The Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord

(Audio)

Mark 16:14-20; Acts 1:1-11; 2 Kings 2:5-15

 

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

The Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord is the forgotten feast, no doubt because it falls on a Thursday. And yet, the Ascension is so important that all three of the Ecumenical Creeds confess it, many of our Lutheran congregations are named Ascension, and the image of Jesus Ascending is frequently depicted in statuary and in stained-glass in our churches, often above or within the reredos behind the altar. Yes, indeed, the Ascension of Our Lord is of supreme importance, for it indicates that Jesus’ self-sacrifice was accepted by His Father and that there is a place for us humans in the glorious presence of our Holy Triune God, for a human man now sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.

Yes, Jesus ascended in His resurrected, glorified, fully human body and soul. This should go without saying, but I’ve found that a lot of well-meaning Christians do not realize this monumentally important truth. They simply haven’t thought about it, or they have wrongly believed that it was merely a spiritual ascension. St. Paul has written, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Similarly, if Christ has not ascended bodily then we have no place in the presence of God in His glory. Additionally, if Christ has not ascended bodily, then the Holy Spirit could not have come to us and Christ could not be present in His Baptism, Supper, or in His Church proclaiming the Gospel and forgiving our sins.

Jesus taught His disciples that it was good for them that He return to His Father, for He would then send to them the Holy Spirit as a comforter, counselor, and guide. He did precisely that ten days after His Ascension, on the Feast of Pentecost. From Pentecost on, the Apostles no longer doubted or feared for their lives, but the Holy Spirit made them bold proclaimers of Christ and the forgiveness of sins and they died as martyrs for their confession of Him. It is the Holy Spirit who “has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” Apart from this work of the Holy Spirit I could not “by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.”

Jesus has ascended to the right hand of His Father in Heaven. This is not a location so much as it is a relationship. The truth is, the right hand of the Lord is everywhere, and Jesus now fills all things bodily. It is for this very reason that we believe, teach, and confess that Jesus’ true body and true blood are in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, just as He said. One of our catechetical hymns proclaims this confession (“Lord Jesus Christ, You Have Prepared” LSB 622): “Yet, Savior, You are not confined to any habitation; but You are present even now here with Your congregation;” “We eat this bread and drink this cup, Your precious Word believing that Your true body and Your blood our lips are here receiving;” “Though reason cannot understand, yet faith this truth embraces: Your body, Lord, is even now at once in many places. I leave to You how this can be; Your Word alone suffices me; I trust its truth unfailing.” 

From the right hand of His Father Jesus now reigns over everything. Jesus’ Ascension was His coronation as King over heaven and earth. St. Paul speaks of this truth in Ephesians chapter one: “[The LORD] raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Likewise, Jesus Himself taught in Matthew 28: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” and commissioned His Church saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Because of Jesus’ bodily ascension, this is most certainly true.

Truly, along with the Incarnation and Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection, the Ascension of Our Lord was God’s plan from the very beginning. The LORD’s desire is to dwell with His people, to commune with them. Our First Parents enjoyed a foretaste of this communion in the Garden before the Fall, but we all know the result of their tragic choices, for they are our own sin as well. Still the LORD desired to dwell with His people, so He instituted the Tabernacle and placed within it the Ark of the Covenant. The LORD gave His people the sacrifices to which He attached His Word of promise that He would overlook their sins until He would wash them away completely by the blood of the sacrifice He would make of His holy, righteous, and innocent Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The LORD’s plan was always to restore humankind to a right relationship with Himself. Through the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, the LORD has done just that. A human man now resides at the right hand of God the Father, assuring that humankind has a place, a place of highest honor, in the glorious presence of our Holy Triune God. We have been baptized into Jesus and the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within us, and we have faith in Christ who fulfilled God’s Law for us, suffered and died in our place, was raised from death to life that cannot die, who now sits at the right hand of God the Father ruling and reigning over heaven and earth. He is the first of us to be raised, and the guarantee that we will be raised, for in Him we even now have passed over from death to life.

And He is coming again, soon. In the same way in which we saw Him go will He return upon the clouds. Every eye will see Him. Every knee will bow before Him, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Every tongue will declare Him Lord, and God the Father will be glorified.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Specks, Logs, and Loving Our Brother

“Judge not,” you say? “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” – Inigo Montoya, “The Princess Bride”

Perhaps you recognize this little play on a catchphrase from the beloved film, “The Princess Bride?” The phrase “Judge not,” from Matthew 7:1, is at once one of the most quoted and abused verses in the Holy Scriptures. It’s an effective mouth-stopper when the mouth you wish to stop is claiming that some behavior or another is contrary to God’s Word and Commandments and therefore sinful. “Judge not!” is to say, “Shut up! You’re not supposed to judge anyone but yourself.”

But is that Jesus’ meaning? No, it is not. Context makes this clear as Jesus goes on to speak of “specks” and “logs” in our eyes, and how rightly to remove them: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3). Both “speck” and “log” are metaphors for sin, the point being we are all sinners deserving judgment (Romans 3:10, 23).

The Greek word krino translated as “judge” in this passage can mean “to judge,” “to condemn,” or “to discern,” three related, but distinct, nuances in meaning. The context makes it clear that Jesus means “condemn not,” which is to say, don’t write anyone off as a lost cause or beyond forgiveness. Jesus elucidates this by saying, “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). Jesus does not say that we should ignore or fail to notice the speck in our brother’s eye, and He most definitely does not say that we should affirm or bless it, but rather that we should help our brother to remove the speck that is in his eye. To do that, however, we must first acknowledge and confess the logs in our own eyes, our own sin, repent, and receive forgiveness, and so have that log removed. To recognize and call out a brother’s sin, therefore, is not to judge and condemn him, but it is to love and to help him so that he does not suffer harm or harm others, but this must be done in selfless humility, repentance, and love.

Someone will object, “Who can judge what is sin and sinful behavior?” Apart from the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, there is no such authority, and the word sin is meaningless. But the Word of God is the authority, and the Ten Commandments are the Law, rule, measure, and standard over us all. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Indeed, the Law still stands as Jesus makes clear in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28). When something is fulfilled, it has not been abolished, but it has been changed. Jesus has fulfilled the Law; The Law is still there, but our relationship to it has changed. No longer need we obey it out of compulsion and fear of punishment, but we may obey the Law freely and without fear, even when we fail, out of love for Jesus and God our Father, and out of love for one another redeemed and forgiven by God in Jesus Christ. Yes, we may obey it freely and without fear when we fail and sin, for we have a loving Savior who has fulfilled the Law for us and has taken its condemnation and punishment upon Himself.

This is good news for sinners; this is the Gospel. But specks and logs must be removed. It will do no good to ignore them or to pretend they are not a problem. Jesus came to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). Sin isn’t something to be proud of, but to repent of. The good news is that sin is forgiven in Jesus for those who trust in Him, love His Word and Commandments, and strive to live accordingly. No, we are not to judge and condemn our brother, for we are forgiven sinners too, but forgiven sinners are to so love their brother that they do not leave them in their sin but exhort them to repent and receive forgiveness in Jesus.

Rev. Jon M. Ellingworth, Pastor
St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church – Waverly, IA

Rogate - The Sixth Sunday of Easter (Easter 6)

(Audio)

John 16:23-33; James 1:22-27; Numbers 21:4-9

 

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

Praying does not come to you naturally. Often you do not know what to say. Undoubtedly, you have heard and you have seen others pray, and often you feel that you are not pious or eloquent enough in your prayers. And, be honest with yourself, sometimes you even feel ridiculous, muttering words into the air when you are alone, or even worse, when you are in the presence of others. And then, there are those times when you are filled with anger, resentment, and frustration, when you know that you should pray, but you just don’t feel like it, and you feel like a hypocrite and like it’s all so futile anyway.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, you are not in bad company, for Jesus’ disciples often found it difficult to pray as well. In fact, Jesus gave them the Lord’s Prayer as a model in answer to their asking Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” How to pray is something you have to learn, and I repeat, because prayer does not come to you naturally. The Lord’s Prayer is a master prayer, not so much due to its form or its structure, but because of its doctrine and its theology: It confesses God as God, and it confesses you to be His child, His creature and subject. Thus, any prayer that begins with an argument that you’ve done well, or that you’ve tried, or that at least you’re better than that poor schlep over there, is completely out of place and is, in fact, no prayer at all, but it is irreverent babbling or as a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.

Irreverent babbling? A noisy gong or clanging cymbal? Yes, I have felt that way about my prayers. How about you? The problem is that you and I too often pray from our need instead of from God’s promises. Do you bring a shopping list of needs to God in your prayers as if He doesn’t already know what you need, and more, and better, than you do? Do you pray out of your troubles and trials? Do you pray out of disaster and calamity? Do you pray out of guilt and shame? Do you pray out of fears and doubts? Do you pray out of despair and death? Do you believe that you know these needs better than anyone else? Is it often difficult for you to pray “as God wills”? Do you live with the haunting fear that God does not know your needs as you do and that God will not give you what you think and what you know you need? Do you find it a betrayal of prayer to lay out all that you have determined is needed and then to end it all “in accordance with God’s will”? Why is it so hard for you to let God be God, to let Him love you as He chooses to love you, to receive from Him what He knows is good and best for you and for those you love?

Jesus teaches you to pray “Our Father” because God is your Father and He loves you and will only give to you and permit to befall you what will work for your good. As your human father is your source of being, who was before you and who brought you into this life and world, so your heavenly Father is the source of all creation who has made and still sustains all things. Thus, there is nothing in this life and world that is outside of His knowledge and power and He works all things, even the terrible and horrible things, toward His good purpose for you. Likewise, your heavenly Father alone is holy and righteous and good. He is the source of all goodness and the measure of all righteousness, who never wavers or changes. You can trust in Him. You can count on Him. What He has promised He will most assuredly do.

You confess this when you pray “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” When you pray this petition, you are asking that your will would be realigned with God’s will, that you would want, seek, and desire what is in accordance with His good and perfect will. Again, you can trust that your heavenly Father seeks only what is good for you, even if that means your passing through times of trial and tribulation, for you will pass through, you will persevere and you will overcome, just as He has promised. In this is peace and contentment, for, the peace that the Father gives is radically different from the peace that the world offers. The Father’s peace is true peace, satisfaction and contentment with what He provides, while the world’s peace is a fleeting and insatiable peace that never satisfies, but only disappoints, leaving you longing for, desiring for, wanting and needing something more, something else, something different. Your heavenly Father knows what you need, even before you ask, even when you do not know, and He lovingly gives you and provides you all that you need to sustain and to support your body and life.

Indeed, this is what is meant by daily bread. Daily bread is bread sufficient for the day, replenished, as need be, each and every day that you live. It is like the manna with which God sustained Israel in the wilderness. God provided each person what they needed, which was not always what they thought they needed or wanted. Sometimes they did not trust in the LORD to provide, and they hoarded leftover bread for days to come, but it spoiled and stank and bred worms. God knows what you need and He gladly provides you food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. All this is meant by daily bread. And yet, so much more than what preserves the body does your heavenly Father give you what is good for your soul: His living and life-giving Word and the precious body and holy blood of His Word made flesh, Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, eternal life, and salvation.

Do you pray to God for forgiveness? Do you pray to God for the will, the love, and the strength to forgive others as God has forgiven you in Jesus Christ? Indeed, these two are connected. You can only forgive others if you yourself have been forgiven. And, if you have been forgiven by God, and you most assuredly have, then you must forgive, for the freed slave cannot in turn hold another in bondage. By so doing, you remain yourself in bondage to sin and death. Give as you have been given to. Bless as you have been blessed. Forgive as you have been forgiven, even if you are repaid with evil, hatred, and violence.

Do you recognize prayer as a defense against temptation? God does not tempt you, but the devil, the world, and your own sinful nature seek to deceive you and mislead you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Do you pray to your heavenly Father to preserve and to protect you from these? He has promised never to leave you or forsake you, but that He is always with you, in the valley of the shadow of death or in the depths of Hades, there is nowhere you can go that He is not there. And, do you pray for deliverance from the evil one? Or, do you believe that man is your only enemy? I tell you that no man is truly your enemy but that your enemy is one, the devil who desires only that you pray not, that you believe not, and that you die in sin and unbelief. For, he is a bitter and angry foe who knows that he is already defeated and that his power and influence is quickly coming to an end.

Do you pray from your need instead of from God’s promises? God has promised to hear and to answer your prayers through Christ Jesus so that whatever you ask in His Name, He will give it to you. To pray in Jesus’ Name is to pray in accordance with what pleases God, in accordance with His holiness, His goodness, and with His good and perfect will. He has promised to hear you and to answer you because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, for Jesus has ascended to the right hand of His Father in heaven, and He stands there as the doorway, the path, and the way through which men may pass and enter into the presence of God’s holiness. And this door, path, and way are very near to you, for they are as near to you as is Jesus Christ who fills all things.

Do you sometimes feel as if God does not have your best interest at heart or that He is reluctant to give you what you think you want and need? Though there are surely exceptions, even the most average of human fathers desire the best for their children. How much more does your heavenly Father desire what is good and beneficial for you and for all His children?

Julian of Norwich, a 15^th century Christian mystic, has written, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance. It is laying hold of God’s willingness.” God is willing to give you whatever you ask in Jesus’ Name that you will be strengthened in faith, in body and in soul, and that you will persevere against the temptations of the evil one, the world, and your own sinful nature. When you pray, pray not from your need, but from God’s promises. And, what has your heavenly Father promised you? He has promised to preserve and keep you from temptation and the assaults of the devil. He has promised to never leave or forsake you, but to be with you always. He has promised you forgiveness of your sins and eternal life with Him in the resurrection on the Last Day through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And, when you pray, do not worry so much about what to say or how you say it, but talk to God as a son or as a daughter would talk to their loving father, trusting that He loves you, that He loves having you talk to Him, that He wants to do for you all that is good and beneficial for you, and that, even when He disciplines you, He will never hurt or harm you out of malice or anger, but that He will keep you and preserve you through trial and tribulation, suffering, and even death, unto life everlasting.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Cantate - The Fifth Sunday after Easter (Easter 5)

(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.

Sorrow, loss, grief, and pain are natural, normal, and human. Your Lord Jesus experienced all of these just as you do. However, your enemy Satan attempts to use these to keep you in your place, stuck, as it were, in a rut, unable to see beyond your present pain, robbing you of hope, peace, contentment, and joy, attacking and destroying your faith. So he did with Jesus’ disciples. Their sorrow, loss, grief, and pain would not permit them to see beyond their present grief at Jesus’ announcement that He would soon be leaving them. Seemingly, they could not hear the good news of His destination, that He was returning to His Father’s right hand in heaven, and that this would be a good thing for them. And so, they were afraid, they were hopeless, and they were despondent, and Satan used their sorrow, their loss, their grief, and their pain to tempt them to unbelief. And, he was successful, to varying degrees, with all of them. But with one of them, it literally cost him his life and, potentially, his salvation.

You see, Satan uses your sorrow, your loss, your grief, and your pain to sidetrack you from your pilgrimage journey back to Eden, to paradise, to heaven with God. When Jesus first prophesied that He must suffer and die and be raised again on the third day, way back then, early in His ministry, His disciples, communally, did not understand, and they said “No! Never!” Jesus’ leaving them was a stumbling block for them. His suffering and death scandalized them. After hearing the first part of His prophecy, that He must suffer and die, their sorrow, their loss, their grief, and their pain prevented them from hearing the good news that He would rise again on the third day. Even on the night in which He was betrayed, even when Jesus told Peter directly that he would deny Him three times that very night, Peter did not believe that Jesus would rise, none of them did, and he was so overcome with grief and sorrow, hopelessness, and despair that he went and unwittingly fulfilled Jesus’ prophecy and denied his Lord, his Master, and his dearest friend three times before the cock crowed at dawn. Even after His resurrection on the third day, Thomas refused to believe until he could see and touch Jesus with his own eyes and hands. Thomas’ sorrow and grief, along with his reason and intellect, which Satan also uses against you, blinded him to the Truth of Jesus’ Word.

Dear Christian, you are on a journey through a barren and desolate wilderness. Like the children of Israel before you, you are an exile journeying to a promised land. Just as Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, so this world is not your home. Your First Parents dwelt in paradise with God. Their sin and rebellion necessitated their, and your, exile. But Jesus, the Second Adam, has atoned for your sin and has justified you before God, and has returned to paradise with God as your Redeemer, your Lord, your Brother, and your Bridegroom, that where He is, you may also be.

Israel was redeemed from Pharaoh’s hell and was sent into the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. They were exiled and were taken captive by the Babylonians and the Assyrians before being restored to their own county. Likewise, today, the Church of Jesus Christ lives in exile as a stranger in a strange land, having a different language and a different culture, different values, and different priorities which this world neither values nor shares nor tolerates. Yet, each of these exiles, each of these uncomfortable displacements, each of these wilderness pilgrimages are, and have been, fulfilled in Jesus’ own self-exile from His Father in heaven to make His way through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, that is this earth and world and your own human life and experience, that He might redeem you and lead you forth out of exile in death and hell and into the Promised Land of life everlasting life with your Holy Triune God.

How to get back to Eden and to God? That is the question. God answered that question and promised to provide that way almost immediately after our First Parent’s rebellion and fall. In truth, according to the inscrutable wisdom of God, He had it all planned all along. He would send His Son into the world of His own creation as a man to fulfill what He created man to do and to be from the beginning and to then offer Himself as the atoning sacrifice for man’s sin and guilt, to die the death man had earned and merited, and to be raised up and to return to His Father, blazing a trail for your own resurrection and return to God and heaven, to Eden, and to paradise restored. 

Satan knew that God had a plan, but he didn’t know the details, the who, the why, the where, the when, or the how. How did Satan know? The same way that you and I know anything about God and His will and His ways – from His Word. Satan knew that a “seed from the woman” would strike his head. But, who? When? How? The answers to those questions Satan would have to learn, for he is no more privy to the mind and the thoughts of God than are you or I. Satan learned something about Jesus when he tempted Him in the wilderness. And, Satan learned something more about Jesus when He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons from the possessed, and forgave sins. Still, Satan never could have guessed what would happen when he struck Jesus’ heel and sunk his venomous fangs into His flesh upon the cross. He thought he had won at last. But, he was wrong – dead wrong. For, what Satan didn’t know and couldn’t see was that Jesus was not merely the Son of God, which Peter had confessed before Jesus’ crucifixion, but Jesus was God Himself, which Thomas confessed after Jesus’ resurrection, who willingly laid down His own innocent life and satisfied the justice of God’s righteousness that had been transgressed by the sin of humanity. Righteousness had been restored, and Satan was the tool God used to make it happen. Now Eden and the paradise of heaven stands open to all who trust in the blood of Jesus and enter therein. That is the truth! All Satan can do is tell you lies, hoping that you will believe them and get sidetracked in your journey, and miss out paradise regained and restored.

Sorrow, loss, grief, and pain are natural, normal, and human. Your Lord Jesus experienced all of these just as you do. However, Satan attempts to use these gifts of the Lord against you to take your focus off of your goal, to attack and to destroy your faith. But, do not fear! Take comfort in this good news: You are not alone. Though you do not see Him, your Lord Jesus is with you, always, just as He promised. Moreover, He knows the way of your pilgrimage through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, for He has walked it before you, and He unlocked the gate of death and the grave that would keep you in so that they have become for you an open portal through which you may freely pass into His Father’s house, into Eden, into paradise, and the Promised Land forevermore.

You are not alone. Your Lord Jesus is with you. He walks with you on your way, He talks with you through His Word and through prayer, He washes, cleanses, and restores you through Holy Baptism and Absolution, and He communes with you and comforts you through His Body and Blood in the Holy Supper. And, He has sent you His Holy Spirit to comfort and to counsel, to help and to guide you, and to protect and keep you in faith. Indeed, it was necessary that Jesus ascend to His Father and leave you physically and visually that He might send to you His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps you, comforts you, and keeps you by convicting the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin because He exposes the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” The Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning righteousness because “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And, the Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning judgment because “the ruler of this world is judged.” Satan is defeated. He has no claim on you. His only weapons are lies and deceptions through which he seeks to deceive you and make train wreck of your faith.

Thus St. James exhorts you this day, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 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.” Jesus and His Holy Spirit are the good and perfect gift of God the Father that will never change. Satan will try to deceive you into believing that this is not true. He will use your sorrow, your loss, your grief, and your pain to cause you to doubt God’s faithfulness, to doubt His love for you, to doubt that He is able to help you, and to doubt whether He exists at all. But the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Counselor, and the Comforter will guide you and protect you. Open yourself to Him by making use of the means through which He works: The Word of God and the Blessed Sacraments. As you gather regularly with your brothers and sisters in Christ around these Means of Grace, the Holy Spirit comforts, counsels, guards, protects, and keeps you in faith, safe from Satan’s attacks and deceptions, and He preserves you in your pilgrimage back to Eden, the Promised Land, the Paradise of Heaven with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit forevermore. Come, now, and draw water from the wells of salvation, both now and forevermore.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Jubilate - The Fourth Sunday of Easter (Easter 4)

(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.

There are many who believe that, if you are a Christian, things should generally go well for you – you shouldn’t experience any serious or prolonged pain, suffering, or sorrow in your life. The inevitable outcome of such thinking, of course, is that if you do experience some significant tribulation, then that is cause either to question the strength of your faith or the object of your faith. Where do people get such an idea as that? They certainly don’t get it from the teachings of Jesus, or from the Word of God, for they clearly teach that pain, suffering, and sorrow are the result of sin (original sin, actual sin, or otherwise), and that both the believer and the unbeliever will be afflicted by them throughout their lives.

In fact, Jesus was straightforward with His disciples, assuring them that because of their faith in Him, they would experience more intense pain, suffering, and sorrow than unbelievers. He told them that the world would hate them because the world hates Him. He told them that people would want to kill them because of Him. He taught them that the way of the disciple was the same as the way of the Teacher, and that is the way of the cross. He taught them that they must die to themselves and lose their lives in this world to save them in eternity.

And, dearly beloved, Jesus is no less straightforward with you today. “Truly, truly,” He says to you, “you willweep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful.” You will endure pain, suffering, and sorrow, says your Lord, but it will come to an end, and then your sorrow will be turned into joy.

Jesus calls this time of your pain, suffering, and sorrow, that is your life – that is the lives of your parents and grandparents, that is the lives of your children, and your children’s children, that is the lives of all people from our First Parents to our last children – Jesus calls this time of your pain, suffering, and sorrow, that is your life, “a little while.” “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” “A little while?” Now, that causes us to ask, along with the disciples, “What does Jesus mean by ‘a little while’.”

The phrase “a little while” likely causes you some anxiety and frustration because it is indeterminate, indefinite.  We’d so much rather have a definite answer so that we can prepare and manage for ourselves the pain, suffering, and sorrow during their designated time. We want to be in control. But that is precisely what your Lord would release you from: having to be in control, anxiety, frustration, and pain. For His words, “a little while”, remind you that He is in control: That is, He is in control of your life. He is in control of your pain, suffering, and sorrow. And He is in control of the fact that it will end, and that your suffering will be turned into joy. Now, knowing this, do not His words “a little while,” then, give you something other than frustration, anxiety, and fear? Do not His words give you hope?

Your Lord Jesus, who has loved you by laying down His own life in death for you to set you free from your sin, and the frustration, anxiety, and fear that are its fruits, has also set you free from living in the bondage of frustration, anxiety, and fear and to pain, suffering, and sorrow in your life. You need not live as a slave to these things because Jesus has conquered them for you and has set you free from them. He has placed limits on both the extent and the time in which they may afflict you, and He has guaranteed you, not only that they will end, but that you will endure, and that you will have joy. But the most wonderful and marvelous gift is that, because of Jesus, you can have that joy even now, even in the “little while” of your pain, suffering, anxiety, frustration, and fear, knowing that your tribulations are conquered and that the Lord is their Master, and that He is in control, and that He uses these trials to discipline His children, to strengthen your faith, and to produce in you hope.

Now, no one looks forward to pain, suffering, and sorrow, but you can endure them and even find joy in them when you know that they are for but a little while, that they will end, and that in the end joy surpasses the tribulation to the extent that it is but a faint memory. Thus, Jesus provides you with a fitting example, as it is Mother’s Day, the example of a woman in labor, who experiences pain, suffering, and sorrow, but who faces these trials with confident joy for the gift of her child which is the fruit of her labor. How many mothers, in the midst of their labor cry out “Never again!” but after the delivery, for the joy of the child gladly do it again, and again, and again.  “So you have sorrow now,” says your Lord, “but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

Today we are gathered, just like the disciples of our Lord before us gathered each and every Lord’s day, having basked four weeks in the Paschal joy of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And today, hearken to Your Lord’s call that you live resurrected lives, even now, as you walk through the wilderness of this world, the valley of the shadow of death, where pain, and sorrow, and suffering afflict you and the Enemy would have you be filled with frustration, anxiety, and fear so that you lose hope.  For, Jesus has conquered your Enemy and He has released you from slavery to His devices. Your Enemy has no power over you, that is, unless you give it to him, for Jesus has set you free; only you can put yourself back in the devil’s chains. Your Enemy the devil would fill you with frustration, anxiety, and fear as you face your pain, suffering, and sorrow, so that you forget that Jesus is Lord of these things, that Jesus is the Lord of your life, so that you lose hope and give way to anger and hatred, depression and despair. He is a liar, and he is the father of lies! The devil would have you, for fear of the labor, abort the pregnancy, and miss out on the new life.

Do not be afraid! Live as people who are free. Fear God. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. You have been baptized together into Jesus’ death and you have been raised in Jesus’ resurrection. You have been born again of water and the Holy Spirit and nourished with the life and faith of Jesus through His body and blood. He is not dead, He is risen; He lives, He reigns, and, in a little while, He returns for you. Now is the time of labor – and labor means pain, suffering, and sorrow – but in a little while, your sorrow will be turned into joy. And that assurance grants you Peace beyond human understanding, peace born from faith that confesses “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who is my strength.” “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as he is.” God the Father bestow upon you His Peace in Christ Jesus and keep you in the True Faith by the gracious workings of the Holy Spirit.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Misericordias Domini - The Third Sunday in Easter (Easter 3)

(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.

The words of our Old Testament reading from Ezekiel are beautiful and comforting. The LORD describes Himself as a shepherd seeking out His lost, confused, and frightened sheep that have been scattered by the enemy, feeding them in green pastures and giving them clean water to drink, binding up the wounds of the injured. Surely this is our God, and this is His loving, gracious, and merciful work for us in Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. However, that beautiful passage and image concludes with words of judgment, with the LORD saying, “and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”

Indeed, as the passage continues beyond today’s reading the LORD says, “Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey.” Here the flock is beset by external enemies – lions, dogs, serpents, robbers, and the like – while there are also enemies within. Truly, often the most dangerous threats are within the flock itself, within the Church. It’s not our place to judge who’s a sheep and who’s a goat, that’s the LORD’s to judge and the LORD alone. Our own eyes and hearts are so clouded and corrupted by sin that we cannot see clearly enough to do that. We have to have the logs removed from our own eyes before we can remove the specks from those of our brother. Still, there are goats, and the LORD will judge them when He returns as King. Still, there are wolves in sheep’s clothing, pretenders, hypocrites who feign to be one of the flock, doing the LORD’s work, who instead “push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with their horns till they are scattered.” Still, there are sheep who make themselves fat with self-concern, selfishness, and self-righteousness, having no concern for other sheep, for the weaker sheep, so that they grow weak and thin and become prey for the enemy. The LORD will judge them, and the LORD will rescue His flock.

Sheep are sheep, and sheep do sheepy things. Sheep are willful and stubborn. Sheep are prone to wander in search of whatever they think will fill their bellies, whether it is good for them or not. Sheep are not unintelligent as many seem to think, but on the contrary, their intelligence is often what gets them into trouble. Unsurprisingly, sheep are the perfect analogy for you and me. The Prophet Isaiah says of us, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.” Left to our own fallen natures, that’s what we do: We go astray. We pursue our own selfish wants. We are concerned only with what serves us and makes us happy, what we want, rather than what is true, what is good, and what best serves all. We are sheep, and we need a shepherd who will guide us and lead us and protect us and feed us, and, yes, a shepherd who will use his rod and his staff according to God’s Word and tell us the truth about ourselves and sooth and heal those broken by the Law and their own sin.

Sheep are sheep, and, therefore, not the shepherd. The job, the vocation, of the shepherd is to call and gather the sheep in one flock, to feed them, care for them, and to protect them from the enemy, and from their own stubborn willfulness. To be gathered into one flock means that you simply cannot go your own way, you cannot insist upon your own way. Such self-concern and selfishness is the very opposite of the selfless and sacrificial love of the Good Shepherd that unifies us. Such behavior is the pushing and the thrusting with side and shoulder the LORD denounces through His Prophet Ezekiel. In contrast to that, St. Peter describes the behavior of the LORD’s sheep when they follow their Shepherd Jesus: “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.”

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd in contrast to the bad shepherds who, like the sheep, have only their own self-interest in mind. They are hired hands who work for a wage and not out of love for the LORD and for His people. Therefore, they will not defend the flock against the wolves and the enemy. They will not feed the sheep with what is good for them, but will give them what they think they want, what makes them feel happy so that they will not cause him any grief. Jesus is the Good Shepherd; He lays down His life for the sheep. And He sets an example for us that we should lay down our lives for one another – that we should lay down our selfish wants and desires for the truth and for the good of all – and thus become one flock, having one shepherd.

Ultimately, it is the enemy, the wolf, the devil who snatches and scatters the LORD’s sheep. He delights in pitting sheep against sheep so that they “push with the side and shoulder, and thrust at the weak with their horns,” growing fat at the expense of others. He delights in pitting the sheep against their shepherd so that he either capitulates to their fleshly desires and worldly demands, or is forced out of the flock altogether, leaving them defenseless. It is said that wherever a church is established in the Name of the LORD, the devil builds a chapel right next door. The only defense against this enemy is the Word of the LORD. The LORD’s sheep hear the voice of their Good Shepherd and they follow Him. They know His voice, and He knows them, and He calls them by name.

Your Good Shepherd calls you today. Here in His pasture, His Church, His sheep may safely graze. Here He gathers you and feeds you in rich pasture. Here He binds up the broken and strengthens the sick. Here He restores your souls in the still waters of Holy Baptism. Here He leads you in the paths of righteousness by the voice of His Gospel. Here He prepares the table of His Holy Supper before you, that you may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for Dorothy Johanna Bloker

(Audio)

John 1:1-14; Philippians 4:10-13; Isaiah 43:1-3, 25

 

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

When you read the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, and even more specifically, the first book of the Bible Genesis, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that folks used to live a long, long, long, long time. Adam lived 930 years, and he died. His son Seth lived 912 years, and he died. Noah lived 950 years, and he died. The oldest man recorded to live was Methuselah; he lived 969 years, and he died. In contrast, as time went on, people began to live shorter and shorter lives. Abraham lived 175 years, and he died. Moses lived 120 years, and he died. David lived 70 years, and he died. Are you beginning to see a pattern here?

Ninety-eight years is a very long life by modern standards. And it’s somewhat rare that someone lives to be 98 and still lives at home, independent, on their own, making their own meals, keeping house, taking care of themselves, etc. But Dorothy did that. Right up until her last day she was sharp as a tack, engaging in conversation, more concerned about what was happening in your lives than her own. It’s almost like she died, simply because, well, we have to. Like Adam and Seth, Noah and Methuselah, Abraham, Moses, and David before her – death comes to us all, nobody lives forever – and so, Dorothy succumbed to death as well.

But what do the Scriptures say of those who died in the Lord? They were “gathered to their fathers,” they “fell asleep in the Lord,” they were “carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom,” they were “with Jesus in Paradise,” etc. And what does Jesus say about those who die in the Lord? They have “passed over from death to life.” They are “with Him.” They “shall not see death.” “Even though they die, they shall live.” Jesus can say this, and it is true, because Jesus died, once for all, and He has crushed the serpent’s head, defeated death, and has taken away its sting forever. We just celebrated Jesus’ resurrection two weeks ago. As we continue to bask in the glow of Jesus’ empty tomb, we are reminded again that the stone remains forever rolled away, the tomb remains forever empty, Jesus is forever risen, and those who die in the Lord are forever with Him, and no one will take away their joy!

Dorothy was the matriarch of this big, beautiful Bloker family. And what a matriarch she was! Well done, good and faithful servant! What I mean by that is that Dorothy successfully passed on her Christian faith, values, morality, ethics, and traditions to her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. And that is no small feat! Dorothy joyfully embraced her vocations as wife, mother, and grandmother. Though she worked many different jobs, she would tell you that her best job was being a wife to Ralph and being a mother to her six children, Cheryle, Steven, Marie, Kenneth, Roger, and Laurie. Though she attended many different churches throughout her life, she attended them faithfully and served as a Sunday school teacher, taught Vacation Bible School and Midweek classes, and sewed sleepers and dresses for stillborn babies through the Diana's Angels Project. Dorothy was an exemplary image of what it means to be a faithful Christian woman, wife, mother, and grandmother. She loved and trusted in the Lord and believed in Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

One of Dorothy’s favorite Scripture passages was Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Unfortunately, this is a Scripture passage that is much misunderstood and therefore misinterpreted and misapplied. The “him” in this passage is the Lord, of course. There should be no confusion there. But the “I can do all things” part is what suffers abuse. “I can do all things” does not mean that I can do anything and everything, if only I believe strong enough, but it means that I can do what I have been given to do – that is to say, I can do my God-given vocation – through faith in Him who gives me the strength to persevere and endure for this truly good work. I believe that Dorothy believed this. Dorothy believed that she could do anything and everything that the Lord had given her to do because the Lord was her strength to do it.

Perseverance and endurance, that’s what faith, hope, and love provide us. Life isn’t always easy, right? Life certainly wasn’t easy for Dorothy and Ralph, raising six children on a family farm. But they did it, and they did it well! How? How did they do it? Faith, hope, and love, that’s how. And that’s what “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” means. Dorothy and Ralph experienced many failures, trials, and tribulations in their lives, as do we all. But faith, hope, and love give us the strength to endure them and to persevere through them, and to do so with joy, peace, and love. Dorothy wasn’t worried about herself. She was at peace. If she was worried about anything at all, she was worried about you. Christ’s peace, which passes our human understanding, meant that Dorothy had no true concern for herself, but her love made her concerned for you.

Dorothy loved to celebrate with her family. She was Danish in her ethnicity, and she knew how to bake some incredibly delicious Danish foods. She made an incredible apple cake, but her prune strip was the delicacy she was truly known for. At Christmas the family danced around the Christmas tree to the Danish folk song, Nu är det jul igen (new-eh-duh-yool-eyin), “Christmas Lasts Until Easter.” Of course, it’s not true, is it? Christmas doesn’t last until Easter. First there is Ash Wednesday and Lent, a period of fasting, sadness over sin, and repentance. After that, and only after that, comes Easter. That’s sort of like life, isn’t it? Indeed, that’s the point. In life we must bear the cross that has been chosen for us. Only after we die to this life are we resurrected to a new and everlasting life. And that’s what I was getting at earlier: Dorothy died to this life and world many, many, many years ago. But it was then that she truly began to live, to live to the Lord. All the things you remember and celebrate and give thanks for about her today are the fruits of that new life. Dorothy didn’t want you to be concerned about her; it was her job, it was her God-given vocation, to be concerned about you. She didn’t want you to worry about her; she was busy being worried about you, with the love of Jesus.

Interestingly, Dorothy shared a Bible verse with you from memory in the hospital in her last days. It was the Gospel reading we heard earlier from St. John’s Gospel, the first chapter: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And that’s not all; Dorothy continued, from memory, for five or six verses or more. I was surprised, not that she had Scripture memorized, but why that passage? Well, John 1 is the Christmas Gospel; that’s what we read in church on Christmas Day. What St. Luke takes two chapters to tell, with the Virgin Mary, the Angel Gabriel, the Bethlehem shepherds, and the manger, St. John says in one verse: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us.” God became man, and that has changed everything.

God became a man in Jesus Christ, and that has changed everything. God has blessed humanity, not only with His presence, but by taking humanity upon Himself. The early Church put it this way, “God became man so that man should become God.” No, I don’t mean that we are gods, or that we are God Himself, but we are in communion with God, because we are in communion with Jesus, who is God as a man, through Holy Baptism and faith. Isn’t that comforting? Maybe that’s why Dorothy committed this passage to memory and recounted it in her last days? One of you said that “she was the hands and feet of Jesus.” Yes! I do believe that you are right! “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me?” How about this, “I can do all things through Him who is my strength.”

God blessed Dorothy, and God blessed you, Dorothy’s beloved family, and God has blessed us and so many others through her. Where did Dorothy get her strength, her faith, her love? It was all gift – God’s gift to Dorothy, and God’s gift of Dorothy to you, to me, and to countless others. “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” – Thus saith the LORD.

Dorothy’s last words to you were the words of one who was in Jesus: “God bless you all forever and ever.” “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” “I can do all things through Him who is my strength.” Heavenly Father, we thank you for our sister in Christ Dorothy, for her love, which was your love through her, and for her faith, which is for us a comfort, a blessing, an encouragement, a hope, and an inspiration that we too might do all things through Jesus who is our strength.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.