The Catechesis of the Cross of Christ

They are grown men, disciples of Jesus and associates of the Apostles; and they were evidently catechized, for they know the facts of His Life, His Cross and Passion, and even the report of His Resurrection from the dead.  They give a fair and accurate summary of the Gospel to this point, a decent early Creed, as it were.  And yet, they have given up hope.  They have failed to believe the Holy Scriptures and the Word concerning Jesus of Nazareth.  They do not comprehend what they already know.  Instead, they are simply foolish and sad.

So it is for you, as well.  Left to your own intelligence and ingenuity, with all the information you posses, you still don’t know where Jesus is, nor can you find Him or figure Him out on your own.  You’ve read the Book and seen the Movie, but you still seem to have lost the plot, and you’re not at all sure of the ending, whether the story is actually over, or if the sequel is just getting started.

Everyone deals with it differently.  We heard that last week, too, in the case of Thomas.  Some hide themselves away, and others go off wandering.  You’ve got your own personality; which isn’t the answer, either, no more than academic achievement, artistic ability, or athletic accomplishment.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert.  You won’t “get” Jesus on your own.

Maybe you’re restless and frantic, always searching for some answers to your endless questions.  Or maybe you’re at a standstill, stuck with what you’ve got and where you’re at, and paralyzed by a sadness that you just can’t seem to shake.  Either way — whether you presume to know where you’re going, or you know yourself to be lost and confused — your sinful heart and stubborn head are thick and slow, foolish and hard, and your eyes are not able to perceive or recognize the Truth.

Even the Holy Scriptures would be and remain a closed book to you, an indecipherable mystery, if not for the preaching of the Gospel of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.  And as it is, until He opens up those sacred Scriptures to you, Him you cannot see, and His Body you can’t find.

But now, thanks be to God, your dear Lord Jesus Christ does not leave you alone or on your own.

To begin with, He provides companions for your journey, who may be just as lost and foolish, just as confused and sad as you are, but who engage you in discussion of Christ Jesus.  And do not underestimate the power of sharing those stories of Jesus — of arguing, debating, rehearsing, and reveling in those things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, even when they seem so hard and strange.  Already in speaking aloud those things — His mighty Word and deeds, His Cross and Passion, and the news of His Resurrection — even before you are able to comprehend or believe any of it — He has drawn near and joined Himself to you, and He shares the journey with you, in those words.

And though you may suppose yourself to know better, and to be headed home by some familiar well-worn path, it is the same Lord Jesus Christ who takes you and your companions and your conversation into hand, who leads you and guides you to the Place that He has prepared for you.

Then again, you might wonder, in light of this Holy Gospel, is it catechesis or “cat-and-mouse” that the Lord Jesus engages with you?  After all, He seems a bit sneaky and kind of tricky in some of His words and actions on the road to Emmaus.  And so it is that, now as then, you don’t even realize what’s going on until, in retrospect, you recognize what He’s been doing all along.

The fact of the matter is that He opens up the Scriptures to you by the Way of the Cross.

It’s not that He’s being deliberately “mysterious” or trying to be difficult, as though to make fun of you, to tease you or trick you.  But the Mystery of His Cross as the Way of divine Glory cannot be learned or understood, except by putting you to death and raising you up with Christ Jesus.

It is not by intelligence or information, but solely by His Cross and Resurrection, by repentance and faith in His forgiveness of your sins, that you enter the Kingdom of God with the Lord Jesus.

Which is to say that you also enter into His Glory through suffering.

You suffer disappointment, hurt, and loss, the shattering of your hopes and aspirations, the death of your false gods.  You are confronted with your own foolishness and failings, with the tragedy of your faithless unbelief and the deadly consequences of your sin, with the frail mortality of your fallen flesh, and with the fact that you cannot rescue or redeem yourself from death and the grave.

Then, when you have been cut to the quick, and your hard heart and thick head have been pierced by the condemnation of your sin and the conviction of death — when your self-chosen journey has been halted, and you’ve been stopped in your sad tracks — the Lord Jesus raises you up and leads you forward in His Resurrection from the dead, on His journey back to God the Father in heaven.

He brings you to the portal that leads to bliss untold.  But the Way into such grace and glory of God in Christ is still not by sight, but by faith in His Word of the Cross.

That is why He often seems to be going farther, to be moving on without you, and to be leaving you behind, so that it feels like you’re right back to being on your own again.

This, too, is the Cross, which puts your pride and your self to death and teaches you to pray, to call upon the Name of the Lord, to cling to Him by faith, and to open up your heart and home to Him.

Even such invitations are not your own work but the consequence and outcome of His work in you.

You often don’t even know what you’re really asking when you ask Him in to stay with you, because you’re simply feeling your way forward by faith in His Word, living under the Cross and loving your neighbor on the Way, as the Lord your God has taught you to do by His love for you.

It is another Mystery of the Cross, and of faith in the Cross, that your fumbling efforts, your choices and decisions in the waning light of day, in the darkness on the edge of town, and even your feeble cries for help from out of the depths, are all taken up into the mercies of Christ Jesus and turned into the working out of His own gracious purposes for you and for your neighbors.

Thus, when you suppose that you have invited Him to be your guest, and that you will serve and care for Him — as you actually should do for one another, living as brothers and sisters in the unity of Christ Jesus and the harmony of His Love — suddenly you find that He is your Host; that you are His guest, living in His House and reclining at His Table; and that He is here serving you by His grace with the rich fruits of His own Cross and Passion.

Here, then, is where you see Him: in the Breaking of the Bread.  Here is where His Body is found, no longer dead and buried, but crucified and risen, living and life-giving.  The mysterious Stranger vanishes from sight, but He is not gone.  He is recognized and known, received with thanksgiving, and loved — as He first loves you — in the Holy Communion of His Body and His Blood.

Here, therefore, is where your sadness vanishes and the joy of the Cross is realized.

For this Jesus who was crucified, He is the Redeemer of Israel whom God the Father has raised from the dead and made both Lord and Christ.

He has redeemed you also from sin and death, and from the futile path and patterns of life that you inherited from your mortal parents; not with perishable coins or commodities, but with His own holy and precious Blood, by His innocent suffering and death upon the Cross.

It is the Body and Blood of this Lamb of God which are given and poured out for you here at His Table in His House: For you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins, and for eternal life and everlasting salvation with Him as a member of His Body.  Nothing could be more clear from this Emmaus Gospel than the central importance and definitive significance of this Holy Communion, wherein you enter into the Glory of Christ Jesus by the way and means of His Cross.

But do take note, all of you disciples of Emmaus, that recognizing and receiving the crucified and risen Lord Jesus — here at His Altar in His Church — does not result in holing up inside, circling the wagons around you, and hiding yourself away from the world within this house and home.

No, although the day is far spent and evening is at hand, it is yet this very Hour that you are raised up and returned to the doctrine and fellowship of the Holy Apostles, to the Holy Communion of all saints in Christ Jesus, to the true Jerusalem of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

Which is to say that, while it is still day, even at this late hour, until that night comes when no one can work, you seek out your fellow Christians, and you serve them as you are able with your words and deeds of peace and joy, of faith, hope, and love — even as they also serve you as companions on the Way with their mutual confession and ongoing discussion of Christ Jesus.

As you have communion with one another in the one Body of Christ, in the New Testament of His Blood, so also share that fellowship in your life together.  For the Lord your God has called you to Himself, even from far away — both you and your children — to find a new life, a new home and family, with one God and Father in Christ Jesus.

You are baptized into Him, anointed and filled by His Holy Spirit.  So are you one Body in Him, and you are the Body of Christ for one another.  As you see Him and receive Him in the Breaking of the Bread, so do you see and receive Him in each other, by His grace, in mercy and in peace.

Lift up your head and rejoice, dear friends of God, beloved of the Lord!  For He is here with you, and you are with Him on the Way; not only to and from Emmaus, but unto the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting in the midst of His Jerusalem: on earth even now, as it is in heaven.

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

Where the Word and Wounds of Jesus Are

Maybe it was just too painful to be there with the rest of them.  He was just too sad, and it hurt too much to be reminded of the time they had all spent together with Jesus.  Perhaps he was ashamed of how they fled at the onset of the Passion, or too ashamed of himself to be seen by anyone else.  He may have been in shock at what had happened, and wanted to be left alone with his thoughts, to sort them out and get his head on straight.  We are not told the reasons why he wasn’t there.

Was he braver than the other disciples?  Or was he hiding somewhere else, just as frightened as the rest of them?  Or, was he out in the open, perhaps even hoping to get himself arrested, to follow after Jesus into death, as he had said when they returned to Judea after Lazarus had died?

Whatever his purpose, intentions, or excuses may have been, he wasn’t where he should have been.  He wasn’t where the disciples of Jesus were gathered.

It is just as foolish to look for Jesus where He is not to be found, as it is to doubt and deny Him where He does reveal and give Himself to His disciples.  It is all the more foolish not to look for Him at all, no matter whether you proceed in self-confidence and bravado or in faithless despair.

But, so that you not be left to your own devices, lost and alone, the Ministry of the Holy Gospel testifies to the Truth, and calls you by way of repentance to the place where Jesus is found — or, to say it better, to the place where He finds you — in order that you may believe and have life in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, through His forgiveness of your sins and His gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Word of Christ, the preaching of His Gospel, in particular, the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name, that raises you from death to life; that removes your fear and replaces it with peace; that brings you from deep sadness to great joy; that changes your doubts and terrible uncertainty into confidence and courage; that converts you from false belief to faith.

Genuine faith in the genuine Christ makes all the difference in this world, and also for the next.  But what is the content of such faith?  It is not simply that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was a real person; nor simply that He was crucified, dead, and buried; nor even simply that He rose from the dead.  It includes and requires all of those basic historical facts, to be sure.  But genuine faith in Christ believes and trusts that He is the very Son of God, sent by the Father in the flesh; that He is your Lord and your God, who was crucified for the forgiveness of your sins, and raised up by God the Father as your Righteousness and Holiness; and that He is here for you, in and with His Word of the Gospel, and with His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for your salvation.

What such faith receives and clings to is the Lord your God Himself in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, and so also the Holy Spirit, the Author and Giver of Life, in Christ’s Word of forgiveness.

This is the true faith which you need the most, upon which everything else depends, as it depends upon Christ Jesus.  By such faith you live in Him, as He Himself is risen from the dead; you have Peace with God, instead of anxiety and dread, and real joy instead of sorrow and depression.

And by such faith you confess the Name of the Lord Jesus, with which you are named in Baptism. You worship and adore Him as the Lord your God, and you gladly obey His commandments, because you have a new and living hope in Him, in His crucified and risen Body.

Where faith is first of all an active passivity, which hears, receives, and trusts in God, it is also then a busy and active thing which lives and works to the Glory of His Name.  In fact, it is the nature of faith to live, and it is only by faith that you do live, because Life itself is found only with God, by the gift of His Word and Holy Spirit, in the flesh and blood of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus.

If you desire Life, it is yours by faith in Christ Jesus.  And as you have such faith, so do you live.

The most urgent and most necessary thing — honestly, the only thing that finally matters at all — is that you be found in the Body of Christ Jesus, anointed and filled by His Holy Spirit.  Nothing else matters.  Leastwise nothing else has any real meaning or lasting purpose outside of the Body of Christ.  Apart from Him, devoid of His Spirit, you have no life and no salvation, but only doubt and despair, death and damnation — even if you do manage to fool yourself for a little while.

The biggest and most compelling questions are: Where and how do you find Him and find yourself in Him?  How shall you come to faith in Him, and so live the Life which is with God in Christ?

It is by the Spirit of Christ Jesus that you have such faith and life in Him, that is, by the Holy Spirit who is actively present and at work in the preaching and ministry of those whom Christ sends in His Name and stead to serve and care for His Church on earth with His Word of the Gospel.

By this Ministry of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit is given and bestowed upon you with His forgiveness of all your sins.  You are recreated by this Spirit of God, who breathes in you through the Word of the Gospel; and you are granted newness of life in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, because your wounds of body and soul are healed by His wounds, by the Fruits of His Passion.

Hear and heed the Holy Scriptures, and long for the pure Spiritual Milk of the Lord’s Word.  Like a newborn baby, drink deeply from the fountain of Life here at the Lord’s Altar, where He opens up His wounded hands and side to you now.  Call upon His holy Name, as He has called you by His Name in your one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and again and again in Holy Absolution.

Search for the Lord and His strength, and seek His face always, in His Holy Covenant which He has established forever.  Remember what He has done and said, as He remembers you in mercy — as He speaks His Word of Peace which does and gives what He says — and as He gives to you His Body and pours out for you the Cup which is the New Covenant in His Blood.

Here is where the disciples of Jesus are, because this is where He comes and takes His stand and gives Himself to you with tender mercy and compassion, with patience for your doubts and fears and failings, and with forgiveness for your sins.  This is where He gives you His Body to eat, that you may belong to His Body and abide in Him by faith in body and soul, unto the Life everlasting.

Apart from Christ Jesus, outside of His Body, sins are retained, and you are left in the deadly sorrow and devastating loneliness of unbelief.  But here in the Divine Service you receive the eyewitness testimony of the Holy Apostles who saw the crucified and risen Lord Jesus and ate and drank with Him.  By their Word, by their proclamation of His death, and by their confession of His Resurrection from the dead — though you cannot see Him, you believe Him, and you love Him.  You live in Him by faith, and you rejoice in His salvation to the praise and glory of His Name.

So it is, by the Word of His Apostles, that the Lord grants you repentance and new birth in His own Cross and Resurrection.  Day by day you die with Him, and you are born again through the rebirth of His Resurrection unto newness of life and a new hope.  You shall not be put to shame.  Certainly not by Christ Jesus, who comes to you here to speak His Peace and Joy and Holy Spirit into your ears, and into your body and soul.  So faithful is He, that the trying and testing of your faith shall not be permitted to rob you of your hope, but shall only be allowed to purify and strengthen your faith, hope, and love in this Lord Jesus Christ, unto the resurrection of your body to eternal Life.

Reach here your hand and see.  Lay hold of the Body of Christ Jesus and believe.  Take up the Cup of Salvation and call on the Name of the Lord, for everyone who calls on Him shall be saved.

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

The Little Things That Give You Away

So, my friend Alan tagged me on a Facebook Music Challenge, and he surely knew what kind of monster he would be creating in doing so. The challenge was to come up with the answers to a series of thirty questions by shuffling up my entire music library (as if!) and then simply filling in the first thirty songs in the queue in response to the questions. I did that, more or less, although it's actually not possible to shuffle my entire music collection at once, so I started with a playlist of some 5,000+ songs and shuffled that. I also fudged a bit on the rules, because a few of the songs that showed up randomly in the queue would have seemed somewhat risque being taken out of context and applied in answer to the questions they would otherwise have "answered." Aside from those caveats, I played along as requested, and the results were interesting. I was rather surprised at how many of the songs actually made a certain kind of sense in response to the questions. In other cases, not so much! And it became very clear, all things considered, that this random process was not answering very accurately.

Not content with the random answers of veritable strangers, I determined to consult some of my closest friends and constant companions — that is to say, a collection of my favorite artists, whose music is basically the soundtrack of my life, anyway — to see what they might have to say in response to the thirty questions. Not trusting this random shuffling business, I looked at each question and did my best to answer it with a song title from each of the artists I consulted. This certainly resulted in a far more accurate body of data.

Now, given that dozens of artists were consulted, and especially because not all of the songs were equally apropos as answers to the questions at hand, I went back through all of the answers and chose the top twelve responses to each question, organizing them according to some kind of coherent order. The final results of this rather extended experiment in responding to the original Facebook challenge are actually somewhat interesting, and if nothing else, the particular artists and songs will be of some interest to some of my friends and fellow music aficionados, anyway.

Okay, then, here are the thirty questions, followed in each case by the original "random" answer in first position, and then by the twelve answers obtained from a conglomerate of my favorite artists. I expect that those who know me well will recognize me in the answers; and it will probably not be hard for people to discern that I was working my way through all of this in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and quarantine lockdown of life as we usually know it. C'est la vie! It's "the little things that give you away" (see the final question).

(1.) IF SOMEONE SAYS, “IS THIS OKAY?” YOU SAY:

“Play the Game Tonight” (Kansas)

“I Don’t Know” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Some Of It” (Eric Church)

“No Guarantees” (Cody Jinks)

“Feels Good at First” (Train)

“Only Time Will Tell” (Asia)

“We Can Work It Out” (The Beatles)

“I Dare You” (Shinedown)

“Get on Your Boots” (U2)

“Go Your Own Way” (Fleetwood Mac)

“Just ‘Cos You Can Don’t Mean You Should” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Should’ve Said No” (Taylor Swift)

“Make It Right” (Alter Bridge)

(2.) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

“I Am a Rock” (Simon & Garfunkel)

“Complicated” (Bon Jovi)

“Sad But True” (Metallica)

“I Go to Extremes” (Billy Joel)

“Dislocated Boy” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Stranger Inside” (Shinedown)

“Mixed Drinks About Feelings” (Eric Church)

“Diary of a Madman” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“The Battle of Evermore” (Led Zeppelin)

“The Spirit of Radio” (Rush)

“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” (Keith Urban)

“Humble and Kind” (Tim McGraw)

“Metalingus” (Alter Bridge)

(3.) WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GIRL?

“Metal Meltdown” (Judas Priest)

“Honesty” (Billy Joel)

“Words of Love” (The Beatles)

“Lasagna” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Eye of the Beholder” (Metallica)

“Something to Love” (Jason Isbell)

“Something to Believe In” (Bon Jovi)

“Same Kind of Crazy as Me” (Cody Jinks)

“Different Shades of Blue” (Joe Bonamassa)

“It’s Nice to Have a Friend” (Taylor Swift)

“The Conversation” (Mat Kearney)

“Somebody to Love” (Queen)

“Ordinary Love” (U2)

(4.) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

“Surfing with the Alien” (Joe Satriani)

“White & Nerdy” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Dazed and Confused” (Led Zeppelin)

“Running on Empty” (Jackson Browne)

“Turtles All the Way Down” (Sturgill Simpson)

“Down in a Hole” (Jason Isbell)

“I’m Going Slightly Mad” (Queen)

“I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” (U2)

“Ready for the Times to Get Better” (Cody Jinks)

“I’m Alive” (Shinedown)

“Holdin’ My Own” (Eric Church)

“Stronger Now in Broken Places” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Life Must Go On” (Alter Bridge)

(5.) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?

“Hard Work” (Ella Henderson)

“Carpe Diem Baby” (Metallica)

“Tour of Duty” (Jason Isbell)

“Keeping the Faith” (Billy Joel)

“Chasing the Light” (Mat Kearney)

“Driving Towards the Daylight” (Joe Bonamassa)

“I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” (The Beatles)

“Words Are Medicine” (Tim McGraw)

“Speak Now” (Taylor Swift)

“Learn My Lesson” (Daughtry)

“Love Alone Is Worth the Fight” (Switchfoot)

“Coming Home” (Alter Bridge)

“Family Table” (Zac Brown Band)

(6.) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

“Love Me If You Can” (Toby Keith)

“Hold on Loosely” (.38 Special)

“Get Out of Your Own Way” (U2)

“Shake It Off” (Taylor Swift)

“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey)

“Every Dog Has Its Day” (Toby Keith)

“Stick to Your Guns” (Bon Jovi)

“Give All You Can” (Cody Jinks)

“Live Like You Were Dying” (Tim McGraw)

“Keep It Between the Lines” (Sturgill Simpson)

“How Did You Love” (Shinedown)

“Peace Is Free” (Black Stone Cherry)

“All Ends Well” (Alter Bridge)

(7.) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

“Simple Man” (Shinedown)

“Heavenly Soul” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Livin’ on a Prayer” (Bon Jovi)

“Holy Diver” (Dio)

“Reverend Wrinkle” (Black Stone Cherry)

“Pretty Fly for a Rabbi” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Last of My Kind” (Jason Isbell)

“Mysterious Ways” (U2)

“Hardwired” (Metallica)

“The Sentinel” (Judas Priest)

“Ordinary Man” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Can’t Tell Me Nothin’” (Tim McGraw)

“Broke Record” (Eric Church)

(8.) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

“Things” (Barenaked Ladies)

“If You Only Knew” (Shinedown)

“My Life” (Billy Joel)

“Yesterday” (The Beatles)

“What I Almost Was” (Eric Church)

“The Gift of Music” (Theocracy)

“The Prophet’s Song” (Queen)

“The Writing on the Wall” (Alter Bridge)

“Things My Father Said” (Black Stone Cherry)

“What I Meant to Say” (Daughtry)

“Word Crimes” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“My Little Man” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“My Little Girl” (Tim McGraw)

(9.) WHAT IS 2 + 2?

“‘Til Summer Comes Around” (Keith Urban)

“No Surprise” (Daughtry)

“It All Adds Up” (Shinedown)

“22” (Taylor Swift) (Obviously!)

“What I’ve Known for a Very Long Time” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Everything You Know Is Wrong” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Misunderstood” (Bon Jovi)

“That’s Damn Rock & Roll” (Eric Church)

“Currency in a Bankrupt World” (Theocracy)

“Two Hearts” (Mat Kearney)

“Four Sticks” (Led Zeppelin)

“To Be Loved” (Train)

“United” (Judas Priest)

(10.) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

“Something to Believe In” (Poison)

“Respect” (Train)

“Homeboy” (Eric Church)

“We Get By” (Cody Jinks)

“A Matter of Trust” (Billy Joel)

“Thick as Thieves” (Shinedown)

“Hero of the Day” (Metallica)

“Iron Man” (Black Sabbath)

“Fearless” (Taylor Swift)

“Way Cool Jr.” (Ratt)

“New World Man” (Rush)

“Happier Times” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Thank You” (Led Zeppelin)

(11.) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

“Little Bit of Everything” (Keith Urban)

“Oh Beautiful” (Joe Bonamassa)

“She’s Always a Woman” (Billy Joel)

“My Champion” (Alter Bridge)

“Believer” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Solid” (Eric Church)

“Style” (Taylor Swift)

“My World” (Metallica)

“All American Girl” (Train)

“We’re Gonna Groove” (Led Zeppelin)

“You Had Me from Hello” (Bon Jovi)

“Never Gonna Let Go” (Shinedown)

“Lifers” (Cody Jinks)

(12.) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

“All the Way from New York” (Wilson Phillips)

“Loud and Heavy” (Cody Jinks)

“Something More Than Free” (Jason Isbell)

“The Long and Winding Road” (The Beatles)

“It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” (AC/DC)

“First World Problems” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Mr. Misunderstood” (Eric Church)

“Crazy Train” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“There and Back Again” (Daughtry)

“Stairway to Heaven” (Led Zeppelin)

“Running to Stand Still” (U2)

“I’m Still Standing” (Elton John)

“The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades” (Timbuk 3)

(13.) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

“I Use What I Got” (Jason Aldean)

“Home” (Alter Bridge)

“Hangin’ Around” (Eric Church)

“Someone to You” (Cody Jinks)

“Better Version” (Shinedown)

“An Innocent Man” (Billy Joel)

“Killer of Giants” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Master of Puppets” (Metallica)

“Pinball Wizard” (Elton John / The Who)

“Last Man Standing” (Bon Jovi)

“Paperback Writer” (The Beatles)

“Man of Many Words” (Joe Bonamassa)

“The Master Storyteller” (Theocracy)

(14.) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

“Hide in the Fairytale” (Theocracy)

“Hey, Soul Sister” (Train)

“Good Day Sunshine” (The Beatles)

“You Take My Breath Away” (Queen)

“You Make It Look So Easy” (Eric Church)

“Lay Your World on Me” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Thank You for Loving Me” (Bon Jovi)

“You’re the Best Thing About Me” (U2)

“You’re My Better Half” (Keith Urban)

“I Can’t Quit You Baby” (Led Zeppelin)

“It’s Your World” (Tim McGraw)

“I’ll Follow You” (Shinedown)

“You’re My Home” (Billy Joel)

(15.) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

“Call Me the Breeze” (John Mayer)

“Ricky” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Native Son” (Alter Bridge)

“Original of the Species” (U2)

“And the Cradle Will Rock” (Van Halen)

“Family Tree ” (Black Stone Cherry / Megadeth)

“Flagship” (Jason Isbell)

“Atlas, Rise!” (Metallica)

“Brilliant” (Shinedown)

“A Good Heart” (Elton John)

“Working Man” (Rush)

“Who Says You Can’t Go Home” (Bon Jovi)

“Wish You Were Here” (Cody Jinks / Pink Floyd)

(16.) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

“I Can’t Help Myself” (Van Zant)

“Springsteen” (Eric Church)

“The Saga Begins” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Start of Something Good” (Daughtry)

“A Really Cool Dance Song” (Bowling for Soup)

“I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” (The Beatles)

“I’ll Be There for You” (Bon Jovi)

“Not Going Away” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Always with Me, Always with You” (Joe Satriani)

“Just Between You and Me” (April Wine)

“Wonderful Life” (Alter Bridge)

“Heartbeat” (Mat Kearney)

“Unity” (Shinedown)

(17.) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

“Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” (U2)

“Kyrie” (Mr. Mister)

“And So It Goes” (Billy Joel)

“Under the Graveyard” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)” (Elton John)

“Your Time Is Gonna Come” (Led Zeppelin)

“For Whom the Bell Tolls” (Metallica)

“Dust in the Wind” (Kansas)

“Epitaph” (Judas Priest)

“Dead But Rising” (Volbeat)

“Bridge to Better Days” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Where the Streets Have No Name” (U2)

“You Will Be Remembered” (Alter Bridge)

(18.) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

“Killing Is My Business . . . And Business Is Good” (Megadeth)

“Redemption” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Rock and Roll” (Cody Jinks / Led Zeppelin)

“Crazy Babies” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Children of Children” (Jason Isbell)

“I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” (Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)

“The Human Radio” (Shinedown)

“Rock & Roll Music” (The Beatles)

“Damn Country Music” (Tim McGraw)

“Watch Your Words” (Alter Bridge)

“Long Live Rock & Roll” (Daughtry)

“Live Those Songs” (Kenny Chesney)

“It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me” (Billy Joel)

(19.) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

“A Man and a Woman” (U2)

“Stuff of Legends” (Daughtry)

“Kings & Queens” (Mat Kearney)

“Hippies and Cowboys” (Cody Jinks)

“Beautiful People” (Tim McGraw)

“Crows on a Wire” (Alter Bridge)

“Good Company” (Queen)

“Guys Like Me” (Eric Church)

“This Is Our House” (Bon Jovi)

“I’ve Loved These Days” (Billy Joel)

“Monsters of Rock” (Judas Priest)

“Junkies for Fame” (Shinedown)

“We Are the Kings” (Black Stone Cherry)

(20.) WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?

“I Can’t Drive 55” (Sammy Hagar)

“Dragon Attack” (Queen)

“Atlas Falls” (Shinedown)

“Judas Rising” (Judas Priest)

“Bad Blood” (Taylor Swift)

“The Mob Rules” (Black Sabbath)

“Bloodbath in Paradise” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“The Devil’s in the Temple” (Bon Jovi)

“Hell and High Water” (Black Stone Cherry)

“Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound” (Cody Jinks)

“Holy Wars . . . The Punishment Due” (Megadeth)

“Die By My Own Hand” (Tim McGraw)

“All Hope Is Gone” (Alter Bridge)

(21.) HOW WILL YOU DIE?

“A Call to Arms” (Theocracy)

“Unbroken” (Tim McGraw)

“Mountain Climbing” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Takin’ Care of Business” (Bachman Turner Overdrive)

“Sword of Damocles” (Judas Priest)

“Waters Rising” (Alter Bridge)

“When the Levee Breaks” (Led Zeppelin)

“Hurricanes and Hand Grenades” (Jason Isbell)

“The Great Suburban Showdown” (Billy Joel)

“Dancing in the Street” (Van Halen)

“Zombie Stomp” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Ogre Battle” (Queen)

“Fade to Black” (Metallica)

(22.) WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?

“I Know It Hurts” (Alter Bridge)

“Sleeping with the Television On” (Billy Joel)

“I Lost on Jeopardy” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (AC/DC)

“Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days” (Judas Priest)

“Darkest Secret” (Black Stone Cherry)

“Dark Side” (Eric Church)

“Bad Habits” (Daughtry)

“Thorn in My Side” (Bon Jovi)

“Blues of Desperation” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Ten Years Gone” (Led Zeppelin)

“Words Darker than Their Wings” (Alter Bridge)

“I Don’t Want to Talk About It” (Rod Stewart)

(23.) WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

“Crazy ABCs” (Barenaked Ladies)

“I’ve Got Friends that Do” (Tim McGraw)

“Must Be the Whiskey” (Cody Jinks)

“Adrenaline” (Shinedown)

“Elvis Presley & America” (U2)

“Hollywood in Kentucky” (Black Stone Cherry)

“Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince” (Taylor Swift)

“Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen from Mars” (Bon Jovi)

“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” (The Beatles)

“Mr. Tinkertrain” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Fat Bottomed Girls” (Queen)

“Hippie Radio” (Eric Church)

“The Entertainer” (Billy Joel)

(24.) WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?

“Bent to Fly” (Slash)

“Sad Songs (Say So Much)” (Elton John)

“Never Alone Always Lonely” (Cody Jinks)

“Whole Lot of Leavin’” (Bon Jovi)

“She’s Leaving Home” (The Beatles)

“Landslide” (Fleetwood Mac)

“Missing You” (John Waite)

“Sloe Gin” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Black Dog” (Led Zeppelin)

“When I Look at the World” (U2)

“The Evil That Men Do” (Iron Maiden)

“Teardrops on My Guitar” (Taylor Swift)

“Heartbreak Dreamer” (Mat Kearney)

(25.) WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?

“Two Hearts Beat as One” (U2)

“Yesterday Again” (Cody Jinks)

“Before Tomorrow Comes” (Alter Bridge)

“These Are the Days of Our Lives” (Queen)

“Two Is Better Than One” (Taylor Swift)

“Gets Me Through” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Ain’t Killed Me Yet” (Eric Church)

“Won’t Back Down” (Mat Kearney)

“We Carry On” (Tim McGraw)

“The Longest Time” (Billy Joel)

“Until the End of the World” (U2)

“Wherever I May Roam” (Metallica)

“This Was My Life” (Megadeth)

(26.) WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?

“Days Go By” (Keith Urban)

“Some Kind of Monster” (Metallica)

“Self-Inflicted Wounds” (Joe Bonamassa)

“What Is and What Should Never Be” (Led Zeppelin)

“Nothing Ever Goes as Planned” (Styx)

“Things Change” (Tim McGraw)

“Running Out of Time” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Where Even Angels Fear to Fly” (Cody Jinks)

“Losing My Mind” (Daughtry)

“Forever Falling” (Alter Bridge)

“Symphony of Destruction” (Megadeth)

“The Bitter End” (Black Stone Cherry)

“Goodbye” (Mat Kearney)

(27.) DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?

“From the Right Angle” (Dawes)

“You Better You Bet” (The Who)

“Yahweh” (U2)

“One Heart” (Mat Kearney)

“My Best Friend” (Tim McGraw)

“Children of the Sun” (Judas Priest)

“Friends” (Led Zeppelin)

“The Crow & the Butterfly” (Shinedown)

“The Raven and the Dove” (Cody Jinks)

“Baby Girl” (Will Hoge)

“Tiny Dancer” (Elton John)

“Three Year Old” (Eric Church)

“Baby Grand” (Billy Joel)

(28.) IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

“Flash” (Queen) — I mean, sure, it could have been better; but it wasn’t that bad!

“The Thing That Should Not Be” (Metallica)

“Original Sin” (Elton John)

“Achilles Last Stand” (Led Zeppelin)

“The Ripper” (Judas Priest)

“Dust Bowl” (Joe Bonamassa)

“The Blackout” (U2)

“Traffic Light” (Daughtry)

“Christmas at Ground Zero” (Weird Al Yankovic)

“Breaking Inside” (Shinedown)

“Fifteen” (Taylor Swift)

“A Day in the Life” (The Beatles)

“12/17/12” (The Decemberists)

(29.) WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?

“Everywhere” (Michelle Branch)

“Pressure” (Billy Joel)

“Isolation” (Alter Bridge)

“Wounded Mind” (Cody Jinks)

“The Struggle Within” (Metallica)

“The Sound of Silence” (Disturbed)

“These Hard Times” (Matchbox Twenty)

“Everything Has Changed” (Taylor Swift)

“Everybody’s Broken” (Bon Jovi)

“The Valley Runs Low” (Joe Bonamassa)

“Communication Breakdown” (Led Zeppelin)

“Whole World’s Fallin’ Down” (Ozzy Osbourne)

“Countdown To Extinction” (Megadeth)

(30.) WHAT TITLE WILL YOU GIVE THIS POST?

“Tell ‘em What It’s Like” (Cody Jinks)

“The Little Things That Give You Away” (U2)

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones)

“It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” (R.E.M.)

“Some Heads Are Gonna Roll” (Judas Priest)

“You Need to Calm Down” (Taylor Swift)

“Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon” (Queen)

“With a Little Help from My Friends” (The Beatles)

“Another Song Nobody Will Hear” (Will Hoge)

“Ghost of Days Gone By” (Alter Bridge)

“Where the Wild Things Are” (Metallica)

“Ships in the Night” (Mat Kearney)

“God Bless This Mess” (Bon Jovi)

Set Your Heart and Mind on the Risen Christ

Christ has died, and Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

As a Christian you have also died with Him by your Baptism into His death; and so it is that you are also raised up with Him to a new and different life.  Indeed, He is your Life and your Salvation, and in Him you already live with God in heaven, even while you live and work here on earth.

Set your heart and mind on Christ, therefore, by hearing and heeding His Word.

To clarify, it is no sin to live in your body here on earth where the Lord your God has called you and positioned you.  There is no sin in going to work and doing your job, nor in going fishing for the fun of it, or whatever your own hobbies and pastimes may be.  Do not repent for work or play.  But do examine where your heart and mind are set as you go about doing whatever it is you do.

All your labors will accomplish nothing apart from the Word of Christ Jesus.  But at His Word great good things happen in abundance.  And by faith in His Word, although you may be stretched and strained, you are neither broken nor torn.  For His Word is fruitful, and His Word sustains you.

But what should you do if you have fallen into the trap of working to make a life for yourself apart from faith in Christ’s Word?  What if you have lost sight of Him and no longer know the Man?  And what about your doubts and denials, your uncertainty and fears, and your cynical skepticism?

Whether you have already fallen a great distance or have only begun to wander away from Christ Jesus, return now to the Lord who gently beckons you to Himself and makes Himself known to you again and again.  Or, if you have never yet been able to walk in His way of life, be raised up by His Word of the Gospel.  For He has fixed His gaze upon you, and He calls you to Himself in love.

Come, return to the cleansing significance of your Baptism, to the washing of the water with His Word.  Not to be re-baptized, for there is nothing lacking in the Word and work of the Lord.  But in contrition and repentance, and by the confession of your sins, be drowned and die with all your sinful lusts and desires, and be raised to life through the forgiveness of your sins in Jesus’ name.

Do not dress yourself with your own works, which, like the emperor’s new clothes, leave you naked in your sins.  Rather be clothed by Christ with His Righteousness and Holiness through His forgiveness of your sins, and so live by His grace alone.  Not in guilt and shame, nor in fear, but in His Peace.  Rest yourself in Him by faith, whether you are working hard or having a good time.

Set your heart and mind on the priority of His Word and the preaching of it, on His means of grace and all the things of Christ Jesus.  Do not allow your job or your pastimes to take precedence over Him, but rather live in the world in the way that God intends by making His House into your home.

If you have drifted away in the past, or even if you never have before, either way, do not abandon the Boat of the Church, the Holy Ark of Christendom.  Instead, draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ aboard that great vessel, even though she appears to be a little boat and of no great consequence.

By His death at the ninth hour of the day, and by your Baptism into His death — a beautiful gate indeed! — you have entered upon that Boat, the Temple of His Church, which is His own Body.  So does He keep you safe and sustain you in Himself, and so does He preserve your life in God.

And what is more, in His Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father, your prayer now ascends like incense before the throne of God at every hour, at all times, and in all places.  And His tender mercy descends upon you, that is, not perishable silver and gold, but the holy, precious blood of the spotless Lamb, and His sacred flesh, which is your meat indeed.

Here at His Table is the Meal He has prepared for you with His own hand, by His own hard labor and the sweat of His brow.  Here is the Supper to break your fast, since you have had nothing with which to feed yourself, despite your best efforts and your long hard toils by night as by day.

Come, therefore, dear child of God.  Eat and drink this Food that Christ provides for you according to His grace and love, and learn to know your crucified and risen Lord in His gracious hospitality.

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

The Scriptures Are Fulfilled in Christ Jesus

As intended from before the foundation of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ has perfectly fulfilled the Holy Scriptures by His becoming flesh, by His bodily death upon the Cross, and by His bodily Resurrection from the dead.  This work of the Lord is really what the whole Bible is all about.

So, too, by the preaching and teaching of the Scriptures, Christ Jesus Himself is actively present and powerful to save all those who hear and receive Him in the Ministry of His Gospel.

Because He has defeated sin, death, the devil, and hell by His voluntary suffering and death, He now also brings forgiveness, life, and salvation to His Church in His Resurrection from the dead.

Here, in the gathering of His disciples, He comes to you as the crucified and risen One, and He grants to you His perfect Peace and Sabbath Rest through His forgiveness of all your sins.  Indeed, this peace and rest that He bestows upon you is the good and gracious will of God, the very point and purpose for which He has spoken His Word, so that you should have abundant life in Him.

Tragically, your sins and your sinfulness include not only all the bad things that you do and all the good things that you neglect, but also your false belief, your doubt and despair, and your failure and refusal to understand the Scriptures, to trust the Gospel, or to receive the Lord Jesus in peace.

But you are not able to believe in Jesus Christ, your Lord, neither can you come to Him, nor even recognize or receive Him when He comes to you, except by His Word and the work of His Spirit.

So, if you had been there in that upper room on that first Easter Sunday evening, do not suppose that you would have done any differently or any better than those disciples in this Holy Gospel.

Actually, the crucified and risen Lord Jesus is very much here with you, in your midst, speaking His Word of the Gospel to you, opening His holy wounds to you, giving you His Body and Blood, and granting you His blessings of grace, mercy, and peace.  And yet, in your sinfulness, you greet all of this with superstitious doubts and fear.  At best it all seems too good to be true, and at worst you regard the dear Lord Jesus Christ as a “ghost,” a specter, an immaterial, inconsequential fable.

As a consequence of your unbelief, you reject and despise the Peace that your dear Lord Jesus brings, because it surpasses all of your human understanding; and you refuse to accept the Sabbath Rest from all your hard labors and heavy burdens of sin and death, which only He can give you.

That is why it is so necessary to your salvation — no less so than the Cross and Resurrection — that repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached to you in Jesus’ Name.  For it is only by such preaching of His Word that you are called from your doubts to live by faith in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, because the Lord your God loves you and does not want you to die forever in the darkness of your despair and unbelief, He sends His servants to proclaim the Lord Jesus to you.

By His Word and Spirit, by His Law and Gospel, they catechize you in the one true faith, calling you daily to repentance and turning you away from your sins to the forgiveness of His Cross.  In this way they open the Scriptures to you, and the Holy Spirit opens your heart and your mind to understand those Holy Scriptures, so that you thereby receive and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So does the same Lord open His wounds to you by the Ministry of His Gospel.  And He opens your hand and your mouth to receive His Body and His Blood — not apart from faith, lest you be judged and condemned in unbelief — but in the one true faith, in His Peace, and with great thanksgiving.

This is how He works to save you.  By the proclamation of the Gospel in His Name and stead, your sins are all freely and fully forgiven.  And by that Word of Holy Absolution you are rescued from the fear of death, from uncertainty and superstition, and brought into the sure confidence of faith.  You are taught by His grace to believe and trust in Him, and to receive all good things from Him.

And it is by this Spirit-wrought faith in the Word of Christ Jesus that you are given true Peace and Sabbath Rest in Him, unto the resurrection of your body and the life everlasting of body and soul.

It is likewise by and with the Word of Christ — in fulfillment of the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles — that He who was crucified for your transgressions and raised for your justification is still eating with sinners; and He invites even you to recline here at His Table to eat with Him.

Not only that, but one and the same Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the Feast that you eat and the Host who serves you.  For He gives to you His holy Body, and He pours out for you His precious Blood, for the forgiveness of all your sins and the nourishment of your faith unto life and salvation.

Here, then, is the promise, the down payment, and the guarantee that your own body and blood, and your own flesh and bones, no less than His, shall at the last be raised from death and the grave, glorified like unto His own glorious Body, immortal and imperishable.  Indeed, you shall see Him in the flesh with your own two eyes, and you shall be like Him, by the grace of God your Savior.

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

Now You See Him Where You Don't

The path that you are set upon may be a lonely one.  All the more so if it is a way that you have chosen for yourself.  But you are not alone.  The Lord has not lost sight of you, even if you are not able to see Him.  For one thing, you have companions on the journey to share the story of Jesus with you.  And by and with this very Word, Christ Jesus Himself draws near and goes with you.

He is the One who, by His Word and Spirit, opens the Scriptures to you; who opens your mind to comprehend and your heart to believe His Gospel; who opens Himself to you in His Supper, and opens you to Himself, to recognize and receive Him to yourself in the Breaking of the Bread.

He brings you into His Glory by the way and means of His Cross and Passion.  Not only by the facts of the matter, but by the catechesis of the Cross itself, which crucifies and buries you with Christ Jesus, in order to raise you up with Him in His own Resurrection from the dead.

This catechesis of the Cross continues all the way, even for those who already “know it all,” who already confess the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth.  It is an ongoing journey with this same Jesus who was crucified.  And it puts you to death each day, not for destruction, but for repentance and faith in His forgiveness of sins, and for newness of life in Him who is not dead but living.

So does it lead you and bring you to the Place that Christ has prepared and made ready for you.

Well, that sure sounds good, doesn’t it?  But be forewarned, and bear in mind that on this Way of Life your eyes are prevented from recognizing Him.  For even in the Resurrection, His Glory is that of the Crucified One.  He is the One whom God has raised from the dead and made both Lord and Christ.  Indeed, He has entered into this divine Glory through His suffering of all these things.

But you do not perceive or recognize Him in your difficult and needy neighbor, for example.  Nor do you see Him in your own suffering, hurt, and pain, because you are not able to see the Glory of His Cross even as it is now revealed in the preaching of His Resurrection.  Instead, you suffer disappointments and sadness, the crushing of your hopes and expectations.  In this way the Cross of Christ brings to light your foolish ignorance, and it exposes your stubborn slowness of heart.

So it is that your perceptions, interpretations, and conclusions are all challenged, contradicted, crucified, put to death, and buried.

After all, the Lord Jesus acts as though He were going farther.  He plays a bit of cat-and-mouse, or so it seems at least.  His presence and His providence are elusive, especially as the Cross is constantly calling a halt to your progress and to all of your grand plans.  Just when it seems that the answer is finally within reach, your goals in sight, the prize at hand, it all slips away from you.

He’s actually not teasing you, not really.  He’s teaching you to live by faith, and teaching you to pray, to call upon His Name.  He’s also training you to exercise love for your neighbor, rather than focusing on your own hurts and needs and sorrows; that you should love and serve Christ Jesus, precisely under the Cross, with Glory not earthly but divine, by loving and serving and caring for the widows and orphans and strangers set upon your path, and for the Lazarus laid at your gate; that you should do so in the confidence of the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting.

In the meantime, though, He vanishes from your sight.  For it is not yet with your eyes that you are given to see and know Him.  It is rather in the darkness that you “see” Him by faith, by the Light of His Word, hidden in the Breaking of the Bread, in the distribution of His Body and His Blood.

Now you see Him where you don’t, that is, in the Gospel of His Cross, in the Fruits of His Passion.  At the Font and at the Altar, at His Table in His House, in the Holy Communion of His Church on earth.  Not by the simple knowledge of the facts, but by faith and trust in the Word and promises of this Lord Jesus Christ.  Not simply news and information, but the Body of Jesus, crucified and risen, given and poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  For Life.

He is with you in these ways and means of His Gospel, not simply as a companion on your journey, but as your Redeemer, who brings you with Himself into the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting.  He brings you to the portal that leads to bliss untold, that is, to the portal of His Cross.

Take heart, therefore.  At this very Hour, in the Breaking of the Bread, you have communion with Him who loves you, and so also with each other in Him.  Here and now you belong to His Body, the Church, even as He gives to you His own Body to eat.  Here resides your fellowship in Christ, whereby you live both to and from His Altar into all times and places, wherever you may roam.

Thus and thereby do you rise with Him and enter into the Glory of His true Jerusalem, already in His Church on earth, as surely as it is established for you in the heavenly places.  Not in spite of the Cross, but in, with, and under the Cross, by the Word of the Cross, in the Fruits of the Cross.

His crucified and risen Body and His holy, precious Blood are the Firstfruits of the Resurrection and of the New Creation, your spiritual Food for the journey, and the Meat and Drink indeed of the Feast which has no end.  The promise is for you and for your children, and for all whom the Lord Jesus will call to Himself, even from the farthest ends of the earth, unto the close of the age.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

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

Lay Hold of His Feet and Worship Him

It is for the worship of the Holy Triune God in the Person of the Incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, that you have been created.  Indeed, it is the joy and the purpose of the whole Creation to find its life in Him, to the praise and glory of His Holy Name.  If you want to know the meaning of life and why you’re here, it is simply this, that you worship God in Christ with all that you are and have.

That is the goal of the women, too, of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, when they head to the tomb after the Sabbath, at the dawning of the New Day.  They go to worship God in Christ, though they are at something of a loss and do not know how to go about it.  We know from St. Mark that they were planning to anoint the dead body of Jesus, but St. Matthew writes that they were going “to look at the grave.”  It’s not unlike “staring off into the middle distance,” as some of my favorite authors like to describe.  Not much point to that, but they don’t know where or how to focus.

They’re looking for Jesus, really, because they love Him, and they miss Him, and they just don’t know what else to do at this point.  But they’re looking in the wrong place and in the wrong way.

You do the same thing, in your own fashion, when you set out “to look at the grave.”  By that I do not mean visiting the cemetery where your loved ones are buried, though that might be an example.  What I do mean are all the ways that you go looking for life and love and meaning and purpose in the monuments and treasures of this dead and dying world, when what you need is the crucified and risen Jesus, who is not dead but living.  He is not in the tomb, and you will not find Him there.

Not only that, but, ironically, those who try to guard and keep the tomb — to protect it from any disturbance or violation, as though it were the goal and the prize — they end up like corpses!  Which is the end result and consequence for all who set their hearts and minds on things below.

Those Marys do not find Him dead and buried, either, but by the grace of God they are not left in their ignorance and perplexity.  Instead of tending the tomb or looking at the grave, they are sent by the Word of the Lord to the place where Jesus has already said that He would be: in Galilee.  That is where and how He will be found — wherever His Word is spoken and directs.  As soon as the women leave the tomb and proceed as He has spoken, the Lord Jesus meets them on the Way.

It is always the case that the worship of God in Christ begins with His speaking and His coming to you.  Only then are you able to come to Him, to lay hold of Him, and to worship Him rightly.

You need not go to Galilee to find Him; but if you ever are in that part of the world, then seek out His Church in that place, in order to hear Him in the preaching of His Word, and to find Him in His holy Sacrament.  But that is the same as it is for you here in this place, too.  You are called and gathered to Him by the preaching and the catechesis of His Word, as spoken by His messengers.

Let your eyes and feet be directed by His Word and promises in your ears.  Then you are on the right path, and the crucified and risen Lord Jesus meets you on the Way, as He met and greeted the women.  By giving attention to His Gospel and the preaching of it, you set your heart and mind on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of His God and Father.  And then the mixed feelings of fear and joy give way to the pure and utter gladness of faith and the worship of Jesus.

There is a rather profound irony in all of this, that you find your life hidden with Christ in God, in the heavenly places, by laying hold of His feet and worshiping Him here in His Church on earth.  For heaven has come down to you in the flesh and blood of Christ and in His Word of the Gospel.  As the angels who spoke to Mary and Joseph and the shepherds directed them to the Body of the incarnate Son of God, and as the preaching and Baptism of St. John the Baptist were the means of grace by which the Father poured out His Spirit upon the Body of His Son, so does God continue to proclaim His Word from heaven on earth, to lead you to and give to you the Word-made-Flesh.

Those dear ladies had it right when they took hold of Jesus’ feet and worshiped Him.  They sought the Lord where He is found, and they worshiped God in the flesh of His Son.  And this story has been written for your learning, that you might also believe in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, and that, by faith, you should likewise come to Him, lay hold of His feet, and worship Him.

Do not attempt to scale the heights of heaven.  That is what the dead things of this earth presume and aspire to do, though all the while they are trodden down into the dust.  But the Lord Jesus Christ — who has risen from the dust of the earth, and who has in fact ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven — He meets His people and takes His stand upon the earth.  He speaks forgiveness into their ears, He pours out His Spirit upon them by the washing of the water with His Word, and He gives them to eat and drink with Him, even to feast upon His Body and His Blood.

So you also find your life in Him, hidden below in the flesh of Christ, in earthly means of grace, yet dwelling with Him above, even now, in the heavenly places, at the right hand of the Father.

You are looking for Jesus, who has been crucified for your transgressions.  And you are in the right place this morning.  For He is risen from the dead, and He is here for you.  This is your Galilee, to which His angels have directed you.  Here your Redeemer stands upon the earth.  Here His beautiful feet have come, that you may hear and believe His Gospel, and lay hold of Him in love, and worship Him in faith.  It is for this very life that you are created, redeemed, and sanctified.

Therefore, do not be afraid.  For this life that is given to you here on earth is safe and secure in the Body of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead.  It is hidden, yes, so much so that you cannot see it even in yourself.  But it is true, and it is real, as surely as the Lord Jesus Christ has spoken to you.  As all of Creation is made brand new in Him, in the Resurrection of His Body from the dead, there is nothing in heaven or on earth that can rob you of the Life that is yours in Him.

It is true and real for you here, where His Word has called and gathered you to Him.

It is true and real, also, in those places and stations in life to which He has called you to live in faith and love.  There, too, it is a hidden life, which the world does not recognize for what it is.  And you also may be discouraged and frustrated.  There are days when you are sorely tempted to go “look at the grave,” to stare off into the “middle distance,” to spin your wheels doing nothing at all, because it all seems lost and hopeless.  You’re looking for Jesus, but you don’t find Him.

And yet, do not be afraid.  That is not only my word to you, but His.  The truth is, not only is He risen from the dead, alive and reigning to all eternity, but He is now and ever with you where His Word has directed you to go and be.  He is here with you at His Altar, yes, where you worship the Holy Triune God in Christ by hearing His Word, by receiving His forgiveness, by remembering your Baptism, and by eating and drinking His Body and His Blood in faith and with thanksgiving for His great Salvation.  He is here as you confess what He has spoken to you, as you call upon His Name in prayer, and as you sing the new Song of the Lamb in the midst of His great congregation.

So is He also with you as you go to His brothers and sisters, to love and serve them within your own proper callings and stations in life, according to His Word.  There, too, you worship Him, and you glorify the God and Father of the same Lord Jesus Christ, by and through His Holy Spirit, as you carry out the duties of your office, and as you care for those entrusted to your stewardship.  Do not doubt that it is true, and do not be afraid.  His Word and His promise are sure and certain.

His feet not only come to you and take their stand upon the earth, they also go with you wherever you go.  He meets you on the Way, and He accompanies your journey, even unto Life everlasting.

Your life in Christ is a hidden life.  It is still hidden under the Cross, even in suffering and death, while this dead and dying world vaunts itself to great heights, attempting to make a name for itself.  But the Truth remains, which is Christ Himself in flesh and blood like yours, crucified and risen from the dead.  And that Day will soon come, which has already begun in His own Resurrection, when you shall see Him as He is, and you shall know as you are known, and you shall be like Him.  Already you are clothed in His righteousness, for your sins are all forgiven by His holy, precious Blood, and by His Word of Holy Absolution.  Therefore, sin and death have nothing more to say or do concerning you.  It only remains to be revealed what is already true for you in Jesus Christ.

He is risen, He is risen indeed, Alleluia! And so surely are you raised up and made alive in Him.

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