What the Baptism of Jesus Means for You

Here at the waters of the Jordan, God the Father in heaven speaks to you in Christ: “This is My beloved Son; and here is My Holy Spirit, who is poured out upon you in Him, unto eternal Life.”

The Lord God, almighty and all-merciful, is with you, and He loves you, in the waters of Holy Baptism.  Here He has opened heaven to you.  Here He has anointed you with His Holy Spirit, in order to give you His divine, eternal Life in Christ Jesus.  Here He has declared Himself for you.  He has named you with His own Name, to be His own dear child.  He Has granted you His Peace.

If you would discern whether you are a Christian, do not try to fathom what is in your heart, and do not try to fathom what is in your head.  Do not look first of all to your good works and actions.  But consider your Baptism into Christ.  Consider what God has said and done for you there.  For your Christian faith and life are found entirely there in the waters of Holy Baptism.

And if you would consider whether your neighbor is a Christian, do not try to guess what is in your neighbor’s heart or head, either; and do not pass judgment on your neighbor’s outward actions.  But consider what God has said and done for your neighbor in the waters of Holy Baptism.  And then, as needs may be, call your neighbor back to the gracious Word and promises of Baptism.

And you, likewise, return to your Baptism.  Know that your life is there, because your God is there.

Christ Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God in the flesh, has fulfilled all righteousness in Baptism.  He says so Himself.

The people from all the surrounding area were coming to John, confessing their sins and being baptized.  In this the Kingdom of God was at hand.  But it all hinged on this One, the Lamb, the Son of God, who also comes to John at the Jordan.  He has no sins of His own whatsoever, but He comes confessing the sins of the world.  He comes confessing your sins as though they were His.

He comes confessing your sins and the sins of the world, and for all of those sins He repents.  He submits Himself to John, and to God the Father who sent John to preach and baptize.  He submits to the Law and to the Prophets, and to all that God has said.  All of this He does for your salvation.

It will all come down to His Cross and Passion.  That is already what His Baptism means.  For already here and now, the Lord Jesus buries Himself in the watery grave of the Jordan.  When He steps into those waters and says to John, “Permit it now,” He is already committing Himself to suffer and to die.  He willingly takes upon Himself the sins of the world and bears the curse and consequences of those sins.  He trusts the Word of His Father, and He goes to His death in faith, in the confidence of the Resurrection, in order to save this world of sinners in His love for them.

This is what His Baptism means for Him.  And this is what Baptism means for you, also.  This is what repentance looks like: To be drowned and die with Christ Jesus, and so also to live with Him.

This is what it means to entrust yourself to God, to live by faith in His Word and promises.  And this is what it means to love your neighbor; to do for your neighbor what your neighbor does not deserve and cannot do for himself, but you do it for him in love.

This is what it means to live unto God, to go in the way that He has given you to go, and not to protest or argue that it’s not fair, but to go in peace, in faith, hope, and love.  This is what it looks like to be and to live as a child of God, as a beloved son of God in Christ your Savior.

Repent, therefore.  Hear and believe the Word of God, and love your neighbor as Christ loves you.

Baptism in itself is the good and gracious work of God.  It is His free gift.  Your Baptism, then, is perfect and complete.  There is nothing lacking there: Not in the Word of God; not in the water administered with God’s Word; and not in His Name, which certainly is holy in itself.

But as for what your Baptism means for you, what it means for your daily occupation and life, that is not a done deal.  That is not a day once-upon-a-time in the past.  It is an ongoing engagement.  It is a daily call to repentance.  It is a daily call to die and rise with Christ by His Word and Spirit.

Baptism has not made repentance unnecessary.  No, your Baptism has made repentance possible.  Where previously you could not do this — you could not choose to repent; you could not turn yourself around, away from sin and back to God — now Christ, by His Baptism, even unto death on the Cross, He has opened the way of repentance to you and to all who are baptized into Him.  And in this way, by His Cross and in His Resurrection, He has opened heaven to you and to all.

Repent, therefore, and live henceforth in Christ.  As He has fulfilled all righteousness for you and for all people, and as He has established justice for the nations, so you also live righteously and godly in Him, even in the midst of this present evil age.  Do not live any longer in your sins, but live unto God.  Think of your neighbor as Christ Jesus thinks of you and of your neighbor.  Speak to and concerning your neighbor as Christ Jesus speaks to and concerning you and your neighbor.

Live as a child of God, for so has the Father spoken of you by His Son and through His Spirit in the Gospel, in the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism.  He has named you as His own, and so you are His very own.  Live, then, as His child.  Live in the righteousness of Christ.

What does it mean to live as a child of God?  How is His Name kept holy in your life?  It depends first of all on hearing what He speaks, on giving attention to His Word, on living to hear His Word.  Listen to what He says.  Believe it, and confess it.  Speak what is true because God has spoken it.

Confess what is true concerning yourself and your sin.  And confess what is true concerning Christ and His Salvation.  Confess it with both your words and your actions, in all that you say and do.

Do not be true proud or too ashamed to confess your sins, which the sinless Son of God has confessed in your place, taken upon Himself, and borne in His Body to the Cross in order to get forgiveness for you.  Confess your sins because that is the truth.  And confess your sins in the sure and certain confidence that, for Christ Jesus’ sake, the Lord your God forgives you.  That is what it is to live by faith.  That is how you live in Christ.

Speak also what is true concerning Christ, His Cross, His Resurrection, His Baptism in the Jordan River, His preaching, His miracles, His Holy Sacraments, and His Church.  Confess the Word and work of Christ, because He is true, and His Word is the Truth.  Confess it because your neighbor needs to hear it in order to live.  And, confessing it, so also live according to it in your own life.

In your Baptism you have died with Christ Jesus, and your life is now hidden with Him in God.  You have died to yourself, to your sins, and to the world, but you are raised up with Christ through His forgiveness of your sins.  Return, therefore, to your Baptism, and to the significance of your Baptism, through contrition and repentance, through confession of your sins, and through Holy Absolution.  And thus returning to your Baptism, dying with Jesus each day, and rising to live with Him each day by faith in the Gospel, so live in Him.

Do not cling to your life in this world, as though this life were all there is.  Do not cling to your life in this world, as though it were your treasure and your god.  Rather, sacrifice yourself entirely unto God, your body and your life, as a living sacrifice — that is how St. Paul describes it.  Place yourself entirely into the hands of your Father who loves you, in the hope and confidence of the Resurrection and the Righteousness of Christ.  And living in Christ, pour yourself out for others.

You need not be afraid.  Your Father in heaven will vindicate you.  He has already raised you up in Christ Jesus.  He raises you again, day after day, by the Spirit of His Son through the Gospel.  And on the Last Day He will raise you and all believers in Christ to eternal life in body and soul.

You are free to love and serve those whom God has placed around you, even those who don’t love and serve you.  For you are free to forgive and gladly to do good to those who sin against you.

Do not worry that you will be used and taken advantage of, and that you may lose everything in this body and life.  In truth, the world may put you to death, as much for your righteousness as for your sins and failings!  That is what it did to Christ, though it never did have the upper hand on Him, who laid down His life and gave Himself willingly for the salvation of sinners.  And that was not the end of His story; nor is it the end of your story in Him.  If you perish, you perish, so be it.  But as you die in the faith of Christ, yet shall you live in His Resurrection from the dead.

It is to faith and love that your Baptism into Christ daily calls you.  Your Baptism does not live in the past, but you live in it now and ever, in the hope and promise of the future, in the neverending Day of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead.  So, then, return to your Baptism each day.

Go out to the preacher and baptizer of repentance whom God has sent to you.  Confess your sins.  Be forgiven.  And live in the Holy Absolution of Christ, your Savior.  For He remains steadfast and certain for you.  He has taken His stand with you in the waters of the Jordan, and His feet remain there planted until all of Israel has gone through the water into the Promised Land.

He will not run away and hide.  He will not abandon you.  As often as you fall, He lifts you back up again, out of the waters of death, into the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.

Heaven is still open to you in Christ Jesus.  The Holy Spirit of God is still poured out upon you abundantly through His ways and means of the Gospel.  He comes to you and rests upon you, not in the form of a dove, but in water with the Word of God; in bread and wine, which by the Word of Christ are His Body and His Blood.  The Spirit rests and remains upon you in the Body of Christ.  And He is breathed into your body and your soul through the words of a man, upon whom God has laid His yoke, that He might speak to you in love and thus forgive you all your sins.

The Lord Jesus Christ is your permanent foundation.  He is faithful and true.  It is in Him that you live; in Him that you are beloved of God; in Him that you are well pleasing to your Father in heaven.  Hear what He says to you today: This is My Body.  It is given for you.  This is My Blood.  It is poured out for you.  Eat and drink, and know that your God is here with you and for you.

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

The Books I Most Enjoyed in 2016

For the past number of years, my children and I have voted on our favorite read-aloud books of the year (that is, of those we enjoyed together in the course of the calendar year).  I'm not sure we'll be able to do that anymore, since I've been reading to several different groupings of the children in addition to the reading that I do for myself.  So, for this year, at any rate, I'm simply offering the following list of the (fictional) books that I most enjoyed in 2016.  Some of these I read to myself, others I read to my children.  For the most part, I've not included isolated books from ongoing series that we've read (and listed) in the past, since it's difficult to evaluate those individual installments.  In some cases, though, where a book or a couple of books from a series have stood alone and stood out, I've identified those where pertinent.

With that preamble, here are the fifteen (fictional) books (or series of books) that I most enjoyed in 2016, listed here in proximate order, beginning with my most favorite:

Infinite Regress & Past Tense (Schooled in Magic, #9 & 10)
by Christopher Nuttall

Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike, #3)
by Robert Galbraith

The Kronos Chronicles (trilogy)
by Marie Rutkoski

The Diabolic
by S.J. Kincaid

The Heir Chronicles (five books)
by Cinda Williams Chima

The Nethergrim series (two books so far)
by Matthew Jobin

The Books of Beginning (trilogy)
by John Stephens

Ramona series (eight books)
by Beverly Cleary

Split the Party & Going Rogue (Spells, Swords, & Stealth, #2 & 3)
by Drew Hayes

Dodger
by Terry Pratchett

Bookworm series (four books)
by Christopher Nuttall

The Twistrose Key & Thornghost
by Tone Almhjell

Switch (Savvy, #3)
by Ingrid Law

Henry Reed series (five books)
by Keith Robertson

The Toymaker’s Apprentice
by Sherri L. Smith

The Heavens Are Opened to You in Christ Jesus

In Christ Jesus, the heavens have been opened.  As at first in His Baptism, and then again at His Transfiguration, so have they been fully opened by His Cross and Resurrection from the dead.

He has done these great things and opened heaven for you — and for all those who believe and are baptized into Him — just as you will surely see, according to His Word and promise.

Come and see, therefore, by following Jesus.  Live and walk according to His Word in faith and love in your vocations and stations in life: As a Christian, by the hearing of His Gospel and the receiving of His means of grace; and as a son or daughter, husband or wife, father or mother, brother or sister, as a worker, a student, or retired, by trusting Jesus and serving your neighbors.

Your labors are not in vain, nor do you bear your children for calamity, no matter how it seems.  For behold, the Lord creates new heavens and a new earth, the home where righteousness dwells, according to His grace and mercy.  He makes you and all things new, and it is very good.

Unfortunately, it is all too easy and far too common to become cynical and pessimistic, perhaps even hardened in despair, because of what you do see and experience for now under the Cross in the midst of sin and death.  It is a world full of weeping and crying, where sarcasm and insult function as humor.  Children die by many causes, including many who are murdered in the womb by their own parents, or beaten and neglected after they are born.  Old people live out their days in pain and sorrow, often lonely and afraid, if not wretched and bitter.  Investments yield little or no return.  The best laid plans go awry.  Buildings, businesses, and families crumble into ruin.

Cynicism begins to reign in your heart and mind, where faith and love ought to hold sway, because you become accustomed to such patterns of disappointment and discouragement.  Your parents, spouse, and children let you down; they do not love you and care for you as they should, but they embarrass you and take advantage of you.  Your friends forget you, desert you, or betray you.  Your boss is a jerk, and your job is going nowhere; or perhaps you are losing your job or have no job to lose.  As often as you have dared to get your hopes and expectations up, thinking that things are finally going to get better, time and time again your dream is dashed and things only get worse.

Can anything good come out of your lot in life?  Can anything good come out of your vocations?

Well, can anything good come out of Nazareth?  The answer, of course, is Yes.  It can, and it has.

For Jesus Christ, the Son of David, though He was born in Bethlehem, He is called the Nazarene.  He is consecrated by the Word and Spirit of God from the womb; and He grows up as a citizen of the city of Nazareth; and He is the promised Root of Jesse (“root” being NaZaR in the Hebrew).

He is the One of whom Moses in the Law and all the Prophets wrote — in the very Scriptures that Nathaniel was searching and studying under the fig tree when Jesus saw him and knew him.

The Word of the Lord does not lie.  His promises are not broken.  Just as He has spoken, so He does and gives to you and to all by the way and means of Christ the Crucified.

It is in Him that Jacob/Israel and every Israelite indeed (each and every son of Abraham by faith in Abraham’s God) find their refuge and rest, their peace, and their true home with God; though they may not know it or realize it at first.  A Rock on the ground proves to be the gate of heaven.

Upon this Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and of St. Mary, the Lord in the Flesh who is the King of Israel — upon Him the angels of God ascend and descend.  Notice that He is both the starting point and the center of the holy angels and their faithful service unto God and Man.  For in Him, in His Body of flesh and blood, the Kingdom of God is at hand, on earth as it is in heaven.

And He is here for you now with His open heaven — and the Light of the revelation of the Glory of God the Father — in the Holy Communion of His Body and His Blood.  He is here for you, and with you, and is given to you.  Here, then, you are surrounded by all the angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, precisely because this is where the Lord Jesus dwells in the flesh.

This Lord and God, Christ Jesus, your Savior and your King, He is here — with you and for you — because He has purposed to be here with you and for you.  He saw you and knew you and loved you, before you ever heard of Him or knew Him.  Before you ever prayed to Him or called upon His Name, even when you had no idea how or what to pray, He answered your deepest need with Himself in the flesh, and He acted in grace and love to save you from sin, death, the devil, and hell.

So has God the Father predestined you to be conformed to the Image of His Son, to become one of His many brethren.  So does He seek you out and call you to Himself in Christ Jesus, by the preaching and ministry of the Gospel.  For this Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for the sins of the world by His Cross and Passion.  And in His Resurrection, He has been vindicated by His God and Father, justified and glorified for you, so that you are now justified by grace through faith in Him.  So shall you also be raised from the dead at the last and glorified in Him, unto the life everlasting.

You have entered with Him through death into life, into an open heaven through His Cross and Resurrection, by your Holy Baptism in His Name.  Thus have the heavens been opened to you in Christ Jesus, and in Him they shall never be closed to you again.  Not by sickness, suffering, death, or sadness.  Not by the sins of others against you, nor by your own sins, either.  For heaven itself has come to you in the Word of the Lord, in His Body given and His Blood poured out for you.

Come, eat and drink, taste and see.  Something good, and such great things, have come for you.

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

You and Your Children in the Father's House

Consider here the human nature, the growth and development of the incarnate Son of God, Christ Jesus, as He increases, not only in stature, but in knowledge and wisdom, and in favor with God and man.  It is remarkable, every bit as much as the Incarnation itself and His conception and birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  But this, too, belongs to His becoming like you in all things, that He might redeem you in body, soul, and spirit.  That He can grow and learn and change as true Man, means that He can also hurt and bleed and die, as He will do for your redemption and salvation.

Thus are your reconciliation and relationship with God embodied and secured in the human body and life of this Lord Jesus Christ, from infancy and childhood into adulthood, even unto death, and in His bodily Resurrection from the dead.  For in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily and lives humanly among us, so that we might live the divine life with God in Him.

How then do you, for your part, hold on to Him and keep Him in your sight?  By what wisdom are you able to grow and abide in Him, throughout this life on earth and unto the life everlasting?

And if you are a father or a mother, how shall you secure Him for your children and preserve their faith and life in Him?  For that is the most important thing you are given to do as a parent.

How shall you not lose Christ Jesus to yourself and to your children, so that you and they shall not be lost but found in Him throughout all your days and years and hereafter for eternity with God?

There is first of all the good example of Joseph and Mary, who go up with the Lord Jesus to the Feast in Jerusalem.  They are reminiscent of the Prophet Samuel’s parents, Elkanah and Hannah, who were likewise faithful in going up to the House of the Lord at Shiloh.  That is good and right.

But then consider what happens, and how easy it is, even for such pious and faithful people, to leave the Lord Jesus behind and to lose Him as you go about the activities and busyness of life.

And when you do realize His absence, then there is such anxiety and stress, and the fear of death.  If you are a parent, and if you have ever had a missing child, you know well enough the terror of that situation.  But to lose the Lord Jesus, no matter who you are, is far, far worse than even that.

If you are brought to an awareness that He is missing from your life, that you have lost sight of Him and let Him go, then, to begin with, by all of your own wisdom, reason, and strength, you go about looking for Him in all the wrong ways and in all the wrong places.  Increasingly more frantic, more desperate, and more hopeless, you try to find what is lacking within your family, with your friends, and in that which is comfortable and familiar to you.  Maybe in hard work.  Maybe in reading and studying.  Maybe in recreational activities and hobbies, or in charitable endeavors.

But, no, you will not find the Lord Jesus in any of those ways or places.  For though He has come to be like you, and to live your human life on earth, He and His Kingdom are not of this world but from the Father in heaven.  So it is that His Body and His Life, and His Resurrection from the dead on the Third Day, are there for you within His Church, in the preaching and hearing of His Word.

You should know — because you are taught by the Word and Spirit of God — that you shall find the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, your Savior, within the House of His Father.

Is that not what the Feast of the Passover is all about?  That the sons of Israel are delivered from death and the devil within the house where the father has sacrificed the lamb, where he has marked the doors with the blood of the lamb, and where he feeds them with the flesh of the lamb.  And as for each household and family, so also for the household and family of God within His Temple.

The little Lord Jesus was catechized by the Feast to seek His Father in His Father’s House, that He Himself should finally become the Passover Lamb who is given in the place of all the sons of men.

So are you also taught that you and your children belong to the Lord your God, who has redeemed you, purchased and won you for Himself by the blood of His own Son.  And so it is that you and all your sons and daughters are called to live as the children of God within your Father’s House.

Remember that the Son of God has become like you in every way, so that you might be like Him.  Therefore, what is true for Him has also become yours by His grace and mercy in the Gospel.  For He has made a place for you within the true Temple of God, which is indeed His own Body, crucified for all of your sins and raised from the dead for your justification, never to die again.

It is within the household and family of God, that is to say, within His Church on earth, that the Body of this Lamb of God is given to you from His Cross and from His Altar, that you should Feast on Him and be strengthened and sustained in the one true faith, unto the Resurrection.  And it is in His Church that the Blood of this Lamb now protects you from the devil, death, and hell.

Here, then, is what you’re looking for, whether you know it or not.  Here is what you truly need.  Here is your true home and family in Christ Jesus, and here is the Feast to which you bring your children.  Here your anxious heart and troubled mind are granted Peace and Sabbath Rest in Him.  And here you are raised up with Christ from the fear of death to faith and life by His Holy Spirit.

So it is that you now live — you really live — to and from this House of your own dear God and Father in Christ Jesus; and for His Name’s sake, the grace and favor of God are upon you.

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

Receiving the Incarnate Lord in His Temple

St. Luke clearly states, no less than four times, that everything here happens according to the Law of the Lord.  Which means, on the surface, that everything is done according to the rules and regulations of the Old Testament ceremonial Law, which the Lord gave to His people through Moses.  In faith and piety, the Holy Family thus comes to offer the sacrifices required for the purification of St. Mary forty days after she has given birth, and to pay the redemption price for her firstborn Son, Jesus, since all of the firstborn sons of Israel belong to the Lord their God.

But there is something else and something more profound at work in these rites and ceremonies.  When St. Luke writes that all is done “according to the Law of the Lord,” it is the same as we confess in the Creed, that Jesus rose from the dead “according to the Scriptures.”  That is to say that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfills the Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets — as He Himself reveals and explains to those disciples on the Road to Emmaus on that first Easter Sunday.

In what is here accomplished “according to the Law of the Lord,” it is not the “Law” in contrast to the “Gospel.”  Here the “Law” refers more broadly and comprehensively to all the Words and Promises of God.  It means His Covenant with Israel as given on Mt. Sinai, including not only the Ten Commandments but all the rites and ceremonies of the Old Testament Liturgy.  The “Law” here means the entire Word of God, both His Law and His Gospel: His Self-revelation to Israel, and the implications of His presence among them.  As this very “Word of God” has become flesh in the Person of Christ Jesus, His entire life is lived “according to the Law of the Lord.”

In the time of the Baby Jesus, as in this Holy Gospel, the Law of the Lord — all His Words and Promises, His Covenant and Liturgy — were centered in the Temple.  So does St. Luke frame his record of the Holy Gospel with the Temple.  It is where Zacharias received the Word of the Lord from the Archangel Gabriel concerning the conception and birth of his son, St. John the Baptist.  And it is where the disciples of Jesus are gathered following His Ascension into heaven.

And so it is that St. Simeon and Holy Anna are in the Temple, because they are among the faithful children of God who watch and wait for the coming of His Christ.  Their hopes and expectations are found and focused in the Temple, “according to the Law of the Lord.”  For that is where His Words and Promises have been given to them, and that is where they are now fulfilled in Jesus.

As the fire and the cloud of God’s Glory once settled on the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and then upon the Temple in Jerusalem, so does the glorious presence of God now come to His Temple in the Child born of Mary.  And by the Word and Spirit of God, Simeon and Anna comprehend with faith what their human eyes cannot perceive; that this little Babe, just six weeks old, is the Lord their God in His own flesh, who has come to be with His people and to save them from their sins.

Born of the Woman, born under the Law, that He might redeem those who were under the Law, He is Himself the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets.  Even from infancy, as you hear in this Holy Gospel, He keeps the Law perfectly for you and for all people.  He is ever and always obedient, even unto death on the Cross; for He has also come to sacrifice Himself in your stead.

Thus, St. Simeon prophecies that this Child is destined for the fall and the rising of many in Israel.  He comes, this Word-made-Flesh, bearing the grace of God and the Spirit of the Lord.  And yet, the world does not know Him, because the darkness cannot comprehend His Light.  Most of His own people refuse to receive Him; they hand Him over to be crucified by the hands of sinful men.  But it is for that Hour He has come: To sacrifice Himself in the stead of sinners, and to suffer all the punishment, death, and damnation that we poor, miserable sinners have deserved by our sins.

Thus does He obtain forgiveness and atonement for the sins of the world.  And in His Resurrection from the dead, He raises sinners in and with Himself, by and with His Word of Holy Absolution.

It is this precious Gospel of the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus that St. Simeon beholds in the face of the infant Christ-Child, by the Light of God that shines upon us in Him.  And as such, St. Simeon witnesses that this Jesus, in His own Body of flesh and blood, shall become the divine, eternal Temple of God.  For in His Flesh, all the Words and Promises of God are fulfilled forever.

“According to the Law of the Lord,” Christ Jesus comes to His people, to His faithful ones, to Simeon and Anna in the Temple.  And then by His Cross, “according to the Law of the Lord,” His own Body, crucified and risen, replaces and supercedes that Temple.  So it is that the Temple of God is truly found wherever the Word of Christ Jesus and His Body and His Blood are found.

Thus are you here today by the grace and Spirit of God: To wait upon the Lord Himself, and to receive His Body and His Blood according to His Word, here within the Temple of His Church.

Do not approach Him lightly, and do not take His presence for granted, but draw near and receive this dear Lord Jesus in the reverence and fear of repentance and in the joyful confidence of faith.

And as you come and go from His Altar, take your cues from Simeon and Anna, who received the same Lord Jesus Christ in His Temple, and held the same Body of Christ in their arms.  They did so with thanksgiving, praise, and blessing to His Name.  So join with St. Simeon in chanting his inspired song of praise, the Nunc Dimittis, and follow the example of Holy Anna in giving thanks unto the Lord with all your words and actions, and in speaking of Him to your neighbors.

There are no more important activities with which to serve your Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, both night and day, all the years of your life, and forever.  But as you receive the Lord here in His Temple, and as you return all thanks and praise to Him, so do you grow and increase in His Spirit, and so are you filled with His Wisdom.  Thus may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father, and the Communion of His Holy Spirit, be and abide with you all. Amen.

The Promise of the Cross and the Hope of the Resurrection for You and for Your Children

This particular story, this series of events, boggles our finite human understanding.  You cannot fathom such events as these, except by the Word and Spirit of God.

You cannot understand the purposes of God at work in the slaughter of innocent children, unless you have been given comprehension of the Cross and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is true that God the Father here spared His own Son, gave Him an escape to the safety of Egypt.  In your weaker moments you may be tempted to ask, “How is it that God spares His Son, but not the sons of those mothers and fathers in Bethlehem?”  This all seems terribly backwards.  Why is it that Jesus is saved and children are murdered in His stead?  Has He not come to save His people from their sins, from death, and from the power of the devil?

But God the Father spares His Son in this case.  Even this He does not do in the way that you or I might do it.  He does not exercise His irrefutable omnipotent authority and power, but rather speaks His Word and entrusts the task to a mortal man, a fallen sinful man like you or me.  It is given to Joseph to rescue the Holy Family, to stir them from sleep in the middle of the night, to take them away to Egypt.  It all seems rather precarious, and yet, this is how God works.

He rescues His Son now, in weakness and under duress, by the agency of Joseph, His faithful servant.  But this safety, this rescue, that is not forever.  God is biding His time.  The Savior’s time will come, when He voluntarily lays down His life for the sins of the world; when He sheds His blood to cleanse you and clothe you in righteousness.

What is perhaps both most shocking and most scandalous is that God does not spare the innocents.  He does not intervene to rescue the baby boys of Bethlehem.  Is there any question that He could have?  King Herod is not greater than God.  King Herod is not wiser than God.  And God is not caught by surprise by any of these events.  He has known from before the foundation of the world what would occur.  He has spoken concerning this very event by the mouth of His Holy Prophet.  All has transpired, not outside of His permissive will and providential care, but in accordance with His Holy Word.  And we wonder how this can be.

What father stands by and allows his sons to be slaughtered?  What father does not intervene at his own expense to save the helpless, the little ones who belong to him?  And yet, the Lord does not prevent the slaughter of the innocents.  He allows it to happen.  Not that He condones or authors evil, but He uses these wicked events according to His own divine purpose and holy will

Now, make no mistake.  Do not be so proud in your own sinful heart as to suppose that God has overlooked the little boys of Bethlehem or regarded their bodies and their lives of no account.  Not a sparrow falls from the sky apart from His knowledge and His tender loving care.  And those holy innocents are far more precious to Him than many sparrows.  Therefore, He does deliver them in His mercy.  But He does so, not for this world, but from this world.  He saves their life for eternity with Himself in the Resurrection, and not for the trials and tribulations of this vale of tears.

It is fine and good for those little boys.  They live and abide with the Lamb in His Kingdom and worship at His Throne.  They serve Him day and night in His Temple without fear.  Even better, they are served forever by Him, who shall raise their bodies from the dead in glory at the last.

But it was not so lovely on this occasion for their mommies and daddies.  When the soldiers came and ripped those infants and toddlers from the arms of their parents, and put them to the sword, and dashed them against the rock, that was not so easy to live with.

The Lord uses the suffering of this present age to call His people to repentance.  He allows you also to suffer affliction and hardship and loss, that you would be called to repent.  Not only for your active sins and for the evil that you do, but for your lack of faith, for your unbelief, and for your false belief and worship of this body and life on earth.  He would have you learn to view your life, not here, but in the crucified and risen Body of Christ Jesus; not only for now, but for ever.

King Herod gets so angry.  He is trembling with rage.  He acts in violence.  All because he is so desperately clinging to his power and position in this world.  And for all his anger and might, he is afraid.  He’s scared to death of a little Baby.  He’s afraid that he’ll lose his place in the world.  And so he thrashes about, caring not who gets hurt, caring only for himself and his earthly power.

What is it that makes you angry?  What is it that makes you afraid?  What are you grasping for yourself and clinging to for dear life in this world, as though this body and life were all there is?

Rachel weeps for her children.  She is inconsolable.  She can’t stop crying.  She weeps, even though the Lord has spoken, “Cease your weeping, and stop your crying.”  She weeps because she clings to her children and their life in this world.  She thinks she wants what is best for them, but she does not know what is best for them.  She is selfish.  She wants her children for herself.  She does not want to give them up to the Lord.  She does not understand anything other than this life.

What is it that makes you weep?  What is it that brings tears to your eyes which will not cease?  What is it that makes you inconsolable, even when the Lord has spoken His Word of  consolation?

You must be catechized by the Word and Spirit of God to see not only this life and this world, but to fix your hope on Christ, to fix your hope on His Resurrection from the dead and on His Life.

Do not be so angry.  Do not be so afraid.  Do not be so sad.  The Lord has delivered you.  He has rescued you.  He has had mercy upon you.  He has brought you out of sin and death into life.  All of this He has done by His Exodus.  Not simply His infant return from Egypt, though this, too, is part of His fulfillment of all thing.  But by His greater Exodus, His innocent suffering and death, His Sacrifice upon the Cross as the Passover Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  By His passage through death and the grave into the Life everlasting, that is how He has delivered you from sin, death, and hell.  By the shedding of His holy and precious blood, He has saved you.

He has not been rescued from Herod that He should be spared sorrow.  He has been rescued now to carry the sorrows of the world in His own flesh; to bear the weight of the world upon His own aching bones and aching back; to suffer and die for all the children of men; and thus, by His Blood, to cover you, to shelter you, and to protect you from every evil of body and soul.

This promise is for you, and it is for your children, even your little children.  So do not withhold that Word of God from them.  And do not deprive yourself of that Word and promise.

Repent of your idolatrous love for this world.  Do not make gods out of that which does not last.  Do not bow down and worship in your heart or with your life that which perishes like the grass.

Repent of your anger and fear.  Repent of your inconsolable sorrow.  Repent also for your failure to care for your children in accordance with the Word of God.  Repent of your failure to provide for both their body and their soul, for the catechesis of the Word as well as their heath and safety.

Having brought your sons and daughters to Holy Baptism, take seriously the significance of that Holy Sacrament, both for them and for yourself.  Understand that by that washing of water with the Word, by that cleansing blood of the Lamb, you and your children have already died to this body and life.  You have been put to death with Christ, and your life is hidden with Him in God.

Live, therefore, not as though this world were your only hope and help and consolation.  Live, rather, as citizens of another Kingdom, as citizens of a City made without hands, as sons and daughters within the Household and Family of God — by faith in the flesh and blood of Christ.

Do not try to flee this world.  Do not take your own life.  Do not despair of that which God has given you to do here and now.  And do not bemoan how much or little He has entrusted to your care and keeping.  Receive and use what He gives in confident hope.  Bear the Cross patiently.

Rejoice, give thanks, and sing for the food and clothing which the Lord provides, for your house and home, for your wife or husband, for your children, and for all that you have.  And do not use any of it selfishly.  Use it rather to help and serve your neighbor, beginning with your own family.

Do not ask why God allows others to suffer, when you yourself do not help those who suffer.  Do not ask why God allows little children to be put to death, when you do not do all that you can to help protect those who cannot help or protect themselves.

Use what you have to provide for your neighbor’s needs, as the Magi did for the Holy Family by giving them gold and frankincense and myrrh, so that poor Joseph had the means to take his family into Egypt and to care for them while waiting on the Word of the Lord.

Do not try to flee this life.  But hold on to it loosely, and keep your feet firmly planted upon the Rock that is Christ, knowing that your life is in the Resurrection of His Body.  Knowing that, find your life here in His Body on earth, in the Church and Ministry of His Word and Sacraments.

Bring yourself and your children to and from the Altar of the Passover Lamb.  Eat His flesh in the faith that God will bring you in the Exodus out of Egypt into Life.  Take your shelter under His Blood, knowing that the Angel of Death must sheath his sword when you are covered by Christ.

Bring your children to and from this Altar by the catechesis of the Word of Christ.  Do that which God instructed His people of old.  It is no less important for you.  When you get up, and when you go to bed, and as you go about your day, have His Word always on your lips, on your forehead, on your heart, on the walls of your home, and on your gateposts.  Let your whole life be permeated with the Word of the Lord, that you and your children may be preserved in that which is forever.

Rest assured, the little boys of Bethlehem were not abandoned.  For the Lord their God gave them fathers and mothers to teach them His Word, to bring them to circumcision, to place them within the congregation of His people.  And by His catechesis, and by His Sacrament of Circumcision, they were brought into the Kingdom of God, both here in time and hereafter in eternity.

You also have been brought into the Kingdom of God by the Circumcision made without hands, by the washing of Holy Baptism, and by the precious Word of the Gospel that is spoken to you.  For all things have been fulfilled in Christ, and He has done it all for you, so that you may live.

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.