Lest Every Man Be Blind

The Feast of The Transfiguration of Our Lord

2012-01-29T17:07:00.001-05:00

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.

What we are blessed to see in the Transfiguration of Our Lord is a small glimpse and preview of the fullness of God’s glory which is located in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. But, though Jesus’ face and clothes shined with unborrowed light, He was the same man Jesus. That is to say that He was the same man Jesus who had first called Peter, James, and John to follow Him. He was the same man Jesus whom they had witnessed turn water into wine, cleanse a leper, and heal a paralytic. He was the same man Jesus whom Peter had boldly and truthfully confessed to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Only now, for a brief moment, they were blessed to see the glory of God that had been there with Him, and in Him, though veiled, all along.

He was the same man Jesus. God’s glory had been with Him and in Him all along. Therefore, what we have heard and seen in the Word of God this Epiphantide were but small manifestations, or epiphanies, of that glory in Jesus’ Words and deeds. But, the man Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, the Word made flesh, dwelling amongst us, was, and is, and ever shall be the fullness of God’s glory. The light now shining from Jesus’ face and clothes in the Transfiguration does not make Him more glorious than when He laid as a helpless infant in a feeding trough for animals. That light had always been there, though veiled, for indeed, Jesus is the very Light of the World. He is the Light which shined in the darkness before the creation of sun, moon, or stars. Jesus is the Light in the darkness of our world of sin and death in which we still live. And, Jesus is the Light of heaven in which the Saints bask and dwell in eternity with no need for either lamp or sun. Jesus has always been this Light and, though His glorious Light was hidden for a while beneath the veil of His humanity, Peter, James, and John were permitted a brief unveiling to prepare them, and to strengthen them, to embrace the fullness of God’s glory that would soon be revealed in the suffering and death of the man Jesus upon the cross.

It was a glorious, mountaintop experience, to be sure, to behold Jesus in brilliant, blinding light. But then, two men appeared with Jesus, Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. St. Luke informs us that they were talking to Jesus about His departure, or, in Luke’s Greek, His exodus, which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Imagine that, Moses, God’s chosen leader of Israel in their exodus out of bondage and slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt speaking with Jesus, the New Moses, about the exodus He was about to make to free God’s people from bondage and slavery to sin, death, and Satan through His bodily suffering and death on the cross in Jerusalem, leading them into the Promised Land of eternal life with God in heaven. And then, to see Jesus speaking too with Elijah, the Great Prophet of Israel. Both of these men had served the LORD in their lives, preaching, teaching, and confessing their faith in God and in His covenant promise to send a Messiah and Redeemer to forgive the people of their sins. And, both of these men had died trusting in the LORD’s faithfulness to keep His promise, yet, behold, there they are alive, standing in God’s glory shining forth from Jesus, talking to Him, talking about Him, as they once did on earth, about His exodus which He was soon to accomplish in Jerusalem. Moses represented the Law of God given in the Ten Commandments and in the sacrificial system of the people of Israel, and Elijah represented the prophetic Word of God given through the mouths of the prophets to rebuke the people of their sins, to turn them in repentance, and to proclaim to them God’s abundant mercy, grace, and forgiveness in providing for them a Messiah, Redeemer, and Savior. For, all of the Law and the Prophets, all of the Hebrew Scriptures, which we call the Old Testament, served to convey this message, this Gospel, this Christ who was about to accomplish and finish all things necessary to restore men to righteousness before God. Moses’ and Elijah’s presence with Jesus in glory are the living proof of God’s promise kept and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, given as a preview of a greater glory still.

We shouldn’t be surprised, then, that Peter wanted to enshrine that glory. Peter wanted to stay on that mountaintop in the glorious Light of God’s glory and build shrines for St. Moses, for St. Elijah, and for the Son of God Jesus Christ. Who could blame him? People would come from every tribe and every nation on earth to worship God at this shrine; there was no doubt about it. Every knee would bow on earth before this clear, obvious, and convincing glory, confessing that God is LORD of all and that Jesus Christ is His only-begotten Son. It’s reasonable to think that Peter had only the best of intentions, that people would confess the one, true God and worship Jesus as Messiah and Lord. But, he didn’t know what he was saying. He hadn’t understood and believed what Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, had said. And, he hadn’t understood and believed what Jesus Himself had repeatedly said, that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Thus, while Peter was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. God the Father had said these same Words before at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, but this time He added the Words “Listen to Him”. Not only is God the Father fully pleased with humankind in His Son Jesus Christ, but Jesus is the very Word of God in human flesh. The Words that proceed from Jesus’ mouth are the living and creative Word of God by which all things were made and are sustained. The disciples are to listen to Jesus’ Words and teaching as authoritative even as they have so viewed the words and teachings of Moses and the Prophets, the Holy Scriptures. Thus, as Jesus will now have Words for them that are difficult to hear, to receive, and to believe, they must trust Jesus and His Words as they must trust God the Father Himself.

But then, Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And now they have come full circle, for, the glory of God was always present and located in the person of Jesus. In the incarnation, the Glory of God took up residence in the womb of the Virgin Mary, making her the new Ark of the Covenant and her womb the Holy of Holies. In Jesus’ life and ministry He manifested His glory through wondrous signs and deeds. On the Mount of Transfiguration the veil was removed temporarily so that the primordial Light of God’s Glory shone from its source in Jesus’ face and clothing. But then, when the Light, and the cloud, and the voice had gone away, when Moses and Elijah disappeared from their presence, the disciples saw Jesus alone – the Glory of God still with Him and in Him, veiled in humanity – as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.

For, the man Jesus is the Glory of God. Or, as the second century church Father Irenaeus once wrote, “the Glory of God is a man fully alive.” And the fullest expression of God’s Glory as a man is not to be worshiped and adored on a mountain top in shining light and thunderous Words from heaven, but the fullest expression of God’s Glory as a man was when Jesus willingly laid down His life unto death on the cross to redeem all humankind from sin, and death, and Satan. Jesus taught His disciples that greater love was not possible than that a man should die for his friends. And, Jesus revealed the fullness of God’s Glory when He willingly suffered and died for all men, even those who hated Him, whom He counted as His friends and as brothers.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” God’s glory shining in and through Jesus is a secret. It was given to the three disciples to prepare them and to encourage them for what was to come. For, Jesus knew that they would stumble over His cross, over His suffering and death, but, by showing them in advance His hidden glory, they would remember and understand after His resurrection on the third day. For, it was not sufficient that men should worship Jesus on a mountaintop, as glorious as that might truly be, for apart from Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are still in our sins and are consigned to death and hell. But, the Glory of God is a man fully alive, a man who has died to sin and who now lives to God, the True Man in whom all men have life, Jesus Christ. It was necessary for Jesus to suffer and die and to be raised again on the third day, and thus, the fullness of God’s Glory is revealed in the Son of God, Jesus, dead upon the cross. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the sun failed to shine that day when the Son of God, its source and the Light of the World, died upon the cross.

It is no cleverly devised myth, as enemies of the faith are want to say, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus was a real man, flesh and blood, just like you and me. He was conceived and born of a human mother, raised in an average household, matured and grew in stature and wisdom before God and men. He was a respected rabbi, a faithful friend, who called people to repentance and to realign themselves with God’s Word in the Holy Scriptures. And, for this, He was hated by some and was arrested, tried, convicted, and crucified unto death. But, all the while, He was fullness of God’s Glory, veiled and hidden in humanity. And, when He died, all of creation confessed His glory. And, when He rose, men remembered what He had said, what Moses and the Prophets had said, what had always been said, and that it was all true: God Himself has provided the Passover Lamb that has taken away the sins of the world. The fullness of the Glory of God has been revealed in His self-offering unto death for the life of the world. Alleluia!

And so today we begin our descent from the Mount of Transfiguration glory to follow Jesus to the cross. Today we say farewell to Alleluia, anticipating its joyful resurrection on Easter Sunday. But, we do not leave behind one glory to seek another, for the mountaintop glory of Transfiguration is the same glory that is located in Jesus’ humility and that is seen and confessed in its fullness on the mountaintop of Calvary in Jesus’ death on the cross. For, the glory of God is a man fully alive, and Jesus becomes that man, and we become that man, only through Jesus’ death upon the cross.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

2012-01-22T13:22:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Matthew 8:1-13; Romans 12:1621; 1 Kings 5:1-15a

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

We talk a lot about faith in the Church, that’s true. But, do you truly understand what faith is? Do you know what faith looks like? Do you recognize faith when you see it, or hear it? I suspect, probably not as much as you think. Interestingly, Jesus didn’t talk about faith all that much. Most of the faith-talk in the New Testament comes from St. Paul. In fact, Jesus only used the word faith twelve times in Matthew’s Gospel, five times in Mark’s, and twelve times in Luke’s. He didn’t use the word at all in John’s Gospel! And of the average 7.25 times Jesus used the word faith in the Gospels, over half of those times He was remarking about how little, how small, or how weak the faith of His disciples was. Sometimes the Gospels say that Jesus “saw their faith” and responded by granting what they had asked. Sometimes Jesus said that a believer’s “faith has made them well.” And, a few times Jesus even said to someone “Great is your faith.” But, what is faith? What does faith look like? It is clear from Jesus’ teaching alone that faith is something that you have, or that you do not have, that it can be weak or strong, and that it can encourage and strengthen you and even heal you if you have it. And yet, there is much confusion within the Church about the nature of faith. But still, we Christians talk a lot about faith. Therefore, you should pay special attention to Jesus’ words to you today, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”

Jesus spoke these words concerning the faith exhibited by a Roman centurion. The Gentile military commander of eighty to one hundred men sought out Jesus to ask him to heal his servant who was lying at home paralyzed and suffering terribly. Jesus at once replied that He would come to the centurion’s home and heal the servant immediately. But then, in great and unexpected humility, the centurion responded, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” It was then that Jesus said, not to the centurion, but to His disciples and the crowds that had followed Him from the Mount of the Beatitudes, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”

What prompted this response from Jesus? What was it about the centurion’s words that exhibited great faith to Jesus? I think that we are too quick to say that it was the centurion’s humility before Jesus. For, indeed, it was quite unexpected that a powerful and respected Roman military commander would request anything of a Jew, even a rabbi like Jesus, let alone declare his unworthiness that a Jew should enter his own home. And, if it were the centurion’s humility that impressed Jesus, then surely He would have said “with no one in Israel have I found such humility.” But, Jesus didn’t say humility, He said faith. The centurion was humble, to be sure, but humility is not faith, but it is a fruit of faith. So, what then was the faith of the centurion that Jesus so extolled? The centurion believed and trusted in Jesus’ goodness and the power of His Word so that it was not necessary that Jesus should even come to his home, but Jesus’ need only speak His Word and the centurion believed and trusted that his servant would be healed. The faith that caused the centurion to believe that Jesus could heal his servant by the power of His Word without actually being present was the same faith that caused the centurion to be humble enough to approach a Jewish rabbi with a request in the first place. Further, the centurion’s faith bore evident fruit in that he was selfless and self-unassuming, concerned not with his own honor and reputation, but only with Jesus’ honor and with his servant’s need. And, further still, the centurion confessed that, as he himself was a man under authority – namely, Caesar’s authority – who had command over other men under him, so his faith informed him that Jesus was a man under authority – God’s authority – and that He had command over all creation, and that whatever He commanded would most certainly be done.

What the centurion had faith in was the authority of God located in the person of Jesus and in His Word and in God’s good will toward men enfleshed in Jesus. And, when your faith is in the God who created the heavens and the earth and all things in them by the creative power of His Word, who has penetrated His creation to make all things new again, then all other things, all fleshly things and all worldly things in which you might place your fear, your love, and your trust must necessarily fall away. That is the kind of faith that the centurion represents for us, a faith that had become exceedingly rare amongst the chosen people of Israel. For, particularly in Jesus’ day, the teachers of Israel despised the Gentiles and considered them unclean, beneath them, and unworthy. So, likewise, did they consider Samaritans, lepers, and countless others to be outcasts and unclean. There was little humility and repentance to be found amongst the religious leaders of Israel, and so there was little mercy, charity, kindness, or pity to be found either.

It’s no coincidence that St. Matthew couples and precedes the account of the faithful centurion with the account of a faithful Jewish leper. For, the leper too exhibits great faith in Jesus and particularly in the good will of Jesus and in His power. Kneeling before Jesus, the leper pleaded, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. In many ways, the leper is the complete opposite of the faithful centurion. The leprous man was a Jew, while the centurion was a Gentile. The leprous man was an outcast, cut off from society, cut off from the temple and the synagogue, while the centurion was a respected and honored man who was the benefactor and builder of the synagogue and who likely attended synagogue and listened to the preaching and teaching of Rabbi Jesus. Like the centurion, however, the leper exhibited great faith in approaching Jesus, for a leper was expected to remain at a distance from other people and to cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever someone drew near, and yet, this leper came directly up to Jesus and knelt down before him. Though he was bold to come before Jesus, he was not filled with pride, but with great humility, for, he was all but dead, cut off from family, community, and temple – he literally had nothing to lose. The leper’s appeal to Jesus was based upon His faith in Jesus’ good will and in His power to heal in accordance with His good will. Thus, he pleaded, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus did the unexpected, He reached out and touched the leprous, unclean man, and He said to Him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Like the centurion, the leper exhibited great faith in the authority of God located in the person of Jesus and in His Word and in God’s good will toward men enfleshed in Jesus. Perhaps the reason that the centurion received Jesus’ acclamation was because, while the Jewish leper sought healing for himself from Jesus, the Gentile centurion sought the healing of his servant. Though both men had great faith, it was the centurion who, though he was great, made himself nothing for the sake of one who, in comparison, was nothing, his servant, – it was the centurion who best reflected the love, mercy, grace, and compassion of Jesus to others.

In contrast to both the Jewish leper and the Gentile centurion stands Naaman in our Old Testament Lesson today. Naaman was a Gentile military commander with great authority, honor, and prestige like the Roman centurion, but he was also a leper like the man who approached Jesus. However, Naaman was anything but humble, and he was neither a Jew nor a God-fearing Gentile. When Naaman heard that there was a prophet in Israel who could cure his leprosy, Naaman set off with a letter from the king of Syria in hand, a trunk load of gold and silver, and an escort of horses and chariots to find this prophet and to acquire his services by either money or force. When Elisha the prophet gave Naaman specific instruction in what he must do to be healed, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean,” Naaman was offended and angered that Elisha would not come to him himself and that he was expected to wash in the lowly waters of Israel which he believed to be beneath him.

How often does your reason and wisdom, your desires and expectations, interfere with your faith and keep you from receiving all that Jesus died for you to have? Do you come before Jesus with conditions for trusting Him or with demands about what He must do for you to believe? Are you offended and scandalized by the ways in which your heavenly Father chooses to heal you? Will you not believe God when He says to you that the water of Holy Baptism now saves you? Will you not believe Jesus when He says to you that those sins which His pastors forgive are indeed forgiven? Will you not believe Jesus when He says to you that this bread is His body and that this wine is His blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins? Will you not believe Jesus when He promises you that through these means He will be with you always, until the very end of the age?

Naaman refused to believe. He refused to humble himself and to trust in the Word of God spoken by His prophet. Only when his servants appealed to him that it was a “great Word” that the prophet had spoken to him did he finally, still in unbelief, submit to being washed in the Jordan River. Naaman didn’t believe. He refused to believe. But, nevertheless, when he submitted to being washed in the Jordan according to the Word of God, he was cleansed of his leprosy and was healed so that his flesh was like that of a newborn child, for the Word of God delivers what it says, always, because the LORD is good and He is willing to heal your sin-sickness unto death. Naaman didn’t believe, but still he received – forgiveness, healing, and faith in the LORD, the God of Israel. So too in Holy Baptism, by the power and the promise of God’s Word alone, were you cleansed of all sin, forgiven, reborn and restored in faith in God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ, in His most Holy Spirit.

No, you are not worthy that the Lord should enter under your roof. But, He is willing. In Jesus, God has entered under your roof, for He has entered into your flesh and has made His dwelling amongst you. And still today, even now, He is present with you to enter into your mouth and to dwell and abide in and with you, to strengthen and preserve you in faith, and to forgive you anew in His holy, precious, and innocent shed blood. Come, let it be done for you as you have believed.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Eulogy for Michele Bonk

2012-01-16T14:26:00.003-05:00

(Audio)

I do not typically say a Eulogy at funerals, but I was asked to prepare one for parishioner who had suffered a very long time with a terrible, debilitative disease and whose life and faith made a great impact upon many people. I was happy to do it.

On July 7, 2012, it will be ten years that I have been ordained as a pastor. All ten of those years will have been served right here, at The Lutheran Church of Christ the King, my first and only call. Though these words are to be, and will be, about Michele Ann Bonk, I believe that it is important to establish why I was asked to share these words about her.

Michele attended my ordination service here at Christ the King on July 7, 2002. I remember that clearly and profoundly, for, as my eyes scanned over the faces of strangers, whose immortal souls I was being placed in sacred stewardship of, one person stood ought particularly – that person was Michele. Michele came to Holy Communion that day; she walked on her own two legs, supported on either side by her mother and father. I was privileged and blessed to serve to her the precious body and the holy blood of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the first time.

Pastor Harry Schenkel of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Sayville, NY – where I had served as Vicar in 2000 and 2001 – preached the sermon at my ordination. Peter Bonk has remarked on several occasions over the past years how impressed he was with Pastor Schenkel and his words that day. Well, about a week after my ordination, I had lunch with Pastor Schenkel out in Sayville to talk about my new assignment. I’m pretty sure that I never told Peter and Paulette this, but Pastor Schenkel had shared some prophetic words with me today, prophetic words that have surely been fulfilled. He said, “That young woman who was helped to communion by her parents…, that family is going to be a defining part of your ministry in that place.” I can attest to you that he was so very right, in so many ways.

Through ministering to Michele and Peter and Paulette, I have gotten to know them in a deeper way than many others --- that’s the natural result of being with people who are suffering and hurting. I’ve been privileged to see their faith and their core values, because these things were under attack, they still are. I believe that the value that most defines the Bonks is family – mutual commitment, sacrifice, the bond of love, and with faith as its core. This is, after all, how God created us to live saying, “And the man shall be joined to His wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” When God’s institution of marriage is upheld, life won’t be trouble-free, but there will be fortitude and strength to persevere and ward off the fiery darts of the Enemy.

After ten years of blessed marriage, Peter and Paulette received the gift and blessing of a daughter when Michele was born to them on August 19, 1978. She was baptized, confirmed, and received her first communion all right here at Christ the King. Another value of the Bonk family, related to that of family and faith, was education. It was important that Michele be educated in a way that was consistent, and not contradictory, to her faith and values. Thus, Peter and Paulette sacrificed much to see Michele through Catholic parochial schools: St. James the Apostle in Carmel and School of the Holy Child in Rye. Throughout her school years, Michele showed a love for sports, especially basketball, track, and hockey. At Holy Child, Michele ran both cross country and the mile sprint. She also played hockey with the Pawling Youth Hockey League, Bantam team. Though she was the only girl playing at the time, Coach Reed was very impressed with her will, determination, and toughness. Michele also sang in the chorus and became adept at public speaking. She delivered the eulogy at her grandmother’s funeral and, on vacation at Fire Island, she read the lessons at the small Catholic Church there. Michele even delivered a few children’s sermons here at Christ the King. Michele was a beautiful, smart, kind, caring, and loving young woman whose future everyone figured to promising, hopeful, and bright.

But, already, in her junior year at Holy Child, things were beginning to change. What began seemingly as a sinus infection and strep throat, ended with seizures, coma, and hospitalization for over a month. Though Michele recovered enough to attend school again, her life from that time forward was interrupted by periodic seizures and fear of their onset. Michele’s health stabilized enough that she desired to go away to college. So, off she went to Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin. It was in 2001, while she was away at college, that Michele’s condition took the turn for the worse that has lead us to this point today.

The past ten years have been, needless to say, horrible. I’m no doctor and I’m certain that I do not understand completely what exactly Michele suffered, but from what I’ve heard from Peter and Paulette, and from what I’ve observed with my own eyes, Leukodystrophy is one of the most horrible diseases you can imagine. I felt, and likely you did to, that Michele was slowly stolen, piece by piece. Though she could walk with assistance on July 7, 2002, within a few weeks Michele was permanently confined to a wheelchair. And, when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. This was Michele’s life for ten years. This was Peter and Paulette’s life for ten years. And, on several occasions in the ICU or the Emergency Room, they were told that Michele would not make it. And yet, she did.

And that brings us to the unique and wonderful part of Michele’s story and life. Even after the terrible disease set in, God granted Michele ten more years of life through which He preserved her and kept her, according to His wisdom, through suffering. As I talked about in the sermon, there are a lot of “Why?” questions to be sure. But, despite the suffering, Michele’s suffering, but also the suffering of all who loved her, Peter and Paulette were, and are, thankful for those ten beautiful years.

Perhaps you’re asking silently, where’s the beauty in such suffering? It’s a fair question. The beauty in suffering in found in faith in the Beautiful One, Jesus, who has suffered for us, and who suffers with us, and who sustains and keeps us through suffering, through death which He has defeated, and into His life which He gives to us as a free and perfect gift.

Throughout her life, Michele lived in joy, giving thanks for the good blessings she received, and never complaining , but remaining strong in faith through difficulty and suffering. She knew blessing in life and health and in sickness and death. Michele reflected the light of Christ in this world of sin, death, and darkness. Well done, good and faithful servant. Now she dwells in light, where there is no lamp or sun, for the Lamb upon His throne, Jesus Christ, is her light. Though we miss her, we cannot wish her back, but only that we could be with her in joy and peace, in light and life. We will be there, one day, through faith in Christ. And until then, we can be with her in the Communion of Saints, where heaven meets earth; where, in receiving Jesus’ body and blood, we gather with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven – yes, Michele is now in that company – singing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth; heav’n and earth are full of Thy glory.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for Michele Ann Bonk

2012-01-16T14:25:00.003-05:00

(Audio)

Matthew 5:1-12; Revelation 7:9-17; Lamentations 3:22-33

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

Peter and Paulette, family and friends of our departed sister in Christ, Michele, dearly beloved of our Lord and God – I know the unspoken question pressing against the backs of your teeth, screaming to be shouted to the heavens. I know the bowel-churning question that wells up in your throats and escapes as an empty, dry-heave of wordless emotion. I know the question that threatens to isolate you and imprison you and devour you from the inside out. I know that question, for I have swallowed it, I have eaten it, I have vomited it, and I have internally screamed that question too. That question is, “Why?”

Why do people suffer? Why do the wicked so often seem to prosper while the good and the innocent suffer and die? Why do bad things happen to good people? These are all really the same question, and we’ve all asked them from time to time. But, today, gathered here as we are to remember Michele, and to console each other, and to receive consolation from the Words and the Gifts of our Lord and God, I know that we’re all asking the same question. “Why? Oh my God, why?” Why must a healthy, vibrant, kind and loving young woman be stricken with such a rare, horrible, and utterly debilitating disease? Why must a faithful Christian girl, smart and beautiful, with so much promise and a full and rich life ahead of her gradually disintegrate before our very eyes? Why was she spared death so many times over a decade only to be taken from us in the end, smashing our hopes and making us ask these unanswerable questions? I know that you have asked these questions, and I know that you are asking them now. I know that I have asked these questions too. And, our God knows that we have asked, and He knows that we are asking, “Why?”

Well, there actually are answers to your questions, but, situated as we are somewhere in the middle between the beginning of all things and the end, the answers are often not very satisfying to human reason and wisdom. For instance, we must remember that suffering is the result of our sin, which in turn is the result of evil in this world, evil injected into this world like a poison by Satan. That is to say, God doesn’t cause suffering, sin does, men who sin do. But, please understand, however, that I am not suggesting that it was Michele’s sin that caused her to become ill, for it was no more Michele’s sin than it was my sin, or your sin, or our First Parent’s sin, but it is simply sin that is the cause of suffering and death, sin that we each are conceived and born in and with, sin that we all share in common. As St. Paul has written, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “there is not one righteous, not even one.” Thus, the answer to the question “Why suffering?” is not that “God causes suffering,” for, suffering is only and always the result of sin.

However, there is another answer to your questions that may be even harder to understand from our human perspective, and that is that, while God is not the source and efficient cause of suffering, nevertheless, He does willingly and actively permit and allow suffering to befall us. Now, to exhibit this truth, we need only to consider the afflictions and suffering God permitted Satan to bring upon righteous Job. When Satan challenged God by saying that Job only loved Him because He had so richly blessed him, God permitted Satan to take Job’s wealth, to kill his children, and to afflict Job’s own body with horrendous and torturous suffering that His righteousness might be proven true. Indeed, when all of Job’s friends and even his own wife exhorted him to curse God and die, Job’s response was simply, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord.” Eventually, Job’s sufferings became so great that he began to ask the same question that you are asking. The answer that the LORD provided Job can be summed up in this way, “When you’re God, then you can demand an answer.”

Yes, God willingly permits and allows suffering to befall us, but He has never permitted anything that He was not willing to suffer for us and to sanctify through the sufferings and death of His only-begotten Son, Jesus. The Prophet Isaiah says of the LORD’s Suffering Servant, “It was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief.” Likewise, St. Paul writes of the suffering God permitted to come upon Jesus saying, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” I think that we tend to make much too lightly of the suffering and anguish that Jesus experienced in Gethsemane the night He was betrayed, for there He prayed like no man has ever prayed that His Father would provide another way and remove the burden of suffering from Him. But though He prayed so fervently, in horrible anguish of body and soul, three times petitioning His Father, He ended each time of prayer saying, “LORD, not my will, but your will be done.”

It was the LORD’s will to crush Him. God willingly sent His Son to the cross to suffer and to die for the sins of the entire world. Jesus prayed fervently, He prayed like no man has ever prayed before, that God would remove the cup of suffering from Him. But, in faith and trust in the goodness and love and wisdom of God, Jesus submitted His own will to that of His Father. And, I ask you, what did Jesus cry out in anguish and agony and suffering on the cross as He died? “Why?” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Quoting Psalm 22, Jesus identified Himself with every person who has ever been devastated by untimely loss. No one was ever more innocent, yet no one ever suffered more severely both the attacks of Satan and the divine justice of God. The greatest miscarriage of justice was also its highest expression, for in the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Christ, we are forgiven and invited to become citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

Simply knowing that God knows best and that all things work out for good doesn’t take away our pain. But the pain Jesus felt sanctifies and gives purpose to our suffering. Believing in the resurrection doesn’t immediately call the dead to life, but it guarantees that the dead in Christ will rise. The Christian still asks, “Why pain, suffering, and death?” God still answers, “Because I love you and desire to make My strength perfect in your weakness.” He weakens our own strength through tragedy that He might strengthen us for life everlasting.

Death is a reality we all must face, for it is the wages of the sin that we all bear and continue to commit. But it was the LORD’s will to crush Jesus in death, and Jesus willingly submitted to that suffering and death in perfect fear, love, and trust in God His Father and in perfect, selfless, sacrificial love for you His neighbor and brother. Your God desires that you place your fear, love, and trust in Him too, and so, He permits you to suffer and to be weakened that He might be your strength, for His strength is made perfect in weakness, and when you are weak, then you are strong with the grace, mercy, love, peace, and forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ.

Think about it, is that not what Jesus is calling you to in the Beatitudes? Is He not calling you to suffer with Him in poverty of spirit, in mourning, in meekness, and in hunger and thirst? Is He not calling you to suffer with Him by being merciful, pure in heart, and peaceful even while men persecute you, revile you and utter all kinds of evil against you because of Him? Is He not calling you to share in the sufferings that He has sanctified by His own innocent blood shed for you to purchase you from sin and death? The Beatitudes are not a checklist of things you must do to be obedient to Christ, but they are the very description of Christ Himself. Likewise, they are the description of those who are in Christ, His disciples, who share in His sacrificial sufferings for others even as He has suffered for them and has sanctified their sufferings.

Why did Michele have to suffer and die? I can’t answer that question. In fact, I’m asking that question right along with you. But, I can tell you that God permitted it to happen for a reason that may only ever be known to Him. And, as horrible as it was and is, God has promised to work it for good. And, though it may be hard to accept, I believe He already has. As Michele’s lifeless body laid in the Emergency Room, there was a steady stream of nurses who came with hugs and tears in their eyes to share their sorrow and grief and condolences with Peter and Paulette. I’ve never seen anything like it before. These strangers who, in their profession, see hundreds and hundreds of patients, many of whom suffer and die, were somehow touched by Michele and by Peter and Paulette. They felt a connection to them, one that I wholeheartedly believe comes from the witness God made of them as they loved Michele and cared for her and ministered to her over these past ten years. Those nurses could see that love, that sacrifice, that suffering that Peter and Paulette showered upon Michele, and it was unique and special. They could see that love and it was a testimony to their faith and to their God. Even though God had allowed them to be reduced to terrible weakness and suffering, in their weakness He filled them with His strength. And, it wasn’t just the day Michele died, but it was over the entire ten year course of her affliction. How many people, how many lives were impacted by the powerful example of faith, love, trust, and sacrifice exhibited by Peter and Paulette and the rest of the family as they attended to Michele? God only knows.

But, that’s what it means to baptized into Jesus Christ, “For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.” We are called to die to ourselves and to live to God in Christ Jesus. Jesus teaches that, to be His disciples, you must take up your cross and follow Him through death and into life. Peter, Paulette, dear family and friends of our sister in Christ Michele, I know what you’ve been waiting for, what you’ve been hoping for – you’ve been waiting and hoping and praying for a miracle, for Michele to get better. I’m sorry that she didn’t get better and that her long, degenerative disease finally took her from you. But, I want you to know that God keeps His promises. He has heard your prayers. He has seen your suffering and your love. And, He has kept His promise to His precious, dear child Michele. For, He has taken her out of this great tribulation and she is before His throne this very moment. He who sits on the throne will shelter her with His presence. She shall hunger no more, and thirst no more. The sun shall not strike her, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne is her Shepherd, and He has guided her to springs of living water, and God Himself has wiped away every tear from her eyes. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love; for He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Second Sunday after Epiphany

2012-01-16T14:25:00.001-05:00

(Audio not available)

John 2:1-11; Romans 12:6-16; Exodus 33:12-23

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

Most of us are not in a very good position to appreciate and to understand the Gospel Lesson appointed for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany. The reason for this is that, from our modern and western perspective, we have very different understandings of marriage and wedding celebrations and their meanings, both symbolic and practical, than did the people of middle-eastern culture in first century Israel. That’s likely at least part of the reason so many of us enjoy movies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Fiddler on the Roof, and even The Godfather, for such movies depict weddings that are richly steeped in cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions. Such weddings are huge, elaborate events, often lasting for days, and the marriages in these movies are clearly much more than the contractual agreement between two consenting adults, but they are the unions of families, the joining of cultures, customs, and traditions, even the forming of villages and communities.

So, for us to truly understand the Gospel account of the Wedding at Cana, it is necessary for us to embrace the rich cultural meaning of marriage and the wedding celebration in Jesus’ day. Weddings in Jesus’ day were massive feasts for the entire village. A wedding party could last an entire week, put everything else in the town on hold, and be the most important local event of the entire year. Somewhat parallel to our modern customs, there were many folkways and mores attached to the ancient village wedding: A contract between families, cut by mutual agreement over a sip of wine; A betrothal period of about one year in length when the bride prepared the home for the couple; And then the arrival of the groom, the procession to the wedding hall, and a grand feast. To neglect the invitation was to send a message that you did not want to be a part of the village. To accept the invitation was a show of friendship and loyalty. In some eastern cultures it was expected, and still is today, that the entire town or village would be invited and that each guest would be given a gift! This understanding is necessary for us to comprehend the magnitude of the disaster that almost befell the Wedding in Cana because they had run out of wine.

All this to-do about wine? Unfortunately, our American culture, largely shaped by puritanical pietism in its prudish restrictiveness and in its rebellious indulgence, has demonized the drinking of wine and of all beverages containing alcohol. Therefore, we miss out on the importance of wine in ancient world and of the goodness, joy, and blessing that it symbolized for people. Wine was understood as a good gift of God. It was a symbol of joy and happiness and of God’s blessing. Throughout the Bible, both in the Old and the New Testaments, wine was used and extolled in this manner, its use even being commanded by Jesus in the Last Supper. The bride’s family was responsible for providing the wine for the wedding. As much as a year before the wedding they would have been preparing the wine for the feast, from tending the grapes to their pressing, and then, they would have hired a wine steward to manage the wine to last throughout the entire wedding celebration, serving the good wine first, while the guest’s palettes were sharp, and then the less expensive wine when their tastes were less discerning. However you slice it, the chief job of the wine steward was to make certain that they didn’t run out of wine and cause a social disaster for the families of the bride and the groom. But in the story, that’s exactly what happened.

Now, I know that it’s hard for us to get our brains around this today, but running out of wine at a first century middle-eastern wedding was about the worst thing that could possibly happen. It would have meant humiliating shame for the entire family in the presence of the entire town or village. It would have meant the loss of respectability and even livelihood. This was the situation that Jesus was in midst of and was called upon by His mother to remedy. Mary said to Him, “They have no wine.” She might as well have said the bride is dead, as this was a seemingly hopeless situation that no man had the ability to resolve. But, Jesus response to her, similar to last Sunday’s Gospel account of the twelve year old Jesus in the temple, seems out of place, almost disrespectful. Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Well, to understand Jesus’ words, it is necessary that we remember that this account was recorded by the Apostle John, who was present at the wedding and was an eye witness. John uses the words “my hour” in his Gospel as code words for the Passion of Jesus: His crucifixion, suffering, and death. Thus, what Jesus was communicating to His mother was that it wasn’t yet time for Him to be manifested as the fullness of God’s glory by laying down His life in sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Nevertheless, Jesus did respond to His mother’s concern that they had no wine. They had no wine; they had no joy; and they were helpless to restore joy to this otherwise festive occasion. The family was going to be humiliated. The marriage had a black mark on it before it even began. Though it was not yet the hour of Jesus’ Passion, nevertheless, Jesus did have compassion upon the people beloved by His Father in heaven and He acted to restore their joy and their relationships and their honor, and He acted to glorify His Father in this first of His signs recorded for us in the Holy Scriptures.

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. The jars represented the Law of God. They represented His holiness and man’s uncleanness, for it was necessary for the guests to be ceremonially purified before they could partake of the wedding feast. Jesus commanded that these jars be refilled with water, to the very brim. This was to indicate that when Jesus would fully manifest Himself and glorify His Father by laying down His life unto death, His death would be for every sin ever committed and for every man, woman, and child who would ever live and die. When He commanded that the wine be taken to the master of the feast and he tasted it, He had to confess that the water in the jars was not water at all, but that it was the finest of wines. For, not only would Jesus fulfill the Law for us completely in the hour of His Passion, but He now offers us rich and abundant grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness freely through faith in Him.

This is why in one prominent cathedral in Manhattan the inscription around the baptismal font reads “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory; and his disciples believed in Him.” As the wedding at Cana was the first of Jesus’ signs, so Holy Baptism is His first sign among us. Baptism is a sacramental miracle, an even greater sign than turning water into wine. The words inscribed near that font remind us that Jesus is still manifesting Himself to us every time we gather around font, pulpit, and altar.

The master of the feast was stunned and he remarked, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Indeed, when Jesus makes everything new, the new is even better than the old, even before the old became corrupted! Likewise, when Moses asked to see the Father’s glory, he was permitted to see only His backside, for no man can see the face of God and live. And yet, in the resurrection on the Last Day, we will all behold Him face to face. And so, even now, Jesus is present with us, though He remains veiled in Word and water, bread, and wine, but then, then we shall see Him face to face.

Thus, today we remember how Jesus restored to joy to a community of people and how the wine they enjoyed then was even better than what they began with. And by remembering this first of Jesus’ signs He performed through which He manifested His glory, we are brought to remember the many other ways Jesus manifested His glory amongst us, demonstrating that He was Emmanuel, God with us, then, now, and unto all eternity.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Epiphany Walk 2012

2012-01-16T14:24:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Isaiah 11:1-9

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

It is an election year. Even now men are jetting and motoring across this vast nation vying to win the support of the masses, telling them much less what they believe than what the polls inform them that they want to hear, taking jabs at their opponents at every opportunity, digging up dirt from their past while spending millions to bury and hide their own skeletons. They judge by what their eyes see and decide disputes by what their ears hear, for there is none righteous, not even one.

How different is the governance of our LORD and God than the governance of men. “It is obviously different from that of an earthly kingdom,” wrote Martin Luther, “where an assembly of people is provided with a king. In this case the King is born first, and then He gathers a people for Himself.” Yes, Jesus was born to be our King – He was born to be our true King: A King anointed by the Holy Spirit of God, who judges, not by what He sees with His eyes and hears with His ears, but with righteousness; a Servant King who defends and protects His people, even laying down His life in death to save them; the result of whose rule being, not the building of a nation according to the values of men, but the restoration of a world in peaceful communion as it once existed, but so much better still for the communing of God in and with men.

For, the kings of men had left His creation in ruin: blackened, burnt earth ravaged by the fire of war, stumps for trees in the wake of advancing armies, rivers of blood and mountains of bodies of men and women and children. When man’s hope had been extinguished, when man’s might had been proven helplessness, when the world was cold, still, dark, and dead with no hope, no life, and no expectation left in it, that was when God enacted His mighty deliverance: From the dead, dry stump of the father of the great king came forth a shoot of new life, a new King from our True and Only Father. Once again, out of the nothingness God produced life, this time by entering His creation Himself.

While the world continues in its deathward course, now there is another way, the Way of Life. And, while the world continues to look to men for wisdom and understanding, counsel and might and knowledge, now these may be found in one person, one Word, one King. And, while the world continues to wage war, to kill, and to destroy, a life that cannot die is available to all who are willing to die to themselves, to the passions of the flesh, and to this world – a life that cannot die, a life that never ends in the Prince and King of Peace, Jesus Christ.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The First Sunday after the Epiphany

2012-01-08T13:25:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Luke 2:41-52; Romans 1:1-5; 1 Kings 8:6-13

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

If you are like me, most evenings you watch the 10 o’clock news on FOX 5 New York. And, if you are like me, you watch FOX 5 news, not because it is better than other news programs on other channels, but simply because it is on an hour earlier than the 11 o’clock news, and you’re tired and you want to go to bed. And, if you watch the 10 o’clock news, then you have undoubtedly heard these famous words which serve as a public service announcement at the beginning of the news program each evening: “It’s 10:00 pm, do you know where your children are?”

In mental response to that question, I often find myself answering, “Yes I do. I do know where my children are. In fact, they’re in bed asleep, right above me, right now.” Now, it may seem a bit simple, but there’s no small amount of comfort to be had in answering the question, “Do you know where your children are?” in the affirmative: “Yes, I know where my children are. I’ve done at least something right as a parent. Tonight, right now, my children are all safe, asleep in their beds. Of that much I’m certain. They’re not lost.”

However, standing in stark contrast to my 10 o’clock parental reassurance is the story in our Gospel lesson today about the Holy Family’s visit to Jerusalem for Passover when Jesus was twelve years old. Mary and Joseph lost their child. They did not know where their child was, even a full day’s journey from Jerusalem on their way back home to Nazareth. Yes, that’s correct, they had traveled a full day’s walking distance before they even began to look for Him amongst their relatives and acquaintances. However, you shouldn’t be too shocked by that particular detail. After all, it wasn’t too many years ago that children roamed the neighborhood from home to home from dawn to dusk. That’s how it was for me growing up; on the weekends or when school was out, I left the house in the morning after breakfast and I didn’t return home until dinner time. And, when I was older, I am certain that I came back well after 10:00 pm. But the world was different then, wasn’t it? Somehow, safer? Or, were we just naïve? Anyway, in first century Judea, families and clans of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins would travel together along with other families and clans from the same town. The children moved freely from family to family and nobody feared for their safety, knowing they were among relatives and acquaintances.

Nonetheless, you should take note that the stories in the Bible always have a bit of an edge, even the ones about Jesus and the Holy Family. We tend to sanitize them and to remember them and the characters in them as holy, perfect, and beyond reproach. But, consider the lies and deceptions, the treacheries, adulteries and fornications, denials and betrayals of such important figures as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, and David, and Peter and Thomas, not to mention Paul. These people all made mistakes, disbelieved, and showed their weakness and frailty, and yet they are heroes of the faith and they examples for us of humility and repentance and of God’s grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness poured out upon them through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. Likewise, the Bible is filled with sinners and outcasts in need of God’s grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness: prostitutes and tax collectors, adulterers, lepers, the sick, the dead, and the unclean.

And thus, you should take note of the edgy details of today’s account of the Holy Family, for they literally beg you to examine them and to dig a little deeper. For instance, it should surprise you that Joseph and Mary lost their child and did not know where He was. It should surprise you that Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without His parent’s knowledge. It should surprise you that He was lost for three days before they finally found Him. It should surprise you that Joseph and Mary seem not to understand whose Son Jesus truly is. It should surprise you that Jesus answers His concerned and astonished parents with perplexing questions of His own. It should surprise you that they seemingly still didn’t understand who He was and what He must do. It should surprise you that He then became submissive to them and returned home to Nazareth where He seemingly lived as a normal young adult until He was approximately thirty years of age. It should surprise you that His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And, it should surprise you that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. What does this mean?

Indeed, this well known and beloved story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple is so filled with unexpected and perplexing details that it literally invites you, even begs you, to probe deeper into its mystery. For, it is a mystery, a mystery concerning the identity of Jesus, a mystery concerning the epiphany or manifestation of His divinity, then veiled in human flesh, breaking through in such a way so as to draw you closer to Him and deeper into Him, that you may treasure all these things in your heart.

Yet, it is often said that the devil is in the details. And, indeed, the devil has worked much mischief and harm by tempting the faithful to get caught in a web of symbolic interpretations of details in the Holy Scriptures. Thus, let us not consider foremost the details, but the One who lies beneath the details, and what is manifested for us through the revelation of the mystery of God in the flesh. That it was Passover when the Holy Family visited Jerusalem is an important detail. The Holy Family was in Jerusalem to make a sacrifice and to eat the Passover as commanded by the Law of God. Most families would have either brought a sacrificial lamb with them or they would have purchased one in Jerusalem. The Holy Family brought Jesus. That Jesus was twelve years old is also an important detail because that was the age of spiritual adulthood for a Hebrew male, the year of his Bar Mitzvah making him a Son of the Commandment. This age indicates that Jesus was now recognized as an adult who could make decisions for Himself. Thus, the Word of God made flesh, Jesus, circumcised on the eighth day of His newborn life to fulfill the Law and Command of God, now recognized by men as having achieved spiritual maturity and adulthood, presents Himself as the unblemished Passover Lamb of God in a foreshadowing of the self-sacrifice that He would make in Jerusalem during the Passover twenty-one years later.

Likewise, it is an important detail that Jesus willingly stayed behind in the temple and that He demonstrated there His wisdom and knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. For, He did not merely demonstrate that He understood the Word of God, but He permitted the teachers in the temple and you a small glimpse and epiphany that He is the Word of God in their midst, and in your midst, by the questions that He asked and the answers that He gave. And, that Jesus was seemingly lost for three days is also an important detail, for, in the Holy Scriptures, and particularly in the parables of Jesus, being lost is likened to having died, and being found is likened to being made alive again. Indeed, even the question Jesus asked of His parents when they finally discovered Him in the temple seems a portent of the question asked by the angel at Jesus’ tomb when the women came expecting to find His dead body: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” and “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

It is an important detail that Joseph and Mary did not understand what Jesus meant. For, how could they not understand? Both of them were visited by angels proclaiming who their child was. They had heard Simeon’s and Anna’s prophecies concerning the child. They heard the testimonies of Zechariah and Elizabeth as well, not to mention their own faith, knowledge, and trust in words of the Prophets. Certainly, they believed and knew that their son Jesus was the very Son of God. Then why, why did they not understand Jesus’ meaning that He must be in His Father’s house? And, why was that not the first place that they looked once they came to realize that He was not amongst their relatives and acquaintances? Perhaps their confusion was precisely because they did believe and know who He was. That is to say, perhaps Joseph and Mary so believed and trusted in Simeon’s prophecy that their son would be for the rising and falling of many in Israel and for a word spoken against that the first place they ventured to look was not the temple, but the morgue! Perhaps they believed so strongly that their son was destined to die as God’s Passover Lamb for the sins of the world that they, like Eve, who believed that her first born son was the one promised to crush the serpent’s head, were anticipating the fulfillment of His destiny now, even at His young age. But, whatever it was that they did not understand, nevertheless, Jesus submitted to their parental authority, honored and obeyed Joseph and Mary, and returned home with them to Nazareth. And, from that point on, until He formally began His ministry at the age of thirty, the Scriptures are silent, indicating that Jesus lived and grew as a son and as a man, increasing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with both God and men.

Jesus’ very first words are misunderstood, a theme for His entire life. As Simeon had prophesied, Jesus was destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel; were Joseph and Mary the first to stumble over Jesus and the cross? It is a mystery! That is exactly the point. A mystery draws you in deeper. You, children of God, you Christians, are Mary during this Epiphany season, invited to ponder the mystery of Jesus in your heart. Why did the Magi present an infant boy with gifts fit for a prophets, priests, and kings? What was the significance of Jesus’ changing water into the finest of wines at the wedding in Cana? What does it mean for you that God is pleased with the man Jesus and that to Him heaven has opened and that upon Him God’s Spirit has rested and remains? What does it mean that creation continues to respond to and obey His Word as it once did in the beginning? These are but some of the questions for you to ponder during Epiphantide that you may grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.

In the Word made flesh Jesus Christ, God has returned to His temple. As in the tabernacle of old, so in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple, so now in the flesh and blood of Jesus, God dwells amongst His people to bless them and keep them in Holy Communion with Him until the resurrection of all flesh on the Last Day.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus

2012-01-01T12:25:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Luke 2:21; Galatians 3:23-29; Numbers 6:22-27

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

A few years ago, that great poet laureate of boats, bars, ballads, and beaches, Jimmy Buffett, wrote a song about the things people sometimes do on an impulse which, nevertheless, have lasting implications. He titled the song “Permanent Reminder of a Temporary Feeling.” In the first verse of the song, Jimmy tells the story of a young woman who woke up the next morning to find a tattoo of an Indian chief on her back. She attempted to explain to her shocked and disbelieving parents that “a tattoo is a badge of validation.” But, Jimmy sings, “the truth of the matter is far more revealing, it’s a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.”

If you’ve visited the mall, the beach, the Dutchess County Fair, or even a PTA meeting, especially in the Summer, then you have no doubt seen that a good number of people today, both men and women, and even teenagers, have tattoos. The prevalence of inked flesh has caused me to wonder just how many Americans are tattooed today. It seemed to me that it had to be something close to half, though I found that difficult to believe. Well, in fact, a Pew Research Poll conducted in 2006 says that about 40% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 40 have at least one tattoo. Additionally, about 27% of the same age group has at least one piercing other than an ear lobe. These surprising, if not shocking, statistics beg the question, “Why?” Why are so many people today attracted to marking their bodies in such a permanent way?

To be sure, while some inked flesh is the result of an impulsive moment of indiscretion, like the young woman in Mr. Buffett’s song, for many, the permanence of the tattoo or the body modification is itself the attraction. People get tattoos and piercings to mark important events in their lives, to reclaim their bodies when they feel that they have been wrongly evaluated by others, to identify with something transcendent to themselves as a family clan, tribe, or ideology, or even as a spiritual brand marking their connection with their god, goddess, spirit, or whatever in their very own flesh. Indeed, tattoos and piercings are permanent reminders to the one so marked in their own flesh as they are to all around them who can view them.

Given this quality of permanence which belongs to tattoos, piercings, and body modifications, it shouldn’t be surprising that the One who created our bodies has something to say about the matter. Indeed, in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, God spoke through Moses saying, “You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.” Now, to be sure, the LORD prohibited the Israelites from many other things as well – the wearing of dyed, woolen fabrics for instance. What, then, was God’s purpose in such prohibitions, and what meaning have they for the children of God today? God’s purpose for the children of Israel, the same as for His children today, was that they be set apart, holy, that is, that they not be like the pagans who surrounded them. Since the pagans surrounding the children of Israel cut their flesh for the dead and tattooed themselves, the LORD forbade His people to do the same. Likewise, as the pagans drank blood in the belief that they would acquire the strength, might, and courage of the animal whose blood they consumed, the LORD forbade His people to do the same. Such Old Testament prohibitions served to mark the children of Israel as holy and belonging to the LORD. Similarly, St. Paul teaches us in the New Testament, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

However, whereas the LORD forbade tattooing and cutting the flesh in the manner of the pagans, there was a cutting of the flesh and still another marking that the LORD would command of His people, namely Circumcision and Holy Baptism respectively. When the LORD made a covenant with Abram that He would bless all nations of the world through an heir of his own flesh, He commanded that Abram and all males be circumcised as a sign of the covenant in their flesh. From that time on, all Hebrew males were circumcised on the eighth day as a permanent sign and reminder of God’s covenant with Abram. But this was not merely a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling, but circumcision was a permanent mark in the flesh, at the very source of human life, of a permanent covenant and promise that would not be broken, but that would be kept by the LORD despite the wayward and weak faith of men.

The LORD kept His covenant with Abram in sending His only-begotten Son into the flesh. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God as the Word passed through the ear and planted itself within the womb of the Virgin Mary and became flesh. He was born as all men are and He was laid in a manger in Bethlehem. And, on the eighth day of His newborn life, He was circumcised according the Law, and He was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. Though He was innocent, He was marked as one under the Law and in need of God’s covenant of grace. Thus, He was not circumcised for His own benefit, but for ours. He suffered and shed His first blood, not for His sins, but for ours. In the incarnation, our Lord Jesus began the redemption of our flesh by taking our place under the knife, by shedding His blood, and by suffering our death. And, He received the Name of God’s covenant of Grace, Jesus, God is Salvation.

In our flesh and blood, Jesus lived His life for all of us under the Law, fulfilling it in perfect obedience, humility, and love towards His Father. In our flesh and blood He submitted to baptism by John in the Jordan River, sanctifying all water to be a lavish washing of regeneration for the forgiveness of sins. Then, in our flesh, He submitted to the whips, nails, and spear of men and became God’s Lamb of Sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. He suffered, died and was buried, and on the third day He was raised from the dead in our flesh, never to die again. He ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, from whence He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Until then, and ever after, He is and remains the Lamb standing though slain, a permanent reminder of a promise kept and fulfilled for all eternity.

Now there is no need to be circumcised in the flesh, for the LORD’s covenant of grace has been kept and fulfilled, there is no longer a need for that sign of the promise. Now the LORD desires that you circumcise your hearts and return to Him in repentance. And, as a sign of this turning and of His forgiveness in Jesus, He has given you Holy Baptism which now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Though He does not command you to be tattooed in the flesh, your LORD and your God does give you a mark and sign and a Name: I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Your Holy Baptism, in which the Name of the Holy Triune God, the sign of the cross of Jesus Christ His Son, and ordinary water are applied upon your forehead and upon your heart is a permanent reminder of the LORD’s permanent grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness poured out upon you in His Holy Spirit. Your Holy Baptism is a baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection. These works of your Lord in your flesh benefit you, for, if you have died with Jesus in a death like His, then you will also be raised with Jesus in a resurrection like His.

And now, for the time in which we await His return on the Last Day, your LORD has provided for you a source of strength and comfort and life in the blood of His Son which He gives you to drink that you might share in His life. Previously you were forbidden to drink the blood, for the life of a being is in its blood, but now you are invited and commanded to drink that you might commune with Jesus and have His life in you. For, you have been marked with His Name, sealed in His Spirit, and you eat and drink His flesh and blood for the forgiveness of your sins, the strengthening of your faith, and as a permanent reminder of the eternal life that you live in and with Him.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas Day)

2011-12-25T12:33:00.003-05:00

(Audio)

John 1:1-18; Titus 3:4-7; Exodus 40:17-21; 34-38

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

In these post-modern times, in which truth and absolutes are denied but are replaced with feelings and perceptions, where all things are tolerated except perceived intolerance, at times it may seem as though words, too, have become meaningless, or, perhaps, they have become connected with so many meanings so as to be rendered effectively meaningless. Indeed, words such as marriage and family which, five or ten years ago had a near universal definition, have been redefined to mean, well, something quite different, or, possibly, to mean anything at all and so, consequently, nothing at all. Yet, you and I know that this is not true. In fact, we all know that this is not true. For, we know and we believe that words do have meaning, for we can feel their meanings emotionally, and we can suffer or benefit from their meanings physically. Words can help and comfort, but words can also enslave and kill. Words can inspire and motivate, but words can also demean and dissuade. Thus, men will fight and die to defend our freedom to speak words, while, at the same time, men will pass laws and exert force to prohibit words from being spoken that they do not want to hear. But, words mean things, and words are powerful, even the temporal and terminate words of men.

Thus, when we consider the Word of our God this Christmas morning, words written down for us almost two thousand years ago by the Apostle John, we must consider that, as powerful and effective as man’s words are, how much more powerful and effective is the life-giving and creative Word of God. When God speaks, His Word brings into being what He says. In the beginning, He created all things by the power of His creative Word so that “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” He attached His Word to two trees in the Garden of Eden and they brought life and death respectively because of the power of His creative Word. When our First Parents rebelled against God and chose to follow their own word instead of His, amidst the irrevocable curse of death, He spoke His irrevocable Word of redemption in the promise of a seed from the woman who would crush the ancient serpent’s head. God gave His Word and promise to Abram as an unbreakable covenant that an heir from his own flesh would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, and He renewed His covenant throughout generations of Abram’s line, through Isaac and Jacob, through Moses and David. And God kept His Word when His glory surrounded the Virgin Mary and brought forth life out of her fruitless womb in the new creation, a New Adam, the Word of God became flesh, dwelling amongst us.

Jesus is the powerful, creative, and eternal Word of God, conceived and born as a man. He is God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. He is the Divine Logos, the Divine intellect, wisdom and the Providence of God in whom all things are created and still exist. He was before all things, being with God in the beginning and of God’s own being Himself. He is the creative Word through which all things were made and are still sustained. This is the Word that became flesh. This is the Word spoken into the ear of the Virgin Mary, conceived in her womb, and born on Christmas Day. This is the Word that was wrapped in swaddling cloths and was laid in a manger. This is the Word that was circumcised and named on the eighth day and presented to the priests in the temple. This is the Word visited and worshipped by gentile sages from afar who brought Him precious gifts as a tribute. This is the Word that grew up through adolescence and was instructed by the rabbis who at twelve years of age caused them to marvel at His knowledge and wisdom. This is the Word that was baptized by John in the Jordan, upon whom the LORD’s Spirit descended and remained. This is the Word that healed the sick, forgave sinners, and raised the dead, showing mercy and compassion on poor, helpless, and broken sinners of all kinds. This is the Word rejected by the children of Adam just as by their father. This is the Word they mocked and scourged and spat upon and nailed to a tree of death. This is the Word who transformed that cursed tree of death into a blessed Tree of Life once again. This is the Word who opened Paradise to Adam’s descendents once again that they might dwell in God’s presence and receive life freely from the LORD and giver of life. This is the Word become flesh who was raised in our flesh from the dead. This is the Word made flesh who ascended in our flesh to the right hand of the Father in heaven. This is the Word made flesh who fills all things in His fleshly divinity and is present as Emmanuel, God with us, now and always. This is the Word made flesh who is coming again in the flesh to raise all people from the dead, in the flesh, and to usher in a new heaven and a new earth where all who receive and believe on His Name will reign with Him as Kings and Queens forever.

For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon Hs shoulder, and His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. When we ponder the Christ child, the babe of Bethlehem, lying in a manger and the story of His birth, we cannot help but be touched by the lowliness and humility of His coming. But on Christmas Day, we are invited and we are challenged to see in that holy infant the fullness of God’s glory and divinity. For, this is the true mystery of Christmas and also the greatest gift, that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It was His and His only to give, and He has given it unsparingly because He loves you. He loves you that you might loves others with His love. This is God’s gift at Christmas, His gift of love. As He has given you, so you also may give.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for the Eve of the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas Eve)

2011-12-25T12:33:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Luke 2:1-20; Titus 2:11-14; Isaiah 9:2-7

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

This night is a vigil. It is a watch. Indeed, this night is the culmination of our watching and waiting and preparing for our Lord’s coming this Adventide. So, whether you were here last week or last year, you are here tonight watching and waiting, praying and singing in hopeful expectation, because you are not like those who have no hope.

But, perhaps you believe that this night is mostly about remembering, for He has come, long ago, as the Babe of Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling cloths, laid in a manger. And, you are right, for tonight we remember that God has kept His promise to us and has sent us His Son, born of a virgin, to be Emmanuel, God with us. And, tonight we remember how the lowliness of His coming was a portent of His humiliation, suffering, and death on the cross, and we remember how everything about Him was scandalous to human reason and wisdom, values, and expectation. And yet, His coming is not merely something that we remember, for His coming radically and permanently changed everything! The Son of God became the Son of Man, and He has borne our flesh through death into life, life that never ends. He who created this world and our flesh stepped into it, took it upon Himself, and raised it out of death into life so that His life is our life, His life is your life, and His life is the life of the world!

This night we remember the incarnation of our Lord, when the Word of creation became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us. We chanted of this Truth incarnate in the antiphon to this evening’s Introit, “When all was still, and it was midnight, Your almighty Word, O Lord, descended from the royal throne.” But, it was King Solomon who penned those words over one thousand years before the birth of Jesus, describing how God delivered the children of Israel from slavery and bondage in Egypt that night the Angel of Death passed over their homes, their doorways having been marked by the blood of an unblemished lamb, while the firstborn in all the homes of the Egyptians were taken in death. In the darkest hour of the night, when all were asleep as though dead, then God revealed His mighty deliverance by the creative power of His Word. The blood of the lamb saved the people because the Word of God said that it would. And so this night we remember God’s mighty deliverance wherein His Word became flesh, wherein His Son became the unblemished lamb of sacrifice who willingly laid down His life and shed His innocent and holy blood that the Angel of Death would pass over us, setting us free from bondage and slavery to sin and death. Indeed, the incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus, made Him to be our New Moses who has led us in our Exodus out of bondage and slavery to sin and death, through death itself, into everlasting life in the promised land of God’s heavenly kingdom.

For, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” The incarnation of the Son of God has changed everything! In God’s time, according to His wisdom, He enacted His mighty deliverance; when all was still, and it was midnight, His almighty Word descended from the royal throne. While the nations were about their raging, and men were about their plotting in vain, He who sits in the heavens laughs. God’s all powerful Word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of a doomed land, a relentless warrior carrying the sharp sword of His irrevocable command. But, so enshrouded in darkness were the hearts and minds of men that they would not, they could not, see the signs of His coming. They had forgotten or they had reinterpreted the words of the Prophets so that they would not, and could not, expect a King who comes in lowliness and humility, and they would not, and could not, receive a Savior who is born as an infant lying in a manger. For, indeed, this is what is meant by the stillness of midnight, and this is what is meant by the fullness of time – the night of man’s intellect, wisdom, and ability, and the time of God’s choosing and design.

And so it was that the lives of men proceeded just as they always had, a mundane and routine pilgrimage from birth to death. A census was decreed by Caesar Augustus for the purposes of taxation. Citizens became pilgrims and journeyed to their local sees to register their residency. A young pregnant woman and her husband were amongst those who journeyed to Bethlehem. They were found seeking lodging because the inn was already full. The time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And, there were shepherds nearby keeping watch over their flocks by night. There was so precious little about that night that was unusual, miraculous, or even noticeable.

How silently, how silently the wondrous Gift is given! How mundane, how seemingly insignificant, how truly human is God’s gift to men given? Indeed, the incarnation of the Son of God was so unnoticeable to men that it required an angel to tell them the Good News! It was an angel that brought the first rays of light into the darkness of man’s night as a herald of the Gospel news that a Savior had been born! The angel proclaimed the Light of God’s Word first to lowly shepherds out in their fields saying, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And then, all heaven broke loose as “there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!’” “Glory to God in the highest.” The incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus, is the glory of God! Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity! Pleased as Man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel! God with us!

In the incarnation, God has penetrated our world, our flesh, His creation, and that has changed everything! God is pleased with man in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ we have peace with God and with men, for in Jesus we are one flesh, one body. This will never, can never, change! In the incarnation the Son of God became the Son of Man; He became what you are so that you may become what He is. He was born in the flesh that you might be born again. He died in the flesh that your death will not, and cannot, hold you. He was raised in the flesh that, even though you die, you will never die. He came into this world and our flesh and He destroyed the power of death; and He was taken out of this world in our flesh that we might live in the presence of God the Father forevermore.

This Truth incarnate we remember this evening and we celebrate together in joyous vigil. But, as much as we remember God’s mighty deliverance long ago, we acknowledge the presence of the Word Made Flesh amongst us now in Word and water, in holy absolution, and in bread and wine for the forgiveness of ours sins, for the strengthening of our faith, and for the wellspring within us of eternal life and salvation. And so, in receiving these gifts we receive Him. And, as we continue our vigil this night and tomorrow, and as many tomorrows as He grants us until He comes, we are well prepared as we wait and as we watch in hopeful expectation for the Advent of our King. Behold, He has come. Behold, He comes. Behold, He is coming.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

St. Thomas the Apostle–Wednesday in Rorate Coeli (The Fourth Week of Advent)

2011-12-21T20:40:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

John 20:24-29; Ephesians 4:7, 11-16; Judges 6:36-40 St. Thomas, Apostle

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

It may seem that the celebration of the Festival Day of St. Thomas the Apostle is a bit out of place so near the close of Adventide, just four days before The Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, Christmas. Indeed, since the most famous account of St. Thomas, recorded in the St. John’s Gospel, exposes him doubting the testimony of the others that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead and that He had appeared to them in the flesh, we might expect to commemorate St. Thomas sometime during the Easter cycle. Well, in fact, the account of Doubting Thomas and his eventual bold confession of faith is the Gospel Lesson for the Second Sunday of Easter. And yet, there is still an Advent connection to be found in St. Thomas’ faith and life which serves as counsel for us latter day disciples of Jesus as we make our pilgrimage by faith, watching and waiting patiently and in hopeful expectation for His return. This connection is found in the words of our Lord Jesus to St. Thomas after He had seen his risen Lord with his own eyes and had confessed Him to be both God and Lord. Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

Dear Advent pilgrims, we are they who have not seen and yet believe. We are they who walk by faith and not by sight, who are bringing up the rears in a long train of faithful pilgrims extending back to Abraham who believed God, and God counted his faith to him as righteousness. Yet, lest we puff ourselves up and think ourselves better than St. Thomas, let us recognize how childlike we are, “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Too easily we doubt and stray to follow seemingly easier to believe stories and teachings. Too often we impetuously demand signs of God’s faithfulness and put Him to the test when, indeed, there are signs all around us that we refuse to acknowledge and believe.

Thomas’ sin was great and grievous. He was not with the fellowship that Easter evening when our resurrected Lord appeared to them because he was still hiding in fear, having fled and scattered with the others that night He was arrested in Gethsemane. While the others had remembered their Master’s words to them and had gathered together to counsel and console each other, Thomas remained estranged from his family of faith. Jesus came into their presence as the disciples gathered that evening behind closed doors, and He showed them His hands, feet, and side and He ate some food before them, glorious signs that He was alive out of death, in the flesh and not a ghost or spirit. If Thomas would have been there, he too would have seen and believed. But fear and unbelief kept him isolated, alone, and in darkness. Eight days Thomas continued in darkness and unbelief, separated from the fellowship of his brethren, overcome with fear, in denial and unbelief.

The next Sunday, the disciples were again gathered together, and this time Thomas was with them. Jesus appeared to them just as He had done before, but this time He went directly to Thomas and commanded him to reach out and touch His wounds, to take hold of the sign that Thomas previously had demanded. But, of course, this was unnecessary, for Thomas could see his Lord with his own eyes; there was no need to touch any longer, he believed.

As we stand here, almost two thousand years from the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are thankful for the testimony of St. Thomas and the other Apostles. Because they have seen and have believed, it is so much easier for us who have not seen to believe. And yet, there are countless other witnesses besides these. Jesus appeared to over five hundred people after his resurrection. He dwelt with men for forty days before He ascended; how many more likely saw Him with their own eyes? And then there are the prophets and the patriarchs, judges and kings of Israel for four thousand years before Jesus’ birth; these, too, have given eyewitness testimony to the mighty works of God along with faith and trust in the God whom they have not seen.

Satan’s craftiest weapon against us is to separate us from fellowship of the Christian Church, the way a lion separates a weak and struggling antelope from the herd. Then he can use the wedge of doubt, fear, anger, and unbelief to sever us from Christ and leave us alone in darkness and death. For, in the Church, the Lord is present with His Word and with His Wounds to show us that Satan and death are defeated, to comfort, counsel, and console us in His gifts and the consolation of the brethren. Remaining in His Word and Blessed Sacraments, we are well prepared for Jesus’ coming at any hour, any day, any time. Though we have not seen, we have believed. Lord, help us in our unbelief. And He does. He gives us His Word and Spirit that we might hear and believe. He gives us His body and His blood for the strengthening of our faith and the forgiveness of our sins. And He leaves us, not as orphans, but He gathers us in a new family of faith in His Church where He has promised to be present always.

In the fellowship of His body, the Church, may we confess with St. Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Rorate Coeli (The Fourth Sunday in Advent)

2011-12-18T13:46:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

John 1:19-28; Philippians 4:4-7; Deuteronomy 18:15-19

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

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you.” “The Lord is at hand.” “Among you stands one you do not know.” “The LORD is near to all who call on Him.” Do you notice how the unseen, real, and true presence of our Lord now permeates our liturgy this day? For the past several weeks you have been exhorted to prepare for His coming. Now, it would seem, you are to contemplate that, not only has He come, but that the Lord is amongst you right now. So, I ask you, do you see Him? Do you hear Him? Do you recognize His presence? If not, then perhaps we should extend Advent a few more weeks. For, indeed, tantamount to your being prepared for His coming on the Last Day is that you recognize and receive Him while He is present among you right now.

The priests and the Levites who were sent to question John had been waiting, watching, and seeking the coming of the Lord for centuries. They searched the Scriptures and they trusted in the Word of the Lord proclaimed by the Prophets that God would raise up a prophet like Moses and that He would send forth Elijah before the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. They had good reason to believe that John might be the Christ, or Elijah, or the Prophet, for he lived in the stark, ascetic manner of the prophets and he spoke with an authoritative word in accord with the Word of God. But, when they asked him if he was the Christ, he said “No.” And when they asked him if he was Elijah, he said “No.” And when they asked him if he was the Prophet, again John replied “No.” Indeed, all that John would confess concerning himself was that he was a voice.

Israel had not heard the voice of God for four hundred years. Though they had returned to the Promised Land following captivity in Babylon and had rebuilt the temple and reinstated the priesthood and the sacrificial system, the hearts of the people were far from the Lord, the priests did not teach the people the ways of the Lord, and they did not honor God with their lives, words, and deeds. The last prophetic utterance was given by Malachi who prophesied, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” Then there was silence for four hundred years, until the coming of John the Baptist. During this time the people of Israel were hardened and Judaism became more rigid and legalistic under the Pharisees and more liberal and politically driven under the Sadducees. By the time John appeared, the hearts and minds of the people could not imagine a Messiah who would come in humility and lowliness to suffer and die as a sacrifice for the people’s sins.

Part of John’s role in preparing the way for the coming of Jesus was to break up the hardened hearts of God’s people that they might be turned in repentance to receive the one who was coming, not in power, great might, and glory, but from amongst them, as their brother, in lowliness and humility. John was a voice crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord” as the Prophet Isaiah had said. John carried out his task by preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins and by baptizing with water, a visible sign of the spiritual change affected in a person by the workings of the Holy Spirit. God was about to visit His people, but He was not going to appear to them as He did on Mount Sinai, striking terror of death into the hearts of His people, but He would come in the manner of Moses, Elijah, and the Prophets, as one of His own, amongst His own, for the sake of His own.

Our God has always been a God who is present in the midst of His people. He walked with our First Parents in Eden. He visited Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He called to Moses from the burning bush and encamped in the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies amongst His people. Then, in Jesus, the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And so, He is not a God who is far off, but He is a God who is near – very near, in fact, come into our own flesh and blood, conceived and born of a woman like all men, so that He is our brother, one of us, knowing in His flesh our joys and sorrows, our pain and tears, the torture of our temptations, but humbly and obediently and selflessly resisting these by faith.

Though He comes to us in such familiar ways, men are scandalized by the incarnation of Jesus. Thus it was necessary that John direct our attention to Him and call us to repentance that we might see in Him God’s presence and our salvation from our sins. The very next day after the priests and the Levites questioned him, John pointed to Jesus and proclaimed “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” There He is, God’s sacrifice, Isaac’s substitute, the true Passover Lamb who’s blood will mark the doorposts of you heart that the Angel of Death might pass over. Who? The carpenter’s son from Nazareth? Who? That lowly rabbi with His band of misfit disciples? Who? The itinerant preacher who hangs about tax collectors and prostitutes and lepers? Yeah, that’s the one. That’s the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. Yeah, that’s Him, the Word of God made flesh, abiding in your presence as one of you, as you brother, just as the prophets said.

So, I ask you, do you see Him? Do you hear Him? Do you recognize His presence? If not, well, it’s still Advent for another week. Indeed, it is Advent until He comes on the Last Day, and today your salvation is nearer to you than when you first believed. For, indeed, tantamount to your being prepared for His coming on the Last Day is that you recognize and receive Him while He is present among you right now. He is present for you now in His forgiving and life-giving Word. He is present for you now in Holy Absolution. He is present for you now in Holy baptismal regeneration. And He is present for you now in His holy body and precious blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins that the Angel of Death might pass over you.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Advent Lessons & Carols

2011-12-18T13:44:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

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

Christmas is truly about the incarnation of the Son of God: The Word became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the eternal, creative Word spoken by the Father, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin womb of Mary and was born to us as an infant child in the city of David, Bethlehem. God dwells with man as a man. He knows what it means to be a man; He knows what it means to be you better than you do. And so, you do not have a God who is far off, but you have a God who is very near. You do not have a God that cannot empathize with your weaknesses, griefs and temptations, but you have a God who has experienced all these and has suffered and died in your flesh.

Yet, perhaps, the most astounding, and the most comforting thing about the incarnation of our Lord is the love that He displayed in it. For, the incarnation is God stripped naked and presented to you bare, entirely for you. He gave Himself as a gift to you without any concern for Himself at all. He came out of the womb naked, like all men, weak, helpless, needy, vulnerable, and defenseless. Our God became a human child, and our God is still a human man. As Jesus has taught you, there is no greater love than that a man should lay down his life for his friends. Indeed, your God has given Himself to you wholly, holding nothing back, as a gift of perfect and holy love. He came with no demands but with His only desire being that you would receive and benefit from His love, and, perhaps, a hope that you might love Him in return.

He’ll never stop loving you, even if you don’t love Him in return – imagine that! And, He has forgiven you and all people in Jesus Christ, even if you don’t believe that – imagine that! He is for you; there are no conditions or exceptions; He is for you; He is for the whole world! Your God is the greatest gift imaginable – a free and perfect gift of perfect love and perfect grace. But it’s not cheap grace, but it is the most costly and rare grace imaginable. But, truly, that’s what love is. That’s what love means. And that’s what love looks like. Love was born at Christmas. And, Jesus Christ is God’s gift of perfect love dwelling amongst us.

You don’t take a gift. You don’t choose a gift. You certainly don’t earn, buy, or even necessarily deserve a gift. But, you receive a gift. And, you believe the gift is truly yours. And then, you receive the benefit of the gift and the love of its giver who desires only that you would receive and believe and benefit from His love.

That’s the gift of the incarnation. And, that’s what Christmas is truly all about.

Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love Divine, Love was born at Christmas, Star and Angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead, Love Incarnate, Love Divine, Worship we our Jesus, But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token, Love shall be yours and love be mine, Love to God and all men, Love for plea and gift and sign. - Christina Rossetti, 1885

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Wednesday of Gaudete–The Third Sunday in Advent

2011-12-14T20:22:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Isaiah 40:1-11; Isaiah 60:1-11; Luke 3:2-3

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

The history of humankind is marked by man’s willful choice of slavery and bondage rather than obedience to God’s Word and Law. Our First Parents chose to follow their own wisdom and will over that of their Creator. Likewise did their descendants up until the days of Noah. After God sent the flood to destroy the corrupted earth and its inhabitants, the descendants of Noah and his sons continued in our First Parents rebellious ways. When the children of Israel found themselves in the wilderness desert and God provided them manna and quail, they grumbled and complained and they longed for the bread of slavery and the fleshpots of Egypt. The story of Israel is a continuous cycle of unfaithfulness, enslavement, repentance, and redemption. When Jesus was born, Israel had been under Roman rule for around seventy years, and under Greek rule for about one hundred sixty years before that. Still, the religious leadership of the Jews chose to suffer under continued Roman oppression rather than to confess their sins and receive forgiveness as Jesus preached and taught. As the high priest Caiaphas infamously and prophetically said, “It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

Though sin entered the world through the one man Adam, and death reigned through Moses and beyond, yet through the one man Jesus have all men been made to be righteous. He came to those who could not and would not come to Him. He came as light into a world of darkness and sin. He came as life into a world of death. He came as the New Adam, the New Man, holy, obedient, and righteous. He laid down His life unto death that men might live through Him. He came to draw all men to Himself – nations to His Light, kings to the brightness of His rising. Sons and daughters will come from afar, nations shall come to Him. For, He is for all people comfort, pardon, and peace with God.

But, has He not always been this? Has not His disposition toward man been one of mercy, love, and forgiveness. Yet, men hide from Him and love the darkness because their deeds are evil. Men love the creation and hate the Creator of all things. And men willfully chose bondage and slavery to sin and death rather than the God who is and gives life because they will not submit their own will and wisdom to the One who made them, who loves them, and who still preserves them.

And so, God sent them prophets to prepare them for salvation by calling them to repentance, to turn from their sins and the way that leads only to death, and return to Him for forgiveness, life, and salvation. The prophets too were repeatedly persecuted and killed. Then He sent John the Baptist, the son of Zechariah, the last of the prophets, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. He was sent to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus by bringing down man’s mountainous pride and by raising him up out of his valleys of desperation. Though he spoke to them harshly, it was necessary, for John was the physician who pronounced mankind terminal with a sin-sickness that leads unto death. He proclaimed that all flesh is withering and dying grass. But, he pointed men out of their hopelessness, death, and despair to the only source of comfort of hope: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

He has come. He comes. He is coming. Though our Savior Jesus has come in lowliness and humility, still He comes to us in grace and mercy, and He is coming in glory and great might. Still, the voice of John the Baptist prepares in us the way for the coming of the Lord through a preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We must hear his words daily and return to the Lord our God in repentance. We must return daily to our baptisms in repentance and receive holy absolution for the sake of Jesus. For, comfort is here. Peace has come. And, the Light of the World has risen upon us.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Gaudete–The Third Sunday in Advent

2011-12-11T11:46:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Matthew 11:2-11; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Isaiah 40:1-11

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

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” asks Jesus. What were you looking for? What did you expect to find? What did you hope to hear? Were you looking for some malleable teacher who would minister to your felt needs, leaving you secure in your sins, telling you that you’re a good person, better than most, keep up the good work? Or, did you expect to see an icon of self-help and prosperity, a guru of good and practical advice that would tell you how to get out of debt, raise your children, save your marriage, and be happy? Or, did you hope to hear that it doesn’t really matter what you believe, so long as you believe something, that all that really matters is that you remain devout in your belief and are good person, more or less.

If that’s what you went out into the wilderness this morning to see and hear, then you surely could have found it somewhere, for this wilderness world is filled with smooth-talking and forked-tongued false teachers who are all too eager to tickle your ears and to take your money and tell you to believe in yourself and to think positively and all will be well with you. This wilderness world is full of venomous serpents spitting poisonous doctrines, often in the name of Jesus, teaching that what God has called sin – murder, adultery and fornication, covetousness, jealousy, lying, slander, and theft – are virtues when they done in the service of the common good, personal freedom, or just about any other justification men may conceive. You can hear anything you want in the wilderness. There’s at least nine public options available right here in little ol’ Pawling, New York! That is, if you even bother to venture out at all, for there is countless variety on the television and the internet to suit every felt need, taste, and itching ear.

But then, perhaps you came out into the wilderness this morning for a different reason. Perhaps you came out to hear the Word of the Lord, a Word of condemning Law and a Word of consoling Gospel. What have you come out to see? A prophet, a mouthpiece for the Lord? Yes, they are in the wilderness too, thanks be to God! However, they can take a little more effort to find, and they don’t always look and sound like what you might think. But, you will know them by the Word that they proclaim, teach, and confess, for it will not be the opinions and platitudes of men, but it will be the Word of the Lord. Quite often it may seem harsh, for the Word of a prophet will not leave you comfortable in your sin. But, if you are willing to receive the Word of the prophet and to confess your sin, then he will have even greater Words of comfort and hope for you. And, he may not be the most charismatic of men, arrayed with the symbols of worldly success, preaching to packed houses, standing room only, but he will be an instrument of God’s grace to bring you forgiveness, life and salvation through the Words and Wounds of Jesus.

Who are these prophets of the Lord today? They are the pastors, ministers, and servants of the Lord placed under Holy Orders to tend His flock until He comes. They continue in the ways of John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Lord by preaching repentance and by baptizing for the forgiveness of sins. But they also point to Christ and His suffering, death, and resurrection as the source and reason of your forgiveness and they deliver to you the gifts He died to give you: His Gospel Word, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and His Holy Supper. These treasures do not belong to them, but only their faults are their own, and for these they are responsible to Christ alone. For, what matter is the condemnation of men if Christ approves, and what matter is the approval of men if Christ condemns? You should receive them as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. And, as stewards, faithfulness and trustworthiness is their only duty and their Master alone is judge.

Like John the Baptist, God’s stewards prepare the way for Christ’s Second Advent in this wilderness world of sin and death. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, they proclaim God’s Word of comfort that Jerusalem’s warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. The Church of Christ is this New Jerusalem, redeemed in Jesus’ blood. Now is the time in which She waits and watches in hopeful expectation for the return of Her Bridegroom, Her Husband, Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. And, during Her time of waiting, God has sent His stewards, His pastors and servants of Christ, to guard and protect and to prepare the Church for the Advent of Her Lord. The Words they speak are His Words. The Gifts they distribute are His Gifts. Repent, believe, and receive; they are for you, bought with a price.

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” asks Jesus. What were you looking for? What did you expect to find? What did you hope to hear? Not everyone was attracted to John the Baptist. He used harsh words. He was unrelenting in His conviction and message. He did not look like the well-dressed and groomed rabbis and Pharisees. Because of his preaching and teaching, John found himself in Herod’s prison awaiting execution. John knew that people, even his own disciples, would be scandalized by his imprisonment and that they would interpret it as either John’s failing or God’s failing. Indeed, today men routinely reject preachers who faithfully and truthfully proclaim and teach God’s Word and who remain unflinching even when that Word stands in opposition to popular worldly views. Additionally, they judge the effectiveness and the veracity of a preacher’s ministry by worldly standards of quantitative and monetary success. Thus, John sent his own disciples to Jesus that they might hear from His own lips that everything was proceeding just as God’s Word by the prophets had foretold, indeed, what they have both heard and seen for themselves: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. John’s disciples had witnessed these very things which were in direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the Messiah. Though we often have expectations concerning how God should act and what God should do, Jesus teaches us to look rather to what He has said and done. Our false expectations set up stumbling blocks for us and for others which put them and us at risk of tripping and falling into sin and unbelief. Thus Jesus concluded His Worlds to John’s disciples saying, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

But, too often we are offended and scandalized by Him. We are offended and scandalized by disease, suffering, and death. We are offended and scandalized by the wickedness and evil of men in this world. We are offended and scandalized by the lies, deceptions, and treacheries that men utilize in their dealings with one another. However, do not be offended and scandalized, for such have men and the world always been and even your Jesus has suffered in this way and He has told you that you, His disciples, will be treated just as He was treated.

That is why Jesus then turned to the crowd who was gathered around Him saying, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” What were your expectations? Were they in accord with the Word of the Lord? If you came out into the wilderness expecting to see a man having no convictions, easily swayed by the ways and wiles of this world, then your expectations were false. If you came out into the wilderness expecting to see a man dressed in soft clothing, taking delight in material comfort and excess and encouraging you to do the same, then your expectations were false. If you came out into the wilderness to hear a word of platitudes and cheap grace, leaving you complacent in your sinful thoughts, words, and deeds, then your expectations were false. Or, did you actually come out into the wilderness to hear a prophet, a man of God who will tell you, not what you want to hear, but what God wants you to hear and what you need to hear, that you might repent of your sins and receive forgiveness and comfort, life, and salvation in and through Jesus Christ? If so, then I tell you, you have found a prophet, indeed, more than a prophet. “This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”

And yet, “the one who is least I the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” For, John was the forerunner; he was sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. John was the last of the Old Testament prophets, supplanted by those who witnessed the words and teachings, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the Apostles of our Lord, even the pastors of the Church of Christ, and you, dear children of God in Christ Jesus. For, you are ones who live on the other side of Christ’s victory over death and the grave. You live in the eternal eighth day, a day on which the sun will never set, so that even though you die, you will live eternally in Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus’ victory is your victory, now, even in the face of lies and corruption, poverty and war, disease, suffering, and death. Blessed is the one who is not offended by Him.

Therefore, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,” that your expectations may be shaped and normed by God’s Word kept and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Give no regard, then, to worldly and fleshly judgments and evaluations when it comes to the mysteries of Christ and His stewards. “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.” For, He has come and all things have been fulfilled just as has been written by the prophets. And, He is coming, and all that dwell in darkness will be exposed in His glorious light. And, He comes to you, now, and “His reward is with him, and His recompense before Him. He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” Blessed is the one who is not offended by Him. “Behold your God!”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Wednesday of Populus Zion–The Second Week of Advent

2011-12-07T20:25:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Isaiah 49:1-13; Isaiah 43:1-7; Malachi 4:1-6

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

Only God can bring something out of nothing, and He so delights in doing just that! In contrast, when men create, we begin with something that already exists: clay, ore, wood, sperm and egg. But, when God creates, He begins with nothing – indeed, He, Himself, is the beginning and the source of all things. His Word brings into being what it says so that “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.”

In the beginning, God – period. God spoke, and there was: light, planets, land, plants, animals. But then, God began to work a little differently. God made man, not by speaking, but with His own hands, formed out of the earth that He had already made. He made a dirt man, Adam, and then He breathed His own spirit, His own life into the man, and the man became a living being. He was a personal creature, created by a personal Creator, made in the image of His Creator, having the capacity, with the Lord’s blessing and at His command, to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

But, almost from the beginning, man rebelled against his Creator. He refused to obey His commands, eating what He was forbidden to eat, staying in one place in order to make a name for himself rather than dispersing and filling the earth. Does the pot do its own bidding and not the bidding of the potter? Of course not. Yet man, God’s creation, continually follows his own will and rejects His Creator. Surely, the potter would smash such a pot and begin anew. But God does not destroy His creation, rather He enacts a plan of restoration for His creation, which He created for His own glory.

And so, once again the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, and the Word of God was spoken into the virgin soil, this time, of a young Hebrew woman’s womb. And, “the Word became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us.” And He was hidden as a polished arrow in a hunter’s quiver until the time was right. But, before the Word made flesh began His dwelling amongst us, He was known in type in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then in Joseph and Moses and the children of Israel, and in many other persons, figures, and deeds. And, after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, until the time of His second advent, He is known in the Christian Church, His body and Bride.

God continues to work through the stuff of His creation, through matter and means, to work His salvation. Once He plunged His hands into the soil and made man and communed with His spirit, God made a covenant with man that He would not leave Him or forsake Him. He would not merely proclaim man clean and righteous by speaking His Word into the nothing, but it was necessary to make man to be righteous by becoming a man, of the substance of a woman, like all men. Thus, He did not send Jesus as a great moral teacher to instruct us how to live a morally righteous life, but He sent Jesus to redeem us from sin and death, to be obedient to God the Father in the flesh, and to suffer and die in substitution for men in the flesh.

Yet, the greatest mystery of all is that God had a plan of redemption before there was a man to redeem. Thus, when the prophets of the Lord prophecy, they speak a Word of the Lord for the present, and for the past, and for the future. The prophets are but mouthpieces for the Word that has gone forth from the Lord and will not return to Him void, but will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. His Word is for the whole world, for all that He has made, and it comes to us through the stuff that He has made: Words uttered by men, flesh and blood, water, oil, bread, and wine. In the incarnation, when His Word became flesh, He began to redeem His creation from the inside out. He leads His captive people to the land of promise in exodus out of this world through death into life eternal in communion with Himself. Thus He promises you, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Though the way at times may be dark, dangerous, and uncertain, you need not fear, your God is with you. He has always been with you, though He may be hidden, He is as a polished arrow hidden away in a hunter’s quiver. At the appointed times He has arisen in power and might to deliver His people. He has come. He comes. And, He is coming. Soon, the Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in His wings. Watch and wait in hopeful expectation, for your redemption is drawing near.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Populus Zion (The Second Sunday in Advent)

2011-12-04T14:26:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Luke 21:25-36; Romans 15:4-13; Malachi 4:1-6

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

In whom or what do you place your fear, your love, and your trust? If your fear, love, and trust is not in God, the Lord of heaven and earth, then your fear, love, and trust is misplaced, for your idols will not stand on the Last Day, at the coming of the Lord. All material things in the heavens and upon the earth will be shaken, all the things in which men place their fear, love, and trust will be reduced to stubble, leaving neither root nor branch. For, there is one God and one Lord who made the heavens and the earth and all things, who still preserves and sustains them, and who will make His presence known in judgment to all who dwell on the face of the earth.

How do you take these words? Do they make you uncomfortable? Do they seem to you to be harsh? Do they strike terror in your hearts? They should. And, they shouldn’t. But, it depends upon in whom and in what you place your fear, your love, and your trust. The fact that our Lord will return in judgment should not cause you fear or concern at all, that is, if you fear, love, and trust in Him now. If you fear, love, and trust in Him now, then the signs of this world passing away are not cause for alarm or terror, but rather for rejoicing, for your redemption is drawing near. But, indeed, they will be terrified who have placed their fear, love, and trust in other things, in material things, worldly things, and fleshly men, for all these will begin to crumble and pass away and they will be left with nothing in which to place their fear, love, and trust, and yet they will know, unequivocally, that Jesus Christ is Lord, and God the Father will be glorified.

However, the great and tragic irony in all of this, of course, is that Jesus Christ was sent for them, as well as for you, even for the entire world. Indeed, the coming of the Son of Man means that your redemption is drawing near. So, rather than cowering in fear, you should lift up your heads in confidence and joy. But, the difference between those who will cower in fear and those who will lift up their heads then is the object, or objects, of your fear, love, and trust now. The temptation of the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh is to take the Lord’s delay in returning as proof that He is not returning at all, that He doesn’t exist at all. And so, you are tempted to value only the material things, the now things, caring not, believing not in the then things. You see, the devil isn’t so concerned about your worshipping him, but only that you divert your attention to something other than the Christ. Be it money, success, fame, family, health, sex, possessions, whatever, he doesn’t care; the devil wants only that your eyes and your heart are not focused upon Jesus, for then he has you, and, though you may not think of it that way, you are serving and worshipping him.

Thus, your Lord warns, “Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. […] But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Dissipation, drunkenness, and cares of this life – these are the things your Lord warns you against, for they are distractions from the narrow Way that leads to eternal life. They are the means that the devil uses to divert your eyes and your heart from the cross of Jesus Christ. It’s not that worldly and material things are evil, it’s not even that men are evil, for God has made all things good, but it’s really just the same old sin, the only sin, idolatry, creatures fearing, loving, and trusting in the creation more than, or instead of, the Creator of all things. Money isn’t evil, but if money is what you fear losing, love keeping, and trust in for your security, then you have made it your idol, you have made it your god. Same goes for success, fame, family, health, sex, possessions, or whatever. Whatever you place your fear, love, and trust in before or in place of God, that is your god. And, when the true and only God returns in judgment and glory, none of these will remain, and then your misplaced and foolish fear, love, and trust will be left naked and exposed.

But, it’s not like you didn’t know this was coming, right? The Lord has been consistent in His message that this world and this life will not last. Ever since the Fall the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth because of sin, waiting for redemption and re-creation. Indeed, the signs are all around you, they are even in your own flesh which ages, grows weak, and dies. “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees,” Jesus says, “As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know the summer is already near.” Everyone reads the signs of the change of the seasons and so prepares accordingly. Why do you not read the signs that this world’s time is passing quickly, that the end will come, if not tomorrow, the day after that, and so prepare yourself? In the very midst of life, death has us surrounded. Everyone knows that you can’t take it with you. There are no hearse’s pulling U-Hauls. Indeed, Jesus says, “this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.” “Ah!” The scoffers will say. “Many generations have passed, and things continue as they always have. This word of your lord is foolishness!” Yes, indeed, many generations of men have passed, and judgment has come upon them all, they have all died and all their possessions have decayed, their deeds and reputations have been, or will be, forgotten. But, what about the generation of all humanity descended from Adam? What about the generation of the Christian Church birthed from Jesus’ death and resurrection? These have not fully passed away, nor will they until all the things that our Lord prophesied take place. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” He has said, “but My Words will not pass away.”

“My Words will not pass away.” That is key. Life can be hard at times. We each experience life passing away in all sorts of ways, every day of our lives. There is a constant temptation to divert our eyes and our hearts away from Jesus’ Words to all manner of distractions or to deaden our sensory experiences with drug or drink. But we are not like those without hope. We have God’s Word and His promises kept and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. His Word never changes, it never passes away, but it remains constant, trustworthy, certain, and true. It was “written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” When you see and experience the signs of change and decay in your life, in this world, do not despair, but turn to His Word and see that all things are just as He said they would be. Then, “straighten up and raise up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Even now you can experience a foretaste of your redemption as you are released from the chains and bondage of fleshly and worldly possessions and values, as you die to yourself and selfish desires and passions and live to Christ in loving service of your brother and neighbor.

“Stay awake at all times, praying,” and greet the rising sun each day with hopefulness, knowing that your redemption is drawing near. Then you may leap into each day like calves from the stall. And, “may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for the Christian Funeral of Anna Hohmann 6/29/1909–11/22/2011

2011-12-03T14:51:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

John 14:1-6; 1 Peter 1:3-9; Job 14:1-17

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

If you wish to hear a sound perspective on life, read Job. You know his story, how Job was a righteous man who feared the Lord, how the Lord blessed him richly with family and wealth. But then, Satan accused Job before the Lord saying that he only feared God because God blessed him so richly and that, if Job’s blessings were taken away from him, he would curse God. So, God permitted Satan to afflict Job sorely. He took his wealth. He took his family. And, finally, he afflicted Job’s own body with horrible sores and disease that caused him to be cut off from all others and all manner of living.

Affliction like that of Job’s has a way of causing a man to take stock of his life. A man will ask questions like: What is the cause and purpose of suffering? What is the meaning of life? What kind of God causes or permits pain, suffering, and death? Job asked all those questions and more. Likely you have asked a few of them yourself. However, though he asked such questions, and though he struggled with doubt and uncertainty, Job continued to trust in the Lord God and he would not curse Him and die. But, in the face of all his afflictions, Job gained perspective on his life. He remembered that he was brought into this world and life apart from his choosing. He was born to his particular mother and father apart from his choosing. He had the number of sons and daughters that the Lord permitted him to have, and they were taken from him apart from his will. Indeed, he himself was met with physical afflictions and disease, having no control over his situation. And, finally, he died as the Lord had appointed, and was powerless to extend his own life. Thus Job confessed that a man’s days are determined by God, that the number of his months is known only to God, and that the appointed time of his death is established by God. Why is it that a man may live to be a hundred years old and another may not make it out of his thirties? Only God knows. However, what we share in common is that the number of our years is determined by God alone, apart from our control. But what we do have some control over is what we do with our days, months, and years while we have them.

Job recognized everything that he had, even his own life, as a gift and blessing from God. When it was all taken away from him, Job would not curse God, but he said, “The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord.” There is a certain peace and comfort, even confidence that comes from confessing that you are not in control of the totality of your life, but that God is in control, and that He works all things, even the bad things, for your good and for the good of those He has called in Jesus Christ. That peace, comfort, and confidence comes, ironically, by death – that is, it comes by dying to yourself and living to Christ. “For whoever would save his life will lose it,” says Jesus, “but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Indeed, Job’s peace, comfort, and confidence did not come from himself, but it came from his fear, love, and trust in God and in His promise to send a savior, a redeemer for Job and for all men. “I know that my Redeemer lives,” Job confessed, “and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”

It is those who die to themselves that God is able to raise up to new life now. Those who believe, who put their fear, love, and trust in the Lord and not in men, themselves, and the things of this world, are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” For the faithful, Christ’s death on the cross and His glorious resurrection stand outside of ourselves as a sure, certain, and unchanging guarantee of our victory over death and the grave, our forgiveness and redemption, and life with Jesus after death. Kind of changes the way you view your life in this world, doesn’t it? Gives you a new perspective, doesn’t it?

Anna Hohmann shared this perspective on her long and blessed life. She recognized that everything she had, even her own life, was a gift and blessing from God. She was born during the Great Depression and learned to live simply and with frugality. She worked as a secretary for many years in New York City and, later, as church secretary right here at Christ the King under Pastor Arthur Gronbach. Ann never complained. She was at peace and content, comfortable, and confident that the Lord was in charge of her life. Whatever she had, it was enough. The things she didn’t have, she reckoned that she didn’t need. “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the Name of the Lord.”

But, in truth, Ann was rich. She was rich in friendships and she was rich in kindness, gentleness, and humility. She had so many good friends it would be difficult to account for them all, particularly given her long life. But, Pastor Gronbach and Baldur from Iceland immediately come to mind as holding a special place in Ann’s heart. Her dear friend Mary who passed away not too many years ago and Oskey, who was a dependable handy-man were regular visitors at Ann’s home. From the church there is Janet Sullivan and Nancy Ettinger, both of whom would drive Ann to church. And then there is Kathe Foster who took special care of Ann particularly the past couple years. And that’s just scratching the surface and from my relatively brief knowledge of Ann. These each can testify to the contentment and peace that Ann represented.

We are thankful for Ann and the blessing that the Lord has made of her to us. She is an example for us of a better perspective on life. Indeed, you could just as well hear the words of faith uttered by the Mother of our Lord Jesus rolling off of Ann’s lips, “Lord, may it be to me according to Your Word.” God has blessed us with the gift of Ann’s life, and God blesses us now with the certainty of His promise to Ann fulfilled as she now lives with Jesus in paradise. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for the Christian Funeral for Fred Rosenbergen 6/9/1933–11/29/2011

2011-12-03T14:50:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

John 6:27-40; Romans 8:31-39; Isaiah 43:1-3a, 25

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

If we Americans are anything at all, we are pragmatists. We fervently believe that if a man works hard and does good he should be rewarded. We believe that we reap what we sow. We believe that bad things shouldn’t happen to good people. We believe that after working 30 years or more that we ought to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors. We believe that what we have invested in our children should be paid back to us in our old age, in their care for us and in the joy we experience in our grandchildren. That’s what we believe, isn’t it? That’s only good, fair, and right, right? That’s practical, isn’t it? Then why do things so often seem to go so very, very wrong?

I remember having many conversations such as this with Fred; maybe you do too. In many ways, Fred was a tailor-made example of an American husband and father. He worked hard as a chauffeur in New York City. As a mid-westerner myself, for me Fred was an example of New York’s legendary grit and toughness, but with a great sense of humor and irony, a warm heart, and a genuine joy and happiness for other’s blessings and a genuine pity and sorrow for other’s misfortunes. Fred took a lovely bride, Raeann, established a home in which he took great pride, and he began building a family, three children who were the joy of his life. What more could any man want? He moved to Pawling in 1974 and became a member of The Lutheran Church of Christ the King where he served as an Elder and as a member of the Church Council. Fred was immensely helpful to me when I received the call to be Pastor of this congregation almost ten years ago. And then his babies started to become adults, and then there were his precious grandchildren. Yes, life was good.

Hard work and good deeds should be rewarded. We reap what we sow. Bad things shouldn’t happen to good people. But, they do, don’t they? You know that they do. Despite all the good things in Fred’s life, despite the joy of family and the pride of hard work and owning a home, there was a specter of fear that accompanied much of Fred’s life and that from time to time made brutal assaults upon him, and Raeann, and their children. That fearsome specter was cancer, an enemy that far too many of you know personally as well. Cancer first struck Fred in 1988. He escaped that battle minus a lung. But, other health issues continued to assail him, and Raeann too, so that the good life was always tempered with the fear of the unknown: Will the cancer return? What did I do wrong? Why did God let this happen to me? Why do bad things happen to good people?

When Fred asked me questions like that I sometimes would smile meekly at him and answer, “There are no good people, Fred.” Now, before you bum-rush me outta here, you have to understand that I said that to him with love, because I wanted him to understand that, ultimately, life isn’t about all the things that this world and our sinful flesh values, but life, true life, is about living, truly living, eternally with Jesus. For, the truth is, bad things happen, diseases happen, cancer happens, death happens, because of sin – your sin, my sin, Adam and Eve’s sin, and, yes, even Fred’s sin. As St. Paul has said, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And, that’s the truth. Sin separates us from God, the source of true and eternal life, and thus, the wages of sin is only and always death.

I said this to him in love, because a man needs to know that God doesn’t want him to suffer, God doesn’t want him to die. God didn’t create sin and God didn’t create death, but God created everything good, and He created man very good. It was man’s choice to sin. Adam succumbed to the devil’s temptation. He chose to rebel against God, and the fruit of his disobedience was sin and suffering, sickness, and death. And, a man needs to know that he was not created for this, but that he was created for life, eternal life with God. And, for this reason, God sent forth His Son, Jesus, to die in man’s place. He made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

God has done all that is necessary to restore us to Himself. At the cost of His own Son He has redeemed us from sin and death. There is nothing for us to fear, not sickness or disease, not cancer, and not even death. So the Lord has spoken through the Prophet Isaiah, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” But do observe that the Lord has not promised that you will not encounter trial, tribulation, and suffering. Indeed, Jesus has said that if you desire to be His disciple, you must take up your cross and follow Him. For, to be sure, the life of a Christian is a life of faith, trusting in your Lord even when the way is dark, dangerous, and uncertain. But you are not like those without hope, for we have a God who has laid down His own life for us and has taken it back up out of death so that even that dread enemy has had its fangs torn out and has lost its sting.

We have a God who is for us. And, if God is for us, than who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? I can’t say that I ever remember Fred to laugh at these things, but they are truly laughable. How can you not laugh at the bold confidence such words proclaim? Even though we are being killed all the day long, counted as sheep to be slaughtered, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Ha! For I am certain that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ha! Ha! But I do believe that Fred laughed the last time I saw him in the hospital before he died. Yeah, I know he thought there were spiders on the ceiling and he kept seeing plastic spoons everywhere, but he had his wife and his kids around him and his Pastor was there with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His precious body and His holy blood with words of courageous comfort and hope that came, not from his mind, or his reasoning, but from Jesus Christ Himself.

Fred worked hard during his life. He tried to good and often did much good. He certainly loved you Raeann, and you children, Charlie, Sherylann, and Chris were, and are, precious and dear to him. There were times when Fred likely thought that all he had was the fruit of his own labor, we all think that way at times, but in these last years, months, and days I think he began to count it all blessing. I do recall Fred sometimes asking if the bad things he might have done, or the good things he should have done but didn’t, would keep him out of heaven. I would ask Him, “Fred, do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and is raised from the dead?” “Yes, Pastor, I believe that.” “Then don’t ask such silly questions.” Ha! Ha!

Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.”

What perfect love, perfect love that casts out fear. Even while he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, Fred feared no evil. And, you don’t need to fear either, for the Lord is with you now even as Fred is with Him in paradise. But, while you still walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Fred has passed through and dwells in the house of the Lord for evermore. Yet, there is one place on earth where those in the valley may gather with the saints in the house of the Lord, and that is at the communion table of the Lord where you may kneel with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven and receive a foretaste of the feast they enjoy now in the presence of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ and His Father in His eternal kingdom. Do not be afraid. You will see Him again. Christ’s peace be with you until that day.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Wednesday of Ad Te Levavi–The First Week of Advent

2011-11-30T20:24:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Isaiah 40:22-30; Jeremiah 23:5-8; Zechariah 9:9-12

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

You have to admit, the Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways. Indeed, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. And so, we have proclaimed with the Psalmist saying, “The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” And, we have heard the words of the Prophet, “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the ruler of the earth as emptiness.” Our Lord created all things. He sustains all things. And, He has promised to bring this creation to an end and usher in a new creation. Thus, we might well expect that our Lord would work salvation in like kind, with great power and might in a magnificent display of His deity. But then, the Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways.

For, through generations of men, the Lord prepared us for His coming by remaining faithful and true to the promise He made to our First Parents, the promise that He repeated again and again to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Moses, and to all the world, that He would send His Messiah, a King, a Savior to redeem the world from sin and death. And, each generation believed the Messiah would come in their time; indeed, Eve believed her first born son to be her Lord. Yet, though there were types of the Messiah aplenty in figures like Melchizedek, Isaac, and Joseph, the Passover Lamb, the Holy Manna, and the bronze serpent, and the shepherd David, the coming of the true Messiah was delayed. The Lord waited until time was full to send His Son. The Lord waited patiently, mercifully, desiring that all men be saved and none perish. The Lord delayed His coming because His thoughts are not our thoughts; His ways are not our ways. The Lord delayed His coming because the righteous will live by faith, by trust in the Lord’s goodness and mercy, His faithfulness to His Word, trusting not in the might, reason, or emotions of men of flesh.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Everyone expected the Messiah to be a great and powerful leader and king. Make no mistake about it, the people of each generation thought that they had the man be he Joseph, Moses, Saul, David, or another. Indeed, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day we call Palm Sunday, the people were prepared to crown Him their King. They laid down their cloaks before Him and praised Him waving palm branches all the while crying out hosanna, save us! They called Him the Son of David, the great king.

But then, He went on to do the most unkingly things imaginable. He caused a ruckus in the temple courts by turning over the tables of the money changers and casting them out. He brought upon Himself the displeasure and wrath of the religious leadership of the Jews by undermining their teachings and threatening their comfort and power. Then, He permitted to allow Himself to be arrested, instructing His disciples not to draw the sword. He was tried and convicted, scourged and beaten, mocked and spat upon, and then He was crucified and died. God’s ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts.

But, isn’t that precisely what the Lord had been teaching us all along? Isn’t that entirely consistent with the ways and thoughts of God? Our Lord’s first promise of the Messiah He issued shortly after man’s fall into sin saying that the seed of the woman would crush the seed of the serpent’s head. The Messiah would be a man, born of woman like all men. God repeated that promise again and again through covenants with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, up through David and the prophets, right up to the last of the prophets, John the Baptist, to Jesus. Isaiah prophesied that the virgin would conceive and bear a son who would be Immanuel, God with us. And, Malachi prophesied of the one who would precede the coming of the Messiah by preparing His way before Him; that one was John himself who prepared the way for Jesus by baptizing and preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shot aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Didn’t see that one coming? God’s ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts. And that is one reason why we take this extra time in Advent to prepare for our annual celebration of Jesus’ birth. It is an opportunity to tune in a little closer and to ponder God’s Word and His wisdom and His promises that He has consistently fulfilled throughout all the generations of men. It’s all there, after all, in His Word. It always has been and it always will be. But, our thoughts and ways are so very different from God’s that, if we don’t pay close attention, we’re likely to chase after the wrong kings, the wrong gods, and ignore, or worse, our God who comes to us humble and lowly, but having righteousness and salvation for the whole world.

Our King has come, the Messiah, Immanuel, Jesus the Christ. He has come in lowliness and humility. He has taken His throne upon the cross. He has been crowned our king with a crown of thorns. And He has served His subjects in righteousness and forgiveness, laying down His life in death for the world. And, still He comes to us in lowliness and humility under the forms of Word, water and oil, bread and wine bestowing the gifts He died to secure for us. And, he is coming again in glory and great power and might that every eye will see and, because of which, every tongue will confess Him Lord and King to rescue us out of this fallen, broken world of sin and death, shame and suffering, and bring us into His eternal kingdom of peace. May we always be prepared for His coming by remaining in His Word and in His gifts where His promises are given and are kept for the life of the world.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Ad Te Levavi (The First Sunday in Advent)

2011-11-27T13:38:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Matthew 21:1-9; Romans 13:8-14; Jeremiah 23:5-8

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

Behold! The King is coming! Behold! The King has come! Behold! The King is coming!

But, when He comes, how does He come? Then, He came in lowliness and humility, scandalously born of a virgin mother in a stable, laid in the animal’s trough. Then, He came in lowliness and humility, riding upon a donkey and her colt. Now He comes in hidden glory under the forms of bread and wine, water and oil, and the proclaimed Gospel Word of God by the lips and the hands of sinful men. Then, He will come in the fullness of God’s power and glory and every eye will see Him and every tongue will confess Him to be the Lord. Then He will be our King in every way imaginable, even as He is our King now, and He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

The eyes, ears, and the heart of faith recognize the Lord’s coming in all these ways, which is to say, that the faithful recognize the Lord’s Parousia, His presence amongst us, at all times. For, while there are three advents, three distinct comings, there is truly only one Parousia, only one presence. Your Lord Jesus is present with you then, now, and always, just as He has promised to be, even to the end of the age. Thus, this new Church Year begins in the manner the past one ended, with the faithful watching and waiting for His coming, in all the ways that He comes, remaining prepared for His coming by receiving the gifts of His Parousia, His true and abiding presence amongst us.

“O Lord, how shall I meet You,” we sang with Gerhardt and the Church. Indeed, that is our focus and preparation in Advent, to be prepared for the coming of our Lord and to meet Him in all the ways that He comes to us. And, in this mildly penitential season, one way in which we prepare ourselves for our Lord’s coming is by examining ourselves and by confessing our sins. So, we prayed in the Collect, “Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance.”

For, mighty deliverance from the perils of our sins is what Jesus came to bring. And thus, He did not come to bring peace, but a sword. His sword is His Word, the Word of God that proceeds from His mouth and will not return to Him void, a Word of Law that crushes all, and a Word of Gospel which is soothing balm to the repentant and the only source of true hope and comfort. For those who receive Him, He is their righteousness, but for those who reject Him, they are left to be judged by their works according to God’s perfect and holy Law.

But, behold, God has raised Him up, a righteous branch, the only righteous branch and the only source of life. There is no life but to be grafted into Him, and all that are grafted into Him remain in Him, and He in them, and they bear much fruit. And, their fruit is love, the fulfilling of the Law. For, the one who loves another has fulfilled the Law because love does no wrong to a neighbor. Each and every day that passes is an opportunity to draw from the source of life and love Jesus Christ as a branch draws life from the vine and to bear the fruits of love. Drawing life from the Parousia of Jesus now through the means which He offers His grace is what it means to be watchful and waiting in hopeful expectation for His coming as King and Judge. For, each day salvation is nearer to us than it was the day before, or the day when you first believed.

Therefore, do not be offended and scandalized at the humility of His coming. Do not be persuaded by the world, by your flesh, and by your fleshly reason to doubt His presence now, for none who wait for Him shall be put to shame, but they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. They were offended and scandalized by His birth of the Virgin Mary. They were offended and scandalized by the lowliness and the humility of the Bethlehem stable. They were offended and scandalized by His upbringing as the carpenter’s son from backwater Nazareth. They were offended and scandalized by His mercy and compassion to notorious sinners and the unclean. They were offended and scandalized by His suffering, crucifixion, and death. And they tried to cover up, hide, and deny the proof of His resurrection on the third day just as He had said.

But, He has kept every one of His promises. And, God, His Father, has kept every one of His promises. He has come. He comes. And, He is coming. He will not leave you or forsake you. Nothing can separate you from His love which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

To prepare and strengthen you as you await His coming in patient and hopeful expectation, come, now, and receive Him where He is present for you now. For, in this Holy Sacrament, your Lord Jesus is present to enter your mouth and your heart, to commune in and with you, to nourish you His branches that you may be fruitful and full of life and love with which you may be a blessing to your neighbor. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The National Day of Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T21:39:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Luke 17:11-19; Philippians 4:6-20; Deuteronomy 8:1-10

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

Thanksgiving is a fruit borne of another’s graciousness; it is our response to what another has done for us. Thus, the one thankful leper who returned and fell at Jesus’ feet giving him thanks is a fitting symbol for us this day. However, in our common parlance, where please and thank you are seen as mere platitudes or means to an end, do we truly understand the spirit of true thankfulness and gratitude?

The thankful leper did not return to Jesus merely to offer Him a platitude, but he returned to die to himself at Jesus’ feet. He completely divested himself of all dignity and honor, of all right, merit, and privilege, and he submitted himself completely to Jesus, confessing Him to be the very source of undeserved grace, mercy, and love. The fact that he was a leper placed him amongst the lowest social tier, but the fact that he was a Samaritan leper made him to be of no count or consideration at all, but, on the contrary, he would have been hated and despised by all. And yet, Jesus accepted him, He showed mercy to him, and He healed him. And, when the Samaritan leper saw the fruit of Jesus’ love borne in him in his being cleansed from leprosy and healed, he returned to Jesus to give thanks to the one who showed him undeserved mercy and who restored to him life.

True thankfulness is a matter of life and death. We cannot truly be thankful when we believe that we have earned or merited, deserved or chosen the good things that we have. But, true thankfulness is the fruit of life being borne out of death, of a lifeless branch being grafted into the True and Life-giving Vine.

Our life as Christians must be to recognize this each and every day of our lives, to die to ourselves and to live to Christ each and every day. Let each day begin and end by dying to yourself, by returning to the grace, mercy, love and forgiveness shown to you in Holy Baptism by confessing your sins and receiving God’s gracious absolution anew. Let us say grace before each of our meals, that is, let us recognize and confess that each morsel we place into our mouths, and those that we throw away, are precious, undeserved and unmerited gifts of God’s grace, mercy, and love. And, after our bellies are full, let us return thanks to the Lord for all His benefits, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. To assist us in this life of faith, our father in faith Martin Luther has left us prayers for giving and returning thanks in the Small Catechism and in our hymnals: The Morning Prayer, the Evening Prayer, Asking a blessing, and Returning Thanks. To be a Christian is to return to the Lord in thanksgiving, which is to die to yourself in humility and repentance and to acknowledge the Lord as the giver of all good and perfect gifts.

In a way, it is somewhat unnecessary for the Church of Christ to observe a National Day of Thanksgiving, for each and every Lord’s Day we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, which means thanksgiving, and we fall down at the feet of Jesus, giving thanks and praising God. We bring nothing to Him but ourselves, our praise and thanksgiving, for He alone is the giver of all things. We come as lepers, even Samaritan lepers, for grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness, for acceptance, healing, and cleansing of all our sins. And, the Lord gives us all these things and more and sends us on our way by faith to show His fruits to the world, to bear forth grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness to all in the Name of Jesus, to the glory of the Father.

And yet, there is another fruit borne in thankfulness, and that is the peace and contentment of which St. Paul has written, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heats and your minds in Christ Jesus.” For, one fruit of thankfulness is contentment and peace in your life, in your present situation, with what you have. Have you not seen how it is often those who have the least that appear to be the most content and at peace, even happy and free? Indeed, the pilgrims who celebrated the first thanksgiving meal had come through extreme hardship and suffering and were truly thankful for the food and shelter that they had, recognizing that it was all the gracious gift and providence of God.

Thus, let us commemorate and celebrate this annual National Day of Thanksgiving as a unique opportunity to take stock of all the things we are thankful for: Food and clothing, to be sure, family and friends, a devout husband or wife, devout children, our bodies and lives, and, especially, the grace, mercy, love and forgiveness we have received as a free and perfect gift from our Father in heaven through Jesus Christ. And, let us show thanks by dying to ourselves daily and living to Christ in selfless words and deeds toward our neighbors, especially the least of these, in thanksgiving for what Christ has done for us, as fruit borne on us, His branches, mercifully grafted into the True Vine Jesus Christ.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Last Sunday of the Church Year

2011-11-20T13:36:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Matthew 25:1-13; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Isaiah 65:17-25

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

Every bit as much as the sheep and the goats of last Sunday’s Gospel lesson were both part of the Good Shepherd’s flock, so today all ten of the virgins, both the wise ones and the foolish ones, are invitation holders to the marriage feast of the Bridegroom. That is to say, they’re already in good with the Bridegroom. They’ve been chosen. It’s party time for the whole lot of them! All the young ladies need to do is, well, nothing at all, but wait…, wait for the Bridegroom to arrive.

But, waiting is boring, right? It certainly can be. And, this fact is probably best exhibited in children. Children often find it very difficult to wait. Think of the weeks and the days before a birthday or a visit from grandparents or a favorite cousin. Think of the months before Christmas or a trip to Disney World. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Children often find it difficult to wait. And, adults, too, often find it difficult to wait. So, while we wait we fill our lives with distractions, a book or a movie, maybe a crossword puzzle. And, when young people get bored, well, there are temptations to do things that aren’t well thought out and are bad for them, things that get them into trouble or worse.

This was true for our ten virgins as well. In their waiting, no doubt they primped and they partied, they danced and they talked, all the while biding the time until the Bridegroom arrived. However, the Bridegroom was delayed. Indeed, we are often faced with delays in this life, are we not? And, we can empathize with the virgins’ exasperation as they cried out, “Oh no, how much longer do we have to wait?” Well, they partied and primped some more, they danced and talked some more, and, eventually, all ten of the young ladies fell asleep. Yes, all ten virgins fell asleep waiting for the Bridegroom to arrive.

And then comes the crux of the story, literally, the crisis, the judgment: At midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ And, a piece of information that we were told at the very beginning of the story bears fruit: Five of the virgins were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. Thus, when the delayed Bridegroom arrived in the middle of the night, the foolish young ladies realized that their lamps were going out and that they did not have any more oil. But, why was this piece of information given at the very beginning of the story? Likely, it was to show that it was neither the amount of oil that the virgins possessed nor their preparedness that merited their attendance at the wedding banquet, but it was the Bridegroom’s gracious invitation alone. No works or deeds, words, or even the thoughts of the heart get you into, or keep you out of, the kingdom of heaven, but the Lord’s gracious invitation alone, received and kept in faith alone or rejected.

And so, it is about having oil, but it is not about how much, for the oil is a symbol of faith and trust and it is a symbol of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. Oil isn’t something that you do or think or speak, but oil is something that you have, or something that you don’t have. Faith is like oil, either you have it, or you don’t. It’s not about how much faith you have, after all, faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains, and I reckon that you don’t have faith like that, neither do I. But, faith in Christ saves, regardless of how big or small, strong or weak that faith might be. Faith in Christ saves because it receives what Christ has done and it clings to Christ for forgiveness, life, and salvation.

The oil represents faith and Christ’s gift of His Holy Spirit. There is no place and no one from which to purchase faith, and you cannot borrow or receive the faith of another, you have to have your own. Thus, the failing of the five foolish virgins was not that they didn’t have faith, they did, but rather that they allowed their faith to grow weak and thin. Oh, they thought they had enough to be prepared when the Bridegroom came. They were very practical, just like you, thinking that they would only bring enough oil to get them into the early evening when the Bridegroom was scheduled to arrive. But, they didn’t count on his being delayed. Does anyone count on a delay? But, delays happen, don’t they, and then it’s best to be prepared. The five wise virgins seemed foolish in carrying around extra flasks of oil. It was as if they overpacked for a one night stay. Nevertheless, when the Bridegroom was delayed, they had enough oil to wait Him out.

Jesus told this parable to His disciples in the days preceding His crucifixion and death. He knew that they would understand His coming again to mean that He would come very soon. And so, Jesus is both warning them and comforting them, and us, for a delay in His coming. He tells them not simply to wait for Him but also to watch for His coming at a day and hour they do not know. They are to not simply believe, but they are to trust and wait in eager expectation – that is what faith does. They are to take the example of the five wise virgins and bolster their faith, feed their faith, strengthen their faith for the waiting and the watching so that, no matter when Jesus returns, they will be ready and prepared, not by their thoughts, words, and deeds, but because they have faith. But, how do they do this? Where do they go to bolster, feed, and strengthen their faith? You cannot buy faith from vendors. You cannot borrow the faith of others. You have to have and receive faith for yourself. Where then is faith given, fed and strengthened, replenished, and sustained? In and through the means that Christ has appointed during this time in which He is delayed in returning: The preaching of the Gospel. The gift of the Spirit in Holy Baptism. The forgiveness of sins in Absolution. And communion with Jesus in His body and blood in the Holy Eucharist. Through each of these means of grace Christ has promised to be present with you for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith. There is no better way to be prepared for His coming than remaining in His gifts. And, these gifts are not something that you must do for Him, but they are the fruits of what He has done for you in His suffering and death upon the cross. He promises you that if you remain in Him that He will remain in you and that through these means He will be with you always, even to the end of the age. Believe it, for Jesus’ sake.

For, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. The kingdom of heaven is a gift of God’s perfect and uncompromising grace for all people regardless of their thoughts, words, and deeds for the sake of His son, the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. He has prepared everything for everyone and He has called all the world to the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom. You are invited. You are in good with God because of Jesus. Do you believe this? If so, then keep on believing this. Keep your faith alive and strong, even if He is delayed in His coming. Wait for His coming. Watch for His coming. Be prepared for His coming by bolstering, feeding, and strengthening your faith. Yeah, I know it’s hard to wait. God knows it’s hard for you to wait too. He knows that you will be distracted. He knows that you will fail at times. He knows that you will fall asleep, that you may even be asleep when Jesus returns. But faith is like oil in a lamp. If you have faith, and if you are sustained and kept in faith by His gracious gifts, then you are well prepared for His coming, even if you fall asleep. For the trumpet will sound, “Here is the Bridegroom! Wake up! Wake up!” Then, all you virgins, made pure, spotless, innocent, and holy in the blood of the Lamb, will come out to meet Him and will enter the marriage feast of the Bridegroom Jesus Christ and His Bride, the Church. But, for now, while we are waiting and watching with eager and hopeful expectation, we gather around and receive this foretaste of that feast to come in Holy Communion with our Lord who has come, who comes to us now, and who is coming for us at a day and an hour we do not know. Therefore, with the Church of Christ of all times and of all places we cry out, “Maranatha,” come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, come.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Second-Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 26)

2011-11-13T13:03:00.001-05:00

Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Peter 3:3-14; Daniel 7:9-14

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

The Church of Christ always has Her eyes set upon Her Lord Jesus. In Advent She is focused upon Her Lord in His coming as an infant child, the Babe of Bethlehem. Throughout the Epiphany, Easter, and Trinity seasons She is focused upon Her Lord who has come as the Lamb of Calvary. And now, at the end of the Church’s Year of Grace, She is focused upon His coming again as Redeemer, Judge, and King.

He has come. He comes. And, He is coming. Our Lord Jesus, Emmanuel, has been, is, and will be with us always, even to the end of the age. He was before the foundation of the world. He sustains the world in its present existence. And, He is coming again at the world’s end. And, throughout it all, He is a two-edged sword, He is a stone of stumbling and a cause of division amongst men. Indeed, the Prince of Peace did not come to bring peace, but a sword; that is to say, Jesus did not come to leave things as they are. But, Jesus came to break hardened hearts of stone, and Jesus came to bring hope to the hopeless and to the despairing. But this world must, and it will, pass away; its very elements will burn and melt in fire.

And when He comes again, He will not come in lowliness and humility. He will not come in a scandalous manner that will be questioned and doubted. But, when He comes again, He will come in the fullness of the glory of God with a multitude of the heavenly host, and He will sit upon His glorious throne. Then all will be gathered before Him from all the nations and every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

But He was, and He is, and He will be the same Jesus, the same Lord. Those who believe know this and they can see His glory now through the eyes of faith. They can behold the same glory beheld by Mary and Joseph, by Moses, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham, and by Adam and Eve after their fall. It is a glory that is hidden but, nevertheless, is real, like the mass of an iceberg below the surface of the water with just the peak exposed for all to see. He was Lord of Lords before there were men. He was Lord of Lords before there was a world. And, as it was in the beginning, so it is now, and so shall it ever be in the world that has no end.

And, this is the truth. He is the Truth. Jesus is the Truth incarnate; Jesus is the Truth in human flesh. He has always been the Truth, and He is the source of all things that are, the very Word of God, the Word of creation apart from whom nothing was, is, or ever shall be. But, at His Father’s bidding, He willingly laid aside His glory and became what we are so that we might become, in Him and through Him, what He is. And, here’s the really amazing thing – He has done this for everyone in all the world, for all of creation, He has done this for you, whether you accept it or not, whether you believe it or not. And, because of this, God the Father has given Him the Name that is above all names, the only name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

And so, when He comes, He will come as King and He will come as Judge. He will come with the fullness of His glory and with the fullness of His Kingdom, and no one, no one will be able to deny Him any longer. Then He will judge all men; then He will judge the world. He will judge the world in this way, like a shepherd separating His flock, dividing the sheep from the goats. He shepherded them both, cared for them both, fed and gave drink to them both, and He died for them both, laying His own sinless body into the jaws of the wolf, that both His sheep and His goats would be spared and live. But, though He did this for them all, though He died for them all, there is a key difference between His sheep and His goats, the goats believed that it was their good works that kept them in the Good Shepherd’s flock while the sheep truly believed that they were there by grace alone and thus they trusted in their Good Shepherd’s favor alone.

This difference is exhibited in the responses of the sheep and the goats to Jesus’ judgment concerning them. To the sheep on His right Jesus said, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” The sheep’s mystified and humble reply is, “When?” “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” They simply cannot imagine that they have done such a thing for anyone, least of all their Lord Jesus. And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

The sheep do not look to themselves for righteousness. They do not find righteousness within themselves. When the sheep look to themselves they see only unworthiness and helplessness. But the Lord declares them blessed, inheritors, and righteous. Blessedness, inheritance, and righteousness are each things that come from outside of you; they are bestowed upon you by another. The righteous sheep are recipients of Christ’s righteousness. They are blessed by the Father for Jesus’ sake. They will inherit Christ’s kingdom because He died for them and has presented them pure, holy, and blameless before His Father in heaven. The sheep do not look to their works; they do not look to anything in themselves at all, but their eyes are set on Jesus and Him alone. When Jesus points out that they actually have done much good to others and that they have in fact done good to Him, they are amazed, they are stunned, they are incredulous. They cry out, “When, Lord?” But the truth and the reality is this, when they kept their eyes upon Jesus, gratefully receiving the gifts of forgiveness, love, and mercy He died to give them, then they were equipped to bear fruitful good works toward their neighbors in need who exemplify our Lord Jesus who, though He was rich, became poor and needy, low and humble, He suffered mockery and ridicule, suffering, pain, and even death for you and all His precious sheep and goats.

Yes, even for the goats. The goats belong to Jesus too. They too are the recipients of Jesus’ atoning life, suffering, and death. But the goats are shocked and stunned that Jesus could say that they abandoned him hungry and thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison. The goats are certain that there has never been a time that they did not serve Jesus when He was in need. That is because they were so focused upon serving Jesus and being recognized for their service that they neglected and ignored, perhaps even despised, the poor and the lowly, the sick, naked and imprisoned people who truly had needs and in whom Jesus is exemplified. For, when you are concerned and worried about earning and meriting favor with Jesus for yourself, how can you be concerned with and serve your neighbor in the selfless way of Jesus?

Jesus calls His sheep to Himself, to inherit the kingdom that was prepared for them before the foundation of the world, but to the goats Jesus says, “Depart from me, you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Indeed, as much as the kingdom of heaven was prepared for the faithful even long before the foundation of the world, so the hell of fire was prepared for the devil and his angels, but not for people, not even for goat-like people. But, nevertheless, that is where some will find themselves, not because of Jesus’ judgment, but because of their rejection of Jesus’ gracious gift and their insistence that they be judged according to their works, their wisdom, and their reason. The sheep are those who listen to the Good Shepherd’s voice and follow Him, while the goats are those who stubbornly go their own way. Moreover, it is the nature of sheep to follow their shepherd’s voice, trusting Him to lead them to good pasture and cool water, while it is the nature of goats to walk along the cliffs and the precipices which represent sin and the temptation to sin.

But you must understand that the goats are every bit as much a part of the Good Shepherd’s flock as are the sheep. For each and every one of them has the Lord provided, cared for, protected, kept, and even laid down His life to save. In their goatishness, however, they have chosen to go their own way. They have actually chosen a damnation that was not intended for them at all. Their judgment is not the result of their failure to do good works, but their judgment is the result of their refusal to believe, and their faithlessness which made it impossible for them to do good works, to bear the fruits of faith.

And, what you must understand also, dear Christian, is that seeing Christ in everyone is the fulfillment of the great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus has promised to be with you always, even to the end of the age. Because of His incarnation and ascension to the right hand of the Father He now fills all things in His humanity and in His divinity. Thus, Jesus is you neighbor, and He is seen and served most clearly in the poor, the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, sick, and imprisoned. That is to say, Jesus is seen and served in the humble and lowly and in the despised of this world.

St. Peter warns that in these last days scoffers will come saying “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately overlook this fact, says Peter, “that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” That is to say, the earth and the world had a beginning; so too, will it have an end at a time that we do not know. The scoffers would have you believe that the world will continue onward perpetually evolving in a natural course under the authority and control of no God at all, therefore, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die, but don’t worry about any accountability or judgment for your actions, for there is no one to judge, therefore judge for yourself what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil, what is moral, ethical, and virtuous.

“But the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed.”

Therefore, “what sort of people ought you to be?” That is the question. Will you be a sheep or will you be a goat? Will you listen to the Good Shepherd’s voice and follow Him, or will you choose to go your own way and skirt the precipices of sin?

You do not have to gaze into the heavens to find Jesus. Nor do you have travel or send your gifts far away to serve Jesus, for He is right where He promised to be, with you, always. Jesus is in the face of your neighbor in need of kindness, charity, grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness. By loving your neighbor you love Jesus. And you love your neighbor only with Jesus’ love. There’s no need to calculate how much love you show, for there’s always more with Jesus. There’s no need to make certain you are seen in your charity, for Jesus knows the intents of your heart and the deeds that you do in secret. And the best place to begin in your charitable service is right in your own home, towards your husband or wife, your children, and the members of your church. Each and every one of them is the face of Jesus, hungry and thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison for you to serve with the love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness Jesus has show to you.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Feast of All Saints (observed)

2011-11-06T12:50:00.001-05:00

(Audio)

Matthew 5:1-12; 1 John 3:1-3; Revelation 7:2-17

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

Jesus said: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. And, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

However, when Jesus said these words, He was not describing you. Neither was He giving you a new law commanding you to be poor, mourning, or meek, hungry, merciful, pure and peaceful, or persecuted. Don’t make Jesus out to be Moses. Your Jesus isn’t a new law-giver, but your Jesus is the Gospel incarnate. Your Jesus is the Good News of your reconciliation with God in human flesh. No, Jesus isn’t describing you in these Beatitudes, but He is describing Himself, and, thus, He is describing you when you submit yourself and are willing to die to yourself and to live to and in Him and He in you. For, while poverty, mourning, meekness, hunger, mercy, purity, peacefulness, and persecution do not earn you blessedness, or anything else for that matter, for blessedness can only be given, never, earned, merited, deserved, or taken, there is, nonetheless, blessedness in being poor, mourning, meek and hungering and thirsting for righteousness, there is blessedness in being merciful, pure and peaceful, and there is blessedness even in being persecuted for Jesus’ sake and reviled on account of Him.

That is what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian is to take up your cross daily – and, not a cross of your choosing, but the cross the Father has chosen for you – to be a Christian is to take up your cross daily and to follow in the path and footsteps of Jesus through poverty, mourning, hunger and thirst, being merciful to all and pure in heart, and peaceful even in the face of suffering, reviling, and persecution. To be a Christian is to die with Jesus to the desires and the passions of the flesh, to the values and the virtues and the idols of this world, to amass treasure in heaven, not on earth, to live in this world while not becoming a part of this world that Christ may be proclaimed in your words and your deeds and that all may know that you are His disciples, not because you are pious and perfect, not because you go to church a lot, not because you wear religious jewelry, not because you listen to Christian music, but because you love the unlovable and you forgive the unforgiveable and you show mercy to those who don’t deserve it just as you have been loved and forgiven and shown mercy by God the Father for the sake of Jesus Christ His Son.

No, dear Christian, the Beatitudes do not describe you. No, they are not a new law for you to obey. But, the Beatitudes describe Jesus, and, thus, the Beatitudes describe all disciples of Christ as they are baptized into Him. Thus, the Beatitudes describe most perfectly those who have died in Christ and are now with Him, the Saints and holy ones of the Lord that we commemorate this day. They are the ones who have come out of this life of great tribulation and are now before the throne of God and the Lamb. Like you, they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb in Holy Baptism. But, no longer are they poor and mourning, no longer do they hunger or thirst, no longer are they persecuted and reviled, but they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple. You are the saints and holy ones of the Lord who still walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but they, they are those who have passed through and out of this valley and they dwell in the Father’s house for evermore.

For, the saints in heaven are everything but dead. In fact, they are more alive than you or I! Jesus taught that whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Him will save it for eternity. The saints in heaven truly live because they died to this life and world. Even while they lived here on earth, they died to selfish desires and passions, they died to the values and virtues and idols of this world. And, because of this they suffered persecution and reviling in this world and were considered the very least of men. But now, they truly live and worship the Holy Trinity in His presence without fear, and they enjoy His favor and comfort and joy and peace that no one can take from them. No, the saints in heaven are not dead examples of piety and of how to live the Christian life, they are not dead examples of how to fulfill the law, but they are living examples of God’s promises kept and secured for you in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who died and who lives.

These living saints are in heaven, gathered around the throne of God and the Lamb. But you saints are still here on earth, gathered around the throne of God and the Lamb. For, indeed, there is but one place in this veil of tears and the valley of the shadow of death where the entire body of Christ is gathered as one, where heaven condescends to and penetrates this earthly sphere, and we, dear saints in Christ, are there now. For, called, gathered, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God through His Word and in and around His Holy Sacraments, we kneel at this semi-circular festal board in communion with those saints who, though we cannot see them, are surely present with us now, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, for they are with Jesus and Jesus is surely present with us now both in His divine spirit and in His true, resurrected, and glorified body and blood to forgive, renew, and strengthen our faith until we come out of this great tribulation into the fullness of God’s glory and life in heaven. And so, this day in which we commemorate the saints of God who are with Him in heaven, we celebrate, not merely the great example of faith and works they provide us, but we celebrate and give thanks and praise to God for the promises He has fulfilled for them and for us in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. To Him alone be all praise, honor, glory, and thanksgiving with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forevermore.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Festival of the Reformation (observed)

2011-10-30T14:35:00.001-04:00

Due to an October Nor’ Easter, church was canceled and this sermon was not preached, thus, there is no audio.

Matthew 11:12-19; Romans 3:19-28; Revelation 14:6-7

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

We celebrate the Festival of the Reformation, not because of the birth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, not because of the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the vernacular German, nor even because of the great deeds and bold confession of Martin Luther and other reformers, but we celebrate the Festival of the Reformation because of the eternal Gospel proclaimed to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And the eternal Gospel is this: The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, […] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

Thus, what Luther and reformers both before and after him accomplished through their reforms served to strip away the layers of man-made law, tradition, and superstition that had enshrouded and obscured the pure Gospel message that men are justified, not by works and obedience under the Law, not by their personal piety and devotion, but by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood.

But the Gospel had become obscured long before the corruption known as indulgences had become normal practice. In fact, the Gospel had become obscured long before the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law began to layer their own laws and traditions upon the Gospel. In fact, the Gospel had become obscured long before the incarnation and birth of Jesus, long before Moses and the Ten Commandments, long before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all the way back to at least Cain and Abel. In fact, from the moment that God first promised that He would send a Savior who would crush the serpent’s head and remove our guilt and the sting of death, man has striven to offer something of his own to God as payment for his sin and to reject the gift of grace that God Himself has provided.

The eternal Gospel proclaimed by the angelic messenger is exactly that, eternal. It is a message that was proclaimed before the foundation of the world and it is a message that remains unchanged then, now, and always, world without end: The hour of [God’s] judgment has come. When God sent forth His only-begotten Son to be subject to the Law that binds all men, to suffer and die to remove the guilt of all men, it was finished. All that was necessary to justify men before God was accomplished without any work, merit, or even faith from men. That is the eternal Gospel message proclaimed God’s angels, His messengers, be they angelic spirits, prophets, apostles, and evangelists, ministers and pastors in the Church of Christ, or even you, dear Christian, as you share this Good News with your neighbors in word and in deed. How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim the Good News!

The eternal Gospel is extra nos, outside of us, and that is why it is Good News. Your justification does not depend upon you in any way. Your standing before God does not depend upon your good works. It does not depend upon your obedience to the Law. It does not depend upon your piety, your tithing, or your attendance at church. It does not even depend upon your faith, but it depends only, solely, and completely upon the Lamb of God Jesus Christ whom God put forth as the propitiation for your sins. If your justification were to depend on anything at all from you, then you could never know comfort or peace, for there would always be uncertainty that you have done enough or believed enough or given enough. If your justification were to depend on anything at all from you then there would be no Good News, no Gospel, but only the rigid, inflexible, and condemning Law of God that you cannot keep.

Yet, that is exactly what sinful man wants to believe, that there is some way in which we can justify ourselves. Whether you believe that Jesus died for your original sin so that you can pay God back for your actual sins or that you can purchase God’s forgiveness with tithes, prayers, or time, you are, in effect, saying, that Jesus, in His obedience, suffering, and death, did not do enough. You are saying that Jesus’ suffering and death was not sufficient to make you right with God. You are saying, “Thanks for the gift of Your Son, God, but that’s not enough, so here’s what I’ll give you to make up the difference.” Or, to put it another way, any gift that you have to earn, buy, or deserve is not a gift at all. If it’s not a gift then it’s not grace. And if it’s not grace, then you are still in your sins, bound under the Law, and condemned to eternal death and separation from God.

Jesus taught in our Gospel lesson that “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” That is to say that, while God desires to give men the kingdom of heaven for free, by grace, as a gift, men desire to take the kingdom of God on their own, according to their own terms. Indeed, the generation of men from the time of John the Baptist, even from the time of the Patriarchs, and yes, even from the time of Cain are dissatisfied with God’s plan of salvation, the Gospel “Good News” of Jesus Christ. This generation of men are like children who will not dance before a happy flute or mourn at the sound of a funeral dirge. They rejected John the Baptist because he did not eat and drink and they rejected Jesus because He did.

What is it that you tell God you will or will not do? What is it that you tell God He can or cannot do. What is it that you tell God and the whole world you will or will not believe? What part of His Good News do you reject and say, “That’s all fine and good, but it’s not enough?” Have you not heard that the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom? That God alone is God, and you are not? Indeed, that is the central doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and the First Commandment of the Law of God. It is meant, not to encourage you and embolden you to justify yourself, but it is meant to condemn you in your guilt so that you despair of self-justification. For, only when you confess that you cannot justify yourself can you truly receive grace for what it is, a gift – a pure, and perfect gift. And, when you do receive God’s grace as a pure and perfect gift, then He is glorified as just and the justifier of the one who has faith in His pure and perfect gift of grace, Jesus Christ.

There is a Latin phrase that says ecclesia semper reformanda, the Church is always being reformed. Indeed, this is most certainly true. The Reformation that we commemorate today began, symbolically, on October 31, 1517. But, in truth, it was but the rolling boil of a reformation that had begun much, much earlier, as faithful men of God, His holy angels and messengers, called men to repentance and proclaimed to them the one and eternal Gospel of our justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the nature of sinful man to desire to justify himself, and thus, the Church is always, continually in a state of reformation. Today the Church of Christ needs reformation every bit as much as it did in 1517, and today God still raises up prophets and evangelists, angelic messengers to proclaim the Good News to those dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. Indeed, God has raised you up for this purpose promising, “Whoever confesses me before men, him will I confess before my Father in heaven.”

There is no higher worship of God than to receive His gifts. And the most precious, pure, and perfect gift He has given is righteousness in His Son, Jesus Christ. Strive, not to please God by your works or to earn His favor by your words, deeds, and piety, but strive to not let anything or anyone obscure the eternal Gospel of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, whom God put forth as a propitiation by His blood that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Ecclesia simper reformanda, the Church is always being reformed; so too are all the members of the Church which is the body of Christ, that is you, dear Christians. Let every day of your God-given lives be a Festival of the Reformation in which you repent of your sins and receive God’s holy absolution by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 18)

2011-10-23T13:04:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Matthew 22:34-46; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; Deuteronomy 10:12-21

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

When it comes to which is the greatest commandment in the Law, perhaps surprisingly, there is complete agreement between the Pharisees and Jesus. Indeed, the oft disparate Rabbi and the Pharisees agree: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Thus, when Jesus gave this answer to the lawyer who questioned him, the teachers of the Law had to be satisfied; Jesus gave the correct answer, just as any of them would have answered themselves.

Indeed, Jesus’ answer is agreed upon as true and good amongst all three of the great Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three of the world’s greatest religions agree that the greatest commandment in the Law is that you should love God above all things and that you should love your neighbor as yourself.

Why, then, if they agree, did the lawyers and the Pharisees reject Jesus as God’s anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ of God? Why, then, if they agree, do both Jews and Muslims reject Jesus? Well, that is precisely the question that Jesus asked the Pharisees after He had correctly answered their question to Him concerning the greatest commandment of the Law. Jesus asked, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” For, your answer to that question reveals how you understand the Law of God. Indeed, your answer to that question reveals if you understand the purpose of the Law at all.

Jesus’ question is not a new question. In fact, it is a question that He seems to have routinely asked people. Indeed, it was a pivotal point in the Gospel when Jesus asked His disciples a form of this same question saying, “Who do people say that I am?” They said to Him, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus praised Peter for his bold confession saying, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

But, what did Peter say that elicited such praise from our Lord? Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the anointed of the Lord, and the very Son of God. That is precisely what the lawyers and the Pharisees did not confess the Christ to be. They answered that the Christ was the son of David, that is, a man, but they did not believe the Christ to also be the Son of God. What they were looking for in the Christ was a great and holy man, a great example of faith and obedience to the Law, a great rabbi or prophet, but not the Son of God.

They believed that the Christ would be a great leader and teacher who would show them how to fulfill the Law of God and be justified by their obedience to the Law. Because they strove so very hard to be obedient, naturally they looked down on others whom they judged to be less obedient, particularly notorious sinners, prostitutes, the sick and unclean, and other outcasts. They did not love these less-than-righteous and they believed that they were justified in their lovelessness because there was nothing in them meriting their love. And so, you can see how men who claimed to uphold the great commandment of the Law, to love God with all that they are and to love their neighbor as themselves, in actuality did not love their neighbor, and therefore they did not love God.

If the Christ were merely a man, even a perfectly obedient and sinless man, then we sinners would still be in our sin. We would still be bound under the Law to perfect and sinless obedience, and thus, we would stand condemned and consigned to death and hell. But, if the Christ were also the Son of God in human flesh, incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered unto death and was buried and on the third day rose again from the dead, then we are freed from the condemnation of the Law and we live in the grace, mercy, and loving forgiveness of God and can freely love our neighbors with His love, needing not to worry about our own standing before God.

To set the lawyers and the Pharisees straight, Jesus quoted the words of King David in Psalm 110, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’?” If this seems confusing to you, that is because, in our contemporary English, the two uses of the word “Lord” seem to be the same. However, in the original Hebrew in which the Psalm was written, the first “Lord” is the divine name of God, YHWH, or ADONAI which pious Jews would use to replace the divine name which they would not speak. Thus, what David has truly said is, “God said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’.” And so, the Christ, whom the lawyers and the Pharisees see only as the son of David, the son of a man, David himself calls his Lord. Further, this Lord of David is seated at the right hand of God to rule over all things. Clearly, the Christ is much more than the son of David, but He is the Son of God Himself.

Every single human being who lives, has lived, and ever will live knows the Law of God, for all of creation testifies to it and it is written on our very hearts. But the Law of God cannot save, but it only condemns. The Law of God causes us to despair of life and salvation because of our disobedience and unworthiness or it causes us to become puffed up with self-righteousness and pride believing that we are so much better than the disobedient sinners we see all around us. Thus, to believe in the Christ of God, even Jesus, as the best of men, the best at keeping the Law of God, a great example of piety, obedience, and faith is a no-brainer. Indeed, many believe Jesus to be a great moral and ethical teacher, but that does not make him any different than other great moral and ethical teachers such as the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, or Mother Theresa. They are all men, they all sin, they all die, and none of them can save you. But, to believe that the Christ of God, even Jesus, is no mere man but the holy Son of God in human flesh, that is a truth revealed only by the Holy Spirit of God.

Jesus said that David confessed this truth “in the Spirit” just as did St. Peter of whom Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Likewise, as we near the end of this Church Year, we are building to the proclamation of the fullness of our confession, in the Spirit, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and the King of the universe who fills and sustains all things. And then, as we begin a new Year of Grace with the beginning of Advent, we will confess in the Spirit, once again, our Lord’s incarnation when the Word became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us and the Son of God became the Son of Man, even the son of David, the Christ. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see and the ears that hear what you hear.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist

2011-10-18T22:12:00.001-04:00

Acts 1:1-8; Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 96

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

St. Luke, the beloved physician and companion of St. Paul, addressed both the Gospel bearing his name and the Acts of the Apostles to an unknown Christian by the name of Theophilus. While many biblical scholars believe Theophilus to be a wealthy and respected Roman patron, some suggest that, given the catechetical nature of Luke’s Gospel and the Acts, it is likely that Theophilus, a name which means “lover of God”, is but a symbolic name and therefore suggest that Luke’s intended audience is actually all lovers of God seeking healing, life, and immortality in the Words and the Wounds of the Divine subject of his work, Jesus Christ, who is at once the very Medicine of Immortality and the Great Physician of both body and soul.

As it is, the combined works of St. Luke that are his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles constitute more than one-third of the New Testament. Thus, it should not be surprising that many of the most beloved stories and accounts in the New Testament come to us by the hand of St. Luke. Some of these beloved stories include The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal son, The Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. A common theme amongst these accounts is the paradoxical nature of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Only sinners can be forgiven. Only the lost can be found. Only the dead can be raised. Indeed, though the Medicine of Immortality that is the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ is available to everyone, absolutely free, by grace alone, nevertheless, there will be those who deny that they are sin-sick unto death and thus will not receive it, be healed, and live.

For, the truth is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not received well by the world. It is resented. It divides people. It instills hatred and violence. It brings out the true colors of people – both those who repent and those who reject the preaching of the Gospel. This truth is illustrated in the life of St. Luke Himself, for tradition tells us that Luke was sent out by Jesus as one of the seventy-two preachers of the Good News and that he repeatedly suffered for the faith along with St. Paul. Indeed, Paul Himself says: “Luke alone is with me” – even as many abandoned Paul in his own suffering for Christ and the Gospel. And yet still, preachers are sent, the Gospel is proclaimed, and sinners repent and receive the Good News of the forgiveness of their sins. As so it is that, as the Prophet has proclaimed, beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News.

And, the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke is filled with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Perhaps Luke’s most beloved account is his telling of the Nativity of Our Lord. It is from St. Luke’s hand that we receive the stories of the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth of Jesus, and of the shepherds quaking in fear at the angel’s announcement. And, from the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel the Church has received four great canticles (songs) of faith: The Gloria in Excelsis, the Magnificat of Mary, the Benedictus of Zechariah, and the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon.

Additionally, a little known eastern tradition also claims that St. Luke was the first iconographer of the early Christian Church. That is to say that St. Luke was the first to write (or to paint) an icon of Our Lord Jesus and His Virgin Mother Mary, the Theotokos (God-bearer). Indeed, icons of St. Luke often portray him writing this first icon of our Lord. But also, St. Luke is depicted in iconography and in ecclesial art as a sacrificial ox or bull. This is because St. Luke’s Gospel so vividly portrays our Jesus as the atoning, sacrificial Lamb of God whose self-offering has taken away the sin of the world.

And so, on this Feast Day of St. Luke, we give thanks to God for the example of faith displayed in the beloved physician, learned scholar, gifted artist, and faithful preacher of the Good News who was chosen by our Holy God to reveal to us His Son that we might be turned from our sin in repentance and receive the Medicine of Immortality in the Words and Wounds of Jesus and then glorify God by sharing His love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness with others that they too might be healed and live and glorify God.

Therefore, let us pray with the Church of Christ of all times and in all places: Almighty God, our Father, Your blessed Son called St. Luke the physician to be an evangelist and physician of the soul. Grant that the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments may put to flight the diseases of our souls that with willing hearts we may ever love and serve You; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 17)

2011-10-16T14:33:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 7:11-17; Ephesians 3:13-21; 1 Kings 17-24

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

The First Table of the Law, the first three commandments, establish our relationship with God: You shall have no other gods. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. In sum, you should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Or, to put it another way, you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

The rest of the commandments, numbered four through ten, establish our relationship with our fellow man, our neighbor. Thus, the Second Table of the Law can be summed up in this way: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. However, our obedience to the Second Table of the Law, our love of our neighbor, depends upon and flows from our obedience to the First Table, our fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

As it is, then, the Third Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy,” serves as a transitional commandment from obedience to the First Table of the Law to obedience to the Second Table of the Law, for, the Sabbath Day of rest is a day to rest from the labors of serving one’s self that you might be freed to serve your neighbor. And, in God’s wisdom and by His design, in serving your neighbor, you serve and glorify God, thus placing your fear, your love, and your trust in Him above all things and loving your neighbor as yourself.

This understanding of the purpose of the Sabbath Day, a day of rest from self-service that you may be freed to serve your neighbor, serves to illumine the merciful healing Jesus performed on the particular Sabbath Day depicted in our Gospel lesson. Jesus celebrated that Sabbath with a group of Pharisees at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. These teachers of the Law still respected Jesus and considered Him one of their own, but Luke is certain to point out to us that they were watching Him carefully. Coincidentally, or not, Luke tells us that a man suffering from dropsy, a retaining of water in the tissues of the flesh known today as Edema, appeared before Him. Luke’s use of “Behold,” seems to indicate the surprise nature of this man’s appearance. Perhaps, however, it was no surprise at all, but the man was intentionally brought into the house to see what Jesus would do. Why else would this unclean man be in the house of a ruler of the Pharisees? Thus, Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees and He asked them a question in accord with what He knew they were thinking in their hearts, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent.

Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. That’s what the Law of God commands. But, how did the Pharisees and the lawyers interpret this Law? Well, from other Sabbath encounters with Jesus recorded in the Gospels, it is apparent that they interpreted the Law by the letter without understanding the spirit of the Law at all. If Jesus would heal this man with dropsy on the Sabbath, then, they concluded, He could not be the Prophet or the Messiah for, in their eyes, He would have broken the Law. Their answer to Jesus’ question would be, “No, it is not lawful to heal on the Sabbath.” However, they knew that they couldn’t say that, right? So, they remained silent. They would watch and see what Jesus would do (as if they didn’t already know). Then, they would go and stir up the people and bring charges against Him before the Sanhedrin.

So, Jesus took the man and healed him and then sent him away. And, then He said to the lawyers and Pharisees, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” Once again, they could not answer Him a word. They couldn’t answer Jesus because they knew that He was right. They would, immediately and without hesitation, help out their son or beast of burden that was in need. However, Jesus knew that they would object to His Sabbath healing of the poor man suffering from dropsy. But, why?

It is because they know the letter of the Law, but they do not know the spirit of the Law. Further, in their attempt to obey the letter of the Law they disregard the First Commandment, that is, they do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Oh, they fear God, but they do not honor Him and revere Him, they do not love God, but they fear Him as tyrant and as a merciless lord. They do not trust in His promises of mercy and grace. Therefore, the Law of God is a rigid rule placing burdensome, impossible demands upon them. Since they know that they cannot possibly obey, they have to water them down and make them more doable. Then they could stand up with pride before others and boast of their holiness and piety. Additionally, in their denial of grace and mercy they would use the Law of God against people, adding their own laws to it, so that they appeared all the more deserving of honor and praise while imprisoning others, along with themselves, under the Law’s judgment. The lawyers and the Pharisees would not lift a finger to help someone in need because they interpreted the Law of the Sabbath only in terms of what they must do to merit God’s favor. God said to rest and not to work. So they rested and they would not help someone in need, and they were ready to condemn anyone who would. But their hypocrisy is exposed by Jesus’ question, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.

What the lawyers and the Pharisees could not understand and did not believe was the spirit of the Sabbath Law. The day of rest was meant to be a day of rest from self-serving activities, working to earn a wage, working to earn merit with God, so that one could be free to selflessly serve others and to glorify God. Their eyes were blind to the spirit of God’s Law. They could not see that the letter of the Law meant their death, thus they could not see that only by surrendering to the Law and being crushed by it, only by dying, could they be raised to new life in God’s mercy and grace. No, the lawyers and the Pharisees had constructed a law unto themselves, their own rules, their own morality, where they were the judge of right and wrong, good and evil, and by their law they judged themselves good, and they judged Jesus to be evil. They abhorred Jesus’ disregard for the law as they imagined it. They abhorred the mercy and grace that He showed to unclean, diseased, and demon-possessed sinners. Jesus literally turned the tables of the Law upside down and showed that the only fulfillment of God’s Law is love – love toward God and love toward your neighbor.

The letter of the Law is meant to expose your selfishness, how you are turned in to yourself and are motivated by selfish desires and passions. But the spirit of the law frees you from obedience to the Law in order to earn or merit God’s favor. In His Law God says to you, “There is no hope of earning or meriting My favor. There is nothing that you can do to remove your sin. You are spiritually dead, cut off, like a branch withering by the roadside. But take heart and be comforted, I love you, I have always loved you, and I will take away your sin, and I will die your death, and I will give you My life. I will draw you into Me and you will be My people, and I will be your God. In Holy Communion with Me, you will love with My love, you will give with My gifts, and you will forgive with My forgiveness. I will restore in you My image, and they will know that you are Mine when you have love for one another.”

Selfishness and self-interest is the very opposite of love. One who thinks only of his own wants, needs, desires, and passions cannot consider the needs of others. The lawyers and the Pharisees need not to worry about breaking the letter of the Law if they would only act in love. As St. Paul has written, “against such things there is no law.” Symbolically, the self-centered will always choose the best seats at a banquet and the place of honor. They are motivated by an ungodly standard of measurement, a law of men that values such things. They are concerned only with themselves and their own honor and glory. But the one who lives by the spirit of the law is concerned with elevating others and will take the lowest position for themselves, being thankful to be at the banquet at all. Jesus concludes His teaching saying, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. Find rest from your labors in God’s mercy and grace and be freed to serve your neighbor in selfless love and thus glorify God. As the Lutheran Confessions state, the highest worship of God is to receive His gifts. For, only by receiving from God do you have something to share. You can give to others only of what God has given to you. You can be merciful to others only as God has been merciful to you. You can forgive others only as God has forgiven you. And, only by finding your rest in the Lord from having to earn or merit His favor can you be truly refreshed and equipped to serve others and truly worship and glorify Him.

Today is a day of rest. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” says your Jesus. Here, at the altar this day, and in His Word and Absolution, is the rest that you need and the rest that your soul craves and desires. Here is the merit of Jesus’ labor and the fruit of His work which is finished. “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price,” says the Lord. Ask not what you must do, but only receive what He has done.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 16)

2011-10-09T13:04:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 7:11-17; Ephesians 3:13-21; 1 Kings 17-24

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

The scene is descriptive. You can picture it in your mind with supreme clarity. A funeral procession is winding down the hillside away from the walled city on a hill. Men are carrying the body of a young man upon a bier. A great crowd follows, wailing in grief and sorrow because a young man is dead and a young mother is widowed and childless. No one can do anything to change the situation. No one can offer any real comfort. It is an utter tragedy, senseless and inexplicable. But it is real. It is all too real.

But, by chance, there was another procession that day, one approaching the walled city on a hill. In this procession, no one is wailing in grief and sorrow and no one is dead. In fact, the great crowd was dancing and skipping and shouting out in joy and laughter, and the one leading the procession is the Lord of Life Himself, Jesus. The great crowd accompanying Jesus had heard his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and had followed Him through the region of Capernaum as he healed the sick and cast out evil spirits. They had witnessed Jesus’ power and authority in releasing all manner of men from their captivity to sin and death. Now they would witness Jesus’ power and authority over death itself.

Jesus’ saw the grieving mother from a distance and He had compassion for her. You must understand that He did not simply feel bad for her, but He was filled with gut-wrenching compassion for her in her lostness and the real and necessary wages of sin, death, that had been paid out to her young son and her husband before him. Jesus said to her, “Do not weep,” for the weeping, the grief and the sorrow, would be borne by Him. And then He reached out and touched the bier, for the uncleanness of sin and death would be borne by Him as well. But the real miracle was in His Word, as it always is, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” “And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”

The scene is descriptive. You can picture it in your mind with supreme clarity. Martin Luther once put it this way in his hymn Christ Lag in Todesbanden (Christ Jesus Lay In Death’s Strong Bands): It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended; the victory remained with life, the reign of death was ended. Holy Scripture plainly saith that death is swallowed up by death, its sting is lost forever.

Death is all too real. In a sense, we are all part of that funeral procession winding down the hillside away from the Garden of Eden. There the poisonous venom of sin first entered our First Parent’s veins. Now it flows through the veins of all of us who live and breathe and die. That day it was a young man who received his wage in death, tomorrow it is an old man, the day after a wife and mother, and the day after that a newborn child. But, the young man that day represented the best of us, alive in health and vigor of youth, all the world open to us and ripe with potential and possibility. But he was taken by death, the inarguable due wage we all earn for sin. If that young man cannot escape death, then what hope is there for any of us?

On our own, left to our own devices, there is no hope. We are dead. Even while we live, we live each day in the knowledge that death is coming, sooner or later, at a time we cannot know. There is no hope…, until we set our eyes on Jesus. When we lift up our eyes out of this life and world of death, the trappings of worldly idolatries and corruption, when we admit that we are dead, or at least the living dead, and lift up our eyes, then we can see Jesus who has come, and who comes to us now, as the Lord of Life, our Redeemer and Savior.

Jesus has compassion, gut-wrenching compassion, on you in your grief and sorrow, your sin and death. And He does the unthinkable, the unimaginable, and the incredible – He touches your bier. He takes your sin, He takes your uncleanness, He takes your death upon and into Himself. He didn’t raise the dead boy to life until He first took from him that which caused his death. Jesus didn’t cast death away, He took it into Himself, He swallowed it up as scripture plainly saith. He drank your cup of poison for you, to the bitter dregs, so that you could live. He sucked the poisonous venom from your wounds and He became what you are, the living dead, so that you could become what He is, truly and eternally alive.

And, just as that dead young man represented the best of us, doomed to die despite how alive we believe ourselves to be, so Jesus has become the living man for all of us so that in and through Him we are alive now and we will live, even through death, forevermore. Jesus is our true Adam, in whom we are all one, who has defeated death by dying for you, His Eve, His Bride. When faced with the serpent’s temptation He overcame by the Word of God and faith. And when you were threatened by the devil, Jesus, our Second Adam, took the serpent’s bite Himself. He laid down His life in love, unto death, for you.

Life died that you might live. Life died for you, young and old and newborn. The Bridegroom died that His Bride might live. But the victory remained with life, the reign of death was ended.

The funeral procession that day was heading to the tomb, and nowhere else. There was no expectation of encountering Life; there was no hope that anything or anyone could change that hopeless situation. But, when Jesus came, incarnate in human flesh, when Jesus came as a man, that changed everything: The Son of God became the Son of Man. The highest in God’s glory divested and humbled Himself and became the lowest. He who was sinless was made to be sin for us. He who is Life became obedient to death, even death on a cross.

The great crowd that followed Him did so because they saw in Jesus power and authority over all manner of disease and evil spirits. And when Jesus met that somber funeral procession, they witnessed His authority over death itself. But His power and authority did not come simply from might or will, but Jesus had power and authority over sin and death because of His perfect and obedient fear, love, and trust in God His Father above all things and because of His perfect and obedient love for all men. Jesus bore the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

In Jesus, people began to turn from fear, hopelessness, and despair to faith in God’s promises finding their fulfillment in Jesus. And so, they followed Him, they listened to His teaching, they witnessed His miracles, they told others, and ultimately, they brought their sick and their dying, their demon-possessed loved ones, and they brought their children to Jesus that He might touch them with His holy hands and speak His life-creating Word of blessing upon them, that He might raise them spiritually, and physically, from death to His eternal life.

In a similar way most of you were brought to Jesus in Holy Baptism. And, in a similar way many of you have brought your own young sons and daughters to Jesus in Holy Baptism. There beside the still waters, through the hands and the voice of His undershepherd, Jesus touched you with His holy hands and Jesus spoke His life-creating Word of blessing upon you. In Holy Baptism the procession of death was met head-on by Jesus’ procession of life in a strange and dreadful strife, but the victory remained with life, the reign of death was ended. In Holy Baptism Jesus has touched you with His holy hands and has spoken His Life-creating Word of blessing upon you, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And, as it was in the beginning, so it is now, His Word brings into being what He says. And then, Jesus returned you to your Mother, the Church.

Yes, we all have the same Mother, for there is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. We all have the same Mother, the Bride of Christ, the Church, which is one body, and of which Christ is Her Head. As the Fathers have taught us, extra ecclesiam nulla salus, there is no salvation outside of the Church. There cannot be salvation or life outside of the Church, for the Church is the body of Christ and there is no salvation outside of Him. We are saved by His humble and obedient perfect life, death, and resurrection, not merely in an external and objective way, but we are saved by being grafted into Him, born again from His death into His life, living in, to, and from Him in selfless, sacrificial love and service to our neighbor, especially those of the one body of faith, the Church. And if we would bring people to Jesus that He might touch them with His Holy Hands and bless them with His life-creating Word, then we must bring them to where He is present with His Words and His Wounds to heal and to bestow life and to bless; we must bring them to where He is present with His body as Her Head; we must bring them to Holy Baptism, we must bring them to Confession and Absolution, we must bring them to the Word of God preached, we must bring them to the Word of God confessed, we must bring them to the Word of God eaten and drunk, that is, we must bring them into Holy Communion with the Lord and Giver of Life, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and forevermore.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 15)

2011-10-02T13:51:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Matthew 6:24-34; Galatians 5:25 – 6:10; 1 Kings 17:8-16

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

Everyone has a master, and most of us have many masters; but, nonetheless, everyone has a master. As Americans, however, we don’t like to think that way. We don’t like to think of our boss as a master and we don’t like to think of our possessions as a master. But, we do like to think of ourselves as masters of ourselves. Indeed, the American dream is to work hard, to earn a respectable wage for your labor, to purchase for yourself a home and a car and to put food on the table for yourself and for your family. We think that at the end of each eight hour day a man ought to be able to sit at the dinner table with his wife and his children and say “Life is good. I’m the master of my house. I have built for myself a family, a home, and a life. I am the king of my castle. Life is good.” But, we deceive ourselves. We are not kings unto ourselves and neither are we masters of ourselves. And yet, everyone has a master, and most of us have many masters, but, everyone has a master.

What it comes down to is this: You cannot serve God and mammon. Yes, I know that many Bible translations say money, and that’s a fair translation, but the Greek word is mammon and it denotes much more than just money. Mammon is all manner of material wealth and possessions. Further, the connotation of the word mammon is negative: lust, greed, and avarice. In the New Testament, mammon is often personified as a false god that is worshiped by men in their lust, greed, and avarice and in their anxious worrying about acquiring and preserving material wealth and possessions.

You cannot serve God and mammon. And you cannot, despite what you think and feel, you cannot serve two masters, for either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Whether you are a willing servant of your master or an unwilling slave, it doesn’t really matter, for, either way your master is he (or it) that you depend upon for your life and for your livelihood, and thus you fear him (or it), and you trust in him (or it), and maybe you even love him (or it). And so, you cannot serve God and mammon, and you cannot have two masters, for, if your master is not the true and only Triune God, and if it is not He alone that you fear, love, trust, serve, and worship, then your master is the false god mammon and you are an idolator who worships that which has been created rather than the One who has created all things.

We Americans cherish our freedom, but we deceive ourselves, for we make ourselves to be slaves to the false god mammon. We worship mammon by fearing the loss of our material wealth and possessions, by loving our material wealth and possessions, and by trusting in our material wealth and possessions for safety, health, and happiness. But who amongst you has not felt at times that the things you possess, in truth, possess you? Who amongst you cannot relate to the idea expressed in that anti-drug commercial on tv several years ago where the cocaine-addict dialogues with himself saying, “I do coke so I can work longer, so I can earn more, so I can do more coke, so I can work longer, so I can earn more, so I…, so I…, so I….”? Particularly in this time of economic uncertainty, three years now into a recession, when fuel prices and food prices keep going higher and the stock market keeps going lower, when your personal income has plateaued, if you managed to keep your job at all, and the cost of everything you need and want keeps climbing higher and higher, people are afraid and they are worried and they are anxious about tomorrow. Well, when you fear, love, and trust in mammon, that is what you are left with – fear, worry, and anxiety. You are servant and a slave of a false god that cannot hear you or answer your prayers, that cannot comfort you, relieve your fear, worry, and anxiety, or add an hour to your life.

When you worship the creature you cannot worship the Creator; you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon makes you a slave to material wealth and possessions. You are in chains to these because you can only be concerned with acquiring more and protecting what you have. Mammon keeps you incurvatus in se, turned inward to yourself, therefore you are not, and cannot be, concerned about your neighbor. In contrast, the true worship of the true God frees you from these chains so that you are not worried and anxious about food and drink, house and home, clothing and shoes, and all other material and bodily needs because you recognize that God provides all these out of Fatherly divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in you. Only by serving God alone as your master are you freed to live and love without fear, worry, and anxiety and to love your neighbor freely and without coercion. And, in serving your neighbor, you serve your God – not the false god of material wealth and possessions, but the true God who lovingly provides you with all that you need to sustain your body and life now and forever.

God has made you and all creatures and still takes care of them. He provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field which are here today and gone tomorrow, and you are much more precious to God than they. And God provides for the Gentiles and unbelievers as well as you, but how much more will you receive if you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? All the things of creation are passing away. The money you work so hard to earn is worth less today, and less still tomorrow, than when you earned it. The car, tv, computer, and appliances you purchase today will last five to ten years, but they will be out-of-date and out-of-style long before that. The clothes that you wear get a little thinner and less beautiful with each wear and wash. Your home needs constant repair and maintenance and still it slowly decays. And need I remind you of your body and your health? No, you know the transient nature of the flesh well enough. Like the prophet has spoken: All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

But your Father in heaven, your Creator and God, has not created you to wither, decay, and die; that was not God’s will for you, but Satan’s will for you. Rather, God has created you for life, eternal life in communion with Him. You were conceived and born in sin, and the wages of your sin is death, thus, you die. But in Holy Baptism, your sin-corrupted spirit has already died and has been raised to new life in Jesus Christ. Your new spirit, your new man, knows his God, fears, loves, and trusts in his God and therefore loves his neighbor as well. But your flesh, well, that’s a different matter altogether. The flesh is still corrupted by sin and it will die. But it too will be raised in the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day. Until then, however, God has called you to live and to walk by the spirit, bearing one another’s burdens, sharing all good things with one another, and doing good, especially to those of the household of faith. To live according to your corrupted flesh is to serve mammon and to worship mammon in fear, worry, and anxiety. But to live according to the spirit is to live Christ’s holy life in thought, word, and deed, to know the Truth incarnate and to be truly free. If you abstain from your fleshly desires and passions and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all that you need to support your body and life will be added to you and you will be content and at peace, which is unspeakably better than the fleeting pleasures and peace that the world and material wealth and possessions can give.

And, as the flour and the oil belonging to the widow of Zarephath was not depleted or spent, but nourished those of her household throughout the prophet’s stay, so even now, where God is feared, loved, and trusted above all things, these simple elements of mammon are pressed into bounteous service in bread, which is Jesus’ body that you may eat and be of one flesh with Him, and in simple wine, which is Jesus’ blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Likewise, the oil of the Holy Spirit has christened you to be God’s own beloved child in Jesus Christ so that you are clothed in raiment more glorious than that of Solomon, the holy and perfect righteousness of God’s own Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. For, you are of more value to God than anything else in the world that He has made. May He, likewise, be of the greatest value and of love to you.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 14)

2011-09-25T13:06:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 17:11-19; Galatians 5:16-24; Proverbs 4:10-23

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

There were ten lepers. All ten were healed. But, one leper returned to give thanks to God. Now, you, go and do likewise. Amen. Have you heard that sermon before? I know I have. I’ve probably even preached that sermon before. And, to be sure, there’s a bit of that teaching in the story of the ten lepers. However, if that is all that you take away from Jesus’ teaching today, then what you will have received is but a nice lesson in morality, a teaching in the Law that says to you, “You, go and do likewise,” a command that you do not and cannot keep, but you will have missed out on the rich and profound Gospel that Jesus would lavish upon you today. For, the story of the ten lepers is about thanksgiving only in a secondary, or even a tertiary, way. But what the story of the ten lepers is truly about is finding life in death.

For, the ten lepers in the story were dead. Because of the disease which ravaged their skin and made them unclean, they were dead to their families, they were dead to their friends and their community, they were dead to all manner of livelihood and providence, and they were dead to worship and prayer and making the necessary sacrifices at the temple. In fact, their flesh was literally dead and dying, for leprosy is a disease caused by an infection which deadens the skin to feeling, particularly pain. Thus, lepers would accidentally cut, tear, and puncture their flesh without knowing and the wounds would become infected. In some severe cases, lepers became living, stinking, decaying, corpses of men.

But, what should get your attention immediately in this story is Jesus’ response to the lepers’ cry for mercy. Jesus doesn’t acknowledge their leprosy, He doesn’t wave His hands or touch them or do anything physical at all, He doesn’t even give them His typical “I am willing, be healed,” but He tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. Now, showing one’s self to the priests is what the law required after one had been healed from leprosy. A healed leper must show himself to the priests in order to be pronounced clean and thus restored to their families, communities, and the rites of the temple. But Jesus didn’t heal the lepers. Rather, He instructed them to go, in their leprosy and uncleanness, and present themselves to the priests. What must they have been thinking? What would happen when they appeared before the priests? Wouldn’t they be sent away in disgrace, maybe even arrested, or worse?

Nevertheless, away they went. What faith they must have had in Jesus to go, in their leprosy, to show themselves to the priests as He commanded? Yes, it appears that all ten lepers trusted in Jesus despite what their eyes and their ears told them. I posit to you, however, that these ten lepers could only place such faith in Jesus because they were effectively dead to this life and this world. That is to say, they had nothing to offer, they had nothing to boast of, they had nothing to fall back on, therefore they had nothing to lose. The ten lepers were so lost that they had nothing to lose by trusting in Jesus with all their heart, all their soul, and all their mind. They were brothers in faith with both the Good Samaritan of last week’s Gospel and the man left half-dead in the ditch. Did they know that they would be healed on the way? I don’t think so. But, you see, it didn’t matter! They couldn’t be any worse off by trusting Jesus and obeying His command. What, would they become even more leprous, more cut off, more dead than they already were? No, of course not.

But, then the story takes a turn. As the ten lepers journeyed to show themselves to the priests, all ten were cleansed and healed. Then, one leper, when he realized that he has healed, returned to Jesus and fell at His feet giving thanks and praising God. Presumably the other nine continued on their way to show themselves to the priests and return to their lives and livelihoods. And therein lies the crux of the story. Jesus doesn’t raise the dead so that they can return to their old way of life, living to themselves and to the flesh and the world, but Jesus raises the dead to live a new life in Him. All ten lepers believed and trusted in Jesus. All ten lepers went at Jesus’ command to show themselves to the priests despite what their own eyes and ears told them. But when they discovered that they were healed and clean once again, nine of the cleansed lepers thought to themselves “Hallelujah! I’m free! Now I can get back to living once again!” But, the one leper realized that, despite his healing and being made clean, he was still a leper – a cleansed leper, to be sure – but a leper nonetheless. That is to say that his cleanness and his healing was because of, and dependent upon, Jesus, even still. Alone, he knew that he was nothing, that he was dead in his sin and uncleanness. But in Jesus alone, and still, was he clean and whole. And, because of this, the cleansed leper returned to Jesus and laid down his life before Him, thanking Him and praising God. He would not return to his former life, for, there was no former life to return to. Only by confessing his deadness could he receive and live a new life, Jesus’ life, in the world but not of the world.

You see, to understand the story of the ten lepers as a story about giving thanks is really to miss Jesus’ point altogether. As wonderful and precious to God as thanksgiving is, thanksgiving is but a fruit and a response to the even greater and more precious thing that has happened, which God Himself has worked, faith itself, bringing life out of death. The thankful leper returned to Jesus because he knew that he was alive, in every way that you can understand that word, in, through, and only because of God’s Word in Jesus Christ. Now, I’m fairly certain that the other nine lepers were very thankful for their healing and cleansing too. But the difference is that they thought that they had been raised from death to live a life like their old life, to continue to love all the same things they used to love and to desire all the same things they used to desire, to live as if this life were our own to do with as we please in amassing possessions and pleasures and platitudes and power. In contrast, the thankful leper knew that he shouldn’t be alive at all, thus the life he lived, he lived to Christ, and his death was, and is, and will be, only gain.

But, are you not often more like the nine healed lepers who did not return to give thanks than you are like the one leper who returned and fell at Jesus’ feet? Do you not treat your forgiveness as the beginning of a new life, a second chance to go forward and live a better life in this world much like the life you had before you believed? Do you give thanks for the mercy and forgiveness shown to you, for the life given you, or do you take that for granted? How have you lived differently from when you first believed? How have you lived differently from when you last received absolution?

Do these questions make you uncomfortable? Good! They should, for that is the Law of God reflecting how far you fall short of what the He in His Law demands. That is why you should focus much less on the giving thanks in this story and much more upon the deadness of the leper who returned. For, the leper who returned was truly grateful because he realized how dead, how truly lost he was, and he realized how found, healed, and alive he was made to be. Likewise you are found lost sheep, healed and cleansed lepers, and raised dead. That is to say that you always live in Christ as forgiven sinners and that you carry your failings, even after mercy and forgiveness, as glorious scars. Along with the thankful leper at Jesus’ feet you may see yourself whole: dead and risen, an outcast and accepted, a leper and cleansed.

Ten lepers received life that day two thousand years ago, but only one recognized that the life He received was Jesus’ life. Nine of the lepers understood their new life as a second chance to try do better. Only that one leper was willing to confess that he was still dead, still a leper and an outcast, but that, despite this, by grace alone, he was blessed to live a new life that was not his own, not merely a second chance to better himself, but a chance to live to Christ and in Christ, and through Christ to his neighbor.

The Samaritan leper returned to give thanks to Jesus and to praise God. This was not the first work of his new life but it was the first fruit of his death. Only those who are truly dead to themselves can bear the fruit that the True Vine Jesus causes them to bear. One of those Christ-borne fruits is thankfulness, but the first fruit to be borne in death is faith itself. You are carried to Jesus as helpless infants. You are found by Jesus as lost sheep. You are raised by Jesus out of death. And you are restored by Jesus to sonship with the Father even though you are prodigal sons and daughters. And, as St. Paul teaches, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires and have died to themselves, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus’ sake will save it.

For you to live is Christ and to die is gain, for, Christ and His Word are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. And, your Jesus, who is Himself alive out of death is present for you now in His life-giving Word and healing Wounds for the forgiveness of your sins, the strengthening of your faith, and for your communion in His holy and perfect life. Return to your Great High Priest who has raised you from death to His most glorious life and has washed you clean in His precious blood. Give thanks to Him in this Holy Eucharist and live in Him who is life today, tomorrow, and forevermore.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 13)

2011-09-18T13:35:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 10:23-37; Galatians 3:15-22; 2 Chronicles 28:8-15

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

The Gospel lesson assigned for this day is the so-called Parable of the Good Samaritan. I imagine that about half of you will soon tune me out and begin thinking about today’s football game, where to have lunch, or what you need to pick up at the grocery store because you’ve heard this parable many times before and you believe that you understand it well enough. But I say to you, you’ll want to pay attention to this sermon today, for I venture that you haven’t heard it taught quite this way before.

As for the other half of you, I imagine that you will be listening extra attentively today because you love this parable and you receive a considerable amount of comfort in believing that you imitate the Good Samaritan in the parable pretty well and thus obey Jesus’ command to “Go, and do likewise”. But I say to you, you’ll want to pay attention to this sermon today, not because it will confirm you in your justification by works, but because it will teach you how to receive and to give grace.

For, this so-called Parable of the Good Samaritan is not a parable of the Law and judgment, nor is it a lesson in morality concerning how you should treat others, but it is a parable of grace – free and boundless grace. And, contrary to popular opinion, the so-called Parable of the Good Samaritan is not really about the Samaritan at all, but it is about the naked and beaten half-dead man lying in the ditch.

No, the parable is not about the Law, for the Law cannot help you. The Law must, and will always, leave you alone, naked, and dying in a ditch. The Law cannot help you. That is why the Priest and the Levite pass by on the other side of the road. It’s not necessarily that they don’t want to help you, maybe they don’t, but they probably do. Either way, it doesn’t matter, because they represent the Law and they can’t help you. They can’t even help themselves.

And there’s the crux of the situation: Because of the Law, we are all like the poor fellow in the ditch, wounded, bleeding, dying, and utterly alone with no ability to remedy our situation. If we’re going to get out of the ditch, be bandaged up, healed and restored to life, someone’s going to have to help us, someone’s going to have to lift us up out of the ditch and carry us and care for us at their own expense. Thus, the crux of the situation is this: Do you confess that you are the man in the ditch? Do you confess that you are dead in your sins and trespasses, unable to change your dead and sinful condition? Do you depend and trust upon the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ to step into your sin and death and to raise you up to new life? Or, do you insist upon your self-righteousness and good works, believing that you are not dead in your trespasses, but that there is at least something about you that makes you better than others and more worthy in the sight of God? That is to say, do you identify with the good, pious, and self-righteous Priest and Levite? Or, do you identify with the selfless Good Samaritan? I say to you today, it doesn’t matter, either way you remain in your sins. For, the Law cannot help you. And, no works, no matter how good they may be, no matter how pure and selfless your motives may be, no works can save you from sin and death. No works can raise you from the ditch of the grave to new and eternal life. Only Jesus can do that. And Jesus has done that, not because He was the Good Samaritan and was better than most, but because He became what you are, the man in the ditch, and He died your death and God the Father raised Him to life because He loves Him, because He laid down His life for you.

Now, I recognize that this is a somewhat unorthodox treatment of the so-called Parable of the Good Samaritan, but I make no apologies for that. For, despite what you’ve heard, despite what I’ve heard, Jesus is not teaching you in this parable to imitate the Good Samaritan when He says to you, “You go, and do likewise.” Rather, Jesus commands you to imitate Him and Him alone. Yes, Jesus did indeed act like the Good Samaritan many times throughout His life and ministry. Yes, He most certainly did step down into the ditch with unclean sinners with absolutely no concern for himself and lift them up, care for, and heal them. But Jesus never saved anyone by His selfless acts of kindness anymore than you can save anyone, even yourself, by imitating the Good Samaritan. Rather, Jesus saved the man in the ditch, and Jesus saved you and all men, by becoming what you are, by becoming that man who fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. And it is that kind of selflessness, it is that kind of good works that Jesus calls you to imitate and to go, and do likewise.

For, the way of Jesus is not the way of good, pious, or even gracious and merciful works, but the way of Jesus is the way of death and resurrection. Jesus came to save sinners, and only sinners can be saved. Jesus came to seek the lost, and only the lost can be found. And Jesus came to raise the dead, and only the dead can be raised. In fact, Jesus Himself exemplifies the least amongst men, the poorest amongst men, the weakest amongst men, the most pitiable amongst men, and the most unrighteous amongst men as men and the world count these things. He came from the heights of the heavenly Jerusalem into the ditch of our Jericho and there He fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and left him half dead upon the cross. But He did this willingly, He did this selflessly with no concern for Himself and His own well-being. He had everything to lose and He willingly lost it all for you.

Now, what keeps you from going and doing likewise? Is it not that you believe that you do have something to lose? Is it that you have your money to lose? Your health? Your reputation? Your life? What is it that you love more than you love God? What is it that you love more than love your neighbor? Jesus invites you to lose it. Jesus invites you to become a loser like Him. For, Jesus’ “You go, and do likewise” is not a command of the Law, but it is an invitation to receive grace like the naked, half-dead man lying in the ditch. When Jesus says, “You go, and do likewise,” it is tantamount to the call, “Take up your cross and follow me.” No, this is not a parable meant to inspire us to go out and do good and then feel good about ourselves because we have been good neighbors. This is a parable about entering the way of Christ.

In baptism you died with Jesus and in baptism you have been raised with Jesus. The life you now live is His life and you live it to God and to your neighbor. Jesus sends you out to your neighbor as lambs in the midst of wolves, that is, He sends you out to die to yourselves for the sake of your neighbor. He has not called you to good works. He has not called you to virtuous worship. He has not called you to outward piety. But He has called you to die with Him and to live with Him in selfless, sacrificial service.

As St. Paul writes in today’s Epistle, “promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.” One of those promises was that an heir of Abraham’s own flesh would inherit the blessing of the covenant God made with Abraham that in him all the nations of the world would be blessed. Abraham believed God and God counted it to him as righteousness. Thus, Paul writes, the righteous will live by faith. When you confess that you are in the ditch, naked, helpless and half-dead, then you sinners will be forgiven, you lost will be found, and you dead will be raised. Only when you have lost everything are you in a position to receive everything by grace. Only when you have received everything by grace are you in a position to lose everything for your neighbor. The man in the ditch had nothing to lose and everything to gain. The Good Samaritan had everything to give because he had nothing to lose. To embrace Jesus (the biggest loser) is to be lost to the world and to everything in it. But the promise remains that “He who loses his life will find it.” And, your lostness is the one thing no one will ever be able to take away from you.

Losing is the name of God’s game, and it’s the only game in town: follow Me, or follow nothing. Following Jesus does not mean imitating the Good Samaritan, but it means taking up your own cross and dying to yourself. It means being so lost that you have nothing to lose so that you can be truly merciful to your neighbor. Don’t worry about imitating the Good Samaritan and his works, as good as they are. Rather, spend your time and energy losing the things that keep you from being lost, dying to the things that keep you from being dead, and then join Jesus in His Passion for sinners, the lost, and the dead. For, the highest worship of God is not in your praises, thanksgivings, and works, but the highest worship of God is in receiving His gifts. Then, when you have died to yourself, repeatedly, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 12)

2011-09-11T15:22:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Mark 7:31-37; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11; Isaiah 29:17-24

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

Two little eyes to look to God; two little ears to hear His Word; two little feet to walk in His ways; two little lips to sing His praise; two little hands to do His will; and one little heart to love Him still.

Perhaps some of you have sung or read this little hymn to your children or perhaps you remember it from your own childhood. This hymn teaches us that God has given us our eyes, ears, feet, lips, hands, and heart that we might praise Him with our whole lives as a living sacrifice. But too often are our eyes focused, not upon God, but in greed and jealousy or lust upon what belongs to another. And too often our ears are tuned, not to God’s Word and His Will, but to the siren song of the world and its values and ideals. And too often our feet are upon a path that leads us away from God and His way. And too often do our lips utter lies and curses and blasphemy instead of singing God’s praise. And too often our hands are taking from or harming our neighbor instead of serving our neighbor and glorifying God. And, need I ask you about your heart? For, what does Jesus say about your heart? Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

In at least one way the deaf mute man in today’s Gospel lesson was better off us. At least his lips and tongue were not spouting off lies, curses, and blasphemy. However, not only could he not sing God’s praise, neither could he hear God’s Word. But, he was completely in silent bondage and he had to be brought to Jesus for healing. Apparently the deaf mute was born this way. Similarly, each of us is conceived and born in sin and is likewise unable hear the Word of God and to sing His praise until we are brought to Jesus in Holy Baptism and He speaks His “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened” upon us.

Ephphatha is the very Word of creation which is creatively powerful to bring into existence that which it speaks ex nihilo, out of nothing. Ephphatha is God’s “Let there be…, and there was.” Thus, when Jesus speaks “Ephphatha, be opened” to the deaf mute, He speaks His creative Word and He opens ears that have never heard and looses tongues that has never spoken, and the result is praise of the Lord of Creation, the Word of God made flesh, dwelling amongst us, Jesus.

But you should note that, though Jesus’ Word was sufficient to open the ears and to loose the tongue of the deaf mute, Jesus graciously touches the man with His own flesh and blood hands and shows Him the Creator’s love. First He took the man aside in private, and then He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. These actions were for the deaf mute himself and not for the crowds. It was an act of tenderness and love to a man who could not hear the Word or speak a plea for help, let alone praise God. Then Jesus looked up to heaven, He sighed and said to him “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” For, the creative Word of God the Father in heaven alone produces ears that can hear and lips that can sing.

The healing of the deaf mute clearly demonstrates the divine monergism of God in justification, conversion, and faith, that is to say, these works are God’s work alone and they involve no cooperation from sinful men. Thus, it should not be surprising that the early church connected this Gospel account with the Sacrament of Holy Baptism since the deaf mute, unable to hear or to speak from birth, was completely passive in receiving Jesus’ gracious Word and sacramental action. Indeed, a part of the ancient baptismal rite is called the Ephphatha. That very word Ephphatha was spoken by the priest as he touched both the ears and the mouth of the baptismal candidate. It was only after the opening of the ears and the loosing of the tongue that the baptismal candidate was then asked to renounce the devil, all his works, and all his ways and to confess his faith in the Apostle’s Creed.

A similar expression from Psalm 51 is utilized at the beginning of the Matins liturgy as we chant together, “O Lord, open Thou my lips, and my mouth will show forth Thy praise.” Since Matins is the first office prayed upon waking in the morning, these first words uttered at the beginning of the day are a confession that, apart from the Lord’s merciful action, our lips cannot praise Him. Traditionally, Matins would be prayed daily, even before the Divine Service on Sunday mornings, so that, each and every day, God would be invoked to restore us to baptismal purity and grace so that we are able to sing His praise. Indeed, the idea of a daily return to our baptisms is what is behind Luther’s exhortation “In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Then Luther instructs us to repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer and to pray the Morning Prayer. All of this is, in a sense, a return to our Holy Baptism and to God’s gracious forgiveness and life which He gave us in Holy Baptism however long ago.

When it comes to justification, being made right with God, and when it comes to your conversion and even faith itself, you are like the deaf mute in today’s Gospel, and you are like the newborn infant or even an older candidate in Holy Baptism, you are passive. Your justification, conversion, and faith is a new work of God’s ongoing re-creation by His powerful, life-bestowing Word. He creates life where there was only death. He opens ears that could not hear His Word. And He looses tongues to sing His praise. Or, as the children’s hymn puts it: Two little eyes to look to God; two little ears to hear His Word; two little feet to walk in His ways; two little lips to sing His praise; two little hands to do His will; and one little heart to love Him still.

The objectivity, the externality, the extra nos (outside of us) nature of our justification, conversion, and faith is not a hindrance to our faith, but it is the very source and reason for the confidence and comfort we enjoy. This is what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians saying, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency, is from God.” This is why Job can confidently say “I know that my Redeemer lives!” and this is why St. Paul can boldly say “I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Why then do so many insist that they have chosen to believe, or have decided to follow Jesus, or have earned or merited God’s favor in at least some small way? Why? Because the flesh is sinful and corrupt and it conspires with the devil to keep you in sin and death. If you trust in yourself for justification, conversion, or faith, then you build your house on shifting sand. For, you are in continual flux emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. What you believed was right yesterday you know to be wrong today. What you felt two hours ago has changed and now you feel differently. You are ruled by your fickle and impulsive passions and desires and by your flesh which wants what it wants because it wants it, not because it is true, right, or good. Like Paul exclaimed, the good that you want to do, that you do not do; but the bad that you do not want to do, that is what you find yourself doing! That is what the flesh is like. It desires to keep on taking and eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and to be like a god unto itself. The flesh says “No God, I won’t do it your way.” And so, a choice and a decision is made, but it is always, always, a choice and a decision to follow the way of the flesh that leads to death and it is always a choice and a decision against God and against God’s Will and God’s commands.

Repent and be turned from the way of the flesh that leads to death. Repent and be turned back to God. For, even now your Jesus is present with His Words and His Wounds to unstop your ears and to loose your tongue that you may sing His praise. He speaks to you His “Ephphatha, be opened” and, as it was in the beginning, so it is now and every shall be, His creative Word brings into being what it says.

And when He has opened your ears and your mouths, He will not leave them empty, but He will fill them with His Word and with His Word made flesh and blood so that you will be justified, so that you will be converted, and so that you will have faith anew. He will return you to the grace and purity He once gave you in Holy Baptism, as many times as is necessary, every day of your life until you live with Him eternally in the presence and glory of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for the Funeral of Joyce Kullman

2011-09-07T14:12:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

John 15:1-17; Romans 8:31-39; Isaiah 40:1-11

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

All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.

But you did not need to be reminded of that fact today. For, each of you gathered here this day knows this to be true. Today you are only too familiar with frailty of your own flesh and of how each of your lives is but a breath in the sweeping history of this world. For, you are here this day because your beloved wife and mother, your cherished sister, and your dear nana, and a sister in Christ to us all, has been struck down in shocking suddenness so that we have all been reminded that our flesh is surely grass that is here today and gone tomorrow.

But I would have you know today this truth as well: Though you are grass, you are God’s grass, sown by His own gracious will and hand. He has planted each and every one of you in a family, in a community, in a nation, in this world of His making, that you would grow and mature and bear much, and good fruit. For, God is a gardener and He is a farmer, He is a shepherd, and He is a father and a husband. He tills the rocky soil your hearts, He prunes your gangly, fruitless branches, he leads and chastens you, His wayward sheep and children, and He forgives you and redeems His oft adulterous Bride. For, He is a God of life and He is a God of love, and you are His precious planting in which He delights.

Moreover, God did not create you to die, but He created you to live for Him, in Him and with Him. Your God is not a god of the dead but the true and only God of the living. Death is but the fruit of disobedience and rebellion against His will and Law, against God Himself. It began with Adam and Eve, but it continues through all of us sons and daughters of Adam, and it brings us much heartache and pain, suffering and sorrow. For, death is not natural and it is not God’s will, but death now belongs to God and it is not outside of His will and His power.

This is because God so loved the world, God so loved you His precious planting, that He planted His Son Jesus into this world as a grain of wheat that would die and bear much fruit. He made Him to be sin that knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Then God raised Jesus from the dead, the first fruits of those who die in Him. And because He lives, we will also live. And even though we die, death has lost its sting and we shall never die.

This truth is what drives St. Paul to write in boldness: I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor power, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He also puts it this way: If God is for us, who can be against us? And this way: For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Remembering that all flesh is grass is good for you! It helps you to put things into their proper perspective. It helps you to put your life into the proper perspective. You are a precious planting of the LORD, sown to bear good and much fruit. And, through Holy Baptism you have been grafted into the True Vine Jesus Christ so that His death is your death and His life is your life. Likewise, His fruit is your fruit; if you abide in Him He will abide in you and you will bear much fruit. And the fruit of Jesus Christ is love.

God is love. In love, God sent His Son to die that you might live. In love, Jesus laid down His life in death for your sin. In love, God raised Jesus up so that you might be raised from the dead and live eternally in His love. God is love. Greater love is not possible than this: that a man should lay down His life for His friends. Jesus has laid down His life for you. Now He commands you and empowers you to love one another as He has loved you. You are a precious planting of the LORD, sown to bear good and much fruit – and the fruit you bear is love, that your joy may be full.

Dear Russ, Tracie, Jen, Ken, Chris, and Maria; dear Karen, Eric, and Nina; dear family and friends, brothers and sisters Christ, our sister in Christ Joyce was and is a precious planting of the LORD, sown to bear good and much fruit – and the fruit that she has borne is love, and her joy was and is and ever shall be full.

True, God-given love is not so much an emotion as it is an action or a deed. Love is self-sacrifice, and that is why no greater love is possible than to lay down one’s life for another. But selfless, sacrificial love need not only be borne in such a final way, but the love of God is made manifest in us whenever we sacrifice our own personal, material, financial, and emotional needs to help with the needs of another.

Such selfless and sacrificial love marked every facet of Joyce’s life and deeds. Joyce lived to help others because she long ago had died to her self and lived her life for Christ. She was and is a gleaming example of Jesus’ teaching, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Joyce showed love for all people regardless of age, gender, race, financial status, or creed. She was a loving and patient teacher of children and youth with special needs, learning, and behavioral disorders. Kids that others would right off as unteachable, Joyce taught and loved. She helped senior citizens, going well beyond just checking in, taking them to doctor appointments, sometimes in Manhattan (!) and spending her own money, time, and self with no concern. She and Russ adopted you five grown children as infants and gave you a loving home, a good education, and set you on the path to self-sufficient adulthood you each enjoy now. And Joyce was absolutely a pillar in this little church, teaching Sunday School, Confirmation, and countless other things for countless years, serving on the Church Council, and ministering to church members and families in their times of need. All of this she did without a hint of self-concern or self-interest out love for her Lord and for the people He died to redeem.

Joyce is a precious planting of the LORD, sown to bear good and much fruit. She has abided in Jesus throughout her life and He has abided in her. She knew that her flesh was grass, therefore she trusted in her Lord. Though today we will commit her body to the earth, we take comfort that her soul is with Jesus and that her joy is full. On the Last Day she will be raised with a new body like the resurrected body of Jesus and we with her will behold Him with our own eyes face to face. For, our victory over death is secured in Christ’s victory over death and our resurrection is secured in Christ’s resurrection.

Now we walk through the valley of the shadow of death surrounded by enemies and we are comforted, for our LORD goes with us to guide, feed, refresh, and protect us. But Joyce, she has passed through that valley and now dwells in the house of the LORD.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity(Trinity 11)

2011-09-04T12:00:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 18:9-14; 1 Corinthians 15:1-10; Genesis 4:1-15

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

The scene in Jesus’ parable is played out week after week, each and every Lord’s Day, in this modest temple of the LORD and in Christian churches, basilicas, and cathedrals large and small, glorious and humble, throughout the world. Two men go to church to pray, one a self-righteous Pharisee of a Christian, the other a humble and repentant sinner and beggar of a Christian. The former trusts in his own righteousness by his works and so stands condemned in his sins; the latter boasts of nothing in himself but instead confesses his sins and unworthiness and pleads for God’s mercy. And, as in Jesus’ parable, it is this latter man who leaves church today justified, that is, made right with God, and not the former.

Each and every one of you must come into this temple each and every Sunday, and each and every day were it offered, to confess your sins and your unworthiness and to plead for mercy from your God and Father through Jesus Christ. For just as there is no distinction between the Pharisee and the tax collector, so there is no distinction between the disobedient child, the petty thief, the adulterous husband, the murderer on death row and the outwardly pious, respected, and obedient Christian – there is no distinction when it comes to justification, being made right with God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and [all] 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.

However, what you must understand is that the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable was telling the truth. All the things that he boasted of before the LORD were true and they were good. He wasn’t an extortioner, a blackmailer, or a thief. He wasn’t outwardly unjust, he wasn’t an adulterer or even a tax collector. Rather, he was faithful in his prayers, he fasted twice a week, which was more than commanded by the law, and he gave tithe on all of his income. He was pious and he was fervently religious. He kept the law better than anyone else and everyone respected and revered him as a faithful and pious man of God. Indeed, the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable is the kind of man every pastor would gladly have in his parish despite his sometimes boorish arrogance. He is the kind of man you would look up to as an outstanding example of godliness, faithfulness, and piety, even if he did look down his nose a bit at the hoi polloi of obvious and notorious sinners.

But the tax collector, in contrast, I wouldn’t invite him into my home and I’d watch him closely around the collection plates, my wife, and the children of the parish. The tax collector is the kind of man that you’d pass by on the street, likely crossing to the other side to avoid. You might even report him to the authorities. He made his living and a whole lot more extorting people by charging whatever he wanted in taxes he collected for the hated Romans. He likely lived in luxurious squalor at the expense of his own people, spending the peoples’ hard earned money, which he stole from them, on wine and women and worse. Though he wins the day in Jesus’ parable because he is humble and repentant and Jesus says that he, and not the Pharisee, went home that day justified, don’t you suspect that the next day, and every other day of the week after that, that the tax collector was right back at his old ways? And then, the next Sabbath, there he is once again in the temple in humility and repentance, beating his breast in sorrow over his sins, pleading for mercy from God? And you know what? God will forgive him again, and again, and again, and again.

But why? That’s unfair! That’s unjust! Yes, it is, thanks be to God! Thanks be to God that He does not give us what is just. Thanks be to God that He does not give us what we do deserve, what we have earned, and what we have merited. For, there is no distinction between the Pharisee and the tax collector when it comes to justification. Indeed, despite all of the Pharisee’s good and pious works, and despite all of the tax collector’s wicked works, there is no distinction between them. And, likewise, there is no distinction between you and the worst sinners you can imagine. For, as St. Paul writes, “There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and [all] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

What this means is that your righteousness, your right relationship with God, does not depend upon you, or upon anything you do, or even upon your repentance or what you believe, but it depends upon one thing, and one thing only, Jesus’ Christ’s atoning death and resurrection. This St. Paul also writes in what can only be described as a creed, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

Thus, the reason that the good and pious Pharisee went home that day still in his sins and not right with God is because he could not see that he was dead in his sins. The Pharisee believed in a God that would work with him and his good works, cut him some slack and say “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But what the Pharisee truly needed was not a God that could work with him, but a God who could raise Him out of death to new life. In contrast, that is exactly what the tax collector was looking for. He knew that he was a sinner. He knew that he had nothing to offer God. He knew that the best of his works were worse than filthy rags. He could not begin to look up to heaven but he bowed himself down in the dust and cried out, not for grace, not for leniency, not even for forgiveness, but the tax collector cried out only for mercy fully believing that he didn’t deserve even that! He likely knew in his heart that he’d fall right back into the same sinful wickedness tomorrow. That only served to drive him deeper into the hopelessness of being saved by his works so that he depended all the more on God’s mercy alone. The tax collector didn’t need a God to pat him on the back and send him on his way. He didn’t need a God who would overlook his failings and say, “That’s ok.” He needed a God who could raise him from the death of sin and from eternal death. And that’s the God the tax collector had. And that’s the God that you have too. You have the one and only God of Life who alone can raise you from death to life.

For, in death, as in life, there is no distinction. Indeed, death truly is the great equalizer, is it not? The good and the bad, the rich and the poor, it matters not, we all die. Each and every descendent of Adam and Eve is conceived and born in sin, and the wages of sin is always and invariably death. “Who can deliver me from this body of death?” asks St. Paul. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” For, Jesus Christ your Lord did not come to reform the reformable or to improve the improvable, but Jesus came to raise the dead. Jesus came to raise those dead in their sins to true and eternal life in Him. But if you insist that you have no sin, or that your sin is not so bad as to be fatal, you deceive yourself and you remain in your sin and in death. For, only the dead can be raised, and only sinners can be forgiven. Therefore, empty yourself of your pride and your arrogance. Confess your sins and repent. Throw yourself daily before God’s mercy and trust that, through Jesus Christ, God is merciful and God has forgiven. And live a new life, Jesus’ life, to the glory of the Father. But, beware of the complacency of measuring your goodness against others. Rather, measure yourself against God’s standards—then repent. For, God is ready to justify the worst of sinners, even you, by His generous grace in Jesus Christ.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Tenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 10)

2011-08-28T11:23:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 19:41-48; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Jeremiah 8:4-12

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

It is a profound thing to consider that your Jesus, God in human flesh, the incarnate Word of creation…, it is a profound thing to consider that your Jesus wept. What sort of sorrows, what sort of pain, what sort of compassion could move our God to tears? What sort of sorrows, what sort of pain, and what sort of compassion move you to weep tears? These too your Jesus experienced and felt. And so, your Jesus wept.

Yet, the weepings of your God and Lord should cause you to pause and consider just what it means that God is moved to weep bitter and heavy tears. For, when you weep, do you not weep for your pain, for your hurt, for your loss as much as you weep for the pains, the hurts, and the losses of another? Is not your weeping often conjured up as a swelling of emotional pathos motivated by pitiable images of starving children and flood-ruined homes on the television or in a magazine? Is it not often but a general sorrow and grief at the loss of others in the knowledge that one day, sooner or later, you too will wither and die and be washed from the face of the earth as in a terrible flood?

I say this to you, not to belittle your pain and sorrow, your grief, your compassion, and tears, but to cause you to see that, though your sorrows, grief, compassion, and tears are very real, they are also, because of sin, mingled with self-concern, even selfishness, and, at times, even a dark pleasure at the sufferings of others. I say this to you so that in contrast you may see the purity, the sinlessness, the holiness, and the selflessness of the weepings, the sorrows, the grief, and the compassion of your Jesus.

For, when your Jesus weeps at the death of his friend Lazarus, there is no hint of weeping for His own loss or for His own imminent crucifixion and death, but there is only the purest, holiest grief and sorrow at the reality of death itself. Jesus weeps at Lazarus’ death because death is the wage and the fruit of man’s sinful rebellion against God and His Holy will. Jesus weeps because death is not natural, like people are want to believe, but death is the most unnatural of things in the world. For, your God is the God of life, not of death. Death is the complete and utter opposite of your God. And your Jesus’ weeps at Lazarus’ death because this demonic, evil fruit of your sin has claimed another victim, because another precious soul is robbed of God-given life. The Greek word for the sort of compassion your Jesus has for mankind and for you is the torturous word splagchnizomai. Literally, splagchnizomai means a churning of the bowels, or, a gut-wrenching grief and sorrow. Indeed, the word even sounds like what it means. But, this is what it means for your Jesus to have compassion. And, this is what it means for your Jesus, your God, to weep.

Your Jesus, your God, felt this same splagchnizomai, this same gut-wrenching compassion, as He drew near to the City of Peace, Jerusalem. Ironically, the City of Peace, Jerusalem, the place where Melchizedek, the King of Salem, which means peace, whose name means King of Righteousness, visited Abraham and blessed him; the City of Peace, Jerusalem, where David and Solomon prayed and where Jeremiah prophesied; ironically, the City of Peace, Jerusalem, had, since its foundation, been anything but a city of peace. This is because men look for peace in the wrong places, in the wrong things, and in the wrong people. Thus, Jesus weeps saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” The things that make for peace with God are the repentance of sins and His merciful and gracious forgiveness. The things that make for peace are located in your Jesus who was rejected by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and crucified unto death. The religious leadership of the Jews taught the people to find peace in their alms and in their prayers and in their sacrifices, that is, in their works with the result that the people remained in their sins and could never know True Peace with God through the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ. Like Jeremiah prophesied, “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” Not only did the religious leadership of the Jews fail to shepherd the people under their care to the source of True Peace, but they directed them away from Jesus to their works which merited them only death.

Thus, they did not, indeed, they could not know the time of their visitation. The Word of God became flesh and tabernacled amongst His people in a gracious visitation of mercy and forgiveness, but He was rejected by the Jewish religious leadership and by many individuals as well who were blind to the things that make for peace. Because of their rejection of Him, Jesus can see the future fruits of their sinful rebellion when the Romans would lay siege to Jerusalem and destroy every building, every person, and every child but forty years later.

Jesus came to Jerusalem, Jesus came in the form of a man, to show mercy and forgiveness to sinners and to reveal the judgment of the self-righteous. He came as Peace incarnate – real peace, peace with God – to all who would receive Him, but to those who rejected Him, He came as the sign of their self-chosen condemnation.

When He entered the temple, His Father’s House, He overturned the tables of the money changers and of those who trafficked in the things that cannot bring peace and He drove them out of the temple saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” Those who teach and believe in justification by works rob God and they rob Jesus of glory and of what rightly belongs to God alone. We do not buy and sell forgiveness. And, if you believe that you merit God’s favor because of your works or if you believe that you have chosen or decided to follow Him, then you deceive yourself and worse, you rob your Jesus of the merit of His atoning death and the glory due His Name.

God has always visited each and every generation, seeking sinners and showering them with mercy, grace, and forgiveness but leaving the self-righteous in their chosen condemnation. And when time was full God sent His Son to redeem those under the Law that they might receive adoption as sons. Jesus is God’s gift of Peace. Do you understand the things that make for your peace? In Jesus, God has visited His people and redeemed them; He has established peace between God and man. Do you believe this? Or, do you look to yourself or to your works, to your prayers and your piety to be assured to your peace with your God? Is your heart a house of prayer or is it a den of thieves robbing your Jesus, your God of the glory due His Name?

God has visited His people in grace and mercy and forgiveness in your Jesus, but He will visit again in judgment at a time no man will know. But, if you know the things that make for peace with God, if you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection, then you are judged already – Not guilty! Acquitted! Free to live! Likewise, those who insist that their peace with God is connected to their works and their merit, they stand condemned already. They will be exposed for what they are on the Last Day.

God has visited His people in grace and mercy and forgiveness in your Jesus. And, your Jesus is present with His gracious visitation now to forgive your sins, to strengthen your faith, and to give you His eternal life. For, the Church is the New Jerusalem, the new Israel, the City of Peace, peace with God. May the Church ever be a house of prayer and not a den of thieves. And may the Church always glorify God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit now and forevermore.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 9)

2011-08-21T11:58:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 16:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:6-13; 2 Samuel 22:26-34

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

Jesus’ Parable of the Dishonest Manager is scandalous to Christians and unbelievers alike. How are we to understand Jesus’ commendation of the manager in the parable for his shrewd and dishonest management of his master’s goods? Unbelievers cry “Contradiction! The Bible is fallible!” while Christians shrug their shoulders in embarrassment. But this only goes to show you that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is still as radical today as it was two thousand years ago and that we are as thoroughly enmeshed in worldly wisdom and values as were those who first heard this parable with their own ears.

Like Jesus’ hearers two thousand years ago, we too are offended by the manager’s wasting of his master’s possessions. This is because we believe strongly in individual, personal worldly and material possessions – “What’s mine is mine. I earned it. I bought it. It’s mine.” We are ready to condemn the manager and see him rot in prison or worse. Thus, we are doubly offended when Jesus has the master commend the dishonest manager in the end for his shrewdness in doing favors for his master’s debtors by slashing their debts by twenty and even fifty percent. How could Jesus commend such dishonest, wasteful, and unjust behavior?

But what does Jesus say? He says, “The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” What does this mean? Well, the dishonest manager was a man of the world; he had only his own self-interest in mind. We can relate to that. He had been wasteful with his master’s possessions to begin with, but once he realized that he was going to lose his management and his livelihood he shrewdly thought to use his master’s possessions to make friends for himself so that when he was unemployed they would remember and be kind to him. Now, while that may be the kind of survival instinct you might resort to when your back is against the wall and your life depends upon it, I imagine that most of you disapprove of the manager’s proposed solution to his problem. And yet, the master in Jesus’ parable commends the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.

The key to understanding Jesus’ meaning in the parable is the distinction between “sons of this world” and “sons of light”. You were sons of this world, but now, through baptism and faith, you have been born again as sons of light. And, while the wicked sons of this fallen world will use any means necessary to secure their life and well-being, how much more should the forgiven sons of light use any means necessary to secure their eternal life and well-being? Too often the sons of this world show their desire and love for their life and possessions, perishable things, while the sons of light, Christians, chase after these same perishable things and neglect and risk losing the eternal dwellings and life that is already theirs by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Just as the dishonest manager made friends for himself by means of unrighteous wealth, so too Jesus exhorts you to make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth. The key distinction here, however, is the word means. For the sons of light, unrighteous material wealth and worldly possessions, even our lives in this world are but means to an end, they are not the end itself. The sons of this world consider these things to be an end, but for you sons of light they are only means. This is because you recognize that all your wealth and possessions, even your life, is not yours but is a gift to you from God your heavenly Father over which He has given you management, stewardship. Jesus states this plainly when He says, “If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” Moreover still, Jesus says that all those worldly and material things that we get so worked over and fret and worry about and risk all, even our salvation, to keep and protect are but little things, unrighteous wealth, and false riches. The shrewdness that you use to keep and protect your little things, your unrighteous wealth, and your false riches, use that same shrewdness with the things that are much, that are righteous, and that are true riches.

For, ultimately, that which you so love and put your trust in that you fear losing it, that has become your master. If little things, unrighteous wealth, and false riches are what you fear, love, and trust then they are your master and you are their servant. Look around. How many people do you see who daily serve such worldly, material, and perishing things? The hours, the days, the years, and the decades we serve and toil to earn, to buy, to possess little, perishable things that never truly belong to us at all and that only collect dust upon our shelves, that lose their luster and appeal and then are taken to the dump when we grow tired of them or when we die and our children see no value in that which we fretted and worried and worked and toiled and sweated to obtain. Who’s serving who? Are you being served by what you possess or is what you possess being served by you? Does what you possess possess you? Are your possessions your master?

“No servant can serve two masters,” Jesus says, “for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” We confess in the First Article “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and Earth.” And we also confess what this means:

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

All that you have, your physical and material possessions, your family and children, even the food that you eat, the water that you drink, and the air that you breathe comes to you as the good and gracious gift of your loving Creator and God. These are His possessions over which He has given you management and stewardship to use for yourself and for your family, and to use for the benefit of others to the glory of God’s holy Name. You are not to waste God’s possessions. You are not to squander God’s possessions. And you are not to hoard God’s possessions in greed, lust, and gluttony. Neither are you to serve God’s possessions or worship them, but you are to manage them in such a way that God’s people are served and helped and God is glorified. Unrighteous wealth is not an end, but it is a means to be used to the glory of God. As the sons of the world are shrewd in using unrighteous wealth to make friends, so much more should you Christian sons of light make use of unrighteous wealth in service of your neighbor to the glory of God.

There is no contradiction in Jesus’ teaching. Jesus would have you be generous with that which is not yours, to be a dishonest manager according to the wisdom of the world. For, the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and He graciously provides you with more than you need for yourself and your family physically, materially, and spiritually. The dishonest manager took a gamble that his master would honor the debts he reduced by twenty and fifty percent because he believed his master to be gracious and generous. How much more is your heavenly Father gracious and generous toward you, and through you, toward your neighbor, toward all the world? Through the gracious and generous gift of His Son He has given you all that you need to support your body and life: eternal food, eternal drink, eternal forgiveness, and an eternal home. You can never lose these, for they are secured for you as your treasure in heaven. You can never lose these gifts, but you can only reject them and walk away. For your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the ultimate dishonest manager, and He has not merely reduced your debt to His Father and Master but He has canceled and released your from it entirely. He now invites your to partake of His gifts freely and live, and He sends you as managers and stewards of His boundless grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness to shower these freely upon others to the glory of His Father. Scandalous? Yes! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 8)

2011-08-14T11:47:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Matthew 7:15-23; Romans 8:12-17; Jeremiah 23:16-29

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

If Jesus spoke the words of today’s Gospel lesson in today’s public square He would most certainly be accused of fear-mongering. For, Jesus warns you to watch out for false prophets and false teachers who, wouldn’t you know it, are going to look just like the true prophets and teachers. But, He says to you that you will know them by their fruits, that is, by what they teach and by what their teaching produces. However, is it not the case that what is bad for us often seems the most attractive to us? So, how are we to know the good from the bad? What exactly then would Jesus have us do, live in continual paranoia, trusting no man, but considering all suspect of deception and false teaching? Would He have us live our lives in constant fear?

Well, yes, if that is understood in the correct way. That is, Jesus would have you put your complete faith and trust in no man but rather in God alone. Also, Jesus would have you fear no thing and no one in this life or world but God alone. However, He would not have you live in paranoia and fear, for, indeed, that would be the fruit of unbelief and godlessness. But rather, believing that our God is not a God who is far off, but that He is near to us, and that He fills heaven and earth, we are to be discerning and cautious, but we are not to be without hope, despairing and afraid.

Jesus says that you will recognize a prophet by his fruits be they good or bad. The fruits of the prophet, in this case, are not so much works, or even outward piety and righteousness, but rather they are the prophet’s preaching and teaching. Does the prophet’s teaching accord with God’s Word or not, particularly about the person and the mission of Jesus Christ? Does the prophet preach and teach from the mouth of the LORD, or does he speak a vision of his own heart? The prophet is sent to preach and teach God’s Word; his preaching and teaching is his fruit. It is as impossible for a true prophet to preach and teach contrary to God’s Word as it is for a good tree to bear bad fruit, or a grapevine to bear something other than grapes, a fig tree to bear something other than figs. Likewise, it is as impossible for a false prophet to preach and teach God’s Word in its truth and purity as it is for a diseased tree to bear good fruit. Such does not and cannot happen, thus you will know them by their fruits.

Still, due to our own fallen and sinful flesh, it can be difficult to discern the false from the true, to discern good fruit from bad. This is especially true since a false prophet will intentionally try to deceive you by appearing, in all external ways, to be a true prophet of God. False prophets, says Jesus, will come to you as wolves in sheepskins so that they appear to be a part of the sheepfold, the flock. Thus, the sheep are not alarmed by the presence of the false prophet and they are lead into a false sense of security, safety, and comfort. This is precisely what a false prophet desires, that you, the sheep, are comfortable and happy in your present sinful condition. For example, a false prophet will preach and teach that sexual relations outside of the marriage of a man and a woman is not sinful. And, in turn, instead of calling sinners to repentance, the false prophet blesses their sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. Likewise, a false prophet will preach and teach that it is not sinful to terminate an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy and, instead of calling sinners to repentance, they bless murder and the destruction of God-created life. This is to say that a false prophet will preach and teach in such a way that you remain comfortable and at peace with your sin, when the truth is that unrepentant sinners are under God’s judgment and wrath. As the true prophet of the LORD Jeremiah puts it, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you’” and they say “‘Peace, peace’ when there is no peace.”

Fearmongering and paranoia? No. An exhortation to watchfulness? Yes. How can you tell the true prophet from the false? You will recognize them by their fruits. The fruits of the true prophet are not outward righteousness or success, but faithfulness in proclaiming the Word of the LORD. For, there is no other measure of a prophet than the Word of the LORD. You are not to consider his appearance, his personality, his age, or even his own piety and righteousness, but you are to consider only this: What are his fruits? Is he faithful in his proclamation of the Word of the LORD.

“Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth,” thus sings the Psalmist. That is to say, hear the Word of the LORD always. Whether it be a Word of Law or a Word of Gospel, hear the Word of the LORD. Whether it strike you to the heart and call you to repentance or shower you in gracious comfort, peace, and forgiveness, hear the Word of the LORD. Whether it be a Word that unsettles you and calls you to change your lifestyle or a Word that confirms you in the path that you are traveling, hear the Word of the LORD. And whether it be a Word that calls you back to the flock or a Word that shepherds you on your way, hear the Word of the LORD.

And the Word of the LORD is very near you; it is in your mouth and it is in your heart. And the Word of the LORD made flesh, Jesus Christ, is present with His Word and with His Wounds to forgive, renew, strengthen, and keep you in the one true faith unto life everlasting to the glory of the Holy Triune God.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 7)

2011-08-07T12:57:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Mark 8:1-9; Romans 6:19-23; Genesis 2:7-17

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

Part of the curse that Adam brought upon himself, his children, and the entire world when he rebelled against God and sinned was that the earth would no longer provide sustenance freely and naturally apart from man’s burdensome labor and toil. Where, in the beginning, “the LORD God made to spring up out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food,” after the fall, the ground was cursed in Adam’s sin so that it produced thorns and thistles so that, in pain, toil, and sweat, man was forced to till the ground and to strive against nature in order to eat his daily bread. And yet, despite all his toil, labor, pain, and sweat, the bread that man produces cannot give true and lasting life, but, like the widow at Zarephath and her son, a man can only expect to work hard, eat his daily bread, and then die. It’s like the old coal mining folk song says: You load sixteen tons, what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go; I owe my soul to the company store. For all our striving, for all our toil, for all our pain, sweat, and labor, what do we get? We get what we deserve. We get what we have earned. We live another day, we get older, and we die. For, the wages of sin, what we earn, what we merit for our sin, is death, and man cannot and does not live by bread alone.

Four thousand years later, our Lord Jesus came to break Adam’s curse. He was born in Bethlehem, which means the house of bread, David’s town of Messianic promise. He came as our Bread King to graciously provide men with bread that leads to life, true and lasting life, bread which a man may eat and truly live. For, Jesus is the bread made not by human hands which sustained the children of Israel forty years in the wilderness of sin. And, Jesus is the widow’s meal and oil that was never depleted. And, Jesus is the bread that satisfies countless multitudes, four thousand today, five thousand tomorrow, with grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness that they did not deserve, or earn, or merit, because He has compassion upon humanity and sacrificially laid down His life for men. And Jesus is the pure and holy Passover Bread having not the leaven of sin. He is food for the journey, our exodus out of this world and life of sin into true and eternal life in His sacrificial death and resurrection.

For Jesus bore our sixteen tons of sin upon the cross. Throughout His life and ministry He sowed His seed everywhere He could, regardless of the condition of men’s hearts, and He sent His disciples and apostles to do the same to the ends of the earth that, when He returns for the harvest, the barns of heaven might be filled with precious wheat.

In the miracle of the Feeding of the 4,000, and then again in the Feeding of the 5,000, Jesus provides a sign that He is the undoing of Adam’s curse. In Jesus, men will eat and live without toil, pain, and death. In Jesus, men will eat bread and live. In Jesus, the wilderness is again a garden and He is the very Tree of Life. No one who comes to Him will be turned away. All who eat the bread of His flesh will live. No one who dies in Him will die eternally, but he will be raised in a resurrection like His to eternal life.

In these days there are great crowds of people, surrounded by food, who have nothing to eat and are literally starving to death. Our cupboards and refrigerators are filled with plenty, and yet we are starving for the things our bodies truly need. This is true physically and biologically, and even more this is true spiritually. In this great and prosperous nation where the individual is god and individual choice is the altar at which this god is worshipped, we labor and toil and purchase the things that we falsely believe give us life, prosperity, and happiness. But, in the end we still die. Indeed, we die a little more each and every day. With each and every potato chip and pizza slice we consume we draw a little closer to death. Though we are fat and obese, though our homes are filled with luxuries and material goods, we are dying, we are literally starving to death.

Jesus had compassion on the crowds because they had been with Him for three days and they had nothing to eat. The people were like children who grumble and complain when vegetables and nutritious foods are served to them that they have nothing to eat. They had been eating all the wrong things and searching for all the wrong things to eat even while they had the life-giving Bread from Heaven in their midst. Perhaps you are not so unlike the children of Israel, searching for food and life in all the wrong places, when right here, in your very midst is the Bread of Life, Jesus, the Holy One of Israel. He has had compassion for you and He has allowed His precious body to be broken that you may eat of His flesh and drink of His blood and be satisfied and live. More than that, He will provide for you in superabundance that there will always be more than you need so that others may eat and live too. For, the life you live in Him is His life. It is a free gift to you like the fruit of Eden for which you do not labor, toil, and sweat and by which you will not die but will live eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I know that your flesh desires the things that lead to death. That is because it was conceived and born in sin and death and it wants nothing to do with true and eternal life. Your own flesh lies to you and deceives you so that you desire and pursue things that are bad for you and that serve only you and your selfish, fleshly desires. But you have been born again in Holy Baptism. You live a new life in Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the watery womb of the Church. And you are not alone, you are no longer an individual, but you are part of a new family, the one body of Christ, His Holy Bride, the Church. There is no place for individualism and selfishness in the body of Christ – such a cell in the body would be a cancer – but the thought, love, and compassion of each member is for the other members, that is, for the body. In this way, the new life of Christ in the Church is like Holy Marriage as husband and wife die to themselves and live to Christ as one flesh.

In Holy Baptism you were called out into the wilderness, away from the fallen trappings of this world which bring only death, and there you drowned and died with Jesus. But there too you were raised with Jesus to new life and you were returned to the world to live in the world, but not of the world, to be a leaven of mercy, love, compassion, and righteousness to the world, but not to be leavened by the world. And Jesus feeds your new life in Him with the Living Bread of His Word and with the Word made flesh, His true and present body and blood.

Listen to the Prophet Isaiah: “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” For Christ Jesus has miraculously turned the bread of death into the Bread of Life in this Holy Sacrament, and He gives you His very body and blood for your forgiveness. And, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit now and forevermore. In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Sixth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 6)

2011-07-31T12:24:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Matthew 5:17-26; Romans 6:1-11; Exodus 20:1-17

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

Undoubtedly you have heard the question, “Can God create a stone so heavy that He can’t lift it?” The question is absurd, of course; it is a semantic paradox often used by atheists in an attempt to prove that God is not omnipotent (all-powerful) since there are some things that God cannot do, and the inability of an omnipotent being to create a task it cannot do contradicts its omnipotence. Similar semantic paradoxes include the questions: “Can God make a spherical triangle?” and “Can God make a square circle?” Of course, any child can see that such questions say absolutely nothing about God, but rather they are logically impossible because of the definitions of the objects involved (e.g., a triangle, by definition, cannot be round; the definitions of squares and circles are mutually exclusive). However, such paradoxes do cause us to reflect upon what it means for God to be omnipotent: For God to be omnipotent does not mean that He can do anything (even the Holy Scriptures do not make such a claim), but rather, what it means for God to be omnipotent is that He can do all that He desires and wills to do.

But, such wicked foolishness as this is what proceeds from the sin-filled hearts and mouths of men: Men try to explain God away. Men try to trap God in a box. Men try to eliminate the gaps in human reasoning where God can still exist. And, like our ancestral Father Adam, men hide in fear from our God who cannot be explained away, who cannot be trapped in a box, and who cannot be forced out of necessity and existence, and even worse, men blaspheme and curse the God who created them and still sustains them, who has redeemed them in His Son, who continues to show steadfast love to those who love Him and keep His Commandments, but who visits the iniquity of Father Adam upon those who hate Him.

For, it is God, not men, who has defined what it means to be a man, and it is God who has established the boundaries and who holds the measure of righteousness in His Holy Law. And so, it is God who has placed man in a box, not the other way around, and it is God who has also given man the freedom to leave the box, the freedom to choose to not keep God’s Law, and so to reap the consequences of disobedience, the true merit of man’s works – death and eternal damnation. And so, God has trumped the atheists before there were atheists, for God has given men a Law that is so perfect only God can fulfill it.

For, God alone is holy, God alone is righteous, and God is the definition, the standard, and the measure of goodness, righteousness, and perfection. He was before all things and He fills all things; all things are sustained by Him, through Him, and because of Him. And, in the beginning, God made man in His image of righteousness and holiness, in communion with Him, yet free to choose otherwise. But then, Satan tempted, and Adam succumbed, and he chose against God and against His Holy Law and Will. Adam sinned, and the sin of Adam is the sin of all men; Adam’s sin is your sin, and it is the substance of all sin to have another god in the place of, and before the face of, the True and Living God – that is to be a god unto yourself.

And, since there is no place where men can hide from God’s perfect and Holy Law, for the Law is written on our hearts and it accuses us in our consciences, therefore men take God’s Law and they make it to be man’s law. That is, they water it down and they relax it so that it appears to them to be more do-able. It is true that our civil laws reflect God’s Laws in part, forbidding murder, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness, and so men obey the civil law, man’s law, and they believe that in so doing they are righteous. However, while we may deceive ourselves, God is not mocked. For, our Lord Jesus teaches that everyone who is angry with his brother, everyone who insults his brother, and everyone who condemns his brother saying “You fool!” will be liable to judgment and the hell of fire. And, though you may not have murdered, committed adultery, stolen from your neighbor, or borne false witness against him according to the civil law, you have done all these things in your heart and in your thoughts, if not in deed. For, when you hate your brother in your heart or fail to help him in his bodily needs you have murdered him. And, when you look upon a man or a woman with lust in your heart, you have committed adultery. And, when you covetously desire what belongs to your neighbor instead of helping him to keep and protect what belongs to him, you have stolen from him. And, when you gossip and slander your neighbor and fail to defend his name when others do the same, you have borne false witness against him. For, the Law that all men break, ultimately, is the Law of Love. You do not love your brother because you do not love God. You do not love God because you love yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor, ever, in thought, word, or in deed, therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law. You harm your neighbor with your thoughts, and with your words, and with your deeds because you do not love God. Repent.

Repent of your lovelessness, and then receive comfort. For, though your Lord Jesus has said to you that He did not come to abolish the Law of God and that, indeed, not a iota or a dot will pass away from it, He has also said to you that He came to fulfill the Law of God for you. And this Jesus has done for you in His Holy Incarnation, in His perfect obedience, and in His selfless and sacrificial suffering and death upon the cross. Tετέλεσται. It is finished. The Law is fulfilled. And all this is done for you that you might receive it as a free and perfect gift of God’s perfect grace, hold on to it, keep it, and treasure it in tenacious faith, and live, now and forever, in communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

But how do you receive this free and perfect gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ? You receive this justification the way you receive any gift, by believing the giver and the gift that He gives and by claiming it as your own, that is, by believing that it is truly yours and by placing your faith and trust in it and in its giver. The way this works in the Christian faith is through Holy Baptism. In Holy Baptism you died to sin and lawlessness; In Holy Baptism you died with Jesus on the cross. And, as St. Paul wrote to the Church at Rome,

We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For, if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

In Holy Baptism, you have already died and you have already been raised to a new life in and with Christ Jesus. It is your new life in Him that Jesus is describing in today’s Gospel lesson. Jesus has called you to a higher obedience to God’s Law and to a higher way of living. Not only must you not hurt or harm your neighbor, but you are to help and befriend your neighbor in every bodily need. Not only are you not to take your neighbor’s money or possessions, but you are to help him to improve and to protect his possessions. And, not only are you not to tell lies about your neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but you are to defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way. For, Jesus has called you to obey the Law, not motivated by fear or coercion, but freely from a heart of love for God and for your neighbor. Jesus has called you to obey the Law, not to earn or merit your salvation, but because you have salvation now through Holy Baptism and faith in Jesus Christ and in His atoning suffering and death.

Theologians often argue about Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount – Is it Law, or is it Gospel? The answer has to be “Yes!” As Jesus teaches us, the Law has not passed away, but He has fulfilled it for us. Therefore, the Law still exists and still demands our obedience, but it has become for us no longer a Law of tyranny and fear, but a Law of love and grace and mercy. Sometimes this is referred to as the Third Use of the Law, a guide (rather than a curb or a mirror) offering instruction in how to live our new life in Christ and what that new life looks like and does. And, sometimes when Jesus teaches what appears to be Law or commands such teaching is referred to as Gospel Imperatives, commands that much less demand than empower obedience.

The Law was given first that men might become aware of their sin and, terrified of their standing before God, repent and die to sin that God might bestow upon them His grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. But, after justification, after forgiveness, men are raised to a new life in Christ and to a new and higher obedience to the Law, which never passed away but was fulfilled, and obedience that flows from a new will aligned with God’s will and that flows from God through Jesus through you to your neighbor and back to God. The Swedish Lutheran Bishop Bo Giertz puts it this way:

There is no other path than the one that leads to the kingdom of forgiveness. We have to understand how bad it is, so we become poor in the spirit and start to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Then we can discover the precious pearl. We can understand why Jesus invites us to come to Him. We can receive His righteousness and begin to live with Him. That’s when we can reconcile with a brother without demanding judgment against him. That’s when we accept a speedy reconciliation without having to wait for the other party to confess to what he’s done wrong and ask for forgiveness. We have been acquitted and escaped imprisonment, despite the fact that we were guilty of both rage and harsh words. The only gate available where you can escape imprisonment leads you to the kingdom of forgiveness. There we live a new life.

Dear children of God, you have been born again in Holy Baptism and even now live a new life in Jesus Christ. Everything you have, everything you are, and everything you do is given you by grace so that you are a steward of God’s gracious gifts. These include, not only money and possessions, time and talents, but also love, mercy, grace, charity, and forgiveness. And, these you have received anew this day in Holy Absolution, in the Living Word of God, and in the Holy Supper of Christ’s real and present body and blood so that, once again, the chalice of your soul is filled to overflowing with the gifts Christ freely gives. And, you are empowered to give of His gifts to you, to forgive with His forgiveness, and to love with His love. And, in so doing to your neighbor, you do it to Him, and God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is glorified.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for The Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 5)

2011-07-24T11:45:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 5:1-11; 1 Peter 3:8-15; 1 Kings 19:11-21

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

To be a Christian is to be a little Christ in this world as His disciple, for a disciple is a student of Christ who, through the discipline of study and correction, is being shaped and molded into the image of his teacher. And, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be like your teacher and to take up the cross that the world will place upon you as a little Christ, a cross that God the Father will permit the world to place upon you, so that, in being Jesus’ disciple, you will be a witness and a martyr to Him before the world.

So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if anyone tells you that being a Christian is easy, he is a liar. If anyone tells you that being a Christian will win you friends and popularity, he is a liar. And if anyone tells you that being a Christian will make you successful and wealthy, or even happy, he is a liar. Indeed, your Lord and teacher Jesus never told you such things as these, and He is not a liar, but He is the Truth incarnate, in your flesh. And, through your Holy Baptism and the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith, you are made to be a little Christ, and, through repentance and faith, all that is rightly His is also yours including sinlessness and holiness, righteousness, true and eternal life, and sonship with the Father. However, rightly yours also are meekness and humility, sacrificial service to your brothers and neighbors, and hatred, persecution, and suffering at the hands and words of the world.

Does this shock or surprise you? Do you think of me as a pessimistic preacher of gloom and doom for saying such things to you? I am sorry. I am sorry that so few have been honest with you before. I am sorry that you have been deceived by the world, our culture and media, and even by so-called Christian preachers and teachers to believe that, if only you try your best, God will be pleased with you, that, if only you think positively, then things will go well for you, and that, if only you had greater faith, then you would achieve health and wealth and prosperity. These are all lies! For you can see with your own two eyes, and you can hear with your own two ears that too often the wicked prosper while the humble suffer! And, because you have believed these lies, when trial, tribulation, and suffering come – and they always will – to you, or to those you love, you are tempted to blame God, you are tempted to lash out at Him in anger, or you are tempted to lose your faith altogether believing that there must not be a God, for God would not allow His children to suffer.

When Jesus calls His disciples, He calls them out of the world. They do not come to Him, they will not come to Him, and they cannot come to Him. But, He calls them, He chooses them, and He catches them like fish in a net. Jesus calls His disciples out of their comfort zones, away from their livelihoods and away even from their friends and their families. He calls them to discipleship and a new life, in the world, but not of the world. And, as fish cannot live outside of water, those Jesus calls and captures struggle as they leave behind the things they believed constituted their lives and they learn to breathe and live a new life, true life, life that never ends. When Jesus calls His disciples, He calls them to leave behind their boats and their nets, the tax collector’s booth, the weaver’s loom, the accounting books, the medical kit, etc., and follow Him. But, in following Jesus, His disciples return to their vocations and through them serve their brother and neighbor and glorify God. When Jesus called the fishermen to be His disciples, they died to themselves, they confessed their sins and their unworthiness, and Jesus absolved them and He raised them up to new life saying to them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch men alive.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

To be a Christian is not to be perfect, but it is to be humble and repentant and to be made perfect before God in His grace and mercy through faith in Jesus Christ. And, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is not necessarily to live in poverty and celibacy, but it is to live anew in your God-given vocations, your callings, in selfless and sacrificial service to your brother and neighbor to the glory of God. You don’t have to be anyone special to be a Christian. For, the Church is not a memorial for saints, but it is a hospital for sinners. Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners, and, you are called to find healing in Christ’s wounds. Jesus is not merely the Great Physician who heals you in your body and soul, but Jesus is healing, Jesus is life, and in Him alone are you healed.

Jesus doesn’t ask about your faith when He calls you, He just calls you; He catches you, like a fish in a net. He makes you His disciple, and a disciple trusts in and follows Jesus. And He makes of you fishers of men, catching men alive, in the net which is the message of the cross, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has brought you into the boat of His Church, and in your holy vocation He works with you and through you to bring others into the boat of His Church.

Though all around the Church the nets are breaking and many who hear the Word do not believe, we continue to let down the nets into the deep waters of the world and men of all ages, races, languages, nationalities, and economic strata, both notorious sinners and tellers of white lies are caught together in Christ’s net and find themselves saved in the boat of His Church to the glory of God.

And, in the Church, Christ our Servant Captain is present to raise men to new and eternal life through the washing of His Word and Spirit in Holy Baptism. And, our Great Physician is present with His healing Words and Wounds to recreate, restore, and resurrect our weary souls, feeding, nourishing, and strengthening us with His Holy Body and His Precious Blood, the very Medicine of Immortality. And, on the Last Day, when Christ our Captain calls His Church to safe harbor in Heaven, He will crown you with eternal life that will never wane, and the life that we know now but through a mirror dimly, then we shall know face to face.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 4)

2011-07-18T10:59:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 6:36-42; Romans 8:18-23; Genesis 50:15-21

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

In 1972 a psychologist by the name of Walter Mischel conducted a study at Stanford University that has come to be known as the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. In the experiment a child between the ages of four and six was seated at a table alone in a room while a tray was placed before him containing one marshmallow. The child was instructed that he could eat the marshmallow immediately if he wanted to or he could wait until the researcher returned and then he could have two marshmallows. The researcher then left the room and the child was videotaped as he sat and pondered his decision.

As you can perhaps imagine, the behavior of the children was often humorous and sometimes torturous. Some children would cover their eyes with their hands or turn around so that they could not see the tray, others started kicking the desk, or tugging on their pigtails, or stroking the marshmallow as if it were a tiny stuffed animal, while a few would simply eat the marshmallow as soon as the researcher left. The Marshmallow Experiment has been repeated several times and recently a video has made its way around the internet and has become viral (extremely popular) because of the near torturous facial expressions and the humorous behaviors the children in the study exhibited as they attempted to resist temptation and forgo immediate gratification for the promise of a reward after a period of waiting. While a few children would eat the marshmallow immediately, of the over 600 who took part in the experiment, only one third could defer gratification long enough to get the second marshmallow.

It can be hard to wait, even torturous, and the devil and our own flesh, desires, and passions continually war against us so that we give in to temptation and reach for immediate gratification rather than wait for the promised reward. This is why we are in debt, we give in to the temptation to charge what we want and take it home today rather than save up our money over time to buy it later. When we are children we cannot wait to grow up and to be adults, and so we give in to the temptation to do adult things before we are ready, or legal, and we find ourselves in trouble. And, when we are treated unjustly by others, when bad things happen to us and to those that we love, when we see poverty and hunger, war, and pestilence in our cities, our nation, and our world, we become impatient with God’s timeline and we curse Him for not acting quicker or we take action ourselves, even against His Word and His will to right our perceived wrongs, often causing greater suffering and affliction for ourselves and for our neighbors.

Waiting is a test of our faith. In fact, the Holy Scriptures speak of faith in terms of waiting. The Psalmist David sings, “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” And he exhorts you, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!” And the Sage Solomon warns, “Do not say, ‘I will repay evil’; wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.” And the Prophet Jeremiah comforts you saying, “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

For, so much more than the promise of man do we have the promise of God: “I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.” “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” And we have the promise of our Lord Jesus, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." And, so much more than the promise of a marshmallow, or a new TV, or even physical health or peace in this world do we have the promise of True and eternal life, peace, and fulfillment in communion with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In today’s Gospel lesson our Lord Jesus exhorts you to be merciful, just as God your Father is merciful. Jesus exhorts you to not judge your brother and your neighbor but always to forgive them and give to them what they need. To be sure, this is often hard to do, and sometimes it seems impossible. Indeed, it is impossible to be merciful, to refrain from judging, but forgive, give to, and love your brother and neighbor unless you first have received mercy, forgiveness, and love from God your Father through Jesus Christ.

And, in our Old Testament lesson you heard how Joseph forgave his brothers all the evil they had done to him. In his mercy and forgiveness Joseph served as an example, even an icon, of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and love in Jesus Christ. Joseph even confessed that, though his brothers meant it for evil, God used their evil and his own suffering for good. So too does God use the evil and the suffering that you and your loved ones experience for good. So too does God use all the evil and suffering in the world for good according to His mysterious and holy wisdom and will. Joseph knew God’s love for him, and with God’s love he loved his brothers who meant him harm. So too you, knowing God’s love for you in Jesus Christ, can love your brothers and neighbors, even when they mean you harm, bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, and enduring all things.

And this is how mercy, reserving judgment, forgiving, and giving are related to patience and faith, hope, and trust. These are all the fruits of ἀγάπη, God’s divine, selfless and sacrificial love. We love God because He first loved us, and we love one another because we are loved by God. And because God has loved us, we trust Him to be faithful and to keep His promises, knowing that He works all things for the good of those He has called in Jesus Christ. This is why St. Paul writes, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us,” for God has promised that He will see us through all sufferings, crosses, and persecutions, even death, to the resurrection to eternal life. He has given His own Son unto death and has raised Him to life and seated Him at His right hand in power and glory as living proof of the trustworthiness of His promises.

So, for now, we live our lives to God and to His glory in selfless and sacrificial love for our brothers and our neighbors in faith, hope, and trust in our gracious God and LORD for a glory yet to be revealed. And while we wait patiently for the redemption of our bodies, the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh war against us, tempting us to judge and to condemn our brothers and neighbors, to seek revenge, and to satisfy the desires and the passions of the flesh. When we resist these temptations we make a sacrifice and we experience suffering, but these sacrifices and sufferings are precious to God and they are sanctified in the sacrifice and sufferings of His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And, with the measure that you give it will be measured back to you. For, what you give consists of what God your Father has given you. When you are merciful, it is God’s mercy that you show to your brother and neighbor. When you refrain from judging, it is because you have not been judged by God for your trespasses and sin. When you refrain from condemning, it is because you are not condemned. And, when you forgive, it is because you have been forgiven and it is with God’s forgiveness that you forgive your brother and neighbor. For, you are a manager and a steward of God your Father’s mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love, and with the measure you use of your Father’s gifts will it be measured back to you, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

And, your Father is ready here today to pour these gifts into your ears and your mouths and your hearts that you may be filled with His mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love so that not only are you filled to the brim with His love, but your hearts will overflow in abundance as you serve your brother and neighbor in love to the glory of God the Father.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Atheocracy

2011-07-06T08:27:00.001-04:00

Great commentary on our socio-political, moral, ethical, cultural millieu:

Atheocracy Cranach: The Blog of Veith

HT: Cranach: The Blog of Veith

Homily for The Holy Marriage of Jody David Lent & Rachel Louise Keller

2011-07-04T08:04:00.001-04:00

Matthew19:4-6; Ephesians 5:1-2, 22-33; Genesis 2:7, 18-24

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

St. Clement of Alexandria said that “Marriage is more than human; it is a microbasileia (a miniature kingdom), which is the little house of the Lord (a little church).” This is most certainly true, for Holy Marriage is the premiere human institution, instituted by God in Paradise when His creation was new and pure and when man and woman and marriage where unblemished images, icons, of the Holy Trinity.

God instituted Holy Marriage that we might know something about our Holy Triune God by experiencing and participating in His life, His dominion, and His love. God created our First Parents in His image with an intellect and will unique amongst all His creatures. He created them in holiness and in righteousness, with the capacity to give life and love and to lay down their life in selfless, sacrificial love for the other. God created Adam in a special way distinct from all else that He had made and then He made Eve in a distinct way out of Adam’s side so that when God brought her to Adam he recognized her to be his own bone and his own flesh. Both the man and the woman recognized the other as the completion of their self, and God reunited the two that were separated and blessed their union declaring them to be one flesh.

Though, after the Fall, the image of God in man became tarnished and corrupted, it was not destroyed, and still we catch a glimpse of God’s life and love when we act in selfless love, mercy, charity, grace, kindness, peace, and forgiveness toward others. But the union of a man and a woman in Holy Marriage as instituted and blessed by God is an icon of the Holy Trinity in a unique and special way. Husbands and wives together are an icon of the Holy Trinity in their one-flesh union in which neither is greater or less than another, but together they share dominion as kings and queens of the microbasileia (the little kingdom, the little church) that is their home and family. For, Holy Marriage is a kingship, but a kingship, not of tyranny and subjugation, but a kingship of stewardship and of martyrdom, that is, a kingship of love. God crowned His creation by creating man, male and female He created them, and God crowned our First Parents as king and queen over all of His creation. God crowned them to be stewards of His creation and stewards of each other’s body and life. And God crowned them to be martyrs, called to die to their selves for the sake of the other in perfect, selfless love. And then, at last, God crowned them and He blessed them that they would participate with Him in the ongoing creation of life as the two, sacrificially united in selfless love in a one-flesh union, would bring forth a new and third life that would be the fruit of each of their bodies and lives bearing forth new life in communion with, and to the glory of, the Holy Trinity.

Holy Marriage is an icon of our Holy Triune God, for it is a communion of persons who give to and receive from each other, who are so closely bound together by their love for each other that, in a way that we cannot understand, they are one flesh. Just as there is no human equation in which 1+1+1 = 1, so neither is it possible according to human reason and understanding that 1+1 should = 1 or that two should become one flesh. For, just as the Holy Trinity is a mystery, so too Holy Marriage is a lesser mystery. And yet, our experience in Holy Marriage, as two become one flesh, offers us, not only a glimpse into the mystery of the Holy Trinity but also an experience of the selfless and sacrificial love that is the essence of the Holy Trinity.

Jody and Rachel, as we your friends and family together behold you this day, just moments away from giving yourselves to each other in Holy Marriage, we are blessed to behold in you an image, an icon of our First Parents in the Garden of Eden. We are blessed to behold in you an icon of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Bride the Church. And we are blessed to behold in you an icon of our Holy Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For, that is what you are becoming, a new image, an new icon of selfless, sacrificial love in the one-flesh union of holy marriage that our Triune God has created and instituted and even now calls you to. God will place crowns upon your heads; they will be crowns of dominion, crowns of love, and crowns of martyrdom, and yet they will not be multiple crowns, for they are all but one crown, the Martyr’s Crown, the crown of Jesus Christ, and they will make you to be an icon of God’s holy love in the one-flesh union of Holy Marriage, the sweetest martyrdom.

God is love. And God has revealed His love in creation, in redemption, and in sanctification. And, your Holy Marriage is to be a reflection of His love and a participation in His love in creation, in redemption, and in sanctification. For, Jody, today you will be crowned a king in a new family. You will be a king like your King Jesus, a Servant King, a Martyr King, as you sacrifice yourself for the sake of Rachel, your wife, your body, bone of your bones and flesh of your flesh. Your only desire every day of your life will be for her salvation that she may be presented to the Lord just as He has made her to be in His holy, innocent, shed blood, in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. You are to be the steward and husband of her body and soul and you are be her king and pastor and love and serve her as the queen of your kingdom and as the little church that is your home just as Christ loved His Bride the Church and gave Himself up for Her.

And Rachel, today you will be crowned a queen in a new family. You will be a queen like unto the Holy Church of which Jesus Christ is the Head. You are to stand by your husband as his helpmate, equal to him in all things, yet you are to willingly submit to him as your head just as the Church submits to Christ Her Head. By submitting to your husband you show him love, honor, and trust as you likewise do to the Lord. And, as Jody will guard and protect the salvation of your body and soul, so do you have stewardship of the salvation of his body and soul.

Jody, Rachel, today you will be crowned with the Martyr’s Crown, for today you will die in the sweetest of martyrdoms. Each of you will die to yourself, for the sake of the other, and you two will become one flesh. The words of St. Paul on marital equality are clear: “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” For a husband and a wife belong to each other as martyrs, they belong to God as royalty, and they are called to treat each other accordingly. For, that is what it means to love, to die to yourself. This is why, and this is how, Holy Marriage is an icon of God, because Holy Marriage is an opportunity for you to show selfless, sacrificial, life-bestowing love to one another, and Holy Marriage is an opportunity for you to receive such selfless, sacrificial, life-bestowing love yourself.

No one is created to live for himself. It is not good that the man should be alone. But, love requires an object, a lover requires a beloved, and a sacrifice requires a cause, and the cause is love itself. God has revealed Himself in love, in creation, in redemption, and in sanctification, and your Holy Marriage will be an icon of His love and a participation in His love in creation, in redemption, and in sanctification.

Jody, Rachel, always remember that your Holy Marriage, instituted and blessed by our Holy Triune God, is an icon of God’s own Divine Family. As you sacrifice yourselves one for the other, two becoming one flesh; and as, if God should so bless you, you are fruitful and bear children – remember always the third partner in your marriage – your Lord Jesus Christ. It was God who brought Adam and Eve together because He desired for them to know the love and fulfillment of His own Divine Family. He is the love that binds you and makes you one flesh; and He has promised to be with you always. Call upon Him daily for your needs. Thank Him daily for your blessings. Make Him the Lord of your hearts and of your Holy Marriage – and He will bless you and your Holy Marriage. You will be fruitful. And your one flesh union will be “very good.”

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

Homily for The First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 1)

2011-06-26T17:56:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

Luke 16:19-31; 1 John 4:16-21; Genesis 15:1-6

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

Lazarus was literally living proof of who Jesus was and what He could do. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. The man who had been dead four days so that he stinketh, Jesus raised him up by speaking His life-bestowing Word. Without a doubt, Jesus was the Messiah, God’s anointed one. He was the resurrection and the life, both on the Last Day, and now.

Why did they not rejoice? Why did they not receive Him with joy, and praise, and thanksgiving? The religious leadership of Israel did not rejoice, they could not praise Him, because they, long ago, had given up true hope and true belief in God’s promised Messiah, because they, long ago, had given up true hope and true belief in God’s Holy Word, and because the only law that mattered to them was the law which they themselves bound men with when they taught the children of Israel that they could please God by their own works and merit, and that material wealth and prosperity was God’s blessing upon them for their faithfulness. This horrible doctrine enabled the religious leadership of Israel to self-righteously establish a sort of spiritual caste system, consigning the poor, the ill, widows, and children to the lowest caste, while they enjoyed the privileges and the luxuries of the upper caste.

For them, the Law of God was a law of the do-able, and they believed that they obeyed the Law very well, so well, in fact, that it seemed easy for them, as natural as breathing. Such is the pride and the arrogance of self-righteousness that Satan breeds in the hearts of those who hearken to his tempting voice. So, the religious leaders added to the Law of God their own laws and commandments; in fact, there are 613 Mitzvoth, or commandments, which are drawn from the Tanakh (the Old Testament), and there are thousands of other laws recorded in the Jewish oral law called the Talmud. The religious leadership of Israel used all these commandments to keep the people enslaved by a law of works that could never release them from their sins, while God Himself had given only Ten Commandments, and those ten can be whittled down to but only one: Love.

Jesus’ story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is ultimately about love. It is a warning about how misplaced love – love for riches and power and reputation, which is idolatry – inhibits the true of love of God and the neighbor, which is the fulfilling of the Law of God, fulfilled and made perfect in God’s love for the world in sending His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross. The Rich Man is the self-righteous man who believes that he fulfills the Law of God by his good works and merit. He perceives that his riches, power, and reputation are blessings from God and rewards for his faithfulness. As Jesus tells the story, however, the Rich Man showed no love for his neighbor, particularly for poor Lazarus who begged for crumbs from the Rich Man’s table. Amazingly, as Jesus tells it, even in death, the Rich Man considered Lazarus to be in a servant caste beneath him and he showed him no love at all. But Lazarus, reclining at Abraham’s side, was loved by God, and, the Rich Man too was loved by God as is indicated by Abraham calling him “child”.

The problem for the Rich Man is the problem for all who trust in their works and merits according to the Law of God: If you believe that you keep the Law and so are righteous, then you will be judged according to the Law. The law of works is diametrically opposed to the Law of Love that Jesus calls us to. The one who believes that his works are righteous, and merit him righteousness before God, cannot love God; firstmost, he is deceiving himself by believing that his works are meritorious, and second, he must necessarily see God as a severe and unjust master who takes what he did not deposit and reaps what he did not sow.

The Rich Man believed that his riches, power, and reputation were his rightly earned and merited blessings from God, therefore he felt no guilt in feasting sumptuously and dressing in the most expensive of clothes. Likewise, he felt no guilt in walking past and ignoring poor Lazarus who laid at his gate, for he felt no love for anyone that he deemed to be beneath him, and further, he believed that Lazarus’ suffering was God’s curse upon him because he was unrighteous.

In His story, Jesus describes a great chasm that separates those who dwell in hell from those in heaven. While we should resist the temptation to interpret too literally the detailed descriptions Jesus offers of the afterlife, the general concept of a chasm between heaven and hell serves to illustrate the great separation from God that unbelievers experience after death. Jesus experienced this separation from God His Father according to His human nature when He cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” The concept of a chasm that separates unbelievers from God is truly remarkable considering that God fills all things and is everywhere at all times. As David sings, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” This only serves to emphasize how serious a problem is sin, that it separates a person from God’s gracious, merciful, and loving presence.

Interestingly, it seems that after the discussion about the chasm of separation between heaven and hell, the Rich Man finally begins to think of someone else other than himself. The Rich Man appealed to Father Abraham to send poor, servant-class Lazarus to his father’s house to warn his five brothers so that they would not also come to the place of his torment. Abraham’s response to the Rich Man is really the crux of Jesus’ story: They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Moses and the Prophets are the Word of God, both Law of Gospel. God gave the Law, the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial laws, through Moses so that men would see their sin and repent. God gave the Gospel in the promise that He would not look upon their sin because of the innocent blood of animals they shed in sacrifice. Even though not a single drop of all that blood of bulls, goats, and lambs ever took away a single sin, God accepted it as a covering for sin and, even more, it served to point to the blood sacrifice that God Himself would provide in sending His Son Jesus to die as the one sacrifice that has secured an eternal atonement for all people of all times in all places.

The Rich Man and his brothers in Jesus’ story represent the religious leadership of Israel and all who have been poisoned by their false teaching to believe in a false religion of works and self-righteousness. They had Moses and the Prophets, the Law and the Gospel of God, and they rejected it for themselves, and they added to it their own laws so that no one could know the sweetness and the gift of the Gospel.

Lazarus died. Jesus said that He was glad that He wasn’t there; He was glad that His friend had died, so that His disciples would believe, for He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. The man had been dead four days so that he stinketh, but Jesus raised him up by speaking His life-bestowing Word. Without a doubt, Jesus was the Messiah, God’s anointed one. He was the resurrection and the life, both on the Last Day, and now. His disciples and many others believed in Him. Even the religious leadership of Israel believed in Him. They believed in Him so much that they plotted to kill Him. Their words in John’s Gospel are telling: What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let Him go one like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. The religious leadership of Israel believed that Jesus was the anointed one of God, the Messiah, and they decided that they loved their riches, power, and reputation, which they now ascribe to the Romans rather than to the blessing of God, they loved these more than they loved God or His Messiah. These same religious leaders sought to kill Lazarus, to get rid of the evidence, and, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, they denied that He had been raised from the dead and they attempted to convince the people that His body had been stolen and that it had all been a hoax. If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Jesus’ story about the Rich Man and Lazarus is ultimately about love, for God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. We obey the Law of God because He loves us and has forgiven us in His perfect gift of love, Jesus. We fear God because of His boundless love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. And, because of God’s love for us in Jesus, we love one another. We are not compelled to obey God’s Law because of fear that He is a severe master who takes what he did not deposit and reaps what he did not sow, but we freely obey because of God’s love for us and because His Law and His will are love for us, for our brother and neighbor, and for all the world. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

God the Father has called you in His Son by His Holy Spirit to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. You do not need to fear losing anything that you have or not being loved in return or anything in this life at all, for there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For, you are loved with the perfect love of God in Christ Jesus and you will stand in confidence before Him on the day of judgment.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Trinity

2011-06-19T12:57:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

John 3:1-17; Romans 11:33-36; Isaiah 6:1-7

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

Just wait until your father gets home. How many of you, as children, have heard those frightful words? How many of you, as mothers, have uttered those frightful words? But, are fathers really as bad as all that, causing the hearts of their children to melt with fear and foreboding at the very mention of their father’s presence? Yes, that is, if fear is understood in the proper way. That is to say that a child should not fear being abused by his or her father physically, verbally, or emotionally. And, neither should a child fear that his or her father is against them or that he is their enemy in any way. But, indeed, a child should fear his or her father so that they revere him, honor him with their lives, and avoid what displeases him.

For, the proper fear of our earthly fathers serves to teach us children of God the proper fear of our heavenly Father. And, this is not to suggest that our earthly fathers are perfect – perfectly loving, perfectly good, and perfectly holy like our heavenly Father – for fatherhood, just as motherhood, just as marriage, and just as every other human relationship known to mankind, is tainted and corrupted by sin so that these institutions and relationships are but dim, murky reflections of their God-created ideals. Still, they are reflections none the less. For, even though tainted and corrupted by sin, the heart and the will of most fathers is still for the good of their children in that they desire to give them things that are good for them and to provide for them with what they need to support their bodies and their lives. And, this is a reflection, even if a dim and murky one, of our perfect, loving, good, and holy God and Father in heaven. To fear and to love our earthly fathers is to fear and to love God. This we confess in the Explanation to the Fourth commandment in the Small Catechism. In both Proverbs and Psalms, the Holy Scriptures equate the fear of the LORD with true wisdom. Consequently, the LORD promises that blessing comes in honoring and obeying our earthly fathers, for, when we fear, love, honor, and obey our earthly fathers, we fear and love God our Father in heaven.

Indeed, the presence of God our Father is a fearful thing. God the Father is to be feared for His measureless mercy and grace, compassion, and love. But, God the Father is also to be feared because He is righteous and holy and perfectly just. He is to be feared because, in contrast, as St. Paul has written, we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Thus, when Isaiah beheld the LORD in His glory, seated upon His throne, he feared for his life saying, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Isaiah’s fear of the LORD was a confession. It was a confession, at once, of the LORD’s holiness and righteousness, but also of Isaiah’s own sinfulness and uncleanness. Therefore, Isaiah stood in the LORD’s presence in humility, with no claim of merit and with no offering in hand, in the full knowledge that he had no right to be there, but that by all right he should be destroyed, yet also believing and knowing that God is merciful and gracious, compassionate, and loving. Such humility and repentance are the signifiers of true fear, honor, love, reverence, and trust.

Upon Isaiah’s confession, the LORD remedied his problem; He forgave Isaiah and cleansed him of his sinful uncleanness as Isaiah recounts, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for’.” Isaiah did nothing to merit or to deserve this merciful and gracious action of the LORD, rather, instead, he confessed his inability to make himself clean. But, the LORD had mercy upon Isaiah and graciously cleansed him and forgave him by means of the Sacrifice that He had prepared for Isaiah, and for you, and for all mankind before the foundation of the world. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!

For, the only altar in the temple of God from whence come the removal of guilt and the atonement of sins is the altar of sacrifice. And, the coals upon this altar were already burning, indicating that they had been used for sacrifice, and, upon touching Isaiah’s lips, his guilt was indeed removed and his sin atoned for, confirming the validity of the sacrifice. For, the High Priest who serves in the temple of God is Jesus the Christ who is both Priest and Sacrifice as the writer to the Hebrews states, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” Thus, for the same reason that God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and to raise it up on a pole, that all who had been bitten by poisonous serpents, when they looked upon the bronze serpent raised up on the pole, would be healed and live, for the same reason, God sent forth His Son as a sacrificial victim to be raised up in death upon the cross, that all who have been bitten by the poisonous serpent Satan, when they look to Jesus will find that they are cleansed of their guilt and that their sins have been atoned for. For in this way did God so love the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish abut have eternal life.

Jesus Christ, God’s sacrifice which has removed your guilt and which has atoned for your sin, is your heavenly Father’s gift to you by grace. You did not merit it or deserve it, but it is the truest and most perfect gift there could be, the gift of true and perfect and holy love, for no greater love is possible than this, that a man should lay down His life for His friends. For God did not just have love for the world, but God acted in love for the world in this way, He sent His only-begotten Son into your flesh, to live your life, to be tempted with your temptations, to be obedient to the Father’s will and command for you, to die in your place, and to be raised and returned to God as a guarantee that you have been redeemed, forgiven, and restored to God your Father.

This is what your God and Father in heaven has done for you. And, now you receive the benefit of His love, mercy, grace, compassion, and forgiveness by the working of His Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. Jesus taught Nicodemus, “You must be born again of water and the Spirit,” for, just as your natural birth was not of your own will or work, and in conception and birth you received the guilt of Original Sin, so your spiritual re-birth was not of your own will or work, and in Holy Baptism you received cleansing of your guilt and atonement for your sin through Jesus Christ, God’s sacrifice and gift of love for you and the entire world.

Your God and Father in heaven is continually pointing you outside of yourself to Him and His gifts. He would have you confess Him as your Creator, your Redeemer, and your Sanctifier, and these three as persons in the one Triune Godhead, the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, in this Holy Trinity there is unity even as there is trinity, three persons, yet one God, with each of the persons being equally God. And, these three persons work together at all times in creation, redemption, and sanctification, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

On this blessed Feast of the Holy Trinity, that just happens to occur on this civic holiday of Father’s Day, we are thankful for the many and various ways in which our Holy and Triune God reveals Himself in love and mercy to sinners such as us. In our loving fathers we see an image of our loving God and Father who provides for us all that we need for our bodies and lives. In our spouses we see an image of our loving God and Savior as husband and wife sacrifice of themselves each for the other becoming one flesh. In our families we see an image of our God and sanctifier as the family is a sanctuary of love set apart from the world while in the world.

Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to Him because He has shown His mercy to us.

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

Homily for the Feast of Pentecost (Confirmation)

2011-06-12T13:06:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

John 14:23-31; Acts 2:1-21; Genesis 11:1-9

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

The great city of Babylon was but the end result of what our First Parents, Adam and Eve, set out to build for themselves when they succumbed to the serpent’s temptation and rebelled against God, taking and eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden – they sought to make for themselves a name in the world and they sought to elevate themselves as gods unto themselves. Indeed, God Himself acknowledged this saying, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.” So, the LORD drove the man and the woman out of the Garden of Eden and placed an angel there as a sentry with a flaming sword that turned every way to keep the man and the woman from entering the Garden and from eating from the Tree of Life.

The serpent, Satan, did what Satan always does, he lied. Yes, true enough, he told Adam and Eve the truth in part, saying that their eyes would be opened and that they would know good and evil, but he lied to them in saying that they would be like God, for, the tragic irony here lies in the fact that they were already like God, created in His image of holiness and righteousness. But, when they ate of the forbidden fruit they sinned and they lost that image, they ceased to be like God. And, from then on they began to die, not just physically, but they died spiritually right then and there. Thus, it was in mercy that God barred our first parents from the Tree of Life, so that they would not eat of its fruit and live in eternal separation from God and His eternal life.

However, God’s will for man was still that he would be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over every living thing on the earth, for, in that way, God would be glorified in His creation as all living things recognized Him as their benevolent and loving Creator and God. But, man failed to disperse throughout the earth and instead, gathered together in one land as one people having one language and there began to finish what Adam and Eve had started, saying altogether, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

Too often man’s endeavors have in mind only man’s self-glorification and not the glorification of God. Consider the towers we build for ourselves of pride and self-sufficiency, how we imagine them to be untoppleable, reaching into the heavens, that is, of course, until our co-worker gets a promotion, our neighbor gets a more fashionable car or a sexier wife, or until another takes aim at your towers to advance his own, and then they come crumbling down in a pile of rubble and shame leaving us angry, defeated, hopeless, and despairing.

In what may be a bit of Mosaic humor, God had to come down from the heavens to find the tower that represented the ultimate achievement of man’s intellect, strength, prowess, and talent. I am reminded of God’s words to Job,

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone...? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed?

The problem is that man wants to worship the creature rather than the Creator, and that is idolatry and a sin against the First Commandment of God. Ultimately, however, idolatry is the only sin, for, if you break any of the Commandments numbered two through ten, you always break the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods,” and you place your fear, your love, and your trust in something or someone, even in yourself, more than, above, or in opposition to God. All sin is idolatry; all sin is a failure to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. That was Adam’s sin. That was the sin of the Babylonians. And, that is your sin as well. Repent. Confess yours sins and your towering idolatries to God and receive the forgiveness He has provided for you in the sacrificial suffering and death of His Son, Jesus the Christ.

Truly it was in mercy that the LORD confused the language of the Babylonians and dispersed them over all the face of the earth. Sometimes God frustrates and thwarts your plans and activities when they will lead you into idolatry, for, when you stop trusting in your own strength, wisdom, and works, when you are empty handed and on your knees, or your back, with nothing to offer, then you are in the best possible position to receive fully and freely from God by grace.

It was by grace that Jesus died to give you peace, not the fleeting and false peace that the world gives which is here today and gone tomorrow, but true, lasting, and unchanging peace, peace with your Creator, peace with God. Jesus won and secured that peace for you in His death on the cross. Then, on Pentecost, He sent the Holy Spirit, just as He promised, to seal you in this peace. In Holy Baptism you died to this world and to the ways of sin, death, and the devil, and you rose a new man who knows, loves, and wills the will and the commandments of God. You were united with Christ in the Holy Spirit, sealed in the Name of God, and given peace with God in Christ Jesus, your Lord and Savior.

That is what our young Confirmands will confess this day. They will confess with their mouths what they believe in their hearts about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They will confess the faith they received as a gift when they were baptized, confirming that faith today after having been instructed in the doctrines and confession of the Christian faith. Additionally, today is an opportunity for each of you also to re-confirm the faith you received in Holy Baptism however long ago you received the blessing of that Divine Sacrament.

And so it is that, in an unique way, Pentecost is the undoing of Babylon, the undoing even of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden, as all mankind is now drawn together from the ends of the earth as one body in Christ Jesus, with one head, one faith, one baptism, and one voice and confession saying,

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

This is the Christian faith, and this is the Lutheran confession of the Christian faith. For, that is what faith is, a confession, a speaking with the mouth of what is believed in the heart. The Lutheran faith is a confessional faith that does not merely say that it believes but always says what it believes. And, what the Lutheran faith believes is confessed, not only in words from the mouth, but in actions and deeds. Thus, everything the Church does in word or in deed is a confession of what the Church believes and of what Her members believe in their hearts. How we worship is a confession. What we sing is a confession. What liturgical actions we perform is a confession. How we dress and carry ourselves both in worship and in the world is a confession. How we treat our bodies is a confession. What we do with and how we care for our possessions is a confession. How we use our money is a confession. And how we love our spouses and children is an outward confession of what we believe in our hearts.

Anything that interferes with your confession of faith, anything that gets between you and your Creator God, is an idol and a false god, it is a Babylonic tower that must be abandoned or destroyed. Jesus taught that if you have the faith of the very tiny mustard seed that you can say to a mountain, “‘Move from here to there’, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Well, have you moved any mountains, O you of little faith? Ah, but what about the towering, mountainous idols you can uproot, displace, and destroy if only you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead?

The promise and the blessing of Pentecost is that the Lord has not left you as orphans to fend for yourselves or to get along by your own reason, wisdom, or strength, but He has sent you the Helper, the Counselor, and the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, just as He promised. And, the promise of the Holy Spirit is that you will confess in word and deed what you believe in your heart about God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost quoting the Prophet Joel,

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Exaudi–The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Easter 7)

2011-06-05T12:51:00.001-04:00

(Audio)

John 15:26 – 16:4; 1 Peter 4:7-14; Ezekiel 36:22-28

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

The Incarnation of the Son of God was much more than the Word becoming flesh and making His dwelling amongst us, it was the beginning of the resurrection and the eternal life of men, a resurrection and life that the resurrection of Lazarus was but a shadow and type of and that the resurrection of Jesus was the guarantee of. When Gabriel proclaimed that the Holy Spirit would come upon the young virgin Mary and that the Spirit of the Most High would overshadow her, the Word of God became flesh and true and eternal life came into man for the first time since God breathed His life-giving Spirit-breath into Adam’s nostrils and he became a living being.

In Jesus, God’s salvation came to men. In Emmanuel, God had visited His people. But there was nothing showy or spectacular about Jesus, He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. But, in this humble, common way, as a boy, as a man, He honored His father and His mother, He loved God with all His heart, soul, and mind, and He loved His neighbor as Himself. He fulfilled the Law of God for us who were corrupted by the sin of our fathers before we took our first breath or committed our first of countless transgressions of thought, word, and deed thereafter.

At twelve years of age, Jesus learned under the Rabbis and amazed them with His faith and knowledge. He Himself became a respected Rabbi enjoying the favor of both God and men. Even the Pharisees counted Him as one of them and sought to have table fellowship with Him and listen to His teaching. Though the Scriptures are silent about the intervening years of Jesus’ adulthood, we can assume that they transpired in much this same way as Jesus experienced life as a human man, eating, drinking, working, sleeping, praying and worshipping God, teaching and learning, growing, experiencing joy and sorrow, growing in faith, love, and trust, while experiencing temptation yet without sinning.

Then the day came when He submitted to be baptized by His cousin John in the Jordan River. For some time John had been teaching his disciples that Jesus was the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, but when Jesus was baptized, miraculous and powerful signs occurred indicating both the truth and the fulfillment of John’s prophecy: The heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." The voice from heaven was that of God the Father. Not only did the Father reveal that Jesus was His Son, but He proclaimed that with Jesus He was well pleased. This was remarkable and wondrous, for not since the creation of Adam and Eve was it possible for God to look upon man and proclaim that He was well pleased.

There in the waters of the Jordan stood the sinless, obedient, humble, and holy Son of God incarnated as a man. Where sinful men came to wash themselves as a sign of their repentance, the one who knew no sin came to become sin for us that we might become the righteous of God. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus anointed Him, christened Him the Christ of God, the Messiah. Just as King David was chrismated for a reign of humble, sacrificial service, even death for God’s people, so Jesus the Christ, the Son of David and the Son of God began that day His reign of humble sacrificial service, even death for all men. But, where David succumbed to temptation and was no shepherd to God’s people, even, at times, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Jesus was the Good Shepherd who willingly laid down His life for His sheep.

Jesus showed the world what it truly meant to love God and to love the neighbor. He showed mercy, love, and forgiveness to tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners and had table fellowship with them. He would allow lepers and the unclean to enter His presence and He healed them by proclaiming the forgiveness of their sins. It came to pass that the Pharisees were not so enamored with Jesus any longer. They were offended and scandalized that Jesus showed love and compassion to such people, but that is what it truly means to love God. The Pharisees showed themselves to be not only unloving of the people that they were appointed to shepherd and to lovingly teach and comfort, but they showed themselves to be truly unloving and resentful of God.

So, they began to plot, with other like-minded accomplices, to get rid of Jesus and to secure their own power and influence. They even colluded with the ungodly, pagan Romans, who enslaved them, to crucify the Christ of God, the Messiah, because He showed and taught love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness to people that the Pharisees refused to love, because they did not truly love God. One of His closest disciples betrayed Him, and they all, even Peter, deserted Him. He was arrested, tried, and convicted as a criminal. He was scourged, beaten, whipped, and mocked. At last, they nailed Him to the tree of the cross and He died, the sinless one for sinners, because He was the LORD’s Christ, His anointed one, the Messiah, and this is how God so loved the world.

The Incarnation of the Son of God was the beginning of the resurrection and the eternal life of men, but the resurrection of Jesus was the guarantee of that for all who would believe. And yet, that is not where it all ends, but still there is more! Our resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ continued to experience life as a human man, eating, drinking, working, sleeping, praying and worshipping God, teaching, experiencing joy, in perfect faith, love, and trust, but now, glorified in human flesh no longer experiencing suffering, sorrow, or temptation. Jesus lives, the firstfruits of all who will be raised from death to eternal life through faith in Him.

I think that many Christians are content to end the story with Jesus’ resurrection – And, they lived happily ever after – but, there was a reason that Jesus lovingly taught Mary saying, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Jesus’ ascension to the Father is every bit as important as is His incarnation, His fulfilling of the Law, His suffering, death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. In Jesus’ incarnation, human flesh could live once again. In His obedience to the Law, Jesus fulfilled the Law for all men. In His innocent suffering and death, Jesus became the curse of man’s sin and men, in exchange, became His righteousness. In His resurrection, the final bonds of death were broken for all men so that, on the Last Day, all the dead will be raised. But in His ascension to the Father, we have the guarantee that we will live in the presence of our holy Triune God forever, for a flesh and blood man, Jesus, the Christ of God, has ascended there as a human man in resurrected and glorified flesh. He now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven, reigning over all things, working all things, even the bad things, for the good of those who love Him. And, on the day which only the Father knows, He will return in the same manner in which He was seen to go, in human flesh, as a man, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. That is a guarantee! And yet, still there is more to celebrate! Jesus promised His disciples, His Church, that if He left them, He would send to them a Helper, a Counselor, a Comforter to comfort, guide, and keep them in the little while during which the Church must wait for His return. As is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

Even now we are in that little while, witnessing the self-giving love of Jesus to our congregation, community, and the world while we wait in confidence for the return of our King. Satan, the world, and our own flesh conspire against us to deceive us, to tempt us to not believe that Jesus will return, but that the world will continue on as it has so that it is wisest to live for one’s self and do what pleases each one. But, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit who guides us in the truth, and the Truth is Jesus Christ. We have the gift of forgiveness and comfort and the strengthening of our faith through the Means of the Spirit, the Means of Grace, in the preaching of the Gospel, in the Holy Supper, in Holy Baptism, and in Holy Absolution. And, we have the gift of faith, the assurance of things hoped for, the certainty of things unseen, that our Holy Triune God, the Father who has created us and who sustains us, the Son who has redeemed us in His holy innocent shed blood, and the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps us in the one true faith are always working for us and for our good so that no matter what may happen, nothing can snatch us out of the Father’s hand and nothing can separate us from the love of the Father through Jesus Christ.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Memorial Day Prayer and Blessing 2011

2011-05-30T23:28:00.001-04:00

James Earl Jones reading the Gettysburg Address–Pawling, NY 05/30/11

This year’s Memorial Day Ceremony was special in that a new Memorial Monument Plaza was dedicated in addition to a new Civil War monument. James Earl Jones, a Pawling resident and veteran, read the Gettysburg Address as the new monument was revealed and dedicated. It was a moving and memorable moment. The prayer and blessing I offered was a revision of the one I prepared for last year but was unable to deliver due to some organizational confusion. It was a privilege and an honor to be able to deliver the prayer on this special day. The Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony is something that Pawling definitely gets right. It is the epitome of small town Americana and is profoundly reverent and moving and honors those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Gift of Your love poured out for us in the selfless sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. As we remember this day those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, we think of how they have followed in the footsteps of Your Son. We thank You for those men and women who have laid down their lives in loving, selfless, sacrifice for us, for our nation, for our freedom, for our families, and for our children. They are an image, a reflection, and an extension of Your love, grace, mercy, and compassion for all people.

A life given in love is never given in vain. Help us to honor their sacrifice by cherishing the freedoms they died to preserve. Help all citizens of this great nation to sacrifice themselves in humble service to their neighbors, recognizing that all we have comes from Your gracious hand, and that we are but stewards and managers of Your boundless providence.

Grant our nation humble and faithful leaders who bear the sword You give them for the good of those under their charge and make this nation, under God, a beacon light of charity, mercy, hope, and peace for the world, that those dwelling in the darkness of sin and death may know true Peace in the Light of Your love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Hold our service men and women in Your strong arms. Cover them with your sheltering grace and presence as they stand in the gap for our protection. We also remember the families of our troops, and ask for Your unique blessings to fill their homes, and Your peace, provision and strength to fill their lives. May the members of our armed forces be filled with courage to face each day, and may they trust in the Lord's mighty power to accomplish each task. Let our military brothers and sisters feel our love and support.

Finally, loving Father, bless this memorial, that all who gaze upon it and read the names inscribed here may know the love poured out for them in the sacrifices made by their brothers and sisters.

Redeeming Savior Jesus, bless this memorial that all who enjoy safety, comfort, peace, and freedom in this great nation may remember the blood shed to secure these gifts.

Sanctifying Spirit of God, bless this memorial, that your love, exemplified in those who have laid down their lives for us, would so abound in us, that all may know your love as they see it reflected in our love and service to our neighbor.

May the Peace of God that passes all understanding, that peace which the world can neither give nor take away, abide with us to bless us, this day, and even forever more.

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