Though Devils All the World Should Fill

Woe to those who live on earth in the midst of sin and death, subjected to the devil’s great wrath.  Be on your guard, constantly vigilant, sober and watchful.

Satan is a fierce foe, and he hates you with dark and dire vengeance.  He does not rest in his attacks against you, but day and night he is plotting to entice and deceive you; and at the same time he is always accusing you of your sins.  He mocks you with guilt and shame, whether real or imagined; and he threatens you with death and damnation, even with the condemnation of God’s Law.

Pray, therefore, at all times and without ceasing.

Do not rely upon your own wisdom, reason, or strength, but humble yourself before God.  Repent of your sins, and seek the Lord where He may be found in His grace and mercy and forgiveness.

And even so, even now, take courage and stand upright.  For here there is One who helps you, who is mightier than sin, death, the devil, and hell.

Here there is Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, who has become the true Man, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that He is your Brother in the flesh.  And He is your Savior.

This one Lord, Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, has conquered in the fight.  Not by the raw power of His Law, which would destroy you along with your enemies, but by the Spirit of God, by perfect faith and love in His own flesh and blood, and by His own Cross and Resurrection.

He has robbed the devil of his threatening might and fearsome power.  He has stripped the devil of his teeth and ripped off all the bars and doors from the devil’s prison house of fear and death.

The devil is done for, because the Cross of Christ has satisfied the Law and perfectly fulfilled it, meeting all its demands and removing all its threats.  The Lord Himself has made propitiation and atonement for all sins, including yours; He has reconciled you and all the world to God the Father.

With what, then, shall Satan accuse or condemn you?  And what threat or fear of death shall the devil hold over your head?  For Christ Jesus has trampled death and hell beneath His feet, and  in His Resurrection He has opened the grave and opened heaven to you and all the baptized.

The Lord your God in His own flesh, the Son of Man, has accomplished this victory for all men and women, all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.  By the way and means of this victory, by His Word and Holy Spirit, He actively saves you.  He gives to you His Name and Himself, with His whole life and His salvation: as in your Baptism, so also in the whole Ministry of His Gospel.

Even more relentlessly than Satan accuses, the Lord Jesus Christ never ceases to speak forgiveness and peace.  So long as the heavens and the earth remain, from the rising of the sun to the place of its going down, He preaches His Gospel and thereby takes away the sins of the world.  So it is that Satan is cast out and thrown down, not only out of heaven, but so also from your conscience.

It is for this purpose that the Lord has so ordained and constituted the ministry of men and angels, unto the life and salvation of all who are called by His Name.

Thus are you, dear child of God, dear “little one” of Jesus, guarded and guided by the Word of the Lord that is preached to you.  His Word is a lamp to your feet and a light upon your path, so that you know the way of faith and love; and by His grace you live and abide in safety and in peace.

The Law of the Lord curbs you from your wickedness, in order to protect you from the devil’s treachery and deceit.  And with that, even while exposing your sins and calling you to account, the Lord is also directing you to the Cross of Christ and the salutary Word of His sweet Gospel.

As often as you stumble and fall, that precious Holy Gospel lays the gentle hand of Christ Jesus upon you and raises you up in His Resurrection with the free and full forgiveness of all your sins.  That is the special authority with which He has called and sent your pastors, His messengers of the Word, to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name; so that you do not die but live.

As surely as you are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, so does He also nurture your body and soul and preserve your faith and life in Him — by the preaching of His Word, and by nourishing you in the wilderness with the spiritual Food and Drink of His Body and His Blood.

By that Ministry of His Gospel, just as surely as He named you with His Name in Holy Baptism, so has He written your name with His own Blood in the Lord’s Book of Life.  For as you share His Baptism, and as you receive His forgiveness of all your sins, His Resurrection is now also your resurrection from the dead, and He Himself is forever and always your Life and your Salvation.

It is for this reason that His holy angels surround you, to guard you and protect you in both body and soul, unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.  For they see in you — what you often fail to see in yourself and in your neighbor — they behold in you Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son, His Name, His flesh and blood.  They love and care for you as a member of His Body and Bride.

The angels are not given the highest honor of preaching the Gospel to you; for that is done by men of flesh and blood, like that of Christ Himself, who is not an angel but is both God and Man.  But the angels do guard and protect you for the sake of that Holy Gospel.

The angels preserve your life, in order that you may hear and confess the Word of the Gospel, so that both you and your neighbor may live, in both body and soul, both now and forever.

Of course, the devil doesn’t fight fair.  He is a liar and a murderer, by night as by day.  And he is crafty, with a serpent’s body that slithers this way and that and strikes in the blink of an eye.  By hook and by crook he attacks you on the left and on the right.  He tempts you into sins of all kinds, and then he quickly points the finger at you and vehemently accuses you.  He assaults your heart and mind with distractions and enticements; with fears and trepidations; with pride at one moment, despair at the next; with envy and jealousy; with guilt and shame.

And when he cannot shake your hope and confidence within, the devil levels all his wrath and hatred against your frail flesh, against your household, family, and friends.

With his lying and murdering day and night, the devil lets you have no peace within or without.

But in spite of all of that, do not be afraid.  The armies of the Lord who loves you surround you.  And because they always behold the face of your own dear Father in heaven, they are more fierce and determined in their protection than even Satan in his wrath.

Nothing will by any means injure you.  That is the Lord’s promise.

But how can that be so?  Given that you bear the Cross — that you are crucified, put to death, and buried with Christ Jesus — how shall you not be injured, even to the point of death?  For you are frail flesh and blood.  You are but mortal.  You get sick; you get hurt; you suffer and die.

What is more, you are in fact, as you confess, a poor, miserable sinner.  You surely deserve nothing but punishment.  Does the devil not have a point in accusing and condemning you?

But, no, you are in Christ, and He abides in you and with you and for you.  There is therefore no condemnation that shall stand against you.  There is no punishment or death that shall injure you.

The One who has all authority in heaven and on earth, who could destroy your soul and body in hell, has named you with the Name of Christ Jesus, the beloved Son, and He has declared that you are well-pleasing in His sight.  He judges you righteous, and He gives to you all good things.

If you are crucified and put to death by the Cross of Christ, it is also by and from His Cross that He daily and richly forgives you all your sins.  And it is from the same Cross that He also feeds you with His Body and His Blood.  And it is by His Cross that He brings you through death into life with God in His own Resurrection and Ascension, through His suffering into His glory.

It is by His Cross that the dragon, that old serpent who is called the devil and Satan, is even now and forever conquered and crushed under the heal of Christ Jesus, the Son of Man, your Savior.

If you and your body and life are marked by the Sign of that Cross, so do you also bear the Name of Christ, and His Spirit, and His Body and His Blood.  By these means you overcome.  Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour you, yet you are kept safe and sound in Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ, who loves you and has given Himself for you — He sees to it that none of the treasures of His Kingdom shall be taken from you.  Nor shall you be snatched out of His hand.

Indeed, the same Lord sends His men to preach and administer His Gospel to you, and He stations His holy angels to guard you round about, night and day, in all your going out and coming in.

Rejoice, therefore, and bless the Lord.  All that is within you, give thanks and bless His holy Name.  For as He feeds you here and now with His own Body, so shall He awaken your body from the dust of the earth and raise you unto Life everlasting in the never-ending Feast of His Kingdom.  And as you worship Him and sing with saints and angels here at His Altar on earth, so shall you continue to worship and sing with all the company of the blessed in heaven forever and ever.

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

Salted by the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus for Life with God in Body and Soul

Your life and health and strength and salvation are found in the Name of the Lord.  You do not live by your own works, for they will perish with you.  Nor is your life to be found in the wealth and wisdom of this world, which also is perishing.  But it is by the Name of the Lord that you live — as His child, in His presence — by His grace.  And that life is by faith in Christ Jesus, your Savior.

The Name of that Lord Jesus Christ has been granted to you in Holy Baptism.  And that is a most wonderful and extraordinary thing.  Whenever that day was, whatever your age may have been, whether you can remember the day or not, there in the water with His Word the Lord laid hold of you in love, He saved you from death by forgiving all your sins, and He gave you His own Life.

The Name of the Lord is your Strength and your Song, because He has become your Salvation, and He has named you with His own Holy Name.  So are you also anointed by the Holy Spirit for faith and life with God, who is now your own dear Father in Christ Jesus, the beloved Son.  Everything that belongs to Him is now yours.  His Life is yours, because His Name and His Spirit are yours.

You are “salted” by the Holy Spirit through the Word of Christ Jesus.  But what does that mean?  You are disciplined, as though by fire — as gold and silver are purified by fire — and as the sons of Levi and all the children of God are purified as though by fire.  By the discipline of the Word of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit, you are called to daily repentance — by and through and with and in the Cross of Christ.  As He was crucified for you, so are you crucified with Him and put to death to the world, to your sin, and to all the lusts of your flesh, the cravings of your heart.

That is how you are “salted” on the one hand.  But you are also “salted” or “seasoned,” both inside and out, with peace and love — the peace that is yours in Christ Jesus, which is your reconciliation with God and with your neighbors — and the Love of God which is likewise yours in Christ Jesus, the beloved Son, which He has poured out into your heart by and with His Holy Spirit.

So are you also “seasoned” with newness of life in body and soul, because God the Father has raised you from death to life in the crucified and risen Body of His incarnate Son.  The One who died for you has also risen from the dead, and you are raised with Him through His forgiveness of your sins.  There is no accusation that stands against you in your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

How, then, shall you deal with yourself and your body and life in this world?  And having been named with the Name of God and anointed by the Spirit, how shall you deal with your neighbor?

What shall it mean for you — for your relationships, callings, and stations in this life on earth — that you are God’s own child, baptized into Christ Jesus, crucified and risen with Him for life with God in body and soul, not only for ever, but already here and now as a member of His Church?

Well, it’s a hard Word that Christ Jesus declares to you this morning.  We’re not used to hearing Him talk this way; we know that He does on occasion, but it’s not typical, and it’s not easy to hear.  There is a kind of violence in what He says today, as He speaks of tying millstones around necks and drowning people in the depths of the sea, of cutting off body parts and plucking out eyes.  This is the sort of thing we expect from horror movies, not from the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He speaks of such violence — and it is a real violence, make no mistake — but it is not a violence against your body per se.  It is sometimes necessary, in medical surgery, for example, to harm the body and place the body in precarious danger for the sake of addressing some greater threat to life; and that is not so far removed from what we have going on here.   But the Lord is not prescribing a medical treatment, whereby you would actually mutilate your body with knife and scalpel; for your body remains His good creation even under the curse of sin.  Certainly He is not directing you to do violence against your neighbor’s body, either.  The violence of which our Lord here speaks is leveled against the sinfulness of your heart — the fountain out of which all of your sins proceed.

Your every hope, your life and salvation are in the Name of the Lord.  He saves you by His Name.  And His Name in turn bears good fruits in your body and life — finally forever in the Resurrection of your body to the Life everlasting of your body and soul — but already here and now, His Name is bearing the fruits of faith and love in your life on earth, wherever He calls and stations you.

But the sin in your heart is another story altogether; and that is what needs to be dealt with, to be cut off and thrown away.  As surely as faith in the Name of the Lord brings forth good and godly fruits in your body and life, so does the sin in your heart bring forth “fruits” after its own kind in your body and life, which are not living and life-giving but damnable and deadly to you and others.

So, our Lord is harsh and violent against your sin because He loves you.  He is not out to destroy you, but to save you from sin and death — to save you from yourself — for Life with God in Him.

Both sinful unbelief and repentant faith are matters of the heart and soul.  But both sinful unbelief and repentant faith are also embodied and bear fruit in your flesh, in your outward life and actions.  Faith bears the fruits of love, the fruits of the Spirit.  But sin bears more sin and brings forth death.

The actions of your body, in turn, substantiate and strengthen the attitudes of your heart, whether for good or ill, whether for life or death.  To live according to the Word of God is to exercise and strengthen your faith in His Word and in the life that He has given you by His grace.  To persist in sin and wrongdoing is to strengthen the sin in your heart and to buck against the Holy Spirit.

So, then, deny your body its sinful desires, its lust and greed, and live instead by faith in the hope of the Resurrection of your body.  Do not give yourself over to your cravings.  Do not covet what the Lord has given to your neighbor, but be content and satisfied with what the Lord gives to you.  In all that you do with your body, live now in view of the fact that your body shall be raised to live with God in His Kingdom forever; for your body also bears the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember that you are baptized.  The Name and Spirit of God have been given to you, along with the forgiveness of your sins and the cleansing of your conscience.  All of this in your body as well as your soul, as the water washed over your body with the Word of Christ Jesus, and the sign of His Cross was marked upon your forehead and your heart.  So shall your body be raised from the dead, glorious, like unto His own glorious Body.  Your body rises day-by-day from the watery grave of your Holy Baptism by faith in the Gospel, and so shall your body be raised in glory at the last, just as Christ is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity in His Body.  So, live now in the view of that Resurrection, in such a way that your body confesses the Name of Christ.

If your hand, your foot, or your eye is involved in sin, then repent in your heart, and so also repent in your body and in your outward behavior.  Discipline your flesh to do good and refrain from evil.  Avert your eyes, divert your feet, and withhold your hand from every manner of wickedness.

To live in sin is already a kind of living death.  And I’m not just talking about people shacking up and fornicating, though that is certainly part of it.  But to live in whatever your sin is, to persist in it, to keep on doing what you know is wrong, to put yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, to harbor temptations in your thoughts and in your heart instead of resisting the devil and fleeing from his temptation — to live in sin is already a kind of living death, and it will end in no good.

But to live by faith, that is to rely on the Name of Christ Jesus, even unto Life everlasting.  To live by faith in His Name is to pray by and with His Word and Holy Spirit.  It is to rely upon Him rather than yourself.  To live by faith in His Name is to live in the Liturgy of His Gospel — to know that you need it, that you need to hear it and receive it — to seek it out, and to support it with your prayers, with your financial contributions, and above all with your presence and participation.

In turn, to live by faith is also to live in love, to catechize your neighbor.  Whether you are husband or father, wife or mother, or simply a Christian living in the world, you are given to catechize your neighbors — not necessarily by sitting down and having a class together, but rather by speaking the Word of Christ that you have heard and received in the Liturgy of the Gospel.  That is the most precious thing you can do for any of your neighbors, the one thing that shall remain forever after.

To live by faith is to live in love and to care for your neighbor in the Name of Christ Jesus, because you bear His Name, and because your neighbor may bear His Name — if he or she is already a Christian, a child of God baptized into Christ — or, if not, it is God’s desire that your neighbor would become a Christian, and receive that Name, and live by that Name as you live.   And so, for the sake of His Name, you care for your neighbor in the way that Christ Jesus cares for you; and you speak to your neighbor in the way — and with the Words — that Christ Jesus speaks to you.

Do not go home from here and go about your day-to-day life as though you have heard nothing of any consequence, as though the Word of Christ did not matter or make any difference, as though it may or may not be true, or as though it were only true for you.  But gladly speak what you have heard here, and do not be ashamed of that Word of Life in Christ, which is also for your neighbor.

Both by your words and by your actions, be patient and at peace with your neighbor, practicing mercy and kindness.  Be slow to anger, reluctant to hurt in what you do or say, eager to help and to heal, and always quick and ready to forgive, as you are forgiven by Christ Jesus in His Name and stead.  And when your brother goes astray, or when your sister stumbles in her faith and life, restore your neighbor in a spirit of gentleness, in the genuine humility of your own repentance.  For there is not one of you who does not stumble in many ways, and yet the Lord your God is merciful, and He calls you daily to repentance, to faith in His free and full forgiveness of sins.

In short, discipline yourself in body and soul, not only to avoid what is evil, but actively to do and say what is good and right, whether you feel like it or not.  Really, such discipline is most needed when you’d rather not do what you should; and, often as not, those are precisely the times when it is most important for you to do what is good and right for the sake of your neighbor.

In all of this, as you recognize your own sins and your own ways of stumbling — as you certainly will discover when you examine yourself honestly, as you should, in accordance with the Word of God — when you thus recognize in yourself your own sins and stumbling, do not despair — and do not persist in your sins, either — but call upon the Name of the Lord, and rely on Christ Jesus, your Savior.  Repent of your sins, trust Christ, and live; for He cares about you, He really does.

And because He loves you, the Lord Jesus provides for all your needs of body and soul, for this life and for the Life everlasting.  He forgives you all your sins for His Name’s sake; He raises you up to newness of life each day in His own righteousness and holiness; and so shall He raise you at the last to Life everlasting with Himself, and with His God and Father, and with the Holy Spirit.

The One who promises is faithful, and He shall do it.  Already He has borne the burden of your sin in His own Body on the Cross.  Indeed, what Moses and the Law could not do or accomplish, this Jesus has done for you and for all, for your life and salvation.  He has borne the whole burden of His people in His Body.  He has carried them in Himself.  He has saved them from sin and death.  And even now He brings you and all His people through this desert wilderness into the promised Kingdom of His God and Father, whom He has made your own dear God and Father in Him.

See here, in this Hour, in this Place, how He feeds you on the Way — how He feeds the vast multitude of His Church in all times and places.  He does not fail to do it, but with real Meat and true Drink He sustains them all.  And so does He sustain you with His holy and precious Blood, poured out for you, and with His own Body given for you, the Life-giving Manna that refreshes and restores your soul and renews your body for the Resurrection and for eternal Life with God.

Even in the midst of death, this is real Life, and this is real Living, which is for you in Christ Jesus.

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

The Divine Greatness of the Lord's Divine Self-Sacrifice

The heartbeat of the Christian faith and life is the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is likewise His Cross which His disciples are given to receive, to carry, and to rely upon for Life.  For it is in the Cross of Christ that true divine greatness and the almighty power of God are made perfect in His voluntary weakness and demonstrated in His mercy and pity toward us poor sinners.

He has such compassion and bestows His charity upon you, not from some high and lofty distance, but up close and personal, in His own flesh and blood.  Nor is His giving to you like the painless writing of a check from your disposable income to this or that cause or charity for the sake of a tax write-off.  No, His divine charity is the true greatness and real strength of self-sacrificing love and voluntary suffering for the sake of saving you, even though you have no way to repay Him.

So, then, in answer to the disciples’ questions and discussion, it is Christ Jesus alone who is the greatest of all.  He stands head and shoulders above any and all other contenders.  Indeed, He is lifted up above all others when He is lifted up in His death upon the Cross — and when He is then raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of His Father in everlasting glory and honor.

Again, His greatness is found precisely in His grace and mercy toward us, which He exercises in His obedience to the Father and in His humble service to the point of His death upon the Cross.  It is in love for His Father, and in steadfast perfect faith in the Father who sent Him, that He takes up that Cross and offers up His Body and Life upon it in love and compassion for His neighbor.

In doing so, He has made Himself the Least of all and the Servant of all.  The almighty and eternal Son of the Living God has become like a little child.  More than that, He actually was conceived and born as the little Child of St. Mary, in order to redeem the world and everyone in it, to rescue all the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve from sin, death, the devil, and hell, by His own death.

To be and to live like a little child, as Jesus has done for you and your salvation, is to live by faith in the Lord your God, in His Word and promises.  It is to rely on Him and to receive all that you need from His hand by way of those He has given to care for you.  It is to boast not in yourself but in His grace and mercy, and to give to Him all your thanks and praise in body, soul, and spirit.

It is by living in this way on your behalf, by faith in His Father, in flesh and blood like your own, that Christ Jesus has humbled Himself to serve you and save you at the cost of His own Body and Life.  So has He atoned for your sins, reconciled you to God, and poured out His Spirit upon you.

Of course, this is the great irony and paradox of Christianity, that forgiveness, Life, and Salvation are obtained by the Cross of Christ Jesus and given to you by and from that same Cross; so that your true and only Life — your only real Life — is found in His innocent suffering and death.

Those who are called and catechized to be the disciples of this same Lord, Jesus Christ — who are called to follow Him and learn from Him — are thus taught by His Word and by His example to be and to live like Him: in faith toward God and in fervent love for those He places around you.

So do you become like a little child and live by faith in your dear God and Father.  And so do you also bear the Cross of Christ Jesus in self-sacrificing love and humble service for your neighbors in their need.  Not simply trading favors, tit-for-tat — not doing good merely for those who are able to repay you in some way or another — but sacrificing yourself, expending your time, your treasures, and your talents in service to others, for no other reason than that of holy charity.

Understand, first of all, that you actually are “a little child” in relation to the Lord your God, like a newborn infant.  You are absolutely and completely dependent on Him for everything; and you are not able to repay Him in return.  And as that is how it is for you, so learn to love and care for your brothers and sisters in Christ and for all your neighbors in the world, regardless of their age or abilities, in the way that your dear Father in heaven cares for you and all His beloved children.

In particular, care for those who actually are little children, even yet hidden in the womb.  And by the same token, care for those who are like the little children — who are innocent and simple in their thinking, in their abilities and way of life.  Care for all such little ones, because they are so small and weak and helpless — because they are not able to help themselves or to help you, but they need your help — and do what you can to care for them as an instrument and agent of your God and Father in heaven, much like an older brother or sister caring for your younger siblings.

To live in these ways, both in general and in particular — that is, to receive what you need from God, and then to give to your neighbor as the Lord your God gives to you — that is nothing more nor less than to live by faith and in love as a Christian.  It is to live by the Cross and by the fruits of the Cross of Christ Jesus, and to bear such fruits for others after the same kind — at your own expense, as needs may be, even unto death, in the hope and confidence of the Resurrection.

Sure sounds good, doesn’t it.  Except that it really is no wonder that the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus what He meant when He told them where He was going and what was going to happen to Him there.  They did not want to know or understand the Cross — not His, and certainly not their own.  That is not at all the kind of “greatness” they were discussing on the way.

It’s not what you’re after for yourself, either; not according to your sinful, mortal flesh.  It’s quite the opposite of what you want.  Your old Adam has other ideas and altogether different desires!  You don’t want suffering, you want prosperity and pleasure.  You don’t want to serve, you want to be served — except when you can promote yourself and feel good about yourself by serving others, in such a way that you’re able to place yourself above them, as though you were superior.  In general, you want other people to care for you, to provide for your needs, to cater to your wants, to be at your beck and call — or, better yet, to do what you want without your asking — none of this as though it were a matter of charity (or grace), but as though you were deserving of it all.

As you make your way through life, as you chart your course and blaze your trail, you also discuss and contemplate your greatness vis-à-vis others.  Not the greatness of the Cross, but the greatness of the world with its idols.  For that prize you compare and contrast, you jockey for position, you compete with your neighbor, and you maneuver for your own advancement, benefit, and profit.  That is what occupies your attention, because that is what grips your heart and mind.

Consequently, you are not able to comprehend the Cross and Passion of Christ Jesus, who lays down His life and sacrifices Himself, not for His own benefit, but for the benefit of others, even for those who have hated Him and been at odds with Him, in order to rescue them from their own predicament, from their sin and death, and to reconcile them to His God and Father in peace.  He goes out of His way to make friends of His enemies, and to make life better for them, and to bring them to God.  Such divine, self-sacrificing love is pure grace and utter charity — and so contrary to your own instincts of survival, self-preservation, self-promotion, and self-righteousness.

So, that is why you must be catechized, put to death, and born again to a new and better life — all by the Word and Spirit of God, by the preaching of the Law and the Gospel, unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins — in order that, by the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, you should thus become a little child of God and a faithful disciple of the same Lord Jesus Christ.

And with that, bear in mind that the only true and lasting greatness is that of Christ Jesus Himself, who has become, for you and for all, the Least and the Last, the faithful Servant of both God and Man, the Sacrifice to end all sacrifice for sin.  For not only has He become the little Child who lives by faith in His Father, but so is He also the sacrificial Lamb who lives and dies in love for God and for His neighbors, who takes upon Himself and takes away the sins of the whole world.

This is the great service that He has rendered and accomplished for you and for all people.

And it is in this greatness of His own Cross and Passion that He gently calls you to Himself, again and again, and catechizes you by and with His Word and Holy Spirit unto repentance, away from sin and death to faith in Him.  And as the Father has raised Him from death and the grave and has seated Him at His right hand in glory, so does He raise you from death to Life, now and forever.

So has He given you a brand new birth, and He has made you a little child of His God and Father by your Holy Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection.  That is who you are.  No matter how old you are, no matter how smart you are, no matter how strong you are, no matter how wealthy you may be, and no matter how much stuff you have (all of which is going away) — yet, for now and forever, you are God’s own child, a little child whom He takes into His arms and takes care of.

That is what He has done for you by way of your Baptism in His Name.  In much the same way, throughout your life He continues to send His servants to preach and teach His Word, to catechize you unto daily repentance, to forgive you all your sins in His Name and stead, and to nourish your faith and life in Him by the means of His Gospel within the household and family of His Church.

He teaches you to be and to live as a child of God, not by the force and fury of His Law, but by caring for you and providing for you, by loving you relentlessly, in spite of your sins, in spite of your unbelief, ingratitude, petty grumpiness, and persistent disobedience.  It is in mercy that He calls you to repentance for all of those sins and for all of your other sins, especially by calling you to the great goodness of His grace, to the forgiveness of His Gospel, to the free gift of His Love.

Not only does He feed and clothe and shelter you, guard and protect you, guide and lead you for this body and life on earth, but He freely gives you His own divine Life in body and soul, for now and forever.  Which is to say that He feeds and clothes and shelters you, He guards and protects you, He guides and leads you, and He brings you to the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul with Himself in the Kingdom of His God and Father.

As this one Lord Jesus Christ has given Himself for you and for all — unto His sacrificial death upon the Cross — so does He now give Himself to you from the Cross in the Sacrament of His Altar.  He humbles Himself in the elements of bread and wine in order to feed you from His own nail-scarred hands, to serve you with His own holy Body, and to pour out for you, not only cold water (refreshing as that is), but that Cup which is the New Testament in His precious Blood.

Receiving these good Gifts which Christ Jesus freely gives, you receive the Lord God Himself in His mercy, and you partake of His divine, eternal Life.  That is the true greatness of Christ and His Cross, which is now also yours as a child of God in Him, by His grace through faith in His Gospel.

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

To Hear and Speak the Word of Christ Jesus

Words matter.  Indeed, words make all the difference, because God does everything by His Word.

You already have at least some awareness of this fact.  You know how powerful words can be — to hurt, or to help: They can totally make or wreck your day, your week, or whole seasons of time.

Words matter.  For the Lord your God does everything by His Word, from the Creation to the Redemption of His Creation; and you, being made in His Image and Likeness, are created to speak.

What you say matters.  And not only what you say, but how you say it.  And what you don’t say, that matters, too.  And all of your speaking, whether it be good or bad, depends on your hearing.  Garbage in, garbage out.  But if you hear the Word of Christ, that is what you speak and confess.

You cannot fear, love, and trust in the one true God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, nor can you confess Him rightly with your lips, except by the hearing of the Word of Christ.  You cannot pray, praise, or give thanks, and you cannot call upon His Holy Name, except by the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus.  You cannot bless God, nor can you bless your neighbor, if you are not hearing and receiving the blessing of God’s Word.  Apart from His Word to you in Christ Jesus, you can do nothing but curse, swear, lie, and deceive, grind your teeth, and foam at the mouth.

That is why it is so basic and fundamental to the faith and life of the entire Church on earth, and why it is so necessary to your own Christian faith and life, that there be preachers and teachers of the Word of Christ Jesus.  That is why preachers must be sent to preach repentance and forgiveness in His Name, and teachers must teach as the oracles of God; and disciples must listen and learn, and hear and heed the Word of Christ, in order to follow Him, believe in Him, and live in Him.

To be a Christian is, above all else, to be a hearer of the Word of Christ.  That is the first and most important thing that a Christian is given to do — to hear the Word that Christ Jesus preaches into your ears.  And to be a Christian is then also to confess with your mouth the Word that you have heard — to speak what God the Father has spoken to you by His Son, Christ Jesus — and by that Word to pray, praise, and give thanks, to call upon the Name of the Lord from a heart of faith.

To speak with the mouth of a disciple is to glorify the Name of the Lord by confessing who He is and what He has done, by speaking what He has spoken.  And it is precisely with that Word, with that confession, that you are able to sustain the weary one with the Word of Christ Jesus.

Is someone you know and love hurting?  Then, along with whatever good you can do for that person in his or her body, do not neglect to speak the Word of Christ.  Indeed, speak that Word of Christ to all of your neighbors.  For words do matter; and the Word of Christ matters most of all.

It is by the Word of Christ that the weary are comforted and sustained.  That is the main thing that pastors are given to do — to sustain those who are weary with the Gospel of Christ Jesus, with the forgiveness of sins in His Name.  And that is why pastors are held to such a strict accountability for their words and work, because everything depends upon the preaching and teaching of Christ.

But so also, in turn, are husbands and wives to speak that Word of Christ Jesus to each other.

And fathers and mothers — along with everything else you are given to do, and really above all of your other responsibilities as parents — you are to catechize and care for your children with the Word of Christ Jesus.  Not only by careful and consistent instruction, as an academic subject, but especially by way of your example, by your own speaking, by what you say and how you say it.

It is by the preaching of the Word of Christ Jesus that the entire Body of His Church is bridled and guided, just as a horse is bridled and as a ship is guided by its rudder.  And much the same thing is true in your home and family.  The way you speak guides the entire course of your household, whether it is in harmony with the Word of Christ or completely out of sorts and out of sync.

Consider the consequences of your words for those entrusted to your care.  If you speak the Word of Christ Jesus to your children, for example, they will learn to confess and to pray in His Name.  What is more, they will learn to know and love Jesus Himself in your speaking; because there is no other way to know the Lord Jesus, except by the speaking and hearing of His Word.

By the same token, tragically, when you routinely curse, swear, lie, and deceive in speaking to and around your children, that is what they learn to know and to speak.  Garbage in, garbage out.

Consider the example of that father at the foot of the mountain in the Holy Gospel this morning.  And think of how he differs from that faithful Syrophoenician woman in last Sunday’s Gospel.

Remember how she prayed?  There were no ifs.  There were no demands.  With her there was only the prayer of confident faith, even in the face of the Lord’s apparent rejection.  “Lord, help me.”  She knew that He could do it — and she trusted that He would — so she just kept on praying.

But this Dad today just doesn’t get it, leastwise not at first.  And you can feel for him, because your own circumstances, your own experience and feelings are not so different.  “I told Your disciples to do it, and they couldn’t; but if You can help me, do something.”  This is not the prayer of faith but of last resort and desperation, a case of clinging to the Law and making bargains and demands.

So, in this case, the father has to be catechized first.  He needs to hear the Word of Christ Jesus, in order to confess and pray rightly; so that he, in turn, will have a Word of the Lord with which to comfort and sustain his weary son.  For only by the ongoing catechesis and confession of the Word of Christ Jesus will the demons be kept at bay and prevented from coming back seven times worse than before.  Only by the Word of Christ will father and son be preserved in faith and life.

These are not fairy tales.  This isn’t make-believe or let’s pretend.  You also are given to hear the Word of Christ.  You are given nothing else, finally, nothing that will remain or save you; but you are given the Word of Christ, and everything depends on that.  If you would bring your family to Jesus — if you would have them live and not die — then hear, confess, and pray His Holy Word.

You cannot confess what you have not heard.  You cannot pray except by the Word and Spirit of Jesus.  And you cannot forgive your neighbor, except as you are forgiven by the Lord your God.

It is by the Word of God in Christ Jesus that all of this is accomplished and happens.  But the Word of God is not a magical formula.  The Word of God is not a mantra to be invoked, like the artificial intelligence on your phone, as though He were at your beck and call and subject to your whims.

The fact is that you can’t even open your ears to hear His Word, nor can you open your own mind and heart to comprehend and believe it.  You live by His grace, not by your own work or efforts.

You can’t convert your neighbor, either, not by your own eloquence or savvy.  It’s not a matter of finally getting the right combination of all the right words to convince your neighbor that you’re right about this or that.  The Word of God does not aim at “winning” arguments.  It doesn’t debate the truth but simply declares what is so, the Law and the Gospel, unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins.  The one true God does not have to prove Himself to you or to your neighbor; but He speaks to you in love — and He would have you speak His Word to your neighbor in love — because it is only by His Word that you and your neighbor are given to live by faith in Christ.

To that end, it is absolutely fundamental that you must keep on listening and learning, hearing, and heeding the Word of Christ Jesus.  Even if it were true that you’ve heard it all before, and even if you actually remembered every syllable of the Holy Scriptures — even so, you would still need to hear the preaching of God’s Word, not for the sake of “education” and “information,” but for the forgiveness of sins, for faith and life in Christ Jesus.  For it is by His Word that He is with you.

Apart from the Word of Christ, there is nothing but darkness and death, and separation from God, which is the essence of damnation.  But He has not abandoned you, despite your stubborn sin and fatal unbelief.  As He created all things out of nothing by His Word for the sake of His divine and holy Love, so does He draw near to you in love, by and with His Word, in order to give you Life in and with Himself.  As He preaches His Word into your ears, He Himself is thereby with you.

So, do keep listening to His Word and the preaching of it; and do keep speaking His Word.  But understand that, even with that effort and that discipline to hear and heed His Word, it is still not by your own intelligence, knowledge, or wisdom that you believe and trust in Christ Jesus.  No, that is by the power of the Word itself — by the working of the Holy Spirit through that Word.

So, too, for your neighbor as for yourself, and for all your family and friends, speak the Word of Christ in faith and confidence; but know that you cannot force or constrain anyone to believe it.

As often as you listen to the Word of God, and as often as you speak His Word, pray to Him.  Call upon His Name.  For the demons that prevent you from hearing and speaking the Word of the Lord “can only come out by prayer.”  Take that seriously, and pray that Christ Jesus, by His Word and Holy Spirit, will open your ears to hear, your heart to believe, and your lips to confess His Name.

That is the point and purpose of the Collect of the Day.  For the Church does not even presume to hear the Word of God by her own efforts, intelligence, or powers, but she rather beseeches and depends upon the Spirit of the Lord, that she would not be deaf and dumb to what He says.

Listen with confidence that the Lord wants you to hear what He says.  Listen with that confidence, but not presumptuously.  And as you hear, so also speak with confidence, but not presumptuously.  Rather, pray and intercede that you and your neighbor would hear and believe the Word that God the Lord here speaks to you.  For it is only by God’s grace that anyone does.

Do not imagine that it’s easy, not at all.  For now you are caught like that poor father at the bottom of the mountain, down in the valley between faith and unbelief, between life and death — between God and the devil, as Luther’s life was described.  Scary stuff.  And left to yourself, you can’t win.

Not only that, but when the Church’s prayer is answered and the Word of Christ strikes home in your heart and life, then there is a strange and dreadful strife that rages within you.  Then you are thrown into the fire and the water, as it were, as though to be utterly destroyed.  And the truth of the matter is that the Word of Christ Jesus does put you to death.  The Sword of the Spirit slices and dices between your very bones and marrow and cuts you to the quick of your unclean spirit.

But take heart, for this is the fire of the Holy Spirit and the water of His rebirth and regeneration; and this is the death of Christ having its way with you, even the death of His Cross.  And by these ways and means of His Word you are brought to repentance and to faith and to life through the free and full forgiveness of all your sins, so that death and the devil will not get to have the last word.

See, here now is the hand of One who has come down from heaven to help you and to save you.  Here is the hand of the One who has gone through the fire and the water, through death and the grave — ahead of you and for you — in order to deliver you, and to open the way of Life for you.

Here is the hand of the Crucified and Risen One, whose tongue and lips speak Peace and Life to you — who prays for you at the Right Hand of God the Father — and whose Spirit also intercedes for you at all times, even when that deaf and mute spirit has shut your ears and shut your mouth.

Here is the hand of the One who lays hold of you in love, who raises you up with Himself from death to Life — who has opened your ears to hear and your heart to believe — who opens your mouth and your lips and places on your tongue His own Word-made-Flesh.  So that, as you have heard, so may you believe, and so may you speak, and so may you live by His grace everlasting.

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