The Feast of the Holy Trinity

(Audio)

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

 

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

Yes! In that powerful creative, redeeming, and sanctifying Name you were born again, forgiven, and sealed with and in a promise that cannot be broken. You have God for a Father, Christ for a Bridegroom, and the Holy Spirit as your very breath and life. That is who the Holy Trinity is, and that is what the Holy Trinity does. That is the essence and the work of your Holy Triune God for you.

Each of His three persons are distinct and unique, but they are never alone. Indeed, whenever one person of the Holy Trinity is at work, the other two are present and active as well. In the beginning, when God the Father created the heavens and the earth, He created by the person of His Word, His only-begotten Son, and the person of His Holy Spirit hovered over the chaotic waters. When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John, the person of the Father spoke from the heavens as the person of the Holy Spirit descended upon and remained with the person of God’s Son, Jesus, standing in the midst of the waters. Even in Jesus’ crucifixion, the Father’s justice was served, the Son’s sacrificial love was offered, and the Holy Spirit was given just as He promised. These three persons are one God, and your God is one in three persons: Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity. It is a truth, a holy mystery, which cannot be comprehended by human reason, but which is apprehended by Spirit-given faith – faith which is the certainty and assurance of things hoped for though not seen.

While most everyone knows and confesses that faith in Christ is what makes one a Christian (Yes, the title should give it away, right?), belief in the Holy Trinity is necessary as well. For, what good would it do to confess Jesus if He were only a man? Indeed, it is necessary to believe and to confess that our Lord Jesus is not only a man but also the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. The obedience, suffering, and death of a mere man would do no good for you at all; you would still be in your sins. But, if God, as a man, has been obedient, has suffered, died, and has been raised from death, then you are truly free from your sin and guilt and you can hope to be raised from death as well to new and eternal life. This is why the correct answer to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” cannot be “a great rabbi” or “a great prophet,” or even “Elijah,” but the only correct answer is the answer revealed by the Father’s Holy Spirit to Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Indeed, this is precisely what Nicodemus was struggling with when he came to Jesus by night. He came by night because he did not want to be seen by others speaking to Jesus. Therefore, Nicodemus, speaking for himself, but also on behalf of the Pharisees, acknowledged Jesus to be a rabbi and that God was surely with Him. But, that is a far cry from the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Thus, Jesus answered Nicodemus saying that he must be born again if he hoped to be able to see the kingdom of God. Now, here, all manner of foolishness is concocted and taught within Christ’s Church when well-meaning believers seek to create their own doctrines from Jesus’ teaching about being born again all the while missing His point entirely! The impetus for Jesus’ teaching about being born again and the Holy Spirit was Nicodemus’ confusion concerning the identity of Jesus. Therefore, what Jesus sought to teach Nicodemus was that only the Holy Spirit could reveal to him the truth of His identity – that He was the Son of God in flesh and blood as a man. Indeed, this is precisely what Jesus said to Peter upon his confession of Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God saying, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” God the Father reveals who Jesus is by means of His Holy Spirit. Therefore, faith, itself, is a work of the Holy Triune God!

In effect, being born again is a figure of speech for coming to and having faith. However, Jesus’ analogy is instructive as to how you come to faith. Coming to believe is like being born. And, being born is not something that you do, it is not something that you choose or decide, but being born is something that happens to you, wholly apart from your choosing, your decision, or even your rational understanding. That is precisely why Jesus then shifted to another analogy to describe how the Holy Spirit creates faith – the wind. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound,” Jesus taught, “but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Do you choose or decide when and where the wind blows? Of course not. Likewise, neither do you choose or decide to believe, or to have faith, but the Holy Spirit creates faith within you when and where He pleases. Thus, flesh and blood play no role in faith, but faith in Jesus Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit and the gift of God the Father. Therefore, once again, the faith you have in Christ is the work and the gift of your Holy Triune God!

Yet, faith in Christ is absolutely necessary. Therefore, Jesus concludes His teaching to Nicodemus with a reference to His own crucifixion and death. Jesus said, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” Long ago, God had disciplined His people who rebelled and disobeyed by sending poisonous serpents to bite them. Many were bitten and many died so that the people cried out to Moses to pray that God would take away the serpents. Therefore, Moses prayed and, while God did not take away the serpents, He did provide a means of grace by which those who were bitten might be healed and live. He commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and to set it upon a pole so that all who were bitten by poisonous serpents, when they looked upon the bronze serpent raised up on the pole, might not die, but be healed and live. Of course, the people thought this to be absurd. Why would people who had been bitten by poisonous serpents desire to look upon the bronze image of a serpent? How could such an absurd thing possibly heal them? It could do what God said it could do because, and only because, God had attached His powerful and creative Word to that bronze serpent so that it delivered healing and life just as He promised. Likewise, Jesus is the very Word of God in human flesh, as a man. Jesus was raised up upon the pole of the cross so that all who have been bitten by the poisonous serpent, Satan, may look to Jesus for healing and life. Jesus was God’s gift of life to the world, two thousand years ago, for those who would believe, and Jesus is God’s gift of life to the world still today. Thus, Jesus concluded His teaching to Nicodemus with these words: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God the Father gave the gift of His only Son. God the Son sent forth the Spirit of God to teach the world about Him and to bring to your remembrance all that He said. As the Holy Spirit creates faith in Jesus in the hearts of men and women throughout the world, throughout all time and all places, and they confess His holy Name, God the Father is glorified. This is the Divine Economy of the Holy Trinity, an economy of substance, of will, of work, and of glory. St. Paul confessed this truth beautifully in his epistle to the Church in Philippi saying: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

When it’s all said and done, God the Father sent His Son Jesus to suffer and die and to be raised from death to life to redeem you, a lost and condemned person, from sin and death. The Son sent forth His Holy Spirit to create faith in your hearts, and to sanctify and keep you in faith in Jesus Christ. In your faith in His Holy Son, God the Father is glorified. And so, it’s all about glory to your Holy Triune God, but it is also all about you. Yes, it’s all about you! God so loved the world, God so loved you, that He gave His only Son! It’s all about God’s love, and God’s love is poured out upon you. You are the object of God’s love, created by Him in His own image to receive His love and to love others in the way He has loved you, and to love Him in return.

Though Father’s Day is still a couple weeks off, nevertheless, our human fathers are to be a reflection, even though dimmed by sin and brokenness, of God the Father of us all. For, a father is called to love his wife and his children selflessly and sacrificially and to teach them by his love and discipline the nature of God’s love that they might show it and share it with others and return it to both their father and to their heavenly Father, God. While we earthly fathers will never fulfill our fatherly roles to the extent that our heavenly Father desires and wills, our failings are forgiven in the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit equips and empowers us to strive, in humility and repentance, to love as we have been loved, to give as we have been given to, and to forgive as we have been richly, mercifully, and graciously forgiven. But, we can only love, give, and forgive as much as we have received these same from our Holy and Triune God. Therefore, the first and the most important thing for a Father to do is to receive God’s gifts in Jesus Christ, through Word and Sacrament, and to encourage his family to do the same. First you must be fed; only then will you in turn be equipped to feed and to teach as the head of the family should in a simple way to his household.

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of Pentecost (Rite of Confirmation)

(Audio)

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

 

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

The Feast of Pentecost is about the Word of God in opposition to the word of man, the devil, or anyone else. It is the effective undoing of the curse of Babel, when God confused the languages of self-centered man so that peoples could no longer understand each other nor cooperate in their godless efforts to establish their own hellish version of heaven on earth, with creaturely humanity being their only god. Jesus poured out His Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, upon His Church, just as He promised that He would. And, the Holy Spirit brings to your remembrance all that Jesus has said to you in His Word. The Holy Spirit guides you into the Way, the Truth, and Life – into Jesus. And, He comforts you with the Peace of Jesus, peace that the world cannot give, Peace that comes only from the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ.

This is what the Holy Spirit does – He calls you to, He creates in you, and He keeps you in faith in Jesus Christ. Truly, it is as simple as that! And yet, Christians are too often confused about the work of the Holy Spirit and His gifts and His fruits. You are tempted to go immediately to those things that seem the most fantastic and spectacular, thinking them to be of greatest benefit and thus to be most desired – things like speaking in spiritual tongues, healing, visions, and the like. However, what is spectacular to the sinful minds and hearts of men and to your fallen and sin-corrupted senses is of much less importance to our heavenly Father and giver of all spiritual gifts. Furthermore, you must hear the Scriptures and mark that they speak of both gifts and fruits of the Spirit. The Sevenfold Gifts of the Spirit are described in Isaiah chapter eleven: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” This is a Messianic prophecy, fulfilled in the Baptism of Jesus and in His obedient life and ministry, suffering, and death. St. Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians chapter five saying, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Thus, you see, the Sevenfold Gifts of the Spirit refer to Jesus firstly and directly. They also refer to you, not directly, but in and through Jesus. Likewise, the fruits of the Spirit are all selfless, self-sacrificial fruits that, like the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, most truly and fully describe, not you, but Jesus. Yet, once again, they do describe you in and through Him. In these key passages there is no mention of the more fantastic and spectacular gifts that too many Christians build their faith and religion upon and put their trust in so as to make them idols. However, such gifts are mentioned, most completely by St. Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter twelve: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. […] there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Here Paul intends to stress that any and all true spiritual gifts come from the one and only Holy Spirit of God. Moreover, the gifts of the Spirit are to be used for the good of the whole body of Christ, the Church. Therefore, spiritual gifts are by their very nature selfless and self-sacrificial as Paul described them in the epistle to the Galatians. They are gifts, which means that they are not your possession, but they belong to God. You are given stewardship of them to use for the benefit of others to the glory of God. These gifts flow from the Holy Spirit of God in and through Christ Jesus. And, the Holy Spirit works always, and only, through the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments, which are the Word of God attached by His institution, command, and promise to material, visible elements that you may see, touch, taste, and receive upon and into yourself, that you may have true and lasting comfort and peace.

Indeed, the greatest and the most dangerous error that we can make concerning the Holy Spirit is to believe that He works apart from the Word of God. This is simply a lie and a deception of the devil!  In what is often considered to be his “last will and testament”, Martin Luther wrote in The Smalcald Articles, which are included in The Book of Concord, the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, “God does not want to deal with us in any other way than through the spoken Word and the Sacraments. Whatever is praised as from the Spirit—without the Word and Sacraments—is the devil himself.” (SA III.VIII.x)The Holy Spirit of God proceeds from the Father, sent by the Son, through the Word of the Father – which is the Son. The Spirit does not come in any other way or through any other means. Because of this truth, you can be certain that He is present and active where God’s Word has promised Him to be. And, this is why He is the comforter and guide to true and lasting peace, because He comforts you and guides you to and gives you the peace that the world cannot give – the Holy Spirit comforts you and guides you to and gives you the Peace that is Jesus.

Our catechumens have been catechized over the past two years – much longer when you consider their participation in the Divine Service and Sunday School – in the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments. They have studied Luther’s Small Catechism and the Six Chief Parts of the Christian Faith: The Ten Commandments, The Apostles’ Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, The Sacrament of Baptism, the Office of the Keys / Confession and Absolution, and The Sacrament of the Altar. Along the way they have listened to and discussed the major stories and themes of Holy Scripture, all which testify of Jesus. They have confessed their sins and have received Holy Absolution. And, today they stand before God their Father and you as witnesses to confess their faith in the Holy Triune God and in Jesus as their only Savior. This is not a new work, but it is a confirmation of a work that was begun in each of them by the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism when they were very young. Then, they were the pure recipients of the work that God the Holy Spirit was doing to them. Now that they have been instructed in the doctrines of their faith, they will confess with their mouths what they already believed in their hearts. Likewise, unlike the teachings of some Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit is not given anew, nor was some portion of the Spirit withheld before and given now. No, indeed the fullness of the Holy Spirit was given to each these young souls as a free gift in Holy Baptism. Indeed, it was the work of the Holy Spirit in and with them throughout these tender years that worked to create in them new hearts and minds, and give them new lips and hands with which to confess Christ before men and serve their neighbor with the gifts they themselves have received.

“Peace I leave with you;” Jesus said, “My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” But, what is this peace to which Jesus refers? It is the peace, the contentment, the security, and the comfort that comes from knowing that nothing that can happen to you in this world can separate you from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ. The world can only offer a false and a fleeting peace, a peace that comes from satisfying the desires and the cravings of the flesh and its passions. These feel good enough, for a short while, but then they fade and pass away. Typically, they leave you feeling unfulfilled, and craving, and desiring ever for something new, something fresh, something more. And, too often, they leave you feeling guilty, dirty, and in despair. But, not so with the peace that Jesus gives. Jesus’ peace is unchanging, and therefore, it is certain and true and dependable. Jesus’ peace is not grounded in your fleeting and fickle emotions, but it is grounded in His Word, sealed in His Holy Spirit.

Our confirmands need Jesus’ peace as much as, and maybe more than, anyone. For, they have grown up in a world and a culture, and they will live their adult lives and raise their own families in a world and a culture, which no longer believes in truth or morality, but preaches a false gospel of peace saying, “Do whatever makes you happy, so long as you’re not hurting someone else.” The very objective nature and truth of God’s Word, which they have been taught in catechesis will be contradicted and undermined in every facet of their lives. If they remain faithful unto death, by the grace of God, as they will soon pledge themselves, they will be mocked and ridiculed and maybe even suffer violence because of their faith in Jesus Christ. And, this is no joke, for Satan seeks to sift them like wheat, and, quite likely, God will permit it that they might be proven true.

But, do not let this dire reality cause you to quake with fear or your hearts to melt within you. Jesus has sent to you the Holy Spirit of His Father to guide you, to comfort you, and to keep you in the Truth, to keep you in Jesus. He is the Peace and the Comfort of Jesus, who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. And, if you have Jesus, then you have everything; if you lose everything you have but Jesus, then you have lost nothing at all. Yet, the Holy Spirit is not a spirit of timidity, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Jesus has promised, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” To keep His Word is, as you learned in the Third Commandment, “to hold it sacred and to gladly hear and learn it.” Therefore, on this Confirmation Day, be reminded that Confirmation is not graduation, but it is maturation. That is to say, today is not the end of your studies and meditation on God’s Word and the receiving of His gifts in the Holy Sacraments, but today is the beginning of a fuller participation in His Word, and a life lived in His Word, both in His Body, the Church, and in the world through your vocations. And, as you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, let not your hearts be troubled, for the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit will abide with you this day and always.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Exaudi - The Seventh Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

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

 

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

This past Thursday marked forty days since the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord, a day the Church commemorates as the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord. The Feast of the Ascension is no minor festival. Indeed, it is as key and crucial to our faith, life, and salvation as is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of our Lord. Jesus’ Ascension has serious meaning and implications for us.

First and foremost, Jesus’ Ascension is His coronation as King of the universe. Jesus is not merely King of the Jews, as the sentence against Him proclaimed as He hung on the cross, but Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Moreover, Jesus shares His kingship with you for whom He died. For, it is your fleshthat He has assumed and redeemed, and it is your flesh that He raised from death and which has ascended. Indeed, it is a man, the True Man, who sits at the right hand of God the Father, in the fullness of His glorious and holy presence, interceding for you, as flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone. Therefore, the Ascension of Our Lord is the Ascension of Man; it is your ascension – the sign, guarantee, and living proof that you have been redeemed, forgiven, justified, and restored to sonship and communion with God.

And yet, the Ascension of Our Lord means even more than that. For, to where, and to whom, has He ascended, but to the right hand of the Father in heaven? However, the right hand of the Father is no more a physical location in space and time than does our spiritual Father have a physical right hand, but the right hand of the Father is a designation of favored status given to Jesus, who has done all things well, who has now ascended beyond space and time, that He might fill all things. Thus, you have something which the Apostles and disciples, who ate and drank with Jesus and listened to His teachings from His own mouth with their own ears, could only dream of – you have Jesus present with you, in communion with you, all the time! For, you are baptized into His death and resurrection, and you eat and drink His flesh and blood so that you may remain in Him, and He in you, that you may bear much fruit.

For, it is not that Jesus is there and therefore cannot be here, but it is that He is there, and here, and everywhere. However, He is not present as a disembodied spirit, as a ghost, or as energy, as many believe, but He is present in His resurrected and glorified flesh and blood body and soul, as True God and True Man. He is present incarnationally and sacramentally, in His Word and in His Sacraments, that you may hear, see, touch, taste, wear, eat, drink, and commune with and in flesh and blood and bone. How? By the power that enables Him to subdue all things unto Himself. Why should you believe this? Because it is the Word and the promise of God. This Word is Truth, beyond all reason, wisdom, and understanding of men. If it is difficult to understand, it is none the less True. If it confounds or conflicts your reason, it is none the less True. If it is a mystery too bright to behold, too deep to plumb, it is none the less True. For, Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, and Jesus is the Truth and the only path to God.

Therefore, after His Ascension, He poured out upon His Church the Holy Spirit of God, just as He promised, to help and counsel and comfort you, and to guide you to the Truth, to Jesus. The Holy Spirit bears witness about Jesus. He creates faith in you, and sustains and keeps you in the True Faith. The Holy Spirit makes you to be witnesses to Jesus, that is, martyrs for Jesus, holding to and professing God’s Truth even amidst the scorn, disdain, and persecution of the world. For, a witness is a martyr – literally, that’s what the Greek word translated as witness in the Scriptures means. And, you are martyrs for and because of Jesus when you die to yourself and live for others and for Him. You die to yourself by placing the needs of others before your own. You die to yourself by putting away selfishness, jealousy, and greed, anger and thoughts of revenge. You die to yourself when, instead of acting selfishly, you are self-controlled and sober-minded, loving one another earnestly, showing hospitality to one another without grumbling, serving one another and using the gifts and blessings God has given you for the benefit of others to the glory of God. And, when the fiery trial comes upon you, receive it as a test and find your strength in Jesus, whose sufferings you share in, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.

And, since it is Mother’s Day, permit me to use motherhood as an object-lesson of the selfless, self-sacrificial love that you are all called to through faith in Jesus Christ. It goes without saying that mothers are both receivers and givers of life. For, a woman only becomes a mother when she receives a living seed that comes from outside of her. However, when that seed is received, in accordance with the Lord’s will, she conceives and is made to be a partner in giving life – she is made to be fruitful, and her own body and life is given in selfless service to the nourishment, protection, and development of that new life. In this way, motherhood is an object and an example of Christian faith and love which is expressed outward, not inward, for the sake of others, to the glory of God. Indeed, this is why the Church reveres and holds Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, in veneration, for she selflessly received the gift of life in God’s Word, believing it, even though she did not fully understand it, and kept it in accordance with God’s Will.

Yet, motherhood is but one object and example out of many. For, as not all women are or will become mothers, you Christians will not all witness, serve, and glorify God in Christ Jesus in the same way. There are as many ways to serve others and to suffer with Christ as there are brothers, sisters, neighbors, and enemies to lay down your life for in selfless, sacrificial love and service. Therefore, today we give thanks to God for the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ and for the promised sending of His Holy Spirit to call, enlighten, sanctify, and keep us in faith in Jesus Christ, even as we give thanks to Him for the gift of motherhood through which He gives us life and blesses us with His rich gifts, providing us an example of the selfless, sacrificial love He calls us to in Jesus. And, we give thanks for God’s Word, which is Truth and Life, and for His gifts of the Holy Sacraments, through which we are brought to faith, are sanctified and kept in faith, are nourished and strengthened in faith, and are richly and daily forgiven our sins that we may love, as we have been loved, laying down our lives for any and all whom God sets before us, to the glory of His Name.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord

(Audio)

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

 

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

Today is the fortieth day of Easter, the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord. Sadly, Ascension is a day in the church year that doesn’t get a lot of attention, most likely because Ascension will never have the good fortune of falling on a Sunday. It always falls on a Thursday. It’s just math, the way the calendar works. As a result, many Christians don’t really know or understand what the Ascension is all about, what its significance is. Therefore, it is meet, right, and salutary that we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord on its proper day and seek to discover what it means that Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

First most, the Ascension should not be understood as the departure of our Lord, as if our Lord is gone from us and is in another place. The Ascension must not be understood as a spatial event, where Jesus is simply traveling from one location to another. Years ago, an atheist Russian cosmonaut who was orbiting the earth said, “I don’t see Jesus up here anywhere. God must not exist.” We know, however, that heaven is not simply a spatial location above the stratosphere, but heaven is that unseen realm where God is, an eternal and infinite realm that is not limited to space or time.

We know from the Scriptures that God is present everywhere and at all times, and, therefore, so is His right hand present everywhere and at all times. So, when we confess that Jesus ascended bodily to the right hand of the Father as true God and true man, we are not saying that He has left us, but rather that He has entered into the unseen glory of His heavenly Father and is no longer visible to our eyes. So it is that St. Paul writes in Ephesians, Jesus “ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things” in heaven and on earth. The Ascension of Our Lord, then, emphasizes not Jesus’ absence, but rather His presence, His presence especially for the Church and in the Church.

Jesus ascended to be with us always. And don’t gloss over the fact that Jesus ascended in the flesh. For that’s the key thing here. It’s not just that Jesus fills all things as true God. He also fills all things as true man. Jesus is present, not just spiritually, but bodily as well. So, if you want to come into the presence of Christ, you must seek Him according to His human nature, in those concrete places where He makes Himself tangibly present for you. Although you can’t see Christ, you can hear Him whenever His Word is preached and taught in its truth and purity. Although you can’t behold Christ visibly, you can come into contact with Him wherever His Sacraments are rightly administered. It is through these real, physical, visible means that the hidden Jesus is perceived and grasped by the faithful.

So, the question that must be asked is, “Do we properly recognize this reality of Christ’s presence? Especially when we’re gathered for the Divine Service, do our actions confess this truth of our faith?” Very often the answer is “No.” When a person comes into the real presence of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, clearly the appropriate attitude would be one of reverence and holy awe. And yet people often come into church without bowing to the altar of the Lord or honoring Him in any way. They plop down in the pew with no sense of humility for where they are and even begin to carry on conversations as if they were at a social gathering or a party.

And many services themselves are conducted as if Christ is not really here, but away in heaven somewhere while we’re doing our own things down here on earth. Why else would it be that the sacred liturgy of Christ would be treated so indifferently, sometimes being discarded altogether in favor of services that focus not on what Christ is doing for us but on what we are doing for Him? Why else would it be that the real proclamation of Christ’s living words is sometimes replaced with so-called “drama ministry,” which by definition is pretend and not the real voice of Christ? Why else would it be that churches so readily accept this kind of “spiritual” entertainment and musical performing that is more fitting for a theater than for a house of the living God? It’s even gotten to the point where clowns are being used in worship; there are blues services and rap liturgies! Tell me, is that how people conduct themselves when they truly believe they’re in the presence of royalty, standing before the very King of creation?

Ultimately all of this betrays our unbelief in the truth of the Ascension, our disregard for the real presence of Christ in His preaching and in His Supper. Therefore, let us repent of our lack of faith. And let us learn again of the marvelously comforting reality of the Ascension, a reality that is still in effect for us today. For, just as the watery cloud received Jesus, so also Jesus is truly present in the waters of Holy Baptism to cleanse you by His Spirit and make you a child of God. Just as the two men in white spoke the words of God to the disciples as they looked up, so also ministers are sent by the Lord precisely for the purpose of being His mouth and His voice, to speak the Gospel of forgiveness right into your ears in His stead and by His command. And just as it was the body of Christ that ascended, so also does He give His very Body and Blood into your mouth in, with, and under the bread and wine, that you may be partakers of His life. Christ Jesus, who fills all things, is literally present in the flesh in His Church to fill you with His mercy.

The risen Lord comes to you in this way in order that you might share with Him in His Ascension and in His divine majesty. In fact, Jesus took on your human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary precisely so that you would be raised with Him from the depths of sin and death to the heights of the life and glory of God.

And your ascension with Christ is not just a future thing; it’s a present reality. Just as Jesus is with us on earth, so also we are with Him in heaven even now. After all, do not the Scriptures say that the Church is the body of Christ? Is not the Body of Christ at the right hand of the Father? Therefore, you are at the right hand of the Father. Heaven is already yours in Christ.

Ephesians Chapter 2 says, “Even when we were dead in trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ… and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Is that not an awesome truth? You’re already there, because Jesus is already there, and you are in Him. Colossians Chapter 3 puts it this way: “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Your very existence, your eternal well-being is kept secure in the ascended Jesus.

I know of nothing that can make you more certain of your salvation than this. When you begin to waver in your Christian hope, when Satan tempts you to doubt whether or not you’re truly saved, remember Christ’s Ascension; Remember that you are a member of Christ’s Body. And He is at the right hand of God as the victorious Ruler of all; nothing can conquer this Conqueror, this Redeemer of yours. It is as Romans Chapter 8 puts it:

“[Nothing] in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Therefore, He is truly able to work all things together for the good of those who love Him, for you who have been called according to His purpose. Even in the midst of the ups and downs of your life, the Lord, who has begun His good work in you, will bring it to completion in the Day of His return.

So then, brothers and sisters of Christ, take comfort in the Ascension of our Lord. Know that He is Lord over all things for the sake of the Church. Believe that He is with you always by His words and His Sacraments. And have confidence that just as Christ shares fully in your humanity, so also in Him you share forever in the life of God Himself.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Rogate - The Sixth Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

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

 

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

There is power in prayer, but from whence does that power come? Is there power in the one who prays; is there power in you? Is there power in the words that you pray? Is there power in your faith as you pray? Or, is there power in the One to whom you pray, power in the Name in which you pray? Surely, it is the latter. Indeed, there is power in prayer, just as there is power in absolution. And, as the power of absolution does not lie in you – in the words of your confession, or in your faith, or in your piety – but, the power of absolution lies in the One to whom you confess, so too does the power of prayer lie in the Words, the promise, the faithfulness, and the righteousness of your LORD, to whom you pray, who alone is righteous, and who has promised both to hear and to answer your prayers in Jesus’ Name.

St. James has written, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Unfortunately, St. James has commonly been misunderstood to mean that it is your righteousness and the fervency of your faith that makes your prayers to be efficacious and powerful. This creates at least two serious problems. First, if the efficacy of your prayer depends upon your righteousness, then there is no hope that your prayers will ever be heard, let alone that they will be effective. Second, if the efficacy of your prayers depends upon the fervency of your faith, then you will either despair that you have not believed fervently enough, or, perhaps worse, you will come to believe that your faith is indeed fervent and strong, so that your faith will be in your faith and not in Christ who alone is righteous. But, the efficacy of your prayer does not depend upon your righteousness – except that you are declared to be righteous by the LORD because of your faith in Jesus Christ His Son. And, likewise, the efficacy of your prayer does not depend upon your faith – except that you have the gift of faith created in you by the Holy Spirit of God.

Moses was a righteous man. Well, he was not righteous in himself, but the LORD declared Him to be righteous because he trusted in Him, his faith and his trust were a work and gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus, when the people were bitten by poisonous serpents, they cried out to righteous Moses to pray to the LORD on their behalf, that He would remove the snakes. And so, Moses prayed, and his prayer was effective – it was heard and it was answered. Moses’ prayer was heard and answered by the LORD because the LORD counted Moses as righteous. And, perhaps, so that the people, and even Moses himself, did not get the idea that it was their righteousness or their faith that made their prayers efficacious, the LORD did not give them what they prayed for – the LORD did not take the snakes away. In fact, people continued to get bit and to die from the poisonous serpents! However, the LORD did answer Moses’ prayer, though in a different way. The LORD instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and to raise it up on a pole. Then, whoever had been bitten by a poisonous serpent, when they looked upon the bronze serpent raised up on the pole, would not die from the snakebite.

You see, the LORD did not give them what they wanted, but He gave them what they needed. The people wanted physical safety and relief from suffering, but the LORD knew that they needed faith and trust in Him and in His Word. The reason the LORD sent the serpents in the first place was because the people did not trust in the LORD to care for them. They even accused the LORD of intentionally leading them out of slavery in Egypt to starve to death in the wilderness! Remember what they said, “There is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” They grumbled against the LORD. They did not fear, love, and trust in the LORD above all things. They even despised His providence and accused the LORD of evil. Therefore, it was out of mercy that the LORD sent the fiery serpents to bite them. It was loving and merciful discipline so that the people would see their sin and repent. And, they did! But, still, all they cared about was a release from the poisonous serpents. Though they repented, they did not understand that what they lacked was faith and trust in the LORD and in His Word. That is why the LORD did not take the serpents away, but He did give them a way out so that, though they might still be bitten and suffer, they would live if they trusted in the LORD and in His Word and looked upon the bronze serpent raised up on the pole.

The LORD fixed His Word of promise to a physical object, even the emblem of their suffering, a bronze serpent, with the promise that, if they looked upon the bronze serpent, they would live. Similarly, you and I have been bitten by the poisonous serpent Satan. We each have been conceived and born with the corruption of original sin – sin that is real sin and personal sin, sin that leads only and always to death. However, the LORD has provided for you and for me, and for all the people who will ever live, a way that we can, despite our sin, live and never die. No, He did not take our sin away – that is to say, we still sin, daily, and much, in thought, word, and in deed – but, the LORD has given us a way to escape the penalty of sin, which is death. This time, the LORD did not command a bronze serpent to be raised up on a pole, but, instead, the LORD gave His only-begotten Son, Jesus, to be crucified and hanged upon the cross for our sins and for the sins of the entire world, that anyone and everyone who looks to Him in faith and trust may live, even though they die, and have their sins forgiven.

Thus, Jesus, before His crucifixion and death, taught His disciples, His Church, you and me, about prayer. Jesus said, “In that day,” that is, the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, “you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my Name, He will give it to you. […] Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” “In Jesus’ Name” is not some magical incantation that manipulates the LORD to answer your prayer; beware that you never think or believe such a thing! But “in Jesus’ Name” means that you should pray for all and only those things that Jesus would pray for and would have you pray for, all things that are in accord with the LORD’s Word and will. Thus, it should be obvious that this precludes prayers for new Cadillacs and winning lottery tickets, right? Additionally, however, all material and worldly things must take a lesser status in your prayers, for Jesus drew His sustenance, not from bread alone, but from every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and Jesus had no home or place to lay His head, knowing that His true home was with His Father in heaven. This is what Jesus means when He says that you should ask that your “joy may be full.” What is the source of true joy? Is it worldly, material possessions? Is it comforts and pleasures of the flesh? Is it reputation and esteem among men? Is it health and well-being? No. Even if you are blessed to have these things, you know that they are fleeting. To strive and struggle to obtain, keep, and maintain them is a losing battle that only brings suffering for you and for others. Rather, you should receive them as gifts from the LORD and give thanks for them. But, beware not to make these things idols and false gods. For, true joy is the forgiveness of sins, the washing away of the guilt of your sin, reconciliation with the Father, and life that never ends. That is what Jesus would have you pray for, that your joy may be full – that you may be full of true joy, not all manner of cheap, imitation, false, and fleeting joy.

Therefore, St. James also wrote, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before, God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Truly, St. James says quite a lot here. First, though it is popular today to say, “I’m not religious, I’m spiritual,” St. James suggests that there is a religion that is “pure and undefiled before God,” and that is a religion of selflessness and service, visiting orphans and widows in their affliction and remaining unstained from the world. Second, the practitioner of this “pure and undefiled” religion will bridle their tongues. Clearly, this is wise counsel of the highest degree. It is St. James, after all who speaks at length of the evils of the tongue. However, this counsel has a relation to the topic of prayer today as well. The prayers of the righteous man will not consist of “meaningless repetition” and “many words,” but they will consist of the righteous Words of our righteous Lord and God. Therefore, the best possible prayer is the prayer that our Lord Jesus has taught us. First, learn this prayer and all that it encompasses, and then, learn from it how, and for what, to pray.

Yes, there is power in prayer, for there is power in the One who has commanded you to pray and has promised to hear and to answer your prayers. And, yes, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” For, Jesus is the righteous man, and His Words are effective, His faith is fervent. These He shares with you who are baptized into Him, and who trust in Him for forgiveness, life, and salvation. Look to Jesus in your time of trouble and distress, and give Him thanks and praise for His providence, goodness, grace, and mercy. Let your prayer be like that of the tax collector in the temple, “Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” For, that man, and not the Pharisee, went down to his home righteous and justified. In this way, you are the righteous man, when you trust not in your own providence, faith, and righteousness, but in the LORD and His Word alone. Then will you be a practitioner of the “pure and undefiled” religion, and your joy will be full. Even now, He who was lifted up for you is present with His Words and with His Wounds to fill you to overflowing. Come, eat and live. Come, drink and be forgiven. Be fulfilled. Be joyful in the Lord who has done all things well, who has made all things new, even you.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Cantate - The Fifth Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

John 16:5-15; James 1:16-21; Isaiah 12:1-6

 

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

In what ways is the Holy Spirit a helper? Quite likely not in many of the ways of which you’ve heard in popular Christian devotions, articles, and studies, from Christian televangelists, or have even thought yourself.

For example, the Holy Spirit was not given that people should have a reason to boast. Yet, even a brief pass through the “holy channels” on your TV will reveal smartly dressed preachers on gaudy stages boasting about their gifts of healing or prayer or tongues or any number of things which merit the admiration of their disciples and the luxurious homes and cars and clothing they own and desire to own. Yes, the Holy Spirit does provide spiritual gifts and fruits, but they are never given that people should have a reason to boast, but they are given to benefit the Church and the world, that God’s Name may be glorified as people come to believe and to confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

Additionally, the Holy Spirit was not given to protect people from temptations. Nonetheless, it is not uncommon for Christians struggling with temptation to be chided, by other Christians, with the accusation that they are tempted because their faith is weak, or that they lack the Holy Spirit altogether. This is the worst kind of legalism and confusion of Law and Gospel, serving only to rob those suffering temptation of Christ’s comfort and peace because they are being assaulted by the devil. This is precisely the time that they need to hear the clear proclamation of the Gospel, that Christ has withstood all temptation for them and has defeated the devil. You are not saved because you are able to resist temptation, but you are saved because of Jesus Christ who has withstood temptation for you. No, the Holy Spirit will not protect you from all temptation, - the Scripture nowhere says that He will - but He will counsel you with the Gospel that you may persevere through temptation.

Neither was the Holy Spirit given to keep people always well. While it is true that sinful, indulgent, and abusive behaviors can lead to illness and other great harm, it is incorrect to claim that the Holy Spirit will help a believer to be always well. This is actually taught among some popular sects of Christianity. Ill persons are told that their illness is the result of weak faith, or that it is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s absence. Or, those who are ill believe it wrong to seek medical attention for their illness, believing that, to do so, would be to disbelieve, or to not have faith and trust in the Holy Spirit to protect and to heal them. Some Christian parents refuse inoculations and vaccines for their children, and some cancer patients refuse treatments for this very reason. While the Holy Spirit certainly has the power to heal, and the power to heal people through other people, the Spirit does this when and where He pleases. The healing power of the Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated or coerced. Likewise, it does not depend upon a person’s faith, but upon the will and the Word of the LORD alone.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit was not given to tell people whom to marry. The Holy Spirit was not given to cause people to roll on the floor, laugh maniacally, or to be slain in the spirit. The Holy Spirit was not given to harm or injure people. And, the Holy Spirit was not given to make people indolent and not read the Bible, believing that the Spirit gives all instruction and guidance necessary for life and salvation apart from the Word of God.

Then, for what purpose did Jesus send the Holy Spirit? In what ways is the Holy Spirit of God a helper? Well, there is no better place to go for an answer than the words of our Lord Jesus Himself. Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit “will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” But, what does it mean to be convicted of such things? The word convict, in this usage, is very similar to the way it is used in a contemporary court of law. Convict means “to bring to light, to expose, to set forth,” therefore, the Holy Spirit will bring to light, expose, and set forth the nature of sin and righteousness and judgment. “Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me”: Sin is unbelief. “Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer”: Only Christ is righteous and can enter the Father’s holy and righteous presence. “Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged”: Satan has been judged a liar, a fraud, an usurper, and a murderer. These things are true, they are facts, but men’s sinful minds, corrupted by sin and deceived by the devil, cannot see them or know them. Thus, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of these truths; He brings them to light, He exposes them, and He sets them forth, that you might repent and throw off the shackles of the devil’s lies and deceptions and live in the freedom of Christ and the Gospel to the glory of God the Father.

This is the purpose for which Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. And, this is how the Holy Spirit is a helper. The Holy Spirit helps you to see things for the way they are. That is to say, the Holy Spirit exposes the Truth. And, that is to say that the Holy Spirit leads you to Jesus. In fact, that is precisely what Jesus says the Holy Spirit does: “When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the Truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Pretty clear, isn’t it? The Holy Spirit will guide you to the Truth. He will guide you to Jesus. Nothing about boasting of yourself or your spiritual gifts. Nothing about being protected from temptations. Nothing about keeping you healthy, or telling you who to marry, or causing you to behave like a lunatic, or not to read the Bible because the Holy Spirit is going to reveal something to you personally apart from God’s Word and Blessed Sacraments. Nope, not a single thing about any of that nonsense. Oh, but, what about those spiritual gifts and fruits Paul talks about, you say? Yeah, so, what about them? Does St. Paul contradict Jesus? No, he most assuredly does not! Then, let us begin with the Truth about the Spirit that our Lord reveals to us, and then consider St. Paul’s words in light of that Truth – Scripture interprets Scripture, always.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers,” writes St. James, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” The Holy Spirit is the good and perfect gift of the Father, for the Holy Spirit directs you to Jesus in whom there is forgiveness, life, and salvation. This Truth can never change. The Holy Spirit is not given to give you something to boast about, to protect you from temptation, to keep you healthy, to find you a spouse, to make you act like a lunatic, or to give you a special revelation apart from the revealed Word of God. But, the Holy Spirit is given you that you might know Jesus and receive from Him forgiveness, life, and salvation, and bear His fruits – yes, Jesus’ fruits – and glorify His Father. He will glorify Jesus, for He will take what belongs to Jesus and declare it to you. All that the Father has belongs to Jesus, therefore, the Holy Spirit will take what belongs to Jesus and declare it to you. That’s His job. That is the way in which the Holy Spirit is a helper, and helps you. The Holy Spirit helps you to see the Truth, that everything belongs to Jesus: Your wealth, your health, and your reputation; your spouse and your children; your life and your salvation. Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar? It all belongs to Jesus, even Caesar belongs to Jesus. Therefore, do not permit the stuff of this world, even your spiritual gifts, and even your life, to become for you an idol. Thou shalt have no other gods before me? That’s right, thou shalt not – not that there are any other gods. Everything belongs to Jesus. The Holy Spirit will help you to see, to believe, and to confess this truth. Thanks be to God.

O God, You make the minds of Your faithful to be of one will – Your will. Grant that we may love what You have commanded and desire what You promise, that among the many changes of this world, our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found – In Jesus, to the glory of Your Name.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Jubilate - The Fourth Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

John 16:16-22; 1 Peter 2:11-20; Isaiah 40:25-31

 

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

It’s a common sentiment that you have to experience the bitter in life in order to enjoy the sweet. This proverb expresses the reality that life is not without its trials and tribulations, pain and suffering, sorrows, and griefs, but that, nevertheless, life is also not without its joys and pleasures, which are augmented and made considerably sweeter by our experience of the bitter. Throughout the ages, poets and writers, philosophers, artists, and musicians have pondered the sublime, tempered joy and peace that comes from embracing these opposing realities of life, the bitter and the sweet. Yet, embracing the pain and the joy of life alone does not gain you a moment more in life, but the bitterest reality still remains – death. Again, the poets and the philosophers, even a good number of spiritualists and religious con-men, have attempted to make this mortal coil that we call life an end in itself, a good in itself, and they have attempted to make death appear good as well. But they deceive themselves, and they would deceive you, denying that you are more than dust and ashes, skin and bone. For the truth is that the sweetest of your life’s sweet moments are but a faint and distant cry compared to the joy that will be, and already is, yours in Jesus Christ who promises that, while “you have sorrow now, […] I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

Certainly, of all men, your Lord Jesus was, as Isaiah prophesied, a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”. Though He had no sin or guilt of His own, He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed. Jesus knows what it means to be a man, to experience the bitterness of pain and sorrow, grief, and suffering. He wept bitterly at the death of his friend Lazarus and He had great compassion upon a little girl who had died and tenderly raised her to life saying, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” He knew the anguished isolation of those cut off from their families and friends, even from worship in the temple, such as those with illnesses like leprosy and others declared to be unclean because they were sinners, like tax collectors and prostitutes. He knew the vulnerability and the suffering of the poor and the widowed, and He knew the hopelessness, despair, and dreadful loneliness of the imprisoned. Jesus knows man’s fear and dread of death and his fervent desire and futile attempts to avoid it, to deny it, to euphemize it, and to explain it away. And, as a man, He suffered the torment and the torture that men suffer when facing death, and He did not seek a way around it, but He commended Himself into His Father’s hands that His will be done.

Apart from faith in Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, grief and sorrow, pain and suffering, and death have no meaning or purpose at all, but they are a reality that must be tolerated and endured, whose cause and purpose is unknown and therefore is dreaded and feared, rationalized, euphemized, and explained away. But, because of Jesus, you do not have to dread and fear suffering and death, for they have been defeated. Indeed, your Good Shepherd Jesus has given Himself into death and has passed, alive, through it. Now He leads you, His precious sheep, purchased in His holy blood through suffering and death as well. For, the Valley of the Shadow of Death is not some distant foreign place you have yet to arrive, but it is here, and it is now. The Valley of Death is this world in which you live and breathe, go to school and work, raise your families, and experience pain and sorrow, bitter suffering, and death along with a multitude of sweet joys. What the poets and philosophers and the false teachers tell you, however, is that this is all there is – birth, life, death – and that you should embrace suffering and death as good friends, that it’s all part of the great circle of life. But that is a lie! You were not created for death, but for life with your Creator. You were not meant to suffer loss and pain as your loved ones are snatched from you in death and as your own body succumbs to decay and withers away, but you were born into an eternal family, in the beginning, and now. Do not listen to the spirits of this world but listen to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus has sent into the world to counsel and console you and to guide you on the path to truth and life.

In preparing His disciples for His own suffering and death which He was about to accomplish, Jesus taught them, likely on the Thursday night before His death as they were finishing the Passover meal, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” Jesus was talking about His death and resurrection, but His words have meaning for us beyond that immediate context. Though He had taught them repeatedly that He must suffer and die and on the third day rise again, the disciples did not understand or believe Jesus’ words. When He was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed on Friday, they were all terrified and they fled – they all believed Him dead and gone. Even when Jesus rose on the third day, just as he said, and appeared to them, they did not believe Him until He showed them His hands and His side – then they were filled with joy in the presence of their resurrected Lord. But, forty days later, Jesus was taken from them again as He ascended in glory to the right hand of His Father in heaven. Then, ten days after that, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon them. The ministry of the Church of Christ had begun. From Pentecost on, the Gospel proclamation of the Church of Christ has remained: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

But, the disciples asked, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’?” It is a bit ambiguous, isn’t it? When your child asks, “When can I watch TV?” sometimes you answer, “In a little while”, then you go off and forget all about it altogether, right? And what may be a little while to you can seem like an eternity to someone else. Indeed, the little while between Jesus’ death and resurrection was approximately thirty-six hours (three days by Jewish reckoning). But the little while between Jesus’ ascension and His return? Well, it’s been almost 2,000 years, and we’re still waiting for a little while.

Or are we? Before His ascension, Jesus commissioned His disciples, then apostles, to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that He had commanded them. And, He promised them, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Jesus has kept His promise to be with them, and He is keeping His promise to be with you, now. Jesus is present with you and for you with the rod and staff of His Word of Law and Gospel. Jesus is present with you in the cool, cleansing waters of Holy Baptism. And Jesus is with you at the table of His body and blood which He has prepared for you in this Valley, in the presence of enemies who want you stay in the Valley of the Shadow of Death forever, and not enter into the Father’s House, where sheep may safely graze.

Your Good Shepherd Jesus is with you in this little while, faithfully shepherding you through life, with all its griefs and sorrows, with all its bitterness and sweetness. Your Good Shepherd Jesus is with you in this little while, faithfully shepherding you through death into joy that no one will take from you. Your enemy wants you to not believe this. Your enemy wants you to believe that this life is all there is so that you live for the now, seeking to avoid, deny, euphemize, or explain away suffering and death and so miss out on the joy of eternal life. Your enemy seeks to keep you in bondage to desires and passions of the flesh so that you seek and clamor to store up treasure on earth, to feed your pride and every selfish indulgence, to view your brothers and sisters and neighbors as competitors to keep you from attaining your insatiable goals.

Thus St. Peter exhorts you to live as sojourners and exiles, pilgrims passing through this life and world. Receive, enjoy, and share the worldly things you have as rich blessings from your gracious Lord and God, but do not live for them and thus make them your masters and gods. Treat all persons with respect and love that they may see Christ in you and glorify God. And, when you are persecuted because of your faith, remember that they so persecuted your Lord, and that the student is not greater than the teacher. And know this: that you will sorrow, and the world will rejoice, but only for a little while. Then you will see Jesus and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Jesus sets joy before you as an objective reality. The joy of which Jesus speaks is not a subjective emotion, but it is communion with God, it is life as it was meant to be, life of which the sweetest moments now are but the dimmest shadows of, a life and joy that no one will ever be able to take from you. This joy is as sure and certain and real now as is the child that will be born at the end of a woman’s labor. The joy that a mother experiences at the birth of her child far eclipses the sorrow and suffering of her labor so that it is no longer remembered. In a similar way, this life of yours is but the travails of labor. When you are born into new life in the resurrection, you will no longer remember the sorrow and suffering, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for you an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison”.

This Jesus, who is your Good Shepherd, is also your God who made you and loves you and who will faithfully see you home. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength. They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. He will preserve you during this little while. And what is a little while of bitterness and sweetness from the perspective of an eternity of the sweetest joy? It is true that you have to experience the bitter to enjoy the sweet, but even grief, sorrow, suffering, and death have become less bitter because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. And, in a little while, the bitterness will be no more.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Misericordias Domini - The Third Sunday of Easter

(Audio)

John 10:11-16; 1 Peter 2:21-25; Ezekiel 34:11-16

 

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

“Know thine enemy.” That’s a teaching of Sun Tzu from “The Art of War.” There’s a certain comfort in knowing your enemy. Better the enemy you know than the enemy you don’t know, right? When you know your enemy, you feel that you know yourself – that is, your enemy is “them” while you belong to some group of people called “us.” “Us,” and “them.” It’s comforting to be “us”, isn’t it? Being “us” means that you know what you believe, you know what you value, you know that you are right. But most of all, being “us” means that you know that you’re not “them.”

I learned from a wise professor several years ago that no man is my enemy. Let me repeat that for you – No human being is your enemy. I had to learn that, and still it’s hard for me to remember, and it’s even harder to believe! I suspect it will be hard for you too, and that you will have to learn this. But it’s true, no man is your enemy. And yet, you do have an enemy, an enemy that is common to all men, and you may be surprised to hear that your enemy is not Satan, the devil, though he is most assuredly against you, but the common enemy of all men is not Satan, but fear.

Satan is not your enemy, because Satan has been defeated in Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection. Likewise, for the same reasons, death is not your enemy, because death has been defeated. But, fear is your enemy because fear is the fruit of unbelief. Neither Satan nor death can keep you from life in Jesus Christ, but fear can do that because fear keeps you from fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things. If you truly believe that Satan is defeated, then why do you fear him? And, if you truly believe that death is defeated, then why do you fear death? And, if you truly believe Jesus when He promises you that, even though you die, you will live forever, then why do you put your fear, love, and trust in worldly and material things and in the health of your body and in the labor of your hands? And, why do you fear losing these things?

Do you not see how your fear of losing things keeps you in slavery? You fear losing your job. You fear losing your home. You fear losing your health. You fear losing your independence. You fear losing the love of your spouse and your children. As a nation, we fear losing our possessions and our way of life. We say that we fear losing our freedom, but I wonder about that when we are so enslaved by fear of losing all the things we’re so afraid of losing! The time, energy, money, and resources that we spend on keeping and defending our possessions is immense and all consuming. It is like mighty shackles and chains that keep us from living in freedom and without fear.

But, why are you so afraid? What are you truly afraid of? Jesus Christ has conquered God’s enemy, Satan, so that in Him you have no enemy either in spirit or in flesh. Christ died to set you free, and He rose again from the dead as living proof that death and Satan have been defeated and you are free. But, Satan and men alike will use fear to cast you back in chains, to enslave you once again. They will lie to you and deceive you so that you begin to doubt that you are free in Christ, so that, setting your sights only upon this earthly life, you begin to fear once again losing earthly and material things. Indeed, fear is a powerful enemy that can motivate you to become selfish and unloving, angry, hateful, violent, and murderous. Fear can become for you an idol, a god, and fear is not a god that loves, or gives, or sets free, but fear is a god that takes, and binds, enslaves, and kills you and those you would and should love.

Jesus died to set you free from fear that you may worship the living God who is love, who gives of Himself, and who has set you free from sin, Satan, and death that you may live forever in Him. He has said to you repeatedly, “Do not fear”, and He has given you His Peace in His Son raised victorious from the grave. He lovingly and graciously gives you all that you need to support your body and life and more, for when you give to others of what He gives to you, He continues to give you even more. He doesn’t force you to give, He doesn’t force you to do anything – fear does that – but He invites you to give of what He has given you and He promises that in your giving you will also receive.

On the contrary, fear keeps you self-centered and curved in on yourself. Fear never gives but always takes. Fear separates you from others and it compels you to name them enemy. Fear compels you to name your brother your enemy, to judge him and condemn him, then to cut him off and to kill him. But, God is love, and love never does harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Love always gives, even to those who would harm you. Love always gives, therefore love is always free, not coerced or compelled. And, with the measure you give it will be measured back to you; a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be poured into your lap.

Today is Misericordias Domini, which means the mercies of the Lord. But this Sunday is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. The image of our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ serves a perfect example of the sacrificial love and mercy that you are called to in Jesus Christ. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He does not flee in fear when the wolf comes, as do the hired hands, but instead He throws Himself into the jaws of the beast to protect His sheep. The Good Shepherd does not fear the wolf because He knows the Father and the Father knows Him, that is, because He fears, loves, and trust in God above all things. Though the wolf can hurt Him, and even kill Him, He does not fear, because neither wolf nor death is His enemy and the love of God is stronger than both wolf and death. The hired hands, on the other hand, forsake their callings and run from the wolf, leaving the sheep under their care to be killed. Because of fear, the hired hands are turned in on themselves and care nothing for the sheep. Such a powerful enemy is fear.

Fear is the absolute opposite of love, and that is why fear is your greatest enemy. As your Pastor, I know that you are afraid, and your God knows that you are afraid. All around you, in the news media and in the images you see and in the words that you hear, these tell you that you should be afraid. There are people who want to take your money. There are people who want to harm your children. There are people that want to kill you. You are afraid of losing your jobs, your homes, your comfort, your health, your independence, your security in retirement. There are endless wars on countless fronts. There are tornados and earthquakes and tsunamis and the threat of nuclear disaster. There are cancers of all sorts and tainted food and drink and air. Our youth are in danger of drugs and alcohol, promiscuity, and depression. There are cyber-predators, cyber-bullies, and cyber-identity theft. And our church membership is aging and dying and, by and large, younger generations seem uninterested, what will we do? We are so afraid!

In his first inaugural speech, after a time arguably much worse than now, speaking of the Great Depression and the prospect of turning the U.S. economy around, Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This is most certainly true, that is, if your fear is in, or the result of, anything other than your God. For your God does indeed expect that you fear Him – that is, that you revere Him and trust in Him and love Him above everything else, above all that you have, above all that you need or want, above even your life and your death. But your God who expects this fear of you also says to you, “Do not be afraid”, for He alone is the giver of life and of all things needful, and not a solitary soul comes into this life or leaves it apart from His will and power. And, He has revealed Himself as the God who loves, even the God who is love, who has loved you so that He laid down His own life unto death that you would live with and in Him. So, apart from your God, there is absolutely nothing in heaven or on earth that you should fear or fear losing – absolutely nothing. And to live without fear, dear children in Christ, is to be truly free.

Blessed be the Father who has set us free from fear through the death and resurrection of His Son in the love of His Holy Spirit. And, to this Most Holy Trinity be true fear, love, and trust, and glory and praise both now and forevermore.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.