Through the Narrow Door of Baptism and the Cross of Christ

He’s making His way to Jerusalem.  St. Luke has made that plain already, and here the steadfast journey continues.  The Lord Jesus has set His face toward His Holy City and the Sacrifice that He will offer there.  He has fixed His eyes upon His Cross and Passion, upon His Passover and His Exodus, by which He will bring His people out of death into life.  For by the offering of Himself once for all, He returns to His Father and opens the Kingdom of God to all who follow after Him.

It is a narrow door through which He passes, blazing the trail for you and Philippa and whoever believes and is baptized into Him.  It is like being born from your mother’s womb, in which the curse of sin and death contends with the promise and gift of new life.  And it is like a camel being drawn through the eye of a needle.  It seems impossibly small, and it is ludicrous to suppose that anyone could do it.  But what man could not do, the Lord Jesus Christ does for you and for all.

He first entered that narrow door when He entered the waters of the Jordan River to be baptized by St. John; and from those waters He passes through His crucifixion, death, and burial, into His Resurrection and His Ascension to the Right Hand of His Father.  It is all about sonship and what it means to be and to live as a child of God, even and especially in the midst of sin and death.  He bears and suffers the curse of the fall into sin, by taking His place at the head of a long line of sinners, in order to open the door and lead them through it, to bear His Bride over the threshold.

He gives Himself to be squeezed by the pressure, the tightness, the weight of the world, and the entire burden of the Law, and through it all He remains faithful.  He relies upon His Father, come hell or high water against Him.  When He is reviled, He does not revile in return, but He simply keeps on entrusting Himself to the One who will rescue Him from out of death, and raise Him up from out of the tomb, and bring Him finally through the narrow door into the breadth, and height, and depth of divine Glory.  He thus receives the inheritance of the Father’s Son, who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven into our flesh, and bore our sin, and was disciplined in our place, in order to make a place for all the sons and daughters of Adam in the Household of His God and Father.  That is what He has done for you, and that is what He gives to you by His Word.

He calls you to follow Him to Jerusalem, to His Cross and Passion, and to enter with Him through that narrow door of His death into His Resurrection and the Life everlasting in His Kingdom.

Because He has already done it, now is the acceptable and opportune time, now is the day of salvation.  He has opened the door by the sacrifice of His own Body and by the shedding of His holy and precious Blood; and now by the preaching of His Word He brings you safely through that door, albeit putting you to death and raising you to life again in Himself.  It is by the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, which both kills and makes alive.  It is by your Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection, as it is for Philippa henceforth.  That is your Exodus, your going out and your coming in, which brings you to the Passover of the Lamb within His Father’s Kingdom.

You “strive to enter” through that narrow door, as Jesus urges you to do, not by the futile striving of self-righteousness, but by the striving of contrition and repentance.  That is the very opposite of relying on yourself and trying to enter by your own effort.  It is, rather, to be crucified and put to death and buried to yourself, and to find your righteousness, life, and salvation in Christ alone.

Apart from Christ Jesus — which is to say, apart from the Ministry of His Gospel and faith in His Gospel — all of your works, from the inside-out, and all of your thoughts, words, and actions, even at your very best, are all works of unrighteousness.  Indeed, the harder you try to impress the Lord your God with such behavior, the further you wander from His Kingdom and His Righteousness.  But if you want to be saved, if you want to live, abandon all that sort of striving and fix your hope on the Cross of Christ.  His Cross is the Sign that He has raised up in the midst of His people, to which He calls you, and by which He crucifies you, in order to raise you up to a brand new life.

So, He is not talking about simple proximity, simply being in His presence, in the right place at the right time.  Sitting in the pew for the sermon, and even kneeling at the rail for the Sacrament, that will not get you through the narrow door.  Don’t congratulate yourself that you are here, and do not presume that Christ must let you in because you’ve done your bit and paid your dues.  If you imagine that you are doing the Lord a favor by coming to His House and hearing His Word, eating His Food and drinking from His Cup, then you are still too full of yourself, and you surely do not have the fear of God in your heart and mind.  Name dropping isn’t going to work with the Head of the House, and if all you’ve got is your personal pedigree and good attendance card, then you’re not getting in.  But why would you even want to enter, if it seems like such a chore to you?

Now, to be sure, it is exactly right that you should want to enter through the door into the Lord’s House, for your Salvation is here.  Simply coming to church, in itself, is certainly no guarantee of righteousness and salvation, that is true.  But not coming to church at all is even worse, and is absolutely not the remedy or solution to sin, death, and hell.  Instead, you are called to the Cross at the center of the Church’s life in Christ.  Not to be a passive observer or a listener only, but to worship the Lord Jesus Christ by repentant faith in His Word; to hear and heed His preaching, and to eat and drink His Supper in the holiness and righteousness of faith in His forgiveness of sins.

To worship the one Lord, Jesus Christ, is to stop worshiping yourself and all your false gods in the world.  It is to deny yourself, to take up His Cross and follow Him; to drown and destroy the old Adam in you, and to live as the New Man lives, in faith toward God, in fervent love for Him above all else, and in genuine love for your neighbor as yourself.  It is to be at peace with God, and in so far as it depends on you to be at peace with all people, in the confidence that God is at peace with you in Christ Jesus.  And in such peace, hope, and love, you worship Christ in righteousness by pouring yourself out in service to your neighbor, strengthening the weak and healing the sick, and pursuing harmony with everyone, rather than harboring bitterness toward anyone.

That is the life of repentance, faith, and love to which your Baptism has called you, into which it has ushered you by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  It is the ongoing life of righteousness and holiness to which the Lord has called Philippa by His Word and in her Holy Baptism this morning.

But the hard and solid fact is that you can’t achieve any of this by your own power or volition.  The door is too narrow, and your ego will not fit through it.  That is why your ego must be sacrificed upon the Altar of the Cross, upon the Whole Burnt Offering of Christ Jesus, if you are to enter in.

But that is not your work.  It is the Service of your merciful and great High Priest, that is, the same Lord Jesus Christ.  You begin to worship Him, in other words, as He comes to you and gathers you to Himself, in order to bear you to the Father in His own Body of flesh and blood.  He is the Clean Vessel in which you are borne, who offers you up to His God and Father as a grain offering, acceptable and well-pleasing in His sight, and as a sweet-smelling aroma in His nostrils.

You are consecrated to the Lord your God by Christ Jesus and by His Sacrifice.  Not that you must offer Him, but that He offers you to the Father in Himself; and the Father reconciles you to Himself and receives you to Himself in His beloved and well-pleasing Son.

And so it is that Philippa has been consecrated to the Lord, the one true God, justified by His grace and sanctified by His Spirit.  Not by any work of hers, but by His sacred work for her, as for you.

As Christ passed through the cities, towns, and villages on His way to the Cross in Jerusalem, so has He come here to your town, in order to gather you to Himself and take your sins upon Himself.  He calls you by the preaching of repentance unto faith in His forgiveness, and He bears you in His Body through death into life.  Following after Him through Holy Baptism, you have entered the narrow door that He has opened by His Cross and Resurrection.  And what that means for the rest of your life is the daily dying and rising of contrition and repentance, confession and absolution, until your Baptism culminates and comes to rest in the death and resurrection of your body, unto the life everlasting of your body and soul in the Kingdom of God.

This daily dying and rising of repentant faith is the way of the Cross by which you live.  But again, your striving and suffering, and even your sacrifices, are not meritorious works by which you save yourself and your own skin.  No, this is the discipline of your God and Father, who teaches you and trains you to live as His dear child and heir.  He does not leave you alone to be a passive observer or a listener only, but by His Word and Holy Spirit He lays the Cross of Christ upon your heart and mind, your body and soul, in order to conform you to the Image of His Son.  He does so in love, in order to give you life, lest you perish forever in your works of unrighteousness.  And so it is that He brings you through the narrow door to Himself.

Even now, by His grace, you live by faith in His Word and promise, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did in their pilgrimage on earth, in the midst of frailty and weakness.  And here you are seated with them, with Patriarchs and Prophets, Apostles and Evangelists, with the holy martyrs and all saints, at the Table of Christ Jesus in the Kingdom of God.  Not simply “in His presence,” nor eating and drinking His Body and Blood unto condemnation, but receiving the Food and Drink with which He feeds you in repentance and faith, with gratitude in your heart and thanksgiving on your lips.  Here the Lord your God receives you to Himself in peace, even as He gives Himself to you in love, with mercy and forgiveness for all your sins.  If you would enter His Kingdom and be saved at the last, then here receive these gifts Christ freely gives to you, the Fruits of His Sacrifice for you.

Beloved, you are not a spectator or an “innocent bystander,” but a recipient of these good things and a participant in the very Life of God in Christ.  It’s a matter of your death and life in Him.  And this is your Father’s House, where you belong, where you now live as His own dear child.  He knows your name, for He has named you with His own.  And He knows where you are from, for He has called you from the ends of the earth, from the four corners of the compass, to Himself.

As you have heard His call and come at the sound of His Voice, rejoice and be glad, for that is the gracious gift and good work of the Holy Spirit through the Word and preaching of Christ Jesus.

As your Holy Baptism is the narrow door by which you have entered the Kingdom of your God and Father in Christ Jesus, so is the Altar His Table, at which you are invited to recline within His house and home.  For the Holy Supper of Christ’s true Body and true Blood is the heart and center of the Church’s life and salvation, already here in time and hereafter in eternity.

Here you have come, not to the fire and brimstone of Mount Sinai, but to the beauty and grace of Mount Zion, to the holy City of the living God, to the true Jerusalem, on earth as it is in heaven; to myriads of angels and archangels, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect; because here you have come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to His sprinkled Blood, with which He cleanses you and sanctifies you, and by which you see God and live.

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

Baptized with the Spirit and with Fire

As our dear Lord Jesus Christ continues on His Way to Jerusalem — on His Way to the Cross — He reveals the significance of His Holy Baptism — for Himself, first of all, and so also for you.

It’s not what you might think or expect from your compassionate and loving Savior.  Popular images of Jesus envision Him as tender to the point of being soft and weak; easy-going and good-natured enough to wink and nod at sin; by all means friendly, tolerant, and above all, nice.  But those who insist on “peace and unity” at all costs are missing the mark where Jesus is concerned.

The Baptism of our Lord is a matter of deadly seriousness.  It does not deal gently with sin.  It does not look the other way or tolerate the contradiction of God’s will or disobedience to His Word.  It is clearly black and white and leaves no room for shades of grey.  Thus, Baptism means death and destruction for the sinner.  It is both fire and flood.  It is crucifixion and burial.  And it requires the division of all people, no matter how closely related, on the sole criterion of the Holy Cross.

From the moment our Lord first entered the Jordan River to be baptized by St. John, His Life and His Ministry were one, long, continuous Baptism into His death, even His death on the Cross.

And so it is that your entire life, as well, as a Christian disciple of Jesus — from the font to your grave — is one, long, continuous Baptism into His death.  As you have been taught to confess, it signifies that your old Adam should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all your sins and evil lusts; and again, that a New Man should daily emerge and arise in you, in and with Christ Jesus, to live before His God and Father in righteousness and purity forever.

Thus, in either case, for you as for Christ Jesus, it is a Baptism into His Cross.  Only what is Law and sin and death and judgment for Him is for you the Gospel of forgiveness and life and salvation.

In the first place, you know that Baptism gives or profits the forgiveness of your sins.  But you receive that forgiveness in your Baptism because Christ has received your sins in His Baptism.  It is the place of that great exchange, whereby Christ Jesus goes into the water holy and sinless and perfect, but He comes out drenched in your sins, burdened by your death and damnation; whereas you go into the water saturated with your sins and dressed in filthy rags, but you come out dressed in the beautiful white robes of Christ and His perfect righteousness.  Your sin, death, and hell in exchange for His heaven, His life, and His great salvation.

Remember, when Jesus came to St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River, how St. John confessed that he was not worthy of the Lord; yet, Jesus humbled Himself before John and submitted to his Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  But how could that be?  And what could it possibly mean?  Does the Lord Jesus have sins to be forgiven, for which He must repent?

Yes!  That is the very point.  He has no sins of His own, to be sure; for He is holy and righteous, the perfect Son of God.  But as the Lamb of God, He takes upon Himself the sins of all the world, including yours.  So it is for those sins that He repents, for those sins that He suffers and dies, for those sins that He receives forgiveness — not for His own sake, but for you and your salvation.

You see, therefore, that everything Christ Jesus does and suffers from the waters of His Baptism to His death upon the Cross is all for your sake; and He receives all things in heaven and on earth on your behalf. The Word of Blessing from the Father, “You are My beloved Child, with whom I am well pleased,” and the anointing of His Holy Spirit, are both given to you in Holy Baptism.

It is in His Baptism that Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, was anointed by the Word and Spirit of the Father to be the Christ, your Savior.  And it is by and from His bloody Cross and Passion that He bestows the same Word and Spirit of God upon you by the way and means of your Baptism.

This Word and Spirit of God are the “fire” that Christ casts upon the earth, which He first of all calls down upon Himself — from His Baptism to His Cross — and which He now pours out, for you and for all — from His crucified and risen Body, in and with His holy and precious Blood.

He baptizes you with the Spirit and with fire, having been baptized with the Spirit and with fire, Himself, in His own Body of flesh and blood.  He bears and suffers the Cross for the sins of the world, but so is He risen from the dead for your justification, for the sanctification of your body and soul unto life with God forever.  So you are put to death through contrition and repentance, but you are raised up to newness of life through faith in the forgiveness of all your sins.

As the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, has given Himself for you and for all upon the Cross, so do you follow after Him as a disciple in the Way of His Cross, unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.  That is the life which He now gives to you in the Holy Sacraments, as you are baptized in His Name and continue to live the daily and lifelong significance of that Baptism, and as you receive the very Body and Blood that He sacrificed for you upon the Altar of His Cross.

It is by these Means of Grace, by the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism, and by the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Communion, that you are purified by the “fire” of God’s Word and Holy Spirit.  That “fire” has a two-fold purpose and effect, corresponding to the work of the Law and the Gospel.  It is the wrath and judgment of God against sin, on the one hand, convicting hearts, crushing the old Adam, and calling to repentance; and on the other hand, the merciful cleansing of forgiveness, which gives rise to Life and Salvation with God in Christ.

Such is the decisive work of that sharp, two-edged Sword, the Word of God.  It divides between even the soul and the spirit, between your joints and marrow.  It cuts you to the quick and exposes your sins to the righteous judgment of the Lord.  But so does it also call you to repentance, which is to say, not only away from your sins in contrition, but to the Lord in faith, to the new life that is yours in the mercy and forgiveness of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  It is Cross and Resurrection.

That you should be well-prepared for this confrontation with His Word, God makes it clear that He will not tolerate false prophets, nor any false teaching or preaching in His Name.  That is most reprehensible to Him.  But the true Prophets of God (like Jeremiah) preach His Word faithfully, even though it brings them grief and pain, suffering and persecution (as it did for Jeremiah).  It brings the Cross, because the Word of God — specifically the hard Word of His Law — is not a coddling, permissive, and gentle word, but a consuming fire and a fierce hammer that smashes rocky hearts into pieces, in order that the Gospel might recreate those hearts in the Image of Christ.

Like any loving father — only perfectly, without any sinful anger or impatience, always fair and always consistent, always striving for your good — the Lord chastises you and disciplines you through His Word of the Law and through the temporal consequences of your sin.  He does so that you should be healed and strengthened in body and soul, and trained to find your life in the Cross of Christ instead of in the pleasant enticements of sin, death, the devil, and your flesh.  Thus are you returned to the death-dealing, life-giving waters of your Baptism and its daily significance.

Of course, this ongoing and continuous work of the Law and the Gospel, day-by-day throughout your Christian life, brings about a constant division within you — within your heart, mind, body, and soul.  It is a struggle and a battle which those outside of Christ do not undergo, because they remain naive and content (for now) in their sinfulness and spiritual death.  But St. Paul describes that war which rages like a fire in the flesh of those who live by faith in the Body of Christ Jesus:

You know by the Word and Spirit of God what is good and right and true and best, and by the grace of God you sincerely desire to live accordingly.  But time and again you fail and fall short!  By the Spirit of God you know and despise your sins, and you struggle against them.  And yet, they so often gain the upper hand in your words and actions.  So are you divided throughout this life.

And as there is such division within yourself, so is there a similar division between you and the sinful world — sometimes even within your own family and among your friends and coworkers.

I am well aware how greatly some of you struggle with those divisions of family over matters of religious faith and commitment, for all sorts of different reasons, in all sorts of different ways.  And I sympathize, as well, because of similar situations within my own extended family.  But I’m sorry to say, there is no easy solution for any of us.  We rather teach and confess by the example of our Christian lives, and by speaking the Word of God as we are given the opportunity. And we pray for reconciliation and unity in Christ — but only in Christ, and not by way of compromise.

Over against the increasing wickedness and falsehood of this fallen world, Christians rightly insist that the God-given bonds of marriage and family are sacred and significant.  How doubly-blessed are those families who are united in their Christian faith and life.  Even so, the household and family of God, the marriage of Christ and His Bride, the Church, far and away surpass and must take precedence over any and all ties of merely human flesh and blood.  Not that you disdain or despise your family, but that you always defer to Christ and His Word and live by faith in Him.

From the standpoint of eternity, the waters of Baptism are “thicker” than the blood of family ties.  Whereas the Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, which cleanses you from sin, is likewise thicker and more permanent than all other bonds.  So, then, where a family is divided by religious faith, confession, and practice, as a Christian you are bound to give precedence, priority, and preference to Christ and His Church — over and above, and even in opposition to, your parents and children.

Even so, in spite of such painful divisions (inevitably brought about by the entrance of Christ Jesus into this sinful world and into your sinful heart), there is nevertheless a true and lasting Peace for you in Christ Jesus, and a new and more permanent family — created in Holy Baptism, where you were born again as a child of God — and strengthened and sustained, now and forever, in the Holy Communion.  This is where the division of your soul and spirit, the destruction of your old Adam, and the enmity of the world against you, are replaced with the Love and Unity of Christ in His Spirit, the steadfast confession of His Word and faith in the face of all opposition, and the joyful confidence that He is not ashamed to call you His brother or sister, a child of His own Father.

Because you are a member of this household and family of God — the Lord’s own son or daughter — united with Christ Jesus in the unity of His Holy Spirit as a beloved and well-pleasing child and heir of the Father in heaven, you do find peace and strength in Him, even here and now on earth.

For the joy that was set before Him, for the sake of your salvation, He endured the Cross, despising its shame; wherefore He has been exalted in His Resurrection and Ascension to the Right Hand of His God and Father.  In considering Him and all that He has suffered on your behalf, you are able to endure by His grace and bear His Cross without becoming weary or discouraged.  Not only by way of His good example, but especially because the Baptism of His bloody Cross and Passion has been poured out upon you — by and with His Word and Spirit — as a Baptism of forgiveness, a rich and full washing away of sins, and a gracious water of life and salvation; and because the Cup of God’s wrath against your sins, which Christ Jesus drained to the dregs for you, is now given to you as the Cup of Blessing and Salvation, the New Testament in His Blood, poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins, and for life and salvation in Him.

Come, therefore, and be kindled by the fire of His love for you.  Cling to Him by the grace and power of His Holy Spirit, even (and especially) when all hell breaks loose around you and you are cut to the quick within.  Hear again His gracious Word, as you are called to feast on Him in the righteousness and holiness of your Holy Baptism: “Take, eat, this is My Body, given for you.  Take, drink, this is My Blood, poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.”  So shall you abide in Him, and He in you; and nothing shall ever divide you from His one Body forever.

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

The Remembrance of His Mercy

Here, then, is how the Lord comes to you and deals with you: In grace, mercy, and peace. In humility and meekness.  By His Word and Holy Spirit, He greets you and embraces you in love.  The Father gives to you His own beloved Son, in flesh and blood like yours, for the forgiveness of your sins, for the resurrection of your body, and for the life everlasting of your body and soul.

He sends His messenger to you, to go before His face, to prepare His way by the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  To point to Him who is the Lamb of God, and to give you that Lamb in the flesh.  He preaches Christ into your ears, into your mouth, and into your body.

Believe the Word that He speaks to you and the promises He gives to you.  For all these things are fulfilled for you in Christ.  And they shall be fulfilled and accomplished in you, forever and ever.

In St. Elizabeth and St. Mary you are given beautiful examples of such faith in Christ, the Lord.  They hear His Word, and they trust it.  They rejoice in it gladly, with both humility and confidence, even though it remains hidden under frailty and weakness.

But there is more to these two women than example.  St. Elizabeth is a new Sarah, who conceives a promised son in her barren old age, as the mouth of the Lord has spoken.  Better still, St. Mary is the new and greater Eve, the Mother of all the living, because she conceives and bears the very Son of God in her womb, the Seed of the Woman who crushes Satan under His wounded heel.

St. Mary is a daughter of the first Eve.  So, too, she is a true and twofold daughter of Abraham; for he is the father of all who believe and trust the Lord, and she does.  She is also a faithful daughter of the Patriarch Judah and of King David; and now, in her, all the promises of God the Lord to those men and their children have come to pass.  For as her father David once brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, where the Lord caused His Name and His Glory to dwell among His people, so now has St. Mary herself become a new and better Ark of the New Covenant in the flesh and blood of her Son.  She carries in herself, not signs or types of good things to come, nor simply shadows and promises, but the Reality, the one true God Himself, in His own flesh and blood.

It is in this way — by the means of this dear woman, who is blessed above all others — that the Lord not only comes to you, to visit you in peace, but He has become like you in every way, save only without sin.  Conceived and born of St. Mary, He is the true Man, the new and better Adam.

He comes in this way, in human flesh and blood, in order to save you from your sin, to redeem you from death and from the tyranny of the devil, to reconcile you to God and bring you to Him as a dear child to your dear Father in heaven forever.  Thus, by His Spirit, you pray: “Abba, Father.”

Has Jesus not taught you to pray in precisely this way?  “Our Father, who art in heaven.”  With these words He tenderly invites you to believe that God is your true Father, and you are His true child, so that you may come to Him and pray to Him as a little child asks her dear father on earth.

It is for this purpose that the incarnate Son of God, the blessed Son of St. Mary, Jesus Christ, has taken all your sins upon Himself — indeed, He has taken the sins of the whole world upon Himself — and has borne those sins in His Body to the Cross.  There, by the shedding of His holy, precious Blood, He has made propitiation and atoned for all those sins of the world, including yours.

And having thus atoned for sin, His death is surely not His defeat but His great victory.  So it is that He is raised from the dead.  And in His Resurrection, those who have been burdened and put to death by sin are raised up to newness of life.  For just as He became like you, even to the point of death, so do you become like Him in His Resurrection through His forgiveness of all your sins.

This forgiveness and new life He grants to you, and to His whole Church on earth, by the Ministry of the Gospel.  He does it by the preaching of His messengers — as Gabriel announced the Word of the Lord to St. Mary — and as St. John the Baptist, while yet in the womb, proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ.  Likewise, by the washing of water with the Word and Spirit of Christ, which is the new birth of Holy Baptism, you are brought to life in the household and family of God.  Indeed, as St. Mary once conceived and gave birth to the Son of God by His grace and power, so does the Church give birth to the sons of God in Christ by the same Word and the same Holy Spirit.

And He gives to you, also — into your body — the same Body and Blood of the same Lord Jesus Christ, which were conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary; which were crucified under Pontius Pilate; which were dead and buried; which are now risen and ascended, alive forevermore.

As He unites His flesh to yours in this Holy Sacrament, so are you bound up with Him and united with Him, both body and soul, in His Cross and Resurrection and in His Life everlasting.

This is most certainly true.  But it is also true that, for now, it is hidden in the dark and secret place, in the womb of the Church, in the theology of the Cross.

Your life and salvation as a beloved and well-pleasing child of God are perceived only by faith in the Word and promises of Christ, in the midst of much hardship and sorrow, gossip and slander, persecution and death.  But you live in the hope of the Resurrection, which is not yet seen.

St. Elizabeth did not see it.  When she greeted her young cousin as the Mother of her Lord, and she praised that same Lord God concealed in the womb of St. Mary, that girl was barely in her first trimester, not even showing.  Nor do we have any indication or reason to believe that St. Elizabeth ever saw the Christ Child, as Simeon and Anna would see Him in the Temple.  She did not live to see her own son, St. John the Baptist, grow up to fulfill his calling as the Forerunner of the Lord. Elizabeth and her husband Zacharias were already well advanced in years when St. John was conceived.  But had she lived, she would have seen her son imprisoned and beheaded by Herod.

St. Mary did live to see her own dear Son, Christ Jesus, crucified under Pontius Pilate.  There, at the foot of His Cross, she saw Him suffer and die, and the great sword of sorrow pierced her soul, as Simeon foretold.  She was a witness of His Resurrection and of His outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost; but so did she also see the Church on earth suffer persecution, as she herself suffered in her life under the Cross.  As she was taken into the home of St. John the Apostle, she would have seen the martyrdom of his elder brother, St. James, who was put to death by Herod.

Already long before, St. Mary had suffered for her faith and because of her great blessedness.  When she returned from visiting St. Elizabeth, she was at first suspected by St. Joseph, who would have divorced her quietly for her presumed unfaithfulness; and though he took her to be his wife by faith in the Word of the Lord, one can well imagine what the rest of Nazareth would have thought and said about her and her condition.  She had to flee the murderous threats and violence of Herod, who would have destroyed her Son from the start.  She had to live in a foreign land, a stranger and alien on earth, although she was highly favored by God and blessed among women.

The great reversal of which St. Mary sings in her Magnificat — the humbling of the proud and the exaltation of the poor and lowly and despised — is accomplished by God through the Cross and Passion of His Son and hers.  And it is fully realized only in the Resurrection of the dead, which you do not yet see.  For now, what you see and experience are persecution, suffering, and death.

For now you live under the Cross.  But of course, it is and remains the very Cross of Christ which saves you.  Live, therefore, in the sure and certain hope of His Resurrection, in the faith and confidence of His mercy.  That hope will not disappoint you, nor will His mercy ever fail you.

Even now, there is the remembrance of His mercy.  Not simply your remembering of His mercy in the past, your remembering of His Word and promises, but His remembrance of you and His promises to you, and His remembrance of His holy Covenant in the flesh and blood of Christ.

Here, indeed, is where and how He remembers you in mercy, not just in His head but in His flesh.  Here is the Body of Christ, born of St. Mary, given to you.  Here is the Blood of Christ, shed for you upon the Cross, now poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

Where there is such forgiveness of sins, there also is life and salvation.  As you hear and believe His Word, and as you receive Him into yourself in faith, it is for you as He has spoken: Your sins are forgiven, and so are you raised up from death to the Life everlasting in your body and soul.

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

Not to Worry: The Lord Is Faithful!

When the Lord Jesus Christ tells you “not to worry,” He thereby takes away one of those things that you do best.  Indeed, He takes away everything that you might presume to do for yourself, by your own ingenuity and effort, as though to gain some treasure of your own desire and devising.

It is one thing to maintain a godly concern for others, and to serve faithfully within your God-given calling and stations in life.  But to worry, to be anxious, is to suppose that everything depends on you.  As though you were the one to feed the ravens and clothe the lilies.  As though you were the one to make the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the evil and the good.  As though you were capable of opening your hand to satisfy the wants and needs of every living thing.

So, as a Word of the Law, “do not worry” exposes your pride and self-righteousness, as well as your doubts and fears, your desperate anxiety, and all the other symptoms of your unbelief.

But this Word of your dear Lord Jesus Christ does not simply bring your sin to light.  It is also His call to repentance and faith — both of which are His work, not yours.  That is to say, He calls you away from yourself and your sin to your Father in heaven, to His grace and mercy and forgiveness, and to His gracious providence of all that you need for your body and soul, for now and forever.

Christ Jesus calls you to fear, love, and trust in the Lord — the one true God, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — because He loves you; and He is willing and able, eager and active to care for you in all the many ways that you cannot care for yourself.

To demonstrate that point, He offers you the familiar example of the birds and the flowers, which do not work or worry in all the ways that you do, yet God takes care of them beautifully, just as He daily and richly sustains His whole creation (even for the wicked, despite their lack of faith).

So does the Lord your God feed and clothe your body throughout your life on earth, solely out of His Fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, for Jesus’ sake, without any merit or worthiness in you.  For you are far more precious to Him than the birds and the flowers!  Has He not created you in His own Image and Likeness for life with Himself forever?  Has He not given Himself in His Son, in flesh and blood like yours, to die for your sins and to rise again for your justification?  And in your Holy Baptism, has He not given you His Name, His Spirit, and His Kingdom as your own?

Indeed, He has done all of this and more, according to His steadfast loving-kindness, His grace and mercy toward you.  And it all depends on Him.  None of it depends on you.  It is His good work and His good gift, for the sake of His own divine and holy love.  What is more, He remains faithful in all things, and all that He has promised and pledged to you in the Word and Flesh of Christ, He continues to do and give, not only here in time, but hereafter in the Resurrection to eternal Life.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom in and with His Son.  Through the free and full forgiveness of all your sins, He pours out the Holy Spirit upon you and lavishly bestows His divine life and eternal salvation upon your body and soul.

Therefore, Jesus comforts you this morning: “Do not be afraid, little flock.”  Such beautiful, sweet, and tender words of grace and mercy and compassion.  Not empty words, but full of peace and life.

Yet, even in these comforting words of the Gospel, there is the implicit reminder of the Cross and suffering — which the Church on earth, and all the disciples of Jesus, are given to share with Him.

Consider, for example, what a little flock our own Emmaus congregation is, over against the big and boisterous world all around us.  And you know that many of our sister congregations are as small or smaller than we are.  Beyond that, the entire Church on earth is under duress, and often under attack on all sides, outwardly outnumbered and outgunned, surrounded by hostility.  Such temptations the little flock of the Good Shepherd faces, both individually and collectively, to give way to fear and anxiety, or else to resort to desperate activism or to frantic marketing strategies.

But in the face of it all, in the very midst of adversity, hardship, and persecution, you are called — and the entire Church is called upon — to fear, love, and trust in our God and Father in heaven: All for the sake of our one Lord, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead for our salvation.

Christ Jesus is the Lamb of God, the little flock reduced to One, who by His voluntary suffering and death has destroyed death, conquered the devil, tread hell beneath His gloriously wounded feet, and gotten forgiveness for the sins of the entire world.  So, that is your great value to the Lord your God — and that is your great victory — this Lord who has given Himself to save you:

He, too, has been small and frail and beleaguered, surrounded by His foes, crucified, put to death, and buried.  But His God and Father in heaven has given Him the Kingdom, the Resurrection and the Life, and all authority in heaven and on earth.  And these He gives to you.  For though His holy Apostles were also few in number, weak by all the standards of the world, a little flock of sheep in the midst of wolves, He sent them to preach His Word, to baptize and absolve in His Name, and to feed His lambs and sheep around the world with His Body given and His Blood poured out.  Though they were martyred for His Gospel and His Name, their labors were not in vain.  His holy Christian Church has survived and spread throughout the world, also here to you.  Do not think, because you are such a little flock, that your Shepherd has forgotten you.  Not once.  Not ever.  He is always with you.  And wherever He is with His Word, there is the Kingdom of God for you.

It is for the sake of this Lamb who has been slain, who has risen from the dead, who was and is and is to come, that the little flock, so poorly regarded by the world, is regarded with the Father’s good pleasure and established as the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.  Take that to heart, and do not be afraid.  Only remember that everything begins with and centers in Christ Jesus, in His Body of flesh and blood, crucified for your sins, and risen from the dead as your righteousness.

It is by His Cross that He has obtained and opened the Kingdom of God for you and for all who believe and are baptized in His Name.  And it is likewise from His Cross that He feeds and clothes you with Himself: in the waters of your Holy Baptism, and week after week in His Holy Supper.

There is no greater treasure than those good gifts Christ freely gives.  Not even close.  Nowhere in all of creation, neither on earth nor in heaven.  And being given Christ Himself, the incarnate Son of God with all His fruits and benefits (freely bestowed in the Ministry of His Gospel), there is nothing else that you need, and therefore nothing at all for you to worry or be anxious about.

It is within that gracious freedom from all fear and anxiety, in that divine comfort and eternal life which are yours in Christ Jesus (by grace through faith in Him), that you are able to dedicate and use your entire life on earth, and all of your possessions, to serve your neighbor in loving charity.

The Lord your God freely provides you with all that you need and more, with all good things, and He still takes care of you.  Your hope and confidence, therefore, are not in this perishing world or any of its temporary things.  Whatever you have in this body and life is from the hand of God, for which you rightly give Him thanks.  It comes and goes according to His wisdom and His grace, not for your salvation, but for the exercise of faith and love to the glory of His Holy Name, even as you live in the hope and promise of the Resurrection, in the confidence of the Holy Gospel.

As you eat and drink from the hand of God, as you are clothed and sheltered in body and soul by His grace, so do you love and serve your neighbors in mercy with whatever means the Lord has provided within your own place in life.  That is the stewardship of your life itself, whereby you invest yourself, your body and soul and all that you have, in the Kingdom of your God and Father.

That does mean feeding the hungry, as you are given the means and opportunity to do so; clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and welcoming the homeless, as your Lord Himself has surely taught you to do.  It also means sharing His Gospel, His love and forgiveness, with your neighbors in the world.  Speaking the truth in love.  Turning the other cheek to those who hurt you, and forgiving the sins of those who trespass against you.  And it means supporting the Church and Ministry of Christ with your prayers and intercessions, with your time and talents, as you’re able, and with your offerings.  All of this belongs to the fabric of your faith and life in Christ Jesus.

But none of these works of faith and love are undertaken as though you should thereby “earn” or “deserve” anything.  On the contrary, it is because the Father has already been pleased to give you His Kingdom by grace, that you serve and support His Kingdom with all that in you lies, and you extend the grace of His Kingdom to others as you are given the blessed opportunity to do so.

In contrast to the rich fool, who worked so hard to provide for himself and store up treasures for himself on earth, only to lose them in his death (and his soul with all the rest), all good things are yours in Christ Jesus, all the treasures of heaven, freely given by the grace of God.  Thus are you free to be generous and giving with your treasures here on earth, unafraid of sin, death, and hell.

That is what Jesus means when He speaks of selling your possessions and giving to “charity.”  He teaches you to hold on loosely to the things of this world, and to use them in mercy to serve and care for those in need.  Just as you are so poor and needy in the presence of God, who deals with you and cares for you in mercy and compassion.  And as you rely upon and live by His mercy and forgiveness and love, so does He expect and require that you should exercise that very same mercy, forgiveness, and love in relation to your neighbors in the world — to the glory of His Name.

Where you have, rather, invested your heart and yourself in treasures that will rust and perish and fade — where you have placed your hope and confidence in money bags that will grow old and fall apart — Repent!  Trust your God and Father in Christ, and live no longer for yourself but in love for God and man.  For the Lord your God in His good pleasure gives to you His Kingdom with no strings attached: the Gospel of His forgiveness, and the Body and Blood of Christ for life and salvation.  These precious gifts cannot be taken away from you by any thief on earth.  They cannot rust or fade or be destroyed.  They cost you nothing, and yet, they give you everything.

These gifts of the Gospel — and the faithfulness of the Lord in giving you these gifts — call you again and again to fear, love, and trust in Him above all things.  Not to worry, but to believe in Him and to live by that faith in His mercy.  Knowing that, regardless of what you may or may not have to wear in this body and life, you are clothed with the righteousness of Christ from the waters of your Holy Baptism unto the Resurrection of your body.  Knowing that, regardless of what you may or may not have to eat and drink, you are fed with the Body and Blood of Christ.  And knowing that, in spite of your sinful worries and anxieties, you are forgiven by His Word of Absolution.

As you are gathered here and now, together with His little flock, around the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, who has such tender mercy and compassion for you, so are you granted His peace and hope and confidence and a treasure in the heavens that does not fail or fade away forever.  Lift up your heart and mind to Him who loves you, to Jesus Christ, your Savior, who has risen from the dead and ever lives to make intercession for you before the throne of God.

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

Laying Hold of Life in the Gifts Christ Freely Gives

Beware, and be on your guard, against every manner of greed and covetousness.  That is the sober and serious warning from your Lord Jesus Christ and from His servants, the Apostles.  St. James records and reveals that covetousness is the fountain out of which all temptation flows, which conceives and gives birth to sin; and that sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death.

St. Paul has likewise stated forthrightly that covetousness is idolatry.  It is forbidden by the Ninth and Tenth Commandments, but it is really no less a sin against the First Commandment.  When you lust after that which God has not given you, when you hunger and thirst for that which He has given to your neighbor, and when you are obsessed with the things of this world, as though your life and happiness depended on them, then you make of those things your god and worship them as idols.  It is a false worship of that which is not God but His own creation.  You thus accuse the one true God of being unjust, as though He were withholding from you something you deserve.  For though He blesses you with all that you need, you crave and demand what He has not given.

If it is not so easy or obvious for you to recognize and understand that your covetousness and greed are idolatrous, I suspect that you may be more aware of and familiar with the way that greed and covetousness destroy love and fellowship, even among friends and within families.  How often are people set at odds and torn apart by squabbles over stuff, including the enmity of adult siblings bickering over their parents’ legacy and inheritance, like little children fighting over toys.

When you are driven by your lust for what you do not have, it cannot help but lead to envy and jealousy, to bitterness and resentment, to hatred instead of love.  Then, not only do you fail to fear, love, and trust in God; and not only do you fail to love and serve your neighbor as yourself, as the Lord your God commands; but you are consumed and destroyed by those hungers of your flesh.

You make false gods out of what you do not have but covet; and you make false gods out of what you have been given.  You horde stuff to yourself, while living in fear that it will be taken from you, that something will happen to it.  You look around jealously to see how you’re doing in the great competition.  Who has the most toys?  Who has the most ability?  Who has the most prestige?

But your life does not consist in your possessions, no matter what kind they may be, and no matter how many of them you may have.  Whether it’s money, or power and position, intelligence and knowledge, or charisma and lots of friends — whatever the false gods you fear, love, and trust in (anything other than Christ Jesus) — all of those idols will fail you, and you will die forever.

There is nothing of this temporal world that can save your life.  There is nothing of this temporal world that will forgive your sins or satisfy your covetous greed.  The more you have, the more you want; and all the while, everything but Christ and His Word is perishing and passing away.

In contrast, the Lord your God does not withhold any of His riches from you, not even His greatest Treasure.  The Father gives to you His Son; and the Son, who has given Himself for you, now also gives Himself to you in love; He pours out the Holy Spirit generously upon you and gives you life.

The Lord Himself and His Word to you are your only sure and certain hope.  For He is your Life and your Salvation, and there is no other help or hope in heaven or on earth.  He has prepared and established for you a home — a true and lasting home — where thieves do not break in and steal, where moth and rust do not destroy.  The Son has made a place for you with the Father in heaven.

Your dear Lord Jesus Christ has saved you from your sin, from sure and certain death, and from all the power of the devil.  He has delivered you from your false belief, from your terrible despair, from all your other great shame and vice, and so also from your greed and covetousness.  He has called you by His Word and Spirit away from your idolatry — away from your false gods, which cannot save you — back to Himself: To be reconciled to God the Father in Him, and so also to be reconciled to each other, to all your neighbors — to your family and friends, and even to your foes and enemies.  To be reconciled in the Peace of Christ by faith in His forgiveness of all your sins.

Now, it is true, and make no mistake about it, that He has put you to death by His preaching of repentance, and His Law continues to do so day after day after day.  He crucifies you with Himself by way of contrition and repentance.  His Word of the Law does not pull any punches.  It does not simply gnaw at you.  It does not just cajole and chide you to try harder.  It puts you to death.

But the Lord thus puts you to death with His Law, not to destroy you or damn you, but in order to resurrect you by His grace of the Gospel.  He does it to save you.  He kills you to give you life.

In Holy Baptism, you have died.  You have died to yourself, you have died to your sins, you have died to the world.  You have died there with Jesus Christ the Crucified, so that, having shared His death, you also share His Resurrection from the dead, His eternal Life, and His great Salvation.

What on earth can harm you, then?  Why are you so afraid?  You are already dead to the world!  And the world is dead to you.  There is nothing anyone can do to you.  Fear not those who can hurt the body but cannot hurt the soul.  Rather, fear the Lord your God, the Lord of both body and soul.

By the same token, what on earth can save you?  Why do you persist in the sins of your flesh, in which there is no life?  Why do you go after the things of this world, as though they could save you and give you life?  They cannot.  This earth with all of its pursuits, with all of its stuff, is passing away.  All of it will be destroyed.  If you put your hope in that perishing stuff, you will be lost.

What, then?  Your life — your real life — your never ending life — is hidden with Christ in God.

It is hidden.  It is under the Cross.  From day to day you often cannot see or feel or experience it.  It appears to be, not life, but death.  And yet, that Life which is yours in Christ Jesus is not a joke.  It is more real, sure, and certain than the world you see and feel all around you.  It is more solid than any of those things you are so convinced will make you happy.  It is sure and certain, because it is in Christ Jesus.  It is in the one true God, who loves you, and who will never fail you.  Even when you are faithless, He remains faithful.  He cannot deny Himself.  He does not renege on His promises.  All that He has spoken, He does.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Not ever.

With fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, He daily and richly provides you with all that you need.  Which is what?  What is it that you actually need?  The Holy Scriptures have taught you rightly:  “With food and clothing, let us therewith be content.”  And for all of your greater greed, Repent!

Stop fretting, and consider that your Father in heaven knows your needs and well provides them. He feeds you and clothes you and shelters you.  He does take care of you.  All because He loves you.  Not because you are so nice.  Not because you pray.  Not because you are sincere.  He does it all for the sake of His own Love.  And He keeps on doing so, day after day throughout your life.

But what is more and greater than even that, He feeds and clothes and shelters you, not only for your body and life here on earth, but for both your body and your soul unto the Life everlasting.

He withholds no good thing from you.  If you do not have all that you want, you actually have far more than you need.  Indeed, He gives you far more than you could ever have hoped or imagined.  And He gives you more than you are able to see or feel or experience with any of your finite senses here in the midst of this present perishing age.  For everything is yours in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As St. Paul has written in his letter to the Church at Rome: “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also, in and with Him, freely give you all good things?”

Indeed, He does — by and with the free and full forgiveness of all your sins — again and again and again.  And where there is forgiveness of sins, you know, there is also Life and Salvation.

Your Father in heaven feeds you with the very Body and Blood of His incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, your Savior, given and poured out for you in the Holy Communion.  He puts that living and Life-giving Body of Christ into your mortal and perishing body.  Whatever ails and afflicts it, whatever is amiss, He feeds and heals you in body and soul, He forgives you all your sins, and He gives to you His own imperishable Life.  He gives Himself to you, that you should thus abide in Him.

So does He likewise pour out for you His holy and precious Blood.  “This is the New Testament,” He says.  It is for you.  Thus does the Lord your God bind Himself to you, and you to Him.

It is by these good gifts of His grace that you are truly rich toward God, wealthier than you can even imagine.  For His Kingdom and His Righteousness are yours in Christ Jesus, forever and ever.

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

Praying to Your God and Father in the Lord Jesus Christ

The Lord Jesus has given you a little catechesis on prayer this morning.  And it is good that He has done so.  There is nothing more fundamental to being a Christian than prayer.  It is a fundamental privilege that you have been given, as surely as you are baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  And it is a fundamental responsibility that you have as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.  For He has not simply taught you how to pray; He has also commanded you to do so — and He has promised that your Father in heaven hears and answers your prayer.

In your Baptism, you have been turned away from the devil, all his works and all his ways, to the Holy Triune God in whom you believe, in whom you trust, and to whom you pray.  And because you belong to Jesus, the merciful and great High Priest who always lives to make intercession for the saints of God, including you, so do you likewise intercede for your neighbors, for your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, and for the world around you, in holy faith and holy love.

You pray, praise, and give thanks to God in Christ.  For you know that He has done everything for you; that He gives you all good things, and that He will give you even more.  All things are yours in Christ Jesus, and the world can take none of that away from you.  So you pray and give thanks.

To pray in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to entrust yourself entirely to God the Father in the Person of His Son.  It is to bind yourself to Him, as He has bound Himself to you.  And to pray in the Name of Christ Jesus is likewise to bind yourself to all of His brothers and sisters, as well.

You belong to each other, as one household and family of God.  And so you pray for each other.  It is impossible to pray as a Christian without praying for the whole Christian Church in heaven and on earth.  You are not to pray only for yourself and your own immediate concerns and loved ones.  That is not how the Lord Jesus Christ has taught you to pray.  You pray to our Father.  You pray that He would forgive us our trespasses, and you pledge yourself to forgive your neighbor.

The Lord Jesus Christ has taught you how to pray, as John the Baptist taught his disciples.  He has done so, first of all, by revealing God the Father to you.  He has spoken the Word of His Father, and He has done the works that His Father has given Him to do.  Thus do you know and love the Lord your God in the Body of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead.

He has also made you His disciple and anointed you with His Holy Spirit in your Baptism and by the ongoing Catechesis of His Word.  Thus do you follow after Him and learn from His example how to pray.  For Jesus Christ, the beloved and well-pleasing Son of God, is praying all the time, as we find especially throughout St. Luke’s Holy Gospel.  Any time anything major is happening, Jesus is praying right there in the middle of it.  And here again today, it is while Jesus was praying, when He had finished, that His disciples came to Him and said, “Lord, teach us how to pray.”

In response to that request, He has given to His Church the very words with which to pray in His Name, so that you might call upon His God and Father as your own dear God and Father in Christ.  It isn’t complicated.  In fact, it could not be more simple.  Jesus teaches you so clearly and plainly: When you pray, say this,“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy Name. . . .”

My experience as a father and as a pastor has been that even the little children are able to learn this prayer, and that they gladly pray it.  Thy gladly join their voices with those of their families, with those of the Lord’s Church.  So do the baptized children of God pray with you and for you, in and with this prayer, as surely as you and the whole Church in heaven and on earth pray for them.

And the prayers of all His faithful are heard and answered for His sake.  Because Jesus has done far more than simply teach you about God, and give you the words to say, and set a good example for you.  He has done far more than all that, though already those good gifts are precious indeed.

His praying and His prayer are not only a good example for you.  Nor is it only the case that Jesus, your great High Priest, prays and intercedes for you, although He surely does.  But what is more, because He has united Himself to you in His Incarnation, Cross, and Resurrection — and because He has united you to Himself in Holy Baptism — His prayer and His praying have become your prayer and your praying.  Indeed, Christ Jesus Himself, the Word-made-Flesh, is your Prayer.  As He is risen and ascended to God the Father in heaven, so do you and your prayer rise before God like sweet-smelling incense, as a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice, in the Body of Christ Jesus.

When Christ Jesus opens His mouth to pray — and He ever lives to make intercession for you, as surely as He is always praying in the Holy Gospel — so do you also pray in and with Him.  For He is the Head of His Body, the Church, and you are a member of His Church.  The prayer of Jesus is your prayer, which the Spirit prays in you and with you and through you, to the Father in heaven.  And as you open your mouth to pray according to His Word, it is Christ who speaks and is heard.

It is true that your sins would otherwise cry out to God in heaven against you, as did the sin of Cain when he murdered his brother Abel, and as the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah did.  But your Father in heaven does not listen to your sins.  He listens to your Savior.  He does not count your sins against you.  Instead, He grants you all good things by grace, all that you need and more.

Consider Father Abraham and his bold example of prayer.  He pushed pretty hard, and perhaps you have been amazed at God’s patience with him.  But Abraham did exactly right.  God loves to hear you call upon His Name and ask Him for good things.  He loves to hear you pray and intercede for others.  His patience was not tried by Abraham’s persistent prayer.  He delighted in the faith with which the Patriarch prayed.  And in response to his prayer and petition, God’s answer is Yes and Amen!  For the sake of just ten righteous people, God would spare those two wicked cities.

As it is, for now God spares the entire world, His whole creation, for the sake of the one Righteous Man, Christ Jesus, whose righteousness avails for you, so that you are not destroyed but forgiven.

You can pray to God, therefore, with the same boldness and confidence of Father Abraham, and all the more so in Christ Jesus.  For you are not simply a friend of God, but a beloved child, a son of God in Christ, by virtue of your Baptism in His Name, by His gracious Word of Adoption.  So has the Lord Jesus taught you and tenderly invited you to pray to His Father as your own Father, with the brazen persistence of a little son or daughter asking his or her dear father here on earth.

Now you are likely thinking about your earthly father.  And for some of you, at least, you may well be thinking of how hard it is to approach him, how hard it often is to get him to listen to you, and how hard it is to secure even a little of his time, attention, and affection.  How he more quickly loses his temper and punishes you than sits down to hear your hurts and fears, to forgive your sins.  There is no father on earth who is truly like your God and Father in heaven.  No, not even one.

Fathers on earth, Jesus says, are evil; for they are the fallen sons of father Adam.  But fathers are also called to repentance and faith in the forgiveness of their sins in the Cross and Resurrection of the new and better Adam, Jesus Christ.  Fathers live by grace alone, or they do not live at all.  So, then, you fathers, do not despair of your calling and station in life.  But where you have failed — as often as you fail — repent, and live by the grace of God and the forgiveness of your sins.

And all of you children of God, regardless of your age, know that your God and Father in Christ is the one true and perfect Father, by whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.  Come to Him in bold confidence, for He hears and answers your prayer in love.  He does not lose His temper; He forgives you all your sins.  Christ has made it so.  Your Father in heaven hears Jesus when you pray.  And as He raised Jesus from the dead, so does He raise you up from death to life.

He pours out His Spirit generously upon you through Jesus Christ, His Son, as in the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism, so also in His Word of the Gospel, the forgiveness of all your sins.  So does the Spirit live and move and breathe in you, confessing the Word of Christ; and so does the Spirit also help you in your weakness, praying the Word of Christ within you.

It is by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, as a member of His Body, as a child of His God and Father, that you receive His Love and His forgiveness, which shall not fail or ever end.  And it is by His Spirit, as a member of His Body, and as a child of His Father, that you love and forgive your neighbor.

Do not underestimate the extent to which all of you belong to one another and are bound to each other in the one Body of Christ Jesus.  You are joined to each other as one household and family, as you are baptized in the Name of one Lord, anointed by one Holy Spirit, and children of one God and Father.  You belong to each other, like it or not, by the divine grace of one Holy Gospel.  You all eat of one Bread, which is the Body of Christ Jesus, and you all drink from the one Cup, which is the New Testament in His Blood.  You are one loaf and one vintage, one flesh and blood in Him.

So it is that your joys and your burdens are all together held in common.  If one of you rejoices, then all of you rejoice.  If one of you weeps and sorrows, then all of you weep and sorrow.

Your hopes and your hurts, your needs and your treasures, your time and your talents, as well as your trials and tribulations, none of these are yours alone.  They belong also to your neighbors.  And so do your neighbors belong to you, that you should bear and carry them in faith and love.

Such faith and love are taken up, first of all, in prayer.  It is of first importance that you call upon the Name of God together and for each other.  That you pray, praise, and give thanks for all men, for rulers and all those in authority, and for your brothers and sisters in Christ both near and far.

And as you pray, so are you to live, by faith in the Word and promises of God, in the righteousness and holiness of Christ.  Thus do the words that you pray in His Name become words of love to and for your neighbor.  And they become flesh in your actions of mercy and tangible gifts of charity.

It is of first importance that you should pray and live in this way.  But of yourself you do not know how to pray as you should.  Nor could you pray rightly at all, except as Christ Jesus teaches you.  Thus does He give to you His Word, His Spirit, and His Father, as surely as He gives Himself to you in the whole Ministry of His Gospel.  And thus are you able to pray by faith in His Name.

Fathers, do not despair of your vocation, but pray for your wives and children, and teach them how to pray.  If you would not give them a snake or a scorpion instead of the food they need for their bodies, then do not withhold what they need for the life everlasting of their bodies and their souls.

Fathers and mothers, teach your children how to pray by and with the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus, that there might be at least ten righteous people in this place, and that the Lord might spare our homes and cities and bring them to repentance for the sake of those who call upon His Name.  If you do nothing else with your life on earth but teach your children how to pray and confess the Word of God, then you have done a precious and priceless thing indeed.  Such work is not in vain.

Teach your neighbors how to pray by the example of your own prayers and intercessions.  Pray for them.  Pray with them.  As you are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus and catechized by and with His Word, so also pray and confess what you have heard and received.  Trust God, and call upon His Name, and love one another as the Lord your God loves you, and so pray for each other.

Do so with all the boldness and confidence of Christ Jesus, your Savior, who is risen from the dead as your Righteousness, Life, and Salvation.  For He is God’s Yes and Amen to all of your prayers.

Pray likewise in the sure and certain confidence of your Holy Baptism, no matter how long ago it may have been.  For your Holy Baptism, now and forever, is the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus for you.  Your Baptism also is God’s Yes and Amen to every prayer that you will pray as a Christian, until your Baptism is completed in death, and you cross the Jordan into Canaan, and taste the Milk and Honey of the Promised Land, and live there in the presence of your God and Father, in the company of your Savior, Christ Jesus, in the joy of His Holy Spirit, forever and ever.

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

Receiving Christ and His Salvation in the Way of His Cross

The Kingdom of God has come near to you.  It is here, because Christ is here with you in His Word of the Gospel and in His flesh and blood, that you should have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  He is here with you in His Church on earth, that you should be with Him where He is forever, in the Kingdom of His God and Father, seated with Him in the heavenly places.

He and His Kingdom draw near to you by the way of the Cross.  For it is by His Cross that Christ has conquered Satan and defeated death.  He has not come with the fierce power of almighty God, judging and condemning and destroying the world, but rather, He has come in peace to reconcile the world to God by taking the righteous wrath and judgment of the Law upon Himself, bearing it in His own Body, willingly suffering death, and shedding His holy and precious Blood, the very Blood of God Himself, in order to make Atonement for the sins of the whole world.

All this He has done by His Cross.  And so it is by and from and through and with His Cross that God’s Kingdom comes to you.  So do His messengers come bearing the Cross, even as He sends them in His Name before His face to every place where He Himself will go.  His Cross is what they preach, and His Cross is what they bear and suffer in both body and soul for His Name’s sake.

They are sent as lambs in the midst of wolves.  They are sent as living sacrifices, like unto the One who sends them, who is sent by the Father to lay down His body and life in Sacrifice on the Cross.  They suffer because the preach His Word and catechize His people, they baptize and absolve in His Name and stead, and they administer His Body and His Blood in remembrance of Him.

They are supported and sustained by nothing but the grace of God and the love of His people.  They are not to bring any supplies at all, but to rely on those who receive them in the Name of the Lord, trusting that He will sustain them through His Church.  They are to focus on the one task they are given, that of speaking the Gospel and bestowing peace through the forgiveness of sins.

They come in such poverty and meekness, preaching what the world perceives to be such a sad and meager message, that of the Cross and suffering.  And yet, for all that, the messengers of Christ are given to tread the serpents and scorpions of Satan under foot with the preaching of His Cross.

They heal diseases and cast out demons with the Word of the Lord.  For all things are made new by the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus; and Satan is utterly defeated by the forgiveness of sins, which is what the servants of Christ Jesus preach in His Name and with His own authority.

With that Word of forgiveness there is also life and salvation.  Where sins are forgiven, death has no more claim on you.  Rather, as Christ has died for you and risen from the dust of the earth, His Spirit breathes in you through His Word of forgiveness, so that you are now truly alive in Him.

Because your sins are forgiven, the devil has no more power over you.  He cannot hang the fear of death over your head, not when you have already died with Christ and find your life now hidden with Christ in God.  And the devil cannot accuse you of anything.  Not to say that he doesn’t try!  You know that he does.  But all of his accusations are lies.  It is true that you have sinned in many and various ways, but all your sins have been removed, and God does not count them against you.

God raised Jesus from the dead, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s trespasses against them, but establishing in Christ Jesus the righteousness that is yours by faith in Him.  Thus does He grant you His true peace, comfort, and real joy, such as this world is unable to provide.

The world cannot give you peace, because the world cannot forgive your sins.  The world itself is fallen and subject to death, enmeshed and mired in its own sins.  In its false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice, the world conspires with Satan to lead you into temptation, on the one hand, and then to accuse you and destroy you on the other hand.

It is not in the world that you have peace and rest, confidence and hope, but in the Church of the Gospel, in the preaching of the Word of Christ, and in His Body and Blood.  It is in the Church, in the House of God where you are welcome, in the household and family of faith into which you have been baptized. That is where the Lord provides for both His preachers and His hearers, for those who are sent in His Name and for those who receive them in holy faith and holy love.

That is why and how it is that His Church, His true Jerusalem and free, is the glorious Mother of His children; that she nurses them at her bosom and feeds them with the pure Milk of God’s Word; that she is full to overflowing with the bountiful goodness of Christ Jesus; that streams of peace like rivers flow from the Lord through His Church to His children, who have peace and comfort and safety in His Holy Gospel like little babies in the arms of their dear, sweet mothers.

It is to establish His Church on earth, to provide and care for you in these ways, that Christ Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem, toward His Cross and Passion; and that He sends messengers before His face, in the way of His Cross, to every city and every place where He Himself goes.  He sends them to preach and proclaim, with His own Word and His own voice, the forgiveness of your sins.

And so do they come to you in His Name, even to this day and to this place, delivering the fruits of His Cross, whereby you are born again as a new creation in Christ Jesus, as He Himself is the Firstborn from the dead.  For His crucified and risen Body is the First fruits of the New Creation.  He has offered Himself on the Cross as a sweet-smelling Sacrifice; and He has risen and ascended to the Right Hand of God the Father, where He ever lives as your merciful and great High Priest.

All that He has accomplished and obtained for you is given to you in the preaching of this meager message by this servant of Christ Jesus, this meager messenger who has no authority or greatness but that of Christ and His Cross.  God forbid that any of us should boast in anything but that!  But here there is that Cross, by which you receive the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation.

Even if you are dying; even if you are hurt; even if you are ashamed; even if you are terrified; even if no one else loves you; even if you are losing everything — your sins are forgiven; and you have life with God; and you are safe in Christ Jesus, here within His Church, because He is your Savior.

Here within His Church, within His House (which He has made your home), there is grace and every blessing.  Here is the Kingdom of God on earth; and it is here for you and your salvation.

It does come by the way of the Cross.  And those who receive these fruits and benefits of the Cross also bear that Cross and the Passion of Christ Jesus in their bodies and in their lives on earth.

So it is that you bear the Cross.  You received it in your Baptism, when the sign of the Cross was made upon your forehead and your heart, marking you as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified.  You thus belong to a crucified God, and you have life by His Cross.  So do not be ashamed of the Gospel of His Cross, and do not be ashamed of the Cross that you bear and carry as His disciple.

You bear it, not as a curse, but as a blessing.  Not as a dead weight, but as that which raises you up with Christ Jesus.  Yes, it crucifies you.  Yes, it puts you to death.  Yes, it destroys the old Adam in you with all your lusts and desires of the flesh.  But no less so, the Cross also saves you, because the Cross of Christ has redeemed you, and in His Resurrection you are made brand new.

The Cross that crucifies you, puts you to death, and buries you, also grants you the forgiveness and life and salvation of Jesus, who by His Cross has atoned for the sins of the world and reconciled the whole world to God; who has crushed the devil’s head under His own bruised heal.

Because that Cross of Christ is yours by your Baptism in His Name, you also have the authority to tread Satan, his serpents and scorpions under your feet, to drive out demons and heal diseases, even in the midst of great affliction.  In the face of the devil’s accusations, in the face of the Law’s threats, and in the face of your experience in this perishing world, you can boldly say, “I am God’s own child.  I am forgiven.  My life is hidden with Christ in God.  There is nothing that anyone can do to me, for God is my Rescuer.  God is my Strength and my Shield, my Song, and my Salvation.”

When you boldly pray and confess that Word and promise of the Lord your God, the devil does not stand a chance.  Oh, he can rage at you, and God may even allow him to rob you of everything in this body and life on earth.  But God will not allow the devil to rob you of Christ Jesus, your Savior.  Nor will He allow the devil to snatch you out of His hands.

Not only that, but when you are too scared to confess what is true, when you are too fearful and ashamed to pray, when you are too weak and helpless even to cry out, “Kyrie, eleison!” — even then, the Holy Spirit helps you in your weakness and intercedes for you with groanings too deep for words.  And the Lord Jesus stands before your God and Father in heaven, pleading for you with His Blood, interceding for you with His own life; and He sets Himself between you and the devil.  Thus are you protected and preserved under the Cross in the hope and promise of the Resurrection.

The Cross of Christ, which has been laid upon you by His grace — the Cross that you bear in His Name by His grace; not by your own reason or strength, but by His grace through faith in His Word — that very Cross, though it is hard and heavy to bear and carry, though it puts you to death to yourself and your desires, to the world, and to your sins — it is the Cross that grants you peace, day by day throughout your life, with the forgiveness of your sins and the righteousness of Christ.  So it is that you do not perish and die forever, but you live and abide in Christ, body and soul.

That same peace and life which are yours in the Cross of Christ are for your neighbor, as well.  So are you able to tread down Satan, his serpents and scorpions, for the benefit of your neighbor: By forgiving your neighbor his trespasses against you in the faith and forgiveness of Christ Jesus, and by loving your neighbor, even when he or she does not love you and is not being very loveable.

Whether that peace is received or rejected, do not lose heart, do not grow weary of doing good, and do not give up the hope of Christ.  It is in Him that you have joy and gladness at all times and in all places, whatever your circumstances.  For His Love is stronger than even death and the grave.  And by the power of His own indestructible Life, He saves you from sin, Satan, death, and hell.

In the meantime, take to heart that your labor in the Gospel of Christ is never in vain.  Though you may succeed in nothing in your own perception or according to the standards of this perishing world, even so, to speak the truth of Christ, to bear His Cross in love, to live by faith, that is the very life of God which He has given to you, and it is yours.  Though you are nothing, the Cross of Christ and His Name which you bear are and do everything pertaining to life and godliness.

Be sure and certain of this: The Kingdom of God has drawn near to you.  Indeed, it is here for you now, in this Liturgy.  And your name has been written in the Kingdom of God with the very Blood of Christ, your Savior, by the stylus of His Cross, by the preaching of His Gospel — in the Light of the Revelation of the Glory of God in the Resurrection of the same Christ Jesus from the dead.

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