The Lord Becomes Your Beast of Burden

Although you are a sheep of the Good Shepherd, and you abide by His grace in His green pastures, on this day He would have you see yourself in that donkey, in that colt, the foal of a donkey.

Without any rider, you would seem to be free, no one to ride you, no one to drive you, no one to sit on you.  But still you are not free, for you are tied up and owned by other lords.  Meanwhile, you have been — and you still remain — unused and useless, unclothed, unbridled, and unwanted.  So, you’re not really free at all, and left to yourself you never would be.  Nor are you at peace.

But now Christ Jesus comes and sends His disciples to release you from your bonds, to set you free from your captivity, to clothe and cover you with the garments of His own beloved disciples, and finally to set the Lord Christ Himself upon you, to lay Him upon your heart, soul, mind, and body by His Word — not to be a burden upon you, but that He should thus become your Lord and King.

Truth be told, this one Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, has become your Donkey.  As He is the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, so is He the Master who becomes your Beast of Burden and carries all your weight.  He bears all of your guilt, all of your sins, and all of your shame in His Body to the Cross.  And He bears you, also, in Himself, through death into Life.

In His descending, you are raised up.  He goes up to Jerusalem, yes, because He offers Himself to the Father as the Sacrifice of Atonement for the sins of the world.  But so does He come down from the Mount of Olives, anointed by the Holy Spirit for the sake of mercy, in order to give you Life.

The Law accuses you, it points its finger at you and condemns you; it would throw the book at you.  The Law even rebukes you for daring to worship this Lord Jesus Christ, as the Pharisees rebuked the disciples for their worship and praise of the One on His way to the Cross.  Nevertheless, He has come to establish His righteousness for you, and to save you by His grace.  He comes, not to hold your sins against you, but to remove the deadweight of your sins, to give you His peace, and to grant you rest in the midst of His Jerusalem.  So, He gladly receives both you and your praise.

Your dear Lord Jesus Christ does not condemn you for your sins.  He does not accuse you.  He does not rebuke you for your shortcomings.  And He does not cast you away from His presence, but instead He calls you to Himself.  He does not reject you when you are brought to Him, but He rather calls you to rejoice in His Salvation, as surely as He clothes you with His Righteousness.

As the Holy Scriptures testify, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s trespasses against them.  And as there is now Peace in heaven — Peace in the heart of God the Father toward you and all sinners — so is there now Peace on earth in the preaching of the  Gospel, in the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

It is by that preaching that He now calls you to be reconciled to Him, to be at peace with Him.  For He would convert your stony, idolatrous heart into a heart of flesh, that you should rightly fear, love, and trust Him as your true God in the Flesh.  Rest yourself in His Peace, and so be at peace with Him; and in such peace, love and serve your neighbor in his or her body and life.

Such love and peace in your body and life — in your daily words and actions, in your dealings with the sinners and the brothers and sisters and fellow disciples all around you — such love and peace are all that is lacking in your faith as a disciple, as St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians.

To be sure, even in your weakness, even in your frailty and daily falling short, your faith lays hold of Christ Jesus and His Righteousness, in which there is no lack but perfect life and light and love, both now and forever.  All of that is fully yours, as Christ is fully yours, because He gives Himself to you.  He does it all by His grace.  It is His work, not yours, and there is nothing lacking in that.

So, again, be at peace with Him, as He is most certainly at peace with you.  So also do I rejoice and give thanks for your faith and life in Christ Jesus, exemplified by the fact that you are here today.

But in your flesh, in your heart, mind, and spirit, in what you say and what you do, it remains the case that your faith in Christ has not fully turned in love toward God and toward your neighbor.

Repent, therefore.  Do not remain tied up and still attached to your old lords and masters, but live now in the freedom of Christ Jesus, that you may increase and abound in love for one another.  Do not avoid your brothers and sisters, but seek them out in mercy.  Do not wait for them to ask you for help, but look for ways that you may love and serve them, just as Christ has come to help you in your weakness and fear, when you did not know Him nor even how to call upon His Name.

Do not speak ill of your neighbor, whether to his face or behind his back.  And do not do anything to hurt or harm your neighbor, not in his body, not in his family, not in his house, nor in his honor.  Let all your words be gracious, and let all of your dealings with your neighbor be kind and good.

Love freely, in faith, and not as though you were under a whip or goaded by a prod.  Have no fear of punishment.  You shall not die, but live.  Rather, rejoice in the King who comes to you in peace, who reigns over you in love from His Cross, and so also bear His Cross in love for your neighbor.

As Jesus Christ has become your gracious Lord and King, as He has borne all your burdens in His Body, and as He has set you free from sin and death, so now bear Him in your body and life.

You be the colt that carries Him.  Be a Christian.  Let your tongue and mouth be bridled, let your hands and feet be guided, and let your flesh be disciplined by this one Lord Jesus Christ.  Let Him be the Lord who rides you through death into life.  And let your outer garments be stripped away and placed on the road to be trod beneath His feet on the Way of the Cross; so that you may be clothed with a new vesture, with His righteousness and purity and with the holiness of His Love.

Has He not named you with His Name — the Name of the Lord your God — in Holy Baptism?

And has He not signed you, also in your body and your flesh, on your forehead and your heart, with the sign of His holy Cross?

And yet, it is not you, the servant, the donkey, but Him, the Christ, the Lord your God, who first of all bears the burden of the Cross for you, and so looses you from the bondage of sin and death.  If you now bear Christ Jesus and His Cross, it is only because He has already borne you and yours.

So it is that you are born again to a new and living hope.  No longer the foal of a donkey, you are a son of God, a daughter of Jerusalem.  You dwell in safety, and you shall be saved, because Christ the Lord has made Righteousness and Peace for you.  That is your freedom, and that is your faith.

And see here, there is yet another donkey now at hand, who bears your King to you, who comes in the Name of the Lord, having salvation for you.  As He has sent His disciples to make a disciple of you — to forgive you in His Name, to baptize you and catechize you in love, to fill up whatever is lacking in you with His Word and Holy Spirit, and with His grace, mercy, and peace — so does He continue to send His called and ordained servants before His face to prepare this Upper Room of His Church, this House of the Lord, for the true Passover Feast of His Body and His Blood.

To that end, the Lord has need of bread and wine.  For these are the colt that He now rides upon, that by these earthly means He should enter His Jerusalem in mercy, wherein He gives His Body for you to eat, and He pours out His holy and precious Blood for the forgiveness of all your sins.

Here He has need of you, as well.  Not that you should serve Him, as though He needed your help, but that He should serve you with all the authority of His Atoning Sacrifice and with all the power of His indestructible Life.  For He would be your one true King of Righteousness and Peace.  He comes, not to enslave you, but that you should live with Him in His Kingdom, now and forever.

He is a greater and more faithful King than even great King David, a man after God’s own heart.  And He is a better and far wiser Son than even Solomon, the king of peace.  For Christ Jesus is Himself your Righteousness and Holiness.  He is Himself your Safety, Peace, and Sabbath Rest.  And in His Body, crucified and risen from the dead, you behold the wide-open heart of God.

That is why we shout aloud and cry out with great joy.  And that is why we sing of Peace on earth as it is in heaven.  For “blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.”  From the House of the Lord we bless His Holy Name and worship Him with thanks and praise.  Hosanna in the highest!

And happy are you, who know this festal shout on earth, right here and now — and who shall know it hereafter in the Resurrection, in that high and holy City of God, forever and forevermore.

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

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus in His Word of the Gospel

“Be on the alert!”  Pay attention to what you see happening in the world around you, in both the church and the state, among your neighbors, in your family, and within yourself.  But above all, give ear to what the Lord your God says; and so interpret all that you see by faith in His Word.

All around you, everywhere you look — and no less so where you refuse to look — there is sin and death, decay, and destruction.  The whole world is wearing out and wasting away.  None of it will last.  The days are growing short.  A harsh wind is blowing in a big storm.  The Winter is coming.

It’s more than just the weather or the season of the year.  There’s plenty of uncertainty in these dark and difficult days.  Political strife, ideological divisions, and economic challenges abound.

All such trials and tribulations, within and without, are constant reminders and signs that we live in a fallen and perishing world, and all of Creation is subject to the curse of sin and death.  Heaven and earth are passing away, and so are you.  Your mortal flesh and blood, your heart, mind, and body are like the grass which withers and fades, like the autumn leaves which fall and blow away.

Number your days, and know how short your life here is.  Consider your end, which comes before you know it, sooner than you think.  There is no strength in you that shall survive.

But your hope is in the Lord.  So be alert to Him.  Hear and heed what He says.  And pay attention to His Word of the Cross, in particular, even though it seems so futile, even worse than helpless.

Your dear Lord Jesus deals with sin, which is the real problem and the underlying cause of death and every evil.  He forgives all sins which you have done; but He also deals with your sin at its heart, not simply your bad behavior, but your turning away from God, your Creator.  You do not rely on Him or trust in Him; and that unbelief is your unrighteousness, which leads only to death.

But now, the Lord sends forth a Law, even to the ends of the earth.  He establishes His justice in the midst of sin and death.  Henceforth, His righteousness is near, and His salvation has gone forth forevermore.  Though everything else will perish, His salvation and His righteousness remain.

It is true that His holy and righteous Law would condemn you and sentence you to death and hell, because you are neither holy nor righteous in yourself.  Yet, He calls you to repentance, to faith and life in Him, to hope in the righteousness of Christ, the Lord, the incarnate Son of God.  For He has suffered the great tribulation and the final judgment in Himself, and has thereby accomplished justice and established righteousness forever.  Though He is the Creator of all things, the Word by whom all things are made — and though He is Life in Himself — He has taken the entire curse of sin and death, the destruction and decay of the whole world, into His own Body of flesh and blood.

By His Cross and Passion, the Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for the sins of the world, once-for-all.  And in His bodily Resurrection from the dead, He has rectified what was broken in all of Creation.  He has reconciled the sons and daughters of man unto His God and Father in heaven.

In flesh and blood like yours, as the true Man, conceived and born of St. Mary, He has waited in faith upon His Father.  He has lived as Man is created and meant to live — not knowing the day or the hour in advance, but hearing and heeding and relying on His Father’s faithful Word.  So has He been awake and alert.  At the right time He was ready.  He went to the Cross in faith and love.

So, learn the lesson of His Tree.  Consider its tenderness, its Leaves and its Fruit, which are for the healing of the nations — and so also for your healing, unto faith and life in Him, body and soul.

He has sent forth His messengers with its rich and lush Fruits, to gather His elect from the four winds, His disciples from all the nations.  Thus, by the Fruits of His Cross, that is, by the preaching of His Word and the administration of His Sacraments, He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies His whole Christian Church on earth.  With these healthy Fruits, by this Ministry of His Gospel, He Himself is near you — He is right at the door — daily and richly to forgive you all your sins.

It is for the sake of His forgiveness that He has appointed His servants to care for His household and family, that is, to feed and clothe, nurture and teach His children.  His pastors and teachers are watchmen on the heights, the doorkeepers of His Church on earth, the stewards of His Mysteries.  They are called and ordained to keep watch, both day and night, to guard your coming in and your going out by the catechesis of His Word, and to guide all your days and your deeds in His Peace.

And what He says to them, He says also to you — to the confirmands this morning, to be sure, but so also to each and every one of you: “Be on the alert!”  For to you, also, He has given your own proper duties, your own responsibilities within His household and family.  That is where and how you are to watch and to wait for the coming of the Lord, faithfully doing what He has given you to do in the hope of His mercy, which is to say, in the sure and certain hope of His Resurrection.

Give heed to the Word of the Lord, His Law and His Gospel.  And set your heart on the pilgrim’s way, to live by faith as a sojourner through the wilderness, as a wayfarer on earth.  Not with your eyes downcast and your chin in the dirt, but with your heart, mind, and spirit lifted up, your eyes and ears fixed on Christ Jesus, your Savior; for He is ready, willing, and able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand erect in His glorious presence — blameless in body and soul.

In the midst of the great tribulation — which is to say, in your pilgrimage under the Cross — rest yourself in Him and live by faith in His Word.  Gladly hear and learn His preaching and teaching.  And avail yourself of the Gospel by making regular use of the means of grace, just as the Rite of Confirmation indicates.  Remember your Baptism and exercise its ongoing, lifelong significance by confessing your sins and receiving Absolution in the Name of Jesus.  And as often as you are given the blessed opportunity, eat and drink His Body and Blood in faith and with thanksgiving.

Likewise, keep yourself in the Love of God and live by faith in Christ Jesus, by praying in the Holy Spirit at all times and in all places, without ceasing, as the Lord Himself has taught you to pray and given you the very Words with which to do so.

Pray, also, within the fellowship of the Church, which is the Body of Christ.  For it is in Him and with Him and through Him that you pray; and He would have you pray for one another in Him.  You thereby serve and support your brothers and sisters with your prayer, and they do the same for you; and together you receive the answer to all your prayers in the Word and Flesh of Jesus.

So, then, by the Word of God and prayer, wait eagerly upon the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Fix your eyes on Him, and trust that, by His Sacrifice upon the Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead, He has established His righteousness and His salvation for you and for all, forever.

Do not be consumed by the temporal things of this life on earth, but temper your consuming with the humility of repentance.  After all, you don’t know what even tomorrow may bring, nor if there will even be a tomorrow for you on this earth.  But comfort and strengthen yourself with the eternal things of Christ, who has risen from the dead and lives forever, whose Word shall never pass away.

And as you wait upon His mercy, so have mercy on your neighbor.  Comfort and encourage the doubting in their weakness and fear by loving them graciously and well.  Save others by snatching them out of the fire, by warning them straightforwardly.  Don’t wink or nod at sin, but call it what it is, and call your neighbor to repentance in a spirit of gentleness.  To hate the garment polluted by the flesh is not to flee from your brother or sister, but to flee from sin in the fear of the Lord.

Have mercy on your neighbor, who is a sinner like yourself, just as you also depend on the mercy of God in Christ, and as He Himself is merciful.  Be gentle and compassionate, as the Lord your God is gentle and compassionate with you.  Forgive, as you yourself are freely and fully forgiven.

Have no fear of death, and do not despair of hope, for the Lord Himself now helps you in your weaknesses and doubts, and He now saves you from the fires of your passions and from the fires of eternal punishment in hell.  As your merciful and great High Priest, He persists in His constant prayer and intercession for you.  And here in His Church He faithfully speaks His Word to you.  He sends out His holy angels to guard and keep you in body and soul, and He sends His ministers to gather you to Himself by the catechesis of His Word, by the forgiveness of all your sins in His Name and stead, and by giving you the Food and the Drink that you need at the proper time.

In calling you to repentance, He calls you daily to faith and life in His forgiveness.  He calls you to find your Sabbath rest and perfect Peace in His righteousness and holiness, in His innocence and blessedness, now and forever.  Indeed, with His forgiveness He delivers you from every evil, unto that day and hour when He shall call you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven, as even now His fruitful Cross shines the summer sunshine of His Love upon you through His Gospel.

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

The One Who Endures to the End Is Your Savior

Blessed are those who have set their hearts on the pilgrims’ way.  But how shall you endure to the end of that way?  How shall you be saved?  That is the pressing question that Jesus sets before you today.  How shall you draw near to God and not die but live with Him in His Kingdom?

There are all manner of possible answers competing for your attention and allegiance: The nation, your family and friends, and all manner of would-be “churches” claim to have an answer for you.  Then there is your own reason, your common sense, and the notion that your own savvy, ingenuity, and hard work will get you there.  Or, maybe “all you need is love,” whatever that is taken to mean.  And perhaps you are tempted to look for life and love in the pleasures and pastimes of this world.

For all of that, no matter where you look, no matter how you spend your time and money, the truth remains that everything on earth will be destroyed.  Even Jerusalem is leveled, and the Temple is torn down.  Indeed, the earth itself will perish like a garment and pass away with fire in the end.

Meanwhile, nations come and go, kingdoms rise and fall.  Do not suppose that even the United States of America will last forever.  It won’t.  Whether it remains until the Lord returns in glory is up to Him and not to any of us.  Egypt came and went.  And Assyria.  And Babylon.  And the Medes and Persians.  And the Greeks and Romans.  And the Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium.  Nazi Germany.  The former Soviet Union.  Nations won’t save you.  Kingdoms won’t save you.  No amount of government stimulus will save you.

Only Christ Jesus and His Word remain, steadfast and forever in the glory of His God and Father.  He Himself who died for your sins has been raised from the dead for your justification, and He has taken His seat at the Right Hand of the Father until all His enemies shall be placed under His feet.  He alone remains.  Therefore, look to Him.  Fix your eyes on Him.  Cling to Him in heart and soul, with all your mind, your spirit, and your body, too.  Confess His Holy Name, come what may.

Listen to Him.  That is what God the Father Himself has commanded from heaven, as you may recall from the Transfiguration.  Listen to this one Lord Jesus Christ, the beloved and well-pleasing Son of God in human Flesh and Blood.  Listen to Him, to the Word that you hear from His lips, and trust in Him.  Rely on what He says and promises, and so also live according to His Word.

And be on your guard.  For Christ Jesus Himself has alerted you to the dangers that surround you.  Be on your guard with constant vigilance.  Do not be frightened, but do not let yourself be misled, either.  For not everyone who speaks (or claims to speak) in the Name of Jesus — not everyone who calls Him, “Lord, Lord” — actually speaks by and with His Holy Spirit.  But if you would know and recognize His Voice, then, as for you, listen for the preaching of His Cross.

St. Paul has written, for example, that he would know nothing in the Church except Jesus Christ — and Him Crucified.  The preaching of Christ is always the preaching of His Cross.  And that is the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name.  That is the Voice of the Lord which saves you.  For it is by His Cross and Passion that He has redeemed you from sin and death, and it is by His Cross and in His Resurrection that He brings you into Life everlasting with God.

Listen for the preaching of His Cross.  Look to Him upon the Cross.  Trust and hope in His Cross.  But be aware that His Cross divides the entire world.  It divides kingdoms, and it divides families; it even divides churches on earth.  And the Cross divides your own heart and life, as well.  It kills, in order to make alive.  It wounds, in order to heal.  And it must be so.

If you belong to the Crucified One, then you shall be crucified.  If you belong to the One who was blasphemed and hated by men and by all the world, know that you also will be hated and handed over to death because of the Name of Christ Jesus which you bear.

You were given His Name in your Holy Baptism.  Little boys and girls, grown-up men and women, whatever your age, know this, you are beloved children of God because you are Christians, you are named with the Name of Christ Jesus.  So are you hated for His Name’s sake; and on account of His Word, you will be questioned, accused, and put to the test, punished, and even put to death.

These are the beginnings of the birth pangs, the narrow passage of Crucifixion with Christ Jesus, whereby you are delivered from out of death and raised up from the dust of the earth unto the Life everlasting in both your body and soul — born of God by the water, Word, and Spirit of Christ.

But if you renounce the Cross of Christ in your words and in your actions — if you turn your heart and mind away from Him, the Crucified One — if you deny His Name, reject His Word, and forsake Him in exchange for other gods — if you do this in fact, even while you give lip service to Him — you shall not stand in the judgment, you shall not survive, and you shall not be saved.

How, then, shall you endure to the end?  How shall you be saved, being the poor, miserable sinner that you are?  For your sins not only accuse and condemn you, but they also weigh you down with guilt and shame, and they so easily ensnare you in their grip and drag you down into death.

Think about it.  Think about your life.  Think about your days on earth and how you go about them.  Think about your allegiances, your commitments and convictions.  Are you strong and courageous like Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms, who stood his ground under the glare of both church and state, when so many were ready to cast him out and kill him?  Are you brave and steadfast like the holy martyrs, who were put to death by stoning or burning or even being cut in half, who did not love their life on earth but remained faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, even to the point of death?  Are you like them?  Or do you betray the Lord for silver and gold?  Do you deny Him out of fear?

If you examine yourself honestly, there’s nothing but death there, and you cannot save yourself.

Be on your guard!  But how?  You are your own worst enemy!  And from the inside-out, by sinful nature, you get it wrong.  See to it that no one misleads you — but you do not know the way.  How shall you get there?  How shall you not already be off the trail?  That is where you end up if you go looking inside of yourself, if you try to find your endurance in your own resolve, if you try to stand by your own strength, if you try to live by your own wisdom.  Do not do that.

But do not be frightened, either.  Hold fast the confession of your hope in Christ Jesus.  That is to say, confess what He has said and promised.  Your hope is in Him, and He will not disappoint you, because He is faithful.  Even when you are faithless, He remains faithful.  He cannot deny Himself, and He will not deny you, to whom He has bound Himself in love by His Word and Holy Spirit.

His great prince, St. Michael the Archangel, and His legion of holy angels, they arise to guard and keep you for His Name’s sake and by His Blood of the New Testament, His holy and precious Blood, shed for you upon the Cross and poured out for you to drink here at His Altar.

It is by and through His holy and precious Blood, and by the Veil that He has opened for you, that is, by His sacred Flesh, that you draw near to God — right here, right now.  It is by His Flesh and Blood that you here enter into the Holy of Holies of the true Temple, which is the Body of Christ Jesus.  Not to be slain, but to stand.  Not to die, but to live.  Not to be condemned, but to be saved.

Therefore, draw near with confidence.  Do not shrink back or despair.  Where you have turned away and wandered in the past, turn back now and draw near in faith.  Do not consider your sins, but consider Christ who loves you, who has died for you and is risen, who calls you to Himself.

Do not be afraid.  For by His Cross, with His own Blood, by the sacrifice of Himself once-for-all, He has atoned for all of your sins, and that is forever.  And not for your sins only, but for the sins of the whole world.  So testifies the sure and certain Word of God.

Your Savior, Jesus Christ, has washed you with pure water, with His Word and Holy Spirit.  He has sanctified you in body and soul.  You are perfected by His humble obedience unto death, by His Resurrection from the dead, by His righteousness and holiness, innocence and blessedness.  He has cleansed your conscience of every stain.  He has forgiven you all of your sins, He has taken them all away.  There is, therefore, no condemnation, not for you who are in Christ Jesus.

By the preaching of His Gospel, which is His free and full forgiveness of sins, He calls the nations to Himself and to God the Father in Him.  So does He call you to enter in, to abide with Him, to recline upon His bosom here at His Supper, and so to recline in the bosom of His God and Father.

All of this because He has endured to the end — even unto death, even the death of the Cross.  And He has been saved from out of death and the grave — in His Resurrection from the dead and in His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father.  And all of this that He has done, He has done it all for you.  For all of you, yes, for each and every one of you.  There are no exceptions.

You, therefore, enter into His Passion, enter into His Resurrection, enter into His Sabbath Rest, His great Salvation — by eating and drinking His Body and His Blood at His Word.  For here at His Altar are the Fruits of His once-for-all Sacrifice for sin, whereby He has ended all sacrifice for sin because the one Offering of Himself upon the Cross has atoned for all sins, forever and ever.

Here in His holy Body and precious Blood is the Temple of God and the Holy of Holies; which, having risen from the dead, shall never die again, which shall never be torn down, which shall never perish or pass away.  This crucified and risen Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, which are given and poured out for you here in His Holy Supper, have conquered death and the grave by His Cross and Resurrection; and these Fruits of His Cross now also conquer sin and death in you.

As the Lord Jesus clearly says, this Body and Blood of His are given and poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins; and where there is such free and full forgiveness of sins, there is no longer any death, but everlasting Life and eternal Salvation.  That is what is here for you.

As you are assembled here, together with your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, in His Name, to eat and drink His Body and His Blood in the Holy Communion, you live and abide in the presence of God, and you reside in His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Do not forsake this assembly, but draw near to God and enter into His inner Sanctum here, into the Holy of Holies, as He draws near to you in the Flesh and Blood of Christ Jesus, the beloved Son.

And so living by His grace, and living in His presence, abiding as a member of His Body — in His Temple — brothers and sisters, parents and children, friends in Christ, love one another; for all of your sins and all of theirs are forgiven.

Behold, what beautiful stones you are, built into a holy Habitation.  Even now the Lord your God is in your midst, dwelling in His Temple with such loving-kindness.  Make the circuit of His City, set here on His holy Hill.  Look well, and take it to heart, as you walk round about this place.  See the Tower of His Cross, and Christ lifted up for you upon it; consider the Bulwark of His Baptism, and examine the Stronghold of His Sacrament.  This is your God forever, your Savior evermore.

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

To Fix Your Hope on God in Christ Jesus

Why did she do it?  Why would this poor widow contribute everything she owned, everything she had to live on, to the Temple treasury?  I would guess that, over the years, you have understood this woman and her gift as a commendable example.  And perhaps you have felt, or you’ve been told, that you should give to the Church in a similar manner.  Give until it hurts.  Give it your all.

Jesus does speak along those lines on occasion.  It was just a few chapters ago that we heard Him say to the rich young man, “Go and sell everything you have, give it all away, and follow Me.”

But Jesus does not speak to this poor woman (in this Holy Gospel), nor does she speak to Him in this case.  He rather sits down to observe, not just what the people are doing, but how they do it.  The rich people come and contribute a lot — out of their surplus.  And this poor widow comes and gives everything she has — which was, ironically, the minimum permissible amount; that is, you weren’t allowed to put any smaller amount into the Temple treasury.  But why does she do it?

Is she acting in faith or desperation?  Is it like spending your last two bucks to buy a lottery ticket?  Or what is going on?  Is she being faithful or foolish?  Is she giving in the fear, love, and trust of God, in order to support the Church and Ministry of His Word?  Or does she herself even know?

Charity and the Eighth Commandment compel us to suppose that she is acting in faith, and I do not suggest otherwise.  But the fact is that Jesus does not tell us, and St. Mark does not tell us, and we can no more read the heart of that poor woman than I can read your heart today.

But let us think about her gift and what it means for her.  Is it commendable or tragic, or both?  Would you do what she does here and give in this sort of way?  Do you?  Whether you have a mite or twopence or a billion dollars, do you put all that you have in the offering plate?  Should you?

These are not questions to toy with or dismiss.  The Words set before you today are from the holy apostolic Scriptures of your Lord Jesus Christ.  So, what do they mean for your faith and life?

Outward appearances and circumstances are often deceptive.  You cannot read your neighbor’s heart; nor do you know even your own heart apart from the Word and Spirit of God.  How you look and act on the surface may cover up and hide — instead of revealing — what’s really going on inside of you.  So, your looks and actions are not decisive before God.  But they do still matter.

What you do matters.  And how and why you do what you do matters.  There is first and foremost a concern for your heart; that is what the Lord your God is always looking at.  It is your heart that He calls first to discipleship, to fear, love, and trust in Him, to fix your hope and stake your life on Him alone above all others gods.  And then He also calls you to live in love – from a heart of faith.

It does make a difference — in how you live and how you act — whether you fear, love, and trust in God above all things, or you fear, love, and trust in other things besides Him.  It does matter.

So, Jesus gives you a warning in this Holy Gospel.  “Beware of the scribes,” He says.  He does not speak of all the scribes, but He warns you to beware of those who like certain things and do certain things for certain reasons.  That is, beware of those scribes who are hungry for attention and always eager for praise and recognition.  Beware of those scribes who long for honors and benefits.

But what exactly is the real point?  It’s not just that you should be careful with your money and not let yourself get conned by charlatans and hucksters; although, of course, that is true enough.

But far more important and to the point at hand, beware of becoming like those attention-seeking scribes.  Beware of the pride in your own heart.  Beware of boasting over how you choose to dress, whether very simply or elegantly.  Beware of enjoying the praises of men more than you fear God and obey His Word.  Beware of arrogance in your circumstances.  And beware of boasting over your behavior, whether you are formal or informal, casual and laid back or highly sophisticated.

You have no need to worry about the scribes who lived back then, as though they might cheat you or cause you any harm now.  Of course you should act wisely with your money and whatever else the Lord has entrusted to your stewardship in this world.  But the Lord here calls you to repentance for your sins, to be on guard against your own selfish heart.  He warns you against being pious for a pretense or for appearances, while you meanwhile rob and devour and destroy your neighbors.

The Temple treasury served a number of different purposes.  It covered the cost of the sacrifices, it supported the Levites and the sons of Aaron, and it provided alms for the poor and needy.  And among the poor and needy, in particular, God had especially commanded the sons of Israel to care for the orphans and widows in their distress.  Correspondingly, those who are “widows indeed” fix their hope on God; the poor orphans rely on the mercies of the Lord; and the Levites have no inheritance in the Land, as the other tribes do, because Yahweh Himself is their Inheritance.

It is, therefore, a tragic circumstance, that a poor widow should be giving her last cent as alms for the poor.  Israel should have been caring for her.  The Church should have been providing for her.  It is no insult to her faith and her offering, if it is in the hope of God’s providential care and mercy that she makes her contribution.  But it is a shame upon the rich and wealthy, who give so much out of their abundance, and yet still require that a widow give all she has.  There is no Word of God that commands such a thing.  There is, though, a Word of the Lord that commands the wealthy not to glean their fields down to the last bit, but rather to allow the poor and needy, the widows and orphans, the strangers and aliens, to come after them and receive from God’s bountiful hand what He thus provides.  That is how His Church is to be ordered.  That is how your life is to be ordered.

If you have much, the Lord has given it into your hand to care for your neighbor.  And if you have little or nothing at all, the Lord God calls you to love and trust in Him, and so to live by His grace.

Beware of being like those scribes who love attention, honors, and appearances.  But do be like a widow indeed, and fix your hope on God, and pray without ceasing night and day, and worship in His holy Temple, and bow your life before Him who is your God and Father in heaven, and before the Lord who is your Bridegroom, your Savior, and your Head.

You live by God’s grace, whether you are rich or poor, married, unmarried, or widowed, a parent, a child, or an orphan left alone.  You depend upon the Lord your God to feed you and clothe you, to shelter and protect you.  So, live like a widow indeed, and fix your hope on God who loves you, and pray to Him without ceasing, not for appearance’s sake, but because you really do need Him.

Pray to Him in faith and with thanksgiving.  And as you give Him thanks for His providential care even to this day — as you pray that He would continue to provide for you tomorrow and the next day, until the drought shall end and He shall come and take you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven — have a special care and concern for the widows and orphans in their distress, and for the strangers and aliens in your midst, and for the Levite whose inheritance is God.  Have such a care and concern for these and all your neighbors, as the Lord Himself cares for His Church.

By all rights, you ought to be a widow, yourself, for your true Husband has died.  And yet, you are not left alone, for He has risen from the dead, and He is and remains your Head, who has promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you.  So, then, care for those who are widows on earth.

You likewise ought to be an orphan, as well, as your fathers and mothers have died (or they will), every one of them, because all men have sinned.  And you will die, too.  But you are not an orphan, because God has become your true Father, and you are His true child in Christ Jesus.  He has taken you to be His own, and He has named you with His Name.  Not only that, but He has also given His Church, the Bride of Christ, to be your Mother, to feed you at her breast with His good gifts, with milk and honey indeed.  So, care for those bereft of father and mother in this body and life.

Your hope is in God, as your hope is in Christ Jesus.  For you know that He was rich, the very Son of God by whom all things are made, but for your sake He has made Himself poor, that you might inherit the riches of God in Him.  He has been stripped naked and beaten, accused and condemned, and put to death upon the Cross.  He has given up everything, His very Body and Life, in order to give you life in both body and soul.  He daily and richly provides you with everything you need.

As your merciful and great High Priest, He has entered into the presence of God on your behalf.  Not into the holy place of that old Jerusalem Temple — which was soon to be destroyed along with its treasury — but into the true Holy of Holies, eternal in the heavens.  That is where He lives and abides forever as your Anchor behind the Veil; so that is where you also live and abide in Him.

But that is not a distant or faraway place.  It is found right here, on earth as it is in heaven — in the Church and Ministry of the Gospel, in the Word and Flesh of this great High Priest, in His Body and His Blood, crucified and risen from the dead, given and poured out for you and for the many.

Right here and now, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and you live and abide within the Temple of God, which is the Body of Christ Jesus.  For He speaks, and it is so: Take, eat, This Is My Body. Drink of it, all of you, This Is My Blood.  And as you eat and drink at His Word, you are part of His Body, the Church.  Believe it.  And support His Church and Ministry, not only for your own sake, but for your neighbors’ sake, for widows and orphans, for the Levites, and for strangers and aliens.

Consider the example of that poor widow who fed and sheltered the Prophet Elijah, though she had been ready to eat a final meal with her son and then for both of them to die.  The Prophet did not “devour” her house and home, but he did receive her hospitality and care; and they survived by the Word of the Lord, who promised, “The flour will not fail, and the oil will not run dry.”  Thus, for many days that woman and her household ate.  They did not live extravagantly, but they did live.

So sure and certain are the Words and promises of the Lord to you, as well.  And so shall you live by His grace, by faith in all that He has said and done and given.  Likewise, like that widow, when you support the Church and Ministry of the Gospel, you can be sure that the Lord will provide.

For as the Lord Jesus Christ has spoken, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” do not suppose that He will ever fail to provide the Bread and Wine by which He feeds the whole Church with Himself.

Likewise, wherever He has placed you in this world, wherever He has stationed you to serve in this life, whatever work He has given you to do, and whatever neighbors He has given you to care for, the Lord your God will provide all that is needed and required for you within that holy vocation. He has not promised to fund your grand self-chosen adventures; but if He has told you to feed your neighbor, feed your neighbor, and don’t worry that you and yours will starve to death by doing so.  But even if you were to perish, Christ is risen indeed, and your true life cannot be taken from you.

Wherever God has placed you, that is where you serve — not with a part or a portion, not with a large or small percentage of your surplus, but with your whole life, with all that you are and have.  As Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, your Savior and Redeemer, your Husband and Head, has given Himself entirely for you, so do you entrust yourself to God the Father entirely in Him — in doing your job faithfully and well, in caring for your neighbors, beginning with your own household and family, and in supporting the Church and Ministry of the Gospel with your gifts.

And the Lord your God continues to open wide His generous hand to provide for all your needs of body, soul, and spirit.  So does He serve and care for you with the Bread that does not fail, with the Water that remains, with the Flour and the Oil, with all the Gifts of the Spirit.  For, see here, He has left a Grain Offering and a Drink Offering, that you may receive His good Gifts and rejoice in His Salvation; for which we rightly offer to the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit the sacrifice of thanksgiving: As everything here is the Lord’s free and gracious gift to you, there is nothing for you to do or give in response, except to give thanks for His great and full salvation.

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

Blessed Are You and All the Saints in Christ Jesus

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Blessed are you in Christ Jesus.  You are righteous and holy before God in Him, and the Kingdom of Heaven is yours in Him, because He who is the Blessed One has given Himself for you in love.

He has given Himself for you and for all the world, in order to redeem you from sin and death, to save you for Life everlasting with Himself, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, because He loves you with divine and holy Love.  He has taken your place and suffered all, even death, to deliver you from the condemnation of the Law and the punishment you deserve, and to give you Peace.

He has hungered and thirsted for you and your salvation, and so has He come to justify you with His own righteousness by His Cross and Resurrection.  He has come with divine compassion and with mercy.  He has come in gentleness and with purity of heart.  He has come to give to you His own inheritance as the Son of God; wherefore all the riches of heaven are yours in His Gospel.

He is merciful toward you.  He freely and fully forgives you all your sins.  He gives to you nothing less than Himself.  And because you have been united with Him in your Baptism, all that He is and all that He has is now yours.  As He has taken your place under the Law, so does He now give you His place at the Right Hand of His God and Father, even now within His Church on earth.

Everything that He has achieved, and all that He has become by His Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead, it is all for you.  He needed none of this for Himself, but He has moved to help you from His great heart of Love.  He has given His Life for you, in order to give you His own Life.

His place is your place, now and forever.  His Cross and Resurrection are yours by your Baptism in His Name.  His Ascension and His eternal Sabbath Rest are yours.  Your life is found in Him.  It is hidden with Christ in God, and it is safe and secure, it is steadfast and certain.  You belong to Christ Jesus, and this same Lord Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, belongs to you.  That is true.

But it is also true that, for now, you cannot see it with your eyes or feel it with your mortal senses.  You cannot see the resurrected Life of Christ Jesus in your body of flesh and bones.  You do not experience the Resurrection in your day-to-day life in this fallen and perishing world.  Or, rather, you do not recognize it when you experience it, because it comes by and with the Cross.  And so, you are beleaguered.  Too often you are weighed down by your own sins and by the sins of those around you.  You perceive that the world is filled with war and sickness and death; and you suffer, people persecute you.  Even your nearest and dearest loved ones may disappoint you, abandon you, or forget about you.  This is what seems true.  This is what seems to define your life.  But not so.

The Cross of Christ Jesus does not destroy you, for with His Cross He gives to you Himself.

It is by faith and not by sight.  You cannot recognize the Truth apart from the Word and Spirit of God.  But so does He speak His Word to you, and He pours out His Spirit upon you generously.  As He did in your Holy Baptism, so does He continue to do through His Gospel.  As often as your sins would accuse you, He speaks His Word of forgiveness, which does for you and gives to you what it says.  He does not count your sins against you.  He counts you righteous in Christ Jesus.

Though you are dying every day, death does not get to have you, nor does it get to have the last word concerning you.  You are alive in Christ Jesus.  And even when death wrecks your body, and you are laid in the ground, returning to the dust whence you were taken — even then you belong to Jesus, and He belongs to you.  As death could not hold Him, death cannot hold you, either.

It is by faith and not by sight.  And yet, it is true — for you and for your neighbor in Christ Jesus, though you cannot see it in your neighbor any more than you can see it in yourself.  When you look at your neighbor outwardly, you do not see Christ Jesus.  And when your neighbor deals with you, what you feel and experience with your senses is not the Lord Jesus Christ.  You see your neighbor in his sinfulness, and you would run from him.  Or you see your neighbor in her hurt and poverty, and so you would run from her.  You do not recognize that the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these, to these poor and little ones, these hurting ones, these needy ones.  You do not see Christ Jesus in your neighbor — except by the Word and Spirit of Christ, by faith in His Gospel.

You know what is true for your neighbor because of what Jesus has said concerning your neighbor.  And so, too, you love your neighbor for Christ Jesus’ sake, because He loves your neighbor, as He also loves you.  You count your neighbor, also, among those who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, because He has given Himself as the Ransom for many — the Ransom for all — for God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s trespasses against them.  You love your neighbor as the Lord loves you; and in loving your neighbor, you are loving Christ Jesus in your neighbor — and the same Lord Jesus is loving your neighbor through you.

Much the same thing is likewise true in the case of those who have gone before us in the faith, the saints we remember with thanksgiving on this night, who lived and died and now live forever in Christ Jesus, even as they now rest from their labors and their works do follow after them in Christ.  The vast majority of those blessed saints you have not known in this body and life — numberless thousands — and yet, they also belong to you, because they and you both belong to one Lord, Jesus Christ.  Together in Him, they and you are one “Blest Communion, Fellowship Divine.”

You and all the saints are knit together by the Blood of Christ, by the washing of the water with His Word and Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism.  You are one Body in Christ Jesus with all those who yet abide in faith in this life on earth, and no less so with those who have been called from this vale of tears to His nearer presence.  They are all your family.  For if you belong to the Lord Jesus, then you belong to His Family.  You cannot have Him by yourself or to yourself.  With Him you have all His many brothers and sisters, the whole Household of God.  They are all yours.  For God has given them to you, to bless you by their example, by their confession, and by their deeds of love.

There are so many who have gone before you in the faith and confession of Christ Jesus, who have faithfully received and handed over His Gospel from one generation to the next.  Mothers and fathers who have taught their children faithfully and well.  Pastors and teachers who have cared for the Lord’s flock by and with His Word.  Pious and faithful workers in the world who have served their neighbors within their callings and supported the Church and Ministry of the Gospel with their means.  Bold confessors who have spoken the Truth in the face of persecution, threats, and hardship.  Old and New Testament saints and believers.  Our fathers in the early church, our mothers in the Middle Ages, and the 16th-century reformers, Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz.  And countless poets, composers, musicians, and artists, who have adorned the Church with love.

All of these belong to you in the one Body of Christ Jesus.  And there are many, many more whom we do not even know.  And yet, they are all known by the same Lord who knows and loves you.

In those whose lives you do know, not only those from the distant past, but the saints who have gone before you within your personal history — the pastor who baptized you and catechized you — the teachers who have taught you — your mother and father, your grandparents — brothers and sisters in the family of faith.  These, too, have been given to you as examples of God’s mercy and faithfulness, and of the Christian faith and life under the Cross in the hope of the Resurrection.

These faithful men and women, boys and girls, young and old, are examples of perseverance in the midst of hardship.  Examples of steadfast service in their own place and time, even where their particular stations in life might not be so glamorous or popular.  The mother who takes care of her children.  The garbage collector who picks up everyone’s trash.  The janitor who sweeps up after everyone else has gone home.  The waitress who works to serve her customers, in order to support her family.  All of these are examples of faith and life, and you are strengthened by their example.

The Lord has not created you to live alone in isolation, as an island unto yourself.  He has created you to share His own holy Fellowship and divine Life — that of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit — the one true God who is Himself an eternal Communion of three Persons.  And He has called you by the Gospel into the one Body of Christ Jesus, to share in the Fellowship of all who believe and are baptized in His Name, in heaven and on earth.  In remembering them, in giving thanks to God for them, in considering their lives and their confession, your own faith and life are strengthened — because they all point you to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of the Faith.

It is Christ Jesus who is reflected in His saints.  It is Christ who shines through them upon you.

I’ve often compared the saints who have gone before us (and our remembrance of those saints) to our beautiful stained-glass windows here at Emmaus — which also depict some of those saints!  They offer some beautiful images of our Lord’s life in the Holy Gospels.  And His saints are such windows, also.  Myriad patterns and colors, different walks, different tongues, different names and locations, and yet the same golden Sunshine has beamed through each and every one of them to cast the Light of Christ upon you.  And He does the same thing for others through you, as well.

You also are a living stained-glass window for your neighbors.  You also are one of those in whom the Light of Christ Jesus is reflected, so that others see Christ in you — despite your frailties and flaws — because it does not depend on you; it depends upon Jesus, and He never falters or fails.

He shines upon your neighbor through your body and life in Him, even though you are still sinful and unclean; for your sin is not held against you, nor does it impede this Lamb of God, who has taken away your sin, from showing His mercy to others through you.  In the midst of suffering, sickness, and death, He sustains your faith, that you might be a witness and example to others; that you might confess by your words and deeds the glories of God in Christ Jesus; that your neighbor might see the Love of God in you, and give glory to Christ, to God and the Lamb upon the Throne.

It is true.  Even though you are often not (perhaps hardly ever) even aware of it.  At the Last Day, when the King shall come and the Shepherd divides His sheep from the goats, the sheep don’t come before Him with a checklist of all their good deeds.  They are surprised when they are told about their works of mercy; for they have done them naturally, because Christ has cared for them.

So does He likewise care for you, now and always.  As He has been faithful to the saints who have gone before us because He loves them, and because He so loves you, He is faithful to you, as well.

The One who has called you is faithful, St. Paul writes, and He will do according to all of His good promises.  Not one of them shall fail to come true.

“Lo, I am with you always,” He says.  The One who comes to be your Judge is the One who has given Himself for you.  He has become like you in every way.  Not only is He a true Man of flesh and blood like yours, but He is the Man who has suffered all the consequences of sin, including all of your sin.  A Man who has hungered and thirsted.  A Man who has gone to death to save you.

It is true that belonging to Him means that the Cross also is yours.  And there are days when the Cross is particularly weighty and painful.  But that Cross of your dear Lord Jesus Christ shall not crush you or destroy you.  For Jesus’ sake, you will not die but live.  For your Life is hidden with Christ in God.  Even your own sin cannot touch it.  Nor can the devil touch it.  And God’s own Law does not take it from you.  It is yours because Christ is yours by the Ministry of His Gospel.

You have not yet seen Him, and yet, by His grace, by His Word and Holy Spirit, you do believe in Him, and you love Him from a heart of faith.  And your hope in Him shall not be disappointed.  You will not be put to shame.  It has not yet appeared what you shall be, but at His appearing you shall be known, and you shall know Him, and you will be like Him.  And with His righteousness you will shine like the stars forever and ever, as do those who have gone before us in Christ Jesus.

To Him be all the honor and glory and praise, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.