Today this Scripture Is Fulfilled in Your Ears

It is an audacious claim that Jesus makes, not only for the people of Nazareth way back then, but also for you, right here and now. It is a claim concerning Himself, His Person, and His work as the Messiah, as well as a bold assertion concerning the preaching of His Word, that is, the Voice of the Lord which proceeds from His gracious lips and from the mouth of His servants into your ears.

By this Word of Christ — not simply a Word about Him, but the Word that He continues to speak to and for His Church — by this Word the most amazing things are done for you and given to you. But apart from this Word, there is neither life nor light, nor any hope or help for you.

By way of example, consider what great things and what tremendous benefits the washing of water with the Word of Christ does for you and gives to you and to your children in Holy Baptism. It works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this — all of this by the power and authority of His Word. Without His Word, it would be water only and not the Life-giving Baptism that it is. But by and with the Word of Christ, your Holy Baptism makes of you a living member of His Body, the Church, on earth as it is in heaven.

It is a pleasant and agreeable thing to hear and receive such lovely Gospel Words and promises, which are most certainly true. And yet, there is a problem: Your sinful heart does not believe and trust this Holy Gospel, for one thing, nor are you satisfied by these gracious Words that enter your ears and fall upon your body and life from the lips of your dear Lord, Jesus Christ.

His promises sound too good to be true as He speaks of deliverance, freedom, safety, and security in the Land of God. So you are skeptical and cynical to begin with. But patient you are not. For you covet and crave more tangible benefits than you have yet seen or held in your hands, and you would much prefer to have the promises of the Lord in your body and life right now, instead of waiting for the Resurrection of your body to the Life everlasting on the other side of the grave.

Meanwhile, your fallen flesh, your sinful heart and mind delude you to suppose that, in contrast to others, you actually deserve to have what you want by some right or rationality of “fairness,” despite the fact that for your sins you deserve nothing but punishment. The Lord does not owe you anything. But in defensiveness and desperation, you get angry, build up a big old head of steam, and become hostile toward the Lord and everyone around you when others appear to be receiving what you want for yourself. Such covetous desire is the root of all temptation and sin.

The same thing happens when it comes to the Church on earth. How often do you hear comments and complaints about what the Church ought to be like, what it should be and do, and how it should make you feel. Comparison and competition with the world are the ruling standard.

How many other such questions and criticisms go unspoken, perhaps within your own thoughts and feelings when you’re not hearing what you want to hear or getting what you want to get? It’s not for me to get inside your head or your heart, but ask yourself whether you are content with the Word of Christ and the gift and promise of His Gospel. Or do you covet what He does not give and resent the neighbor who appears to have what you do not? Are you jealous of Capernaum? Or of that other congregation with more people, more money, more of this, or maybe less of that? Such envy and jealousy will poison your heart and mind against the Lord Jesus and His gracious Gospel.

Truth be told, there are as many differing opinions as to how the Church on earth should be as there are people in the world shopping around for the savior and the sort of salvation that suits them. But there’s no real safety or security in that. No divine Wisdom or divine Life in it, either.

But the dear Lord Jesus bestows what only He can give, according to His good and gracious will, where and when and how it pleases Him, solely by the way and the means of His Word and the preaching of it. He does His mighty works and establishes the Kingdom of God here on earth, not by any might or cleverness of man — far less by any greed or grasping of man — but by the Cross that He first of all bears and then lays upon His disciples, and by the promise of His Resurrection, the surety of your own resurrection, which you cannot see but can only believe.

So, how shall you respond to this preaching of Jesus? Will you receive Him and embrace Him as your Savior on His terms, and rejoice in His divine Life and eternal salvation, although He comes to you and deals with you by and with the Cross? Or will you insist on your own way, on your own expectations, on your own pride and selfishness and greed, and drive the Lord Jesus away?

Oh, to be sure — and make no mistake about it — your unbelief, your sinful rejection, and your rebellion against Jesus will not thwart Him or prevent Him from accomplishing His great salvation. As surely as He has become Man, has sacrificed Himself once for all upon the Cross, has risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, so surely will His Name be hallowed, His Kingdom come, and His Will be done. The only real question is, what will become of you?

How often shall you throw Him out — if not bodily, then by your attitude, and by your words and actions — before He simply passes through your midst like water through your hands and moves on to others, leaving you with nothing but your bitter resentment, to languish and die in your sins?

Take care, then, how you hear and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as He comes to you and speaks to you. Repent of your sinful unbelief, your covetous lust, and your angry rejection of His Word. Do not insist on your own wants and your own way, but rejoice in His gracious Voice and give thanks that He comes to you in Peace to atone for your sins and to reconcile you to God forever. Repent of all your sins, and find your help and hope and life in the preaching of His Gospel.

It is instructive to contrast the response of Nazareth to the preaching of Jesus with the response of the people in Nehemiah’s day when Ezra the priest read and preached the Law of God to them.

Take your cues from those who heard and repented, who were comforted with the mercies of the Lord and given to feast upon the gifts of His grace. Rather than hardening your heart and mind against the Lord and adding sin upon sin by rejecting and refusing to hear and heed His Word, humble yourself before Him, live by faith in His Word under His Cross, and worship Him with reverence and awe in your body, soul, and spirit. Fear, love, and trust in Him above all else.

It is the great irony and paradox of the Christian faith, that when the Law of God exposes you and condemns you as a sinner, just so does He open you up to His grace and mercy and declare you to be the object of His Gospel of forgiveness. For if you are a sinner, the Lord Jesus is your Savior. But if you refuse to be a sinner, then you refuse and reject the One who is the Savior of sinners.

It is indeed for this very purpose that He has come to you, and for which He has been anointed by the Spirit of God in His Baptism. He is here in the flesh to bear and carry the Cross, in order to save you from your sins, to redeem you from death and the devil, and to bring you to God as a member of His own crucified and risen Body. He comes to cleanse and heal you, to set you free from the bondage of guilt and fear, to fill up your poverty with His heavenly riches, and to feed your desperate hunger and deepest thirst with nothing less than Himself, His Body and His Blood.

None of this according to any merit or worthiness in you, nor by any pedigree or power in you. That is precisely the point! It is all by His grace, by His divine charity, to meet your real need.

If He does not relieve you of your loneliness and isolation; if He does not provide you with the spouse, the family, or the friends that you would so much like to have; if He does not cure all your aches and pains and hurts and anxieties, nor heal all your temporal, bodily ailments; if He does not make you rich and famous, or give you whatever else it is that you have demanded and expected in your sinful thoughts and desires — it is not because He has not come to be your Savior.

On the contrary, the Lord Jesus would have you recognize your real need for Him and so receive Him as your Savior from sin, death, the devil, and hell. And He would have you live by faith in His preaching, instead of living for earthly comforts and worldly achievements, which can be ever so delightful but are deceptive in their appearances because they do not last and cannot save you.

Indeed, if you are blessed by the Lord your God with many and great things here on earth, pray all the more fervently that He would “lead you not into temptation,” but that He would guide you by His Word and Spirit to use whatever He has put into your hands in godly faith and in holy love for Him and for your neighbor. Do not put your trust in such things which whither and fade like grass.

The harsh reality is that, whether you have much or little, your covetous and sinful heart will lead you astray to the left or to the right, either into sinful pride or else into faithless despair.

In your idolatrous fear, love, and trust in yourself and in other false gods, you will get frustrated, angry, and rebellious with Jesus, and you would just as soon cast Him out of your life altogether.

But for all of that, He has come to be the Savior of sinners. He comes to be your Savior, to speak to you the gracious Word of His Gospel, to absolve you of all your sins, to release you from the oppression of your old Adam, and to set you free from false belief, from pride, and from despair.

It’s all right here for you — in this preaching of His Word — sounding in your ears, even now — this Word of Christ that lifts you up and gives you His Life in place of your death and damnation.

Do not let it go right by you, in one ear and out the other. But give careful attention to His Word. Consider it, and cling to it, and take it to heart, irrespective of your fickle feelings and emotions.

It is the Word of the Word-made-Flesh that is here preached to you, which makes of your Holy Baptism a cleansing from transgression, from the vile leprosy of sin, and from the stink of death.

It is the Word of the Word-made-Flesh that is here spoken to you with such tenderness and peace, which feeds you from the never-empty Bread Box and the overflowing Chalice of His everlasting Marriage Feast; for He is your immortal Bridegroom, who lives and does not die forevermore.

As you now hear His voice in your ears, so eat of the Fat Portions which He gives into your mouth, and drink of the Sweet Wine which He pours out upon your lips and tongue for the forgiveness of all your sins. As He has spoken, so does He freely distribute these sacred Portions to you, and to the many who have nothing, because He has prepared this great Feast for His own Name’s sake.

Neither mourn nor weep, but rejoice in the Lord your God. For He rejoices over you in holy Love. As He forgives you all your sins and justifies you in His sight by the preaching of His Gospel, so by His Word does He delight in you with great joy, and by His Word you are strengthened in Him.

It is His Word of the Gospel which sanctifies this day and makes of it the day of salvation for you, and His Word of the New Testament which makes of this building His own House and Home, His dwelling place of peace, that you might live with Him in His Kingdom both now and for eternity.

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

United with Christ Jesus in His Baptism, His Cross, and His Office

It was on this Sunday twenty-five years ago that I had the privilege of preaching for my father’s installation as the new pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Milford, Illinois. Not only does that make this a particularly poignant and nostalgic occasion for me, but I remain convinced — now as then — that the Baptism of Our Lord is an especially appropriate day for an installation, as a compelling opportunity to consider the meaning and significance of the pastoral office.

If I have understood correctly, it was almost nineteen years ago, Pastor Griebel, when you were ordained at Emmanuel-Soest and there received the special gifts of the Holy Spirit which are known collectively as the Office of the Holy Ministry: When you yourself — your body and soul, your eyes, ears, reason and all your senses, and all that you are — were given as a gift of the Spirit to the Church on earth; when the yoke of Christ Himself — the mantle of His holy Prophets and Apostles — was laid upon you, not as a burden, but as a joyous vocation under the Cross; when, in addition to your other vocations as a son (and a son of God in Christ), as a husband and father, you also became a shepherd of the Lord’s flock under the one Good Shepherd of us all.

From the first, there is a particularity to all of this. You were ordained at Emmanuel-Soest, but you were given to be the Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and thereafter to serve at the Veteran’s Hospital and later at Lutheran Life Villages. So, too, you have now been called and are here today given to be the Pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church.

This particularity — this “locatedness” of your pastoral ministry — is a continuation and extension of the very Incarnation that we have so recently celebrated in the Holy Nativity of Christ our Lord. For it is the scandalous particularity of the Christian faith, that we can point to this Baby in this place at this time — and/or to this Man on this Cross at this time — born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate — and precisely (and only) here in Him, we confess, is the one true God in the Flesh, who for us and our salvation came down from heaven to earth.

Now, to be sure, you are not God! You are not the Lord Jesus Christ! But we can point to you — here in this place and at this time — and rightly confess that you are here given to speak with the Voice of Christ to these people, and to administer on their behalf the works of Christ Himself.

That is the very point and purpose for the rite of installation this morning: that we might see with our eyes, and confess with our lips, that God has placed you here to speak and act for Him, and in your Ministry to be His active Gospel-presence among these dear people, for whom Christ died.

Today, you do not become what you were not, but what you have been, what God has given you to be in your Ordination nineteen years ago, is now given to and for Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church right here on St. Mary’s Avenue. In all of its particularities — and we might even say, in all of its peculiarities — God is present and at work in this place, at this time, in and through you.

In this respect, it is so fitting and appropriate that the Lord has chosen this day — the First Sunday after the Epiphany: the Baptism of Our Lord — to install you in this new Office of responsibility. For it is certainly the case that our Lord Jesus did not receive the Holy Spirit for the first time at His Baptism (as though He were previously without the Spirit), but He was visibly and publicly anointed by the Spirit — when He descended bodily upon Him in the form of a dove — to “install” Him, as it were, into His Office and Ministry as the Christ or Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed.

He is the Son of God and bears the Holy Spirit from all eternity, but in the waters of the Jordan River, as the Son of Man, He is bodily anointed as our Substitute and Savior. As St. Luke puts it, “When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized.” Henceforth, all that He is and does is for the sake of our salvation. And so also for you: Henceforth, all that you are and all that you do — as a minister of Christ and as a pastor of His Church on earth — is for the people of Trinity.

Now, there are many who would say that your ministry is an extension of your own Holy Baptism. But that is only indirectly true, and it is a bit misleading to follow down that road of logic. By all means, there is no greater treasure in your life than Holy Baptism! But it is not by virtue of your Baptism that you speak the Words and work the works of Christ Jesus as a pastor of His Church. Rather, as the Liturgy of the Holy Communion has taught us so well, it is by virtue of your Office as a called and ordained servant of the Word that you forgive sins, and preach the Gospel, and baptize, and distribute the Body and Blood of Christ to and for His people (now also in this place), all in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Make no mistake, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism belongs to all of this, and the waters of your own Holy Baptism are certainly also involved. For in the washing of those waters with the Word you have been united with Christ Jesus in His Cross and Resurrection, anointed by His Holy Spirit, and adopted by His God and Father as a beloved and well-pleasing son. And, as a son of God in Christ, you bear His Holy Name in all of your various vocations. Indeed, your entire life in all its aspects, including your vocation as a minister of Christ, is an ongoing confession of the Christian Creed.

But your pastoral vocation was not given to you in your Baptism. There you were called to be and to live as a child of God. So were you called to be a child of your parents when you were born; you were called to be a husband when you were married; you were called to be a father when your children were born; and you were called to be a pastor when you were ordained to the Office of the Holy Ministry. And you serve faithfully in that Office, as in all of your vocations, because you are a baptized child of God who lives in Christ, and Christ in you, by grace through faith in Him.

But whereas your Holy Baptism united you with Christ in His Cross and Resurrection as a child of God, your Ordination united you with the same Lord Jesus Christ in His Office of preaching and teaching and otherwise administering His Holy Gospel of forgiveness unto others. By your Holy Baptism, you became a disciple. By your Ordination, you were called and sent to make disciples.

As a child of God, you stand in the waters of the Jordan with Jesus, and you hear the Voice of your dear Father in heaven declaring that you are His beloved son, with whom He is well pleased.

But as a minister of the Gospel, you stand on the banks of the Jordan with St. John, preaching a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and baptizing other sons of God in Christ.

The nature of your pastoral ministry is, in many ways, very much like that of St. John the Baptist, but more so. You do not prepare for a Christ who is yet to come, but you preach and bestow the Christ who has already come, and you proclaim His death until He comes again. Even so, it is still the preaching of repentance, which the Lord Jesus Himself describes (on that first Easter Sunday) as being on par with His Cross and Resurrection in its divine necessity. Without such preaching, the forgiveness and life and salvation of His Cross would never be distributed and received.

Thus were the Holy Apostles sent to preach repentance in the Name of Jesus to all the nations. And so have you also been called, ordained, and sent to preach this same repentance in the Name and stead of the same Jesus, for the forgiveness of these dear people who are entrusted to your care.

This is the “Word and Sacrament Ministry” with which you are charged by Christ Jesus Himself. And this “Word and Sacrament Ministry” is no mere cliché. It is to be understood and carried out quite tangibly in your flesh-and-blood preaching, living, and embodiment of the Holy Gospel.

Which means that you will hear the confession of real sins by real sinners, and you will forgive those sins with the spoken Word of Holy Absolution. It means that you will visit frail and hurting people who are hospitalized or homebound, that the Word of Christ might dwell among them and with them in body and soul. It means that you will administer the Holy Communion, putting the true Body and Blood of Christ Jesus into the mouths of His people. And it means, of course, that you will Baptize young and old into His very real and eternally-significant Cross and Resurrection.

In the footsteps of the Holy Apostles, you are sent by the one Lord Jesus Christ in His Name and with His own authority — who is with you in all that you say and do — to baptize, to teach, to pray, to feed the flock with the Word and Flesh of the One who sends you; to speak with His Voice, and to work His own works with His own hands, as it were, all according to His Word:

Whoever hears you, hears Him who sent you; and whoever receives you, receives Him who sent you, even Jesus Christ, your Savior and your God.

With all this in mind, both you and the people of Trinity must realize that you are sent, not only to tell them “about” Jesus, “about” the Gospel, “about” the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation; but here among them you are given to embody the Gospel in your Office, to deal with them with the Law and the Gospel, as the one through whom Christ Jesus deals with them personally. He speaks and acts through you to forgive their sins in fact, and to bestow His own divine Life and eternal Salvation into their ears, their hands, their mouths, and thereby into their hearts and lives.

How shall you rise to this occasion and live up to this Office and responsibility? You shall not, nor can you. But Christ shall raise you up — and so shall He raise up His people here through you.

As a minister of Christ, as a pastor of His Church, you must also live from that same Word that you preach, from that same Body and Blood that you administer, and from those same holy waters with which you baptize. In this respect, you shall find your best example in St. John the Baptist when he was languishing in prison, waiting for his head to be removed, and suffering the doubts and fears of his own sinful heart. What, then, did he do?  He sought a Word from Jesus, the Voice of the Gospel; which is the one and only thing that will sustain you in the Office of the Holy Ministry.

The Lord will seek you out, because He loves you, and He will not let you go beyond the sound of His Voice. But you must also seek out His Voice for yourself, and give ear to it — from your Brothers and Fathers in Christ Jesus — through Individual Confession and Holy Absolution, and through the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren (especially within your Circuit).

And dear people of Trinity, as you also must live from the Word and Voice of Jesus, which you will hear from Pastor Griebel in this place (under the Cross, in the midst of all the hurts and frailties of life), remember that, as you have heard, so you should also speak a Word of the Gospel — a Word from Jesus — to your family and friends, to your neighbors and acquaintances, and so also to your Pastor, who lives by the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of the Lord no less than you.

Martin Luther offers a beautiful example of how to live such a life in such a way as that. It is said that he would get out of bed each morning and begin his day with the reminder: “I Am Baptized!”

That simple confession of faith sustained his confidence and hope in Christ Jesus, even in the midst of all sorts of personal doubts, ongoing challenges, and numerous threats from all around him. Whenever he was tempted or afraid, he likewise recalled his Baptism by making the sign of the Cross (as he did in all his prayers and at meals), marking himself as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. He took comfort in the fact that he was baptized into the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, that he had thereby received forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit, and that he was thus a beloved and well-pleasing child of God the Father in heaven.

You have that same comfort in the waters of your own Holy Baptism — consecrated and set apart by Christ Himself today in His Baptism. To the human eye and senses, according to the wisdom of this world, it is nothing but a splash of ordinary water (an empty symbol). But to the eyes of faith, according to the gracious Will and Wisdom of God, it is a gracious water of life, a rich and full washing of regeneration. Indeed, it works the forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the Words and promises of God declare: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Grant this, Lord, unto us all!

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

To Worship the Lord Jesus in Faith and Love

The Magi were probably from Babylon or Persia, that part of the world, east of the Promised Land.  They were not magicians or alchemists, but scientists and scholars, astronomers.  We know that Babylon already had such people in the days of Daniel, and it is surely no coincidence that Daniel, after interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, was made the chief of all the magi in Babylon.  He also continued to serve in that capacity when the Medes and Persians took over.

So, it is no wonder that Magi from the East had some awareness of what was going on among the people of Israel.  For the faithful Prophet Daniel, who lived according to the Word of the Lord, would also have confessed and taught the Wisdom of that Word, including the Prophecies of the Christ who was to come: The Scepter of Judah and the Star of Jacob.

When the Magi observed a bright new light in the sky, in the area assigned to Judah, they would have known from the Word of the Lord what this meant.  The King had come who would reign over the nations with a scepter of righteousness.  It was His star that had risen.

It is important to understand that, while the star was the sign of Christ’s birth, it was the Scriptures that actually guided the Magi to Him.  The Scriptures pointed them, first of all, to the land of Israel, to Judah.  And the Scriptures also then directed them to Bethlehem, to the City of David.

But why did they go?  Why did they bother?  Why did the Magi travel that great distance?  Why did they search so diligently?  And why did they rejoice so greatly when they found the Child?

They could have been saved by faith in the Word of God without making the long trip to see Him in person.  They could have rejoiced in the Savior from afar.  But they did not.  They undertook the journey.  They were compelled by faith and love to seek Him out.  And they tell us plainly why they went.  It was to worship Him.  That’s why they made the journey: To worship the Christ.

So, when they entered the house and saw the Child with His Mother, they fell down and prostrated themselves before Him.  They worshiped Him with their bodies, with their treasures, and with their very lives.  They entrusted themselves to Him.  They worshiped Him in the beauty of His holiness, even in the frailty of His human flesh and blood, an Infant in His Mother’s lap.

They saw the same thing anyone else would have seen.  But the Word told them what to believe about this little Boy.  That He is God.  That He is the King.  That He is the Savior, the Christ, the Ruler who has come.  So they prostrated themselves before Him.  They humbled themselves in His presence.  And they gave Him their costly treasures.  As their lives belong to Him, so with body and life they worshiped Him who is manifest God in the Flesh, and who has come to save them.

They came and worshiped Him, not as though to grovel and beg to get something from Him, but because they knew and believed that He had come freely, in love, to give them everything by grace.  There was nothing else they needed any longer.  In this Child they found and received everything that matters.  And that made all the difference in the world.

The same God and Savior has also revealed Himself to you.  He has also spoken His Word to you.  And He has given His Word to you, as well — His Word-made-Flesh — in outward, visible, external Means of Grace, in the preaching and Ministry of the Gospel.  That is where and how you find the Christ, your Savior!  That is where and how you find the Lord your God.

Heaven and earth stand up and take notice, because in the simple preaching of the Word of God by ministers all over the world, from pulpits just like this one — and from this very pulpit — divine Mysteries are revealed, which even the angels know only by this preaching of the Gospel.

This Word tells you where God is for you.  And the Light of the Revelation of the Glory of God is revealed to you in the face of Jesus Christ, the Babe, the Son of Mary, the Crucified One who suffered under Pontius Pilate.  In Him, in His Flesh, God Himself is with you.

The Gospel of Christ reveals Him to you by forgiving your sins in His Name.  It gives you His Life and Salvation, because it gives you Jesus Himself.  And in doing so, it calls you to faith in Him.

That faith to which the Gospel calls you is not a dead or dormant thing.  It is rather a living and active thing, and before it has even been told what to do, it is already busy doing it.

And what is it that faith does?  First of all, it listens to the Word of God.  There is nothing more vital to faith than that.  Faith gives attention to God’s Word and the preaching of it, because it is by His Word that God does and gives all things.  It is by His Word that He gives life.

Faith hears and believes what the Word of God declares.  And according to that Word, it receives the Gifts of God within His Church on earth in the Ministry of His Gospel.  It knows that Christ is here at hand to save and to give life.  Faith is willing to stake everything on that.  Indeed, it will suffer and die a thousand deaths before it would ever give that up.

Faith will likewise travel a thousand miles, it will go even to the ends of the earth, in order to find the Christ Child, to worship and adore Him.  Faith spares no expense.  There is no treasure on earth that it would not freely give up, because Jesus has come, the Treasure of heaven.  The riches of God are here in Him.  Everything else is rubbish by comparison (and nothing at all without Him).

So faith seeks out the Christ where His Word has determined and directed you to go.  It looks to the Signs that He has designated.  Not to stars in the sky, not for you; that was for the Magi then.  For you the Signs are here on earth, within the Lord’s House, in water, bread, and wine.  That is where Christ Jesus is for you, the Lord your God in the Flesh.  That is where you find Him.

And that is where you go to worship Him in faith and love, with heart and mind, with body, soul, and spirit.  To serve Him, not because you “have to,” although He is your Lord and God, and you are His creature and His servant; but you serve Him, as you love Him, because He serves you.

You love Him and serve Him because He has given Himself entirely for you and to you, and because your life is found entirely in Him.  Thus do you worship Him with all that you are and have.  In and with your heart, to be sure.  It is in and with your heart that you cling to Him by faith, come hell or high water against you, no matter what may happen to your body.

But as your heart loves and worships Christ Jesus, so does your body also, as it can.  You prostrate yourself before Him.  You bend your knees and bow your head.  You humble yourself before Him.  And you worship Him with your hands and feet, your mouth and lips and tongue, and with your whole life.  Your flesh is put into His service.  You’ll bleed and die if necessary, for the sake of this King who has saved you by the voluntary shedding of His Blood for you upon the Cross.

You will spare no expense to love Him, to serve Him, and to worship Him.  For whatever you have is from Him in the first place, and He will not fail to supply whatever is needed for your body and life, here in time and hereafter in eternity.  So you will do whatever.  You will open your treasures, be they great or small, and give Him whatever you have, because He has given you everything.

You worship Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength, with your body and life, your flesh and blood, and with your time, treasures, and talents.  You worship Him with all that you are and have.  Not to purchase His blessing (which is not for sale, in any case), but to thank and praise Him for all His grace and every blessing, for all that He is, and for all that He has done for you in love.

Thus, you live a very different life than the world does.  And you live in a completely different way than the Herods of the world.  You live in a different way because you have a new and different King in Christ Jesus.  And in Him you have found a new and different house and home with God.  You have a new Fatherland.  So you walk by a new and different way, just as the Magi did.

You love and serve the Lord Jesus, and for His sake you love and serve His people.  As the Magi served Mary and Joseph with their gifts — which paid for their flight into Egypt — so do you love and serve Christ by loving and serving His people, providing for their needs in this body and life with whatever means the Lord has placed into your stewardship.  You look for ways to love and serve Him by faith, by loving and serving those around you who are hungry, who need shelter and protection, mercy and care.  You do it for Jesus’ sake.  And in this way, too, you worship Him.

His Word tells you what to do and how.  He has not left you without guidance.  His Word warns you against all harm and danger.  As He warned the Magi against Herod, so does He warn you.  His Law warns you against the ways that would destroy your faith and life in Christ.  And His Law guides you, as well, in the way that you should go.  It guides your footsteps in the way of peace.

His Word teaches you how to live as a Christian.  How to live under Christ and serve Him in His Kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

And by faith you do.  Because it is not only His Law that guides and warns you, but His Gospel lights your way.  His Gospel forgives every misstep, every wrong turn, every false direction.  His Gospel shines the Light of His grace, mercy, and peace upon you.  His Gospel forgives your sins.

He does not ask you to fight His battles, but He fights for you.  He is not a king like the rulers of this world.  He is God Himself, who reigns in love over His creation, the work of His own hands.

The kings of this earth and their subjects live in fear.  They are terrified of death, and so they fear the judgment of God against their sins.  They do not understand that He comes with forgiveness and salvation.  They tremble and shake at the coming of Christ Jesus.  And in response, they avoid Him, or else they seek to “worship” Him with a sword and violent bloodshed, because He threatens their existence, their self-chosen place and purpose in the world, and their idolatrous lifestyle.

Be on guard against that violence of unbelief in your own sinful heart and soul.  For it is not only those tyrants in high places who seek to be rid of the Lord Jesus.  It is whatever would dethrone Him from reigning over you as your King.  It is whatever would take His place in your body and life.  When you set Him aside in favor of your own passions and pursuits, you follow the lead of those who sought to end His life then, and the lead of those who refuse and reject Him to this day.

They suppose that He has come to take away what they love.  And to that extent they are right!  He has come to take away what they love, but so also to give them that which is actually worth loving, that which is necessary for life and salvation.  He has come to replace their false gods and idols with Himself, the true God in the Flesh.  He has come to give them real life instead of death.

Now, by the grace of God, by His Word and Holy Spirit, you have been called from the darkness into the Light, into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, Christ Jesus.  Baptized in His Name, you live no longer for yourself but for Him who for your sake died and was raised.  No longer terrified by death, you fear, love, and trust in Him above all things.  You serve and worship Him by faith

Your King has set you free from the bondage of sin and the fear of death, so you may proceed in peace with exceedingly great joy.  You live according to His Word, because you are free to do so.  You are a free citizen of His Kingdom.  Wherever in the world you live, you are His very own.

He seeks you out, and He finds you.  And now, as then, it is God Himself who gives the greatest Treasure.  You worship Him, not because He needs your gifts, but because He has given you every good and perfect Gift already.  It’s all yours in Jesus Christ!  He places it into your hand, into your mouth, and into your body, that you may have life in both body and soul, both now and forever.  Oh, come, let us worship Him!  Let us kneel and bow down at the Altar of the Lord, our Savior.

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

To Eat and Drink in the Fellowship of God

It is for this purpose that God the Lord has brought you out of Egypt, for this purpose that He has written and revealed His Word to you — that you should have Life and Fellowship with Him, that you should eat and drink in His presence, in peace and without fear.  Indeed, this is your Life, both now and forever — to be and abide with God in harmony, in holy faith and holy love, in Christ.

In view of that divine Life to which He calls you, do all that He has commanded you.  Fear, love and trust in Him above all things.  Hear and heed His Word.  Call upon His holy Name.  Follow the Cloud of His Glory by day, His Pillar of Fire by night, and dwell with Him in His Tabernacle.

Eat and drink the Food that He provides — the Living Bread from heaven, the Living Water from the Rock — for these are your Meat and Drink indeed, even here and now in the wilderness.

So, also, love one another; for love is of God, and you and your brothers and sisters in Christ are His own people, the beloved sheep of His green pasture.  Love is the fulfillment of the whole Law; for love does no harm to the neighbor, but helps him and supports him in all things, at all times.

Do not yearn for the feasting and fashions of Egypt, from which the Lord has set you free.  Do not return to your sins, like a dog to its vomit, nor indulge in the lusts of your flesh, like a pig in its wallow.  Rather, stay the course and trust the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and spirit.

Do not grow restless in the desert, nor suppose that the Lord has forgotten you or failed to keep His promises.  Tremble in fear of the Lord, to be sure, for He is the Holy One before whom all creation bows in reverence.  But do not quail in terror and deathly despair, as though His desire were to destroy you.  It is not.  His desire is to save you and give you Life, because He loves you.

Repent of your false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.  And do not attempt to fathom the heart and Spirit of God apart from His incarnate Son, Jesus the Christ, the beloved and well-pleasing One, the new and greater Joshua who serves you in love.  Not even Moses enters the glorious presence of the Lord God Almighty apart from this Joshua, Christ Jesus, the Word-made-Flesh who tabernacles among His own with grace, mercy, and peace.

The Law of God is good and wise.  It instructs you in the way that leads to Life in fellowship and harmony with the Holy Trinity.  Yet, apart from Christ Jesus it is a consuming Fire, which accuses and condemns you and threatens to destroy you utterly and forever.  It exposes the darkness in your heart and mind, the self-idolatry and lack of love in your thoughts, words, and deeds.  It uncovers the nakedness of your sin and the stench of death that already clings to the carcass of your flesh.

Apart from Christ Jesus, you are an animated corpse, merely biding your time on the way to your grave (and far worse) — separated from the Living God and devoid of His Life-giving Holy Spirit.

Who, then, shall save you from this body of death and the darkness and damnation of your sin?

It is Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus, the beloved Son of the Living God.  He is the Holy One of Israel.  He is the Christ, your Savior.  He is the Glory of God — in Person — in the Flesh.  He is the Sacrifice of Atonement, and His Blood is the New Covenant of peace and reconciliation with God.  You are anointed with the Holy Spirit unto Life, and you have Fellowship with the Father, only in Jesus.

So, listen to Him.  Hear what He says to you, take it to heart and believe it, and live by His Word.

Consider also the touch of His hand — His Body given for you — and be raised up from the death of doubt and fear to Life and Hope and Peace and Joy in His holy Flesh and precious Blood.

He has brought you through the waters out of Egypt.  He has baptized you in the Cloud and in the Sea of His own Exodus, His Cross and Resurrection.  And so shall He bring you through the Jordan into Canaan, the Promised Land, flowing with Milk and Honey and every Good Thing.

Not Moses the Lawgiver, but this new and greater Joshua does it, who is the fulfillment of the Law.  By the Gospel of His Cross and His forgiveness of your sins, He brings you in with Himself.

So shall He bring you at last up to the high and holy Mountain of God in and with Himself.  That is, not to Sinai, but to the true Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, His Holy Hill — not consumed with fire and brimstone, lightning and thunder and billowing smoke, but bathed in the beauty of His divine holiness and cloaked with the radiance of His righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

The time is not yet.  But do not fret, do not be afraid, do not hide yourself away.  Do not withdraw from the world and curl up inside yourself.  Do not lie there frozen, nor sit there dumbfounded.

See, here is Jesus.  Stand up, and follow Him.  He is your Pillar of Cloud by day and Fire by night.

He leads you forward by the way of His Cross.  That is hard to understand, more difficult to bear, but it will not defeat you.  It is by the wood of His Cross that He parts the sea and opens the Rock and pours down Manna from heaven, by the wood of His Cross that He defeats all your enemies, sin, death, the devil, and hell, the world with its wickedness, and the treachery of your own flesh.

Cease your grumbling and complaining.  The Lord has heard the cries and lamentations of your heart, and He has already acted to save you by His mighty arm and His outstretched hands.

So, then, close your mouth altogether, and first of all open your ears to hear what Christ Jesus the Lord shall say to you; for you have nothing worth saying until He has spoken and you have listened.  Then open your mouth and be fed.  Eat from His hand, drink from His Cup.  And after He has filled you with Himself, confess what He has said, what He has done, what He has given.

Yes, you’re in the wilderness — and Jesus is right there with you all the way.  You’ll not starve, for He is feeding you.  Your shoes will not wear out, your feet will not blister or swell, so long as you follow Him.  Though an army encamp against you, do not be afraid.  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is with you; the Lord God of Sabaoth is for you.

Lift up your eyes roundabout and see.  You are surrounded by the Glory of the Lord, already in His Ministry of the Gospel here within His Church on earth, and so also in that great Cloud of His witnesses, His saints, who have gone before you in the faith and live forever in His presence: Moses and Elijah, Aaron and his sons, Samuel and David, Peter, James, and John, Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, Stephen and Paul, Timothy and Titus — a multitude of disciples from every nation, tribe, and tongue, which no man could ever count, but God Himself has numbered.

All of them have been transfigured by the Cross of Christ Jesus to share His Resurrection and His Life everlasting.  And you are likewise being transfigured by His Cross.  Not yet outwardly — for your mortal flesh is still wasting away — but inwardly you are being renewed, day by day, in hope and expectation of the Glory that shall be revealed in you, both body and soul, in the Resurrection.

Here and now the surety of that exceedingly great and precious Promise is being given to you — the Word of Christ Jesus in your ears, in your heart, and in your mouth (for He is not far away but near to you with His Word); and the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, given and poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  See, He stretches out His hand, not to harm you, but to save.

To eat and drink in His presence — to feast upon Him, who is the Lord your God in the Flesh — this is already a sweet Foretaste of the neverending Feast to come.  It is the endless Sabbath Rest that remains for the people of God.  It is your Life and your Salvation in Fellowship with God.

Arise, therefore, and do not fear, but live.

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

Your Righteousness Goes Before You

It is because of who you are in Christ Jesus that you now live as God has called you to live.  That is to live in the way of righteousness for which you have been created, redeemed, and sanctified by His Word and Holy Spirit; for the great salvation that your dear Lord Jesus has accomplished for you and for all people is not the abolishment of the Law, but its fulfillment.  Not only does He keep all of the Commandments of God, but in doing so He also teaches you to do the same.

His teaching and His righteousness are not like those of the scribes and Pharisees.  But it’s not that He dismisses the Law, which is the Word of God and the revelation of His good and acceptable Will.  Jesus does not trade legalism for anarchy, debauchery, or licentiousness, as though sin and disobedience were now “okay.”  He has not come to set you free from the righteousness of God, but to bring you into the glorious liberty and genuine righteousness of God’s beloved children.

The righteousness of which your Lord speaks — and for which He sets you free — is not some quantity of stuff to be purchased or sold, earned, or traded on the stock exchange.  Nor is it a self-contained interior aptitude or disposition within you.  There is no genuine righteousness that exists or happens in isolation from the Lord your God and the neighbors He sets alongside of you.

The righteousness of Christ Jesus is the right relationship of sonship with His God and Father in heaven.  It is a relationship of faith and love, that is, to fear, love, and trust in God above all things, and, for His sake, to love your neighbor as yourself.  Such living and loving proceed from within the relationship of sonship.  Because you are a son of God in Christ by His grace, so do you live as a son of God by faith in Christ Jesus, sanctifying His Name in your words and actions.

This is the righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished and fulfilled for you and for all people — from His Baptism to His Cross and Passion, and in His Resurrection from the dead, even forevermore.  His dying and His rising are the way and the means whereby you enter the Kingdom of heaven, and whereby you now also live with Him in His Kingdom in righteousness.

That means dying to yourself and your own self-righteousness, and rising to newness of life in Christ Jesus.  And that is to speak of repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins, which is not a mental exercise or a do-it-yourself program; it is to give attention to God’s Word, to make use of the Means of Grace, to remember and return to your Baptism by contrition and repentance, by confessing your sins and receiving Holy Absolution, and to receive and remember the Lord with thanksgiving in the Holy Communion of His holy Body and precious Blood.  And all of that is not the end, but the beginning — the daily new beginning — which emerges in a new way of life.

To affirm that your righteousness before God is by His grace alone in Christ Jesus — by faith in His Gospel — is not to say that it may be kept hidden away in your heart.  Indeed, it cannot be.  No, the righteousness of faith before God is manifest in love before your neighbor.  It is foolish to suppose that a Christian disciple of Jesus could be or live otherwise.

To refrain from love, to neglect your duties, to ignore or disobey the Commandments of God, is to deny and disavow your very identity as a child of God — like salt that is not salty, or water that is not wet.  It is to disown your Father and His Family, to run away from His Home, and to set yourself outside of His Kingdom and His righteousness in Christ Jesus.  It is to lose everything.

Where you have disregarded the Commandments of God, as though He had no authority over you; where you have hidden yourself away from your neighbors and their needs; where you have been concerned with lighting only your own path and progress, rather than enlightening your neighbor and glorifying your God and Father in Christ — I tell you now: Repent.  Return to the Lord your God, and live before Him by faith in Christ Jesus, to the praise and glory of His Holy Name.

If you are a Christian, live as a Christian.  As you are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ — baptized into His Cross and Resurrection — die to yourself, to your sins, and to the passions of your fallen flesh, and rise with Him to live unto righteousness as a child of God.  And where you have not lived as a Christian, repent of your sins, return to the significance of your Baptism, and believe the Holy Gospel, that for Jesus’ sake you are fully forgiven and righteous before God.

It is by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus that you are His own dear child, named with His Name, anointed with His Spirit, a member of His household, and a royal citizen of His Kingdom.  That is who and what you are, by the grace of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus.  And the simple fact is that who you are and how you live belong together, hand in glove.  The righteousness of your life is an exercise and expression of the righteousness of your relationship with God in Jesus.

This is how and why it is that repentance and righteousness both result in new behavior, in keeping with the Commandments of God.  In Christ Jesus you are a new creation, a new person, a new man, woman, or child — not in isolation, not independent of other people, but within your relationship with God, and so also in a brand new relationship with all of your neighbors.  You think and speak and act differently, because, by the Word and Spirit of your God and Father, you have the heart and mind of Christ Jesus.  It is no longer you who live, but Christ lives in you.

This is truly an amazing new reality, which you could not accomplish or achieve for yourself.  It is given to you by the gracious adoption of God.  You do not storm the gates of heaven with your good works, but you do good works of faith and love because the one true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has called you to be His own, has brought you into His Home, and has established you within His Kingdom of grace.  Indeed, not only do you live with Him, but in Him; and He now lives and moves in you.

The Commandments of God, from the greatest to the least, describe this Life of God in human flesh.  It is the Life of His children, of His people, of His family, on earth as it is in heaven, because it is the Life of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son, for you and for all.  It is the Life that is lived in His Kingdom, in which you now live by His grace through faith in His Gospel.  It is a Life that can be seen, which fills the whole House with the Light of Christ to the glory of the Father.

What shall your new Life in Christ look like?  Instead of using and manipulating your neighbor, set her free and serve her.  Instead of hoarding what you have and contriving to get more and more from your neighbor for yourself, share what you have, and use whatever God has given you to care for the people around you.  Instead of entertainment and personal pleasure, invest yourself in your relationships and in your actual callings, where God has stationed you.  Befriend and benefit your neighbor, rather than avoiding her.  Provide for both body and soul, with tangible gifts of money, food, and clothing, and with forgiveness for those who trespass against you, rather than holding grudges and harboring bitterness.  Be at peace with all people.  Let your gentleness and kindness be evident to all.  In the confidence of Christ Jesus, sacrifice yourself in order to serve others.

The great Mystery of His own Cross and Sacrifice is the culmination of His divine righteousness, the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets.  It is the righteousness of God Himself, acting entirely in Love, in accordance with His own divine nature and the very Being of the Holy Trinity.  It is the righteousness of perfect faith and love on the part of the Son for His Father — not hidden away within the inner Life of the Godhead, but manifested in His own Body on the Cross.

In this way He keeps the Commandments of God and brings them to completion, and He catechizes you to live in the same way: Not that you become the Savior of the world, but that you are crucified and raised with Jesus, and that you live now in righteousness and purity, in faith toward God, and in love for your neighbor.  His teaching and catechesis are by instruction and example, to be sure, but more than that, they are the living and active Word of His Cross, whereby He puts you to death and brings you to life in Himself.  His Cross, therefore, is not only your crucifixion, but also your Atonement and Redemption, your Reconciliation with God and neighbor, and your Righteousness forever in His bodily Resurrection from the dead.  You live, because He lives.

This same Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is your Righteousness and Sanctification, who goes before you through death into life; indeed, He goes with you all the way.  He has opened up the way for you to enter the Kingdom of heaven.  Not only that, but He has become the Way, by which you have access even now to the Holy of Holies, to the Mercy Seat, and to God the Father.  So do you live as a child of God by faith in His forgiveness, by His Word and Holy Spirit.  And the same Lord Jesus Christ, who goes before you into Glory, also guards and keeps you on your right and on your left, and as your rear guard, to preserve you steadfast in His Righteousness and Peace, unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul in Him.

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

To Live and Abide with God in His House of Love

Whether a person knows God or not, everyone desires love.  They may not know what love is, and they may be looking for love in all the wrong places, but you and all have been created for Love — for the sake of Love — to be loved by God in Christ, and to love both Him and your neighbor.

As I mentioned last week in speaking of Agape, real Love is more than a feeling.  It is a passion, to be sure, but not the passion of selfish lust; it is the passion of self-sacrifice, which is willing to suffer and die for the sake of another.  That is the sort of Love for which you have been created; for that is the Love with which the Lord has created you and loved you and given Himself for you.

As a human being, a man or a woman, you are created in the Image and Likeness of God to love and care for one another as the Lord your God loves and cares for you in Christ Jesus.  Indeed, you are called and commanded to love your neighbor as Christ Jesus loves you in His tender mercy and with His free forgiveness; and not only that, but, as we heard last Sunday, you are to love even your enemies, to pray for those who persecute you, and to forgive those who trespass against you.

As a Christian, insofar as it depends on you, you are to be at peace with all people; to forgive, as you are forgiven, and to do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the household and family of God. And of course, that begins with your own household and family — with your father and mother, with your brothers and sisters, with your own husband or wife, and with your children.  And if you are left without a family of your own, your love begins here within your congregation, and it extends from here to your immediate neighbors, to your classroom or your workplace.

Everyone longs to be loved, as I have said, whether they can put a name to it or not.  Everyone is created to receive the Love of God, and to love the Lord and their neighbors in turn.  Our hearts and minds, bodies and souls are restless and uneasy, aimless and out of sorts, until they settle into that life of Love, which is from God and found in Him alone, in the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus.

To live and abide in love is to be at peace with others, to rest in your own place in communion with those the Lord has stationed around you, graciously giving and receiving without keeping score or counting the cost.  It is to build a house and make a home and to share it with your neighbors.

But would you build a house of love that will last?  Would you build such a house that will abide and remain, not only for this lifetime, but beyond death and the grave?  No, your home and family are not forever.  Even holy marriage is only until death.  Children grow up and move away to make homes and families of their own.  Friends and neighbors come and go with the passing years.

An abiding House and Home — a dwelling place of perfect Peace and Sabbath Rest and never-ending Love — is found only in the Lord your God.  But would you build such a House for Him?

The Law of God is good and glorious, it really is.  And it seems to offer the obvious answer and solution: Love God, and love your neighbor.  Fear, love, and trust in God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength, and do no hurt nor harm to your neighbor.  Do not take, but give and help and serve your neighbors.  Do not be selfish or greedy or lustful or jealous, but be content with what you have.  Be happy with your lot in life, trust the Lord your God, and do your job faithfully.

Such is the way of the Law, and it is indeed the way of Love.  It is holy and righteous and good, and it is right to live accordingly.  So it seems very promising.  If you would only do these things, then you would live, and God would be very pleased, and you would be at peace with everyone.

Yet, for all of that, it is a false and misleading dream to suppose that the Law will save you in that way and provide you with the House of Love that you desire from the very depths of your being.

The Law cannot bring you into the Land of Promise, however great its promises may be.  The Law of love lets you see it with your eyes, so that you know what it looks like; but the Law will not let you enter.  The Law is a faithful servant in God’s House, but the Law cannot build the House.  The Law can crush and destroy your enemies; it can defeat Pharaoh and all his hosts.  But it cannot give you Life.  The Law accuses you and would destroy you.  It does not bring you into the Good Land.

It is not for Moses but for Joshua to bring you through the waters of the Jordan into Canaan.  Neither is it the great Prophet Elijah, but the One who comes after Elijah — the One to whom that Prophet also points — the Christ of God, the One anointed by the Holy Spirit at His Baptism in the Jordan River for that great and final Exodus which He accomplishes at Jerusalem.  He is the One who loves you and saves you, who brings you out of Egypt into the Promised Land of God.

Your own wisdom, reason, and strength will not get you there; nor will your own beauty, charisma, or wealth get you the Love that you need.  Your own works of love will not build a permanent House and Home with God.  No matter how hard you work, no matter how skilled, intelligent, or crafty you may be, your own efforts will not do it.  All your glory fades, and all your works fail.

But the beautiful Glory of Christ Jesus, which is the Love of God, that is what saves you.  And that is what builds the House of God for you, in which you abide with Him, and He with you, forever.

So, that sounds good.  That is the Gospel, and it’s simple enough, albeit profound and marvelous.  You know and believe that it is true, that God loves you and saves you in Christ Jesus.  But what is so staggering is the nature and content of His beautiful Love and Salvation in this body and life.

God does not look at the outward appearance, nor does He appear as you would imagine Him.  He looks rather at the heart; and He opens His own great Heart of Love to you in the Person of His incarnate Son, in His Body of flesh and blood like yours, transfigured in radiant Glory on the High Mountain this morning, but so also crucified, put to death, and buried in the dark valley below.  He is the Chosen One, the Lord’s Anointed — the Christ or Messiah — who is your Savior.

He goes up that Mountain to pray — not in desperation for Himself, but in His great Love for you and all people, all those He has come to save.  He goes up the Mountain to God, in anticipation of His being lifted up and drawing all men to Himself and bringing them to His Father in heaven.

And as He prays and intercedes for you, so does He live for you, and so does He die for you.  For you and your salvation He sets Himself on the Way of Love, which is the Way of His Cross and Passion; and that is what transfigures His Body.  The appearance of His face is changed, as He now sets His face toward Jerusalem, taking up the Cup and fulfilling the Baptism His Father has given.

Recall that, in the Garden — as He takes these same three men, Peter, James, and John, along with Him — and as He goes apart to pray — the appearance of His face is changed again, and the sweat falls from His brow like great drops of blood, in order to cleanse the soil cursed by Adam’s Fall.

It is in Love for His Father and for you and all that He comes down from heaven and comes down from the High Mountain to the Cross in Jerusalem.  And it is there in His suffering and death that His Body is transfigured by the sins of the whole world, as the once-and-final Sacrifice, in order to redeem you and all the children of Adam from captivity.  Thus does He fulfill His Exodus as the Passover Lamb of God, that He might bring you out of death into life, through the wilderness and into Canaan, as the One who is baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea, in the Water and the Blood.

With that in view, St. Peter is not completely off base when he suggests making tabernacles.  The Feast of Tabernacles followed shortly after the Day of Atonement.  At that time the people would take leafy branches with the fruit still hanging on them and make little tents for themselves, little tabernacles.  And for a full week they would live in those tents, remembering that God had brought them out of Egypt, preserved them through the wilderness, and brought them into a Good Land.

And St. Peter knows that the Lord made His dwelling among the sons of Israel by giving Moses, that great and faithful servant, careful instructions for a Tabernacle that went with the people in the wilderness; and upon that Tabernacle the Cloud of God’s Glory rested and remained among them — the Pillar of Cloud by day, the Pillar of Fire by night.  So was God the Lord with them.

St. Peter understands that much.  Yet, he would have the Christ and hold onto Him in Glory apart from His Cross and Passion; as the week before St. Peter rightly confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, but then rebuked his Savior when He would go to the Cross and die.

Hard as it is to comprehend — for you no less than Simon Peter — there is no Christ without the Cross; for His divine Glory is manifested precisely in His Passion.  It is with the very Flesh of Christ Jesus that God, the Builder of all things, constructs His new and better Tabernacle; not with the skin of animals, but with the skin of His beloved Son.  And it is by the Cross of Christ Jesus that God pitches His Tent in the midst of His people; not as though He needed a dwelling place for Himself, but that He might be your Dwelling Place.  For the Body of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen, is the Temple of God, His House and Home wherein you live and abide with Him forever.

This is the Glory of God, that He saves you by His grace at great cost to Himself.  The Father gives His own dear Son, and the Son lays down His own Body and Life for you, to rescue you from sin and death, to wake you up from your sleepy stupor, to raise you up from the dust of the ground, and to bring you in and with Himself up the High Mountain to His God and Father in Paradise.

By and from His Holy Cross and Passion, in and with His Resurrection from the dead, He adorns you in the glorious white garments of Holy Baptism, cleansed and sanctified in body and soul, without any spot or wrinkle or blemish, adorned as a Bride made beautiful for the Bridegroom.  So shall you appear with Christ Jesus in His Glory, as did Moses and Elijah on that Mountain.

The two men in white are His witnesses of these things, that Christ has died, that Christ is risen, and that Christ will come again, as even now the Cloud of His Glory rests upon His Body in the Tabernacle of His Church on earth.  It is right here in this place, from this Pulpit and at this Altar.

That is what the crucifix signifies, confesses, and declares: That here is the Glory of God in the crucified Body and shed Blood of Jesus, the Christ.  That here at His Altar, He is the Tabernacle of the Lord your God.  This is where He opens His great Heart of Love to you.  He withholds nothing but gives you Himself; and by the Fruits of His Cross you are glorified in and with Him.

It is in divine and holy Love that God has built His Tabernacle for you here.  And in turn, He also builds you as a living stone into His House and Home; so that, by His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, your body and life become the dwelling place of God among your neighbors here on earth.

Men, when you love and serve your own wife, there’s nothing she can’t do, and there’s no woman on earth more beautiful or glorious; your love makes her bold, courageous, and strong, so that her own unique gifts and graces are able to shine the more brightly and clearly.  Likewise, when you love and care for your children, they are strong and free and able to do great things to the glory of God; they learn from you to love others, and they grow to build houses that are strong and good.

All of you, then, rejoice that you are children of God in Christ Jesus, and you have such a Father who loves you and cares you; for you are members of the Bride of Christ by your Baptism in His Name, and you have such a Bridegroom who loves you, serves you, and gives Himself for you.  He shelters and protects you in the House that He has built.  He feeds you with Good Things and clothes you with His own Righteousness.  He delights in you, and He glorifies Himself in you, and you in Him, so that you are beautiful and radiant with the Glory of His Cross and Resurrection.

The Lord is your Sun and your Shield, your Strength and your Song, because He has become your Salvation.  Crucified and risen from the dead, He is your Pillar of Cloud by day and your Pillar of Fire by night.  And in the preaching of His Gospel, in the waters of your Baptism, in His own holy Body and precious Blood, He is your Tabernacle throughout all generations, even forevermore.

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

An Epiphany of the Grace and Glory of God in the Flesh

The familiar Words that you have heard from the lips of Christ Jesus this morning are challenging and difficult to hear, and they are easily misunderstood.  They are commonly heard in a legalistic way, as though the Lord were here instructing you to earn God’s favor, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation by your own efforts, good intentions, behavior, and achievements — as if you even could actually accomplish the sort of life that Jesus describes and sets before you in this Sermon.

It is rather to be understood that what Christ Jesus here preaches is the perfect life and holiness of God-in-the-Flesh, which He Himself lives for you and for all, and which He bestows upon you as a gift within His Holy Church by the Ministry of His Gospel, as also on this day and in this place; so that your own life in the flesh, by faith in Christ, is also a living Epiphany of His divine Glory.

To be sure, these Words of our Lord do expose your sins, your imperfection and unrighteousness.  He does preach His divine and holy Law, which confronts you with commands and duties that you are not keeping, and with boundaries and limits that you are not honoring or living within.

His preaching shines a spotlight on your way of life in the flesh, not only your outward actions, but your heart and mind, your thoughts and feelings, which are not as God has created you and called you to be and to live.  For you are to manifest His Life and His Love in your body and life; but you have fallen far short of His Glory, your good intentions and best efforts notwithstanding.

To begin with, consider how the Lord extols you to “Love your enemies!”  The word for “love” in this case is the Greek word, Agape, which means doing what is right, irrespective of the cost, whether it feels good or not.  It has nothing to do with romance or even friendship, but with duty and commitment; it is objective and unwavering, because it’s not a matter of feelings but actions.  And the Lord spells out what it looks like in practice, as He goes on to say: “Do good to those who hate you! Bless those who curse you! Pray for those who mistreat you!”  That’s Agape.

But don’t you rather hate your enemies and curse those who mistreat you?  How do you react to the guy who cuts you off in traffic?  And what do you do when so-n-so is on your back?  Children — what do you mumble under your breath about your parents and teachers when they don’t let you have your own way?  Do any of you love your enemies?  Do you even love your own family?

As for those who mistreat you or abuse you, there are plenty of different ways in which people do sin against you and others, whether with words or fists or passive-aggressive manipulation; and we rightly sympathize with all those who suffer such treatment.  But the Lord here commands that you are also to pray for the abusers!  Not to excuse or ignore their wrongdoing, but that the Lord in His mercy would bring them to repentance; whereas a more typical reaction is to fight back with force and vengeance, even though responding in that fashion can lead to brutal consequences.

The Lord’s familiar admonition is that you should “turn the other cheek” to those who strike you.  But the instinctive and more likely response is to hit back, even to escalate the conflict in order to get the upper hand.  None of us wants to be a punching bag, nor do we like being pushed around.  And to be clear, there are both callings and stations in life and circumstances that do require you to defend yourself and your neighbors.  But too often it is neither love nor duty that compels you to act, but anger and vindictiveness, arrogance and pride, or a desire for dominance and power.

Jesus goes on to say, “when someone takes your coat, don’t prevent them from taking the shirt off your back, as well.”  But is that your natural reaction and response?  Not at all.  Take a look at the way toddlers battle it out over the same toy, and you’ll have an honest example of where and how your own fallen flesh is prone to contend with your neighbors at every age and stage of life.

Now, it’s not that you must give everything away to robbers and thieves.  But the Lord exposes your selfishness, your lust for wealth, your lack of trust in Him, and your lack of charity for your neighbors.  By way of example, when someone has taken advantage of your kindness in the past, do you go out of your way to avoid that person and ignore him, so as not to provide further help?

Christ Jesus teaches you to “lend without expecting to get paid back.”  But the far more common motto is, “Scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.”  Consequently, you are often not very generous with the gifts that God has entrusted to your stewardship.  Or, when you do give to others, do you then suppose that you are in a position of superiority, as though you were a god and lord, yourself, distributing your own largesse?  Or do your gifts and favors come with implicit strings attached?

“But if you do good only for those who do good for you, what credit is that?”  The word for credit here is actually the word for grace, which is taken directly into English as “charity.”  So, to say it more straightforwardly, “If you lend money only to those you hope will pay you back, where’s the charity in that?  Even sinners lend to sinners when they know they’ll get their money back."

And with that, the Lord identifies each and all of us as sinners.  For isn’t it the case that much of what you do for your neighbor carries expectations of some “return on your investment,” whether it be financial, tangible, emotional, or whatnot.  But where is there any real charity in that case?

The Lord rather sums up the many and various ways you are to love and serve your neighbor in the so-called Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Help them in their needs, look out for them and take care of them as you’re able, protect and defend them in your words and deeds, and do it all for the sake of Agape-love, simply because it is good and right.

Your life is not to be governed and guided by the law of the jungle, “eat or be eaten.”  The rule of the Lord is not, “Do unto others as they do unto you,” far less, “Do unto others before they do it to you!”  Look out for “Number One,” to be sure; but realize that you are not number one!  You have rather fallen far short of the divine Life and Glory for which you have been created by the Lord your God, and to which you are called by His Word and Holy Spirit, as again this morning.

But these Words of Christ Jesus reveal, not only your sin, but His divine grace and mercy for you.  For He has “done unto you” what He would have you “do unto others.”  Indeed, all the demands of God’s holy and righteous Law have been met perfectly by Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God.  He has lived the Life of God — in His own human Flesh and Blood — for you and for all.

As in the case of the Patriarch Joseph, already thousands of years before the Nativity of our Lord, God was making preparations “to save your life by a great deliverance.”  Though you stand every bit as guilty as Joseph’s brothers, God has sent His Son to deliver you and save you from your sins.

Christ Jesus loved you with divine and holy Love, though you were His enemy by sinful nature.  “When we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly.  When we were still God’s enemies, we were reconciled by the death of His Son.”  So, Jesus Agape-loved His enemies, including you.

Likewise, “when others abused Him, He did not abuse them in return; when He suffered, He made no threats,” because He entrusted Himself entirely into the hands of His God and Father, even to the point of His sacrificial death upon the Cross.  He “turned the other cheek” when the soldiers slapped Him around; and He gave up both His cloak and His tunic as He was being crucified.

In every way, Christ Jesus has practiced what He preached.  More than anything else, His Sermon describes Him and His Life and Death for you and your salvation.  He does not treat you as your sins deserve, nor does He repay your iniquities with punishment, but He deals with you in Love.

He does you good with no expectation of repayment, as the Gospel clearly declares: “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God.”  No strings attached.

Why?  “Because He is kind to the un-gracious and the wicked.”  He is kind and loving toward you, though you have been un-gracious and wicked toward others.  You might not want to think of yourself as a “charity case,” but before God that is exactly what you are.  As Luther wrote on his deathbed, “We are beggars, that is true.”  You live by His grace alone, or you do not live at all!

Because Christ forgives you freely — by and with divine charity — He daily forgives your failure to live as you should.  Think of how He prayed that His Father would forgive the very people who were nailing Him to the Cross, who were spitting on Him and mocking Him.  And remember how He came to Simon Peter following the Resurrection, forgiving that poor man for his denials of the Lord on the eve of the Passion.  Above all, consider that your dear Lord Jesus comes to you — in spite of all that you have done and failed to do — and He speaks to you His Word of Absolution.  He forgives all your sins and heals your diseases; He crowns you with His love and compassion.

And as you thus live by faith in His forgiveness, His Words this morning now also describe your life as a Christian.  Because Christ Jesus lives in you, your life in Him is now an Epiphany of His Glory.  Your whole life is a living display of the Gospel that He has manifested to us all; so that you now go about your daily life, “doing unto others” as Jesus has graciously “done unto you.”

By His grace, through faith in His Gospel, you “bear the likeness of the Man from heaven,” that is, Christ Jesus Himself, in your body and life, in your own flesh and blood.  Which means that you now love as Christ loves you.  You do what’s right for others — even for your enemies — whether it feels good or not.  You stick up for other people, defend them, speak well of them, and explain their actions in the kindest way.  You pray for them, even when you know they couldn’t care less.

“Agape your enemies,” Jesus says.  “Do good and lend without hoping to receive repayment.  And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.”  But your reward and your divine sonship are ever and only in Christ Jesus.  You are all “sons of God,” because you are baptized into Him who is the Son of God.  You live your life in Him, and He now lives in you.

You love God and your neighbor because the Lord your God has first loved you in Christ Jesus, the beloved Son.  So do you also love even your enemies, because the same Lord Jesus Christ now lives in you, and He displays in you the same Agape-love that He shows and displays for you.

So, you do good unto others for Jesus’ sake, and not for earthly rewards or human recognition.  That is how and why you are able to do good even for your enemies, and to pray and intercede even for those who hate you and persecute you.  In any case, you have no need or reason to fear your enemies; for while they may hurt your body, damage your reputation, take away your stuff, and maybe even take your life, they are not able to rob you of eternal Life and Salvation in Christ.

His divine grace and Glory are displayed in your life especially as you forgive those who trespass against you, just as Christ Jesus daily and richly forgives your sins by the Ministry of His Gospel.

As Jesus also says this morning, “Do not judge, and you will surely not be judged.”  That is to say, not that we condone sin or ignore it — we call it what it is, and we call our neighbor to repentance according to our stations in life — but we leave the final judgment up to God.  In the meantime, our speaking of the Law, as needs may be, is accompanied by our confession and practice of the Gospel in both words and deeds.  As sons of God in Christ Jesus, the Gospel is our bottom line.

As the Lord God deals with us, and as the Patriarch Joseph dealt with his brothers, we speak both Law and Gospel unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins.  And to do so for others means that you must always be returning to the “throne of Grace,” yourself, in order to receive the forgiveness that Christ Jesus offers and gives to you right here in the Liturgy of His Gospel; for you cannot forgive as you are being forgiven, if you are not experiencing that forgiveness yourself.

It is here, by His Gospel–Word and Sacrament, that Christ Jesus continues to make an Epiphany of His divine grace and Glory.  Recognize and receive that Glory of God for what it truly is, the free gift of forgiveness and eternal Life in the Lord who loves you and gives Himself for you.

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

Living and Working at the Word of Christ Jesus

It is the preaching of Christ Jesus, the Word-of-God-in-the-Flesh, which establishes and builds the Temple of God on earth, His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.  For it is by the preaching of Christ Jesus that God the Father speaks to us by His Son, and that God the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies disciples from all nations and keeps them in the one true faith.

So it is that, as the Word of Christ Jesus made of Simon Peter’s home a little church in last week’s Holy Gospel, there in Capernaum, so does the preaching of Jesus make Simon Peter’s little fishing boat into a mighty cathedral and a holy ark of Christendom on the Lake of Gennesaret.

And here you are, like the crowds then, gathered around Christ Jesus to hear the preaching of His Word, His Law and His Gospel.  But do you perceive what is really happening here, and do you understand how significant it truly is?  Or is it a ringing in your ears?  Are they stopped up, like they’re filled up with wax or water, or the way they can get going up or down on a plane?

The fact is that His Law drives you crazy.  His Law makes your ears heavy and your heart tired, so that it’s hard to listen, and you don’t want to hear it.  His Law commands you and forbids you; it restrains you and compels you with seemingly impossible demands and threats of punishment.

The Lord commands you to love, not only your family, friends, and neighbors, but your enemies — to turn the other cheek to their rough behavior, to let them take advantage of you, and to forgive their sins against you.  And the Lord requires you to love and trust in Him more than money, and, what is more, to love Him more than your family, more than your parents, spouse, or children.  You are to fear, love, and trust in Him above all things, regardless of your circumstances.

You hear His Law, and it drives you crazy.  But then again, His Gospel seems even crazier to you.  For when the Lord has exposed your sin and declared the punishment you deserve — when His Law has made clear that you are not worthy to stand in His presence — then He stretches out His hand and extends His tender mercy to you by and with and in His Gospel.  He forgives you all of your sins, and He raises you up from your guilt and shame to live with Him in His perfect Peace.

But how are you to comprehend such mercy and forgiveness?  How can you believe it or trust it?

Well, here is what is going on right here, right now, in this little boat, in this ark of Christendom: In this preaching of Christ Jesus, you are on the cutting edge between this world and the next, and the Father’s Voice once more sounds forth over the deep waters, as at the Creation, as again at the Baptism of Jesus, and as at your own Holy Baptism.  His Voice sounds forth over the deep waters to bring about a New Creation; to drown you in contrition and repentance, and to raise you up in newness of Life; to bring you out of the darkness of your sin and death into His marvelous Light; to catch you in the Net of His Gospel, and to haul you safely aboard the Boat of His Church.

So, then, put out a little bit from the land.  Venture forth that much at His preaching.  And by all means, listen to what the Lord says.  Hear and heed His Word.  Hear His Law, which declares to you His good and acceptable Will and describes the holiness of Life in His Name.  And listen to the Gospel that He preaches; for He has come to save men’s lives, and here He comes to save you.

Listen to His Word.  And as you hear, so venture out.  And serve and support the preaching of His Word.  Provide for the maintenance of His Church and Ministry.  Sustain the Office of Preaching, so that you may continue to hear, and that your neighbors may also hear and receive the Gospel.

And then, at the Word of the Lord Jesus, in the confidence of His Gospel — though it seems risky and ridiculous — go out into the deep waters of your vocation, and put down your nets for a catch.

You won’t succeed by any reason, wisdom, savvy, or strength of your own.  Truth be told, left to yourself you’ll work hard all night and catch nothing.  You’ll go at it with all your ingenuity and cleverness, and you’ll come up empty.  You won’t be able to make ends meet or succeed at all.

But at the Word of Jesus, everything happens, and everything becomes clear.  Like when your ears finally pop back open after takeoff or landing, you can hear what the Lord is saying, and it clicks and resonates.  By the Voice of the Father and the Gift of the Spirit, you recognize that Christ Jesus is the Holy One — that all the fullness of God dwells bodily in Him, in His Flesh and Blood.

Now, that is not something to take lightly or for granted.  Consider the holy angels, for example — those great, majestic, and powerful, spiritual beings — and how they conduct themselves in the presence of the same Lord God who dwells with you here in the Body of Christ Jesus.  In humility and reverence they cover their faces and their feet.  They worship and adore the Almighty, they sing His praises and glorify His Name; and yet, they hide their faces, and they hide their feet.

The holy angels hide their eyes, they cover themselves, and they reverence the Lord their God.  And here you are in the presence of the same almighty and eternal God.  Though He is veiled from your sight, He is present in His Word and the preaching of it, in the ongoing significance of your Holy Baptism, and in His holy Body and precious Blood, given and poured out in His Name.

You are in the presence of the Holy God, whereas you are sinful and unclean.  “Woe is me!”  That was Isaiah’s reaction.  “Woe is me!  I am ruined, I am done, I am a dead man.  For my eyes have seen the Lord, Yahweh Sabaoth, though I am a sinful man, and I live among sinful people.”

“Go away from me, Lord.  I am a sinful man.”  That was Simon Peter’s response, when he realized the holiness and righteousness, the divine power and authority of Jesus.  Bold, brave Peter, always eager to be first in line, always thinking he’s got the score and got it figured out — he’s brought to his knees in shame; he’s flat on his face on the floor.  And he asks for exactly the wrong thing.

But what Jesus said to him, and what the same Lord said to Isaiah, He says also to you, here and now:  “Do not be afraid.”  Even though you deserve nothing but punishment, do not be afraid.

Though you are sinful from the inside-out, and all your best deeds are filthy and disgusting, do not be afraid; because the Lord Jesus has gone into the deep waters ahead of you.  He has gone in, not only up to His neck, but in over His head, even to the drowning depths of a Baptism unto death.

He has gone into the deep waters ahead of you, and He has emerged and arisen with a great catch of fish — disciples of all nations, caught in the Net of His mercy, forgiveness, kindness, and love.

He is the Holy Seed.  The Seed of the Woman.  The Seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The Seed of David.  The Seed of St. Mary.  And that Holy Seed is the Stump that remains when the rest of Israel has been cut down and removed — and when the Law has chopped off your head, as well.

He is the Portion that remains — for sacrifice and burning.  He is consumed by the Cross, and He is spent under the righteous wrath and anger of God against the sins of the world (not His own!).  But He rises from the dead, and He rises like Incense in the presence of His God and Father.  The Smoke of His Incense fills the whole Church in heaven and on earth; His Holiness fills the Temple of God; and His Righteousness surrounds you, covers you, upholds you, and sustains you.  And from the Altar of His Cross He takes the burning Coal of His own Body, His Flesh and Blood, and He touches your lips with His Sacrifice this morning.  Your sins are thus forgiven, your iniquity is pardoned, your conscience is cleansed of guilt and shame, and your body is raised up for Life.

His almighty power and divine Glory are manifest chiefly in this way, that He shows mercy and pity to you and to all, who do not deserve it; that He forgives sinners and rescues them from death.

“From now on,” He said to Peter, James, and John, “you will be catching men alive.”  And by the Apostolic Ministry that began with those men — and continues to the close of the age — you have been caught alive.  You are a fish in the Net of the Gospel, hauled aboard the Boat of the Church.  You have not been caught to be cooked and eaten, but to be saved from death and to live forever.

When Peter, James, and John understood that, they left everything and followed Jesus.  He actually called those men to a new vocation; not only to be His disciples, but to become Apostles, ministers of His Word, preachers and evangelists — to go even to the ends of the earth, proclaiming Christ and Him crucified — to suffer all and to give their lives for the sake of His Holy Gospel.

Now, most of you are not called to that vocation.  Some of you young men may be called to give up everything, in order to become preachers of the Gospel, ministers of the Word.  If your parents and teachers and pastors and other authorities suggest such a possibility, consider it and take it to heart.  But most of you are not called away from your office and station; you are called to glorify Jesus and follow Him within your own place.  Not to abandon your families, but to love and serve them.  Not to abandon your neighbors, but to look to their needs and care for them; to speak words of comfort and forgiveness, the words of the Gospel, and to provide also for the needs of the body.

But your first and foremost vocation is to be and to live as a child of your Father in heaven, as a disciple of Jesus.  And that vocation has been given to you in the deep waters of your Baptism.

Most of you are diligent and faithful and patient in your other vocations; not always, but mostly.  You know that you are to love your spouse and to care for your children and honor your parents.  And where you fall short in these ways, you try again, and then you keep persisting in those things to which God has called you.  You do your job, and you fulfill your responsibilities in the world.

But your first vocation is to be and to live as a child of your God and Father in heaven, as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That begins with listening to His Word, and then confessing the Word that He has spoken to you.  And it means loving your neighbor, as Christ Jesus loves you.  That is how you give up everything and follow Him; not by liquidating your property, but by using it to glorify Christ and serve your neighbor.

How will you “translate” the Gospel and “interpret” it in your body and life?  How shall it become, not a strange and foreign tongue, but one that your neighbor can understand and so recognize the glory of God in you?  The vocabulary “key” is the Gospel.  You know the Glory of God as Christ Jesus is merciful and kind, as He loves you and forgives your sins.  And that is how your neighbor knows the Glory of God in your words and actions, as you are merciful and kind, as you forgive your neighbor his sins against you, as you love him in spite of his sins, and as you pray for him.

It may be that some of you already know another language, or you could learn another language if you took the time and put your mind to it.  And if so, you may well have opportunity to use that knowledge and skill to confess and speak the Gospel to neighbors who don’t speak English.

But even if you never learn any other language than English, yourself, consider how you are given to pray and to sing, to bless and give thanks, in such a way that your neighbors are edified and strengthened in the faith.  It is by praying as the Lord has taught you; by singing words that confess His Name; by acknowledging Him and His marvelous works; by giving thanks to Him at all times and in all places; and by praying and interceding for your family, friends, foes, and strangers.

It is a risky business, and it often seem ridiculous by every human metric.  But it is worth the risk.  Your dear Lord Jesus Christ does not lie to you, and His Word does not fail.  What He says to you is true and sure and certain.  As your sins are all forgiven by His Gospel, you have Life in Him, which no one can take away from you.  He will not allow the old evil foe to snatch you out of His hand.  And even if your body is pummeled and burned, you will yet rise from the dead and live.

It is a risk to live your life here on earth according to the Word of Christ, because it is by faith and not yet by sight.  But it is a risk worth taking, and you shall not be disappointed or put to shame.

Your lips have been cleansed, and so they may speak.  Though men may hate you for it, you are a servant of the Lord Most High.  Your sins are forgiven, your iniquity is pardoned, your lips are cleansed, and your eyes shall see the Lord, the very One who gives you His Body and His Blood.  You shall not go hungry, and you shall not die forever, but you shall live in the Glory of God, in the presence of Christ Jesus, the One who takes away your sins and the sins of the whole world.

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

Christ Jesus Keeps on Preaching with Authority

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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