Another Angel with the Eternal Gospel to Proclaim

So, we’ve got just two short verses pulled out of their context from the midst of a complex assortment of rather odd and sometimes challenging images and visions concerning the life of the Church under the Cross in these gray and latter days, living in the hope and promise of the Resurrection of the body to the Life everlasting of body and soul.

This is not the way we normally approach the Holy Scriptures, and I don't generally recommend it. But you probably know the reason why in this case. Historically, going back to the 16th century and for centuries beyond, Lutherans identified Dr. Luther himself with that angel flying in mid-heaven. And these were not wild-eyed ignorants who had this opinion. This is what Pastor Bugenhagen preached at Dr. Luther's funeral in 1546; but already in 1522, Michael Steifel had included this identification in a ballad about Dr. Luther and his confession of the Gospel. As late as Dr. C.F.W. Walther, the identification was still being made. And that’s why Revelation 14:6-7 is the historic Epistle associated with the Commemoration of the Reformation.

Now, while we may not be inclined to go with that interpretation, and we certainly don't want to go overboard, I think it’s only fair to honor our fathers in Christ by considering why on earth they would have made this identification.

To begin with, it is a matter of taking seriously just how bad things had gotten prior to the 16th-century Reformation: The false doctrine that was being taught, the practices that furthered that false doctrine. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, this beautiful confession of the Gospel. Certainly there were other reformers prior to Dr. Luther, but still, there is a significant turning point in the 16th century, in which the Gospel — long buried under false doctrine and works righteousness and the sale of indulgences and the selling of masses — suddenly springs forth again in its truth and purity. Our Lutheran forefathers took seriously both the problem that was confronted and the blessed and gracious Gospel that shone forth by the grace of God.

Dr. Luther was an instrument of that preaching and teaching, and it is right that we should give thanks to God for him. We dare not make the Gospel all about Luther. God forbid that we should ever do so! Luther himself would never have wanted such a thing. But it is right that we give thanks to God that Dr. Luther and the Lutheran Reformation were all about the Gospel. We praise God for that, because we recognize the hand of God in those events.

All of this being considered, it is simply a fact that Dr. Luther was “another angel,” a messenger of the Word of God, a preacher and a pastor by the grace of God for the good of His church and to the glory of His Holy Name. It’s interesting, the commentators debate among themselves as to why the first of three angels is called “another angel” right out of the chute, with lots of different answers given. I tend to believe it’s because, in every day and age and every generation, there are these angels whom our Lord raises up for the purpose of preaching and teaching His Word.

Luther was “another angel,” as were the Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Bishops and Pastors before him. So are some of you already, and so shall others of you be in due time, called, ordained and sent as angels, as messengers of the Word of God.

The angels in the Book of the Revelation are sometimes heavenly spiritual beings, but they are as often as not pastors and bishops of the church on earth. That's how Dr. Luther himself took it, and I think it makes perfect sense. In the chapters where St. John writes to the angels of the seven churches, I'm not sure how he would do that to a heavenly address.

Whoever aspires to be such an angel desires a noble task. And to be sure, as we confess in one of our Collects, God has never failed to raise up such faithful angels, pastors and teachers of His Word, to care for His Church on earth. And according to His promise, He shall continue to do so, even to the close of the age.

The angel is flying in mid-heaven — or directly overhead as this translation puts it — at the high point or the zenith of the day, in one sense above the fray. But really, what we have here, between the heavens and the earth, is this voice that comes from God preaching to those on the earth, warning against the devil, and against his wrath and ire, who has been cast out of heaven and now rages upon the earth with his vicious and vindictive assaults and accusations. 

The angel flying in mid-heaven calls sinners rather to repentance and to faith in the forgiveness of sins, all of this in Jesus’ Name. So, for example, in our Confessions we teach that Christians are to understand the word of Holy Absolution, spoken to them by their pastor, as the very voice of God from heaven, forgiving their sins on earth as it is in heaven.

Whereas, by contrast, if even an angel from heaven were to preach another gospel, other than that of Christ and His Cross and Resurrection, then such an angel would be anathema, accursed, and rejected. And I believe it is fair to say that there was such a false angel, and such a false gospel, in Luther’s day, which he refuted by turning the people back to what God has actually spoken, to the words of Holy Scripture, and to the faithful orthodox confession of the Church catholic.

As the Son of Man was lifted up on the Cross, and thereby draws all people to Himself, so is He also lifted up in the preaching of His Gospel from one end of heaven to the other, even to the ends of the earth, whereby He calls all men to repentance, to the knowledge of the Truth, to Life and Salvation in Himself. So does He give His heavenly gifts by way of earthly means, by words and water, bread and wine, in which heaven and earth are brought together, reconciled, and united by the message and the ministry of Christ Jesus.

So, for example, in your Holy Baptism — the washing of water with His Word here on earth — in that Holy Sacrament the voice of God from an open heaven declares that you also are His beloved and well-pleasing child by the gracious adoption of sons.

This eternal Gospel is a gift that is received from God by His grace. It can only be received, not gotten, not purchased, not earned. It is received and possessed in faith; and as we have heard, so do we also confess it, and pray it, and sing it.

We know what this Gospel is, both from the immediate and larger context of the Book of the Revelation and so also from the Holy Gospel According to St. John. There are any number of connections and parallels between the Revelation and the Gospel of St. John. The Son of God — the Word of God from all eternity who has become Flesh and dwells among us, the Son of Mary — is the Lamb of God who bears in His Body and takes away the sins of the world. He goes to His sacrificial death upon the Cross and sheds His holy and precious Blood to atone for those sins, to ransom and redeem us. And in His Resurrection from the dead, He feeds His Church with His Word and His Flesh and His Blood, for eternal Life with God.

He is the Lamb upon the throne, along with His God and Father — the Lamb who has been slain, and yet, behold, He lives! — by whose Blood and Testimony the saints persevere in holy faith and holy love, even over against the assaults and accusations of Satan.

The angels or messengers of the Gospel, by definition, preach and proclaim this message, and they do so as good news. Even the preaching of repentance is good news for those otherwise lost and blind in their sins. For those angels or messengers who are the pastors and bishops of the Church, this is their divine calling and their holy station, so of course they do this, by the Word and Will of God; and woe to them if they do not! But so does every Christian speak the Gospel, just as he or she has heard it and received it as the very voice of God from heaven in the preaching and administration of the Gospel in the Name of Jesus by their dear pastors here on earth.

This Gospel, though given in earthly words and earthly means, is eternal, not only in its permanent establishment in the crucified and risen Body of Christ Jesus, but so also in the way that it is continually preached and proclaimed in every age, even to the ends of the earth. It did not cease with the Ascension of Christ Jesus or the death of His Apostles, it persists even to the close of the age, always efficacious, always the living and Life-giving Word of God Himself.

By that preaching, that eternal Gospel bestows eternal Gifts which give eternal Life to the whole Church of all times and places — and so also to each and every one of you here and now — eternal Gifts unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.

This true Gospel and the true doctrine of Christ Jesus and His Word are confessed and proclaimed to and for all those residing on the earth in all times and places, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. And with this verse also in mind, Dr. Luther was identified with the angel flying in mid-heaven, especially because of his translation of the Bible into German, making the precious Word of God and the holy Gospel more accessible and more understandable to those people in his day. As Lutherans we treasure the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular, and the preaching of the Holy Scriptures, the catechesis of the Word of God, so that people hear it and learn it and know it and love it.

It is precisely because of our insistence on the pure Gospel and the authority of the Word of God for doctrine and practice that the Lutheran church has always been zealous in the preaching of the Gospel and the teaching of the Word far and wide. This is why we are committed to the mission of the Church in every place, both at home and abroad. And along the same lines, we also insist upon the need for ongoing catechesis of those who are already disciples, that we should teach them the faith and obedience of all that our Lord Jesus has spoken and commanded. After all, the “Great Commission” at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel, which is indeed echoed in this passage in the Book of the Revelation, calls for such ongoing catechesis, always aiming toward faith and life and obedience to Christ Jesus, the life of faith and holy love.

If you look at the actual proclamation of the eternal Gospel as it’s described in these couple of verses, the focus here is not so much on the content of the Gospel, but rather on the appropriate response to the preaching of that Gospel:

To “fear God,” to begin with, because it is the beginning of all true wisdom, it is foundational and central to both repentance and to faith. To fear God is to recognize both His authority and your sin, for which you deserve nothing but punishment. It is also to revere Him and His Word, to hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. And it is to rely upon and to respect His Judgment as just and true, decisive and right.

To “give Him the glory” is simply to acknowledge the glory that is already His from all eternity, quite apart from us; but we give Him that glory by confessing who He is, what He has done, what He still does, and what He has promised, all on the basis of what He has revealed and spoken to us by His Son. The Father is glorified in His Son, and the Father glorifies the Son in Himself; and He does it by the way of the Cross and in the Resurrection.

As in St. John 12 — which actually has quite a few parallels to these verses in Revelation — judgment is wrought upon the earth, and the ruler of this world is cast out, by the lifting up of the Son of Man in death upon the Cross. So it is that the Voice from heaven (again!) declares that the Father is glorifying His Name in this One who is to be crucified. And you in turn glorify God by confessing the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, and so also by bearing His Cross with patience and peace in your own body and life, trusting the Word and promises of God, that He will raise you from the dead, glorified like unto Christ Himself.

As Satan was cast out of heaven, having been defeated by St. Michael and all the holy angels in that great heavenly battle, he has brought his wrath and violence down to the earth and to the sea, and he attacks you also in your conscience with his vile accusations. Sadly, by the very Law of God, many of those accusations would stick and find root in your heart and life. And yet, that old dragon or serpent who is called the devil and Satan is overcome by the Blood of Christ, the Lamb, and by the confession of His Cross, whereby sin has been atoned for, including all of your sins; whereby the world has been redeemed and reconciled to God, and you also are redeemed and reconciled to God; whereby death has been defeated and undone, and the Kingdom of Heaven has been opened to all who believe and are baptized into Christ Jesus.

Glorify God by believing and confessing that victory of the Cross of Christ and His Resurrection from the dead, whereby He judges you righteous by His grace through faith in His Gospel, the forgiveness of all your sins.

And instead of pursuing the idolatrous worship of the beast and all the false gods of this fallen and perishing world, worship the true and only God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that is in them, who has also redeemed you and the whole of His good creation from sin and death, and who pours out the Holy Spirit generously upon you in streams of living water flowing from the innermost being of Christ the Crucified.

And as you are redeemed and sanctified in both your body and your soul, in your heart, mind, and spirit, by the Word & Spirit, Flesh & Blood of Jesus, so worship God by faith with both your body and your soul, with your heart, mind, and spirit, by confessing Christ Jesus from within your own proper calling and station and life. Thus, whatever your place in life may be, you also become “another angel” of the eternal Gospel of our Savior, Christ Jesus, for your neighbor.

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

The Son of God and Abraham Sets You Free

Jesus addresses this Word, in the first place, to those Jews who believed in Him. They had that much right, superficially at least, though they did not yet realize what it really means or requires.

What Jesus here declares and promises, not only then, but also here and now to you, pertains to Himself and His Word. That is, and was, and always will be the decisive matter. He and what He says are what it’s all about. Everything depends on Him, and therefore on His Word.

Would you be a Christian and share His Life and Salvation? Well that you should. Here, then, is how: You have Jesus as your Lord, you abide in Him and He abides in you, by remaining in His Word; by hearing it, believing it, confessing it and praying it, and living by faith according to it.

By this way and means of His Word, you follow Him as a disciple to the Cross, to be crucified and die with Him, and so also to rise and live with Him, both here in time and hereafter in eternity.

Thus, by His Word, by faith in His Word, you are given to know the Truth, which is Christ Jesus Himself, His Father and His Spirit, in whom alone there is true freedom and eternal Life.

So, again, everything, everything, everything — including the sixteenth-century Reformation and the life of the Church in our own day and always — everything depends upon Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is salvation in no one other than Him, nor at all apart from Him. Apart from Christ Jesus there is only sin, death, and damnation.

Consequently, what Jesus proclaims in this Gospel strikes your old Adam with the judgment of the Law, because He leaves no room for any other way of life or salvation than Himself and His Word. He takes away all of your self-righteousness, so that you might receive, by grace alone, through faith alone, that righteousness which is in Christ alone, prior to any and all good works of yours.

You cannot rely upon yourself, nor upon anything else other than the Lord Jesus who is with you by and with and through His Word. And that is the case, not only once upon a time, not just to begin with, nor only for a little while, but forever and ever, Amen.

His Word not only calls you in repentance to the waters of Holy Baptism, it brings you through those waters, and it leads you from those waters throughout your life in the daily dying and rising of contrition, repentance, and faith in the forgiveness of sins. It lays the Cross of Christ upon you unto newness of life — unto the death and resurrection of your body — unto the Life everlasting.

The Life that you live by faith in Christ Jesus is not completed with the rite of Confirmation. Far less is it sufficient to be listed on the membership roles of a congregation, which means little or nothing apart from an actual participation in the Liturgy of preaching and the Sacrament.

Genuine Life with God in Christ is not a matter of genealogy, pedigree, or holding a leadership office. It is not measured or determined by niceness or piety or sincerity or effort.

Your only true and lasting Life — the Life for which you have been created by the true and only God  — is in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son. And that Lord Jesus Christ is with you, and He is for you, in and with His Word. Which is to say that He is with you, not simply in the Holy Scriptures, but in the Word that He speaks to you and for you in your Holy Baptism, in the Holy Absolution of your sins, and in the Holy Communion of His Body and His Blood. He abides with you in the daily catechesis of His Word and prayer, and especially in the preaching of His Gospel.

Faith comes by hearing, as the Apostle St. Paul has written, because hearing and believing are by the Word of Christ which is preached to you in His Name and stead.

The simple fact of the matter is that you cannot live without these means of grace and forgiveness and salvation, because you cannot live without Jesus, and these are His ways and means. Not as works of men, though He administers His gifts through men whom He has called and sent with His authority; nor as works of the Church, though the Lord gives them to you within the fellowship of His Church; but as God’s Service, the Ministry of Christ for the rescue and salvation of sinners.

That is why the protest of the people in this Holy Gospel, that they are Abraham’s children, falls flat and does not cut it. First of all, because Christ Jesus is the Seed of Abraham by whom all the nations of the earth are blessed and are called to bless the Lord and one another with His Word.

And then, also, because the true children of Abraham are those who share Abraham’s faith in the one true God. It is not a matter of human genealogy, but of faith and trust in the God of Abraham, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That point likewise rules out modern appeals to the so-called “Abrahamic faith,” as if Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were all religions of one and the same God. For Abraham’s faith is fulfilled only in Christ Jesus. There is no other God than Him, and no one knows the Father or receives the Holy Spirit except by Christ and by His Word.

Similarly, it does you no good to appeal to your Lutheran pedigree, if you do not share the faith and confession of Martin Luther, which is the faith and confession of Christ Jesus, crucified for your transgressions, raised for your justification, given and poured out for you in the Sacrament.

Have you been confirmed? Good for you! But do you pray and confess your Catechism every day, as Dr. Luther did, and as he taught and urged others to do for themselves and for their families?

And do you actually practice and live, as well as believe and confess, the Six Chief Parts of the Christian faith and life? Are you doing as you promised at your Confirmation? More important and to the point, are you living by faith in the Word of Christ in the Communion of His Church?

If you are doing well, praise God for that, and continue by His grace to abide in His Word.

And if you recognize that in so many ways you have failed to remain steadfast in the Word of the Lord, then repent, and put your trust in Christ Jesus, your Savior. Which is not simply a matter of the feelings in your heart or the thoughts in your head, but of where your body is, and of what you do with your body; that you are in the Lord’s Church and at the Lord’s Altar, with the preaching of Christ in your ears, and with His Body and His Blood in your mouth and in your stomach.

It is to this Life in Christ that repentance brings you. For the Lord does not expose your sins and bring them to your attention in order to crush and destroy you forever. He crucifies your old Adam with all your sinful lusts and desires, in order to raise you up again, body and soul, through His free and full forgiveness of all your sins, so that you might live by faith in His Word as a new man or woman, abiding by His grace in the presence of God in the righteousness and purity of Christ.

It’s not a matter of trying harder, as though you could justify yourself and set things right with God by your own best efforts. Apart from faith in Christ, apart from His Word and Holy Spirit, your self-righteous striving only adds to your sin and makes things that much worse instead of better.

By the same token, the point is not that you should give up or quit the work that God has given you to do. There is no virtue or benefit to be found in your laziness, negligence, selfishness, or greed. Refusing to do your duty and giving yourself over to sin will not help at all, but further hardens your heart, separates you from God, and drives you that much closer to death and damnation.

No, to live by the righteousness of God is a matter of trusting Christ in His Word and the preaching of it, in those ways and means of His grace where He has promised to be with you and for you with His forgiveness and salvation. It is to seek and receive Him there, to cling to Him there, and to find Him there, where He comes to you and finds you and binds you to Himself.

Truth be told, apart from Christ Jesus you are a slave to sin, and you are bound for death and damnation. Your case is utterly hopeless without your dear Savior. You will not make it, and you will not last without Him. Besides all that, heaven itself would be void and bare without Christ Jesus, anyway; so there would be no point in making it without Him, even if you could.

By contrast, the Life of the Church on earth in the Liturgy of her Lord is not simply a means to some other end, but is already the Life and Salvation with God to which He calls you by His Gospel. Pursuing other ways and means of life is nothing but a perverse path of self-destruction.

But, that you not die as you deserve, all of your sin, your idolatry and unbelief are remedied and overcome by the Son who sets you free indeed. For He is the Son of God, who out of love for you has become your Brother in the flesh, the Seed of Abraham who has fulfilled all the Words and promises of God in His own Body.  He has set you free from sin, death, and the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy and precious Blood and His innocent suffering and death.

So it is that, by His grace, you are now His very own, and by faith in His Word you now live with Him in His Kingdom. Even in great frailty and weakness under the Cross, you love and serve Him in the righteousness, innocence, and blessedness of His Resurrection, because He has first loved you, and His love for you never ends. He ever lives to make intercession for you before the Throne of God in heaven, even as He serves you in His House and at His Table here on earth.

All that He has done for you and won for you by His Cross and in His Resurrection, He gives to you, freely and generously, by His grace alone, by the way and means of His Gospel within His holy Christian Church. These fruits of His Cross, the Tree of Life, are distributed and set before you, not as a burden or a work for you to do, but as the most precious gifts of Christ Jesus.

Thus does He give Himself to you, and with His Body and His Blood and His forgiveness of all your sins, He gives you all the righteousness and Life of His own Resurrection from the dead.

It is in this way, also, that is to say, in His giving of Himself to you in Word and Sacrament, that your dear Lord Jesus daily returns you to the life-giving waters of your Holy Baptism; that He pours out His Holy Spirit generously upon you; that He daily and richly forgives you all your sins, strengthens your faith, and keeps you steadfast in the one true faith, unto the Life everlasting.

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

Justified by Grace through Faith in Christ Jesus

Two things are true for each of you, and for everyone on earth, for everyone of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people: You are a sinner, conceived and born in sin; and you are redeemed by Christ the Crucified, in order to be set free by His grace through faith in His forgiveness.

That you are a sinner is true in yourself and your experience, from your conception until death.

That you are redeemed and set free is true for you in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God.

The first truth is made known and made worse by the Law of God, which judges you guilty and condemns you. The second truth is manifested and made yours by the Gospel of God, whereby He judges you righteous and vindicates you.

The inherent contradiction and constant tension between these two facts cannot remain forever. If you continue in the Word of Christ, and thus abide in Him, then you will be free indeed, and you will remain with Him in the House of His God and Father forever and ever, Amen. But apart from Christ Jesus, you remain enslaved by your sin, and you cannot remain in the house but will finally be imprisoned by the Law, sentenced to eternal death and damnation.

If you would know the truth that sets you free, then die to sin and live unto righteousness. How so? By hearing and heeding the Word of Christ Jesus as it is preached to you and taught in His Name, and by following after Him as a disciple through faith in His Word.

Believe the Word of the Law, which exposes your sin for what it is, and so confess that you are a sinner, unable to set yourself free or to redeem yourself by any power or wisdom of your own.

Believe also in Christ Jesus and His Word of the Gospel, which freely forgives all your sins, and so confess that He is the Son of God, your Savior and Redeemer, by whom you are set free to live.

The problem is that you do not recognize your slavery, nor Christ’s freedom, for what they are. You imagine that your slavery to sin is really freedom, and that your death is really life. And you suppose that the true freedom of Christ Jesus — the freedom of faith in His Gospel — is a burden and a bondage that imprisons you; that life with Him is onerous, tedious, pointless, and boring.

Do you not imagine that doing whatever you want would be your idea of perfect freedom?

And do you not suppose that giving attention to the Word of Christ, watching to prayer with Him, and taking up the Cross to follow after Him, is rather a lot of effort and work which you’d prefer not to bother with?

Like a child (of whatever age) you falsely believe that life would be such a sweet dream and a happily-ever-after without the boundaries and rules and structures of a household and family. If only you could be in charge! If only you were the boss!

And as a proud, self-sufficient, self-righteous, independent adult, you boast of your wisdom and experience, your keen knowledge and savvy understanding, your accomplishments, your plans, your progress, your prizes, your pedigree and place in the world.

You’ll do what you have to do — to get by and to avoid punishment — but you’ll resent whatever isn’t by your own choice or to your personal liking.

Yet, for all your boasting and all your prideful self-reliance, you are not free. Not apart from Christ Jesus. To do whatever you want, according to your fallen sinful nature, is simply suicide in slow motion — or else on fast forward! One way or the other, it leads to your death and damnation.

You’re so addicted to your sin, you don’t even realize or recognize that it’s killing you. What you regard as your own “free will” is really a ravenous monster, which consumes you with your own craving hunger and destroys you with your own burning desires.

You’re searching for a place of peace and rest, a place where you belong, where you are safe and sound and satisfied. You’re searching for your house and home. But you won’t find it on your own, and you won’t find it anywhere outside the Body of Christ Jesus.

Does that seem harsh or unfair? Does it seem too demanding or even legalistic to say that your freedom and life are found only in Christ, and that Christ is found in His Church where His Word is preached and taught, confessed and prayed, in the fellowship of His Family?

Again, at the heart of your sin is your confusion of slavery with freedom, and vice versa.

But, in truth, “freedom” from God is nothing but the slavery of sin and death, from which you can by no means set yourself free; whereas faith in Christ and Christian discipleship are real freedom, unto the Life everlasting of body and soul in the crucified and risen Body of Jesus.

Righteousness and holiness, innocence and blessedness, and divine life are yours by divine grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from any works of your own doing or decision.

Christ and His Gospel, His Church and Ministry are not means to some other end, whereby you would achieve and accomplish salvation for yourself. Rather, He and His Word, His works of love, and His gifts of grace are your Life and your Salvation, on earth even now and in heaven forever.

The purpose of His Law is not that you should justify yourself. That never was the plan. And the purpose of His Gospel is not mere information that you must study in preparation for a final test.

To continue in His Word; to be catechized from infancy through adulthood into old age; to live in the regular rhythms of His Church, week by week, year by year; to remember your Baptism; to confess your sins and receive Holy Absolution; to eat and drink His Body and His Blood at His gracious invitation — all of this is simply to live in and with Christ Jesus, by His grace.

To depart from these ways and means of life in Christ; to turn your back on Him; to shut your ears to the preaching of His Word; and to absent yourself from His Church — is to leave the house and home of your God and Father for the false “freedom” of sin and death.

Dear child of God, don’t run away from home! Don’t despise the Gospel or refuse the real freedom of forgiveness and life in Christ Jesus. Nor drive yourself to despair by seeking and striving to save yourself. You can’t do it. But neither do you have to.

What neither you nor the Law could accomplish, Christ has done and accomplished for you in His Flesh and with His Blood. He has kept the Law perfectly, fulfilled and satisfied it. And He has also suffered all its judgments, condemnations, and punishments in your place and on your behalf.

He has given Himself unto God in perfect faith, and He has given Himself for you in perfect love. He has shed His own Blood as the propitiation for your sins — and not for your sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. So has He also redeemed you, purchased and won you, from sin, death, the devil, and hell. He has bought you with that price, and you are His own — not as a slave, but as a beloved brother or sister, as a beloved child of His own dear God and Father in heaven.

He sends His angels, His messengers, to preach His everlasting Gospel as a voice from heaven on earth, to work His works and to give His gifts in His Name. He has never failed to provide such faithful servants of His Gospel, such ministers of His Word in every generation, but He has always raised up faithful pastors and teachers for His Church, to shepherd His sheep and feed His lambs.

Fear God, therefore, and worship Him, not in the terror of His wrath, but in the confidence and peace of His forgiveness. For the Hour of His Judgment has come in the Cross of Christ, His Son, who was crucified for your sins and raised for your justification. His Cross is your Atonement, and His Resurrection is your righteousness. That is how sure and certain it is.

The Hour of that Judgment is here for you in the giving of Christ’s Body and the pouring out of His Blood for the forgiveness of all your sins in His Holy Supper. That is His good judgment.

To eat and drink His sacred gifts is not slavery but freedom. It is to live, not as a slave, but as a son of God in your Father’s House. So does it strengthen you and keep you steadfast in the one true faith, unto the Life everlasting. For the Son thereby sets you free, and you are free indeed.

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

A Resting Place for Restless Hearts

It is common knowledge that Dr. Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk when he set off the chain of events that we remember as the 16th-century Reformation.  As an Augustinian, Luther followed in the footsteps of the great St. Augustine of Hippo.  Not only in his theology, but also in his personal journey of faith, Luther mirrored the famous namesake of his monastic order.  Both men spent years searching for the truth of God, before the Lord would use them to make such monumental contributions to the historical life and theology of the Western Church.

There is one saying of St. Augustine, in particular, found in his autobiographical Confessions, which captures the essence of Luther’s own search for the truth.  “You have made us for Yourself, O God,” the Bishop of Hippo prayed, “and our hearts are restless, until they rest in You.”  It is a justifiably famous saying.  And what is more, it is in fact a profound prayer that could easily be used to summarize the entire thrust of the Reformation.

As a young man, as near as we can tell, Luther must have thought and reflected a great deal on the meaning of life.  He was restless for a sense of purpose, as young people often are, and he was especially anxious to know where he stood in the eyes of God.  Finding little satisfaction or fulfillment on his way to becoming a lawyer, in desperation he entered the monastery.  And just as St. Paul had excelled as a pharisee among pharisees, so did Luther push himself to be the most diligent of monks.  The stories of his self-inflicted burdens and deprivations are legendary.  So many hours on end did he spend in the confessional, wrestling with his restless conscience, that his father confessor finally had to scold him and send him away.

How often have you also wondered, Why am I here? What is the point to it all?  How many restless nights have you spent — unable to sleep, worrying about money, worrying about your children, worrying about your job?  How many times do you find yourself in such a hurry to get through the day, already anxious for tomorrow, yet frightened of what the future might hold?  Like running on a treadmill, or riding an exercise bike, you work and sweat with all your might, never seeming to get anywhere.  Or what is worse, maybe everything seems to be going your way, so that you start to feel like you’re really in control, only to discover (when all is said and done) that nothing lasts forever, and you can’t take it with you.  Why are you here, and what is the point to it all?

In a restless search for answers to those fundamental questions, too often you work and struggle to create your own meaning and purpose, to make a name for yourself.  Perhaps you take on the impossible task of trying to please all of the people all of the time.  It is even more bold and foolish when you strive to set things right with God and earn His favor by way of your own efforts and achievements.  But as futile as such strategies are, it is very possible that you might be able to fool yourself for a while with your various attempts at self-styled meaning and purpose.  Sadly enough, many people never do see past their own charade.  They fool themselves, until it is too late.

That was the case for many of the Jews in Jesus’ day, the very people who should have known better.  As St. Paul indicates in his Epistle to the Romans, they had been given all the advantages.  They had the Covenant from Yahweh, the Word of the Lord, the Temple, the Priesthood, and the Sacrifices, the Worship of God.  They had the promise of Messiah.  And all of that was pointing to the Sabbath Rest of Christ Jesus, the promised Seed of Abraham, who would give meaning and purpose and blessing to the people of Israel and become the Light of Revelation to the Gentiles.

To be sure, many of the Jews did receive their Messiah with faith and thanksgiving: Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, Peter, James, and John, and (eventually) even Saul of Tarsus.  As the Scriptures had promised, Salvation did begin with the Jews.  But far and away the majority turned their backs on that Salvation.  Instead of receiving the one Seed of Abraham who gave meaning and purpose to the whole family, most of the Jews chose to boast in themselves instead of Christ.

“We are the seed of Abraham,” they have asserted against Him in this Holy Gospel.  And in their words you hear echoes of your own claims to fame, as though you were something special in your own right, by virtue of your own heritage, your own efforts, your own wealth and achievements.  And don’t we all want to believe that “we have never been slaves to anyone.”  Especially in these United States, there is a lot of talk about our rights and freedoms.  But like the Jews in this Holy Gospel, you are tempted to deny or ignore that your fallen flesh has been enslaved by your sin and kept in thrall by Satan, trapped by the inescapable fact of your mortality and death.

In response to such denials, the Word of the Law is clear: “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”  You sin, not because you are free to do whatever you choose, but rather because you are sinful in your heart, mind, body, and soul, already from your conception and birth.  It is not that you could “quit any time you like.”  In fact, apart from Christ, you can do nothing else but sin, and then die.

So the truth is that you are a slave to begin with — a slave to sin, death, and the power of the devil.  And a slave does not remain in the house forever.  In this body and life, we all receive the gracious providence of God, both slaves and children alike.  The sun shines and the rain falls on both the evil and the good, and God gives daily bread even to the wicked.  To that extent, everyone is in His house for now.  But if you remain a slave to sin, that is, apart from faith in Christ who sets you free, then you will not remain in the House of the Lord forever.  There will be a Day of Judgment.

For Brother Martin, for all his dedication to monastic life, that Day of Judgment hovered always on the horizon.  Like a great black menacing storm cloud, that great and terrible Day of the Lord — that day of wrath and punishment — was enough to shake his frightened heart like a withered leaf on a tree as winter approaches.  Always on the brink of hopeless despair, Martin Luther drove himself into the ground, trying with all his might to reconcile an angry and wrathful Judge.  Yet, he could not escape the dread of being trapped and doomed by his sin and the judgment of God.

But of course, that is not the end of the story, as you well know.  For even as Luther was quailing in fear of his heavenly Judge, his heavenly Father was beholding him in mercy and compassion.  As He has done for you, as well, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sent a minister of His Word to comfort Luther’s frightened heart with the Gospel.  His wise and godly father confessor, Johannes von Staupitz, though he did not live to see the Reformation develop, was instrumental in pointing Luther toward the only resting place that any of our restless hearts will ever find.

“Believe the Gospel,” Staupitz ordered Luther.  That is truly an evangelical command.  For the Lord your God has commanded that you look to Him for mercy and forgiveness.  It doesn’t matter whether you feel like it or not.  It certainly does not matter whether you think that you are worthy.  The fact is that you are not worthy of a bit of it, and you never will be.

That is what grace is all about.  It is the charity of God.  Regardless of your feelings and opinions, and despite all of your sins and weaknesses, God has forgiven you in Christ by His grace alone.

“Believe the Gospel,” Father von Staupitz ordered.  “Seek and receive the forgiveness of Christ.”  Stop trying to earn the mercy of God, and simply take the gift that is given to you freely in Christ.

That word of grace and mercy that Staupitz spoke to Luther is spoken to you, as well.  For your rest is found in Christ Jesus alone, just as He offered His peace to the Jews in this Holy Gospel: “If you continue in My Word,” He declares — if you cling to Me alone — “then you will know the Truth” — for I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life — “and the Truth will make you free.”  Free at last.  Free at last.  By the grace of God Almighty, free at last.

Unlike a slave, who must finally be cast out of the house, the Son remains forever.  Christ Jesus your Savior, the only-begotten Son of God the Father, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary as true Man — the Seed of the Woman, the Seed of Father Abraham, of the Patriarch Judah, and of great King David — He is Himself the living and eternal God in human flesh and blood.  And because He lives forever — in flesh and blood like your own — the life that He gives to you, and the rest that He provides for your restless heart, is never-ending and eternal.  Indeed, He is your Life and your Sabbath Rest.  Therefore, if the Son shall make you free, then you are truly free.

All of your Creator’s purposes and plans for you are fulfilled on your behalf by His own dear Son; your life and rest and peace and happiness are found in Him alone, who will never leave you nor forsake you.  So are you called to the freedom and security of faith and confidence in Christ Jesus.  No longer must you strive to make it on your own.  No longer must you search for the meaning and purpose of your life.  Instead, you live forever in the House of your own God and Father in Christ.

Your resting place, then, is that Mighty Fortress of Dr. Luther’s Reformation hymn.  In this body and life, it is found within the Lord’s House, His Holy Christian Church, wherein you are Baptized in His Name, granted Peace by His Word of Absolution, that is, the forgiveness of all your sins in His Name and stead, and fed the Supper of His own Body and His Blood.  Here you live and walk by faith in Christ, and not by sight, but in the Resurrection you will abide in the House of the Lord forever, as the crucified and risen Body of Christ Himself is and remains the very Temple of God.

It actually took several years before Martin Luther was able to embrace the wise and pastoral counsel of his father confessor.  But when he finally did, it was then as though the heavens were opened, and he collapsed into the hands of his gracious and merciful Father in heaven.  The storm clouds of judgment were gone.  His restless heart had found at last its resting place in Christ Jesus.  The purpose and meaning of Luther’s life, as well as yours, was finally clear to him in the Gospel.

There was nothing abstract or theoretical about the Reformation.  It began with Luther’s restless heart, desperately searching for a place of peace and rest.  And it continued because he found his rest in Christ Jesus.  Despite all the numerous trials and temptations of the turbulent 16th Century, he was able to live and work, and finally die, with a peaceful confidence in the Gospel of Christ.

In his morning and evening prayers, Luther entrusted his life, his body and soul and all things, into the hands of God.  Safe within that Mighty Fortress, he was able to rest secure, though devils all the world should fill, and though his family and friends and possessions might be taken away at any moment — to say nothing of his own life.  Instead of striving to reconcile God with his own good works and harsh monastic discipline, Luther preached the reconciliation of God in Christ Jesus.  And while that Gospel did its work throughout Germany and all the world, Luther was able to relax with friends and his good Wittenberg beer.  No longer was he lost and restless for meaning and purpose, for he had found his resting place in Christ, who is alone our Rock and Castle.

The rest that Luther found is just as surely yours.  By faith in the Gospel you look forward to that great day when you will rest in peace with Christ forever in the Resurrection.  And already here and now, you find peace and rest in the Liturgy of Christ, in the preaching of His Word and in His Holy Sacraments.  Resting securely in Christ Jesus, you live and work with peaceful satisfaction.  For whatever it is that you are called to be and do in this life, wherever God has put you here on this earth, He has created you and called you by His Word to live with Him in His Kingdom.

Day by day, you are granted to share the security of the Psalmist, in spite of the insanity of the world around you.  For the Son of God is your Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble.  Therefore, have no fear, even if the earth should open up beneath you, and even if the mountains fall upon you.  You live in the Lord’s House, in the midst of the City of God.  The Lord of Hosts is with you, the God of Abraham, Martin, and John is your Refuge.  He is with you here, and He will surely help you.  He calms your restless heart with Peace: “Be still and know that I Am God.”

“You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless, until they rest in You.”  So it is that, when you breathe your last breath of life, you can rest in peace and smile as you go, because your restless heart already knows its way home.  You know the way, because Christ Jesus has become the Way for you and has revealed His Father to you.  And just as you have done so many times here at the Altar of Christ, so also in Paradise will you join forever with Luther and the Psalmist, and with all believers in Christ who have gone before, with Angels and Archangels and all the company of heaven, sharing the Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom, which has no end.

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

Where Do We Go From Here?

{A presentation at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Granger, Indiana, following an earlier presentation at Trinity Lutheran Church in Elkhart, Indiana, by Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Fort Wayne - South Bend Diocese, on the present day significance of the Reformation for Lutherans and Roman Catholics} 

It was an eye-opening experience, which left a deep and lasting impression upon me, even these 27 years later.  As a young seminary student in Fort Wayne, doing institutional visitations at a local nursing home, I found the little old lady Protestants boasting about all their years of service to the church, all their good works and contributions, whereas the little old lady Catholics spoke of their unworthiness, their faults and failings, and their hope in the mercy and forgiveness of Christ Jesus.  Somehow things were not adding up in the way I would ever have guessed or expected, and I had to ask myself why.  It has seemed to me that those little old lady Catholics, and no doubt many others, too, knew themselves to be sinners, but they had also learned to know Christ Jesus as their Savior through the Holy Gospels, the Creeds of the Church, and the Sacrament of the Altar.  And I would suggest that their experience and their faith were not so different from Martin Luther’s.

My own family and growing up years were not divided between different confessions.  We were deeply dyed-in-the-wool Lutherans, so that is something I have always known firsthand.  As an adult, however, my contacts and connections with Roman Catholic Christians have been close to home at times.  One of my own dear sisters married into a Roman Catholic family, and she and her husband are bringing up their children within the Roman Church.  In recent years, several of the young people I have been privileged to care for at Emmaus have since become Roman Catholics.  In these situations, I have known the painful sense of distance and separation that many of you have also experienced within your extended families.  But I have also had the opportunity, then, to see things from their perspective, and to gain a greater understanding of my brothers and sisters in Christ within the Roman Church.  Of course, as a doctoral student at Notre Dame, I spent a number of years working within a Roman Catholic academic environment and gaining a great respect for my professors and classmates across confessional lines.  Ironically, in my course work at Notre Dame I was often viewed as being “too Lutheran,” but as a Lutheran pastor I have more than once been told that I am “too Catholic.”  I’m inclined to wear both labels as compliments.

In considering the Reformation and what it means for us today, I should say that, throughout my twenty-two years as a Lutheran pastor, it has always been my preference to remember and give thanks for the Lutheran reformers and those events of the sixteenth century in close connection with the Feast of All Saints.  That is to understand the Reformation as it was intended, not as a division of the Church on earth, nor as a separation from the Church catholic, but as a call for the Church to be faithful in hearing, receiving, trusting, and confessing the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  In Him we are united as fellow members of one Body, as the children of one God and Father.  And within that holy communion of all saints, we are called to live and work together in faith and love.

Is the Reformation a cause for celebration or sorrow?  Or is it rather both?  A tragic necessity, as some have described it.  As Bishop Rhoades noted this past month, Lutherans have celebrated the Reformation as a recovery of the Gospel, whereas Roman Catholics have mourned the divisions of the Church on earth that developed and increased in the course of the sixteenth century.  Few if any would deny that there were abuses and errors that needed to be addressed and reformed.  It is no surprise that different answers and solutions were offered in response to those concerns, and it is to the credit of our fathers and mothers in the faith that they were passionate in their resolve.  We celebrate their convictions and commitments, while we do indeed grieve the animosities.

We dare not suppose that the only real issues and errors of the sixteenth century Reformation were volatile temperaments and mutual ill treatment of opponents.  It was not just a battle over words and semantic nuances.  There were those things, to be sure, which made it more difficult to address and resolve the real issues and errors.  But real issues and errors there were, which did not go away but solidified and calcified and entrenched themselves in the decades and centuries that followed.  What will help us now to address those real issues and errors is a willingness to speak and listen to one another, especially as we listen carefully (together) to the Word of the Lord and to the historic witness of His Church from the beginning.  We pray and trust the Holy Spirit to guide us.

Let us be honest with ourselves.  The Church on earth is never going to be flawless, infallible, or perfect, though she is indeed the Body and Bride of Christ Jesus.  His Church is a queen, even when she is dressed in the humility of beggar’s rags, because she is clothed and adorned with the righteousness and holiness of Christ, who loved her and gave Himself for her, even unto death.

In this life there will always be divisions, even within the Lord’s Church, just as there have been from the beginning — among the twelve disciples, between the Jewish and Gentile Christians, in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, and beyond, and so throughout the centuries.  The East and West were divided centuries before the Reformation.  Nevertheless, we do not resign ourselves to accept these divisions, as though they were of no consequence, but we address them with the Word of God and prayer, in the humility of repentance, in the confidence of faith, and with real charity.

Indeed, we are called to do in our own day what Martin Luther and many others (on all sides) sought to do in the sixteenth century, which is to heal and strengthen the Church on earth in the unity of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  For it is certain that no other unity than that of Christ will do!  Which necessarily means bearing His Cross in faith toward God, and in love for the Lord and for each other in His Name.  We ought to suffer willingly all manner of wrongs against ourselves, to the extent that we can do so without ever compromising the truth of the Gospel.  And in that Truth, we must obey God rather than man, and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it.

Certainly, the aims of the Reformation were not the divisions that resulted.  But even those sad and painful divisions can help to clarify the Truth, much as the controversies of the early church served to clarify the confession of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God.

Where, then, do we go from here?  Already it is the case that we Lutherans and Roman Catholics do share a great deal in common, as the recipients of a common heritage.  When I visited St. Pius on a Saturday evening earlier this month, although your musical settings were unfamiliar to me, I was easily able to follow and participate in the Liturgy because we share the same order and ordinary of the Mass.  On any given Sunday, we are likely to hear the same Holy Scriptures.  We confess the same Creeds and pray the same Our Father.  We celebrate the Sacrament of the Altar with the same Words of our Lord, just as we baptize in the Name of the same Holy Triune God.  We have similar architecture and furnishings, similar vestments and other adornments, similar rites and ceremonies.  We look and sound alike.  Where, then, do we differ?  What is it that divides us?

It is clear that we cannot hope to address, even briefly, all of the differences between Lutherans and Roman Catholics in our time together this evening.  The challenge, I suppose, is to identify some of those areas of greatest concern and of the greatest potential for mutual conversation and growth.  So, as a Lutheran pastor and theologian, let me simply point to some of those key areas:

Areas of lingering concern and/or continuing significance

Foundationally, we have differed from each other in the ordering of the Church and Ministry, that is to say, in the way the pastors of the Church relate to each other and to the people.  Lutherans have generally not had the structured hierarchy that the Roman Church does, though there are some exceptions to that observation.  In any case, Lutherans have viewed apostolic succession, the office of the pope, and the magisterium of bishops quite differently than Roman Catholics.  We hold the office of preaching and teaching in high regard, as a divine institution, but we locate the authority and certainty of the Church’s teaching and practice in the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures.  We are not able to affirm or confess as an article of faith what is not clearly taught in the Scriptures.

The Roman Catholic teaching on Purgatory is a case in point, along with indulgences and prayers for the dead.  These matters clearly touch upon the fundamental matters of faith and justification, which are key to almost all of the differences between our churches.  But in the case of Purgatory, it is not set forth with any clarity from the Scriptures but from the teaching and traditions of the Church.  Lutherans understand the testing and purifying of each man’s work by fire (1 Cor. 3:13), not as a place or a process between death and the final judgment, but as the dying of the old man that is worked in us through Holy Baptism and daily repentance and is finally completed in death.

In other words, the “purging” of our sins, the cleansing of all unrighteousness in us, and the purification of body and soul without which no one will see God, occurs in the course of this life under the Cross, as we are confronted with the fact of our mortality.  And, again, it is completed with the actual dying of our mortal flesh, for the one who has died is freed from sin (Rom. 6:7).  It is the process of learning to live, not by our own works and efforts, but in faith and love within the household and family of God — within which we already live, and to which we already belong as beloved children of God in Christ Jesus, even now in much frailty and weakness.

In the Resurrection of Christ Jesus we are justified (Rom. 4:25), and in the resurrection of all flesh on the last day we shall be holy and righteous in body and soul, glorified like unto the glorious Body of Christ Himself (Phil. 3:21).  For now, we do not yet see things as they are, but then we shall see Him as He is, and we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).  As our bodies shall be made new and perfected, with all sickness, suffering, and death forgotten like a dream that is past, so shall we also be purified, perfected, and made entirely new in heart, mind, soul, and spirit (Rev. 21:5).

Another area of significant concern and disagreement between Lutherans and Roman Catholics is the sacrifice of the Mass.  That was one of the most volatile points of controversy at the time of the Reformation, and it remains somewhat beclouded and confusing even now.  I am aware of developments in the way the Roman Church describes and teaches this sacrifice, and I applaud those efforts to clarify and correct some of the bold and extravagant assertions of the past.  But in my estimation, the underlying issue has yet to be resolved.  God grant that, by His grace, we might finally arrive at a more consistent and common confession of Christ the Crucified in this area.

As I have mentioned, all of the differences between us center in the doctrine of justification, in the way we understand the relationship of faith and love.  Though there is probably more agreement in this area than many have supposed over the past five centuries, there do remain key points of disagreement, as the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999) has demonstrated.  I’ll have more to say about this point momentarily, as it truly is foundational to everything else.

What is probably more obvious to many Lutheran lay people, as they consider the piety of their Roman Catholic friends and neighbors, is the place and importance of St. Mary and the saints in the Christian faith and life.  Honestly, Lutherans have often not given the attention to the saints that our Confessions recommend: that we should remember them with thanksgiving to God, learn from the example of their faith and life, and be encouraged by the mercies of the Lord upon them.  At Emmaus, we celebrate the saints throughout the year to the praise and glory of Christ Jesus, just as we have celebrated the Feast of All Saints on the 1st of November.  But where we differ from Roman Catholics in practice is that we find no command or promise attached to the invocation of the saints.  We acknowledge that the saints in heaven pray and intercede for the Church on earth, but we have no certainty from the Scriptures that we can or should call upon them for assistance.  We are even more cautious and skeptical concerning the appearances and miracles of the saints.  And we object to making the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of St. Mary into articles of faith, on the grounds that neither of these traditions are clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures.

Who We Lutherans Are, and What We Lutherans Are About

For the sake of our conversation and discussion, it is important that you know who we Lutherans are and what we are about.  Despite popular impressions, we are defined and identified, not only vis-à-vis the Roman Church, but also vis-à-vis the Protestant churches of various stripes.  Indeed, from their perspective (and ours) we are, in many ways, closer to Rome than we are to them!  As Luther once quipped in his arguments with the Protestant reformers on the Lord’s Supper, “Better to drink Blood with the pope than wine with Zwingli!”  It was a polemical comment, to be sure, but also a positive affirmation of what the Sacrament is, and of what we share with Rome.

The Lutheran Reformation was not simply a “protest” against the errors and excesses in the piety and practices of the Church at that time.  It was very much pro-Gospel and pro-Sacraments.  It was positively for the glory of Christ Jesus, and for the comforting of consciences with His Gospel of forgiveness.  And it was positively for the glorious freedom and the confident certainty that faith receives and finds in the solid, objective Word and promises of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the present day, especially, it is also necessary to distinguish the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (to which Trinity in Elkhart and my congregation, Emmaus in South Bend, both belong) in contrast to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran World Federation, with whom we are not in fellowship due to some rather sharp disagreements on many points of doctrine and practice.  Sadly, those disagreement have increased in recent years, rather than declining.

The Missouri Synod (LCMS) is more conservative in both doctrine and practice; in its approach to both the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions; in its engagement with other churches; and in its posture and position on such things as abortion, homosexuality, and women’s ordination.

Whereas the ELCA and the LWF have been aggressively involved in ecumenism on numerous fronts, their own more “liberal” and “progressive” attitudes toward abortion, homosexuality, and the ordination of women have presented a strong impediment to ecumenical dialogue with Roman Catholics, as Bishop Rhoades indicated in his presentation at Trinity this past month.

Though the Missouri Synod (LCMS) has been more reticent about the ecumenical movement, it is very much a kindred spirit with the Roman Church in the defense of marriage, sexuality, and life.  It has also been eager to cooperate, where possible, in external works of mercy on every level.

The differences between the Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the ELCA/LWF are especially germane in considering the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, as that Declaration was between the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church.  The Missouri Synod has not endorsed the Joint Declaration, in view of a number of weaknesses and unresolved issues.

The discussion and the desire for unity in the doctrine of justification are commendable, for that doctrine is foundational to the Church and central to the Christian faith and life.  However, it is premature to suggest that the matter has been resolved between us, or that the real issues and concerns of the sixteenth century have been more or less overcome by way of clarifications.

In my estimation, the Joint Declaration has helped to clarify the positions of the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, and has helpfully identified areas of agreement and disagreement.  It has done so with a friendly and fraternal spirit, no doubt with the sincerest intentions.  I appreciate all of these contributions, even though I believe that it is overly optimistic in its conclusions.

The Joint Declaration itself indicates differences of understanding, which go beyond differences in emphasis and nuance.  It also notes that other doctrines and practices of real consequence, such as Purgatory, are simply not addressed, though they clearly touch upon the doctrine of justification.  Even in signing the Joint Declaration, the Vatican issued an Addendum of “Clarifications,” which identifies several points of disagreement in decisive aspects of justification.  I can only agree with their assessment, that these several points remain divisive at the very heart of the matter at hand.

What these various points of disagreement come down to is whether or not our righteousness in the presence of God is located in us or in Christ Jesus; whether the new and holy life that we now possess and live in Christ is the cause or the consequence of our justification and righteousness before God; and whether we love God and our neighbor in order to become righteous or because we are accounted righteous by faith in God’s Word and promise of forgiveness in Christ Jesus.

The Righteousness of Faith and the Holiness of Life in Christ

As the Vatican pointed out in its “Clarifications” of the Joint Declaration, the distinctive Lutheran teaching of “Simul iustus et peccator” is a point of significant disagreement, which highlights the fundamental difference between Lutherans and Roman Catholics in the doctrine of justification.

For Lutherans, the notion that we are simultaneously justified and yet still sinful, both saints and sinners at the same time — Simul iustus et peccator — addresses the experiential reality that every Christian faces (along with St. Paul in Romans 7).  It embraces the seemingly contradictory Word of God, which confronts us with the demands, threats, and punishments of the Law, and yet it also comforts and consoles us with the free and full forgiveness of the Gospel.

In response to the arguments of the Roman Church that concupiscence is not truly sin, but simply the temptation to sin and the potential for actual sin, Lutherans would say that such a position fails to account for the serious depths of covetous lust, which St. Paul identifies as idolatry (Col. 3:5).  These arguments go back to the Reformation and demonstrate the real disagreement that remains.

For me, these differences in doctrine are not academic, semantic, or theoretical, but of pastoral and practical concern.  As Christians committed to my pastoral care come to me with their confession of sins and temptations, how shall I comfort and console them?  How shall I strengthen and sustain their faith in Christ?  How shall I instruct them to live?  To what (or whom) shall I point them?  In themselves they find both sin and death, from which they cannot set themselves free.  But in Christ Jesus they find and receive the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of life and salvation.

Saving faith, which is to say, not simply knowledge and assent, but confident trust in the Lord, is called into being and nurtured by the Word and promise of the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins.  This faith is worked in us by the Word and Spirit of God (Rom. 10:17), as He creates all things out of nothing by His Word, and as He calls the Light out of the darkness with His Word (2 Cor. 4:6).  Such faith lays hold of Christ as it hears and receives Him in the Word of the Gospel and in the Holy Sacraments.  And in Christ it receives and possesses all righteousness, holiness, innocence and blessedness in the presence of God.  This is the comfort of consciences that glorifies Christ.

Having made this point, it is also the case that saving faith in Christ, which receives all things and possesses all things in Him, is itself the beginning of the new life in Christ.  Such faith is the first and foremost good work, the fulfillment of the first and greatest Commandment.  It is not in virtue of this work, nor by the quality of this good work, that faith justifies; for that is by Christ Himself, whose Righteousness and Holiness are credited to us by grace.  But the same faith that lays hold of Him and trusts Him for all things, also lives in love for Him and in love for others for His sake.

Thus, faith and love, righteousness and holiness can be distinguished and theologically separated, but they do not exist in practice apart from one another.  Faith alone justifies, but such faith is never alone.  It is a living, busy, active embracing of Christ, which is always working in love for God and man in Christ and in the neighbor.  Precisely because it is a fearless confidence in Christ.

When both justification and sanctification, faith and life, forgiveness and renewal, the Law and the Gospel are all located and centered in Christ Jesus, any tensions between these points are resolved in Him, in whom righteousness and peace, mercy and sacrifice kiss each other in perfect harmony.

He is all of these things for us, in the first place.  And He is all of these things in us by His grace through faith in His Word and promise of the Gospel — in and with the Holy Spirit, who lays Christ upon our hearts and brings us to the Father as beloved and well-pleasing children in Him.  The Righteousness of faith in Christ thus becomes the Holiness of life in Christ, as it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20).  But as soon as we attempt to begin with ourselves, with what is happening in us, with our believing, living, loving, and working, then we inevitably shift, not only the focal point but the entire center of gravity, from Christ to ourselves. He is and remains ever for us, our merciful and great High Priest at all times and in all places, from beginning to end, unto the life everlasting.  He is not simply the starting point, but the entire story, both the Subject and the Object of our faith and life, the Source and the Summit of our salvation.

It is in Christ Jesus, and especially by way of our Baptism into Him, that we have received the gracious adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4–7).  In Him, we are beloved and well-pleasing children of God, named with His Name and anointed with His Spirit.  We are members of His household and family, of the One who knows how to give good gifts to His children, by whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.  And I have found this to be a particularly helpful way in which to understand the relationship of justification and sanctification, to speak in Lutheran terms.

As a child of God in Christ Jesus, you already belong to the Father; you already have a place in His home, at His Table, a place of Peace and Sabbath Rest which the Lord Jesus has prepared for you.  Within that place, as a member of the family, you are disciplined by the Father who loves you, as you are taught to live in love for Him and for your brothers and sisters in Christ.  But your growth in wisdom and stature, in faith, hope, and charity, in righteousness and holiness of life, is growth within the place that is already yours within the household and family of God.  You’re not earning the right to become a child of God, but learning to live as the child of God that you already are.  Your place in the family is your justification.  Your life within the household is your sanctification.

Areas of mutual concern in the faith and life of the Church on earth

Now, as the children of one God and Father in Christ Jesus, we are also the children of one holy Mother, the Church, conceived and born of her by the grace of God through His Word and Spirit.

We are thus called by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel to live in communion with the one Body of Christ, on earth as it is in heaven.  In practice, therefore, now as in the sixteenth century, we are called to nurture an evangelical catholicity, which is to find the fellowship of the Church in the exercise of the Gospel.  That is a fellowship of pastoral care, encompassing catechesis and Holy Baptism, the consistent preaching and teaching of Christ, mutual accountability and assistance, confession of faith, confession and absolution of sins, and the regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper with reverence and thanksgiving in the unity of a common confession of Christ Jesus.

Though we are not yet able to do many of these things together, we nevertheless share a unity in Christ in these ways and means of the Gospel.  The same communion that is ours in Holy Baptism is also strengthened as we participate in the Body and Blood of Christ within our own respective churches.  As the sparrow has found her home and made her nest in the altars of the Lord, and as the faithful departed now rest under His Altar in heaven, awaiting the consummation of all things, so do we shelter in the Lord’s Altar on earth, even as we pray, “How long, O Lord, how long?”  That very point at which our divisions are most painfully obvious is nevertheless the place where we are united in the one Body of Christ with each other and all His saints in heaven and on earth.

Within the life of the Church on earth, across confessional lines, there is a need for a reformation of reverence in the celebration and conduct of the Liturgy.  That includes a reverence for the Holy Scriptures in teaching and practice, and a reverence for the Sacrament in teaching and practice.  These sacred things are not in competition with each other; on the contrary, they belong intimately to each other.  The Holy Scriptures and the Holy Sacrament stand and fall together (in practice).

On that note, I must commend Pope Benedict’s Spirit of the Liturgy and his three little volumes on Jesus of Nazareth, which are so beautifully written and so helpful to the faith and life of the Church.  His writing is thoroughly scriptural, consistently Christocentric, and deeply evangelical.  His witness to the Gospel has more than once given me pause and a degree of optimism for the future, that Lutherans and Roman Catholics might find greater unity in our confession of Christ.

If we are to have that kind of unity as members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we must by all means resist the temptation to substitute politics, programs, or pop culture paradigms for genuine pastoral care and eucharistic life.  Where it has declined or been lost altogether, we must recover and nurture a sacramental piety and practice.  To do so is not an intellectual exercise, an academic achievement, or an emotional experience, but an active passivity, one might say, which receives, lays hold of, clings to, and trusts the Word-made-Flesh in the Liturgy of His Gospel.  It is in the hearing of His Word and the receiving of His Sacrament that we enter into the eucharistic sacrifice of faith and love, not only in the celebration of the Liturgy, but throughout our life in the world.

Our life as Christians, as individuals belonging to the communion of the Body of Christ, is to be offered up as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God (Rom. 12:1–2).  At work, at school, at home, in the community, up in the stands or out on the field: How we speak and how we live is determined and shaped by the Liturgy, in which the Lord gives Himself to us in love, His Body and His Blood, that we might live unto God in Him, in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

That life in Christ is what governs (or ought to govern) our thinking and example in the arenas of marriage, sexuality, procreation, and family.  Within those arenas, it seems to me that Lutherans and Roman Catholics ought to be talking and listening to each other in addressing such rampant challenges as divorce and the reigning birth control mentality that has become so entrenched within our culture, and which permeates the thinking of many Christians, as well.  Here is where John Paul’s Theology of the Body has made such a profound contribution to the benefit of us all.

These are but a couple examples of where we ought to be working together, learning together, and confessing together.  No doubt there are many other such places where we ought to stand together in common cause, to give witness to the one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3–6).  But it is easier said than done.  Not only because of the doctrinal differences between Lutherans and Roman Catholics, but also because of the diversity and disunity that exist within our respective communions in teaching and practice.  And as we have too often found it difficult to speak to one another, it is all the more challenging to speak together with one voice.  Not only because of the differences in the way our churches are structured and ordered, but also because of the distance between official positions and statements, the academic teachers of the church, the preaching and practice of parish pastors, and the piety, understanding, faith, and life of the laity at home and in the world.

The Roman Church has some advantages over the diversity of Lutheran churches, in that there is a clearly defined hierarchy of teaching authority, although it seems to me that a great deal of latitude is permitted among Roman Catholic theologians.  Among Lutherans, it has increasingly been the case that every parish pastor perceives himself to be a pope unto himself in his own parish.  There is not the kind of mutual accountability and responsibility between our pastors that would serve to strengthen and support our common confession of the faith in preaching and practice.  That concerns me deeply, and it is an area where I believe the Lutheran Church is in need of reformation in our own day.  If only the answers and solutions were as obvious as the critique.

Compounding these challenges, there is also the tension that exists between Lutherans and Roman Catholics with respect to the relationship and the relative authority of the Holy Scriptures and the teachers and traditions of the Church.  Caricatures are not helpful, but there are differences between us here.  It is clear that Roman Catholics hold the Scriptures sacred and, especially since Vatican II, they have increased their emphasis on the reading and preaching of the Holy Scriptures in the Liturgy.  It is likewise clear that Lutherans have historically held the teachers and traditions of the Church in high esteem, and have desired to honor them and to hold fast to that heritage in harmony with the Holy Scriptures.  But as we do not perceive or regard the relationship between Scripture and Tradition in the same way, it often hinders our ability to speak together in response to the present day challenges we face in the world.  The conversation concerning Purgatory in the Q&A with Bishop Rhoades at Trinity this past month was a case in point.  All the more reason that we must continue to engage one another in honest debate and fraternal dialogue, so that we might be taught by God to confess the Word of Christ with one voice, in one Spirit.

Lutheran contributions to the faith and life of the Church catholic

It is my belief that we can and should be listening to and learning from each other.  For example, the Lutheran Reformation and the Lutheran Church have contributed to a greater appreciation of Holy Baptism and its ongoing, lifelong, daily significance.  Luther’s clarion call, already on the Eve of All Saints in 1517, that the entire Christian life is to be one of daily repentance, was really a call to remember and return to the dying and rising of repentance and faith in Holy Baptism.  That was not to abolish the practice of penance, but to encourage Confession and Absolution as an exercise of faith in the Gospel.  Luther himself heard and received the Gospel from his father confessor, Johannes von Staupitz, and he knew well the pastoral care of the confessional.  (We commemorated Johannes von Staupitz with thanksgiving this past week, on November the 8th).

Luther also contributed a passion for the Lord’s Supper at the heart of the Church’s life, as the very embodiment of the Gospel.  His zeal in opposing the sacrifice of the Mass, on the one hand, and in defending the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament, on the other hand, seemed odd and over the top to many of his opponents.  But for Luther it was a matter of clinging to the Word of Christ and not allowing anything within or without to dissuade him from the profound simplicity of what the Lord has spoken.  He understood that faith and the Sacraments go together, hand in glove, as do the Holy Spirit and the Holy Church.  And it all depends upon the Word of Christ.  Hence the strong Lutheran emphasis, from the start and to the present day, on the necessity and value of preaching and teaching, on the importance of thorough catechesis, and on the writing and singing of sturdy hymns that praise God, proclaim the Gospel, and clearly confess Christ Jesus.  No one could doubt the Lutheran contribution to the musical heritage of the Church catholic.

The Lutheran Reformation did bring comfort and peace to many troubled consciences through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.  That is the Church’s greatest treasure, and still is ours today.  And far from discouraging good works, it is by faith in the free and full forgiveness of sins that the Commandments are kept and callings are fulfilled in loving service for the neighbor.  For it is in the certainty of the Word and promises of God that faith lives and abides in hope; and it is in the freedom of the Gospel that faith abounds in thanksgiving to God and in charity for all people.

These are Lutheran contributions which nobody can deny.  But so do these very treasures of the Reformation call for an ongoing self-critique on the part of Lutherans in our own day.  Where and how have we become a caricature of ourselves, emphasizing clichés at the expense of the Truth?  And in what ways have we jettisoned the evangelical catholicity of historic Lutheran theology and practice in favor of formulaic slogans and idiosyncratic sectarian “Protestantism”?

In the centuries since the Reformation, the actual practice of Confession & Absolution among Lutherans has languished and fallen by the wayside.  It has been largely unknown in many places, to such an extent that many Lutherans go to their graves without ever going to Confession; and where it is recommended or encouraged, it is resisted and decried as “too Catholic.”  Such attitudes and neglect are contrary to our Lutheran teaching and detrimental to the Christian faith and life.

The celebration of the Lord’s Supper has likewise suffered in a variety of ways.  The frequency of celebration has at times been dismal.  Thankfully, that has improved in recent decades, but it is still not understood that the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day is to be the norm.  Even where it may be celebrated more frequently, there is a lack of reverence for the Sacrament in many of our congregations, in which a casual and careless handling of the Body and Blood of Christ denies the very Word we claim to confess.  There is also a widespread practice of open communion, even in the Missouri Synod (LCMS), despite the consistent teaching and official position of our church.

I’ve already touched upon another area in which we Lutherans are in need of reformation in our own day, that is, with respect to the ordering of the Holy Ministry, the relationship of pastors to one another and to the Church at large.  I would be very glad to see our “bishops” able to function as pastors, rather than bogged down and consumed with administrative duties.  And I would like to see our congregations demonstrate and exercise a greater sense of fellowship and love, a real connection to one another in the common confession of Christ and in the Holy Communion, instead of living as islands unto themselves and acting as though they were in competition.

It is certain that the Christian faith is not a do-it-yourself or go-it-alone religion, and none of us should live as though it were, neither as individual Christians, nor as pastors and congregations.  Nor as church bodies, as Lutherans and Roman Catholics.  Though we are separated by differences in doctrine and practice, we are brothers and sisters in the washing of the water with the Word and in the confessing of the Holy Trinity in the baptismal and eucharistic Creeds of the Church.

Roman Catholic contributions to the faith and life of the Church catholic

From the Roman Catholic Church, to cite just a few examples, I believe that we Lutherans have much to learn, as well, as disciples of Christ Jesus called to carry the Cross in faith and love.

Though we have done somewhat better in recent years, we still have much to learn in the giving of alms and in works of mercy for our neighbors in the world.  In our emphasis on the Gospel, and in our distinction of faith and love with respect to our justification before God, we have at times been too slow to encourage, facilitate, and teach the activities, works, and sacrifices of love that our Lord Himself and His Apostles both taught and exemplified.  That is not a matter of doctrine but of our own sinfulness, laziness, and neglect, for which we need to repent and do better.

It is similar in the case of the other cardinal disciplines of fasting and prayer.  Lutherans have not neglected to pray — though none of us prays as he should — but we have generally not been as good about coming together for the daily prayer of the Church as such.  Perhaps that is a place in which both Lutherans and Roman Catholics have allowed the pace of the world to pull us away from the Body of Christ.  But my sense is that Roman Catholics have been more consistent and persistent in maintaining the daily rhythms of the Church’s liturgical life.  We can learn from that.  And all the more so when it comes to fasting, to which many Lutherans seem to be allergic.  Our Catechism affirms that fasting is fine outward training, but we have generally not encouraged or practiced it.  We have feared that fasting may become legalistic or contribute to self-righteousness, without realizing the dangers to be found in never fasting, in never denying our own selfishness.

Roman Catholics also have something to teach us about the place of penance in the Christian life.  First of all in actually going to confession, as (again) our Catechism clearly teaches us to do.  And then also in bearing the fruits of repentance and exercising the discipline of the Christian life.  These are matters of pastoral care which too many Lutherans do not receive because they do not rely on their pastors or confide in them as father confessors.

If it is not too daring, I suggest that we might also learn from Roman Catholics to appreciate and support the vocation of celibacy for those who are so gifted, for the sake of serving the Church and the neighbor, as St. Paul describes.  Not to disparage the goodness and holiness of marriage and family, but to encourage and assist the unmarried in the goodness and holiness of their callings.

The Need for ongoing Repentance and Reformation

For all of us, in every case, we are in a precarious position when doctrine and practice, faith and life are pitted against each other, or when any one of these are valued at the expense of any other.  But I fear that too many Christians, both Lutherans and Roman Catholics, are not only ignorant of their own history and theology, but are rather ambivalent and cavalier about it all.  They have been taught by the world to prize and follow their own thoughts and feelings, their own opinions and experiences, over against the Word of God and the Church’s doctrine.  That should not be.

Perhaps it is true, as we Lutherans have suspected, that Roman Catholics are tempted to go through the motions, relying on a mechanical administration of the Sacraments.  But Lutherans, for their part, have sometimes marginalized the Ministry of the Gospel and the means of grace as though they were incidental to the Christian faith and life, perhaps even irrelevant, or simply supplemental “vitamins,” as it were, instead of the real meat and potatoes of the Meal.  The Gospel calls forth faith, and faith clings to the Gospel, and maintaining that connection requires constant vigilance.

The fact is that the Church on earth, her ministers and all her members, are constantly being called to repentance, to faith, and to newness of life in Christ — both individually and collectively — on the basis of the Holy Scriptures.  We are called back to the foundation of the Law and the Prophets, the Apostles and Evangelists, to the faith fulfilled in Christ Jesus and once delivered to the saints.  And that faith and life are found in the Font and at the Altar of the Lord’s Cross and Resurrection, in His Body given and His Blood poured out.  The Church lives in and from the Liturgy, defined and constituted by her Lord in and with His Word and Flesh.  This Divine Liturgy is appropriately adorned and confessed with a cornucopia of beautiful traditions from across the ages and from around the globe.  But the Liturgy itself is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

In thinking about the past, and in approaching each other now and in the future, let us do so in the humility of mutual repentance and forgiveness, with the confidence of faith in Christ Jesus, and with a gentleness and peace that are born of God.  Let us be instructed by the Holy Spirit through the Word and within the liturgical life of the Body and Bride of Christ, which is indeed, by His grace alone, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, on earth as it is in heaven.

To engage one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, charity of heart and clarity of thought require the consistent definition and use of key theological terms, such as grace, faith, forgiveness of sins, justification and sanctification, holiness and righteousness, love, works, and salvation.  Agreeing to disagree on such fundamental matters would be untenable as a basis for fellowship.  But it is no less untenable to be so intent on our disagreements that we refuse to agree on anything.  God grant that we not fall back into those tired old patterns of animosity.

I have been encouraged by an example I have recently discovered in the group, Evangelicals and Catholics Together.  I’m in the process of reading the statements they have drafted over the past twenty-some years (since forming in 1994). What I’ve encountered so far has been very positive and instructive, and I would be very glad to see some Lutheran pastors and theologians involved in that effort, or in similar ventures with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ.

While speaking of encouraging and positive examples, I would be quite remiss if I did not express my delight in learning something of Pope St. Pius X, for whom this parish is named.  I find it quite interesting, even exciting, to discover that he was a truly pastoral reformer of the Church in his day.  And in particular, the areas in which he focused his attention and energies coincide with my own foremost concerns, as he emphasized catechesis, pastoral care, and the holy Eucharist.

Indeed, Pope St. Pius X is reminiscent of one of my personal Lutheran heroes of the faith, Wilhelm Löhe (a 19th century German Lutheran pastor), who emphasized preaching and the Sacrament, missions and works of mercy, the training of pastors and teachers for the Church, and the reverent celebration of the Liturgy.  He also saw the need for ongoing reformation in the life of the Church.

So, where do we go from here?  As I have said, the sixteenth century Lutheran Reformation was about glorifying Christ and comforting consciences with the Gospel.  And to be sure, to glorify Christ by caring for His people with His Word is what the Church is always about.  To those ends, I suggest that we take our cues from Pastor Wilhelm Löhe and Pope St. Pius X in focusing on the pastoral care and catechesis of the Church, on Holy Baptism and the Divine Eucharist, and on the Life that is given and received in the Liturgy of the Gospel.  For therein do the people of God find Peace and Sabbath Rest in the Lamb upon His Throne, to the praise and glory of His Holy Name, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God, now and forever.