Dying to Live with Christ Jesus

The Law of God is not a comfortable or comforting word, though many people try to use the Law to get comfort for themselves.  The Law of God does not really work that way.  It exposes your sin by telling you to stop doing what you’re doing.  And it exposes your weaknesses, your frailties and faults, by commanding you to do things you haven’t been doing and really don’t want to do.

By way of example, St. Paul defines greed as “idolatry.”  He mentions a number of other sins that could lead you to suppose that he’s focused especially on the Sixth Commandment.  He refers to impurity, evil desires, and passion.  And maybe such things strike to the heart of your behavior; or maybe those particular commands make you think of those “other” people who are like that.

But then the Apostle goes on to say that your greed is idolatry, and with that he mows you down.  It’s not just sexual lust, but covetous desire for your neighbor’s property and possessions, position and power and popularity — for all those things that you suppose would make your life happy and easy — all of that coveting in your heart and mind, thoughts and feelings, is damnable idolatry.

The truth is that you do break the Sixth Commandment in your heart and mind, even if not with your body.  But it’s also the case that you break the First Commandment, first of all, and the Ninth and Tenth Commandments on a daily basis, and really all of the Commandments, the entire Law of God.  There is no one who is righteous.  No, not one, and not you  You do not do what God commands, but you continue doing what He forbids.

But your idolatry, your covetous lust and greed are not only sinful; they are foolish and deadly.  When you make a god out of money, out of flesh, out of food and drink, out of sleep, popularity, entertainment, hard work, or even your family, then you have made for yourself a god who cannot save you, a god who cannot give you life, a false god which is itself perishing and passing away.

To put your faith in such false gods — to live by such idolatry — will drive you to despair, and you will find no rest, not even at night.  Your heart and mind will churn, perhaps your stomach, also.  Even when you sleep, whether you dream or not, you will not get the rest that you need and long for; for day and night you are hounded by the Law of God and the devil’s accusations, by the wicked desires of your own old Adam, and by the enticing temptations of the world around you.

When you are driven by such faith in false gods, when you live by such idolatry, then your work is painful and grievous, even when it is good and right in itself.  When you are driven by idolatry, then loving your spouse is painful and grievous, and honoring your parents is painful and grievous, and caring for your children is painful and grievous.  Doing your job, paying your taxes, mowing the lawn, helping your neighbor, even listening to the Word of God — it’s all painful and grievous, and you find no joy or satisfaction in any of it, because your heart languishes without the true God.

It’s all striving after the wind, and see how much good that does you.  You can’t catch it in your hand or put it in a bucket.  Whatever you do gain is vanity — futile, empty, and chaotic at best.

Neither your labors nor the fruits of your labors can save you.  It doesn’t matter how much you make, it doesn’t matter how much you save or spend, it doesn’t matter how big your barns are or how much you put in them.  It’s all going to perish, every bit of it.  None of it will last.

Ironically, though, much of that perishing stuff will outlast you; and when you die, it will go to someone else — maybe a friend, maybe a child, maybe a complete stranger.  It may well be that some of the things you have prized so highly will be discarded as junk.  Things you thought were so important, nobody else will care about.  And things you worked so hard to get, someone else will take for granted, or give away without a second thought, or leave to get dusy in a closet.

Your stuff won’t save you.  You can’t get life for yourself.  It’s foolish and futile to try.

But real Wisdom — which begins and continues in the fear of the Lord — and the knowledge of God, and the joy and peace that surpass all human understanding, and real Life with God, now and forever — all of that Wisdom and knowledge and joy and Life are found in the death of Jesus.

The fallen world will never understand this.  If you get it, thank God the Holy Spirit that you do, because your old Adam would never understand this, either.  If you truly understand and believe that Life is found in the death of Christ, praise God the Holy Spirit, and Christ Himself be praised.

Whether you realize it or not, real Life — divine, eternal Life — is found in the death of Christ Jesus.  It’s not a life for which you have to strive and struggle or work and scheme.  In fact, you cannot get it for yourself.  Yet, it is given to you freely, without measure, poured out generously into your heart and your hands, into your ears and your mouth, into your body and your soul.

Life is found in the death of Christ, and the death of Christ is found in the waters of Holy Baptism — in which you and all the baptized drown and die and rise and live with Christ Jesus, our Lord.

That is where real Life is found: Life for today and tomorrow, for this whole week and month, for this whole coming year, and forever.  It’s found in the waters of your Holy Baptism, where you were crucified, put to death, and buried with Christ Jesus — where everything you are and have, all that you know, and whatever you have tried to do and accomplish has all been put to death.

It is by dying with Christ Jesus — by your Baptism in His Name, and by daily repentance in the ongoing significance of your Baptism — that you are raised up to live by faith in His forgiveness, in His Resurrection and His Righteousness, credited to you by grace through faith in Him.  For Life is found in the Fruits of His hard labor, in the sweat of His brow and the produce of His hands, as He has worked the land and cultivated the soil by laying down His Life in death and returning to the dust of the earth, sanctifying your grave with His own Body, and then rising from the dead.

He has ransomed your life with His own.  So, you’re already bought and paid for.  Everything is done.  It’s not on a credit card, it’s not even on layaway.  He’s already bought and paid for your Life with God forever.  He has ransomed and redeemed you from death and the grave with His own Body and Life, with own His holy and precious Blood, and with His innocent suffering and death.

Here is a Rich Man who does not build bigger barns so that He can lounge by the pool and party with margaritas.  Here is a Rich Man who has poured Himself out and given up everything, so that you, a poor, miserable sinner, can live with Him and not die forever.

So, when your idolatry, your greed and lust and selfishness, your covetous desire, your laziness, and your neglect drive you to despair, go ahead and finish the job and put to death the members of your earthly body.  Deprive yourself of what you want, and cling to what Christ Jesus gives.  Let yourself die to yourself, to the world, and to your sin, in order that you may live with God.

Put the members of your earthly body to death, as St. Paul writes, not by suicide, but by the Word and Spirit of God, by contrition and repentance, by examining yourself and confessing your sins.  Let go of your sinful desires, that you might receive and cling to the Gospel of Life in Christ Jesus.

If you would be your own shepherd and foolishly trust in your own words and your own works, in your own thoughts and ideas, in your own efforts and striving — which can only ever lay hold of empty wind — then, says the Psalmist, you are destined to die; your “shepherd” is death.

But here you have a better Shepherd, a Good Shepherd, Christ the Lord, who has laid down His Life for you and for all.  He has given Himself over to death for the sake of His lost and wandering sheep, in order to regather them to Himself in safety, to let them graze on the mountains of Israel, to give them rest near peaceful waters, and to feed them at His Table as dear daughters and sons.

The dear Lord Jesus Christ is your Good Shepherd, and He is rich toward God in His love for you.  In faith and in righteousness, He has given Himself a Ransom for many.  He has laid down His Life, but He has also taken it up again by faith in His Father.  So has He received all authority to forgive your sins, to raise you up from death and the grave, and to bring you into everlasting Life.

As He shall raise you from your tomb on that great and final Day, so does He now take you out of the bed you have made for yourself — the bed in which you cannot sleep but only toss and turn — and He lays you gently on His soft bed, on the perfect pillow of His grace.  He covers you with His Righteousness, and He tucks you in with His forgiveness.  And He sings your cradle song each night, as His holy angels stand round about you on all sides, and you are guarded from every evil.  The wicked foe can have no power over you, because you are Christ’s, and He is yours forever.

It really does not matter how much money you have.  And it really does not matter how great your life on earth might be.  It only matters that you belong to the One who has died and been raised; for in Him you also have died and are raised.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have already died, and your Life is hidden with Christ in God.  It happened in your Baptism, and it remains the truth, now and forever.  It is clarified and confirmed each time that uncomfortable Word of the Law crushes you and stabs you and puts you to death, and then the sweet Gospel comes in and says, “I forgive you.”

“I forgive you,” says the Lord, your Savior and your God.  “Everything you have done wrong, and all that you have failed to do — whatever you have screwed up royally — I forgive you.  You shall not die.  You’ve already died with Me in the waters of your Baptism, and as I live, so do you live.”

As you go about your days, as you live and love, as you work and play, even right here on earth, your Life is hidden with Christ in God.  You are hidden with Christ in God.  And you are safe.

Consider what an astounding difference that makes, as you go about doing whatever you’re given to do — as you go to work and do your job, as you stay home and take care of your children, as you go next door to help your neighbor, as you mow the lawn or watch a movie, as you go to the store, ride your bike, snuggle your babies, or read a book.  Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, or whatever it is, you do it to the glory of God because you abide with God in Christ Jesus.

You live within your vocations, and they are not painful and grievous; they’re a light and easy burden, even though it is a Cross that you bear, because Christ has borne that Cross on your behalf.  You love your spouse, care for your children, honor your parents, do your job, and live out your days in this fallen and perishing world; and it’s not all “painful and grievous,” because Christ is risen, and He rejoices over you in love, and you are well-pleasing to your Father in heaven.

Christ the Lord rejoices in you, and you are beloved and well-pleasing in God’s sight; for He sees in you what you do not yet see.  God the Father beholds you in love, and He sees in you the Perfect Righteousness, Holiness, Innocence, and Blessedness of His beloved Son, Christ Jesus.

So, you are good in God’s sight.  You do not have to strive or work for righteousness or riches.  You don’t have to, because everything is already yours.  You work for the sake of love.  And as you receive good gifts from the hand of God, as you eat and drink what He provides for body and soul, you enjoy your Life, and you rest in the Peace of Christ, who forgives you all of your sins.

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

To Live with Him in His Kingdom

What is it that you want the Lord Jesus to do for you?  What greatness and what glory do you hope to receive from Him and share with Him?  And what do you suppose that would be like?

When you pour out the deepest longings of your heart, what is it that you pray for?  What is it that you ask the dear Lord Jesus to do for you or give to you?  Do you want to have more friends?  To be popular and in demand?  To be admired and respected?  Or do you long for comfort and care and relief from whatever it is that has you trapped and afraid?  Or security and stability, so that you don’t have to keep working so hard to hold it all together, just to keep going from one day to the next?  Is it happiness that you’re after?  Some kind of heaven on earth?  A life worth living?

The truth of the matter is that Jesus, the Son of Man, who is the incarnate Son of God, the Lord’s Anointed, the very King of heaven — He has come in love to serve you, to give you nothing less than Himself — to give His Body and Life for you — and with that, to give you all good things.

He does not lord it over you, but He makes Himself your Servant, even a Slave on your behalf.  He exercises His almighty power in His compassion for you, in showing mercy toward you.  He uses His authority in heaven and on earth to forgive you all your sins; and with that forgiveness He gives you everlasting Life and eternal Salvation, divine Sonship, and a place in His Kingdom.

You do not understand.  But He does it for you anyway.

You do not deserve or merit any of this.  But He does it all for you by grace, for His Love’s sake.

This is the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ, which is His Greatness and His Glory.  He voluntarily takes His place and His position on the Cross, centered between two thieves, one on His right, the other on His left.  That is where and how He becomes the first of many brethren, including you.  That is where and how He obtains all good things for you; for He takes your place under the Law, and He fully bears the curse of your sin and death, in order to give you a place with Himself in the Kingdom of His God and Father.  He gives Himself for you, and He withholds nothing from you.

It’s all yours, for free, for the asking, and even before you ask. Take it and live, for Jesus’ sake.

And then what?  Everything is yours: What are you going to do with it?  How shall you live?

Shall you live with Jesus in the Kingdom of His Cross?  Or will you go your own way, in the hope that something better comes along?  Where will you go?  What will you do?  Will you throw your hat in the ring with the gentiles?  Or will you die with Jesus, in order to live with Him by grace?

As you consider the glorious company of the holy Apostles and the sainted Martyrs of this Lord Jesus Christ — St. James the Elder prominent among them, especially on this festival day — learn from them to fix your eyes on Jesus, come hell or high water against you.

Do not look to your left or your right to see how it’s going with your neighbor.  Christ has given Himself for your neighbor, too; and by the Gospel He gives all good things to your neighbor, as well, and a place in His Kingdom, purchased and won at the cost of His own Life.  That it is how it is with your neighbor — and all of it for Jesus’ sake, who is also with you and for you in love.

But the particular place that has been given to your neighbor is different than yours — a different chair at the table, a different cross to bear, a different crown of glory.

Do not be indignant with your neighbor, neither for his sin, nor for his faith and life.  And do not be angry with your Lord, either, for giving your neighbor what He has not given to you.

As you are a citizen of His Kingdom, do not live as a citizen of this sinful world with its petty jealousies.  Do not compete with your neighbor, nor seek to get the better of him.  Rather, for the sake of love, serve your neighbor as Christ Jesus loves and serves both you and your neighbor.

How so?  By patiently suffering hurt, hostility, and insult, without any anger or vengeance, without bitterness or resentment.  By forgiving your neighbor his trespasses against you.  And by helping your neighbor to bear his burdens, without begrudging or coveting your neighbor’s blessings.

Let there be no jealousy among you, but only love.  Let there be no competing or contesting for greatness or glory, but glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and His Cross by outdoing one another in humility, grace, and compassion.

Do you want to be great?  Then serve.  Be great at serving, the very best at doing unto others as you would have done to you.  Do you want to be number one, the gold-medal champion?  Then become the humble and willing slave of all the rest.  Be the number one servant.  Be like your Lord Jesus.  Dedicate your whole life, your every breath, your blood, sweat, and tears, to serving your neighbors.  Hold nothing back, and show no partiality or prejudice.  Love even your enemies, as the Lord has commanded you.  Forgive those who trespass against you, and gladly do good to those who hate you and hurt you.  Bless those who curse you; bless, and do not curse.  Take up the Cross.  Bend your neck to the sword.  Give your body to be beaten, bruised, and buried.

Are you able to do all this?  The answer actually is, Yes.  But not by your own reason or strength.

What do you have that you have not been given?  What good shall you do that is not done for you?  How shall you love and serve for Jesus’ sake, except that He has come in love to serve you and to give His Life for you?  How is it that you share His Baptism and drink His Cup, except that He has been baptized for you, even unto death upon the Cross, and that He has drained the Cup to the very dregs in fulfillment of all righteousness.

It is by your Baptism into Christ Jesus that you do share His Cross and Passion, His innocent suffering, death, and burial, His Resurrection and His Life, His Righteousness, and His Glory.

With His Baptism He has taken your place, so that your Baptism has given you His place.  His faithfulness is credited to you, and it becomes yours through faith in Him.  So, too, His humility and His obedience are yours.  His service and His greatness — it is all made yours by His grace.

So are you likewise given His Cup to drink, not for wrath and woe but unto Salvation.  And more than that, you are given His Body to eat for the forgiveness of your sins.  The very Flesh that bore your sins upon the Cross, the holy and precious Blood that atoned for your unrighteousness — these are given to you at the Lord’s own Table.  He surrounds you on the right hand and on the left, and He gives to you the place of honor, that He may serve you and give Himself to you in love.

The bitter cup of wrath and woe He has made sweet by His bloody Cross and Passion.  The poison in that cup — the righteous wrath and judgment of God against all the sins of the world, including all of your sins, and the punishment of sin with death and damnation — that poison Jesus has swallowed and consumed, every drop of it; so that His Cup has become for you the New Testament in His Blood, which is poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

As He shed His Blood to fill that Chalice from His Cross, and as He poured it out for His disciples, for James and John and the other ten, for each of them to drink from His own hand, so did He send them to give that Cup to His Church — to give that Cup to you — and to give His Body to be eaten — for the granting of eternal Life; that you might be His own, and live with Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even forever and ever.

St. James poured out that Cup, not only as an Apostle and a Minister of the Sacrament, but as a Martyr of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a lamb to be slaughtered in a Passover like that of his King.

You are given to drink that same Cup of Blessing and Salvation.  It is filled from the Cross, and those who drink it bear the Cross of Christ, as do each and all of those who share His Baptism.  Whether that will mean for you the sword, or poison, or prison, or fire, or lions, or simply the weight of daily service in your own callings, the Cup of Christ is your Glory and your Life.

Take it, and live.  It’s all yours, for Jesus’ sake.  And nothing in heaven or on earth shall be able to sever you from Him, who loves you without end.

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

The Lord Jesus Teaches You to Pray

You are able to pray, and you do, because the Lord your God has chosen to communicate with you, and He has thereby established a relationship with you, inviting you to call on Him as your Dad.  It all hinges on the fact that He has called you to be His own, and He has named you His own dear child — in the circumcision made without hands, that is, by your Holy Baptism into Christ Jesus.

As a newborn infant is held safely in the arms of his parents, sheltered in their home, protected by their constant attention, fed and clothed, washed and cared for, so are you held, safe and secure, in your Father’s hand.  Before you have ever learned to know your need or even how to ask for any help (or anything at all), while you are still so oblivious to His providential care, He is already meeting all your needs and preserving the life that He Himself gives to you in body and soul.

But as you are then growing up and learning to live as His child, as a member of the household and family of God, He also teaches you to pray — to say “please” and “thank you,” so to speak.  It’s more than a mere formality or simple politeness; He is catechizing you in the way of faith and love, in the rhythm of family life.  He would have you know and trust, more and more, what He is like, and to become more and more like Him in the way that you think and speak and act, in the way that you live in relation to Him and with others.  He would have His sons grow up to be men after His own heart, and His daughters to become women like His Bride, the Church, the Mother of us all.

So your Father in heaven speaks to you and deals with you in love, and He bestows His Holy Spirit upon you by His grace through the Ministry of the Gospel of His incarnate Son.  For it is in the Word and work of Christ Jesus, the promised Seed of Abraham, in His own Body of flesh and blood, that you know your God and Father and learn to love and trust in Him.

You have heard it already in the case of father Abraham.  When he was a stranger in a pagan land, the Lord God called him, and led him, and brought him to the Land of Promise.  He named him the father of many nations, when that man was already old and still childless.  And the Lord swore an oath to that old man, that He would be with him and bless him, and that all the nations would be saved by and through his Seed.  By the Covenant of Circumcision the Lord God Almighty actually bound Himself to Abraham’s flesh, and sealed His promise in Abraham’s body, eventually to be fulfilled in the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ.  By the Spirit of the Lord, Abraham believed the Word and promises of God, and by such faith he was accounted righteous.

All of this the Lord has already accomplished in calling Abraham to Himself, when He then also chooses to reveal to Abraham His plans for Sodom and Gomorrah.  See, He has made Abraham His own beloved child by faith, but here He also invites the man into the intimacy of friendship; more than that, He catechizes Abraham in what it means to be a father.  By Word and example, the Lord prepares the old man to become the patriarch of His people (and the ancestor of His Christ).

To say it simply, the Lord leads Abraham to pray in the righteousness of faith and in the justice of love and mercy.  In laying before him the intentions of His wrath against those wicked cities, He provides Abraham an opportunity to call upon His mercy, and thus to lay hold of Him according to the true heart of His almighty power, which is made known especially in grace and compassion.

Abraham does so with humility and reverence, in the fear of the Lord, to be sure; in repentance he knows himself to be dust and ashes.  Yet, in the faith and knowledge of God’s forgiveness, trusting His Word and promises, and responding to the friendship that God has shown to him, Abraham prays and intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah with an almost brazen boldness and courageous confidence.  In the righteousness of faith, he appeals to the righteousness of God.  In doing so, he demonstrates a profound understanding, that God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked, but will rather spare the wicked for the sake of the righteous.

Like a little child asking his father for good things, always eager for more in the certainty of Dad’s generosity, Abraham is not shy about asking — and even continuing to push for more.  Except that Abraham does not appeal for himself, nor only for his nephew Lot and his family, but he intercedes for the entire population of those evil cities.  It’s not that he condones or defends their wickedness — he does not — but he pleads that God would be patient, and preserve the righteous remnant, and spare the rest of the people on account of the few righteous among them.

This is not simply how Abraham happens to pray, but this is how he believes in God, how he exercises his faith in the promises of God, and how he lives in the confidence and expectation of God’s faithfulness and grace.  And with such prayer he will likewise teach his children to know and love the Lord their God, to worship Him in repentant faith, and to live in the sure and certain hope of His mercy and forgiveness.  It is specifically for the sake of such catechesis of his children and descendants that God here catechizes Abraham by opening Himself up to the man.

This is what fathers do for their children.  They teach them how to pray, and thereby teach them to know God rightly, to love and trust in Him, and to live in love for other people, too.  Along with all the other things a father teaches and does for his children, nothing else is more fundamental and important than prayer.  A father prays for his children and sets an example of prayer for them.  He prays also for himself, because he lives by faith in his own God and Father.  And he intercedes for others beyond the family, because he exercises love for the neighbor.  Children learn from all of this, even as they learn to ask for and receive good things from their Dad.

So Abraham did for his family, for his descendants.  And humanly speaking, you might consider, then, where and how the Lord Jesus first learned to pray, and how to pray, when He was a little Boy.  Surely His parents taught Him with their words and by their example.  Joseph and Mary of Nazareth, being faithful in their callings, as they had learned from their own fathers and mothers, catechized and taught their Son from the Holy Scriptures.  So did Jesus learn to pray from the Word of God in their home, in the synagogue, and at the Temple in Jerusalem.

Now, then, in much the same way, the Lord Jesus teaches His own household and family to pray.  As the incarnate Son of God, a Man after His Father’s heart, He is a faithful Husband and Father to His Church.  And that means that, not only does He protect and provide for His people, but He also teaches them to live by faith, to live in love, to call upon Him, and to call upon the Father in His Name, to pray and petition, to praise and give thanks.  So does He catechize you even now.

He urges you to pray with all boldness and confidence.  That is the chief and central point to His two little Parables this morning.  You should not be shy or hesitant in going to the Lord in every circumstance, whatever the time of day or night.  You can count on Him to provide for your every need, so that you will lack for no good thing, neither for yourself nor for your neighbors.  And you may ask Him with the confidence of a child seeking help from his or her Dad, except that He is not a sinful man but the gracious and merciful Lord, who is merciful to all who call upon Him.

Jesus not only urges you to pray — as elsewhere the Lord commands you to pray — but He also provides you with the very words by which to call upon the Father in His Name; and He promises that His Father will hear and answer your prayer.  He will not ignore you.  He will not deny your prayer or refuse to meet your needs.  Neither will He give you evil things instead of good, but He will pour out His Life-giving Holy Spirit upon you, so that you do not perish but gain eternal Life.

The Our Father is more than information or instruction.  With these Words the Lord God does for you as He did for Abraham.  He initiates and establishes a relationship with you, an intimacy of friendship and familial love.  He draws you into a fellowship of faith with Himself, and thereby also makes a place for you within the broad fellowship and family of His one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic Church.  He teaches you to pray, not in lonely isolation, nor as a private individual, but within a community of brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, with one God and Father in heaven.

To pray in this way is to be and to live as a Christian, as a child of God, a disciple of Jesus.  It is to actively rely upon the Lord your God for all that you need, for both your body and your soul, for this life and for the Life everlasting.  It is to live by faith in His forgiveness, and therefore, also, to forgive those who sin against you.  It is to eat from the open hand of God, and to open your hand in love to feed and care for your neighbor, for your own children and family, and for your fellow Christians, and even for the fellow who comes calling on you for help in the middle of the night.

As you pray, so do you believe, and so do you live.  Or, so you should.

Where do the confidence and courage come from?  Where are such faith and love to be found?  How shall you pray as you ought, and how shall you live and love in harmony with such prayer?

The answer is found — and it is given to you — in the very One who teaches you to pray.  Your boldness and confidence rest upon His generous love and gracious mercy toward you.  Your faith resides in His faithfulness.  As a child of God in Christ Jesus, you learn to rely upon your Father by way of His constant care for you, and from His compassion for you in all trial, fear, and need.

Jesus teaches all of this in teaching you to pray.  But that is not all that He does.  For one thing, He exemplifies the life of prayer in His own practice.  Especially in St. Luke’s Holy Gospel, the Lord Jesus is often found praying; for He lives in perfect faith and perfect love, and so He persists in perfect prayer.  That belongs, first of all, to His life as the true and perfect Man.  But then it also belongs to His Office and Ministry as your merciful and great High Priest.  It is still the case that He actively prays and intercedes for you, now and forever, at the Right Hand of the Father.

The Lord Jesus Christ, by His Cross and Passion, and in His Resurrection and Ascension, is not only the One who prays for you, but He Himself is your Voice of Prayer to the God and Father in heaven.  As He is the Word of God to you, made Flesh and dwelling with you bodily in the Gospel, so is He also the divine Word that avails for you and speaks to the Father on your behalf.  And He is also already the Father’s resounding “Yes” and “Amen” to all of your prayers and all of your needs.  It is in Him, by His Ministry of the Gospel, that the Father gives to you the Holy Spirit.

For the sake of this one Righteous Man, Christ Jesus, the Lord God Almighty forgives you all your sins.  He does not punish or destroy you, nor count your transgressions against you, nor withhold any good thing from you because of your sins.  On the contrary, He rescues you from every evil of body and soul, saves you from sin and death, and reconciles you to Himself in Christ Jesus.

Along with His forgiveness of your sins He also feeds you with the Bread that you need.  Bread for each day, yes, to nourish and support this body and life on earth.  But also the Bread of eternal Life, the Bread which does not perish but preserves you in the imperishable Body of Jesus.  Hence the connections that Christians have always made between our prayer for “Daily Bread” and the forgiveness of sins and the fellowship of the Lord’s Altar in the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.

It is in the eating and drinking of these Holy Things — in this Bread and this Cup, which are given and poured out for you and for the many — that you are firmly bound to Christ, your Head, and that all of you are knit together as one Body in Him.  Forgiven and forgiving, you eat and drink together with the Lord, and so also with each other in Him, unto faith and life forever.

Beloved in the Lord, as He so teaches you to live by faith in Him and in fervent love for family, friends, and neighbors, so, then, pray for one another.  Pray that God’s Kingdom would come to all of us and all the world.  And pray that He would take not His Holy Spirit from His Church on earth, but would continue to pour out the Spirit generously upon us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The One who teaches you to pray is faithful, and He will do it.  Not because of your resolve or perseverance, but for the sake of His own righteousness.  For Christ has come, and He remains with you in peace and love.  He has taken His stand with you, and as He has died for you and risen from the dead, He ever lives to make intercession for you.  His prayer for you is signed and sealed with His holy and precious Blood, by His Cross and Passion, and in His Holy Communion.  And His own Resurrection and Ascension are indeed the answer that your dear Father gives to you.

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

An Excellent Wife the Lord Jesus Has Found in You

Mary Magdalene is a woman who fears the Lord, and He has risen up to praise her in the gates.  Her children also rise up to bless her, and her works follow her to praise her, both day and night.  For as St. Mary the Mother of God is both a living icon and a member of the Lord’s Holy Bride, the Church, so is St. Mary Magdalene.  And as St. Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, is remembered wherever in the world the Gospel is preached — because she loved the Lord Jesus, listened to and learned from His Word, and anointed Him beforehand for His burial — so also is St. Mary Magdalene remembered with thanksgiving to God for her works of mercy and her witness to the Gospel of Christ Jesus, our Savior.

Her gratitude runs deep, and she loves Him greatly, because she was rescued from great evil, and she was forgiven much.  Jesus cast out seven demons from this dear woman, saving her life and cleansing her in both body and soul.  He had mercy upon her, called her to Himself, and gave her, not only another chance, but a brand new life here in time and hereafter in eternity.  Thus did she become a true and faithful disciple, following the Lord Jesus throughout His Ministry on earth, listening and learning.  In love she supported Him and His holy Apostles from her own means, because she recognized the value and importance of His Ministry, both for herself and for others.

She was there, then, to witness the defining events of the Gospel: the Cross and Passion of our Lord, His entombment, and His bodily Resurrection from the dead.  In fact, St. Mary Magdalene is the first witness of our Lord’s Resurrection — not only of His empty tomb, but of His risen and glorified Body — and He Himself sends her to announce His Resurrection to the Apostles, to the very ones who would be sent to preach this Gospel to the ends of the earth.  So she is “the apostle to the Apostles,” as the Eastern churches regard her; and if their feet are beautiful because they have gone out into all the world to preach the Gospel of peace, St. Mary Magdalene is likewise beautiful among the saints of God in Christ.  She is adorned with His beauty and His glory, as a bride is adorned for her husband.  And as we thus remember her and give thanks for her on this day, we honor Christ Jesus, our Savior and hers, and give all thanks and praise and glory to Him.

Everything we know about St. Mary Magdalene is bound up in and with her dear Lord Jesus.  She received such excellent gifts and benefitted from His Ministry, and so she supported His Ministry with her whole life and all that she had.  She shared in His Cross and Passion, not only by her presence as a witness, but also by Holy Baptism and daily repentance; and accordingly, not only did she witness His Resurrection from the dead, but she herself is raised up by it, in and with Him, to live before God in His righteousness and purity forever.

Dear child of God in Christ, the same is no less true for you, as well.  Though you are not an eye-witness of His Cross and Resurrection, you are in fact baptized into those realities, so that you also die and rise with Christ Jesus through daily repentance and faith in His forgiveness of all your sins.  Consider the great treasures of His grace, mercy, and peace, which are given to you by the Ministry of His Gospel.  By these you have abundant life in Him and with Him, both now and forever.  For He is your true and heavenly Bridegroom, who has sought you out and found you and called you by name to be a member of His Body and His Bride, the holy Christian Church.

How, then, shall your life be a witness of His Resurrection?  How shall your words and actions testify that God has raised your dear Lord Jesus from the dead?  With what means, and by what works, will you support His Ministry of the Gospel for your own sake and for your neighbor’s?

Everything about you, and all that you are and have, is bound up with Christ Jesus.  For you are baptized in His Name.  You have died with Him — by your Baptism into His death — and so it is that your life is now hidden with Him in the bosom of God the Father.  Your temporary sojourn on earth, including your stewardship of whatever means the Lord in His mercy has entrusted to your use, is meaningful, significant, and holy, because you are taken up into Christ and His Gospel — through His Cross and Passion into His Resurrection and His Life everlasting

Do not try to cling to Him, therefore, in the dead and dying things of this world.  Do not attempt to find Him and have Him for yourself in that which has only the appearance of beauty, while inwardly it is perishing.  That sort of beauty is vain, and its charm is deceitful.

Trying to hang onto Jesus and His Life in the transitory familiarities of earth is futile and fatal.

The fact of the matter is that, apart from His Word and His Voice of the Gospel, you do not know where or how to find Him, nor are you at all able to find Him.  You are still in the dark, and so you are confused and afraid, and you weep with sorrow.  You seek comfort and security and answers to your questions from your mortal father, old Adam, although he is laid to rest in the tomb and remains there to rot and decay.  And as you are so intent upon the dust and the dirt, you are unable to recognize the risen Lord Jesus.  You do not know Him as He is.

But He is not that gardener, old Adam.  He is the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep — and takes it up again — that they may have abundant life in Him.  He does for you and all His sheep as He did for dear Mary Magdalene: He calls you by name.  He calls you with His sweet Voice of the Gospel — whereby He forgives you all your sins, casts out all your demons, heals all your diseases, and raises you from death to life.  His Voice calls you and leads you and guides you to and from the quiet waters of your Baptism, through the lush green pastures of His Word, to the laden Table of His Altar in His Father’s House.  There He has prepared a great Feast for you, and He pours out His overflowing Chalice, which is the New Testament in His Blood.

Now your heart sings for joy, because you know the Voice of your Good Shepherd.  You recognize and respond to the tone and timbre of His Gospel with its persistent rhythm of mercy and kindness and its melody of forgiveness.  You know, when He speaks, where He is to be found, where His Body is given and His Blood is poured out for you to eat and to drink.  You know, when you hear His Voice, not only who He is and where He is, but who you are and where you are.

Beloved, not only are you a dear sheep of this Good Shepherd, but you are an excellent wife of this true and heavenly Bridegroom.  O son or daughter of the King, you belong to His most holy Bride!  With St. Mary Magdalene, with Mary of Bethany and Mary the Mother of God, with Peter and John and all the witnesses of the Resurrection, and with all the baptized in every time and place, you belong to the Wedding Party of the Lamb, and you are seated with Him at His Table.  For He takes you to be His very own, to have and to hold forever, and all that is His, He shares with you.

He rises from the dead; therefore, you also rise.  He ascends to the right hand of God, and you are seated with Him in the heavenly places.  His God and Father is now your God and Father.  And He has prepared a place for you with Him, where even now your life is hidden, safe and secure.

Not only has He called you by name to Himself, but He has also called you by His own Name.  Even now that is your surety, your pledge, your guarantee, your down-payment, and your dowry, unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul.

No longer are you in the dark, since Christ your Lord is risen from the dead.  Even in the middle of the night, His Word is still a Lamp that does not go out, and by its light you rise up to eat and drink His Food from afar, and so to feed your neighbors in peace and love.  You are clothed with His scarlet and His purple, that is, with the forgiveness of His holy and precious Blood, and with the dignity and strength of His own royal righteousness.  Thus are you made strong, and thus are you able to strengthen your household and family, your neighbors and friends, and all your brothers and sisters in Christ.  For as He speaks so sweetly to you with His Voice of the Gospel, He likewise opens your mouth to speak in wisdom and with kindness to others.

Were you to look at yourself and consider yourself, for now, you would see no such glory, but only a poor gardener of sin and death, waiting to die and to be buried.  But listen now, and hear the Voice of your Bridegroom, who has risen from the dead for you, who blesses you and praises you according to His grace, mercy, and peace:

“Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.  For you are worth far more to Me than silver and gold, more than many rubies and fine jewels.  Have I not sought you out and found you for Myself, and given Myself for you?  Surely I have done so, and you are My own forever.  Even in the gates of Hades I declare that you shall never perish but have abundant life in Me, and no one shall snatch you out of My hand.  Rest assured that you shall not be put to shame, for I, the Lord, am your Refuge and Strength.  Let not your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid.

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

Love the Lord Your God by Listening to Jesus

It should be clear that Martha is not sinning by welcoming Jesus into her home and preparing a meal for Him.  Indeed, it is a good and godly thing to do, and a loving way to serve Him who is not only her Lord but also her neighbor (and, as we know from St. John, her friend).  She is not sinning in her careful efforts and hard work, nor in her desire that everything be done well.  In contrast to Simon the Pharisee, earlier in St. Luke’s Gospel, Martha is eager to provide suitable and appropriate hospitality for her honored Guest.

And Jesus does not despise her effort or reject her hospitality.  He receives these gifts, just as He has instructed His sent ones to receive and be content with the hospitality that is provided for them in the homes of peace to which they come.  Our Lord in human flesh needs food and drink and so forth, and here He benefits from Martha’s service.  As any host or hostess knows, someone has to do the work, or there won’t be anything for anyone to eat or drink.  That meal won’t prepare itself!

But Martha does sin against her sister, and she misses the mark with her Lord, as well, by the division and distractions within her heart and mind.  She is driven, not only by faith and love, but by anxiety and trouble; and along with that, instead of being driven to find her peace and rest in Christ Jesus, she is drawn away from Him and His Word to her own work and worries.  In striving to serve Him and to please Him, she neglects His service and the very point and purpose of His visitation.  Not only that but, in her efforts to serve the Lord, she fails to love her sister.

How often doesn’t that end up being the case for you, as well?  That you strive to serve the Church, to serve your Lord, which is good and right in itself, of course, but that you do so at the expense of your family?  Or, that you go the extra mile for a friend or neighbor in need — which, again, is a good and godly thing to do — but that you fail to show consideration, gentleness, kindness, or patience with your own spouse, with your own children, or with your own siblings?

It’s not that you should neglect to serve the Church and your neighbors with your time, treasures, and talents, as you are able.  Indeed, you should do so!  But so also serve your closest neighbors, that is, your own family, who in most cases are also members of the household and family of God.

Well, then, you might say, what about Mary in this case at hand?  Wasn’t she neglecting to love and serve her sister Martha by not helping her with the meal preparations?  Could not her two hands have lightened the load and quickened the whole process?  Perhaps, and probably so.

And yet, Jesus responds quite differently to Martha’s complaint and request.  It’s actually rather frustrating, I suspect, especially to those who are often the ones slaving away behind the scenes, before, during, and after the party, while others are taking their ease and enjoying themselves.

Truth be told, our Lord is not exactly “practical” or “realistic” in what He says to Martha; leastwise not by any worldly human standard of common sense.  But don’t take that the wrong way.  Our Lord Jesus is not rude, He is not mean or inconsiderate.  He certainly does care about Martha, and He speaks to her with gentle compassion.  It is in His love for her that He corrects her mistaken perspective and her wrong way of thinking.  He calls her to repent of her sin, and He catechizes her in the One Thing truly needful, in the Good Portion that will not be taken away.

He does not enter into any arbitration of whatever sibling rivalry or suspicion there may have been going on between Mary and Martha.  If you have children or siblings of your own, you can easily imagine that being a factor in the story at hand.  These sisters certainly had different personalities, and it is likely that Martha was the older of the two.  Since their parents are not mentioned, perhaps it had fallen to Martha to bear the load of responsibility for her sister and their household.  It may be that their brother Lazarus had already taken ill or was otherwise unable to care for them.

All sorts of possibilities, but, whatever the particulars of the situation, Jesus does not address any of that.  He seems to ignore altogether the logistical necessities, and He pays no attention to family politics.  Instead, He points Martha to Mary’s good example, and in doing so He points both of them — and you, as well — to Himself, to His Word, and to His Divine Service of the Gospel.

It is noteworthy and significant that Mary says nothing at all; and she does nothing, either, except to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to Him.  In this she honors Him well and worships Him devoutly.

If Martha has far-and-away outdone Simon the Pharisee in her gracious hospitality for the Lord Jesus, her sister Mary has outdone even that blessed sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in Simon’s home.  It is interesting to note that this same Mary of Bethany, Martha’s sister, will likewise anoint the Lord’s feet and dry them with her hair when, again, her sister Martha serves a supper for Him on the cusp of His Passion.  But in this present case Mary is sitting at His feet, not to serve Him with any work of hers, but to love Him above all things by listening to His Word.

Such listening to the Word of Christ Jesus is the first and foremost activity of faithful Christian worship in Spirit and in Truth.  To be sure, you are to be a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only.  But all of your obedience and faithful doing begin with and continue to depend upon your hearing of His Word, even as your hearing itself depends upon the preaching of His Word.  It is for such preaching that Jesus comes, and you worship Him by listening to Him.

Your pastors preach and teach the Word and administer the Sacraments, as their vocation and service in the Lord, just as you perform the duties of your own callings and stations in life.  All of this is good and right and as it should be; it is the fruit of faith and the work of love, in the place where God Himself has positioned each one of us, according to His good and gracious Will.

But the foremost worship of the Lord your God is not in your serving but in your receiving of His Service, in your listening to and learning from Him, and in your eating and drinking of what He gives to you here within His House in the Liturgy of His Gospel.

All of your serving, and your pastors’ serving, too, depends upon the Lord’s speaking and giving.  None of us have anything to say or do, except what He speaks to us by His grace.  And none of us have anything to give, except what He provides and we receive from Him, according to His mercy.

So, first things first, Sister Mary has it right.

Again, it’s not a matter of neglecting duties and responsibilities.  There is work to be done, and someone has to prepare the meal, serve it, and clean up afterwards.  Many hands do make for light work, and you should not leave your neighbor to do everything for you while you laze around doing nothing.  But none of this means anything apart from the Word and work of Christ Jesus.

It’s like the Feeding of the Five Thousand, as you may recall, when those great crowds of people listened to the Lord Jesus as He preached and taught them throughout that long day.  And then, as evening approached, and the disciples were worried and anxious about how all those people were going to eat, because there was no food but a few loaves and fishes — well, you know that Jesus fed them all, and there was more than enough.  Earlier in the Gospel, He Himself feasted on the Word of God His Father throughout His forty days and nights in the wilderness, following His Baptism; He thus fasted with His Body and waited on His Father to provide all that He needed.

So, too, at that first Emmaus, Jesus “fed” the two disciples with His Word along the way; and then, when they invited Him in to be their guest, He became their Host in His Breaking of the Bread.  For He is the One who feeds both soul and body by His grace.  Therefore, seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness — by listening to Him, by hearing His Word and the preaching of it, and by eating and drinking the Meal He serves you — and all things shall be added unto you in Him.

I don’t mean that you should be negligent or lazy, nor that you should quit your job and leave your family in order to spend all your time at church.  Do the work that God has given you to do, and serve the neighbors He has placed around you in this body and life.  But set your ears, your heart and mind upon His Word, which is the One Thing on which everything else depends.  Find your peace and Sabbath rest in Him, and so find life and health and strength for now and forever.  Then you’ll also serve Him with the worship of your body and your soul, with your confession of His Name, and with your prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.  And in Christ Jesus you’ll learn to love your neighbor as yourself, and to serve your neighbor as Jesus serves you with His Gospel.

It’s not by your own reason or strength!  None of this is, not even your listening and hearing.  Jesus comes to you and enters in.  He makes His visitation and He preaches.  He sends His messengers before His face.  His Word opens your ears, your mind and heart, and finally your mouth, as well.

It was the same for Mary, as it was also for Abraham and Sarah.  Each of them was just as flawed, distracted, worried, and troubled as you often are, and as Martha was, too, on this occasion.  We’re all incredulous, fatigued, cynical, or jaded at times.  Sarah laughed in disbelief at the Word and promise of the Lord; yet, His Word was fulfilled for her nonetheless.  Her skepticism became faith, and her sarcastic snort became the laughter of genuine joy and gladness in her son.

Abraham also served the Lord with hospitality, as Martha does in her day.  He did so as one who had found favor in the Lord by faith in His Word; for Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.  His faith depended on God’s faithfulness.  He rested in God’s Word and promise.  And despite father Abraham’s doubts and fears and sins and failings, he was sustained and saved by the Lord his God.  That is how it was for Mary and Martha of Bethany, as well.

The Word and promises of Christ the Lord are also here spoken to you.  These are not empty and meaningless chatter, nor simply a lesson in history and morality.  By this Ministry of the Gospel the Holy Spirit lays Christ upon your heart, and you are reconciled to God the Father through this beloved Son.  The preaching of His Word calls you to repentance and brings you to faith and life in Christ Jesus by and with His forgiveness of all your sins.

He is gentle in His rebuke, and He is generous in His Divine Service; for He does care deeply about you and for you, and His whole purpose in coming to you, here and now, is not to put you to work for Him, but to give you peace with God and perfect rest from all your heavy burdens.

The One Thing that you need is here provided for you freely, by the grace of God, in this Word of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  Here is your hope of Glory, which shall not disappoint you; for Christ is actively present in His Word, and He thereby gives nothing less than Himself to you, with all His gifts and benefits.  You honor Him and worship Him by hearing and receiving Him, who is not only your gracious Host, but your Butler and Cook, your Waiter, and your Meat and Drink indeed.

Already He has cleaned up after you, and He has prepared a permanent place for you at His Table in His House, in the City of God forever and ever.  Recline here at His feet, and set your heart and mind at ease in Him who serves you.  Feast upon this Main Course, this Good Portion, this Holy Supper of Christ Jesus, your Lord.  It will not be taken away from you, nor shall you ever perish.

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

The Way of the Lord Is Life and Love

The way of the Lord is the way of Life, and the way of Life is Love.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus affirms that the lawyer has answered correctly.  He has rightly summarized God’s Law, just as St. Paul in one of his Epistles summarizes the entire Law with one word: “Love.”  And our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Truth, speaks truthfully when He says, “Do this, and you shall live.”

Your love for God is to be entire and complete, with your whole being, your mind, your heart, your strength, and your soul.  With all that you are, in all that you do, look to Him, cling to Him, and know Him as your highest, best, and greatest Good, apart from whom nothing else matters.

To love Him is to be fixed on Him, as the One who delights your soul and causes your spirit to sing, as the One who gives strength to your body, peace to your heart, and clarity to your thoughts.

To love Him with all that you are and have is to have faith in Him.  It is to trust Him.  It is to look to Him for absolutely everything you need, trusting that He will provide for your body and soul.  It is to commend yourself and all things to Him, every morning and as you go to bed each night.  And that is to fix your hope in heaven, where Christ Jesus is, seated at the right hand of the Father.

And as you know and love the Lord your God, so will you also love your neighbor as yourself.  That is the way of Life in Christ, the way of Love, which is the fulfillment of the Law.

To love your neighbor as yourself is to desire for your neighbor all those things that you desire for yourself, and to work for your neighbor as you work for yourself.  It is to do unto others, not only as you would have them do unto you, but as you actually do for yourself, day in and day out.

If you were naked, would you not go to whatever length necessary to clothe your body?  If you were hungry and starving, would you not go to any extreme to get food for yourself?  Of course you take care of yourself!  And the Lord commands that you love your neighbor in the same way.

To love your neighbor as yourself flows out of your love for God, your fear, love, and trust in Him.  When you know yourself to be loved and cared for by your God and Father in heaven, then you’re not afraid to pour yourself out in love for your neighbor.  You’re not afraid to feed and clothe and care for your neighbor in his or her need, to visit your neighbor in loneliness, in sickness, and even in prison; for your hope is in the Lord, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  As your eyes are fixed on Him who is your Life and your Salvation, so do you fix your eyes in love upon your neighbors, without any favoritism, partiality, or prejudice, but simply in the Love of Christ Jesus.

Of course it is true that, because you are not God but a finite creature with limited capacities, you do have to make choices and decisions based upon your own callings and stations in life, so that you do not neglect your own spouse and children, for example, in order to care for strangers.

But do not hide within your family and suppose that is where your love begins and ends.  Rather, as you are given the ability, the means, and the opportunity, love and provide for the neighbors with whom the Lord surrounds you in this body and life.  Consider how the Lord has loved you, and continues to love you and provide for you, purely out of His fatherly divine goodness and mercy; and so return thanks and love the Lord your God by loving and serving your neighbors in their need.  That is the way of the Lord, the way of Life and Love.  “Do this, and you will live.”

But if you attempt to use the Law of the Lord to justify yourself, as the lawyer wanted to justify himself, and as your sinful heart would presume to justify itself, then you have already failed, you have already sinned against the Law and broken it.  In seeking to justify yourself, to save yourself and get life for yourself, you love neither God nor your neighbor but make a false god of yourself.

The Law is not given that you should justify yourself.  It is given to reveal the good and gracious Will of God, to show you what He is like and what is worthy of Him and acceptable to Him.  And in doing so, the Law also exposes your idolatry, your lack of faith, your misplaced trust, your love for things instead of God, and your love for your own self at the expense of your neighbor.

The Law commands you to love even your enemy as your friend.  The Law commands you to love unselfishly and self-sacrificially.  The Law commands you to love in a way that you do not love.

The Law says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  And your neighbor is the person next to you.  Your neighbor is the person next door, the person down the street, the person at work, the person here in church.  You don’t get to pick and choose your neighbors; they are given to you by God, that you should love them as God loves both you and them.  But you do not love as you should.

So, when you try to use the Law to justify and save yourself, you find that, not only does the Law not work for you that way, but it actually accuses and condemns you and brings you to nothing.  Not because it is bad or defective, but precisely because it is holy and righteous and good, divinely perfect in every way, whereas you are sinful and unclean, unrighteous and unholy in all your thoughts, words, and deeds.  You do not live as you should, but you do what you should not.

The lawyer tries to wriggle out from under the accusation and indictment of the Law by looking for a loophole and excuse.  “Who, then, is my neighbor?”  But if you listen carefully to the answer Jesus gives, you find that He turns that question upside-down and inside-out, for the lawyer and for you, as well.  He concludes His Parable by asking a question of His own, “Who was neighbor to that man who fell into the hands of robbers?”  Think about that: The lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?”  And Jesus says, “Who was neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”  That is where you and the lawyer are at first: beaten up and left for dead by the side of the road.

Who, then, is your neighbor?  Who is your Good Samaritan?  It is Christ Jesus, your Savior.

He does not just happen upon you by chance, nor does He look the other way.  He is on a journey, Himself, and you are His destination.  And taking you into His arms, bearing you upon His back, He brings you home.  He is your Neighbor, because He has come to you in compassion, and He has made Himself your Neighbor in love.

This word, “compassion,” is a profound and beautiful word in the Holy Scriptures, a divine Word describing the Lord your God and His grace toward you.  His very guts churn with emotion, with tender mercy, in which He pours Himself out for you.  He offers Himself as a Sacrifice, and with His own Flesh and Blood He makes Atonement for you and reconciles you to God the Father.

He is the One true and righteous Man who loves the Lord His God with all His heart and all His soul and all His mind and all His strength, with His whole Body, with all His Blood, sweat, and tears.  He trusts His Father, and He lives perfectly according to His Word.  He loves from a heart that is not the least bit selfish, a heart that does not consider Himself but the Father and you.

And with that same deep divine compassion which takes Him to the Cross on your behalf, He also comes to you here and now.  He finds you, and in mercy He gathers you up and takes care of you.

He pours Oil and Wine upon your wounds.  That is the anointing of Holy Baptism, the anointing of the Holy Spirit in the forgiveness of your sins; and that is the Wine of this true Vine, which He pours out as His holy and precious Blood for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of sins.  Thus has He made a Covenant with you that He will not break.

He binds up your wounds, and in doing so He also binds Himself to you in heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit.  He brings healing to all your hurt and sickness.  And He lays you upon His own back, as though He were a Beast of burden.

He takes the heaviness and all the weight of your whole life, and He bears it all for you.  He takes your tiredness and fatigue, your anxiety and stress, your worst fears, and all of your sins, and He carries them in His own Body to the Cross.  He deals with it all, and He does away with it forever.  But you He bears in Himself to His God and Father in heaven.  He brings you home rejoicing.

To that end, He brings you first of all to this Inn where you can be cared for, where you have peace and rest, nourishment and care, all at His expense.  He brings you to this Inn, His Church on earth, wherein He provides you with His Medicine of Immortality, with perfect healing, and with hope.

Here He takes care of you, for He is your Good Physician.  He serves you and provides for you by those whom He directs according to His Word.  He says to the Innkeepers, “Take care of this dear child, this poor man, this hurting woman.  Do it for Me, for My sake, on My account, with My own ways and means, with My own Love.  And when I return, whatever yet is lacking, I will fulfill.”

So He does for you, right here and now in this place.  Here He lays you gently on a bed of peace.  He tends your many wounds with His holy forgiveness.  He feeds your body with His very own.

There is nothing lacking in His care, and there is no payment charged to you.  There is nothing that you must do to inherit eternal Life, for it is already yours, pressed into your hand, fed into your mouth, laid upon your head, and poured into your heart through the Gospel.

As you know that Love of God, benefit from the Cross of Christ, and dwell here safely within His holy Christian Church, the Fruits of Christ bear fruits in you after their own kind.  They truly do.

You are a poor, miserable sinner.  It is true that you deserve nothing but punishment.  It is true that, when you examine your heart, you find not love but greed and selfishness.  And yet, Christ Jesus in His mercy loves you.  You are His neighbor, because He has made Himself your Neighbor.

And see what Love He lavishes upon you, though you do not deserve even the least little bit of it.  See how richly He cares for you and lavishes His grace upon you.  And by this compassion of His, you learn compassion.  By His mercy, you learn mercy.  By His Love for you, you live and love.

You love your Lord Jesus Christ; though you have not seen Him, yet you love Him, because He has first loved you.  And you trust Him, not because you are so trusting, but because He is so very trustworthy.  He has served you, and He does serve you, and He promises that He will serve you; and there can be no doubt that His Word and promises are the Truth.

As He tends your wounds and cares for you with His free and full forgiveness, you also bear such fruits of love and forgiveness for your neighbors, for your family and friends, and for your foes; because you are not your own, and you do not live for yourself, but you belong to Him who loves you, who has given Himself for you, and who has thus purchased you to be His very own.

Walk in the way of the Lord by faith in Him.  Love as He loves you.  Not because you are afraid, nor as though to earn your place, but because you are free, and because you are safe, and because you have nothing to lose, but you have everything to give, because everything is yours by grace.

Love your neighbor.  Trust your Father in heaven, rest yourself in Jesus, rely upon His Holy Spirit, and love your neighbor as the Lord your God loves you and shall never leave you nor forsake you.  Your dear Lord Jesus Christ, who has brought you here to His Church and loves you with a Love that never ends, He shall return and take you to be with Him where He is, body and soul, to live and abide in the Father’s House forevermore.  And whatever is yet lacking in your love, there is nothing lacking in His Love.  Whatever payment was needed, He has paid.  Whatever is broken, He repairs.  Whatever is missing, He provides.  And whatever sin there is in you, He forgives.

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

Sent Before the Face of Christ Jesus

In the Old Testament, seventy-some persons of the family of Jacob entered the land of Egypt in the days of Joseph, thus bringing the people and presence of Yahweh into a new place.

Several centuries later, when Moses led the Children of Israel in the Exodus out of Egypt, he appointed seventy-some elders and ordained them with the Spirit of God to assist him in caring for the people; for the Israelites were the people of God on their way to the Land of Promise.

In later generations, it was commonly understood that seventy-some nations constituted all the tribes and languages of people in the entire world.  By way of example, a Greek translation of the Old Testament was known as the “Septuagint,” because it was said that seventy scholars — representing Jews from all the nations of the world — had come together to produce it.  In this way the Word of God was rendered accessible to those around the globe.

Now, as Jesus makes a bee-line for Jerusalem, His face set resolutely on His Cross and Passion, His hand upon the plow with no thought of looking back, He makes provision for His Church on earth: He establishes His people and His presence in every time and place.  He causes His Word to be preached to all the nations, that those of every tribe and language might be re-constituted as members of His Body and as citizens of His Kingdom through Holy Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection.  And He shares His Table fellowship with sinners all over the world.

He has already called and sent His Twelve Apostles — the new Patriarchs of a new Israel, unique in their office and authority, superceding even the Prophets of the Old Testament because they see and hear what all the Prophets waited for.  But now He also provides for the continuation of the Apostolic Ministry by appointing and ordaining seventy-some others: seventy-some members of a new family, who go before the face of the Lord into new places and territories; seventy-some shepherds of this growing flock, who lead the lambs and sheep of God into the Promised Land; seventy-some preachers of the Word, who bring the Gospel and the Sacraments to all nations.

Though not Apostles, per se, the Seventy are sent in the same way as the Apostles — in the Greek, they are “apostelled.”  As such, they are the first of all the “Apostolic” Ministers of Christ who follow in the footsteps of the Apostles as pastors of the Church, even to the close of the age.

To be “apostelled” in this way is to receive what we in our day might call the “power of attorney.”  That is to say, a sent one speaks and acts with the legal and binding authority of the one who has sent him, as the official and personal representative of the sender.  So binding was this “apostolic” authority that the Jews had a saying: “The apostle of a man is equal to the man himself.”  So also the Word and promise of Christ Jesus this morning: “He who hears you, hears Me.”

Now, two things, in particular, are made absolutely clear and emphatic by St. Luke in this Gospel:

There is, first of all, the utter nearness and “real presence” of the Lord Jesus in the preaching and Ministry of His sent ones, and so too the nearness and presence of the Kingdom of God in Him.

And second, this Ministry of the Word of Christ is ever and always the way that He is received; for He sends His preachers to every place where He Himself shall go.  Wherever the sent ones of Christ are not received, neither will Christ Himself remain.  Which is to say that one does not and cannot have Christ Jesus apart from the preaching of His Gospel and the administration of His Sacraments in His Church by those whom He has called and sent in His Name and stead.

In contrast to the aspirations of the sinful human heart, it is not the world that draws near to God or enters into His Kingdom — not by good works, not by pious thoughts and feelings, not by sincere efforts, and not by any choices or decisions.  But the Kingdom of God draws near to the world in Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus draws near to you in the preaching and Ministry of those whom He has sent.  You have only to receive this gracious gift of His presence.

Because the Lord has chosen to draw near to the world by this way and means, it is by all means necessary to do as He commands, that is, to beseech the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into His Harvest.  And here we see that, even before we call, He answers, as the Lord immediately begins to provide the workers He requires, in this case by sending the Seventy.

They are sent, two-by-two, to do what Jesus does: To preach the presence of the Kingdom, to heal and perform miracles, and to speak “Peace” to houses where they are received with hospitality and table fellowship.  But like Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy must also be prepared for the rejection of themselves and their preaching of the Kingdom of God.  Such rejection is itself a sign of the Holy Cross, which they too must carry, as Christ has carried it for them and for us all.

Not just what they say and preach, but who they are and Whom they represent — and what they do in the Name and stead of Jesus Christ — all of this is more than just a message or merely news and information.  It is the drawing near and the real presence of the Kingdom of God in Christ.

The focus of the Seventy, and of pastors to this day, must be on this heavenly gift of grace — not upon sensational success or visible achievement.  Their names are written in God’s Book of Life, beside the names of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the chosen people of old.  And they are part of a pattern which stretches back to the Old Testament Prophets, but which is centered in Jesus, the Prophet par excellence, who testifies to God’s presence and salvation through preaching and teaching and miracles.  So also do His sent ones speak His Word and represent His Person in their Ministry, in accordance with His Word.  They act “in His stead and by His command,” and this is valid and certain before God in heaven as the work of Christ Jesus Himself.

In order to be “on the Way” of Christ Jesus — on the Way of His Cross — these men must travel with the same single-mindedness of purpose as Christ Himself on His journey to Jerusalem.  They are not to engage in trivialities, nor in the distractions and pursuits of the world, but to approach and serve the Lord’s people with His Peace.

Like the Twelve Apostles sent before them, the Seventy are not to carry any provisions for the journey.  Instead, they are given to bear and carry the Cross of Christ and His suffering.  For they are emissaries of God who have forgotten the things of this world, who must depend upon the care and protection of others.  In fact, as Jesus indicated last week, they have renounced their homes and their families.  Their new kin are those who receive them and their word of Peace.  They are, therefore, not to rely upon themselves and their own resources, but to rest their entire hope on the Lord alone and on His Word of promise that nothing will by any means be allowed to hurt them.  Like the Levites of the Old Testament, their sole inheritance is the Lord Himself.

Not only are they New Testament Levites, the Seventy are sent as “lambs among wolves,” which implies the sacrificial character of their office and mission.  They will be rejected, as Christ Jesus is, and suffer the consequences of ushering in the Kingdom of God.  They are sent to carry out a cruciform Ministry of preaching and healing, for which they will be met with the hostility of the world and its violence.  Like their Lord Jesus, they will become the sacrificial victims of His Gospel, which calls for repentance and a reversal of the world’s values and priorities.  Hence, they are indeed sacrificial lambs, who are sent with full knowledge of the world’s enmity against them.  But in their proclamation they will show that they are not ashamed of Jesus and His Words.

Moreover, the Seventy carry in themselves, in their own bodies, Jesus’ redemption and His Peace.  For that Peace has come down from heaven in Jesus, and His Apostolic Ministers now bestow it in His Name and by His Word.  As His emissaries, they speak and act in the Name and stead of the Lord Jesus.  And just as St. Paul will later write concerning himself and others, they carry in their bodies the death of Jesus, so that His life may also be manifest in their bodies.

Or again, as we have heard St. Paul describe so vividly in this morning’s Epistle, those who are sent bear in their own bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus.  For those who are sent by Christ bear in themselves, in their conduct of the Ministry, the very Person of Christ Himself — to be received in faith by those who will receive them — but also to bear His Holy Cross and Passion in the rejection and persecution of those who will not.

So it is that our Lord provides for those situations in which His Apostolic Ministers will be rejected: “Whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you.’”

This is a highly serious matter, one not to be taken lightly.  For a Minister of Christ to shake off the dust from his feet against a town or congregation is to place evidence on record for the Final Judgment, that the Kingdom of God has come to that place, and it has been rejected!

It is for this very reason (among others) that the Seventy are sent out in pairs, two-by-two, in keeping with the Old Testament requirement of at least two witnesses for any legal testimony.  Not only are they sent as witnesses of Christ to those who receive them, but they will also serve as witnesses in the Final Judgment against those who do not receive them.

Whatever the excuses might be, for those who thus reject the Apostolic Ministers of Christ the judgment will be more severe upon them than it is against the wicked Old Testament cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Not only because this sin, above all others, is so terrible, but especially because it is the rejection of the forgiveness and Life and Salvation of Christ Jesus.

But now, by the same token, let the Word of Jesus ring in the ears of those whom He has sent, and in the ears of those, like you, to whom His messengers are sent.  Twice He tells them to say that the Kingdom of God has come near; for in the preaching and healing of His sent ones the Kingdom of God is already a present reality, whereas the kingdom of Satan is firmly defeated.

In the proclamation of the Seventy, and so also in the proclamation of your pastor, week after week throughout the year, throughout your life, the presence of Christ Jesus to redeem a lost and dying world is at hand — ensuring that His Kingdom will triumph — according to His promise, “He who hears you, hears Me.”  And those who thus speak for Christ should not fear any foe, even though Satan himself will assault them for their preaching of Christ and His Word; because Christ Jesus guarantees that nothing of Satan will by any means hurt them.

In the Old Testament Book of Job, Satan is revealed as the accuser of sinners before the judgment seat of God, the prosecuting attorney against mankind.  And sadly enough, we have all provided him with more than enough evidence to convict each and every one of us for all eternity.  But his case against you is thrown out, and he is thrown out, whenever Christ Jesus enters in as your Advocate and your Defender.  By the means of His Gospel–Word and Sacrament, your Lord and Savior interjects Himself and His Cross between you and the judgment of God.  In such a case, Satan has no means or any way of harming you, nor of making any accusation against you stick.

Of course, as he did with Job (under the tolerance of God, who holds all things in His hands), Satan may attack your temporal circumstances, your earthly existence, and your body and life in this world, with all sorts of tricks and trials and temptations and crosses to bear, in an effort to get you to curse God and reject His Christ.  But do not fall for it or succumb to his trap.  It is a lie.

It is not the case that being a Christian will protect you from any and all harm and danger that might come your way in this life.  On the contrary, the Lord promises His people a share in His Cross and suffering.  But in Christ Jesus no such harm and danger will ever put your soul and body under the judgment of eternal damnation.  In Christ you are preserved for His Salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day, but already here with you in the preaching of His Gospel, in His Word of Absolution, and in His Body and Blood, given and poured out for you who are His own.  In fact, already by your Holy Baptism your name has been recorded in the Lord’s Book of eternal Life.

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