Populus Zion - The Second Sunday in Advent (Advent 2)

(Audio)

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

 

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

The day is coming. No matter which day you have in mind, that much is true. The day of the final exam arrives. The day of surgery arrives. Christmas Day arrives. Tax Day arrives. The day of our death will arrive. In the same way, the day of Jesus’ return will arrive. Whatever the day may be, it will come, and you already know it will come. Ignoring it does no good. The wise course is to be prepared, to watch and wait for its arrival. To be caught unprepared ought to be a terrible thought, especially when there is no reason for that to happen.

Of course, if you’re not a student, finals week doesn’t bother you. If you’re healthy, you don’t think much about surgery. Christmas Day feels different depending on whether your home is full of young children or long past that season. But Tax Day catches up with most of us, and death and judgment catch up with all of us—young or old, rich or poor, whatever our background.

“The day is coming,” says Malachi, “burning like an oven.” On that day “all the arrogant and all evildoers” will be set ablaze, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” Yet there is a distinction. “For you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” The Day of Judgment is terror for those who reject the Lord, but it is joy for those who fear His name.

“Leaping like calves from the stall”—what a vivid picture of relief and freedom. After being confined for too long, imagine the sheer joy of being turned loose: running, jumping, spinning, simply because you can. That is the Lord’s promise for His people. The Day of Judgment is not a day of dread for the baptized. It is a day to look forward to, a day to anticipate with joy, a day for which we prepare in hope.

But again, there is a distinction. Not only will the arrogant and evildoers be reduced to stubble, but “they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.” The baptized, the faithful, will judge with Christ and reign with Christ in His kingdom. We do not desire anyone’s destruction, yet we rejoice in the Lord’s righteous judgment when it comes. And He delays that judgment so that all might hear, repent, and receive the same mercy He has shown you. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” His work will be to turn hearts—to reconcile the wandering, to call to repentance, to prepare for Christ.

That promised Elijah was John the Baptist. He called all to repentance for the forgiveness of sins. His baptism was real; it bestowed forgiveness. Yet it was still preparatory, pointing toward the baptism Christ Himself would fulfill—a baptism into His perfect obedience, righteousness, death, and life. John’s baptism was the intention to “go and sin no more,” to turn from wickedness and walk in the Lord’s ways, because the Lord was coming.

Malachi instructs Israel on how to live as they awaited Christ’s first coming: “Remember the law of my servant Moses.” Keep the commandments. And Paul speaks to those awaiting Christ’s second coming: “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

We all witness the signs that Christ says will precede His return: “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars,” and on earth “distress of nations… people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.” Many will dread these things because the earthly things they trusted will collapse. But those who trust in the Lord are told something different: “Straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” The turmoil of the world is not the end for you; it is the passing away of what must pass away before the revealing of the sons of God and the Bride of Christ.

Still, Jesus warns His people: “Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life,” so that the day “come upon you suddenly like a trap.” One might ask how such a thing could happen—after all, you are here in the Lord’s house, where you are constantly exhorted to remain watchful and prepared. Yet this gathering itself shows the Lord’s mercy. The church’s chief purpose is not what we offer God, but what God gives us—His Word and His Sacraments for our strength and protection. To receive these gifts is to receive Christ Himself. The highest worship is faith receiving what the Lord gives.

Your strength is not in yourselves, nor in the world’s power, wealth, or stability. Your strength is in the gifts of Christ. Only the Holy Spirit, working through these means of grace, can keep your faith alive and ready for the Lord’s appearing.

St. Paul gives the final word: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Wednesday in Ad Te Levavi (The First Sunday in Advent)

(Audio)

Advent Songs of Salvation: Mary's Song - The Magnificat

Luke 1:46-55; Galatians 4:4-7; 1 Samuel 2:1-10

 

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

A woman named Hannah was barren and had no son. Each year she traveled with her husband Elkanah to the house of the LORD in Shiloh, and each year she poured out her heart before the LORD, pleading that He would grant her a child. In her desperation she vowed that if the LORD gave her a son, she would dedicate him wholly to the LORD’s service under a Nazirite vow.

When Eli the priest observed her lips moving without sound, he assumed drunkenness and rebuked her. But Hannah answered with quiet dignity: “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit… I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD… out of my great anxiety and vexation.” And the LORD remembered Hannah. In time she conceived and bore a son, Samuel. True to her vow, once the boy was weaned she brought him to Eli and said: “For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition… therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD.”

Then Hannah prayed, “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD… for I rejoice in Your salvation. There is none holy like the LORD.” Her song is one of joy, humility, and a deep recognition of God’s saving work.

It should sound familiar. For Hannah’s song becomes the pattern and the foreshadowing of another woman’s song—Mary, the Mother of Our Lord. When Gabriel’s Word brought about the conception of Christ, Mary hurried to the hill country to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth, herself miraculously pregnant in old age. At Mary’s greeting, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant.”

The similarities between these two faithful women are striking—but the differences are even more revealing of God’s mercy. Hannah was barren because “the LORD had closed her womb.” Mary was a virgin, not yet married, who had never known a man. Both conceive through the miraculous working of God—Hannah in answer to prayer, Mary by the performative Word of God spoken through an angel. Both respond not with pride but with humble, joyful faith. Hannah exults in the LORD who lifts her up; Mary magnifies the LORD who has regarded her lowliness.

Both songs proclaim the same pattern of divine action—what Luther calls the great reversal. Hannah sings of the LORD who breaks the bows of the mighty but strengthens the feeble, who feeds the hungry but leaves the full empty, who raises the poor from the dust and seats them among princes. Mary echoes the same truth: “He has scattered the proud… brought down the mighty… exalted those of humble estate… filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.”

This is the way of God. He works through weakness, barrenness, lowliness, and humility. He brings His saving purposes to completion through those the world would overlook. And now the pattern reaches its fulfillment in Mary’s Son—the promised Seed of Abraham through whom all nations are blessed, the One in whom Hannah’s hope and Mary’s praise converge.

Central to Mary’s song is her humility and her confession of need: “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Here is no immaculate woman without sin, but a sinner redeemed by the very Child she bears. As Luther notes, “Mary does not glory in her virginity… but only in God’s gracious regard.” Mary becomes the model of the believer: one who receives God’s Word, trusts His promise, and rejoices in His mercy.

Notice also the tense of her verbs: “He has shown strength… He has filled the hungry… He has helped His servant Israel.” Mary speaks of God’s saving acts as though they are already accomplished, even though the Child through whom they are accomplished is still hidden within her womb. This is the language of faith. As Paul writes, “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.” What God has begun, He will bring to completion. The Magnificat is therefore an Advent hymn: rejoicing in what God has already done in Christ and longing for the day when He will reveal its fullness.

Mary also stands as a type of the Church. She bears Christ and sings His praise; so too the Church carries Christ in Word and Sacrament and magnifies the Lord whenever Christ is present among us. Hannah’s barrenness mirrors our own spiritual barrenness—our inability to produce righteousness or hope from ourselves. Mary’s virginity mirrors the sheer grace of God’s salvation, which comes not from human will or effort but as pure gift, from outside ourselves. The Church joins Mary in confessing that all the blessings of salvation come by God’s gracious initiative, not by our own power.

And so with Mary we continue to sing: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” For the Child she bore—crucified, risen, and soon to return—is the One who fills the hungry, lifts up the lowly, and redeems those who sit in darkness. He is the One who turns our barrenness into fruitfulness, our emptiness into fullness, our lowliness into glory.

In this season of Advent, may the song of Hannah and the song of Mary become our song as well: a song of humility, faith, and joy in the God who keeps His promises and exalts the lowly in His Son.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Ad Te Levavi - The First Sunday in Advent (Advent 1)

(Audio)

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

 

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

Today is the beginning of a new church year, another year to live in our Lord’s grace. Happy New Year! But what has changed? Why should we expect that this year will be any different than years past? Don’t all things simply continue as they have, as we get another year older and deeper in debt? In many ways, yes they do. But, take heart, and lift up your heads; your King is coming! Your King is coming to save you! But, hasn’t He come already? Yes, indeed He has. And, doesn’t He come amongst us now through Word and Sacrament? Yes, once again you are correct. Then, what does it mean that our King is coming? Ah, I’m glad that you asked!

Our King is not coming to be crowned the King, for He is already the King, even though much of the world and the men and women who fill it do not know that, do not believe that, or flat out deny that. Nevertheless, it’s true. Our King Jesus broke into this world as King when Gabriel proclaimed God’s Word into Mary’s receptive ear saying, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy-- the Son of God.” He came in lowliness and humility, in ways that men would never expect, anticipate, desire, or comprehend. Therefore, His coming had to be revealed to men, first to lowly shepherds, then to Gentile magi from the east.

Little by little, over months and years, Jesus revealed who He was, the Son of God and the true King over God’s people, not by impressive displays of power and glory but by fulfilling Messianic prophecy and obedience under God’s Law. There were always some whose ears and eyes were opened by the Holy Spirit so see past their expectations that this unassuming Jesus was the answer to their prayers, not necessarily what they thought they wanted, but what God knew that they needed and what He had promised. These were typically the lowly and the humble, the outcast and the disenfranchised, the poor, the lame, the blind, the sinful and unclean, those who had nothing to lose and everything to gain, those who recognized and confessed their need for forgiveness and a savior. Jesus, whose name means God saves, came to save God’s people from their sins and to begin their restoration, making all things new, a work which will be completed in the resurrection on the Last Day when our King returns: “He who began this good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ.”

By the time Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day we call Palm Sunday, the day we heard about today in the appointed Gospel for the First Sunday in Advent, people were already pretty divided in their opinions of who Jesus was and what He had come to do. The crowds that received Him that day recognized that He fulfilled the Messianic prophecies. He had the pedigree of the legitimate son of David and heir to the great king’s throne, legally, by means of Joseph’s family line, and by blood through Mary’s. He was born in David’s city, Bethlehem, and He lived in Nazareth in Galilee. Even at that moment he rode into the royal city, as did David and so many kings before Him riding upon a donkey. Likewise, the crowds laid down palm branches before Him as they had for so many kings before. And, they cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Hosanna is a prayer. It means, “Help us, Lord.” “Save us.” “Intervene now and rescue us.” Who would pray such a prayer as this? Only those in need of saving. Indeed, Jesus came to save sinners, not the righteous. Jesus came to heal the sick, not the healthy. Thus, those who are self-secure and self-righteous are scandalized by Jesus and His ministry. They are offended that He eats and drinks with sinners. They are offended that Jesus would suggest that a widow giving her last coin or a tax collector begging for mercy are doing holier works before God than the Pharisee saying his many and lengthy prayers or giving a tithe so that he may be seen doing so by his peers. And so, the broken receive Him as their King, but the self-righteous and secure, the powerful and the pious reject Him as a liar or a lunatic or worse. If He’s a king, He’s not the kind of king they’re looking for.

By the end of that week in Jerusalem, the powerful and the pious had determined to depose their King. They successfully incited much of the crowd to join them in destroying the Messiah, the Son of God. “It’s better that one man should die for the people,” they reasoned, and they were right. In their ignorance and blindness they couldn’t see that they were ushering their King to His throne, the cross. There, upon the place of a skull, the sentence above His head read “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” in Latin, Greek, and Aramaic – indeed, wittingly or unwittingly, all the world confessed Him to be their King. There He was crowned with thorns and His royal, holy, and innocent blood shed for all who pierced Him. This is how King Jesus reigns: in lowliness and humility, selflessness, and sacrificial love. He is the healing of all who are sin-sick unto death. He is the forgiveness of sins, life, and eternal salvation for all who will receive Him.

Happy New Year! Let us make a resolution together to prepare ourselves for the coming of our King. How are we to prepare? What are we to do? Nothing. Nothing but repent, confess, believe, and receive. Our King is coming. Our King has come. And, our King comes to you now. How will you meet Him? He comes to comfort the brokenhearted. He comes fearful sinners to forgive. He comes the burdened by sin and guilt, grief and sorrow to uplift and strengthen. He comes to you, humble, in, with, and under the lowly forms of His Word, water, bread, and wine that you may receive Him as your King, your life, your God and Lord. He comes to you today, at the beginning of this New Year of Grace, just as He has come to you in the past, but with this promise, “Today your salvation is nearer to you than when you first believed.” Hosanna, God save us! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Eve of the National Day of Thanksgiving

(Audio)

Luke 12:13-21; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15; Deuteronomy 8:1-10

 

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

When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they did not conquer it by their own strength; they received it. The Lord drove out the nations before them. The Lord gave them walled cities they did not build, houses they did not construct, vineyards and orchards they did not plant, wells they did not dig. They stepped into a life already established, already watered, already ready to sustain them. In a sense, the Lord placed them back into a kind of Eden—surrounded by gifts they had not earned.

And when harvest time came, the Israelites returned thanks to the Lord simply by bringing back to Him a portion of what He had already provided. They had not prepared the soil, nor sown the seed, nor sent the rain. Yet He allowed them to reap, and He taught them to give back in humble thanksgiving.

The firstfruits offering included a spoken confession—a remembrance of God’s mighty deeds: “A wandering Aramean was my father… and the Egyptians treated us harshly… Then we cried to the LORD… and the LORD brought us out… and He brought us into this land… And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which You, O LORD, have given me.” This was worship. This was thanksgiving. And it always had three parts: remembrance, humility, and gratitude.

Our worship of the Lord today is no different—except that we too often forget. Instead of remembering, we grow proud. Instead of humility, we become self-sufficient. Instead of thanksgiving, we slide into selfishness, greed, and lovelessness. And so, it is good—indeed necessary—for us to stop on this day and repent. To remember again that the Lord still provides for us as surely as He provided for His people of old. Every day He grants us is a day of His giving; every breath is borrowed; every meal is mercy.

The chief way we offer thanks to the Lord is by returning to Him a portion of the good things He has given us. In so doing, we confess two truths: 1) The Lord is the Giver of every gift, and 2) we can give only what He has first placed in our hands.

This is what we do each Lord’s Day in our tithes and offerings—and, even more, in the Lord’s Supper, that holy Eucharist, that “Thanksgiving,” in which we receive Christ Himself. In the Sacrament, the Giver becomes the Gift. There is no greater act of divine generosity than this.

But thanksgiving does not come naturally to us. It must be learned. It must be trained into the heart. The weekly Divine Service, the feasts and festivals of the Church Year, and even this national holiday serve as reminders and tutors in humility, gratitude, and charity. For the Lord never blesses us to keep His gifts locked away; He blesses us that we may bless others. He fills our barns so that our neighbor may not go hungry. He gives us abundance so that His Name may be glorified in our generosity.

This is precisely St. Paul’s point: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” But seed does no good in the barn. The Lord gives so that we may sow—so that we may do something with His gifts, not hoard them for ourselves.

Jesus illustrates this in His parable of the rich fool. Notice how He begins: “The land of a rich man produced plentifully.” Not the rich man—the land. God gave the abundance. But the man’s response was to keep everything for himself, to build bigger barns, to quit working, to settle into a life of self-satisfied ease. It sounds like the cultural ideal of comfort and security we sometimes call the American Dream. But Jesus shows us the spiritual foolishness of that ideal when it becomes our treasure.

God gave the harvest so that the man might rejoice in God’s generosity and share with those in need. Instead, he enclosed it, hoarded it, protected it. And then he died. His riches were wasted. No one benefited from the Lord’s blessing—not even he.

“So is the one,” Jesus warns, “who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

But remember why Jesus told this parable. Someone in the crowd wanted Jesus to make his brother divide the inheritance with him. He wanted the Kingdom of God to work like the kingdoms of men: claim your rights, secure your portion, make sure you aren’t cheated. Jesus refuses: “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” In the Kingdom of God, His people are not compelled to give—they want to give. They give freely, recognizing everything they have has come freely from God.

Then Jesus lays bare the deeper issue: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Covetousness is idolatry. It enthrones our desires above God. It whispers that God has short-changed us, that He has given others better gifts, that He cannot be trusted to provide. And from this poisoned root come bitter fruits—jealousy, resentment, rivalry, self-pity, and hostility toward both neighbor and God.

At its heart, covetousness is a violation of the First Commandment: You shall have no other gods before Me. For a covetous heart does not fear, love, or trust in God above all things.

If covetousness is the disease, then Christ is the cure, and thanksgiving is the sign of a heart healed by Him. Gratitude is not merely feeling thankful; it is faith’s confession that God has given more than we deserve and more than we can measure. Gratitude says, “I have enough, for God has not failed me.” Gratitude turns our eyes from what others possess to what God has placed in our own hands. You cannot give thanks for God’s provision and, at the same time, resent His generosity to someone else.

As our nation pauses this week, we remember that thanksgiving is not just a holiday tradition or a prelude to a turkey dinner. It is a Christian discipline. It shapes our character. It calms our restless comparisons. It produces contentment, steadiness, and peace. It puts pride, greed, and envy in their proper place. It teaches us to open our hands as freely as our Father opens His.

And above all, thanksgiving directs us to Christ—the Firstfruits from the dead, the Bread of Life from heaven, the One who became poor so that we, through His poverty, might become rich. In Him, the Father has already given us every good and perfect gift. In Him, daily bread is enough. In Him, generosity becomes joy. And in Him, we learn to say—with Israel, with the Church, and with all the saints – “Behold, I bring the first of the fruit, which You, O Lord, have given me.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Thanksgiving, the Antidote to Covetousness

Any way you number them, the Ten Commandments end with a warning against covetousness—a sin the Scriptures call a form of idolatry: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17). This final commandment is not merely a miscellaneous add-on at the end of the list. It reaches back and touches nearly all the others. Coveting your neighbor’s house overlaps with the commandment against stealing; coveting your neighbor’s spouse overlaps with the commandment against adultery; and coveting anything that belongs to your neighbor touches on the commandment against bearing false witness, because jealousy breeds the kind of resentments that destroy another’s good name.

More deeply, Scripture insists that every sin against the commandments is, at heart, a sin against the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Covetousness is idolatry because it enthrones our desires above God. The desire to possess your neighbor’s wealth, opportunities, relationships, or reputation reveals a heart that does not fully fear, love, or trust in God above all things. It reveals dissatisfaction with the good gifts God has already placed in your hands. A covetous heart whispers that God has been unfair, that He has given others better blessings, that He is holding out on you. And from this poisoned root grow bitter fruits—jealousy, resentment, and even quiet hostility toward one’s neighbor and one’s God.

If covetousness is the disease, thanksgiving is the antidote. Gratitude is the deliberate choice to look at what is rather than what isn’t; to count gifts instead of cataloguing grievances. It shifts the heart from entitlement to amazement. You cannot give thanks for God’s provision and, at the same time, resent what He has given to someone else.

As our nation pauses this month for the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s worth remembering that gratitude is more than a ritual before a turkey dinner. It is a discipline that shapes our character. Thankfulness produces contentment, steadiness, and peace. It guards against the restless comparison that drives so much of our modern anxiety. It puts pride, greed, and envy in their proper place. And it reminds us that the God who gave us life, breath, and daily bread has not failed us yet.

In a season when advertisements insist we need more, bigger, newer, and better, the Ten Commandments offer a surprisingly countercultural word: Give thanks for what you already have. That posture, more than anything money can buy, brings real freedom—and genuine joy.

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

The Last Sunday of the Church Year / Sunday of the Fulfillment (Trinity 27)

(Audio)

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

 

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

The coming of God’s kingdom and the kingly reign of God in and through His Son Jesus the Christ are central themes in Matthew’s Gospel. In fact, Matthew uses the phrase “the kingdom of God” four times, “the kingdom of heaven” thirty-three times, and “the kingdom” an additional seventeen times – that’s a minimum of fifty-four references to the kingdom of God in Matthew’s Gospel alone! What Matthew is trying to communicate, however, is that God’s kingdom is not a thing or a place so much as it is an action – God’s kinging or reigning activity through the person of His Son Jesus Christ. Because our minds, reason, and wisdom are so very ensnared in sin and our own conceptions of what is glorious, powerful, and good, and because we all but insist on making the abstract to be concrete, our Lord teaches His disciples and all believers about His kingdom by making use of parables, analogies, and metaphors saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like….”

Today, on this Last Sunday of the Church Year, which is also known as the Sunday of the Fulfillment, our Lord teaches us what it will be like when He returns on the Last Day, and what we should be doing and how we should live our lives now as we watch and wait for His coming in hopeful expectation each and every day until that fulfillment arrives. Our Lord says, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.”

Immediately we are struck by Jesus’ use of an unexpected analogy. How, we must ask, is the kingdom of heaven in any way like ten virgins? Well, most likely the virgins themselves and their number, ten, is a figure. Virginity too is likely a figure for purity, innocence, and cleanness. The number ten is a figure for wholeness, or the complete number of those who have been cleansed and made holy in the blood of Jesus – which is everyone. Thus, the ten virgins represent all humanity, redeemed in Jesus’ blood. What makes five of them to be wise and five of them to be foolish is not more or less virginity (indeed, that figure excludes such thinking; either one is a virgin, or one is not – there are no degrees of virginity!), but rather it is the oil that they carry in their lamps – do they have enough oil to last through the bridegroom’s delay. Therefore, since it is ultimately the lack of oil that makes five of the virgins to be foolish, we must turn our minds to the question, “What does the oil represent?”

First, the oil is essential. It is absolutely necessary if the virgin is to see where she is going in the darkness and, therefore, to see her bridegroom coming to her when He arrives. Without oil, there is no light, but only ignorance and groping around in the darkness. St. Paul uses some terrific imagery about light and darkness in his epistle to the Thessalonians, which you heard this morning, saying “But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day.” And Paul says elsewhere, in his epistle to the Ephesians: “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk, therefore, as children of light.” The meaning here is clear: Once you were in darkness, but now that has changed and you are something different; you are children of light now, walking in light. Therefore, do not return to the darkness. And what is it that has brought about this change? It is the same thing that brings the light – the oil, that is faith.

What made five of the virgins to be wise and five to be foolish was ultimately faith, in figure, the amount of oil that they had with them. Now, I know that we don’t tend to think of faith as something quantifiable and measurable; in fact, I regularly preach and teach against such an understanding of faith. Even in this parable, I maintain that it is not the amount of faith that matters at all, but simply that you have it. What made the five wise virgins wise was that they cared enough to bring extra oil. In contrast, the five foolish virgins did not have enough for the oil to wait and to watch through the bridegroom’s delay. When he finally arrived they were not even near the wedding hall, but were desperately out searching for a way to rekindle their faith.

To drive this point even further, Jesus says that both the wise and the foolish virgins, all ten of them, fell asleep as they waited. This point is marvelous, for here Jesus levels our reason and our wisdom, our pride and our self-righteousness, our insistence that we cooperate with God in our salvation by our works of piety and charity – for you can do nothing if you are sleeping: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” No, it’s not about what you do, but it’s about what you have, what you have received – faith. This is the Lord’s work by the Holy Spirit, not of your flesh or your will, your reason or wisdom. And this is really the heart and the root of Jesus’ teaching today about the kingdom of heaven: The kingdom of heaven comes now through Jesus. It is received through faith which He has created in you and which He sustains in you through His Word and Holy Sacraments that you might be wise and prepared, whether you are awake or asleep, when He returns on the Last Day. It is all His work, all the time. The wise receive, keep, and treasure this gift as they watch and wait.

And yet, there is still more to Jesus’ parable. Indeed, there is always more with Jesus. The kingdom of heaven, He teaches, is also like a bridegroom coming to marry his virgin bride. How is the kingdom of heaven like a marriage? This is a common image throughout the Holy Scriptures. Following the creation of our First Parents, Adam and Eve, God joined them in marriage and blessed them that they would be fruitful. God gave us the institution of marriage in the beginning so that, through this selfless and sacrificial union in which a man and a woman become one flesh, we would have a glimpse, a foretaste, and an experience of the kind of love He has for all humanity. God doesn’t want only to be our God, but He wants to be our Husband, and we, the Church, His holy Bride. This truth St. Paul expounds upon in Ephesians chapter five: “‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery [marriage] is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church.” Our Lord and Husband Jesus laid down His life in selfless, sacrificial death upon the cross for us, His Bride, the Church. When a Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, the Church sprang forth in Holy Blood and Water as a New Eve taken from the side of a New Adam and presented to Him as His Wife and Bride. Now the Church has become the fruitful Mother from which the children of God are born again by the life-giving Seed of the Word and the watery womb of the font. But I digress ;-).

Why is it then, that when the bridegroom finally arrives and the five foolish virgins return and beg to be let in to the feast, the bridegroom answers them saying, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you?” He does not know them because He does not recognize their fruits. They bear, not the fruit of His Vine, but other fruit, bad fruit. Their faith was not sufficient to see them through the time in which He was delayed. They were no longer watching and waiting for His coming in hopeful expectation. They had let their faith grow week and diminish as it was choked out and replaced by cares and anxieties and idolatries of the world and the flesh. They may have thought they were keeping their faith aflame by patronizing other faith dealers – self-help preachers and new-age sorcerers – but they were not feeding their faith, they were not buying oil, and it could not keep them and preserve them in faith over the long haul. Therefore, when the Bridegroom arrived, He did not recognize or know them as His Bride. For, there is only one kind of oil that will preserve you and keep you until He comes; there is only one faith, and only one source of feeding that faith which is recognized by our Lord and Husband – God’s Word and His Holy Sacraments. Remain in these, and He will remain in you, and you will bear much, and the correct and proper fruit.

This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. All is prepared for you, the Bride of Christ. Though He may tarry, your Bridegroom is coming at a day and an hour you do not know. He says to you, “You believe in God; believe also in Me.” “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

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

(Audio)

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

 

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

The scene described in our Old Testament lesson from the Prophet Daniel depicts the coronation of “one like a son of man”. At first Daniel describes the Ancient of Days, who is God the Father, sitting upon His throne in judgment, surrounded by the heavenly host as the royal record books are opened. The scene is descriptive of a king’s courtroom where he is about to pronounce a binding legal judgment. A little horn is speaking, bringing charges and making boastful and proud accusations as a prosecuting attorney. In the verses preceding today’s pericope, Daniel describes four great beasts come up out of the sea. This blasphemous little horn is but one of ten horns upon the head of the fourth beast in Daniel’s vision, which Daniel describes as having eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth.

It is enough to understand the little horn as the activity of Satan in the world through men. And, though his charges and his accusations are against men, they are truly against God Himself. Thus, he is a blasphemer. Likewise, though men are the instruments of Satan to do evil, and are guilty of their own sins and transgressions, it is truly God Himself who is on trial. This is consistent with God’s answer to Job’s pleading question, “Why my suffering?” God’s answer: “That the righteousness of God might be revealed.” When Satan asked to test Job, he wasn’t concerned about Job’s faith and righteousness at all, but he wanted to put God to the test; he wanted to pit God’s justice and righteousness against His goodness, love, and mercy. Thus, it is true that no man is your enemy, for only Satan is your enemy; and Satan is only your enemy because He is God’s enemy first.

As the little horn was speaking, however, Daniel tells us that the beast upon whose head the horn was planted was destroyed. Who was that beast but Satan himself? And what was the cause of his destruction? That is revealed in the coronation of one like a son of man. He was presented before the Ancient of Days and to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominions is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. What Daniel foresaw in prophetic vision was fulfilled in the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When Satan hurled his charges, his accusations, and his blasphemies against God’s Son on the cross, Jesus took it all upon Himself and He died in your place, in my place, in Job’s place, in Adam’s place, that we might live. And, because of His perfect selflessness, sacrifice, and obedience, God the Father crowned Him and has given Him dominion and authority over heaven and earth and all things in them, so that the same description of the Ancient of Days is used to describe the Son of Man, Jesus, in the Revelation to St. John which closes the canon of Holy Scripture.

For, the Revelation much less reveals something new, that is yet to come, than it unveils something that is already accomplished: The Lamb of God Jesus Christ has died, and yet He lives – He stands as the lamb that is slain. He reigns and He rules with the Father, the Ancient of Days, and together with Him receives blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power forever and ever. It is accomplished. It is finished. Thus, what Daniel foresaw in prophetic vision was already a done deal. God had determined it. Therefore, no matter what life lays before you, no matter what challenge or fear or frustration you may face, the end of the story is written, and Jesus has us for all eternity – we win! And, since His dominion is everlasting, those who are in it are also eternal. That means that we are not merely looking forward to eternal life, but we already possess it. Scripture calls it a hope because we do not experience its reality fully at this point in time. But we have it already, by virtue of our Baptism, and by the gift of the Medicine of Immortality which we receive in the Holy Supper. Jesus had accomplished it all for us already, it is pure gift. "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved."

The Apostle Peter expounds upon the ramifications of this reality by answering the question, “How then shall we live?” That is to say, if God created all things that exist, if Satan plunged all things into sin and death, if God redeemed all things through the victorious death and resurrection of His Son, and if Jesus is returning in glory and judgment on a day to come when all created things will burn and dissolve away, then what kind of people ought you to be? You are to live lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, being diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. Of course, this is impossible for man, but it is a reality through baptism and faith in Jesus Christ. You are to take comfort and strength in the victory and eternal life that is already yours in Jesus and wait for His return in patient vigilance, in humility and repentance, in service to your brother and neighbor, persevering to the end.

In this regard, Jesus prophesied of that day, that He will come in glory and will sit upon His throne in judgment. Then He will separate the sheep from the goats. Yet, the clear indication is that the judgment will have already occurred, for the sheep are already sheep and the goats are already goats – all that is left is to separate them, a task easily accomplished by the outward appearance of each species. Still, Jesus does describe the behaviors of those He recognizes as sheep as compared to those He recognizes as goats. The sheep, Jesus says, gave food to Him when He was hungry and drink when He was thirsty, they welcomed Him as a stranger, clothed His nakedness, and visited Him when sick and in prison. In contrast, Jesus says, the goats did not do these things. Then, lest we make of His words a mere moralism, Jesus adds that the sheep did not realize that they had done these things to Him, nor did the goats realize that they had not. Thus, Jesus’ words are not a prescription for what you must do to be a sheep of His flock, but rather they are indicative that Christ is in those who trust in Him so that He counts them as His brothers. Therefore, to serve one of Jesus’ brothers is serve Jesus, and to refuse them and to reject them is to reject Him. It is much less about your deeds than it is your faith in, or rejection of, Jesus that makes you either a sheep or a goat. Yet, the truth remains that sheep will do sheepy things (love, compassion, mercy, charity, kindness, and forgiveness), while goats will be goats. The undone works are only a symptom of the real problem: lack of faith. If they had called on the Lord in faith, He would have forgiven them, prepared them, and completed good works in them.

The Judgment has already happened. Judgment Day was Good Friday. That was the day that our sins were judged and punished. It is not a day ahead of us, but the day Jesus died on the cross. So, we look to the cross for comfort and hope, and we gladly bear the cross appointed for us, that we may share in the victory which Christ, the Son of Man, won for us, and was given, with us included, in Daniel's Vision of the End.

Life hurts. Dangers threaten. Illness frightens us. We often feel overwhelmed, and out of control. But God tells us that we should not trust our senses here but listen to His Word. Already in the time of Daniel, five centuries before the time of Christ, it was a settled plan, and He locked it up in Jesus. God doesn't want us fearing what the world throws at us. He desires that we trust Him and find daily peace and comfort in Him. Your sins are forgiven because Jesus died for you. God gives you eternal life for Christ's sake – or, as Daniel saw it, God gives you to Jesus for an eternal dominion. Either way, it is not what it may feel like at the moment that is important, but what we see in this apocalyptic vision of the end.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Third-Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 25)

(Audio)

Matthew 24:15-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Exodus 32:1-20

 

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

Matthew chapter 24 is part of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, His fifth, final, and most extensive discourse in The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Jesus’ topic is the End Times and being prepared for Christ’s Second Advent which will come on a day and hour that no one will know. Jesus had spoken to the Pharisees concerning judgment in chapter 23 issuing seven “Woes” upon the scribes and the Pharisees. At the beginning of chapter 24 Jesus and His disciples are leaving the temple and Jerusalem heading down across the Kidron Valley and up the slopes of Mount Olivet (the Mount of Olives), likely to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus often rested, prayed, and taught His disciples more intimately. Looking back upon the temple from Olivet the disciples began to point out the majesty of the temple and the city. Jesus answered them saying, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” This prophecy was literally fulfilled in A.D. 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. The temple was burned. The gold in the temple melted in the fire and ran down into the cracks between the stones. As people later searched for the gold, they toppled every stone from its place. This destruction of Jerusalem was but a foreshadowing of what is yet to come.

Jesus’ prophecy of doom got the disciples curious, and probably more than a little concerned. When they were alone with Jesus on the Mount of Olives, they asked Him, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered them with the rest of Matthew chapter 24 and 25 which has come to be known as the Olivet Discourse. Jesus warns His disciple of false Christs and false prophets, false teachers claiming to tell the truth in order to lead the faithful astray. He also speaks of tribulation, wars, famines, earthquakes, and persecution. Jesus warns, “See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. […] All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Again, pretty much all of this was fulfilled in A.D. 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. And yet, some of it is true of every generation and is even now being fulfilled. And then there are a few things that are yet to be fulfilled which will come to pass in the days immediately preceding the Lord’s Second Advent. Regardless of the time, the advice is the same, “Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

The Kingdom of God is coming, but not with signs to be observed. You must use your ears and not your eyes, for God’s Kingdom in this world is one of faith, and faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. But men demand signs, not faith. They want to walk not by faith but by sight. After their Exodus out of Egypt, when Moses was delayed on the mountain holding discourse with God, the people demanded a visible image and made a golden calf, a god unto themselves. So, the people of Jesus’ times were looking for God’s Kingdom to come in power and glory as sinful men count such things. They could not accept a royal city in ruins and a king crowned with thorns reigning from a Roman cross. They rejected God’s Word which prophesied and promised such things and were left in dismay, open to any other explanation than the truth. Upon such faithless and false worshippers God’s judgment comes. Only on the Last Day will our faith be turned to sight.

Which brings us to today’s Gospel pericope Matthew 24:15-28. Jesus begins by saying, “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), …”. This enigmatic saying raises a couple of obvious questions at once: Who or what is the “abomination of desolation”, and what is “the holy place”? Let us begin with the latter question, what is “the holy place”? Well, this really isn’t all that difficult to decipher, the holy place in the minds of most first century Jews would be the Temple, and particularly the space within known as “The Holy Place”. Jesus references an event that occurred long ago prophesied by Prophet Daniel when the Greek King Antiochus IV Epiphanes defiled the temple in B.C. 167 by sacrificing a pig upon its altar to the Greek god Zeus. This desecration of the temple was known as the “abomination of desolation” and served to ignite the Maccabean revolt amongst the Jews. As Jesus and the disciples had just left Jerusalem, and considering Jesus’ remarks concerning the temple, it seems clear that Jesus is prophesying of another such desecration of the temple. As I mentioned earlier that desecration did occur less than forty years later when Emperor Titus laid siege to Jerusalem for four years before leveling and burning the city, destroying its walls and the temple so that no stone was left standing upon another. The Jews were scattered, worship and sacrifices ceased, and there was despair and desolation continuing to this very day. This was the LORD’s judgment upon apostate Israel who played the whore with false gods, stoned and killed the Prophets the LORD sent to Her, and ultimately murdered the LORD’s Son believing the kingdom would be theirs.

The truth, however, was that there was nothing in the Holy Place within the temple. The Shekinah Glory of God was no longer there but had vacated the temple at least thirty-three years earlier when it took up residence within the womb of a young Jewish virgin named Mary. Jesus referred to His body as the temple saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And throughout His ministry Jesus was fond of saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near,” and “The Kingdom of Heaven is in your midst,” referring to his own bodily presence. While it may be an allegorical reading, it seems reasonable, faithful, and likely that the Abomination of Desolation of which Jesus refers is His own bodily crucifixion and death. Surely there is nothing more abominable than the murder of the Son of God. Surely there is nothing more desolating than our God dead upon the cross by our own hands, heart, will, and betrayal.

The Kingdom of God may not come with signs to be observed, but that does not mean that there are not signs that its coming is near. There are wars and rumors of war. There are false teachers who lead astray. There are earthquakes and famines, and natural disasters of all sorts. And there is the death of the Son of God, the abomination of abominations. Each day we are nearer to the day of His return than we were before. He is coming at a day and hour we cannot know, but He is coming. What should we be doing as we wait? What will we be found doing when He comes? The last three Sunday of the Church Year help us to answer these questions, and they prepare us for a similar, though different, meditation on the same in Advent. The simple answer is that we must read the signs with our ears and not with our eyes; that is, we must hearken to the Word of the Lord and gather together to hear it and receive the Sacraments until He comes.

The advice and counsel are simple enough: Don’t get distracted. Don’t take your eyes off the prize. Don’t let yourself be deceived. Though their logic might appeal to human reason, human reason is fallen, sinful, and corrupt; let the Word of the LORD be your light and guide. Do not cling to worldly possessions, wealth, reputation, or anything that will not last. You can’t take it with you. But one thing is needful and that is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of the LORD points to Jesus, reveals Jesus, is about Jesus, and is fulfilled in Jesus; it will not steer you wrong. Gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Receive Jesus’ gifts with them. Pray for each other. Support each other. Be strengthened by each other.

The Kingdom of God may not come with signs to be observed, but it will be no secret when the Son of God returns. For “the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” Then every eye will see Him, every knee will bow before Him, and every tongue will confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” and God the Father will be glorified. “As the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” It will be like when you see vultures circling high above an area of ground, field, or forest, you know there is a corpse there of dead beast. Likewise, when you see these things happening you know that the end is near. “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

And so, we gather here, where the resurrected and glorified body and blood of Jesus are present for us to eat and drink, where God’s Word is proclaimed in its truth and purity and the Sacraments are administered in accordance, where the flock and family of our Lord comfort each other with these words.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of All Saints (observed)

(Audio)

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

 

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

Revelation chapter seven describes the Church of Jesus Christ in heaven. Matthew chapter five describes the Church of Jesus Christ on earth. What we celebrate on the Feast of All Saints is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, both in heaven and on earth, gathered around the throne of God and the Lamb in ceaseless worship, peace, and joy.

In the Revelation, the Church of Jesus Christ in heaven is unveiled for us. The 144,000 are sealed in Holy Baptism. They are identified as the twelve tribes of Israel, though their number 144,000 is a symbolic representation of all of God’s children who share the faith of Abraham – Jews and Gentiles grafted into the True Vine Jesus Christ – the entire Church of all times and all places. This point is clarified when John then sees next “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” When an elder asked John, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” he proceeded to explain, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.”

These are the saints of Christ, made to be holy in the blood of the Lamb. Their white robes are Christ’s righteousness, bestowed upon them in Holy Baptism, which covers all their sins. They have come out of the great tribulation which is this life and world wrecked by sin and death. They are the living proof of Christ’s victory over sin, death, and Satan. They are the living proof of God’s promise to you kept in, through, and because of the sacrificial, substitutionary, and atoning death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. “They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence,” or, more literally, He will spread His tabernacle over them.

How do the saints in heaven serve the Lord? They worship and they pray the liturgy with angels, and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, singing, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!” “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

But, what about you? What about Christ’s Church on earth? What about the saints of God here, still in this great tribulation? Be comforted and be strengthened, and stand firm in your faith, for you are a part of the Church of Jesus Christ in heaven as well as on earth. You too have been clothed in Christ’s righteousness in Holy Baptism. You too have been sealed in His holy, cleansing, and purifying blood. You too serve God in His temple and are sheltered under His tabernacle, which is Jesus’ body and blood. You gather with the heavenly saints at this altar, where heaven meets earth, until we come out of the great tribulation and join the heavenly host before the throne of God and the Lamb.

Yes, I know that you don’t see what they see, the radiance and the glory of God and the Lamb. But what you see are the Church’s scars and bruises. What you see are Her faults and imperfections. What you see is the Church and Her members, Her Christians, in meekness and poverty, in mourning, and in hunger and thirst. This is not the Church in glory, but this is the Church under the cross. She is no more glorious to the eyes of men or in the eyes of the world than Her Lord appeared on His glorious cross. Her glory is hidden, just as Christ’s glory was hidden in His suffering and death. It is hidden under weakness and sin and death.

Jesus looked upon His Church upon the mountaintop and he opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Jesus’ Beatitudes are not prescriptive, they are descriptive. They do not tell you what you must do, but they unveil before you what you are. You are blessed. You are blessed, not because you are so very meek; but you are blessed because Jesus is perfectly meek. You are blessed, not because you are poor; but you are blessed because Jesus is perfectly poor. You are blessed, not because you are merciful and mourning, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, persecuted or peacemakers; but you are blessed because Jesus is all those things perfectly for you. Jesus is your salvation, and when you actually experience and practice these selfless qualities in your life, then you are empty of your self sufficiency that you may be filled with Christ. But if you insist on bringing your own thoughts, words, and deeds to God, then you will stand with them alone, and you will be judged by them alone – not blessed, but guilty, sinful, meriting death and eternal punishment. Nevertheless, you are not blessed because you do and practice these selfless works, but you are blessed in and through them. Jesus does not teach that you will be blessed in doing them, but he teaches that you are blessed in and through them. You are blessed because you participate in Christ, and He works in and through you.

Again, the world does not count such selflessness as glory, but weakness. The world mocks and shakes its head at the Church filled with sinners and hypocrites. The temptation is for you to do the same. The temptation is for you to despair at the church rent asunder by schism and heresy, by infighting, lethargy, and worse. The temptation is for you to join with the chorus of Satan and mock Christ and His Bride. Do not give in to temptation. Today is a reminder of the victory of the Church of Jesus Christ over sin, death, and Satan through the victorious death and resurrection of Her Lord and Head. The saints in heaven are living proof of this victory and of your own victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Martin Luther wrote about the hidden glory of Christ’s Church saying, “While worms and rottenness are before our eyes, we cannot be unmindful of them, nevertheless there will be a time when God will wipe away every tear, as is stated in Rev. 7:17. Therefore faith should begin to forget tears and dishonor which it does not see. Although the eyes see the rottenness, the ears hear the complaints and sobs, and the noses smell the stench of the corpses, nevertheless it is the part of faith to say: ‘I do not know this. I see nothing. Indeed, I see a multiplication and a brightness surpassing the sun itself and the stars.’ Therefore, such examples are set before us in order that we may learn that God is the Creator of all things, restores the dead to life and glorifies worms and the foulest rottenness. And He wants this to be acknowledged and celebrated by us in this life in faith. Later, however, in the future life, we shall experience it in actual fact.”

Today we are reminded of the great cloud of witnesses that are the prophets, apostles, evangelists, and saints who have gone before us. They are the living proof of our victory over death and the grave through Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Festival of the Reformation (observed)

(Audio)

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

 

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

In his vision, St. John saw an angel soaring through the heavens proclaiming an eternal Gospel. Think about that for a moment: an eternal Gospel; a Gospel that has no beginning and no end; indeed, a Gospel that exists before, after, and outside of time, creation, and men. It is this Gospel that God proclaimed to Adam and Eve and the serpent moments after their fall from grace, that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. It is this Gospel that God proclaimed to Abraham promising him that he would have a son and an heir through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed. It was this Gospel that was re-confirmed to Isaac and Jacob and Moses, to David and Isaiah. It was this Gospel, proclaimed continually by the Prophets right up until St. John the Baptist, that prepared the way for the revealing of the fulfillment of that Gospel in the death and resurrection of the eternal Gospel made flesh, Jesus Christ – the lamb who was slain before the foundations of the world. An eternal Gospel that is to be proclaimed to all “those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.”

The eternal Gospel is the LORD’s work, proclaimed and offered to everyone without exception as a free and perfect gift, pure grace. But men stubbornly, sinfully, rebelliously refuse and reject it. The Gospel seems foolish to our perverted wisdom, weak and pitiful to our false conception of strength and glory. “It can’t be that easy.” “Surely it can’t be that universal and equitable; after all, some people are better than others, right?” And so, we try to change the Gospel to say what we want it to say: “You have to make a decision, to accept Jesus into your heart.” “You have to behave in a certain way, dress in a certain way, pray so many times a day, and never sin.” We twist and bend and misconstrue the Gospel. We pile human traditions and commandments upon the Gospel. We obscure it. We cover it up. We bury it. Or we so transform it that it is not the Gospel at all any longer.

That is what had happened leading up to the Reformation. No, it did not happen all of a sudden, culminating in the 16^thcentury, but it had been building over hundreds, even thousands of years. There had been many attempts at reform before Martin Luther. Some had been successful to a point, but most had ended in failure and martyrdom. And yet, since the Gospel is eternal, predating creation and humankind, it cannot and will not be buried forever, thanks and glory be to God alone. In His time and in His way, through the preaching and teaching of His Word, inspired and guided by His Holy Spirit, the LORD graciously and mercifully works His will and His way and accomplishes His purposes despite our best and worst efforts to obfuscate it.

The LORD gave His written Law, not that we might do it and live, but rather that our mouths would be stopped – that we would be forced to shut up – that the whole world would be held accountable to God. No one can be justified by obedience and works of the Law – that is not its purpose – but the purpose of he Law is to show our sin that we might despair of our justification and salvation and receive the eternal Gospel by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, whom God has put forward as the propitiation for our sins. Therefore, just as all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, so also are all justified by His grace as a gift through Jesus’ blood. Thus, the LORD is both just and the justifier of all who have faith in Jesus. There can be no boasting of works or merit, inheritance or bloodline, for the Law of the eternal Gospel is God’s work and gift alone, given freely, that can be received by grace through faith, or rejected in unbelief. There is no other option.

But the flesh hates this and always wants another way. Thus did our Lord compare this generation to fickle children who are never satisfied. Men rejected John the Baptist because he preached the Law, and they rejected Jesus who fulfilled the Law and proclaimed the Gospel. We want things our own way. We want to be our own gods and to justify ourselves.

Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” This ought to be a shocking statement! How can the kingdom of heaven suffer violence? And how could anyone think that they might take heaven by force? Yet is that not we attempt to do when refuse God’s gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Jesus Christ and attempt to justify ourselves in some other way? “No, God, I will not enter through the Way and Door you have provided, but I will enter on my own terms and in my own way.” That is what the man found at the King’s wedding banquet not wearing the provided wedding garment sought to do. He was bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and the gnashing of teeth. No, you cannot justify yourself, nor can you take or enter the kingdom of heaven in any way. But you must receive it as a gift, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. This, once again, is the eternal Gospel proclaimed by the angel of Revelation, the same Gospel proclaimed by the prophets and John the Baptist and by the faithful preachers and undershepherds of the Reformation and by the same still today and tomorrow until the Lord returns.

Grace. Amazing grace. The sweetest sound to ring in the ears of those who rightly hear by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. This eternal Gospel, this amazing grace, was what the Reformation dusted off and set free from the chains of manmade traditions, misconstrual, commandments, and obfuscation. And the Reformation must continue ever that the eternal Gospel may continue to be proclaimed “to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.”

The eternal Gospel is this: “The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Lord, keep us steadfast in this, Your Word, for it is life and salvation for all who will believe. My dear Lutheran Christians, you are the heirs of this amazing grace. But it is not a treasure to keep to yourself, but it is a beacon light of hope to all who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. Therefore, you must strive always to hear this Gospel in its truth and purity and, receiving it daily in Word and Sacrament, live, breathe, and share it with all in your lives, words, and deeds to the glory of God. For, you are called to be angels, that is messengers of this amazing grace to all the world. However, you can only give to others of what you first have yourself. Therefore, come and be filled with the LORD’s grace: Word and water, body and blood, for the forgiveness of your sins, for life, and for everlasting salvation. You are blessed to be a blessing to the glory of God’s holy Name.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.