Christ Jesus Keeps on Preaching with Authority

He comes down from heaven to earth, in order to raise you up from death to Life.  He comes to set you free from everything that weighs you down and binds you, and to bring you into His own House and Home, to live with Him in His Kingdom.

He casts out all your demons and heals all your diseases, and He bestows the Spirit of His God and Father upon you, in divine and holy Love, with forgiveness of all your sins; so that you shall be — as you are now by His grace — a beloved child of God in Him, in Jesus Christ, your Lord.

His coming, however, isn’t entirely comfortable.  Indeed, it presents a striking confrontation.  For it involves a clash between heaven and hell, between God and the devil; and what is at stake is a matter of everlasting Life or eternal death.  So the coming of Christ Jesus is to be taken seriously, but you will only get your bearings right by the Word and Spirit of the Lord in His preaching.

The difficulty is that the coming and the real presence of the Holy One of God appears as a threat to those caught in the grip of sin and unbelief.  Satan would have the sons and daughters of man regard the coming of the Christ as yet another accusation.  That old serpent, the devil, twists and distorts your perception in order to stir up guilt and shame, anger and defensiveness; so that, when you hear the voice of the Lord and the sound of His approach, you are driven by fear of death and destruction to fight or to flee, even though Jesus comes, not to destroy you, but to save you.

You know how it is, and you have felt this way at times.  Perhaps today, right here and now.  The man with the spirit of an unclean demon is not an outsider.  That guy is “in the synagogue,” in the midst of the people, a member of the congregation.  And yet, he is terrified of Jesus and denounces Him with loud protests: “This ‘goody-two-shoes,’ this so-n-so, is all uppity and ‘holier-than-thou,’ and now He comes in here with His attitude, His nose in the air, to criticize and condemn us all.  His religion is nothing but rules and regulations, requiring strict obedience and outlawing any fun.”

This is such a common perception of Christ Jesus and of His Christians, too.  You probably have family and friends who have made similar remarks, perhaps with loud and angry voices at times. Maybe you have also said or thought such things, yourself.  And maybe this popular picture of Christ and Christianity makes you uneasy and puts you on edge because it cuts too close to home.

To be sure, this distortion of things has some basis in the truth, both the good and the bad of it.  For one thing, the Word of the Lord, His good and acceptable Will, does include His holy and righteous Law.  There is right and wrong, and you are required to do the one and avoid the other.  You shall be holy, as the Lord your God is holy.  You are created and called to be perfect, as your God and Father in heaven is perfect.  And this same Law of God condemns you and sentences you to punishment, now and forever; because the soul that sins shall die, and you are a sinner.  That is the truth, as difficult as that is to hear, and as painful as that is to process.

Then there is also the sad reality that Christians too often are vindictive, judgmental, overbearing, and self-righteous.  But don’t start running through your list of people you know who are like that.  Rather, examine yourself, your own thoughts, words, and actions, and repent of your sins against the faith and love of God and against your neighbor.  When you who bear the Name of Christ Jesus are characterized by anger, by a quick and harsh temper, by criticism of others, by impatience, and by a reluctance or refusal to forgive those who trespass against you, then you add more fuel to the demonic fires of Satan; and then you are yourself in need of cleansing from such a spirit as that.

But, for all of that, the true holiness and actual purpose of Christ Jesus are quite otherwise than the demons and unclean spirits suppose and would have you think.  For while the Lord Jesus and His preachers do preach the Law and repentance, He does even this in holy Love, in the service of the Gospel, for the forgiveness of your sins, unto faith and eternal Life with God.  His purpose is not destruction but restoration, healing, and salvation.  His holiness is manifest, not in death, but in Life and Light and Love.  His perfection is not that of arrogance or accusation, but of grace, mercy, and peace.  He comes, not with condemnation, but with compassion. And He comes, not to hurt or harm you in any way, but to lay down His own Life for you and for all people on the Cross.

It is this Gospel of His Cross that He preaches to you.  And by His Word He releases you from bondage and cleanses you from sin.  He sets your conscience free from the accusation of the Law and from guilt and shame.  Not that you are free to continue in your sins — for that path leads to death — but Christ Jesus sets you free to live a new and real life, one with meaning and purpose in Him, now and forever.  In calling you daily to repentance, He does not place the burden on you, but He unchains you from the devil’s slavery and from the relentless fear of death that Satan holds over your head.  As at your Baptism, Christ Jesus declares that the unclean spirit must depart from you, that the Holy Spirit may reside within you and rest and remain upon your body and soul.

The Lord Jesus truly is the Holy One of God.  Yet, He does not “lord it over you” with a haughty nose in the air; He rather sanctifies you by His grace and glorifies you with His own holiness.  So, too, He is the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed, who is anointed with the Spirit in His Body of flesh and blood in order to pour out the same Holy Spirit generously upon you in peace.  And He has been named the Son of God, also as true Man, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in order to make you a child of His God and Father by the gracious adoption of sons, by His Gospel.

It is God the Father Himself, not the devil nor the demons, who has already openly declared the Lord Jesus to be His beloved and well-pleasing Son, the Christ, His Anointed.  He did so by the speaking of His Word and the gift of His Spirit as Jesus emerged from the waters of the Jordan.

One cannot know or confess Jesus rightly as the Christ, the Son of God, apart from His Baptism.  Which is also to say that you cannot know or confess Christ Jesus rightly apart from His Cross and Resurrection, for that is what His Baptism signifies and sacramentally lays upon Him.  Especially from that point onward, that is, from His Baptism in the Jordan River, it is not possible to separate His Word and His works from the Cross on His horizon.  So, too, the life and health and strength that He bestows by His Word and works are the vitality of His own Resurrection from the dead.

It is by the power and authority of His Cross and Resurrection that the Kingdom of God comes in and with the preaching of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  For the Word of God in His mouth is the forgiveness of His Cross and the Righteousness and Life of His Resurrection from the dead.

In truth, the preaching of Christ Jesus not only declares the coming or the presence of the Kingdom of God, but His preaching already is the Kingdom of God; for it is by the living and active Word of His Gospel that He calls and gathers the nations to Himself and reigns over them in Love.  And it is by the preaching of His Cross and Resurrection that He treads Satan, sin, and death beneath His feet, and that He raises you up in health and wholeness to the holiness of a brand new Life.

It is true that His preaching necessarily includes the Law, which exposes your sins from the inside-out and accuses you of them.  Yet, His preaching is not primarily an accusation, but the removal of the accusation.  It is the Gospel that predominates His preaching, which is the free and full forgiveness of all your sins.  Hence, there is no accusation anymore, nor any reason to fear death or the devil.  His Gospel muzzles the demonic accuser and compels him to be quiet.  So does He freely bestow His blessed peace and quiet rest to your heart and mind, your body, soul, and spirit

It is for your body, also, which shall be raised in glory in the Resurrection of all flesh.  For Christ Jesus is the Creator of your body, and He has come in the Flesh with a Body of His own to save your body for the Life everlasting.  He has accomplished this great salvation for you by His bodily dying and rising, by the shedding of His holy, precious Blood upon the Cross.  And so it is that, not only with the preaching of His Word, but with the touch of His hand, He heals you, releases you from bondage, cleanses you from every evil of body and soul, and raises you up alive.

As He has made you His own and given you His Holy Name and Holy Spirit by the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism, so does He now lay His hand upon you and feed you with His very own Flesh and Blood in the Holy Communion.

Like His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins  — so, too, in Confession and Holy Absolution — Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar also derive their power and authority from the Cross of Christ.  So, then, all of this is scary, and it seems deadly and destructive, because of the Cross.  For by the Cross you also are crucified, put to death, and buried with Christ Jesus.

By the ongoing significance of your Holy Baptism, by the preaching of repentance in the Name of Jesus, you are thrown down, as it were, in the midst of the people — like that poor man in the synagogue.  And it surely seems like that will be the end of you.  But, no, even though you die, yet shall you live.  The Lord will not let the devil destroy you, no matter how fiercely the accuser rages against you.  For the Cross of Christ has done away with sin and put death itself to death, so that now His Resurrection is your vindication, your righteousness, and your sure and certain hope.

Satan, sin, and death are not able to stand before this dear Lord Jesus Christ, who comes and enters in to lay hold of you in Love, to stand with you in every trial and temptation as your Champion and strong Defender, and to save you for Life with Himself in both body and soul forever and ever.

His Word and preaching, Flesh and Blood truly rescue and release you from the captivity and fear of sin and death.  He brings you sweet relief from whatever it is that ails you, whether by removing it from you already here and now, or by granting you the patience and strength to bear it in peace until the resurrection of your body in glory at the last.  Throughout your pilgrimage on earth He is daily restoring you in His Image and Likeness, and He is giving you the true Sabbath Rest, by the Liturgy of His Gospel within His Holy Christian Church.  And as He sanctifies you with His Holy Spirit through the forgiveness of all your sins, so does He give you divine Life in Himself.

You have heard how Simon’s mother-in-law was released from her strong fever, how she was raised up by Christ Jesus, by His Word, and how she immediately began to serve Him and the rest of the household in love.  This service of love — beginning with the tasks at hand within your own home and family and within the life of this congregation of the Lord’s Church — also belongs to the new Life that is yours in Jesus, which you live now by His grace through faith in His Gospel.

Rise up, then, to serve in your own place, as the Lord Jesus serves you here within His House.  Do not make excuses for yourself, as to why you can’t or won’t.  But do not suppose that you must sustain and live this life by your own power and savvy.  And do not fear that Jesus has gone away and left you to your own devices, efforts, and failures.  He has not.  Nor shall He ever leave you.

The fact that He must preach the Kingdom of God to the other cities, also, does not mean that He stops preaching to you.  Just the opposite is true!  He keeps on preaching in all the congregations of His Church on earth, in every time and place, and so also here and now in this city.  Evening and morning, sunset and dawning, day by day by day, He comes and enters in, He preaches Peace, and He lays His hand upon you in divine and holy Love.  For already in Simon Peter’s home He began to establish His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, in which His Name is preached and praised from the rising of the sun to the place of its going down, even to the close of the age.

Do not be afraid.  And do not flee from His preaching.  For here He stands and speaks with the authority of His Cross and Resurrection, not to destroy you, but to save you.  Here He stretches forth His hand to feed you in body and soul, to raise you up with Himself unto the Life everlasting.

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

A Faithful and Sensible Slave in the Household of God

Anoint them Prophets, Priests, Kings, Apostles — those who are called, ordained, and sent by the Lord to preach His Word and administer His Gifts are all of those things, though not as the world imagines.  But they describe themselves as slaves of Christ Jesus and as servants of His Church.

Who then is a faithful and sensible slave?  St. Timothy was, whom we remember with thanksgiving on this night.  He was not perfect, nor did he always succeed in his efforts.  But he was a faithful pastor and confessor of Christ Jesus, by whom the same Lord Jesus Christ cared for His Church.

It is not only Pastors, however, who are slaves of Christ Jesus.  St. Paul writes that you have been set free from slavery to sin and death, in order to live unto righteousness as a slave of Christ.

You can picture what that means by way of analogy.  So, for example, if you are a father or mother, and if you entrust the care of your children to someone else while you are away, you have certain expectations as to how that person will manage that responsibility.  You certainly don’t want him or her to beat your children, to make new rules for them, to neglect them or mistreat them.  You rather expect that babysitter to care for your children wisely and according to your instructions.

Similarly, if you’re going to be away from your home for an extended period of time, you might arrange for other people to live there while you’re gone, so it doesn’t sit empty.  And in such a case, you want those folks to make themselves at home, to eat and drink, to sleep and wash, and to go about their normal activities within your house.  But you don’t want to come home from your time away and find that your house has been dismantled or remodeled without your permission.

Well, in much the same way, the Lord has entrusted you with a stewardship of His good Creation and with the care of His children  And the way you think about that makes a world of difference.

If you suppose that the things in your possession and the people in your life are “yours” to do with as you like, then you will not care for those people, use those things, or exercise your stewardship as a faithful and sensible slave or servant of your Lord Jesus Christ and your Father in heaven.

But if you recognize that your father and mother, your husband or wife, your children, and your other neighbors in the world, are human beings like yourself, created by God for life with Him, to live with Him in His Kingdom as His own dear children, as members of the Body and Bride of Christ Jesus — and if you recognize that the heavens and the earth and everything in them belong to the Lord by right — then you will conduct yourself in the fear of the Lord, in faith and love.

So, how often do you deal with your neighbors and use the Lord’s Creation as though you were their lord and master, and as though you were simply free to do or not do whatever you feel like?

To live and act in that way is to live and act as a servant and slave of the devil, as though the Lord Jesus Christ had not redeemed you and set you free from the bondage of Satan, sin, and death, in which you were conceived and born.  For that is the slavery to which you return when you pursue sin and your own selfish ambitions instead of living unto righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus.

And that is to follow the devil’s own wicked example of unrighteousness.  The Lord God created him as a holy angel to be a servant of His Creation, a servant of Man.  And that is how St. Michael and the holy angels serve; they are not ashamed to attend us, to guard us and keep us, to the glory of the Holy Triune God.  But Satan was prideful and jealous, envious and arrogant; he did not like the way that God had ordered things; he did not think it was wise or right; and he did not want to serve Man, who was formed out of the dirt.  So he rebelled and set out to make himself the master of this world.  Instead of serving God’s good Creation, the devil seeks to pervert it or destroy it.

But the devil is not free, for he is not the Creator, and he is not able to thwart the Lord’s purposes.  And neither are you free when you succumb to the devil’s temptations and submit to his tyranny.  On the contrary, you thereby place yourself under bondage to sin and death, and you have the devil breathing down your neck, driving you on with his whips and chains and threats of punishment.  And so long as you remain in your sins, you are a slave of sin, destined for death and damnation, and tormented by the assaults and accusations of that cruel jailer who has you locked up in fear.

But now the Son of Man has come like a thief in the night, in order to plunder the devil’s house of bondage and fear.  He has come at an hour, by ways and means, which Satan did not anticipate and could not perceive.  He has dug His way into the devil’s stronghold and robbed him blind.  And what does this mean, but that the Lord Jesus Christ has entered into the fray, in order to bring you out of captivity into the freedom of faith in His forgiveness of sins.

You, then, be ready and waiting.  Be on the alert and watching.  For this Thief in the night is your Rescue and Release, your Ransom and Redemption.  But He does come at night, that is to say, in the midst of deep darkness, when you neither see nor feel any hope at all.  He comes at an hour, by ways and means, which you did not anticipate and could not perceive by any wisdom, reason, or strength of your own.  He comes by the Cross; and by the Fruits of His Cross He now saves you.

This dear Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, comes to you in divine and holy Love.  He comes not to threaten or punish, not to drive you with a whip, nor to accuse you of how badly you have done and how much you have failed to do.  He comes to feed you and take care of you.

Jesus is the wise and faithful Slave, the Servant of His God and Father.  And He has been entrusted with the care of the entire Household of God, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, the stewardship of all things, to the glory of God the Father.  Indeed, He uses His authority to bless and benefit His people, to forgive their sins, to raise them from death to life, to bind their wounds and heal their diseases.  He gives them His Meat and Drink at the proper time.  He does all of this for you and for His whole Church.

And here is how He does it: He calls and sends men — like St. Timothy — to be the shepherds of His flock, to be the pastors of His Church on earth; to confess His Name, and to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name.  Such men are servants entrusted with the stewardship of His possessions, with the authority to administer His Gospel for the salvation of sinners, and so also for the continued care and feeding of His Household and Family.

It is required of such a servant of the Lord that he be found faithful, that he do what his Lord has given him to do, and that he do so in the way and with the means that his Lord has given.

As you are a servant of the Lord to care for His people within your stewardship, so was Timothy a servant of the Lord; and your pastors are likewise servants of the Lord to care for you.  That’s the Lord’s “economy.”  That’s how He orders all things in heaven and on earth, all for the sake of His Church, for the life and well-being of His Holy Bride, for the benefit of His dear children.

In much the same way that He gives parents to care for you, especially when you are very small — He gives mothers to feed their babies, and He gives fathers to work and provide for their families — so does He give pastors to care for this household and family of His Church, to feed you and clothe you; to work for you, that you may rest in Him; and to give you His good Gifts.

Along the same lines, St. Paul writes elsewhere to St. Timothy that, if a man aspires to be a bishop — a pastor of the Lord’s Church — he must be a man who cares for his own family and orders his own household wisely and well; because the Church is the Lord’s own Household and Family, with fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

So, as Jesus has given you parents, He has given you pastors to feed you with the forgiveness of sins in His Name and with the light and the wisdom of His Word, both His Law and His Gospel, whereby He calls you daily to repentance and faith in His Name.  To feed you with the very Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, not by any sort of “magic” power, but by the power of His Word.

Pastors do not come with their own stuff to give you.  Pastors do not speak their own wisdom, but that Wisdom which is given to them by the Holy Spirit through the Word of Christ Jesus.  Pastors forgive your sins in His Name and stead, with His authority, by virtue of the Office to which He has called and ordained them.  And so do pastors give you Jesus Himself, His Body and His Blood.  He is your Meat and Drink indeed, which you eat and drink as a child at your Father’s Table.

And in much the same way, that is how you are to feed your neighbors.  As you are cared for, so are you to care for those whom God has placed into your keeping for a time.  And blessed are you who do so; for you will surely lack no good thing.  Indeed, all things are yours in Christ Jesus.

Serve, then, with a glad heart, a happy heart, a peaceful heart, wherever the Lord has put you.  And do not worry about how big or small your task may be.  If the house that He has given you to care for is a very small house, then take care of it well.  And if it is a very large house, do the same.  Wherever the Lord has stationed you, that is where you are to live and to serve to the glory of His Holy Name and for the good of your neighbors.  That is your post.  And that is where and how you are to be on the alert and ready, watching and waiting for the coming of your Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, you may look around and see that other servants of Christ Jesus have been given seemingly more impressive tasks or greater responsibilities.  And to be sure, some of His servants are given more to do in this body and life; and others are given less.  But there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, and it is for the sake of all His people that He does whatever He does and gives whatever He gives.

Do not fret if you are not given as much responsibility as others may have, or as much as you would like to have, but do faithfully whatever the Lord has given you to do.  And when you have served faithfully, He may put more into your hands.  In any case, you live by faith in Him.

And all the while, in the same way that you are a servant of Christ and you are given to serve a portion of His Household, you are also His own dear child within His Family.  And so He provides other servants to care for you and to feed you at the proper time with His Word and all His Gifts.

Over and above us all, the Lord Jesus Himself is the faithful and sensible Slave who cares for you, deals with you, and provides for you with grace and wisdom.  Though He is your Lord and Master, consider what He does.  He enters this House, and He bids you to recline at His Table.  And here He girds Himself to wash your dirty feet and attend to all your needs.  He is both the Cook and the Waiter, your Host, and the Meal!  He comes to help you, to serve you, and to save you for Life.

He knows you and loves you well, and He is always ready, willing, and able to help you at all times and in all places.  When He disciplines you, it is in perfect love, with tender mercy, and for your good.  And then, at the proper time, He feeds you with His free and full forgiveness of your sins.  And in the Day of Salvation He lays Himself and His Life into your hands and upon your heart.

Behold, now is the proper time, now is the Day of Salvation.  Lift up your head in peace and hope, and lift up your heart in faith and in love.  Thus are you alert and ready for the Lord who comes to you in steadfast loving-kindness.  Even now He is at hand, and your Redemption has drawn near in His Word and with His own Flesh and Blood.  As He gives Himself to you here, as He presses Himself into your hand, so does He hold on to you, and no one shall snatch you out of His hand.  For you are His own, and He is yours, forever and forevermore.

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

Right Here, Right Now, His Preaching Is in Your Ears

Today, by this preaching of Christ Jesus into your ears, all the promises of God are fulfilled and realized for you, as He thereby breathes His Spirit upon you and gives you His own Life.

For Jesus is the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed, and it is precisely for such preaching that His Father has poured out the Spirit upon Him.  Not as an alternative to the Cross, but His preaching and His Cross are of one piece.  He preaches what He received in His Baptism, that is, repentance and the forgiveness of sins, both of which are completed in His Cross and Passion.  And His preaching also moves to and from the Cross — for Him and His hearers, for His disciples, and so also for you.

He is anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to be the true King of Israel and, as such, to be the Savior of His people.  He saves the people for Life with Himself in His Kingdom, by rescuing them from the devil’s kingdom, releasing them from the burden of sin and the curse of death; and He reigns over them in Peace and Love by the Spirit of His God and Father, by the Ministry of His Gospel.

What He has fulfilled in Himself, in His own Body crucified and risen, He now bestows upon you by the preaching of His Word.  From His lungs, across His golden tongue, and proceeding out of His mouth, grace flows off His lips into your ears.  That is how He saves you from your sins, releases you from the curse of death, and delivers you from the tyranny of the devil.

He is anointed for the Cross and Resurrection — and you, also, have been baptized into the same Cross and Resurrection of the same Lord Jesus Christ.  But so has He been called, ordained, and sent by His Father to preach this Gospel.  He is such a Preacher, first of all; for He is the Word-made-Flesh, the Preaching of God the Father, by whom all things are created and sustained.

Do not despise this preaching of God’s Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.  For it continues to this day and to this place, according to the Will and Wisdom of God.  As the Father has sent His Son in the Flesh, Christ Jesus, so has the Lord Jesus ever called, ordained, and sent the servants of His Word to preach and administer the Gospel in His Name and stead.  And the Spirit of the Lord is still actively present and at work in this Ministry of His Word.  Accordingly, from these lips, sanctified by the Spirit with the Gospel that He places upon them, Christ Jesus preaches Himself into your ears, and through your ears into your heart and mind, body and soul.

That is what the Liturgy confesses and affirms several times over by way of the Salutation — that the Lord is with you in this preacher, in my words and my work as your pastor, because the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach.  That is to read, interpret, and proclaim the Holy Scriptures, as the priests and Levites did in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra, when the Lord brought His people back out of Babylonian captivity into the Land of Promise.  But now it is the preaching of the Promise fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead.  And as such, that Promise is fulfilled for you, right here, right now, with this preaching in your ears.

Such preaching always leads to and from Holy Baptism, as you have recently heard in the case of St. John the Baptist, and as you’ll hear again from St. Peter and the other Apostles on the Day of Pentecost and beyond.  Indeed, there is no Christian Baptism apart from the preaching of Christ.

So, too, this preaching of Christ Jesus necessarily belongs to the right administration of His Holy Supper, that it might be given and received in His Name, in faith and with thanksgiving.  So, then, as often as we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, His Cross and Resurrection are to be preached.

Such preaching is for repentance and forgiveness of sins.  It is not simply news and information, but Absolution.  By this Word you are forgiven.  This preaching sets you free from your captivity to sin and death.  It releases you from the accusation of the Law and from the devil’s oppression, because it delivers to you the Atonement of Christ the Crucified.  It justifies you and reconciles you to God with His Resurrection from the dead.  It grants you the true sight of faith by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, because it bestows the Peace of the Lord upon you through His gracious favor.

This is your freedom, that Christ Jesus your Savior forgives you all your sins by this preaching of His Word into your ears.  And because your sins are thus forgiven, His preaching also promises the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of both your body and soul.  That is not an empty hope, nor some “pie in the sky, by and by,” but this Word, which releases you from guilt and shame and sets you free from sin and death, shall also raise your body up in glory at the last, and so forevermore, as surely as Christ Jesus is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity.

What you hear with your ears, right here, right now, is what you truly receive.  It is yours.

But what is it that you’re looking for, so expectantly, with your eyes?  What do you long to see?  The Lord speaks such lovely words to you, and He offers such a gracious and glorious hope.  Yet, so far as you can tell, everything continues much as it has before, or else it seems to go from bad to worse.  The way the Lord comes to you and deals with you is familiar and friendly enough.  But are you content and satisfied with all these words that you have heard so many times before?

You also have heard of the miracles, signs, and wonders that Jesus of Nazareth has done for other people in other places: How He healed the sick and raised the dead, cast out demons, opened blind eyes and deaf ears, quieted the winds and waves, and provided more than enough food for many thousands of men, women, and children.  If you, then, have found favor in His sight, does He offer you nothing more than wondrous words and pretty promises?  He made water into wine for the wedding in Cana, but where are His miracles for your marriage or His favors for your family?

Have a care, now, that you do not reject the Preacher and His preaching.  In demanding something you can see with your eyes, you risk losing what is being given into your ears here and now.  There is nothing lacking in this Word of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  But if you harden your heart to it and refuse to receive it, He and His preaching shall pass through your midst and be on His way.  And then you shall suffer such a drought and famine of His Word, that you shall hunger and thirst for His preaching, but there will be neither a crumb nor a drop remaining for you.

On the surface of it, so far as you can see, the way He goes confirms your doubts and fears and skepticism.  For His rejection escalates into His arrest, condemnation, and crucifixion.  He’s put to death as a criminal, and most of His friends desert Him.  Though He promises to save others, He does not save Himself from suffering and death.  He walks into it and willingly submits to it.

The Cross is where His preaching leads.  And is that what you want for yourself and your children?

It is for such preaching — to and from the Cross — that Jesus is anointed by the Spirit and sent by the Father.  His preaching not only points to the Cross, but draws its power from the Cross.  He is not overcome by sin and death, but at the right time His Father hands Him over to the Cross, and He lays down His life voluntarily in order to atone for sin and conquer death.  His holy Bloodshed is the true wealth of the Gospel, which is distributed by the preaching of His Cross and Passion.

So, now, recognize your real poverty, your real need, and repent of your sins, so that you do not perish in your unbelief and idolatry.  Whatever else you may have or not have in this body and life on earth, your most serious sickness is your native sinfulness, which deafens your ears and warps your sight, so that you don’t even know what’s true or false, and you cannot discern what is real.

Do not trust your own intelligence or instincts, nor your own experience and feelings, but hear and heed the Gospel.  Hunger and thirst for the righteousness that Christ Jesus offers and gives to you by His Word.  For right here, right now, He speaks and delivers what you need: the forgiveness of all your sins and reconciliation with His God and Father by His Cross and Resurrection.

Do not despair over what you have been and what you have done in the past, and do not doubt that this Gospel is for you.  For today, in your ears, the Lord Jesus Christ is preaching to you.  He has not slipped away and left you behind.  No, despite all your sins and failings, He has not removed His Word from you, nor has He withdrawn His Holy Spirit from you.  He has not abandoned this house, nor departed from this congregation.  As His custom has been for these past ninety-nine years, He is still coming here and preaching His Gospel and giving His good Gifts in this place.

While it is still day, then — while it is still “Today” — before it is too late, hear His Word of grace.  Listen with your ears, and ponder what He preaches in your heart and mind.  Trust His Word.  It is Truth.  Receive and rest in His favor.  For in Christ Jesus it is the acceptable Year of the Lord, that is, the Year of Jubilee, in which you are released from captivity and brought home.

Your true and lasting Home is with the Lord your God, in both your body and your soul.  Even here and now — though you look for the resurrection of your body, for the new heavens and new earth, the home where righteousness dwells — even here and now you are at home with the Lord wherever He is found: in the preaching of His Gospel, in the remembrance of your Baptism, and in His Body and His Blood.  For you belong to the Lord, not as a slave, but as a beloved brother or sister.  He is your Kinsman in the flesh, conceived and born of St. Mary, and now also by His grace and Redemption.  He has called you and received you to Himself, and He has accepted you as His own, by the Gospel.  His Father is your Father.  His Land is your Land, now and forever.

Neither by genealogy nor geography, but by His Holy Baptism of water with His Word and Spirit, you belong to His one Body.  His wisdom and His strength are yours, and you are glorified in Him; for He covers your nakedness, your humility, and your shame, with His own honor and glory.

The same is true of your Christian neighbor, your brother or sister in Christ Jesus.  He cares for him or her as a beloved member of His Body, as He also cares for you.  Which means, too, that as you love and serve your neighbor in Christ, you are caring for a fellow member of the same Body.

It is in such loving care for one another that you see the gracious works of the Lord, already in anticipation of the Resurrection of the body.  For your own mortal body of flesh and blood — and your Christian neighbor’s body, baptized into Christ — shall be raised from death and the grave and glorified forever, like unto the crucified and risen Body of Christ Jesus, to which you belong.

As you suffer with and for Christ Jesus here, and as you bear His Cross in love for your neighbor, so shall you be glorified with Christ, in body and soul, hereafter in eternity.  For already you are cleansed and sanctified by His Word and Spirit, unto the Life everlasting.  And in your Baptism your body has also been anointed — your ears to hear His Word and the preaching of it, and your lips and mouth to eat and drink His Body and Blood and to speak what you have heard, to say the same thing that God has spoken to you by His Son: To confess the Lord Jesus Christ, to call upon Him for mercy, and to praise and give thanks to His Holy Name at all times and in all places.

Do not mourn or weep, but rejoice in the Lord.  For He, indeed, rejoices over you in holy Love.  As He forgives you all your sins and declares you to be holy and righteous in His sight, so does He delight in you with great joy.  And His great joy in you is your strength and your song in Him.

This Day — Today — is holy to Him, to the Lord your God; for it is sanctified by Christ Jesus, both by His Resurrection from the dead and by His preaching of the Gospel to you here and now.

At His Holy Word, then, eat of the Fat Portions with which He feeds you, and drink of the Sweet Wine which He pours out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  Have you not heard?  He sends and distributes these sacred Portions to you, though you had nothing and were not prepared, because He has prepared this great Feast for you, for His Name’s sake.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness by hearing His Word and receiving His Gifts.  The Word that He preaches is true, and the Gifts that He gives you are good.  Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, and Christ be praised!  For in Him, in His Body, you are lifted up to God in Peace.

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

The Glorious Sign of Christ and His Church

The Holy Scriptures praise Marriage highly, and it is highly to be praised.  For it is the culminating high point of the Lord’s good Creation.  Not simply a man in lonely isolation, but male and female, the Lord God made them in His Image; the Woman taken from the Man, then brought to the Man and given to the Man, to be united with him in one flesh.

In this union of husband and wife in heart, mind, body, and soul, the Love of God is manifested — the Unity of the Holy Trinity, the Love of the Father for His Son, the Love of the Son for His Father, embraced in the personal and permanent Bond of the Holy Spirit.  So it is that this one true God has created you in such Love, in order to make you His own and unite you to Himself, that you should have life in Him and with Him, forever and ever, in heart, mind, body, and soul.

To that end, the very Word of God, the almighty and eternal Son — by whom the Man and the Woman, Holy Marriage, and all of Creation has been made — He Himself has become Flesh, in order to become one flesh with you and with His Holy Bride, the Church.  This is the very purpose for which God created anything at all and everything that is.  This is the Marriage that every other marriage signifies, and which every marriage on earth is called to celebrate and participate in.

But there is a tension in Holy Marriage here, even at its very best in this world, as throughout God’s good Creation.  There is not only the goodness of the Word which has established it, but also the brokenness of the Fall into sin and the curse of death, which lies in wait even within the marriage rite itself: “Til death us do part.”  And you know, perhaps quite personally and painfully, that many different sins can break the bonds of marriage even before death in this fallen world.

Consequently, it is rather more precarious than permanent, and it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to consider all the ways the wine is spent.  There are those who have no wife or husband, who long to be married.  And there are those who are married, not happily-ever-after, but who regret it and resent their spouses.  In all such cases there is the constant temptation of bitterness, cynicism, and despair, whereby God’s good gift of Marriage is despised and its high and holy purpose is denied.

On the other hand, there is also the risk of idolizing marriage and family, both in a general way and in your own spouse and children, in particular, whether you have them and make false gods of them, or you covet such people and relationships which the Lord your God has not given to you.

That is the way of it in the midst of this fallen and perishing world.  Either you despise God’s good Creation because you perceive how fleeting and fading this life is, or else you worship the Creation instead of the Creator, as though the people, things, and opportunities on earth were the source of life and happiness forever.  Either way is sinful, and either way you miss the point, whether you are married or unmarried, rich or poor, and whether you drink freely of wine or only of water.

There is, however, another alternative, which is found only in Christ Jesus.  The One by whom and for whom all things are made is still an option, and He is the only option that actually does give Life and remains forever.  He is no imaginary lover.  His Gospel is no hoax.  He has come in the Flesh in order to be with you, to redeem you in body and soul, to pour out His Life-giving Holy Spirit upon your fallen flesh — through His forgiveness of all your sins — and so to raise you up from death and the grave to the Life everlasting with His own God and Father in Paradise.

He draws near to woo you to Himself in peace and joy, to wed you and make you His own Wife.  Here we are speaking, not of human sexuality, nor of mortal marriage until death, but of divine intimacy and eternal Fellowship with the Father and His Son and the Holy Spirit.  So, put away all perverse and provocative thoughts and the lusts of your flesh.  Purify yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ, as He Himself is pure; for He is the very Image of God in whom you have been created.

As you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus by virtue of your Baptism in His Name, so are you all together called to be His Holy Bride.  Before God there is neither male nor female, neither rich nor poor, neither slave nor free; but you are all one Body in Christ, one Flesh and Blood with Him.

It is rather in relation to your neighbors and each other here on earth that there are varieties of gifts, of stations in life, and of service.  But each and all of these various callings and stations, by the grace and mercy of the one Holy Spirit, take their cues from the one Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head of His whole Body, the Church, and the heavenly Bridegroom of all His Christians.

Christ Jesus is the New Adam, who gives not death but life to all His children.  And His Bride is the New Eve, whom He cares for and protects, so that she has life in Him, and so that she in turn gives birth to the children of God by His Word and Holy Spirit.  He does not take from her, nor does He give forbidden fruit, but He produces and pours out the most excellent Fruit of the Vine, the Spiritual Food and Drink of His own Flesh and Blood.  So does the Husband sustain His Wife, and the Bridegroom gives life to His Bride; for He delights in her and cleaves to her in Love.

You see that in Christ Jesus all things are made brand new.  From the inside-out, He brings about the New Creation in Himself.  He first of all becomes true Man, a child of Adam, by way of His conception and birth from the Woman.  And then He reverses the Fall into sin and the curse of death by entering into their arena and taking them on.  He sets Himself against the serpent who beguiles, and He perseveres in true Wisdom, in steadfast faith and holy love, in perfect obedience to His God and Father.  For He is the promised Seed of the Woman, who crushes the head of the serpent by permitting the serpent to bruise Him to death.  By the shedding of His Blood He atones for the sins of the whole world; and thus by His Cross He conquers death and defeats the devil.

His own Body, crucified and risen from the dead, is the First Fruits of the New Creation.  For He was born of the Woman in order to be the New Man, from whom the New Woman is now taken and brought to Him and given to Him by the Father.  He suffers and dies in love for her, so that New Life might come forth out of death and the grave, out of the ground that was cursed by sin.

It is now within His Holy Church, by the Ministry of His Gospel, that the New Creation of Christ Jesus is realized for you, even here on earth in the midst of sin and death.  This is the true Glory of God in Christ Jesus, which faith perceives and beholds in the preaching of His Word and in His Holy Sacraments, despite all of the apparent contradictions in this fallen and dying world.

It would still seem that everything is simply running out, falling apart, turning sour, and returning to the dust, until even the dust shall disintegrate and be no more.  Yet, here is the Bridegroom who has come; who speaks, and it is so; whose own Flesh is the evidence and guarantee that your flesh also shall be raised from the dust of the earth and glorified in Him, and that you shall feast with Him in His Kingdom at the Wedding Banquet that is never exhausted and never ends.  Thus do you live in your body of flesh and blood within His Holy Church and within your own place in life.

As the ministers of Christ deal with you by His divine command — as they preach His Word to you, as they absolve you in His stead, as they baptize you, and as they serve you His Holy Supper — it is Christ Himself who is at work to fill you up in body and soul with His Spirit and His Life.

You also, then, do whatever He tells you to do in whatever particular place He has stationed you.  Proceed according to His Word in the confidence that He is at work to accomplish His purposes for you, and in you, and through you for others, even though you may have no idea at any given point what He is doing or going to do.  The outcome is in His hands, as you also are in His hands.  Although you know not when or how He will act, His Gospel teaches you that He delights in you, and that He desires to give you His good Gifts.  And that is all you ever really need to know.

Do not be dissatisfied or discontent with what you have or with your situation; and do not allow yourself to be eaten up with envy over what you do not have.  Rather, receive whatever you are given with thanksgiving to the Lord, and sanctify all of these things unto yourself by the Word of God and prayer, and put them to use in your life on earth to the glory of Christ’s Holy Name and for the benefit of your neighbors in the world.  So shall others see His Glory and believe in Him.

If you are married, then be chaste and pure within your marriage.  Love and cherish your own spouse, and be faithful to her or him until death.  And if you are unmarried, then be chaste and pure within your celibacy, and use your time and energies to serve the Church and the community in holy faith and Christian love.  None of you lives unto yourself alone, but each and all of you are called to live unto Christ Jesus, who is your Husband and your Head, both now and forever.

Pray, therefore, in the confidence of His Word and promises to you, in the certainty of His tender mercy and steadfast Love, in the surety of His great Salvation.  Look to Him for all that you need, for all good things, and learn to live by faith in His Holy Gospel.  Be persistent in your prayer; not presumptuous, as though you would dictate what He must do, but in the sure and certain hope that He is gracious and that He will act in love to save you; neither impatient nor willful, but persistent in praying, “Thy Will be done,” and saying, “Amen, Amen, it shall be so,” with the voice of faith.  That is to live as a member of the Bride of Christ, who always relies upon her Bridegroom.

St. Mary sets a beautiful example for the Church in this regard, in turning to her Son with the need at hand, and then in turning to the servants with the wise counsel to hear and heed His Word.  She is not dissuaded by His reply, which sounds like a rebuttal and rejection.  Nor does she presume upon Him.  She does not command, but she seeks His help, and she trusts that He will provide in due season.  His Hour has not yet come, but His great heart of Love, which takes Him to that Hour of the Cross, is ever the same and ever open to His people.  His heart is no less open to you now.

Despite your failings and all that you lack, He rescues and redeems you in love because He is your Bridegroom, and this is how the true Husband cares for His own dear Wife.  He does not hold your sins against you, nor does He even look at them, but He lays down His Life and gives Himself for you, in order to bear your burdens, to comfort you in all your griefs, to cover your shame with the glory of His righteousness, and to clothe your nakedness with the beauty of His holiness.

Where you have been prideful of yourself, and where you have made idols out of His Creation, repent of your sins.  Where you have despaired of any hope or help from the Lord, and where you have despised His good gifts of Creation, repent of your sins.  Believe the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and find yourself, your vocation, and your life in His crucified and risen Body, given to you here.

So, too, from His riven side, from the Hour of His Cross, from His open heart of Love, He pours out the Water and the Blood and His Holy Spirit generously upon you, in order to save you from sin, death, and the devil, and to give you real Life forever with Himself, within His own Marriage and Family, which is the Household and Family of His own God and Father.

From the sacred waters of Holy Baptism to the blessed wine of the Holy Communion He cleanses and purifies you with His Spirit by His Gospel of forgiveness through His holy, precious Blood.  And by these same means of grace He not only quenches your thirst with Living Water, but He also fills you up with genuine joy and gladness, even as He Himself is full of Grace and Truth.

He brings you here to His Banquet Hall, and His Banner over you is Love.  Here He fills you with good things from the abundance of His House.  He takes you to Himself, to have and to hold from this very Hour unto the neverending Day of the Resurrection.  He plights thee His troth, so that He and all His goods are now your very own, and neither He nor they shall be taken from you.

Beloved of the Lord, He is the Giver of the Feast, and He is the Feast Itself, in which you behold His Glory: That is the Glory of His Cross and Resurrection and His Glory as your Bridegroom, from whom you shall never be parted; for He will never leave you nor forsake you.

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

The Spirit of God the Father Is Yours in Christ Jesus

If you make something for yourself, or if you go out and buy something for yourself, and it doesn’t work, you’ll either try to fix it or replace it, or else just give up and throw it away.  But if you’re a father, then you love your children, you take care of them, provide for them, teach them, and train them, regardless of what might be broken or wrong or not working in their bodies and lives.

The Lord your God is your Maker and your Redeemer.  He has created you, and He has bought you back for Himself.  He has purchased you for His own possession.  But more than that, and better than that, He has also chosen you and called you to be His own dear child.  He has chosen in love to become your Father, and He has called you by His own Name in the waters of Holy Baptism.

The Holy Triune God is your Creator, not by necessity or compulsion, but by His gracious choice, for the sake of His divine and holy Love.  And He has not only made you and formed you, like a work of art or as a machine, but He has adopted you to be His child and heir, to share the Sonship and inheritance of Christ Jesus.  He disciplines you as a good Father, but He does not disown you.

He has created you and given you life, and He still takes care of you and provides all your needs.  But there is more to His being your Father than simply your ongoing existence and biology.

He is your true Father, your Dad or “Daddy.”  He loves you and honors you, because you are precious to Him.  He has redeemed you from your sin and death, and He daily forgives you all of your trespasses.  He rescues you from every evil of both body and soul.  And all that He is and all that He has, He freely bestows upon you by His grace, along with His Name and His Holy Spirit.

That is what it is and what it really means to be a father.  So, men, if you are given a family, learn from your God and Father in heaven — by whom all fatherhood on earth is named — learn from Him to care for your children on earth.  And whether you have children of your own or not, learn from your Father in heaven to care for His children within the household and family of His Church.

Women, know that your God and Father in Christ Jesus is faithful, loving, and true.  He does not take but gives you life, He loves you and delights in you, and He will never leave you or forsake you.  So, that is where and how you find the confidence and strength to live and love as His child; to honor your father and mother on earth; to submit to your husband, if you have one; to care for your own children, or for others; to love your neighbor; and to guard your heart and mind, your body and soul, in purity and peace.  You can do all such things with such a Father as you have.

Little children, you also are safe and secure in your Father’s loving care.  He hears and answers your prayers, no matter how small and quiet your voice may be, because He has named you with His own Name, He has adopted you to be His very own.  He loves you, and He listens to you.

Of course it is true that fathers on earth are not always like this.  Even the best of human fathers are not always faithful and kind; they are not always dependable, patient, or attentive.

And there are far too many fathers who are not like our God and Father in heaven at all.  Men who beget children outside of holy marriage, not by any gracious choice or with any commitment, but by fornication and adultery.  Men who become biological fathers, but are no real Daddies to their daughters and sons.  Men who neglect their wives and children; who berate them, demean them, or use them with selfish arrogance; who do not listen, are rarely there, and do not give but take.  Men who make demands and issue punishments, but who do not teach, and who do not forgive.

There are many men like that.  And in fact, as all men are sinners, all men are tempted and prone to such unfaithfulness.  Where you have been like that or done so, repent and become otherwise.

But that is not what it is or what it really means to be a father.  And that is not what your true God and Father in heaven is like.

Which is wonderful; except, how can you be sure and certain, confident, and at peace, that such a true and faithful Father as He is will not disown you and send you away in your guilt and shame?

After all, as surely as there are unfaithful, negligent, and absentee fathers on earth, so surely are there also rebellious and disobedient children — prodigal sons and wayward daughters — who dishonor their parents and daily sin much against the Father in heaven.  God’s holy and righteous Law requires that such children should be stoned to death.  In fact, in the case of such children,  the Law requires their parents to bring charges against them and to join in punishing them.

But you also have sinned against heaven and in God’s sight; and, as you confess, you surely deserve nothing but punishment.  For the soul that sins shall die.  You cannot fix or repair that.

How, then, can you be sure of your Father in heaven?  How shall you call upon His Name and have any hope or expect to be heard?  How shall you be released and set free from your sin and death?  And how shall your brokenness ever be repaired?

The answer is right here in the Baptism of our Lord, which has also been given to you as your own Holy Baptism.  And the certainty and the confidence of that answer is Christ Jesus Himself.  It is for His sake that the Father has created you in love, in order that His only-begotten Son should become the first of many brothers and sisters.  And it is by the same beloved and well-pleasing Son that God the Father has redeemed you, purchased and won you, from sin, death, the devil, and hell.

Christ Jesus is the Son begotten of the Father from eternity, and it is His divine Sonship that is now yours by way of your Baptism in His Name.  For He has become true Man, conceived and born of St. Mary, that you might be conceived and born again as a child of God in Him.  It is His Name — which He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit — with which He has also named you.

So, too, it is the same Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified as one true God — one and the same Spirit who descends upon Christ Jesus at His Baptism and rests and remains upon Him, bodily — it is that same Holy Spirit who is also poured out upon you generously by and with and in the Gospel of Christ Jesus.

These gifts of God Himself, His Name and His Spirit, are granted to you, freely and fully, with all the steadfast faithfulness of the same Lord God who gives them, because they have been received by the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, in His own Body of flesh and blood like yours, in your stead and on your behalf as the true Man; not arbitrarily, but with the justice and righteousness of God.

Have you not heard?  When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized.

When you were baptized — wherever and whenever you were baptized — Jesus also was baptized with you.  For He has taken His stand with you, there in the waters of the Jordan and in the waters of your Baptism, in order to pass through those waters with you out of sin and death into Life.

I baptize you and your children with water in the Name of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  But the One who is mightier than I — the Lord, your Redeemer, in whose Name I baptize — He comes to you by that washing of the water with His Word, by the ministry of the Gospel He has entrusted to me; and He baptizes you with the Holy Spirit through the forgiveness of your sins.

You die with Him in the water, as He has died for you.  That is what this is already all about, from the start.  And so do you also arise and emerge with Him from the water, from the dust of the earth, and from death and the grave, just as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever.

Having died with Christ Jesus, you are set free from your sins.  And rising with Him, you now live as He lives.  For He has taken you up in the water, in and with Himself, and out of the watery tomb into a wide-open heaven.  In His prayer you ascend to His God and Father in heaven.  And in His Sonship you are a beloved and well-pleasing son of His God and Father.  That is your relationship with God.  That is your righteousness, holiness, and life with God, as sure and certain as Christ Jesus Himself — as sure and certain as His own Body, crucified for your transgressions, raised for your justification, and ascended into heaven.  All of this has been made yours in Holy Baptism.

Therefore, the Fire of His Holy Spirit does not consume or destroy you.  You are not scorched or burned up, but cleansed and purified in body and soul for the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.

You don’t yet see it or experience it, not fully, but only in part.  For now, both death and life are at work in your body, as the Spirit has been poured out upon you bodily in Christ.  You suffer the consequences of sin in your mortal flesh and blood.  But so do you also bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit in your body and life on earth.  And all of this is taken up and worked out in the ongoing significance of your one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, as you drown and die through daily contrition and repentance, and as you rise and live with Christ Jesus through faith in His Gospel.

Already, His own Resurrection from the dead is your once-for-all Absolution, which is spoken and given to you, again and again, by the Ministry of the Gospel in His Name and stead.

As His Cross and Resurrection were the completion and fulfillment of His Baptism in the Jordan River, so shall your Holy Baptism be completed and fulfilled in the death and resurrection of your body, unto the Life everlasting.  That is already true and sure and certain for you in Christ Jesus; and then, at the last, it will be fully realized in you, in your body and your soul, forever and ever.

That is the great Glory of your God and Father in heaven, and that is your inheritance as His dear child in Christ Jesus, as His beloved and well-pleasing son or daughter.  He has staked the honor of His holy Name upon it, for with His own Name He has bound Himself to you, and you to Him.  And so has He also tenderly invited you to call upon His Name in faith.

Do not be afraid, but take refuge in Him here within His House.  It is your Father who feeds you at this Table with His beloved Son, because you are so precious in His sight.  He will uphold you, and He will guard your coming in and your going out from this time forth, even forevermore.

The Peace of the Lord be with you always.

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

Worship Christ, the Lord, Your King

Jesus is born in Bethlehem, the House of Bread, in the house and lineage of David, to be the King of the Jews.  Which is to say that He is the Ruler who will shepherd His people Israel.  For He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed of God.  Indeed, He is God in the Flesh.  He is your Savior.

He is not simply a means to some other end.  He is Himself your Life and your Light, your Strength and your Song, because He has become your Salvation.  So, get up and go to Him, in order to be with Him where He is; and cling to Him alone as your heart’s Delight and your dearest Treasure.

Worship Him in the beauty of His holiness and righteousness.  Worship Him for the sake of all that He does for you and gives to you, as well as for His own sake, because of who He is, the Lord your God, your Savior and Redeemer.  It truly is meet, right, and salutary so to do.

Do not let any distance be too far.  Let no obstacle or cost be counted as too much.  And do not cling to your own power, position, or prestige in this perishing world, none of which will last, none of which can save you, and none of which is God, although you too easily make such things into false gods and idols.  But, no, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.

The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God in the Flesh, does not permit you to remain in your “comfort zone.”  His coming and His presence change everything.  And they challenge you to relinquish and let go your false gods and false worship to fear, love, and trust in Him alone.

Examine your heart and life.  Examine your words and actions.  Do not presume to remain in your castle, imagining yourself to be the king, as though you were the lord and master of your own domain and all that you survey.  But get yourself to Bethlehem.  Search diligently for the Child.  Worship Him who is your true and rightful King.

Worship Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  Worship Him with your body and your life, your time, your treasures, and your talents.  Invest all that you are and all that you have in serving Him.  Honor Him with all that you say and do.

Or do you still imagine that all of these things are yours?  That these things belong you to by some kind of right or merit?  And do you still pretend that any of these things will really give you life?

No, they belong to the Lord, who is your King.  And you likewise belong to Him, your Creator.

Repent of the idolatry in your heart and mind, in your body and life.  And heed the Word of the Lord which directs you to Him, that you should find your life and spend your life entirely in Him.

But why are you so troubled?  What are your excuses?  And what is it you’re afraid of?

Do you suppose it a waste of time to seek the Lord while He may be found?  Do you consider it a pointless endeavor to worship Him, the Lord your God?  Will you go about your days and your life as though His Word were not being preached to you, or as though it made no difference?

Repent, and heed His Word.  And humble yourself before Him always, because He is your King.

Fear, love, and trust in Him, who has not come to rob you of life, but has rather come in the Flesh to give you Himself and His Life, His grace and every blessing

Look, His holy Word has told you precisely where He is for you.  Do not scan the skies or search the stars.  But search the Scriptures.  And better yet, hear the Word of the Lord that is preached to you and for you — His Word of the Gospel, which is for you on this day and throughout the year.

He is found in Bethlehem, in the House with His Mother.  So is He found in the bosom of His Church, the House of the Lord on earth.  He is on the corner of Milton and Dale in South Bend, in the Liturgy of His Gospel.  That is where He is for you.  And that is where you find Him now.

Do not underestimate the importance, the significance, yes, even the necessity of the Church and Ministry of the Gospel, the preaching of forgiveness and the administration of the means of grace.  For here within the Church on earth the Mystery of the Lord your God is revealed; which is to say that God Himself with His Life and Light and Salvation is here for you.  He is manifested for you in the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ, though He is yet hidden under the humility of His Cross.

You will find Him nowhere else than here in His Church of the Gospel, His Church of the Word and Sacraments.  You will not find Him anywhere else, nor can you live without Him — not out East, nor back home in Jerusalem, but only here in His House of Bread on the lap of His Mama.

Of course it is true that you live your entire life in His presence, righteous and holy before Him at all times and in all places, that is, by His grace through faith in His forgiveness of your sins.  But that is only because He has first of all come to you here, and He has manifested Himself to you here — as He still does.  Indeed, He has given Himself to you here in His House, and He still does.

That is how and why you proceed from this place homeward by another way, that is, in newness of life, having become other than you were.  You go home in the faith and love of Christ Jesus, instead of going back to the fear and anger, to the hatred and lustful murder of your former king, the “Herod” who has reigned as a tyrant in your mortal heart and life through sin and unbelief.

Your true life is found here.  It is hidden in humility and weakness.  It is hidden under the Cross and suffering, under poverty and hardship.  But your true life is here, nevertheless, because Christ your true King is here.  He is here for you in love with His forgiveness of sins and His gift of Life.

Entrust yourself to Him.  Bow your heart and mind before Him.  And bow your body, too, as you are able.  Confess with your flesh what you believe in your heart and profess with your lips.

The Magi traveled great distance at great cost to worship the Lord Jesus.  They were not content with what they knew from the sign of the star and the prophecy of Scripture, but they went to Him.  And having found Him, in great joy they threw themselves at His feet and prostrated themselves before Him, this little Baby, this Toddler, who is the Lord, the Word-made-Flesh.  They were not ashamed to humble themselves before Him and to honor Him with their bodies and their gifts.

You also, reverence Him.  Reverence Him with your words, with tangible actions and sacrificial giving to the glory of His Name, and so also with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

Present Him with your gifts and treasures, with the best of all that you have.  Not because He needs anything from you, but because you need everything from Him, and He alone is your priceless Treasure.  Everything else is dispensable.  Everything.  None of the rest of it can save you; but it can become a temptation and a false god to damn you, when you worship that which is not God.

Present the Lord Jesus with your best and your finest gifts.  Not your leftovers and your castoffs, but your first fruits, in thanksgiving for His grace.  Do so in the faith that every good and perfect gift is from Him; and that He will not neglect to provide you with all that you need for your body and life, both now and forever; and that, whatever you may lack, or seem to lack, having the Lord Jesus you have everything that matters.  He is your God.  He is your Savior.  He is your King.

Honor Him.  Confess Him.  Glorify Him, and give thanks to Him, by serving and supporting His holy House and His holy Family, the Church on earth and the congregation of His holy people.

Would you leave Joseph and Mary and the little Lord Jesus to languish in poverty and want?  To starve and to die on their flight into Egypt?  Do not imagine all of the ways that you would lavish your love upon the Holy Family, “if only,” while you neglect to do all that you can to love and serve the Lord Jesus in this place here and now, where He is found in the Ministry of His Gospel.

Contribute offerings and alms.  Help to maintain the building and property.  Look to the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ.  And support your neighbor with your presence at the Liturgy.

Do all of this in love for God and for your neighbor.  But above all else, live by faith in Christ Jesus by hearing the Word that He preaches to you here and receiving the Gifts that He freely gives to you here.  Do it gladly and with thanksgiving to the Father in His Son and by His Holy Spirit.

Where your heart is, that is also where your treasure will be.  So, what is your treasure?  Where is your heart invested, along with your body and life, your time and energy and money?

The world may hold her wealth and gold, but thou, my friend, keep Christ as thy true Treasure.  He is here with you.  He is here for you.  Bend your knee before Him.  He is your gracious King.  And so receive the Gifts that He bestows upon you.  For He withholds no good thing from you.  He feeds you with Himself, your God in the flesh, with His holy Body and His precious Blood.

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

Fix Your Eyes on the Boy Jesus

How ordinary the childhood of Jesus must have been, although in many ways it’s hard to imagine.  He was a real Boy, and yet He was also the sinless Son of God, and none of us know any other little boys like that!  Even so, He had His friends and relatives and peers.  No doubt He played with toys, perhaps little wooden carts and creatures that His father Joseph might have crafted for Him.  He would have run and jumped and climbed and thrown things, because that is what boys do.  As the one true God in the Flesh, He lived the life of true Man from infancy to boyhood to adulthood.

He got dirty in the course of His days, just like you and your children.  He had to bathe His Body and wash His hands before meals.  He ate and drank.  As a little Guy He would have taken naps, and even as an older Boy He had to sleep at night.  He probably had a bedtime.  And during the day He did His chores, He studied His lessons.  He was taught things, and He learned.  He grew.

It’s not unusual to think of Jesus’ “birthday,” even as we celebrate His Holy Nativity every year.  But just think, His birthdays then meant that He was getting older, just like you.  He grew out of infancy.  He was weaned from nursing at His Mother’s breast to eating big boy food at the table.  At some point He was potty-trained.  So the very Son of God grew up, like any other ordinary boy.

He was a little Child in the midst of His people, experiencing the bump and grind and cut and thrust of daily life with all of its ups and downs and ins and outs.

Now, bear in mind that rearing the sinless Son of God was not easy.  Dr. Luther calls it a burden and a cross.  There were frustrations and anxieties, restless nights, and at least one frantic search.  And dear fellow parents, consider that, at least in the case of the little Lord Jesus, those worries, frustrations, and concerns were not due to any sins of the Child but to the sins and weaknesses of His earthly parents.  And so also with your children.  Though they are not sinless, neither are you.

So fix your eyes on this Boy Jesus, for He is your childhood’s pattern, the very Image and Likeness of God in which you have been created.  He actually lives the divine Life in His own human Flesh, the true human life as Man was created to live, as you are called to live in your own place.

Your duty as a child is to honor your father and mother through all the stages of life.  The keeping of the Fourth Commandment changes when a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, when a woman is given in marriage to her husband.  But the Commandment still remains.  Whatever your age, you are to honor your father and mother.  And when they are old and infirm, or when they have forgotten most things, you are then to care for them as they once cared for you.

And when your own parents have departed from this life on earth, then you have the privilege and the opportunity to care for other elderly and infirm neighbors, especially within the Body of Christ.

Your duty as a parent, if you are a parent, is to care for and catechize your children in the fear, love, and trust of God, in His Word and faith.  So St. Joseph did for his family as the Prophet Samuel’s father did for his family.  He took them to church.  He brought his wife, St. Mary, and the Boy Jesus to hear the Word of God and to celebrate the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem.

Fathers and mothers are to care for their children in all kinds of ways, to feed and clothe them, to shelter and protect them, to teach them and train them.  And along with all of these good things, above all they are to catechize them in the Word of God, to teach them by word and example how to pray and confess His Word, and faithfully to hear and receive His good Gifts of the Gospel.

Likewise, whether you have children or not, your first and foremost duty as a Christian, as a child of God, yourself, is to listen to the preaching of His Word, to gladly hear and learn it.  For faith not only comes by the hearing of the Word of Christ, but so is it sustained and nourished by His Word.

Then, also, as a child of God, you are called to live a holy life according to His Word.  To worship Him in faith and love.  To fear, love, and trust in Him above everything else, no matter how much or how little you have in this world.  To confess what the Father has spoken to you by His Son.  And to call upon His Holy Name at all times and in all places, to pray, praise, and give thanks for all that He has said and done.  To go up to His Feast each week, and to live in the joy and peace of that Feast wherever the Lord has stationed you on earth; to love and serve your neighbor in that place, as surely as you care for your own body and life; and to forgive those who sin against you.

In all of this, fix your eyes on the Boy Jesus, and do not lose sight of Him in any of your activities.  For one thing, you ought to follow His example.  He is certainly far more than an example, but He is an example, as St. Peter writes in his First Epistle.  So, follow His example.  Not so much “What Would Jesus Do?” (in all sorts of situations He never encountered), but “What Did Jesus Do?”

For one thing, as you have heard this morning, He went to church.  He listened attentively to the Holy Scriptures.  He asked His pastors and teachers questions, and He listened to their answers, engaging them in conversation and discussion as a way of learning to know the Word of God.

He also honored His father and mother.  He submitted to their parental authority, even though they were sinful and He was not, because He followed and obeyed the Fourth Commandment.

Follow His example in these ways, and fix your eyes on Him — all the more so because He is far more than just an example.  Indeed, He is your dear Savior, in whom alone you have Life with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It is in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son, that you know the Mysteries of God, His good and gracious Will for you.  It is in Him that God is your dear Father, and you are His dear child.  And it is through Him that you receive the Holy Spirit, the Life-giving Breath of God, the Pledge of your inheritance as a son of God in Christ Jesus.  Baptized in His Name, anointed with His Spirit, adopted by His God and Father, as Laura has been this morning, you belong to the Lord your God; you are His own, and He is with you, and in you, and for you.

It is in Christ Jesus that you live before God in the flesh, even now in your pilgrimage on earth, holy and blameless, righteous and pure in His sight.  You live a sinless life — shocking as that may sound — despite the fact that you daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment — because you live in Christ Jesus by faith in His Gospel, and His Righteousness avails for you.  Your sins are covered by His holy and precious Blood.  The Lord your God is at peace with you.

Remember that, and cling to that, when you find yourself in dire straits and desperate trouble — when you have done wrong, and when others have wronged you — when everything is crashing and burning around you.  Even then, your life is (and remains) safely hidden with Christ in God.

Christ Jesus is the Ark of the New Covenant.  His own Body of flesh and blood, conceived and born of St. Mary, crucified and risen from the dead, is the true and eternal Temple of God, wherein the Grace and Glory and Name of God abide with you and all His people here on earth.  And He is both your Priest and your King, the true Son of David, the true King of Peace.  He is the Whole Burnt Offering and the Peace Offering, the Sacrifice for your Atonement and your reconciliation with God and with each other.  For He is the true Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed for you.

This dear Lord Jesus Christ gives you His own divine, eternal Life in both your body and your soul.  And as such, He gives meaning and purpose to your body and life here on earth, even now.

Fix your eyes on Him, therefore, and stay with Him.  Keep Him with you in all of your going out and coming in.  Abide with Him, as He abides with you, within the Temple of His Church on earth.

Too easily you depart from the Feast and return to your chores and regular routines, leaving Christ Jesus behind you — and not even realizing that you’ve done so!  He hasn’t left you, but you have left Him in the preoccupation of all your worries and concerns, projects and ambitions, as you turn your attention and your energies away from Him and His Word to other things.  You go along with the crowd, and how quickly a day — a week, a month, a year — goes by without a thought of Him.

Eventually you realize that something is terribly wrong.  Your life may be full and busy, hectic and overwhelming, and yet there is this deep lack, this gaping hole, this hollow emptiness.  And there is the distress and anxiety of duties you have neglected — promises and obligations you have not kept or fulfilled — friends and neighbors you have forgotten and failed to help — and your own family, missing you because you’re always gone even when you’re there, and you missing them.

But what’s really missing at the core of all of your troubles is Christ Jesus.  So, where do you go looking for Him?  Typically, according to your sinful nature and the wisdom of the world, you go looking for Him, His Life and Salvation, in all the wrong ways and in all the wrong places — in the ways of the world and your fallen flesh, in that which is already friendly and familiar to you.

With misguided zeal, you make a false god out of your family and friends and out of your own frantic efforts at life, all the while dying inside and becoming more and more anxious and afraid.

For all of that, it is the Lord who seeks you out and finds you and calls you back to Himself by His Word and Holy Spirit, by the preaching of repentance unto faith in His forgiveness of your sins.  He calls you back to the significance of your Holy Baptism, to the Temple of His Holy Church.

It is in His House and in His Word that the Lord Jesus is actively present, with you and for you.  And it’s not for you to fetch Him back to yourself, but He brings you home to His God and Father.

Remember that He has lived His divine Life in your flesh, and that He has also lived your human life in His own Flesh and Blood.  The almighty and eternal Son of God, from His conception in His blessed Mother’s womb, grew and increased through all the stages of human development.

Not only did His Body grow, but He got smarter and wiser.  He listened carefully, and He learned things.  In fact, He grew up and matured in all things, in favor with God and man, in holy faith and holy love.  He heard and availed Himself of the Word of God! — He who is the very Word of God in Person and in the Flesh.  He went up to Jerusalem, to the Temple, to the Feast.  And there, in the fullness of time, when His Hour had come, by His sacrificial death upon the Cross He became the Temple of God and the Passover Feast for you and for all the people of all times and places.

Through death into life, by His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension, He has entered the Father’s House, that is, the Holy of Holies made without hands, eternal in the heavens.  Indeed, He is your Anchor behind the Veil.  As your merciful and great High Priest, He has entered the Holy of Holies on your behalf, and there He is your Anchor; so that, no matter how you’re tossed about by winds and waves and all the storms of this life, you’re anchored to Christ Jesus in the presence of God.

The Lord Jesus Christ has entered the Holy of Holies; and that is now your “childhood pattern,” the Way in which you live and walk with Him by His grace through faith in His Word.

You know the Way, because He is the Way.  And you know where and how to find Him, because He calls you by His Word and Holy Spirit; He calls you to Himself, and He reveals and gives Himself to you — here within His House — by and with and in His Liturgy of the Gospel.

Yet, even so, He  knows that you are sinful, that your mortal flesh grows weak and weary, and that you will lose sight of Him and lose yourself in all the cares and occupations of this life.  Therefore, in His great love for you — which is the true wisdom, grace, and glory of God — He tabernacles with you on the way.  For you, as for Laura, His Baptism remains and avails for you, wherever in the world you may be.  And His Flesh and Blood, given and poured out for you to eat and to drink here at His Altar in His House, accompany you within your own body of flesh and blood.

In all your going out and coming in, from the day of your Baptism in His Name, yes, from before the foundation of the world, from this time forth, even forevermore, He goes with you all the way — unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul in Him.

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

This Is the New Testament in the Blood of Jesus Christ

The New Year forces you to think about time, how it’s always slipping away, and how you strive so desperately to hang onto it, not to waste it or lose it, that you too often fail to enjoy it or make use of it.  Time itself, like the rest of creation, has been warped and burdened by the bondage and curse of sin.  And the one thing that is certain for you and all of yours, as time keeps on ticking into the future, is that one day your time in this world will be up, and then you are going to die.

With each birthday that comes and goes, and with every year that passes, you know you’re that much closer to the grave.  And as you grow older, you may become more desperate to hang onto the time you have, or else despair at the seeming futility of life.  The parties and celebrations, such as many enjoyed (or tried to enjoy) last night, are often as not an attempted escape, or a pretense that everything is just fine.  But in the light of day, most everyone knows better (or they should).

It hasn’t always been that way, not from the very beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.  Nor did He intend for time to be a burden and a curse.  It was — and by His grace, it still is — one of His many blessings, a significant part of His good creation, designed to give your life structure and purpose and meaning.  The sun and moon and stars mark the days and years of a life and a world that God the Lord has given for you to enjoy in His gracious presence.

It is possible for you to live that way, by His grace, because the coming of Christ Jesus in the Flesh — His coming into this world of history and time — has restored God’s gift of time to its original purpose and blessing.  Every minute that Christ our Savior lived as the true Man here on earth, from infancy to adulthood, from the womb to the tomb, was thus given the divine significance of God Himself.  In Him every minute counts, no longer in desperation, but in the joy of real life.

And so it is that your time as a member of His Church has been redeemed and sanctified by Christ Jesus; indeed, your time already here and now is really the beginning of eternity with Him.  Which means that you can mark the passing of time — not with sadness and regret for the past, nor with false hopes and your own resolutions for the future — but with confidence in your Savior.

Even so, we are not here today to celebrate the secular New Year.  There’s nothing wrong with New Year’s celebrations, for Christ has redeemed such occasions by His grace, and you are free to enjoy the many good gifts that He bestows upon you in this body and life.  But as a congregation of His Church, we celebrate Christ Jesus Himself, who He is and what He has done to save us.  Only then, having celebrated Christ and His great Salvation, are we able to celebrate anything else.

In particular, the Holy Gospel appointed for this Eighth Day of Christmas has set before you the Name and Circumcision of Jesus, thus declaring God’s great love for you in the sending of His Son into the Flesh, born of the Woman under the Law, in order to redeem you for everlasting Life.

By faith in His Word, we recognize that, in the Circumcision of our Lord Jesus, God Himself was already submitting Himself to the demands of His own Law on behalf of all the children of men, accomplishing divine righteousness in His own Body of flesh and blood like yours, in order that you should be justified in Him and share in His divine, eternal Life.  In fact, everything that Christ the Lord came to do was already underway and being established in His Circumcision.

There was, first all, His obedience to the Law on behalf of fallen man.  As the sinless Son of God, our Lord did not require for Himself the promise and forgiveness of the Covenant.  But He was obedient to the Law from the very first — and as He grew, He was obedient to His human parents in keeping with the Fourth Commandment — that He might obtain the righteousness of God for you and all people.  Thus was He subjected to the Law of Circumcision in His own holy Flesh.

In this way, also, the Lord was at work to bring about the New Creation.  For in His Circumcision there is already the first shedding of the Savior’s Blood — His Blood of the New Covenant — by which He makes Atonement for the sins of the whole world, and so also cleanses you of all sins.

Indeed, it was entirely appropriate that the obedience and suffering of Christ Jesus should begin with His Circumcision, since Circumcision was given to Abraham by the Lord God Himself as the sign and seal of His Covenant, a Sacrament of His Word.  It was a tangible promise of the Savior who would come from the loins of Father Abraham.  And so it was that, by His Circumcision, in His own Flesh and Blood as the Seed of Abraham, the Lord God fulfilled this sacred Covenant.

Leave it to the Lord to establish His Covenant in such a flesh-and-blood, painful, and embarrassing way!  For this is how He loves to work, to reveal and give Himself to you in the most down-to-earth ways and means.  As He created Adam out of dirt, and as He entered into His Creation by His conception and birth of the Woman, St. Mary, He gets right down into it with all of us on earth.

Not so different is the way that He promises truly marvelous things, but then lets you wait for what seems like forever — until it all seems lost and hopeless — before He does what He has spoken.

Consider the history of Circumcision: Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and after many years of promises from God, his time was running out.  He was old, and he was tired.  He was nervous and scared about the future.  But just then, when it surely must have seemed as though it were already too late, the Lord God appears with yet another Word of promise.  And such a Word it is!

Everything God says to Abraham seems ludicrous, like so much foolish nonsense!  Cut off the foreskin from your genitals, and do the same with all the males of your household, and that will be My Covenant with you.  And as for you, old man — your own body as good as dead, and your wife a barren old woman — you will yet become the father of countless children.  Indeed, the day will soon be here when you must circumcise the son whom I have promised, a son of your own flesh and blood, conceived and born of your own wife according to My Word.

Such a Covenant as that is almost as hard to believe as the Words and promises of God concerning the waters of Baptism, that these are a gracious water of life, a rich and full washing away of sin; or the Absolution of a sinful human pastor, that by it your sins are forgiven before God in heaven, as by Christ your dear Lord Himself; or the tiny piece of bread and the little drink of wine in the Lord’s Supper, that these are His true Body and Blood, given and poured out for you.

Yet, as wild and crazy as the promise seemed, Abraham believed the Word of God, and he lived by faith in that Word of promise.  And the Lord God was indeed faithful in doing all that He had spoken, in fulfilling His Covenant with Father Abraham.  He gave to him a son in his old age; He multiplied his descendants; and when they were enslaved in the land of Egypt, He brought them out of bondage with a mighty, outstretched hand, and He confirmed His Covenant with them — by the blood of the Passover Lamb, and by the sacrificial blood of bulls and goats at Mount Sinai.

And finally, after many hundreds of years, when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of the Woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary.  And thus He came, the promised Seed of Abraham, conceived and born according to the Word and promise of God — born under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law — born to redeem you, that you might become a child of Abraham by faith; and even better, that you might be adopted as a son of God in Christ Jesus, your Lord.

Indeed, the Covenant Law of Circumcision was a tutor preparing for the Christ; and with His own Circumcision on the Eighth Day, His Flesh & Blood became the New Covenant, replacing the Old.

Now, for the Jews Circumcision on the eighth day was also the time when a newborn son would be named — just as “Abraham” himself was given that name, “the father of many nations,” when he received the Covenant of Circumcision.  So also did the Christ then receive that Name which was given by the Lord to Mary and Joseph through the Archangel Gabriel.  The Church therefore remembers and celebrates both the Name and the Circumcision of Jesus on this Holy Day.

This Name, Jesus, means “Yahweh Saves.”  For He is born to save His people from their sins; and His Name is a confession of the Gospel, that in Him God is reconciling the world unto Himself.

Everything has been fundamentally changed, forever and for better, with the coming of this Son of God in His own human Flesh and Blood.  Indeed, the entire history of the world and the daily passage of time have new and real meaning in Him, in His Body crucified and risen from the dead; no less so than the entire Old Testament has reached its true meaning and fulfillment in Him.

By way of one significant example, especially appropriate to this day and the occasion before us, the Old Testament Covenant of Circumcision has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus, in such a way that it has been forever replaced — for you and all believers, boys and girls alike, adults and children — with the New Testament Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  So does St. Paul write to the Colossians, that “in Him you were also circumcised with a Circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in Baptism.”

So, too, it was in that washing of the water with His Word and Holy Spirit that God the Lord put His Name on you — the Holy Name of “Jesus.”  For just as He received His saving Name at His Circumcision on the Eighth Day, so have you received His Name by your Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection.  And His Name, “Jesus,” bestows on you the very Salvation He has won.

Consequently, each and every Sunday — on the “Eighth Day,” as the early Christians understood it to be — the people of God leave behind the cares and worries of the workaday world and the seven-day week, and in the Liturgy of the Gospel they enter with confidence and peace, with faith and thanksgiving, into the everlasting Life of the new Heavens and the new Earth, the Home where the Righteousness of Christ abounds in the neverending Day of His Resurrection from the dead.

The passage of time in this life on earth with all its griefs and sorrows has been superceded by the fact that you have been re-created for eternal Life with God in Paradise.  You are no longer trapped by the daily grind of this world, by the endless cycle of week-after-week and year-after-year, with nothing much to hope for, but only more of the same-ol’ same-ol’ thing and a string of short-lived resolutions.  All of that is temporary; it doesn’t define who you really are, nor what you will be.

By your Baptism into Christ you already participate in His New Creation.  By faith in Christ Jesus — who circumcised your heart and gave to you His Name in those holy waters by His Word — you are living already with Him in the Garden of Paradise, walking with your Lord in the pleasure of a Day that never ends.  And for that reason, you are able to enjoy the days and weeks and years that you live on this earth, as well; because you do so in the confidence and the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to the neverending Day beyond all trials, tribulations, and temptations.

So also on this Day, we all together as the Church participate in the everlasting Life and Salvation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Not by way of self-imposed resolutions to try harder and do better, though we surely ought to do both; but we enter into Life by receiving the Gift of Christ Himself, who gives meaning and purpose to this day and every other day, to this New Year and to every other year.  As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and as you receive His Holy Communion, you are intimately united with Him — in His Body and His Blood — unto the Life everlasting.

It is was precisely for this reason and this purpose that He was conceived and born of St. Mary.  And so, too, it was for this reason and this purpose that He shed the Blood of Circumcision, and that He was given the Name Jesus.  For so has He brought completion and fulfillment to the Old Testament, and so does He bring to you the New Testament in His Blood, as surely as He has given you the new birth of Holy Baptism, and put His Name on you, and granted you a permanent place of Peace and Rest in the Kingdom of His God and Father, in the City of the Living God.

The One who calls you is faithful, and at exactly the right time He does all that He has promised.

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