To Live with Him in His Kingdom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Glory of Christ in His Baptism and His Cup

The Blessed and Holy Apostle, St. James the Elder, was among the first to be called as a disciple of the Lord Jesus, and then to be sent as an apostolic Minister of His Gospel.  Along with his brother John and Simon Peter, St. James is one of the “inner three” who witnessed the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the Transfiguration of our Lord, and the prayer of Christ Jesus in the Garden.

But as the Lord would have it, the special distinction for which St. James is best remembered and honored on this day, is that he was the first of the Twelve to be martyred for the Name of Christ; whereas his brother John lived to be an old man and was the only one of the Twelve not martyred.

From the perspective of the world, according to human wisdom, St. James’ life and Ministry were cut short, so that he had no chance to achieve anything or make a name for himself.  Yet, that is precisely the point: St. James desired no other name than that of his Lord Jesus Christ, who, by His Cross and Passion, obtained for St. James all that he would ever need in body and soul.

Not only that, but, by his own suffering and death for the sake of Christ and His Gospel, St. James was given a share in the Glory of Christ Jesus that he and his brother had desired and requested.

It was not St. James, but his brother, St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, who has made it so clear in his Holy Gospel, that the Glory of Christ Jesus is the Hour of His Cross.  But neither of the Sons of Zebedee understood that, yet, when they made their bold request in the Holy Gospel appointed to this festival day.  Nor did they understand it when Jesus prayed concerning His bitter Cup in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Afterwards, however, by His Word and Holy Spirit, they would learn to understand that sharing the Glory of Christ Jesus means sharing His Cross and Passion.

To live and to die in such faith is possible only by the grace of God, and only by the means of His Word and Holy Spirit.  It is surely not something that any of your senses or feelings could discern or understand; nor is it anything that you would ever want or be able to choose for yourself.  The Cross of Christ, which is His Glory, contradicts everything you think you know and understand.  Thus, He must put you to death by His Word of the Cross, in order to raise you up in His Glory.

All your senses, all your instincts and experience, insist that the Cross is bad, and that you must follow your own heart and your own feelings in order to find happiness and glory in your life.  Thus do you go crashing into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice, often without even realizing the danger.  The Word of the Lord sounds all wrong, foolish, and probably fatal.

Your fallen and perishing flesh supposes that you know better than God what is good and right and safe and true.  But it is to your own peril and detriment that you disregard what He says to you.  For His Word is Spirit, Truth, and Life, whereas your heart and mind are subject to sin and death.

What, then, does He say?  To what does the Lord call you?  If you would share His Glory and His Life, if you would sit with Him in His Kingdom, then you must be crucified, put to death, and buried with Him.  But how so?  And what does this mean for you?

You have heard what Jesus says in His response to James and John: “Can you drink the Cup that I must drink?  Can you be baptized with My Baptism?”  You can.  You must.  “You will,” He says!  But how?  The answer is there in the way that He describes the Glory of His Life and Ministry in the terms of His Holy Sacraments.  And to be sure, His Baptism and His Cup really are the heart and center of everything — of all that Jesus does for you, and gives to you, and shares with you.

His Baptism and His Cup are the Means whereby His Cross and Resurrection become yours, and your sins are all forgiven, and you receive His Life and sit with Him in the Glory of His Kingdom.

Now, the Cup was used by the Prophets as an image of God’s wrath and judgment against sin.  And that is also the first sense in which Christ speaks of His Cup in this Gospel, as again in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He prays, “Father, if possible, take this Cup from Me.”

The bodily pain of crucifixion would already be enough to cause even the bravest and toughest hearts among us to faint.  But the “Cup” that Christ our Lord received and consumed was much worse.  It was the everlasting wrath and judgment of hell and damnation, leveled against the sins of the whole world, of all times and places, all of your sins included, carried in the sinless Body of the holy Son of God, and judged forever in His flesh upon the Cross.  That is the Cup which He has drained down to the dregs for you and for the many by His bloody Passion unto death.

How, then, are James and John and even you able to drink the Cup of Christ?  It is certain that you could not handle, nor would you survive, the Cup of wrath and judgment against even your own sins, far less the sins of others.  And yet, you are able to drink the Cup of Christ Jesus, because He has already drained that Cup for you.  He shed His Blood of the New Testament for the forgiveness of all your sins.  And what was wrath and judgment for Him upon the Cross, has become mercy and everlasting life for you and for the many.  In receiving the Cup of Christ, which He pours out for you in the Holy Communion, you drink to the dregs the fullness of His Life and Salvation.

The same thing holds true in the case of His Baptism, with which you also are baptized, as were St. James and his brother.  From the moment that Christ Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan River and submitted Himself to St. John’s Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, our dear Lord took upon Himself the sins and iniquities and frailties and burdens of the entire world, and He bore them in His own Body of flesh and blood all the Way to the Cross.

Jesus thus describes His Life — not only here, but elsewhere in the Holy Gospels — as one long, continuous Baptism unto death.  It is a Baptism whereby He drowns and dies in the Flood of God’s wrath and judgment against the sins of the world, in order to fulfill all righteousness; that He might bring you through the Red Sea out of Egypt, and through the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

So, then, as also in the case of the Cup which He drained in your place, the waters of His Baptism are one thing for Christ and quite another for you and all who are baptized into Him.  In each case, it is a Baptism into His Cross.  But whereas it is for Him a drowning of judgment and wrath, it has become for you and others a rich and full washing away of sins and a gracious water of Salvation.

This Holy Baptism of Christ Jesus, and the Cup of Christ, as well, have a double significance for St. James.  For he was among the first to receive these things from Christ Himself as a disciple, but he was also then sent as an Apostle and a Minister of Christ Jesus, that he should hand over what he had received; that he should baptize and commune disciples from all nations in Jesus’ Name.

It is through these gracious Means of Baptism and the Cup of Christ that St. James did receive exactly what he and his brother requested, though not in the way or in the sense they were hoping.  And the same is true for you, as well, by the grace of God, in the Ministry of the Gospel of Christ.

In the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Holy Communion, you are granted to sit with Christ Jesus in the Glory of His Kingdom, because you are united with Him in His Cross and Passion, and you receive the fruits and benefits of His Sacrifice.  To be baptized with His Baptism and to drink from His Cup is to be crucified and die with Him, and so to share His Resurrection and His Life.

For St. James, being baptized with Christ and sharing His Cup meant that his life as a disciple and his apostolic ministry were shaped by the Cross.  Indeed, he was defined completely by that Cross.

The same thing is true for you, as well, as a Christian — as one who has been baptized into Christ, as one who drinks from His Cup and eats from His hand.  In these Gifts Christ freely gives, you are glorified with the greatness of His Holy Cross.  Which means that your entire life — everything you are, and all that you do — is now shaped and defined by that same Cross.  Not that you will necessarily be martyred in the way that St. James was, but that, whatever you are, whatever you are called to be and do, you live your life and offer up yourself in self-sacrificing love and service, even to the point of death, as needs may be, all for the sake of Christ and in His holy Name.

That all begins with and centers in your own vocations and stations in life, as a husband or wife, as a father or mother, as a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a worker or student, a citizen or whatever, as well as a member of this congregation.  Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments, and you will know how you are to bear the Cross in love for your neighbors.

In broad and general terms, look for every possible way and means by which you can lay down your life in service to others.  That’s usually not through heroic and extraordinary deeds of valor, but in the countless details and little things of life, which afford opportunity to love your neighbor.  Thus do you become and show yourself to be a servant of the Lord who loves you, Jesus Christ.

Of course, the harder you try, and the more conscientious you become, the more you find just how far you fall short of the Glory of the Cross of Christ.  You do not live and love as you ought to do. But Christ be praised that forgiveness and life and salvation do not depend on you, nor on any of the saints in themselves, but entirely on Christ and His Righteousness and the Glory of His Cross.

So it is that, for St. James and St. John, St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the Apostles, their vocation was the Ministry of Jesus’ Word and His Baptism and His Cup.  Their lives were given over to the preaching and administration of these Holy Things, in the Name and stead of Christ, unto others.  And with that, their very lives were likewise a display of the Gospel and the Glory of His Cross, as those who spoke the Word and worked the works of Christ Jesus; who suffered and died for it.

We may be especially grateful, therefore, and it is most appropriate that we should give thanks on this day, for the Blessed and Holy Apostle, St. James, through whom the Glory of Christ Jesus has been revealed and made manifest in the Scriptures and in the Church.  For in the life and ministry of St. James, so also in his death, it is Christ the Crucified whom you see and hear and receive; just as you also receive the same Christ Jesus to this day in the Ministry of His Baptism and His Cup.

Indeed, the one Lord Jesus Christ has continued to call and send, among His disciples, those men who will serve His people with His Word and with His Holy Sacraments.  So has He called me and ordained me to serve you at His Font and at His Table, here within His House on earth.  So does the Son of Man continue to come, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His Life for the Many.

And so does He call you and gather you to Himself, in order to lift you up in the forgiveness of His Cross, as often as you have fallen down.  By the waters of your Holy Baptism, He continues to cleanse you of your sins, and to usher you into His Kingdom through His Cross and Resurrection.  And here within His Church, He invites you to recline here at His Table, where He girds Himself to serve you, presenting you with His Cup and speaking to you His Words of mercy and grace.

“Take, drink. This Cup is the New Testament in My Blood, which is poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins, for the strengthening of your faith, and for the life everlasting.”

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

Sharing the Glory of Christ the Crucified

Our dear Lord Jesus Christ has come to serve you (and all people) by giving His life as a Ransom for the many, and by sharing His life with you by the ways and the means of His Cross.  What is more, this self-sacrificing love and humble service of Jesus, the Christ, even unto death upon the Cross, is the true greatness of His divine glory.  For He chooses, in His grace and mercy, for the sake of His divine and holy love, to give Himself for you, to forgive you all your sins, and to give you life and salvation with Himself forever.

In turn, for you to receive all of this great divine service of His — by His grace alone, through faith in His Word — that is your true greatness and your glory as a Christian disciple of Christ Jesus; which is, for now, paradoxically hidden under the Cross and suffering in this poor life of labor.

To be sure, none of this makes any sense to the world, which measures everything by its standards of power and might, of popularity, position, and prestige, and by the criteria of wealth and fame.  The world, therefore, simply cannot understand this Lord Jesus and His glory: It does not think as He thinks, nor does it perceive or know what is the divine truth of the matter.  And, that is likewise your predicament, as well; for your thoughts are not His thoughts, nor are your ways His ways.

Ask yourself: What is it that you want from Jesus?  What do you want Him to do for you?  What sort of Savior are you looking for?  One who forgives your sins and gives you life, by and with the Cross?  Or one who makes your life on earth happier, easier, and more carefree and comfortable?

In your heart of hearts, what is it that you’re really after?  And what do you presume to deserve?

If you are not bold enough to ask for it straight up, then think about how jealous and resentful you become of  your neighbor and of the gifts that he or she has received (but which you have not).

How often are you driven by pride, by selfishness and greed, by envy and jealousy, by covetous lust for what you have not been given (though such coveting is really nothing less than idolatry)?

How quickly do you put yourself forward and reach out your hand to take this or that for yourself?  Or do you, instead, harbor bitterness against those others, those neighbors of yours who do take that sort of initiative, for fear that someone else is getting something that you’re missing out on?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it should not be so among you.  Such desires and such impulses in you, are not the fruits of faith and love, but of sin.  Indeed, they are destructive of faith and love.

Do not suppose yourself to be cheated or ill-treated, and do not listen to the lies of the devil, who would have you despair of God’s love and favor toward you.  Nor regard God’s love so lightly.  For His great heart of Love is fully opened to you in the Cross of Christ, the incarnate Son.  That is where you find and know the greatness and glory of God, which He shares with you by grace.

Consider, then, the example of St. James, the son of Zebedee, even though you do not find him at his best in this particular Holy Gospel: From a human point of view, you can surely understand his (and his brother’s) request.  Depending on your own personality and sinful tendencies, you may be tempted either to sympathize with him, or to be indignant toward him (like the other disciples).

But, for all his faults and flaws and weaknesses, and even in the face of his martyrdom — indeed, precisely there, in his suffering and death for the sake of the Gospel — St. James has been glorified by and with His Crucified and Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

He was cut down in the prime of life, not only the first of the Twelve to be martyred, but the only one of the Apostles to be martyred within the record of the New Testament; yet, this was his glory, and part of his own particular calling as an Apostle, that is, to serve in the Name of Christ Jesus, and finally to suffer and die for Him Who died for us all and was raised again for our justification.

Not every Christian is called to such a martyrdom; it belongs only to those for whom it has been prepared.  Take comfort in this, that not one of His dear children suffers and dies, nor even a single hair falls to the ground, without your Father’s knowledge, perfect wisdom, and gracious care.

Whether you will finally be put to the sword, or crucified, or burned at the stake, or shot to death for the Name of Christ that you bear — or if you live a hundred years on earth before you depart — you are given the vocation of discipleship, that is, to carry the Cross of Christ in your own place and position (whether you be great or small in the eyes of the world, or in your own eyes).

Whatever your stats may be, your real greatness and true glory are not to be found in yourself, in what you acquire, accomplish, or achieve in this world.  No, your greatness and your glory are Christ Jesus, the Crucified One, who gives Himself to you in love, by His grace alone.  It is in Him, therefore, by faith in His Word, by the wisdom and the working of His Holy Spirit, that you walk in the way that is set before you; whether for life or death, come hell or high water against you.

If you are not called to the martyrdom of bodily suffering and death for the Name of Jesus Christ, be sure of this, that you are in fact called to the daily martyrdom of repentance — whereby you are returned to your Holy Baptism into the one Lord, Jesus Christ: into His Cross and Resurrection.

It is by your Baptism that you are His, and that you live with Him in His Kingdom; even now by grace through faith in Him, and hereafter in the resurrection of your body to the life everlasting.

Likewise, in the new and better Passover of the Holy Communion, you are given to eat the Body of Christ Jesus, which He sacrificed for you upon the Cross; and you do drink His Cup:

For Him, it was the Cup of God’s wrath, the bearing of God’s holy anger and righteous judgment against the sins of the whole world, and the suffering of the due punishment for all of your sins.

But, as He has drained that Cup to the dregs in His Passion, He has filled it for you with His holy and precious Blood; which He now pours out for you (and for the many), for the forgiveness of all your sins, and for life and salvation with Him in the glory of His Kingdom forever and ever.

It is the administration of this Divine Service, the Ministry of the Gospel-Word and Sacraments, that St. James was privileged to serve in the Name and stead of Christ Jesus for a little while — until his faithful service was filled up and completed in the witness of his death and bloodshed.

The same Divine Service of the same Lord Jesus Christ still continues: as it did back then, by and for the Twelve Apostles, so also here and now for you.  Because the Son of Man, who lived and died and rose again, continues to come, not to be served but to serve, to give Himself, to give life, for you and for the many.  To Him be all the glory, honor and praise, both now and forevermore.

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