APRIL 2023
APRIL 2023
2 April 2023 - Palm Sunday - Matthew 21:9-11
Before his arrival at Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday, Jesus - who was known to be a descendant of the royal family of Israel - had also developed a reputation as an awe-inspiring wonder-worker. He had been very compassionate and generous in performing miracles for needy people.
The hungry had been fed. The lame had been made to walk. The blind had been given their sight. The demonically-possessed had been delivered. And even the dead had been brought back to life.
So, when the people of Jerusalem learned that Jesus was coming to their city, the reaction was what we would expect. “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Jesus was indeed coming “in the name of the Lord,” and they were quite excited about it! The crowds knew that the power of the Lord had been working through him for the benefit of many people. And now that he was coming to Jerusalem, they expected that this divine power would be manifested also for their benefit.
Those with political and patriotic inclinations expected Jesus to overthrow the Roman occupation. Those with a more religious orientation hoped for a purge of the corrupt temple leadership. Those with more practical and mundane concerns were looking forward to the healing of their diseases, and the filling of their stomachs.
They thought that Jesus was the Messiah. And they thought that these were the kind of things the Messiah would do - “in the name of the Lord.” But in just a few days, they realized that they were not going to get what they wanted from Jesus.
They had welcomed him with rejoicing. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” But now they were deeply disappointed. Where was the divine, miracle-working power they had heard about?
And when their disappointment turned to anger, they turned on him. Before the week was through, some of the people who had welcomed Jesus with unbridled enthusiasm on Palm Sunday, may very well have been among those who called for his crucifixion at his trial, and who taunted him while he hung on the cross.
Jesus had not done what they expected. Jesus had not given them what they wanted. They no longer believed that he he was the Messiah. They no longer believed that he had come “in the name of the Lord.”
A key error that they had made, was in their interpretation of what it would mean for the Messiah to come “in the name of the Lord.”
Jesus was not coming only in the power of the Lord, so that he would be able to do everything they wanted him to do for them. Rather, coming “in the name of the Lord” meant coming for the purposes of the Lord - to accomplish what the Lord wanted done.
The people of Jerusalem did not have the right to set God’s agenda. God, from all eternity, had set the agenda for what his Son in human flesh would accomplish in Jerusalem that week.
Jesus had indeed come “in the name of the Lord.” He had come to procure for the people of Jerusalem, and for all humanity, what they truly needed, and not necessarily what they wanted.
He himself had said it in this way: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
He had also said: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus had not come to give to the people an assortment of miraculous “bobbles” and “trinkets,” for their life in this world. He had come to take away from their hearts their misguided reliance on the things of this world.
He had come to bestow upon them, through repentance and faith, a whole new life; and citizenship in a new world, and a new heavenly kingdom.
They didn’t understand this. But he came anyway, “in the name of the Lord,” to accomplish this for them. And for us.
Does Jesus come to you - today - “in the name of the Lord?” And if so, what does that mean?
We are all willing to pray to Christ in a time of need, to ask him for a certain blessing that we desire, or for success in a certain endeavor. When we have identified something that we want, and that we think he can give to us, we don’t hesitate to ask him to come to us - “in the name of the Lord,” and with the Lord’s power - to help us.
And I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that. But there is a problem, if that’s the full extent of how and when we desire and recognize the coming of Christ into our lives.
We should welcome him, and say “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” also when he comes into our lives to accomplish God’s purposes. In fact, that is chiefly when we should welcome him. And God’s purposes for sending his Son into our lives are often quite a bit different from the purposes for which we may be quick to invite him. Listen to what the Lord says in the Book of Deuteronomy:
“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”
Would you ordinarily be inclined to invite Jesus to come “in the name of the Lord” to wound you, and to kill you? Probably not.
But when he comes into your life “in the name of the Lord” - that is, to accomplish the Lord’s purposes - that’s what he comes to do: not literal homicide, of course; but something like it in the realm of heart, mind, and conscience.
With the severe judgments of his law, he attacks all the pretensions and pride of your old nature. He attacks your idolatrous reliance on anything other than him and his Word, for salvation. And he humbles you.
God’s Son comes, as Scripture says, to wound and to kill. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
But Jesus also comes to heal and to make alive! After he has humbled you, his forgiving and restoring grace immediately lifts you up to the heights of his mercy.
He knows that your old sinful nature is always turning on him and rejecting him, just as the crowds of Jerusalem turned on him and rejected him. But he still loves you - just as he still loved them, and came to them.
And so he comes into your life, to accomplish the purposes for which his Father in heaven sent him. He creates in you a new nature.
He comes to heal your soul, and to make you truly alive by the indwelling of his Spirit, who is the Lord, and the giver of life. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
We are told in Psalm 111 that the Lord “sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever.”
Through your baptism into Christ, you are now among the people of God. In Christ, God has sent redemption to you.
And the covenant that God establishes with his church is an eternal covenant. God will forgive your sins when your heart is turned toward him, because in the death and resurrection of Christ, he has already turned his heart toward you.
To the Colossians Paul writes that in Christ
“You were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, ...having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.”
In a few minutes, Jesus will come to you “in the name of the Lord” yet again, and in a very special way. The church has always recognized an intimate connection between Jesus’ coming to Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, to offer himself as the atoning sacrifice for human sin; and his coming in the special sacrament of the new covenant here and now, to distribute to communicants the blessings and benefits of that sacrifice.
That’s why - as we welcome him into our midst today in his Holy Supper - we join in the song of the people of Jerusalem: “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Jesus’ body and blood, which were once and for all time given up to God on the cross, are now repeatedly given out to us at the altar, for our forgiveness, life, and salvation.
We do rejoice on this Palm Sunday, and sing “hosanna in the highest,” as we remember Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem: to die and rise again for humanity’s salvation. In the words of St. John’s First Epistle, “we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”
And we rejoice on this Palm Sunday - and on every Lord’s Day - and sing “hosanna in the highest,” as we in his Supper receive our crucified and risen Savior, in accordance with the Lord’s saving purpose for each of us. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John:
“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
In a few minutes, when those of you who are communicants leave your pew to come forward for this sacrament, also leave behind you - in heart, mind, and conscience - whatever earthly agenda for God in your life you have devised. Submit yourself instead to his agenda for you, and to what he wants to do for your eternal benefit.
And remember what God says through the Prophet Jeremiah: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
When Jesus “comes in the name of the Lord,” to fulfill the will of his heavenly Father for you, he comes only for good. Even if he comes to do something you don’t expect, it is a good unexpected thing that he does.
He comes indeed to give you a future: an eternal future as a redeemed and justified citizen of God’s kingdom. He comes indeed to give you a hope: an everlasting hope as a forgiven and adopted child in God’s family.
Jesus comes to us, not to satisfy our worldly desires, as we define them; but to fulfill our true spiritual needs, as the Lord defines them. We rejoice in his coming among us. And we sing: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Amen.
6 April 2023 - Maundy Thursday
Are you a member? There are lots of times and places when we might be asked such a question, such as when we try to enter a private golf course, or when we try to purchase something from an organization at a members-only discounted price.
If you are a member of certain clubs and organizations, you are able to enjoy benefits that are not available to non-members. You have access and privileges that non-members do not have.
Now, is that what it means to be a member of a church? A church, as it would be organized according to civil law - with a constitution and officers - does need to have legally-recognized members. But is that what church membership means at the deepest level?
A couple years ago, the Gallup organization released the results of a study regarding membership in religious congregations in America. For the first time in history, the study showed that less than half of the people who live in our country belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque.
Only 47% were members. During the past two years that percentage has no doubt dropped to an even lower figure.
Many people who are not affiliated with an organized religion, do, however, still consider themselves to be personally religious, or “spiritual.” But they want to be able to figure out their own beliefs, based on their own criteria.
They don’t want their religion or their spirituality to be “controlled” by clergy or creeds, or even by the Bible. And so they are not “members.”
The Christian faith as Jesus inaugurated it cannot truly exist, however, without a strong concept of membership. But I am not taking about something bureaucratic or organizational. St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians that
“...the mystery of Christ...was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.”
“To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known...”
Our membership in the Christian church is a spiritual reality. It is a matter of being united to the living, mystical body of Christ. And it involves being under the teaching authority of Christ, by means of the apostles whom Jesus called and sent to bring his Word to us.
Jesus is the light of the world, who makes known to humanity the truth of the salvation from sin and death that God offers to all. But Jesus does this through his Word, which he entrusted to the apostles, and which the apostles by divine inspiration permanently recorded in the New Testament Scriptures.
And, Jesus does this in his church, where we are united to him through the mystical bonds of faith; and, where we are united to each other through the mystical bonds of love. That’s why Paul also writes this to the Ephesians, and to us:
“You have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires; and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”
This membership is a spiritual bond: both among us, and between us and Jesus. But this does not mean that there is nothing concrete and tangible about this membership in Christ’s body.
St. Paul writes in his First Epistle to the Corinthians:
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”
Baptism is a key focal point for the beginning of our life of faith, and for our incorporation into Christ and his church. As the washing of water with the Word, it is a supernatural work of God’s Spirit, who makes use of a natural element, to bring a saving and forgiving touch of God to someone both physically and spiritually.
But, you can’t baptize yourself, by yourself. You need other people. You need the church, and a minister of the church, through whom you can become united with the church: as this sacrament is administered in the stead and by the command of Christ who instituted it, among his people and by the hand of his called servant.
This makes you to be a “member” of what God is doing in this world, to save this world and those in it. This membership brings with it the personal obligations and the personal benefits that Christians have and enjoy.
And the Lord’s Supper gives us an even more vivid picture of the fact that you cannot know God as he reveals himself in Scripture, and at the same time be spiritually free-floating and religiously disconnected from the community of God’s people. Again, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul asks and answers a couple important rhetorical questions:
“I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.”
The sacrament that Jesus instituted on the night in which he was betrayed - the anniversary of which we are marking tonight - is indeed a picture of the unity that exists among those who together are united to Christ. We are physically gathered together at one altar, and we eat and drink what is provided to us from that one altar.
And yet, since the power of Christ to forgive and to heal is operative in the Word and institution of Christ, the Lord’s Supper also brings about and causes that which it pictures. This Supper is not just a symbol of Christ’s presence. It is the very presence of Christ among us, as Jesus is really here to forgive and to heal.
This Supper is likewise not just a symbol of the unity of the church. It unites the church to Christ - who truly comes to us in the blessed bread and wine - and thereby unites the communicants to each other in Christ.
This unity of confession, and this unity of love - which the sacrament renews among us - is then lived out in community: in mutual patience and forbearance, in mutual sympathy and compassion, in mutual admonitions and exhortations, in mutual instruction and encouragement, and in concrete assistance and personal companionship, as we bear one another’s burdens in this life.
None of these things is or can be a part of the privatized and disconnected “spirituality” of those who avoid “membership” in a real church. And in a real church, it is the Lord’s Supper that contributes very significantly toward making these things happen.
It is indeed a sad trend in our society, that people are withdrawing from church membership. They are losing so much more than they realize.
As we have the opportunity, let us speak the words of Christ invitingly to those we know who are disconnected, and let us pray that they would be drawn to all the blessings, both temporal and eternal, that Jesus has for them in his church.
Pray that they can someday join us in hearing the uplifting words that St. Peter addresses to the church:
“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s] own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
And in the meantime, as we wait for the Day when Jesus returns, we wait together. We live out the grace and cleansing of our baptism together.
We are nurtured by the sacred meal of Christ together. We abide in the Word of our Lord together, as we hear that Word in the Epistle to the Hebrews:
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Amen.
7 April 2023 - Good Friday
The Old Testament priesthood - comprised of the descendants of Aaron the Levite, the brother of Moses - offered regular and special annual sacrifices, to atone for the sins of the people of Israel, according to the ritual requirements of the Mosaic Law. But, as the Apology of the Augsburg Confession explains,
“The law called certain sacrifices atoning sacrifices on account of what they signified or foreshadowed, not because they merited forgiveness of sins in God’s eyes... In point of fact there has been only one atoning sacrifice in the world, namely, the death of Christ, as the Letter to the Hebrews teaches when it says, ‘For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.’”
Again, the Apology teaches that
“The Levitical sacrifices of atonement were so called only in order to point to a future expiation. By some sort of analogy, therefore, they were satisfactions, since they purchased a righteousness of the law, and thereby prevented those persons who sinned from being excluded from the community. But they had to come to an end after the revelation of the gospel.”
The suffering and death of Jesus on the cross was indeed the true and only sacrifice that really counted, to atone for the sins of humanity.
It was toward this true sacrifice of Christ that all the ritual sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed. And it was this true sacrifice of Christ which was pictured and illustrated by the sacrifices of animals without blemish that the priests of Israel offered - to give shape to the messianic faith of the genuine believers in ancient Israel.
The Levitical priesthood was itself also a picture and a foreshadowing of the final and ultimate priesthood of Christ, who sacrificed himself on the altar of the cross, once and for all time, for the sins of the world.
The need for such a sacrifice arose from two important truths: the holiness of God, and the sinfulness of man. If God were not holy, sin and evil would not offend or anger him. But if God were not holy, God would not be God.
And mankind is indeed sinful. In fact, we are so sinful that our sin blinds us to the reality of our sinfulness. It is God’s objective, external law, and the righteous demands that his law makes on us, that compel us to admit that we are as sinful as we really are.
Our sin pollutes our inner life, and alienates us even from our own values and goals. Our sin disrupts the harmony of our human relationships, and alienates us from other people.
And, our sin is in active rebellion against the goodness and love of the God who made us, and alienates us from him and from his fellowship. A reconciliation is needed. And for reconciliation to occur, God must be propitiated, and his anger must be assuaged.
But who can do this? Well, as we’ve already noted, Jesus can do this. But the next question is why Jesus was able to do this.
If the death of bulls and goats could not truly appease God, could the death of a mere man do so? A mere man, if he was a man with no sin of his own, could perhaps atone for the sins of one other man like himself.
But how can the sacrifice of one human being be of infinite value, for the forgiveness of all sins: past, present, and future? How can the sacrifice of one human being - even a sinless human being - have an infinite reach that includes all people, so as to be able to make God’s justification and acceptance available to all people?
That can happen if the man Christ Jesus, who died on the cross for all other men, is actually more than a man. That can happen if the human Savior, who died in the place of all other humans, was also a divine Savior.
In a sermon that St. Peter preached to the residents of Jerusalem - as the Book of Acts records it - we are told that
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob - the God of our fathers - glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you; and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.”
We believe, therefore, that the sacrifice which was offered to God for all human sin, was a sacrifice that was also offered by God: by God who is the Holy and Righteous One, and who is the Author of Life.
God did it all. He truly is our Savior in every sense of the word. We are not our own Savior in any sense of the word.
God the Son, in human flesh, offered himself to God the Father in heaven. And just as the flames of immolation in the Old Testament carried those animal sacrifices up before God, so too did the Holy Spirit carry up Christ’s sacrifice.
The Epistle to the Hebrews explains this Trinitarian dimension to the sacrifice of Calvary, and explains what God himself was willing to do for our salvation:
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then...he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
“For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
“Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them...”
This is what we believe with all our hearts. We believe in the deity of Christ with all our hearts, because if it was not God himself who saved us on the cross - in both the giving and the receiving - we are not saved.
And with all our hearts we believe that the divine Lord Jesus is indeed also the divine Savior, who didn’t just decree a philosophical salvation for us, but who on the cross accomplished for us a real flesh-and-blood salvation from what would have been a real eternal separation from God.
The human mind cannot wrap itself around this great mystery. Human reason cannot fully grasp the mystery of the incarnation, let alone the death of God according to his flesh.
But we don’t need to understand it fully, before we are willing to believe it. And as we believe it, all the benefits of what the triune God has done for us flow in, and give us peace and hope.
Our broken relationship with God is healed and restored. And we on the inside are healed, and are made to be new creatures in Christ.
We do firmly believe this. Believing this is what makes us Christians. But did the faithful people of the Old Testament era also believe this?
Did they at some level grasp that the future messianic sacrifice that would save them from sin and death, would be a sacrifice both from God and to God? If they were paying close attention to the signs and signals that God gave them, they would have grasped this.
In the Old Testament, the specific term “Angel of the Lord” was used to identify the Second Person of the Holy Trinity during his various special visitations to the people of God, at different times and places. These occasional appearances were previews of the coming incarnation, and of the earthly ministry of Jesus.
This special “Angel” or messenger of God was differentiated from the created angels. He was described both as God’s agent, and also as God himself, who assumed a temporary visible form, in order to communicate with one of the patriarchs or with some other individual.
One of his visitations in particular - to Samson’s father Manoah before Samson was born - is noteworthy. We read in the book of Judges:
“Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, ‘Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.’ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, ‘If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.’ (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.)”
“And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, ‘What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?’ And the angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?’ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching.”
“And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.”
The “wonderful” unspoken name of the Angel of the Lord was, of course, Yahweh, or Jehovah. And notice what he did when Manoah offered the sacrifice.
He joined himself to the sacrifice and became a part of it, thus showing Manoah - and all the people of Israel who would later read this account - what would be happening in the final sacrifice of the Messiah, toward which the Old Testament sacrifices pointed.
Manoah and people like him, with the deep and sober faith that was instilled in them by words and actions such as these, looked forward in faith to the sacrifice of God’s Son that we commemorate this evening.
They knew it was coming, and they trusted in the promises that were already attached to it, for them. They lived and died many centuries before this sacrifice occurred. But the image and message of this coming sacrifice were already vivid and personal realities for them.
May the image and message of the sacrifice that has now occurred, and that saves us, be vivid also for us: as we ponder the passion of Jesus, meditate on the suffering of Jesus, and put our trust in the promises of Jesus. St. Peter speaks to us in his First Epistle:
“Christ...committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Amen.
9 April 2023 - Easter Dawn - 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
For the nation of Israel, their ancestors’ miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt - crystalized especially in the events surrounding the first Passover - was a fundamental component of their identity as a people.
If anyone would ever wonder if the ten plagues, the parting of the sea, or the other Exodus miracles had actually happened, the Israelites would respond that their very existence as a nation was the primary proof that God had in fact established them as a nation.
Without the Exodus, there would be no nation. But since there was in fact a nation, that which had made them to be a nation must be true.
Throughout the history of God’s Old Testament people, Psalmists and Prophets often referred back to these events. And God himself often reminded the nation of these events, when the Israelites veered off from the pathway that God had set them on, or when they forgot who they were, and who their God was.
Psalm 78 is a good example of this. The Psalmist declares:
“I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.”
“He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments...”
“In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt... He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.”
It is not a coincidence that the death and resurrection of Jesus took place in conjunction with the Passover - which was, as we know, a central component of the Exodus story.
Jesus was deliberately making a connection between the old covenant - which had brought about Israel’s liberation from earthly slavery - and the new covenant that he was now establishing.
This new covenant would bring, not bodily liberation from human injustice, but the liberation of souls from the power of sin, death, and the devil. And this new covenant would not apply only to one nation.
It would reach into the hearts of individuals in all the nations of men; and would make them to be a new creation, and a new redeemed humanity, in Christ and in his grace.
Our Lord’s death on the cross was an atoning sacrifice for all human sin. Our Lord’s resurrection testified to his Father’s acceptance of this sacrifice, and to the reconciliation between God and man - in Christ - that has now been established, and that is now offered to all in the gospel.
Of course, God, in his love for fallen humanity, wanted to be reconciled, even as he wanted his wayward creatures to be healed and restored. The death and resurrection of Jesus was the unfolding of God’s plan to break down the barriers that our sin had erected between us and him, and in his Son to reach out to us and bring us back into his fatherly embrace.
St. John writes in his First Epistle:
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
And in a sermon that St. Peter preached in the Book of Acts, the apostle declares:
“We are witnesses of all that [Jesus] did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”
“And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
In the same way as the Exodus and the Passover were the cause and foundation of the existence of the nation of Israel, so too is the resurrection of Christ the cause and the foundation of the existence of the Christian church.
The claim that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day into a glorified immortality, and that this resurrection confirms the truthfulness of everything he had said about himself, is admittedly difficult for people to believe. We don’t expect people to believe in this miracle, apart from a further miracle in their hearts: as God’s Spirit creates faith within them through the testimony of the apostles.
But this testimony of the apostles is eyewitness testimony. These men recounted what they had seen, heard, and touched, with their own eyes, ears, and hands.
The apostles were just as a surprised by Jesus’ resurrection as we would have been under the same circumstances. But the resurrection was real nevertheless.
It set in motion the ministries of those twelve men - now including Matthias as the successor of Judas. It set in motion the spreading of the church of Jesus Christ wherever they went.
All twelve of them saw him, talked with him, and ate with him - after he had died and been buried. And they never recanted or changed their story, even when they were facing persecution and painful deaths because of what they were preaching.
There are very few events in human history that are this well-attested. The German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg once said:
“The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.”
Yet many do question it: not because the apostles’ testimony is unreliable, by any reasonable historical standard; but because people are afraid of what might happen if they admit that it is true.
They are afraid of what will happen to their sense of independence and autonomy, if they accept the claims of the apostles - and the claims of Jesus - that they belong to Christ, and need Christ.
And so various far-fetched theories are concocted, as to where the resurrection story supposedly came from, and how it was invented by the later generations of the church. But what is missed, is that there would be no church, if there had been no resurrection.
The church did not create the story of the resurrection of Jesus. The story - and the reality - of the resurrection of Jesus, created the church!
The very existence of the Christian church as a phenomenon of human history, is the primary evidence for the historical truth of what we are proclaiming today. This is what the church has always proclaimed to guilty sinners, who are in need of forgiveness; and to mortals afraid of death, who are in need of an eternal hope.
The church of Jesus Christ exists to bear witness to its founder’s victory over the grave for us. And it was his victory over the grave for us which brought the church into existence.
Consider also that inside the living fellowship of God’s people that is the church, we who are alive today know people, who knew people, who knew people - and so on going back, with overlapping connections and relationships that span the centuries - all the way to the apostles, and ultimately to Jesus.
As living members of the living body of Christ, we can truthfully say that the apostles’ story is our story. The gospel of Christ crucified and risen from the dead is our spiritual family’s timeless legacy.
The gospel of Christ crucified and risen from the dead is the enduring heritage of the new holy nation to which we belong. And the gospel of Christ crucified and risen from the dead is true, and real.
Jesus’ resurrection is our Passover, and our Exodus. As an objective fact of human history, his resurrection changed the course of human history. And as the power and fruit of Christ’s victory come to us now in his Word and sacraments, his resurrection changes us.
In the spirit of Psalm 78, each of us can therefore proclaim a message like this, to our fellow Christians, and to the world:
I will utter light-filled sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from our children, but will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
He established a testimony in his church, and appointed a gospel to be proclaimed to all creatures, which he commanded the apostles to bring to all nations: so that all generations of humanity might know this testimony, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell it to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but put their trust in him.
In the sight of the holy apostles the Lord performed extraordinary wonders in this world. Jesus rose from the dead, appeared bodily to his disciples, and ate and drank with them. He sent them forth to make disciples of all nations, by baptism and teaching. He commissioned them to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all peoples.
Jesus promised that he will send his Spirit to dwell in us, and to bear his fruit through us. He promised that he will be with us always, even to the end of the age. And he promised that at the end of the age he will return visibly to judge the living and the dead, and that his kingdom will have no end.
In the words of St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, I can declare to you, with absolute certainty, that
“Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
9 April 2023 - Easter Day - Matthew 27:62 – 28:15
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Today is the high festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord. To be sure, Easter is but one day in the church year. But it is the day that gives meaning to every other day.
If the resurrection of Jesus had not taken place, nothing else would matter. And because the resurrection of Jesus did take place, everything else makes sense.
And so, every Sunday is a little Easter. And every commemoration of a martyr, who died without fear, is yet another testimony to the power of Easter.
We know now why the babe was born in Bethlehem. And we know that the sacrifice that was offered on the cross of Golgotha accomplished its purpose of atoning for the sins of the world, and for our sins.
Jesus lives. And because he lives, we, too, live. We live even now with a deeper joy, and with a more certain hope. And we shall live forever, with him, in his eternal kingdom.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We are very familiar with the fact that on the first Easter morning, a group of women were at the tomb of Jesus, where they had an encounter with an angel. These women then had an encounter with Jesus himself, who spoke with them, and who gave them a message to bring to his disciples. Today’s Gospel from St. Matthew reminded us of these things.
This is indeed a remarkable story. But you know, certain aspects of this story are even more remarkable than you may realize.
In the first-century Jewish culture, the testimony of women was generally disregarded as untrustworthy. According to the norms of that society, you would not entrust to women the task of conveying important information about an important event. Such a task would be given only to men.
First-century Jewish culture considered women in general to be inferior to men, and to be weak-minded and unreliable. Also in other ways, women were often not treated with respect.
Men would not speak with women to whom they were not related in public. Rabbis would not give religious instruction to women.
But Jesus violated those morčs, and broke those rules. He did speak with the woman at the well - much to the astonishment of his disciples. He did give religious instruction to Mary of Bethany - much to the annoyance of her sister Martha. And now, after his resurrection, he entrusts this task to “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary”:
“Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
The angel who had spoken with them previously, likewise had not conformed himself to the prejudices of first-century Palestine. He had said:
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.”
Some of the restrictions that were placed on women in the first century were not, of course, based on the sinful human bigotries of those times, but were instead based on God’s Word. So, while Jesus did not agree with the idea that women should not be given religious instruction, he did agree that the instructors are to be men - in keeping with the order of creation.
Therefore the apostles whom he appointed, and whom he trained to be the first pastors and missionaries of the Christian church, were all men. And this was by design, and not by happenstance.
Still, while Jesus did not put women in positions of spiritual authority over men, he did treat them with dignity and respect, and as equal members of the human family who were loved and redeemed by God just as much as men were. To Jesus they were different from men - because they were created by God to be different - but they were not inferior to men.
And it was to women - to faithful, devoted women - that Jesus gave the privilege of being the first people to see him alive after his resurrection, and of being the first people to share with others the wonderful and saving truth of his victory over death and sin.
It does not surprise us, though - given what we know about the attitudes of first-century Jewish men toward women - that when Mary Magdalene and the others told these things to the apostles, “their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them” - as St. Luke reports it.
These women were indeed at the tomb on that first Easter morning. But they were not the only people who were there, and who had an encounter with an angel on that morning.
St. Matthew tells us that after the body of Jesus had been placed in the tomb, the chief priests and the Pharisees asked Pilate to post a guard there, “lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’”
Pilate granted their request, and soldiers was posted there. But then, as we already heard in today’s Gospel,
“there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.”
These Roman soldiers, with reputations as really tough guys - strong and reliable - were so frightened by the appearance of the angel, that they fainted.
Now, the women were also frightened. But they were not so frightened that they passed out from fear. They were therefore able to listen to what the angel had to say to them.
These men, though - these hard and sturdy men - became like dead men. As Roman pagans, they were already spiritually dead. And now it was as if they were physically dead, too.
Because of their unconscious condition, they were unable to hear anything that the angel might have wanted to tell them. And they also lied - to themselves and to others - about what little they did know regarding the events of that morning. St. Matthew tells us that
“some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And...they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, ‘Tell people, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So they took the money and did as they were directed.”
In their hardness of heart and spiritual blindness, the soldiers did not truly understand what had happened to them, or what it meant. But at the very least they knew that this story was not true.
Yet they were willing to sear their consciences by telling this story. And because they were men, they were largely believed. Matthew goes on to tell us that “this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.” And this was in spite of the contradictions that were inherent in their story - because if they were asleep, how would they know that the body was stolen, or who stole it?
But people do often believe a lie, even when they know deep down that what they are believing is a lie, because they can’t deal with accepting a truth that will expose their flaws and failures, and dismantle everything that their life has been built on.
We live in an era of much division and social conflict, in a nation and in a world that are permeated by seething tensions and dangerous instabilities.
And with the skeptical postmodern way of thinking that has permeated the world - and us - we are so often crippled by an unwillingness to believe anything that contradicts the particular narrative we have embraced - that is, the “big story” that seems to us to make the best sense of everything, whether or not we’re sure that this story is actually true.
So, people tend to believe things that reinforce the opinions to which they already hold, and refuse to believe things that would challenge the opinions to which they already hold. We are often more concerned with who is saying something, and with whether or not that person is “one of us,” than with the objective validity of what is being said.
For us - unlike people in the first century - this does not usually break down to a willingness to believe what a man says, and an unwillingness to believe what a woman says. It tends to divide along political lines. And therefore everything is politicized.
There is often little effort to “drill down,” in an attempt to find out what the objective facts of any particular issue really are. We just take note of who is telling us something, and decide on that basis alone whether or not we will believe what we are being told.
But insofar as we are members of the Christian church - who have a timeless message to bring to all nations; and who know that our ultimate citizenship is in heaven and not on earth - we absolutely must stay above the rancor and the anger that surround us in this world.
In regard to the faith that has once and for all time been delivered to the saints, our love for God and his Word, and our love for the world of humanity for which Jesus died and rose again, must always govern what we believe and what we say.
The objective truth of Christ’s death and of what that death means for us, and the objective truth of Christ’s victory over death and of what that victory means for us, need to be accepted as true, even if these divine truths challenge what we have been comfortable with in the past.
And so today, we will believe the women who tell us that Jesus is risen from the dead. We will believe them, not because of who they are, but because what they are telling us is true.
We will believe anyone whom the Lord sends to announce to us that Christ’s sacrifice for our sins has been accepted by God; that our sins are therefore forgiven through Christ; and that Christ is alive, and will be alive forevermore, never to die again.
And of course, it is not only the testimony of the women on which we can base our certainty that these things are true, and that we now are truly saved from sin and death because of what Jesus has done for us. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul lists many other people who saw and touched the living Christ after his resurrection.
He gives the names of many of them, so that people in the first century could have tracked these people down and checked out this story. Some people probably did that, because they were in effect being invited by St. Paul to do that. So, the apostle writes
“that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also.”
The resurrection of Jesus is presented here as an historical event that could be verified, in the normal way that other historical events are verified: by asking the eyewitnesses what happened, and by comparing their accounts to see if they match. By every normal standard of historical truth, the resurrection is historically true.
But even this is not the only reason why we believe in the resurrection of God’s Son, and in the forgiveness, life, and salvation that God gives us in and through the resurrection of his Son.
The resurrection of Jesus was and is a supernatural event, which set in motion a supernatural salvation for humanity; and which we accept as true also for supernatural reasons. St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans that
“as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
As the Easter gospel is proclaimed to us, the Holy Spirit also bears witness with our spirit that this gospel is true, and that Jesus has indeed opened for us the pathway to eternal life through his victory over death.
As the words of absolution are spoken to us in the name of Christ, telling us that our sins are forgiven, the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that the living Christ is himself speaking those words, and that he is indeed forgiving our sins.
As the Words of Institution in the Lord’s Supper are repeated by the command of the Lord, the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that it is actually Jesus who is blessing the bread and wine through the lips of his called servant, and that Jesus is once again inviting us to eat and to drink, and in faith to receive him and all the saving gifts that he has placed into this sacrament for his people.
And don’t be confused by Paul’s statement that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” - which might be taken to mean that only men are invited to receive God’s Spirit, and adoption as God’s children. What Paul is actually doing, is turning the inheritance laws of the first century on their head!
As we might expect, in the first century, only a man’s sons would be his legal heirs. A man’s daughters would be understood to be partakers of their husbands’ legacies, from their husbands’ fathers. With respect to earthly goods and property, women were not heirs in their own right.
But in the spiritual kingdom that Jesus has established, women are heirs of salvation in their own right. They are, as it were, sons of God, together with the men who believe.
And in the kingdom of our risen Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, other inequalities of this fallen world are also broken down, and are transcended by the one baptism that all God’s children share in common. That’s why Paul says in his Epistle to the Galatians that
“you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
So, from the perspective of what Jesus’ resurrection has set in motion for his church, it does not surprise us in the least that on the first Easter, Jesus commissioned women to tell his male disciples of his resurrection.
As the history of the church unfolded into the great commission that Jesus gave to his disciples, to preach the gospel to all creatures, people from the social underclass have often told those who were economically free and prosperous that Jesus rose from the dead to set them free from the fear of death.
And over many centuries, Gentile Christians have borne witness to their Jewish friends of the forgiveness, life, and salvation that the true Messiah of the Jewish people, and of the world, offers to them.
Those uniquenesses among men and women that are built into the way that God created them, and that are based on the order of creation that God established for human relationships in this world before sin entered this world, are not undone by Christ.
But the sinful bigotries and prejudices, and the cruelties that this sinful world has inflicted on people of both sexes, and on all ethnicities and social classes, are undone in Christ’s kingdom: in the living faith into which all of us have been baptized, and in the healing love of God that “has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” - to quote again from the Epistle to the Romans.
So, whether you are a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, the wonderful message of the resurrection is for you to believe - today and every day. Because Jesus lives, you too, who believe in him, will live forever.
And whether you are a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, the wonderful message of the resurrection is for you to share with others - today and every day. Through you, the living Savior reaches out to those who are weak and fearful, and to those who are still lost and in the dark, with the light of his redeeming and forgiving grace.
Through his church, and through the confession of faith of all its members, the living Savior reaches out to a world that is filled with hatred and despair, with the message of love and hope that the women on the first Easter were sent to proclaim:
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He...has risen, as he said. ...go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.” Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
16 April 2023 - Easter 2 - John 20:19-31
St. John tells us in his Gospel that on the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were locked where the disciples were, “for fear of the Jews.” The disciples of Christ, as they huddled together on the evening of that first Easter, were afraid.
They were not afraid of the Jewish people as a whole - which, of course, would have included also themselves. Rather, they were afraid of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem: the high priest; the leading members of the Sanhedrin; all those people of power who has been complicit in Jesus’ condemnation and death.
The disciples’ fear was not unreasonable. They had seen what the corrupt leadership of their nation was capable of. But in the midst of their fear, Jesus appeared among them. John reports:
“Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”
These men were very much aware of the fact that Jesus had been killed. This is why they were afraid that they, too - as his followers - might likewise be killed.
To be sure, earlier that day Mary Magdalene and the other women had claimed that Jesus was risen from the dead. Peter and John had gone to the tomb, and had seen that the body of the Lord was no longer there.
But even so, they didn’t quite know what to make of this. They were confused.
Now, however, they knew that the report of the women was true. Now they knew why the body of Jesus was no longer in the tomb. The body of Jesus - Jesus himself - was alive; mysteriously and gloriously alive!
The disciples had been cowering together in fear. Jesus knew that. And so, the first thing he said to them when he came among them specifically addressed their unsettled hearts: “Peace be with you.”
On an earlier occasion, Jesus had described the new kind of peace that he would bring into the world, and into the hearts and minds of his followers:
“Peace I leave with you; 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.”
The external circumstance in which the disciples found themselves on that first Easter evening, was a circumstance of their being afraid for their lives. They knew, or seriously suspected, that the Jewish leaders harbored ill will toward them.
When Jesus came, he spoke his peace into that situation. But his words did not change this external circumstance.
He did not come among the disciples and say: “Peace be with you, for I have made the high priest stop hating you; Peace be with you, for I have caused the leaders of the Sanhedrin to think about something other than arresting you and punishing you.”
No. When Jesus spoke his peace to them, their external circumstance, and the danger that they felt themselves to be in because of that circumstance, remained as before. What Jesus had spoken into their hearts and minds was, rather, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” - as St. Paul later described it.
The kind of peace that the world gives, is a peace that can be defined as a cessation of physical threats and outward hostilities. This kind of peace is easy to understand.
The disciples would have been able to understand rationally the kind of peace that would have come about for them, if they had become persuaded that the Jewish leaders were no longer interested in arresting them. But the peace that was now theirs because of Jesus’ presence, and because of Jesus’ words, was a peace that surpasses the understanding of human reason.
By every natural expectation - since there was still a real possibility that they might have been arrested and punished - the disciples should still have been worried and anxious, and not at peace.
But this natural expectation gave way to the supernatural reality of Jesus: the reality of the victory over sin and death that Jesus had won for his disciples, and indeed for the whole world; and the reality of the gift of heavenly peace that he is now bestowing upon his disciples, and speaking into his disciples.
John tells us that “the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” In their gladness - their exuberant gladness - they no longer gave any thought to the question of whether they might be on the high priest’s “hit list” - a question that previously had consumed them.
None of that really mattered any more, because Jesus, who had died to redeem them, had now risen from the dead to absolve them. Jesus had made them glad - truly and deeply glad - not because he had changed their external situation, but because he had changed them.
They were no longer afraid, not because this world’s threats against them were gone, but because their hearts were now oriented toward another world - where there is no more death, or fear of death. This other world - this world of life, from God and with God - is a world that had now decisively broken in upon them in the appearance of their resurrected Lord.
Not long after this encounter with Jesus, once they had begun to preach the gospel of Christ in Jerusalem, a couple of the disciples were in fact arrested - and beaten - by the command of the high priest and the council. But they were no longer afraid. The peace of Christ was now with them.
After a few years, the apostle James was beheaded in Jerusalem by the command of Herod Agrippa. But the disciples were still not afraid. The peace of Christ was still with them.
Church history tells us that eventually all of the apostles - with the exception of John - were martyred because of their faith, and because of their ceaseless preaching of Christ and of the resurrection of Christ.
Sometimes the manner of their death was quite cruel and painful. But they were not afraid. The peace of Christ was with them.
The risen Christ - who had promised to be with the disciples always, even to the end of the age - was indeed with them while they lived, and while they brought the gospel of Christ’s forgiveness and salvation to a fallen world: baptizing and teaching all nations. And, the risen Christ was with them as they died - as they died in peace.
In the divine promise to which they clung in life and in death - “I will never leave you or forsake you” - they knew that “never” means never! They knew that the death of his saints is precious in the sight of the Lord. And they knew that on the other side of death, Christ, their living Savior, was waiting for them.
Once the fear of death is removed from the human breast, nothing else can really make us afraid again. Christ had removed that fear from them.
And Christ will remove that fear from you, too. John continues his account:
“So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’”
God the Father had sent his Son into the world, to live, die, and rise again for humanity’s redemption. God’s Son had come in the flesh as the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world, and to reconcile the fallen human race to its creator.
Human sin has twisted the heart of man, and has severed man’s fellowship with God - so that in their natural state people are both at enmity with God and are afraid of God.
Only through God’s forgiveness can the heart of man become once again what it was always supposed to be, namely the dwelling place of God’s Spirit. Only through God’s forgiveness, can the barrier and offense of human sin be removed, so that man’s fellowship with God can be restored.
When people are still in a state of alienation from God, their hearts are filled with anguish and anger, and not with peace. And they are disconnected from God’s life, and from God’s protection.
Without that life, there is only death. Without that protection, there is only fear.
But just as Jesus had been sent into the world by his Father to win forgiveness for the world, so too are the disciples now being sent into the world by Jesus, to distribute this forgiveness to the world.
In the name of Christ and by his authority, the church, and its called ministers, warn the impenitent that their sins are still upon them, and will damn them unless they turn away from those sins. But also in the name of Christ and by his authority, the church, and its public ministers, declare the forgiveness of Christ, and the peace of Christ, to all who do renounce their sins, and yearn for reconciliation with God.
Through Jesus, and through the forgiveness of Jesus, they have that reconciliation. And they are no longer weighed down with fear.
God’s forgiveness - through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son - does not remove us from the world, or from the threats and dangers of the world. But the comforts of the gospel that we receive in Word and Sacrament change us on the inside, so that we become capable of saying what King David said in Psalm 27:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ... Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.”
And when earthly dangers and earthly chaos intensify, rather than subsiding, we are still able to be at peace with God, and to be at peace within ourselves - knowing that whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. While we live out our limited time on earth, and live out our callings in family, congregation, and community, we heed the encouragement that Paul gives us in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians:
“Christ is...not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. ... Comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
Christians in many countries today endure deliberate persecutions, brought upon them by evil and godless men. Christians also endure the sicknesses and natural disasters that are common to all men.
We “walk in danger all the way,” as one hymn puts it. Being aware of this danger could have a debilitating effect on us, paralyzing us with hesitation, causing us to be afraid to move forward in life, in any direction.
But even though we walk in danger, we also walk with the Lord. And he takes away our fear. He takes away our fear especially when he takes away our sin, and justifies us, in his absolution.
This removes our fear of God’s punishment, and frees us to call upon God instead as our loving Father in heaven - asking him for help and strength in times of trial and need.
And when our life on earth does eventually come to an end - through natural means, or through the attacks of those who hate us - in peace we will then ask the Lord to send his angels to bear us home, “that we may die unfearing” - in the words of another hymn.
Even when the attacks that we endure are not natural but supernatural, Christ, our companion and guide, still emboldens us to know who we are in him. He defends us from any and all satanic assaults that are brought to bear against our souls.
He has indeed equipped us with “the shield of faith, with which [we] can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” - as the Epistle to the Ephesians reminds us. And so we can say and sing with confidence:
“Though devils all the world should fill - all eager to devour us - we tremble not, we fear no ill. They shall not overpower us.”
“The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’”
When we are in fear - in fear of God’s displeasure because of our sins; in fear of attacks on our faith by the world, the flesh, and the devil; in fear of the bodily harm that our earthly enemies may bring to us; in fear of the collapse of all that we value in this world - Jesus comes also among us.
He comes among us in his Word and Sacrament, to absolve us and to protect us, to nurture us and to fill us with his life and presence. And in his gospel he says to us: “Peace be with you.” Amen.
23 April 2023 - Easter 3 - John 10:11-18
Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
The imagery of Jesus as a shepherd is a comforting imagery. This comfort is intensified when a comparison is made between Jesus as a shepherd, and a hireling - especially in regard to the differing reactions of each to the approach of a wolf.
The shepherd is the owner of the sheep, who loves them, and who has a stake in their survival. He is willing to take risks on their behalf, and to face danger in protecting them.
A hireling, in contrast, runs away at the first hint of danger. He has no stake in the survival of the flock. He doesn’t care.
The imagery of Jesus as a shepherd is, of course, an analogy, drawn from the earthly calling of a shepherd. Likewise, the comparison between a shepherd and a hireling is also drawn from literal earthly examples of this sort of thing. But there are limits to this analogy.
When a wolf attacks a literal flock of sheep, a literal shepherd, even if he owns and loves the sheep, will hold back in his defense of his flock. He will not fight the wolf with absolutely everything he has, all the way to the sacrificing of his own life.
To be sure, the wolf may get in a couple scratches and bites in the struggle. A shepherd would be willing to get roughed up a little bit if need be, in fighting off a wolf. That’s where the shepherd would differ from a hireling, who would not go to battle against the wolf at all.
But even the shepherd will not let himself be killed. He will not go that far in defending his sheep. If his life is seriously threatened by the wolf, he will back off.
He will retreat when he needs to, to preserve his life. He considers his own life to be more valuable than the lives of his sheep.
Perhaps there might be an unusual shepherd somewhere who would love his sheep strongly enough to be willing to die for them, if that kind of sacrifice would in fact serve to protect and preserve them. But an earthly shepherd in his right mind would never intentionally do this, because that kind of sacrifice would not actually result in the long-term safety of the sheep.
If the shepherd was dead, the sheep would then have no one to protect them from future threats, and from new predators. Even if the attacking wolf also lost its life in such a mortal struggle with the shepherd, the sheep would be safe only from that one wolf, not from all other wolves.
And before long, other wolves would stumble across the unprotected and untended flock, and devour it. A literal shepherd knows this.
And so a literal shepherd wouldn’t fight against the wolf to the death. And he might, by necessity, allow the wolf take and kill a weak sheep or two that would be straggling on the outskirts of the flock.
An earthly shepherd would realize that it is better to sacrifice one or two weak animals, to appease and satisfy the wolf, than to sacrifice his own life, and thereby, in effect, to sacrifice the whole flock.
The only way that a literal shepherd in this world would be willing to go all the way in his defense of his sheep, even to the point of laying down his own life, would be if he would then be able to bring himself back to life again after the battle. Only if the shepherd had such powers, would his flock be safe from future attacks.
But because this is not possible, at least not for literal shepherds in this world, it doesn’t happen. Shepherds do hold back when they fight against wolves. If they were to die trying to save all the sheep, they would end up not saving any of them.
So, pragmatically, a few are sometimes allowed to be lost, in order for most - but not all - to be saved. When a wolf attacks, especially if he is a particularly ferocious wolf, he will often be allowed to make off with one or two of the weaker sheep, on the fringe of the flock.
That’s why the text from St. John’s Gospel that we read a few moments ago does not limit itself to comforting us with the idea that Jesus is the shepherd. Instead, Jesus therein refers to himself as the good shepherd - the supremely Good Shepherd.
Unlike literal shepherds, Jesus gives his life for the sheep. He goes all the way in his defense of the flock. He protects the whole flock from the wolf: not just the smarter and stronger sheep, but all the sheep - including the weak ones, and the stragglers at the fringe.
He doesn’t sacrifice any of his beloved sheep to the wolf. Instead, he sacrifices himself, in order to save them all. And then, after making the supreme sacrifice - by which he does vanquish the foe - he takes back his life again, so that he can continue to take care of the sheep and protect them from any and all future threats.
On his cross Jesus gave his life for his sheep - for all his sheep. On the cross he fought back against the attack of Satan, the arch foe of his flock, and he defeated him.
Satan had all of us in his clutches. Wandering far from the safety of God and rebelling against the commands of God, we were easy prey for him.
By nature we were under the control of this wolfish devil. And he would have destroyed us all, if a shepherd - a good shepherd - had not positioned himself for mortal combat between us and the devil.
But that is exactly what Jesus did. In his death he destroyed the power of death. In his suffering he rescued and redeemed us.
In the shedding of his blood he defeated the devil, who held sway over us, and restored us to the sheepfold of God. And, on the third day, he rose again from the dead.
Now, as the risen and living shepherd - the good shepherd; the best possible shepherd - he faithfully tends his own and cares for them, guarding their souls by his Word and Sacraments against all spiritual predators.
But an important question remains for each of us. Am I truly a member of this flock of sheep, which Jesus so faithfully and lovingly guards?
Are you? There is a way for us to know the answer to this question - not based on wishful thinking or presumption. It is the way that Jesus himself gives us in these words:
“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”
Jesus is here giving his disciples a glimpse of the Great Commission and its consequences. He is going to gather sheep into his one flock, not only from his own nation, but from all other nations.
Do you want to be certain that you are one of them; that Jesus is your shepherd; and that he can and will defend and protect you from all Satanic attacks?
Hear his voice! Everyone who listens in faith to the voice of the shepherd belongs to the shepherd, and knows the shepherd.
Listen to his voice when he warns you about the wolf and the wolf’s influence over you - when he sternly rebukes you for your sins and trespasses. Don’t be an impenitent, self-justifying sheep, who continually bleats out the noise of excuses and rationalizations, so that the voice of the shepherd cannot be heard.
Instead, stop the bleating. Listen to the shepherd, and repent.
And, listen to him when he lovingly calls you to himself: to the clean place of his forgiveness, and to the safe place of his protection.
Listen to him as he nurtures you with the lush pastures of his Word, and with the pure, living waters of his Spirit. Listen to him as he reclaims you, and encircles you with his sacraments, so that you can remain intimately close to him.
It may be that in the midst of the trials and confusions of this life, you sense yourself today to be distant from the good shepherd. Maybe you sense yourself to be weak, and on the fringes of his flock.
It may very well be so. We all have ups and down in our spiritual life. In one way or another each of us is weak, and on the fringe.
And sometimes we struggle very deeply. Our consciences can trouble us greatly as we reflect on the misdeeds of the past, the temptations of the present, and the uncertainties of the future.
But even if this is the case - even if you are among the spiritually weak sheep, and even if you are emotionally at the fringe of God’s flock - listen today to the voice of your shepherd! You belong to him, and he will not allow the devil to devour you.
Remember that Jesus is the good shepherd. He holds nothing back in fighting for you and for your salvation. As you hear his loving and protecting voice, the wolf will not be allowed to pluck you away.
We hear the warm admonitions of Psalm 95:
“Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
And, once again, we hear Jesus say:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. ... And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice.”
We close with these words from the hymnist Dorothy Thrupp:
Savior, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care;
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, For our use Thy folds prepare.We are Thine, do Thou befriend us, Be the guardian of our way;
Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us, Seek us when we go astray.Thou hast promised to receive us, Poor and sinful tho’ we be;
Thou hast mercy to relieve us, Grace to cleanse, and power to free.Amen.
30 April 2023 - Easter 4 - Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Please hear with me a reading from the 13th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, beginning at the 24th verse.
Another parable [Jesus] put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” ... Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
So far our text.
The parable of the wheat and the tares - or the wheat and the weeds - teaches us some important things about this world, about ourselves in this world, and about the future end of this world.
Based on the parable itself, and based on Jesus’ explanation of its meaning, we can see that our Lord is teaching us that within this world, two kinds of “seed” have been planted: good seed, for wheat, which represents the children of the kingdom of heaven; and bad seed, for tares or weeds, which represents the children of the evil one.
It might seem kind of stark to our sensibilities, but the parable plainly teaches that there are only these two categories of men in this world: those who belong to God, believing in him and serving him; and those who belong to the devil, believing his lies, and serving his purposes. There is no category of neutral people.
Internally and spiritually, you are either one or the other. You are either among the wheat, or you are among the weeds.
Some sections of the Bible teach about the ongoing, inner struggle between the old sinful nature, and the new godly nature, that reside within each Christian. When that is the topic of discussion, we would all recognize that there is still a part of the unbelieving world inside of us, that must be subdued.
But today’s text is talking about something else, and sheds light on a different conflict. It is the conflict, and the competition, between lives that have been dedicated to God, and are shaped by God’s love; and lives that are characterized, at the deepest level, by a hatred for the true God, and by a rejection of his love.
Growing side-by-side in this world, are good plants, from good seed, who in the end will be revealed to have been righteous before God; and bad plants, from bad seed, who in the end will be revealed to have been causes of sin and law-breakers.
The kind of weed that Jesus very likely has in mind in his telling of this parable, is darnel. Darnel grows in the same regions of the world where wheat is produced. And historically it has presented a problem to wheat farmers, since in its early stages of growth it looks almost just like wheat.
It is only when the ear of the plant finally emerges, that the real difference can be seen. The ear of a genuine wheat plant is brown, while the ear of a darnel plant is black.
It’s interesting to note that Roman law prohibited an individual from sowing darnel in the wheat fields of his enemy. So, there must have been at least some people who were tempted to do this, when they wanted to sabotage the crop of a competitor or rival: hence the law against it.
So, the parable that Jesus told, as an illustration of what is happening in the world on a spiritual plane, had a basis in real human experience.
When he spoke of an enemy sowing weeds among the wheat, while the farm workers were not noticing, this made sense. Literally, this might even have happened to the wheat fields of some of the people in his audience.
But at a spiritual level, it has definitely happened. The devil has planted his seed in God’s world, and his plants are growing in God’s world.
In our understanding and application of this parable, we do need to keep ourselves limited to the relatively narrow point that it seeks to make. For one thing, our understanding of ourselves as children of the kingdom should not in any way cultivate within us a spirit of pride. If you are, as it were, a wheat plant, growing in God’s field, you are what you are by God’s grace alone. You have sprouted from the seed that Christ planted. You have been sustained and nurtured in your growth by the Holy Spirit.
You did not plant yourself, or grow yourself. God is the one who made all of this happen.
And within the storyline of the parable, the wheat and the weeds are not really the “actors” in this drama. It is the farmer’s “servants” - corresponding to the Lord’s angels - who are able to see the deeper significance of what is going on, in a field where undesirable weeds are crowding out and pinching the plants that are supposed to be there.
And it is these selfsame angels who will be sent out by the Lord on the day of judgment as his reapers, when all the plants will be cut down. The “tares” will be consigned to the fire of destruction, and the “wheat” will be gathered into the Lord’s barn.
So, in the struggle that is now taking place in this world, between the children of the kingdom, and the children of the evil one, we are not fighting against the devil’s “children” directly.
Christians preach and pray against the sin of those who oppose God, even as they preach and pray against the sin that lingers in their own hearts and minds. But Christians, as Christians, do not literally raise their hand against wicked men - even when wicked men raise their hand against Christians. The sword of the Spirit - the Word of God - is our only weapon.
Literal plants growing together in a field do not engage in wrestling matches or fistfights with each other. But, their roots and leaves do push against each other as they compete for the light and water that they need to survive.
The main point of the parable, however, is not to explore the contours and characteristics of this plant-like struggle between the wheat and the weeds, as much as it is to explain that this struggle will continue until the time of harvest - that is, until judgment day.
Before its end, this world will never be purged of sin and evil. Cruelty and injustice will remain as ongoing afflictions that humanity must endure in this world, for as long as this world lasts.
Atheists often claim that the reason why they don’t believe in God, is because of the evil that exists in the world. But if you pay attention to this parable, you will not expect this world ever to be free of evil.
A literal farmer will not pull up the weeds that are growing in his field, because he knows that he would also, in the process, pull up the intended crop along with them - since the roots are all intertwined. So too, God will not root out from this world the devil’s servants, whose lives are intertwined with the lives of his own people, until judgment day.
Admittedly we do not fully understand why this has to be so. But this is what Jesus teaches us. And so in faith we accept this, and do our best, with his help, to endure - until the time of harvest.
So many children in our country are killed by abortion before birth, and are emotionally and psychologically wounded by abuse and neglect after birth. We cannot ponder this without being affected by it. Our hearts are deeply grieved at this wickedness.
This does not prove that there is no God. But in the midst of our grief, we are reminded by the parable of the wheat and the tares that the judgment of God will indeed catch up with those who perpetrate these evils against the weakest and most vulnerable members of our human family.
When we hear of Christians in other places on earth being victimized and oppressed by fanatical Muslims and Communists, even to the point of death, this likewise is not a reason to question the existence of God. This is, rather, a confirmation of what the Lord’s parable soberly tells us to expect.
And when we see many who outwardly bear the name of Christian, actually participating in, and giving their approval to, the moral depredations of our society that damage so many wounded and misguided souls - amplifying their confusion, and inflicting upon them irreparable harm - this does not mean that there is no true church, planted by Christ.
We do cry out in anguish when we see these things happening, as we try to find ways to reach out with godly compassion to the hurting and the lonely. Yet we also remember our Savior’s promises. And we sing:
The Church shall never perish! Her dear Lord - to defend,
To guide, sustain, and cherish - Is with her to the end.
Though there be those that hate her, false sons within her pale,
Against both foe and traitor She ever shall prevail.The true church of Jesus Christ ever shall prevail. As the Lord of the church is risen from the dead, never to die again, so too will his church never die.
The wheat will endure until the harvest. As thick as the weeds seem to be getting, they will never choke out the good plants that sprouted from the good seed, which Jesus himself planted in this world.
Again, remember that the point of comparison of the parable is limited. The parable talks about the children of the kingdom, and the children of the evil one.
God and his angels know who is who. They can see the difference between the brown ear on the wheat, and the black ear on the darnel.
But you and I do not know. In an absolute sense, before the end of this world, you and I do not know who the Lord’s elect truly are.
You and I do not know who the hypocrites are. You and I do not know who, among the unbelievers, will repent and believe before they die.
Remember what the parable says: that it is the servants or workers - that is, the angels - who point out the weeds to the farmer. It is not the wheat that points them out. In the parable, the role and purpose of the wheat is to grow, and to be as healthy as it can be - even when the weeds are trying to squeeze it out.
In your existence as children of the kingdom of heaven, your role and purpose in this world is to grow in faith, and to be as spiritually healthy as you can be - even when you are assaulted and pressured by those in this world who are the causes of sin, and who are law-breakers.
And in Christ you will grow, and you will survive; because God will cause you to grow, and he will preserve you by his Word and Sacrament. With these words we were comforted by today’s Epistle reading from First John:
“Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him.”
We’re not talking about the symbolic imagery of the parable any more, but about the reality of who and what you are in Christ: living now in this world, with its many trials; but looking forward to the next world, where God and his people will be vindicated and blessed forever.
As Jesus has purchased and redeemed you to be his own people, by the shedding of his blood; as he has forgiven all your sins, and continually forgives them; and as he has bestowed upon you a new life, and a new hope, you will be kept strong - in his strength.
As you abide in Christ, the frightening things that come at you from this world will ultimately not unsettle your confidence in God’s goodness. The discouraging things that surround you in this world will ultimately not destroy your faith.
The sufferings of this world will ultimately not harm your soul. And the deceptions that have deluded so much of this world will ultimately not rob you of your salvation.
God’s purposes are still being carried out - through his people. God’s love is still being shown - through his people. God’s truth is still being proclaimed - through his people.
The people of God - the children of his kingdom - are still here. And they are still alive and growing. Until the end of the world, they will be here. The wheat will be here.
Someday, the struggles and conflicts, the persecutions and martyrdoms, will be over. Someday, the injustice and the evil will be brought to an end. Someday the harvest will come.
God will reveal himself to all, as the righteous judge. His wrath will be poured out on the wicked. And his approval and justification of his believing saints will be confirmed to them forever.
“The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Amen.