Life on the Vine

The Holy Triune God has planted His people on earth to be a choice and productive Vineyard, that they might share in His divine Life and flourish in His loving care for them, bearing good fruits according to His own good and gracious will. So it is that you are called to live by faith in Him, to receive His Life into yourself, and to bear the fruits of His Love by sharing His Life with others.

This is what it means — and this is what it looks like — for you to be a branch of the true Vine and a part of the Lord’s Vineyard: To rely on Him and to receive your life from Him alone, to live in love for your neighbor, and so to bring forth the fruits of the Vine to the glory of God’s holy Name.

The Office of the Holy Ministry is the way and the means by which the Lord conveys His divine Life to the branches of His Vine and to His whole Vineyard. And it is certainly the case that His servant, Don, has been — and is — such a gift to His Church and to His people; for it is by Pastor Stock’s faithful preaching and ministry over these past many years that your gracious God and Lord has bestowed His Life and Love upon you and many others, to the glory of His Holy Name!

By way of contrast, to withhold life and love from your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, to harbor bitterness or resentment against your neighbors in the world, to flatter and pamper yourself, or to serve yourself and seek your own glory — all such practices, wherever and whenever they occur, would indicate that you have severed yourself from the Vine and do not abide in faith and love within the Vineyard. For the Lord has planted His Vineyard to produce good grapes — not the sour grapes of wrath, but the good grapes of faithfulness, gentleness, kindness, and mercy.

So, how’s that going for you? Maybe not so good? After all, take a good look all around. Consider the daily news from all over the world and from the cities and towns of our own United States. Think about your routines, and about your relationships — not just the ones you favor and prefer, but all of those roles and relationships to which the Lord has called you. It isn’t all coming up roses. Nor is it the harvest of faith and love that God commands and requires of His Vineyard.

The soil has been cursed on account of sin. The ground from which you have been taken is stained with blood, and the earth itself quakes with the weight of death. Plants do not grow easily or well. The grass withers and fades, and all flesh dies. Thorns and thistles infest the Vineyard. The whole world is polluted, the sun beclouded, and the rain is either insufficient or else too much at once, so that it drowns and destroys what has been planted. The branches on the Vine produce more foliage than fruit, and the fruits they do produce are wild and sour, idolatrous and selfish.

The Lord looks for the fruits of faith and love in His Vineyard, and so also in you. But you do not fear, love, and trust in Him above all things; and neither do you love your neighbor as you should.

Yet, the Father in heaven still cares for His Vine, and so He cultivates His Vineyard by pruning the branches and removing those that bear no fruit, casting them into the fire. He does this cutting so that the Vine itself may survive and thrive, and that it should live and grow in faith and love.

But who, or what, or where is that true Vine which is able to survive the curse of sin and death? Who, or what, or where is that Vine which can thrive and give life to the entire Vineyard? For the curse is so complete, so comprehensive, and so devastating, surely the pruning and removing of branches must continue until there is nothing and no one left. For there is no good in any of us.

But, no, there is hope and help to be found in Christ Jesus. He is the true Vine, the planting of His Father, who willingly dies the death of sin and is buried like a Seed into the dust of the ground, in order to redeem and sanctify the soil, the earth, the whole creation. He is the One who is cut off from the land of the living and cast into the deadly fires of God’s righteous wrath and judgment. He Himself is pruned to the point of crucifixion, in order to purge the Vineyard of sin and death.

He removes what is wild and wrong in your body and life, and He bears it away in His own Body.

And this same Lord Jesus Christ also rises from death to life, to be a vital and productive Vine. He abides in faith and love, and He bears good fruit to the glory of His Father and for your benefit.

Again, it is by His Ministry of the Gospel that He bestows the good fruits of His Cross upon His Church on earth; and so has He done for many years now through Pastor Stock, in order that you should hear and receive the forgiveness of your sins and be enlivened by His grace in holy love!

The Cross of Christ, upon which He suffered and died, has become the Tree of Life for all the nations. Because His death atoned for the sins of the world, His Blood does not stain but cleanses the earth, and His Body, crucified and risen from the dead, is the First Fruits of the New Creation.

It is into Him that you are grafted, both your body and your soul, into His Body of flesh and blood, to be a branch of the true Vine. For you are buried with Him through your Baptism into His death, in order that, having been planted with Him in the dust of the ground, so do you live and grow and bear good fruit in Him, as well. Like the Ethiopian eunuch, you have been baptized into the Cross and Resurrection of the same sacrificial Lamb of God, who was lead to the slaughter and slain for your sins, who has also risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity, never to die again.

Abide in Him, therefore, as He abides in you with His Word of the Gospel; and so bear good fruit. For apart from Him, you are dead. The good fruits that you bear — the fruits of faith and love — are the produce of the Life that you receive and have and live in Him, as He Himself is your Life.

That is true for each and every one of you as Christians, and that is true for each and every pastor, as well. And so it is that Pastor Stock has been able to love and serve and care for you with the blessed Fruits of the Cross of Christ, because he has first of all received them as means of grace for his own life and salvation, and then also as a sacred stewardship for the life of the Church.

What he has received from the Lord from those who have gone before him, he has also handed over to you — as a minister of the grace of God — in the Word and Sacraments of Christ Jesus!

It is by the Word of Christ, by the hearing of His Word, that you live and abide in Him; for it is by and with His Word, by the preaching of His Word, that He is with you always and abides in you.

It is by the washing of the water with His Word that you are grafted into Him in Holy Baptism. So, too, it is by His Word, by His preaching of repentance and forgiveness, that you are daily returned to the significance of your Baptism; and by His Word that you are “watered” with the living and Life-giving Spirit, who keeps you and the whole Church united with Christ in the one true faith.

You are already clean by the Word of the Gospel that Christ has spoken to you, but so does He daily “wash your feet” and “water your soil” with the catechesis of His Word. With His Law and His Gospel, He teaches you the Way of Life — to be fruitful in faith and love, as He is fruitful.

Where you daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment, He does not cut you off, cast you away from His presence, or destroy you. He does prune your life with His Law, not for death but for the discipline of love, that you should rely upon His gifts of Life and so be nurtured and sustained by His grace. For His Word of the Gospel, which is the forgiveness of your sins, fills you with the vitality — the life and health and strength — of His Resurrection from the dead.

By the merit and means of His own dying and rising, He does not remove you from the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, but He raises you up from death and the grave, from the dust of the earth, and from the idolatry and unbelief of your sin, to bear the fruits of peace and joy, of faith, hope, and love, to the glory of His God and Father. As He Himself glorifies God with the abundant Fruit of His Cross and Resurrection, so does He glorify the Father in you, and He glorifies you in Himself.

So has He also glorified Himself and His Father — and the Holy Spirit — in His servant, Pastor Stock, first of all as a beloved and well-pleasing child of God, and then also as a faithful minister of His Word. It is a remarkable thing, indeed, that any of us poor, miserable sinners, fallen and fallible men of mortal flesh and blood, should be given such a privilege and such a responsibility, to preach and teach the Word of Christ and thereby to bestow divine, eternal gifts to His people.

It is likewise with His Word of the Gospel — by the human hands of His called and ordained servants — that He also feeds you and all His disciples with the Fruits of His Cross, that is to say, with His own sacred Body, crucified and risen for your Salvation, and with His holy and precious Blood, poured out for you from this true Vine as a better Vintage than this world has otherwise known. So does He abide in you, both soul and body, and you abide in Him by faith in His Word.

This Sacrament of the Altar truly is the Feast of Holy Love, because these gifts of the incarnate Christ, His flesh and blood, are the Produce of His Propitiation, the Communion Meal of His Self-Sacrifice for Atonement, Absolution, Reconciliation with God, and the perfect Peace of His Spirit.

I expect that you would readily agree, Pastor Stock, that, along with the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the Lord’s Holy Supper is one of the most profound and greatest privileges  — and one of the most important responsibilities — that we are given as ministers of Christ Jesus. Although we carry out this high and holy calling in the confidence and courage of our dear Lord, we do so in the fear and trembling of repentant faith, in recognition of what we here place into the mouths and bodies of His beloved people, that He should thus abide in them, and they in Him!

It is indeed the case that, by these Fruits of Christ the true Vine, you are enlivened in heart and mind, in body, soul, and spirit. And as He thereby gives you life with God in Himself, so do His Fruits produce good fruits in you after their own kind: Not only in your thoughts and feelings, but in your words and actions, and with your hands and feet and lips and tongue. So does He bring forth in you the fruits of faith and love toward God, with which you worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth, and fruits of love for your brothers and sisters in Christ and for all your neighbors.

In much the same way, the ministry of the Gospel is itself a labor of holy faith and holy love, and it is right that we should recognize and give thanks for the love that Pastor Stock has exercised for  the Lord and for His people in this sacred calling and station. It is no easy task, but a worthy one!

Such love sometimes requires speaking up when it is difficult or even dangerous to do so, in order to defend what is good and right, to decry what is wrong, and to protect one neighbor from another. Never with a spirit of vengeance or violence, nor for the sake of destruction, animosity, or hatred, but by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, with the confidence and courage of His Resurrection, and with the charity and compassion of His Cross, for the sake of repentance and forgiveness in His Name.

And all such fruits of faith and love are a confession of Christ the Crucified, that He is the one true God in the flesh, and that He is your Life and your Salvation. By the speaking of His Word, and by your living in accordance with His Word — by what you patiently bear and suffer in steadfast faith, and by your tangible gifts and works of love for those you are called to serve — you testify of Christ Jesus, and you bear the fruits of His Cross and Resurrection in your place.

Thank you, Pastor Stock, for being a faithful instrument of such love in the Name and stead of our one Lord, Jesus Christ, and for serving His dear people in this place with His Word of the Gospel.

It is that Word which bears His fruits in each of you by forgiving all your sins, by granting you His own Life and love and faithfulness, and by lighting your path in the way that you should go.

That path of life is one of grace and mercy, of compassion and kindness. Above all, it is the path of forgiveness, even as God in Christ forgives you. Thus, you proceed along that path, bearing the Cross to the glory of God the Father, in the joyful hope of Christ and His Resurrection from the dead. Abiding in Him, as He abides in you, so do you live, and so do you love as He loves you.

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

His God and Father Is Your God and Father

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made that has been made. And that same Word has become Flesh and dwelt among us, conceived and born of St. Mary, in order that we may behold His Glory, the Glory of the only-begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

So has He come down from the Father in heaven, and taken our sins upon Himself, into His own Body of flesh and blood, and gone to the Cross, and laid down His Life for all of us in holy Love. In this way — by His Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead — He has departed from this vale of tears and returned in the Flesh to His God and Father, that we should live with God in Him.

This is the great journey of the Son of God, from heaven above to earth below, and back again with you in tow. He comes down to raise you up. He becomes like you, that you should become like Him. He has taken your sins upon Himself in order to atone for them, to remove them and be rid of them. But He has taken your Flesh to be His own and retains it in His Resurrection, free of sin and set free from death, in order to give you Communion with the Holy Trinity in body and soul.

It is precisely in this journey of the only-begotten Son that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And no one comes to the Father but by Him, who has come down from the Father and returned to the Father through the suffering and death of His Cross into His great and glorious Resurrection.

That is why He says to you, today, in the accomplished fact of His Cross and Passion, that He is now ascending to His God and Father — who is now also your God and your Father in Christ! For as you share His death by your Baptism in His Name, so do you share His Resurrection from the dead, and His Ascension into heaven, and His Sonship, and His Spirit, and His God and Father. Thus do you live with Him in His Kingdom in His righteousness and purity, now and forever.

In this same pattern of the Cross and Resurrection, such as you share with Christ Jesus by way of His Holy Baptism, so have you heard that Mary Magdalene was brought from darkness into Light.

She came to the tomb while yet in the darkness of her unbelief, overcome with grief and sorrow, and forgetting the promise of the Resurrection. But by His Word and Spirit she was brought into the Light of the revelation of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. By His grace and tender mercy, she was given to see the Lord in whose crucified and risen Flesh the Father is revealed.

His Resurrection is the dawning of the New Creation, a new “in the beginning,” not only for dear St. Mary, but for all the beloved disciples of Jesus — for all of those whom He calls to Himself and catechizes in the one true faith. It is thus on the first day of the week that the Word-made-Flesh declares, in the Voice of His Resurrection from the dead, “Let there be Light!” And it is so.

There is a similar transition from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith, in the case of Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loves. But their journey from death to life in Christ is more ambiguous in this Holy Gospel, and not as poignant or as intimate as that of Mary Magdalene.

Consider how it was for poor, dear Mary to begin with. She comes in the darkness, and then she flees from the empty tomb in fear and sadness and confusion. Even after she returns, she is at a loss and does not know what to do. She weeps with anguish and despair, and she stands there frozen in perplexity and grief. She does not recognize Jesus when He appears, nor does she perceive the evidence of His Resurrection. She supposes that He must be a gardener, as though He were the old Adam who must die, and not the New Man who lives. She is so consumed by her concern for the handling of a corpse, for the burial of the dead, that she cannot comprehend the Light of Christ.

It is rather pathetic, yet also far too familiar to all of us poor sinners.

But Jesus the Good Shepherd calls this poor little sheep, this tender lamb of His, by her name: “Mary,” He says, in much the same way that He has called you by name, and given you His own Name, in your Holy Baptism. And just as He has promised, His sheep hear His voice, they know Him, and they follow Him. As her Teacher, her Rabboni, Jesus catechizes Mary to recognize Him in His risen Flesh. And so does He catechize you by His Word to recognize Him in His Supper.

Even then, dear Mary still wants to cling to the Jesus she has known before — not in the Flesh of His Resurrection, but according to the mortal flesh that bore our sins and griefs and sorrows to the death of His Cross. It is not that He is two different Men with two different Bodies, but that she must let go of the past and lift up her heart and mind to her crucified and risen Lord Jesus.

Here is the problem: Mary at first is trying to hang on to the perishable and the mortal, just as you are tempted to hang on to your old Adam, and to the comfortable familiarity of your life in this world, despite the fact that it is cumbered by sin, by sickness and death. And when a loved one has died, is there not a place in your heart that longs to have him back and keep him here in this vale of tears — even though you know better — because you are selfish and lonely and afraid?

But Jesus, your dear Savior, your crucified and risen Lord, He is not to be sought in the commerce or confines of this body and life. His Kingdom is not of this world. He has returned to the Father in the life of the Resurrection from the dead. He has not left the Body behind; it is in His Body that He has risen from the dead and ascended to the Right Hand of the Father. But so has He also, in His Body, put sin and death and the legacy of sin and death to an end, once and for all. He has put mortality down, in order to raise you up to immortality. He has risen, and He is never to die again.

He thus declares that He is your Brother, and that His God and Father is yours forever in Him. He does not leave humanity behind, but in His Resurrection He reveals Himself as the true and perfect Man, in whom you are justified, reconciled to God, and sanctified by His Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus you are rescued from sin, raised up from death, and seated with Him in the heavenly places.

In His innocent suffering and death, He has descended into the depths of your depravity, into your sin, death, and hell. And so it is that, in His Resurrection and Ascension, He raises you up with Himself to the heights of His divine glory, even to the Bosom of His God and Father in heaven.

Out of the darkness of death He calls you by His Gospel — by His Word of forgiveness, as by the washing of the water with His Word and Holy Spirit — into this Light and Life of His Salvation.

By His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of your sins, He calls you from your unbelief to fear, love, and trust in Him by faith in His Word and promises. He opens your eyes to see that He is your Lord and Savior — to behold in His Flesh the divine Glory of His God and Father, and yet, by His grace, to call this Lord your own dear Brother, and this God your own dear Father.

In this faith and trust and confidence, in this beautiful new relationship that you have been given with the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit — as a beloved child of God in Christ Jesus — He tenderly invites you to lay hold of Him, to embrace Him and cling to Him, to worship and adore Him, here and now at His Altar in His Church, in His holy Body and precious Blood.

Indeed, He thus lays hold of you and clings to you in Love, so that nothing at all, neither sin, nor death, nor the devil and hell, nor anything else, shall ever be able to snatch you away from Him.

Crucified and risen from the dead, immortal, imperishable, and glorious, He gives Himself to you in this Sacrament. He feeds your mortal body with His own Flesh as the guarantee and surety of your own bodily resurrection from the dead to the Life everlasting of your body and soul in Him.

Has He not caused it to be written, and given you to know and believe, that He is your Redeemer, and that He lives!? Indeed He has, and so He does. And as He lives, who once was dead, so shall you also live forever in His Body. Even after your skin and bones have been destroyed, yet, from your own flesh, in the resurrection of your body, with your own two eyes made clear and bright by the Holy Spirit, you shall behold your Savior and your God, and your own dear Father in Him.

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

Living Before God by the Prayer and Sacrifice of Christ Jesus

The first duty of the royal priesthood of the baptized is to pray — to pray in faith toward God and in love for one another.  To pray to your God and Father in heaven through Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord — in and with His Holy Spirit — is to worship the one true God, the Holy Trinity.  And to pray and intercede for your neighbor — for your family, friends, and enemies, for the Holy Christian Church, and for the whole world — is to love your neighbor as Christ Jesus loves you.

To pray to the Lord your God in this way, in holy faith and holy love, is also to sacrifice yourself to Him — that is, to entrust yourself to God for the benefit of others — just as the Offertory and the Prayer of the Church belong to each other in the Divine Service.  To pray is to sacrifice.

So has Christ Jesus done for you.  And so does He continue to pray for you as the One who has been sacrificed for you and for all people on the Cross, who has risen from the dead and ever lives to make intercession for you and all the saints according to the good and gracious Will of God.

To pray and to sacrifice — in Christian faith and love — as a royal priest of the most high God in Christ Jesus — is to stand in the presence of God the Father in Peace, to live and abide before His Face, to share in His divine Glory, and to partake of His divine Nature by His divine Grace.

And to be such a priest, to pray and to sacrifice in faith and love, is to be united with God in Christ Jesus, in the Unity and Love of the Father and the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, the Bond of Peace.

It is to have the Spirit, heart, and mind of Christ, and so to be of one heart and mind with His Body, the Church — gathered together in the upper room with the whole assembly of His many brethren, with the glorious company of the Apostles, the noble army of martyrs, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the faithful women, disciples young and old, male and female, slave and free, from all the nations of earth — united in prayer for the world, for the Church, and for the coming of Christ.

To pray and to sacrifice in this way is, indeed, to speak by the Holy Spirit in and through Christ Jesus, sharing His divine Sonship, and knowing and loving God the Father in Him — even as you are known and loved by the same God and Father in Christ Jesus, His only-begotten Son.

By contrast, the fallen world does not know or comprehend God the Father; and neither do you know Him according to your fallen flesh.  You do not know Him, nor what He is like.  And so you cannot find Him or go to Him, either.  You cannot love Him, nor can you call upon His Name.

The world’s notion of God, of fatherhood, of love and unity and peace, of forgiveness, life, and salvation — it’s all confused and wrong; it’s all twisted, distorted, and false.  Indeed, so far from the Truth is the world’s “knowledge” and “wisdom,” that you don’t even realize how false it is.

It is only by and through and in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son, that you know and love the Father, and come to Him, and stand before Him, and live and abide in His presence.  It is only by and through and in Christ Jesus that you pray and sacrifice and worship God rightly — not as though to appease His wrath or bargain with Him, but as a dear child and heir, as a son of God in Christ, as a royal priest in Him who is your great and merciful High Priest in all things pertaining to God.

It is in His Office and Vocation as your great High Priest that Christ Jesus prays and intercedes for you, as He does for His whole Church, for His disciples and His Holy Apostles, and for all who believe in Him through their preaching of His Word.  He prays and intercedes in harmony with His singular Sacrifice; indeed, He prays in and with His Sacrifice, with His own Body and His Blood.

He has come down from the Father in heaven in order to reveal His God and Father to you, to embrace you in and with the Father’s Love, and to anoint you with the Holy Spirit from the Father.

All of this He has done deep in the Flesh, in His own holy Body and with His precious Blood — by His holy Incarnation; by His humiliation and obedience, unto His innocent suffering and death upon the Cross; and by His Sacrifice of Atonement for the sins of the whole world.

So does the Father reveal Himself and give Himself to you in the Person of His own dear Son.

Then, also, in human Flesh and Blood like your own — in His own truly-human Body, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Word and Spirit of God — Christ Jesus reconciles you and all the world to His Father, as He returns to the Bosom of His Father in heaven by way of His atoning Sacrifice upon the Cross, and in His Resurrection and Ascension.  So it is that, in Christ, you are raised up to God the Father and brought into His Presence, named with His own great and holy Name, which is above every name that is named, and glorified with His own divine Glory.

Such a Glory it is!  Do be aware of this, and understand, it is the Glory of the Cross and suffering.  It is the Glory of self-sacrifice, of love for your enemies and those who sin against you.  It is the Glory of forgiveness and of prayer for others, even for those who hurt you to the point of death.  Not pain and suffering for the sake of pain and suffering, in some perverse and sadomasochistic manner, but the willing sacrifice of your self and your life in loving service to your neighbor.

You may not realize at the time what the point or purpose of your sacrifice and suffering are; but when you proceed by faith in the Word of God within those vocations to which He has called you and in those places where He has positioned you, in love for the neighbors He has set before you, you may be certain that your labors are not in vain, nor your hardship, pain, and sorrow.  The Cross conforms you to the Image of God’s beloved Son, and it works in you what is good and blessed, both for you and for others.  It teaches repentance and compassion; it strengthens faith and love.

Such things are not the glory of the world, to be sure.  But the Cross is the true divine Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; for that is the Glory with which He loves you, and gives Himself for you, and forgives you all your sins, and serves you in peace, all at His own expense, for His mercy’s sake.

That is the Glory of God to which you also are called — the true divine Glory that you are freely given in Christ Jesus — the Glory of His Cross, bestowed upon you by and with His Holy Spirit through the forgiveness of all of your sins in the Liturgy of His Holy Gospel.

The Unity for which Christ Jesus prays — Unity with God and each other in Him — that Unity is granted to you with the Name and Spirit of God in the living and Life-giving waters of Holy Baptism.  That is the blessed River of Life which flows from the Cross of Christ, from the Lamb upon His Throne, and from His wounded side at the very Heart and Center of the City of God.

That is the River which cleanses and refreshes you, which washes away your impurity and every unrighteousness, and which quenches your deepest thirst with the Holy Spirit of Christ Himself.

It is by and through that sacred River of living Water — it is by and through that Water of your Holy Baptism — that you have come into the Holy City and are seated at the Lord’s own Table, where you are given the right and the glorious privilege to eat and drink from the Tree of Life.

The Leaves and the twelve great Fruits of that Tree are the Apostles’ Doctrine and Fellowship, the Breaking of the Bread in the Holy Communion, and the priestly Prayers of the Church of Christ.

Those Fruits of the Tree of Life, the Body and Blood of Christ, the Lamb — offered as a Sacrifice upon the Cross, and given to you here as a eucharistic Feast — these are indeed your Life and your Salvation.  And the Leaves of that same Tree, that is, the Word of Christ, the Holy Absolution of His Gospel, and the apostolic preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name — those Leaves are for the perfect healing of your heart, mind, body, and soul, unto the Day of Christ.

Whatever frailty and weakness you may have, whatever sickness or infirmity afflict your flesh, you are made brand new, whole and perfect and complete, holy and without blemish in Christ Jesus.  That is most certainly true, although you cannot see it or feel it now.  It is given to you by God in the crucified and risen Flesh of Jesus, who has received the Glory of the Father on your behalf.

He binds Himself to you, not only by His Incarnation and by His bearing of your sins and death in His Body on the Cross, but also by giving Himself to you with all the Fruits and Benefits of His once-for-all atoning Sacrifice.  He does it in the Holy Sacraments, as in the washing of the water with His Word and Spirit in Holy Baptism, whereby you have been — and you are — united with Him in His Cross and Resurrection.  And He does it by giving you His Body to eat and His Blood to drink, whereby He unites Himself to you — and you to Him — more profoundly, more intimately, more personally, and more permanently than the world could ever begin to imagine.

So it is that the Glory of the Cross of Christ is yours.  His priestly prayer, His suffering and death, His sacrificial love and forgiveness — all of these are yours.  And His vindication by the Father, His victorious Resurrection from the dead, and His Ascension into heaven — these, too, are yours.

The Love of God the Father for His only-begotten Son is yours.  The divine Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is yours.  The perfect Unity of the Holy Trinity is the Unity that you share by Grace in Christ Jesus.  The Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son now rests and remains on you.

God the Father in heaven, who is so foreign to the world and to sinful man, is now familiar to you in Christ Jesus, His beloved Son.  He has become your own dear Father, and you His dear child.

Therefore, the priestly prayer of Christ Jesus to His God and Father is, as I said, now also yours.  You crawl up into His lap, as it were; you snuggle yourself into His arms, you sob into His chest, or you whisper into His ear — and He hears and answers Christ Jesus in your prayer.  He hears and answers your prayer, as surely as the Son of God in the Flesh has been crucified for you and all your sins and has been raised from the dead for your justification by the Glory of God the Father.

So has the Lord made Himself your Refuge and your Strength, your very present Help in trouble.

So has He brought you safely and securely into His City, into His Home and Family, into His Holy of Holies — eternal in the heavens, but now also established here for you in His Church on earth.

So does He cover you with His Pinions and shelter you under His Wings.  So does He love you, forever and always, and grant you His abiding Peace through His forgiveness of all your sins.

And so do you live and abide in the presence of the Holy Triune God in His own righteousness and purity, in the innocence and blessedness of Christ Jesus — as surely as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever in His own Body of Flesh & Blood like yours.

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

Safe and Sound with Your God and Father in Christ Jesus

Your God and Father in heaven has promised that, before you call, He will answer, and while you are yet speaking, He will act.  He has indeed taught you to pray and promised to hear you; but even before you have begun to do so, He is already providing for your every need of body and soul.

Prayer does not begin with your choice or decision or effort.  It does not begin in your heart or with your voice.  It begins with God speaking His Word of the Gospel, by which He opens your ears, your body and life to receive His gifts, and opens your heart, mind, and voice to respond in faith.

He speaks to you and calls you to Himself.  And as He has reconciled you and all the world to Himself by the Cross of Christ, His Son, so does He welcome you into His arms.  He calls you by name, for you are His.  And He speaks such beautiful words:  That your sins are forgiven.  That you are in Christ.  That His Spirit dwells in you.  That you are beloved and well-pleasing to Him.

So does God the Father speak to you in the Person of His Son, Christ Jesus.  And so does Christ Jesus show you the Father plainly and reveal His great heart of love to you by way of the Gospel, by the voluntary Sacrifice of His Cross and by His rising from the dead as your Righteousness.  That is how you come to know and love His God and Father as your own dear God and Father.

And so do the faith and prayer of Jesus also become yours.  Though you are weak and weary and afraid, when you open your mouth in prayer it is the Lord Jesus who speaks in you — and when you thus call upon your Father in heaven, it is Christ Jesus who is heard and answered in you.

The Lord teaches you to pray in this way — in such confidence — in faith, hope, and love — by the Word that He speaks to you.  His Word of the Gospel opens up your ears to hear, your heart to believe, and your lips to show forth the praises of God.  That is how you learn to call upon Him for everything that you need, to call upon His holy Name, to pray, praise, and give thanks.

What is more, as Christ Jesus has come down from the Father in heaven and returns to the Father on your behalf, with you in tow, by way of His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension, so does He gather you up, both body and soul, and bring you and your prayers to the Father in peace and joy.

That is the truth.  But that is not yet your experience.  For here on earth you are scattered like the disciples were when Jesus was taken away to His Passion, to His innocent suffering and death.

You are scattered by the trials and tribulations of this fallen and perishing world, by various and sundry sorrows, sicknesses, and sufferings, by your inescapable mortality and the fear of death.  You’re scattered hither and yon by the sins that you commit, by your own persistent guilt and shame and the devil’s wicked accusations, and by the trespasses and sins of others against you.

And you are scattered by the Cross itself.  For the peace that you are given as a Christian is not that of this old world.  It is rather the Peace of Christ Jesus, that is, the reconciliation with God that He has accomplished for you and bestowed upon you by His grace, by His Cross and Resurrection.  And belonging to Him, who was crucified for all your sins, you do have tribulation in the world.

There’s plenty of trouble in the world, of course, as a consequence of sin.  But it actually increases when you are called to discipleship, to take up the Cross and follow Christ Jesus; for by His Word and Spirit, from your Baptism and throughout your life, you are crucified, put to death, and buried with Him.  And that’s not just theoretical or make-believe; it is real tribulation in the world, in this body and life on earth.  And like the disciples then, although you love the Lord and believe in Him, you are troubled by doubts and fears, confusion and pain — and you are scattered by His Cross.

Just so, the depth of your hurt and need compels you to cry out.  And even in your misery, you are not alone.  The Spirit helps you in your weakness; and Christ Jesus not only teaches you how to pray, but as your merciful and great High Priest He is always praying for you.  Indeed, He is your Prayer, your Incense, and your Intercession.  He bears you in His Body to His God and Father.

Christ Jesus is here with you, that you should be with Him where He is.  The Tabernacle of God is among men, that is, the very flesh and blood of the incarnate Son.  He breathes His Life-giving Holy Spirit into your body and soul by His Ministry of the Gospel, and He fights for you against the devil, the world, and the fallenness of your own flesh, that you should not be lost forever.

In order to save you from death and damnation, the Lord Jesus Christ has overcome the world.  He has atoned for all your sins.  He has defeated the devil and crushed his head.  And the same Lord Jesus has gathered you to Himself.  He has called you by name, and you are His.  So it is that you are here in this place of prayer on this Lord’s Day: You are God’s own child, baptized into Christ.

You are here because Christ has brought you here; because He has bound you to Himself in His own Body; and because He strengthens and sustains you by His Holy Spirit, even in tribulation.  He gathers you, enlightens you, and strengthens and sustains you in true faith by the speaking of His Word.  For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ that is preached to you.  And as you hear and believe, so do you also pray and confess the Name of Christ Jesus.

That is the rhythm of your Christian life.  That is how you breathe.  You inhale and exhale the Holy Spirit as you hear and confess the Word of Christ Jesus.  You inhale and exhale the forgiveness of sins by faith in His Gospel, forgiving those who sin against you as the Lord Jesus forgives you.

As He has thus called you and gathered you into His Church, let me now describe that holy Bride, the Wife of the Lamb.  Let me tell you what she is like.  Let me tell you that in her midst there are those who have been lame, and those who have been sick, and those who have been afraid, and those who have been hurt.  Into her stream people of all kinds, from all nations, because the Lord has sent His Apostles to make disciples, to baptize, to catechize, and to forgive sins in His Name.

This Bride of Christ, His Holy Church, stands upon the twelve foundation stones, which are His Holy Apostles who preached His Word, published Peace, and proclaimed the Gospel of salvation. 

The Church stands upon that Word, which seems so weak and wobbly and yet stands fast against the gates of hell.  The Church stands upon the apostolic preaching and confession of the Lamb who was slain, and yet, behold, He lives.  For so He says to those whom He sends: “He who hears you, hears Me.” “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven.” “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

That is the Rock upon which the City of God is built and established on earth as it is in heaven.  And you have entered that City by His Word and Holy Spirit, by the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism.  For in that River of Life you have been cleansed and sanctified, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, and clothed in the white garments of His innocence and blessedness.

To be sure, there is no unclean thing in the City of God.  But you are not unclean.  You are not unholy.  There is no sin or fault or blemish in you.  You are cleansed, and you are holy, because you are in Christ Jesus, and He has brought you into His City by the righteousness of His Gospel.

This is a place of prayer, where you also pray, because this is a place where the Word of Christ is heard.  And as you hear, so do you believe.  And as you believe, so do you pray.  And as you pray, so does the Father answer.  And when you cannot speak, the Body of Christ prays for you.  And when you can hardly dare to believe what He says to you, the Body of Christ supports you in Him.

Now, if it so happens that you are strong in the faith, that you already know the Word, that you stride through your week in joyful confidence, in the peace and joy of the Gospel, and that you need not be here for your own strength (though I wonder about that!), be here for your neighbor.  For in the pews alongside of you, in front and in back of you, there are those who are struggling, those who are sad, and those who are afraid to pray because they do not think they will be heard.

There are those who wonder if they belong here.  And yet, by the mercies of God, they are here.  And they are part of the Body of Christ, or they are called to become members of His Body by repentance and faith in His Gospel.  The truth is that your prayers strengthen them, your presence encourages them.  And your words of peace and love in Jesus’ Name are living and active words, which spite the devil, and crush his head, and cast him away from your neighbor’s heart and mind.

That you might have such a Word to speak, to pray and confess, cling to Christ in the preaching of His Gospel.  Cling to Him for yourself.  Cling to Him for your family.  Cling to Him for your neighbor.  Cling to Him for the stranger, the widow and orphan, and the foreigner in your midst.

Cling to Him, and call upon the Name of the Lord, knowing that you are heard.  For you are not simply a guest in the household and family of God.  You are not only an acquaintance of the Bride of Christ, but you belong to her.  You are part of her.  So precious are you to Jesus, so beautiful by His grace, so glorious through His forgiveness, so much His very own in His Resurrection.

That is what He has given you in the waters of Holy Baptism.  More has been accomplished there, and still avails for you, than your entire life on earth should ever be sufficient to consider.  You cannot exhaust this treasure.  You cannot think of it too much.  You cannot rely on it too strongly.

In Holy Baptism Christ has forgiven all your sins, and by your Holy Baptism He is constantly washing your sins away.  Though you daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment, the waters of your Baptism wash over you, day after day, as you hear and receive the Gospel.

By the washing of those waters with His Word, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has adopted you into His Family and made you His own dear child.  He has named you with His Name.  He has given you His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ Jesus, the Author and Giver of Life, by whom you live.  He has given you the Spirit, not because you are strong, but because you are His.  Not because you are without sin, but that you may be cleansed.  Not because you were holy, but that you should become holy in Christ Jesus, the beloved and well-pleasing Son of God.

In your Baptism Christ Jesus has bound Himself to you.  He has taken His stand along with you.  He has made all of your sins and all of your hurts, and all of your griefs and sorrows, His own.  The wounds that He bears in His Body are your wounds.  And by His wounds you are healed.

He has bound Himself to you, and He binds you to Himself, so that, where He is, you shall be also.  Thus are you crucified, dead, and buried with Him.  But His Cross does not destroy you; it makes you brand new.  And as you are crucified with Him, so are you also raised with Him: daily through the forgiveness of your sins, and at the last when your body shall be raised from the dead, immortal and glorious, perfected and imperishable, set free from every weakness, every sadness, every sin.

As He binds Himself to you, and you to Him, so does He also share with you His Ascension into heaven.  Thus are you seated with Him at the Right Hand of the Father in the heavenly places, hidden with Christ in God.  As He has ascended, so do you ascend in His Body and in His prayer.

And so it is that here, at His Altar in His House, is your place of prayer.  Here you are gathered by the riverside of Holy Baptism.  Here the Word of Christ Jesus is preached to you.  Here your sins are freely and fully forgiven.  Here you are set free.  Here you live and abide as a beloved child of God.  Here nothing at all shall harm you.  Death and the devil cannot have you.  Christ has you.

So this is your place of prayer, and in the Name of Christ you are heard.  In Jesus’ Name you pray, and you are answered with a loud and resounding “Yes” and “Amen” in His crucified and risen Body.  For in Him all things are yours in heaven and on earth, and there is nothing lacking.

Take courage, and be at peace.  Christ has overcome the world, and you are safe and sound in Him.

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

Born into the Kingdom of God by the Narrow Way of the Cross

The Lord Jesus Christ is the very Word of God in the Flesh.  He is the Word by whom all things are made, who has become true Man, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in order to obtain eternal Life for all the children of men.  And He alone has the Word of Life for you.

But the Word that Jesus has for you and yours, the Word that He speaks to you, is the Word of His Cross and suffering.  And that Word of the Cross is not simply hard for you to bear; it is not simply difficult for you to comprehend; it is impossible for you.  You cannot bear it or believe it, not by any reason or strength of yours, and not according to any of your own wisdom and experience.

It’s not enough for you to try harder, to study longer, to work smarter, or to pray more sincerely.  You cannot comprehend the Word of the Cross, just as you could not atone for your own sins or accomplish redemption and salvation for yourself or anyone else.  It’s not something you could ever do as a finite creature, far less as a fallen, sinful mortal.  Nor is it anything you would ever want or choose to do in your native sinfulness, but a burden you would rather flee at all costs.

It is the Holy Spirit who enables you to hear and receive and bear the Word of the Cross of Christ Jesus.  The Holy Spirit opens your heart and mind to comprehend it; and it is by His gracious work that you believe and trust it, love it, and cling to it for Life, although it sounds like death itself.

The Cross is not only the curse and consequence of sin — although it certainly is that.  The Cross is the culmination of all the pain and suffering that sin has caused within God’s good Creation.  It is the culmination of all the death and damnation that you and all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve have brought upon yourselves, from which you could never have set yourself free.  As such, left to yourself, you could not bear the Cross, because it would surely destroy you.

But the Cross is not only all of that.  It is also — and all the more so — the very Glory of God for the salvation of the world, as it is the means whereby the Lord God Himself, in the Person of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, suffered and died the curse and consequence that you and all people deserved.  He bore and comprehended the Cross, atoned for sin, and defeated death forever.

And so it is that, by and from the Cross of Christ Jesus — in and with His crucified and risen Body — the Holy Spirit is poured out upon you through the forgiveness of all your sins.  It all belongs together.  And it all comes to you from outside of yourself; otherwise you would never have it.

It is from His Cross that Christ Jesus hands over His Spirit; and in His Resurrection from the dead He then breathes that same Spirit upon His disciples — by and with the speaking of His Word of Absolution — whereby all your sins are taken away.  Your sins no longer accuse or condemn you, and the devil no longer has any charge to bring against you.  You are set free from sin and death.

The Holy Spirit breathes this forgiveness upon you from the Cross of Christ, from the crucified and risen Body of Christ Jesus.  And so, too, with that forgiveness He gives you Christ Jesus Himself.  Heaven itself would be void and bare if the Lord Jesus were not there.  But He is not only there; He is here, He is with you.  The Holy Spirit lays Him upon your heart through the Ministry of the Gospel, by the forgiveness of all your sins, unto faith and Life and eternal Salvation with God.

As you have heard this morning, the Holy Spirit brings you into this Life with God in Christ Jesus through the narrow and painful opening of His Cross and Passion.  As a disciple of the One who has been crucified for you and your transgressions, His Cross is now also laid upon you, that you should carry it after Him.  You are a student in the school of His Cross.  And that is for your good.  It is for repentance unto Life.  It is for the strengthening of your faith in Christ Jesus, your Savior.

By the way of the Cross you are taught — and so, by the way of the Cross, you learn — to die with your Lord: To die to yourself, to this world, and to your sin.  By the Cross you learn to die; and so, by the Word of the Cross — by the Word and Spirit of God in Christ, by His Gospel — you also learn to live with Christ Jesus: by faith in Him, and not by any of your own works and efforts.

It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  It’s not about making a life for yourself; it is rather a case of dying to yourself, in order to rise and really to live in and with Christ Jesus.

But think of how often you are tempted to suppose that you are making a life for yourself; that you are feeding yourself, clothing yourself, providing yourself with a home and shelter, insuring your life, establishing foundations, and building up a legacy to hand over to your descendants.

All such thinking is presumptuousness in the presence of God.  It is idolatry.  You cannot feed and clothe yourself, nor is it you who opens up your own hand to satisfy all your needs and desires.

So the Cross teaches you to trust in the only One who can save you, because the Cross makes plain that you cannot survive by any wisdom, reason, strength, or ingenuity of your own.  Indeed, there is this fragile precariousness to your life in this world, which daily reminds you of your weakness, of your utter inability to keep you and your family safe and secure.  Every surgery is a kind of death.  Every time you lay down to sleep, it is like a little burial.  Every goodbye is like a final departure.  And every birth includes a reminder of your sinful condition and your frail mortality.

Every day there is the chance of death.  Every breath you take and every moment of your life is by grace alone.  You did not give yourself life, and you cannot preserve it by anything within you.

The Cross towers over everything.  It encompasses the height and depth and width of your entire life in this world — and all of creation.  It fills every tiny detail, every nook and cranny.  And yet, that Cross is not laid upon you to crush and destroy you forever, but to teach you repentance, to teach you faith — to bring you to repentance and faith — so that you would not rely upon yourself, but find your comfort and your hope and your true joy in Christ Jesus alone, who by His Cross — by His death — has destroyed the reign of death and taken away the devil’s power over you.

And in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, He has turned your grief and mourning into great rejoicing, as He has brought about the New Creation in His own crucified and risen Body, and as He has opened up Paradise to you and to all who believe and are baptized in His Name.

You do not see it now, not with your own eyes.  There is no empirical evidence to prove it.  You have only the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus, your Savior.  But that is exactly what you need, as He teaches you by His Word and Holy Spirit to trust in Him, come hell or high water against you.

And by faith you do see Him in the Liturgy of His Gospel, in the waters of your Holy Baptism, in the preaching of His Word of forgiveness, and in His Body given and His Blood poured out for you and for the many, unto the Life everlasting.  You know that He speaks the Truth.  The Spirit Himself testifies by the Gospel that Jesus is the Truth, that He is the Way, and that He is the Life.

What is more, He beholds you.  He sees you in His love for you.  And He is with you always.

The Day will come, that great and glorious Day of the Resurrection of all flesh, when you will see Him with your own two eyes.  You will see Him, your crucified and risen Lord and God, your living Savior and Redeemer.  You will see Him from your own glorified and living body.  Even if your mortal body has died and returned to the dust whence it was taken, the Lord will raise it up again, and it will be glorious, immortal, and imperishable.  Then you shall see the Lord Jesus as He is, and you will be like Him in body, soul, and spirit, forever and ever.

No one can snatch you out of His hand, who loves you and gave Himself for you.  There is nothing in heaven or on earth that can take you away from Him or take away the joy that is yours in Him.

Now no more can death appall, now no more the grave enthrall.  For Christ has opened Paradise, and His saints in Him shall rise.  Alleluia!

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

The Safety and Security of Your Good Shepherd

How safe and secure are you feeling these days, little lamb of Jesus?  How well are you sleeping at night, and how peaceful are your days?  Are your heart and mind at ease, or anxious and afraid?

Aside from whatever particular concerns may be weighing upon your own situation — whether in your own head; in your home, within your household and family, or in your other relationships; in your mortal body of flesh and blood; on the job, or in your neighborhood — aside from all of that stuff, which presses upon you so close at hand, the national news doesn’t help much, does it?

Wars and rumors of war have rarely been more prevalent than they are right now, especially as the media makes them feel all the more imminent.  Political divisions, societal conflict, rancor, and harsh rhetoric are pervasive and increasing, along with the cost of pretty much everything.  And all of this on top of the fact that we are all still recovering from the burdens of the past two years.

In truth, there is nothing new under the sun; but there are times when all the darkness and dangers seem to accelerate, and whatever safety and security you may have imagined are shaken to pieces.  That is a good thing, actually, because it tears down your idols and shatters your false gods, lest you put your faith in mortal leaders and rulers and seek your salvation upon this perishing planet.

But now, take heart, little lamb!  Let repentance return you from the highways and byways to rest yourself in Jesus.  He is your true Savior and Good Shepherd, who guards you and protects you, who leads you and guides you, and who holds you in the palm of His hand forever and ever.

Your dear Lord Jesus loves you, and He knows you; not just your stats, your history and pedigree, but He knows you, your heart and mind, your body and soul, with an intimacy that goes beyond that of a husband for his wife or a mother for her child.  It is the loving knowledge of the One who created you; who formed you in the womb and fashioned your frame; who numbers the hairs on your head and all your days; who became like you, and bore your sin, and suffered your death and damnation, in order to raise you up from death to life, to recreate you in His Image and Likeness.

In His steadfast love and faithfulness — in His divine grace, mercy, and peace — He lays down His Life for you and all His sheep.  And with His Voice He calls you by name to follow Him.

So, that’s all great and wonderful!  But, if you stop and think about this, it does raise a couple or three questions and concerns.  For one thing, it’s all very noble and heroic, to be sure, but if the Shepherd lays down His life and dies, who’s left to care for the sheep?  What’s to become of them?  That situation is all the more urgent and compelling and seemingly precarious, given the call of the sheep to follow their Shepherd where He leads — since He is going to His death on the Cross.

Already you are surrounded, as He was then, with loud and demanding voices, both inside and out, competing with His own gentle Voice of the Gospel.  If He is the Christ, your Savior and Good Shepherd, then why doesn’t He tell you plainly?  Better yet, why doesn’t He show you clearly?  But instead, He confronts you with His Cross, which crucifies not only Him but you, as well.  And apparently without any care or concern, He permits the savage wolves to harass His little flock.

Honestly, the Words and promises of Christ Jesus appear to stand in contrast with — and even in contradiction to — the actual experience of His Christians and His Church in the world.  And to begin with, His own experience in the world, especially His death upon the Cross, does not appear to be very comforting or reassuring.  The fact that He is crucified makes Him rather dangerous!

The “theology of the Cross,” as we call it, is the hidden and mysterious revelation of the one true God in the hurt and humility of His Christ, the Crucified: First of all in Him, and then also in His Church, and so now in you.  But this theology of the Cross, because it is a divine Mystery, can only be understood and received in faith by those who belong to Christ Jesus and bear His Holy Spirit.

The Word of the Cross can only be recognized and believed by those who are the sheep of this Good Shepherd, Jesus; which comes about by His Voice of the Gospel, that is, by the preaching of His Word and by His Holy Spirit.  But you can neither hear nor comprehend His Word, except by the preaching of His Word; and you cannot receive or bear His Holy Spirit, except by His Holy Spirit.  That is a circle, which you cannot break into, but which the Father lays upon you in love.

Everything has already been accomplished and established for you by Christ Jesus Himself, the beloved and well-pleasing Son of the Father.  He and His Life, in His own human Flesh, His Body and His Soul, are safely and securely in the Father’s hand.  Knowing and trusting His Father, He lays down His Life for the sheep; and so does He take it up again by faith in His God and Father.

His death upon the Cross is the Sacrifice that atones for His sheep, and for the world, in order to rescue them from the wrath of God, from sin, death, the devil, and hell; to save them, indeed, from the real savage wolves that would otherwise devour them, not only here in time, but for eternity.

And in the Resurrection of His crucified Body of flesh and blood, He Himself becomes the true, divine, eternal Temple of God in heaven and on earth, both now and forever and ever.  So it is that His Cross and Resurrection are the true “Feast of Dedication” (that is, the true Hanukkah), which heretofore had celebrated the recovery and restoration of the “old” Temple in Jerusalem.

Jesus is the true Solomon.  He is the true Son of David, the Lord’s Anointed, the Wisdom of God in the Flesh, who reigns in love, with equity, justice, and righteousness in the midst of His City of Peace.  And with His Liturgy of the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, He is the true “Portico” of the Temple — that is to say, His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in heaven and on earth — wherein He spreads the Tabernacle of His own Flesh and Blood over His people, in order to shelter and protect them from the cold of winter and the heat of summer, from hunger, thirst, and pain.

You “see,” then, how, as in the beautiful 23rd Psalm, the Shepherd and His green pastures merge and coalesce with the Lord and His House and the cornucopia of Meat and Drink at His Table.

For Jesus Himself is not only the great High Priest, but also the Sacrifice and the Temple of God, as well as the sacrificial Meal, the Holy Communion of the Peace Offering that He has offered.  And so, too, He is not only the Lord, your Good Shepherd, but His own Body is the Sheepfold, in which you are kept safe and sound, even as you eat and drink at His Table and rest in His Peace.

It is, again, by His Word and His works that He calls you to Himself, to follow Him — through death into Life, into the green pastures of His Paradise, and to His Table in His House forever.

By the Voice of your Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ — by the preaching of the Gospel of His Cross — and so also by the fruits of His Cross — by the water from His wounded side, and by His Flesh and Blood, given and poured out for you and for the many — His God and Father pours out the Holy Spirit upon you, and unites you with Christ Jesus unto Life everlasting in body and soul.

So it is that you are among the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.  You are held in the palm of His hand, as Christ Himself is always in His Father’s hand, even when He is crucified, dead, and buried.  Therefore, no one and nothing shall ever be able to snatch you away from Him.

His Cross is the Rod and Staff by which He guards and guides you; not simply as a past historical event, but as the Gospel that is daily being preached to you for the forgiveness of all your sins.  He guards and protects you against the accusations of the devil and the condemnation of the Law, by the preaching of His Cross as your Atonement and His Resurrection as your Righteousness, Life, and Salvation.  So does He guide and bring you to His Father by this preaching of His Gospel.

The Good Shepherd causes His Voice to be proclaimed and His works to be administered in the Ministry of those whom He calls, ordains, and sends in His Name and stead.  So we heard in the case of St. Peter last Sunday, and so now today in the case of St. Paul and the pastors of Ephesus.  And so it continues in the case of your pastors, as it has and ever shall be done; so that, here within His Church, you are gathered around the Lord Jesus in His Temple, around the Lamb of God upon His Throne, to worship and adore the Crucified and Risen One, and to have Life in Him forever.

As you belong to Him — because He loves you, and He knows you by His grace, and He has given Himself for you, and He has risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity — so shall you also follow Him, even through the valley of the shadow of death, and even from out of the grave, into the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul with Him.

That, dear little lamb of Jesus, is your safety and security, come hell or high water against you.  For Christ Jesus Himself is your Sabbath Rest, even now in this poor life of labor; and He is your perfect Peace forever, such as this world could never give.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid; for you are in Christ, and you shall not perish forever, but shall have eternal Life.

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

The Lamb Upon His Throne in the Great Liturgy of His Gospel

There is one Divine Liturgy in heaven and on earth, whereby the true and only God loves you and serves you and gives to you His own divine Life and eternal Salvation.  And at the center of that Liturgy of the Gospel is the Lamb who has been slain — and yet, behold, He lives! — enthroned upon His Altar in the midst of all His people, who are holy and righteous by His grace.

He has all authority in heaven and on earth, because He is both Lord and Christ, this Jesus who was crucified; and He alone is worthy to receive all glory, honor, blessing, thanks, and praise.

But how shall you worship and adore Him?  With what works and worthiness?  Indeed, where and how shall you even be able to find Him and come to Him, to recognize and know Him as He is?

Do you know this Man?  That is a significant question.  And do you love Him more than everyone and everything else?  More than others do?  Are you brave enough and strong enough to follow Him to the Cross, to be arrested, and even to die for Him and with Him?  Will you then confess Him before the whole world, and call upon His Name at all times in prayer and thanksgiving?

Do you tend and care for His lambs and shepherd His sheep, as these are given you to love?  Or do you rather breathe violence, threats, and murder against His disciples in your zeal to please and impress God with your boldness and confidence, with your own works, and by your own wisdom?  Do you thereby persecute the Man, without even knowing who He is?  And are you thus kicking against the goads and flailing at the wind, instead of worshiping the Lamb upon His Throne?

Do you not love the praises of men?  Does it not make your heart soar to hear other people speak well of you, to congratulate you, compliment you, and say wonderful things about you?  Do you not likewise fear their disfavor more than you fear, love, and trust in God?  And do you therefore cower before the world and deny or disavow the Name of Christ Jesus in your words and actions, hiding behind your silence, or hiding your cowardice behind a false bravado and colorful curses?

You’ve been where Simon Peter was: Embarrassed and ashamed of yourself and your sins.  Eager to make amends, but frustrated and afraid of failure.  You try so hard to undo your past mistakes, to take back your careless words, to undo the hurt that you have caused; yet, you don’t really know how, nor even where to start.  You’re desperate to make a good impression, but you end up falling flat on your face.  You work day and night to get things right, and still you come up empty.

You’ve been where Saul of Tarsus was, too: Striving to please God, to serve Him like a champion, without even knowing how wrong you are and how much hurt and harm you are causing on the way — or even who it is that you are persecuting!  You trample down your neighbor in your zeal to get yourself to God, but all the while you are actually pursuing the path of perdition.

You’re stumbling around in the dark, a blind man trying to lead the blind — a walking dead man, really.  You’re anxious, at loose ends, not knowing quite what to do with yourself or your life.

If you’re honest with yourself, you know that you’re not worthy of Christ Jesus.  You have denied Him by your words and actions, instead of bearing His Cross with the confidence and courage of faith.  You have hurt those who are His own dear members; and with that, you have also wounded the Lamb, if not directly with your own hands and fists, then indirectly by your sins.

Yet, even so, stop your weeping, and do not be afraid.

It is true that you have not known this Man, Jesus.  You could not recognize Him, even if He were standing right there in front of you; nor have you loved Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  But this same Jesus, who was crucified, He has known you — and He loves you.

You have not called upon His Name, not as you should.  But He has called you by name.  Indeed, He has called you by His own Name, and He has thereby made you part of His own Family.

You have not confessed Him before men; and yet, He has confessed you before His Father in heaven.  More than that, He brings you to the Father by His grace, in and with Himself.

You could not find or locate Him, nor could you make your way to Him by any power of your own.  But He has come to you, and He still does.  He seeks you out in love, He finds you in peace, and He calls you gently to Himself; not that you should serve Him, but that He would serve you.

You have worked so hard, you have worried so much, but what have you accomplished?  Nothing.  You have nothing to show for all your own efforts and striving, do you?  Nothing that will last.  Nothing that will fill you up and feed you in body and soul.  Nothing that will save you in the end.

But here is Christ Jesus, the Lord, the Lamb of God who takes away your sins, with the Food He has provided and prepared for you, the Meat and Drink indeed by which you do not die but live.

Come, then; eat and drink.  The crucified and risen Lord Jesus reveals and gives Himself to you here in the Breaking of the Bread.  Thus do you know Him as He manifests Himself in this way.

And along with that, He shows you a more excellent way than the road you have been set upon.  For here in His House — at His Table, in His Supper — here is the Way of faith and love, the way of divine Life and divine worship.

And here is the Truth: Your love and worship of Christ Jesus are not located in what you do for Him or give to Him, but first of all in what He says and does and gives to you.  His glory and honor and blessing and power and might are found in His grace, mercy, and peace; in His forgiveness and salvation of sinners; in His Redemption and Sanctification of Creation by and with His Blood.

His glory and honor and blessing and power and might are not in what He receives from man, nor in His being served, but rather in what He gives by His grace and in His serving, in His Liturgy.

Your love and worship, therefore, do not reside in what you give to Him, but they originate in what you receive from Him: The washing of the water with His Word, whereby you are cleansed and clothed with His righteousness; the free gift of His Spirit by the Gospel, whereby you are made new and alive; and the Food and Drink of His great Feast, whereby your fasting is finally ended.

Now, then, do you love Him who so loves you and serves you and feeds you and provides for you?

Then stop your weeping, have no fear, and do not worry.

You need not work so hard for Jesus, nor must you try so hard to please Him and impress Him.  It doesn’t work that way, in any case.  But He is already pleased with you!  Delighted, in fact.

So, instead of trying to accomplish for yourself what He has already done for you and given to you, receive and rely upon His good gifts and graces, and love Him in return by loving and serving your neighbor, the one who is close at hand.  Invest your efforts there, and work at that way of life.

Instead of ignoring, neglecting, or trampling your neighbor in your rush to get yourself to God, stride forward in the strength and confidence and freedom of faith in Christ Jesus.  And living by His grace and mercy, so feed and clothe and care for your neighbor in His Name and for His sake.

Such love for your neighbor is also an exercise of divine worship; for you love and serve your neighbor as the Lord Jesus loves and serves you.  Such love is a sacrifice and a way of suffering for others, whereby Christ is glorified in you, and you are glorified in Him.

Sometimes it is the Cross that you are given to bear and carry for those who are weak, exhausted, or wounded in various ways.  Sometimes it is what you suffer and give up for love’s sake, rather than insisting on your own way, or catering to your own feelings, or working to serve yourself.  You serve your neighbor in love, at your own expense, because you know and trust that Christ Jesus serves you.  And sometimes that means covering your neighbor’s sins and forgiving them for mercy’s sake, not holding your neighbor’s trespasses against him, but simply letting them go.

In all of these ways you glorify God as a disciple of Christ Jesus, from the waters of your Baptism, even unto death — even if you are girded and bound and hauled off to be murdered, or put in prison, or whatever else may happen to you here on earth — knowing that your life is with Christ.

And all the while that you are being poured out in love for your neighbor, you are being presented by Christ to God the Father; for He is your great High Priest, and He is the Sacrifice of Atonement, and He Himself is the sweet-smelling Incense of your prayer, in whom you also arise and ascend into heaven, into the Holy of Holies made without hands.  You are hidden with Christ in God.

Not only there and then in the “great by-and-by,” not only “somewhere over the rainbow,” but already here and now by faith in Christ Jesus, by His Gospel, by His grace — here in the Temple of His Church on earth, on the shoreline, not far away at all — you have life with God in Christ.

If you have jumped off the boat, or fallen off the boat, return to this glorious shore by the waters of your Baptism; they remain for you here, as surely as they have been given to Gregory this very morning; and those gracious waters still avail for you, because they are permeated with the Blood of Christ, with His work and His good gifts.  And if you remain in this little boat — even if you are scared or confused, even if you are hurting or sad, even if you have committed so many sins over this past week and this very morning — the Lord is not far away from you; He is very near, a very present help for all your troubles.  Here He calls you to repentance, not that you must save yourself, but that you should receive His great Salvation.  Here He grants His hospitality to you.

And because the Lord Jesus is here with you and for you, so are you truly gathered with saints and angels and all the company of heaven.  That great host is here with you, because Christ is here with you; and you are with them in the same Lord Jesus Christ.  With the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders, the four holy Evangelists and the blessed Apostles and Prophets, and the noble army of martyrs, you are gathered in the presence of the Lamb upon His Throne, upon His Altar.

Worship Him with your body and soul, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your spirit and strength.  Worship Him by way of the works that He performs for you, by receiving the gifts He gives to you, and by the worthiness with which He adorns you.  Bend your knee at the Name of Jesus, and bow your head to the great God and Father, even as you bow your heart before Him — in humility, yes, but all the more so in the confidence of His mercy and His great Salvation.

Worship Him, not because He needs your worship, but because He is your Lord and your God.  He is your Life and Light and Salvation.  He has become your New Song and your constant Prayer.

He is worthy of such worship, because He is your Savior, and He has all authority in heaven and on earth — authority which He uses to forgive you all your sins and to give you His own Life.

My son, my daughter, be of good cheer: Your sins are forgiven.

Beloved disciple of Christ Jesus, it is the Lord who stands here on the shore for you.  And see here, He has made a Meal for you with His own hands: His own Flesh and Blood, that of the Lamb who was slain — and yet, behold, He lives forevermore.  Come, dear child of God!  Eat and drink, without money and without price.  The night is far spent, and the eternal Eighth Day here breaks and dawns upon you in Christ Jesus, who is your Sabbath Rest forever and forevermore.

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

Fellowship with God in the Wounded Body of Christ Jesus

We believe and confess one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic Church, because it is by the Apostles, first of all, that Christ Jesus establishes His Church on earth, and speaks to her in Peace, and gives Himself to those whom He has called to Himself by their preaching.  He sends them in His Name and stead, with the power and authority that He has received from the Father, with the Keys of His own Cross and Resurrection, in order to set free the prisoners from the prison house of sin and death, and to open the Kingdom of God to all who believe and are baptized into Him.

As He has been sent by the Father and anointed by the Spirit in His own Body of flesh and blood, so does He pour out the same Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, and He sends them to bestow the Spirit upon the Church through the preaching of His Word of Holy Absolution.  That Apostolic Ministry of the Gospel continues, even to the close of the age, in the Ministry of your pastors, who preach and teach the Word of Christ, baptize and absolve in His Name, and administer the Holy Communion in remembrance of Him, in accordance with “the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship.”

It is by the eyewitness testimony of the Apostles — including that of St. Thomas — that you are called and brought to faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, in order that, believing, you may have life in His Name.  Blessed are those men who saw what the Prophets longed to see, and who looked upon the Mystery of the Word-made-Flesh, which even the holy angels had so long desired to look into.  And blessed are you who receive their preaching of Christ Jesus, for by that Apostolic Word you share their fellowship with Him, and with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  By the faithful Word of those who saw and touched the Body of Christ Jesus, you are made a member of His Body, and you abide in Him with one another in peace and love.

Even so, take note that the holy Apostles were not strong, confident, and believing by any reason or strength of their own, but by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  Thomas was not the only doubter among them.  In fact, they all doubted to begin with, until the Lord showed to them His hands and feet and wounded side.  It wasn’t simply doubt or skepticism but unbelief that plagued them.

Now, then, think of yourself on both sides of that situation:

If you doubt something and don’t believe it, you can’t simply choose to believe it.  You can’t will yourself to believe differently than you do.  It is possible to be convinced and convicted of this or that, by one means or another, depending on the circumstances; but apart from such a conversion you can’t just decide to trust and take to heart what you doubt.

And when you have such doubts — whether about friendship or love, or perhaps about Christ Jesus and His Word — then you have no real peace and calm, but fear, frustration, and anxiety.

On the other side of it, if someone else doubts you and your word and refuses to believe you, that can also be very frustrating and exasperating.  Perhaps you become impatient and angry in such situations — although that doesn’t help your credibility, and it doesn’t help the doubter, either.

But the gracious Lord Jesus does not lose sight of His goal and purpose.  He is not moved by pride or ego, but by His own divine love and mercy.  His desire is to give life and peace and fellowship, to bring you into fellowship with Himself, and to unite you with Himself within His holy Body.

His love and His faithfulness are forever; so He is patient and kind, long-suffering, slow to anger, and abounding in gracious compassion.  Even His “scolding” is gentle, that you not be frightened or shamed but embraced by His love.  He is not harsh or mean.  He does not berate His disciples or cast them away from His presence; nor does He leave them alone in their doubts and fears.  But He is merciful in coming to His disciples and opening Himself to them.

Consider what it means that He reveals Himself to the disciples, including St. Thomas in particular — He makes Himself known to them — specifically by the means of His wounded hands and side.  And consider carefully that He is not simply recognized as Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, but in those wounds He is recognized, confessed, and worshiped as the Lord, the one true God.

Is this not striking and seemingly ironic, that the Lord our God should be seen in His wounds?

But this is exactly right.  It is meet, right, and salutary; because this is the sort of God you have.  He has given Himself as a Lamb for His people, a Lamb that has been slain, and yet, behold, He lives.  He has passed through the deep waters for His people, on their behalf, going ahead of them, in order to bring them through on dry ground.  From His pierced and wounded side He has washed His people with pure water, and He has cleansed and covered them with His holy, precious Blood, so that death has to leave them alone, and doubt must finally let go of them.

So it is that, with His Body and His Blood, He gathers His disciples to Himself and grafts them into His wounded side, that they may have Life in Him.

That is why, even in His Resurrection, His glorified Body still bears the wounds of His Passion.  There is no shame in those wounds; they are His great glory as the Lord, our Savior and our God.  This apparent weakness is actually His strength and His great salvation for you and all people.

And if the Body of Christ Jesus thus bears the wounds of His Holy Cross, do not be dismayed that the members of His Body bear His Cross and are wounded in various ways in this body and life.

Do not despise your wounded brothers and sisters in their weakness, doubts, and fears.  If anyone says that He loves Jesus, whom he cannot see, but hates his brother whom he does see, he is a liar.  You see Christ Jesus in your brother and sister, especially in your wounded brother and sister; for it is by His wounds that He reveals Himself and makes Himself known to you.

And do not despair if you yourself are wounded, whether in body or soul, heart, mind, or spirit.  For the Lord Jesus has made such wounds His own, in order to heal you by His death and make you whole in His Resurrection from the dead.  Do not be unbelieving, but believing and at peace.

Take courage from the example of St. Thomas, who is finally remembered in the Church, even to the end of the age, not as “doubting Thomas,” but as one of the holy Apostles.  Each and all of them were raised up from their doubts and fears to confidence and courage, and they were called and sent by Christ Jesus in His Name, not because of their flawless strength and impeccable stats, but even in the frailty and weakness of their mortal flesh, in order that the glory of Christ the Crucified might be manifested in such wounded hands and feet as these preachers of His Gospel.

The wounded members also belong to the one Body of Christ.  And so do all of you belong to one another in Him.  You are fitted and joined together in love, in the unity of faith and the knowledge of God’s Son, that you might share each other’s strengths and weaknesses, wounds and scars, in peace — under one Head, crowned with thorns — who is Christ Jesus, your Lord and your God.

If your fellow members of His Body are not with you in the gathering of His disciples, seek them out, speak to them in love, and invite them in.  That is what the other disciples did for Thomas; although he doubted their word, they spoke to him nonetheless, and perhaps that is why he was there the next Sunday, instead of being elsewhere on his own.  Your words may not convince your brother or sister of anything, but bring them with you, anyway, to the Upper Room of the Church.

It is here, in the Liturgy of His Gospel, that Christ Jesus is with you, in your midst; and so is it here that His Peace is with you.  Receive His Holy Spirit in His Holy Absolution of all your sins.  And do not be afraid, for He is here with you and for you in love.  Even His preaching of the Law is a gentle scolding, which does not drive you away but invites you to hide yourself in His wounds.

Reach here with your hand.  Take, eat, drink.  Taste and see that the Lord is good, and that He is risen indeed.  Oh, come let us worship Him, our Lord and our God, and give to Him all thanks and praise, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Living and Abiding in the Friendship of Christ Jesus

Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, has come by the Water of His Baptism, by the Blood of His Cross and Passion, and with His Spirit by the Gospel, in order to love you and abide with you.  He has come to befriend you — that His joy may be in you, and that your joy should be made full in Him, no longer driven to and fro by covetous desire, but content and at peace in His friendship.

His joy is found in faith and love, as He always abides in His Father’s Love for Him.  He trusts His Father’s Word and promises, and so He has kept His Father’s commandments from the Waters of His Baptism to His Blood shed on the Cross.  He went to His death in the hope of the Resurrection.

And the Father loves Him faithfully, forever and always.  He has raised Him up again and poured out the Spirit upon Him, so that His risen and glorified Body is the Fruit of the Cross that remains.

You, then, abide in His Love, and avail yourself of His Love for you in the Liturgy of His Gospel.  Rest yourself in His Love for you by trusting His Word and promises to you — from your Baptism even to your death.  And, so also, keep His commandment.  Love one another, as He loves you.

He has called you His friend.  And what does that mean?  He has made you a member of His own household and family, a comrade within His inner circle.  He has made you His own brother in the fullest sense of that word.  So does He make common cause with you.  He bears your burdens as though they were His very own; and He lays down His life for you, in order to spare you and save you from death and the grave.  That is the height of genuine friendship, as even the ancient pagans were able to understand in their own way.  But now the Lord Himself has called you His friend.  He values you and your life with His own Life, and He thereby makes you equal to Himself.

He loves you with His Father’s Love for Him.  And consider what a remarkable thing that is — that God the Son should love you with the very Love that God the Father has for Him.  But that is the case.  Everything that Christ Jesus, the beloved Son, has heard and received from His Father, He speaks, reveals, and gives to you by the Ministry of His Gospel.  He is not selfish or greedy.  He does not horde or hide His stuff from you.  He does not argue and fight to take anything away from you, or to keep anything to Himself.  But whatever is His own, whatever belongs to Him, He shares with you, also.  From the fullness of His joy He pours out Himself and His Life for you.

As He Himself has come in the Flesh to save you by the Water, by the Blood, and with the Holy Spirit, so does He now give Himself to you by the Water, by the Blood, and with the Holy Spirit.

He preaches Peace by His Gospel of forgiveness.  He calls you to repentance and to faith, that you might receive and rejoice in what He gives you freely by His grace.  He pours out His Spirit upon you with the new language of His Cross and Resurrection, with the speaking of His Atonement.

He speaks of your Redemption by the Word of His Cross, and it is so.  He declares you righteous by the Word of His Resurrection.  He sanctifies you with the Spirit by the preaching of His Gospel.

He preaches the Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And to you who are baptized, He calls you back to the waters of your Baptism, that is, not to be re-baptized, but to contrition and repentance, to confession and absolution — to be cleansed by the One who loves you to the end.

As He has made you His disciple by His Word and Holy Spirit, by Holy Baptism and ongoing catechesis in His Name, so does He invite you to eat and drink with Him in His Resurrection from the dead — and not only to eat with Him, but to eat His Body given and drink His Blood poured out — that He should thus abide in you, and you abide in Him, body and soul, now and forever.

He thereby fills you up with the fulness of His joy.  Indeed, He fills you up with Himself, with His Flesh and Blood, His Body, Soul, and Spirit.  Thus do you overflow with His divine and holy joy, in much the same way that His Chalice overflows with His grace and great salvation for you and for the many.  You overflow with His joy in the Father and the Holy Spirit, and you pour yourself out in love for others — in love for your neighbors — whom you befriend with the Love of Jesus.

Thus do you keep His commandment to love one another, as the Lord Jesus loves you.

His commandment is not burdensome.  It is not a command of the Law, as it were, in the sense that you should make yourself righteous by keeping it.  Nor is it the command of a master to his slave, as though you were shackled and chained and compelled to obey, under threat of punishment.

His commandment is rather that of a close friend and confidant, the word of a comrade in arms, like soldiers communicating with each other as they execute maneuvers, each serving his own role.  Like teammates coordinating a play on the field or the court.  If you threw a pass to your teammate, or kicked a pass in soccer, can you imagine your teammate regarding that pass as some kind of law, as a burden?  No, not at all!  So, again, this commandment of Jesus is more like musicians playing in tune, in harmony with each other — like dancers moving together with beauty and grace, one of them leading with confidence, the other following his lead with poise — or like partners, first planning and then putting into practice some great endeavor or some grand adventure.

His commandment is that you should be with Him, and that you should be and do like Him.  For He has befriended you, and He would have you be His friend.  Not because He needs your help.  He does not offer you a contract or a bargain.  He befriends you solely for the sake of His Love.

He has already done and accomplished everything on your behalf.  But now, in His Love, not only does He give you this great work of His by grace; He actually draws you into His life and work, that you should live and abide in Him and work with Him.  He first of all gives you all the credit for His work, and He gives you all the benefit and profit of His work, as though you had done it.  And now He works in you and through you, that you should bear good fruits after His own kind.

He has chosen you in love.  He has called you His friend.  And He has appointed you to go and do likewise for your neighbor — that is, to befriend your neighbor within your own calling and station in life, that you might show yourself to be a friend of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, this isn’t anything like a “friendship” on Facebook or any other social media platforms — though many of us are active on social media, and to be sure, those arenas can also become a part of all that we’re talking about here.  It is possible to love and serve your neighbors and to nurture your relationships in those forums.  But in the main, the friendship of Jesus is quite different.

His friendship is not a case of self-promotion or a popularity contest.  It is, rather, a true friendship of self-giving and self-sacrifice for others.  That is the way Jesus has befriended you, and that is the way that you are to love and befriend your neighbors.  It’s not a matter of begging or expecting others to do this or that for you, but simply doing for your neighbor.  It is coming alongside your neighbor, in order to share and carry his burdens.  It is spending your life in love for your neighbor, not because she has been “friendly” to you, but in order to befriend her.  It is making friends by being a friend, not emotionally, but actively; not for the sake of some “return on your investment,” but from the overflowing fulness of joy in Christ Jesus, in the peaceful contentment of His Love.

Friends of God, let His Love have its way with you, and so love one another, as He is loving you.

Abide in His Love by resting in His Gospel.  That is a kind of active passivity, by which you avail yourself of His means of grace, His free gifts.  Listen to His preaching.  Remember your Baptism, and return each day to the dying and rising that He shares with you and works in you by His Word and Spirit.  Eat His Body and drink His Blood, as He serves you here at His Table in His House.

Pray to the Father in His Name.  Pray in the confession of His Name, that is, according to the Word and promise that He has spoken to you.  Pray in the faith and confidence of your Baptism into Him.

Abide in His Love by living and working within your own office and station, in the confidence of His calling and His faithfulness — as Christ Jesus Himself also went forward from His Baptism in the Jordan River to His Cross and Passion, in the Way of Life His Father laid out before Him.

Live in the sure and certain confidence of your Father’s Word and promise, who has called you His own beloved and well-pleasing child.  Know that the work He has given you to do is pleasing in His sight, and it is productive, accomplishing His purposes; for He is with you in that work, which He Himself has prepared for you and given you.  Your labors in the Lord are not in vain.  There is meaning and a point to it all, and the fruits of your good works remain forever in Christ Jesus.

Live in the confidence of His grace, mercy, and forgiveness.  For not only does He fill up whatever is lacking and make amends for whatever is amiss, but He also freely and fully removes all of your sins and failings.  He does not hold your faults against you, nor does He even consider them at all.  He rather cleanses you of all unrighteousness by the Water, Blood, and Spirit of His Passion.

Live, therefore, in the confidence that your God and Father loves you for the sake of His beloved Son, Christ Jesus.  He does not cast you away from His presence, but He hears and answers your prayers and provides for all your needs.  Always there is the loud and resounding “Amen!” of the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead.  So does the Lord save you, according to His mercy.

Live in the confidence, which is your sure and certain hope, that He will raise you up — day by day and always and forever.  The One who promises is faithful, and He will do it.  Because you also are among the good fruits that Christ Jesus bears by the Tree of His Cross; and so it is that you shall remain forever in His own Resurrection from the dead, abiding in Him as He abides in you.

That is the testimony, the pledge, and the gift of His Water, His Blood, and His Spirit, which He pours out upon you here, and into you, body and soul, for the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.

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

Living and Abiding in the Living and Life-Giving Vine

From the beginning, Man has had an intimate connection to the dirt, to the soil, and to the produce of the soil.  Not only did God form the first Man, Adam, from the dust of the ground, but He then placed the Man and his wife in the midst of the Garden of Eden to tend it and care for it.  The Lord made Man in His own Image and Likeness and gave him dominion over the earth to manage and subdue it, to bring forth fruits of various and sundry kinds to the glory of the Holy Triune God.

God is not an entrepreneur, and He’s not out to make a living for Himself.  He creates all things, and He still preserves them, not to gain something for Himself, but rather to give Life and to share Himself with His own creatures for the sake of His divine and holy Love.  He does not need Man to feed Him, but He feeds Man, and He opens up His hand to feed and nurture every living thing.  But in His grace and mercy He creates and calls Man to share in His glory by the bearing of good fruits and by the giving of life to others.  So has He created you to live and bear good fruits in Him.

You live by faith in Him, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Thus do you receive His Life and His Love in yourself.  And relying on Him, you bear the fruits of His Love and share His Life with your neighbors.  That is the good and gracious Life for which the Lord your God has created you.

But there is a problem.  The soil has been cursed because of Man’s sin.  The Fall of Adam & Eve has had consequences, not only for them and all their children, but for the earth itself, the ground from which they were taken.  All of Creation suffers as a consequence of Man’s rebellion and sin.

The soil is cursed, and it does not easily bring forth plants.  It requires hard work, the sweat of your brow and blisters on your hands.  The Garden and the Vineyard are choked by weeds and thorns and thistles.  The earth is polluted, the sun is beclouded, and the rain is too much or too little.  The plants and the people produce more foliage than fruit, and though they might look impressive, they do little or no good.  The fruits of the Vineyard are rather wild and sour, idolatrous, and selfish.

Where God, the great Gardener, works to give Life and feed Man, Man works and competes and struggles and strives to feed himself and to horde whatever he gets.  Instead of the Life and Love of God for which you are created, there is the so-called “law of the jungle.”  Everything is amok.

Consequently, because the Lord your God is a good Gardener and He desires His Vineyard to live and grow and thrive, He cultivates the Vineyard and prunes the branches.  He removes whatever is detrimental, harmful, and unproductive, and He provides all that is needed for a fruitful Life.

But who, or what, or where is the Vine that can survive the curse and consequences of sin?  Where is the Vine that can thrive in the cursed soil, among the weeds and thorns?  And where is the Vine that can survive the Father’s pruning?  Where is the Vine that shall not be cast off and burned?

It is only in Christ Jesus, the true Vine, that the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts shall survive and flourish and bring forth the good fruits that He intends to the praise and glory of His Holy Name.

Christ Jesus is the one true Vine, the true and perfect Man.  And His Father has planted Him in the midst of the wilderness, in the midst of the desert, in the midst of all the weeds and thorns.  He has been planted as a Seed into the ground, crucified, dead, and buried.  And as a Seed He has sprung forth from the earth, He has risen from the dead, a vital and productive Vine, surging with Life and bearing good Fruits, that the entire Vineyard should thrive with divine Life and holy Love in Him.

He has suffered the pruning, the cutting away, and the casting aside, but He has prevailed.  He has remained faithful and fruitful in the face of it all.  He has proceeded in faith, trusting His Father in all things, even unto death.  And He has proceeded in Love for His Father, for you, and for all.

Thus has He gone to His death, and thus was He planted in the dust of the earth.  And so has He been vindicated in His Resurrection, because He is the Righteous One.  He rises from the earth, and He is strong, and He is mighty, and He is full of “Sap” that flows with the very Life of God — for you and for all.  You have Life because you have been grafted into Him, into His Body.

Abide in Him, therefore, by faith in His Word, as He abides in you with His Gospel — and so bear good fruits in Him; for apart from Him you can do nothing.  But understand the order of things.

You do not become a branch of the Vine by bearing fruit.  You bear fruit as you are a branch of the Vine.  It cannot work otherwise.  It is the Vine that produces and brings forth His fruits in you.

You can’t bring a dead branch to life by purchasing clusters of grapes from the store and somehow tying them on.  But as a branch abides in the living Vine, it has life in itself and so bears fruit.  That is how it is for you, as well.  Apart from Christ Jesus, no amount of working and striving, no matter how impressive, will bring you to life.  But as you live and abide in Him, He lives in you.

Everything depends on His Word and the preaching of it, as in the case of the Ethiopian Eunuch, on his way home from the Feast in Jerusalem.  He has a portion of the Holy Scriptures, the Prophet Isaiah, and he is reading intently.  Yet, by himself he cannot understand what he is reading.  So the Spirit of Christ Jesus sends one of His messengers, one of His ministers of the Word, to explain the Scriptures to that man, to preach Jesus to him, and to baptize him in the Name of the Lord.

So it is by the preaching of His Word that Christ Jesus comes and abides with you; and it is by the hearing of His Word, by faith in His Word, that you abide in Him.  It is His Word that does it all.

It is by His Word — by the washing of the water with His Word — that you are grafted into Him in your Holy Baptism; and just like that Ethiopian, you are crucified, dead, and buried with Christ.  You also are a seed, planted in the ground.  And you also share His Resurrection.  You also surge from the earth.  You also grow and mature and live and are fruitful, because with that washing of the water with His Word — by that Holy Baptism — you are in Christ, and you are a new creation.

He has made all things new by His own Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead.  For His own Body, crucified and risen, is the Firstfruits of the New Creation.  And you also belong to that New Creation, as you are baptized into His death and so also share His Resurrection and His Life.

As His Word was at work there in the waters of your Baptism to raise you up to newness of Life, so His Word daily returns you to the significance of your Holy Baptism.  Daily His Word “waters” you with the Life-giving Rain of the Holy Spirit, so that you do not wither, waste away, and die, but by His grace you continue to live, to thrive, and to grow in the Vine.

You are already clean by the Word that Christ Jesus has spoken to you.  His Word of Absolution has not been a lie.  Your sins are forgiven.  Still, He speaks the Gospel to you, that day by day He may “wash your feet” and “water your soil” and sustain you in His Body and Life; that you might not be fruitless but fruitful; that you might live by faith in Him and in love toward your neighbor.

Your God and Father cares about you, and His desire is that you would live and thrive in His Son, Christ Jesus.  To that end, He does prune you.  With His Word of the Law He exposes your sin and cuts it out of your life.  Although that is painful, He does not aim to hurt or destroy you.  He would rather remove the clutter and open you up to the Life that He bestows through His gracious Gospel.

It is by and with and in His Word and Ministry of the Gospel that the Life of Christ Jesus flows into you.  For the Gospel is the forgiveness of all your sins, whereby everything is accomplished.  Nothing any longer stands in the way of the Life that you would have in Christ Jesus, as you are filled up with the vitality — the life and health and strength — of His Resurrection from the dead.

It is likewise by His Word that the same Lord Jesus Christ gives you the nourishment of His own good Fruits — the Fruits of the true Vine — His Body, crucified, risen, and given to you; and His holy, precious Blood, shed for you upon the Cross, and poured out for you to drink in His Supper.  So your body also is given life, and your body also is grafted into the Body of Christ Jesus, as you eat His Body and drink His Blood in faith and with thanksgiving.  Your body also is redeemed and sanctified for the Resurrection and the Life everlasting with the Holy Triune God in Paradise.

So does He abide in and with you, and you abide in and with Him, heart, mind, body, and soul.  And so do you bear good fruits to the glory of His Name, not only in your heart and mind, but in your words and actions, in holy faith and holy love.  You pray, praise, and give thanks.  You confess His Word and call upon His Name.  And you move to help your neighbors in their need.

In faith and love you worship God.  You go up to the true Jerusalem of His Church, to worship the Lord your God at the Feast of Christ Jesus, who is both your Good Shepherd and the true Passover Lamb of God — and not only that, but also the one true Vine in whom the entire Vineyard of the Lord lives and bears abundant fruit.  You worship Him from the heart, you prostrate your body and life before Him in the humility of repentance and the confidence of faith.  You lay hold of Him in faith and love in the Liturgy of His Gospel, and you rest yourself in Him who gives Himself to you.

It is not only with your heart and mind, but with your lips and your whole body that you worship Him, as you are able.  So have Christians from the start always done things with their bodies in the Liturgy, in prayer and devotion.  So, for example, you fold your hands when you pray, and you make the sign of the Cross upon your forehead and your heart, as you received in Holy Baptism.  You stand in the presence of God to praise His holy Name, and you kneel in reverence before Him as He comes to serve you with His forgiveness and to feed you with His Body and His Blood.  Such things are not necessary.  You will not make yourself righteous by doing any of these things.  You are already righteous, as you are already clean, by faith in the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  But in such ways your body participates in your confession of the faith and in your worship of the Lord.

Much the same thing is true with respect to love for your neighbor.  The fruits of love toward God also flow in love toward your neighbor, not only in the words that you speak, but also in tangible deeds of kindness and charity.  With your body, redeemed and sanctified by Christ Jesus, and fed upon His Body and His Blood, you love and serve your neighbor in his or her bodily needs.

This is how the Vineyard bears the good Fruits of the true Vine.  And this is how you, one of His branches, live in faith and love and bring forth the Fruits of Him who has become your Savior.

It is ever and always His Word that actually produces these Fruits in you, in your body and life, in your words and actions.  His Word produces these good Fruits in you because it is by this Word that your God and Father loves you and bestows His Life-giving Holy Spirit upon you in Christ Jesus.  It is by and with His Word that He gives you Himself, His Life and health, His strength and vitality, because it is by and with His Word that He forgives you all of your sins.

His Word is likewise the scaffolding and trellis upon which the branches of the Vine may grow.  For His Word is your Light upon your path, and it shows you the way in which you are to go.  His Law does not bring forth fruits; His Gospel does that, Christ does that.  But His Law guides those works of faith and love that He brings forth in you according to His good and gracious Will.

His Word enlightens before you the path by which Christ Himself has gone ahead of you in faith and love.  It is the path of compassion and great kindness, of long-suffering patience, slowness to anger, ready mercy, and free forgiveness.  Above all, it is the path of forgiveness in Christ Jesus, whereby you have Life and Salvation in body, soul, and spirit, and you forgive others in turn.

By the grace of God, by His Word and Holy Spirit, as a branch of the true Vine, abiding in Christ Jesus, you bear good Fruits after His own kind to the glory of His Holy Name and for the benefit of the neighbors He has placed alongside of you in this body and life.  For it is by Him, in Him, and with Him that you live, as surely as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns eternally.

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