DECEMBER 2023
DECEMBER 2023
3 December 2023 - Advent 1 - Psalm 118:26
Today we are entering the season of Advent. The word “advent” comes from the Latin language, and means “coming.” It refers to the coming of Christ.
On the first Palm Sunday, which we heard about in today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, one of the exclamations that the crowds called out to Jesus as he entered the city of Jerusalem, was:
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
We chant these words also in the Communion Liturgy, as we prepared for, and welcome, the coming of Christ in his Holy Sacrament.
This line comes from Psalm 118. The phrase “he who comes” in our English versions of Psalm 118, and of the New Testament books that quote this line, is a translation of just one word in the original Hebrew and Greek: “bo” in Hebrew; “erchomai” in Greek.
The “coming” of Jesus is not incidental to who he is as the incarnate Son of God. We would not say that his status as Messiah in unaffected by whether he comes or stays in a distant place, because in the biblical scheme, there is no such thing as a Messiah who doesn’t come.
Jesus doesn’t just exist in a stationary position, still and unmoving. In his office and calling as the Christ of God, he is always the coming one. He is always “on the move,” as it were, toward us.
The God of Israel in general, is a God who comes to humanity. This is an important point, because the imagined gods of various humanly-devised religions are not gods who are thought to “come” to their devotees in such a way.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that God sent the archangel Michael to earth, to be incarnated as humanity’s Savior. God himself did not come.
Islam teaches that God sent the prophet Muhammad into the world, to teach people how to be submissive to his authority. God himself did not come.
Much of the popular spirituality of our time doesn’t conceive of a God who comes to us, either. Rather, it is we who search for God, who rise up to God, and who come to God.
But the only God who actually exists, is not a God who stays in place, waiting for us to come to him. He is not a God who limits himself to sending intermediaries to us, while he remains remote and distant.
The God of Israel comes to us. And Jesus, as the Son of God and the son of David, comes to us.
The question of whether God, in effect, stays where he is, or comes to us, is, however, not the only question to be asked. We also need to ask why he is coming.
What is the purpose of his movement toward us? What is he going to do when he gets here?
The Tim Burton movie “Mars Attacks” is a humorous and silly film. But even with its silliness, it can teach us a couple things.
In the film, after the Martians had arrived, but while they were still in orbit around the earth, the somewhat spacey “New Age” character “Barbara,” played by Annette Bening, was excited and gleeful over their appearance. She exclaimed:
“The Martians heard our global common call for help. ... I think they’ve come to show us the way.”
In her naivete, she could not imagine that these extraterrestrial visitors had actually come to bring destruction and death. But if you’ve ever seen this film, you know how wrong she was.
In regard to the coming of God - which is reality, and not the stuff of comedic science fiction movies - should we be like the “Barbara” character, and simply assume that the Lord’s various comings among us will always be pleasant and happy occasions for all concerned? When the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he said this:
“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ... I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
This coming of God to the people of Israel would be a good thing - for the people of Israel. God was coming to deliver them from slavery in Egypt, and to bring them to their own country.
But what would the Lord’s coming be like for the Egyptians, who would suffer from many plagues, and whose army would be drowned in the sea, before this was all over? And what would the Lord’s coming be like for the Canaanites, who were then living in the promised land, and who at God’s command would be either killed or expelled when the Israelites entered that land?
As you consider the various ways in which God may come to you, will you encounter him in the way that the Israelites encountered him, to your blessing and salvation? Or will you encounter him in the way that the Egyptians and Canaanites encountered him, to your judgment and destruction?
Sometimes God comes to bring his salvation and deliverance. And sometimes he doesn’t. The Prophet Isaiah says:
“For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.”
The theme of Jesus “coming” to the world, and of his coming to us, is a recurring theme in Scripture. His comings are repeated, deepened, and compounded, as the sequence of his comings progressively moves forward to his final coming again on the Last Day, to judge the living and the dead.
In the season of Advent - serving as it does as a preparation for Christmas - we think chiefly of Christ’s first coming, in Bethlehem. The eternal Son of the Father - the Second Person of the Holy Trinity - came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man.
But during this season we also think of the other comings of Christ: his past and future comings, in history and at the end of history; and his comings among us now, in his law and in his gospel. And we say now, as the church will say for as long as this world endures:
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Jesus is indeed blessed as he comes. He is blessed by his Father in heaven, as he fulfills his Father’s will on earth. And he is blessed, and praised, by those who in faith receive him into their midst.
But does this blessed one come so that you too will be blessed through him? Or does he come to curse and punish you? It is not simply a rhetorical question that we ask, when we sing the hymn:
“O Lord, how shall I meet thee, how welcome thee aright?”
How indeed?
When Jesus was on trial, he said to Pontius Pilate:
“For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
And the truthful voice of Christ is saying to you right now, as St. Luke quotes him:
“I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Are you listening? Are you repenting?
If you admit that you are a sinner - if you look around yourself, and see the people you have hurt; if you consider the promises you have broken, and the obligations you have neglected - then you are partly ready to meet Christ, as he comes to you.
But the Lord does not come just to make sinners admit that they are sinners. He doesn’t come simply to put us into a state of despair.
As Jesus says, he has come to call sinners “to repentance.” Jesus comes to you, to call you to regret your sins, to renounce your sins, and to turn away from your sins.
Now, if you do not heed his voice and repent, that doesn’t mean he will not come. He will still come. That’s what the God of Israel, and the Messiah of Israel, does. He comes.
But he will come to judge, and not to pardon. He will come to condemn, and not to save. And so, please do listen to him.
And listen to what his beloved disciple John writes in his First Epistle. Listen now, during Advent. And listen always, in all times and seasons:
“If we say we have fellowship with [God] while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Jesus himself says:
“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
He also says - of himself - that
“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
If you confess your sins, Jesus comes to you in the name of the Lord to forgive your sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He comes in his liberating and life-giving Word. He comes in the sacrament of his body and blood, given and shed for the remission of sins.
And when he comes, you welcome him:
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
He comes, and he comes again. And when he comes, you are clean. Your peace and fellowship with God are renewed and restored.
Blessed is he who comes, to bring God’s blessing to you: to set you free from bondage to sin, and from the devil’s captivity.
Blessed is he who comes, to bless you with the promise of a new homeland: an eternal dwelling place with God in the heavens.
Blessed is he who comes, to live and abide with you now, as your companion and friend; your teacher and guide; your guardian and protector.
Jesus says:
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
He came, and he comes now - in this Advent season, and in all times and seasons - that you may have life in the midst of death; hope in the midst of despair; light in the midst of darkness.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Amen.
10 December 2023 - Advent 2 - Luke 21:5-36
In today’s Gospel from St. Luke, Jesus tells his disciples about the future. And I’m sure that they are listening very attentively.
There is a built-in curiosity in all of us about what the future holds. This arises in part because of the innate sinful desire that we all have - inherited from our first parents - to want to be “like God.”
To know the future, is to be like God. And to know the future, is to be able to control the future. Or at least that’s the hope, if not the reality.
This yearning to know what is yet to come is why people often take a look at their daily horoscope in the newspaper, and it’s why they read what’s written on those little slips of paper in their fortune cookies at the Chinese restaurant.
People who are more serious about trying to find out about the future might go further than this. They might consult a fortune teller, or an astrologer.
Now, God’s Word forbids his people to do this. And the Lord’s disciples, as pious Jews, would have obeyed this prohibition. Unlike the pagans - who did consult oracles and fortune tellers, without any scruples against doing so - the disciples’ curiosity about the future would therefore usually go unsatisfied.
But now, as Jesus is willing to tell them what the future holds, they are listening with rapt attention. Now their curiosity can be satisfied after all!
They were, of course, hoping to hear something good about their future. In the same way, those who go to fortune tellers don’t want to hear about impending tragedies.
The people who write the messages for fortune cookies know that, too. Have you ever read a fortune in a Chinese restaurant that told you of coming evil or failure in your life?
People don’t want to hear about such things. We can assume that the disciples didn’t want to hear about such things either, as they listened to Jesus begin his discourse.
But when you open yourself up to hear about the future from someone who really does know what will come to pass - someone like Jesus - you take the risk of hearing things you don’t want to hear. You take the risk of hearing about sad occurrences and destructive events that you will not enjoy at all.
Because of the sin that infests this world, and that corrupts the people in this world, your future - if you are able to know what it will be - will not be a completely good future. Because of the devil’s constant efforts to turn the affairs of human history toward humanity’s destruction, the future - for all of us - will in fact often be characterized by much pain, suffering, and hardship.
And that’s what the disciples of the Lord find out when Jesus tells them what is going to happen in the coming decades - to them, to the church, and to the city of Jerusalem.
Today’s appointed Gospel reading begins quoting from Jesus partway through his discourse with his disciples. In the verses that preceded the section from which we read, the Lord, as he looked to the future, saw and described religious deceptions, and the intrusion of religious error:
“Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them.”
Jesus saw and described religious divisions, and troubling religious persecutions:
“They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. ... You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.”
And Jesus saw and described natural catastrophes and political upheavals:
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.”
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.”
“There will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles...”
Indeed, in the year 70 A.D. a Roman legion under the command of Titus Flavius did brutally crush a Jewish revolt against Roman rule that had been stirred up by the Zealots. And in this Roman victory, as a punishment against Jerusalem and the Jews in general, the city and everything in it - including the temple - were destroyed.
Can you imagine how the disciples’ eyes would have been gradually opening wider and wider, as Jesus continued to speak these frightening words to them? This is not what they wanted to hear.
This is not the kind of future they would have expected God to plan out for them. They may very well have regretted asking Jesus to tell them what was to come. Perhaps they would have been better off not knowing these things.
And of course, that’s the way it is for us, in regard to our future. We’re not able to ask Jesus face-to-face what will happen to us in the future.
And so we don’t know. But if we are able to get past our wishful thinking regarding the future, we could probably make some educated guesses about how things might go, on the basis of the Lord’s teaching about how life in this world in general usually goes.
If the original disciples were persecuted by hardened unbelievers for the sake of Christ’s name, then we too - who also bear that name - can expect persecution. If the climate and tectonics of the earth were destructively active in the days of the Lord’s original followers, and if we live on the same planet as they did, we should not be surprised if the same sort of storms and earthquakes happen now.
If the sinfulness of the human heart inspired men and nations in the apostles’ time to stir up political turmoil and violence, and if human nature is just as bad now as it was then, then we can expect this kind of turmoil and violence in our day as well.
And just in case ours is the last generation, in today’s text Jesus also looks much further ahead, and predicts what that last generation will experience when the world, as we know it, comes to an end. He says:
“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
Some people have the idea that if they believe in God, and pray, and go to church, then their future will be bright and happy; God will solve all their problems; and they will be protected from all hardships. But Jesus never promised this to those who serve and follow him.
In fact, he promised just the opposite. As quoted in St. John’s Gospel, He said:
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
As far as your future on earth in concerned, this, my friends, is what you should expect. When things unexpectedly go well for you in earthly matters, and when you do prosper and succeed, then you should be thankful for God’s special grace, and for his special intervention in preventing the forces of sin and evil from wrecking your plans, and ruining your accomplishments, as they would want to do.
But when things don’t go well for you in the affairs of this world, it shouldn’t surprise you. Hardship for God’s people, and trials and tribulations, are the norm, not the exception.
If God has allowed us, in our free and relatively stable country, to experience exceptional happiness, that should not cause us to forget that it is indeed exceptional.
There are many Christians today, living under various forms of oppression, who are experiencing - right now - the kinds of things that Jesus was talking about. And the time may come when we, too, will begin to taste more of the kind of suffering in this life that Jesus tells us we should actually expect.
To one degree or another, and in one way or another, our future in this world, and the church’s future in this world, will include pain and hardship, trials and disappointments, mistreatment and oppression.
But that’s not all that our future holds for us. When Jesus told his disciples, “you will be hated by all for My name’s sake,” and “they will put some of you to death,” he also added these words: “But not a hair of your head shall be lost.”
And when Jesus described the end of the world, with all the upheavals associated with it, he concluded with this:
“Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
And so, while it is true that trials and hardships are in your future, what is more important is that Jesus is in your future. You are a child of God who trusts in the Word of Christ, and who lives in Christ. Nothing that you will face, therefore, will be faced without Christ.
As Jesus promises, even if physical suffering and death may be your fate in this world; as far as your relationship with God is concerned, “not a hair of your head shall be lost.”
When everything around you is burned away like chaff, and the world itself is coming to an end, “look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
The reason why we can have confidence that Jesus will be in our future, with his protection and redemption, is because he is with us now, in the present, with his protection and redemption. And he is with us with his promise that he will never leave us or forsake us.
Psalm 121 comforts us with these words:
“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.”
In Christ, your “going out” - your moving forward into the future - will be in the confidence of faith: a faith in God’s forgiving and renewing grace, and a faith in God’s fatherly kindness toward his children.
The world that you will face in the future will be a world that hates you. That is true. But you will not face that world in the paralysis of fear and uncertainty, because you will face it in union with a God who loves you in Christ.
And the love of God is stronger that the hatred of the world. The love of God, as it carries you into the future, and as it carries you through all the difficulties that you will face in the future, is an eternal love.
It is a love from which nothing can separate you, as you abide in the Word of Christ, and as you walk, with a clear conscience, by the Spirit of Christ.
Do you want to know what the future holds for you? Probably you are curious. Most people are. But in the final analysis, you can’t really know very much about the future.
But when you know now, in faith, that your sins are forgiven through the cross of Christ; and when you know now, that Jesus rose from the grave for you; you can know that Jesus Christ is in your future.
He is in your future on earth, as your companion and shepherd in the midst of all the struggles you will face. And he is in your eternal future, in the joy of the everlasting life that he has promised to those who believe in him.
And while you cannot know very much about your future, God does know all about your future. And he declares to you through the Prophet Jeremiah:
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me.” Amen.
17 December 2023 - Advent 3 - Matthew 11:2-15
John the Baptist was a prophet - and even more than a prophet. So says Jesus, in today’s text from St. Matthew’s Gospel.
He was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah, preparing the people of Israel for his arrival. He called them to repentance, and administered to them a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
All of this was important, and was a part of God’s plan for the unfolding of Christ’s mission.
As a prophet sent from God, what John the Baptist knew about God, on the basis of God’s revelation to him, was accurate. What he preached to the people from God was correct and true.
But John did not understand everything about how God was going to accomplish his purposes, through Christ. We know of this limitation in his knowledge, because when Jesus, as the Messiah, requested baptism from John, this was a surprise to him.
He wasn’t expecting such a request. He initially declined to do it.
Until Jesus explained the reason for it, John didn’t realize that Jesus’ solidarity with the people of Israel as their Savior and substitute, required him to be baptized with the people of Israel.
In today’s text, we may very well see another example of John’s not knowing the whole story about what Jesus’ ministry would entail, and of John’s not perceiving the full mission of Jesus as Messiah. Matthew tells us that “when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”
Christian scholars have debated over the centuries, whether John was, in this way, expressing personal doubt, or second thoughts, about whether Jesus really was the Messiah.
He was languishing in Herod’s dungeon, in what were no doubt appalling conditions. And so we would not be too hard on him if, in his human weakness, he did begin to have some doubts.
What this incident may demonstrate, however, is simply another example of John’s lack of full understanding, as he sought clarification and instruction from Jesus.
What God had called John to preach - and what he had preached, before he was thrown into prison - was a message of warning to Israel, that God’s judgment was coming. His judgment against their sins, their half-heartedness, their hypocrisy and unbelief, was coming.
The Messiah - soon to appear - would usher in and bring this judgment. And so the people of Israel should prepare for his coming, by “getting right” with God now, before it is too late.
They should repent of their sins, and receive the forgiveness that God offers. And then, they should bear the fruits of repentance - in a new life lived by faith, for as long as their life in this world continues.
“I baptize you with water for repentance,” John proclaimed, “but he who is coming after me...will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The popular piety of the day would have been expecting the future Messiah to bring judgment against the Romans, and the other pagan nations. But John correctly pointed out that God’s judgment was coming to Israel. Not just to Israel, but to Israel first.
And yet, when Jesus did appear, and when - after his baptism - he began to make himself known as the Messiah, none of these things seemed to be happening. Or at least they were not happening in any kind of visible, obvious way.
Jesus was not proclaiming a harsh message of divine wrath. He was not personally inflicting God’s punishment upon the wicked.
Instead, he was helping and comforting the poor and the weak, the dispossessed and the lonely. He was healing the sick and the lame, raising the dead, and proclaiming to the people a message of God’s forgiving mercy and redeeming love.
Apparently this was not what John expected. Now, John had not been mistaken in saying that the Messiah would bring the fire of divine judgment upon the unbelieving world - and even upon unbelieving Israel.
That was going to happen. It is still going to happen.
But other things were going to happen first. Other things are still happening, now, as we still await the ultimate day of conflagration and final judgment.
When Jesus responded to the query that John the Baptist had sent to him, by means of some of his disciples, he was gentle and respectful toward John. And he responded, not just by making a bold assertion of who he is, but by calling John’s attention to what the Old Testament Scriptures had predicted concerning him and his ministry - and by comparing those predictions with what he was now doing.
“Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.’”
The Prophet Isaiah had spoken of the ministry of the future Messiah:
“Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’”
That’s pretty close to what John the Baptist had been preaching. The Messiah will come with “vengeance.”
But, at least at first, this vengeance will not be poured out against wicked people. That will happen someday, on judgment day. But that’s not the first thing that is going to happen when the Savior comes.
Instead, the Messiah will wreak God’s vengeance against the powers of sin and death. He will attack and punish the devil and his minions.
Satan’s domination over fallen humanity will be thrown off. God, in Christ, will cast him out. And God, in Christ, will rescue those who had been held captive under his evil power.
As Jesus traveled through the land of Israel, the devils fled before him. When he proclaimed and applied the forgiveness of God to the humble and penitent, the Great Serpent fell from his temporary glory, and was vanquished.
Jesus is gentle with John, and with his disciples - who soon will no doubt become Jesus’ disciples. Jesus is gentle with the sick, the lame, and the social outcast.
But Jesus is not gentle with Satan. A calm and calming word of pardon, spoken to a humble human sinner, is - in the supernatural realm - a furious attack on the forces of evil, wrenching that forgiven sinner from the clutches of the Enemy.
This doesn’t happen in obvious ways. But it does happen. It is God’s vengeance against the Prince of Darkness.
It happens by the power of Christ’s Word, and by the miracle of his touch in the lives of hurting people. Isaiah goes on to describe this:
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.”
Jesus also said: “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he.”
In some respects, we in the New Testament era know a lot more about Jesus and his ways than John the Baptist did.
We have the Gospels and the Epistles, telling us the details of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; explaining to us the nature and mission of the Christian church, and pointing out to us the signs of the Lord’s Second Coming - for judgment - so that this Day will not surprise us.
But there is also a lot that we do not know. As with John the Baptist in his time, there is much that we do not understand about God and his ways.
Many things happen among us - troubling and unsettling things - that we do not expect to happen. And sometimes, we have expected God to do things that he has not done - or at least that he has not done yet.
Sometimes we suffer grievous disappointments, betrayals, and injustices. Where is the Lord’s vindication, that the Bible says will come for those who serve him, and who suffer for the sake of his name?
And what is our response to situations like this? Despair? Getting angry at God, and criticizing him? A loss of faith?
Or, do we respond in the way that John the Baptist responded, at such a time in his life? Do we reach out to Jesus, and ask Jesus to show us his truth?
And do we then wait for him to give us - through the Scriptures - a fuller insight into his will, a fuller understanding of his ways, and a fuller appreciation of his grace: just as Jesus encouraged and instructed John the Baptist through the Scriptures, when he needed that encouragement and instruction?
Jesus has already died for our sins. The atonement price has been paid. And Jesus has risen from the grave as the victor over death - over our death.
The hope of eternal life has been restored, for those who look to him. But Jesus has not yet brought an end to the pain of this world. He has not yet righted all the wrongs of human history.
He has not yet, in judgment, cut down the “unfruitful trees” of the human race, once and for all, and thrown them into the fire.
We might be impatient for these things to be fulfilled. But there are reasons for the Lord’s delay.
There is a reason that pertains to the whole world - God’s desire that all men have time to repent, and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
And, there is a reason that pertains to you, and to God’s desire that during your time on earth - as you wait on him - your heart will be ever more firmly established: in penitent humility before God; in a patient faith in God; in Christlike holiness; and in a love for all that God loves.
St. James writes in his Epistle:
Be patient, brothers, “until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
At a time when John the Baptist needed encouragement from Jesus, Jesus did encourage him, and established his heart, by reminding him of the totality of what the Hebrew Scriptures say concerning the ministry of the Messiah. He would come in mercy and compassion, before he came in fiery judgment.
And when you need encouragement from Jesus, Jesus encourages you as well - and in the same way. He establishes your heart, as he unfolds the Scriptures to you, and speaks to you in the Scriptures.
As you grow in your ability to admit your own spiritual poverty - and your need to be enriched by God’s grace and forgiveness alone - you will be blessed ever more, to know that in Christ, “the poor have good news preached to them.”
The good news of Jesus’ forgiveness of all your sins is preached to you. Indeed, I will preach it again right now:
Dear friends, your sins are forgiven in Christ! God is at peace with you! For the sake of his Son, your Savior, God will not hold your trespasses against you, but instead he embraces you with his reconciling love, and fills you with his life-giving Spirit.
When your faith is weak, Christ, by his Word, will invigorate you. When your faith is incomplete, Christ, by his Word, will teach you.
When your faith is uncertain and wavering, Christ, by his Word, will renew your confidence in him - and your certainty that he is indeed the one who was promised of old; who has promised to come again; and who, in the meantime, is your companion and comforter.
You don’t need to know everything about Jesus, or about his plan for you and for the world. At least not right away. But over time, your grasp on his promises will be strengthened. Your appreciation for his methods will be deepened.
You will understand things you didn’t understand before. You will see things you didn’t see before. You will accept things you didn’t think you could accept before.
And, Jesus also says to us today - as we struggle, and as we learn and grow: “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Amen.
24 December 2023 - Advent 4 - Luke 1:39-56
Today’s text from St. Luke includes the account of the original singing of Mary’s song, commonly called the Magnificat. This happened on the occasion of St. Mary’s visit to her kinswoman Elizabeth.
Both of these women were pregnant. Elizabeth was further along in her pregnancy. John the Baptist was growing in her womb.
Mary had not been pregnant for very long at this point. By a miracle of God, her son Jesus was growing inside of her.
When these two women had their encounter, Elizabeth greeted Mary with these words: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” And after a few more remarks from Elizabeth, Mary responded with her song.
This song is actually very familiar to us - and to all Christians who preserve the liturgical heritage of the ancient church - because the Magnificat is a canticle that is appointed to be sung as a part of the historic order of Vespers. We have sung it here many times.
The song speaks of some things about Mary that are true only of her. It therefore helps us to remember who she was, and to understand her special role in the coming of God’s eternal Son to earth as a man.
But the song also speaks of some things about Mary that are true also for all of us - who are members of the same Christian church to which she belonged, and who believe in the same Savior in whom she trusted. We therefore also learn from this song how to imitate Mary’s faith, in our own relationship with God through Christ.
Mary’s song begins:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”
The ancient Hebrew poetic form - which is reflected in the Magnificat - is generally characterized by a certain thought being repeated twice, from two slightly different angles, as a couplet. The opening lines of Mary’s song follow this poetic form.
The thought, “my soul magnifies the Lord,” and the thought, “my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,” are fundamentally the same thought, expressed in two different ways, with a slightly different emphasis each time.
The Jews of the first century, and still today, did not and do not speak out loud the testamental name of God: Yahweh or Jehovah. Instead, out of respect for that sacred name, they used a substitute word: the word “Lord.”
So, on many occasions - as reflected also in the New Testament, which was written mostly by Jews - when the word “Lord” is spoken, the name “Yahweh” is meant.
And this is God’s testamental name. The Old Testament refers to him in this way, when it is emphasizing God’s faithfulness, and his love and loyalty.
The special name Yahweh or Jehovah does not call to mind the power and sovereignty of God, as much as it calls to mind the fact that the God of Israel is a God of relationships, who makes and keeps promises.
And so, when Mary magnifies “the Lord,” this means that she is magnifying God according to his testamental name, with an acknowledgment of God’s faithfulness in keeping his promise to bring his salvation to the nation of Israel, and to the world.
This thought is repeated in the second line, where Mary says that her spirit “rejoices in God my Savior.” To magnify the Lord is to rejoice in him - with a joyful gratitude for what he has done and is doing, to rescue us from sin and all its consequences.
There is a joy in true faith, and in a humble submission to God’s gracious and loving will, that is stronger than the discouragements and trials that often surround that faith in this life.
In the conclusion of Mary’s song, we can see that what she sings at the end of the Magnificat confirms this thought. The final lines of her song associate her very specific faith with a specific person in history, to whom God had promised the sending of a Messianic Seed from among his descendants; and through whom - according to the Lord - all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Mary sings:
“He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.”
In her song, Mary is not worshiping God merely because he exists, because he is powerful, or because he is glorious. She is worshiping God - she is worshiping Yahweh - because he is faithful.
And that is the difference today between the worship of a generic God, as defined in very vague and general ways, and the worship of the God who has made himself known - and who has fulfilled his gracious promises - in the sending of his Son.
Which God will you worship this Christmas? In which God will you trust this Christmas?
May it be Mary’s God to whom you lift your voices in praise and thanksgiving. May it be Mary’s Son whom you acknowledge, with a very specific faith - and with a very exclusive faith - as your one and only Savior from sin and death.
Mary’s song continues:
“For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me.”
Mary is here talking about things that are true just for her. Now, in the English version of the Bible that we use, where our translation says, “He who is mighty has done great things for me,” what the original Greek actually says is, “He who is mighty has done great things to me.”
The old King James Version did get that one right.
The mighty God had done something to Mary that he did only to Mary. There had been various women in history whom the Lord had supernaturally helped to conceive, in their marital union with their husbands, when they were either infertile or past child-bearing years.
Sarah, the mother of Isaac, and Hannah, the mother of Samuel, are examples of this in the Old Testament. Elizabeth, in today’s account, is another example.
The father of Isaac was Sarah’s husband Abraham. The father of Samuel was Hannah’s husband Elkanah. And the father of the baby who was growing in Elizabeth’s body was Elizabeth’s husband, Zacharias.
But Mary’s pregnancy was of a totally different character. It was a profoundly miraculous pregnancy, because Mary was still a virgin when she conceived. Her baby, Jesus, had no human father.
To be sure, Jesus had been conceived in Mary in such a way that he was a real human being, with a true human nature that he had received from her. Mary was his true mother. But God, directly, was his father.
Jesus was not conceived according to the ordinary course of human nature. And he was accordingly conceived without the contagion of human sin, which otherwise is passed on to every descendant of Adam through the regular procreative process.
Jesus, as the Son of God, actually had an eternal existence. The person of Jesus was the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who had always existed as the only-begotten of the Father, and who in time took to himself a true human nature, and became a true human being, in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
But he became a sinless human being - so that he could live in perfect obedience under the Law of God, in the place of disobedient men; and so that he could offer his life as a perfect sacrifice to divine justice, in the place of corrupted men.
God became man only once. This had never happened before, and it will never happen again.
It happened in fulfillment of God’s pledge in Eden that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head, and would thereby deliver humanity from Satan’s grasp. It happened in fulfillment of God’s pledge spoken through Isaiah the Prophet, that he would give a sign to the house of David by causing a virgin to conceive and bear a Son, who would be called Emmanuel: God with us.
The only Savior you will ever have, became a member of the human family, and entered into your world, through Mary. All generations accordingly do call Mary “blessed” - uniquely blessed.
Her Son, and her Son alone, is the way, the truth, and the life, through whom you can come to the Father.
And this is not an arbitrary claim, or a proud boast that Christians make because they would like to think that their religion is better than anyone else’s. This is a claim that Jesus himself makes, because he knows that his mission - his unique and unrepeatable mission - is to be the one mediator between God and men, and the one Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
No one else ever did that, or even pretended to do that. No one else could conceivably do that.
But even though the specific miracle of the virginal conception of God’s Son happened to Mary and only to Mary; it happened for everyone whom the Lord calls to come to him - in humility and repentance. It happened for you. Mary’s song continues:
“And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.”
If you “fear” the Lord - that is, if you acknowledge the holiness of God and of God’s name, while honestly admitting your unholiness - then you can know without any doubt that God’s forgiving mercy in Christ is upon you.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
To be sure, God’s Son will not come to you in the way in which he came to Mary on this occasion. He will not enter your womb - if you have one - and he will not take from you a human nature. Only Mary was blessed in that way.
Rather, as you believe the Lord’s Word of pardon and peace; as you are baptized into his name, and live out your baptism in daily repentance and faith; and as you partake of the Lord’s body and blood in a worthy manner - with true discernment - Jesus will enter your heart, and will give to you a new godly nature.
Now, when Mary sang her song, the things that God’s prophetic Word had said her Son would do, had not yet happened. But because God’s Word had spoken of what would be accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, Mary could speak of these things with confidence, as if they had already occurred.
In God’s infinite and omniscient mind they had already occurred. And in Mary’s faith - anchored as it was to God’s own promise and pledge - they had, in effect, already occurred.
The throwing down of all wicked arrogance in the face of God, and of all human self-satisfaction and defiance against God - which would happen through Christ’s rebuke and condemnation of human sin - was so certain, that it was sung about as having already happened.
Likewise, the lifting up, through the gospel of Christ, of the Lord’s redeemed and regenerated people - a people wholly dependent on him - which Christ would accomplish through his ongoing ministry of Word and Sacrament within the church, was so certain, that it was sung about as having already happened.
And so Mary did sing:
“He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.”
That’s how confident you can be, when you trust in the promises that God makes to you. Jesus’ death for your sins, and his resurrection for your justification, cannot be undone or deleted from sacred history.
These things happened. Your sins have been paid for. The gates of heaven have been opened before you.
And in the gospel, you have been filled with the good things that Jesus delivers to you. Indeed, you have been filled with Jesus himself.
These are not theories that a human religion encourages you to ponder and analyze. These are objective realities that a divine Savior invites you to embrace - by the help of his Spirit - as these realities embrace you.
And as you know Christ now by such a faith, you can - in that faith - be sure that you will know him forever, in his eternal, heavenly kingdom. He will raise you up on the last day.
He will vindicate you and claim you as his own on judgment day. He will welcome you into the mansions of his Father’s house that he is now preparing for you.
In Christ, it is as if these things have already happened. And you can sing of these things, and rejoice in them, as if they have already happened.
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” Amen.
24 December 2023 - Christmas Eve
One of the lessons that we will read in tomorrow’s Christmas Day service, from the Prophet Isaiah, says this:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”
And on Epiphany, which is sometimes called the Christmas of the Gentiles, we will hear these words, also from Isaiah:
“Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
Indeed, the imagery of light entering the darkness is imagery that has always been seen as very fitting for the celebration of God’s personal entrance into this world - and into the human race - in the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem.
Some of the hymns and carols we sing at Christmas use this imagery. For example, in Silent Night, we sing:
“Son of God, love’s pure light radiant, beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.”
And to the little town of Bethlehem, we sing:
“Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
The much-loved custom of having a candlelight service on Christmas Eve presents tangible evidence of how suitable the picture of light shining in the darkness is, as an illustration of what Christmas is all about.
But in order for the image of light, and more specifically of the light of Christ, to be as meaningful and comforting as it is supposed to be, we need to grapple with what the image of darkness really means, and with how dark the darkness actually is.
The spiritual darkness of human sin and sinfulness is not something like the darkness of dusk or dawn: where it might be a little harder to see things than it is in broad daylight, but with a little squinting you can still make out the basic outline of things.
No. When the Bible says that those who are lost, who are without God in the world, and who are in a state of rebellion against God, are in the darkness, it’s a much more frightening situation than that.
Spiritually, they are in pitch darkness. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says this, regarding himself as God’s Son, and his coming into the world:
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light...”
If your life is filled with lust and wickedness, selfishness and pride, anger and bitterness, then you are in the darkness, whether you realize it or not.
And if God is not a part of your life - or if he is not as much a part of your life as he should be; and if you at the same time feel that you are trapped in a scary dark place where you can see no way out, to a happy and content future: there is a connection between those two things.
Consider that the reason why you feel that you are in a dark and hopeless place, is because shadows of unbelief remain in your mind, and the light of God’s Word and Spirit is not filling your spirit.
But the message of Christmas - which is also the message of the Christian faith in general - is that the light of Christ has now come into this dark world; and that the light of God’s forgiveness, regeneration, and adoption in Christ, can now also come into you: to sooth your troubled conscience, to enliven your slumbering spirit, and to bring clarity to your confused mind.
When Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road, as the Book of Acts reports it, this is how he described the apostolic preaching ministry that he was entrusting to Saul - soon to be known as Paul:
“I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”
Tonight, as you hear and believe the Christmas gospel, your eyes are likewise opened. When the angelic announcement is made to the shepherds and also to you, that “there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,” you too are turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.
When you follow the shepherds, as they seek out Jesus to worship and adore him, you - with them - will find the Savior who has been born for you. You will bask in the light of his gracious and redeeming love, and from him you will receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in him.
In the words of Psalm 18, your joyful confession this night will be: “The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”
God’s Word is truth. God’s truth is light. The Babe of Bethlehem, of whom the angel spoke, now speaks truth and light to us.
Jesus, the obedient child who grew to moral manhood, speaks goodness and purity into our corruption and chaos.
Jesus, the sinless man who sacrificed himself for transgressors, speaks pardon and reconciliation into our guilt and shame.
Jesus, the victor over death and the grave, speaks hope and peace into our fear and despair.
Jesus, the Lord of his church, speaks in this sanctuary on every Lord’s Day, when his church gathers to hear his voice in Scripture and in hymns, in sermon and in sacrament. You, too, can come, and hear.
Everything he says is truth and light, to be humbly believed for our salvation. Therefore his warnings about sin and the wages of sin we have believed. His promises about the gift of eternal life we have believed.
As we have believed, so too have we “seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.” As we have believed, so too have we exclaimed in song:
Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace! Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild, He leaves His throne on high, Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth; Born to give them second birth,
Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the new-born King!” Amen.
25 December 2023 - Christmas Day - Luke 2:8-14; Isaiah 9:2-7
EXORDIUM:
Christ is born! Let us glorify him!
Today is the festival of the Nativity of Our Lord. It recalls the day in Bethlehem, so many centuries ago, when God’s Son entered into this world, and set out on his life’s journey as humanity’s Savior.
God’s Son had, of course, been a part of the human race since his conception. He was already the divine-human Lord of heaven and earth when he was still in the womb of his mother Mary, growing and developing according to the human nature that he had taken from her.
But now, as he is born, he begins to be accessible to those whom he came to save. He was accessible to the shepherds, who came to his manger throne to adore him. He was accessible to the wise men, who will soon be on their way to worship him.
As he grew to adulthood, and began his public ministry, he became accessible to the people of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem, where he preached and taught. And as a living Savior, whose death for human sin was followed by a glorious resurrection from the grave, Jesus is accessible to us now as well.
The most common popular term for this festival in the English language, is “Christmas”: that is, the mass of Christ. It is indeed a day when it is especially appropriate for the church to celebrate the presence of the Lord among us - and the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation that he bestows upon us - in a mass, or a divine service.
As we gather around his Word and Sacrament, Jesus speaks to us in his gospel and in his absolution. Jesus blesses us in both soul and body - nourishing our faith and our own resurrection hope - by sacramentally bestowing upon us his true body and blood.
Jesus, the newborn king and the reigning king, is indeed accessible to us in these wonderful ways today. And Jesus is accessible to all who would hear his voice, heed his words, and believe his promises.
And so, as we today joyfully celebrate his birth, and his continuing presence among us, we sing the festival hymn, number 142, “Rejoice, Rejoice, This Happy Morn.”
SERMON:
Christmas is generally understood and experienced to be a time of joy and happiness. This joy and happiness are fed and nurtured by the joyful and happy things that are usually going on around us at this time of year.
The old Christmas song “Silver Bells” describes some of those uplifting features - in the typical ambiance of the Christmas season - that contribute to this kind of cheerful atmosphere:
City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style; In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas.
Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile, And on every street corner you’ll hear:
Silver bells, silver bells. It’s Christmas time in the city. Ring-a-ling, hear them ring. Soon it will be Christmas day.Other things that help to make the Christmas season to be a joyful and happy time are the time spent with family and friends; the sharing of gifts; the glow and sparkle of candles and other decorations; and the overall amplification of a general feeling of goodwill and kindness that this season produces.
But what if these positive and uplifting things are not a part of your Christmas? Or what if they may be there, externally, but are not able to overcome a more powerful inner sadness that you may be feeling?
What if you have experienced a serious loss in the past year? Maybe you lost a job or an opportunity for a job, a loved one or a relationship with a loved one. Thoughts about this loss still haunt you, and they discourage you, even today.
And for many, a burdened conscience may be weighing you down at Christmas, with regret over hurtful actions that you cannot undo, or with remorse over the effects of bad decisions that you cannot reverse.
If this is the way things are for you - in whole or in part - your Christmas may not be very joyful and happy, but rather depressing and lonely. Or at least that’s the way you may feel.
But in spite of such subjective feelings - if they are there - the objective reality of Christmas is always a time for rejoicing - for true rejoicing. And it is a time for happiness - not a superficial pretense of happiness, but a real, inner, and overflowing contentedness and peace.
This is so, not because of the circumstances of your life here and now in this world, but - in many cases - in spite of those circumstances. The joy and happiness of Christmas are not created by the external ambiance or traditions of Christmas that surround you, but by the gospel of God’s Son made flesh for your redemption.
That gospel - that joyful good news of salvation in Christ - pierces through the sadness, even when the sadness is deep and wide, and goes right to your heart. The angel, sent by God to announce Jesus’ birth to the shepherds near Bethlehem, gets it exactly right:
“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
It is the Word of God that supernaturally puts true joy and happiness into Christmas: not silver bells and children laughing; not friends and family; and not the absence of hardship or grief. It is the Word of God that puts true joy and happiness into you.
And this is why Christmas can be, and should be, a joyous and happy time for anyone, in any life circumstance.
Christ the Lord - the divine Lord of Israel and of all nations - has been born as a human baby, to be the companion and friend of humans. A Savior - one who will rescue us from the danger and peril of our sins - has come to this troubled and troubling world, to live for us, to die for us, and to rise again for us.
In the birth of Jesus, God became a part of our human story. And as the resurrected Lord, God’s Son remains even now as a part of that story. He lives among us still, and in his gospel and sacraments he speaks to us still.
To our guilt, he speaks his forgiveness. To our fear, he speaks his protection. To our loneliness and discouragement, he speaks to us as one who will never leave us or forsake us, and who tells us: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
If you look at what is going on around you at this time of the year, or even if you look inside of yourself - at your own emotions and thoughts - you may or may not find joy and happiness. But if you look to the Babe of Bethlehem - the Savior born for all people, who is with you today in Sermon and Supper - you will find a deep and abiding happiness, and an enduring comfort in your human troubles.
If you hear and believe the angel’s good news of a great joy that is for all people - and that is therefore for you - you will know that joy. The joy of Christ will shine upon you - and through you - even as you continue to face hardships and challenges, trials and temptations.
What the Lord says to his people Israel through the Prophet Isaiah, he says also to his church, the spiritual Israel. And he says it to you:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
And Isaiah comforts Israel, and us, also with this declaration:
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
Now to the Lord sing praises, all you within this place,
In Christian faith and charity each other now embrace,
This holy tide of Christmas reveals to us God’s grace.
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy.Christ is born! Let us glorify him! Amen.
31 December 2023 - Christmas 1 - Luke 2:22-40
Well over two decades ago, my brother-in-law told me about an aging man who received a visit from his pastor. The pastor, with concern for the spiritual condition of this parishioner, asked him: “Do you ever think about the hereafter?”
The man said: “Oh, yes. I think about the hereafter at least once a day.” The pastor felt assured, as he continued to listen to his parishioner’s answer. And the man went on to say: “At least once a day, I’ll walk into a room to get something, and then I’ll ask myself, ‘Now what am I here after?’”
When my brother-in-law told me this joke, we had a pretty good laugh over it. But eight years ago, he needed to be thinking about “the hereafter” in a more serious way.
Even though he was about my age, his health had seriously deteriorated, and it was necessary for him to move into a nursing home. And one day, my sister got a phone call and was told that he had died.
This was not a surprise. The pastor had been visiting him, and had been comforting him with the promise of eternal life for those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ for forgiveness and salvation.
At this point in his life, he was indeed thinking about the hereafter. At the age of 52, with a conscience that was at peace with God through faith in Jesus, my brother-in-law - my brother in Christ - entered into the hereafter, and into the rest of his Redeemer and Lord.
But now I want to ask you: Do you ever think about the hereafter? This is not a set-up for another joke, but is a serious question.
Are you ready to die? A lot of people think they are, when they are really not. What about you?
Our culture has been systematically draining people of the natural fear of death that used to be a pretty much universal feature of the human psyche.
People have been indoctrinated in a practical kind of atheism, that may not overtly reject the existence of God; but that does reject the authority of God, the importance of serving and obeying God, and the need to be prepared to face the judgment of God.
In old Western films, when someone was about to be murdered, his assailant would often say, “Prepare to meet your maker,” or “Say your prayers.”
People used to think and speak in this way. Even criminals had a sense that there will be an accounting on the other side of death.
And when a judge, in a court-room scene in one of those movies, would sentence a murderer to be “hanged by the neck until you are dead,” he would also say to him: “May God have mercy on your soul.”
Why would he say that? Why would God’s mercy be necessary for a criminal whose mortal life was coming to an end?
People today often have no context for understanding any of this. God - if he does exist - is presumed to be benevolent and indulgent. He’s not a threat to anyone in the afterlife.
The influence of Spiritualism, and the influence of Eastern religion and the New Age Movement, are both very strong. So, when someone dies, it is often believed that his spirit either migrates up into a higher spiritual plane; or transmigrates, through reincarnation, into another body.
Nothing threatening or scary will happen - just a new supernatural adventure.
And there is nothing particularly frightening about death, for those who, in public schools and state universities, have been brainwashed by the Darwinian ideology of naturalism - which asserts that there is no supernatural realm at all; and that when someone dies, he simply ceases to exist.
It is not a coincidence that an increase in the influence of these belief systems, has been accompanied by an increase in the suicide rate - especially among young people.
These poor deluded souls have concluded that their lives in this world are filled with sadness and aimlessness. And they simply assume, either that their existence in the next world will be better; or that death will bring a welcome end to their pain, by causing them simply to cease to exist.
What the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches finds no point of contact with these belief systems: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
And there is no place in these popular conceptions of what happens after physical death, for the words of St. Paul - as recorded in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians - to make any sense:
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Of course, if people listened to the voice of their conscience - as people in previous generations used to do - things would be different. In describing the revealed Law of Moses, and also the moral law of God that is written on the hearts of all men, St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans:
“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”
And so I ask you again: Do you ever think about the hereafter? Are you ready to die?
In today’s Gospel from St. Luke, we heard the familiar yet moving story of the Prophet Simeon in Jerusalem. Luke tells us that
“this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.’”
“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word.”
Simeon was now ready to die. He was ready to die because God had made a promise to him concerning the coming of Jesus, and concerning the encounter he would have with Jesus; and because God had kept that promise.
Simeon was already a believer in God’s grace and forgiveness, according to the ways in which this grace and forgiveness were revealed in the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. But Simeon had also received this special, personal promise from God.
And he was able to experience a special, personal blessing from God, through his taking of the holy Babe into his own arms. Simeon was prepared by God for his future death - and for everything that would come after death - through the connection that he was allowed to have with God’s Son, in God’s house.
In his person, Jesus was Simeon’s salvation from the power and guilt of sin; and from the fear of death and of divine punishment after death.
And Simeon knew that Jesus would be this also for many, many more people - as God’s law convicts, crushes, and slays; and as God’s saving gospel of redemption through his Son heals, restores, and enlivens. And so Simeon told Mary:
“Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against..., that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
This baby was destined to live a perfect life in fulfillment of the commandments of the Law; to die as humanity’s substitute under the Law’s condemnation of humanity’s sin; and to rise again in victory over sin and death, so that a gospel of forgiveness and eternal life, through Christ, could be preached to humanity for as long as this world endures.
The Old Testament predicted all of this, and the New Testament announces the fulfillment of all of this.
Simeon - as an Old Testament believer who had now gotten a glimpse of the New Testament - was ready to die in peace, because he knew that through Christ, and the promise of Christ, he had been forgiven of all his sins; and that he had been justified, or declared “not guilty” in God’s tribunal, through the crediting of Christ’s righteousness to him by faith.
And Simeon knew in that wonderful moment what verdict would be pronounced upon him after death, because he knew what verdict had already been pronounced upon him through his faith in Jesus. And for this reason he would now die in peace, and without fear.
You, too, can be prepared for death - for a fearless and hopeful death - when God prepares you for your death, in the way he prepared Simeon for his death. You, too, can be ready to depart from this world in peace - when that time comes - as you believe what Simeon believed, and as you receive what Simeon received.
Now, in the New Testament era, the house of God where we encounter Christ is not a specific building in Jerusalem, but it is wherever the message of God’s forgiveness and salvation in Christ is proclaimed; and wherever the sacraments that Jesus left for his church are administered according to his institution.
And the way in which we take Christ to ourselves - and into our hearts - is through our hearing and believing of this gospel; through our daily return, in repentance and faith, to our baptism; and through our humble and devout reception of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion.
In the temple, Simeon saw - in the ordinary-looking human baby in Mary’s arms - his salvation from divine judgment on account of his sins, and his salvation for an eternity in the presence of God. And so he was prepared for a peaceful and fearless death.
In our church, as God’s Word is proclaimed in ordinary human language, and as God’s Word is joined to ordinary earthly elements, we too can see what Simeon saw.
In the gospel of Christ crucified and risen again, as it comes to you in sermon and in sacrament, you can see your salvation from divine judgment on account of your sins; and you can see your salvation for an eternity in the presence of God. You can see Jesus, as you hear Jesus. And so you can also be prepared for a peaceful and fearless death.
There is indeed a direct connection - a direct connection - between the administration of the means of grace in public worship, and your ability to be ready for death and for the day of judgment. But if you neglect and despise these sacred things and these sacred gifts, you will not be ready - even if you may erroneously think you are.
The Epistle to the Hebrews paints for us a “verbal picture” of this connection; and also spells out for us why it is so important for us to be in the Lord’s house, and to partake of the means of grace within the Lord’s house, as we prepare for what comes after death. We read:
“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.”
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire.”
Indeed, God’s house needs to be a very familiar place for you, so that you can always know and experience what Simeon knew and experienced: God’s promise to you concerning Christ, and concerning his forgiveness of your sins; and, God’s blessing to you, of allowing you to receive Christ, and to hold onto Christ, so that you, without fear of divine punishment for your sins, can depart in peace.
Simeon’s song of faith and gratitude is a song that we often sing. We will sing it again today, immediately after we have touched Christ, and have been touched by Christ, in his Holy Supper. Let this song be your song of faith and gratitude.
Let this song, as you sing it, be your celebration of the clear conscience before God that his justification in Christ has given you. Let this song, as you sing it, be your testimony to the world, that by God’s acquittal you are prepared to die - and therefore that you are prepared to live, for as long as the Lord preserves you in this world, under his grace.
“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” Amen.