Blessed Are Those Who Hear and Receive this Word

Blessed are those who read and those who hear the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, as recorded by His bond-servant St. John, the Apostle and Evangelist.  For by this Word you also now receive the grace and peace of the One who was, and is, and is to come.  You walk in His Light as an heir of His Life and Salvation, clothed in His Blood and Righteousness forever.

For all of this, it is truly meet, right, and salutary to remember St. John with thanksgiving unto our God and Father in heaven.  For the Lord has chosen to reveal Himself and give Himself to you by the hand of this beloved Disciple and holy Apostle.  And do not underestimate the significance and benefit of these apostolic Scriptures, which are uniquely foundational to the Christian Church.

What St. John and his fellow Apostles saw and heard and even touched and handled — the only-begotten God, the Word-made-Flesh, the incarnate Son of the Father, your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ — no less than He is manifested and communicated to you in the apostolic Scriptures, as these have been written and as they are proclaimed within the Church.  As the Father has spoken His Word to us in the Person of His Son, so is He now spoken to you in the apostolic preaching of the Gospel, whereby you have entered into the joyous friendship and glorious company of the holy Apostles, and into the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Father, and His Holy Spirit.

You cannot separate your Savior, Jesus Christ, from this apostolic Word of His Gospel.  Nor can you have the One without the other.  Nor do you have God as your Father apart from this Word of His incarnate Son, Christ Jesus.  But as it is, you have been given and you have this Word by way of the Apostles of our Lord, whom He called, ordained, and sent to preach in His Name.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.  And by the preaching of that Word, that is, by the preaching of the Gospel for the forgiveness of sins in His Name, you have believed that Jesus is the Christ, the incarnate Son of God.  And by such faith you live and abide in Him forever.  Not metaphorically, rhetorically, or theoretically, but actually and tangibly.  For real.

In the apostolic Word of Christ that is preached to you by His grace, through faith in that Word, you are given everything that the holy Apostles beheld and heard and grasped in the Person of Jesus Christ, the one true God who was conceived and born of St. Mary.  Which is to say that you, also, are a beloved disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And you, also, are given to recline with Him at His Supper, cleansed and sanctified by one and the same Christ Jesus, by the washing of water with His Word and Holy Spirit, and fed from His own hand His holy Body and precious Blood.

The only-begotten God who has come from the bosom of the Father, who reveals the Father to us, He has taken you into His embrace, to rest upon His bosom, to find your shelter and protection, your Life and your Salvation, there in Him, in His own Flesh and Blood.

As you are thus called by His Word of the Gospel, by His forgiveness of all your sins, to live and believe in Him, so it is that you shall never die.  For so long as you abide in Him by grace through faith in His Gospel, so do you continue to live, even though you die!  Not by any reason or strength of your own, but by the good and gracious Will of God for you in Jesus Christ, your Savior.

The life that you now live, therefore, you live no longer for yourself, but for Him who for your sake died and was raised.  And you live that life — in Christ — in whatever office or station to which He has called you.  Whatever it may be, and however it may seem to the world or to you, that is the place where you glorify the Name of Christ and serve your neighbor in faith and love.

It will be different for you than for your fellow Christian disciples, as it was different for St. Peter than it was for St. John.  So, neither look back to see where you have been, nor look around to see how you compare with your neighbor.  Simply follow Christ Jesus wherever He shall lead you by His Word and Holy Spirit, whether for life or death, knowing that your true life is now hidden with Christ in God, and when He appears in Glory, so shall His Life be fully manifest in you forever.

Take heart, dearly-beloved disciple.  Repent of your envy and jealousy, your coveting, your doubts and fears, denials and betrayals, your haughty arrogance and faithless despair.  And in repentance, not only sorrow for your sins, but take heart in Christ, and do not be afraid.

By the Word of His Apostles — by the Word as written by St. John, and by the preaching of that Word — Christ Jesus fills the world with His gracious deeds of Life.  And so does He fill you.

When the bright Light of His Law exposes and condemns you, know that He remains faithful and righteous to forgive your sins and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.  For He is Himself the Propitiation for all your sins, and not for your sins only, but for the sins of the whole world; and the merciful Light of His Gospel shines yet more brightly upon you than even His Law.

You are already clean, therefore, by this Word that He has spoken to you, by this Holy Absolution of the Gospel: All of your sins are forgiven!

It is in that Light of Christ that you have fellowship with St. John, the Apostle and Evangelist, and with all the saints who have gone before us in the faith, and so also with one another, and with the whole Christian Church in heaven and on earth.  For at His Word, once heard and received by the Apostles, now spoken and delivered to you here, you have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and, in Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  It is for the sake of this Holy Communion, and to this Holy Communion — this Fellowship with God in His Word-made-Flesh — that these things have been written and are preached to the close of the age, unto eternal Life in body and soul.

Come, then.  Recline here at His Table, and lean upon His breast, and eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of that very dear Savior who loves you — and so taste and see that He is good!

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

The Light No Darkness Can Overcome

Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, the Light no darkness can overcome.  For the Life and the Love of the Father are in Him, and with such divine Love He has manifested Himself on earth, that you might have that Life with Him forever, body and soul, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

In the incarnate Son of God you see what otherwise cannot be seen.  In the Son of St. Mary you see God, and you know God as He truly is.  In His very flesh and blood, you know and receive the works of God, which are grace and truth.  For in His flesh all of creation is perfect and complete.  So are you also redeemed from the darkness of death and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ is the Propitiation for all your sins, and not for your sins only, but for the sins of the whole world.  That Gospel is the Light that scatters the darkness and shatters all the works of the devil — because the sacrifice of Christ, the Son of God, for the salvation of sinners, accomplishes the good and gracious will of God and makes known the Father to all the children of men.  In this the Name of God is glorified and hallowed among us, and His Kingdom comes to us from heaven.

To know God rightly is to know this Love of the Father in Christ Jesus, and to be sanctified by His Spirit through His forgiveness of all your sins.  As all of this is now revealed and given to you through the Word of the Gospel, so do you have peace in place of despair, and life instead of death.  For not only is God with you in Christ Jesus, but He is for you, He is on your side.  He is here to help you, because He loves you.  His life and death and resurrection — in His own Body of flesh and blood like yours — are the guarantee of that divine Love which was, and is, and is to come.

This is your Light in the darkness.  This is how you get your bearings, so that you know who you are, and where you are, and where you are going, and how to get there.  For knowing God as your Savior in Christ Jesus, you have Life with Him forever.  Everything else takes its cues from that.

So, then, by His Word and Holy Spirit, live that divine Life which is yours in the incarnate Son of God.  Walk in the Light which shines upon you in His Gospel.  Which means, first of all, that you give careful attention to His Word, since that is where and how the Life of Christ is set before you.

Blessed are your ears, which hear the reading and preaching of the Holy Scriptures!  And blessed are you when the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ gives to you His Holy Spirit, so that, by His grace, you believe His Holy Word and live according to it!

Faith thus follows after Christ Jesus in His Word — and love follows after faith in Christ.

That is how you walk in the Light, namely, by listening to and learning from the Word of Christ, so that you might thereby live and love as He does.

Open your ears, therefore, to hear and heed His Word.  That is how you keep your eyes on Jesus and follow after Him as a disciple, for His Word to you is your Light in the darkness.

Look neither to the right nor to the left, and do not turn around to look behind you, but keep moving forward in faith.  I do not mean that you should forget what the Lord your God has done and said and given in the past, but do not linger on your own past works and accomplishments, as though your life were there, in days of glory come and gone.  Leave the past behind in repentance and forgiveness, and praise God for the promise of His mercy and the hope of the Resurrection.

Do not look sideways at your neighbor with envy and jealousy, nor compare and compete with your neighbor, as though he were your opponent or your enemy.  But consider the people around you with the holy compassion of Christ.  Care for them in love and with forgiveness for their sins.  Do so, especially, within your own place in life, on the path to which Christ Jesus calls you.

To turn aside or depart from that path is to wander away from the Light, to walk in the darkness.  Then you will surely stumble and fall — and do not suppose that you will manage anything else.

Child of God, do not sin!  For in such darkness there is only death and despair.  Do not scheme and strive to light your own way, as though to get life for yourself by your own designs and ingenuity.  And do not abandon the faith and fellowship of God for the friendship of this fallen world.

But here is how you shall live.  Do your duty, according to God’s command and your neighbor’s need.  That is to exercise the faith and love that you find in Christ Jesus.  And be content with what you have been given, in the confidence that God who loves you has given His only-begotten Son to die for you, and has also raised Him from the dead, that you might have all good things in Him.

In the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, in His eternal great High Priesthood as your Savior, you now live with Him by faith in the presence of His God and Father.  That is your “royal priesthood,” which is carried out within your own particular place in life, whether that be in service to a ripe old age, or by way of an early martyrdom; whether it be in Jerusalem, Athens, Ephesus, or Rome.

Wherever God has put you in this body and life on earth, love your neighbor there, with the means that God the Lord has entrusted to your stewardship.  Indeed, it is the chief purpose of your time, treasures, and talents that you glorify the Name of the Lord by using whatever He has given you to love and serve your neighbor.  You are quite safe to do so, because the Lord Himself provides for you, in love, all that you need and far more than you could ever ask or hope or imagine.

Instead of seeking to get and to keep whatever you can for yourself, freely give to your neighbor what you have freely received by the grace of God from His generous and open hand.

That is what St. John the Apostle and his fellow Apostles have done; and special thanks and praise to God for the holy Evangelists, who have recorded for the Church the words and deeds of Christ our Savior!  What they received, they have also given; and they were not emptied or undone by doing so, but filled up and glorified by the Son of God.  That is how it goes with the good gifts of God; as with loaves and fishes, the more they are divided and shared, the more they are increased.

So has St. John written what he himself saw and heard and touched — for the sake of the reading and the hearing of the Church on earth, even to the close of the age — and so also here for you.

In the preaching of this Apostolic Word — as in the flesh and blood of Christ, given and poured out for you and for the many — the Life of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is manifested.

This proclamation of God is an admonition and a warning, to be sure, which calls you to repent; to turn away from your sins, from darkness, and from death; to cease doing what is wrong, and to begin doing what is right.  But the Word of the Apostles is not a scolding or a threat.  It is the very Word of God, in which the Gospel predominates because it reveals the very heart of God in Christ.

St. John writes to you, in order that you may be set free from sin, not through your own works and righteousness, but through your Advocate with the Father, who is Jesus Christ the Righteous.

The Apostles and Evangelists write, so that you may be set free from death, and that you may have Life in Jesus through faith in His forgiveness of all your sins.

That is the great joy of St. John and of all the holy Apostles, that you should have fellowship with them in this Word that has been written.  Imagine that!  As we rejoice in the fellowship of the Apostles, so do they rejoice in you, who believe and live in Jesus by their Word.  And not only that, but your fellowship with the Apostles is the fellowship of the Holy Triune God, whereby you also now live and abide with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit.

In order for that to be true — and it is most certainly true — it must be as St. John has testified, that everything he witnessed, and all that he received from Jesus, he has conveyed to you with this Word he has written.  It is more than history and information.  It is the ongoing continuation of all that Jesus began to do and preach from the beginning unto the ends of the earth.  That is why the whole world is now filled with this Word of Christ, and even the whole world cannot contain it.

Beloved disciple of Jesus, what St. John saw with his eyes, and looked upon, and touched with his hands, is here given and poured out for you.  Recline here upon Body of the Lord who loves you at His Supper, and know that in His flesh and blood you are safe in the bosom of the Father, because the Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses you from sin and releases you from death.  For where there is forgiveness, as there is forgiveness for you here, there you shall not die but live.

That is the true Light which shines for you in the darkness, the Light no darkness can overcome.

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

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loves

Perhaps you can imagine what it must have been like for Simon Peter, when he looked back and saw “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” who had also “leaned back on His bosom at the Supper.”  Envy and jealousy, competition, and resentment rise up far too easily in all of us poor sinners.  So you know how painful and difficult it is to see others receiving the love that you are longing for, which seems so elusive to you.  You work so hard for it, and yet it is given so freely to others.

Peter had just been questioned regarding his love for Jesus, not once, not twice, but three times in a row.  He was stung by that questioning, but so was he also reminded of his three-fold denial of Jesus.  He had made such big, bold promises, only to fail miserably when put to the test.  In time he will be glorify the Christ he once denied, by way of his own imprisonment, suffering, and death.  But for now he cannot help but wonder, and even to ask: “Well, then, what about that guy?”

Yes, indeed.  What about him?  Your parents’ favorite child, or the teacher’s pet?  If you’re going to have to eat crow for your mistakes, and if you must suffer the Cross, then what’s in it for him?

It stirs your restless heart, because you want so much to be loved, to be liked for who you are, to have friends who enjoy your company and who share their company with you.  Real relationships are hard; they require work and effort, patience and self-sacrifice.  But it would be inhuman to live without them.  Personalities differ widely, and the way you feel things and express yourself may be utterly unique, but the longing for love, for friendship and fellowship, for genuine intimacy, is common to all people, to men and women, boys and girls, and even to the holy Apostles.

But while you might be able to sympathize with Simon Peter, as he wonders about St. John in this particular Holy Gospel, you might also be thinking to yourself: What does he have to complain about?  After all, he also got to be with Jesus, to see Him in person, to eat and drink with Him.

By comparison, it can sometimes ring hollow when you’re given the consolation of the Gospel and the promises of Jesus Christ, because those words can feel and seem so intangible, so far away and far removed from where you are and what you’re going through.

You want a personal relationship with Jesus, something up close and more intimate than words and promises appear to give.  You want personal relationships with other people, too, family and friends with bodies in the same room as you, with faces and voices you can actually see and hear.  Everyone needs a hand to hold onto.  Even a childlike faith desires a warm body, one with skin and a familiar smell, with hugs and kisses.  So important is such human touch and contact that babies will not thrive but languish in every way without it.  A lack of touch can even be deadly.

Take that into account when considering the hurts and needs and longing of your neighbors — including especially your own spouse and children, your parents and siblings.  Of course you should not touch your neighbors inappropriately, nor against their will.  Love does not force itself on anyone.  But neither does it keep its distance or keep your neighbor away at arm’s length.

Are you, then, a body in the room for your brothers and sisters?  Are you a face and a voice and a very present help, in both good times and bad, to share in the joys and sorrows of life on earth?  Are you there with a helping hand, a listening ear, a comforting word, a pat on the back, or a hug?

Truth be told, not only do you lack the love you want to have, but you are lacking in the love you ought to have for others.  Whereas you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you — because it is the right thing to do, and all the more so because of God’s gracious love toward you in Christ Jesus — too often you and your neighbor play this waiting game with each other, neither of you wanting to love first, lest you be hurt or disappointed or taken advantage of.

Little children, do not sin in this way, but love from a heart of faith in all your words and actions.  Trust the Lord Jesus, and love your neighbor, even if you are hurt or disappointed in the process, and whether or not your love is ever reciprocated.  Do no harm to your neighbor, even if he should harm you.  Do nothing wrong, but do good and give help as you are given the opportunity, and as the Lord enables you to do, especially within your own particular place in life.

Do not alienate yourself from others, especially not from the fellowship of the Body of Christ.  Nothing could be more self-defeating than that!  It is harmful to your neighbors, as well, to your brothers and sisters in Christ, when you remove yourself from the life of the Church; but it will destroy your own Christian faith and life.  So do not hide yourself away in the darkness, but live and walk in the Light of Christ, that is to say, by the hearing and confessing of His Word.

Love the Lord your God, and so love your neighbor.  You cannot love the one without the other.  If you would love God, whom you cannot see, then love your neighbor whom you can see.  Not from a distance, nor with cold detachment, but with the tender warmth of personal attention and affection, and with the genuine passion of self-giving and self-sacrifice.

Follow Christ Jesus in taking up the Cross to love and serve your neighbors, in the confidence of the Lord’s love and service for you.  Christ will not abandon you, no matter how things may go.

In fixing your focus on Him, do not compare and contrast and compete with others.  Do not be concerned with what your neighbor may be given in this life, but receive your own stewardship in faith and carry it out in love.  Whether a lot or a little, use whatever the Lord has entrusted to you faithfully, throughout the life to which the Lord has called you.  Whether you remain until His reappearing or die a martyr’s death, or if you simply grow up and grow old until you wither and fade like the grass and its flowers, be and live as a disciple.  Follow Christ and learn from Him.

Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ has called you by name, and realize that you are His; that you also are a disciple whom Jesus loves.  There is nothing lacking in His love for you, nor anything lacking in His personal relationship with you; nor does He withhold any good thing from you.

St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, beloved of the Lord Jesus, has made a place for you in his writing of the Holy Gospel.  In fact, he has written you into his own place, by never describing himself by name, but only as the disciple whom Jesus loves.  He would have you know that place as your own, just as you are known so intimately and well by the incarnate God who is Love.

What has been written, what is read to you, and what you hear in the reading and proclamation of this Word, is in fact the very Son of God, your Savior, Jesus Christ.  All that He is, everything He has, and everything He does, it is all for you, and it is given to you by His grace in this Word.

It is more than imagining yourself in the story of Jesus and John.  By the preaching of this Word the story of Jesus is actually given to you, so that it becomes your own story.  Whatever St. John was given to see and hear and touch and receive, he has handed over to you as an Apostle and Evangelist of the Word.  For the revelation of God in the Person of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, has been given to His bond-servant John, to His human angel or messenger, who has been sent to signify this Word-made-Flesh to you through the preaching and Ministry of the Gospel.

That is why the many other things which Jesus does would overflow the whole world with books, if they were all written down; because He keeps on preaching and performing the signs of His glory in the presence of His disciples.  The almighty and eternal Word of the Father continues to abide with us in flesh and blood, and His own Body remains the true Tabernacle of His Church.

So these things that have been written by the holy Apostles, have been written for you and for the whole Church on earth in all the times and places ever since.  The same story of Jesus continues as pastors preach the apostolic Scriptures and carry out the apostolic Ministry in His Name.

It is your story, beloved disciple, in which you follow Christ Jesus through death into life, sharing His Cross and Resurrection, His Ascension and His Life everlasting.  By this Word that you hear and receive, you share in the fellowship of the holy Apostles with Christ Jesus; and in Christ Jesus your fellowship is with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  In that fellowship with the one true God, the Holy Trinity, you also have fellowship with one another, as one Body in Christ, as one family of one God and Father, having the same heart and mind and partaking of the same Holy Spirit.

You have one Lord.  You confess one faith.  You have received one Holy Baptism into the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus.  And as disciples whom He loves, you all eat of the one Bread which is His Body, and you all drink of the one Cup which is the New Testament in His Blood.

Therefore, you have neither more nor less than St. Peter or St. John, nor do you have any more or less than any of your fellow Christians.  Let there be no envy or jealousy among you, nor any arrogance or pride.  If you must compete, do so in love and service for each other.  Glorify the Lord Jesus with your body, with all your words and actions, whether in life or in death, in whatever your particular calling may be.  For in the Word of the Gospel, the Glory of God in Christ Jesus, your Savior, is given to you by His grace.  It is given to you in the flesh, in the cleansing of your body and soul, and in the food and drink of His Body and Blood, conceived and born of St. Mary.

Blessed indeed is the womb that bore Him and the breasts that nursed the infant Christ Child.  Yes, indeed.  But all the more blessed are she and you and all who hear and believe the Word of Christ and keep it in true faith, who ponder it in heart and mind, and who treasure it in body and soul.

Blessed, too, are the eyes of the holy Apostles who saw the Lord; and blessed are their ears which heard Him.  And yet, so says the Lord Himself, more blessed are those who have not seen with their eyes, but who have believed the testimony of the apostolic preaching, who hear and follow the voice of the Good Shepherd in the Word of His bond-servants in every age.

Blessed are those who were given not only to preach and to teach but to write the Holy Scriptures — St. John the foremost among the Twelve, who wrote the Gospel, three Epistles, and the Book of the Revelation.  But no less blessed are those who read and those who hear those Scriptures.

Here in the preaching and hearing of this Word is your personal relationship with Jesus.  Here is your friendship with God, who has a body and a face, a voice of love, and a hand to hold on to.  Not only does He hear and answer your prayers in peace, but He speaks to you in mercy.  His Word enters by way of your ears into your heart and mind, your body and soul, unto the life everlasting.

And here within the fellowship of His Church there is for you an intimacy both more tender and more secure than any other.  For here in the Lord’s Supper, at His Table, you recline upon His breast and find your Sabbath Rest in Him, even as He feeds you with His Body and His Blood.  In Him, too, you find your place in the bosom of His God and Father in heaven.

Within His Body you are loved, and so do you love in return. There is nothing unrequited here.  You love Him because He first loves you.  And in loving this dear Lord Jesus Christ, you love both God and Man.  In Him, therefore, you learn to love your neighbor as yourself; and no less do your brothers and sisters in Christ love you.  Whether married or unmarried, young or old, orphaned, widowed, or bereft, you belong to the fellowship of Christ and to the Family of His Father.

It is for that purpose that God has given you His Son, and that He speaks to you by His Son; and it is for that same holy purpose that God the Son, Christ Jesus, has given you His servant John, and that He speaks to you by that holy Apostle and Evangelist.  He has caused His Word to be written, and He causes that same Word to be preached in this place, that you may receive His forgiveness, and by His forgiveness believe in Him, and, believing in Him, have life in His Name.

That Life is surely yours in the Word of Christ.  It rings even now in your ears, it echos upon your lips, and it abides within your body and soul.  Thus do St. John and the whole glorious company of the Apostles rejoice in the fullness of joy, and all the angels and archangels of heaven rejoice with them.  And so do we also give thanks and praise to our Lord Jesus, the Word-made-Flesh, who with His Father and the Holy Spirit is the one true God, both now and forever and ever.

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

Living the Love Story of the Word Made Flesh

In a popular children’s book, which some of you have read, young Bastian Balthazar Bux is chased by bullies into an old and mysterious book store.  As he waits inside, hiding from those who pursue him, Bastian discovers an intriguing book: The Neverending Story.  On the cover is an oval, formed by two snakes, each swallowing the tail of the other.  After learning that this book is not for sale “at any price,” Bastian takes the book and runs without stopping all the way to school.  Instead of going to class, he hides in the attic and begins to read the book.

At first, The Neverending Story seems normal enough.  But as Bastian continues to read, he begins to notice the unusual intensity of the book: how gripping it is, and how realistic it seems.  At one point, startled by an event in the story, Bastian lets out an audible cry of fear — and the characters in the story hear his cry!  Gradually, Bastian begins to feel that he has somehow become a part of the story.  Then comes the turning point, when Bastian finds himself reading his own story in the pages of the book, and he realizes that he has become one of the characters:

As Bastian read [the details of his own story] and listened to the deep, dark voice of the Old Man of Wandering Mountain, a roaring started up in his ears and he saw spots before his eyes.

Why, this was all about him!  And it was the Neverending Story.  He, Bastian, was a character in the book which until now he had thought he was reading.  And heaven only knew who else might be reading it at the exact same time, also supposing himself to be just a reader.

After some initial fear and hesitation, Bastian plunges headlong into the story, and so it continues.  For the remainder of the book, he is no longer reading the story but living it for himself.  The Neverending Story has become the story of Bastian Balthazar Bux.

Of course, this is a fictional children’s story; a wonderful story, nothing more.  But the Apostle and Evangelist, St. John, has written a real neverending story for you, which is not only historical non-fiction but the very Truth itself.  It is the “story” of the Holy Triune God in human flesh and blood.  For He who was, and is, and is to come, who was in the beginning with God, who is God, by whom all things are made, He has taken your life to be His own, so that you might receive His Life and partake of His divine nature by His grace through faith in His Word of the Gospel.

This is the divine Glory of the Holy Trinity, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given His only-begotten Son for you and all people; that the Son has come down from heaven, become flesh of the Virgin Mary, and humbled Himself as a Servant unto the death of His Cross; and that the Holy Spirit now reveals to you and shares with you the Love of God in Christ within His Holy Christian Church through the Holy Apostolic Ministry of preaching and the Sacraments.

It is that ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in making Christ known to you and sharing Him with you that we celebrate with thanksgiving in the Feast of St. John, the Apostle and Evangelist.  For it is by and through the ministry of St. John and the other Apostles that the “story” of Christ Jesus has been given to you, and is told to you in such a way that you may live that story in and with Him.

St. John was well-equipped to serve in this way by his close proximity to Jesus Christ, leaning on His bosom, for example, at the Holy Supper.  He is an eyewitness of Christ and His story, as he describes so eloquently in both his Gospel and Epistle.  Along with his brother James and Simon Peter, St. John is one of those “inner three” who were privy to the great catch of fish, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the Transfiguration, and the agony of Jesus in the Garden.  As St. John writes concerning the incarnate Word, he heard it with his ears; he looked at it and saw it with his eyes; and he handled the very flesh and blood of God Himself.

Even prior to his Divine Call and Ordination to the Holy Office of Apostle and Evangelist, St. John was called to be a disciple of Christ Jesus.  And to be such a disciple, beloved of the Lord, is the way that you also are called to learn the story of Jesus, to receive His story as your own, and to enter into that story as your new and neverending real life in Him.

Recall that St. John scarcely ever refers to himself by name: never at all in his Gospel or Epistles, and only a few times in the Apocalypse.  Throughout the Holy Gospel, he describes himself simply as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.”  And as such, he provides a place for you to find yourself in the Gospel, that you also should be a recipient of Jesus’ love and follow after Him as a disciple.

Such words can make you wistful, though; they are so tender and seem almost too good to be true. So, for example, having heard that he would suffer and die for the glory of God, St. Peter turned to see “the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had leaned on His bosom at the Supper.”  And you know already in your heart how Peter must have been feeling, and what he ached for in himself.

Do you not long for such genuine intimacy and real friendship in your own life?  And does it not often seem so elusive and beyond your reach?  Everyone is so afraid and guarded, so focused on the self and so wary of others, that camaraderie and companionship are rare.  Too many men are locked away in the self-made prisons of their own private pursuits and a splendid isolationism which is far more selfish than splendid.  And too many women have taught themselves to hide and protect their feelings, and not to entrust their hearts to anyone, lest they be hurt yet again.

But you have been created by the Holy Triune God to be loved by Him, and to love one another in His divine Image and Likeness.  It never has been good for the man to be alone, nor the woman, either.  Even in your selfishness and sin, you still know that, and you retain some sense of your need to live in a fellowship of love with God and with your neighbors.  To love and to be loved.

Knowing your need for love is one thing.  But of course, love is one thing in particular that you cannot find or manage on your own.  And left to yourself, you will not find the love that you need because your sins and unbelief have separated you from the Lord your God and from each other.

The remedy and the solution, and the Love that you need, are found only in Christ Jesus, in being “the disciple whom He loves.”  But what does that even mean?  And how does that happen?

To begin with, understand that you are already loved by Jesus!  Not because of who you are, nor because of anything that you have done, but entirely because of who He is and all that He has done for you.  You are called to be His disciple, not to earn His love, but because He loves you; for His desire is that you should be with Him where He is, living with Him in the bosom of His Father.

The Christian author, C. S. Lewis, in his wonderful little book on the different kinds of love, suggests that you are not able to love, nor do you even know how to love, until you have learned to receive and rely upon the Love that God has for you in Christ Jesus.  As St. John the Apostle has also written, so simply and so well, “We love because He first loved us.”  For God is Love.

That very Love which defines the Holy Trinity — the divine, eternal Love between the Father and His Son in the Holy Spirit — has been lived and written for you, as the most perfect Love Story of all, in the flesh-and-blood story of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became flesh and suffered death for you and your salvation.  It is written for you in His Flesh and with His Blood: In His Incarnation and Holy Nativity, upon His Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead.  It is written for you in the Holy Scriptures, as by St. John and the other Apostles and Evangelists.  And it is written for you in the ministry and preaching of the Holy Gospel, in the means of grace, as you are baptized into Christ, absolved in His Name, and given to eat His Body and to drink His Blood.

To be loved by the Lord in this way is how and why you love Him in return; and you learn from Him, as a beloved disciple, to live and love as He does; to love your neighbor as Jesus loves you.

To be a disciple is far more than learning rules and regulations; and it is far more than memorizing facts and information.  To be a disciple is a way of life, a way of living in the world as a child of God in Christ; so that, whoever you are, whatever you do, you live as Jesus for your neighbor.

As C. S. Lewis goes on to say: “Our imitation of God [and His Love] in this life . . . must be an imitation of God incarnate: our model is the Jesus, not only of Calvary, but of the workshop, the roads, the crowds, the clamorous demands and surly oppositions, the lack of all peace and privacy, the interruptions.  For this, so strangely unlike anything we can attribute to the Divine life in itself, is apparently not only like, but is, the Divine life operating under human conditions.”

You live and love as a disciple within your own particular place in life.  It is not the same for Peter as it is for John.  One will suffer and die for the glory of God, the other will live to be an old man to the glory of God.  Likewise, it is not the same for you as it is for your neighbor.  But, oh, how hard it is to live content and happy with what you have been given and what you are called to do.

To say “the grass is always greener,” is simply to admit that you make a habit of coveting your neighbor’s life, his house, spouse, and reputation.  Instead of giving thanks to God for all that He has given you and called you to be and do, you crave and you resent what He has given to others.

Although it is so commonplace, and you cannot deny that it is always lurking in the depths of your heart and the back of your mind, such envy and jealousy and covetous desire is idolatrous and the root of all temptation and sin.  It is the polar opposite of love for God and for your neighbor!  And it goes to show how impossible it is for you to live and to love as a disciple of Jesus by your own effort.  You cannot live in faith and love, except that He comes to love you with His forgiveness and to give you Life in His own flesh and blood.  For He is the Image of God in whom you live.

It is for this reason, and to this purpose, that St. John was called to his own office and station in life as an Apostle and Evangelist.  He was called, ordained, and sent to be a minister of Christ and a pastor of His Church.  Not of a single congregation, but of the whole Church on earth, as part of the foundation of Prophets and Apostles in Christ, especially through his recorded Word of the New Testament Scriptures — the Holy Gospel, three Epistles, and the Book of the Revelation.

It is by this Word of the Lord, which St. John and his fellows have written, that pastors to this day, and even to the close of the age, preach one and the same Lord Jesus Christ to His Church.  It is by this Word of the Lord that we pastors follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, baptizing and teaching the disciples of Christ Jesus, handing over His Body and pouring out His Blood for them to eat and to drink.  And St. John the Apostle has identified the lofty purpose and potential of this Word that he has written: “That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ; and that, believing, you may have life in His Name; that you may have fellowship with the Father and His Son.”

This great gift of Life with the Lord your God is what your true Love gives to you on this Third Day of Christmas.  For it is by this Word of the Word-made-Flesh that His story is your story.

And this telling of His story — the preaching of His Gospel and the celebration of His Supper — these are the many other things which Jesus is still doing, here and now, and all over the world.

As for you, beloved disciple of Jesus, it is your single most important calling that you should hear His Word, receive His gifts, rely upon His Gospel, and thus abide in Him throughout your life on earth, unto the Resurrection of your body and the life everlasting of your body and soul in Him.  You embrace Him, and you rest yourself in Him, and you cling to Him as your beloved Lord, by receiving and trusting and giving thanks for the Love that He lavishes upon you in His preaching of forgiveness, in the giving of His Body and His Blood for your life and your salvation.

Thus are you tenderly invited to recline here on the bosom of your dear Lord Jesus, here at His Holy Supper.  Here by the Atonement of His Cross and the Righteousness of His Resurrection from the dead, there are no doubts, denials, or questions of betrayal, but only the most precious Gifts of His divine and holy love, which are given and poured out for you and for the many.  So it is that, living and believing in Him, you shall never die.  For even though your body dies and is buried, yet shall you be raised to live with Christ Jesus in body and soul, evermore and evermore.

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