Almsgiving, Worship & Spiritual Care Workshop at Faith, Greenfield (15 September)

The Reverend Dr. John Nunes of Lutheran World Relief will be the plenary speaker on almsgiving in the life of the Church, as well as the preacher for the Divine Service, at the Indiana District Worship & Spiritual Care Workshop at Faith Lutheran Church, Greenfield, Indiana, on Saturday the 15th of September, A.D. 2012.

Rev. David Koeneman and Rev. Wm. Daniel O'Connor will present a sectional on the conduct of the Easter Vigil, and Rev. James Wetzstein will present a sectional on Beauty, Holiness, and Design for the Liturgy.

Special music for the workshop will be provided by Musik Ekklesia, under the direction of Philip Spray.

The workshop is a one-day event, from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.  The $25 registration fee includes lunch.  For more information, including directions and registration form, link here to the Indiana District website.

The Theology of the Cross

The Theology of the Cross does not command or coerce the neighbor to tough it out, to suffer the weight and burden of the Law and the consequences of his sin.

The Theology of the Cross bears the neighbor's frailties, faults and failings with compassion; patiently suffers the neighbor in peace; willingly carries the neighbor's burdens in love; quietly compensates for the neighbor's weaknesses, while covering his shame and honoring him; and freely forgives the neighbor all his sins.

The Theology of the Cross does not expose the neighbor's nakedness, but reveals the heart of God in Christ.

He Keeps on Giving Bread to His Disciples

If you ask a new Mom what life with a newborn infant is like, she will likely tell you about feeding him, and how he eats, how much and how often.  Everything revolves around that routine, whether on a schedule or on demand.  Toddlers and teenagers are not much different.  Food and drink are so central to life, eating and drinking so necessary, and so fundamental, not only to living, but to the fellowship of family and friends.  Not only basic to survival, but the heart of any celebration.

With food and clothing let us be content, the Scriptures teach.  But depending on the climate, you can survive without clothing, or with very little clothing, far longer than you can make it without food.  Once you are born, your life depends upon breathing and eating and drinking.  Breathing is more constant, but food and drink are just as necessary in due season.

Spiritual life is much the same.  As you are born of Christ in Holy Baptism, and clothed in Him, in His Righteousness, so do you breathe His Word and Spirit by faith in His forgiveness of sins, and so do you eat and drink His Body and His Blood, which are your Meat and Drink indeed.

Mothers are uniquely equipped to feed their babies, as the Church is likewise equipped to nurture the children of God.  But no Mom can feed her nursing infant if she herself is not being nourished.  She cannot give what she does not receive.  Thus, both Mother and Child wait upon the Lord, who alone provides all that is needed, who opens His hand to satisfy the hunger of every living thing.

The Apostles, too, must rely upon the Lord and receive His good gifts, if they are to do and give anything in His Name.  They cannot speak, except as they have heard.  They cannot teach, except what they have been taught.  They cannot forgive sins, except by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, which He breathes upon them by His Word.  They cannot heal the people or care for the crowds, except they find their Sabbath Rest in Him, and eat and drink from His hand.

As it is, at this point, they have been doing and teaching a great deal for a great many people, and they are spent, exhausted and hungry.  St. Mark has made a point of telling us, “they did not even have time to eat.”  Most of you know how that goes and what that’s like.  You get caught up in your duties, in caring for others and meeting their demands, and before you know it, lunch time has come and gone, and you’ve missed your break, and you can feel yourself slowing down and starting to fade.  Same kind of thing when you’ve been too busy to sleep.  Whether you’re a cook or a waitress, a retail store manager, a doctor or nurse, or a cop on the night shift.  Adrenaline may carry you for a while, and you may have reserves to draw upon, but eventually you’re gonna crash.  You need to rest, to eat and drink, to be refreshed and restored.

So Jesus gathers the Apostles to Himself, and with care and concern for these men, whom He loves, He calls them away from the crowds and the chaos to a secluded place — to peace and quiet — to rest their bodies and their minds, and to eat.  Notice that they follow Him to all of that “in the boat,” which is to speak of that “holy ark of the Christian Church,” such as Cyprian has boarded with all of us on this day of his Holy Baptism.  It is in the Church that you find peace and Sabbath Rest in Christ Jesus, and the Food that He gives you to eat and to drink.

But the crowds are hungry, too.  Hungry for help.  Hungry for healing and security.  Hungry for daily bread of one sort or another.  Hungry for life.  So they follow after Jesus and the Apostles.  Or, rather, they race around the water on foot, and are already there waiting when the boat lands, in what had been a secluded place.  Thousands of needy people, longing for peace and rest.  They have not come in the boat; they’re not yet in the Church; they are like sheep without a shepherd.

And Jesus has compassion on them.  He is moved by His divine and tender mercy, from the depths of His being, to help them.  This is the compassion with which He goes to the Cross, like a Lamb to the slaughter, to lay down His life for the sheep.  So does He become their Good Shepherd.  Which means what?  That He guards and protects them, and rescues them from danger.  That He defeats and drives away their enemies, who prey on them.  And that He leads and guides them in safety, and provides them with food and drink in green pastures, alongside streams of living water.

But what it means to be their Shepherd, first of all, is that He begins to teach them many things.  He catechizes them.  He makes of them disciples by the speaking of His Word to them.  For He comes to preach peace, to those who are near, and to those who are far off.  It is by such preaching that He begins to shepherd them; by His preaching that He addresses and meets their every need; by His preaching that He gives them peace and rest.

Still, it is a desolate place, and bodies require food.  Presumably, the Apostles have not yet eaten, either, but have been listening to Jesus.  You can put yourself in their shoes and imagine how antsy they may have been.  Were their bellies beginning to rumble and growl?  Were they fighting to keep their eyes open?  In any event, it was already quite late when they finally came to Jesus with concern for the crowds of people — and perhaps for their own hunger, as well.  “Send them away,” they urged.  “Let them go and buy themselves something to eat.”  And then, at last, the disciples would also be able to eat: to share their loaves and fishes between them, and rest.

You can imagine their surprise and befuddlement when Jesus responds to their suggestion with an entirely different plan: “You (disciples) give the crowds of people something to eat.”

Jesus is going to feed the 5000.  You already know that.  But He deliberately does so by the hands of His disciples.  That’s how He works.  That’s how He feeds His Church on earth and shepherds the sheep of His pasture.  He gives to His disciples to give to all the people what they need.

He puts them on the spot, at first, in telling them to do this thing.  They know they don’t have it in them to do it.  They simply can’t.  Where or how would they begin?  It doesn’t even occur to them to consider their own uneaten lunch, because, really, what’s the point?  Five loaves of bread and a couple fish might be fine for twelve hungry men, but it obviously isn’t going to fill up or satisfy the bellies of 500 times that many people.

If the Apostles have been tempted to think that all of their doing and teaching were somehow by their own power and abilities, by their own resources and skills, they know better in this situation.  In truth, they have nothing but what they receive from the Lord.  They have nothing to give but what they are given.  In this, their preaching and healing are really no different than feeding 5000.

So, now, as He has been with them in their doing and teaching, He takes what little they do have — the five loaves and two fish they have already received — and He opens His hand to provide for everything that is needed.  He takes the bread, He blesses, He breaks, and He keeps on giving it to the disciples to set before the people.  Everyone eats, and everyone is satisfied.

This, too, is how He shepherds the sheep.  The food accompanies the teaching of His Word, and now His Word accompanies and sanctifies the food, and both the teaching and the feeding are caught up in the compassion of His own sacrifice.  In this way, He who gives Himself as a ransom for the many, also gives Himself to them as real food and drink for body and soul.  Interestingly, the Hebrew word for “soul” is also the word for “throat,” which demonstrates, again, the centrality of eating for life.  So does your soul feast upon the Lord, as your throat receives and swallows the food with which He feeds you.  Not bread alone, but the Word of God — the Word made Flesh.

He allows you to grow hungry, as He allowed the crowds and His disciples to grow hungry, and then He feeds you, one and all, with a miraculous Bread — which none of you have known before, and none of you could ever have gotten for yourself — that you might learn to be and to live as His disciple, that is, to live by faith in His Word.  In such faith, you wait upon Him, knowing that He will provide for you.  And in such faith, you receive His Bread from His hand with thanksgiving.

For He is your great Good Shepherd King — the new and greater David — who is the Lord, your Righteousness, in the flesh.  He does and accomplishes everything for you in Himself.  He justifies you and reconciles you to God, His Father, by His Cross and Resurrection.  He bears all your sin, all your frailties and weaknesses, all your griefs and sorrows, in His own Body, even unto death.  And He sheds His holy and precious Blood for you, to make Atonement for you, and to redeem you from the bondage of sin and death, unto life everlasting.  Having done all of this, He also comes and preaches peace to you, that is, the forgiveness of all your sins, by His Gospel.  He calls and gathers you to Himself, and He cares for you by His Word and Spirit.  He brings you to His God and Father, not simply as a guest or a visitor, but as a member of the family, as a beloved child and heir.  Thus, you have a home, that is, a place where you really belong, where you eat and sleep in the fellowship of the Holy Triune God.

You are no longer lost or missing or scattered.  You shall not be destroyed, but dwell securely.  For the Lord Himself has sought you out and found you: He has gathered you to Himself, taken you into His arms, and brought you home rejoicing.  Do not be afraid.  For He is your Good Shepherd.

He cares for you, now, in all these ways, through those shepherds He provides for His flock on earth; that is, through pastors who preach and teach and administer His Gospel.  As the whole Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, so does the Church in each place live by the Ministry of such preaching and teaching, by the administration of the Holy Sacraments.  Pastors do and teach these things, they give these gifts of God, not by their own reason or strength, but by the Word of Christ, handing over what He Himself provides.

What I receive from the Lord, I also deliver to you: The confession of Christ, crucified and risen, and His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

I could no more do any of this by myself than the disciples could feed 5000 men, plus women and children, with their lunch.  But your pastors are cared for by the Lord Jesus, and are provided for by Him.  It is in His Name that your pastors, in turn, serve and care for you; so that you receive the many things He teaches you by this preaching, and you also eat from His hand and are satisfied.  These are the fruits of His Passion, which He gives you here, in particular, in the Divine Service.

It does not come to an end with the Divine Service, however.  Consider those twelve baskets full of broken pieces, and how they were gathered up.  So, too, as the loaves and fishes were multiplied — and as the Body and Blood of Christ continue to be given and poured out to feed His whole Church in every time and place — so are His people fruitful and multiplied, to love and serve and care for each other; to feed each other, according to the Lord’s calling.

What shall you say?  That you do not have enough?  That you are hard pressed already, taking care of yourself?  That you cannot afford to feed your neighbor, besides?  That he or she does nothing for you, anyway, but only takes without returning the favor?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you are reconciled to one another in Him, and you belong to one another, as members of one Body, in Him.

Do not suppose that you have nothing to do or to give, nor that you do not have enough to go around.  Instead, do what you are given to do, and give what you receive.  After all, what do you have that you have not received from the Lord, by His grace?  All that is needed, is provided, and more than enough.  The Lord is generous, and even the young ravens know that all good things come from Him.  Yet, He now desires to serve your neighbor through you, as He also serves you through your neighbor.  He does not give this task without also supplying the bread to fulfill it.

Do not be afraid.  The Lord will not let you starve.  Nor will He work you to death.  It is His work and His death that give you life, and it is He who feeds you with Himself.  Therefore, do not think that everything depends upon you.  But neither conclude that your work is pointless or in vain.  Beloved, your calling is not a lark.  Your office and station in life are not for nothing.  You are a member of God’s household and family; so then, live that way, and do your part within the family.

Do so — do whatever you are given to do — in the confidence that Christ is the Cornerstone; that His own crucified and risen Body is the Building, the Temple of God, in which you live and move and have your being; and that all things are accomplished in Him.

You are not a stranger, nor an outcast, but you belong to Christ Jesus, and so you are a friend and a fellow citizen with all His saints.

That includes the great St. Cyprian of Carthage, for whom little Cyprian Rhein has been named.  He was a pastor and a bishop of the Church in northern Africa, in the first half of the third century.  He lived and served in a time of great conflict and persecution, when the Church was struggling to find her place and her way.  In one fierce persecution, Cyprian went into hiding, in order to continue caring for the flock through correspondence.  Not ideal, but he did what he could with what he had to work with under the circumstances.

When Cyprian was able to return, he shepherded the Church of the Good Shepherd with the Word of Christ, and as a pastor and bishop he was instrumental in the reconciliation of many: of those who were at odds with each other within the Church, and of those who had fallen away through fear and faithlessness during the persecution.

When yet another wave of persecution came, Cyprian was among those who were martyred in the faith and peace of Christ.  Thus, he sealed his confession and his ministry with his own blood, for the sake of Him who shed His Blood for all of us, who died for us and rose again.  So does St. Cyprian live in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus.  And so does the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ continue to live, even as her earthly shepherds come and go.  And so do you also live, even now, by the grace of God in Christ, by faith in His Gospel, within your own vocation.

Whether you live, or whether you die, you are His own.  And so you shall remain.

If you are tired, hungry, discouraged, anxious or afraid; if you are spent, exhausted, and ready to expire — take heart, and do not despair.  Your Lord has compassion on you, and He cares for you.

Come here now, and rest a while.  Eat and drink in peace.  Be refreshed by the Lord who opens wide His hand to feed you.  For you also are baptized — which is the new and better circumcision, made without human hands — by which you belong to the fellowship of the new and better Israel, which is the Body and Bride of Christ, His Church.  You are God’s own child.  You are a sheep of the Good Shepherd.  And therefore, with His Word, He satisfies you with Life itself — which is really to say that your body and soul are fed with the Lord Himself:

Here at His Table, you are brought near by His Blood, and through His Body you have access to His God and Father in the Holy Spirit.  This is your Meat and Drink indeed, so that, even in death, you also rise and live in Him.

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

The Worship of the Body

It means to be whipped — beaten or disciplined with a whip — the word that is used to describe that poor woman’s affliction.  It’s a metaphor, but it fits.  No one has taken a whip to her back, but a string of doctors have taken all her money without helping.  In fact, she has grown worse.

Twelve years of bleeding, from the inside out.  The curse upon the Woman has been notched up significantly in this daughter of Eve.  Her life is in the blood, but it won’t stop flowing out of her, slipping away.  And so she is left anemic and drained, low on energy, and tired in every way of dealing with this scourge.  How many times has she dared to hope, only to be whipped again, and dashed back down?  Twelve years!  Think of that.

How many clothes has she had to scour or discard in all that time?  How often has she broken down and sobbed in despair?  We do not know such details, but imagine yourself in her place, and consider the whips that have fallen upon you over the years.

Some hurts, like this woman’s, are all that much harder and heavier to bear because they are so embarrassing, and you are so ashamed, you want to hide yourself away.  In such a case as this one, the Law is clear:  She is unclean.  She is not to go out in public.  She is not to be in church.

Whipped and beaten, yes, that fits.

But, now, you have heard the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sake He made Himself poor, so that you, by His poverty, might become rich.  Don’t imagine dollar signs, but look to Him for salvation: for life and health and strength and every good thing.  Here is the great Physician of body and soul, who does in fact make house calls.  He has come to help.  He will not take all your money, and then leave you bleeding, but He pours Himself out, and gives Himself to you, in order to fill you up.

He has crossed over.  You heard about the little boat last week, which gives you an image of His Church.  Now, in that boat, He has gone back and forth across the lake.  And in the meantime, He has cast out a legion of demons from a wild man who lived among the tombs.  You should hear in all of this that He has come down from heaven for you, and in the flesh He has gone to death and back on your behalf.  He entered the waters of Baptism, in order to cross over by His Cross and Passion, through death and the grave, into His bodily Resurrection and the life everlasting.

Why does He make such a journey, if not to save you from death and bring you into life with Himself?  That is the point.  That is why He is here for you now, as He was for that woman then.

Worship Him: with your heart, by faith, and with your lips, by confessing Him and calling upon His Name, and with your body, too.
To “worship” is to bow, to genuflect or kneel, to fall at the feet of Jesus, the Lord, and prostrate yourself before Him.  Such outward bodily “worship” will avail you nothing without faith, but where your heart bows before Him, there your mind and mouth and hands and feet, and your whole body, will follow suit.  Don’t worry: Jesus isn’t keeping score, and neither am I.  Don’t try to score each other, either.  But do worship the Lord Jesus, and lay hold of Him where He is found.

Your heart, mind and soul won’t have Him without your body.  Not because you must work for Him, but because He saves the whole you.  Your heart and mind, soul and body have altogether fallen into sin and death, and are altogether subject to temporal and eternal punishment.  But so has the Lord your God come in the flesh, as true Man with heart and mind, soul and body of His own, just like yours, in order to save you altogether: to raise you from death and the grave, in order to give you life forever in body and soul.

What He has accomplished for you, in and with His Body and His Blood, He gives to you in the means of grace, in the Ministry of the Gospel, which you receive with your body.  Your ears hear His Word.  Your eyes see the sign of His Cross, set before you, and the administration of His Sacraments.  Your body has been washed with the water included in His command and combined with His Word in Holy Baptism.  And so do you eat His Body and drink His Blood with your mouth, with your lips and tongue and teeth and throat.

To receive these good gifts of Christ Jesus, with your body, in faith, is to worship Him most surely.  So do you seek Him out, and lay yourself before Him, and call upon His Name, in the hope and expectation that He will hear you and help you.

That is what Jairus did.  He was a leader of the local synagogue, who knew the Scriptures, the Word and promises of God, and who recognized that Word made flesh in Christ Jesus.  He approached Jesus, and fell at His feet — he worshiped Him with his body, and with prayer and petition for his little daughter, who was at the point of death.  She was only twelve years old, which seems like such a tender age at which to die, although it is a very long time to be hemorrhaging.  You can easily picture that little girl, if you simply consider the several young ladies of that age within our own congregation.

You fathers and mothers, picture one of your daughters — or a son, for that matter — wasting away before your eyes, and dying.  If there’s anything worse than dealing with your own frailty, weakness, and mortality, it is the anguish and sorrow of watching your own child suffer and die, and realizing how utterly helpless and powerless you are to save her (or him).  Some of you don’t have to imagine it, because you’ve been there.

By the grace of God, you pray, as Jairus prayed, that Jesus would come and help.  And do you see how bodily all of this is?  Jairus prays, not only with his mouth, but with his body, prostrate at the feet of Jesus.  He implores the Lord to come, to lay His hands on the little girl, so that she will get well and live.  He’s pleading for her salvation, that is what his words imply, but his immediate concern and prayer are for her bodily health and well-being.  He wants her to go to heaven in the resurrection of the righteous, but right now he does not want her to die.  He loves his little girl and does not want to lose her.  So Jairus goes to Jesus and confesses that He is the Lord, the Author and Giver of Life, and that His flesh — the touch of His hand — is strong and powerful to save.

Now, Jesus responds right away by going with Jairus, just as He also hears and answers all your prayers.  Indeed, He is the Answer to your prayers.  Before you have even called, and while you are yet speaking, your Father in heaven has given you this same Son, Jesus Christ, for you and for your children.  He has mercy and compassion upon you, and He comes to save you.

But then there is this interruption, this intrusion, this delay.  Pushing through the crowd, like trying to swim your way upstream, having appealed to the Lord and secured His promise of help, you’re anxious to get home, to see some results, to experience the blessed relief and the great joy of an answered prayer.  It’s your turn.  Your need is so great, and the time is so short.  Yet, Jesus stops and turns and waits upon another — He turns His body and His attention to someone else; and you are left waiting, until it is seemingly too late, while not yours but your neighbor’s prayer is granted.

It is interesting, and not by accident, that these two stories are woven together.  That’s how life is.  And you’ve been on both sides, haven’t you?  You’ve been the one who is needed by too many people at once, being asked for help on all sides, pushed and pulled about by more demands than you can handle.  And you’ve also been the one who’s lost in the crowd, desperately trying to get someone’s attention, to get what you need; waiting patiently, or not so patiently, for your turn.

We’re not told what Jairus thought about the delay.  Perhaps he was a ways ahead before he even realized that Jesus had stopped and was no longer following after him.  Did he panic?  How would your pulse and blood pressure have been at that point?  Would you have been angry or impatient?  We’re not told of anything that Jairus said or did; not at this point, nor throughout the rest of the story.  Everything hinges on Jesus, on what He says and does.  So, you also are drawn to Him, to follow Him, to trust in Him, to wait on Him.

The woman was exactly right in knowing that Jesus was the answer to her need, on the basis of what she had heard about Him.  That was the only Word she had, and that is where she put her faith.  And again, it is all so bodily.  Her prayer is not with words, but in this case with the reaching of her hand.  She lays hold of Jesus in faith, by laying hold of His cloak, His garments.  You’ve heard about these things before, and we’ve talked about this recently in Bible class, with reference to the vestments of the High Priest.  Here now is Jesus, your merciful and great High Priest, and the hem of His garments — like that of every Jewish man — is bound up with the Word of God.  For that is how the Lord works: He attaches His Word and promises to external things, which you can touch and take hold of.  That is where faith looks for Him, and finds Him, and receives Him.

That is how you also lay hold of Him in faith, according to His Word: in the water of Holy Baptism, and in the bread and wine which are His Body and His Blood in the Holy Communion.  And power goes out from His Holy Body to the one who lays hold of Him by faith.  The crowd presses upon Him, but it is faith in His Word that discerns and receives the Life that is in Him.

That is how it was for the woman in this Gospel, and so also for you.  Immediately, the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed.  After twelve long years, she was suddenly no longer broken and dying, but made whole and clean and filled with Life.  Because Jesus has borne our griefs and carried all our sorrows in His Body, and He has poured out His Blood for all of us.  He was whipped for our transgressions, and by His scourging we are healed.

Faith receives that healing, that forgiveness, life and salvation, in the means of grace, in the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  It is here for you to have and to hold, that you also may have peace and joy.

Which is all well and good for that woman, whom Jesus tenderly addresses as a “daughter.”  But what about the synagogue official’s little girl?  What about that daughter?  And what about you and your children and your hurts?

They came to Jairus with the news, like the dreaded phone call in the middle of the night.  It’s too late.  It’s all over.  “Your daughter has died.”  End of story.  “Why trouble the Teacher anymore?”

And yet, the Teacher has something more to teach you.  Even now, He says, “Do not be afraid any longer.  Only believe.”  So, Jairus was afraid, as you can well imagine, as you are afraid and tempted to despair.  But, again, St. Mark does not describe what Jairus was thinking or feeling, or doing or saying.  Everything moves with Jesus.  He is the One who speaks, who acts.

The woman with the twelve-year flow of blood went looking for Him, and found Him, where His Word said that He would be.  You also, seek Him where He may be found.  And call upon Him, for yourself and for your neighbor, as Jairus besought Him in the first place for his little daughter.

But notice that the twelve-year-old girl does absolutely nothing for herself in this case.  We are told nothing of her faith.  And, medically speaking, she’s already dead when Jesus shows up.  Do not suppose that her family, friends and doctors have simply made a mistake in thinking that she has died.  The Word of Jesus, that “the child has not died, but is asleep,” is not a second medical opinion or a different diagnosis, but a powerful Word of Life that makes all things new.

Of course, the world regards the Word of Jesus as ridiculous.  So the people go from a wailing commotion to hysterical laughter, from devilish despair to the mockery of unbelief.  That is the temptation, and the sin, that also lurks within your heart and rears its head to devour your hope.

For all of that, the Lord Jesus enters in and casts out doubt and fear, and blasphemy and sin.  He enters the room where the child is, and with this Holy Gospel He has made you His companion; He brings you with Him — once more, through death into life.

He takes hold of that little girl.  He takes her by the hand, and He speaks: “Talitha kum!”  Get up!  It is the Resurrection Word, and as surely as the death of Jesus swallows up death forever, so surely do His flesh and His Word raise up the dead in His rising.  Immediately the girl gets up and begins to walk.  She lives.

You live, too, because the same Lord Jesus has done the very same thing for you.  Others have prayed and interceded for you, surely, but even when everyone else in the world has been silenced, Jesus enters in and saves you.  He comes into your room of death, and He takes you by the hand, in order to raise you up from death to life.

He has done it in your Baptism: by the hand and mouth of your pastor, with the water and the Word.  He does the same thing with His Word of Absolution: His forgiveness says to you, “Get up, and go in peace.”  Not only are you healed of your deepest affliction, but you are brought back from the dead.  Today, if you hear His voice, do not be afraid anymore, but only believe.

It is not too late.  Not yet.

Wait upon the Lord, for He will help you.  If He delays in answering your prayers, He has not forgotten you.  If He causes grief, He will also have compassion.  He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons and daughters of men, and He will not reject forever.  His steadfast love never ceases, but His mercies are new every morning.  He forgives you all your sins, and He will save you from all evil.  He is faithful, and He will do it.

It is good and right for you to seek Him out, to lay hold of Him in His means of grace, to avail yourself of His Gospel, and to worship Him with heart and mind, body and soul.  But rest assured that His faithfulness is greater than yours.  Therefore He has borne the yoke for you, that you might be set free by His hard labor and patient obedience.  In silence before His accusers, He has waited upon His Father to vindicate Him and to deliver Him out of death for your justification.  He has given His cheek to the smiters and put His mouth in the dust, that you might have hope, even when it all seems so very hopeless.

In truth, as God has raised this same Jesus from the dead, you have a sure and certain hope in Him.  Hang on to Him for dear life — grab hold of His garments right here, in the preaching of His Word, and in His Sacrament — and don’t let go.  Take hold of Him in the confidence that He holds on to you.  For the One who took you by the hand and raised you up through the waters of your Baptism, here also gives you something to eat.  Indeed, He feeds you with His own Body, and His own Blood still flows for you, that you might be filled with the power of His indestructible Life.

That stands fast and remains forever, in the face of suffering, sickness, sin and death.  For He has called you His own daughter, His own son, and He shall not let you go.  No one shall ever snatch you out of His hand.  If you can imagine the loving concern and committed zeal of Jairus for his little daughter, ever so much more and greater is the love and compassion of the Lord your God for you, His own dear child.

In the death of Christ Jesus for you, your death is but a peaceful sleep and Sabbath rest.  And in His Resurrection from the dead, you are made well, and you live, in soul and body forever.

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

Silence Is Golden, But Peace Is Priceless

You can imagine that storm at sea . . . the howling of the wind, the crashing of the waves, the water filling up the boat and threatening to sink it.  Consider that the disciples on board are full-grown men, not only capable adults but experienced fishermen; and yet, they are in danger of perishing.  They are scared to death and panicking, because their whole world has been thrown into chaos.

You can imagine that storm and that utter chaos, even if you’ve never been out on a boat at sea.  Because you’ve got your own storms to contend with, your own chaos.  Howling winds, crashing waves, water up to your neck and rising, and your whole world on the verge of shipwreck.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep.  By His Word and Spirit He brought forth light out of the darkness, and He established a beautiful and brilliant order throughout His Creation.  It is still by His Word and Spirit that He creates and gives life and upholds all things in their proper place.  Whereas, apart from His Word and Spirit, creation collapses back into chaos.

There is such chaos in the world on account of man’s sin.  For the Lord God, who made the man in His Image, also gave the man dominion over the creation.  By the Word of the Lord, the man was to exercise authority over the earth, to govern it according to the good order that God had put into place, and to act as God’s own agent and representative.  Thus, for example, it was the man who gave names to all the animals.  So, too, the man and his wife were to fill the earth with their children, and to subdue it, not as tyrants, but as a godly king and queen over God’s good creation.  When the woman and the man deviated from God’s Word and reversed the order of His creation, they opened the floodgates to the deep dark waters of chaos: Real storms that drown and destroy on land and sea, and in the air, and a host of metaphorical storms that rock and roll your world.

Now, man still attempts to exercise dominion — and you should do so, in keeping with your place in life, your office and station, according to the Ten Commandments.  The chaos of sin and death is undone by the right logic of the Word of God, by the keeping of His good and acceptable will.  When you fear, love and trust in God above all things, and you listen to His Word and call upon His Name, and you honor your father and mother, and you faithfully love and cherish your spouse, and you do no harm to your neighbor but help him in every way that you can, then the light shines in the darkness, and the chaos gives way to a beautiful order and form.

Yet, man attempts to exercise dominion, not by living under the authority of God’s Word, but by imposing his own will against his neighbor, and by pitting his own strength against the challenges and dangers of life in a fallen world.  He sets his own wisdom, ingenuity and skill to the task of survival.  He takes on the chaos like an exhilarating adventure.  He thrills at the prospect of riding the storm out and forcing it to serve his purposes.  He harnesses the wind and dams the water.
It can be an invigorating contest, up until the point when it all goes horribly wrong and becomes life-threatening.  Then it’s no fun anymore, but scary.  Not only the danger that threatens your body and life, but the overcoming of your will, that is the most disturbing chaos.  The danger can be a thrill, but not the realization that you are powerless, that you are at the whim of wind and wave — that is when the chaos rolls over you completely and drags you down into its depths of darkness.

The external chaos is bad enough, whether it be a destructive storm, an oppressive boss, unruly children, or financial calamity.  Those outside forces make you angry or afraid, or both, and they can fill your days and nights with anxiety.  But even more alarming and disarming is the chaos within you, which drives your thoughts and feelings, your words and actions.  You like to believe that you’re in charge of those things; that, whereas others may push you around and refuse to listen to you, at least you have your own mind, your own will, and you’re still your own man or woman.  Except that the storms inside of you are tossing you about and threatening you as much or more than those that rage against you on the outside.  Even there, within yourself, you’re powerless to take control.  Lustful thoughts seize your mind, no matter how hard you try to resist them and shut them out.  Envy and jealousy drive you against or away from the neighbor you are called to love.  Bitterness and resentment cast long dark shadows across your heart, no matter how pleasant your outward demeanor may be.  Disappointments and regrets rob you of any confidence or ambition.

Your addictions call the shots, instead of reason or sound judgment:  You spend money you don’t have on things you don’t need.  You eat and drink things that you know will be harmful to your health.  You waste endless hours of your time on frivolous pursuits, instead of doing your duty.

These are the howling winds and the crashing waves that threaten you and overwhelm you from the inside out.  Chaos and confusion reign within, and you are powerless to save yourself.

But of course, there is Jesus, who has come to help you, and who is here with you.  Right?  He who is the Christ, the Son of God in the flesh, with His Word brings peace and calm to the Creation.  He undoes the chaos and orders all things rightly.  Even the winds and the waves obey Him.  For He is Himself the Word by whom all things are made, and He is also the true Man who exercises godly dominion over Creation.  You have heard the evidence of that in this familiar Holy Gospel.

So, why are the disciples even more afraid when Jesus has quieted the wind and stilled the waves than they were of the storm in the first place?  That is what St. Mark has described: Before, they were afraid because they were perishing, but afterwards they are very much afraid.  Why?  And why are you so afraid of the good and right ordering that Jesus obtains and gives by His Word?

Such fear is, again, a part of the chaos inside of you: It is the fear of sin and death, instead of faith and love.  For in your fallen state, the power and authority and right ordering of the Word of Christ Jesus can only be perceived and interpreted as the force of the Law, as the imposing of His will upon all that is contrary to His Word.  So, yes, all that chaos in the world that threatens you must obey Him and submit to Him.  But so is your own chaotic and sinful behavior confronted by the authority of His commands, and your own stubborn will is silenced and stilled before Him.

That perception of the Lord and of His authority, according to the power and judgment of His Law, is even more frightening than the chaos that rages all around you.  For it presses upon you and challenges your will, and in a single stroke it undoes all your sin and all of your self-righteousness.

That’s what you hear when Jesus speaks and the winds and waves obey Him.  And that’s what you hear when the Lord speaks to Job in response to that poor man’s worries and complaints.  That’s what you hear in response to your own sufferings, your struggles, and your sorrows.  Who are you, O little man, O little woman, to call into question or complain about the judgments of the Lord?

But God is not backhanding Job with chastisement when He speaks.  He does not add yet another crushing blow atop the assaults and accusations of the devil.  He does not compound the chaos, and neither does He calm things down by constraining and compelling Job to “shut up.”  Rather, He quiets Job with comfort and consolation in his suffering.  The Lord reveals the mysterious truth that suffering is not a mark of His displeasure, nor is it foreign to His good and gracious purpose.

It is true that the Law reveals the good and right order of God’s world, as He intends it to be and to live.  But there is a deeper and different authority of the Law than its demands and prohibitions, than its threats and punishments.  All of these confront you and accuse you, and weigh so heavily upon you, but only because your heart and mind, your body and spirit, and the whole sinful world around you, are out of order and chaotic with sinful unbelief and stubborn disobedience.  At the heart of the Law itself, however, is the harmony of faith and love, the peaceful unity of the Holy Triune God, who lives in perfect freedom and acts in perfect love, who gives life to those who are His own creatures, to those whose very existence is brought about by His free choice of grace.

Which is really to say that the foundation and good order of Creation, as also the fulfillment of the whole Law, is nothing else and nothing less than Christ and Him Crucified.  He is the Cornerstone, not only of His Church, but of the heavens and the earth and of all things, visible and invisible.  From before the foundation of the world, this Lamb was slain for the life and salvation of all flesh, and God’s good Creation is then brought forth in the Resurrection of this same Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.  His Self-sacrifice upon the Cross is the Self-giving Love of God, the divine grace, by which and for which whatever is made has been made.

It is not only in view of the Incarnation of the Son of God that man was made in the Image of God, but specifically in view of the Cross, in the likeness of the Resurrection of the Crucified One.

Was not the man taken out of the earth, as Christ is risen from the grave?  Was not the woman taken out of the side of man while he slept, as the Bride of Christ is borne from His riven side?

Therefore, as the Lord established His Creation upon the dying and rising of Christ Jesus, He does not now renew Creation and bring it into peace and quiet by imposing His sovereign will upon it, by forcing and constraining it to obey the rules and behave, but by entering into it, becoming part of it, and establishing the good order of His Word and Will in Himself, that is, in His own flesh.  And this, again, was not an emergency “plan B,” but the founding intention of the Holy Trinity.

The Son of God enters the waters of St. Mary’s womb, and He is born from those waters under the Law, in order to redeem those under the Law.  He then enters the waters of St. John’s baptism in the Jordan River, thereby submitting Himself to sacrificial death as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world, and from those waters He emerges to make His way steadfastly to the Cross.  So does He also embark upon the sea, in order to cross over with His people — through death into life — and He too is found on the boat in the chaotic storm, amid the raging winds and thrashing waves.

He is on board “just as He is.”  He has flesh and blood like you.  He sleeps because He is true Man.  That means, not only that He has gotten tired and must sleep, just as you must take your rest, but also that He lives by faith, as you are called to live.  Only, where you often cannot sleep, but toss and turn at night, He rests in peace and quietness while the winds and waves toss the boat about.  It is neither exhaustion, nor laziness, nor a lack of care and concern for His fellows, but faith and trust in His Father, that enable the Lord Jesus to sleep in peace, even with all the chaos going on.

He lives as true Man by entrusting Himself entirely to His God and Father, in order to live entirely from Him.  This is how all of Creation, and man in particular, is created to live.  So that is how Jesus lives, and that is how He dies.  For not only does He lay Himself down to sleep in the peace of His Father, but so does He lay down His life, even unto death, in the confidence of His Father’s love and care for Him.  So there is this striking contrast between His peaceful sleeping and His panic-stricken disciples, who wonder whether He even cares that they are perishing.  Are there not times when you likewise question His care for you, when the storm rages and your Jesus sleeps?

And yet, it is in His sleeping, even unto death upon the Cross, that He fully sets Himself, His faith and His love, against the chaos of sinful unbelief.  His voluntary suffering and death, in faithful obedience to His God and Father, atones for all of man’s sin and remedies the brokenness of the Creation.  So, too, it is in His rising from the dead that all of Creation is fully restored in peace, as life and immortality are brought to light through the preaching of the Gospel.  That is what you have heard: When He wakes and rises from His sleep, He speaks, and all becomes perfectly calm.

It is in His dying and rising that the Lord Jesus Christ receives the authority to exercise a godly dominion of love over all of Creation.  Because the one true God has become true Man, and He has given Himself for all men, and He has risen from the dead, the whole earth is full of His Glory.

Nowhere is that Glory of God more clear than in the Holy Communion.  There the Lord exercises dominion over His creation by taking bread and wine, and giving them to you as His own Body and Blood, crucified and risen, as meat and drink indeed for your own body of flesh and blood.  He uses His dominion to bless and sanctify creation, to love and to give life by giving Himself.  And right there, in His Body and His Blood, is the heart and center of His Peace.  For the Peace of the Lord, the Pax Domini, is with you in this Sacrament, given and poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  With this forgiveness, the winds and waves are hushed and stilled.

This, then, is how He truly cares for you: in all things, in body and soul, both now and forever.  Not by enslaving you, but by feeding you with Himself, with His own flesh, and by forgiving you.

It is true that He rebukes you for your doubts and fears of unbelief.  He calls you to repentance and to faith: to fear Him, yes, but not to be afraid of Him; to love and trust in Him; to die and rise with Him, in the sure and certain hope of His Resurrection.  To be at peace in His love for you, and so to exercise dominion in the place where He has put you, not as a tyrant, but in mercy like His own.

Beloved of the Lord, you are on your way.  You’re in the midst of the sea, in the midst of crossing over.  You’re not yet to the other side, and meanwhile there is much that rages against you, both from without and from within.  For you have gone into the waters of Holy Baptism, and, make no mistake, those are deadly waters.  In those waters you are drowned and destroyed with old Adam; and you are put to death and buried with Christ Jesus.  But now, consider what that means: If you are baptized into Christ, then you are in the boat with Him, and He is in the boat with you, that is, within the Holy Ark of His Church.  And herein you are safe in the midst of the storm, even though you are sometimes so afraid, and even though it seems as though your Lord were sleeping and not very much concerned about you.  He has laid Himself down to sleep in flesh and blood like yours, in order that you may find your peace and rest and quiet sleep in Him.  Just as He has died for you, so that, by your dying with Him in the waters of Baptism, you may also rise and live with Him.

Dear child of God, here you are safe.  You really are.  Your doubts and fears and lack of faith do not make the One who loves you any less faithful.  You may wonder what is going on, and whether He will ever help you, but He is here with you, and He will not let you perish.  Oh, to be sure, your body will die, just as He has died, but so shall your body be raised to be like His own glorious body, and you shall live forever and ever with Him in body and soul.  No hurricane or tidal wave on earth can drown or blow away that sure and certain hope, which has already been accomplished in the Body of Christ Jesus, your Savior.  In His sleeping is your Sabbath Rest, even in death.  And in His rising from death and the grave, you are saved unto life everlasting.  In Him, God the Father has already given His “Amen” to your every need and every prayer.  Therefore, call upon the Name of this Lord Jesus.  He will hear and answer.  And with His speaking, you shall have His Peace.

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

Nesting in the Branches of the Cross

His Kingdom is not of this world.  But He has planted it here, and it has come to you, also.  It is a mystery, and you cannot recognize or receive it by appearances.  But the Lord Jesus explains everything to you.  His parables conceal the mystery of His Kingdom, except to those who are baptized into Him, who are catechized by His Word of the Cross.

For the Kingdom of God is like this Man, who lies down and gets back up again; who makes His bed in the soil, in the dirt of the ground, and then rises from death and the grave.  And He and His Kingdom are like a tiny little seed, so small, so weak, so alone, but, having been sown into the earth through death, He sprouts and grows and bears much fruit.

This is not the way of the world, but the way of Christ, the way of His Cross.  It does not appear wise, or strong, or capable of any good thing.  And yet, it accomplishes everything.  It produces abundant good fruit, and it provides shelter and shade: a nest of safety and peace.  Not by any power or works of the flesh, but by the Spirit of God, who anoints the Body of Christ Jesus for sacrifice and raises Him bodily from the dead.

Jesus lays down His life in love; He offers Himself up to God, His Father, in faith.  And in the harvest of His Resurrection is the coming of His Kingdom.  For the risen Body of Christ Jesus is the fruit of the Cross, and the branches of that Tree, which bear that fruit, are the cedars of Lebanon with which His Temple is adorned.

This theology of the Cross is an irony and a paradox, that a tree of death should bear such living and life-giving fruit.  But so it does.  His death, His Body given, His Blood poured out — these atone for all of your sins, so that by and from His Cross you are forgiven, and in His Resurrection you are justified and saved, unto life everlasting.

Wherever the tree of His Cross is now planted by the preaching of His Word, there is the Kingdom of God on earth.  There is the Garden of God, and this tree of the Cross in the midst of the Garden is the greatest of all the trees.  Even though it appears to be fruitless and dead and beyond hope — it is not appealing to the eyes, nor promising for food, nor desirable to make you wise — yet, it is the living heart and center of the Church.

Because the Church lives by and from the Cross, so is she characterized by the Cross.  Like her Lord, and like His Tree, she too is small and weak in this world, beleaguered and seemingly good for nothing.  She is not impressive in the eyes of men, but laughable and ridiculous.  Often as not, she looks and seems that way to you, too: pathetic and sad.

She bears the Cross and is put to death.  And yet, precisely so, she bears the fruits of the Cross in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead.  That is what the Cross produces in her, irrespective of appearances, by the Word and Spirit of God.

It is not the architecture or the building that constitutes the Church; nor the people, either: not the number of members, nor their median age, nor their wealth and social status.  It is the Gospel that builds the Church, that is, the preaching of the Cross of Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  So, too, that preaching of the Gospel makes even the earthly building, of whatever sort, into a church, a sacred house where the disciples of Christ Jesus are gathered around Him in the Kingdom of God.

Whether it be a tabernacle or a tent; whether elaborate and ornate, or basic and simple; whether a temple on a hill, or a little wooden chapel in a vale, the Gospel of the Cross sanctifies that place on earth with the Spirit of Christ.  There His Body is given and received from His Cross, which comprises the Kingdom of God, on earth as it is in heaven.

Even down in the valley of the shadow of death, such a church is planted, established, and preserved on the high and lofty mountain of God.  That is true for our little Emmaus here in South Bend, as it has been true for the churches in Corinth, in Jerusalem, and in Rome.

Wherever the tree of the Cross is planted, there is the Lord’s House, where His faithfulness and loving-kindness flourish.

This House of the Lord is also your home in the Kingdom of God, where you are planted and flourish in Christ.  Here you are nested in the branches of His Cross, which shelters you from harm and shades you from the heat.  Here you are fed with the living and life-giving fruits of that Tree.  Here you are clothed with the righteousness of Him who was stripped naked and hung upon that Tree for your sake.  By His death, your death has already died, and in His Resurrection you are raised up to live forever, reconciled to God and righteous in His sight.  Do not be afraid, and do not be ashamed.  He has made this House your home because He loves you.

Here you are planted into Him, and planted with Him; as by your Baptism into His death, so also by daily repentance.  As you die to yourself, to the world, and to your sin, you are raised up with Him, and in Him, to live a new life as a new creation.  For His seed sprouts and His crops grow in His own rising from death.  He is the first fruits, and you belong to the fullness of His harvest.  Not by any work or effort, power or merit of yours, but by the sowing of His seed, which is the preaching of His Cross.  It takes root in you, and sprouts and grows — by the grace of God, you know not how — and it bears good fruits in you after its own kind.

That means, first of all, as a disciple of Christ Jesus, that you bear His Cross and are crucified with Him.  Therefore, like Him, and like His Church, you appear to be small and weak and helpless, always dying, and incapable of doing anything or producing anything worthwhile.  But He emerges and arises in you, and lives in you, so that you are truly alive and fruitful in Him.

As He has planted Himself in you by the preaching of His Word, so do you bear the fruits of His Tree by confessing His Word in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving; in Psalms and hymns and creeds; in words of love for your neighbor, and in the forgiveness of those who trespass against you.  You speak what the Lord Jesus has spoken to you, and so you plant the seeds of His Cross in others.

Do not underestimate the power of that Word, and do not hesitate to speak it, no matter how small and futile it may seem.

Along with your speaking, so also care for your neighbor as Christ Jesus cares for you.  With whatever means the Lord provides, feed the hungry and clothe the naked and shelter the homeless, as the Lord feeds you with His Body and Blood, and clothes you with His righteousness, and shelters you within His Church.  For even the sparrow has found her nest here in the Lord’s Altar, and so are you gently but safely and securely nestled in the branches of His Cross in this place.  How shall you not welcome your neighbor and make room for him or her?

Your inadequacy, your weaknesses and failures, your sin and death, and the overall frailty of your fallen flesh is apparent, both to you and to others.  Such a tiny seed you are, with so little promise or potential.  And like the mustard, the Law would keep you out of the garden — for the Law forbid the mixing of seeds with vegetables, and the mustard seed, in particular, was not permitted among the plants of the garden.  But now the Cross of Christ has changed everything, and the Mystery of the Kingdom of God has been revealed to you in His Resurrection.

The high trees are humbled, but the low trees are exalted.  And the lowest tree of all, the Cross of death, has been established as the greatest of all the trees: as the Tree of Life.  As it bears the fruits of the Cross, the Body and Blood of Christ, for you to eat and drink, so does He plant you in the midst of His Paradise.  And as He forgives you all your sins, and gives you life and salvation in Himself, so does He bear His good fruits in you.  Indeed, you flourish in the courts of your God.

For Christ Jesus is the Lord.  He has spoken, and He does it.

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

Living Forever in the House of the Lord

The Builder of all things is God.  He is the Maker of the heavens and the earth, and of all that is in them.  He created the Man in His own Image, and the Woman for the Man, and He gave them to each other as husband and wife.  He also planted the garden in the East, the Paradise of Eden, and He gave it to the Man and to the Woman as their home.  All of this He did by His almighty and eternal Word, and it was very good.

Within this God-built house there is security and strength.  It is beautiful by His gracious design, well-structured by His Wisdom, and upheld in love by the power of His Word.  Within His good creation, in the good order that He has established, there is safety and security for those who live according to His will, that is, according to His Word.

Living in the place the Lord has provided, the Man is able to serve and care for the Woman, and the Woman is able to support and serve the Man.  Together they are fruitful and multiply, they fill the earth and subdue it.  They exercise dominion in the Name of the Lord, under His blessing.

So, what happened?  The house is falling apart.  The whole world is dirty, messed up, and dying.  Regardless of your politics, whether you are “green” or not, you know that’s true.  The Bible tells you so: Heaven and earth are passing away.  Creation groans under the curse of sin and death.  The grass withers, the flower fades.  It goes way beyond pollution and a poor stewardship of resources.  You may trash the place, or not, but there is a deeper rupture than you can patch, clean up, or fix.  Volcanoes erupt, and man is powerless to stop them.  Earthquakes rock the earth and swallow up man’s efforts in a moment.  Mountains crumble into the heart of the sea.  The sea fights back with tidal waves to drown the nations, and conspires with the wind to throw hurricanes back at the land.  There won’t be another world-wild flood, but fires lay waste to vast stretches of plants and trees.

It’s not only outside, but inside the house there is disarray and trouble, instead of the security and peace that everybody longs for.  Marriage and family are under attack and under stress.  You know there are political assaults on God’s institution of marriage and on the sanctity of human life.  Such contradictions of the natural Law that God has woven with His Word into creation itself at its core, and into the heart and conscience of man, erode the entire structure and stability of life on earth.

Speak out against such dangerous foolishness and sinful disobedience, as you have opportunity.  And obey God rather than man, whenever it comes down to it.  But don’t point the finger without also looking to yourself, to your own household and family.  It is not only from without, but from within, that marriages and families are under attack and falling apart.  Where the Lord has clearly commanded the honor of father and mother, the fidelity of husband and wife, there is disrespect and disobedience on the part of children, neglect and abuse on the part of parents, unfaithfulness and hostility on the part of spouses.  Sometimes it is blatant.  More often it is subtle and insidious.

Instead of safety and security in the house that God has built for you and given to you, even in those places where you ought be most at ease and comfortable, the devil runs amok and causes all manner of unrest.  Instead of contentment and cooperation, there is dissatisfaction and dissension.  Instead of peace and health, there is hatred and hurt.  Not only in others, but in you, in your life.  Satan entices you with lies and false promises, and then accuses you of your sin with a vengeance.  He attacks you in body and soul, as he tyrannizes all of the children of men with the fear of death.

The devil has such power and strength to constrain and threaten, because Man stretched out his hand to build his own house.  You know the story.  You’ve heard it before, and you live it yourself.  Tempted and deceived by the devil, the Woman stretches out her hand to take what the Lord has not given: to make a life for herself, not according to God’s Word, but contrary to it.  And the Man does not use the strength of the Lord to guard and protect his wife.  He does not speak the Word that God has spoken, nor does he step into the breach to subdue the crafty serpent, but with his own hand he receives from his wife what God has forbidden.  Instead of receiving from God in faith and giving to his wife in love, the Man ignores the Lord and follows the Woman into sin.

This sinful rejection of God’s Word — this willful disobedience of what He has clearly spoken, whereby you also now seek to make a house and a home of your own design, instead of living in the Lord’s House — puts everything in jeopardy, into a tailspin.  It puts you at odds with both God and the devil, and that’s a double enmity that you can’t handle or survive on either side.  So much for peace!  There is no peace in this house that you have built for yourself.  There is no rest in this bed that you have made.  Now there is a terrifying fear of God, instead of friendship.  And you have put yourself in the devil’s power, who already hated you and hunted you in the first place, by giving him these weapons and this ammunition: the accusation of sin and the threat of death.

It didn’t start with you, but it hasn’t ended with you, either.

Having chosen to build his own house, Man has taken on a lifelong struggle and a futile task.  So do you also struggle and toil away to stake your claim, to protect your space, to guard your castle and maintain it, to shut out the noise and keep death at bay.  Your house requires constant work, whether you do it yourself or pay someone else to do it for you.  But it still won’t last.  It is never stronger than your own strength.  It may outlast you, or maybe not, but it sure won’t last forever.

It’s not just your building, but your own body and your life: this mortal tent in which you live on earth.  The task of growing and gathering food is backbreaking labor, which drives you that much faster into the dirt from which you were taken.  Childbirth, too, as every mother knows, is under the curse of sin and the constant threat of death.  It is dangerous and precarious to start with, and it takes a toll on your body.  So marks the beginning of mortal life, for death has marked its prey.

The daily fight to survive in this fallen world, in the face of death, in the midst of guilt and shame, also pits the Man against the Woman, the parents and the children against each other, and brother against brother.  When you are endeavoring to build and keep and live in your own house, against all odds, everything is a potential threat, and everyone is your opponent.

You do make alliances, for the sake of survival, but even your allies are a threat when all your common enemies are not.  No one gets out alive.  Sooner or later, it’s just you in your crumbling castle, stacking all your furniture against the front door, in the hopes of reinforcing it; firing your canons out the windows, and pouring hot oil on the heads of all your foes.

Men use their strength to protect and pamper themselves: to make demands, to intimidate where they can, by one means or another; to threaten, to punish, to take for themselves whatever they can lay their hands on.  Big men do it with their bodily size and strength.  Small men do it with their loud voices and cruel words.  Rich men do it with their wealth.  Poor men do it with crafty stealth.

Women are thus left to fend for themselves, and they do.  If the men will not care for them in love, the women will conspire and manipulate to secure what they need, and to take what they want.  They position themselves and they wait for the opportune time to get whatever it is they are after.  They gossip and complain, but selectively and carefully, under the guise of naivete and innocence.

Children observe their parents and learn to emulate their strategies and sins.  Already your little boys and girls are figuring out their own survival techniques, how to compete and hold their own.  They use their strengths to serve themselves.  They accuse and threaten those who oppose them.

Each of you has your own sins, according to your own personality, your own abilities and traits.  Your house is not the same as your neighbor’s, and you’re proud of that fact, even as you fight to conceal your envy and jealousy.  But the underlying problem and the larger context is the same.  Sin and death hold sway, and so the devil has you and everyone else imprisoned and enslaved in your own houses!  You’re not safe inside.  You’re shackled and chained, and bound to lose it all.

But now the Stronger Man has come to the rescue, just as Jesus says.  The Lord Himself has come to plunder the devil’s house; which is really not the devil’s own domain, but the one that he has usurped and taken over, in which he holds you captive.  The Lord enters in to bring you out, and He establishes a new house and home, one not made with mortal hands, but eternal in the heavens.

First things first, He comes to bind the strong man, Satan, and He does so.  But the Lord Jesus is stronger than the devil, and He defeats the devil, with a different kind of strength altogether.  Not with swagger or sinister cunning.  Not with trickery, treachery, or deceit.  Not with harsh threats or deadly accusations, but with long-suffering patience, tender kindness, and gentle compassion.  He does not impose His own will upon His neighbor, nor assert His own will to make a house for Himself.  But He lives as a Son in His Father’s House.  He does the will of His God and Father.

In that strength and authority of faithful obedience, Jesus submits Himself to death, in order to forgive all the sins of the sons of men.  Far from making a life for Himself, He lays down His life in love for all others, in the faith and confidence that His Father will raise Him up again.  He does not take for Himself what has not been given, but He receives all things from His Father, in order to give all things to His neighbor; in order to be a strong Husband for His Bride; to give her life and care for her in love; to provide a safe and solid home for her in the House of His dear Father.

From the outside, looking in, He looks like 50 shades of crazy.  And He’s okay with that.  Or, to say it rightly, He freely and fully forgives that blasphemy against Him.  He doesn’t get angry or defensive, but simply refuses to count or consider such insults.  The fact is, faith and love and the Cross of Christ look foolish and weak, ludicrous and even insane.  But Jesus does not worry about or take offense at what others think of Him, because He is content with the Word and Wisdom of His Father.  He knows the pledge and promise of His Baptism.  He knows His office and vocation.  He knows what and where His true home is: with God.

Therefore, Jesus does not go out to His mother and His brothers, and He will not be taken custody by them.  Not out of any disrespect, and not as though to disown them or distance Himself from them.  But He calls and gathers a whole new family to Himself, into the House where He is found, by the preaching and teaching of His Word.  He establishes and populates a new household and family of God, which includes St. Mary, St. James and St. Jude, and disciples from all the nations.

By His own perfect faithfulness, and by His voluntary sacrifice for the sins of the world, He has robbed Satan of his weapons and his ammunition.  Sin is forgiven, and death is defeated; which leaves the devil with nothing to attack you with or hold against you.  Rather, creation is restored and made brand new, and reordered according to the will of God — already in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, and so too for all who live and abide in Him.  For His crucified and risen Body is the Temple of God, which is an eternal House for all who are His family by faith.

He brings you into that House and makes you a member of His own dear family by His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  He brings you into His own household and family, even as He plunders the devil’s house.  For He frees the children of men from captivity to sin and death; He cleanses them, and brings them to life, by the gift of His Holy Spirit through the Gospel.

Those who refuse and reject the Holy Spirit — that is, who refuse and reject the Gospel — remain in the bondage of the devil and outside of the Lord’s House.  Apart from repentance, that’s forever.

But you who have been gathered around Christ Jesus — who are gathered by and around His strong Word of faith and forgiveness of sins — you are His Mother, His brothers and His sisters.  That is to say, you are collectively His Church, and within her you are born again as the children of God.  You live now in His House, and you belong to His family, as surely as you are here to hear His preaching, to be catechized by His Word, to abide in His Baptism and to partake of His Body and Blood.  So surely are you part of His Body and Bride, the Church.

Since He, the Lord your God, forgives you all your sins — He holds none of them against you — therefore, Satan cannot legitimately accuse you of anything.  Nor can the devil threaten you or scare you with death anymore, since God your Father has raised Jesus your Brother from the dead.

Consider how this strength of Christ Jesus sustains you: For you are safe and secure in His House, which shall not fall.  Its sure foundation is the sacrifice of His Cross, once and for all.  And just as He is risen from the dead, never to die again, so shall it stand fast and forever.

Here in His House you are fed with food and drink that you don’t have to work for.  You are a child of God, and your Father feeds you with the flesh and blood of Christ.  It is by the sweat of His brow, by the labor of His Cross and Passion, that you eat and drink and shall not die but live.

Here in the Lord’s House, you and your family are given life in place of death.  This promise is for you and for your children, for your parents and your spouse.  The birth pangs of repentance are not the mark of mortality, but are the glory of the Cross, unto immortal and imperishable life with God.

You don’t have to build a house for yourself, and so that whole futile rat race is ended.  You no longer have to fight that no-win battle against death, which wearies you and wears you out but gets you nowhere.  Instead, you simply live in the place where God has put you, a beloved child in His family, and a permanent resident of His house and home, by faith in Christ Jesus.  And, as such, He strengthens you to make a safe house and a loving home for your neighbor here on earth.

Not that you must be and do everything for everyone, and not as though you are expected to make an eternal house or home for anyone.  Such things are not given to you.  But you know the promise and pledge of your Baptism.  You know your office and vocation in the world.  And, in Christ, you have the strength to live and love as He has called you.

You husbands have the strength, in Christ, to care for your wives.  You mothers have the strength to care for your children.  You children, to care for your parents.  You brothers and sisters, to care for each other.  Not with any flawless perfection of your own, but with the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is yours by His grace, through faith in His Gospel.  Not out of guilt or shame or fear, but in His peace and hope and charity.

You have this strength to love and serve each other, because you have your home and family in the strong House of the Stronger Man, Christ Jesus.  Having died for you and risen from the dead, He has defeated your enemy, the devil, and He has reconciled you to His Father in peace.  He has made a place for you forever, and in Him is your Sabbath Rest that shall not end.  In His crucified and risen Body — which you have entered by your Baptism, and which you eat and drink in the Sacrament — you have genuine security.  You really are safe.

So, too, you have the strength to forgive all the sins of those who sin against you; because the strength of your Savior, Christ Jesus, is the strength of His Gospel.  He does not accuse, threaten, or punish, but He daily and richly forgives you all of your sins.  He forgives your weakness and your fear.  He forgives your laziness and your neglect of responsibility.  He forgives your short temper and your abuse of power.  He does not hold any of your sins against you, but He calls you to repentance, and He gently raises you up to live by faith in Him, to live in love for your neighbor.

If the whole world thinks you’re crazy, well, never mind that; you’re in good company.  So shall you be glorified with Him, who loves you.  Whatever affliction you may suffer is momentary, and it’s not even worth comparing to the eternal weight of glory for which the Lord Jesus is preparing you, even now.

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