3 March 2024 - Lent 3 - Mark 3:20-35

Please listen with me to a reading from the third chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel, beginning at the 20th verse. This is a parallel text to today’s appointed Gospel from St. Luke.

Then [Jesus] went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” – for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

So far our text.

We usually do not look to Satan and his demonic hosts for an example that Christians should follow. But in today’s text, there is a sense - a limited sense - in which we might do this.

With reference to our Lord’s casting out of unclean spirits, together with the other miracles he had been performing, some Jewish scribes asserted that Jesus was “possessed by Beelzebul,” and that it was “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” Christ responded in this way:

“How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand.”

Jesus expected his detractors to recognize that Satan was smart enough and sly enough to understand the need - for himself and for his minions - to stay “on task” in their self-appointed mission of opposing God, and of snatching away from God as many deluded human souls as they could.

Jesus expected the scribes to see that even the devil would not deliberately work at cross-purposes to these goals; and that the devil, as the prince of this fallen world, would not allow the fallen angels who followed him to do so, either.

Those evil beings are joined together in a common purpose, and in a united effort. They cooperate in fulfilling their evil designs.

They are not a kingdom, or a house, that is divided against itself. Satan is their diabolical master. They obey him, as he coordinates their efforts.

Now, the unity in purpose, and dedication to a common cause, that is evident in this supernatural demonic association, stands in marked contrast to the divisions and tensions that often exist in the human associations to which we belong: not only in our civil society, but also and most painfully in our families, and in our churches.

As far as the institution of the family is concerned, the kind of suspicions, disagreements, and uncharitable opinions that are reflected in Jesus’ family - as we get a glimpse of them in today’s text - can often be seen in our families.

We are told that when Jesus came back to his home after a preaching tour around the region, and when great crowds began to gather around him here too, his family “went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

There could be no true harmony or peace in a family where one of its members was inaccurately thought to be insane, and was improperly treated as an insane person. In such a divided family, there would be no unity in purpose and affection.

And there are many other kinds of conflict that can cause disunity in a family.

In our families, where we would hope to experience contentment and happiness, we are often afflicted instead by turmoil and stress: when those whom we love betray us, disrespect us, ignore us, or disappoint us; or when we, in our sinfulness, betray, ignore, disrespect, and disappoint them.

When a family becomes dysfunctional because of such frictions and hostilities, it thereby becomes a house divided against itself. If these family relationships are not repaired and restored, that family will not be able to stand. It will fall.

And it can be just as bad, or worse, in a Christian congregation.

On one occasion, as recorded by St. Matthew, Jesus told his disciples: “You have one teacher, and you are all brothers.” Jesus, of course, is that one teacher in his church, and he teaches his people through the Holy Scriptures.

But how often do his professed followers truly listen to him, and learn from him, as they should?

Churches are often torn apart by the pride and presumption of the clergy, or of the laity, or of both. Churches are often poisoned by uncharitable attitudes and impatience among their members and ministers.

Factions oppose each other in selfish and uncaring ways. The voice of Christ in the church is ignored, and the true mission of the church is forgotten.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit no longer reign. The unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil now reign.

When this happens, if those divisions are not repaired, these congregations cannot stand. They, too, will fall.

In today’s text from St. Mark, Jesus does show us, and give us, a way of healing and restoration: for broken families, and for broken congregations. It is the way of repentance and faith, and the way of divine forgiveness.

Jesus speaks very harshly against those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, out of a hardened heart that attributes the workings of God’s Spirit to Satan. But there are also those who, in their human ignorance and weakness, may say wicked and foolish things regarding Jesus, and his words and deeds; and who themselves may do wicked and foolish things.

For them, this way of repentance and faith, and of forgiveness, is always open. Jesus says: “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter.”

At least some of the members of the Ben-Joseph family of Nazareth had blasphemed against the Son of God in human flesh - that is, against their brother Jesus - when they told people that they thought he was “out of his mind.” Saying that God’s Son is crazy is, in itself, the sin of blasphemy - even if this sin was committed in ignorance.

But this sin will be forgiven them. This sin was forgiven them.

St. Paul tells us that Jesus made a special appearance to his brother James, after his resurrection. In the grace of Christ’s victory over death - for the sake of all humanity, and for the sake of the members of his own family - the criticisms, the uncharitable judgments, and the blasphemies, were forgiven.

The harmony, and unity of purpose, of Jesus’ family, was restored by the gospel. And Jesus’ brothers never again thought that he was out of his mind.

But in time, the unbelievers around Jesus’ brothers no doubt thought that they were out of their minds, for believing now that their brother Jesus was actually much more than their brother; and for being willing to die for the sake of proclaiming, that by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, all people can have life and hope, and the forgiveness of their sins.

James, the most prominent of Jesus’ brothers - who had become the chief pastor or chief rabbi of the first Christian congregation in Jerusalem - was martyred in that city precisely for this reason, in the year 62 A.D.

Whatever pain and stress may be burdening your family now - and causing division within it - your family, too, can be healed by the resurrected Christ: who is here with you, in your struggles, and in your fears, to forgive you and to comfort you. He is alive, and he is the bestower of life on all who look to him.

Jesus, from the right hand of God the Father, declares, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He can make all things new in your family: as the members of your family together trust in him, together receive his forgiveness, and together rediscover his love.

And this is what Jesus can and will do for a troubled and hurting congregation as well.

I am not aware of any serious problems of this nature in our congregation. But if such problems do ever develop in the future, or if it seems as if they might develop, I hope and pray that we will remember that we have one Teacher, and that we are all brothers.

In the New Testament, the church and its fellowship are often described in terms of a family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ: adopted as children of God our heavenly Father, through the Spirit of his only begotten Son Jesus, who dwells within us.

And when we, as a Christian family, gather together in Christ’s name around the ministry of Word and Sacrament, we gather to be instructed in what God’s will for us is, and to allow our wills to be transformed and reshaped according to his will.

Jesus says in today’s text: “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” And what is the will of God for us? In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus says:

“This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

St. Paul writes in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians:

“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

St. Peter, in his First Epistle, adds this:

“For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.”

And St. John, in his First Epistle, gives us this final thought:

“The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

None of this can be done in our human strength, of course. “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure,” as St. Paul teaches us in his Epistle to the Philippians. But God does work.

God was at work in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. God is at work in the means of grace, offering and giving to you his pardon and peace, whenever the message of his Son’s atoning sacrifice is proclaimed and applied, in sermon and in Supper.

God is at work in you - in your heart and mind - giving you the faith by which you receive this message, and receive him.

And God is at work in you and through you, making your faith fruitful: in relationships with fellow Christians that are characterized by harmony and unity of purpose; by a mutual commitment to the authority, doctrine, and calling of God; and by a mutual living out - among ourselves - of the compassion and kindness of God.

Jesus is not ashamed to claim us as his family - as his own beloved brothers and sisters: even though we are still weak in our faith toward him; and even though we do often falter in our love toward one another. Yet even in our weakness, Jesus looks at us, and loves us, through the lens of his justifying grace.

St. Mark tells us today that as Jesus looked about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

So too does Jesus look about at those who are seated around him here - around his Word and Sacrament, through which he is present among us in this place. And he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers!”

Jesus looks at you. Jesus sees you according to what his gospel has made you to be: washed clean by his blood, and covered with the garment of his righteousness. And Jesus says to you: “You are my brother, and my sister.”

The presence and promise of Christ truly can, and does, set us free from our conflicts and controversies, our striving and antagonism, our callousness and indifference. Jesus puts his people on a different path, and on a better path.

Through the gospel, and through the healing and restoring power of his Word, we are not a kingdom that is divided against itself. Through the gospel, and through the truth and clarity of his Word, we are not a house that is falling.

We are not divided, All one body we,
One in hope and doctrine, One in charity.

And we implore you, almighty God, that of your mercy you would strengthen us: in faith toward you, and in fervent love toward one another, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

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10 March 2024 - Lent 4 - Mark 6:32-44

Please listen with me to a reading from the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark, beginning at the 32nd verse. This is a parallel text to today’s appointed Gospel from St. John.

And [Jesus and his disciples] went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

So far the text.

“You give them something to eat.”

Have you ever been told by a boss or a supervisor to do something that you knew you could not do? Have you ever been asked by someone whom you did not wish to displease, to use your meager resources to accomplish some great achievement that simply could not be accomplished with only those meager resources?

Have you ever felt the frustration, the discouragement, and perhaps the fear that would be associated with an order to carry out an impossible mission? If so, then you can sympathize with the plight of our Lord’s disciples on the occasion that St. Mark is describing in our text.

A crowd of 5,000 men, and an uncounted number of women, had gathered together to hear Jesus preach and teach. They were all in an isolated place, where it would not be easy to find enough food for all those people.

But at the end of the day those people were hungry. The disciples suggested that Jesus send them away, so that they could begin the process of finding something to eat.

The disciples were trying to be realistic about the situation. But Jesus replied by telling them something that bewildered them: “You give them something to eat.”

The disciples were able to scrounge up only five loaves of bread and two fish. And even if there would have been a place to go, to buy the necessary food, they were not even close to having enough money to do that.

But in spite of all this, Jesus did not retract his words. “You give them something to eat.”

How could this be done? How could so many hungry stomachs be filled by such a limited supply of food? How could the apostles fulfill such an impossible task, with such meager resources? Well, to quote Jesus in another context:

“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

We read that Jesus took the loaves and fish, blessed them, and then instructed the apostles to distribute them to the crowd. And as St. Mark tells us, “they all ate and were satisfied.”

Everyone received a generous portion of food. Everyone ate until he was no longer hungry. By the power and blessing of God, what had been an impossible task became a possible task, and a completely fulfilled task.

The disciples of the Lord did what they previously were sure they could not do. Jesus had said, “You give them something to eat.”

And through the Lord’s gracious intervention and supernatural empowerment, they did in fact “give them something to eat,” as they passed out bread and fish that kept multiplying until all that was needed had been distributed.

People in this world are often still hungry - people in our own community, too. We care about that.

And so we help to alleviate that hunger, as an expression of our gratitude to God that he has allowed us to have more than we need. As I speak, a drive is now underway among us, to benefit the Food Shelf in Princeton.

But at a deeper level, humanity is also in need of something much more important than physical food. There is an emptiness in the soul of sinful man that is much more problematic than the emptiness in the stomach that the people in today’s text were feeling.

Sinful man - even without fully realizing what it is that he needs - hungers for the true God, for his grace and forgiveness, for salvation and eternal life. This is a deep and hopeless starvation, from which all who do not know Christ suffer.

And no one, by his own human efforts, can even begin to fill this desperate inborn emptiness.

But as Jesus sent his disciples out into the world, after his death and resurrection, to confront humanity’s deep spiritual hunger, he once again said to them, in effect, “You give them something to eat.”

Literally he said, as St. Matthew records it:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

The disciples had meager resources indeed for the fulfillment of such a profoundly important task: words and water, bread and wine. But with these resources, and seemingly with nothing more than this, they were sent out into the world to alleviate the spiritual hunger of lost humanity.

They were sent out to feed the human soul with God’s grace and forgiveness. They were sent out to bring salvation and eternal life to those who were lost and spiritually dead.

How could this be done? How could words and water, and bread and wine, be sufficient for the accomplishment of such a task? Again,

“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

When Jesus gave the Great Commission to his apostles, he also spoke these words: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus, with his divine and heavenly authority, continually blessed the words that he had placed on the apostles’ lips; and with those words he also continually blessed the water, and the bread and the wine, that the apostles administered in the sacraments that Jesus had commanded them to observe.

Jesus continually filled these humble acts with his own boundless power. In the ministry of the apostles, through these appointed means of grace, Jesus fed his church.

Therefore it could truly be said of everyone who, in repentance and faith, received what the apostles gave: “they all ate, and were satisfied.” Jesus himself declares in St. John’s Gospel:

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

The task that Jesus gave to the apostles is the task that he gives today to all who, like them, are called to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments.

Jesus, through the voice of his church, sends today’s pastors and ministers into each town and city, to confront humanity’s deep spiritual hunger. And as he does so, he also says to these called servants: “You give them something to eat.”

With the seemingly meager resources of words and water, bread and wine, they, too, are sent to alleviate the spiritual hunger of lost humanity. They, too, are sent to feed the human soul with God’s grace and forgiveness, and to bring salvation and eternal life to those who are lost and spiritually dead.

How can they do it? How can we do it?

When a pastor preaches the gospel, there is a supernatural power in that preaching that is not put there by the pastor himself - through his verbal artistry or oratorical skill. That power is put there by God’s Spirit.

The gospel itself “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” as St. Paul reminds us in his Epistle to the Romans.

And when a pastor speaks the words of institution for a sacrament, he is simply a mouthpiece for a divine speaking and a divine working, since his words are actually God’s words.

What a pastor gives to you, when he administers a sacrament to you, God is giving to you. Things that a human minister has no power in himself to do, are nevertheless done through him.

In the words that he speaks - as these words are proclaimed from the pulpit, or attached to earthly elements of the Lord’s designation; as these words are preached to believers or to unbelievers - God’s called preachers “give them something to eat.”

Christ, the bread of life from heaven, is given. Sins are forgiven. Faith is engendered and renewed. Souls are saved.

And what pastors are called to do publicly, all Christians within their callings are also authorized to do in their personal interactions with other people: in the words of comfort and consolation that they speak to their friends and coworkers, to their relatives and neighbors.

And so Jesus says to all of us: “You give them something to eat.”

You can give them Christ, who died and rose again for them. The people you know, with whom you share the saving truths of God, can thereby be enabled to die to sin in repentance, and to rise in Christ by faith in his promises.

They, too, can eat, and be satisfied. And yes, you can give them this, by giving them the gospel of a crucified and risen Savior.

In your baptism, a human pastor did something humanly impossible for you. What that pastor did, using words and water, resulted in your becoming a child in God’s family, and a citizen in God’s kingdom.

He was able to do this, because Christ has put his own divine power and authority into those words; and because God’s Spirit used that water as his instrument in washing, not only your body, but also your soul.

That’s why the Epistle to the Hebrews invites us to draw near to God “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.”

And in your baptism, you were also given a commission, as a believing and confessing Christian, likewise to do humanly impossible things: to renew faith and hope in the hearts of other people, by speaking and singing words of faith and hope to other people.

St. Peter, in his First Epistle, reminds you that you are “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.”

And so, for example, when we are singing good, doctrinally sound hymns, with each other and to each other - hymns that are filled with biblical content, and that teach the faith - that’s what we are doing for each other.

But also, when we look beyond the church at the world around us, and see how many people in this world are still starving for the forgiveness, life, and salvation that they so desperately need, we might wonder: can anyone do something about this?

Can anyone bring light to the darkness of their souls, and peace to the agony of their consciences? Can anyone, spiritually, “give them something to eat?” The answer is Yes.

You can. We can. God’s people, each according to his or her vocation, can publicly and privately speak God’s words to them - words that God has filled with his hidden yet very real power. We can “give them something to eat.”

In his miraculous feeding of the multitude, Jesus could have zapped bread and fish directly into the hands and mouths of the people in the crowd. He could have bypassed his disciples, and dealt with the people’s hunger directly.

But he didn’t. And that’s because God’s ordinary way of working in this world, is to use people to reach other people.

He touches people who are hurting through the compassionate embrace of other people. He is a companion to people who are lonely through the caring friendship of other people. He protects people who are in danger through the watchfulness of other people.

He preaches the gospel to people, not through angels, but through other people. He feeds people who are hungry, in both body and soul, through other people.

And so God, in Christ, tells his redeemed and chosen people - he tells all of us - “You give them something to eat.” Amen.

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17 March 2024 - Lent 5 - Matthew 27:11-66

A friend of mine who is a retired Lutheran pastor once told a story about a conversation he had many years ago with his college roommate, who was not a Christian. In casual conversation, the roommate said, “I’ll be damned.” And my friend then said, “Yes, you probably will be.”

The roommate got a little defensive, and asked what he meant by this. My friend then told him that since he rejected the gospel and refused to believe in Jesus, he will probably spend eternity in hell. The roommate took offense at this, but my friend pointed out that he was simply agreeing with what he had said about himself.

This does illustrate that in our profane culture, people do often break the Second Commandment, and take the name of the Lord in vain, by calling down divine curses upon themselves, or upon others, without seriously thinking about what they are really saying.

In their impetuousness, people also often express an ill-considered wish for something to happen, that they would not wish for, if they had thought this wish through more carefully.

When Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate, and the crowds were calling for his death, at a certain point they also called down a curse upon themselves - and upon their children. But they didn’t realize the true significance of what they were saying. St. Matthew tells us:

“When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.’ And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children.’”

The people in this mob were so sure that Jesus was deserving of death, that they were willing to be accountable before God’s tribunal on judgment day for having called for his death. Jesus’ “crime” was that he has declared himself to be the Son of God. To them, that was blasphemy.

The Roman governor Pontius Pilate was not shocked by this claim. As a polytheistic pagan, he might have thought that Jesus was being a little presumptuous in identifying himself as a divine Son.

But individuals like Hercules - Zeus’s purported son, by means of a human mother - were a part of the old Greco-Roman mythology with which Pilate was familiar. So it certainly wouldn’t have been any kind of horrible blasphemy in his ears, to hear Jesus claim to be the Son of God.

It did bother the Jews of Jerusalem, however - or at least it bothered the ones in the crowd that day who had been stoked up against Jesus by the Jewish leaders. They wanted to kill Jesus for making such a claim. And finally, Pilate let them have what they were asking for.

When the angry masses invoked a potential curse upon themselves, by saying, “His blood be on us and on our children,” what they meant was that if Jesus did turn out, by some remote chance, to be innocent of the sin of blasphemy, they would be willing to undergo punishment from God for having instigated his execution. And they would even place their children and descendants under the same divine justice.

They didn’t fully grasp what they were saying, in calling down such a curse. Jesus actually was the Son of God. Consequently, in view of the fact that they were complicit in the shedding of his innocent blood, they did deserve to be punished for this crime.

However, what they had thoughtlessly spoken in the form of a curse upon themselves, turned out for them to be just the opposite of a curse. The blood of Jesus was indeed going to be upon them and their children. But this would be the greatest of blessings from God, and not a curse from God.

And that’s because Jesus, in his great love for his people, brought about a profound reversal in the meaning and application of these words. He was dying for them on the cross. He was atoning for their sins - including the sin of advocating for his death in spite of his personal innocence.

His blood would be upon them, therefore, not in judgment, but in forgiveness - just as the blood of the Temple sacrifice was sprinkled on people on the Day of Atonement, according to the Mosaic Law.

And as far as the children and descendants of these people are concerned - upon whom the curse of Jesus’ blood was also invoked - Jesus was going to send his apostles and other missionaries to them, over the centuries and even to the present day, to bring them a message of salvation such as is found in the First Epistle of St. John:

“If we say that we have fellowship with [God], and 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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that 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.”

So, Jesus’ blood will be upon them, too - the blood of the sacrifice that had been offered for them, to satisfy God’s wrath against their sins. And this blood of atonement will cleanse their hearts, when they repent of their sins, and believe the gospel of Christ crucified for sinners.

The intended meaning of the curse that the people of Jerusalem called down upon themselves, was that they would be willing to suffer God’s punishment on account of the death of Jesus.

But what these words really meant, from God’s perspective, was that they and their children will now have access to the gift of eternal life - which has been made possible for the Jewish people and for all nations - on account of the punishment that Jesus suffered in his crucifixion and death.

And you have access to this gift, too, even if you are not a child of Israel. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and not only the sin of his own nation.

His blood is upon you, not to condemn you for your many sins - including your sins against the Second Commandment - but to cleanse you of all sin. The “curse” is not really a curse after all. It is a blessing. St. Paul writes to the Gentile Christians in Ephesus:

“Remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, ...were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

In reference to the ritual of the Old Testament Day of Atonement, and also in reference to the perfect and complete salvation that Christ now brings, today’s reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews assures us that

“if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

In spite of their sin, the people of Jerusalem, 2,000 years ago, were called to salvation by their Savior-King. They were invited by God to receive the forgiveness that Jesus won for them on the cross, by the shedding of his blood.

Their children were and are likewise called to this salvation. The children of all nations are called to this salvation. And so, joyfully and thankfully, according to God’s meaning of these words, we all say, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

St. Matthew also reports that when Jesus was hanging on the cross,

“the chief priests..., mocking, with the scribes and elders, said, ‘He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, “I am the Son of God.”’”

They did not know what they were asking for. In a certain sense, the men who spoke these cruel words were intending to express a desire - insincere though it may have been - for something seemingly good to happen. They said, “let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.”

But what they in their ignorance and arrogance were taunting Jesus to do, would not have been the basis for a true faith, if he had in fact come down from the cross. If they had gotten their ill-considered wish, they would not have been saved through believing in Jesus.

They would have been damned forever. All the people of Israel would have been damned. Everyone who had ever lived in the entire world would have perished in an eternal separation from a holy and righteous God.

If Jesus has come down from the cross before the sacrifice for the world’s sins had been paid in full, God’s wrath would abide on fallen humanity. Forgiveness would be impossible.

There would be no blood of Atonement to be sprinkled on you and me for our peace and reconciliation with God. We would all be lost.

The Jewish leaders declared, “let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Jesus said he was the Son of God because he actually was the Son of God.

But his suffering and death on the cross was not taking place in spite of this fact. It was taking place precisely because of who he was.

In the Book of Acts we are told that God purchased the church with “his own blood.” And we read in Second Corinthians that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”

God is holy and righteous. He cannot tolerate sin and corruption. But in the person of His Son he reveals to us that he is not a vengeful and vindictive God.

He loves us, and seeks us out, in order to save us. But he does this in a way that does not violate his holiness and righteousness. And so, the sacrifice for human sin that God in his holiness demands, God in his love provides.

In Jesus - the Second Person of the Holy Trinity in human flesh - God gives himself into death for our sins. He takes upon himself the judgment of his own law against humanity, by taking humanity’s place on the cross.

The devil would probably cry “Foul!” It’s not fair, he would say, that God himself pays the price of humanity’s redemption.

It would be like a judge in a court of law assessing an exorbitantly high fine to a guilty defendant, according to the dictates of the civil law, and then coming down from the bench and paying the fine himself.

But you know what? God is God. He writes the rules of this game, not Satan. And he as God can change the rules even after the game has started, and give Adam and all his descendants a second chance.

God can do whatever he wants to do: to be as gracious to us as is possible; to give us everything that he demands of us; and to give us blessings for the sake of Christ that we do not, in our own persons, deserve.

And so, it is precisely because Jesus really was the Son of God, that he did not come down from the cross. It is precisely because he really is the Son of God that he offers to you the salvation that he won for you on the cross.

Because he stayed on the cross, contrary to the wishes of the Jewish leaders, there is a gospel for us to preach and believe. Because he stayed on the cross, all the way to the bitter end, there is also a sacrament for us to receive in faith, as we hear our Savior say to us:

“This is my body, which is given for you.” “This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.”

We do not have the gospel and the sacrament, and the blessings of eternal life that are bestowed upon us through these gifts, because we called these heavenly blessings down upon ourselves.

We have these blessings because God, in his infinite mercy for lost sinners, resolved in Christ to give us what we do not deserve, and to make available to us what we - in the blindness of our sin - had not asked for. And even if we in our foolishness had previously called down curses upon ourselves, God, in Christ, gives us blessings instead.

We do not have the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of heaven, because we in our fallen condition had wished for these things. We have these things because God wished for us to have them - a wish that he fulfilled by sending his Son to the cross in sacred history, and by sending his Son to us in the means of grace.

Indeed, in his gospel and sacrament, God is still fulfilling his wish, through the faith-creating power of his Word. And he graciously does this for us, even if we in our blindness had previously wished for wicked and harmful things.

And so, with penitent and hopeful hearts, we sing, today and always, “Hosanna!”

Blessed is he whose blood is upon us, for our forgiveness. Blessed is he who remained on the cross, until the price of our redemption was paid.

Blessed is he who comes - to us - in the name of the Lord. “Hosanna in the highest!” Amen.

---

24 March 2024 - Palm Sunday - Matthew 27:11-54

Today we begin our observance of Holy Week, and we begin our recollection of all the things that transpired during the last week of our Lord’s earthly life. One of those pivotal events - as today’s reading from St. Matthew recounts it - was Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate.

In our American system of jurisprudence, a defendant has the right to remain silent. Someone who is accused of a crime cannot be forced to testify in his own trial.

But very often a defendant does not avail himself of that right - especially if it looks as if he is going to be convicted if he remains silent, without giving his side of the story.

And when a defendant is actually innocent of what he is charged with, then he almost never remains silent. He does and says everything he can to persuade the jury and the judge that he is not guilty.

The kind of rights that we enjoy in our American courtrooms were not in place in the trial that Jesus endured before the Roman governor. But even so, it is very telling to see when, during the course of his trial, Jesus was willing to speak; and when he chose not to speak, but to remain silent.

We read in today’s Gospel:

“And the governor asked Him, saying, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you say.’”

Jesus was willing to respond to Pilate’s question, and to admit that he was indeed a King. Jesus was the King of the Jews, and he was willing to say so in open court. He did not hide this fact, or remain silent when he was questioned concerning his royal status.

But of course, Jesus was a different kind of king than what people like Pilate were used to. Jesus is quoted in St. John’s Gospel to say that his kingdom is “not of this world” - a mystery which neither Pilate nor the Lord’s Jewish opponents could truly grasp.

Today’s Old Testament lesson puts forth a contrast between the kind of powerful soldier king who rides in triumph in a magnificent chariot, or astride a tall battle horse; and the kind of king Jesus was. Jesus, as a king, did not embody any of the boastful arrogance of a typical earthly king.

He did not ride in victory as a conquering ruler. But he entered the city on a donkey - an inglorious beast of burden - in order to do some rough and grueling work. Through Zechariah, God exclaims:

“Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem...”

And so Jesus was willing to admit that he was a king. But he was a king who had come among his people to bear the heaviest of burdens for them, and to lay down his life to save them.

He had not come in earthly glory and power. He had come, rather, in “the form of a bondservant,” as the Epistle to the Philippians expresses it. He was a king, but he was a servant-king.

But then we notice that immediately after this exchange between Pilate and Jesus, Jesus did not reply to Pilate’s next question. We read:

“And while [Jesus] was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him, ‘Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?’ But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.”

Pilate marveled greatly, because he knew that Jesus was not really guilty of the things he was being accused of. He knew that these were trumped-up charges.

He could not imagine why Jesus would not speak up in his own defense, and refute the false accusations that were being leveled against him. Pilate had never before seen anything like this in a trial, especially when the potential punishment could be death by crucifixion.

In such a circumstance Pilate would have expected even a guilty person to lie, and falsely to claim innocence. He certainly would have expected an innocent person to tell the truth, and rightly to claim innocence.

But he never would have expected an innocent person to say nothing, and to let false charges go unanswered. Jesus was acquiescing in his own frame-up.

By his silence, he was virtually guaranteeing his condemnation. Pilate could not understand why he would do this.

But we do understand why he would do this. Jesus in his own person had indeed not committed the many sins that he was being accused of. In fact, he had never committed any sins or wrongdoings of any kind.

The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that he was “without sin.” The Second Epistle to the Corinthians says that he “knew no sin.”

But, as the Second Epistle to the Corinthians also says, God made him who knew no sin “to be sin” for our sake. The sins of humanity were imputed to Jesus, and placed upon Jesus.

As humanity’s substitute under the judgment of God’s law, Christ took upon himself all the blame for all the wickedness of all men. The prophet Isaiah puts it this way:

“He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”

“He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities.”

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

And that, my friends, is exactly what was going on when Jesus stood before Pilate in perfect, submissive silence, while every imaginable crime and offense was piled onto him by the accusing lips of the chief priests.

Jesus allowed himself to be accused of our sins. He allowed your sins and mine to be credited to him.

He did not deflect these charges and accusations away from himself, by defending himself and proclaiming his innocence. Jesus permitted himself to be found guilty.

In this “great exchange” - because of his great love for all of us - he was willing to be declared guilty for our sake, so that we could be declared “not guilty,” before God, for his sake.

Jesus took our place before that Roman tribunal, which was really God’s tribunal, so that we can now take his place before the tribunal of God; and so that we can now be told by the Judge of all the universe that, for the sake of Christ, our sins will be forgotten - as if they had never been committed - and will not be held against us.

God says through the Prophet Jeremiah:

“For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

These are the words that a penitent heart needs to hear. And these are the words that a penitent heart can and will hear, because of the silence of Christ before Pilate.

And it truly was God who was doing this. As St. Peter tells us in the Book of Acts, Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.”

By means of the circumstances of history that were swirling around Jesus, God caused his own Son to be arrested and hauled in front of the Roman governor. And God is the one who caused the sins of the world to be placed upon his Son, and who caused Jesus to be condemned to death on account of those sins.

The chief priests - in spite of their personal unbelief, and the wicked intentions of their hearts - were, according to their external office, among the “called and ordained” ministers of Israel at that time in history. And Jesus had told Pilate that, according to his civil office as Roman governor, his authority to pass judgment in this case had been given to him “from above.”

The priests’ accusations were God’s accusations - through which the sins of the world were put upon Jesus by God. And Pilate’s judgment was God’s judgment - through which God’s own Son was sent to the cross, to become the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

As is often the case with ministers and magistrates, none of these people really understood the deeper significance of what they were doing, or how they and their offices were being used by God on this occasion to fulfill his eternal plan for human redemption. But they were being used by God for his purposes nevertheless, in spite of themselves.

The sins that were placed upon Jesus stayed with him, all the way to the cross. And on the cross, he experienced the equivalent of hell itself, precisely because those sins were upon him, and because his Father saw those sins upon him.

“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?,” he cried. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In his humanity, and as the representative of all sinful humans, Jesus was forsaken by his Father in that moment, because in God’s sight he had become, by imputation and transfer, guilty of all human sin. And he endured the punishment that all sin deserves.

If you ever wonder how offensive your various acts of disobedience toward God actually are, look at the cross. Look, and listen.

If you ever wonder how seriously God takes his threat to punish the transgressions against his holiness that you have perpetrated, look at what Jesus endured in your place. Look, and grieve.

Your sinfulness, with all the pain and misery that it brings to you and others, is not a small problem. It is a major problem. It is a humanly unsolvable problem.

But it is a problem that God can solve, and that God did solve in the person of his Son - the divine Lord in human flesh. Jesus died for your sins.

And now, because of this fact, you need not die for those sins. You are forgiven. You are free.

For the sake of Christ, God has released you from your unpayable debt to him. For the sake of Christ, he has turned his wrath and displeasure away from you, and has made known to you instead his loving, Fatherly heart.

Your guilt has been lifted from you, and the righteousness of Christ has been bestowed upon you in its place. Returning to a passage from Second Corinthians that we have already quoted in part:

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

In the gospel, you are embraced in Christ as a child of God. And as you believe the gospel, you are filled with the Spirit of adoption, by whom you cry out, “Abba, Father.” As God’s adopted sons and daughters, you are transformed ever more into the image of his only-begotten Son.

As the Holy Spirit does now indwell you, you begin to bear the fruit of that Spirit in the new life that he gives you. And your hearts and minds are set at peace.

At the time of Jesus’ trial, God used the accusing words of the high priests as a means of putting your sins upon Jesus.

And God used the condemning words of Pontius Pilate as a means of setting in motion his divine judgment against those sins; and his divine judgment against his Son, as the one to whom those sins had been credited.

Today, God uses the absolving words of your pastor - spoken in the stead and by the command of Christ - as a means of putting the righteousness of the now risen Christ upon you.

God uses your pastor’s announcement to you of God’s gracious pardon through his Son, as a means of taking away your fear and dread, and of filling you instead with faith, and with the hope of eternal life.

In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus told his apostles: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.” And through your pastor’s divine call, Jesus has told him the same thing.

When Jesus stood before Pilate, and was accused of many crimes, he was silent, and said nothing. But Jesus is silent no more.

Through the called and ordained servant of the Word whom he has placed among you, Jesus now freely speaks. And he is speaking to you, when he pronounces God’s acquittal, and says: “I forgive you all your sins.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

---

28 March 2024 - Maundy Thursday - Luke 22:7-20

“Do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus gave this directive to his disciples on the occasion of his institution of the Sacrament of the Altar.

His giving of his body and blood to them, for the forgiveness of their sins, was not going to be a one-time occurrence. This giving and receiving was to continue.

The Sacred Supper that Jesus inaugurated on the night in which he was betrayed, would be an enduring mark and feature of his church throughout the ages. Jesus said “Do this” - that is, keep on doing this. Don’t stop doing this until the end of the world.

There is, however, a large segment of Christendom - in the tradition of Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation - that emphasizes the second part of that phrase: “in remembrance of me.”

These are the churches that deny the miracle of the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the consecrated bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. They deny that the Sacrament of the Altar is a real means of grace, through which God bestows forgiveness, life, and salvation on those who participate.

The whole point and purpose of the Lord’s Supper, as they conceive of it, is this “remembrance.” We bring our remembrance of Jesus to this supper, and on the basis of this shared memory, we participate together in a memorial fellowship meal.

According to this viewpoint, the Lord’s Supper is chiefly an act of remembering Jesus with the mind, rather than an act of receiving Jesus with the mouth. In effect, the Lord’s words, “Do this in remembrance of me,” are emphasized and applied in such a way as to negate the Lord’s other words:

“Take, eat; this is my body; Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the New Testament in my blood.”

We do not agree with such teaching, which expels Jesus, according to his humanity, from his own Supper. And we believe that such teaching, which we would consider to be false teaching, completely misses the point of what Jesus was trying to impress upon his disciples, when he told them, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

In order to understand Jesus’ intended point, in telling his apostles - and us - to celebrate this sacrament in remembrance of him, we need to take into account the occasion of this institution. Jesus and his disciples were observing the Passover together.

The Passover, as a divinely-instituted annual observance of the Jewish people, recalled God’s miraculous deliverance of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt.

In particular, the Passover commemorated the night when the Angel of Death slew the firstborn of all the families of Egypt, but spared, or “passed over,” those Hebrew houses that had been marked with the blood of the lambs that the Lord commanded the Hebrews to slaughter and eat on that night.

The Book of Exodus reports that when God established this special commemoration, he said to the Hebrews:

“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”

In other words, the Passover was to be celebrated in remembrance of the God of Israel; and in remembrance of his deliverance of the Israelites from slavery, and his establishing of the Israelites as a free nation.

This was all in keeping with the Lord’s ancient testamental promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would establish their posterity as a great and mighty people, and would someday bring them to their own land.

So, with this as the context, Jesus’ point was not that the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of him rather than a receiving of him. Instead, the point was that this new Passover is a remembrance of Jesus’ deliverance of his people from their spiritual slavery to sin, death, and the devil, and was no longer simply a remembrance of God’s deliverance of his ancient people from their physical slavery to Pharaoh.

When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he wanted to emphasize that this sacrament is a remembrance of God’s work through him - the only-begotten Son of God - in establishing a New Testament, or new covenant, that pertains to all nations.

It is not simply a remembrance of God’s work through his servant Moses, in establishing the Old Testament, or old covenant, that was applicable only to the Hebrew nation.

And the “remembrance” of our Savior’s propitiatory death for us that is connected to Holy Communion, is not a remembrance that we bring to the Supper, but it is a remembrance that we take away from the Supper. A more literal translation of the Greek would reflect the idea that Jesus said, “Do this toward, into, or for, the remembrance of me.”

In this sacrament, by virtue of the power and promise of Christ’s Word and institution, we receive the true body of Jesus that was given for us, and the true blood of Jesus that was shed for us.

It is Christ’s own mystical presence in this Supper, in his body and blood, that renews our “remembrance” of him. We remember him, because he is actually there to remind us of who he is, of what he has done, and of what he as the risen Savior continues to do even now - as he graciously applies to us all the blessings of his sacrifice on the cross.

And, this remembrance of Christ that the Lord’s Supper instills in us and renews to us, includes a remembrance of God’s lack of remembrance of something - which is a crucial component of the new covenant that Jesus has established for us.

The Epistle to the Hebrews, as it quotes from the Book of Jeremiah, explains this:

“And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,’ then he adds, ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.”

In the blessing of forgiveness that we receive in the Lord’s Supper, as we meet Christ there with humility and repentance, we are remembering that God is not remembering our sins. In his Son’s death on the cross in our place and as our substitute, all of our transgressions against God’s will and God’s holiness have been paid for and punished.

As we are united to Christ by faith, and as Christ’s righteousness is credited to us, we can be certain that God will not punish these sins again, by punishing us for them.

These sins were removed from us, and placed upon Christ, who carried them to the cross. And these sins were absorbed into Christ’s death, so that when he said, “It is finished,” and died, they were extinguished.

In Christ, as we are in Christ by faith, these sins are no more. In Christ, as Christ is now in us - causing us to be a new creation in him - all those things that had come from the world, the flesh, and the devil, and that had formerly separated us from God and from the fellowship of his Spirit, are no more.

The Lord’s Supper makes all of this happen for us, because the Lord’s Supper brings Christ to us. We do not bring a mere memory of Christ to the Lord’s Supper.

Rather, through the earthly elements of bread and wine, by the power of his Word, Christ himself is presented to us, so that we can trust in him, and be filled with his life. When Jesus places into our mouths the body that was given for us, and the blood that was shed for us for the forgiveness of sins, we are at peace with God, and we are at peace within ourselves.

Our remembrance of his death - and of his resurrection - is thereby rekindled. Our remembrance of his covenant and promise is thereby revived and energized.

According to thy gracious word, in meek humility,
this will I do, my dying Lord, I will remember thee.

Thy body, broken for my sake, my bread from heaven shall be;
thy testamental cup I take, and thus remember thee.

When to the cross I turn mine eyes, and rest on Calvary,
O Lamb of God, my sacrifice, I must remember thee. Amen.

---

29 March 2024 - Good Friday

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was one event in a sequence of saving events that needed to occur during the Lord’s last week of earthly life. He ate the Last Supper with his disciples. He was arrested and tried. He was crucified. And on the third day, he was resurrected.

All of these events needed to happen, so that God’s plan for our salvation could be unfolded and accomplished. But the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is not just one event among many.

There is an important sense in which this specific event is also an overarching truth of the Christian faith. It touches, and brings definition to, every other aspect of that faith.

The suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, for the forgiveness of our sins, can indeed be seen as the central truth of the Christian faith - like the hub of a wagon wheel, which holds together all the spokes of the wheel.

The resurrection of Christ - as important and necessary as that is - was not an undoing or negation of the crucifixion of Christ. It was the glorification of the crucifixion, and is a divine declaration to the world that the blessings of Christ’s crucifixion are now available to all.

That’s why the nail marks and the spear mark are still visible on the resurrected body of Jesus. The risen Savior is not an “un-crucified” Savior, and the message that the church now preaches is not a message of an un-crucified Savior.

St. Paul certainly believed in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. He emphasized this over and over again.

In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, for example, he wrote that “if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”

But when Paul in that same epistle summarized the most fundamental component of the message that he was preaching, this is what he said:

“For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

No one, from any cultural or intellectual background, would expect the agony and humiliation of a cross to be the place where God was doing his most powerful and most loving work. But it was.

No one, whether Jew or Greek, would ever have imagined that knowing the meaning of the cross of Christ, is knowing the depth of all divine wisdom in Christ. But it is.

Paul also wrote to the Corinthians: “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

If you are a Christian, the focus of your faith is the person and work of Jesus Christ - God’s Son in human flesh. And the central component of his saving work is what he did, and allowed to be done, on the cross.

So, the preaching of Christ - when he is preached as he wants to be preached - is the preaching of the cross of Christ. Faith in Christ - as the one who justifies the ungodly - is faith in the message of his cross.

And being a disciple of Christ, is daily taking up your cross, and daily following him.

This is why the most ancient gesture that confesses one to be a baptized Christian, is the sign of the cross. This is why the universal symbol of Christianity is the cross.

Whether it is ornamented or plain; whether it is a crucifix with a corpus on it, or is without a statuary component, a cross always represents the cross. And it always represents, and reminds us of, the death of God’s Son upon the cross.

Do you want to know how displeasing your sins are to God? Look to the cross, where the one who bore your sins received their due punishment - in his flesh and in his soul.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” is the prayerful “rhetorical question” Jesus asks from the cross.

The answer - which he knew - was because the world’s sin had been placed upon him; and because he had presented himself before the bar of divine justice clothed in this sin, inviting upon himself the hellish judgment that this sin deserved: that your sin, and my sin, deserved.

Do you want to know that God really is willing to forgive you now, and that he will not hold your sins against you? Look to the cross, where the one who endured there the greatest injustice, prayed for his tormenters - and through them, for you - “Father, forgive them...”

And listen to the words that he strains to speak at the end of his agony: “It is finished.” The penalty has been paid. The obligation has been fulfilled.

The righteousness that avails before God - for you and for all people - has been established. The forgiveness of all sins has been won: so that God’s justification in Christ, and God’s pardon in Christ, can now be distributed in the Word and sacraments of Christ.

And do you want to know if you will be with Christ, after your life in this world has come to an end? Is there an eternal hope for you?

Look to the cross, where the truest friend of sinners tells the penitent thief: “today you will be with me in paradise.” On the day Jesus told him this, this forgiven sinner would die. And yet he would live, with Christ.

On the day you die - resting in Christ; and trusting in Christ - you, too, will live, with Christ.

In the Lord’s Supper, which is available on every Lord’s Day in this church - it is, to be sure, the living Christ who comes to us in his body and blood, and not a dead Christ.

We have a sacramental encounter with a living Lord. And that encounter revitalizes us: in our faith toward him, and in our love toward one another.

But do note that the sacred words of this Supper, by which it is brought to us here and now, point back to the cross; even as the Lord’s first speaking of those words, to the original disciples, pointed forward to the cross.

“This is my body, which is given for you.” “This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.”

Jesus’ body was given on the cross. His blood was shed on the cross.

We don’t sentimentally transport ourselves back to the cross of Calvary when we commune - or when we receive the Lord’s absolution, or when we hear and believe the gospel in whatever form it comes to us. But the Word of God, in these various ways, does bring the cross - and its saving meaning and power - to us, here and now.

The Christian life, with its proper priorities - as Jesus describes them - also orients us continually toward the cross of Jesus, as he tells us in St. Matthew’s Gospel:

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

Dear friends, on this night - and on every night and every day - God does not want you to lose your soul. God does not want your soul to be polluted with greed and lust, or to be stained with pride and rebellion.

God does not want your soul to be clouded over with despair and fear, or to be weighed down by remorse and guilt. He wants you to be cleansed of all this, and to be liberated from all this.

God invites and implores you to see in your crucified Lord, a Savior who died for you, in order to put your sin to death. By his Word, and through faith in his Word, God enables you to say what St. Paul said to the Galatians:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

God invites and implores you to see in your crucified Lord, a Savior who speaks words of peace and hope to you: as you struggle with your weaknesses, yet as you also rejoice in his strength to save you, and to help you by his Spirit.

Jesus, who faced hell and death for you, can indeed help you to face all that challenges you, that threatens you, or that discourages you. As St. Paul writes in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians:

“God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”

O Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us, and grant us your peace. Amen.

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31 March 2024 - Easter Matins

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Atheists and agnostics commonly launch a wide array of criticisms in the direction of the Christian religion, disparaging Christianity as the source of all evil in human history.

An exception, however, was Antony Flew, a British philosopher and student of science. He started out as a committed atheist, and wrote several books defending atheism and rejecting a belief in God.

But then he changed his mind, on the basis of his studies in science. In 2004 he said that this change of mind came about

“almost entirely because of the DNA investigations. What I think the DNA material has done, is that it has shown - by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce (life) - that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements to work together.”

So, before he died in 2010, the former atheist Antony Flew had come to believe in a divine creator and designer of the universe.

He never confessed himself to be a Christian, but he also didn’t describe Christianity as the source of all evil. Instead, he took an honest look at the actual teachings of Jesus and the apostles, and at the many positive effects Christianity has had in the real history of the human race. Flew said:

“I think that the Christian religion is the one religion that most clearly deserves to be honoured and respected, whether or not its claim to be a divine revelation is true. There is nothing like the combination of a charismatic figure like Jesus and a first-class intellectual like St. Paul. ... If you’re wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat.”

How interesting, yet how sad. There was a part of Antony Flew that wanted the Christian faith to be true.

But Flew’s rationalism - which was dented and weakened by the evidence for intelligent design that he saw in nature - was never fully penetrated by a supernatural encounter with the risen Christ.

Sometimes, when my faith has been weakened through trials and temptations, I can relate to Antony Flew’s struggles. I always want the Christian faith to be true.

What the Bible teaches about humanity’s fall, and about humanity’s inborn alienation from God and hostility toward God, is clearly confirmed when I see and experience the sin that exists in the world, and in my own heart.

The moral code that Jesus and his apostles teach makes a lot of sense. If everyone followed this code, the human race would thrive and prosper in stable and harmonious families, and in stable and safe societies.

I have also seen the healing power of forgiveness, in the restoration of human relationships that had been damaged by pride and selfishness. The faith that inspires such things would clearly seem to be a good and valid faith.

And I have seen the harm that occurs when people do not live as Jesus and the apostles teach, when they do not love their neighbors as themselves, and when they do not restrain their destructive impulses. I have also seen the enduring pain that marks fractured human relationships that have never been healed and restored in a Christian manner.

So, what I see when people embrace the Christian faith and live by its principles, and what I see when people reject the Christian faith and live in ways that contradict its principles, all work together to recommend Christianity to me as a religion that should be true, and that I want to be true.

I want to believe that the forces of good are more powerful than the forces of evil, and that good will eventually triumph over evil. I want to believe that forgiveness and new beginnings are real, and that everyone gets a second chance.

I always want to believe this. But do I always believe this? Sometimes it might seem too good to be true. Sometimes I might be distracted by the comforts and ambitions of this life, and might stop thinking about the life to come.

Sometimes - in fact, quite often - I might be tempted to live for myself and not for others. And sometimes the world, the flesh, and the devil attack and weaken my faith, so that for no particular reason I begin to doubt that the Christian faith is real, that St. Paul and his intellect are real, or that Jesus and his charismatic character are real.

I don’t think any of us are completely free of such occasional doubts. And in some cases these doubts can be very severe.

But today, on this day of our Lord’s resurrection, we are reminded most vividly of what actually stands behind and within the Christian faith, to make it true and powerful all the time - including those dark and weak times when it may not feel true.

Without equivocation, St. Paul writes in his First Epistle to the Corinthians:

“In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also, in Christ, shall all be made alive.”

How can Paul be so sure that Jesus rose bodily from the grave, thereby to establish the unquestionable truth of the gospel that he preached, and of the Christian faith on which he staked everything in his life? Well, there are three reasons.

First, Paul believed in the resurrection of Jesus because Paul had an extraordinary personal encounter with the risen Jesus, on the road to Damascus - at a time in his life when he was still known by the name Saul.

And Paul knew that this was not a hallucination, because the people who were with him also experienced something extraordinary when this happened.

In the Book of Acts, Paul’s Damascus Road experience is recounted three different times. So, it was clearly important to him. In one of those descriptions, Paul said:

“As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’”

Second, Paul knew that the resurrection of Jesus was real, and that the faith which this resurrection established was true, because others had also seen, touched, and heard Jesus in his living and glorified state, after he had been killed and buried.

A basic standard of evidence in the Book of Deuteronomy, is that “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

This is why Jesus brought three disciples along for private events - such as the raising of Jairus’s daughter or the transfiguration - which he nevertheless wanted to be recorded and believed by the later church. And this is why the many witnesses to the risen Christ - identified by name - confirm the truthfulness of the resurrection.

Paul knew these witnesses - far more than two or three! - and he had personally heard their testimony. Elsewhere in First Corinthians, he wrote:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas” - that is, Peter - “then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

One of the Lord’s appearances also involved Thomas the apostle. Next Sunday’s Gospel will unfold the details of that event for us, but for now I would like to quote these words which the risen Savior spoke to Thomas on that occasion:

“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Evangelist John then immediately adds this comment, which represents also the third reason why Paul believed in the resurrection:

“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

We who are removed in time from these bodily appearances of the risen Christ are still able to know that Jesus is alive, because of the consistency and reliability of the testimony of these people regarding what they had seen, heard, and touched.

And we are able to know - and do most certainly know - that the resurrection of Jesus is true, also because of the supernatural testimony of God’s Word and Spirit, through the message of the inspired Scriptures.

The witness of Paul and the apostles leads us, according to objective standards of historical evidence, to conclude that what they experienced really happened. But the added witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts takes this certainty to an even higher level, and allows us to know that what we have rationally concluded to be true beyond a reasonable doubt, is in fact absolutely true.

The Word of the gospel - regarding the resurrection of Christ, and regarding everything else that God wants us to know and believe - is full of divine life and power. Not only does the gospel persuade us that Jesus rose from the dead in real history, but it also instills within us a resurrection hope for ourselves, and bestows upon us a new life of faith that is birthed and shaped by the resurrection of our Savior.

In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul writes that

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ...faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

The assurance and certainty of faith is not a product of human psychology. Instead, the assurance and certainty of faith is produced by the unwavering validity of what we believe, when we are in fact believing in something that is, on its own terms, most certainly true.

The resurrection of Jesus is objectively true and real in itself, apart from anyone’s faith in it.

Your faith does not create the resurrection, or make it to be so - even as unbelief does not cause the resurrection not to be so. But the resurrection, as the Holy Spirit impresses the truth of it on the mind and conscience of those who hear the gospel, does create faith.

Jesus did rise from the dead, and is alive forevermore. He is alive as God and man, in soul and body. And as a living Savior, he is personally accessible to those who yearn for his touch and protection.

In his divine power and omnipresence, Christ, after he rose from the grave, “ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things,” as St. Paul writes to the Ephesians. Because he fills all things, and can be wherever he wants to be, we can be confident that he is where he has promised to be for us, whenever we need him.

Jesus is both far away, and very close. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, interceding for his church and governing all things for the benefit of his church. And, he is speaking and working in his Word and sacraments.

Jesus lives in the universe. Jesus lives in his church. And Jesus lives in the hearts of all who cling to him and trust in him for forgiveness, life, and salvation.

The Christian faith - filled as it is with such goodness and hope - should be true. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead announces that the Christian faith is in fact true.

And because you are able to know with certainty that Jesus is risen, you therefore can know - in life and in death, for this world and for the next - that the Christian faith is true; that your sins are forgiven; and that eternal life is yours through faith in Jesus Christ, our living Lord.

In the resurrection of Christ, good has triumphed over evil. In the resurrection of Christ, God has given to you - and to all the world - a second chance.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.

---

31 March 2024 - Easter Divine Service - Acts 10:38-43

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Today is the high festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord. It is indeed the highest day, which shines the heavenly light of God’s salvation in Christ onto 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 Calvary was accepted by God the Father, and accomplished its purpose of atoning for the sins of the world.

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.

Please listen with me to the words of St. Peter, as recorded in the 10th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, beginning in the 38th verse.

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

So far our text.

People are impressed by miracles. TV preachers who perform miracles, or who claim to do so, have the largest audiences.

We might wonder, then, why Jesus didn’t appear in his miraculous, resurrected glory to everyone. Wouldn’t that have made the greatest impression? Wouldn’t that have gotten everyone’s attention?

We can imagine what would have happened if the resurrected Lord had appeared to the high priest and the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin - who had condemned Jesus.

Their first reaction would have been to quake in fear. But then, they would grudgingly have recognized the divine power of Jesus, and would have submitted themselves to his authority.

We can also imagine what would have happened if Jesus, in his resurrected glory, had appeared to Pontius Pilate and the other Roman authorities.

At first they would have been shocked. And then they probably would have apologized for their actions, and tried to appease him so that he would not seek to get revenge for what they had done to him.

Wouldn’t it have been great to see these evil men put in their place? Wouldn’t it have been great to see Jesus vindicated as the righteous and good man that he was, and to see those who had persecuted him, and lied about him, discredited and disgraced?

But Jesus, by keeping the resurrection a “private event,” as it were - rather than making it a public demonstration - allowed the high priest, the Roman governor, and everyone else who had been involved in these injustices, to continued on as before. They remained just as arrogant and vicious as they had always been.

That wasn’t a good thing, was it? Why did Jesus, after his resurrection, appear only to the disciples, and to those who were already within the circle of his followers?

Well, the answer is really quite simple. The purpose of the resurrection was not to show the raw power of Christ to proud unbelievers.

Jesus was not interested in making those who had hurt him, now to be afraid of him. Rather, the purpose of the resurrection was to show the mercy and forgiveness of Christ, to those whose hearts had been properly prepared for this by Christ’s Word.

The resurrection was intended to show that God the Father had accepted the death of his Son on the cross as a sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world. It was intended to assure penitent sinners - like Peter and the other apostles, who in fear had forsaken Jesus - that their sins will not be held against them.

The resurrection was intended to instill in all those who trust in Christ, and yearn for his salvation, a firm confidence that they will indeed live forever through him.

In his resurrection, Jesus showed forth to the church his victory over sin and death, so that we would no longer fear the power of the devil. For us, the devil has been vanquished. He no longer has a claim on our souls.

The blood that Christ had shed on the cross was the purchase price of our redemption. Now, in the resurrection, Jesus is taking possession of that which he has purchased. We belong to him, and in the resurrection he claims us and embraces us.

He is now going to live among his people as their risen Lord, to justify us, to protect us, to sanctify us, and to bring us forward to the day of our own resurrection, when we will share fully in his glory and life.

Christ’s pathway to the resurrection was by means of the crucifixion. Before he could be glorified and exalted on Easter, he needed to be degraded and humiliated on Good Friday. Before he could bestow on us his life and victory, he needed to take upon himself our transgressions and wickedness.

For us, then, our pathway to enjoying the benefits of the resurrection, is by means of a penitent embracing of the cross. The true power and purpose of the resurrection is completely lost on those who do not first know their need for forgiveness.

As today’s Gospel from St. Matthew recounts, the angel said to the women on that first Easter morn:

“I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.”

We, too, must “seek Jesus who was crucified,” before we can hear and understand the angel’s announcement about his victory over the grave.

The message of the resurrection is a message of God’s power to restore the penitent to fellowship with God. The message of the resurrection is a message of God’s power to raise those who are sorry for their sins to a new life in his Son Jesus Christ.

The message of the resurrection is not a message of God’s power to show skeptics and idolaters “who’s the boss,” or to prove that he is right, and that his enemies are wrong.

If Christ, after the resurrection, had appeared to those who had been his earthly opponents, it may very well have “put them in their place,” or caused them to grovel before him in terror. But as men who had rejected the Lord’s call to repentance, and who had mocked his suffering, such an appearance would have accomplished nothing for their eternal good.

If Jesus had done something like this, he would just have been “showing off.” It would have been far beneath his dignity as God’s Son, to put himself on display before such blasphemers.

Jesus once said, “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs.”

An appearance of the resurrected Christ before the Sanhedrin, in their hardness of heart, would have been giving dogs what is holy. An appearance of the resurrected Christ before the Romans, in their pagan arrogance, would have been throwing pearls before pigs.

Today, as the Easter gospel is proclaimed, are you ready to hear it? Is this proclamation able to serve its intended purpose in your life?

The resurrected Savior did not appear to his disciples simply to make himself available to them as a supernatural resource for the solving of earthly problems.

He appeared to them to demonstrate that, on the cross, he had already solved for them their deepest and greatest problem: that is, their sinful alienation from God. He appeared to them to demonstrate that God is now at peace with them.

The resurrected Savior did not appear to his disciples to vindicate their faithfulness, or to congratulate them for their moral successes.

He appeared to them to assure them that they are forgiven for their unfaithfulness. He appeared to them to reveal to them his divine mercy, even in the face of all their human failures.

If you want to be sure that you are hearing the Easter gospel in the way that it is intended to be heard by a follower of Christ, and if you want to be sure that you are experiencing the power of the resurrection in the way that it is supposed to be experienced by a disciple of Christ, then heed these words of St. Peter:

“He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

The resurrected Christ comes to you today as the forgiver of your sins. Whenever the inspired testimony of the apostles is proclaimed, the living Lord of the church mystically appears to you, to renew in you the faith by which you do indeed “see” him, and cling to him.

Notice, too, this wonderful little phrase in St. Peter’s statement: Those to whom Jesus appeared, and whom God had chosen to be witnesses of the resurrection, are also those “who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”

What a wonderful experience this was! And one of the reasons why we know how wonderful it was for the apostles to eat and drink with the risen Christ, is because we too have had this experience.

The church’s table fellowship with Christ did not come to an end when he ascended to the right hand of the Father. Our intimate enjoyment of Christ’s companionship and forgiving love continues on, in the sacred Supper that he has instituted for us.

In this sacrament, he makes himself present among us in his body and blood, as a living and life-giving Savior.

Those who are communicants in the Lord’s church are, in faith, able to experience the true meaning of the resurrection, as the risen Christ appears to us. We are able to “see” Jesus, in the assurance that our sins are forgiven.

His body was given into death for us on the cross, and his blood was shed for our redemption. In his means of grace - through both Word and Sacrament - the risen Christ delivers this redemption to us.

And he does so again, and again, and again. He never stops forgiving and saving his people, because he is alive forevermore. He will never die again. In him we, too, will never die.

Someday - when he returns visibly for the judgment of all men and nations - Jesus will appear to everyone in his resurrected and ascended glory. On that day there will be much fear and anguish on the part of unbelievers.

But Jesus did not appear to everyone after he rose from the grave. The appearances of the risen Christ were not for the high priest and the Sanhedrin, who rejected his Word. They were not for Pontius Pilate and the Romans, whose hearts had been hardened against his Spirit.

The appearances of the risen Christ were for his apostles and disciples, who repented of their sins and sought the Lord’s pardon. The appearances of the risen Christ were, and are, for us, who repent of our sins, and seek the Lord’s pardon.

So let us keep the festival Whereto the Lord invites us;
Christ is himself the Joy of all, The Sun that warms and lights us.
By His grace He doth impart Eternal sunshine to the heart;
The night of sin is ended.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.