact, that is precisely what Jesus says the Holy Spirit does: “When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the Truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Pretty clear, isn’t it? The Holy Spirit will guide you to the Truth. He will guide you to Jesus. Nothing about boasting of yourself or your spiritual gifts. Nothing about being protected from temptations. Nothing about keeping you healthy, or telling you who to marry, or causing you to behave like a lunatic, or not to read the Bible because the Holy Spirit is going to reveal something to you personally apart from God’s Word and Blessed Sacraments. Nope, not a single thing about any of that nonsense. Oh, but, what about those spiritual gifts and fruits Paul talks about, you say? Yeah, so, what about them? Does St. Paul contradict Jesus? No, he most assuredly does not! Then, let us begin with the Truth about the Spirit that our Lord reveals to us, and then consider St. Paul’s words in light of that Truth – Scripture interprets Scripture, always.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers,” writes St. James, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” The Holy Spirit is the good and perfect gift of the Father, for the Holy Spirit directs you to Jesus in whom there is forgiveness, life, and salvation. This Truth can never change. The Holy Spirit is not given to give you something to boast about, to protect you from temptation, to keep you healthy, to find you a spouse, to make you act like a lunatic, or to give you a special revelation apart from the revealed Word of God. But, the Holy Spirit is given you that you might know Jesus and receive from Him forgiveness, life, and salvation, and bear His fruits – yes, Jesus’ fruits – and glorify His Father. He will glorify Jesus, for He will take what belongs to Jesus and declare it to you. All that the Father has belongs to Jesus, therefore, the Holy Spirit will take what belongs to Jesus and declare it to you. That’s His job. That is the way in which the Holy Spirit is a helper, and helps you. The Holy Spirit helps you to see the Truth, that everything belongs to Jesus: Your wealth, your health, and your reputation; your spouse and your children; your life and your salvation. Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar? It all belongs to Jesus, even Caesar belongs to Jesus. Therefore, do not permit the stuff of this world, even your spiritual gifts, and even your life, to become for you an idol. Thou shalt have no other gods before me? That’s right, thou shalt not – not that there are any other gods. Everything belongs to Jesus. The Holy Spirit will help you to see, to believe, and to confess this truth. Thanks be to God.

O God, You make the minds of Your faithful to be of one will – Your will. Grant that we may love what You have commanded and desire what You promise, that among the many changes of this world, our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found – In Jesus, to the glory of Your Name.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Jubilate - The Fourth Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

John 16:16-22; 1 Peter 2:11-20; Isaiah 40:25-31

 

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

It’s a common sentiment that you have to experience the bitter in life in order to enjoy the sweet. This proverb expresses the reality that life is not without its trials and tribulations, pain and suffering, sorrows, and griefs, but that, nevertheless, life is also not without its joys and pleasures, which are augmented and made considerably sweeter by our experience of the bitter. Throughout the ages, poets and writers, philosophers, artists, and musicians have pondered the sublime, tempered joy and peace that comes from embracing these opposing realities of life, the bitter and the sweet. Yet, embracing the pain and the joy of life alone does not gain you a moment more in life, but the bitterest reality still remains – death. Again, the poets and the philosophers, even a good number of spiritualists and religious con-men, have attempted to make this mortal coil that we call life an end in itself, a good in itself, and they have attempted to make death appear good as well. But they deceive themselves, and they would deceive you, denying that you are more than dust and ashes, skin and bone. For the truth is that the sweetest of your life’s sweet moments are but a faint and distant cry compared to the joy that will be, and already is, yours in Jesus Christ who promises that, while “you have sorrow now, […] I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

Certainly, of all men, your Lord Jesus was, as Isaiah prophesied, a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”. Though He had no sin or guilt of His own, He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed. Jesus knows what it means to be a man, to experience the bitterness of pain and sorrow, grief, and suffering. He wept bitterly at the death of his friend Lazarus and He had great compassion upon a little girl who had died and tenderly raised her to life saying, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” He knew the anguished isolation of those cut off from their families and friends, even from worship in the temple, such as those with illnesses like leprosy and others declared to be unclean because they were sinners, like tax collectors and prostitutes. He knew the vulnerability and the suffering of the poor and the widowed, and He knew the hopelessness, despair, and dreadful loneliness of the imprisoned. Jesus knows man’s fear and dread of death and his fervent desire and futile attempts to avoid it, to deny it, to euphemize it, and to explain it away. And, as a man, He suffered the torment and the torture that men suffer when facing death, and He did not seek a way around it, but He commended Himself into His Father’s hands that His will be done.

Apart from faith in Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, grief and sorrow, pain and suffering, and death have no meaning or purpose at all, but they are a reality that must be tolerated and endured, whose cause and purpose is unknown and therefore is dreaded and feared, rationalized, euphemized, and explained away. But, because of Jesus, you do not have to dread and fear suffering and death, for they have been defeated. Indeed, your Good Shepherd Jesus has given Himself into death and has passed, alive, through it. Now He leads you, His precious sheep, purchased in His holy blood through suffering and death as well. For, the Valley of the Shadow of Death is not some distant foreign place you have yet to arrive, but it is here, and it is now. The Valley of Death is this world in which you live and breathe, go to school and work, raise your families, and experience pain and sorrow, bitter suffering, and death along with a multitude of sweet joys. What the poets and philosophers and the false teachers tell you, however, is that this is all there is – birth, life, death – and that you should embrace suffering and death as good friends, that it’s all part of the great circle of life. But that is a lie! You were not created for death, but for life with your Creator. You were not meant to suffer loss and pain as your loved ones are snatched from you in death and as your own body succumbs to decay and withers away, but you were born into an eternal family, in the beginning, and now. Do not listen to the spirits of this world but listen to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus has sent into the world to counsel and console you and to guide you on the path to truth and life.

In preparing His disciples for His own suffering and death which He was about to accomplish, Jesus taught them, likely on the Thursday night before His death as they were finishing the Passover meal, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” Jesus was talking about His death and resurrection, but His words have meaning for us beyond that immediate context. Though He had taught them repeatedly that He must suffer and die and on the third day rise again, the disciples did not understand or believe Jesus’ words. When He was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed on Friday, they were all terrified and they fled – they all believed Him dead and gone. Even when Jesus rose on the third day, just as he said, and appeared to them, they did not believe Him until He showed them His hands and His side – then they were filled with joy in the presence of their resurrected Lord. But, forty days later, Jesus was taken from them again as He ascended in glory to the right hand of His Father in heaven. Then, ten days after that, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon them. The ministry of the Church of Christ had begun. From Pentecost on, the Gospel proclamation of the Church of Christ has remained: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

But, the disciples asked, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’?” It is a bit ambiguous, isn’t it? When your child asks, “When can I watch TV?” sometimes you answer, “In a little while”, then you go off and forget all about it altogether, right? And what may be a little while to you can seem like an eternity to someone else. Indeed, the little while between Jesus’ death and resurrection was approximately thirty-six hours (three days by Jewish reckoning). But the little while between Jesus’ ascension and His return? Well, it’s been almost 2,000 years, and we’re still waiting for a little while.

Or are we? Before His ascension, Jesus commissioned His disciples, then apostles, to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that He had commanded them. And, He promised them, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Jesus has kept His promise to be with them, and He is keeping His promise to be with you, now. Jesus is present with you and for you with the rod and staff of His Word of Law and Gospel. Jesus is present with you in the cool, cleansing waters of Holy Baptism. And Jesus is with you at the table of His body and blood which He has prepared for you in this Valley, in the presence of enemies who want you stay in the Valley of the Shadow of Death forever, and not enter into the Father’s House, where sheep may safely graze.

Your Good Shepherd Jesus is with you in this little while, faithfully shepherding you through life, with all its griefs and sorrows, with all its bitterness and sweetness. Your Good Shepherd Jesus is with you in this little while, faithfully shepherding you through death into joy that no one will take from you. Your enemy wants you to not believe this. Your enemy wants you to believe that this life is all there is so that you live for the now, seeking to avoid, deny, euphemize, or explain away suffering and death and so miss out on the joy of eternal life. Your enemy seeks to keep you in bondage to desires and passions of the flesh so that you seek and clamor to store up treasure on earth, to feed your pride and every selfish indulgence, to view your brothers and sisters and neighbors as competitors to keep you from attaining your insatiable goals.

Thus St. Peter exhorts you to live as sojourners and exiles, pilgrims passing through this life and world. Receive, enjoy, and share the worldly things you have as rich blessings from your gracious Lord and God, but do not live for them and thus make them your masters and gods. Treat all persons with respect and love that they may see Christ in you and glorify God. And, when you are persecuted because of your faith, remember that they so persecuted your Lord, and that the student is not greater than the teacher. And know this: that you will sorrow, and the world will rejoice, but only for a little while. Then you will see Jesus and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Jesus sets joy before you as an objective reality. The joy of which Jesus speaks is not a subjective emotion, but it is communion with God, it is life as it was meant to be, life of which the sweetest moments now are but the dimmest shadows of, a life and joy that no one will ever be able to take from you. This joy is as sure and certain and real now as is the child that will be born at the end of a woman’s labor. The joy that a mother experiences at the birth of her child far eclipses the sorrow and suffering of her labor so that it is no longer remembered. In a similar way, this life of yours is but the travails of labor. When you are born into new life in the resurrection, you will no longer remember the sorrow and suffering, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for you an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison”.

This Jesus, who is your Good Shepherd, is also your God who made you and loves you and who will faithfully see you home. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength. They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. He will preserve you during this little while. And what is a little while of bitterness and sweetness from the perspective of an eternity of the sweetest joy? It is true that you have to experience the bitter to enjoy the sweet, but even grief, sorrow, suffering, and death have become less bitter because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. And, in a little while, the bitterness will be no more.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Misericordias Domini - The Third Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

John 10:11-16; 1 Peter 2:21-25; Ezekiel 34:11-16

 

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

“Know thine enemy.” That’s a teaching of Sun Tzu from “The Art of War.” There’s a certain comfort in knowing your enemy. Better the enemy you know than the enemy you don’t know, right? When you know your enemy, you feel that you know yourself – that is, your enemy is “them” while you belong to some group of people called “us.” “Us,” and “them.” It’s comforting to be “us”, isn’t it? Being “us” means that you know what you believe, you know what you value, you know that you are right. But most of all, being “us” means that you know that you’re not “them.”

I learned from a wise professor several years ago that no man is my enemy. Let me repeat that for you – No human being is your enemy. I had to learn that, and still it’s hard for me to remember, and it’s even harder to believe! I suspect it will be hard for you too, and that you will have to learn this. But it’s true, no man is your enemy. And yet, you do have an enemy, an enemy that is common to all men, and you may be surprised to hear that your enemy is not Satan, the devil, though he is most assuredly against you, but the common enemy of all men is not Satan, but fear.

Satan is not your enemy, because Satan has been defeated in Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection. Likewise, for the same reasons, death is not your enemy, because death has been defeated. But, fear is your enemy because fear is the fruit of unbelief. Neither Satan nor death can keep you from life in Jesus Christ, but fear can do that because fear keeps you from fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things. If you truly believe that Satan is defeated, then why do you fear him? And, if you truly believe that death is defeated, then why do you fear death? And, if you truly believe Jesus when He promises you that, even though you die, you will live forever, then why do you put your fear, love, and trust in worldly and material things and in the health of your body and in the labor of your hands? And, why do you fear losing these things?

Do you not see how your fear of losing things keeps you in slavery? You fear losing your job. You fear losing your home. You fear losing your health. You fear losing your independence. You fear losing the love of your spouse and your children. As a nation, we fear losing our possessions and our way of life. We say that we fear losing our freedom, but I wonder about that when we are so enslaved by fear of losing all the things we’re so afraid of losing! The time, energy, money, and resources that we spend on keeping and defending our possessions is immense and all consuming. It is like mighty shackles and chains that keep us from living in freedom and without fear.

But, why are you so afraid? What are you truly afraid of? Jesus Christ has conquered God’s enemy, Satan, so that in Him you have no enemy either in spirit or in flesh. Christ died to set you free, and He rose again from the dead as living proof that death and Satan have been defeated and you are free. But, Satan and men alike will use fear to cast you back in chains, to enslave you once again. They will lie to you and deceive you so that you begin to doubt that you are free in Christ, so that, setting your sights only upon this earthly life, you begin to fear once again losing earthly and material things. Indeed, fear is a powerful enemy that can motivate you to become selfish and unloving, angry, hateful, violent, and murderous. Fear can become for you an idol, a god, and fear is not a god that loves, or gives, or sets free, but fear is a god that takes, and binds, enslaves, and kills you and those you would and should love.

Jesus died to set you free from fear that you may worship the living God who is love, who gives of Himself, and who has set you free from sin, Satan, and death that you may live forever in Him. He has said to you repeatedly, “Do not fear”, and He has given you His Peace in His Son raised victorious from the grave. He lovingly and graciously gives you all that you need to support your body and life and more, for when you give to others of what He gives to you, He continues to give you even more. He doesn’t force you to give, He doesn’t force you to do anything – fear does that – but He invites you to give of what He has given you and He promises that in your giving you will also receive.

On the contrary, fear keeps you self-centered and curved in on yourself. Fear never gives but always takes. Fear separates you from others and it compels you to name them enemy. Fear compels you to name your brother your enemy, to judge him and condemn him, then to cut him off and to kill him. But, God is love, and love never does harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Love always gives, even to those who would harm you. Love always gives, therefore love is always free, not coerced or compelled. And, with the measure you give it will be measured back to you; a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be poured into your lap.

Today is Misericordias Domini, which means the mercies of the Lord. But this Sunday is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. The image of our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ serves a perfect example of the sacrificial love and mercy that you are called to in Jesus Christ. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He does not flee in fear when the wolf comes, as do the hired hands, but instead He throws Himself into the jaws of the beast to protect His sheep. The Good Shepherd does not fear the wolf because He knows the Father and the Father knows Him, that is, because He fears, loves, and trust in God above all things. Though the wolf can hurt Him, and even kill Him, He does not fear, because neither wolf nor death is His enemy and the love of God is stronger than both wolf and death. The hired hands, on the other hand, forsake their callings and run from the wolf, leaving the sheep under their care to be killed. Because of fear, the hired hands are turned in on themselves and care nothing for the sheep. Such a powerful enemy is fear.

Fear is the absolute opposite of love, and that is why fear is your greatest enemy. As your Pastor, I know that you are afraid, and your God knows that you are afraid. All around you, in the news media and in the images you see and in the words that you hear, these tell you that you should be afraid. There are people who want to take your money. There are people who want to harm your children. There are people that want to kill you. You are afraid of losing your jobs, your homes, your comfort, your health, your independence, your security in retirement. There are endless wars on countless fronts. There are tornados and earthquakes and tsunamis and the threat of nuclear disaster. There are cancers of all sorts and tainted food and drink and air. Our youth are in danger of drugs and alcohol, promiscuity, and depression. There are cyber-predators, cyber-bullies, and cyber-identity theft. And our church membership is aging and dying and, by and large, younger generations seem uninterested, what will we do? We are so afraid!

In his first inaugural speech, after a time arguably much worse than now, speaking of the Great Depression and the prospect of turning the U.S. economy around, Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This is most certainly true, that is, if your fear is in, or the result of, anything other than your God. For your God does indeed expect that you fear Him – that is, that you revere Him and trust in Him and love Him above everything else, above all that you have, above all that you need or want, above even your life and your death. But your God who expects this fear of you also says to you, “Do not be afraid”, for He alone is the giver of life and of all things needful, and not a solitary soul comes into this life or leaves it apart from His will and power. And, He has revealed Himself as the God who loves, even the God who is love, who has loved you so that He laid down His own life unto death that you would live with and in Him. So, apart from your God, there is absolutely nothing in heaven or on earth that you should fear or fear losing – absolutely nothing. And to live without fear, dear children in Christ, is to be truly free.

Blessed be the Father who has set us free from fear through the death and resurrection of His Son in the love of His Holy Spirit. And, to this Most Holy Trinity be true fear, love, and trust, and glory and praise both now and forevermore.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Quasimodo Geniti - The Second Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

John 20:19-31; 1 Peter 2:2; 1 John 5:4-10

 

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

What do you crave? What do you desire? What do you long for? Maybe you crave chocolate, or ice cream, or peanut butter. Maybe you desire fame, or power, or money. Maybe you long for love, or companionship, or completion. Cravings, desires, and longings are innately selfish, that is, they are primarily concerned about what the self wants, what the self needs, and what the self requires. Human beings are quivering masses of wants, needs, and desires – we all have them, all the time. In our day to day lives, however, we have to control our appetites, our cravings and desires, that’s what it means for us to mature and to become civilized. If we do not learn to discipline ourselves, to control our appetites, then we become sociopaths and criminals and addicts; our appetites and our desires to have and to consume end up consuming ourselves and, consequently, those around us.

Of course, what you crave, what you desire, and what you long for does matter – some things are good for you, other things are not. Those who satisfy their craving for broccoli will likely be better off than those who satisfy their craving for chocolate covered bacon. But then again, cravings, desires, and longings for anythingworldly or creaturely will not satisfy unto everlasting life and will always leave you wanting and needing more.

Your Lord says “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it,” and you will be satisfied. But you are not satisfied. Jesus died for your sins, He is raised for your justification, His hands and side pour forth Holy Gifts from Holy Wounds – water, blood, and Spirit – but you crave, desire, and long to be filled from other fountains. “All this ceremony and sacrament, this is all fine and good, but it doesn’t move me the way I think it should; I want something different.” “Pastor’s a really smart guy. He quotes the Bible and talks a lot about Jesus, but he always talks about sin and how bad I am and his sermons don’t help me in my day to day life. I want something different.” “Why do we have to do the same liturgy every Sunday? Why do we have to have communion every Sunday? I’m bored with our worship service. I want something different.” This is not the food I desire. This is not the drink I crave. I, I, I, me, me, me! Repent. The gifts of God in Jesus Christ are not aboutyou, but they are for you. Repent. Repent of expecting God to conform to your standards. Repent of craving after constant “proof” that God is on your side. Confess your own blindness, your self-interest, your self-infatuation, your “woe-is-me” attitude. Repent and beseech God for the gift of true sight, the gift of faith, which sees that which is unseen, which sees the love of God in Jesus Christ poured out on the cross and raised from the tomb for you.

This is why St. Peter exhorts you, like newborn infants, to crave, desire, and long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word of God. A newborn infant is the epitome of selfishness, he is concerned only and completely with his own hunger, his own thirst, his own want, his own needs, and desires, so St. Peter is not exhorting you to something unfamiliar or to something that you are incapable of. In fact, the newborn infant is all need; he cannot provide food, drink, shelter, and clothing for himself, and, if left to himself, he will certainly die. The newborn infant must receive from another or he will die. And, mother’s milk is the purest, most wholesome nourishment that the newborn infant can receive, thus St. Peter exhorts you, like newborn infants, to crave, desire, and long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word of God. It is only good to be selfish for the Lord’s gifts, His Holy Word and His Holy Wounds; there is enough and more for every newborn infant ever born.

That first Easter evening in the upper room was all about the Holy Wounds of Christ, which is to say that it was all about Jesus, crucified, died, risen, and present in His flesh and blood bearing the wounds of His death. Jesus showed His disciples his nail-pierced hands and His sword-pierced side, then He proclaimed to them “Peace be with you.” This was not some friendly greeting, this was a proclamation of the truth – The Peace of God was literally with the disciples, standing in their midst. It is Christ’s wounds that have secured our peace, and it is from those wounds that His peace flows.

It was that Peace that Jesus ordained His apostles to bring to His people, the Peace that is the forgiveness of sins, as He breathed upon them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” And, it is that Peace that I, a called and ordained servant of the Word, am commanded and set apart to bring to you this day – the Peace of God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ. This Peace is testified to by the Holy Spirit who is sent forth from the mouth of God with His Holy Word. This Peace is testified to by the water of Holy Baptism, which washes away your sin and joins you into Jesus’ death and resurrection. And, this Peace is testified to by the blood of Holy Communion, shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins; “For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.”

These are the gifts that Christ freely gives, and like newborn infants, you are to long for this pure spiritual milk. That is, you are to depend completely upon the gifts that flow from the Words and the Wounds of Jesus. Your sustenance, your safety, your very existence depends upon Him. What you feel that you want or need is blessedly irrelevant. Your Lord knows what you need and He gives to you all that you need to sustain your bodies and lives. You are called to die to your self and live to God, for in His Holy Word and Holy Wounds is plenteous forgiveness, life, and salvation, for today, and for all eternity.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.