Your Loins Girded, Your Lamp Burning

Her name was Charlotte.  She was six years old; not much older than my Gerhardt or Stefan Horner, but she was all girl.  Like some other young ladies we know, she enjoyed Tae Kwon Do with her Dad, but she was into pink and pretty dresses.  Her brother, Guy, was three years older, but they attended the same elementary school, where her Mom was an active volunteer.

Charlotte’s Grandma & Grandpa, on her mother’s side, live in Minnesota, on the western outskirts of the Twin Cities, not far from where I worked and went to church between college and seminary, and not far from where I served my vicarage a few years after that.  Small world, isn’t it?

You may have seen pictures of Charlotte’s funeral procession, as her body was taken from Christ the King Lutheran Church to be laid to rest in the Newtown Village Cemetery.  It’s been in the news a bit.  She and her family were not members of Christ the King, but Charlotte attended the Sunday School there, and Pastor Morris has been caring for her family and conducted her funeral.

Charlotte’s parents, Joel and JoAnn, had no idea how little time they would have to care for their daughter, to give her what she needed most, and to teach her the most important things there are to learn in life.  I’m sure they were doing the best they could.  They were actively involved with their children in school and sports.  I don’t know why they weren’t members of the church; maybe they were in transition, or maybe they had let that slip in the busyness of so many other things.  But in the providence of God — maybe it was at Grandma Irene’s urging — they had taken Charlotte to the church, to learn of Christ her King, her Savior and her God.  In doing this, they gave her life.

Be sure of this, dear friends in Christ, if the Principal and PTA of Sandy Hook Elementary had known on what day, and at what hour, the gunman was coming, they would have had that school on lockdown before the tragedy could happen, in order to prevent it.  They would have saved lives.

But there is always more at stake than temporal life and mortal flesh and blood.  Six years is a tender age, but life on earth is not long, in any case: maybe sixty years, or barely more than 100 at most.  But this brief span in a fallen world is not yet the Life for which you (and all) are created.

As it was, the gunman, twenty-year-old Adam Lanza, took the lives of almost thirty children and adults, none of them very old.  But for each of those victims who were catechized in the Word of the Holy One of Israel, who were brought to faith by His Word and Spirit, death was but an end to their watching and waiting upon Him: It was a graduation to the neverending Day — to the new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells, and where the Prince of Peace reigns in Glory — to the nearer presence of God in Christ, in order to behold Him face to face.  For the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever on those who fear Him, who are called to faith by His Gospel.

Blessed are those parents who teach their children the fear and faith of God, by caring for them with His Word.  There is no more significant task that any father or mother is given than that:

To bring their sons and daughters to the washing of water with the Word and Spirit of God in Holy Baptism, by which the Lord guards all their going out and coming in, henceforth and forevermore.  And to catechize their children in the Name of the Lord, with which they have been named.  To teach them the pattern and practice of repentance and forgiveness, both by exemplifying the use of Confession and Absolution with the pastor in the life of the Church, and by exercising mutual confession and forgiveness of sins in the life of the home and family.  And to bring their children to the pastor, also, for the Holy Communion, to be fed by the coming Lord at His Table.

Fathers and mothers, you do not know the day nor the hour when death may snatch your sons and daughters from your stewardship forever.  But in bringing them to Christ Jesus in His Church, and in giving Christ to them with His Word, you prepare them for the ongoing Feast in His Kingdom.

What, then, if you have no children?  Blessed are you, one and all, who watch and wait upon the Lord by giving careful attention to His Word and to His works, whereby you live, now and forever.  Blessed are you, when you remain awake and alert and alive, by His Holy Spirit, by His grace, even in the nighttime.  Not that you must never take your rest or get any sleep; for He does also give to His beloved sleep.  But how shall you, perhaps, stay up late to bring in the New Year on such a night as this, and yet not keep vigil to watch and wait upon the Lord your God?

You do not know how little time you may have; nor how long you may have to wait.  What if the loud and angry voices that you sometimes overhear at McDonalds, or even at the library, were to escalate into physical violence?  What if treacherous icy roads, or a fire in the night, were suddenly to wreck your car, destroy your home, or end your life on earth?  A tree might fall on you; for accidents do happen.  Deadly cancer might strike, irrespective of age.  Or, your mind might fail long before your body.  Number your days, therefore, and let each one count for what matters most.

Do you not hear the watchmen singing on the heights?  Christ has come!  And He is coming!  Be ready, then.  Have your loins girded, and keep your lamp burning.  Do not be caught unprepared.

If you were a father, a mother, a child, young or old, a brother or sister, in Egypt on that night of the Lord’s Passover, then you would know from the Prophet Moses that the Lord was coming at some hour after twilight: A terrible Thief in the night, He would come, to steal away the firstborn sons of Egypt, from the Pharaoh in his palace and from the captive in his cell.

But how many sons of Israel has Pharaoh already put to death?  And now shall the Lord Himself slay even more?  Not so!  For He has heard your cries.  He knows your sorrows.  And He has come to save you, to release you from the Egyptians.  He shall bring you through the waters into safety and freedom, and feed you generously with bread from heaven in the wilderness, and bring you at last into the Good Land He has sworn to give you, a land of creamy milk and sweetest honey.

What, then, shall you do, now, on this dark night in Egypt?  The Lord your God has told you.  He has given you His Word to guide you and guard you.  You shall take a male lamb, unblemished, from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall slay it in the evening, as the night falls.  If your household is too small for the lamb, then you shall join with your neighbor and his household.  And you shall anoint the doorposts and the lintel of the house with the blood of the lamb, and you shall roast its flesh and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  Eat it with haste.  Your loins shall be girded as you eat, with staff in hand and sandals on your feet, ready to leave in a hurry.

You know the story.  The Lord is faithful, and He brings you out of Egypt with His mighty arm and outstretched hand.  No plague befalls you, for the blood of the lamb covers and protects you, and your whole household, in accordance with the Word that God, the Lord, has spoken to you.

Now, beloved, this is how you are to live, each day and every night of your life on this earth.  For the Thief is surely coming, at an hour you do not know.  Death is coming, yes:  Tonight, tomorrow, in the new year ahead, or at some point in the years to come, if the Lord shall grant such years to you and to this earth.  But the Lord Himself is coming like a Thief in the night.

You neither know the day nor the hour of His coming.  Yet, He has not left you clueless, without a Lamp to lighten your way.  He has given you His Scriptures and the preaching and teaching of His Word.  And there is, for you also, the Lamb who has been slain. His Blood anoints your lips and tongue, the doorposts and lintel of your body, and protects you from death.  And His Flesh is your Meat indeed, your true Passover Feast, which you eat with the unleavened bread.  You share this sacrificial Meal in the household and family of God, regardless of your own station in life, no matter the size of your own household.  And here you are kept safe, so that you may have Life.

Therefore, let your loins also be girded, and be ready to leave at any time.  Be dressed for work, and packed for travel at moment’s notice; like a woman ready for her labor and delivery to begin.

Not as though your watching and waiting upon the Lord were a waste of time.

But here now is the point and purpose of your time on earth, whether in Egypt or the wilderness:

Here and now you learn to live by the grace of God, by faith in His Word.  You learn to live each day in view of your Baptism, dying and rising with Christ.  You learn to live with Him, to follow Him through the water, and to be fed by Him in the wilderness, without complaining or grumbling.  And so you are taught to number your days, to know how short your life here is, and to apply your heart to wisdom; which is to fear the Lord your God, but also to love and trust in Him.  You are taught to repent of your sins, and to rest in His mercy and forgiveness.  You are taught to be alert to Him and to His coming; neither anxious nor afraid, but in quietness and peace.

In such repentance and faith, you also love and care for your neighbors, especially for those who are entrusted to your care: Your spouse and children, if you have them; your siblings and parents, your co-workers and customers, your neighbor next door, and your brothers and sisters in Christ.

If your own household is small, or if you are alone, you still share the Lamb with your neighbors.

You love and care for all of these others, as the Lord so enables you to do, in order that they too may be prepared for His coming; so that, when death and judgment come, they shall also be found ready and waiting in the faith of Christ Jesus.  Such love for your neighbor is a priceless service.

All the while, dear little child of God, you do already live: by the grace of your Father in heaven, through faith in His beloved Son — even while you are still watching and waiting upon Him in the power and peace of His Holy Spirit.

For the Lord is coming to you, here and now, and He is already with you: By and with His Name, with which He has named you as His own in Holy Baptism, and with which He still claims you and richly blesses you with His Glory in the Divine Service, in the Invocation and the Benediction.

He is your very present Help in every trouble; for with His Word and Holy Spirit He attends you.  And because you are His very own, and you are dear to Him, He watches over all your going out and coming in, even to the last: With His Holy Angels, whom He has given charge over you; and through the service of His watchmen, your pastors, who shepherd you with the staff of His Word.

By the preaching of His Gospel of forgiveness, He satisfies you in the morning with His steadfast love, and He gives you peace and rest in the night season; no matter what terrors may lurk outside.

And now, again, as day by day and week by week throughout the year, through summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, here and now He comes into His House; and though He is your Lord, He girds Himself to serve you.  He gently invites you to recline at His Table, and here He waits upon you in tender love and mercy: He washes you and feeds you.  And in doing this, He gives you Life.

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

Plan A, B, C, and D (all of the above)

Do your duties faithfully, as best you can

Repent of all your sins and failings
Confess your sins and be absolved

Receive the Gospel in preaching and the Sacrament

Call upon the Name of the Lord
Rejoice, give thanks, and sing

Spend time in the sunshine
Exercise your body and mind
Listen to good music

Sleep: Christ Jesus is Your Sabbath Rest

Remember your Baptism: God raised Jesus from the dead

Our Top Twelve Read-Aloud Favorites of 2012

For many years now, from when my Zach & Bean were small fries, one of my favorite pastimes has been reading aloud to my children.  Over the years, I've plowed through numerous books, with lots of highlights along the way.  My doctoral work slowed down the pace considerably, especially in the final years of dissertation writing. But Harry Potter came to the rescue even then, while also serving as something of a transition within our family: It was really the last series that I read aloud to DoRena and Zachary, and the first significant set of books that I read to Nicholai and Monica.  After that, it was a bit hit-and-miss for awhile, because it was frankly difficult to find anything worthy to follow the magic of Ms. Rowling.  Last year shook us out of our slump, and this Year of Our Lord 2012 has been a marvelous literary adventure for me and my five middle children listeners: Monica, Ariksander, Oly'anna, Justinian, and Frederick.

Especially as various other projects and pursuits have gone by the wayside for me, whether being finished up or given up, I've been able to read aloud to my children with regular consistency this year.  Unless I'm out of town for something or other, which happens on occasion, I generally read at least half an hour each day; and, sometimes, when we're closing in on the end of a good book or series, it might be as much as several hours. Many a family day has been spent largely in the pages of a story, in the company of beloved characters.  In my life on earth, there is hardly anything that I treasure more fondly than this time spent with my children.

So far this year, we've shared a total of forty-four books together, my middlings and me.  We'll probably devour another couple or three before the year is finally finished; although the observances of Christmas Tide will slow us down, naturally.  But the next thing on our list are the Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander  — one of my own childhood favorites, among the many that I enjoyed listening to my own Dad read aloud to me — and I'm quite certain that we won't be able to finish that whole series (five books in all) before the New Year.

Anyway, in typical Stuckwisch fashion, the six of us who read and listen together voted on our favorite reads of 2012, and tabulated the results this afternoon.  Because we like to share such things, and because others might discover worthy treasures to enjoy within their own family enclaves, I happily publish the following list of our Top Twelve Read-Aloud Favorites.  We've grouped sequels and series into single entries, rather than trying to segregate the individual titles; and in some cases, we are breathlessly awaiting subsequent volumes, yet to be published. Meanwhile, there are plenty of books in the world to occupy us.  It should be noted that most of the following books were not published in 2012, but were among those that I was privileged to read aloud in the course of the year.  I've exercised paternal privilege in unilaterally resolving the numerous ties that occurred, but each of the following received at least two votes (out of six possible).

Top Twelve Read-Aloud Favorites of 2012

1 - the Jimmy Coates series (six books and counting), by Joe Craig

2 - the Michael Vey series (two books so far), by Richard Paul Evans

3 - The Candy Shop War; and, Arcade Catastrophe, by Brandon Mull

4 - the Gregor series (five books), by Suzanne Collins

5 - the Percy Jackson series (five books), by Rick Riordan

6 - the Beyonders trilogy (two books so far), by Brandon Mull

7 - Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier

8 - the Fablehaven series (five books), by Brandon Mull

9 - The King in the Window; and its sequel of sorts, The Steps Across the Water, by Adam Gopnik

10 - Savvy; and its sequel, Scumble, by Ingrid Law

11 - the Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins

12 - the Ghosthunters series (four books), by Cornelia Funke

Astute readers will notice that our favorite authors of the year were Brandon Mull (nine books, three series) and Suzanne Collins (eight books, two series).  Bring 'em on, Brandon and Suzanne; we're hungry for more.

The Preaching and Baptism of Repentance

So, what does such baptizing with water indicate?

It is a baptism of repentance, which both requires and results in more than lip service or an outward show; although words and actions are certainly also a part of it.  Genuine repentance necessarily includes a confession of the truth and godly behavior, in accordance with the Word of the Lord.  But repentance begins and continues, far more deeply, with a decisive change of heart and mind.  It is a turning away from one way of life to another, a full conversion of self from the inside-out.

Repentance is both a death and a resurrection, and this is the very thing that such baptizing with water means and does.  It calls you and converts you to become altogether different than you have been: in your attitudes and commitments, and in your thoughts and feelings, and therefore also in your words and actions.

Truly to repent is to flee from the wrath to come, in the conviction that the one true God exists, that He is the Author and Creator of all things, including you, and that His Law is a serious matter, which means what it says and holds you accountable for what you have done, and for what you have not done.  Thus, repentance begins with the fear of the Lord.

God threatens to punish all who break His commandments.  Therefore, you should fear His wrath and not disobey Him.  The axe is laid at the root of the trees, and eternal fire awaits the ungodly, who do not live in faith and love.  For to flee from God’s wrath is not to flee from Him, as if you could ever escape from His judgment.  It is, rather, to live righteously according to His Word; and all the more so as the Day of His coming draws near.

He is the Lord, your King, who approaches.  And St. John the Baptist is sent to prepare the royal highway before Him, which shall be called a highway of holiness.  Thus, by his preaching and his baptism of repentance, he fills up the valleys and flattens the hills; he straightens up the crooked places and smooths out the rough spots.

Where, then, have you been lacking in your labors, whether out of laziness, arrogance, or despair?  And where have you exalted yourself, and puffed yourself up with pride?  Where have you turned to the right or to the left, distracted from your duties, or bounced around from one passion and pursuit to the next, as though you had no clear direction?  Where have you stumbled and fallen?

That is where St. John directs his preaching to you.  And that is where your Baptism would drown and destroy the old Adam in you, and put you to death, in order to make you alive and brand new.  That is where your fruitless tree ought to bear the fruits of repentance: Not only to claim sorrow and regret for past failures, but from the heart to change your behavior; to set your ears, and mind, and mouth upon the Word of God; to cease from doing evil, and to do what is good and right.

Would you receive the Christ who comes, and follow Him into His Kingdom, and live with Him in righteousness and purity forever?  Would you be a Christian, a child and heir of God?  Then live with both humility and confidence before Him, within your vocation and stations in life.  Fulfill your duties faithfully, and carry out your responsibilities with honesty and integrity.  Not for the sake of appearances, as a people-pleaser, but in the fear of the Lord, and in love for your neighbor.

That is what such baptizing with water indicates.  And that is how you flee from the wrath to come.

For now the Lord has begun to purify the sons of Levi, beginning with Zacharias and his son, the baptizer, St. John.  These righteous men, to whom the Word of the Lord has come, have been raised up in striking contrast to the reigning high priest, Caiaphas, and to his father-in-law, Annas, who was still pulling strings and calling shots behind the scenes.  Annas and his extended family were something of a religious mafia, as corrupt as Eli and his sons when Samuel was born.  It was not to Annas or Caiaphas, however, but to faithful Zacharias in the Temple, while he was offering the incense of Israel’s prayer, that the Archangel Gabriel was sent.  And it was St. John who was commissioned as the messenger of God, called and sent to prepare the people for the Lord.

By his preaching and baptism of repentance, St. John offers up the people as a priestly sacrifice to God, and as a righteous offering to the Lord.  He slays them with his words in the waters of the Jordan, and then pulls them back up out of the water and points them to the path of righteousness in Christ.  And by this repentance thus worked in them, by the washing of the water with the Word, the people offer up themselves and their lives to the Lord their God.  They each become a living sacrifice, entrusting themselves entirely to Him, and so living a new life, by faith in His Word.

Such repentance is exemplified, later in St. Luke’s Gospel, in the tax collector Zaccheus, when he restores what he has stolen and then gives half his money to the poor; and in the soldier who confesses that Jesus is the righteous Son of God, after witnessing His death upon the Cross.

You also are called to live a life that is pleasing to God, that is, according to His Word, in the place where He has stationed you: In the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of repentance and of wisdom; and in the confidence of His faithfulness, His righteousness and steadfastness.

He is the Lord, He changes not.  From everlasting to everlasting, He is God.  His promises are true, and His covenant is certain.  Though you have wandered far and wide, and forsaken His Word, return to Him, for He returns to you.  He draws near for judgment, for justice and righteousness, in order to make all things right; in order to restore the people of His choosing as a priestly nation, in holiness and righteousness before Him, forever and ever.  That is what He comes to do for you.

But, honestly, who can endure His coming?  Who can stand in His judgment when He appears?  Who can survive His Advent?  For even on your best day, no matter how hard you try, there is yet more to be done, and there is still sin in your heart and life.  Outwardly, your words and actions do not fully measure up, but inwardly it is far worse.  You neither fear the Lord your God, nor do you love and trust in Him; not as you ought.  There are still valleys to be filled, hills to be flattened.

The holy and righteous Law of God leaves no one unscathed.  It does not accuse you falsely, nor does it demand from you more than is fair.  And yet, for all your effort, you cannot live up to it or make amends for all your wrongdoing.  Will you pay back four times over all that you have taken from your neighbor?  Will you give up all of your possessions, or even half of them, to the poor?  And would you thereby atone for all your sins and justify yourself before the Lord your God?

No, the axe still cuts you down; the fire still consumes you.  The Law is insatiable in its demands and prohibitions, in its condemnations and its punishments; until it is fulfilled in the righteousness of perfect faith and holy love.  But such righteousness and holiness are beyond your grasp.  They are not a work that you can do or achieve for yourself, but a work that only God can accomplish.  You do not perform it, but suffer it.  And only then, after it has killed you, do you begin to live it.

St. John is not a motivational speaker, nor a self-help guru, but a preacher of repentance.  It is true that he baptizes with water, but the Word that he preaches, being God’s Word, is a fire to be sure.

Yet, it is also the Gospel that St. John preaches to the people; although he does not fully realize or understand, at first, what his baptizing with water shall do.  He rightly preaches the Law, but to begin with he does not perceive that Christ Jesus will submit Himself to the righteous judgment of that very Law.  He preaches a baptism of repentance, and then he is confronted by the Christ who suffers that Baptism and repents for the sins of the world.  Which is how and why St. John’s baptism of repentance is for the forgiveness of sins.  And so it is that, afterwards, he will point to Christ Jesus and say: There’s the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice to end all sacrifice for sin, who makes Atonement for the world, who justifies and sanctifies all who believe and are baptized into Him.

He is mightier than John, not in threats and punishments, but in mercy and compassion for poor, miserable sinners.  He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  He forgives iniquities, trespasses, and sins.  That is the character of His heart, the essence of His Being, the perfection of His almighty power.  That is the sort of Lord He is: The true and only God, who is Life and Light and Love.  That is why you are not consumed, even though you deserve nothing but punishment.

Not as though the Lord overlooks sin or takes it lightly, but because He is mightier than you — in taking sin and death upon Himself, and suffering their worst, and establishing the righteousness of perfect faith and holy love in His own faithfulness, in His own flesh and blood, on your behalf.

St. John’s preaching and baptism prepare you for the coming of the Lord, because they make ready the way by which He comes to you.  That is to say, Christ Jesus comes by the way of repentance, which He thereby opens up for you and for all, by taking responsibility for the sins of the world, by making Himself accountable for every last one of them, and by suffering their consequences.

The Lord Jesus submits Himself to St. John’s Baptism, not to flee, but to bear the wrath to come.  He suffers the axe and the fire by His Cross and Passion.  He bears the tree of the Cross, and by it He bears the fruits of repentance — which are for you the fruits of righteousness and salvation.

This is the good work that your dear Lord Jesus Christ has already accomplished for you, which He has also begun to work in you by His preaching and His Baptism.  By the fruits of His Cross, and in His Resurrection from the dead, He brings you daily to repentance, and He purifies your heart and life by faith.  And just as surely as He is risen from the dead, and lives and reigns to all eternity, so shall He bring this good work of His to perfection in you, in body and soul, forever.

Not only does He daily and richly forgive you all your sins, by the fruits of His Cross — that is, by the preaching of His Gospel of forgiveness, by His spoken Word of Holy Absolution, by the remembrance of your Baptism, and by His Food and Drink of the Holy Communion — but so does He also bear good fruits in you, by the same means of grace, after the same kind as His own Tree.  For the Gospel bears the fruits of faith and love in the righteousness of Christ, your Savior.

He puts to death all that is sinful, unholy, and unrighteous in you, but then He also raises you up to newness of life in Himself.  This is the repentance of His own Cross and Resurrection, which He works in you by His Law and His Gospel.  In this way, and by these means, He removes the chaff from your life, from your thoughts, words, and actions, and He gathers you as finest wheat into His barn: into His Church, and into His Kingdom, now and forever.

He does it by His Word of the Cross, to and from your Baptism, day by day by day.  He crucifies you with that Word, as He puts you to death and buries you with Himself by those waters; so that you die to yourself, to your old attitudes, behavior, and commitments, and you rise up to live unto righteousness in Christ.  You follow Him through the waters into the way of faith and love.  And all the while, on the way, beloved, know this: You are blameless before God in Him.

Remember how Joshua, when he led the sons of Israel into the promised land through the waters of the Jordan, established a memorial of twelve stones, not only on the shore, but also in the midst of the water: In the very place where the sons of Levi had remained with the Ark of the Covenant until all the people had passed from the wilderness into the paradise flowing with milk and honey.

So has this priestly son, St. John the Baptist, stood with the Christ in the midst of the Jordan, to whom you have come, as to a living Stone — rejected by men, but choice and precious before God.  And you, also, are a living stone in Him, built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, in order to offer up sacrifices that are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

Such is the Word that is here preached to you:

From these stones, in the midst of these waters, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has raised you up as a beloved and well-pleasing child in Him.  He has dressed you with His own tunic, so that you are now fully clothed and covered in His righteousness and holiness.  And He who has the Food of everlasting life, now feeds you with the fruits of the Cross, the Body and Blood of the Lamb.  Therefore, in His flesh, you taste and see the Salvation of God.

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

Be Alert to the Cross of Christ

Be on the alert!  So says your Lord, four times over, this morning.

Pay attention to what you see happening in the world all around you, in both church and state, among your neighbors, in your family, and in yourself.  But above all else, give ear to what you hear from God, the Lord.  Interpret what you see (and what you don’t) by what He says.

Everywhere you look (and no less, where you refuse to look), there is sin and death, decay and destruction.  The whole world is wearing out and wasting away.  None of it will last.  The days are growing short.  A harsh wind is blowing in a big storm.  The winter is coming.

It’s far more than just the weather, isn’t it?  There’s all sorts of uncertainty in these troubled and difficult times.  Political unrest and economic turbulence abound.  If it’s not a fiscal cliff, then some other precipice lies ahead of you.  So, watch your step!

Depending on your politics, you may be happy or sad about the recent elections, with various hopes or fears for the future.  But the Psalmist is right: Trust not in princes; nor presidents, either.  It’s not about a prejudice against politicians.  When it comes to what really matters most, do not trust in yourself, either; nor your neighbor; nor anything of this fallen world.  For all of creation is subject to the curse of sin.  It dies and decays.

You, also, are like the grass, which withers and fades; like autumn leaves, which look so glorious for a little while, but then they fall; they are gathered and burned, or they decompose into the soil.

Number your days, you son or daughter of man, and know how short your life here is.  Consider your end, which comes before you know it, sooner than you think.  Your mortal life is nothing.  There is no strength of man that survives.

Since everything looks (and is) so bleak, what hope is there?  What in the world shall you do?

Beloved, your hope is in the Lord.  Therefore, be alert to Him.  Give ear, again, to what He says.  Pay attention to what He is doing by His Word of the Cross, though it, too, appears to be futile.

Your dear Lord Jesus deals with sin, which is the real problem and the underlying cause of death and every evil.  He forgives all sins which you have done, but He also deals with your sin at its core: not so much as bad behavior to be punished, but as a turning away from God, the Creator.  You do not trust the Author and Giver of Life, the One from whom your life and all things come, on whom all things depend.  Your unbelief is the unrighteousness which leads only to death.

But, now, the Lord sends forth a Law, even to the ends of the earth.  He establishes His justice in the midst of sin and death.  Henceforth, His righteousness is near; for His salvation has gone forth.  Though the heavens and the earth and all of creation will perish — the sky will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment — still, His salvation and His righteousness are forever.

Give attention to that fact: His righteousness and His salvation are forever, and they are for you.

His own arm will judge His people; and, it is true, His holy and righteous Law would condemn you and sentence you to death and damnation, because you are neither holy nor righteous in yourself.  Yet, He calls you to Himself; He calls you by name, to be His own, to wait upon His arm in hope.

For with His mighty, outstretched arms, in the tender palms of His own hands, He has suffered the tribulation and the final judgment in Himself.  It is in this way that He has accomplished justice and established righteousness in the earth.  He has taken all the hurt and all the heartache of the fall into sin upon Himself.  Though He is the Creator of all things, and He is Life in Himself, He has taken the entire curse of sin and death, the destruction and decay of the world, upon Himself.

In His Passion unto death, even death upon the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for the sins of the world.  And in His Resurrection from the dead, He has rectified what was broken in all of creation; He has reconciled the sons and daughters of man unto His God and Father in heaven.

You know the Story, which the Holy Scriptures tell, the Creed confesses, the Liturgy unfolds for you and for all, and the Church Year rehearses, even to the end of the age:

The beloved and only-begotten Son of God has left His home with the Father in heaven, and He has come forth on a journey to redeem you and save you.  As true Man, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Word and Spirit of God — and, therefore, as your own Brother in the flesh, with a body and blood and a nature just like yours — He has waited in faith upon His Father.  He has lived as true Man (as man was created and meant to live), not knowing the day nor the hour in advance, but simply hearing and heeding and relying on His Father’s faithful Word.

He has taken heed.  He has stayed awake.  And He has been alert.  Therefore, when that day and that hour came, He was ready: Watching and waiting in faith, He went to His Cross in holy love.

Learn the lesson of His Tree.  Consider its tenderness, its leaves and fruit, which are for the healing of the nations — and no less so for your healing, unto strength and perseverance and eternal life.

He has sent forth His messengers with its rich and lush fruits, to gather His elect from the four winds, His disciples from all nations.  Thus, by the fruits of His Cross, that is, by the preaching of His Word and the administration of His Sacraments, He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies His whole Christian Church on earth.  With these healthy fruits, by this Ministry of His Gospel, He Himself is near you — He is right at the door — daily and richly to forgive you all of your sins.

It is for this purpose that He has appointed His servants to care for His household, that is, to feed and clothe, to nurture and teach His family.  His pastors and teachers are watchmen on the heights, doorkeepers, and stewards of the Mysteries of God.  They are called and ordained to keep watch, both day and night; to guard your coming in and your going out by His Word, by the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; and to guide all your days and your deeds in His Peace.

But what He says to them, He also says to you: “Be on the alert!”  For to you, also, He has given your own proper tasks, your own particular duties, within His household and family.  Do not think that, if you are not a pastor, you do not have to pay attention or take care.  But be faithful in your own office and station in life, and care for your neighbors according to your calling.  That is where you are to watch and to wait for the coming of the Lord, faithfully doing what He has given you to do, in the hope of His mercy; which is to say, in the sure and certain hope of His Resurrection.

Take heed to the Word of the Lord, to His Law and His Gospel.  Thereby set your heart on the pilgrim’s way, to live by faith as a sojourner through the wilderness, as a wayfarer on earth.  Not with your eyes downcast and your chin dragging in the dirt, but lift up your head, your heart and mind, your eyes and ears, unto Christ your Savior; for He is ready, willing, and able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in His glorious presence — blameless in body and soul.

Keep yourself in the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, your Savior, and so live by His grace.

Beloved, He has taught you how to live in His love; and day after day, week after week, year after year, He continues to catechize you in the way you are to go, which is the way of life in Him: To say it short and simple, rest yourself in the Word and promise of Christ, that is, upon His Gospel.  Rely not on yourself, but on Jesus.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He will not fail you.

In the midst of the great tribulation — which is to say, in your pilgrimage under the Cross — build yourself up on your most holy faith by giving attention to His Word: Do not despise it, but hold it sacred, gladly hearing the Word of Christ as it is preached, and learning from His Word when it is taught.  Avail yourself of the Gospel, not only in the preaching, but also by making regular use of the means of grace.  Receive the Sacrament according to the Word of Christ.  Confess your sins, and receive the Absolution (that is, forgiveness) from your pastor as from Christ Himself; in no wise doubting, but firmly believing, that by this Word your sins are forgiven before God in heaven.

So, too, keep yourself in the Love of God and live by faith in Christ, by praying in the Holy Spirit: at all times, and in all places, without ceasing.  Not by your own reason and strength, but by the Word of Christ, as He has spoken to you.  For you have the Spirit of Christ only by His Word.  And in turn, you pray and confess His Word only by His Spirit.  Such prayer is the voice of faith.

Therefore, pray throughout your days, when you get up in the morning, and when you go to bed at night, and as you take up and lay aside your duties of the day.  And let your whole life be a kind of prayer, by constantly repenting of your sins before God, and by relying on His grace and mercy.

Pray, also, within the fellowship of the Church, which is the Body of Christ.  For it is in Him and with Him and through Him that you pray, and He has taught you to pray with and for each other.  Thus, you serve and support your fellow Christians with your prayer, and they do the same for you.  And together you receive the answer to all of your prayers in the Word and Flesh of Christ Jesus.

So, then, by the Word of God and prayer, wait eagerly upon the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life.  Set your hope firmly and fully upon Him, and fix your eyes on Him, by clinging to the promise of the Gospel.  Trust that, by His sacrifice and bloodshed on the Cross, and in His bodily Resurrection, He has established His righteousness and His salvation, for you, forever.

Do not be consumed by the temporal things of this life on earth, but temper your consuming with the humility of repentance.  After all, you don’t know what the next four years may hold; nor even what tomorrow may bring; nor if there will even be a tomorrow for this earth, or for you upon it.  But, rather, comfort and strengthen yourself with the eternal things of Christ, who has risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever, and whose Word shall never pass away.

And as you wait upon His mercy, so have mercy on your neighbor: Comfort and encourage the doubting in their weakness and fear, by loving them graciously and well.  Save others by snatching them out of the fire, by warning them straightforwardly.  Don’t wink or nod at sin, but call it what it is, and call your neighbor to repentance in a spirit of gentleness.  To hate the garment polluted by the flesh is not to flee from your brother or sister, but to flee from sin in the fear of the Lord.

Have mercy on your neighbor, who is a sinner like yourself; as you also depend on the mercy of God in Christ, and as He Himself is merciful.  Be gentle and compassionate, as the Lord your God is gentle and compassionate with you.  Forgive, as you yourself are freely and fully forgiven.

Have no fear of death, and do not despair of hope; for the Lord Himself now helps you in your weaknesses and doubts, and He now saves you from the fires of your passions, and from the fires of eternal punishment in hell.  As your merciful and great High Priest, He persists in constant prayer and intercession for you.  And here in His Church, He faithfully speaks His Word to you.  He sends His holy angels to guard you and keep you in body and soul, and His ministers to gather you to Himself by the peaching and teaching of His Gospel, by forgiving you all of your sins in His Name and stead, and by giving you the Food and the Drink that you need at the proper time.

In calling you daily to repentance, He calls you daily to faith in His forgiveness of all your sins, and to find your Sabbath rest and perfect peace in His righteousness and holiness, His innocence and blessedness.  Indeed, the forgiveness that is yours in His Blood delivers you from every evil, unto that day and that hour when He shall call you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven; as even now His fruitful Cross shines the summer sunshine of His faith and love upon you in Peace.

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

Hear, O Israel! The Lord Is One

To set aside for God a part or portion of your time is idolatrous.  To dedicate or offer to the Lord a portion or percentage of your possessions is sacrilegious.  For how shall you call Him the Lord your God, to whom you would give only a part or portion of yourself?  How shall you presume to worship Him, whom you would place beneath your feet as but one priority among many others?

No, it will not do to subdivide yourself, your time and energy, your stuff, your heart, mind, soul, and strength.  But with all that you are and have, you shall fully love and serve the Lord your God, and nothing else besides Him.  For there is one Lord, one God, not many.  There is but one Author and Giver of Life.  Wherever else you would look for life, you will have nothing but death.  Not that God is merely a means to some other end, but He alone is your Life and Light and Salvation.

To whatever or whomever else you would direct or dedicate your thoughts, words, and actions, if not the Holy Triune God, that is your idol and your false religion.  Or to suppose at any point that you have “done your time” and “paid your dues,” is already to have failed and fallen short of the glory of God.  For He would have all of you; that you would have your whole life entirely in Him.  Do not look at your neighbor, either, to measure and compare how much he has done, or how much he has given.  For your own life is lived before God, and you will not ever do or give “too much.”

Your offerings and your alms are inadequate and insufficient, no matter what the amount, and no matter what percentage of your income and your wealth, so long as you withhold yourself from God and from your neighbor.  For you are to love the Lord your God with everything that you are, with your entire being; and you are to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Which is not to say that you should love your neighbor in addition to God, nor alongside of God; for that would be to make another god out of your neighbor.  Rather, you are to love your neighbor under and within your love for God, that is, according to His Word, and after His own great heart of love.

It is for God’s sake that you love your neighbor: in humility, in faith, in mercy, and in peace.  And that is how you are to live your whole life in the good land to which the Lord your God has called you, which He has promised to you in His Word, and which He gives to you in Christ Jesus.

Many of you know, and can still remember, what it is like to be “in love,” to be “head over heels” for someone.  Your every waking thought is turned toward that person, as well as your dreams at night.  Every decision, every action, every utterance is considered and weighed and carried out with reference to your heart’s desire.  The way you dress and groom yourself, the smile on your face and the spring in your step, all derive from and return to the object of your affection.  So much the greater and all the more consuming is your love for the Lord your God to be, at all times and in all places: A single-minded devotion, an undivided heart, and a living sacrifice of body, soul, and spirit, all belong to Him by right.  Because He is the true and only God.  There is none other.

I want you to consider those who have gone before us in this life on earth: What do they have now?  Is it life or death?  Is it God or the devil?  There is no middle ground, no in between, no other options or alternatives.  There is only the life everlasting, or eternal damnation.  There is only the Kingdom of God, or the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his wicked fallen angels.

Some of you have known some of those whom we name before the Lord’s Altar this morning, who have departed in the faith and confession of Christ.  And all of you have lost loved ones in the past, whether recently or long ago; whether from the womb or after many years of life together.  Parents and children, spouses and siblings, neighbors and friends.  Think about those people, those men and women, boys and girls, all of whom were mortal and sinful like yourself.  What was important to them here?  What did they treasure?  How did they spend their time?  Where did they invest themselves?  With what did they depart this vale of tears, and with what did they enter eternity?

What did they take with them?  And what do they have now?

All that remains forever is Christ Jesus and His Word, His Spirit and His Father.  Apart from Him, there is only darkness, and death, and damnation.  Where, then, shall your heart and life be given and belong?  How shall you live, here and now, that you may rise and live with the Lord forever?

According to His Covenant with Israel at Sinai — according to His Ten Commandments, which are His statutes and His judgments, His good and acceptable will, and irrefutably His holy Word — He says, the Way of Life is the way of faith and love: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and, in love for Him, to love your neighbor as yourself.  That is how you shall live in the good land that He promises and gives to you.  That is how you shall thrive.

But where you do not love the Lord God and your neighbor, there is alienation, enmity, separation, loneliness, and fear.  Not peace and rest, but anxiety and hard labor.  Not life, but death, now and forever.  That is the land laid waste by your lack of love for God and man.  That is the kingdom and the city of your own idolatrous self-love.  It is sprawling, unruly, divided, and running amok.

Yet, over His good land, the Lord your God has raised up and established a good King, who is the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed; His Servant David, with whom He has made an everlasting Covenant: Not like His Covenant with Israel at Sinai, which His people broke, although He was faithful to them.  But a New Covenant in the very flesh and blood of great King David’s greater Son.

As the ruler goes, so goes the nation, right?  You know it’s true.  You see it, time and again, in the kings of Israel and Judah.  There is a bond between the prince and the people.  And when you go to vote for your presidential candidate this coming Tuesday, you won’t be voting only for one man, but for what he stands for (or against): for his ideals and his values, and for what you hope that he will do.  You’ll be hoping, and I hope you’ll be praying, for a leader who will truly be a father of the country, who will be instrumental in helping the entire nation to be healthy, strong, and great.

As the ruler goes, so goes the nation.  But the King whom God has raised up for His people and His land, that is, the Lord’s Anointed, with whom He has made His Covenant forever, He is more than any ordinary Monarch.  He is not only a ruler or leader, but a merciful and great High Priest in all things pertaining to God.  He is, indeed, the Royal High Priest, who has redeemed you with His Life-Blood, by His Cross, and has reconciled you to God in His Resurrection from the dead, in order that you may live with Him in His Kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness; that you may have Peace and Sabbath Rest in a good land, freely flowing with milk and honey; that the Lord may be your God, and you His own dear child and beloved heir; and that you may abide forever and ever in His presence, blameless and holy before Him in body and soul.

Who is this King of Glory, and how is He able to do and accomplish such great things for you and for His people?  He is the Son of David, who is also David’s Lord, because He is the Word made Flesh, the incarnate Son of God.  For the Lord your God is one Lord, one God, but He is the Holy Trinity: Three Persons in one God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  And the Son has become true Man, the Seed of David, by the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Thus, from one Psalm, this same Lord Jesus Christ lays before you the great Mystery of the Holy Triune God and of the Incarnation.

He is not showing off, but He is teaching you the Gospel.  For in His Incarnation, the Lord your God has fulfilled the first and greatest commandment, and likewise the second, for you and for all people.  The Son loves the Father, also now in His own human flesh and blood, with all His heart, with all His soul, with all His mind, and with all His strength.  And in such love for His Father, He has made Himself your neighbor, in order to love you with His own body and life.

Thus, the one true God, beside whom there is none other, has come beside you, and He has placed you beside Him, so that you might share His Life and abide with Him in His divine and holy Love.

He has held nothing back.  He has emptied Himself, poured Himself out, and given Himself to God, even unto death upon the Cross.  That is His Priesthood and His Sacrifice, which He offers to God on your behalf.  His Life is in His Blood, and He gives His Life entirely, in love for God, and in love for you.  For by the shedding of His Blood, He atones for all your sins; and not for your sins only, but for the sins of the whole world.  He redeems you for Himself, forever and ever.  And He establishes the New Covenant between God and Man in His own flesh, with His own Blood.

His own Body is the new and greater Tabernacle, in which God abides with you, and you abide with God.  For this Son of David, the King of Peace, replaces the old Tabernacle with the Temple of His crucified and risen Body.  And by His holy and precious Blood, you enter with Him into the Holy of Holies, which is to say, into the very presence of God.  You are brought to the Father in Him, in order to receive the eternal inheritance that belongs to the Son of God.  That is what He freely gives to you, by grace, in the Holy Communion, which is the New Covenant in His Blood.

Here there are no contingencies; nor is there anything lacking or amiss.  There is nothing “iffy” or uncertain about the Life that is here given by the one true God, who gives Himself to you.  For He has offered Himself, as the perfect Sacrifice, once for all.  And this same Lord Jesus has risen from the dead, and has ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He lives and reigns forever.

Therefore, with His Gospel, which is the sprinkling of His Blood, He cleanses your conscience of all sin and shame and every stain.  As He was crucified for your transgressions, and raised for your justification, so now He daily and richly forgives you, reconciles you to His God and Father, and sanctifies and purifies your body and soul with His Holy Spirit.  All of this by His Blood, with which He gives to you His Life.  He thereby raises you from death to life in Himself.

The Law commands you and requires you to love the Lord your God, but here the Lord your God loves you.  The Law tells you to cleanse your heart and draw near to God, but here, by His Gospel, the one true God draws near to you in Christ, in order to cleanse you by His grace and forgiveness.  He comes to free you from the devil’s kingdom, from the slavery and prison house of sin and death, and to bring you into the Kingdom of God.  The King Himself, the Christ, the Son of God, shares with you His faithfulness, His faith and holy love.  He fully gives to you His relationship with His God and Father, so that the true and only God is now your God and your Father in Him.

That is what the dear Lord Jesus Christ has done for those who have gone before us in the faith, whom we rightly remember with thanksgiving to God in Christ.  We do not worship them, but with them we worship God; and, loving Him above all things, we love them also, for His sake.  For they belong to us, in Him, and we belong to them.  They are not dead and gone, but alive forevermore.  Not by their own wisdom, reason, or strength — not by their own faithfulness and love — but by His grace, by His faith and faithfulness, and by His love for them; by His perfect obedience and the absolute sacrifice of His entire Body and Life; and by His Gospel in the Word and Sacraments.

So does He give Himself, His Life and His Love, to you.  This only-begotten Son of the Father, your merciful and great High Priest, the Prince of Peace, preaches and teaches the Word of God, which is the Word of Life, the Word of faith and love, to you and all His children, and to His children’s children, from one generation to the next, even to the close of the age.

It is in the Temple that He preaches and teaches the Word to you; that is to say, within His Body, the holy Christian Church (on earth as it is in heaven).  His Word is spoken to you from His Holy Altar, from which He also gives to you His Body and pours out for you the New Testament in His Blood.  For as the Word has become Flesh and tabernacles among us, the Word is never without His Flesh, but He always brings you to His Father in His Body and with His Blood.  He gives you, not a part or a portion, but Himself, whole and complete.  He withholds no good thing from you.

As there is one Bread and one Cup, one Spiritual Food and Drink — of one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all — so there is one Holy Communion in heaven and on earth, which is the one Body of Christ.  He is not divided, but the many are united and become one in Him, as the many grains of wheat become one Bread, and the many grapes are united in one Cup of wine.  In this one Body, all of the faithful, of all times and all places, live and abide in perfect peace, forever and ever.

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

Joshua Comes to Jericho

So Joshua comes again to Jericho.  And then what?

No sooner has He come than He is leaving the city on His way to Jerusalem, on His way to the Cross.  He does not raze the walls, but He would raise up the people and rescue them from every evil of body and soul.  He leaves all the buildings and businesses intact; although nothing is ever the same again, after this Joshua has come.  He harms not one hair on the head of man or beast.

But why, then, has He come?

To save His people and bless His heritage.  Yes.  But also for something more specific, more personal.  To honor one poor man among the many.  To give him hope.  To give him life.  To give him the good Land that the Lord has promised.  To give him a place in the Kingdom of God.

His disciples and a large crowd accompany Him, as the Israelites followed the Joshua of old.  But the blind beggar by the side of the road perceives something about this Jesus, the Nazarene, more clearly than anyone else at this point.  He hears the Word of the One who has come, and by the Spirit of Christ he acknowledges the promised Son of David, the true King who gives rest.

The blind man’s name is Bartimaeus, the “son of Timaeus,” which is to say, the son of “honor,” of “worthiness” or “worth.”  Yet, look at his predicament!  There can be no presuming of any merit or worthiness here.  So he looks not to his own pedigree, but to the House and Lineage of David.

Bartimaeus knows his need, or, at least, he has begun to know his need in part; and already he has realized that his only hope and his only help shall be in this Lord Jesus Christ.  In this he sees truly, what even the twelve could not yet comprehend.  They have wanted the Lord to share with them His greatness and His glory, and they have offered their boldness, their bravery, and their sacrifice as barter.  But not so, Bartimaeus.  He offers only his blindness, in hopes of regaining his sight.  He pleads not his strength, but his weakness; not his contribution, but his emptiness; not his honor, but disgrace; not his merit, but the grace of God in Christ.

He is a charity case, and he knows it.  And in this beggary of his, blind Bartimaeus worships and honors and glorifies Christ, who comes not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life to man.

The beggar receives what he sought: the mercy of the Lord, and grace to help in his time of need.  But he is given far more than he asked for.  In regaining the use of his eyes, he begins to realize a much deeper longing and a far greater need, namely, to see God, to behold the glory of Yahweh, and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord — all of this realized in the face of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, along with his eyesight, Bartimaeus receives the Lord Jesus Himself.  He becomes a disciple of the One he has called “Rabboni,” a Teacher.  He begins to follow Jesus “on the way,” that is, to be catechized in the way of the Cross, which is paradoxically the way of Life in Christ.

In calling upon the name of the Lord for mercy, in order to see, the blind beggar has become a catechumen of the Cross.  In this way he enters with Joshua into the Promised Land, and with the Son of God into the presence of the Father.

So now, the question is: What do you want the Lord Jesus to do for you?  What do you need?

If you are blind or losing your sight, of course, you want to see.  You need to see!  But, with or without your eyesight, what is your real blindness?   What is it that you do not see?  What do you refuse or fail to recognize?  What shadow lies upon your heart, what darkness clouds your mind?

If you are hungry, you need food; you want to be fed.  But as soon as you have eaten your fill, you are seized by some new appetite.  If you are naked, you need clothes; you want to be covered up.  But as soon as you are dressed, you long for some further adornment, beauty, or comfort.

When you have plenty to eat and a full wardrobe, your eyes have a way of seeing, not what you have, but what you have not.  You consider your neighbors, and you want to keep up.  So maybe what you want is an iPad or a tablet.  Maybe you convince yourself that you actually need one.  Or a better car.  A few more hours of sleep.  More friends, or friendlier friends, or more attentive and accommodating friends.  Perhaps a better-paying job, or maybe just a job at all, to begin with.

The problem is that all of these wants and needs (whether real or imagined) are transient and fickle.  They offer all kinds of tantalizing promises, but, in one way or another, they all tend to leave you either cold and empty, or bloated and nauseous.  If you once were blind, but now you see, you might prefer to gouge your eyes back out again; either because you don’t like what you have to look at in the world around you, or because you are now expected to work for a living, instead of begging for your bread and butter.  The example of a restroom is typical enough: As soon as you leave that place, you don’t even want to think about it anymore, even though five minutes earlier it was all that you could think about, and the one thing that you wanted and needed the most!

There is no final contentment or satisfaction when it comes to the wants of your flesh, nor with respect to the needs of your body in this life on earth; because you are dying and wasting away.  No amount of food and clothing, nor anything else, will ever be “enough” to prevent that.  Yet, how easily preoccupied you are with all your attempts to pamper and preserve your mortal life.

Vanity, the Bible calls it.  Chasing after the wind!  None of it does any good.  But neither should you resort to the opposite extremes, nor succumb to despair.  That, too, is sinful, and useless.

With food and clothing, let us therewith be content.  But even as regards those most basic wants and needs of the body, the Lord teaches you not to be anxious or worry.  Your Father knows what you need, and He will provide for you.  He feeds the birds and clothes flowers, as well as all the wicked who neither know Him nor acknowledge Him.  He shall do no less for you, dear Christian, for you are His beloved; He created you in holy love, and He delights to serve and care for you.

As for you, then, seek the Lord Himself while He may be found.  Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness; and you shall lack nothing at all, but everything else shall be added unto you.

That is what you truly need.  But that is also what you cannot see.  That is your real blindness.

We are all blind beggars.  That is the truth.  So, then, repent of your pride, and own your need.  Call upon the name of the Lord for mercy.  Pray to Him for your daily bread, as He has taught you and invited you to pray.  But in doing so, pray also for the true faith, which you need the most: that the Lord your God would enable you to wait patiently upon Him, and to receive your bread with thanksgiving; and that you would so learn to live upon His Word, even though all people are liars.

Pray to the Lord Jesus for mercy, that you would receive your sight, which is to have faith in His forgiveness of sins.  Pray, then, for His Holy Gospel, which is really nothing less than the gift of God Himself.  I do not mean simply a gift from God, but that God gives Himself to you in Christ.

Here it all gets raucous and scary, as though all hell were busting loose against you; no less crazy and chaotic, all around you, than when that other Joshua brought down the walls of Jericho and burned the city to the ground.  So, it would seem, there is no hope or help for you.  Partly because the Lord Jesus comes by the way of the Cross, the grace and the glory of which are hidden from sight, whether you have eyes or not.  And partly because there are so many voices, whispering and shouting, within and without, all of them telling you to “sit down” and “shut up.”  As soon as you begin to pray, to call on the name of the Lord, the voices tell you sternly to be quiet.  And loudest among them is God’s own Law, which exposes your sin, your dishonor and unworthiness.

But now God speaks another Word, a different Word, a new and better Word than all those many voices put together.  This Word cuts through all the chaos and the noise, and it reveals to your heart and mind the truth that is hidden from your eyes.  It speaks of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the merciful Son of David, the promised Savior who has come.  He has drawn near.  And though He seems to be passing by and going away, He has now taken His stand, both with you and for you.

Take courage!  Arise!  He is calling you to Himself by His Ministry of the Gospel.  So He did for Blind Bartimaeus, and so He does for you.  Have no fear, but fix your blind eyes on this Jesus by hearing and heeding His call.  It is not a command, but a gracious invitation.  Not that you must save yourself by some heroic effort, or by some great act of bold courage, but that He has come to save you, and that He is here for you.

Your dishonor does not disqualify you.  Your unworthiness shall not undo you.  Your beggary honors the Lord Jesus, who is worthy of your petition.  Your need is met with the abundance of His charity.  Bring nothing else than that.  In fact, cast off your own wretched garments, whether fig leaves or designer duds, and be clothed in Christ Jesus, dressed in His beautiful righteousness.

Find your life in Him, who is calling you to Himself; and follow Him by faith, by the catechesis of His Word, on the way that brings you into the resurrection and the life everlasting.

This is what He has already given you, by His grace, in the waters of your Holy Baptism; and this is still what your Baptism indicates for each and every day of your life on earth.  For it is by “streams of water” that this Lord Jesus leads you, on a straight and narrow path, that is, by the way of His own Cross, through death and the grave into life and salvation.  You die with Him, in order to live with Him.  This is your vocation, that is, your calling, as a Christian: to live and die by faith in Christ, according to His Word and Spirit, and so to live before God in righteousness and purity.

This is your royal priesthood, as a member of the Body of Christ, in your own particular place.

For Christ Jesus is your merciful and great High Priest.  In much the same way that He is the new and greater Joshua.  He goes before you into Canaan, opening the way.  He crosses over through the waters of the Jordan, in order to possess the Land of God and bestow it upon you.

He has drawn near to you; not only in proximity, but in making your predicament His own.  He is up to His neck and immersed in the same waters that you are drowning in.  Therein He shares your griefs and bears your sorrows.  He fully takes your sin and death upon Himself, your blindness, your poverty and shame, in order to remove the curse.  At the same time, He dedicates Himself entirely to God on your behalf; wherefore, not Jericho, but Jesus is devoted to destruction, in order to sanctify you in Himself.  He is the sacred Sacrifice, who offers Himself for the Atonement of all sins, for the Redemption of all people, and for the Reconciliation of the entire world to God.

Therefore, He has come, and He has drawn near to you here, in order to take away your sins, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to gather you to Himself and to bring you near to His God and Father as a beloved child.  For so fully has He taken your place, that His place is now yours.

As you bear His Cross and share His death by your Baptism into Him, so do you also share His bodily Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension, in the flesh, to the right hand of the Father.

It is in this way, in Himself, in His own Body of flesh and blood, crucified and risen, and seated with the Father in the heavenly places, that He gathers and saves the remnant of Israel.  That is the true Israel of God, comprising both Jews and Gentiles alike, both rich and poor, young and old, male and female — even the blind and the lame — all who believe and are baptized into Christ; because He is the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of David, the Seed of the Woman, who has come to defeat the devil, to plunder and destroy the kingdom of death, and to redeem you for Himself.

Therefore, everything that belongs to Christ Jesus, also now belongs to you: Not only His Cross, but also His Resurrection; His Father and His Sonship; His Spirit and His Name; His great Glory, and His indestructible Life; His Kingdom; and His Home and Family — all of these are yours.

As He has been made perfect, in holy faith and holy love, by His sacrifice upon the Cross for you, He brings both you yourself and all your prayers to His God and Father, as your own God and Father, in perfect peace.  “By supplication He leads you.”  Which is to say, not only does He ever live to intercede for you, but He Himself is your Prayer in the ears of God, your sweet-smelling Incense in the nostrils of His Father.  As He is thus heard and received in the heavens, in the Holy of Holies made without hands, in the very bosom of the Father, so are you heard and received.

By His own faith and faithfulness, the Lord Jesus upholds and sustains you.  His steadfast love is your salvation, which endures forever and ever.  Indeed, He holds His Priesthood permanently.

And by His perfect sight, He now grants to you the Beatific Vision of His glorious grace.  He does so in this very Gospel, which is being preached to you; as in the Jordan waters of your Holy Baptism into Him; and in His own holy Body and precious Blood, which are given and poured out for you, that you should thus receive all that you need.  With this Food and Raiment of Christ Jesus shall you forever be satisfied, with exceedingly more than you could ever have imagined.

In Him, in His Face and in His Flesh, in the Sound of His Voice, which is the Gospel, the true Sun has risen upon you, which shall never go down nor be eclipsed.  He shines on you, and He remains forever, your Light and your Salvation.  No more darkness, no more night.  Instead, you live and abide in His glorious, eternal Day — as He abides with you here, and with His Father in heaven.

And in Him you shall see God.  As you do now by faith in His Gospel, so then with your own two eyes, in your own resurrected body, you shall see Him as He is, and you shall be like Him.

Take courage!  Arise!  He is calling you to Himself, to eat and to drink; to taste and see; to live.

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

Salted by the Cross to Be at Peace

It is the Gospel that casts out demons.  It is the Gospel of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen, which drives out the unclean spirit and pours out the Holy Spirit upon you; which guards and keeps your heart and mind, your body and soul, from the assaults and accusations of the devil; and which gives you life in place of death.  Because the Gospel justifies you with the righteousness of Christ.  It comforts your troubled conscience with the forgiveness of all your sins.  It soothes your sad and sorrowing spirit with the promise of the Resurrection and the life everlasting.  And, in all of this, it glorifies the Name of Christ, who is your Savior, and the Savior of the world, by His grace alone.

Those who live by His grace, are gracious to others for Christ Jesus’ sake.  Because they are at peace, set free from sin and death, from doubt and fear; they are confident and content with Christ, and so they are truly free and well-able to give themselves to and for the benefit of others.

But those who depend upon the Law, destroy others with the Law, and are themselves destroyed.

If you play with fire, you are going to get burned!  And the Law is a deadly fire and brimstone, which consumes the sinner altogether with its righteous demands and its strict judgments.

Insisting on the letter of the Law — as though anyone could keep the Law! — necessitates an objection to grace, and causes bitter and resentful jealousy of those who receive and live by grace.

Those who insist upon the righteousness of the Law, and who depend upon the keeping of the Law for life, despise the little children who believe in Jesus, who are welcomed and received by Him, by grace, because they do not seem capable of righteousness or worthy of such gifts and benefits.

Jesus blows that attitude out of the water, or, rather, He plunges you into the water, to drown out that false idea of righteousness, merit and worthiness, once and for all.  Before God, you are a child, anyway, and there is no righteousness of your own by which you will accomplish anything.  It is only as a little child — by grace — that you have any life at all, and that you live with God.

But, to be clear, the remedy for legalism is not licentiousness.  Trying to live by keeping the Law won’t work, because you can’t do it.  But a lawless life will simply damn you that much faster.

To sin causes both you and others to stumble and fall, as much as your self-righteousness does.

Egypt is enticing, but it is not the answer.  Pursuing the flesh leads to death and decay.  Riches rust and rot away.  Letting go of the Law to chase your own willful pursuits, is simply to exchange one taskmaster for another; neither of which can provide for you or preserve your life.

Therefore, let us carefully distinguish between a childlike faith in Christ, and childish behavior.  The former is a gracious gift of God, by His Word and Spirit.  The latter is a consequence of sinful unbelief and the fear of death.  Childlike faith is a matter of humility, dependance, and trust, by which you know your inability, your littleness, your weakness, and your need, and you rely upon the Lord your God to provide for you in love.  Quite different is the childish behavior of sinners, of whatever age, who presume, not only their own worthiness, but their own importance and centrality.  That sort of childishness is belligerent and greedy.  It whines and complains, is never satisfied, but always begs for more.  It charges ahead in reckless self-pursuits, heedless of the cost or the consequence to others.  Like the Children of Israel in the wilderness.  And like yourself.

But now, both legalism and licentiousness are scandalized by the Cross of Christ, which is the gracious Self-sacrifice of God for the sake of sinners.  This scandal of the Cross is the real remedy and the only true solution.  Because it is the scandal of divine Love, the scandal of forgiveness in the Name of the Lord, and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, freely granted to the guilty.

The preaching of this Cross of Christ, against both legalism and licentiousness, is the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; that you should not go into hell and die forever in a fire that is never quenched, but that you should enter into life with Christ by the way of His Cross.

Repent, therefore, of both your strong sins and your weak sins.  Repent of your legalistic attempts to justify yourself and to condemn your neighbor under burdens that neither you nor he could bear.  And repent of your licentious chasing after all manner of flesh pots, which only stoke and do not ever sate your appetites.

Whatever it is in you that causes you (or your neighbor) to stumble and fall, cut it out and throw it away by repentance and confession, that is, by naming your sins of thought, word, and deed, for what they are.  Die to yourself, by doing without your false gods, and by doing away with the false god of your self.  Die to both your sin and your self-righteousness, and seek no other life than that of Christ: Follow Him by faith in His Word, by hearing and heeding His Word; by trusting His Word, and confessing His Word, and praying in accordance with His Word.

Live by His grace, by His forgiveness of your sins.  That is the Resurrection and the Life that come by the way of His Cross.  You die with Him, in order to live with Him.

And as you are forgiven by Christ Jesus, by His grace alone, so be at peace with your neighbor: Forgive your neighbor his trespasses against you, and love your neighbor, for the sake of Christ.

For the same Cross that sets you free from sin and death, by forgiving all your sins and cleansing your conscience of guilt and shame, also sets a way of life before you that is characterized by self-sacrificing love, even as the Lord your God has sacrificed Himself for you in His divine Love.

To be sure, the burden of your neighbor’s needs, and of your neighbor’s faults and failings, too, brings your own frailty and weakness to light; your own inadequacy and wretchedness, your own mortality and fast approaching death, and all of your own sins — it brings all of that to light.  And it humbles you to recognize that you can no more save yourself than you can save your neighbor.

What, then?

Call upon the Name of the Lord: for yourself, and for your neighbor.  For the forgiveness of sins, and for health and strength in body and soul, and for salvation, which is found only in Christ Jesus.

Such prayer is an exercise of faith, which finds patience and peace in the Gospel.  It is the practice of humility and trust in Christ, and, along with that, of love and forgiveness for your neighbor.  For you cannot come before the Lord your God in prayer, without realizing your own desperate need, and your own unworthiness, and, at the same time, the fact that your neighbor is in the same boat.  And so you bring yourself and your neighbor to the One who is your only hope, your only help.

Dear child of God, your hope in the Lord shall not be disappointed.  And even though you be faithless, He remains faithful: to Himself, and to His promises, and to you, whom He has called.  For Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, is merciful and full of compassion.

Though you may grow weary in the wilderness — and though the fire of the Cross may remove your hands and feet and eyes, and perhaps your goods, fame, child, and wife, as in the case of Job — thereby are you salted and seasoned unto repentant faith.  And all the while, the Lord who loves you graciously provides for you, and for your neighbor, in your vocations; as He did with and for Moses, and with and for the seventy elders of Israel.  He sends His holy angels to guard and keep you in body and soul, and He sends His human messengers to preach to you His Gospel of peace.

By the preaching of this Word, He pours out His Spirit upon you: for life, and for salvation.  For it is by this Word of the Gospel that He forgives you all your sins, and casts out all your demons, and cleanses you of all unrighteousness, and clothes you in the Glory of His Holy Name.

And it is with His Word that He also continues to feed you with a miraculous Manna from heaven, which shall not fail.  For this Manna is your true Meat, salted with the fire of the Cross for your redemption.  It is the sacrifice of Atonement for the sins of the whole world.  And as it has been offered for you, to reconcile you to God the Father in this Lord Jesus Christ, so it is here given to you, to eat, and His Blood poured out for you to drink, that you should not die but live forever.

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

The Children's Bread Is Given for You to Eat at the Lord's Table

The woman’s little daughter with the unclean spirit, and the deaf man with the speech impediment, are both entirely passive.  Neither of them does or says anything in this Gospel, and we are told nothing of their faith.

Yet, the little girl is cleansed, her demon is cast out; and the man’s ears are opened, his tongue is loosed.  Both of these gracious miracles are worked by the Word of Jesus, and, in the latter case, by the touch of His hand, by His fingers and even His spit.

This Lord Jesus has taken the initiative in coming near, and the Word about Him goes before Him, eliciting faith on the part of those who hear the proclamation and confession of His Gospel.

In such faith, the woman prays and intercedes for her daughter; and “they” (whoever they are) bring the deaf man to Jesus, to pray and intercede on his behalf.

This is the work of faith and love.  This exemplifies how you, also, are to live: To trust in the Lord Jesus, and to call upon His Name, not simply for yourself, but on behalf of your neighbor.  To pray and intercede for others in their need, and to bring your neighbor to Jesus, that is, to His Church, where He Himself is found in the preaching of His Word and in His Holy Sacraments.

But you don’t.  Not like you should.  Because you do not have “ears to hear,” and because you do not speak rightly in prayer and confession.  Because you are sinful and unclean.

Your spirit is turned inward, focused upon yourself, upon your wants and needs, your hurts and fears.  You are folded in upon yourself, and you are eaten alive by your own ravenous hunger.  You are consumed by your desires, by your covetous lust for that which is not God.

You give lip service to faith in God, but your heart is cold and hard, and your love for others is lacking and inactive.  Because, at heart, you do not trust the Lord Jesus Christ.  You don’t believe that He cares for you, that He is both willing and able to help you.  So you are anxious and afraid for yourself and for your life.  And real love does not proceed out of such anxiety and fear.

And yet, your God has come: in person, in the flesh.  Not only with the Law, with its demands and prohibitions, its threats and punishments.  But with the Gospel of salvation, with grace and mercy for you.  Because His love for you is not cold.  His faithfulness never ends.

He comes to you in peace, and His Word is preached before His face.  He says to your anxious heart, “Take courage!  Do not be afraid!”  He comes to help you, to save you.  He is here for you.

Your sin and death, your unbelief and unrighteousness, have separated you from Him, and cut you off from Him.  Like a gentile (a heathen).  Like a dog, a mongrel, underfoot.  A stranger and a foreigner — that is what you have been: Outside of the house of God, cast off, and far removed.

But the Lord has drawn near to you in peace and love.  That fact remains.  The Gospel declares it to be so, and His Gospel does not lie; nor does He deceive you.  This Christ Jesus desires to help you; despite the scary thunder of His Law, which dismisses you and sends you back into exile.

It would be so easy to turn tail and run.  After all, His Law reduces you to nothing.  It exposes all your sins and failings, and it makes painfully clear your unworthiness.  Who are you to approach Him or ask Him for anything?  Beggar.

But just there, in your unworthiness, recognize that He is worthy of your petition.  Knowing your need, know also His mercy and gentle kindness.  He would not have you go away, but He would have you pray to Him, and to rely on Him alone.  Therefore, as you kneel before Him, and as you lay yourself before Him, worship Him by faith, that is, by seeking all good things from His hand.

For this very purpose He has come.  And, not only does He come to you, right where you are — in the desert wilderness of this fallen and perishing world, and even in your pagan Tyre and Sidon — but He fully takes your predicament, your circumstances and dire situation upon Himself.

Because He is your merciful and great High Priest, He bears all your infirmity, weakness, and disability in Himself, in His own body of flesh and blood.  He carries all your griefs and sorrows, and all of your sins and iniquities, as well as the sins of those who trespass against you.  And He suffers all the assaults and accusations of the devil, which have been aimed at you and against you.

He takes the burden of the whole Law, in every point, entirely upon Himself.  He fulfills it all in perfect faith and perfect love, and yet, He also suffers all its punishments for each and every sin.

He offers Himself unto God on your behalf, as the Sacrifice of Atonement, to cleanse you of all evil, to redeem you from sin and death at the cost of His own life; and as the sweet-smelling Incense of prayer and intercession, by which you are reconciled and brought near to God in peace and health.

Thus, He has become your Savior from sin and death, and He is able to help you in every need: to give you life.  And this He does, indeed, by the Word of His Gospel, and by the touch of His hand, by His own flesh and blood.

He does it by His Christians, who pray and intercede for you, and who are His instruments, bringing Him to you, and you to Him.  (All of which you, also, are now called to do for others, for your neighbors in the world, and especially for your own brothers and sisters in Christ).

Do not underestimate, but give thanks for those Christians, who call upon the Name of the Lord for your faith and life and salvation.  As the Syrophoenician woman prayed for her daughter.  As St. Monica prayed for her son, Augustine.  As your own father and mother, sisters and brothers, and other family, friends and neighbors, pray and intercede for you.  Not as though the Lord must be badgered and cajoled into helping you, but that He delights to work in this way through His people, that they might participate in His own Life and Love.

So, too, by the Ministry of His Gospel, by His preaching and Sacraments, by His Holy Absolution, by His Body and His Blood — by the mouth and hand of His servants, in His Name — He casts out all your demons, and heals all your diseases.  He opens up your ears to hear — your mind to comprehend His Word, and your heart to believe His Gospel.

And by this same Word of His, He also opens up your lips to show forth His praise.

He sets your tongue free to confess His holy Name, and so also to pray, praise, and give thanks: To speak rightly to and about Him; and to speak in love, to and about your neighbor.

But not only with His Word in your ears and on your tongue, does He draw near to you, and help you, and abide with you.  He also lays His hand upon you in gentleness and peace.

He has washed you with water and His Word, in Holy Baptism, so that your body, soul, and spirit together are cleansed and sanctified.

He places upon your lips and your tongue His Body and His Blood, so that He dwells in you and with you, most intimately, and you live and abide in Him — here and now, and forever and ever.

Your body and mind, your heart and soul, and all your thoughts, words, and actions, thus receive and share the Life and Love of Christ.  That means bearing His Cross, in faith and love, to the glory of His Name, even unto death.  And it also mean rising with Him, unto the life everlasting.

This is most certainly true.  Not as though you had no sin, but because all of your sin is freely and fully forgiven by Christ through His Gospel.  And not as though you were not mortal, as though you were not dying, but because your body is raised up to newness of life in the Resurrection of the Body of Christ Jesus from the dead.

Therefore, you are no longer a stranger, an alien, or an outsider.  You are not a dog, but a beloved child in your Father’s house.  Here you are seated at your Savior’s Table — at the Lord’s Table for the Lord’s Supper, given and poured out for you: To take up the Cup of Salvation and call on the Name of the Lord.  To eat, not merely crumbs, but the Children’s Bread, and thereby to live.

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

In Many and Various Ways, God Spoke to His People by the Prophet Moses

The Lord knew him face to face, and he was faithful in all God’s house as a servant.  There was no other prophet like him, who performed such signs and wonders in the Name of the Lord, with mighty powers and great terrors in the sight of all the people, and over pharaoh with all his hosts.

But what the Prophet Moses saw and spoke and wrote, he did not yet receive or enter into apart from you.  He longed to perceive and to know the fulfillment of the Word that was revealed to him, but it was veiled and hidden, even from that great and faithful man.

Not the one through whom the Law was given, but the One in whom grace and truth are realized, He is the One who brings the Israel of God into the promised Land.  For this Joshua, the Son of Mary, He is the High Priest and Apostle of our Confession, the Author and Perfecter of the faith.

He is the Seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom the Land was promised.  He is the Seed of the Woman, of whom St. Moses wrote, to whom he testified in all that he said and did.  He, too, was drawn out of the water: From the waters of His Mother’s womb, an Infant at His Mother’s breast, He too escaped from a vicious king who sought to kill him, in and out of Egypt, as God’s Son, for the redemption of His people.  Then again, as an Adult, from the waters of Baptism He arose and emerged to open up the Jordan and all waters to you, to draw you out of death into life.

In those same waters, He has also been revealed as the true Passover Lamb, the Firstborn Son of the true and only God, who has been sacrificed for all the sons and daughters of man; who was crucified for your transgressions; whom God raised from the dead for your justification, as surely as both He and you have been drawn out of the waters of Holy Baptism, unto the life everlasting.

Now, then, as the Lamb who was slain (and yet, behold, He lives!), His flesh is your Meat indeed: His Body is your Manna in the wilderness, the living Bread from heaven, which His own Father gives to you by grace, that you should eat from His hand and live forever.  So, too, His Blood is your true Drink, which atones for all your sins and covers you from sin and death and every evil.

For He is the Rock in whom St. Moses was hidden on Mt. Sinai, wherein the great Prophet heard the preaching of the Name of the Lord: that He is gracious and merciful, long-suffering, patient, and slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love for a thousand generations.  He is the Rock in whom St. Moses was given a glimpse of the Glory of God, which is the goodness of the Gospel.

This Rock, which is Christ Jesus, accompanied Israel throughout the wilderness.  He is the Rock that was stricken, smitten, and afflicted by the rod and the staff of the Law, so that from His riven side there flow streams of living water in the desert; and the spiritual drink of His holy, precious Blood, which is poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

This is the Blood of the New Covenant, which all the blood of bulls and goats could not seal or secure.  With this Blood of Christ you are redeemed; you are sprinkled and anointed, within and without; you are cleansed and sanctified in body and soul, so that you behold the Glory of God.

For here you have come to a better Mountain than Sinai, to Mt. Zion; and to the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriad of angels; to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven; and to God, the Judge of all; and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to His sprinkled Blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Here, then, the veil is lifted and removed, so that you are able to see the Light of the revelation of the Glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.  He stretches out His hand, not to strike you, not to punish or destroy you, but to feed you, to give you His Body and Blood to eat and to drink.

For all the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in Him, for you and for all; for Moses and Israel; for all the descendants of Abraham, that is, for all who share the faith of Abraham; for all who believe in Him, whom the Father has sent; and for all the nations, even to the furthermost ends of the earth.

He is the One who has kept the Ten Commandments in perfect faith and love.   For He has been a faithful Son in the House of His God and Father, even unto His death upon the Cross; so that, now, in His Resurrection from the dead, His Body has been established as the true Temple of God.  And you belong to the household and family of God, as you belong to His Body, the Church, by faith in His Gospel within this Holy Communion.

This same Jesus, to whom the Father testifies — this beloved and well-pleasing Son, the Lord’s Anointed — He has hallowed the Name of His God and Father, not only by His faithful preaching and teaching, but with His whole Body and Life.  Wherefore, He has received — also in His own crucified and risen flesh, in His human nature, which He shares with you as your Brother, as your Kinsman — He has received that holy Name, which is above every Name in heaven and on earth.

Thus He has done, that He might name you with His Name, as a Christian, and with His Father’s Name, as a beloved and well-pleasing child of God.

So has He also become your Sabbath Rest, in whom you are at Peace with God: Not by any works of your own, but by His keeping of the Law on your behalf and for your benefit.

He has honored His Father (and Mother), that you might have life and health and strength, and that you might live forever in the good Land He has promised you, which He gives to you by grace.

He does not hate or murder you, but guards you and keeps you, in body and soul, unto the life everlasting.  He does not run around or cheat on you, but He is your always faithful Bridegroom, who forgives you all of your unfaithfulness, and who freely reconciles you to Himself in love.  He does not rob you, nor withhold from you any good thing, but He has yielded His riches for you, and He has made Himself poor, that you might inherit all the treasures of His Kingdom.  He does not accuse or condemn you, but defends you, speaks well of you, covers all your shame with His own honor and glory, and justifies you with His own righteousness.

Thus, all that God spoke to His people of old through His servant St. Moses, the Prophet, He has accomplished for you in this Lord Jesus Christ, His own dear Son — through whom He now speaks to you through the Gospel in these last days.

He is the new and greater Joshua, filled with the Holy Spirit and the Wisdom of His Father in the waters of the Jordan, that He might bring you through those waters into Canaan: Into His Church, flowing with the milk and honey of His Word, and with the Meat and Drink of His Paschal Feast; and at last, in the resurrection of your body, into Paradise, where you shall know Him face to face.

What the Prophet Moses once saw from afar, from the cleft of the Rock on Mt. Sinai, and from the heights of Mt. Nebo outside the Promised Land, he has rejoiced to see fulfilled in the One of whom he wrote and testified.  On the Mountain of Transfiguration, he spoke with Him concerning that great Exodus, which the Lord Jesus was about to undergo and accomplish in Jerusalem.  For was it not necessary that the Christ should thus enter into His Glory through suffering?  Surely it was, and surely He has done it.

He has opened the way through death into life.  He has opened the Kingdom of heaven to all who believe and are baptized into Him.

As Moses carefully constructed the Tabernacle according to the sacred pattern that the Lord God showed to him, so has the true Image and Likeness of God been manifested in His Incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, who is the radiance of His Glory and the exact representation of His Nature, and who upholds all things by the Word of His power.  In Him, who has become Flesh and tabernacles among us, all the fullness of God dwells bodily.

And in the Resurrection of the Body of Christ Jesus, Moses has finally entered into the good and glorious Land of God: Into the heavenly places, into the holy City, and into the Tabernacle not made with hands — where you also, no less, and your life, are safely hidden with Christ in God.

Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously!  The horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea.  But you He has drawn out of the water — into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise, and into the Most Holy Place by the flesh and blood of Jesus, who is your Strength and your Song, because He has become your Salvation.

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