The Word of Faith That Is Preached to You

In the beginning was the Word, by whom and for whom all things exist, and without whom there is nothing.  He alone is your Light, your Life and your Salvation.

This same divine and living Word has become flesh and dwells with you in love.

He has become flesh to bear your sins in His own Body to the Cross, and to shed His holy, precious Blood for you, in order to atone for all your sins and to redeem you, to justify you with His righteousness and reconcile you to God the Father, to sanctify you with His own Holy Spirit, and to share with you His own divine, eternal life.

He is the true Passover Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world — who takes upon Himself and takes away your sin — who covers you with His Blood and feeds you with His flesh.

In order that you may behold Him, and recognize Him, and receive Him as the Christ, your Savior and your God, the Lord has sent the Forerunner to preach repentance, in order to make a disciple of you by baptizing and catechizing you.

Apart from this Word and Sacrament (the Ministry of repentance for the forgiveness of sins) you cannot even see the Lord Jesus.  Far less could you come to Him, believe in Him, or follow Him.

It is by the Word and Spirit of Christ, by the preaching of Christ Jesus, that you are pointed to Him and brought to Him in faith.  Whereas, without His Word, you remain utterly in the dark, subject to death and damnation.  Thus, not only all of creation, but everything pertaining to faith and life and godliness depends upon the preaching of the Word of Christ.  Otherwise, you have nothing.

It is for your sake, for your life and salvation, that the one true God has opened His mouth in love and spoken His Word to you, and thereby breathed His living and Life-giving Spirit into your body and soul.  And with this divine and holy preaching of God Himself, He has established for you, and for His whole Christian Church on earth, a most sacred tradition of the Word, that is, a handing over of the Son of God from heaven to earth, from then till now, from God the Father unto you.

The Father speaks forth His Son to make the heavens and the earth, and to create man in His Image.  The Father speaks forth the same only-begotten Son in the flesh, to bear your sin and be your Savior.  And as the Father has thus spoken, so does the Son speak His Word to you, which is Spirit and Life.  He speaks to you by the ministers of His Word, called and sent in His Name.

And by that Word that is preached to you, far more than simple information is conveyed.  Indeed, the very Lamb of God is manifested to you, and you are called to repentance, to faith and life in Him, through His free and full forgiveness of all your sins.

That is what this Word does: It forgives you.  And by this Holy Absolution, this Word of forgive-ness, you know the one true God as your own dear Father; you live and abide with Him in peace.

This God and Father still speaks His Son to you.  He sends His man, John, to go before His face to prepare His way — to prepare you for His Advent (His coming) — and to point Him out to you: the Lamb of God, who saves you.  And He sends His servants, Andrew and Simon Peter, His James and John and Paul, His Richard and David and others, to preach the one Lord Jesus Christ to you — to bring you to Christ Jesus in faith, and to bring you to Himself in Christ.

Now, then, what is it that you seek?  Is it not life, and a place to live, a place to call home?

That life and home are in Christ; and Christ is here for you in His Word of the Gospel: He is so very near to you, in your ears, in your heart, and even in your mouth.  First of all as He speaks His forgiveness of your sins, and bestows His peace upon you, and feeds you in body and soul with His holy body and precious blood.  And as He thus gives you life, by grace through faith in Him, so does He open your lips to declare His praise, and He opens your mouth to confess His Name.

You, then, carry on this sacred tradition of the Word: Speak as you are spoken to.  As you have heard, so also believe, and call upon the Name of the Lord.  Pray and confess His Word.  Speak Christ Jesus to your neighbors, beginning first of all with your own family, your spouse, your parents and your children, your brothers and sisters.  And speak to the members of your true and permanent family, that is, to your brothers and sisters in Christ — as Brother Andrew spoke to Brother Simon.  For you belong to them, and they belong to you, as fellow members of one Body in Christ, His holy Church.  For His sake, speak in holy love and with free and full forgiveness.

Do you find yourself speaking otherwise, and not with such grace and evangelical eloquence?

Hear and heed the Word of Christ to you: Repent of your sins and follow Him.  Come, hear and see where He lives, and how He lives.  Receive His hospitality and abide with Him.  For He is your Teacher, and He catechizes you for life.  He has died for you and shed His blood for you, but see, He has also risen from the dead and lives for you, as well.  The very blood that He has shed for you now anoints you with His Holy Spirit and fills you with His righteousness and peace.

Taste and see that He is good — in Him is Life, and that Life is your Light and your Salvation.  Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away your sins.  You are forgiven.  You are His very own.

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

The Lord of the Donkeys

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 might appear to be free.  But you are not.  You are tied up and owned by other lords.  Unused and useless.  Unclothed, unbridled, unneeded.  But not free, and not safe.

And then Christ Jesus sends His disciples to release you from your bonds and set you free, to clothe you with the garments of a disciple, and to set Christ Himself upon you.  Not that He would burden you, but that He would be your gracious Lord and King.

In fact, for you and your salvation the Lord Jesus Christ has Himself become a donkey, as it were, a beast of burden.  For He carries all your guilt and sin and shame in His own body to the Cross, and He carries you also on His back through death into life.

In His descending, you are raised up.  He goes up to Jerusalem, yes, because He is offered up to the Father as the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world.  But He thus comes 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 and condemns you, and would rebuke your worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.  But He has come to establish righteousness for you, to save you by His grace, and to grant you safety, peace, and rest in the midst of His Jerusalem.  He receives your praise, as He receives you.

He does not condemn you, nor cast you away from His presence, but has called you to Himself.  He does not rebuke or reject you, but calls you to rejoice in His salvation and His righteousness.

For God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.  And as there is now peace in heaven, in the heart of God the Father toward 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.

Now He calls you to be reconciled to Him.  For He would convert your stony, idolatrous heart into a heart of flesh — to love and trust in Him, your 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 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 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, in your frailty and 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 by His grace in the Gospel.  So, again, be at peace with Him, as He is indeed at peace with you.  And so do I also rejoice and give thanks for your faith and life.

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, 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 for your help, but look for ways to love and serve them, as Christ has come to help you when you did not know Him.  Do not speak ill of your neighbor, nor cause him any hurt in his body, his family, his home, or his honor, but let all your words be gracious and all your actions graceful toward him.

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, 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.

Be the colt that carries Him.  Be and live as 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 and the grave into the life everlasting.

Let your outer garments be trampled under His feet on His way of the Cross, so that you may be clothed with new vestments, 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?

Has He not signed you — also in your body and your flesh, upon your forehead and your breast — 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 and releases you from the bondage of your sin and death.

If you now bear the Christ 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.

For, behold, there is yet another donkey here 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 Jesus — so does He also send His disciples 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.

The Lord has need of bread and wine.  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, and pours out His holy, 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 would 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.

He is a greater and more faithful King than even David, a better and far wiser Son than Solomon.  He is Himself your righteousness and holiness.  He is Himself your safety, peace, and rest.

That is why we shout aloud, and cry out, and greatly rejoice.  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 here and now, and in heaven hereafter.

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

The Thanksgiving of Christ Our Savior

The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land through Jesus Christ, the beloved Son.

In order to do so, He has first of all come to find you and has met you in a foreign land, on the outskirts, where you have been cut off and separated from Him and from your neighbors.

Because you are sinful and unclean, you have been subject to death and to every sickness and sorrow of heart and mind, body and soul.  You cannot cleanse or heal yourself, nor can you feed and clothe and shelter yourself.  You cannot raise yourself from death to life.  But you must wait upon the Lord, and listen for His voice, and meet Him where and when He comes to you.

Watch and wait, therefore, in the faith and confidence that He has come near to you, here and now, with tender compassion for you, with grace, mercy, and peace, and with all that you need.

The dear Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, has come to provide you with all good things and, above all, to raise you up and bring you, in and with Himself, into the good land He has promised, a place of perfect peace and rest, the home where righteousness dwells.  He brings you in His own Body to the heavenly and holy city, New Jerusalem, and into the Temple made without hands, eternal in the heavens — into the very Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum of the Holy Triune God.

He brings you into that good land through the wilderness of sin and death.  And you survive that difficult and dangerous journey, in spite of your frailty and weakness, and even though it is very hard, because He daily and richly provides you with clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, or with tent and shelter of some kind, with family and friends and whatever else is necessary — not only for this poor life of labor, but for your body and soul unto the life everlasting.

This present wilderness is not pointless in the meantime.  It is a pilgrimage of repentance, of faith and forgiveness, whereby you learn to recognize both your own mortality and the Lord’s mercy.  You learn to confess your sin, your sickness and sorrow, but also His salvation.  You learn to call upon His Name in every trouble — by prayer and supplication with praise and thanksgiving — to ask Him and thank Him because He is good and His mercy endures forever.

He brings you through this wilderness, through this vale of tears and death, and He catechizes you in this way of repentance, faith and life, prayer and thanksgiving, all by the way of His Cross — in His own Body of blood and flesh like yours — as your merciful and great High Priest.

Consider that.  The almighty and eternal Son of God has come down from heaven to find you in the wilderness, and to lead you through all harm and danger, even through death and the grave, through the baptismal waters of the Jordan, into the good land flowing with milk and honey.

For He is the very Word that proceeds from the mouth of God the Father, who has become flesh so that you may live.  He has given Himself for you and for all, and even now He gives Himself to you as the true Manna from heaven — the living and Life-giving Bread which neither you nor your fathers could have known or baked up, but God the Father has opened His hand to give you.

But He is more than even all that.

He is more than you could ever have asked or imagined.  He is more than a new and better Moses, and more than a new and better Joshua.  He is more than your Prophet, Priest, and King, and more than the Food and Drink which now sustain you on the way.

He is the Sacrifice of Atonement for all your sins.  His Blood has made peace and reconciled you to God the Father.  Not only that, but His Blood and the water from His side are for your cleansing and refreshment, for the healing of all your diseases and the quenching of your deepest thirst.

And in His Body of flesh and blood, He is also the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving with which you enter the presence of God, a fragrant offering, acceptable and pleasing.

Take this to heart, and rejoice!  Not only does God give Himself to you in Christ Jesus, but He also brings you to Himself in thanksgiving through the same Lord Jesus Christ.  For His own Body is the Temple of God, wherein you approach and draw near, and wherein you live and abide in the glorious divine presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and forever.

Everything is summed up and centered in the incarnate Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord.  For He is your God, who is with you and for you in the flesh, and He is the sweet-smelling sacrifice and the incense of your faith and prayer, by which you rise and live unto God.  You pray to the Father in His Name, and through Him you offer thanks and praise — whereas apart from Him even your thanksgiving would fall short and be unacceptable on account of your sin.

You have no access to God apart from Christ Jesus; you would remain cut off and far removed.  But now all the fullness of God dwells with you bodily in the flesh and blood of this incarnate Son.

All of creation is redeemed and sanctified, cleansed and healed and perfected in Him, in His Incarnation, Cross, and Resurrection.  Indeed, all things are made brand new in His Body and by His Blood, the very Feast which is given and poured out for you, here and now, to eat and drink for the forgiveness of all your sins, for life and salvation with God in Christ.

Now, then, with your body, and so too with your heart and mind, soul and spirit, give glory to God, worship Him, and give Him thanks and praise, by receiving this heavenly Manna and spiritual Drink at His Word.  Open your hand to receive what God here opens His hand to give.  Open your mouth and be fed.  And when you have eaten and are satisfied, open your mouth to bless the Lord and praise His Name by confessing the good Word that He has spoken to you.

As everything is a gift of God’s grace to you in Christ Jesus, there is nothing for you to do for Him or give to Him but to return thanks.  And your thanksgiving is joined to the flesh and blood of Christ, also by His grace, through faith in His Gospel–Word and Sacrament.

Your whole life, in fact, is offered as a living sacrifice of thanksgiving to God — that you might praise Him with your body and your whole being — by loving your neighbor, as the Lord your God loves you in Christ.  Therefore, that which you hear and receive from Him, put into practice by speaking and giving to your neighbor in His Name.  Feed and clothe, shelter and protect your neighbor, for the Lord your God daily and richly does these things for you.

Live by faith in His Word, and walk according to His commandments, because He is bringing you into the good land that He has promised to you.  To live in such a way, according to His Word — in faith toward Him and in fervent love toward one another — in Christ Jesus — is already to begin living the heavenly life on earth.

It is to live the life of God Himself, as He has lived for you, in the flesh, on earth as it is in heaven.

And in that same Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, in His Body of flesh and blood — in His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension — you have already passed out of the wilderness through death and the grave into the life everlasting, by way of your Holy Baptism in His Name.

That is how safe you are, and how safe and secure your body and your life are — hidden with Christ in God.  And that is how sure and certain your salvation is, now and forevermore.

See here, how He so graciously and so generously opens up His hand to feed you with Himself and to satisfy you in body and soul with all that you need.  For He forgives you with His holy and precious Blood, He feeds you with His own Body, and He renews your life by His good Spirit.

All glory, honor, worship, praise, and thanksgiving to Him who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Caring for Widows in the Lord's House

It seems natural enough to admire what that poor widow does.  She appears to be acting in faith, trusting God and giving all that she has to His Church.  To be sure, Jesus does not condemn or criticize her actions.  By the same token, though, He does not praise them, either.  The fact is that we don’t know what was in her heart or in her mind.  We can’t know, but neither do we need to.

While the story of the Widow’s Mite is appealing and endearing, this Holy Gospel has more to do with what Jesus says about the Scribes than with that poor widow and her gift.  It is an example of what the Scribes have brought to pass with their agenda of works righteousness and outward appearances.  Everything has been turned on its head, inside-out and upside-down in the piety and religion of the Jews.  Not for all of them, to be sure, but in many ways for many of the people.

What Jesus does say about the Widow’s Mite anticipates what He will go on to say in the next chapter about the Temple — the very heart of the Jewish religion — and how He, Jesus, by His own self-sacrifice upon the Cross, will really shake things up and turn them on their head again!

For the time being, though, our Lord addresses the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the Scribes.  Watch out for them, He warns, because their whole aim in life and in their piety has been to impress the crowds and attract attention to themselves.  The Scribes, it should be noted, were not the ministers of the church.  They were not the ordained priests who served in the Temple, nor were they teachers of the people like the Pharisees.  The Scribes were professional theologians and church lawyers, so to speak.  Or, we might say, they were the lay leaders and officers of the church, responsible for the rules and regulations of the church constitution and by-laws.

But it was not their position or profession that was problematic in the case of the Scribes.  It was their own sense of self-importance, and the way they put on airs.  They made a prideful show of their leadership, their attention to the details of the Law, and their outward appearance of superior spirituality.  In all of this, they were seeking the praise and adulation of the people.  In doing so, they also established a religious culture and climate and expectation of self-righteousness.

It was by an extension of these attitudes that the Scribes — or rather, to be fair, some of the Scribes — were guilty of devouring the houses of widows.  But such an accusation is more difficult to understand than it might sound.  Certainly, the Scribes would not have engaged in the outright seizing or stealing of property.  That would hardly have made them popular!  Some have suggested that a Scribe might become the legal trustee of a widow’s property, and in that capacity make decisions and investments or charitable contributions that would not be in her best interests.  In my opinion, however, it has far more to do with the very thing that Jesus here points out in the case of the one poor widow who gave her last penny into the Temple treasury.

In the Old Testament, over and over again, the Lord makes clear that His people are to care for the widows and orphans above all, especially because He, the Lord, is the Husband and the Father of His people, and they are to represent Him in their care and service for others.  Along the same lines, St. James writes that true religion which is pure and undefiled before God the Father is to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.  As such, it should have been a distinguishing mark and characteristic of Jewish piety to care and provide for widows.  Instead, the Scribes — by their words and actions, by their standards, expectations, and example — led poor widows to contribute their essential livelihood, even their very last cent, to the care and upkeep of the Temple.

Meanwhile, the wealthier members of the community were more than able to provide all that was really needed.  Indications are that the Temple treasury was abundantly filled and overflowing!

Now, to be clear, it is no indictment of the poor widow in this Holy Gospel that she entrusted all that she had to the Lord’s House.  It likely was an act of faith and trust in God, similar to that of the widow who provided for the Prophet Elijah.  Yet, we have here a striking contrast.  There is the poor widow who should have been receiving help and service from the people and Temple of God, who ends up giving everything she has to the Temple.  And then there are those Scribes who are most interested in receiving the attention, the admiration, and the accolades of the people.

Perhaps a more familiar example of the same sort of problem will help to clarify.  In the Sixteenth Century, the Reformation began as a response to the selling of indulgences in Germany.  Under papal authority, the forgiveness of sins was ostensibly for sale, or so it was thought.  To purchase an indulgence was considered a good work and meritorious, because the proceeds were being used for the beautiful new St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.  Consequently, Dr. Luther criticized not only the whole theological poverty behind the notion and abuse of indulgences, but also the way the poor people of Germany were being pressed into the financial support of a building for the wealthy people of Rome, Italy.  Instead of being served, they were being pressured into sacrifice.

In our own day and age, it has been common enough to become a cliché, the way that so-called televangelists have preyed upon “poor widows” and persuaded them to contribute their life savings in support of some “ministry,” perhaps real or pretend.  And you could probably think of other examples of the many ways that pious, well-meaning, faithful people are led to contribute, even beyond their ability and means, to various religious and charitable causes.  Typically, there is an unspoken premise that, by giving to this or that cause, one avoids or assuages feelings of guilt for not doing something to help.  Instead of guilt, there is supposed to be some kind of spirituality.

But let’s not dwell on the sins of others.  For we fall into the same sort of trap, ourselves, when we become focused on the preservation of our church building for its own sake, for example, or when we focus on our congregation as a human institution, as a social fellowship of like-minded people, instead of fixing our entire faith and focus solely on the Lord Jesus Christ and on His Word and Ministry of the Gospel.  Sadly, it’s far too easy for us poor sinners to be distracted and misled.

How often don’t we get worked up and focused on what we’re doing and what we ought to do; on what we’re giving and what we need to give; on what we have accomplished, or what we’re going to accomplish?  Or, conversely, we get wrapped up in our failures of the past and in our fears for the future.  And then it’s all about “our” church, “our” congregation, “our” programs and problems, and “our” building.  But that kind of superficiality — that religion of outward appearances and human structures — is the same self-righteousness that Jesus criticized in the Scribes, which led to a situation in which a poor widow would give up everything she had to support the Temple.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  The Temple and its sacrificial Liturgy were the very means of grace, established by God Himself, whereby He served and provided for His people with forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  But that, precisely, was the key.  It was the Lord’s means of grace, and His Divine Service, whereby He provided for His people.  It was not something the people did for God, much less for themselves.  Their necessary financial support of the Temple ought to have been understood and offered as a sacrifice of faith and of thanksgiving, in grateful appreciation for and in confident support of that which God by His grace continued to do and supply for them.  And the focus, by all means, needed to remain on the Word and Sacrifices of God, not on the outward beauty and adornment of the Temple buildings, and not on the gifts and sacrifices of the people.

The same thing is true for us in our day, in our own circumstances.  You do have an obligation and responsibility to support the Church on earth with your time and talents, and yes, also with your treasures, in proportion to the measure with which God has blessed you.  And your congregation does need your support, including your financial support, if it is to continue as a part of the Lord’s Church on earth.  So, do give what you are able.  But not for the sake of preserving this building in this place, nor even for the sake of preserving Emmaus Congregation as such.  Give what you can for the sake of the Gospel–Word and Sacraments; for the sake of the Ministry of the Gospel in this place; for the sake of what God is here doing in Christ Jesus for you and for your neighbor.  Give what you can, not to purchase some advantage, but as a sacrifice of faith and thanksgiving.

Guard yourself against the strong temptation to focus on the human structures and their outward appearances.  And don’t kid yourself that you can easily tell the difference and keep things sorted out.  Even the disciples of Jesus were caught up in the impressive beauty of the Temple buildings, as we shall hear next week.  Their eyes went from that poor widow giving everything she had to that beautiful Temple, and they were no doubt thinking how noble and how good and right it was that everyone should so give in support of that proud monument of the Jewish people and religion.

Just as we might easily stand back and admire our beautiful church building, inside and out, which certainly is, in many ways, a tribute to the piety and devotion of the people of God who have gone before us on the corner of Milton & Dale.  But we must also be given that sobering reminder which our Lord then spoke to His disciples, namely, that the Temple would be destroyed, and the entire city of Jerusalem along with it, not one stone left upon another.

And what then?  Would the destruction of the Lord’s House and of the Lord’s Holy City on earth be the end of His Church, as well?  Would that be the end of His Gospel and the worship of His Name?  The end of His forgiveness, life, and salvation?  The end of His people and their hope?

No!  A thousand times, No!  First of all because the Lord Himself and His Word remain forever.  But also because the Lord Himself — in His own Body of flesh and blood — by His sacrificial death upon the Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead — has become the new, divine, eternal Temple of the Living God, in heaven and on earth.  His Sacrifice has accomplished once-for-all the forgiveness of sins, so that no other sacrifice remains except for the sacrifice of faith and of thanksgiving in response to His gifts of life and salvation.

That Temple of His Body, and His gracious gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation, are here for you — not because of this building, nor even because of the faithful members of Emmaus past and present — but because of the Lord and His faithfulness.  Because of His grace and mercy toward you and all His people.  Because of His Word and Holy Spirit.  Because of His preaching of the Gospel, His baptizing and absolving of poor, miserable sinners.  And because He here feeds you with His own holy Body, and He quenches your deepest thirst with His holy, precious Blood.

The Lord uses your gifts to provide for the place and the pastors and the people to make all of these things happen.  But do not ever suppose that the Lord is left depending upon you to support Him.  And do not ever suppose that His Gospel and His gifts are in any way contingent upon you and your sacrifices.  Rather, live by faith that He who created you and all things and still preserves them; who has suffered and died for you, so that you might live with Him in His Kingdom forever; who has caused His Word and Sacraments to be faithfully preached and administered for you and many others in this place — and all around the world, in all times and places, from the fall into sin until the final judgment — He will also, for the sake of His own love and faithfulness, continue to strengthen you and keep you steadfast in His Word and faith unto the life everlasting in Him.

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

Now Joshua Comes Again to Jericho

Now Joshua comes again to Jericho.  Not to bring down the walls, but to raise up the people from death to life, to rescue them from every evil of body and soul.  He comes to save His people from their sins, and to bless His heritage.  And with that, He comes for something more specific and more personal:  To honor one poor man among the many.  To give him hope.  To give him life.  To give him the good land the Lord has promised.  To give him a place in the Kingdom of God.

His disciples and a large crowd accompany Him, as the Israelites followed the Joshua of old.  But the blind beggar by the side of the road perceives something about this Jesus, the Nazarene, more clearly than anyone else at this point.  He hears the Word of the One who has come, and by the Spirit of Christ he acknowledges the promised Son of David, the true King who gives rest.

The blind man’s name is Bartimaeus, the “son of Timaeus,” which is to say, the son of “honor,” of “worthiness” or “worth.”  Yet, look at his predicament!  There’s no presuming of any merit or worthiness here.  He looks not to his own pedigree, but to the House and Lineage of David.

Bartimaeus knows his need, or at least he has begun to know his need in part, and already he has realized that his only hope and help shall be in this Lord Jesus Christ.  In this he sees truly, what even the twelve were not yet able to comprehend.  They have wanted the Lord to share with them His greatness and His glory, and they have offered their boldness, their bravery, and their sacrifice as barter.  But not so, Bartimaeus.  He offers only his blindness, in hopes of regaining his sight.  He pleads not his strength, but his weakness.  Not his contributions, but his emptiness.  Not his honor, but disgrace.  Not his merit, but the grace of God in Christ.

He is a charity case, and he knows it.  And in this beggary of his, blind Bartimaeus worships and honors and glorifies Christ, who comes not to be served but to serve, and to give His life to man.

The beggar receives what he sought, that is, the mercy of the Lord and grace to help in his time of need.  But he is also given far more than he asked.  In regaining the use of his eyes, he begins to realize a much deeper longing and a far greater need, namely, to see God, to behold the glory of Yahweh, and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord — all of this realized in the face of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, along with his eyesight, Bartimaeus receives the Lord Jesus Himself.  He becomes a disciple of the One he has called “Rabboni,” a Teacher.  He begins to follow Jesus “on the way,” that is, to be catechized in the way of the Cross, which is paradoxically the way of Life in Christ.

In calling upon the name of the Lord for mercy, in the hope that he might see, the blind beggar has become a catechumen of the Cross.  In this way he enters with Joshua into the Promised Land, and with the Son of God into the presence of the Father.

So now, the question is: What do you want the Lord Jesus to do for you?  What do you need?

If you are blind or losing your sight, of course you want to see.  You need to see!  But, with or without your eyesight, what is your real blindness?   What is it that you do not see?  What do you refuse or fail to recognize?  What shadow lies upon your heart, what darkness clouds your mind?

If you are hungry, you need food, and you want to be fed.  But as soon as you have eaten your fill, you are seized by some new appetite.  If you are naked, you need clothes; you want to be covered up.  But as soon as you are dressed, you long for some further adornment, beauty, or comfort.

There is no final contentment or satisfaction when it comes to the wants of your flesh, nor with respect to the needs of your body in this life on earth.  For you are dying and wasting away, and no amount of food and clothing, nor anything else, will ever be sufficient to prevent that.  And yet, even so, how easily are you preoccupied with attempts to pamper and preserve your mortal life?

Vanity, the Bible calls it.  Chasing after the wind!  None of it does any good.  But neither should you resort to the opposite extremes, nor succumb to despair.  That, too, is sinful, and useless.

With food and clothing, let us be content.  But even as regards those most basic wants and needs of the body, the Lord teaches you not to be anxious or worry.  Your Father knows what you need, and He will provide for you.  He feeds the birds and clothes the flowers, along with all the wicked who neither know Him nor acknowledge Him.  He shall do no less for you, dear Christian, for you are His beloved child.  He has created you in holy love, and He delights to serve and care for you.

As for you, then, seek the Lord Himself while He may be found.  Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and you shall lack for nothing at all, but everything else shall be added unto you.

That is what you truly need.  But that is also what you cannot see.  That is your real blindness.

We are all blind beggars, that is the truth.  So, then, repent of your pride.  Acknowledge your need.  Call upon the name of the Lord for mercy.  Pray to Him for your daily bread, as He has taught you and invited you to pray.  And doing that, pray also for the true faith which is what you need the most; that the Lord God would grant you patience to wait on Him, and to receive your bread with thanksgiving; and that you would thus learn to live by every Word and promise that He speaks.

Pray to the Lord Jesus for mercy, that you would receive your sight, which is to have faith in His forgiveness of sins.  Pray, then, for the Holy Spirit, which is the gift of God Himself.  Not simply a gift from God, but God the Father gives to you His Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ, His Son.

And then it all gets raucous and scary, as though all hell were breaking loose against you, no less crazy and chaotic, all around you, than when that other Joshua brought down the walls of Jericho and burned the city to the ground.  So it seems there is no hope or help for you.  Partly because the Lord Jesus comes by the way of the Cross, the grace and the glory of which are hidden from sight, whether you have eyes or not.  And partly because there are so many voices, whispering and shouting, within and without, all of them telling you to “sit down” and “shut up.”  As soon as you begin to pray, to call on the name of the Lord, those voices tell you sternly to be quiet.  Loudest among them is God’s own Law, which exposes your sin, your dishonor and unworthiness.

But now God speaks another Word, a different Word, a new and better Word than all those many voices put together.  This Word cuts through all the chaos and the noise, and it reveals to your heart and mind the truth that is hidden from your eyes.  It speaks of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the merciful Son of David, the promised Savior who has come.  He has drawn near.  And though He seems to be passing by and going away, He has now taken His stand both with you and for you.

Take courage!  Arise!  He is calling you to Himself by His Ministry of the Gospel, His preaching of grace and forgiveness.  So He did for Blind Bartimaeus, and so He does for you.  Have no fear, but fix your blind eyes on this Jesus by hearing and heeding His call.  It is a gentle command, or, really, a most gracious invitation.  Not that you must save yourself by some heroic effort, or by some great bold act of courage, but that He has come to save you, and that He is here to help you.

Your dishonor does not disqualify you.  Your unworthiness shall not undo you.  Your beggary honors this Lord Jesus, who is worthy of your petition.  Your need is met with the abundance of His charity.  Bring nothing else than that.  In fact, cast off your own wretched garments, whether fig leaves or fine threads, and be clothed in Christ Jesus, dressed in His glorious righteousness.

Find your life in Him who is calling you to Himself, and follow Him by faith, by the catechesis of His Word, on the Way that brings you into the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

That is what He has already given you, by His grace, in the waters of your Holy Baptism; and that is what your Baptism still indicates for each and every day of your life on earth.  For it is by “streams of water” that the Lord Jesus leads you on a straight and narrow path, that is, by the way of His own Cross, through death and the grave into life and salvation.  You die with Him, in order to live with Him.  That is your vocation, your calling as a Christian, that is, to live and die by faith in Christ according to His Word and Spirit, and so to live before God in righteousness and purity.

For Christ Jesus is your merciful and great High Priest.  Which is another way of saying that He is the new and greater Joshua, who goes before you into a new and better Canaan, crossing over through the waters of the Jordan in order to possess the Land of God and to bestow it upon you.

He has drawn near to you, not only in proximity, but in making your predicament His own.  He is up to His neck and immersed in the same waters that you are drowning in.  Therein He shares your griefs and bears your sorrows.  He fully takes your sin and death upon Himself, your blindness, your poverty and shame, in order to remove the curse.  At the same time, He dedicates Himself entirely to God on your behalf.  He is the sacred Sacrifice, who offers Himself for the Atonement of all sins, for the Redemption of all people, and for the Reconciliation of the entire world to God.

Therefore, He has come, and He has drawn near to you here, in order to take away your sins on the one hand, and on the other hand to gather you to Himself and to bring you near to His own God and Father as a beloved child.  So fully has He taken your place, that His place is now yours.

As you bear His Cross and share His death by your Baptism into Him, so do you also share His bodily Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension in the flesh to the right hand of the Father.

As He has been made perfect in holy faith and holy love by His sacrifice upon the Cross for you, so does He bring you and all your prayers to His God and Father, who is now your own God and Father, in perfect peace.  “By supplication He leads you.”  Which is to say, not only does He ever live to intercede for you, but He Himself is your Prayer in the ears of God, your sweet-smelling Incense in the nostrils of His Father.  As He is thus heard and received in the heavens, in the Holy of Holies made without hands, in the very bosom of the Father, so are you heard and received.

By His own faith and faithfulness, the Lord Jesus upholds and sustains you.  His steadfast love is your salvation, which endures forever and ever.  Indeed, He holds His Priesthood permanently.

In Him, in His Face and in His Flesh, in the Sound of His Voice, which is the Gospel, the true Sun has risen upon you, which shall never go down nor be eclipsed.  He shines on you, and He remains forever your Light and your Salvation.  No more darkness, no more night.  Instead, you live and abide in His glorious, eternal Day — as He abides with you here, and with His Father in heaven.

In Him shall you see God.  As you do even now by faith in His Gospel, so then with your own two eyes, in your own resurrected body, you shall see Him as He is, and you shall be like Him.

Take courage!  Arise!  He is calling you to Himself, to eat and drink, to taste and see, and to live.

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

Remember the Sabbath Day

Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.  Do not despise the preaching of God’s Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.  For it is by this way and means of preaching that God grants you peace and rest through the forgiveness of all your sins and the gracious gift of His life.  And in the receiving and trusting of His gifts, you worship Him by faith in Jesus Christ, His Son.  In fact, that is how you live and do not die: day by day here on earth, and hereafter in eternity.

The way that you live and work and go about the days of your week hinges on whether and how you keep your Sabbath rest.  Do you think of your rest as the due reward of your labor?  Or do you understand your work to be a way of living in the peace and rest that God gives you by His grace?

When you know your life to be from God — in God and with God — and you live your life before God, in His presence, turned toward Him in heart and mind, in body, soul, and spirit, then you have true peace and genuine rest, even as you work hard to do your job.  Even in your death.

But when you work as though to make life for yourself by your labors, and when you live for the accumulation of wealth and riches on earth, then you have no peace and no rest.  Not even when you call it a day and go to bed.  Not even when you’re on vacation, relaxing and living it up.

These are the chronicles of life and death and everything in between.  For the way your life begins, and the way that it will end, ought to inform the way that you live all of your days in between.

The fact is that your life comes entirely from God, and when you die He will be your Judge.  So consider that you were naked when you were born into this world, and even within your clothes and your coffin you’ll be naked before God in the end, when you return to the dust of the earth.  Whatever you may hold in your hands in your life on this earth in the meantime are gifts, not by merit, but by mercy.  And such things on earth are temporary.  So, what shall you do with them?

Ask yourself this question: Who or what is it that you worship with your life?  That is to say, who or what do you serve with your body, with your heart and mind, and with your words and works?

Do you worship the right God in the right way?  Do you fear, love, and trust in the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by faith in His Word?  If so, then you are alive, and you are living by His grace, come hell or high water against you; and even though you die, yet shall you live.

But if you do not love the Lord, the one true God, and if you do not serve and worship only Him, then you are dead and dying in your false belief and sin, which is idolatry, even as you live.

Or, here’s another way to think about it:  What is it that rules your life?  And what, then, does your life look like?  For that is “the kingdom” in which you live, whether of God or the devil.

Real life in the Kingdom of God does not originate with your works, nor does it consist of your wealth, but it is received by faith in the Gospel, and it is lived in love for the sake of Christ Jesus.

To be sure, there are all sorts of wealth and riches in the world to which you are tempted and prone to cling, for which you hunger, strive, and fight, as though your life and happiness depended on such things.  But whether you “have” or “have not,” whether a lot or only a little, it is impossible for you to enter the Kingdom of God by your wealth and riches of whatever sort.

In fact, not only will your “wealth and riches” not get you into heaven; they present a temptation, a covetous desire that actually threatens to consume you, which makes it that much harder and all the more impossible for you to enter into the Kingdom of God at all.  Your stuff stands in the way.

Where, then, is the promise of peace and rest?  It is found only in Christ Jesus, in His Cross and Resurrection; and it is granted to you by His grace in the preaching of His Gospel.  Faith is born of that preaching, as it receives and trusts the promises of God in the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins and the free gift of life; and so does faith have rest and peace in the Lord Jesus.

Listen, then, and hear His Word to you.  He has already made Peace for you by the reconciliation of His Cross.  And He has established Sabbath Rest for you in His Resurrection from the dead, which is your righteousness in the presence of God.  All of this that He has done for you, He desires to share with you, and He does so here and now — Today! — with His voice of mercy.

In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was established with the finished completion of Creation and with the Exodus from Egypt, in order that the Lord might grant rest to His people by His works.

So did God, the Lord, create His people out of nothing, and redeem them out of death into life, out of slavery into freedom.  And He brought them through the desert wilderness, across the Jordan River, into the good land that He had promised, wherein He gave them peace and rest on all sides.

And all these things, which the Lord did for His people then, He has fulfilled in Christ Jesus for you and for all people.  By His Holy Cross and Passion, He has redeemed you from death and damnation, and He calls you out of your slavery to sin into the freedom of His forgiveness.  That is the Sabbath Rest that remains for the people of God, and so also for you, by faith in His Gospel.

And by His Resurrection and Ascension, He brings you and all His people through the waters of Holy Baptism into the heavenly Canaan, into the Kingdom of His God and Father, in His Body.

It was not easy for Him to accomplish this great salvation.  Indeed, how costly and painful it was!  And yet, He has done it gladly and willingly in divine and holy love.

And what He has done and established by His hard work, by His bloody sweat and labor, He grants to you as peace and rest in His means of grace, that is, in Holy Baptism, in the Holy Communion, and everywhere in the Holy Gospel; so that you have Sabbath Rest in Christ Jesus — even as you go about your works of love within your own stations in life — and even as you face your death.

As you have died with Christ and given up everything in your Baptism — renouncing the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh, and laying hold of life in Christ, in His Father and His Spirit — so do you now live and work on earth, in the place where God has stationed you, by faith in Him.

So, too, the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ is your Peace and Rest, here in time and hereafter in eternity.  For all things in heaven and on earth are yours in Him, by grace, through His Cross.

Christ has finished His perfect work on the Sixth Day, Good Friday, atoning for the sins of the whole world and reconciling the world to God.  And He has rested on the Seventh Day, that Holy Saturday, the Sabbath, in order to sanctify your rest in Him, so that even your grave and the graves of all His saints are made holy by His own tomb.

In His Resurrection, His Body has become the first fruits of His New Creation, and His Flesh and Blood are the New Passover, by which He has accomplished the new and greater Exodus.  Indeed, all things are fulfilled, perfected, and made brand new in Him, in His Body of flesh and blood.

Therefore, do not harden your heart by setting it upon your own works or your own wealth, but worship the Lord your God by faith in the Person of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus.  Remember His Sabbath and keep it holy unto yourself by hearing His Gospel, by receiving His mercy and grace, and by eating and drinking His Body and Blood at His Word in faith and with thanksgiving.

For He does remember you with His free and full forgiveness of all your sins, and He sanctifies your body and soul for the life everlasting, and He gives you peace and rest in Himself forever.

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

Christ Jesus Is the One Good Thing

You know the Commandments of God, and you know what they mean:  Do not murder, nor hate, nor harbor anger in your heart against your neighbor.  Do not commit adultery, nor lust with your eyes and your imagination, but cherish and care for your own spouse.  Do not steal, but help to guard and protect your neighbor’s property.  Do not give false testimony, but speak up in defense of your neighbor, in defense of what is good and right and true.  Do not covet, defraud, entice, or scheme to get what is not yours, but be content with what you have.  Honor your father and your mother, serve and obey them, and submit to the authorities whom God has placed over you.

You know what God commands, what He forbids, and what He requires of you.  And you know what He says concerning your life and salvation in Christ Jesus, for in His mercy He has taught you by His Word.  He has given you parents and pastors to instruct you in the Catechism, which is a simple summary of the Holy Scriptures.  You know who God is, and you know what He has said and done from the creation of the world to this day.  You know how to pray, how to examine yourself and confess your sins, and how to worship the Lord your God by faith in His Gospel.

Live, therefore, according to the Word that He has spoken.  Do what He commands, and flee what He forbids.  Exercise yourself in doing what is good, and refrain from doing evil.  Help in all the ways that you are able, as God provides opportunity, and do no hurt nor harm to your neighbor.

That is how you are to live, as God Himself has taught you by His Son.  Only not as though to save yourself or to get life for yourself by your good works.  You are not called to live and work for your own self-advancement, but for the glory of God and the good of your neighbor.

Do good, and not evil, because of God’s command and your neighbor’s need; simply because it is good and right so to do, and this is how you are to live.  Not to gain life for yourself, but to live the life that you are given by the grace of God.

Keep the Commandments in the fear and faith of God.  Knowing and trusting that all things come from Him and depend on Him, and that you live all your days in His presence, do what He says, delight to please Him as your number one criteria, and be more afraid of disobeying Him than you  are of disappointing the people you work so hard to impress.

From a heart of faith, do not merely go through the outward motions of keeping your nose clean and doing your job, although at least that much is your basic duty and responsibility in any case.  But to live as God has created you and called you to live, go about all your days and your deeds actively trusting in Him, loving Him above all else, and loving your neighbor on account of God’s Word, even at the cost of your whole body and life in this world.  Value God more than your life.

More to the point, find your life and fix your hope for this life and the next in Christ Jesus, even as He goes the way of the Cross.  Do not be frightened or despair in the face of death, but trust that Christ will raise you up, as God the Father raises Him from death and the grave to life everlasting.

Follow Christ Jesus on His Way of the Cross, and learn from Him how to live, for He is your Good Teacher.  He alone is good, holy, and righteous, for He is God in the flesh, the Image of God in Man.  And He alone is your Savior, the Author and Giver of Life by His Word and Holy Spirit, by the paradoxical ways and means of His Cross and Resurrection.

Consider how this dear Lord Jesus Christ has lived, and how He has gone to His death in the faith and confidence of His Father, and in steadfast love for God and man.  It is in Him, in His Body and Life, in His Holy Cross and Passion, that the Law is perfected and fulfilled in the perfect faith and holy love that are at the heart of all the Commandments.

Christ Jesus is the “fear, love, and trust in God” in the flesh.  He has not clung to His possessions, nor to His equality with God.  He has not sought to make and establish a life for Himself.  But in the keeping and fulfilling of His Father’s good and acceptable will, He has liquidated everything and worked and suffered for the salvation of the world, for the benefit of poor, miserable sinners.

He has spent His riches and made Himself poor, not with parties and debauchery, but in order to make you wealthy with His righteousness, to give you His divine, eternal life in the Kingdom of His God and Father.  For this purpose, for the sake of your salvation, He took up the Cross and willingly laid down His life.  He shed His blood to ransom you from death and the devil, to atone for all your sins and failures, and to set you free forevermore.  All of this in the confidence that His Father would receive and accept His Sacrifice in peace and vindicate Him in His righteousness.

Now, then, as He is your Good Teacher, your Catechist, and your Pastor, listen to Him, and learn from Him.  Hear and heed His Word to you.  Forsake all else, and follow Him by faith.

He calls you to let go of all the stuff that you rely upon, including your own self-righteousness.  Not because He would deprive you of life and comfort and happiness, but that you would actually receive life, and be comforted, and find true joy and happiness in the Lord your God by faith in His Word, in His Cross and Resurrection, in His free and full forgiveness of your sins.  For you will not live otherwise.  All the stuff in the world will not save you.  There is life in no one but Christ.

Do not give up and go away sad.  Do not despair of any hope or help or happiness, which are here for you in Christ Jesus; not because you are so good, but He is.

Do not harden your heart against Him in unbelief and wickedness, as those who perished in the wilderness did when they rejected the Word of the Lord.  They, too, were baptized in the water with His Word when He brought them through the Red Sea out of Egypt; and they, too, were fed with spiritual food and drink, with bread from heaven and water from the Rock.  And, yet, with most of them God was not pleased, and they died in the desert, because they did not fear, love, and trust in Him.  Heed that warning, and repent of your own sins, lest you also perish in unbelief.

Do not grow complacent or drift away from the Word of the Lord that you have been taught and which you have confessed with your lips.  Continue to hear and receive it, as He speaks to you.  Cling to it in your heart, and exercise it in your own speaking and living.  Do not entertain the lie that it doesn’t matter, nor throw up your hands in resignation as though it were too hard for you.

Truth be told, it is flat out impossible for you.  You could not believe the Word of God by your own reason, wisdom, or strength; far less could you even begin to keep it by any of your powers.

But Christ alone is good.  There is life in no one else but Him.  So, listen up, and learn from Him.

In love for you, He has called you to Himself, to live with Him in His Kingdom forever and ever, in His own righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.  This is the good and gracious will of God for you and your salvation.  And Christ Himself has brought it about by His good works of love.

It is by His mercy and His grace alone, by His Word and Holy Spirit, that you have not been cast away from His presence — you are not sent away — nor are you lost and forsaken.  But you are here because this one Lord, Jesus Christ, has sought you out and found you in love, and He has taught you His Word: Not only His Commandments, which show you how you are to live, but also the charity and forgiveness of His Gospel, by which you have life in Him and live by His Spirit.

He has brought you to repentance, and turned your heart away from sin and false belief, away from your false gods, away from trust in yourself and your possessions, to fear, love, and trust in Him.

Yes, He has put you to death to yourself, but He has made you alive to God, now and forever, in Himself.  He has stripped you of everything with which you have tried to cover yourself, to hide and protect yourself, but He has not left you naked and ashamed.  He has clothed you with His own glorious righteousness and holiness, so that you are now adorned like no rich man on earth ever.

He has brought you here to His Church, to the waters of His Holy Baptism, to the preaching and teaching of His Word, to His Holy Absolution, and to His own Holy Body and precious Blood, the fruits of His Cross, given and poured out for you.  Here is the inheritance of eternal life for you.

Along with all of these most precious and priceless Gifts, I want you to bear in mind that He has also given you to each other — as He has given His Church to you, and you to His Church — to guard and keep each other by His Word.  To encourage and support each other by His Word.  To pray and intercede for each other, but also to seek each other out, to speak the Law and Gospel to each other, and to remind each other of these good things.  Your own catechesis continues in the life of the Church, and so do you catechize your brothers and sisters in Christ by confessing His Word.  So, too, use whatever other means the Lord has placed into your hands to love and serve and care for one another in His Name.  For so does Christ Jesus love and serve and care for you.

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