He's By Your Side Upon the Plain

The Kingdom of God is at hand in Christ Jesus, and His Baptism has become your Holy Baptism.  Thus, you are a beloved son of God the Father, and you are well-pleasing to Him, because Christ has bound Himself to you, and you to Him, by and with His own Name.  The Father has opened heaven to you in the Body of the incarnate Son, and He has poured out His Holy Spirit upon you.

Consequently, in this mortal life on earth you now find yourself in the arena between God and the devil, and you are driven into personal conflict with the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh.  Day after day, you are tempted by these enemies of God to doubt, deny, and disobey His Word.

At the same time, your dear God and Father in heaven would test you, as He tested Abraham.  He does not tempt you to sin, nor to any evil, but He does try your heart and mind in order to test, instruct, and strengthen your faith in His Word and in the promises of your Holy Baptism.  So it is that you are daily being put to death, and daily being raised to newness of life in Christ Jesus.

Life is a battlefield when the Kingdom of God invades the devil’s stomping grounds.  Which is why — because the Lord Jesus has been baptized to be your Champion and your Savior — He is immediately driven by the Spirit of God from the waters of His Baptism into the wilderness, there to be tempted by Satan, in order to engage that wicked foe in a strange and dreadful contest.  Thus, the Son of David goes out to meet a bigger, badder Goliath than this world has ever dreamed of.

The wilderness is where Christ contends with Satan, because the wilderness is where you also are tested and trained.  The wilderness is where the fallen children of Adam & Eve learn how to live in Paradise again, that is, by faith in the Word and works of God, to rest in His gracious promises.  The wilderness is that long stretch of desert between Egypt and Canaan, wherein the children of God are catechized to enter the Good Land that He will give them according to His tender mercy.  And it is where you are taught to live in the Kingdom of God by faith, and so also to work in love for God and for your neighbor, instead of trusting and loving only yourself.  To that end, it is in the wilderness that you are called to repent and believe the Gospel.  But, of course, it is especially at those points of repentance, faith, and love that you are under attack and assaulted by the devil.

The Lord your God tests you and tries you, in order to clarify and strengthen your faith and your confession.  The devil tempts you into all kinds of evil, in order to rob you of life and bring you to death and condemnation.  So it is that Satan wickedly entices you to disobey God’s Word; and then, in craftiness and spite, he is also the first in line to accuse you and bring charges against you.

At every point in your life on earth, this battle is waged: In your successes, and in your suffering and failures.  In what you have, and in what you lack or lose.  In what God has promised, and in what you covet for yourself that God has not given you.  Always the devil is tempting you to question and contradict, to ignore and despise what God has spoken, both the Law and the Gospel.

But now, let God and His Word be true, and know that everything else is a lie and a deception.

Trust the Lord, your God and Father in Christ Jesus. Cling to His Word, come hell or high water against you.  Do not despair of His goodness, nor despise His good gifts of body and soul.

Do not be deceived or misled into evil, which has merely the appearance of “good,” yet leads only to death.  Beware the assaults and temptations of the enemy: the lies, the flattery, the questions, and the accusations of the devil; the enticements and attacks of the world; and the lusts and desires of your own mortal flesh, which are the rotting cesspool out of which all sin and death proceed.

Sometimes crass, sometimes subtle, the devil is always crafty, and every sin to which he tempts you is dangerous and deadly.  Do not kid yourself.  It is not true that “all sins are equal,” but all sin, by definition, is contrary to the Word of the Lord, and that is always to your detriment.  Every denial, and every disobedience of what God the Lord has spoken, is a refusal and rejection of the Life that is found only in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  That is why the soul that sins shall die.

Where, then, shall you live?  In the Kingdom of God by His grace?  Or with the devil in his prison house of death and despair?  That is what it comes down to, finally.  You cannot have it both ways.

Repent of your sins and sacrifice your idols.  Worship the Lord your God by faith in His Gospel.  Not that He needs anything from you, but that you need Him for everything.  Rest your hopes in Him and call upon His Name.  Rejoice in His forgiveness, and know that He well provides for you.  He saves you from every evil of body and soul.  He raises you up, even from death and the grave.

Remember that you are baptized, and remember what God has said to you and done for you by that washing of water with His Word.  As father Abraham clung to the Covenant of Circumcision and persevered in the promises of God — even when he was tried and tested so poignantly in the case of his beloved Isaac — so cling to the Word and promises of God in Christ Jesus, in whose Name you are baptized, whose Cross you bear, and whose Resurrection from the dead you also share.

Renounce the devil, all his works and all his ways.  That’s not a one-time deal, it’s a lifelong battle and a deadly serious business.  But your life and your allegiance belong to the Holy Triune God.

See here, you will not starve.  The Lord your God will feed you according to His mercy.  And you shall not go naked, for God the Lord will clothe and shelter you in peace.  Nor shall you die alone.  The Lord is with you, in death as in life, and in the Resurrection.  He is your sure and certain hope.

There is no temptation with which you are tempted that He has not also endured and resisted on your behalf — in flesh and blood like your own — even in the wilderness of your sin and death.  And there is no suffering that you suffer which He has not also suffered in your place, so that by His Cross and Passion He should overcome them.  He has defeated your enemies.  He has atoned for your sins.  He has conquered your death.  His Resurrection from the dead is God’s own pledge and promise to you, which stands fast and forever, as Christ Himself lives and reigns to all eternity.

He has set Himself to be your Champion.  He’s by your side upon the plain!  He has taken His stand against the roaring lion that threatens to devour you; He has smashed his teeth and broken his jaw.  He has crushed the serpent’s shifting, hissing head beneath His own bruised and bloodied heel.  He is faithful, and He does what He has promised.  There is no shifting or turning with Him.

The devil is always shifting and turning.  When one strategy fails, he simply switches to another.  He’ll tell you one thing in the morning and another thing at night.  From one day to the next, from one week to the next, the devil is full of nothing but constant lies and deceptions.  He cares nothing for the truth, but only for your death and your damnation by whatever means he might employ.

Your own sinful heart is likewise full of guile, and the world is also deceitful and dishonest. But not so with your Father in heaven.  He speaks from His heart in Christ Jesus, His beloved Son, and His Word is always the Truth.  He will not change His mind concerning you.  What God the Father says to you in Christ is and always shall be so.  You are sheltered under the shadow of His wings.

Christ be praised, the Kingdom of God does not rest upon your faithfulness.  It does not even rest upon your repentance or your faith.  It does not depend on you at all.  But the Kingdom of God is at hand for you in the Body of Christ Jesus.  It is as sure and certain as His Nativity, His Baptism, His Life, His Death, and His bodily Resurrection from the dead.  So it is that your repentance and your faith, your life and your salvation, rest firmly upon Him.  And He shall not be moved.

Consider the example of your Lord Jesus Christ, therefore — though it is always much more than just an example — because everything He does, He does it all for you, that you might live in Him.

Amid the wild beasts and the wicked assaults of the devil, the Lord Jesus, in humility and faith, relies upon His Father and receives the ministry of His Father’s holy angels.  So, too, He sends His ministering spirits to care for you, both His holy angels and His mortal preachers of the Gospel,  in order to preserve your faith and life in both body and soul, unto the Life everlasting.

He provides the sustenance that you need in the midst of the wilderness.  Not miraculous bread from desert stones, but the Living and Life-giving Bread of His own Body, which is given for you.  And as He thus serves you with Himself, will He not also freely give you every good thing?

It is most certainly true.  You are beloved of the Lord.  You are a son or daughter of God the Father in Christ Jesus, and He is well pleased with you.  That is the truth.  Your sins are all forgiven, and God holds none of them against you.  From the waters of your Holy Baptism He has clothed you in the righteousness and holiness, the innocence and blessedness of Jesus, the incarnate Son.  He cleanses and restores you with His holy and precious Blood, which is poured out for you to drink.

By Himself He has sworn, He has bound Himself to you.  He is yours, and you are His forever.  The heavens stand open, and the Kingdom of God is here for you.  Amen, Amen, it shall be so!

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

Enter into the Holy City with Your Priestly King

It is truly an amazing and remarkable thing, that your King, the Lord Himself, the Son of God in His own human Flesh, comes to you and makes His dwelling here with you.

But what does this mean for you?  It’s a bit frightening, really.  I mean, does He come to provide for you or punish you?  To promote you, or to pull rank on you?  After all, a visit from the powers that be and the governing authorities often means discipline or consequences for wrongdoing.

There is a certain ambiguity and tension to the coming of your King.  Is He coming to put you in your place, or to remove you from your place and your position?  Wondering and worrying about when and where and how the axe is going to fall is nerve-wracking and scary.  And if, on the other hand, you get your hopes up that your King is coming to set things right and make everything better in your life on earth, you’re likely going to be surprised and disappointed by what He does.

It’s true enough, as the Holy Scriptures testify, that things are pretty messed up, not only in your own personal life, but on a national and global scale.  And even if you’re not a ruler or a boss — perhaps you’re one of the little guys, or you’re still making your way to wherever it is that you’re going — you’ve done your part to mess things up in your own little corner of the world.

There is no one who is righteous; no, not one — no one but Christ Jesus, the King who comes to His own people in righteousness and peace.  But then, consider how this one Lord Jesus Christ is regarded and received.  He’s hailed on Palm Sunday, yes, but mocked and ridiculed, condemned and crucified by the end of the week.  Falsely accused, brutally beaten, and spit upon.  His closest companions betray Him, deny Him, and abandon Him. How should a King respond to all of that?

Even now, as He enters the Holy City on the cusp of His Passion, it is primarily due to His miracles that the crowds throng to see Him and welcome Him.  His own disciples don’t yet understand what’s going on.  Everyone is eager for a “Bread King,” a great big “Sugar Daddy,” a Miracle Worker who will build a glorious Kingdom on earth and take on all the nations of the world.

To be sure, the raising of Lazarus from the dead has been an impressive Sign, as even the skeptics must admit and the enemies of Jesus grudgingly concede.  But, as a Sign, it points beyond itself to something else, that is, to the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus Himself.  The way that He approached that situation, as you heard last week, has indicated that the Glory of God in Christ is to be found, first of all, in His suffering and death, and only then in His Resurrection and His Life.

That is the pattern, too, of Christian faith and life, as your Baptism signifies and testifies, if you think about the dying and rising of that Holy Sacrament.  It is also your experience of life in the world, with all its ups and downs, with all its hopes and disappointments, frustrations and fears.

It is frankly confusing and difficult to navigate.  Just when you think you’ve finally got it figured out, and gotten your bearings, and found your footing in the world, then everything suddenly shifts and changes, and you’re left not knowing what’s up and what’s down, or which way to turn.

Think of how it must have been for the disciples in the course of that first Holy Week, from Palm Sunday, through Maundy Thursday, to Good Friday and Easter.  The Passion of Christ Jesus is a profound and powerful story, even to consider it.  But it is also the life into which you are baptized, by which the Lord recreates you from the dust of death and conforms you to His own Image.

It is impossible to understand any of this superficially, nor at all apart from the accomplished fact of the Cross and Passion — manifested in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, and now realized for you in His Sacrament of the Altar.  The Lord’s Supper is the interpretive key to the Lord’s Passion, both beforehand and afterwards.  It not only explains what happens to Him, and why, but it now delivers and bestows the Fruits and Benefits of His Cross and Resurrection.

Only in the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus — crucified and risen from the dead, given and poured out for you and for the many — only there do you see and know and believe what is the Truth of God in Christ, your King: That He has indeed come to “take your place,” and to “put you in your place,” but in such a way that you could never have guessed or imagined or invented for yourself.

Do not be afraid, dear child of God!  For the Lord has made you a beloved son or daughter of His Church on earth, and therefore a son or daughter of the Father in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son.  Rejoice in His mercy, and give all thanks and praise to this one Lord Jesus Christ, your King, who comes to you in Love, not to punish you for your sins, but to bear your punishment and grant you His Peace.  He comes to save you from your enemies; to give you rest from your weariness, relief from your fears, and safety in place of uncertainty; and to reign over you in love with His Word.

He has not come to “lord it over you” in the way of earthly monarchs, but, as your Lord, as your Savior and your King, He calls you by His Cross and Resurrection to become and be like Him.

To that end, He has first of all become like you in every way, save only without sin.  He has been tempted in every way that you are; He has suffered every burden of your mortal flesh and every dire consequence of your sin.  He truly has taken your place, your sin and death and every ill, and He has made it all His own, in order to bring you into His place with God the Father in Paradise.

By His Self-Sacrifice He opens up the Way through suffering and death into the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting; for He is a priestly King, a royal High Priest, who enters the Most Holy Place by His own Blood and brings you into the presence of God in His own Body.

He humbles Himself, even unto His death upon the Cross, in order to be exalted and glorified on your behalf by His God and Father.  He becomes a disciple, Himself, in order to make a disciple of you by the catechesis of His Word and by your Holy Baptism in His Name.

So it is that your salvation is accomplished, established, and secure in the Person of Christ Jesus, in His own crucified and risen Body of flesh and blood.

Now, then, He testifies to the Sign of His own Cross and Resurrection by preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name.  His dying and rising are the fulfillment of all things, and they are also then the Sign of your own dying and rising with Him, by which you are saved from sin and death unto Life and Salvation forever.  All that He has suffered and received in your place, in order to rescue and redeem you, to justify and save you, He preaches and gives to you by His Word.

His preaching to you is not simply information to be processed and stored; it actually calls you to follow after Him.  Accordingly, as you hear the testimony of His Cross and Passion, come out to meet Him as He comes in Peace to meet you here at His Altar within His Church on earth.

His preaching of repentance does put you to death, it crucifies and buries you with Him.  So, you do lose “your place,” the place that you have made for yourself, the place of sin and death which Christ has taken from you and made His own.  But so does He also then bring you to Life and put you in His place.  He gives to you His Sonship, His Spirit, and His Glory in and with the Father.

In calling you to follow after Him, His preaching calls you and brings you into the New Covenant of His Flesh and Blood, the Promise of His eternal Inheritance which He has established forever.

Beloved of the Lord, as He entered the Holy City on Palm Sunday for His Cross and Passion, so do you enter the heavenly City, New Jerusalem, by the way and means of His Cross and Passion.

And as He entered the Most Holy Place once for all with His own Blood, by His innocent suffering and death and in His bodily Resurrection and Ascension, so do you now enter with Him into that same Holy of Holies, eternal in the heavens, by His Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. 

That is why the Liturgy has taught you to cry out in prayer and praise, to rejoice, give thanks, and sing, as the Lord comes to His Altar: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest, and the Peace of the Lord on earth.  For here, indeed, He comes to save you now in this Divine Service, to sustain you with His Word and Holy Spirit, and to sanctify you for the Life everlasting in body and soul with His own holy Body and His holy and precious Blood.

As He thus remembers you in mercy, forgives you all your sins, and gives you His own Life and Salvation in body and soul, so remember Him by faith, repent of all your sins, and rejoice in His Resurrection and His Righteousness.  As surely as He comes to be with you here and now, so shall you surely follow after Him, to be with Him where He is forever and ever.

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

The Living Water of the Spirit from the Body of Christ Jesus

He knows her, as He knows the hearts and minds of all people. He knows her before she has spoken a single word, as He has known her from before the foundation of the world in His Love.

Oh, yes, He knows her sin, her sordid past, her scandalous life. He knows her serial adultery and present fornication, that she is living in sin with a man who is not her husband. He knows, too, that she is thirsty, not only for water, but for love, for acceptance and companionship, for meaning and purpose in her life, for self-worth and value. And He knows that she will not find it on her own.

But He is the Gift of God, who has come down from the Father in heaven to save sinners like her: To rescue them from sin and death. To pour out the Living Water of the Holy Spirit generously upon them, into their hearts and minds, and into their flesh and bones, to give them eternal Life.

He, too, is thirsty — and hungry, as well — not only for the food and drink that perish, though His body on earth needs both, just as you do. But He hungers and thirsts to do the Will of His Father, to seek and to save the lost to the glory of His holy Name, to become the true worshipers of God.

Therefore, as He has known this Samaritan woman all along, so does He also come to wait for her, to meet her at the well, to give her what she really needs and what she’s looking for unknowingly.

In love for her, with tender mercy and compassion, He catechizes her with the Wisdom of God. He leads her by His Word — from guilt and shame, from doubt and fear — first of all to curiosity and interest — then to the dawning of new hope within her troubled heart, which has for so long ached with disappointment — finally to repentance, and to faith in the One who speaks to her.

He declares to her all things. Not only those things that she has been doing wrong, but the things concerning Himself; that she might learn to know Him, and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His Cross and Passion; and being conformed to His death by the Gift of His Spirit, that she might also attain to the resurrection of her body and the Life everlasting of body and soul.

He quenches her thirst with the free Gift of His Word and Spirit. And in doing so, He leads her and He brings her to the worship of the Father in the Spirit and the Truth, for which she was created.

He does the same for you. For He is the Gift of God. Ask of Him, and He will quench your thirst, your burning, desperate thirst for something more than what you’ve got, for something to satisfy your aching, empty heart. Indeed, He pours out the Love of God into your heart, and He fills you up with the Living Waters of His Spirit, which freely flow in you and well up as a fountain in you, unto eternal Life, to the worship of the Father in the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What is it that you’ve been chasing after and trying to find, instead of this Gift of God in Christ? What are you trying to do and achieve and to get for yourself? And whose well do you run to, in the heat of the day, in order to fill up your bucket? How many men have you had? Or how many women? Or how do you compete and keep the score? What is it that you worship with your body and your soul, with the investment of your heart and the exercise of all your strength and spirit?

The Lord knows your heart and mind, your thoughts and words and actions. There are no secrets hidden from Him. He knows your sins and all that you have ever done or failed to do. He knows your guilt and shame, your doubts and fears, your ignorance and confusion. He knows your frailty and weaknesses. He knows that you have tried to quench your thirst with all the wrong liquids.

Yet, even knowing all of that, He has come to you in mercy and compassion, in tenderness and loving care, in order to bestow the Gift of His Spirit upon you, and to bring you to the Father in Himself, in perfect peace and genuine hope and real joy, which shall remain and not be used up.

So it is that, even in the desert, He pours out Living Waters to quench your thirst, to cleanse you and refresh you inside and out, in both body and soul — to shatter your rocks and wear down your mountains, but also to float your boat on the ocean waves and preserve your life in the rapids. Tribulation, therefore, does not shipwreck your body and life; it brings forth perseverance, and it builds up your faith, hope, and love in Christ Jesus, in whom you shall not be put to shame.

Consider how He does so, how it is that your Hope in Him is not disappointed, and that you are not put to shame or disgrace, but vindicated and exalted in His own crucified and risen Body.

He is the Rock on the Mountain of God; and He is the One who is struck by the Staff of Moses, by the command and judgment of the Law of the Lord. Thus do the cleansing Rivers of the Water and the Blood flow from His sacrificed Body — and times of refreshment in His Atonement.

By His Holy Cross and Passion, at about the Sixth Hour, He has grown weary and thirsted, in order to strengthen and preserve you in the one true faith, and so to provide you with His Sabbath Rest.

In the completion of His good work He gives to you His Holy Spirit through His Word of Holy Absolution, the free and full forgiveness of all your sins — those you know and regret, and those you don’t even realize or remember — He removes them all, and He remembers them no more.

As He is thus lifted up in death upon the Cross for your salvation, and as He thus returns to the Father in His Resurrection and Ascension, so does His own Holy Body become the true Temple of God. So the Mountain of God is now wherever He is with His preaching and catechesis, with His Body given and His Blood poured out: from Jerusalem to Samaria and the ends of the earth.

Here, then, is the Gift of God for you: Living Water from the Rock of Ages, the Spirit of the Father in the Word and Sacrament of Christ Jesus, His Son. And right here and now — by His grace, through faith in Him — you worship the Father in the Spirit and the Truth. Such is your Life and your Salvation forever.

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

The Marvelous Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts

Behold, the Lord, the Almighty, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, He is doing something new, which the nations have not known, nor could they ever have performed it.  The Lord who opens a way through the sea and brings His people through the mighty waters on dry ground — who causes rivers to spring forth in the desert wilderness and gives drink to His people — He forms a people for Himself and gives them Life in body and soul, to the glory of His Holy Name.

He plants them as a Vine and cultivates them as a Vineyard in a good land, that they might thrive and bear good fruits of faith and love.  Not because He is hungry or in need of produce and profit, but for the sake of His divine and holy Love; that is what moves Him to bestow Life and Salvation.

That grace of God, His own divine Love, is the reason and the purpose for which He plants His Vineyard, His people, His Church, and for which He daily and richly provides for His own and cares for them.  He does it all out of His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, that they might live — that you might live — that you might grow and flourish and bear good fruits after His own kind, in faith toward Him and in love for your neighbors round about you in the world.

In Love, therefore, He entrusts the care of His Church on earth to His people in various ways, to each person according to his or her particular calling and station in life.  As each of you are called to be His own and are planted in His Vineyard by His grace, so are you also given a stewardship of His Vineyard in your own place or portion.  Which is to say that you are given to care for others around you.  And by the same token, you are likewise cared for by your neighbors and by those who are in authority over you, for this life on earth and for the Life everlasting in body and soul.

The stewards of the Lord’s Vineyard certainly include the pastors and professors of the Church, who are charged with the preaching and teaching of His Word for the benefit of His people.  But so, too, fathers and mothers are entrusted with the care and catechesis of their children.  Brothers and sisters are given to care for each other; and teachers for their students, and students for their studies and their classmates; and doctors and nurses, engineers, accountants, cooks, and computer programers, each and all for their respective neighbors.  So, then, wherever the Lord has planted you, wherever He has given you work to do, that is where you care for His Vineyard in love; and that is where and how, by faith in His Word, you also bear good fruits to the glory of His Name.

But then, because He works in this way through various masks and means, through neighbors and governing authorities — because He chooses to care for His Church and His Creation through His creatures — it may often seem that He has gone away “on a journey for a long time,” that He is far removed from the cares and concerns of His Vineyard; that He is uninvolved and unobservant.  That is not the case, but that is the temptation — and so also, to despair of His providential care, or to seize control of the Vineyard to the extent that you can, in the hopes of fending for yourself.

Nevertheless, the Lord has not forgotten His Vineyard and its needs; nor has He relinquished His care and cultivation of the Vineyard.  His “journey” is not a turning away or departure from His people; it is rather His slowness to anger and His withholding of the punishment that sin deserves.  He deals with His people, not directly but through means, in order to be gentle with His Vineyard.

Thus, already from the Fall into sin, and even to the close of the age, the Lord governs His people, His Church, by His Word of promise and by the Word of His Prophets and Apostles — written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Scriptures and continued in the Office of the Holy Ministry, in the preaching of the Law and the Gospel unto repentance and faith in His forgiveness.

The Lord is patient and long-suffering in sending His servants to preach to His people, and thus by His Word to bring forth the fruits of His Vineyard.  So have you heard in the Parable — and how He continues to do so even in the face of rejection and refusal.  The treatment of His slaves whom He has sent is an attack upon His honor and authority, and yet He has persisted in peace.

Let this be a caution and encouragement to you; for as the Lord Jesus spoke this Parable against the scribes and the chief priests then, so has it been written in the Holy Gospel for your instruction.

Consider the stewards of the Lord’s Vineyard, and how, instead of bringing forth the fruits of the Vineyard for His praise and glory, they seek to keep it all for themselves, for their own benefit — not only the fruits it has already produced, but the entire Vineyard.

From the very first Garden until now, it has always been this way, that Man attempts to take the fruit that God has not given — the fruit that belongs to God, the Lord — and that Man thereby tries to seize and hang onto life for himself in that forbidden fruit, because it looks so good; and that he thus rejects and refuses to receive the true divine Life that God is freely giving by His grace.

The gardeners and vine-growers do not comprehend that the real treasure and true glory of the Vineyard is not to be found in itself, but in its Lord — in His gracious providence and good gifts; and that Paradise is not found in the pretense of self-righteousness, but in the presence of the Lord.

Even so, that true divine grace and glory of the Lord has ever and always been the case, and so does it ever remain, even after Man has fallen into sin, into unbelief and disobedience.

Therefore, by His divine grace, in great love for His Vineyard, the Lord God sends His beloved Son, in whom His Church is gathered into being.  And to be sure, His people do have Life through faith in Him; for it is in the Son that the Vineyard is fruitful and productive to the glory of God.

To that end, God the Father sends His own dear Son in grace, mercy, and peace.

But then what happens?  It sure doesn’t sound like any kind of happy ending, does it?

As the Parable is drawing to a close, it rather seems that everything has gone from very bad to much, much worse.  The Lord of the Vineyard has lost it all.  His Vineyard has been taken over and His beloved Son has been thrown out like rubbish and killed.  That is what sin, at its heart, is always aiming at and leading to: To usurp the glory of God by the rejection and murder of His Son.

Only then, when it already seems too late to do any good or to make any difference, the Lord of the Vineyard comes and destroys those vine-growers — and He gives the Vineyard to others.

Here is the new thing that God does!  Here is the Mystery of His Vineyard, which all the nations of the earth could never have imagined or pulled off.  It is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous.

The rejection and death of the beloved Son is not only the height and culmination of sin; it is also the precious Cornerstone that God has set and established for His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.  Christ Jesus goes voluntarily to His death, knowing what He will suffer.  Is He not the One who tells this Parable ahead of time, before it all unfolds?  And yet, He proceeds in Love.

He goes willingly to His death upon the Cross, handed over by His own people to the gentiles, in order to atone for the sins of all the people by the giving of His own Body and Life as a Sacrifice, and by the shedding of His own holy and precious Blood.  He lays down His Life in Love, and He will take it up again in faith, so that by His innocent suffering and death He might destroy death and remove its terrifying power from all the children of men.  He comes in peace and submits Himself to the abuse, to the beatings, and to His death by crucifixion, in order to reconcile this whole hostile world to His God and Father by the Ministry of the Gospel of His Cross.

Thus, the judgment of unrighteousness and the destruction of sin are borne for all by the beloved Son, in order that the Vineyard might be spared, and restored to its own Lord, and given Life in His Resurrection from the dead.  So has He done, and so it is.  The Vineyard lives, and it is given — not rented or sold, not relinquished, not bartered or abandoned — but it is given to others, to all who believe and are baptized into Christ Jesus, who share by faith His Cross and Resurrection.

Make no mistake, whoever does not believe will be condemned.  There is the coming Judgment of unrighteousness.  There will be that Final Day of reckoning, when those vine-growers who reject the beloved Son and refuse to repent will be subject to eternal damnation of body and soul.

But now is the Day of Grace, in which the servants of the Lord continue to be sent in patience and in peace.  And now is the Day of Salvation, in which the crucified and risen Son of God comes to cultivate His Vineyard, His people, His Church, by the preaching of repentance and forgiveness.

It is by His Cross that the whole Vineyard is forgiven.  And it is in His Resurrection from the dead that His Vineyard is justified, enlivened, and abundantly fruitful.  And that is true for you, as well.

So, then, what is your faithfulness and fruitfulness in Christ Jesus like?

By the measure of the world, and by the conceits of your own sinful heart, “fruitfulness” is found in whatever you manage to accomplish, to achieve, and to accumulate for yourself.

But in truth, everything is determined by the Cross of Christ, either unto repentance, faith, and life, or unto the judgment and condemnation of unbelief.  He is the Stone of stumbling and the Rock of offense.  He breaks into pieces those who fall on Him, and He smashes into dust and scatters those on whom He falls.  And yet, He is also the Chief Cornerstone upon whom you are built.

Fear God, therefore, and repent of your sins.  And put your trust in Christ Jesus.  Remember the grace, mercy, and long-suffering patience of the Lord your God, who loves you, and that He did not spare His beloved Son but handed Him over to His death upon the Cross in order to save you.

By the grace and Spirit of God you know that your righteousness, your resurrection, and your life are not found in yourself, nor in your own works, but in this dear Lord Jesus, crucified and risen.

So it is that your good fruits of faith and love are found in the fellowship of His suffering, as you are conformed more and more to the Image of His crucifixion.  That is to say, not only that your old sinful self is put to death, but that you also carry the Cross and lay down your life in love for your neighbor, for Jesus’ sake.  And by the power of His Resurrection He raises you up in faith each day through the forgiveness of all your sins, as He shall also raise you up in glory at the last.

Indeed, you are among the good fruits that Christ Jesus bears to the Glory of His God and Father!

Here in the Gospel of His Cross and Resurrection is a pathway through the sea and living water in the desert.  Here the Heir bequeaths to you the Inheritance of His Father.  And the Fruits of this true Vine are given and poured out for you to eat and to drink.  Here then, in this Sacrament, lay hold of Him who lays hold of you for the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting.

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

Through the Water into Life with God in Christ Jesus

In the beginning, from out of nothing, the Holy Triune God created the heavens and the earth by the speaking of the almighty and eternal Word.  The Father spoke forth His only-begotten Son, and with that Word He breathed forth His Life-giving Holy Spirit; and thus did He bring forth all of Creation, beginning with water, a great cosmic deep, and then forming the earth out of water and by water.  That is how He chose to work, to begin and to proceed.  All of this was and is very good, because it was and is the work of God, the Lord, and because He still preserves and provides for His whole Creation in love.  The Father upholds all things by His Word, who is indeed His Son.

All of this the Lord has done, and still does, out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, for the sake of Man, male and female, created in His Image and Likeness for Life with Himself forever.

But of course, our first parents, Adam and Eve, rebelled against the Lord who had created them, who had given them life.  They disobeyed His Holy Word, though it was His Word that brought them into being, gave them body and life, and provided for them. And by their sin they plunged all of mankind, all of their children, into a downward spiral of sin and death and eternal damnation, which is separation from the Holy Triune God, from His Life and His Love and His Light.

Henceforth, all men and women, boys and girls, infants and toddlers receive this inheritance from their parents, from the first moment of conception in the womb.  It is this inheritance that you have likewise received from your father and mother, which you also pass on to your sons and daughters, this heritage of sin and death from which you cannot set yourself free.  The heart, soul, mind, and strength of man, of all the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, are sinful from the outset.  That is the stream into which you were born, in which you would drown and die forever without God.

So it was that the Flood, for example, was God’s righteous judgment against the hardened hearts, unbelief, and rampant idolatry of Man.  The Holy Scriptures testify that the Lord was sorry that He had even created Man.  So He brought the waters of the Flood down upon their heads.

Yet, that same Flood, which was indeed the judgment of God against the sins of the world, was also a Type and a Sign of the great Salvation He would accomplish by His own Son, Jesus Christ, by His Holy Cross and Passion in His Body of Flesh and Blood.  For it is upon the head of Christ Jesus that God the Father finally pours out all His righteous wrath and judgment in your stead.

The Flood was thus a Type of that gracious washing of regeneration and rebirth by the Holy Spirit which the Lord has brought about in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  And so it was with faithful Noah and his family, eight souls in all, though they were descendants of Adam and Eve, conceived and born in sin and subject to death, they were saved by the waters of the Flood, which lifted them up in the mercies of God — pointing them and you and all mankind to Christ Jesus, our Savior.

Really, everything in the Old Testament — from before the foundation of the world, and even to the close of the age — it’s all about Jesus, the incarnate Son of God.  Everything depends upon Him, on His Incarnation, His Life, His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension.  Everything depends upon Jesus for its real meaning, for its purpose, and for its fulfillment in divine and holy Love.

So, for example, the Old Testament Exodus from Egypt is finally realized for what it truly is in the Exodus that Jesus accomplishes for us men and our salvation upon the Cross outside of Jerusalem and in His Resurrection from the dead.  He is the Firstborn Son who is put to death to set you free from Pharaoh’s satanic bondage.  And He is the Passover Lamb who is sacrificed in your stead, whose Flesh feeds you for Life, and whose Blood covers and protects you from death.

It is the wood of His Cross that parts the waters of the Red Sea; which is to speak of your Baptism in His Name, whereby you pass through those waters with Him, through death and the grave into Life in the Resurrection.  He feeds you with the heavenly Manna of His holy Body throughout your pilgrimage on earth, and He seals you in the New Covenant of His Blood in the Holy Communion.

In truth, until you finally tread the verge of Jordan — until your body is finally dead and buried from your life in this world — you never do outgrow the necessity and benefits of your Baptism.  As the Catechism has taught you, it possesses a lifelong and daily significance for you.

It is by your Baptism into Christ Jesus that you have been born again to a new and living hope through the Word of His Cross.  Like little fishes you were born in those waters, and as a Christian you live your whole life in those same waters of Holy Baptism, wherein the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have recreated you in the Image and Likeness of God — which is to say, in Christ Jesus.

It is by your Baptism into Christ, the beloved and well-pleasing Son, that you are a dear child of God, and that He is your dear Father in heaven.  And it is by your Baptism in His Name that you have been anointed with the Life-giving Holy Spirit, unto faith and life in Christ Jesus, through the forgiveness of your sins (which you need each day, just as the Lord has taught you to pray).

Your Baptism is and does all of these things, because it is by your Baptism into Christ Jesus that you have been united with Him and bound to Him in His Cross and Resurrection; such that His Good Friday and His Easter are now yours — your dying and rising in and with Him.

Henceforth you live, no longer in Adam and for yourself, but in Him and for Him who for your sake died and was raised.  The river of sin and death flowing from Adam and Eve to all of their children has been cut off, because Christ has taken His stand — together with all of us mortals — in the middle of that stream.  He has planted Himself and His Cross, the true Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat of God, in the midst of the Jordan River.  And by His priestly Sacrifice of His own Body and Life, He has opened the Way for you and for all the baptized — out of the desert wilderness into the Promised Land of heaven, flowing not with sin and death, but with the pure spiritual Milk of His Word, like Water from the Rock, sweeter than honey from the honeycomb.

Thus has the new and greater Joshua, Jesus the Christ, established the New Israel of His Church, wherein He has fixed this Pillar and this Sign of Holy Baptism, which works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal Salvation — to you and to all who believe this, as the Words and Promises of God declare: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”

It is to this permanent Monument of Holy Baptism that Jesus calls you daily by His Word and Holy Spirit through contrition, repentance, and faith.  For it is with His Baptism that you also have been baptized; only, what was death for Him is now Life for you.  By your Baptism with Christ, your old Adam is crucified, put to death, and buried; he is drowned and destroyed, with all your sinful lusts and desires.  But, so also, by and from those waters of Holy Baptism, you arise and emerge to live before God as a new creation, to live in and with the New Man, the true and better Adam, Jesus Christ, in His righteousness and purity, which are yours by His grace through faith in Him.

So it is that you live with Him in His Kingdom, now and forever; and you do drink His Cup, the overflowing Chalice of His holy and precious Blood, unto the Resurrection and eternal Life.

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

He Turns to You a Father's Heart

Both boys are blind to begin with.  Neither of them knows who he really is, nor what his life is worth, nor how to live in peace and joy and contentment.  Maybe you have the same problem.

One of them adopts a strategy of extravagant spending, the other of disciplined saving, but neither of these sons is satisfied.  One of them is restless and tired of the routine; he wants to leave, to make his own way in the world, and he goes for it.  The other is unhappy and resentful of his lot, but he doesn’t dare leave.  He follows the rules and keeps his nose clean, but he doesn’t like it.

Both boys are lost, each in his own way, because they have both lost sight of their Father.  They do not know themselves, not rightly, because they have forgotten what He is like.  They do not feel at home with Him, because they no longer know His heart.

But He has not forgotten either of them.  He has not lost sight of them, no matter where they are, near or far.  And He has not turned His heart away from either one of them.  Not at all.  That is the point on which the story turns, on which everything depends.  Not what the boys are like, nor how they behave, but who the Father is, and what He does.  You’ll finally find yourself there, too; that is to say, neither in wanderlust nor in work, but in your Father, in His Household and Family.

I do not mean that your day-to-day life in the world doesn’t matter.  I’m not suggesting that what you do, be it good or bad, is of no account or consequence.  You should not neglect your job, nor should you waste what God has given you, certainly not in wrongdoing.  A child of the Father will want to make different decisions than that.

But the point is that you do not make a life or a name for yourself.  Nor do you have to.  You have been given life, and you live it, by the grace of your Father.  And His House is your true home, your place of peace and rest, because He has named you with His Name.  All that He has is yours, because He is your Dad.  Even His servants are well-cared for.  How much more His own children!

That is what remains solid and true.  The Father remains faithful to who and what He is.  He cannot deny Himself, and He will not disown His children.  Not when His younger son wishes He were dead, and values wealth over family, and runs off to squander his life on the reckless pursuit of fun.  And not when His older son tells Him off, yells in His face, and refuses to come into the House.

He does not disown them, because He loves them, and He has compassion for them, even though they suffer the consequences of their own attitudes and actions.  He is patient with them, and He gently pursues them in peace.  And in the same way, He does not disown you, either; but rather, as He has called you by name, so does He seek you out and call you back to Himself.

But who, then, will be the Son after His Father’s heart?  He will be the One who has learned to live in His Father’s House; who looks to His Father and trusts Him for all good things; who seeks not His own but the Father’s Will, and gladly receives whatever His Father gives Him; who does not begrudge the Father’s generosity to others, but actually lays down His own life for them all.

He is the One who receives sinners and eats with them; who calls publicans and prostitutes to repentance, and in mercy welcomes them to His Table.  He goes looking for the lost sheep, rescues it from danger, and bears it home upon His shoulders, rejoicing in its recovery.

This is the Son in whom God the Father reconciles the whole wide world to Himself, not counting trespasses or keeping track of sins, but forgiving iniquity, absolving guilt, and covering shame with His own grace and glory.  Indeed, He is not passive but active in His rescue of the lost.  He takes every initiative in seeking them out and saving them.  Indeed, He has become your Salvation

You see it in the case of the older brother, when the Father goes out to him and pleads with him.  This is the ministry of reconciliation: “My child, I am at peace with you.  Be at peace with Me and with your brother.  Come on home.  Come inside.  Rest yourself here in My love for you.”

This ministry of reconciliation hinges on the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus.  There God has turned to you a fatherly heart in the Person of His Son.  In His Flesh and Blood you are shown what your God and Father is like, and you see how far He has gone to bring you home in Love.

The only-begotten Son of God has gone on a journey, from the House of His Father into the far country of your sin and death.  He has emptied Himself and made Himself nothing.  He has spent Himself in Love for sinners like yourself.  He has made Himself unclean with your uncleanness.  He has soiled Himself with your slop and made Himself stinky with your stench.

He has placed Himself under the burden and the condemnation of the Law and has suffered its judgment, its punishment and shame.  Abandoned and alone, a stranger in a strange land; beaten up, a bloody mess; stripped naked and hung up on the Cross in shame.  The eyes of the world are upon Him with contempt, because the handwriting of your sin has been leveled against Him as an accusation.  “Where is Your Father now?” the mockers taunt and tease.

But the Father has handed Him over to this death in order to save you and all the children of men; and this Son, the true Son after His Father’s heart, goes willingly.  He becomes your sin.  He bears your curse, and He becomes that, too.  He is damned in your place, as you have deserved.

As Life is found with the Father, in the Father’s House, so does separation from the Father bring death.  That is where you were, so that is where this Son goes, even unto death upon the Cross.

In Him the Father comes to you and finds you.  And not for nothing does He do it.  Nor merely to commiserate with you.  Neither to wallow in the muck and the mire without any help or hope for you.  But He comes to you in Love, that you might become the righteousness of God in Him.

To that end, the Son who went on this journey into a distant country has also risen from the dead and returned to His Father.  The One who humbled Himself unto death, sharing your shame and disgrace, has also been highly exalted and has sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God.  He died, and yet, behold, He lives.  He became sin, and yet, He is glorified and honored, He is righteous and holy in the presence of His God and Father, forever and ever.

This, then, is the answer to all of your questions.  This is the resolution of all your predicaments and problems.  This is your Resurrection and your Righteousness.  This is who you are and what you are worth.  As Christ Jesus, the Son of God, was baptized into your pig sty and has returned to His Father in peace and joy, so are you baptized into His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension.

To come to yourself, to find yourself, and to know yourself rightly, is to know God as your Father in Christ Jesus.  It is to remember your Baptism and what your Baptism means and does for you; that just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so do you also rise and walk in newness of Life.

Recognize your sins and repent of them.  Return to the Lord your God.  Come home to your Father in Christ; no matter whether you have been far, far away, pursuing the fake and fatal “freedom” of debauchery, or always close at hand but hardening your heart while trying to earn your keep.  Forget all of that, and remember who you are by the grace of God: “You are My beloved son,” the voice of the Father declares.  “With you I am well-pleased.”

Listen: Your Father calls you to repentance, which is to say, He calls you to come home to Him.  Not as a bargain to be struck, nor a barter to be made — not as a condition or contingency — but because He loves you, and He longs to have you with Him, in order to give you His Life.  And it surely is not hopeless, nor are you a lost cause; for there is no depth and no distance from which He has not already sought you out and found you and brought you home to Himself in Christ.

Consider the prodigal son, in whose place you also have been, and whose place the Son of God has freely taken.  Already when the prodigal “comes to himself,” it is because he begins to remember his Father, and his Father’s House, and what his Father is like.  That is what raises him up from the muck and the mire and turns him homeward.

And while he is still strategizing, feeling sorry for himself and ashamed of his sin, but ready to make a deal — while he is “still a long way off” — even then, “the Father saw him.”  His Father’s eye has always been upon him and has never lost sight of him; not looking over his shoulder to criticize and condemn, but with deep, divine compassion for him.

He will not force His son to come home.  He has freely allowed the boy his fatal freedom.  For what the Father longs for is not a servant, not a slave or a hired hand, but His son.  He loves him, and that is how he deals with him.  So, He will not force him against his will; but neither does the Father simply wait it out and make His son bridge the gap and go the distance.  By no means.

Consider it well, that the Father goes out to get His boy and brings him back home.  In doing so, He takes the prodigal’s shame upon Himself, and He adorns that young man with His own honor.  He serves notice that, “Anyone who has a problem with My son, has a problem with Me.”

But there is no law, no accusation, no guilt or shame that can separate a child from this Father’s Love.  It is no mere emotion, nor sentiment, nor empty show.   This Father’s heart is turned toward you, and open to you, and beats for you, in the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead.  It is in Him that God the Father runs to you, embraces you, and kisses you.  It is with Him that your Father robes you in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.  It is by His Gospel of forgiveness that He puts a ring on your finger — not a wedding ring, in this case, but the signet ring of a child and heir of the House.  So, too, your feet are shod with the sandals of peace, for you are welcomed without any reservations or restrictions.  You are at home.

Little wonder that St. Paul genuflects before this God and Father of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, by whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.  We bend the knee, too, not in shame or terror, but in faith and love, in gratitude and joy, and in reverent awe of His mercy.  For such Love the Father has for us, that He has given us the right to be called His children.

This is what it means to be a real father.  This is what it looks like.  Patience and peace for your children.  Compassion, even for their self-inflicted wounds, and forgiveness for all their sins.  Not returning anger for anger, but exercising gentleness and self-control.  Not giving up on the wayward daughter or the prodigal son, but watching and waiting, ready to run to them with open arms and bring them home.  And to do it all over again.  Not keeping score.  Not counting the cost.  Not counting their trespasses against them.

What man among you is like that?  Where has there ever been, or where shall you ever find, such a father as that?  You do not see it in yourself, nor in your family.  “Show us such a Father,” you pray, “and that will be sufficient.”

Dear child of God, He is already with you, and so shall He always be.  For you know the Father in His Son.  In the One who receives sinners, including you, and eats with them.  In the One who has become the Sacrifice for all your sins, who now feeds you with Himself, with His Body and His Blood.  In this One who has become your Brother in the flesh, in order to make you a child of His God and Father.  In Him who was dead, who has come to life again, that you might live.

Great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!  For this Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ is the Heart of God the Father for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  For you fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters; for you husbands and wives, and for you widows, widowers, and orphans in distress — here is your everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, who does not cast you away from His presence, but has found you and brought you here, home to Himself, in Love.

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

As God Speaks by His Son, So Do You Pray in His Name

The Lord your God has commanded you to pray, and He has promised to hear you.  He has also taught you how to pray and what to pray, so that you may approach Him and call upon His Name with all boldness and confidence, as a child looking to your Father for all that you need.  And it is truly meet and right that you should do so, because your need for Him is great.  He is your Life and your Salvation, and He is your Help and Hope at all times and in all places.

Pray to Him in faith according to His Word, that is to say, in the way that He has taught you and in the confidence of His promises.  Because He has so tenderly invited you to do so, look to Him as your own dear Father in Christ Jesus, the beloved Son.  And rely upon Him for all good things, for all that you need in body and soul, trusting in His mercy, His grace, and His forgiveness.

This way of prayer is the way of true wisdom in the fear, love, and trust of the Holy Triune God.  It is your acceptable and pleasing sacrifice and your sweet-smelling incense in the presence of the Lord your God.  And it begins, not with your speaking, but with your listening to His Word.

You know how and what to speak, both to and about God — you know how and what to confess and to pray — first of all by hearing what God the Lord says to you, and then by speaking to and about Him as He has spoken.

“Righteousness looks down from the sky,” and then “faithfulness springs up from the ground.”

God speaks His justifying Word of the Gospel to you, and then by faith you pray to Him as He has spoken.  For His Word does not return to Him empty or unfruitful, but as the Lord gives the seed, the sunshine and rain from heaven, and thus brings forth a bounteous crop from the earth, so does He raise you up, a new creation, and open your mouth and your lips to show forth His praise.

It is from a heart of faith in Christ Jesus that you pray.  This Son of David, who is the incarnate Son of God, the true King of Wisdom and of Peace, He is the One by whom you pray and are heard.  He is God’s Word to you — the Word of the Father in the Flesh of His Son — who has become your sure and certain Word of Prayer to God.

This Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished and fulfilled the good and gracious Will of God for you and your salvation.  He has overcome death and the grave and He has defeated the devil by atoning for all your sins with His holy and precious Blood, by the sacrifice of Himself.  In His Resurrection from the dead and in His preaching of the Gospel of His Cross, He has brought and established the Kingdom of God in His Church on earth.  And in your Holy Baptism He has not only made you a free citizen of that fair and glorious Kingdom, but He has made you a member of the Household and Family of God, a dear child of His own Father, by naming you with His Name.

All of this for which you pray He has done for you by His Incarnation, Cross, and Resurrection, and He now gives to you by His Ministry of the Gospel, by His preaching and His Sacraments.

Thus, He teaches you to pray for the Gospel, first and foremost; which He delights to give to you and do for you by His grace.  He teaches you to pray for what He is already doing and giving!

The Gospel of Christ Jesus is the most important “daily bread,” without which you have no life.  Therefore, He teaches you to pray, that you would learn to know your need for it, and that you would look to Him alone to save you, and that you would receive the Gospel with thanksgiving.  He does not force it upon you, but He desires you to have it from Him so that you may live.

Worldly riches, earthly power, human fame, and temporal success, all are attractive and enticing, but all are empty of real life and altogether unable to save you.  To be sure, they are gifts of God, to be received and used with thanksgiving and sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.  But everything depends upon His Word and Holy Spirit, lest His good gifts become your deadly idols.

It is by and with the Gospel that the Lord your God gives you every good and perfect gift and all that you need, already here in time and all the more so for your body and soul hereafter in eternity.  With the Gospel God Himself is yours by His grace, and His Kingdom and His Righteousness are yours through His forgiveness of all your sins — purchased and won for you and all people by the giving of the Son of God into death upon the Cross and by the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, who ever lives to make intercession for you before the Throne of His God and Father.

Everything depends upon the forgiveness of sins, since all that you deserve is only punishment, now and forever.  But the Gospel is entirely by the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus, by the divine Charity of the Father in His Son.  For His sake He forgives you all your sins.  In Him the Father speaks Peace to His people.  And with that grace He freely gives you all good things.  For it is in Christ Jesus, by your Baptism in His Name, that His God and Father is your God and Father.

He is your true Father, and you are His own dear child.  But He is not your Father only.  He is the Father of all who are baptized into Christ Jesus, the beloved Son.  He is the God and Father of all who belong to Christ by His grace, through faith in Him.

Therefore, as often as you pray, you do so in the fellowship of the whole Christian Church, both with and for your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.  You pray to one and the same God and Father of all Christians everywhere, in the holy Name with which each and all of you are named.

And all those many brothers and sisters of Christ, all those children of the heavenly Father, they all pray for you and with you in the one Lord, Jesus Christ, and in the Life-giving Holy Spirit.  Really, there is that one Prayer of Christ and His Spirit, to which your prayer and the prayer of all the baptized faithful is united.  The crucified and risen Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the uplifted Hands and the holy Incense of your prayer, of your evening and morning sacrifice, which ever arise and ascend to “Our Father who art in heaven” and are gladly received by Him.

As this great fellowship of the Church depends upon the forgiveness of sins, so does the Church on earth also live in the mutual forgiveness of sins — each and all of you, one for the other — confessing your sins to one another and freely forgiving each other in the confidence of Christ.

The faith that lives before God in Christ Jesus likewise dwells in love with the neighbor in Christ.  And as you pray to your Father in the faith and confidence that He daily and richly forgives you all your sins, so do you thus abide in His love and forgive your neighbors for Jesus’ sake.

By contrast, a refusal to forgive those who sin against you is a rejection of the very forgiveness of sins that you yourself need and depend upon.  And that refusal of your neighbor — that rejection of the Gospel for your neighbor — shipwrecks your faith and poisons your prayer.

You simply cannot pray in the peace of Christ Jesus while refusing to forgive your neighbor.

So it is that your Father calls you daily to repentance.  He does so in His great love for you, His own dear child, so that you do not grow cold and hard and die in your sins, but that you would be turned to Him in faith, to receive from Him the forgiveness, Life, and Salvation of Christ Jesus.

He performs a kind of open-heart surgery, cutting you open and piercing your flesh to its core, in order to expose and deal with your animosity and enmity, your bitterness and grudges, and your stubborn rejection of grace — for that is what your refusal to forgive your neighbor actually is.

This painful process, which threatens to kill you — and in a sense, it does, there on the operating table — that is the discipline of a loving Father for His dearly-beloved child.  He opens you up and exposes your sick and sinful heart in this way, in order to speak tenderly to your heart by His Son.

He allows you to be tempted and tried, and He puts you to the test, in order to restore your faith, and strengthen your faith, and teach you to pray.  For surely your need and your hurt, your poverty and suffering bring you to your knees and turn your ears and heart back to God, to listen to Him, and then also your mouth and your lips to pray, to call upon His Name for mercy and salvation.

He teaches you not to despair, but to pray in this way, and He also answers your prayer by the way and the means of His Gospel.  He hallows His Name in you by the preaching of His forgiveness.  And He protects your faith and life within His Kingdom by His Holy Spirit through the same Holy Gospel.  So, too, according to His good and gracious Will, He thwarts the wickedness of the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh, and He preserves you steadfast in His Word and faith.

He daily and richly forgives you all your sins — by His Gospel in His Church — and He daily and richly provides you with all that you need for this body and life on earth.

And by this same grace and mercy, by the Word and Spirit of His Son, and by the strong protection and sacred service of His holy angels, He guards and keeps you in the midst of temptation, and He delivers you from every evil of body and soul.

So it is that trial and tribulation, temptation, and tragedy are not able to destroy you, but rather serve the purpose of driving you back to God, your Father in Christ Jesus, in whom you endure — in whom you have peace and rest — unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting.

That same Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, your Savior, is the true King Solomon, the real Prince of Peace, and the very Wisdom of God the Father.

By Him God speaks to you — His Perfect Peace and His Sabbath Rest for your body and your soul — and in Him you speak to God: You pray, praise, and give thanks, and you call upon His Name.

As He speaks to you by His Son, so do you pray to Him by the Same.  What is more, dear child of God the Father, your prayer is heard by Him, it is acceptable and pleasing to His ears, and it is gladly answered in love with a resounding “Yes” and “Amen,” which is Christ Jesus Himself.

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

The Fruits of the Repentance of Christ Jesus

Let’s face it: Life in the wilderness is hard.

Which is not to say there are no joys along the way, no pleasant perks or satisfactions.  Indeed, there are many good things in this body and life, by the grace and mercies of God in Christ Jesus, for which we rightly give to Him all thanks and praise.  He both leads and follows after you, and day after day He guards and keeps you in body and soul.  So does He also feed and nurture and sustain you on the journey; He opens up His hand to provide you with everything you need.

Even so, life in the wilderness is hard.  You work hard, and it’s a struggle to keep your head above water, to make ends meet, and to get ahead.  No matter how secure your investments, and no matter how safe your neighborhood, there are threats and dangers that may still lay hands on you.  And all around you, near and far, your neighbors in the world are falling prey to foul play and disaster.

Now, some of what you read and hear about, and some of what you know firsthand, may seem like the natural consequences of poor decisions, reckless behavior, or a lack of foresight and planning.  And when such things befall someone you don’t know or someone you don’t like, you’re prone to wag your finger and your tongue; whereas, when they happen to a friend, you may commiserate and shake your head with sympathy and concern.  But such things won’t happen to you, right?

Be careful.  If you think that you are standing tall and strong, take heed, lest you fall down hard.

There are those calamities, of course, where no amount of planning ahead or being careful make any difference at all.  Like a sinkhole opening up beneath your home and swallowing you alive while you are fast asleep in your own bed.  Or minding your own business, going about your day, doing what you’re supposed to be doing, and yet, ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time when someone you don’t even know finally snaps and goes postal

There, indeed, but for the grace of God, go you.

But what is the point or purpose of it all, and what’s your plan?  Is it a matter of being savvy and working hard?  Or is it chance?  A game of luck, be it good or bad, but of no strategy or skill?

As a Christian you know better, as the Word and Spirit of the Lord have taught you.  He has made you and all creatures, and He still takes care of you, even in the wilderness.  Bad stuff happens, but He remains faithful.  All of creation is under the curse of sin and death, but there is still hope; for the Lord Himself has entered His own Creation and become Flesh; He has taken all your sins upon Himself and lived in the wilderness; He has suffered your death, and He has risen from the dead.

As the Lord Himself lives — not only from eternity, in Himself, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but also in the Resurrection of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, in His own Body of flesh and blood like yours — as surely He lives, so surely does He love you and give to you His own divine Life.

He calls you to live by faith in Him, which is to fear, love, and trust in Him above all other gods.  And He calls you to that life, not by force or constraint — not by twisting your arm, not with bribes or threats, and not by violating your will — but by His Word and Spirit.  He preaches and teaches, and He pours out His Life and His good Gifts freely upon you, that you might learn to love Him.

Now, your life on earth, here in the wilderness, is not a game; it’s not a meaningless exercise; nor is it a scientific experiment, as though you were a rat being run through a maze in some cosmic lab.

But this wilderness is a training ground — as well as a battle zone between God and the devil.  The outcome of that contest is already safe and secure in Christ Jesus, but He wages the war in such a way that you are given to share in His victory.  So there is this “boot camp” of life on earth.  It is an apprenticeship, which we normally describe as discipleship, whereby you take up the Cross and follow after Christ, in order to learn from Him how to think, and how to speak, and how to live, and how to die.  The world is your classroom, and mortal life is a learning experience.

What the Lord is teaching — and what you are here learning — is daily, ongoing repentance; and that is painful and hard, to be sure, but it is for your own eternal good.  For this is how you learn to live in the faith and love of God, in the neverending divine glory of His grace and goodness.

Sin and its consequences, including death — both within your mortal flesh and all around you in the fallen world — are a preaching of the Law of God, which not only exposes and accuses your efforts to live without the Lord (for that is what you do with all your sins), but it also brings to bear the utter futility of any and all such attempts to make a life for yourself.  You cannot live by your own righteousness, which is really no true righteousness at all, but rather an idolatry of your self.

Even when you may be prospering for a little while in this fading and fast-fleeting world, yet, when others around you suffer, whether as criminals being punished or as victims being exploited, in them you are confronted with your own mortality, with your own culpability and vulnerability.  And thus you are reminded of where you are (and are not) called to look for and find your life.

Do not become complacent and lazy, resting on your laurels, or supposing that everything will always continue as it has before.  Nor become haughty and brazen, presumptuous and pushy, as though you had any rightful claim upon your life.  The truth is that you live by the charity of God, and you cannot extend your life by even so much as one day beyond what He bestows upon you.

But do not despair of hope, either, and don’t suppose that you will gain control by ending your life.  Despair and the death that it brings are neither mastery nor liberation, but a dark enslavement.

Despair of yourself and your righteousness, yes; but then also hope and trust in Christ, your Lord.

Repent of your sin.  That is what I mean.  And that is what I must preach, if I am to be a faithful watchman of the Lord’s people.  Repent of your sin in all of its breadth, and height, and depth.  That is to say, in all of your thoughts, words, and deeds, cease from doing evil, and begin to do what is good and right.

Remember and return to the Lord your God.  He is the beginning of your faith and righteousness.

Remember that He brought you out of Egypt through the Red Sea waters of your Holy Baptism, and so now enter into Canaan with Joshua by returning to the significance of your Baptism.

That does not mean relying on your Baptism as a presumptuous excuse to sin, as though it didn’t matter; as though it made no difference; as though you could go on sinning with impunity.  No, the history of Israel in the wilderness is proof against that, and a warning to you against that lie.

But rather leave your sin and every evil, Pharaoh and all his chariots and horsemen, drowned in the depths of the sea behind you.  Do not dredge them up again in your life and conduct.  Instead, live now by the Word of God, by the Food and Drink that He provides, and by His Righteousness.

The wilderness is not only hard but precarious; the time is short, and the Lord’s call to repentance is urgent.  Therefore, do not crave evil, but hunger and thirst for the Lord and His good Gifts.

Evil does not wear a name tag, but it masquerades as a golden god.  It offers enticing promises, stroking your ego, stimulating your mind, warming your heart, and arousing your flesh.  It teases your tongue and fills up your body with tasty morsels and sweet wine.  It tells you what you want to hear.  It makes you feel good.  It looks and sounds like the answer you’ve been searching for.

Do not be deceived.  Do not be an idolater.  And do not kid yourself that idolatry is easily spotted and avoided.  Your gluttony of food and drink is idolatry.  Your lust and fornication are idolatry, even if your false gods are only images on the internet or in magazines.  Your addiction to gossip, to shopping, or to anything else, is idolatry.  With your time and energy, with your mind and body, and with your wasted talents and squandered treasures, you worship and serve your addictions.

Beloved, do not try and tempt the Lord your God.  Hear and heed His warning, and repent.

In particular, cease and desist from your grumbling and complaining, lest you be destroyed by the devil and his wicked deceits.  In this, too, Satan would lead you into complacency and have you suppose that there is no danger or harm in your muttering and whining.  But you are a Christian!  Do you not realize that words are powerful?  That what you speak, as well as what you listen to, shapes and gives substance to your thoughts and feelings?  Even your whispers give voice to the meditations of your heart, and, in turn, they inform and determine the imaginations of your heart.  Thus, with your grumbling complaints the devil hardens your heart against the Lord your God.

But now, repent of that, and live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.  Hold His Word and preaching to be sacred and, as such, gladly hear and learn it.  And as you have heard, so also speak.  Armor and shield yourself with His Word and bear it as your Sword against the crafts and accusations of the devil.  Let your heart and mind be taught by Christ Jesus, that is, by confessing and praying and singing His Word.   That is where your Life is truly to be found.

Then also live your life in Christ by His Word, by practicing justice and righteousness.  That is to say, what you have heard and received from Him by His grace, put into practice in the way that you speak to your neighbors and deal with your neighbors.  Practice charity with all people.  Have mercy and compassion on those who are in need, not only with kind words, but with good deeds and generous gifts.  Freely forgive and gladly do good to those who trespass against you.  And where you have done wrong or failed to do right, now make amends and reparations as you can.

Such righteous living derives from the righteousness of faith in Christ.  It cannot be purchased, nor is it manufactured by human ingenuity.  But the good works of which I speak — the practice of justice and righteousness to which the Lord calls you — these are the fruits of repentance, the fruits of faith, the fruits of the Spirit of Christ Jesus, which are borne by the Tree of His Cross.

This is the repentance to which He calls you, that is, the repentance of His own Cross and of His Resurrection from the dead.  Indeed, His Body and His Blood, crucified and risen, are the First Fruits of repentance, which bear fruits after their own kind in you.  And this is the way of escape that He has provided, in order that you may endure the temptations of the devil, the world, and your flesh, and survive the wilderness journey, and finally enter into Canaan, into eternal Life.

The Lord is a tender Teacher and a patient Pastor.  He is merciful, kind, and good, long-suffering, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.  As surely as He lives — crucified and risen from the dead, never to die again — so surely does He love you, and so does He desire to give you Life.

Thus has He given His own Life for you, and shed His own Blood by His crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, as the Sacrifice of Atonement for all your sins and for the sins of the whole world.  And so has He conquered death and the devil on your behalf, treading them into dust beneath His feet.

The Tree of His Cross bears the Fruits, the ripe and luscious Figs, by which you live; inasmuch as His death and resurrection are your repentance, your righteousness, your Life and Salvation.  For He has rebuilt the fallen walls and the crumbled towers of Jerusalem in Himself, in His own Body, that He might be a Refuge and a Mighty Fortress for the people of God in heaven and on earth.

That is the New Life to which you are called here in time and hereafter in eternity, and that is the House where you now live in safety and in peace, by the grace of God, through faith in Christ.

So, then, as you are called daily to repentance, so are you daily and richly forgiven all of your sins.  And in the Spiritual Food and Drink of Christ Jesus — even here in the hard wilderness, even in the midst of sin and death — you are given a Life that is forever in body and in soul.  Come hell or high water, you are the Lord’s.  And in Him you shall not perish but live forever and ever.

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

The Word of Christ Is Near to You

It’s a rough and tumble world, and it’s easy enough to get caught up in the crush of the crowd, with so many people pushing and pulling at you, threatening to trample you beneath their feet, or else to drown and destroy you with their endless chatter, everybody talking at you, telling you what’s what, and what to do, and what you should be like.  There’s lots of noise and confusion, lots of words and information, and lots of competition and jockeying for position.

It is overwhelming, and yet, in its own way, enticing.  Against the onslaught of the crowds, you are tempted to impress them and appease them, to protect yourself from the critics, and to promote yourself with the movers and shakers, in the hopes of becoming someone important.

But none of the people, neither the celebrities nor the crowds, are able to save you or destroy you.  They can neither make you nor break you, not really.  For each and all of them are mortal, like yourself, subject to death and decay and held accountable to the judgment of God.

It is in the presence of the Lord your God that you live your life and die your death: Coram Deo, that is, before God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and of all things.  He is the One with all authority — the authority to judge all of creation — because He is the Author and Giver of Life.

Therefore, He is the One, not only with power to hurt and kill, such as fallen man presumes to do with those who are smaller and weaker than himself; but God has genuine authority to condemn both soul and body forever: To “Gehenna,” Jesus says (though it is sometimes translated “hell”).

Gehenna was the name of a valley alongside Jerusalem, where, at various times, even the Israelites had resorted to sacrificing their own children, and where an ongoing fire served the potters’ kilns and the constant burning of rubbish and every manner of refuse.  It provides a vivid picture of hell on earth, but only God Almighty has the authority to consign both body and soul to such a place.  And He alone has the power and authority to save you, in body and soul, for the Life everlasting.

Therefore, the Lord Jesus exhorts you, not to be afraid of the world and its power-brokers, but to fear, love, and trust in the Lord your God above all things.  For He is the only true God, who is Life and Light and Love within Himself.  He has created you in holy Love, both body and soul, in His own Image and Likeness, for Life everlasting with Him, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Not only that, but the almighty and eternal Lord, who changes not, has Himself become a part of His own Creation by the conception and birth of the Son from the Blessed Virgin Mary.  He has lived and died in the Body, with flesh and blood like yours; and God the Father has also raised this incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, bodily from the dead.  So shall your body likewise be raised at the last, and glorified like unto the crucified and risen Body of your Lord, unto Life eternal in Paradise.

Do not doubt that it is true.  The One who created the sparrows and still cares for them, though they are but a dime-a-dozen, cares for you all the more and provides for you all that you need, for this life and for the Life to come.  You are precious to Him and valued most highly.  Just consider the price that He has willingly paid for you: not gold or silver, but His own Body and His Blood.

He who was crucified for you — who has also risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever as your great High Priest, always interceding for you at the Right Hand of God the Father — He now serves you in body and soul with His tangible Means of Grace, His Holy Word and Sacraments.

The Word of the Word-made-Flesh penetrates your heart and mind, your soul and spirit, through the ears of your body.  And your conscience is cleansed before the Lord your God by the washing of your body with pure water, that is, with water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word in Holy Baptism.  And your Savior Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, feeds you with His true Body and gives you to drink of His true Blood, which you eat and drink with your mouth.

Therefore, your body also is justified and saved by the Gospel of God; and in fact, your soul is not saved apart from your body, for it has no access to God apart from His Word and Sacraments.

So, then, take it seriously that the life which is yours in Christ Jesus, which you have by grace through faith in Him, is lived not only in your heart and in your head, but likewise in your body — in your words and in your actions, in what you say with your mouth and do with your hands.

And yet, you know well enough that your insides and your outsides don’t always match.  You know that what you say is not always what you’re thinking and feeling.  And you know that your actions are not always in harmony with your convictions and your actual preferences.

Those differences are not bad, but good and right, when they stem from the discipline of your sinful flesh, so that you do and say what you should, instead of what your old Adam desires.

At other times, however, it’s not a matter of self-discipline, but of hypocrisy, whereby you make an outward pretense for the sake of good impressions but out of sync with your conscience.

In this respect, there is actually a two-fold danger of hypocrisy.  There is, on the one hand, the outward show of false piety, in which you act the part of godly reverence and you go through the motions of the fear and faith of God, while your heart and mind are still far removed from Him.  Then you are like a white-washed tomb, decorated pretty on the outside, but hiding death within.

On the other hand, there is the hiding and disguising of the Christian faith and life, as though you could carry on with Jesus privately, while outwardly you live like a pagan and talk like a pirate, whether it be out of fear of “persecution” (be it martyrdom or being laughed at), or maybe to compete with the world on its terms, contesting for popularity, power, and prestige, or whatever.

One and the same person can be as pliable as Play-doh, shaped by the expectations — or by the perceived expectations — of the people around him.  So he may be pious and reverent at church, profane at school or work, and something else altogether by himself — probably lost and lonely without the crowd to play to, without an audience to perform for.

But the truth will come out.  It will.  Jesus says so.  And that is both a warning and a promise.  Your secret sins are not hidden from the Lord your God.  But so, too, your faith and life in Christ are also known to Him who loves you.  There is no concealing of your conscience before Him.

Where you actually stand with the one true God will be made known — in your life and in your confession, and in the final Judgment — whether for everlasting Life or everlasting punishment.

So, here is what you need to know: True Life is found only in Christ Jesus, crucified and risen, and it is had only by faith in Him, in His Gospel of forgiveness.  Not by your works, but by His.  And yet, such faith in Christ cannot be kept hidden in the heart.  It can’t — not without suffering loss.  No, faith in Christ is exercised, as it is expressed, with your mouth and with the rest of your body: In worship and in works of love — and in words of confession, whereby you speak as the Lord your God has spoken to you.  To say what He has said is how you know and speak the Truth.

Both faith itself and the words and works by which you confess the faith are the gracious work and the good gifts of God the Holy Spirit.  And He is near to you, indeed, He is actively present and at work in you, by and with the preaching of Christ Jesus.

The Holy Spirit calls you and brings you to faith in Christ by the Word of Christ.  There is no other way by which you believe and are saved.  And He likewise strengthens and sustains you in this true and saving faith by the same Word of Christ Jesus.  Apart from this Word, you die.  By it, you live.

The Holy Spirit preaches Christ to you, so that you believe in Christ and call upon His Name in prayer, praise, and confession of His Word.  What He speaks into your ears comes out of your mouth; for this is how the Spirit works in and with the Church, which is the Body of Christ Jesus.

The power and authority of this Word is the Gospel; for by the Word of Christ your doubts and fears, your denials and failings, and all your many other sins are freely and fully forgiven, just as He was crucified for your transgressions and God raised this same Christ Jesus from the dead.

So it was that Simon Peter, who denied Him, was forgiven and restored to faith and life in Christ.

But to set your heart and mind against the preaching of the Word of Christ is to resist and reject the Holy Spirit and His gracious work.  So it was that Judas Iscariot ended his own life in despair.

Beware that you do not harden your heart and mind in this way, lest you be condemned to the fire that burns forever, and your soul and body be consigned to a worse Gehenna than earth has known.

Rather, hear and heed the Word of Christ that is preached to you.  Hear and receive His Word of Absolution, that is, the forgiveness of all your sins; for with that Word He sets His own Cross and Resurrection before your eyes and thereby saves you from the fire forever and ever.

You need not scale the heights of heaven (nor can you!), as though to bring God down to you.  Nor can you raise yourself or anyone else from the deep dark abyss of death and the grave.  But the Lord your God has come down from heaven, and He has gone into the depths, into Sheol, into Gehenna, in order to raise you up with Himself.  God the Father has sacrificed His own dear Son, in order to atone for all of your sins and thereby to rob death and the devil of any claims on you.

Now the Son draws near to you in Peace, and He befriends you with His Word and Holy Spirit.  He reconciles you to Himself by the way of repentance and forgiveness of sins.  In this way He returns you daily to your Baptism, and He raises you up from sin and death to life with God.  For the Lord has surely set apart the godly for Himself, and you are godly by the grace of His Gospel.

With this Word of Christ Jesus the Holy Spirit teaches you what to confess, and He likewise gives you the confidence and courage to do so, come what may.

Cling to that Word with both your body and your soul, as He gives it to you generously in so many ways: by preaching and teaching, by the Holy Scriptures, by the Catechism, and by the Hymnal.

And for God’s sake, teach these things to your children, and to your children’s children, as you are given the opportunity; that they, too, may not die but live forever with God in Christ.  Read the Bible to them.  Sing hymns with them.  Pray with them and for them.  And bring them to church.

This Word of Christ is not powerless, it is living and Life-giving.  Indeed, the Lord Himself is very near you by and with His Word, as He preaches it into your ears, as He lays it upon your heart, and as He brings it to confession in your mouth.  So is He a very present help in every kind of need.

By His dying and rising He has received all authority in heaven and on earth, that is, the true power and authority of the New Creation — to forgive sins and to save sinners; to comfort you with His forgiveness, life, and salvation; to justify and save you in body and soul, for now and forever.

So does He grant you a quiet night, a restful sleep, and peace at the last.  And so does He raise you up in the true joy of His mercy, which is new every morning and ever shall be, world without end.

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

The Perfect Righteousness of Your Father

You are to be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect: whole and complete, holy and righteous.

Indeed, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of heaven.

But Whoever keeps and teaches the commandments of God, the Law and the Prophets, He shall be great in the Kingdom of heaven.  That is to live according to the Word of God, to find life in His Word, and to confess and teach His Word to others, especially to your own children, that they may learn to love the Lord their God and to live by faith in His Word, unto the Life everlasting.

So you are called, on the one hand, to live as an obedient child of God within your own particular place, and on the other hand, to become a true father or mother to those entrusted to your care.  This rhythm of receiving all things from your Father in heaven, and then handing over what you have received to those who come after you on earth, is fundamental to the Christian faith and life.

So it is that Christ Jesus has come, the Son of God in the Flesh, not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them in Himself, in His own Body and Life.

What does this mean?  The Lord Jesus lives His entire life — and He lays down His Life in death upon the Cross — in perfect faith and love for His God and Father in heaven, and in steadfast love and with forgiveness for His neighbors here on earth, including you and all of yours.

He lives ethically and morally, to be sure.  That is a given for the One who fears, loves, and trusts in God above all things.  He possesses His own vessel, His Body and Life, in purity and holiness and peace.  But more than that, He serves His neighbors — even you — in grace and gentleness.

So fully and completely does He trust His God and Father, even unto death, that He also fully and completely offers up Himself and sacrifices Himself, as the Charity of God, in order to save His neighbors from sin, death, the devil, and hell — in order to save you for the Kingdom of heaven.

This, then, is the Royal Law, that you are to love your neighbor as yourself.  Not only your kinfolk and buddies and those who do you well, but also your enemies and persecutors, who hate you and hurt you, who take advantage of you and take you for granted, without any gratitude or thanks.

For the love of God, do not seek revenge but reconciliation with those who have done you wrong.  By the same token, do what you can to make amends and to be reconciled with those whom you have wronged.  For your part, be at peace with all your neighbors and do right by them in love.

So shall you be and live as a son of your Father in heaven.  Which is really to say that you live in Christ Jesus, as He has lived for you, and as He ever lives to do you good, in spite of your sins.

His mercy triumphs over judgment, as surely as His own Cross and Passion and His Resurrection from the dead have already actually achieved justice and righteousness for you and for all people.  By His holy and precious Blood and by His innocent suffering and death you are set free from the Law of transgressions, set free to live by His grace according to the Law of Liberty.

That is the glorious freedom that is yours through His forgiveness of all your sins.  It is the true freedom of faith in Christ, because there is no condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus.

Such is the freedom truly to love and forgive your neighbor; because your life in Christ is secure, and God is your dear Father, and you are a free citizen of His Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven.

Therefore, you are given to love your neighbor, not only as you love yourself, but, so much the better, as the Lord your God loves you.  That is not to harbor anger and resentment, and not to hurt your neighbor, whether with your fists or your words, but rather to provide assistance in need.

It is not to covet what your neighbor has, but — being content with what the Lord has given you — to use whatever you have been given to care for your neighbors in their circumstances, as you are able; to give rest to your neighbors, as you are given rest in Christ Jesus; to forgive, as you are forgiven; and to be reconciled with your neighbors, as God has reconciled you to Himself.

This is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, which far and away surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, and by which you are saved.  By faith in Christ, by faith in His Gospel, you have entered the Kingdom of heaven and you live with Him in His righteousness.  In Him you are right with God.  You are not condemned but rescued from every evil.  You are safe and sound forever.

This is your confidence and courage before God, which undergirds your charity for other people.

This is your perfect righteousness, because this is the perfection of your Father in heaven, that is, the fulfillment of His good and gracious Will in the Flesh and Blood of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, your Savior.  He not only fulfills the Law and the Prophets, but He Himself is their perfect fulfillment; for He was crucified for your transgressions and raised for your justification, and He has thereby reconciled the whole world, including you, to God the Father in Himself.

He has made Himself the Poor Man, in order to make you wealthy with His grace.  He has given up His outer coat and His inner shirt, in order to cover your nakedness and shame, to clothe you with His righteousness, His holiness and peace.  He has gone the full distance to save you, and by His fair Name He has called you from out of death and the grave into the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.  So, then, as He offers up Himself in perfect faith and holy love, He also brings you in and with Himself to God.  And so are you made perfect in the righteousness of His mercy.

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