Sustained by the Holy Angels of God

It is truly meet, right, and salutary that we should give all thanks and praise to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for His precious and merciful work in establishing His Church in this place and preserving this congregation of His people for the past 175 years, and continuing to this day! Indeed, we join with the angels and archangels and all the hosts of heaven, including all the saints who have gone before us from this place to the nearer presence of Christ, in praising the Lord for His faithfulness over these past seven generations, and for the promise of His loving-kindness to generations yet to come, who by His grace will learn to love Him and to live by faith in His Word. 

It is by His grace alone that you are here (each of you and all of you together), and by His grace alone that you remain and persevere — by the Means of His Grace and the Ministry of His Gospel through the agency of His faithful servants, both heavenly and human.

For all that, the devil and his wicked angels hate you on account of Christ Jesus, your Savior, the incarnate Son of God. That old dragon despises each one of you as a child of God in Christ, and all of you together as members of the Body and Bride of Christ. Indeed, the more faithful you are, the more the devil spites and despises you in body and soul, as well as your whole congregation.

By the same token, St. Michael and all the holy angels love and serve you for the sake of your dear Lord Jesus Christ; for He has become like you, Flesh of your flesh and Blood of your blood, by His conception and birth from the Blessed Virgin Mary; and so has He also, in turn, raised you up and recreated you to be like Him, a participant in His divine nature by grace through faith in Him, by His Word and Holy Spirit. Consequently, the holy angels see Christ the Lord in you — He who is the very Image and Likeness of God in the Flesh — in whose truly human face both they and we behold the light of the revelation of the glory of God the Father.

All of which drives the devil to fury and great wrath, utterly consumed by envy and jealousy, by his pride and self-conceit. He does not consider it appropriate or fitting that God should become Man, nor that man should be exalted above the majestic and powerful angels. So consumed by his envy and driven to rage by his pride, the devil is relentless in his assaults and accusations against you. He would do anything to remove you from the favor of God. Hence, he is called “Satan,” the accuser. And to that very end he tempts you to sin in every way that he can — he tempts you to turn away from God, to fear, love, and trust in anything and everything else! And then, quick as a wink, the devil is the first in line to accuse you of the very sins into which he has tempted you!

To say it again, the devil hates you. And the bottom line is that he is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. But because he masquerades as an angel of light, and because your own heart, mind, and soul are sinful and unclean, you are too easily deceived and misled into the devil’s snares.

Beware of succumbing to the envy and jealousy, the pride and conceit such as the devil has. Do not despise your neighbor, nor tempt him, nor resent the grace of God in Christ for your neighbor. Rather, as the Lord has taught you, love and serve Christ Jesus in your neighbor, and especially in your fellow Christians, your brothers and sisters in the family of God. Thereby you become an “angel” of Christ Jesus to your neighbor, a messenger of peace and joy and the grace of God.

Where you have despised any of His “little ones” (of any age) — any of those who believe and are baptized into Him — wherever you have caused them to stumble and to fall, Repent. Cut off such temptations and sins altogether, not by mutilating your body, but by disciplining your flesh, your eyes, your heart and mind. Be drowned and destroyed in the depths of your Holy Baptism, along with your Satanic old Adam and all your evil lusts and desires, by daily contrition and repentance.

Confess your sins, and avail yourself of God’s good gift of Holy Absolution from your pastors. For they are angels of God in the flesh, called and sent to give you His good gifts of the Gospel.

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, your Maker and Redeemer. Humble yourself to be and live like a little child who must rely upon your Father for absolutely everything, beginning with grace, with mercy and forgiveness. Humble yourself under God, and rejoice that He raises you up from the depths of the sea and the dust of the earth to shine like the stars of heaven with the pure and perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus, your Savior.

Humble yourself, and do not rely upon yourself but upon the Lord your God. And pray. Pray in the confidence of the Cross and Resurrection of your merciful and great High Priest, Christ Jesus. For in Him — by His Cross and in His bodily Resurrection from the dead — every prayer of faith has already been answered, “Yes, and Amen!” once and for all. For you!

The Lord hears and answers your prayer in love, by His grace. The Father hears and answers your prayer for the sake of Christ, His beloved and well-pleasing Son. In Him, indeed, you are beloved and well-pleasing, as well, and there is no good thing that your Father in heaven shall withhold from you. He hears and answers your prayer. He responds in love, always, and He serves you by the means of His good creation.

That is a pivotal point to this day and occasion, to the Feast of St. Michael & All Angels, and to the celebration of your anniversary as a congregation of the Lord’s Church on earth:

The Lord God serves you by the means of His good creation. That is why there are such things as the holy angels. Not because God needed a “helping hand,” but because He delights to serve His creatures with His creation, with His creatures. And so He serves you by His good creation, by the agency of His ministers, the holy angels; and by the human angels (or messengers) whom He calls, ordains, and sends in His Name as your pastors; and by the created elements that He employs with His Word, the waters of Holy Baptism, the bread and the wine of the Holy Communion, which are the very Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.

By these Means of Grace — by these means of creation — according to and with the Word of God, you are well served by your Father in heaven. Indeed, it is by and with and through these creaturely ways and means that He has established and still preserves St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lafayette, Indiana. For so does He forgive you all your sins, and pour out His Spirit generously upon you, and grant you His divine, eternal Life in the Body of Christ Jesus — no less than He, the Son of God, has become Flesh and tabernacles with you here.

These servants of God, both the heavenly and the human, guard and keep you in both body and soul. In a variety of circumstances, His angels lift you up and keep you in all your ways, lest you strike your foot and stumble and fall. While they often do protect your mortal flesh and blood from harm and danger, on account of the Flesh and Blood of Christ, they all the more protect your soul and body from the assaults and accusations of the devil — by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the testimony of His Word — which is to say, chiefly, by the preaching and ministry of your pastors.

By the Means of His Grace — His Gospel-Word and Sacrament — His tangible forgiveness of your sins — the servants of God preserve your life and bring you through the great tribulation clothed in the righteousness of Christ. For Christ has atoned for all of your sins by His holy and precious Blood, and by His Word of the Gospel He daily and richly, fully and freely forgives you.

Through the Ministry of the Gospel — by the preaching of His Word, and by the administration of His Body and His Blood — He interposes Himself and His Redemption, His Reconciliation, and His Righteousness between you and all the accusations of Satan. And because those accusations cannot stand against Him, they cannot stand against you, either. You are in Christ by His grace, by His Gospel; and He lives in you. And He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

When the holy angels do permit the hurt and harm of your mortal body, as Christ also suffered and died in His human flesh and blood upon the Cross, the Lord thereby humbles you unto repentance: to become like a little child and learn to rely upon God, to be returned to the cleansing waters of your Baptism, to be brought to the Healing Medicine of His Altar, and to be raised up from death to life, from the dust of the earth to shine like the stars (in body and soul) forever and ever.

That dying and rising of repentance and faith, that rhythm of humble confession, free and full forgiveness, and newness of life in Christ Jesus, is how and why you are here — how and why St. James is here — how and why your pastors are here. And it is for this very purpose that God preserves you in this place by and with His messengers.

So do we give Him thanks and praise for His heavenly angels, those great majestic creatures who guard and keep us night and day, though hidden from our sight. And we rightly thank Him, also, for His human angels (the called and ordained servants of His Word) — those earthen vessels of His grace, mercy, and peace — who love and serve His people in His Name and stead. Not only Pastor Bombaro and Pastor Barcott, but the long line of pastors whom the Lord has provided for His people in this place over the past 175 years, and for His Church on earth from the beginning.

Here again this morning, as for these past 17-1/2 decades, the angels and people of God are gathered together around the Lamb upon His Throne, encircling the Fruits of His Cross, which is the Tree of Life. Here again this morning, on earth as it is in heaven, the great prince of God’s people, St. Michael the Archangel, and all the holy angels, the cherubim and seraphim, join with us, the children of God, in praising the Holy Trinity and giving Him thanks for His great Salvation in Christ Jesus. And for His Name’s sake, His holy angels also guard and keep you in body and soul, in safety and peace, at His holy Banquet Table. For they do always behold the Face of God the Father in you, His beloved and well-pleasing son or daughter.

For watchful is the angel band that follows Christ on every hand, to guard His people where they go and break the counsel of the foe. They never rest nor sleep as we; their whole delight is but to be with our Lord Jesus, and to keep His little flock, His lambs and sheep.

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

To Redeem and Purify You for Life with God

Here and now, on this Fortieth Day of Christmas, the Lord has brought you once again to His Holy Temple, that you should receive and worship the Christ Child in His Body of flesh and blood. Everything unfolds exactly as the Lord has spoken, according to His Word and under the guidance of His Holy Spirit. For these events belong to the fulfillment of His promises of old.

Though not readily apparent, St. Luke has actually recorded the keeping of two specific Laws from the Old Testament, one concerning St. Mary and her purification after giving birth to her firstborn Son, and the other concerning that same Son, Christ Jesus, who is here called holy to the Lord.

It may seem odd that St. Mary, the blessed Virgin chosen by God, should need to be purified for giving birth to the Lord Himself, conceived in her by the Holy Spirit. Of course the Holy Family keeps the Law received from God through Moses, according to the custom. But there’s more to it than that. For this Law, in particular, concerning the purification of a woman after childbirth, now finds its true goal and its fulfillment in this Mother who has given birth to this Son.

It goes back to that first promise of the Gospel in the Garden of Eden, following the Fall into sin, that the Seed of the Woman would crush the head of the serpent. You know that St. Mary is that Woman, and Christ Jesus, her Son, is that Seed who treads Satan, sin, and death beneath His feet.

At the same time, along with the promise of the Gospel, there was also the curse and consequence of sin, that Eve and her daughters would suffer pain in the bringing forth of children. Hence, both the curse and the promise are met together in the conceiving and bearing of daughters and sons.

In the light of God’s Word, notwithstanding the burdens and hardships of sin and death, it was the case that every son born of a woman — to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and Sarah, to the family of Isaac, Israel, and Judah, to the house and lineage of David, as the promise became more focused — every son born of a woman might be the Messiah; and every daughter might be the mother of the Messiah. Until, finally, there is this Woman who gives birth to this Son who is the Messiah, whose Body and Life shall be given into death for the redemption of all people, and whose holy and precious Blood will be shed upon the Cross for the Atonement of the sins of the whole world.

That is what the requisite offering for the purification of a new mother signified. It was for the atonement of her sins and the sanctification of her body and life, in view of the hope and promise of the Gospel. And all of those sacrifices pointed to the One who has now come, the Child Jesus.

So there is also the Law concerning Him, which is here fulfilled, as well. For every firstborn son who opened the womb was to be “called holy to the Lord.” This Law went back to the Exodus from Egypt; and, along with that, it also recalled the case of Abraham and his beloved son, Isaac.

You know that earlier story, when God came to Abraham and told him to take his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loved, and to sacrifice him as a whole burnt offering to the Lord on the mountain. Abraham proceeded in faith to do as he was commanded, painful though it was to comprehend. But at the last possible moment — his hand poised in the air with the knife, ready to slay his son as a sacrifice — God stayed his hand and provided the Ram, caught in a thicket, in the place of Isaac.

So, likewise, in the Exodus from Egypt, when the Angel of the Lord passed through Egypt and struck down all the firstborn sons of man and beast, the sons of Israel were spared because God provided a lamb in their place: The Passover Lamb, sacrificed at twilight, prepared according to the Word of the Lord, the blood of the lamb marking the door, the flesh of the lamb being eaten. Where the Lord beheld that blood, He passed over, and He spared the sons in those houses. So it was that all of those firstborn sons belonged to the Lord; and so were they called holy to the Lord.

Now, to be sure, all of Israel belonged to the Lord. Indeed, the whole of creation belongs to the Lord. But those firstborn sons, in particular, were spared and redeemed by the Lord through His giving of that lamb in their place. So every firstborn son, precisely in this way, belonged to God.

The way God worked that out was by taking the entire tribe of Levi to be His special servants. The Levites would serve in His presence, assisting the sons of Aaron (also from the tribe of Levi) in caring for the Tabernacle (later the Temple). For this sacred service the entire tribe of Levi was dedicated, consecrated to the Lord. By contrast, all of the other firstborn sons, from all of the other tribes, were redeemed for the price of five silver shekels, rather than being given over to serve.

This is the Law that God established for the firstborn sons of Israel, which Mary and Joseph came to fulfill in the Temple on this day. Notably, though, St. Luke does not speak of redemption. The Lord Jesus is not from the tribe of Levi, and we may assume that Mary and Joseph brought the five silver shekels that were specified as the price of His redemption. But that is not what St. Luke describes. Instead, he indicates that the Child Jesus was presented to the Lord, almost as a Levite would have been — in the way that Samuel (a Levite) was dedicated to the service of the Lord.

Of course it is true that Jesus belongs to the Lord, for He is the almighty and eternal Son of God, begotten of the Father from all eternity. But here now, in the substance of human flesh and blood just like your own, He is presented and dedicated to the Lord on your behalf. He is given in your place, in the place of all the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. His entire body and life are given up to God, to live and die for you and all people. He is not redeemed from sacrifice and service; He redeems you by His sacrifice and service. He is the Ram and the Passover Lamb given for you.

Now, then, what the Law actually required for the purification of a woman after childbirth was not two young birds, be they turtledoves or pigeons, but actually one bird and a lamb. But in the case of those who were poor, who could not afford a lamb, the Law made provision for a second bird in the place of the lamb. So it is that St. Mary and St. Joseph here bring the offering of the poor, that is to say, two young birds, for the purification of the Blessed Virgin Mother of our Lord.

And yet, for all of that, this same Mother brings in her arms the One who is the Lamb, the true Passover, the Lamb of God who takes upon Himself and takes away the sins of the whole world. She brings not just a couple birds but her own dear Son, and she presents Him to the Lord, that He should live and die as the Sacrifice of Atonement for Israel and all the nations; that He should redeem His people from their sins, and purify and cleanse them, by the shedding of His own Blood.

And He is the Atonement for all of your sins, as well. For by the sacrifice of His flesh and blood, He has liberated you from Egypt and redeemed you from the bondage of sin, death, and hell.

And that is not all. For He has become like you, not only to bear your sins, but to partake of blood and flesh like your own, that you might become like Him and partake of His divine nature in body and soul. So has He bound Himself to you, and He traverses the wilderness right along with you. His entire Body and Life are dedicated to God, and He lives that life in the flesh as the true Man, as the beloved and well-pleasing Son. He is a Babe in arms, a Toddler, a little Boy, a Twelve-Year-Old, a Teenager, and a full-grown Man. He lives the same human life that you are called to live in the flesh. He lives by faith, He lives in love. He lives unto God, that you might live in Him.

He traverses the wilderness with you, and He brings you into the Promised Land. He brings you into the presence of God. He brings you into the Holy of Holies made without hands, eternal in the heavens. He is not only the Propitiation for your sins, but He is your merciful and great High Priest in all things pertaining to God. By His sacrifice upon the Cross, and in His Resurrection and Ascension, He has not only entered the Temple of God, but His Body has become the true Temple, the divine, eternal Temple of God, that you might abide in the presence of God within His Body.

As He has given Himself into death for your sins, so has He been raised as your righteousness and holiness forever. And He ever lives to make intercession for you — in the human Flesh that He shares with you, and with the Blood that He has shed for you. As your own High Priest, not from the tribe of Levi, but according to the order of Melchizedek, forever and ever, He stands for you in the presence of God the Father, in the Holy Spirit, that you should be with Him where He is.

In the beautiful words that St. Paul has written, you have already died with Christ in your Holy Baptism, and so is your life hidden with Christ in God. You are seated with Him in the heavenly places. And here is the surety and guarantee, the sign and seal of that Life: As Christ is presented in the Temple in human flesh and blood like your own, presented to His God and Father on your behalf and in your place, so are you presented to His God and Father holy and blameless in Him, without flaw, without blemish, perfect in every way. You are holy and righteous in the presence of God, you are beloved and well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord.

As He has partaken of your flesh and blood — as He has come in the fullness of time, the Seed of the Woman, the new and greater Adam, the Husband and Head of His Body and Bride — so are you here given to partake of His Flesh and Blood. And as you feast upon these Fruits of His Cross, the Body and Blood of the Lamb, you have the Life of God in yourself, in your body and your soul.

And in this one Lord Jesus Christ, your merciful and great High Priest, you have Peace with God — at all times and in all places. Peace even now, in this poor life of labor, as you go about your days in the world. As you lay down at night and get up in the morning, as you go about your work, as you care for your family and serve your neighbor, you have Peace that surpasses all human understanding. For you know that you are reconciled to God and acceptable in His sight.

And at the last, when the Lord shall call you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven, you shall depart in Peace from this mortal life on earth, knowing that your death is but a slumber, and that, as your Savior Christ Jesus is risen from the dead, so shall you also rise and live with Him.

Then you shall see Him face to face with your own eyes, from your own body of flesh and blood. Then you shall behold Him, no less than Simeon did, but even more clearly, the One who is the Glory of Israel, the One who is your Light, your Life, and your Salvation, who sanctifies you with His own holiness and glorifies you in both body and soul with His own righteousness forever.

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

Jesus Has Chosen and Appointed You for Life with Him

The fact that you are here in the Lord’s House to worship Him this morning is no guarantee that you are walking in His Word. Your “worship” is no protection against the judgment of His Law. But if you would live, and not die, then do what He commands you.

Love one another. Worship Him in that way. Love one another. That is His Commandment. It is a solid summary of His Law — that, in love for the Lord your God, you love your neighbor as you love your own self, and you serve your neighbor with your whole body and your whole life.

So, then, what does that mean exactly? Where do you even begin, and how should you proceed?

It’s not a matter of your own choosing. It’s not a matter of deciding, “Okay, I’m willing to do this, I’m willing to do that.” It is a matter of where the Lord has chosen to appoint you. Wherever He has called you to be, wherever He has stationed you, that is where you are to live, and that is where you love your neighbor. That is where you serve the “other” whom the Lord has set before you.

Do so according to His Word, that is, according to His Commandments. You have especially the Ten Commandments, which clearly guide you in what you are to do, and in what you are not to do. His Commandments determine and define and describe what “love” is. That’s not an emotion in your heart, but to do good and not evil. Love gives good things and does no harm to the neighbor.

Where you have done harm, make amends as you are able. And where you have failed to do good, begin to do it now. Do what you are called and given to do in your own particular place.

Mend your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, lest He bring misfortune and calamity upon you — and lest He remove His Word from your midst.

It’s really a question of who your friends are. As simple as it sounds, that’s what it amounts to. Who are your friends? And by that, I don’t mean that you get to pick and choose who the people you will love are. The point is not that you show partiality or favoritism among your neighbors in this body and life. No, it’s whether you’re a friend of Christ Jesus, or a friend of the world.

So, who do you love? Jesus, or the world? Where is it that you look for life? Is it in Christ Jesus, in His Word, or is it in the world and all its stuff?

If you are a friend of the world, then you’ll perish along with the world and its wealth. Whereas, if you are a friend of Christ Jesus, then you will be hated by the world, and you will be persecuted, and you will perish right along with your dear Lord Jesus Christ. But you will also rise and live with Him, as well, and partake of His inheritance, which is imperishable in heaven.

Don’t suppose that you’re going to play both sides against the middle, not without getting crushed in between the Rock and the hard place. That other Jude — Iscariot — he tried to play that game, and you know that he was lost. And that other Simon — Peter — he was in danger of the same, denying his friendship with Jesus: “I don’t know that guy!” But by the grace of God in that same Lord Jesus Christ, Simon Peter was called to repentance, and he was saved and bore much fruit.

You, then, where you have denied the Lord Jesus, Repent, and befriend Him who has befriended you in mercy, grace, and peace. That is the key: Jesus has called you and made you His friend!

It’s not about goofy secret handshakes or secret clubs. It isn’t “fun ‘n’ games.” But the Lord has befriended you, first of all by laying down His Life for you; and there is no greater love than that, with which He has loved you even unto death upon His Cross. And then He has also befriended you by the preaching of His Word to you, and thereby with His voice giving you His own Father.

See how He has taken you in! He has named you with His own Name, the Name that He has from His Father, the Name that He shares with His Father from all eternity, even to all eternity.  He has become your Friend by giving you that Name, by the preaching of His Word, by speaking to you.

And so it is that, when the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ raised Him from the dead, He caused you also to be born again, His child, to a new and living hope, unto the Life everlasting.

That sure and certain hope and that eternal Life are yours in Christ Jesus. He has given that to you in Holy Baptism, along with His Name, His Father, His Holy Spirit, His forgiveness of your sins, and every other grace and blessing, more than you could ever imagine. And He gives it all to you, again and again, by the preaching of His Word, especially His Holy Gospel, whereby He forgives your betrayals, your denials, your enmity, your lack of love, and every other sin within your heart and mind, words and actions. That is why we rejoice in the Holy Apostles of Christ Jesus, who were called and sent to preach that beautiful good news of the Gospel; and that is why we remember with thanksgiving St. Simon and St. Jude (not Peter and not Iscariot) on this day.

It was the Lord Jesus who chose these men. They were lightly esteemed by the world, to say the least. Indeed, they were persecuted, and they were martyred for His Name’s sake. But they were befriended by the Lord and beloved of God in Christ Jesus. How shall we love them any less?

Why did Jesus choose these guys, these two men concerning whom we know almost nothing? Why did He choose them? It was for Love’s sake: For the Love of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, He loved them, even to the end. And He loves His Church on earth, even to the close of the age, to whom He called and sent His Holy Apostles to preach and to act in His Name and stead.

In the same way that He has chosen you and appointed you to love and serve your neighbor, so has He chosen and appointed St. Simon and St. Jude, and countless other pastors and teachers ever since, even to this day, to love and serve you and His whole Church with His Word. And wherever that Seed of His Word is sown, there He bears much fruit, which remains unto Life everlasting.

Now, the fruit of His Word is the fruit of His Cross, and so it is borne in suffering, in great distress, even in martyrdom. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the early Church, and that is still true. It is in dying with Christ Jesus that you are raised up to live in and with Him, now and forever.

St. Simon and St. Jude are remembered together, because they are said to have suffered and died together in Persia. You also bear the Cross, even unto death, for the sake of Jesus’ Name. And you also, like the Holy Apostles — for you are no less beloved than they are — you, like the Holy Apostles, are protected by the Word of Christ through faith in His Resurrection from the dead.

When the Church remembers and gives thanks for the saints who have gone before us, it is in the hope that we also share the same Resurrection and the same Life, which is theirs and ours by faith in Christ Jesus. It is hope, because it is not yet seen. But it is a sure and certain hope, because it is as sure and certain as Christ Himself is true. And it is for you, as surely as He speaks His Word to you, as surely as He has named you with His Name and anointed you with His Spirit in Holy Baptism, and as surely as He feeds you with His own holy Body and precious Blood. 

Though you cannot yet see Him, and though you do not feel or experience His Resurrection in your mortal flesh, which still gets sick and gets hurt and shall die, even so, you love and trust in Him, and you hope in His Flesh and Blood, because He has befriended you, and because He has chosen you, and He has called you to Himself. And the Lord who loves you does not lie. He strengthens you, and He is with you. And if you are called to lay down your life for His Name, then He shall stand with you, even to the last.  He strengthens you especially by forgiving you all of your sins. He does it over and over and over again, and thereby gives you His own eternal Life in place of your death. His indestructible Life in both body and soul, both now and forever, is yours in Him.

Consider that His Body was made desolate upon the Cross, an abomination, cursed by God. In fact, He became a curse, like Shiloh and Jerusalem; and He was destroyed like that once great Temple.  But in His Resurrection the Lord your God has established His House on earth for you and for all.

The Lord’s House is found wherever the Word of Christ the Crucified is preached, wherever Holy Baptism is administered in His Name, and wherever His holy Body and precious Blood are given and poured out in remembrance of Him.

Not only that, but as your dear Lord Jesus feeds you with the Fruits of His Cross on the one hand, it is also the case that His Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father, His own crucified and risen Body and His own holy and precious Blood — these are your true and salutary worship of the living God. In Him, you and your thanksgiving are received unto your Father in heaven, and you are saved in the glorious company of the Apostles, the Prophets and Martyrs and all Saints. It is in that company that you stand in your dear Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Messengers Sent to Serve the Children of Man

Like ourselves, the holy angels are likewise creatures of the one true God; but they are creatures of such might and majesty that we human beings of finite, frail flesh and blood can hardly begin to comprehend what they are like — and all the more so because of our fallen, sinful state.

The angels of God are His creatures, and perhaps in all of His vast Creation there are no creatures of greater might and majesty than they possess. And yet, these holy angels were created for the sake of Man, to honor and serve mankind. Not as though God needed their help; there is nothing that He cannot do by His own almighty power. As great and majestic as the angels are, they also depend upon the Lord our God for their very existence, and for all that they are and have.

But, no, God made the angels, not as though He needed them — not as though He needed anything — but because in His divine love He desired to serve and honor us, men and women made in His Image and Likeness, which is to say, in the Image and Likeness of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus.

Man alone among all of God’s creatures has been created to share and participate in His divine, eternal Life. The Son of God did not become an angel, nor any other creature than true Man, born of the Woman, born of flesh and blood like your own, save only without any sins of His own. The majestic holy angels were created to serve mankind for the sake of that one true Man, Christ Jesus.

There are hints in the Holy Scriptures — and theologians throughout the history of the Church have surmised and concluded — that Satan and his minions fell from God’s presence because of pride and envy over this very thing, that human beings were created for such glory, that God in His grace would bestow such honor upon such creatures of frail flesh and blood. Out of jealousy and  resentment, Satan rebelled against God, the Lord, and led other angels into this rebellion, as well.

And the gracious privilege that God has given to the children of Man is demonstrated above all in this crucial difference, that, whereas those rebellious and fallen angels — the devil and his hordes — have been given no opportunity for redemption, repentance, and restoration to their original state, fallen man is raised up with Christ Jesus through repentance and faith in His Holy Gospel.

As we are all well aware, it certainly is the case that Man has also rebelled against God, the Lord, and fallen into sin, and brought death upon himself and all of Creation — because all of Creation has been created by God for the blessing and benefit of Man, to whom He gave dominion over the earth. Yet, despite this glory and honor of God’s grace, Man dishonored God and disobeyed His Word. Adam & Eve and all their children, including each of us, have sinned against the Lord.

But to you and all the children of Man — in contrast to the fallen angels — there is given this great redemption in Christ Jesus, this restoration and salvation, this high honor of the Holy Gospel!

It is not as though the sins of mankind are any less sinful or egregious than those of Satan and the other fallen angels. If you consider that Satan’s sin is one of arrogance, pride, envy, and jealousy, you find that much of your own sin is Satanic — or demonic, as we heard recently from St. James. You also are arrogant and prideful in your sin, selfish, self-centered, and self-righteous; and you also are envious and jealous of your neighbor, covetous of what the Lord God has given to others.

And yet, the same Lord God in His mercy has chosen to save you by the incarnation of the Son!

That grace and salvation of God makes the devil all the angrier. Indeed, the devil is furious, hell-bent on dragging you and all people down with himself; he is desperate and determined to destroy you, to grab you and keep you away from the one true God. To that end, Satan tempts you to sin, in order that he might then accuse you of your sin! Do not underestimate the devil’s wiliness, he is wiser and more cunning than you. He is crafty and subtle. And do not underestimate his strength, for he is stronger than you, and he prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you.

The devil will stop at nothing to destroy you. And sadly, you give him plenty of ammunition with your sins, with all that you do contrary to the Word of God. That old dragon, Satan the “Accuser,” does not even have to lie when he points his finger in your face, because he can bring the very Law of God against you. Yet, he is undone by the Word of the Gospel, because Jesus forgives you!

The simple Word of the Gospel is your mightiest weapon against the devil, all his works, and all his ways. The Word of the Gospel is your strongest armor and protection against the devil’s wiles and strength. For the Holy Gospel of your Lord Jesus Christ forgives your sins and removes all your iniquity and guilt, and it covers you with the Lord’s own righteousness, holiness, and peace.

It is likewise for the sake of this Holy Gospel that St. Michael and all the holy angels serve and protect you in both body and soul, according to the good and gracious Will of God. Indeed, above all else, St. Michael and the holy angels live to serve the Will of God; and it is His good and gracious Will for you in Christ Jesus, that you should be rescued and saved from sin, death, the devil, and hell, and that you should not perish but live forever with God Himself in Paradise.

So, for the sake of the Gospel — which is really to say, for the sake of Christ Jesus — those great majestic angels of God constantly surround you and protect you, and they pull you from the fire, and they save you from destruction, and they protect and guard your body. And along with all of that, they also guard and keep your soul, as well, so that Satan has no chance to get at you.

Even so, for all of that, it has not been given to the holy angels but to men, whom God has chosen, called, ordained, and sent in His Name — not to angels, but to such men it is given to preach the Gospel, to forgive sins, and to administer the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus in His Holy Supper.  It is by this Word and Flesh and Blood of Christ that you are rescued and saved from the devil and all his wicked assaults and accusations. But it is not the holy angels who are entrusted with that Holy Ministry of the Gospel, but men who are sent by the Lord Jesus in His Name and stead.

Today, then, in particular, we give thanks and praise to God for the gift of His human “angels,” His messengers in this place — Bryan and Adam — sent to proclaim His Gospel to all of you!

In this Holy Ministry, we see again the honor and glory that God has given to Man, over and above that of the holy angels. It is men who are given to bestow the Gifts of Christ Jesus, and it is men and women who receive those Gifts unto themselves. For the almighty and eternal Son of God has not become like those angelic spirits, but He has become true Man and the Savior of all mankind.

The holy angels of God see in you, in your flesh and blood, the same human nature that God Himself, the incarnate Son Christ Jesus, has made His very own when He was conceived and born of the Woman, St. Mary. That is what the angels see in you. And by the same token, that is what you ought to see in your neighbor, as well, namely, the Image and Likeness of God, your Savior.

Indeed, in Christ Jesus, mortal Man — despite our fall into sin, and notwithstanding the death and damnation we deserve by our sin — Man is raised up, exalted, and glorified far and above the holy angels: in Him who was for a little while made lower than the holy angels, but has now been given the Name which is above every name, the Name with which He has named you in your Baptism.  And this is your glory and honor, that by the grace of God He has done all this for you.

Unlike Satan and all the other fallen angels who joined in his rebellion, St. Michael and all the holy angels of God harbor no envy or jealousy of you. They do not resent this grace of God toward you and all the children of Man. They are not bitter toward you, nor angry with God over you. Rather, their greatest joy and delight is found in the repentance, forgiveness, faith, and salvation of men and women, boys and girls — in your repentance, your forgiveness, your faith, and your salvation.

The holy angels of God rejoice to serve and support you for the sake of Christ Jesus, your Savior. They love to do it, because it is according to the Will of God, the Lord. This is God’s greatest delight, to save you and give you life; and so it is the greatest joy and delight of the holy angels.

And so, for all that they praise and honor and worship God, they do so for this above all else, that you have been saved; that you have been called out of darkness into the Light of Christ; that your sins have been forgiven; that you shall live with Christ forever and ever. In this all the angels in heaven rejoice. How much more, then, shall we worship, honor, glorify, and praise our dear God and Father for this Gospel and this Life which He freely gives to us by His grace in Christ Jesus!

And along with all His benefits, we give thanks to God, as well, for the service of His holy angels, who even now gather with us around the Lamb upon His throne, the God of God and Light of Light, the very God of very God, who became Flesh of our flesh and Bone of our bone, who bore your sins and griefs and sorrows in His own Body to the Cross, who was crucified, put to death, and buried for you, to atone for your sins and reconcile you to God, who is risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, and seated at the Right Hand of the Father forever and forevermore.

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

The Life and Salvation of the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus

Be sober in all things. Endure hardship and bear the cross patiently. Do the work that God has given you to do. Fulfill your calling as a Christian.

The Lord your God has poured Himself out as a drink offering for you and for all people, even to the ends of the earth. And He pours Himself out for you here — for you and for the many — that you should be crowned with His righteousness, sealed with His Blood, and live with Him in His Kingdom, in safety, peace, and happiness forever.

By the baring of His holy arms upon the wood of the Cross, He has redeemed His people and the whole of His creation from the curse of sin and death.

And now He also bares His holy outstretched arms and His merciful hands by causing the Gospel to be preached to all the nations, to make known His salvation to all men and women everywhere, and to comfort His Church, His beloved Jerusalem, even in the midst of her suffering and sorrow.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty and eternal Son of God, in flesh and blood like your own, has fulfilled the entire Law, the Word and holy Will of His Father. He has established faith and love, righteousness and holiness, in Himself, in His own Body, in the perfect unity of His own Person as the One who is both true God and true Man. It is in Him, therefore, by faith in Him, that all the sons and daughters of man are called and given to live the divine life, to partake of the divine nature, and to abide in peace and joy forevermore within the bosom of His God and Father.

He has broken down the wall of hostility and separation between God and man, which sin erected in the fall of Adam. The Lord has removed the accusation of the Law and every condemnation; for He has suffered the death and damnation of sin in His own Body, and the wrath of God against all unrighteousness. And having done so in perfect faith and love, in holiness and innocence before His God and Father, He has been vindicated and raised from the dead on behalf of all people.

Because His bloody Cross and Passion have made Atonement for the sins of the whole world, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ has defeated death forever and crushed the devil’s head.

His Resurrection is the Father’s Holy Absolution of the world, which He has reconciled to Himself in Christ, His dear Son. All flesh and all of creation are restored in the flesh of Christ, in His Body, crucified and risen. So God the Father now beholds the world in Jesus Christ, and it is very good.

All of this redemption, reconciliation, and righteousness, the Lord has accomplished and fulfilled, not for His own benefit, but for you and for all — that you might live in His good and glorious New Creation — that you might live, by faith in Christ Jesus, in the love of God forevermore.

It is into that life and love that God invites you and brings you by His Gospel, which is the Word of Christ, the proclamation of His Cross and Resurrection, the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His Name, and of peace with God in His holy and precious Blood.

As He brought all of creation into being out of nothing by His Word, so has He also brought about the New Creation by His Word. And so it is that He brings you out of death into life — out of the darkness of your sins into the Light of His Love, into His New Creation — all by His Word.

It is by His Word that He has given you the new birth of water and the Holy Spirit, so that you are no longer dead in your trespasses and sin, but having been crucified with Christ you are raised with Him to newness of life with God, here in time and hereafter in eternity. Outside of Christ Jesus you are condemned, but in Him you are alive and shall be saved eternally. Remain in Him, therefore, by returning daily to your Baptism through contrition, repentance, and faith, and by living the new life to which He has called you, in love for God and man, according to His Word.

Do not underestimate the importance and necessity of His Word and the preaching of it. For it is His Word that separates the darkness from the Light. It is His Word that raises you from death to life. And it is His Word that saves you from every evil of body and soul, until He shall call you from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

It is when His people disregard His Word and turn away from it that His good creation falls into the curse and condemnation of sin and death. And, as it is by His Word that you abide in Christ, and by His Word that Christ abides in you, so it is that, when you turn a deaf ear to His Word and refuse to hear it, then you are found outside of Him and condemned in your unfaithfulness.

Where His Word reproaches you for your unbelief and hardness of heart, repent. Do not become angry or defensive; do not persist in your stubbornness and sin, but repent and believe the Gospel. Do not refuse to hear the testimony of those who are the witnesses of His Cross and Resurrection, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Do not despise this preaching of His Word, but receive it with your ears, ponder it in your heart, believe it, and live according to it at all times.

Trust Christ, that He was crucified for your transgressions and raised again for your justification. Live in Him, and do not allow the devil, the world, or your sinful flesh to rob you of that life.

Wherever in the world He has called you and stationed you to be, live and work there in the joyful confidence of His Gospel, and in the love that His Word directs you to have for your neighbor.

If you are a preacher, preach. But let none of you suppose that only preachers shall be saved or live by the Word of Christ. Rather, live in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, according to His Word that has been preached to you, within each and all of your callings and stations in life as a Christian. Know that the Lord your God works with you and in you, confirming His Word to you by the signs of His grace, mercy, and peace in your faithful service within your own place, wherever it might be, and in all of your various relationships.

Live such as you are, as one whose life is safe and secure in Christ Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. That is where you live by faith, even as you live in love here on earth

And that, too, is very good, for Jesus’ sake

The goodness of His creation — redeemed by His Cross and restored in His Resurrection — and the goodness of life in this world, is demonstrated by the ways and means with which He causes His Gospel to be preached to all the nations of the world, even to the ends of the earth.

Not angels, but men of flesh and blood like His own, He calls and sends in His Name to preach.

Men like St. Mark the Evangelist, whom we remember with praise and thanksgiving to God this evening. By his hand, the Word of Christ Jesus has been recorded and published in all the world. Surely by such proclamation he was useful to St.  Peter and St.  Paul. And he is useful to you, also, by the Word that he has written in the Holy Spirit. With mortal hands he wrote with human words on earthly parchment, and yet those Words he wrote are the Words of Christ, your Savior, alive with His Spirit and full of His forgiveness for the salvation of sinners, including you.

So do the preachers of Christ Jesus, even now, speak with new tongues, so that you may be healed of your sins, set free from your demons, and raised from death to life. The lying tongue of the serpent shall not deceive you or mislead you, and his deadly poison shall not hurt you, not while you are guarded and kept by this preaching of Christ and His Gospel of forgiveness. Not because you never fall or fail, but because He is risen from the dead and He raises you up with Himself.

With His Word He has made of ordinary water a Baptism for you, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit. Believe it, and be saved.

Believe, too, that the same Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again, who called and sent Saint Mark to preach and publish the Gospel, and who reclined at the Table with His holy Apostles, making Himself known to them in the Breaking of the Bread — that same Lord Jesus Christ, by the same Word of the Gospel, reclines here at His Table with you, and He gives Himself to you here and now, His Flesh and Blood for your body and soul, in the same Breaking of the Bread.

His Word sounds from heaven here in this place through the mouth of His servant, and His holy arm stretches out to feed you from His own hand. There is no poison in His Cup. It is poured out as the Medicine of Life and Immortality, which He has brought to light through the Gospel.

By His precious Word, sweeter than honey, and by His Holy Sacrament, He reigns as your King.

All praise and thanks to Him for this great salvation, and for the gift of His servant, St. Mark, through whom He has caused His Word to be heard in your ears and your heart, unto eternal Life.

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

The One Who Believes and Is Baptized

St. Mark was an Evangelist, in the first place, because he was a preacher of the Gospel. He is said to have gone to Alexandria and preached the Gospel there. The Church identifies the Apostles and Evangelists with particular places, because the Gospel and the Church are historically grounded and located in real space and time. Christ has sent His preachers of the Gospel into all the earth, into the whole world, to make disciples of all nations, and yes, in fact, to preach the Gospel to all of creation, since all of creation is made new in the Resurrection of Christ, in His flesh and blood.

St. Mark is an Evangelist because he was such a preacher. But he is also one of those four holy Evangelists by whose hand the Lord has given us the written Gospel of Jesus, a record of our Lord’s words and actions, of all that Jesus began to do and teach. It is not only an historical record, but a theological treatise, and really nothing less than the preaching of Jesus, in which He is actively present, breathing His Holy Spirit upon His Church. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, you have life in Him.

St. Mark begins his record of the Holy Gospel — the Gospel of Jesus Christ — with the ministry of St. John the Baptist. He came in the wilderness preaching a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, because the Kingdom of God was at hand in the Person of Christ Jesus.

Then Jesus came and submitted Himself to St. John’s Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And after He was driven out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for forty days, He also began to preach, “Repent, and believe the Gospel, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

Repent, therefore, each one of you. Believe the Gospel, and do not forget your Baptism, but daily wash yourself in it by way of repentance, by trusting the Word of Christ, by receiving His means of grace. Be put to death each day, and rise again with Christ each day.

Trust the Lord your God. Look to Him who is your Father, who has called you His own dearly beloved and well pleasing son. Look to Him who promises to give you all good things in Christ, and pray as He has taught you. Do not doubt but firmly believe that your prayer is heard and answered with a resounding “Yes and Amen!” in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead.

And that you may believe and pray in this way, hear and heed the Word of God. Rejoice to hear His Word and the preaching of it, the preaching of the Gospel, as St. Mark wrote by inspiration, and as your pastors to this day preach into your ears, into your heart, and into your body and life. This Word is true. It is Spirit, and it is Life. Do not doubt it. Be not unbelieving but believing; for he who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who disbelieves will be condemned.

But what does this mean? For all that Jesus has done, does it still come down to you? Must you figure out how to repent, and how to believe, and how to live by faith, lest it all be for naught?

Consider the example of those eleven disciples. They had already heard the testimony of Mary Magdalene and the other women. They had already heard the testimony of the two disciples who were on the Road to Emmaus and saw the risen Lord Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread. But they refused to believe the testimony of those witnesses, and Jesus rebuked them for their hardness of heart, just as He calls you to repent above all for your unbelief and hardness of heart.

But your Baptism does not rest upon your faith. The Lord Jesus does not stand upon your love. And the Kingdom of God does not depend on your repentance. Your faith rather stands on Christ, as it springs from the waters of His Baptism and relies upon His Gospel. And it is because the Kingdom of God first comes to you, that you are called to repent: Not only to sorrow for your sins and turn away from them, but to find shelter in this One who has come in the Name of the Lord.

He has come in the flesh as true Man. He has borne your sins and suffered your death. And He has done it all — He has lived and died for you — by faith in His God and Father. This Lord Jesus Christ has believed. This Lord Jesus Christ has been baptized, even unto death. And this Lord Jesus Christ has been saved from out of death and the grave through the Glory of God the Father.

Do not ever look for your salvation in yourself, not even in your own faith. You cannot choose to believe. You cannot will it. You cannot decide to do any such thing, for sin and death reign in your flesh until the Holy Spirit lays Christ upon your heart through the forgiveness of your sins.

It is the work of Christ that is credited to you as righteousness. It is the work of Christ that is given to you in the preaching and ministry of His Gospel. It is Christ who speaks to you through those whom He has called and sent in His Name. He forgives all your sins and grants you His Peace.

This, then, is the work of Christ, which He has done, and which He works in you. When Christ is preached to you as the One who believed and was baptized, who was crucified and raised, this work of Christ is worked in you. Thus are you called to faith through the narrow passage of the Cross. And so are you born again into newness of life. You are called out of darkness into His glorious Light. Where once there was nothing but doubt and fear and sadness, now there is joyful confidence in the One who was raised from the dead; for He has come to take up residence in you — through your ears and through your mouth, into your heart and mind, into your body and life.

He opens the Scriptures to you. Not that you should know the rules better and try harder to keep them, but that you should know them as fulfilled in Christ Jesus for you. As He has died, you also die with Him. As He is raised, you also are raised up with Him, to live with Him, now and forever.

Be encouraged in this life by the sort of men whom Jesus calls and sends. Men like Simon Peter, who denied his Lord in fear, and yet he was restored and sent as the prince of the Apostles. Men like Thomas, who doubted to begin with, but who was sent — not in doubt, but in confidence — to preach boldly until he also was put to death. And men like Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the Church, the hater of Jesus, who was called to become His great champion to the Gentiles. He preached the Gospel to the ends of the earth in his day, until he too was martyred for the Gospel.

And then there’s Mark. Whether or not he was that rich young man who went away sorrowful, because of his many possessions, when he was first called to take up the Cross and follow after Jesus, we know that he disappointed the Apostle Paul by bailing out on their missionary journey.

Such are the men, fallible and flawed, weary, weak, and wounded, whom your crucified Savior raises up in His strength and sends in the way of His Cross to the glory of His Name. They have their doubts, they have their fears. They suffer hurt and pain and ridicule and persecution. They are even put to death, despised and rejected by men, though they are precious to God in Christ.

It is through such weakness, by and with the Cross, that the Gospel is preached to you. It is the power of God unto salvation. It is the preaching of repentance, which puts you to death, and destroys your self-confidence, and robs you of any claim to righteousness or merit or good works. It is a word that wounds you in order to heal you, and kills you in order to make you alive, because it is the Word of Christ the Crucified, who is also risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever.

This is the Word that is preached to you. And with this Word of Christ there are signs, which you cannot recognize by your eyes, but by the faith that God works in your heart you know what is going on here. By the waters of your Baptism, and by the forgiveness of your sins, all of your demons are cast out. All of your darkness is enlightened. All of your dirt is washed away.

When Jesus lays His hand on your head, and His servant speaks with that new tongue of the Gospel, “I forgive you all your sins in the Name and stead of Christ,” you know and believe that you are thereby healed. Your body is made ready for the resurrection on the last day. You shall not perish but have everlasting Life. You shall not die but live, in body and soul, forever and ever.

The deadly serpent’s sting has been undone. That old dragon, Satan, cannot harm you. He can still try and bite you. But it doesn’t stick. The sting of death is removed. The sting of sin is gone.

Nor is there any deadly poison in that overflowing Chalice which the Lord Jesus sets before you on His Table. It is rather His Blood of the New Testament, the Blood of Christ Jesus Himself, which He pours out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

When you have doubts, do not be afraid, and do not run away from God, but listen to His preaching of the Gospel. By this Word He keeps on loving you. He keeps on forgiving you. He keeps on coming to you. So does faith come by hearing, and hearing by this Word of Christ. And as you believe, so it is done. In fact, before you have called, God answers. And while you are yet speaking, already He is acting to save you — through men like Mark, pastors He has never failed to provide for His Church on earth. So are you and all the sheep of the Good Shepherd nurtured on the green pastures of His Gospel, refreshed by the living waters of His Baptism, and fed at His Table in His House, unto the resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of body and soul.

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

Upon This Rock Christ Builds His Church

The Church’s one Foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord – the almighty and eternal Son of the Living God, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, put to death and buried, risen from the dead, ascended to the Right Hand of the Father, but given and poured out for us Christians to eat and to drink in His Holy Supper here on earth.

He is the Foundation, or, as the Scriptures say, the Cornerstone who gives shape and strength and stability to the Foundation of His Apostles and Prophets. And He is the Wise Man who establishes, builds, protects, and sustains His Church – His House – upon the Rock, as we have heard in this familiar Holy Gospel this afternoon.

Because He builds His House upon the Rock, it stands fast against the winds and waves and storms that rage against it; and according to His Word and promise, even the gates of hell (or Hades) are unable to prevail against His Church.

As to “the Rock,” a lot of ink has been spilled over the years debating what it is and how that works.  It’s certainly not Simon Peter in and of himself as a fallen and fallible human being. Indeed, the Holy Gospels do not cover up or hide his human foibles and failings at various points along the way. Yet, the Lord chose Simon Barjona, called him to faith and discipleship, forgave his sins, restored him following his denials, and sent him to preach and administer the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome (from Pentecost to Martyrdom). Thus do our Lutheran Confessions assert that our Lord addresses Simon Peter as an Apostle, a called and ordained minister of His Word, and says, “Upon this Rock,” that is, upon this Ministry – the Ministry of the Confession of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

And that apostolic Ministry, upon which Christ Jesus builds His Church, continues around the world to this day, to the ends of the earth – and so also to this place – even to the close of the age.

It is to this same Ministry – of the Confession of Christ Jesus – that Pr. Hesse has been ordained, and for which he has now been called to St. John Lutheran Church here in Aurora, Indiana.

So has the Lord intended, from before the foundation of the world, that His servant Mark Hesse should become part of the foundation of His Church in this time and place. To that end, in all that he says and does Pr. Hesse is to be guided and governed by the Word of Christ Jesus, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures by the Holy Prophets, Apostles, and Evangelists.

Pr. Hesse has but one Name to proclaim and declare, one Name in which to Baptize and Absolve you, and one Name to rely upon, come hell or high water against him. That is the Name of the one Lord, Jesus Christ, given here in your midst from God the Father in heaven.

Pr. Hesse will have nothing else to offer you or give you than that, and there is really nothing else in heaven or on earth that you and your congregation need – nothing else that really matters. This is the point and purpose of it all, and it is more than sufficient, more than adequate.

It is revealed and given, first of all, in Holy Baptism, just as it was in the Baptism of our Lord that God the Father anointed Him with the Holy Spirit as the Christ and openly declared Him to be His beloved and well-pleasing Son. That is where Simon Peter learned to know and confess who Jesus is. And so, too, it is in your Holy Baptism that you have been named with His Name, anointed with His Spirit as a Christian, and adopted by God the Father as a beloved and well-pleasing son or daughter in Christ Jesus.

A pastor is given no greater or higher privilege than that of baptizing disciples of Jesus in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for such baptizing with water and the Word works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal Life and Salvation to all who believe this, according to the sure and certain promises of God.

And of course, it is not to be forgotten or taken lightly that pastors also have this great blessing and benefit of Holy Baptism. That is not what makes a man a pastor, but it is the confidence and hope in which he is sustained in the Office of the Ministry and in all of his callings and stations in life. You are first and foremost a Christian, a child of God, before you are called, ordained, and sent to be a pastor of the Lord’s people, a shepherd of the Lord’s sheep under the Good Shepherd.

Forgiveness of sin does not begin and end with Holy Baptism. Indeed, forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name is at the very center of the Church and Ministry, the heart and soul of this Office and work to which you are called and ordained. You yourself depend upon the forgiveness of your own sins; and you, in turn, are given the tremendous privilege and responsibility to forgive the sins of others.

To be sure, it is the duty of every Christian to forgive as we are freely forgiven by the Lord Jesus, to forgive those who trespass against us, and to be reconciled with those we have trespassed against. But as a pastor, you are also entrusted with the office and exercise of the Keys – the preaching and administration of the Gospel – unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins. You are to hear the confessions of God’s people with the ears of Christ Jesus, and to absolve them with His Word, with His Voice, in His Name and stead. However odd that might seem, that is how our dear Lord Jesus chooses to deal with us on earth.

And that is why it is so fundamental and so necessary to the integrity of the Office, to the Church and Ministry of the Gospel, that you maintain the absolute confidentiality of those things that are confessed to you. As Christ forgives the sins of His people through the Word that He speaks with your lips, it is vital that your lips not speak of those sins to anyone else, anywhere, at any time. They are altogether swallowed up by the Gospel, removed as far as the East is from the West, and remembered no more before God in heaven. Whatever temporal consequences remain on earth are the concern and responsibility of other authorities.

By the same token, where you are given to confront and deal with those who refuse to repent of their sins but persist in them with hardness of heart, there you must exercise the binding key, as needs may be, that the Lord’s Church and Ministry not become agents of evil or a den of thieves. Our hope and prayer, even then, is that the Lord in His mercy would work repentance in their hearts, unto faith in His free and full forgiveness of sins. But His forgiveness is deliverance from sin and every evil, not a license to continue in sin.

To those who believe and are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, who live in the promise and significance of their Holy Baptism, and who by faith confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you are also given the profound privilege – as already here this afternoon – of administering His Body and His Blood in remembrance of Him. That goes hand-in-hand with the proclamation of His death until He comes, the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name. To celebrate the Lord’s Supper is an exercise of pastoral care, within a context of ongoing pastoral care. It is the Family Meal at the heart of the Lord’s House, and you are the housefather entrusted with the stewardship of this Mystery for the children of God under your care.

Are you up to the task? No, of course not! None of us are, not of ourselves. Consider again St. Peter and his faults and failings. As Luther confesses, if this Ministry depended on us, it would all fall apart and go to rack and ruin. Yet, this is how the Lord has determined to preserve, protect, and prosper His Church on earth, and so shall He be with you, strengthen and sustain you in this Office and work. Your labors are not in vain in Him! He rather delights to work by the way of His Cross, and He manifests His glorious power precisely in such weakness, in the frailty of flesh and blood.

There is salvation by no other way or means than the Ministry of the Confession of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. Though He is despised and rejected by the world, He is the Cornerstone upon whom everything rests and depends. And by the preaching of His Word and the Ministry of His Gospel, He has granted to you – to His pastors and to all His people – such exceedingly precious and very great promises, that you should become partakers of the divine nature in Him. For He became like you, that you should become like Him.

As He was crucified for your transgressions and has been raised for your justification, so are you raised from death to eternal Life, in both body and soul, in and with Him. This is what it means that the gates of hell (or Hades) shall not prevail against His Church. Death and the grave do not get to have the last word against you, because they are defeated, undone, and burst apart from the inside-out by the Lord Jesus Christ. Death no longer has any hold on Him, and neither shall it be able to hold onto you. For Christ is risen from the dead, and He has opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all who believe and are baptized in His Name.

Built on this Rock, the Church shall stand, even when steeples are falling. For here stands the Font before our eyes, declaring how God has received us. The Altar recalls Christ’s Sacrifice and what His Supper here gives us. And here sound the Scriptures that proclaim Christ Jesus, forever the same, our Savior and our Redeemer!

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

God’s Covenant in Flesh and Blood

You know that it was not Abraham who chose God.  It was not Abraham who first called upon God, but rather God who called upon Abraham.  When he was living in a foreign land with his family, and though his family was worshiping idols, the Lord our God called Abraham to Himself.  He called him by name, and He gave him promises.  He called him to go to a place that Abraham did not yet know — yet, he heard and believed that Word of the Lord.  By the grace of God, he was a man of faith, indeed, the father of all who believe and trust in the Name of the Lord.

The promises that God gave to Abraham by His grace and mercy, for peace and life, were not only for Abraham, nor only for his own immediate children, nor only for his own descendants after the flesh.  Rather, God called Abraham, and blessed Abraham, and gave Abraham promises, and sealed those promises with a Covenant, also for your sake, and for all the nations of the earth; that all might call upon the Name of the Lord, who has mercy on all who call upon Him.

When God gave Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision, it was to seal with certainty the promise that God had given, the promise that He would fulfill in the Flesh and Blood of His own Son, born from the family of Abraham in the fullness of time.

What made Abraham faithful and the father of all who believe was the faith in his heart, which was by the Word and Spirit of God.  But even aside from Abraham’s faith, there would be given, from his own flesh, his own Seed, the Savior, who is Christ Jesus.

And so this Covenant of God with Abraham is given in his very flesh.  And it is utterly absurd.

God does such very strange things.  That Abraham and his sons, and all of his many sons who would come after him, should have a portion of the skin from their genitals cut off; and this would be God’s Covenant with Abraham and his family!  That is very strange.  It is painful.  It causes embarrassment and shame.  It causes blood.  And yet, this is God’s Covenant, sealed in flesh and blood, and attached to Abraham’s body, as surely as God’s Word should be held within his heart.

Among Abraham’s descendants there would be those who walked in the faith of their father, and those who did not.  But even Abraham himself was not always in all things faithful.  Nor Judah.  Nor David.  Those men of God lived by faith, by the grace of God, but it was God who always remained faithful to them and to His Covenant with them.

So from Abraham’s family there would come the One who fulfilled this Covenant of Circumcision, this Covenant of God’s gracious blessing, His promise that from Abraham would come a Blessing for the nations.  It was attached to the flesh of this family, until it should appear in the Flesh of God Himself, conceived and born of Mary, and on this Eighth Day circumcised according to the Law.

The Law itself was God’s Covenant with the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with the sons of Israel.  For having brought them out of Egypt by His powerful arm and with His outstretched hand, He established His Covenant with them, again with flesh and blood, that is, the blood of bulls and oxen, there at Mt. Sinai.  There God appeared to them, and He sealed His Covenant with them with that blood which was sacrificed.  Not their own blood in this case, for they were spared, but blood nonetheless.  It is by blood that God forgives sins, and with blood that He gives life and salvation.

Thus, with blood He sealed His Covenant with Israel at Sinai, and He gave them His holy and righteous Law to set them apart.  As Abraham was set apart, both in his heart and in his body, so was Israel set apart to live by faith and by love.  Their lives and relationships would testify to the presence of God among them.  For they would be distinct from all the nations of the world.  They would worship the Lord in fear, love, and trust.  They would hear and heed His Word and call upon His Name.  They would be holy and perfect, as the Lord their God is holy and perfect.

So it was that He gave them His Law to discipline their flesh, to show them the way they should live and walk before Him.  But in this way, it also exposed and made clear their sins.  And it never would be fulfilled in the lives of the people, but only in the Life of Christ, who is God in the Flesh, in whom the Law is most surely written and fulfilled and completed.  Hence, even in showing them their sins, the Law also described that One who would be their Savior, the One who lives in perfect faith toward God and in perfect love toward both God and man: the Son of God, Christ Jesus.

It is to Christ that the Law has always pointed, and it still does.  True, the Ten Commandments per se were given to Israel, as part of God’s Covenant with those ancient people.  But those same Ten Commandments summarize the good and gracious Will of God, what is His good and acceptable Will, also for you.  In showing you how to live, His Commandments guide you in the way of faith and love.  They point you to your neighbor, that you should serve your neighbor as the Lord your God serves you.  And His Ten Commandments are also your tutor, pointing you to Christ Jesus.  To be sure, you are not under the Law in the way that ancient Israel was, for Christ has come, and you live under grace by faith in Him; but the Law does tutor your flesh in this poor life of labor.

A tutor in the ancient world was a trusted household slave who would take the children of the family, the sons of the father, and lead them to and from school, and help them with their lessons, and make sure they learned what they needed to know in order to live, in order to receive and use their father’s inheritance rightly.  So the Law serves this purpose for you.  It is your tutor.  It is not your salvation, but it points to the One who is your Savior.  It trains you in the way that you are to go in order to inherit the Treasures of your Father in heaven by the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

You are no doubt familiar with the way that we Lutherans have confessed the Ten Commandments, that they function as a mirror, as a curb, and also as a rule or guide for those who are reconciled to God in Christ, for those who are redeemed and righteous by faith.  The Ten Commandments are a tutor in this way.  They show you how to live.  And I suppose that is fairly easy to understand when it comes to loving and serving your neighbor.  You are not to hurt or harm your neighbor in his body, his possessions, his family, his income or reputation.  Rather, by your words and by your actions, you are to help your neighbor in all of these aspects of life.  Help him to protect his body.  Help him to keep his stuff, his wife and children.  Help to defend his name among his neighbors.

But the first three Commandments also serve as your tutor.  And this, not for your neighbor’s benefit, nor for God’s protection, as though you were going to hurt or harm Him.  No, the first three Commandments rule and guide and tutor you for your benefit, for your protection.  They direct you and even require you to do those things which are for your own good before the Lord.

Those first three Commandments direct you to look to the Lord your God; and in that command there is the certainty that He desires to hear you.  They command you to hear His Word, because it is by His Word that He gives you grace and every blessing.  It is by His Word that He names you with His own Name.  And because He has named you with His own Name, the way in which you speak and the way in which you live are a confession of who your Father is, of who your God is.

So the first three Commandments command you — with all your heart, with all your mind, with your body and your voice — to fear, love, and trust in the one true God above all things.  Not because He needs you, but you need Him.  He calls you to Himself in love, because He is your Life and your Salvation.  It is by faith that you receive all of His gifts.  It is in prayer that you call upon Him.  And it is with His Word that He serves you and answers all your prayers and all your needs.

His Word, ultimately — from before the foundation of the world, and even into eternity — the Word of the Lord is the Son of God, your Savior, Jesus Christ, whom the Father has given in the flesh and blood of Abraham.  He is the Seed of Abraham, the promised One in whom the nations of the world are blessed; in whom you also are blessed through the forgiveness of all your sins.

In Christ Jesus the Covenant that God established with Abraham has been satisfied and fulfilled.  And not in some abstract, general sort of way, but this Son of God, Christ Jesus, born of Mary, actually receives in His own flesh, in His own genitals, the Covenant of Circumcision.  He bleeds.  He hurts.  He suffers, already as an Infant, in keeping with the Law of God, which neither Abraham nor any of His other sons or daughters, nor you, could have kept or fulfilled.  But Jesus does it all.

Already as an Infant, and into His childhood, and into His manhood — throughout His Life, even unto death, and in His Resurrection from the dead — He has kept the whole entire Law of God.  Every jot.  Every tittle.  Every Commandment, He has kept.  And all that you have broken, He has repaired and rectified in His own Body, by His innocent suffering and death upon the Cross, and in His glorious Resurrection.  He has atoned for all of your sins by the shedding of His Blood.

In perfect faith and love He has lived.  In perfect faith and love He has died.  And so it is that, by His Cross and in His Resurrection, He has redeemed you from sin, death, the devil, and hell, and He has reconciled you to the Lord your God in His own Body, in His own Flesh and Blood.

This incarnate Son of God, Christ Jesus, is the Lamb.  He is the One whom God the Father has provided for Himself in the place of Abraham’s beloved Isaac.  He is the Lamb who is given in place of all the sons of Israel, while God humbles Pharaoh under His thumb.  He is the Lamb who is given for the sins of the world.  He bleeds and dies that you might live.  And He feeds you with Himself, with the Passover Feast of His own holy Body and precious Blood, so that you may live.

Not only that, but everything that He has done and accomplished, for you and for all people, has also been given to you by His Word and with His Name in the Sacrament of your Holy Baptism.

St. Paul calls Holy Baptism the Circumcision made without hands.  It is the Circumcision of your heart, mind, and spirit.  It is the Circumcision worked by the Word and Spirit of the Lord, who cleanses you, who purifies you through the forgiveness of your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ.

In the dying and rising of Holy Baptism, it is not only that the Law disciplines you by the way of the Cross, but all the more so does the Gospel forgive you by the Cross and in the Resurrection of the Lord.  It does so by laying Christ Jesus on your heart with the gift and promise of His grace; and not only on your heart, but on your flesh.  For the Word of Baptism is combined and included with the water of Baptism that washes over your flesh and cleanses you inside and out.  It cleanses your conscience before God, and it cleanses your flesh for the Resurrection unto everlasting Life.

In Holy Baptism, the Name of God, which Jesus has received and bears forever in His own Body of human flesh and blood, has been given to you in your flesh.  It has been written by His Cross and with His Blood upon your forehead and your heart, upon your body, soul, and spirit.  So, then, in the Resurrection of your body you shall be glorious in Christ, and you shall see Him as He is.

You are named by God.  And with His Name God has given you Himself.  And with Himself He has given you His Life.  You belong to Him.  You are a child of Abraham by faith in this God.  Even better, you are a child of God in Christ Jesus.  You are an heir of the Father.  You are a son most beloved.  Everything He has belongs to you.  With His Name He has given you everything.

With His Name, through the forgiveness of all your sins, He has cleansed and purified your heart.  He has also cleansed and purified your lips and your life in the flesh, so that you are able by His grace to sing, to pray, and to keep the Feast at all times and in all places, to the glory of His Name, because you belong to Him.  You are in Christ Jesus.  That is your identity.  That is your sonship, be you boy or girl.  That is your salvation of body and soul, here in time and hereafter in eternity.

All thanks and praise be unto God through this Savior, Jesus Christ, who has fulfilled God’s holy Law and given you Himself in peace and love, unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.

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

After the Pattern of Christ Jesus

St. Stephen was content and at peace, even as he was being put to death, because he had fixed his hope on the living God.  He wasn’t searching for the meaning of life, because it had already been made known to him by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel.  He wasn’t confused about his place and purpose in the world, because he knew himself to be a child of God in Christ.  And he wasn’t nervous or afraid about tomorrow or the next day, because he lived by the grace of his Father.

That explains the striking contrast that we find in the story of Stephen: On the one hand, his fierce and forthright preaching of the Law, and on the other hand, his gracious prayer of forgiveness for those to whom he preached as they were stoning him to death.  He demonstrates the bold courage that characterizes the martyrs of our Lord Jesus, but also the charity and compassion of Christ.  He has the strong confidence and passionate conviction, not of harsh anger, but of faith in the Gospel.

In particular, Stephen knew and trusted that he had a dwelling place with God, because God had made His dwelling place with Stephen in Christ Jesus.  The holy martyr knew that he would be with Christ, with the Father in heaven, because the same Lord Jesus Christ was with him in his suffering and death.  He knew that heaven was his home, and that heaven had been fully opened to him by the Cross and Resurrection of the incarnate Son of God.

The Lord has just as surely done the same for you, as well.  He has become Flesh for you.  He has given Himself for you, even unto death.  He has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven for you, also.  And yet, He also remains with you here in His Church on earth, in His very own Flesh and Blood, with His Word and Holy Spirit.  Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with you here.

What Moses was shown and what he saw on the Mountain was a Type of that incarnate Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Tabernacle that Moses made by God’s direction was according to that holy pattern.  It served the people of God in the wilderness as a means of grace, a proclamation of the Gospel, because it pointed to what has now been accomplished and fulfilled in the Son of Mary.

He is the new and better Joshua, who brings God’s people out of the wilderness into the good land that He has promised, defeating all their enemies before them.  And He is the new and better David — the Son of David who is greater than Solomon — the true King of Peace and holy Wisdom — whose own Body is raised and established as the true Temple of God.  That is to say, not a house for God to live in, as though He were otherwise homeless, but a House in which you live with God.

In Him, by your Baptism into Him, His God and Father is your God and Father.  You bear His own Name and Holy Spirit, because you are born of Him, and you have your Life in Him, and you are a member of His family.  Your house and home are with Him, safe and secure, now and forever.

For Christ Jesus, the beloved Son, has become your Brother in the Flesh and your Savior from sin, death, the devil, and hell.  He is your merciful and great High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.  His sacrificial death is your Atonement and Redemption.  His Resurrection from the dead is your reconciliation and your righteousness with God.  And His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father is your own happy homecoming, your peaceful resting place, and your Salvation forever.

That is why you can be strong and courageous, like St. Stephen, in doing your job and saying forthrightly what is good and right and true, even when it is painfully difficult, woefully unpopular, and poorly received.  You fear the Lord, because He alone is your true God and Father, but you need not be afraid of any mortal man.  No one can rob you of your Life with God in Christ Jesus.

Along with such courage and confidence, you are also able to be compassionate, kind, and patient, even when you deal with hurtful and unpleasant people.  To be sure, your kind compassion may require the preaching of the Law and the call to repentance, according to your office and vocation.  But such a preaching of repentance — as when the Lord persisted in sending the Prophets to His people of old, and in the case of St. Stephen — is neither vindictive nor mean-spirited, but aims at warning the neighbor of danger and calling him back to the Lord. 

So, too, when you must warn your neighbor, do so in love — truly to rescue him from danger and to lead him to life with yourself — and not out of any anger, defensiveness, fear, or vengeance.

After all, you know that you are safe.  Your life is secure.  You need not guard yourself so fiercely.  God has opened His heaven to you in Christ Jesus, as fully and freely as He did for St. Stephen.  Indeed, through your Holy Baptism you have already died with Christ and entered into Life with God in Him.  That is how sure and certain your Life and your eternal future are and ever shall be.

Dear child of God, you know that for Jesus’ sake your true Father in heaven loves you; that He is pleased with you and delights in you, regardless of what anyone else may think or say or do.  And you know that all of this is solely by His grace and mercy; that He is compassionate, kind, and patient with you — long-suffering, slow to anger, and full of nothing but steadfast love for you.

Therefore, as Christ has given Himself for you and given you His own Life by the Gospel, and as He has become your Righteousness and your Salvation, so is He your Strength and your Song — your Confidence and Courage, on the one hand; your Charity and Compassion, on the other hand.

So it is that you become like Him.  Which is also to become like St. Stephen, who was recreated in the Image and Likeness of God, after the pattern of Christ Jesus, by his own Holy Baptism.

Therefore, you also live, you suffer, and you die, as Stephen did — like Christ — by grace through faith in the Gospel.  That is the only power and poise that you will ever need.  And it is yours!

You have the Tabernacle of the Testimony here in the wilderness, that is to say, the preaching of the Gospel.  That is the true wisdom and eloquence of the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus, calling you daily to repentance, unto faith, through the forgiveness of all your sins.  It cleanses you and clothes you with the Blood of the Lamb; as in your Holy Baptism, so also in the Holy Communion.

The saints who have gone before you, especially the holy martyrs like St. Stephen, are another kind of “Tabernacle of the Testimony,” because they have lived in their own flesh and followed by faith the same pattern they were shown in Christ Jesus.  And you, in turn, follow the same pattern as a living testimony to your neighbor, so that your neighbor may then see the Son of Man in you.

Be Thou faithful unto death, and He will give you the crown of Life.  That was His sure and certain promise to St. Stephen (whose name means “crown”), and His promise to you is no less sure and certain.  Indeed, it is already a “bird in the hand,” because your dear Lord Jesus Christ, the very King of heaven, has already crowned you with His own royalty and righteousness by the Gospel. He has crowned you with Himself and with His Glory, having made of you His royal Bride, His Queen.  And as He spoke by the Prophet Isaiah, you are a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.

You are another Stephen, by virtue of your Baptism into the Cross and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  And as He did for that holy Stephen, for whom we give thanks and praise to God this day, so does He also bring you through the waters of your Baptism into the heaven He has opened to you by His own Baptism.  He will bring you through death and the grave into the Life everlasting, as even now He brings you through the great tribulation into His own Resurrection and Ascension.

Already you live with Him in God, by grace through faith in His Gospel, because God tabernacles here with you in Him, that is, in His Flesh and Blood and in His Word of forgiveness.  For that dear Lord Jesus binds together in Himself, forever, both God and Man, both heaven and earth.

Here at His Altar — and so also from this Altar into the world in your calling and station, even through the wilderness — you live before the Throne of God; you live and abide in His Temple.

Your sins are all forgiven.  Forgive those, also, who trespass against you.  For you are righteous and holy before God and precious in His sight for the sake of Jesus Christ.  As He has risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever at the Right Hand of His God and Father, so shall you not die but live.  Does He not feed you with His Body and pour out His Blood for you to drink?  Yes, He does.  He sees to it that neither His Word nor His Table are neglected in this place.  Therefore, you lack nothing, nor shall you ever lack for what you need.  Your sure and certain hope for Life and Salvation are here for you in the forgiveness of your sins and in the Meat and Drink of Christ

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

To Live with Him in His Kingdom

What is it that you want the Lord Jesus to do for you?  What greatness and what glory do you hope to receive from Him and share with Him?  And what do you suppose that would be like?

When you pour out the deepest longings of your heart, what is it that you pray for?  What is it that you ask the dear Lord Jesus to do for you or give to you?  Do you want to have more friends?  To be popular and in demand?  To be admired and respected?  Or do you long for comfort and care and relief from whatever it is that has you trapped and afraid?  Or security and stability, so that you don’t have to keep working so hard to hold it all together, just to keep going from one day to the next?  Is it happiness that you’re after?  Some kind of heaven on earth?  A life worth living?

The truth of the matter is that Jesus, the Son of Man, who is the incarnate Son of God, the Lord’s Anointed, the very King of heaven — He has come in love to serve you, to give you nothing less than Himself — to give His Body and Life for you — and with that, to give you all good things.

He does not lord it over you, but He makes Himself your Servant, even a Slave on your behalf.  He exercises His almighty power in His compassion for you, in showing mercy toward you.  He uses His authority in heaven and on earth to forgive you all your sins; and with that forgiveness He gives you everlasting Life and eternal Salvation, divine Sonship, and a place in His Kingdom.

You do not understand.  But He does it for you anyway.

You do not deserve or merit any of this.  But He does it all for you by grace, for His Love’s sake.

This is the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ, which is His Greatness and His Glory.  He voluntarily takes His place and His position on the Cross, centered between two thieves, one on His right, the other on His left.  That is where and how He becomes the first of many brethren, including you.  That is where and how He obtains all good things for you; for He takes your place under the Law, and He fully bears the curse of your sin and death, in order to give you a place with Himself in the Kingdom of His God and Father.  He gives Himself for you, and He withholds nothing from you.

It’s all yours, for free, for the asking, and even before you ask. Take it and live, for Jesus’ sake.

And then what?  Everything is yours: What are you going to do with it?  How shall you live?

Shall you live with Jesus in the Kingdom of His Cross?  Or will you go your own way, in the hope that something better comes along?  Where will you go?  What will you do?  Will you throw your hat in the ring with the gentiles?  Or will you die with Jesus, in order to live with Him by grace?

As you consider the glorious company of the holy Apostles and the sainted Martyrs of this Lord Jesus Christ — St. James the Elder prominent among them, especially on this festival day — learn from them to fix your eyes on Jesus, come hell or high water against you.

Do not look to your left or your right to see how it’s going with your neighbor.  Christ has given Himself for your neighbor, too; and by the Gospel He gives all good things to your neighbor, as well, and a place in His Kingdom, purchased and won at the cost of His own Life.  That it is how it is with your neighbor — and all of it for Jesus’ sake, who is also with you and for you in love.

But the particular place that has been given to your neighbor is different than yours — a different chair at the table, a different cross to bear, a different crown of glory.

Do not be indignant with your neighbor, neither for his sin, nor for his faith and life.  And do not be angry with your Lord, either, for giving your neighbor what He has not given to you.

As you are a citizen of His Kingdom, do not live as a citizen of this sinful world with its petty jealousies.  Do not compete with your neighbor, nor seek to get the better of him.  Rather, for the sake of love, serve your neighbor as Christ Jesus loves and serves both you and your neighbor.

How so?  By patiently suffering hurt, hostility, and insult, without any anger or vengeance, without bitterness or resentment.  By forgiving your neighbor his trespasses against you.  And by helping your neighbor to bear his burdens, without begrudging or coveting your neighbor’s blessings.

Let there be no jealousy among you, but only love.  Let there be no competing or contesting for greatness or glory, but glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and His Cross by outdoing one another in humility, grace, and compassion.

Do you want to be great?  Then serve.  Be great at serving, the very best at doing unto others as you would have done to you.  Do you want to be number one, the gold-medal champion?  Then become the humble and willing slave of all the rest.  Be the number one servant.  Be like your Lord Jesus.  Dedicate your whole life, your every breath, your blood, sweat, and tears, to serving your neighbors.  Hold nothing back, and show no partiality or prejudice.  Love even your enemies, as the Lord has commanded you.  Forgive those who trespass against you, and gladly do good to those who hate you and hurt you.  Bless those who curse you; bless, and do not curse.  Take up the Cross.  Bend your neck to the sword.  Give your body to be beaten, bruised, and buried.

Are you able to do all this?  The answer actually is, Yes.  But not by your own reason or strength.

What do you have that you have not been given?  What good shall you do that is not done for you?  How shall you love and serve for Jesus’ sake, except that He has come in love to serve you and to give His Life for you?  How is it that you share His Baptism and drink His Cup, except that He has been baptized for you, even unto death upon the Cross, and that He has drained the Cup to the very dregs in fulfillment of all righteousness.

It is by your Baptism into Christ Jesus that you do share His Cross and Passion, His innocent suffering, death, and burial, His Resurrection and His Life, His Righteousness, and His Glory.

With His Baptism He has taken your place, so that your Baptism has given you His place.  His faithfulness is credited to you, and it becomes yours through faith in Him.  So, too, His humility and His obedience are yours.  His service and His greatness — it is all made yours by His grace.

So are you likewise given His Cup to drink, not for wrath and woe but unto Salvation.  And more than that, you are given His Body to eat for the forgiveness of your sins.  The very Flesh that bore your sins upon the Cross, the holy and precious Blood that atoned for your unrighteousness — these are given to you at the Lord’s own Table.  He surrounds you on the right hand and on the left, and He gives to you the place of honor, that He may serve you and give Himself to you in love.

The bitter cup of wrath and woe He has made sweet by His bloody Cross and Passion.  The poison in that cup — the righteous wrath and judgment of God against all the sins of the world, including all of your sins, and the punishment of sin with death and damnation — that poison Jesus has swallowed and consumed, every drop of it; so that His Cup has become for you the New Testament in His Blood, which is poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

As He shed His Blood to fill that Chalice from His Cross, and as He poured it out for His disciples, for James and John and the other ten, for each of them to drink from His own hand, so did He send them to give that Cup to His Church — to give that Cup to you — and to give His Body to be eaten — for the granting of eternal Life; that you might be His own, and live with Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even forever and ever.

St. James poured out that Cup, not only as an Apostle and a Minister of the Sacrament, but as a Martyr of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a lamb to be slaughtered in a Passover like that of his King.

You are given to drink that same Cup of Blessing and Salvation.  It is filled from the Cross, and those who drink it bear the Cross of Christ, as do each and all of those who share His Baptism.  Whether that will mean for you the sword, or poison, or prison, or fire, or lions, or simply the weight of daily service in your own callings, the Cup of Christ is your Glory and your Life.

Take it, and live.  It’s all yours, for Jesus’ sake.  And nothing in heaven or on earth shall be able to sever you from Him, who loves you without end.

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