The Sign of the Cross in the Holy Place

Everything hinges on the Cross of Christ Jesus.  Life, the universe, and everything — indeed, all of time and space — are centered in the Cross of Christ and find their heart and meaning there.  Heaven and earth and all that is in them, all of creation, and your life, too, depend on His Cross.

None of these things can properly be understood apart from the Cross.  Nor will any of it survive apart from the Cross.  Every bit of it is either put to death by the Cross, in order to live, or judged forever outside of the Cross, unto eternal death.  You either die to live, or you're living to die.

The sign of the Cross is a mark of the Church on earth and of the Christian life in this world.  Not simply as a piece of jewelry or a work of art, nor only as a pious personal ceremony, appropriate as such things are.  It involves tribulation and suffering within and without, the daily dying of the old Adam by contrition and repentance, and relentless persecution by the devil and the world.

You have been taught to love and adore the Cross of Christ Jesus, and it is meet and right so to do.  But for all of that, the Cross remains an abomination of desolation in the Temple of God; for it is the full realization of the curse of sin and death, and of God’s righteous wrath and just judgment.  It is the Cross that desecrates the old, in order to make all things new in the Body of Christ.

Such is the paradox of Christianity — the paradox of God Himself — which is entirely foolish and counter-intuitive to the wisdom of sinful man.  It makes no sense at all to you apart from the preaching of the Gospel, which is the forgiveness of sins by the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus.

That is why your crucified and risen Lord Jesus sends His messengers to you now — as He will send out His angels on that great and terrible Day.  He sends His servants to gather His elect from the four winds, to call disciples from all the nations — all by the way and the means of His Cross, by His Word of the Cross, which is the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Meanwhile, there are no lack of false “christs” and false prophets, who go out into all the world preaching a false “gospel,” proclaiming false promises that are not grounded in the painful Cross of Christ Jesus, but dependent on seemingly impressive signs and wonders.

Do not listen to them.  Do not be misled.

What is more, do not horde or grasp or cling to any of the wealth and wisdom of this world.  Even the Lord’s good gifts and blessings of your home and family must finally give way and be let go.  Indeed, all of nature, the heavens and the earth, the sun, moon, and stars, all of it will pass away.

Repent of your idolatrous fear, love, and trust in whatever is not God.  Repent of whatever is not Christ Jesus, crucified and risen.  For only Christ and His Word of the Cross remain forever.

It is His Cross, remember that.  Your life and salvation do not depend upon your suffering and death, but on His.  It is not what you bear and carry, but His Holy Cross and Passion, His innocent suffering and death, which have fulfilled and established all of creation — and your salvation.

His Cross is laid upon you, therefore, in love by the Lord your God, not to crush and destroy you, but to save you and to give you life by His grace.  So does He also feed you here with the fruits of His Cross.  Here your sins are forgiven, so that, by His tribulation, you abide in His House forever.

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

Abiding with Christ in the Place of Holy Baptism

You do not deny that Jesus is the Son of God, and you would not dream of picking up stones to throw at Him and kill Him.  By your Baptism into Christ Jesus, by His Word and Holy Spirit, you believe in Him and love Him, and you confess that He is the Lord, your Savior and your God.

But also take to heart, in particular, that He, being God, has been sanctified and sent by the Father to become true Man, your Brother in the flesh.  He has come down from heaven to do the works of God the Father here on earth — with human words and with His bodily means of grace.

Look, then, where He is staying: He is in the place of Baptism, that is, within His Church on earth — in the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins — and in the Supper of the Lamb, the One who has been slain, and yet, behold, He lives for you.  That is where you go to be with Him.

Do not look for your Savior and your God “up there,” as though you could peer into heaven and scale such heights on your own.  And don’t try to lay hold of Him, whether for good or evil, by any power or wisdom of yours.  You won’t find Him that way, nor will you catch Him in your hands.

Do not suppose that you will ever have outgrown the benefits and significance of Holy Baptism.  And do not imagine that what you need is something more and better than the same ol’ same ol’ means of grace.  Those means of the Gospel are exactly where and how Jesus is with you and for you.  That is where He remains.  That is where you find Him, because that is where and how He finds you. That is where and how you come to believe in Him and live in Him, now and forever.

Repent of your desire and your tendency to wander off and look for other gods — whatever their name or kind, whether it be your family and friends, wealth or power or fame.  Return with all your heart and soul, your body, mind, and strength, to the place of Baptism, to the Church on earth.  It is precisely there that God the Son has come from God the Father to work among you and for you.

It is in His own Body of flesh and blood — in the waters of the Jordan, in His Crucifixion and His Resurrection — that His God and Father has sanctified Christ Jesus with His Holy Spirit to be your Savior.  And it is still with the flesh and blood of Christ, and by the Word of Jesus Christ the Crucified One, that His Father sanctifies you with the same Holy Spirit, unto the Life everlasting.

This is the good work that Christ your Savior does for you.  His Word has come to you, and it is still spoken to you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  So, too, in the waters of Holy Baptism He has made of you a son of God by His grace.  His Father is your Father.  And the Holy Triune God, who has named you with His own Name, lives in you, and you in Him, forever and forevermore.

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

Hear His Voice and Come Forth

The judgment of the Son of God is just: Those who have done good are raised to life, whereas those who have done evil are subject to condemnation, punishment, and death.

Yet, what is the good and gracious will of God which Jesus does and accomplishes?  It is to raise you up from death, although you are sinful and unclean and have done what is evil and not good.

Thus has He come down from the bosom of the Father in heaven to tabernacle with us here on earth in His own flesh and blood, in order to judge you not guilty but righteous by His grace.

In doing so, He has not “made Himself” the Son of God; nor has He “made Himself” equal to God.  He simply is and ever shall be who He is, the only-begotten Son of God — God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God — begotten of the Father from all eternity, even forevermore.

And yet, in striking contrast to the way that you selfishly cling to what you claim to be your own, He has not boasted of His equality with God.  Instead, He has humbled Himself and become obedient, even unto His death on the Cross.  Not only has He become true Man, of flesh and blood like your own, but He has made Himself nothing, that is, subject to the curse of sin and death.

He has made Himself the Son of Man — the one true God in the flesh, who has become your Substitute, your Savior and Redeemer — in order to make of you a son of God by grace in Himself.

This dear Lord Jesus, the almighty and eternal Son of God — the Word who was in the beginning with God; the Word who is God, by whom and for whom all things are made and exist — He has put Himself in your place, in order to give you His own place with God the Father in heaven.

The good deeds that you have failed to do, He has done them for you — on your behalf, and also for your benefit.  At the same time, for all the evil you have done (and continue to do), He has suffered the judgment and punishment of your death and damnation in His own body and soul.

What would have crushed you and destroyed you forever, He has dealt with and defeated in Himself, in His own flesh, by the shedding of His holy and precious blood, and by His innocent suffering and death.  He has been crucified, dead, and buried — laid to rest in a tomb.  But from that hole in the ground He has come forth, opening up the way of life and peace and rest for you.

This is the Word that God the Father has spoken, that is to say, His own Son in the flesh, even unto death.  So that, in calling forth His Son from death and the grave, He has granted all authority to His Son to call forth sinners from out of death into life: From their sins to His free forgiveness — from unbelief to faith — from unrighteousness to righteousness — from the tomb into Paradise.

It is by His Voice of the Gospel — by His Word of Holy Absolution — that He, the Son of Man, the Crucified and Risen One, calls you out of darkness into His Light; out of your grave, from the dust of the earth, into His Resurrection from the dead and His Life everlasting in body and soul.

So, then, listen up.  Hear His Voice and come forth!  Do not harden your heart.  Repent of your evil deeds, of your obstinance and unbelief, of your stubborn doubts and fears, and of your idolatry.

Repent of all your sins, and obey the Voice of God.  Not by doing, first of all, but by believing.

Justice and righteousness are not satisfied by your keeping of the Law, even if you could and did manage to keep it (which you do not and cannot accomplish).  You are justified and saved by the Cross of Christ and in His Resurrection from the dead.  So the Hour has come, and now is, when He speaks that Word to you.  And by His Voice He grants His Resurrection and His Life to you.

Hear His Voice, and believe His Word:  Your sins are forgiven.  You are not guilty.  You shall not die, but live forever.  God is your Father, and you are His child.  Come then, find your Sabbath Rest in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, who has made Himself to be your Savior.

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

The Voice of the Bridegroom

Always a groomsman, never the Groom.  That is John’s vocation.  Among those born of the earth, he is the best man, but he is not the Christ.  He is not that true Light which shines upon the Bride and makes her radiant and beautiful.

John’s voice heralds the Coming One, the Word-made-Flesh, at whose speaking death gives way to life.  That One is the Bridegroom, the Son of God, sent by the Father from heaven to court His Bride, to call her to Himself, to cleanse and clothe her with His righteousness, and to consummate His marriage to her in both body and soul, so that not even death shall ever separate her from Him.

It is to this union of Christ Jesus and His Bride, the Church, that every earthly marriage testifies.  Husband, love your wife, therefore; forgive her sins, give yourself to her, and live your life for her benefit.  Woman, likewise, love and serve your husband; submit to him in faith, for Jesus’ sake.

Receive the spouse that God the Lord has given you, and be content.  Do not covet your neighbor’s wife or husband, but cherish the one whom Christ has given you in love.  Or, if you have not received an earthly bride or groom, be content with Christ Jesus and cling to Him by faith.

Each of you, let all your thoughts, words, and actions be chaste and pure, unselfish, and charitable, as your dear Lord Jesus Christ is toward you in all things.  For He is your heavenly Bridegroom, and by the washing of the water with His Word you belong to Him as a member of His holy Bride. In His Body and His Blood, you are one flesh with Him.  You, therefore, be holy, as He is holy.

You have nothing at all apart from Him — that is, nothing but divine wrath, condemnation, and eternal death.  But in Him, you have all good things, everything pertaining to life and godliness.  For the Father has set His seal upon His Son, not only from eternity, but also in His own flesh: in the waters of the Jordan, upon the holy Mountain, and in the Resurrection of the Crucified One.

This Man, the Bridegroom come down from heaven, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, He is the beloved Son.  All that belongs to the Father is His.  He has received the Spirit without measure, also in His flesh and blood upon the earth, in order to pour out His Holy Spirit generously and without measure upon you.  He has done so in the heavenly washing of your Baptism; and He does so for you here also, in His Holy Supper, at the festal board of His Altar.

He also does so freely, daily, and richly in His Word of forgiveness.  He does so because He loves you.  He has pledged Himself to you, bound Himself to you, and given Himself for you forever.

As you belong to such a beloved Bride of Christ, as one whom He has baptized to be a member of His Holy Christian Church, so do you belong among the true daughters of Zion, the daughters of Jerusalem.  The Father’s Son is your true Husband.  Therefore, His Father is your true Father.  His home and His inheritance are yours.  And as He increases, so are you also exalted in Him.

Dearly beloved, be awake and alert, and wait upon your Bridegroom.  For He is coming soon to call you from this vale of tears to Himself — to your true home in heaven.  He comes to carry you, body and soul, over that threshold — through the waters of the Jordan into Paradise forever.

Listen for His Voice.  He speaks to you even now by the mouth of His friend, His groomsman at this Altar.  It is His own Voice which speaks to you in love.  Consider what He says, and rejoice: “Take, eat. Drink.”  Receive these gifts Christ freely gives.  Believe His Word.  Believe also in Him, and have eternal life.  So shall your joy be made full in the Feast of His Body and His Blood.

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

Abiding in the Body of Christ Jesus

The Lord’s Passover is at hand, and the firstborn Son of the Father shall be put to death as the Lamb of God, in order that His people should be spared from death, and saved from their sins, and set free from their bondage and all their burdens of body and soul.

You live, therefore, by abiding in the Father’s house in peace, where the blood of this Lamb marks the door, and where His flesh is eaten in faith and hope and with thanksgiving.

But you cannot remain in His house forever, nor can you live with Him in His presence, so long as you remain in your sin.  For your sin has put you at odds with your Father and would separate you from His house and home altogether.  If you are to abide under His roof, preserved and protected in safety when the Angel of Death passes through Egypt, then you must be forgiven of your sins and reconciled to your Father — lest you be put to death and perish forever.

Now, then, do not cast about frantically for some way or means of appeasing Him.  You cannot purchase or earn God’s favor by any coin or sacrifice of your own.  Atonement and reconciliation are not a business transaction that you could ever negotiate.  Indeed, attempting to barter or bargain for your life with God only puts you that much more at odds with Him.

Rather, see here that the Son of God has been entirely consumed by His zeal for the Father’s house, so that it should be, not a marketplace of works righteousness, but a place of peace and rest for you and for disciples of all nations.  It is a mighty fortress, a refuge and stronghold, a place where you are safe from sin, death, the devil, and hell, and from the condemnation of the Lord’s own Law.

It is by His Cross and Resurrection that the Lord Jesus Christ has become, not only the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, but also the true divine, eternal Temple of God among His people, established here on earth for you, and so also at the right hand of the Father for you.

His Body has been sacrificed, once for all, in order to atone for the sins of the whole world; and His Blood has been shed for reconciliation with God.  So it is that His Resurrection from the dead is the opening of heaven to you and to all who believe and are baptized into Him.  His open tomb is now the ever-open door back into the Father’s house.

It is by this authority of His Cross and Resurrection that Jesus calls you to repentance and brings you to faith by His free and full forgiveness of all your sins.  So also, it is from His Cross and in His Resurrection that He feeds you with His own holy Body, which is the very Temple of God.

He thus abides in you, and you abide in Him, who is the Lord your God.  And abiding in Him, you dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of your life, both here and now and forever after.

His House, His Temple, is no one building — neither here nor in Palestine, nor in any other single place on earth — but it is His own Body, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, risen and ascended to the right hand of the Father, but given to His disciples in His Supper within His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church on earth.

His holy Church around the world (in heaven and on earth) is altogether one Body in Him, because His disciples from all nations eat of His one Body and drink from the one Cup which is the New Testament in His Blood.  Together they are built into a Temple of living stones, to which you also belong — built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Christ Himself the Cornerstone.

Wherever in the world His Scriptures are read, wherever His Word of the Gospel is preached in His Name in its truth and purity, there His Church is gathered — His Body, His Temple on earth — to feast upon His Body and His Blood in faith, hope, and love, to the glory of God the Father.

So, then, receive here what you are, and be what you receive: the Body of Christ.  Be cleansed and sealed by His Blood for life and salvation in Him, and be at peace with your God and Father.  For here you are already at home with Him, and not even death shall be able to separate you from Him.  Though your body shall die and be buried, you also shall rise, in and with your body, and live.

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

By the Prayer and Fasting of Christ Jesus

God the Father in heaven has had mercy upon you, and has given His Son to die for you, and for His sake forgives you all your sins.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, has come down from heaven for you and your salvation.  In flesh and blood like your own, He has come down from the majestic Mountain in order to go the way of the Cross — in order to save you and give you life with God in Himself.

He has thus confronted and contended with your enemies — with the demons that haunt you, with the world that taunts and harasses you, and with your own fallen and perverted flesh.  And by His Cross and Passion, He has conquered in the fight.  He has accomplished your salvation.

Against your unbelief, He has set His steadfast faith and faithfulness.  In the place of your illness, He has bestowed His own perfect health and strength.  Instead of your lunacy, He has brought divine wisdom and the peace that surpasses human understanding.

Here, then, is the God’s-honest Truth: The Lord has given Himself for you, and He gives Himself to you, along with every good and perfect gift, on earth as it is in heaven.

So, why do you persist in the futility of your sins, returning to the same bad habits over and over and over again?  Why must you keep throwing yourself back into the fire, from which the Lord has delivered you at the cost of His own body and life?  And why do you keep jumping off the deep end into water that’s way over your head, when you know that you can’t swim or pull yourself out?

You cannot fix yourself or make things better for yourself, not in the ways that matter before God forever.  You cannot pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.  Whatever your weakness may be — a short temper, a gossiping tongue, gambling with money, addictions (of whatever sort), lust or laziness, bitterness or envy — you won’t be able to master it and overcome it by your own abilities and efforts.  Yet, left unchecked, it will destroy you.  It is hurting you already, even now.

Pray that God the Lord will still have mercy upon you, and that He will come quickly and help you.  For you cannot save yourself — no more than you can save your family, friends, and neighbors in the world, except by the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus.  But pray and confess His Word, and call upon His Name in the confidence that He will hear and answer, that He will save you by His grace.

Repent of your sins, and believe the Gospel.  Fear, love, and trust the Lord who loves you.  Take heart that Christ is here with you, and that He is for you, now and forever and always.

Exercise your little faith.  Discipline yourself to do without your legion of false gods, and discover that your life is in Christ Jesus.  Bring your loved ones, too, as others have brought you to Christ.

For you it is impossible, but not for Him.  You are powerless and helpless, but His almighty power is manifest for you in mercy and compassion, in free and full forgiveness of sins.  Not only that, but, ironically, His almighty power has been made perfect for you in His voluntary weakness.

He has humbled Himself and become obedient, even unto death upon the Cross.  He has prayed for you, and He ever lives to intercede for you.  He has fasted for you, for your faith and life and full salvation, even as He now and ever feeds and nourishes you with Himself.  He has suffered and died on your behalf — thrown Himself into your fire, drowned Himself in your flood — so that you are purified by the fire of His Holy Spirit and cleansed by the waters of His Baptism.

By His Word of the Gospel, He has brought the majestic Mountain to you, from heaven to earth.

That holy and glorious Mountaintop is here, centered in His Altar in His Church.  From Mount Calvary He feeds you with His Body and His Blood, so that, by faith, you ascend His holy Hill.

And when you are faithless and unbelieving, doubtful, and afraid, He remains faithful, steadfast, and sure.  He cannot deny Himself, and He will not deny the Word that He has spoken to you.

How long, then, shall He be with you?  And how long shall He put up with you?  For as long as He remains, risen from the dead, seated at the Right Hand of the Father, immortal, imperishable, victorious and glorious, your merciful and great High Priest, forever and forevermore.

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

Sanctified by the Sacrifice of Christ for the Life Everlasting

It should be clear from this account that you dare not underestimate the depravity of man and the wicked perversion of his sinful heart (nor that of your own fallen flesh).

The chief priests and the pharisees, the religious leaders of God’s people, bearing holy office and zealous for the Law, observe the many signs that Jesus performs, and for these they seek to seize Him and put Him to death.  Jealous of their own position, they choose violence against the Lord.

He healed the sick, made the lame to walk and the blind to see; and now, His most recent crime, He has raised the dead from out of the grave to newness of life.  Sweet injuries, indeed!  Yet, for these the Law and the Priesthood must put Him to death for the benefit and salvation of the people.

And do not suppose that your own sinful heart is free and clear of such depravity and perversion.

To take seriously who Jesus is, what He says and what He does, threatens your comfortable status quo, your “comfort zone,” and your own place and position in this world.

Consider, then, what you are called to drown and destroy in yourself, in your body and life.  Take to heart that, in being called to repentance and discipleship, you are called to die with Christ Jesus.

In setting before you the life of faith and love that He has fulfilled by His Cross and Passion, the Law of the Lord is constantly exposing your sins for what they really are and condemning you for them.  But the Law is powerless to forgive your iniquity or to save you from death and the grave.

Though the Law of God is holy, good, and righteous, you are not.  Therefore, it cannot purify your conscience; it cannot set right your body and soul, your heart, mind, and spirit, with the Lord your God.  The Law can only expose your depravity, and make it worse, and so condemn you for it.

But now that same Law of God dares to lay the same judgment and condemnation upon Christ Jesus, because He has come to fulfill the will of God by the offering of Himself once for all.

Born of the Woman, and placing Himself under the Law, He redeems those who are under the Law.  He does it by the self-sacrifice of the same holy body in which He has lived in perfect conformity with the entire Law of God.  And this seeming contradiction, this travesty of justice by any normal standard, is yet the satisfaction of God’s Law, the fulfillment of His justice and righteousness.

In this Sacrifice of Christ the Holy Priesthood also finds its perfect fulfillment and completion.  For Christ Jesus is the true Passover Lamb, who is also your merciful and great High Priest.

Does He not go up to the Feast?  Indeed, He is the Feast!

He has offered Himself up to God in order to atone for the sins of the whole world; to reconcile you and all people to God in Himself; to purify you and all of creation by His innocent suffering and death, by His holy and precious blood, and by His bodily Resurrection from the dead.

Therefore, also, He now feeds you with the same holy Body and precious Blood that He offered for you on the Cross, so that you are spared and saved from death and sanctified for life in Him.

Here, then, the true Passover of Christ is at hand, here at this Altar.  By this Feast, as by Your Holy Baptism, you are purified forever.  And so do you enter with Christ Jesus, body and soul, through His sacrificial Cross and Resurrection, into the Life everlasting with His God and Father.

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

From the Jordan Up to Jerusalem in Christ Jesus

Here now is the new and greater Joshua, who leads the Israel of God through the Jordan River into Canaan, who brings down the walls of Jericho and defeats the enemies of God’s people.

He is not the son of Nun but the promised Son of David, the true King of Israel, the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed.  Anointed by the Spirit in His crossing of the Jordan through Holy Baptism, He is the great High Priest who remains forever, who ever lives to make intercession for you and all.

More than that, He is the Ark of the New Covenant, and as the final great High Priest He offers His own Body of flesh and blood as the Sacrifice of Atonement once for all.  There is therefore no condemnation for you, because He has been handed over to death bearing all of your sins, and on the Third Day He has risen again.  In Him, God the Father has also raised you from death to life.

So it is that all is forgiven, and death has thus been defeated.  For this same Lord Jesus Christ is not only your Priest and your King, but He is the Prophet who has fulfilled and accomplished all the words of the Prophets by His Cross and Passion and His Resurrection from the dead.

Of course, all of that is easy enough for you to grasp and comprehend if you are thinking about the historical facts, the Bible stories, the life and times of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  But when it comes to following Jesus up to Jerusalem and actually bearing the Cross after Him, then you are likely just as blind to what it all means as the disciples were back then.

Even the Twelve were oblivious to what was really going on.  It was hidden from them, and they could not understand the Cross of Christ — not until after the fact, when it was all said and done.

Now, it is true that you know the Cross of Christ in the light of His Resurrection.  And yet, you are no different and no better than those disciples were when it comes to the Cross in your own life.

How are you mocked and mistreated, spit upon, scourged, and put to death?  It’s one thing to suffer for your own mistakes and failings, and to consider that you are getting what you deserve for your sins.  But how do you deal with the Cross that you bear and suffer because of your faithfulness?

What about those times when even your own family and friends criticize and ridicule you for doing what is good and right, for doing what you are called and given to do?

And what about the infirmities in your mortal flesh and blood, which can render you so powerless and helpless, and over which you have little or no control?

Do not kid yourself, supposing you can just rise above it all and ride the storm out by yourself.

But do consider the irony in the Holy Gospel before us, that a blind man knows and understands the Lord Jesus, and sees Him by faith, in a way the disciples could not perceive or comprehend.

That blind man, much like yourself, had nothing but the Word of Christ to cling to and rely upon.  And that is good and right, exactly as it should be, that is, by faith in His Word, and not by sight.

Do not listen to the voices in your head or in the world around you, which tell you to sit down and shut up.  No, but just as Christ is risen from the dead, you also rise, and come to Him at His Word.  For He is coming to you in mercy, and He is calling for you.  Therefore, call upon His Name in confidence, and keep on crying out to Him for mercy.  For He hears and answers your prayers.

He does have mercy upon you, and He helps you.  By His Cross, He bears your pain.  And in His Resurrection, He raises you up to life and health and strength forever, in both body and soul.

Follow Him up to His Jerusalem, to His Church on earth as it is in heaven, and to His Holy Altar, and there receive what is handed over and given to you for your salvation.  Taste and see that He is good, and know for sure that He guards and keeps you forever in body and soul, for this life and for the Life everlasting, according to His tender mercies and His steadfast loving-kindness.

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

Living and Abiding in the House of God

Even before you have called, the Lord has answered you in love, and God the Father has given you the Spirit of His Son.  In truth, He has poured out the Holy Spirit generously upon you, in and through Christ Jesus, the beloved Son, by the washing of the water with His Word.

He has surely cast out all your demons by His forgiveness of all your sins.  He has redeemed and sanctified you by the Blood of Christ; cleansed your spirit, soul, and body with the Gospel in His means of grace; given you His holy Name and adopted you as His own dear child and heir.

Not only that, but having rescued you from the devil’s clutches and kingdom, the Lord your God, your own dear Father in Christ Jesus, has brought you into the Kingdom of His grace, mercy, and peace, into His home, into His own household and family, and He has seated you at His Table.

Here the Father feeds you with His Son, who is your Spiritual Food, your Meat and Drink indeed.

Will you, then, live within your Father’s House, or will you be scattered?  Having been cleansed of your iniquity and justified by the grace of God in Christ, will you now turn away from His Word and return to your wicked ways, thus going from the bad that you were to seven times worse?

It is when you dwell in the waterless places, that is, away from your Baptism into Christ, that your restless heart, soul, mind, and spirit become the devil’s resting place and playground once again.

Therefore, do not become complacent, but maintain constant vigilance.  For freedom Christ has set you free, but do not abuse your freedom by giving yourself over to sin and its consequences.

If your heart is divided against the Lord your God, so that you do not live with Him but in the devil’s domain — which is to be found, not only in the likes of voodoo and black magic, but as much or more in cases of enmity, hardness of heart, and persistence in unrepentant sins of any sort — if that is the house in which you live, then you shall not stand or abide in the Lord’s House.

But now, instead, hear the Word of Christ and take it to heart.  Trust that His Word of the Gospel is Spirit and Truth, and that His Word is for you, unto repentance and faith, life and salvation.

Daily repent of your sins, and return to the Lord your God, who loves you and does not want you to die or perish.  He does not want to let you go, but to give you His own Life.  Why, then, should you not live?  Not by your own reason or strength, and not by your own good works, efforts, or achievements, but by the Love of God in Christ, who in His weakness is stronger than the devil.

He has redeemed you and rescued you, and with Him there is mercy and forgiveness.  His House stands here for you.  Make yourself at home.  Recline at His Table and rest.  Eat, drink, and live!

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

Fasting for and Feasting with the Bridegroom

Christ Jesus, the heavenly Bridegroom, has come, and He is here with you and for you — with or without your prayers, and whether you fast or not.  But He calls you to repentance, to fast and to pray, in order that you might receive Him in faith and rejoice in His salvation.

He comes to seek His Bride, to woo her to Himself, and to make her beautiful in His love for her, adorning her with His own perfect righteousness.  He is, in this same respect, the Good Physician who does not avoid or keep His distance from those who are sick, but who draws near to them in their frailty and weakness, and exposes Himself to their infectious diseases, in order to heal them.

So does He also come to help and heal you.  And to that same end, He calls you to give up and leave behind everything that you have clung to and relied upon in the past.  But that has less to do with your possessions than with your self, your old Adam, your sinful flesh and covetous heart.

For you to be converted from the inside-out, heart, soul, body, mind, and spirit, is not a matter of self-improvement, but the Lord is the One who thus makes you brand new.  So also are all things in heaven and on earth made new for you in Christ Jesus.  Thus do you begin to share your bread with the hungry, you welcome the stranger into your home, you cover the naked and visit the sick and imprisoned.  Whether you have much or little, you begin to share your hospitality with Jesus and His disciples, even as He welcomes you into His Banquet Hall to share in His Wedding Feast.

That Christ Jesus comes to you and calls you to Himself in love — that He rescues you from sin, death, the devil, and hell, and brings you in and with Himself into the Kingdom of His God and Father — that is the righteousness of Christ which is credited to you by faith in His Gospel; and that is your life and health and strength in the presence of God, here in time and hereafter forever.

It is already accomplished and established in Him, who has perfectly fulfilled the Law, on the one hand, but has also borne and satisfied its condemnation and punishment of sin on the other hand.  In keeping company with sinners, such as yourself, He has taken all your sins, your sickness unto death, upon Himself.  So has He entered the badlands, the dead zone, the quarantine, in order to defeat the disease (and death and the devil) by laying down His Life and pouring Himself out.

Once-for-all He has done so.  But His call to repentance, to leave your sin and death behind and follow Him, to receive His righteousness by grace through faith in His Gospel, that is a daily and ongoing call.  Daily He returns you to your Baptism, to die and rise with Him to newness of life.

It is for such repentance that you now fast and pray, that you might also feast in the presence of your Bridegroom.  For He shall never leave you nor forsake you — but you are frequently pulled away from Him by the appetites of your fallen flesh for the fruits of the old evil foe.  That remains a constant temptation in your mortal life on earth, which you will not escape by your own efforts.

You shall not heal yourself, nor shall you justify yourself by your own piety.  Nor do you make things better, but only that much worse, when you flee from the Lord your God, from His Word and prayer, and indulge yourself in the spiritual adultery and fornication of your idolatrous sins.

For all of that, the heavenly Bridegroom has come and sought you out.  He calls you to Himself to be His holy Bride.  He cleanses you, within and without, with His forgiveness of your sins; and He clothes you for the Wedding — and for the Wedding Feast — with His own righteousness and holiness.  As He has done so in your Holy Baptism, so does He continue to do so, again and again, by His preaching of the Holy Gospel and by His spoken Word of Holy Absolution, free and clear.

Not only that, but He has saved the best Wine til now!  His holy and precious Blood has burst the old skins of the Law, and now He pours it out, for you and for the many, in this New Testament.

Here, then, is your great and joyous feasting, even in the midst of your fasting and repentance.  For here, indeed, your Bridegroom is with you — forever and always, unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul.

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

Purified for the True Passover of Christ

The Son of God from all eternity has been conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the fullness of time, so that as true God in the flesh He should bear you sin and be your Savior.  He has come down from the Father in heaven to fulfill the Word and Will of God for your salvation by the sacrifice of His Body and the shedding of His holy, precious Blood upon the Cross.

In anticipation of this great salvation that He accomplishes by His Cross, He manifests in advance the New Creation of His Resurrection by healing the sick, making the lame to walk, opening the eyes of the blind, and even raising the dead, such as Lazarus.  Sweet “injuries,” indeed!

But like the chief priests and pharisees then, you would rather Jesus die than to give up your own self-chosen way of life; because you fear man more than God, and you love the praises of men more than God.  You fear losing your place and position here on earth more than you fear losing your Savior and Redeemer.  You fear giving up your plans and the pursuit of your hopes and dreams, more than you love the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away your sins.

So do you persist in your sins, in your plots and machinations.  And so do you put Him to death, if not by nailing Him to the Cross, then by refusing to embrace His Cross and Passion in your life.

But now, fear the Lord your God, and repent of your sins and self-promotion!

Recognize the Lord as He comes to you in the flesh.  Receive Him by faith, and revere Him with your body and soul, lest He cease to walk among you and leave you lost and helpless without Him.

He does not abide forever with the self-righteous.  He comes to call sinners to repentance, to turn them from their sins to faith and discipleship, and to give them life by His forgiveness of sins.  So does He call you to cast away the works of darkness and to live in the Light of His Holy Gospel.

Your life does not consist in your own works and efforts, nor in your own position and power, no matter how greatly you prize these idols in your life and derive such pleasure from them.  They will perish, and you along with them, before too long.  You cannot purify yourself, and all your own sacrifices cannot make you worthy to partake of the Passover, in which true life is actually found.

Rather, it is the One who has died in your place to atone for your transgressions, who has also risen from the dead for your justification and reconciliation with God, who sanctifies you by His grace alone through His Word of the Gospel, the forgiveness of your sins, and gives you His own Life.

His death was not the work or accomplishment of sinful man.  It was the good and gracious will of God for the salvation of sinners, yourself included, which He has accomplished in the Hour and by the way of His own choosing.  No one takes His life from Him, but He lays it down willingly.

And having done so — having been handed over by His Father to the voluntary suffering and death of His Cross, and having taken up His Life again by the Spirit of His Father — He now distributes the Fruits of His Cross in the world.

By the Ministry of His Gospel, He causes His Word to be preached to the ends of the earth.  And by His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, by the catechesis of His Word, and by the washing of the water with His Word and Spirit in Holy Baptism, He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies disciples from all nations.  He brings them into His Church as the beloved children of God in Himself.  He purifies and protects them by His Blood, and He feeds them with His flesh.

So has He called you here to Himself in love.  So has He enlightened you by His Word and Spirit, and sanctified you by the grace of His Gospel.  And so does He raise you up from death to life, day after day, week after week, year after year, through His forgiveness of your sins.

Not only does He welcome and receive you to Himself in mercy, but He seats you at His Table as a guest of honor in His House.  He who is both God and Man is present for you at this Altar in the true Passover Feast of His New Testament, that you might worship Him by faith in His Word and receive Him to yourself, into your body of flesh and blood, unto the life everlasting.

Seek the Lord where He is found, which is here in the Temple of His Church on earth.  Be cleansed and forgiven by His Body and His Blood, that you should not perish but live forever in Him.

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

By the Authority of Christ Your Savior

The Lord Jesus Christ is the very Son of God, who has come down from heaven in the flesh to give His life as a ransom for many, and then from His Cross to preach the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins unto life and salvation.  For by His Cross, and in His Resurrection from the dead, He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, specifically for the sake of forgiving sinners like you, and thereby saving them, yourself included, from the devil, death, and hell.

Now, you would surely not question this authority of Jesus; leastwise not in theory!  But you are kidding yourself if you claim to honor Him while you refuse to acknowledge and submit to His authority in the preaching, teaching, and ministry of those who are called and sent in His Name.

You pick and choose when and whether to heed and obey the Law that is preached to you.  And too often you persist in your sins and fail even to confess them, instead of ceasing and desisting.

You also do not recognize your fundamental need for the external Word of the Gospel as it is preached by your pastors, administered in the Sacrament, and spoken in the Holy Absolution.  You may or may not avail yourself of all these things.  You can take it or leave it.  And either way, you do what you do on your own terms, not in the humility of faith as a poor beggar before the Lord.

Oh, to be sure, you would readily affirm the authority of St. John the Baptist and his Baptism of repentance.  But St. John is not here to confront you to your face concerning your own sins and moral failings.  So that seems safe enough, while you presume to ignore his call to repentance.

Too many days come and go, in which you do not return to the significance of your Baptism into Christ Jesus.  There is no contrition and repentance.  Far less is there any righteousness and purity.

Yet, there is a man who has in fact been sent by God in heaven to call you to repentance.  And it is therefore with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ that I say to you, here and now in His Name:

Repent!  Flee from your sin, from death and the devil, and return to your life in Christ.

Which is not to say that you are to pull yourself up by your own shoestrings, as though by trying harder you could clean up your act, keep your nose clean, and save yourself by some outward pretense of righteousness.  By all means, discipline yourself and live as you should live.  Cease and desist from doing what you know to be wrong, and begin to do what is good and right.  Only do not suppose that you are thereby righteous in the sight of God, who knows your heart and mind.  It is nothing else than your basic duty to keep His commandments, so do not expect any applause.

The call to repentance, however, is a call to give up your unbelief and to believe the Word of God.

Believe His Law, which exposes your sin and condemns you.  Confess that you are a sinner, that you need to be saved, and that you cannot save yourself.  Abandon all of your self-reliance.

Believe also the Gospel of God, whereby He forgives your sins and gives you life by giving you Christ Jesus, by laying Him upon your heart, mind, body, and soul with all His gifts and benefits.

It is by such repentance and faith that you acknowledge and submit yourself to the special authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And in Him, by faith, you find that you have the very Savior that you need, who uses His authority not to condemn you but to save you by His grace.

He has submitted Himself to the Baptism of St. John, in order to fulfill all righteousness for you.  So has He taken all your sins upon Himself, and suffered death and damnation in your stead, in order that His Resurrection from the dead should be your rescue and your righteousness in Him.

Thus, I say to you, by His authority: Your sins are all forgiven. You shall not die but live forever.

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

In Mercy He Opens Your Eyes

In Jesus of Nazareth, all the Words and promises of God are fulfilled.

In Him, the new and greater Joshua has come to bring down the walls of Jericho, and great King David’s greater Son establishes the heavenly Jerusalem from which He reigns in mercy.

The ways and the means by which He goes about accomplishing His great work, however, are incomprehensible to sinful man — even to the Twelve, and so also to you, no less, though by His grace you have been called to follow Him as a disciple, and to fear, love, and trust in Him alone.

His Way of Life is incomprehensible to your fallen flesh and bones, to you sinful heart and mind, because it is the Way of the Cross, and you are blinded by your sin to the theology of His Cross.

Oh, you may now, in retrospect, readily acknowledge, confess, and give thanks for the death of Christ Jesus on the Cross.  Praise God!  But you are not so keen about the Cross in your own life.  It’s meaning is hidden from your human wisdom, from your native reason and strength.

Still, it is by the Cross that is laid upon you that the Lord calls you to repentance — to recognize your own poverty, your sin and death — and to call upon Him for mercy, for grace to help in time of need, and for the hope against all hope to see and believe that He has come to save you.

Thus did that poor blind beggar by the side of the road “see” more clearly than the disciples, and by the grace of God he would not let go the promise of the Gospel, the Word concerning Jesus.

Indeed, the same Lord Jesus Christ has mercy for all who call upon Him, who call upon Him in the Spirit and the Truth of His Word.  He has mercy upon you, and forgiveness of all your sins.

He has drawn near to you, not to condemn you for your unbelief, but to save you from yourself, from your sins, from death, and from the devil who would drag you into doubt and despair.  The Word of the Lord Jesus proclaims that He is here to help and heal you through His Holy Gospel.

It is He, not you, who is handed over to suffering and death for your sins, and for the sins of the whole world.  And it is by His Cross, by His atoning sacrifice, by the shedding of His holy and precious Blood, that He accomplishes your salvation.  So it is that His Resurrection on the Third Day becomes your daily resurrection from your ditch on the side of the road, until He shall raise you at the last from the dust and the dirt unto the life everlasting of your body and your soul.

Take it to heart, and trust that His gracious Word of the Gospel is calling you to Him.  And know that, as He does so, in His tender mercy and divine compassion for you, He also takes care of you and provides for your body and all its needs in this life, here and now and through all your days.

Not only that, but all the more so, He opens your eyes in faith, and He makes of you a disciple, so that you follow Him through death into His own divine Life with His God and Father in heaven.

In sickness and in health, in good times and bad, whether you live or whether you die, you are His own, and He is glorified in His mercy upon you.

So is He glorified even now, as He feeds you here at His Altar in this place with His Body and His Blood.  Taste and see that the Lord is good, and that His steadfast love for you endures forever!

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

The Shepherd Saves the Sheep

The Lord Jesus calls you to Himself in love to hear His Word and to receive His gifts.  He calls you by His Word and Spirit to draw near to Him.  Not with any righteousness of your own — for you are sinful and unclean — but in repentance: in sorrow and contrition for your sins, but also in the faith and confidence of His mercy.  For He does not condone your sins, but He does forgive you all your sins by His grace alone, by His Word of the Gospel.

So it is that He has sought you out and found you when you were a lost and lonely sheep, far away from God, in danger of death and damnation.  The Lord Jesus is the Man who would do such a thing, who has in fact done so in order to save you from yourself, from sin, death, and the devil.

He has come down from heaven and taken all your sin and guilt upon Himself.  He has borne it in His own Body to the Cross, where He has laid down His life and given Himself for you entirely, shedding His Blood to atone for your sins, to rescue and redeem you from death and the grave.

The Shepherd gives His life and dies for His lost and wandering sheep.  Your Savior dies for you.

And because His innocent suffering and death has made atonement and propitiation for your sins, and He has thereby conquered death and robbed the devil of his power, so has He also risen from the dead and taken up His life again, that you should have abundant life with God in Him.

In His Resurrection and Ascension, He raises you up from the dust of the earth; He lays you upon His own broad shoulders; and He brings you home, rejoicing, to His God and Father in heaven.

All of this He has done, not only for you, but for the life and salvation of all people by His grace.  And as He has called you by the Gospel and brought you into the household and family of His Church, His holy Bride, so do you rejoice with Him over the repentance and forgiveness of your fellow sinners, and you give thanks to God for each and every one of the lost who are thus found.

Not only that, but as a member of His Bride, within your own vocations and stations in life — by the Light of Christ, which is the Word of His Gospel — you also search for the lost in order to bring them into their own place in the household and family of God.  How could you do otherwise?

In particular, if there are those who have been your fellow members of the Body of Christ, who have been baptized and catechized as disciples of the Lord Jesus, who by their sins have drifted or run away and gotten themselves lost, should you not seek them out and call them home again?

With whatever broom is placed into your hands, that is to say, in whatever place the Lord has put you, with whatever skills He has given to you, search out those who are missing and restore them to the life of the Church on earth, that they too might share in the joys and gladness of heaven.

Do not despise your neighbor whom Christ loves.  And do not hold your neighbor’s trespasses against him.  For you also are a sheep who loves to wander.  You also have sinned and drifted into places where you ought not be.  You also would be lost, were it not for the Shepherd’s mercy.

And though He has called you to Himself, you are not immune to temptation and sin even now.  But you abide in the House of God by His Word of the Gospel and by the grace of His Holy Spirit.

So do not be angry, embittered, or harsh with those who are caught by their sins in grave danger.  But first of all, today and every day, repent of your own sins, and by faith give thanks for the grace and mercy of your Good Shepherd.  And rejoicing in His salvation, forgive as you are forgiven.

Draw near to those who are far away, and draw them to Christ by your words and good example.

And as for you, here and now, draw near in this place, at this Altar, to the Man who receives sinners to Himself, including you; who not only eats with them but feeds them with Himself.

For here indeed He gives to you His Body to eat, and He pours out His Blood for you to drink, for the forgiveness of all your sins, unto the life everlasting in Him.

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

The Kingdom of God Has Come Upon You

So enthralled are you with sin, death, and the power of the devil, that, apart from Christ, you can neither pray as you should nor confess what is true.  You are helpless and hopeless, and you cannot even cry out or ask for help.  Whatever you might say would be blasphemous and wrong.

But Jesus has come down from heaven to release you from the bondage of sin, death, and the devil.  In fulfillment of the words and promises of God, He has entered into your Egypt in order to set you free; He has gotten glory over Pharaoh by His Cross, and has brought you out of slavery through the Red Sea waters of your Baptism into the glorious liberty of life in the Kingdom of God.

Thus has Christ Jesus, the Stronger Man, overcome and plundered Satan, obtaining victory for you over all the devil’s wily works and wicked ways.  He has gotten forgiveness of all your sins by His atoning sacrifice.  He has made death powerless over you, since He has already suffered it for you and overcome it by His voluntary suffering and death in your stead.  That is why His Resurrection is also your release from death and the grave and your Righteousness in the presence of God.

So, too, by His preaching of the Gospel, by His Word and Holy Spirit, He opens your ears to hear, and He opens your lips to show forth His praise, to confess and call upon His holy Name in faith.

Now, the devil is mad as hell about all of this, and he is restless and out of his mind to undo it all.  In bitter envy and resentment he prowls around, desperately seeking to devour and destroy you.  In particular, he watches and waits with eager desire to catch you in the “waterless places” away from your Baptism, that is, outside of repentance and faith, apart from the Word of Christ Jesus.

This is precisely what happens in far too many cases, especially where parents have their children baptized apart from the ongoing fellowship and life of the Church.  It is the tragic downfall of those who are baptized but then do not continue to be catechized in the Word and works of God, in the Law and the Gospel, in daily contrition, repentance, confession, and faith in Christ Jesus.

For you cannot and do not remain in the waters of your Holy Baptism apart from the faith and life and prayer that are born of all that Jesus has commanded, that is, the preaching and teaching of His Word and the administration of His Supper at His Table in His Holy Christian Church.

Where and when you depart from the waters of your Baptism to the waterless places of the world, you place yourself in grave danger, perhaps without even realizing it.

For the devil is ready and anxious to pounce upon your body and soul, to move right back into your heart and life, and to take over again, setting up house with seven other unclean spirits.

The end result is worse than even it was to begin with!

Thanks be to God, therefore, that He has not left you to fend for yourself, but in His mercy He has blessed you by His Holy Spirit to continue hearing and believing His Holy Word and to live according to it.  For such faith and life are not by your own reason or strength, nor by your own resolve or ingenuity, but by the Lord’s preaching and Ministry of the Gospel.

Take heart, that He has not left you defenseless or in the dark.  No, He who began His good work in you, in the waters of your Holy Baptism, is still at work to continue it, to bring it to completion in the Body of Christ Jesus.  To that end, He calls you daily by His Gospel, enlightens you with the gifts of His Holy Spirit, and strengthens and sustains you in the one true faith, here and now in His Church on earth, even unto the life everlasting in the resurrection of your body.

Blessed are you, therefore, who hear the Word of God and keep it!  For it is by His grace.

By yourself, you would be easy prey for the devil, all his works, and all his ways.  But you are not your own, you are the Lord’s.  And, as we have heard this past Sunday, He fights for you.  Thus are you armored with Christ and sheltered safely within the Mighty Fortress of His Church by His preaching of repentance, by His Word of the Gospel, and by His forgiveness of all your sins.

Blessed are you, who are fed and nourished unto life by the Supper of the Word-made-Flesh, whom St. Mary bore and nursed at her breast.  For His flesh and blood have conquered the devil, and so do they protect you here and now and forevermore from all the devil’s tyranny and spite.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord your God, whose Kingdom is upon you in Christ your Savior.

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

The Lord Has Come Down to Raise You Up

Jesus has come down from heaven, and He has come down from the mountain, in order to set you free and deliver you from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Although you are attacked by all of these things, it is also the case that you are a willing victim.  Indeed, you are your own worst enemy, for you are sinful and unclean, perverse and unbelieving.

And yet, in love, the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, has come down to save you — to cleanse and heal you, and to give you new life in and with Himself, with the Father and the Holy Spirit — through His free and full forgiveness of all your sins.

He has become true Man, born of Mary, flesh of your flesh and blood of your blood.  Not only that, but He has subjected Himself to all the trials, tribulations, and temptations that you are faced with, only without any sins of His own.  But He has borne all of your sins, and the sins of the whole world, in His own Body to the Cross; and there He has suffered all the curse and consequences of your sin, including the righteous wrath and judgment of God, so that by His innocent suffering and death in your place, He has destroyed the power that death and the devil held over you.

Here, then, in the Cross and Passion of the Christ, is the greatest Glory of God.  It is nothing you could ever do or accomplish for yourself; nor could you even begin to comprehend it by your own reason or strength.  Indeed, it is the Cross, above all else, that amazes you — and scares you!

But it is by the Cross of Christ that God has redeemed you and rescued you from your enemies and from every evil of body and soul, in order to make you His own and bring you into life with Him.

And to that end, it is from the Cross that Christ Jesus speaks His Word of forgiveness to you and feeds you with His own holy Body and precious Blood.

Thus, He who has come down from heaven, who has come down from the mountain and entered the valley of the shadow of death, who has been lifted up on the Cross for your salvation, now draws you to Himself by His Gospel; He raises you up in His own Resurrection from the dead; He lifts you up from the earth, and He brings you in Himself to your true God and Father in heaven.

Therefore, let these Words sink into your ears and into your heart: That the Lord Jesus Christ was delivered into the hands of sinful men, and handed over as a willing Victim to the Cross, in order to deliver you into the loving hands of God the Father.  And so does He hand Himself over to you now, and He places Himself into your hands and mouth and body in this Sacrament, so that He should thus abide in and with you, and you abide with Him in the bosom of the Father forever.

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

Sweet Injuries, Indeed

You see here that you dare not underestimate the depravity of man and the wicked perversion of his sinful heart.

The chief priests and the pharisees, the religious leaders of God’s people, bearing holy office and zealous for the Law, observe the many signs that Jesus performs, and for these they seek to seize Him and kill Him.

He healed the sick, made the lame to walk and the blind to see; and now, His most recent crime, He has raised the dead to life.  Sweet injuries, indeed, yet for these the Law and the Priesthood must put Him to death for the people.

Do not suppose that your own sinful heart is free and clear of such depravity and perversion.

To take seriously who Jesus is, what He says and what He does, threatens your comfortable status quo, your place and your position in this world.

What are you called to drown and destroy in yourself, in your body and life?  How must you die?

The Law is constantly reminding you of your sin, and yet it is powerless to cleanse you of iniquity or to heal your mortality.

Though the Law of God is holy, good, and righteous, you are not.  Therefore, it cannot purify your conscience; it cannot set right your body and soul, your heart, mind, and spirit, with the Lord your God.  It only exposes your depravity, and even exacerbates it, and condemns you for it.

But now the same Law dares to lay the same judgment and condemnation upon Christ, because He has come to fulfill the will of God by the offering of Himself once for all.

Born of the Woman, and placing Himself under the Law, He redeems those who are under the Law.  He does it by the self-sacrifice of the same holy body in which He has lived in perfect conformity with the entire Law of God.  And this seeming contradiction, this travesty of justice by any normal standard, is the resolution of the same Law of God: the fulfillment of justice and righteousness.

In this sacrifice of Christ the holy priesthood also finds its perfect fulfillment and completion; for here is the true Passover Lamb, who is also your merciful and great High Priest.

Does He not go up to the Feast?  Indeed, He is the Feast!

He has offered Himself up to God to atone for the sins of the world; to reconcile man and all the world to God in Himself; to purify you and all of creation by His innocent suffering and death, by His holy and precious blood, and by His bodily Resurrection from the dead.

And now, then, He also feeds you with the same holy body and precious blood, so that you are spared and saved from death and sanctified for life.

Here, then, the Passover of Christ is at hand.  By this Feast, as by Your Holy Baptism, you are purified forever.  And you enter with Christ Jesus, in body and soul, through His sacrificial death and in His Resurrection, into the life everlasting with God, your Father.

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

The Authority of the Gospel of Christ

The Lord Jesus connects His authority to the Baptism of John: Not simply as a trump card to the trick question of the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people, but because His authority to preach the Gospel has been received through His Baptism by St. John.

For here we do not have in view His raw power and authority as the Son of God, which is always His by right, by His own divine nature.  But here at hand is the authority of the Gospel, which is the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of sinners, the justification of the sinful and unclean.

This is the authority that has been given to Him, in heaven and on earth, because He has become the Author of Salvation.  It belongs to Him as the incarnate Son, the Lord’s Anointed, the Lamb of God who has taken upon Himself the sins of the world and borne them in His own body.

He has, in fact, gone so far as to become sin, and has suffered the curse of sin and death, in order to do away with all of that, to resolve the problem in Himself, and to reconcile the world to God.  Therefore, the Judgment of the Law has been laid upon Him, in order to be fulfilled and satisfied in His flesh and blood.  And in His Resurrection from the dead, He and the world are justified.

St. John the Baptist was sent by God, to preach and baptize as a testimony to this same Lord Jesus Christ.  In this respect, St. John himself has been authorized to preach the Gospel, whereby he points to Jesus and declares: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”

But there is more to St. John’s office and role than even that beautiful Word.  For he is a prophet, but also more than a prophet, in that he goes before the Lord to prepare His Way.  To that end, he preaches a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; which does prepare the people for the coming of the Christ, by calling them to faith in Him.

And yet, even St. John is caught by surprise when the Lord Jesus comes and submits Himself to that Baptism of John: to that baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins!

It was, St. Luke writes, when all the people were baptized — when all the publicans, prostitutes, and other poor, miserable sinners were baptized by John — that Jesus also was baptized.  In doing so, He not only took the sins of the whole world upon Himself, but He also subjected Himself to repentance for all of those sins, on the world’s behalf.

Which is really to say that He committed Himself to the Cross, to His innocent suffering and death.  Because, in submitting to the Baptism of John, the Lord Jesus placed Himself under the authority and judgment of the Law, in order to accomplish and fulfill all the preaching of the Law and the Prophets, for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of sinners.

Thus, in the waters of the Jordan, by the Baptism of John — as Joshua the son of Nun was once ordained by Moses — so now Jesus, the new and greater Joshua of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, has been anointed by the Spirit of His God and Father, and ordained to preach the Gospel, which He Himself authors by His Cross, and His Father confirms by His Resurrection.

He goes ahead of His people into the waters administered by St. John the Baptist — the waters included in God’s command and combined with His Word — and, by doing so, Jesus goes ahead of you, through death into life, through the Cross into the Resurrection.  He crosses the Jordan ahead of you, in order to lead you and bring you out of the wilderness into Canaan, out of this vale of tears into the great eternal Feast of Paradise: to eat the finest of wheat and sweet honey.

That is the authority by which the Lord Jesus has also sent me to preach His Gospel here to you, to forgive you all your sins in His Name and stead, and to feed you with His Body and His Blood.

This Ministry of the Gospel is from God in heaven, even here on earth among men, that you might hear this Word of forgiveness, and so believe and trust in Him, and open up your mouth to be fed by Christ Jesus, to live with Him in body and soul, both now and forever.

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

The Inheritance of the True Vine

Ironically, the vine-growers are correct, that, by the death of the Vineyard Owner’s Son, the inheritance is bestowed.

But it will not be taken by such violence; nor is the Vineyard ever outside of the Father’s hands.

He is patient with the vine-growers, not because He is helpless or powerless; neither did He need their help to begin with. But, no, He is patient and long-suffering, even with them; and He sends His servants, the Prophets and preachers of His Word, and finally His own beloved Son, in order to receive the vine-growers together with the Vineyard unto Himself in faith.

In truth, it is by the death of His beloved Son, Christ Jesus, that God the Father has given life to His Vineyard, and growth and produce. It was already in view and in virtue of the Son’s Cross and Resurrection that the Vineyard was planted and cared for in the beginning.

So, too, the Prophets before (and the Apostles after), have not only preached the Cross and Passion of the Christ, but have suffered it themselves; precisely because it is by the Cross that God brings forth fruit in the Resurrection of His Son. Not because He is hungry or needy or greedy, but for the benefit of His people.

Thus, the Stone which the builders rejected has become the Head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous.

But what shall become of the builders who reject that Chief Cornerstone? And what of those vine-growers who refuse to receive this beloved Son?

The Father will give the Vineyard to others, most surely, and the inheritance of His House. This, indeed, is always His desire, His purpose and intention, to give His good gifts — in and with and for the sake of His Son.

So by the Cross of Christ He has planted His Vineyard,
and in His Resurrection it is fruitful and productive.

With His Church He has enclosed His Vineyard with a wall, as a mighty fortress, but He has also built a tower within for the proclamation of the Gospel to all.

You have entered the Vineyard at the gracious invitation of that Gospel preaching, and have been grafted into the true Vine by your Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection. You, then, are also a beloved son, and the Father’s inheritance is yours.

See, here, from His wine press, the Blood of the Vine is poured out for you — the Blood of the Covenant He has made with you — for the forgiveness of your sins and the life everlasting.

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

God's Own Child, Christ Has Said It

Whether you live or die, whether you are a slave or free, whether you remain in the house or not, depends upon whose child you are.

Who you are depends upon who your father is.

If you are a child of Abraham, an heir of God’s promises to Abraham and to his Seed forever, then do the deeds of Abraham, which are done by faith in the Word that God has spoken.

And if you would have God as your Father, instead of the devil, then love His Son, Jesus, who is the true Seed of Abraham.

That, too, is by His Word.

It is the Word that begets children of God the Father; and His children do as He does, first of all by speaking as He speaks, which is to say, by confessing Christ.

When you speak falsely, when you lie, bear false witness, gossip, or spin the truth to your own advantage, then you speak as the devil; as though he were your father, and you his child.

When you hurt or harm your neighbor with your words, then you are a murderer, like the devil, no less than if you hit with your fists.

When you listen for life, and speak of life, apart from Christ Jesus, then you would seek to kill Him — but by refusing to hear and receive His Word, it is yourself that you put to death.

Then you are a child of fornication, no matter what your genealogical pedigree. For the idolatry of unbelief begets the children of wrath, who are born into the house of bondage, slaves of sin and death.

But hear what Jesus says: He is the Word of the Father to you, in the flesh. The Father has sent Him to set you free — and He has done it. You are free indeed. He does not lie, but speaks the truth, which is the forgiveness of all your sins in His Name. He does not murder you, but He gives you life, even at the cost of His own.

As the true Seed of Abraham, He, Christ Jesus, is the beloved Son who is sacrificed in faith and love, as the Passover Lamb of God, by which you are spared from death, and set free from slavery, and born again as a child of God.

His Word declares it to be so; not only as the truth, but as the Word of God, your Father. Amen, Amen. It is so.

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