Homily for Palmarum (Palm Sunday / Sunday of the Passion / The Second Sunday of 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.

Palmarum’s Gospel lesson is the fulfillment of Judica’s Old Testament lesson: Jesus is Abraham’s Promised Son making His procession to Mount Moriah as the Lamb of God’s providing to lay down His life as the only pleasing sacrifice for the sins of the world. Like Abraham and Isaac before Him, Jesus begins His procession from outside of the Mount, now the City of Jerusalem, the City of God’s Peace. The Mountain stands before Him as the Mount of God’s Justice, where He will lay down His life in selfless sacrifice and substitutionary atonement for Isaac, for Israel, for the Gentiles who will believe in Him, and for you. The fulfillment of Isaac’s substitutionary ram, Jesus humbled Himself to become caught in the thicket of God’s justice and wrath against our sin that He might become our substitutionary and atoning sacrifice sparing us the wages of our sin, death.

Jesus processes into Jerusalem as our great Prophet, Priest, and King. As Prophet, Jesus fulfills the Old Testament Messianic prophecies, particularly those of Isaiah and Zechariah: “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.” Jesus does not enter Jerusalem in order to fulfill these prophecies accordingly, but rather, the prophecies foretold what the Messiah would do. Thus, Jesus does not merely fulfill the prophecies, but He is, literally, their fulfillment. And, as the preacher to the Hebrews describes in rich detail, Jesus is also our Great High Priest who offers up, not the blood of bulls and calves, but His own holy, innocent blood as a sacrifice to cleanse us from all sins. In the City of God’s Peace, Jerusalem, Jesus would restore for us peace with God by shedding His blood and by dying the death we deserve. Jesus is both our Great High Priest and our spotless, unblemished sacrificial Lamb.

Yet, Jesus is also our King, the true King of the Jews and of heaven and earth. Undoubtedly, it is Jesus’ Kingly office that most Christians associate with Palm Sunday. Like so many kings of Israel before Him, Jesus rides into the City of the King on a donkey, the crowds displaying their submission and allegiance to Him by bowing down and laying branches of palm before His path. The crowds praised Him and God together shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” These were Messianic acclamations. They truly believed Jesus to be the promised Messiah, but they had long forgotten that the Messiah was to come in lowliness and humility, and not as a conquering warrior king. Like so many today, they were looking for a political savior, a powerful demagogue who would rally the hoi polloi to revolution and overthrow their occupying Roman oppressors, making Israel great again. However, Jesus the Messiah is not that kind of King. He does not enter the kingly city on a warhorse with a chariot and an army of soldiers, but in lowliness and humility upon a donkey with women and children and ordinary citizens welcoming him along. And, He would ascend, not a golden throne in the palace of Pilate or Herod, but would be nailed to a throne of wood, the cross, and His crown would be not of precious metals, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and other precious stones, but a crown of thorns adorned with the ruby-red droplets of his holy, innocent shed blood.

Abraham called the name of that place “The LORD will provide,” and the people continued to call it “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided,” to that very day. Perhaps they believed that the priesthood and the sacrificial system were the means through which the LORD would provide. For, they had corrupted the meaning of these God-given signs of mercy and grace and made them into works that they could perform, believing that they earned or merited God’s favor. Instead of placing their faith and trust in the Word and Promise of the LORD, they placed their faith and trust in their works, their prayers, and their sacrifices. They had the priesthood, they had the sacrificial system in the temple, all they needed now was a king, and they’d have heaven on earth, a heaven of their own making. And so, they were joyful and excited on Palm Sunday when Jesus processed into the Holy City. They were ready to make Him their King – until they began to realize that Jesus would not be the kind of king they had imagined and hoped for. They cried out “Hosanna!” “God save!” thinking that Jesus was God’s Savior who would restore glory and greatness to Israel once again, but before the end of the week, they were shouting, not praise and acclamation, but cursing and condemnation, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Still Jesus processed on, willingly. He was their King, whether they understood what that meant or not. He is our King, and He does what a true and good King should do: He serves His people, protects His people, and dies for His people. He defeated our true enemy, Satan, in the wilderness, resisting the devil’s temptations through unwavering trust in the Word of the LORD. He upheld the LORD’s righteous Law, fulfilling it in perfect and holy obedience and love. Now He returns to His Kingly palace, not in Jerusalem, but in heaven at His Father’s right hand by means of Calvary’s cross and the Garden’s empty tomb, leading a victory march of those who die in the Lord unto life that will never end. No, His Kingdom is not of this world, and neither are you, His subjects, though you are in the world for a time.

At the beginning of our Lenten pilgrimage, on Ash Wednesday, we were reminded of Jesus’ exhortation, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Today, as our Lenten pilgrimage is nearing its climax, destination, and fulfillment in the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus our King, we are reminded that we are citizens of two kingdoms, the kingdom of this world in which we are physically bound for the present time, and the kingdom of heaven which we cannot see for the present time. However, our true citizenship is of the latter, the kingdom of heaven. Throughout His days on earth, our King Jesus remained faithful and obedient to the LORD and His Word, and at peace, showing patience and compassion, mercy, and grace to His kindred on earth. Yet, all the while, despising not His earthly residency and responsibilities, He knew that His kingdom was not of this world.

And, so it is with you: Heaven is your true kingdom and home. This is not a reason to despise this world, with it’s sin and brokenness, deceit and corruption, violence, wars, and what can be considered nothin other than simply evil, pure evil, but it is a reason to have hope and to find contentment in whatever your situation may be, and to endure and persevere in selflessness and humility. For, we know that we are citizens of a good and everlasting kingdom, even now, and that it is but a matter of time before we will return home. And, in the meantime, we are the King’s holy subjects, redeemed and purified in His holy, innocent shed blood that we might be His representatives on earth, even His hands, His heart, His mouth, and His voice in selfless, sacrificial service of our neighbor that, in all things, our Lord and King might be glorified. Indeed, this is the meaning of St. Paul’s creedal statement in Philippians two as he describes Jesus’ descent in humility to become a man and to suffer and die on the cross and His consequent exaltation to glory at the right hand of His Father in heaven – St. Paul exhorts you to “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” As our King Jesus has gone, so also do we go, follow, and serve. This is what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven and Jesus’ disciple – to take up the cross the Holy Spirit has appointed for you and follow in the footsteps of your King.

And, as we together follow in the footsteps of our Servant King Jesus this Holy Week, we do so with the awareness that we are in Jesus, and that all that Jesus experienced and suffered He endured for us, and that, as we are united with Him in His suffering and death, so also are we united with Him in His resurrection. Thus, we prayed in today’s Collect, “Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of [Jesus’] great humility and patience and be made partakers of His resurrection.” Our LORD God hears and answers our prayer here and now in this Divine Service. Let us so, then, name this altar “On the mountain of the LORD it is still provided,” for here our holy and righteous servant King Jesus serves and cares for, forgives and protects you, His people. Here you commune with your Lord and King as His closest confidant, friend, brother, sister, and Bride. His righteousness and holiness He shares with you. His forgiveness and Sonship with His Father He shares with you. And, He sends you as His own ambassadors to a world and a human race that is dying in the thrall of sin, darkness, and death. He sends you with this message and proclamation: “Hosanna! God has saved us! Blessed is Jesus who comes in the Name of the LORD!”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Lenten Vespers In the Week of Judica (The Fifth Sunday In Lent / The First Sunday In Passiontide)

(Audio)

Luke 23:26-56; Daniel 6:10-23

God’s vindication of the innocent sufferer: The Innocent Blood of Daniel

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

They were jealous, filled with hatred, and murderous thoughts because Daniel was clearly blessed by his God and had inexplicably found favor with the king as well. First and foremost, you should take away from this the fact that God’s Law is truly good, the only good. Though we find that it is often rejected and brings those who strive to keep it woe, nevertheless, nonetheless, for those who value integrity and honesty, even if they are unbelievers, God’s people are valued and are esteemed. Such was the cases with Joseph, Moses, and Daniel, and many other figures of faith in the Holy Scriptures. However, that was not the case with the king’s satraps. They were jealous of Daniel and they hated him, so they plotted against him to destroy him. Daniel wasn’t guilty of breaking any of the laws of the kingdom, so they had to create a new law of their own and trump up charges against him in order to get him. In the course of their plotting, consequently, their hatred for their own king became apparent as well, for their little trap involved catching up their king in a catch 22 that he could not get out of himself.

The Persians and the Medes had a law stating that an ordinance of the king could not be revoked, thus they devised a trap for both Daniel and their king that would demand Daniel’s life. Without mentioning Daniel, whom the king respected and valued, the satraps convinced the king to sign an ordinance prohibiting any petition to god or man other than to the king within the next thirty days. Of course, they knew that Daniel faithfully prayed to God three times a day, corresponding to the hours of prayer at the temple in Jerusalem. Thus, after the ordinance was signed, they knew where and when to catch Daniel in the act, now breaking the king’s ordinance and law. They got him, and they ratted him out to the king. Then they reminded the king of the binding nature of his ordinance according to the law of the Persians and the Medes, and they got the king too. Ironically, your LORD God loves it when you “get Him,” when you hold Him to His Word, Promises, and Law. But, the satraps were not those kind of men.

Thus, it was off to the lion’s den for poor Daniel at the command of the king, who was himself thrown into the lion’s den of bad conscience and remorse. His parting words to Daniel as he sealed the den were, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” Was this a prayer? Was there a hint of hope in his words? Did he even really and truly believe that Daniel’s God would deliver him? There is good reason to believe so. For, the king fasted and suffered a fitful, sleepless night. And, arising early in the morning he went in haste to the lion’s den and cried out, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel answered, “O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before Him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in His God.”

We remember what Joseph confessed before his brothers: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Well, the same can be said concerning Daniel. And, the same can be said concerning Jesus. Likewise, the same can be said concerning you. Because you belong to the LORD, you can expect the scorn and persecution of the world, of demons, and of evil men. However, you can also expect that there will be some, even unbelievers, who know you are Christ’s disciples because of your love for your brothers and sisters and neighbors, and who respect you and honor you for it. For, your Lord Jesus has repeatedly taught you that to be His disciple you must bear your own God-appointed cross, that the world will hate you and persecute you, and that, nevertheless, you will be light and leaven and salt, transforming the world in mostly unseen ways. More than that, your Lord Jesus gave you this promise: I will be with you always, and nothing can separate you from my love.

And so, we see in the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den how the faithful are persecuted by the world and evil men because of their confession of faith. However, we also see how God’s faithfulness and providence provides for His people and sees them through suffering and persecution, and even death, all the while shining through them as a bright light of hope and forgiveness to others. And so, even when we suffer, our suffering is sanctified in Jesus’ suffering, so that is not in vain and we are provided strength to bear, to persevere, and to endure. Sometimes Christians seem to simply get caught up in the world’s furor against the object of our faith, Jesus. Like Simon of Cyrene, we are just going about our lives, minding our own business, and suddenly we are torn from the crowd and Jesus’ cross is placed upon us. We don’t get to choose our own crosses to bear, but the Holy Spirit knows what we need to strengthen our faith and trust in the LORD and in His Word that we might be a witness to others of the hope that is in us.

St. Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Romans, “For [Jesus’] sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” In all of the great figures that we have considered this Lenten season – Abel, Joseph, Isaac, Jeremiah, and Daniel – we have seen, if from an Old Testament perspective, how the faithful must suffer at the hands of the world and evil men. And yet, we have also seen how the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, suffered for all of them, and for us too, thereby sanctifying our suffering and vindicating our blood, making us to be martyrs, that is witnesses, to the faithfulness of the LORD in His Word. Thus, St. Paul continued saying, “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.”

In Holy Baptism, the image of Jesus has been imprinted upon us. We have died with Christ and we have been raised with Him. Therefore, the life we live, we live to the Lord. In all we say and do, in all we witness to others in our lives, words, and deeds, in our humility, suffering, persecution, and even in our death, “Let the clear inscription be: Jesus, crucified for me, is my life, my hope’s foundation, and my glory and salvation!”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Judica - The Fifth Sunday In Lent (Lent 5) / The First Sunday In Passiontide

(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.

Though we may not like to admit it, the LORD had every right to demand Isaac’s life. He had every right to demand Abraham’s life, the life of our First Parents, the lives of Peter and Paul and of all the Apostles, your life and my life as well. For, hey, and you, and I are sinners – conceived and born in sin, and committing sins of thought, word, and deed daily, even this morning. And, the LORD explicitly warned Adam, “In the day that you eat of [the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil] you shall surely die.” And, St. Paul confirms, “The wages of sin is death.”

Thus, the philosophical conundrum called the Problem of Evil or something similar, typically expressed, “How can an all-powerful, all-knowing, and good God permit, or even demand, evil?” is truly no conundrum at all, if one only takes seriously God’s righteousness and holiness and the seriousness of our sin. After all, we’re not talking about human laws here, which are by nature imperfect and corrupt, able to be bent, annulled, circumvented, and enforced with inequity and injustice, but we’re talking about the divine, holy, righteous, and just Law of God which is of God before the giving of the Ten Commandments, before the creation of man, and before the creation and foundation of the universe. To put it plainly: God is good, and whatever is not of God or in alignment with God is, by definition and necessity, not good. Likewise, God is righteous, just, and holy, and whatever is not of God or in alignment with God is, by definition and necessity, unrighteous, unjust, and unholy.

However, coupled with God’s eternal, righteous, just, and unchangeable Law is His abounding patience, mercy, love, and grace. Though He had every right to demand Isaac’s life, the life of our First Parents, the lives of Peter and Paul and all of the Apostles, your life and my life, from the Fall of Man onward, God promised to redeem and to provide a substitute to fulfill the Law for us and to suffer its consequences in our place: “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.”

Abraham knew of this first covenant promise and He trusted the Word of the LORD, and the LORD counted Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness. Thus, when the LORD demanded the life of Abraham’s son of promise, Isaac, Abraham trusted that the LORD would still keep His promise to provide him an heir from his own flesh whose descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens and the grains of sand upon the seashore, through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Therefore, as he and his son of promise journeyed to the mountain of sacrifice, Abraham confessed his faith in the LORD once again in answer to Isaac’s worried concern about the absence of a sacrificial lamb saying, “God will provide for Himself the Lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And, the LORD did provide, not a lamb, but a ram, for the sacrifice so that Isaac’s life was spared. Then, over centuries and millennia, to and through His faithful people who, despite their personal sin, trusted in Him, the LORD reiterated His covenant promise until He provided His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The faith of Abraham was a gift given and created by God. There was nothing special about Abraham. He was a sinner just like everyone else. He was a pagan and an idolater, worshipping the household gods of his father and countrymen. But, when the LORD called to him, Abraham listened and believed, he trusted in the Word of the LORD. Even when the path was uncertain and unclear, Abraham trusted and believed. “We walk by faith and not by sight.” The faith of Abraham was in the Word of the LORD, and through it the LORD promised Abraham a Son who would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. This Son was actually not Isaac, however, but He was the very same Son and Seed that was promised to our First Parents, and to Satan, by the way, Jesus. However, Isaac was a necessary link in the covenantal chain, as was Jacob and Judah and Ruth and David and Joseph and Mary and every descendent in between. Abraham believed the covenant promise made to our First Parents, as do all true children of Abraham henceforth. All who share the faith of Abraham, who trust in the Word of the LORD fulfilled in Jesus, the Seed Son of promise, are the true children of Abraham, the true Israel, sons and daughters of God, and the Bride of Christ, the Church.

Jesus came preaching the faith of Abraham, calling Abraham’s children to faith in the fulfillment of God’s Word of Promise and to repentance with the proclamation, “The Kingdom of God is near.” Very quickly, however, He met opposition from the Pharisees and scribes, the priests, and the religious leadership of Israel who had come to believe and trust, not in the Word of the LORD, but in their blood descent from Abraham. By the time of the accounts recorded in our Gospel reading today from St. John, Jesus had already had many confrontations with the Jewish religious leaders. In today’s reading, Jesus gets right to the point with them saying, essentially, “Who’s your daddy?” “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but He sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? 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. He 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. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.”

Jesus laid it out straight for them: Either your Father is God, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, or your father is Satan, the father of lies, the antithesis of all that is righteous, good, and holy. Jesus said the same two weeks ago in St. Luke’s Gospel, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Then, they accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. Here, in today’s Gospel, they accuse Him of this once again. This is nothing other than the sin against the Holy Spirit, for it is calling the LORD’s good and holy work evil and sinful. If a person so blasphemes the Holy Spirit of God, there is no hope for him and he cannot be saved, not because God is unmerciful and unforgiving, but because it is by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God that faith is created. If the means of faith is rejected, then there can, and never will be, faith.

Jesus spoke the Truth, and He was rejected because of it. However, the Jewish religious leaders were not merely rejecting Jesus and His teachings, but they were rejecting the Truth of God, they were rejecting God Himself, and they were teaching others to do the same. That is why Jesus rebukes them so very harshly. They couldn’t convict Him of sin, of breaking God’s Law, but they could only accuse Him of breaking their laws, man’s laws. “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God,” Jesus answered them, “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” “Now we know that you have a demon!” they shouted. “Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

It is interesting that the demons know whose Son Jesus is, and they reject Him, while the religious leaders of Israel do not, and yet, they reject Him because they reject the Word of God. They claim to be children of Abraham, and yet they reject their father Abraham’s faith in the Word of the LORD and His promise. That is why, at another time, Jesus told them that He could raise up children for Abraham from the stones on the ground. On the one hand, blood descent has nothing to do with being a son or daughter of Abraham. And, on the other, the Jews often referred to Gentiles as “stones.” This points to the greater sin of the religious leaders of Israel: Not only did they reject the Word of the LORD for themselves, but as the teachers of Israel they failed to teach it faithfully to the people they were called to care for and to protect. They were wolves in sheep’s clothing, devouring the sheep of the LORD’s flock. Whereas Abraham taught the faithful to trust in the Lamb that the LORD would provide, the Pharisees, scribes, priests, and religious leaders of the Jews rejected Him and sent the Lamb of God to the cross to die.

“You are not yet fifty years old, and have you see Abraham?” they protested. “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’.” “So they picked up stones to throw at Him.” But, Jesus was before Abraham, before our First Parents, and before creation itself. For, Jesus is the Word of God, who was with God in the beginning, and who was God. All things were made through Him, and apart from Him was not anything made that has been made. And, Jesus is the great “I AM,” the Name of God revealed to Moses in the burning bush. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, the Son of God, and God Himself. He is the one that was promised to our First Parents after their Fall. He was the one promised to crush Satan’s head. He was the one promised to Abraham, in whom Abraham put his faith and trust. And, He is the one whom all children of Abraham confess still as both God and Lord.

And, Jesus is our Great High Priest who has “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.” “He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” And, though He had every right to demand your life, your LORD gave the life of His son for you that you may live. And, He is here for you now as both Priest and Sacrifice, Host and Meal, to forgive yours sins anew, to strengthen your faith, and to preserve you in everlasting life in Him in the body of Christ, the Church. On the Mount of the LORD it is still provided for you. Believe, trust, and receive.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Homily for Lenten Vespers In the Week of Laetare (The Fourth Sunday In Lent)

(Audio)

Luke 23:1-25; Jeremiah 38:1-6

God’s vindication of the innocent sufferer: The Innocent Blood of Jeremiah

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

A prophet of the Most High could be certain of one thing in his life: persecution, suffering, and death. That’s why the Magi blessed the baby Jesus with a gift of myrrh – it was an embalming spice. That’s why Jesus wept over Jerusalem saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Zechariah was stoned to death in the porch of the temple by King Joash because he denounced the people for their unfaithfulness. Jezebel attempted to wipe out the worship of the LORD, and replace it with the worship of Baal, by exterminating numerous unnamed Prophets of the LORD in the time of Elijah. And, apocryphal sources suggest that the Prophet Isaiah was sawn in half because he prophesied the judgment and fall of Jerusalem on account of the wickedness of the people, calling it "Sodom and Gomorrah."

Likewise, the Prophet Jeremiah found himself sinking in the mud of a dry well, left to die of hunger and thirst, for proclaiming, “Thus says the LORD.” Jeremiah told the soldiers of Jerusalem that the LORD’s judgment was about to fall upon them in the form of conquest by the Chaldeans. He proclaimed that if they remained in the city, they would surely die, but if they would surrender and present themselves before the Chaldeans, the LORD promised that they would live. You can see that it was a test of faith: Which did the people fear, love, and trust more? The Word and Promise of the LORD, or their own might, wisdom, wealth, and possessions. The officials brought their complaints against Jeremiah before King Zedekiah, claiming that the Prophet was “weakening the hands of the soldiers” who were left in the city and that he was not “seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” The King was afraid. He needed his soldiers. He couldn’t risk the hearts of his people melting with fear. Likely, even his pride and self-interest made him recoil at the suggestion of surrender. Therefore, King Zedekiah handed Jeremiah over to the officials that they may do with him as they desired.

This is what happens when the Word of the LORD is rejected. It must be cast out. It must be ridiculed. It must be destroyed. While it exists, it stands in righteous judgment over sinners. It exposes guilt. It makes the sinner uncomfortable. However, even when it has been purged, cast out, and destroyed, still it haunts the consciences of sinful men and it drives them either into ever-increasing hatred and rage, or into bottomless, suffocating despair. Obviously, no one can live like that. And, that’s precisely what the Enemy desires. And, woe to the Prophet. Woe to the one who speaks for the LORD. Woe to you Abel. Woe to you Isaac. Woe to you Joseph. Woe to you Elijah. Woe to you Jeremiah. Woe to you Isaiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel. Woe to you John the Baptist. Woe to you Jesus. And, woe to you Pastors, and woe to you Christian laity – for as they did to the Prophets, so will they do to you.

Thanks to the intervention of an Ethiopian eunuch, King Zedekiah relented and released Jeremiah from the well, but kept him under a sort of house arrest. Ultimately, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, delivered Jeremiah and treated him kindly. But, no such love came from his own people to whom he was sent. And, so it was with Jesus, who was not a Prophet, but who was, and is, the very Word of God Himself made flesh. Jesus was handed over to Pilate because He spoke, “Thus says the LORD.” The people’s accusation was nearly identical to the charge against Jeremiah, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.” However, neither the Gentile Pilate, nor the Jewish Herod, found any guilt in Jesus. Yet, for fear of a riot, of a loss of comfort, security, and political position, Pilate handed Jesus over to the Jewish religious officials to be crucified. Then, Pilate released Barabas, the man who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder.” The Word of God made flesh was rejected, cast out, mocked and ridiculed, and then destroyed, while a true sinner, criminal, insurrectionist, and murderer went free.

“It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem," said Jesus. The Prophets of the LORD are persecuted because they faithfully proclaim, “Thus says the LORD.” Christian Pastors are rejected, mocked, and ridiculed just the same. And, so are you mocked and ridiculed, rejected, and persecuted too, just as your Lord Jesus promised, “‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” But, do not be discouraged. Rather, take heart, for your Lord Jesus has suffered and sanctified rejection, persecution, suffering, and death for you, and even now He shoulders your rejection, persecution, suffering, and death with you. You are not alone, but He is with you always. Even as you walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death – which is now, in your life, as much as in your death – your Good Shepherd is with you, guiding you, providing for you, protecting you, and carrying you. Moreover, He has passed through the Valley for you and has kicked down the door of death that would keep you in. And, now, He accompanies you and He shepherds you as you make your pilgrimage through the Valley, and, in His time, He will shepherd you into His Father’s house forevermore, where His sheep may safely graze.

The Word of God was with God in the beginning, and was God. By Him, all things that have been made were made. The Word of God is your life and your salvation, therefore, it is worth suffering mockery, ridicule, persecution, and death for. Thus, the Prophet Jeremiah wrote in his Lamentations, “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.” “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.