Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday)

(Audio)

John 13:1-15, 34-35; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; Exodus 12:1-14

 

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

As we began this Holy Week on Palm Sunday, you heard again how your Lord comes to you, in humility, in lowliness, and in service. On this Holy Thursday, you will remember and commemorate and hear once again why He came. He came to you because you could not, and would not, come to Him. He came to you to wash you clean of your sins in His holy and precious blood. He came to restore you to His Father, and more than that, He came to have fellowship with you as a brother, to commune with you as His Bride, to become what you are, man, that you might become what He is, God, partakers of His Divine Nature.

He came as your Passover Lamb that you may eat of His flesh and live, that you may be marked by His blood and the wrath of God pass over you. And so, He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.” He had always been the Bread of Life, for He is the Word of God incarnate, of which a man may eat and truly live. He sustained Israel in the desert. He satisfied the multitude in the wilderness. Now, He gives His incarnate Word-body-bread for you to eat that you may be sustained and satisfied and more, that He may dwell in you and you in Him, as one flesh, and truly live. You truly live because He is True Life.

In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” The covenant is new because Jesus is the fulfillment of the old. Everything that God had promised to Adam (and to the devil!), to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to you, has been fulfilled in the incarnation of His only-begotten Son, His baptism, His passion, death, and resurrection. And so, the holy and precious blood of our Passover Lamb is given to you now to drink. Previously you were forbidden to drink blood, for the life of living things is in the blood. But now, that you may know whence True Life comes, you are given His blood to drink that you may have His Life and truly live. That His blood is given you to drink means that it is much more for you than a sign, it is a seal, it is your life itself. The wrath of God does not only pass over you, but He has no claim on you whatsoever. Jesus freely gave His life unto death in your place so that His blood not only marks you as His own but it seals you in Him, in His death, in His resurrection, and in His life. The sign of this sealing for you is the water and the Word of Holy Baptism.

And so, He rose from supper and laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. Peter was offended by his Master’s servant posture, His lowliness and humility. We share this typical human sentiment. We are scandalized and offended by the seeming weak and lowly ways in which our LORD’s kingdom comes amongst us. How can water, word, bread, and wine do such great things? How can a man forgive sins? And, because we do not understand, we justify ourselves, believing that we do not need such common and foolish things. We rebuke our Lord with Peter saying, “You shall never wash my feet.”

But Jesus answered Peter, with no hint of rebuke, but He simply spoke the Truth, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” It is with humility and lowliness that our Lord comes to us. If we refuse to receive Him in the ways in which He comes then we cannot receive Him at all. Then we will miss out sharing with Him, communing with Him, and we will miss out on all His blessings and benefits including the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

“Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” zealous Peter replied. This side of Peter, too, we can relate to. Dissatisfied with the humble and lowly means in which our Lord comes to us we want to supersize them and make them more glorious. And so, we add to them our own ideas and inventions, feigning piety, and, like the Pharisees, we make the LORD’s free gifts into requirements of the law.

“The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean,” Jesus replied. You have been washed, and you are clean, and that is the Truth. You did not wash yourself; you had nothing that could remove the stain and the guilt of sin. The LORD has washed you in the blood of His Son, the True Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. This washing is yours by baptism and faith. In Christ, you are clean, and one who is clean need only wash his feet in repentance and be cleansed, renewed, forgiven, and restored.

“Do you understand what I have done to you?” Jesus asked. No, they did not. They could not, not until Jesus’ resurrection from the dead; and only then did they fully understand when they received the promised Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. In the washing of His disciples’ feet, Jesus had given them an example of how they should live. They were to be extensions of Him, members of His own body. They were to serve others as He had served them. They were to forgive others as He forgave them. And the service and the forgiveness that they would give to others would not be their own, but it would be Christ’s service and forgiveness working through them. Thus, by their humble and merciful service and forgiveness, people would see in them Jesus Christ, for they would see Love.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” It is a new commandment because the old one has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is a not a commandment of the Law, but it is a promise of the Gospel. Jesus gives the new commandment with the promise that His disciples will do as He has done to them. They will serve with His service. They will forgive with His forgiveness. They will love with His love. And the LORD will be glorified as men see in the words and the deeds of His disciples the love of God for all men in Jesus Christ.

And so, we gather this night in remembrance of Him that we might be washed and cleansed anew, forgiven and restored partakers of His Divine Nature, that we might be love as He is love. We do this in remembrance of Him, but this is not a mere memorial, but this is heaven on earth. The Lord said that He would not drink again of the fruit of the vine until He would drink it anew with you in His Father’s kingdom. Our Lord, who is raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of His Father in heaven is present for you now in this Holy Sacrament with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven. Our remembrance this evening, and every Lord’s Day, is where True forgiveness, life, and salvation are found that these may continually be manifest in us to the glory of God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in His most Holy Spirit.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Palmarum (Palm Sunday) - The Second Sunday in Passiontide

(Audio)

Matthew 21:1-9; Matthew 26:1 – 27:66; Philippians 2:5-11; Zechariah 9:9-12

 

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

The last time you heard read the text of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem it was the First Sunday in Advent, last year. Then the text served to prepare you for the annual celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas. Indeed, today’s hearing stands in stark contrast to that of December past. And yet, it is the same story, describing the same event, and even for the same purpose – to prepare you for the Parousia of Our Lord, His coming and real and abiding presence amongst us.

Following the rebellion of our First Parents, the Parousia, the real presence of the LORD, was a fearful thing: Adam and Eve hid themselves in fear from the presence of the LORD. Moses and Isaiah were afraid to look upon the presence of the LORD. Even in the New Testament, whenever an angel of the LORD appeared before men, they were sore afraid. Such fear, even genuine terror, before the presence of the LORD, was a right and proper response from sinful men prior to the Parousia of the LORD in the person of Jesus Christ. Indeed, when Isaiah beheld the glory of the LORD in a vision, he was right to confess, “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!”

Yet, it was always the LORD’s will that He would dwell with His people in communion and peace, not in a relationship of fear and distrust. So, the LORD visited His people through various means which served to veil His presence that men might enter into His presence and live. Indeed, the entire sacrificial program of the Tabernacle and the Temple served in this capacity as the LORD covered over men’s sin for a time that they might abide in His presence. Yet, though rivers flowed with the blood of sacrificed bulls, goats, and lambs, the true communion of presence that the LORD willed for His people was only hinted at. But then, when time was full, the LORD sent forth His Son to enter into human flesh, to become a man, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

The LORD came in His presence, His Parousia, not in might and power, that men would cower in terror and run away from His presence, but in lowliness and humility, even weakness, as a helpless and poor child, that men might be drawn to Him and receive Him as a gift. In Jesus, the Son and Word of God became flesh and made His Parousia, His real and abiding presence and dwelling, amongst men. He came to His own as one of His own, but His own people did not receive Him. But, to all who did receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Isaiah described the humility of the LORD’s Messiah in this way, “He grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

It was in this way, humble and lowly, that Jesus entered the Holy City Jerusalem. He did not come in might and power on a war horse with soldiers to subdue and domineer over men, but He came in meekness and humility as a Servant King riding upon a donkey, a beast of burden, with His ragtag band of disciples. Though the people received Him at first, laying down their cloaks and palms, shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” how quickly their shouts of joy and praise turned to shouts of “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” when it became apparent that He was not the kind of king they were looking for.

What corrupted and sin-twisted minds and hearts men have! We run and hide in terror from the holy presence of the LORD and we reject and crucify His Son when He visited us in His gracious Parousia. Ironically, the very power and might that men so fear, they also crave and desire for themselves. The people wanted a king and a savior that would fight for them against the Romans, a king that would come in warfare and terror against Israel’s enemies and would restore the glory and power and wealth and throne of King David. Men want a tyrant for a god and king, someone who will lay down the law for them to obey and who will enforce it with strength, even brutality. For then we can self-righteously claim that we do it, that we keep the law ourselves, or, if we fail, we can feel justified in disparaging such an unjust ruler.

But your God knows this about you. He knows the double-mindedness of your hearts. He knows your lust for control and power and the admiration of others. He knows the murder in your hearts and how you view others as obstacles to your own success and pleasure. He knows your greed, your lust, and all your insatiable desires and passions. He knows how you care only for yourself and for your selfish wants and desires. He knows all this, yet He loves you; still, He loves you. And so, He comes to you, He brings His real and abiding presence to you, His Parousia, in lowliness and humility, and He lets you have your way with Him that, ultimately, He will have His way with you.

And so, Jesus rides into that mob-like crowd with their sin-warped hopes, desires, and expectations, humble and mounted on a donkey, in lowliness, to be crowned their King. He entered the Holy City Jerusalem, not to be served but to serve, and to lay down His life for the world. His throne was not bedecked with gold and jewels, but of wood and nails. His royal crown was made of twisted, savage thorns, His robe a torn, muddied, and bloodied shroud. He was the Son of David, but He was also David’s Lord. He was sinless, but He was condemned and executed as a sinner. He was the Son of God the Father, but He died that we Barabbases, the sons and daughters of sinful human fathers, might live and be free. The LORD’s passion is for you; it has only and ever been for you. Behold, your King comes to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted upon donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

His is a real and abiding presence – His Parousia – then, now, and always. He is the LORD who is present, present for you, always for you, present to serve. Receive Him now as He comes to you, riding in lowliness and humility in bread and wine, that you may be forgiven, refreshed, strengthened, and restored. The LORD who has created you has also redeemed you, and He wills, not to be worshipped by you as an object, but to commune with you in a relationship of intimacy and unity such that His relationship with our First Parents was but a shadow.

As we together reflect upon His Passion this Holy Week, may we remember that it was in divine and holy love that the LORD has visited His people. He came to His own, who could not and would not come to Him, to restore them to Himself. Even though they rejected Him, mocked Him, scourged Him, and crucified Him, He came to them to lay down His life for them, to die for them, that they might live through Him, in Him, and with Him. In His dying Words He plead the Father’s forgiveness, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and through Jesus, they, and we, are forgiven. All this He gladly suffered.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Lenten Vespers in the Week of Judica (Lent 5)

(Audio)

John 15:18 – 16:4; 1 Peter 4:12-19; Job 1:6-22; Psalm 119:65-72

 

As Christ Suffered, So Shall We

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

Humankind has struggled to understand the meaning of suffering since the Fall in the Garden. After the Fall women were cursed to bear children through pain and sorrow, man would eat bread by the sweat of his brow, the earth would bring forth thorns and thistles, and man and woman would struggle against each other for power and the upper hand. And then we die. This was not the LORD’s will or doing, but this was man’s fatal choice. Adam and Eve are the only humans to know what life was like before suffering, but still they freely chose to reject it and throw it all away. We can take small comfort that they were lied to and deceived, for now lies and deceptions are the air we breathe so that we struggle to even know the truth, and many deny that there is truth at all. For, the truth is, men hate the truth, for truth exposes our lies and deceits with which we have grown all too comfortable and at peace. We are slaves dining off the fleshpots of Egypt.

Nearly universally, humankind considers suffering bad, evil, and something to castigate, avoid, transcend, or escape. The Buddha taught that suffering is the result of desire and our insistence that we are permanent and distinct from other things that exist. The path of enlightenment is to transcend the physical, fleshly, material, and worldly, which are all deceptions of desire, and to discover that everything is nothing and nothing is everything. According to such a philosophy there is no good or evil, right or wrong, black or white, male or female, plant, animal, spirt, god, etc. But, of course, suffering continues because, try as you might to be content with nothing, the flesh covets and desires what others have, gets bored and discontent with what it has, and we are plunged back into even greater suffering. So, they invented reincarnation, an ancient precursor to purgatory, because we all need a second, third, fortieth, hundredth, etc. chance. After the Enlightenment, things were no better. The German philosophers Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and others continued to teach that suffering is the human condition and that the only answer is transcendent denial and escapism or to accept it and use it to one’s advantage in the exercise of will to power over weaker human sufferers.

Suffering is the result of sin, but that doesn’t make suffering bad or evil. Suffering is a consequence of rebellion against the good, God’s will, word, and law. Lucifer was the first to rebel and thus the first to suffer. Satan’s temptation of our First Parents is truly nothing more than a desperate attempt to alleviate his suffering by inflicting suffering upon others; after all, misery loves company. Nevertheless, suffering is from the LORD. What I mean is that God permits his people to suffer, sometimes he even sends the suffering himself, it is his will. I know that this seems outrageous, even sinful and blasphemous, and yet it is the consistent truth and teaching of the Holy Scriptures. If God permits it, if God wills it, then suffering is good. Scripture is replete with such examples.

Paul confessed that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. […] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Remember, suffering is the result of our sin, the wages of sin is death and everything that precipitates death. But death was as much God’s word and will as was life, for he attached his word and command to two trees, one that gave life and another that brought death. Further, “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” All that Joseph suffered at the hands of his brothers, Potiphar’s wife, and his own arrogance and pride, though others meant it for evil, the LORD meant it for good so that many people would be saved. Job was a righteous man in the LORD’s eyes, and yet the LORD gave him into Satan’s hands to inflict suffering upon him, to strip him of all blessings of wealth, family, health, and joy, that the LORD’s righteousness might be revealed. Jesus taught similarly about a man who was born blind saying, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” And the list, and the examples, goes on and on.

Suffering is not evil in its own right, but it the result of evil and sin. Suffering is a result of sinful rebellion and disobedience under God’s righteous will and law. Humankind brought sin, suffering, and death into the world, but the LORD used sin, suffering, and death to defeat them: God gave his only Son who knew no sin to become sin for us; Jesus suffered for our sins; he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; Jesus died in our place as our substitute; the LORD laid on his Son the iniquity of us all.

Buddha and the philosophers weren’t entirely wrong: Life is suffering. We all suffer in one way or another, at one time or another. Suffering is the result of sin: Original sin, your sin, my sin, sin in general. But suffering has been sanctified in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We all suffer the result of sin in the world, in our desires, and in our flesh, but we can suffer for that alone, or we can suffer for the sake of Jesus who has suffered all for us. To be a Christian is to suffer differently than the heathen; it is to suffer for Christ, for our witness and confession of him. This is the suffering that St. Peter and our Lord Jesus exhort us to expect and even to rejoice in. Peter writes, “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings.” Our Lord Jesus says, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the word hates you.” We all suffer, but our suffering is sanctified in Christ. “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed,” writes St. Peter, “but let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.” “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

When we suffer for doing good, we share in Christ’s sufferings. What a privilege! We don’t deserve to share in Christ’s sufferings. We are not perfect or holy. And yet, we are privileged or counted worthy of suffering for Christ and for sharing in his sufferings. This privilege is given to us by grace, God’s unmerited favor. If we share in Christ’s sufferings, we ought to rejoice. Suffering is a good thing because it means that God loves us. It means that the Holy spirit rests on you. It means that you are blessed. If you share in his sufferings, you shall also share in his glory when he is revealed from heaven on the last day to judge both the living and the dead. Suffering is not a bad or evil thing. Suffering is inevitable. But what you suffer for makes all the difference. You may suffer as a malefactor, or you may suffer as a benefactor. Christ suffered as a Benefactor, a do-gooder, and was exalted to the right hand of God. May we share in his sufferings as benefactors so that we might share in his glory by grace when he is revealed.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen. 

Judica - The Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent 5)

(Audio)

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Lenten Vespers in the Week of Laetare (Lent 4)

(Audio)

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for Darla Kay Spier

(Audio)

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two thousand years later St. Paul expressed this very same confidence grounded in God’s promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ saying, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? […] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? […] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Laetare - The Fourth Sunday in Lent (Lent 4)

(Audio)

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Lenten Vespers in the Week of Oculi (Lent 3)

(Audio)

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

 

God Himself Punished Christ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Oculi - The Third Sunday in Lent (Lent 3)

(Audio)

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.