Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 5 – 2020

31 March 2020

Text: Mark 14:53-72

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Our Lord’s passion is underway.  He has been arrested and brought to the high priest – where the “chief priests and the elders and the scribes” are in on the conspiracy.  Our Lord’s followers are gone – except for Peter, who perhaps motivated by morbid curiosity, lurks about.  

The court proceedings look like a comedy sketch.  The false witnesses that they had lined up aren’t working out: “their testimony did not agree.” 

Everybody there knew that Jesus was innocent.  And if He is innocent, then He is the Messiah.  And if He is the Messiah, they are not in a position of supremacy.  And what’s more, their Messiah does things that only God can do.  None of His accusers believe that He is an illusionist or a magician.  In fact, our Lord’s arrest warrant as recorded in the Talmud accuses Him of “sorcery,” that is, they admit His supernatural works, but they attribute them to Satan – as if the devil is in the business of making the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk; as if Satan cured lepers and forgave contrite sinners.  They know the truth, but they conspire against it.

What they don’t realize is that God is using them, playing them like violins to carry out His will of redeeming mankind by the sacrifice of the One True Lamb at the cross.

And to show that He is in charge, and not their kangaroo court, our Lord Himself gives them the evidence that their bungling buffoons on the witness stand cannot provide.  In answer to the question, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed,” Jesus replies, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

“I am,” says God in the flesh!  He is the Great I AM; He is God in human form; He is the eternal Son of the eternal Father.  And had these men been faithful sons of Israel and true followers of the eternal God, they would have prostrated themselves before their Messiah.  But they are the spawn of Satan, and they begin to torture and mock Him, in line with their lost, unrepentant souls.

St. Peter denies Him – not in malice, but in weakness.  For when the roster crows, Peter weeps.  Peter and all of the apostles will repent, will be restored, will be forgiven, and will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim Christ to the world with courage and power.  And those who took part in the diabolical conspiracy, in the worlds of the hymn, “deeply wailing, shall their true Messiah see.”  But as for Peter and the apostles, and His disciples of every age, our confession of the Man of Sorrows upon His return will be this: “Thou shalt reign, and Thou alone!”  Amen.

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

Sermon: Judica (Lent 5) - 2020

29 March 2020

Text: John 8:42-59

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The Gospel reading sounds like one of those awkward moments at a family gathering when an angry argument breaks out and the children are shooed off to go outside and play.

If anyone thinks that the message of Jesus and of Christianity is to “be kind,” such a person has clearly never read the Bible – especially the Gospels – and is clueless about Jesus.  Far from being a Mister Rogers character, our Lord often comes on like a bull in a china shop.

Today’s Gospel is an example of this.

Our Lord is actually speaking not to the Pharisees or scribes, but rather to “the Jews who had believed in Him.”  Maybe they did at one time, but instead of abiding in His Word, they are falling back on their old habits of thinking that God owes them grace because they are children of Abraham.  Our Lord basically says, “So what?”

God doesn’t care about the things that matter in this world: who your people are, where you went to school, how much education you have, how much money you make – all of that counts for literally nothing.  No matter who you are or what you are, you’re a poor, miserable sinner, and you need Jesus.

And as our Lord tells His hearers very bluntly: “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and I am here…  He sent Me.”  And He further tells them that they are not tracking with what He is saying because, “You are of your father, the devil.”

Jesus is not trying to win friends and influence people.  He is telling the truth.  He is calling these bitter and entrenched sinners to repent.  He is telling them that they are in eternal peril if they do not turn to Him for help.  This is no time for tea and crumpets.  This is no time for political correctness.  Satan has them in his grip, and they need a dose of the Word of God.  And it is bitter medicine indeed.  It strikes to the essence of their problem: pride.  It is the same sin that drove Satan into rebellion and brought death into the world.  

Instead of falling upon their knees in sorrow, seeking forgiveness and appealing to God’s mercy, our Lord’s hearers just get angry.  They call Jesus a childish racial taunt and then accuse Him of having a demon.

And even in the face of their insults, Jesus is offering them the crown of life: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death.”

And here the Jews become indignant once again that Jesus is not impressed with their descent from Abraham.  “Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died?  And the prophets died!  Who do You make yourself out to be?”

They know what He is saying.  He is confessing to them about Himself, that He is God in the flesh.  They know He is saying this.  They know that He works miracles.  They know that He is not of the devil.  But their sinful hearts, racked with pride, refuse to submit.

Jesus tells them that they only think they know God.  Jesus calls them liars.  And Jesus tells them that “Abraham rejoiced that he would see [Jesus’] day.  He saw it and was glad.”

Now there can be no question that Jesus is claiming to have met Abraham, and that Abraham, the source of their misplaced ethnic pride, is rejoicing because of the coming of Jesus.  The Jews are trying to justify themselves because of their descent from Abraham, when Jesus, who is the very promised Seed of Abraham, who created Abraham, who is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham – plays the Abraham card right back at them.

They mock Jesus because Jesus claims to know Abraham.  They deny the supernatural and that which they cannot explain, saying, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

And here is where Jesus activates their demons of rage: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Jesus says the forbidden words “I am.”  He is telling them that He knows Abraham because He, Jesus, is Abraham’s God.  In the face of this testimony, all they have is blind rage.  They cannot argue against Jesus.  They cannot prove Him wrong.  They cannot explain away His miracles.  And they cannot force Him to be impressed by their family tree.  Jesus has called them sinners, and they refuse to repent.  Instead, “they picked up stones to throw at Him.”  Like their father the devil, they attempt to settle the argument with violence, with murder.  They are filled with hatred, and they cannot just walk away.  The critique of Jesus has stung them to the core.  But still they will not submit.

Dear friends, the Law stings.  As much as we would like to think that God is impressed by us, He isn’t.  The Lord doesn’t care about your ancestors, or if you serve in the church somehow, or if your family has been Lutheran for generations.  God doesn’t judge us based on our perceived good works, because we are so racked with sin that even our good works are not so good.  We are like the Lord’s hearers in the Gospel in that God confronts us with the Ten Commandments, and He doesn’t act like Mister Rogers toward us.

So what should we do, dear friends?  We must confess.  We must repent.  We must beg mercy from Jesus, and acknowledge Him as our only hope for salvation.  And when we do, the sting of the Law is no longer hurled at us.  It is then that Jesus does treat us with kindness and compassion, when He assures us that everything is okay, and that in spite of our sins, we will never see death!

On this day, the mob did not get its wish.  Jesus “hid Himself and went out of the temple.”  This was not His day to die.  But the time was coming when the mob would get its way, when the Jews would turn Jesus over to the Romans on false charges, and when our Lord would allow Himself to be crucified as a ruse to defeat the devil and to be the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

And when we keep His Word, when we confess our sins and also confess Jesus as our Redeemer by means of His death on the cross, it is then that we have the free gift of eternal life.

Let us not be prideful or arrogant, dear brothers and sisters, never taking the attitude that God should be impressed by us or by our pedigree.  Instead, let us love Jesus and seek His grace and mercy – based not on our works, but rather on His works in defeating the devil and reconciling us to the Father by His blood.

Let us put away our foolish pride, and let us humbly rejoice in Jesus, the great I AM: God in the flesh who dies to set us free.  Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 4 – 2020

24 March 2020

Text: Gen 43:1-28

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

God’s plan is good, and it is grounded in His mercy and His love.  But from our perspective, it doesn’t always seem that way.  In fact, God sometimes appears to us to be cruel, or arbitrary, or even out of control.  It seems like there is senseless suffering and pointless events that just look like chaos.

This is captured in the narrative of Joseph, whose jealous brothers sold him into slavery.  And from there, he was falsely accused and imprisoned.  Year after year went by, and innocent Joseph suffered because of his brothers’ wickedness.  And Joseph continued to serve God and His neighbor to the best of his ability, even though it must have been unspeakably frustrating and baffling to him.

But God was with him, and he rose to become the governor of Egypt.  

His father and his brothers faced famine in their homeland, and they went to the breadbasket of the region: Egypt.  And again, God was with Joseph and with his father Jacob, and yes, even with his wicked brothers.  For God had a plan for their survival.  And from this family would come the New and Greater Joseph, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose life is previewed by the suffering and the service of Joseph, the savior of his people.

In order to see his younger brother Benjamin (who was jealously protected by his father Jacob), Joseph pretended to suspect his brothers of being spies, and demanded to see Benjamin to check out their story.  He also had money planted into the bags to give them a scare.  And when the grain ran out back home, as “the famine was severe in the land,” their father sent them back to Egypt buy more food.  Reluctantly, he allowed young Benjamin to accompany his brothers. 

The sons of Jacob were very much afraid of Joseph’s wrath, unaware that he was the brother they had betrayed years ago.  And when they were summoned to Joseph’s house, they feared the worst.  Their minds raced, as they went through the worst-case scenario: being accused of theft, being assaulted and sold into slavery, and having their donkeys stolen.  Clearly, they still felt guilt and shame for their crime against Joseph, and they feared that what they had done would be done to them.

But they could not have been more wrong, dear friends!  This was all part of God’s plan to save their old father, to preserve the lives of their wives and children, to keep the nation alive by moving them to the fertile lands of Goshen, and to reconcile them with their brother and forgive their sins!  It is when we think that God must have abandoned us, when our minds race through the worst-case scenario, that we surely must trust that what seems to be bad for us is actually good!  We don’t know the future, but our merciful Lord is the author of the future!

Though we cannot see the meaning of our suffering in the present, our suffering is never meaningless or arbitrary.  God’s plan is unknown to us, and so we must pray for faith: faith to endure, and faith to trust.  And in time, His will shall be revealed, and His mercy shall be manifest, and the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall stand as a beacon – not of mindless suffering, but of love and hope and forgiveness and everlasting life!

In times of suffering, we are called upon to lift our eyes heavenward, to pray that God’s will be done, and to rejoice even in our sufferings, for our Lord Jesus Christ took the suffering of the cross and reconciled us to God.  And only after the blessings have been poured out generously upon us will the suffering of this present time make sense.  Let us, like Joseph’s brothers, hear these words: “Peace to you, do not be afraid.”  Amen.

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

Sermon: Laetare (Lent 4) - 2020

Note: With both the pastor and the deacon being too ill to conduct the service during this period of pandemic, this sermon is being distributed to the parish to be read in the home.

22 March 2020

Text: John 6:1-15

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

We live in an age of convenience.  We have stores open 24 hours.  We enjoy exotic foods from around the world any time we want.  We can choose between dozens of flavors of ice cream, and meats and vegetables, and delicacies are available on demand in our refrigerators and freezers.

We have smartphones and streaming and thousands of TV channels dedicated to every possible interest.  We live longer than our ancestors, and we don’t even have to make or repair our own clothes.  Unlike our ancestors, we don’t have to worry about things like princes going to war against each other and sending soldiers to burn down our houses.  We don’t have to deal with the bubonic plague.

We certainly have it easier than the Lutherans in the 1600s, as the Thirty Years War and the plague wiped out entire populations.  Pastor Martin Rinkart conducted 4,000 funerals – including his wife’s – in a single year.  He did what he could for the starving people – who fought over dead cats and birds in the streets.  In response to this hard life, he wrote the beautiful hymn: “Now Thank We All Our God.”

Our lives are today much easier.  And ironically, that is part of the problem.

It’s hard for us to relate to our Lord’s feeding of the five thousand when we are laden with so much plenty and convenience.  In fact, we might turn up our noses at being offered mere barley bread and fish.  We would certainly be demanding an appetizer and a dessert, and we might even post complaints on Yelp about the meal.

We have lost touch with what it means to be in danger of life and limb, of running into shortages of crucial items, and of our dependence on God for our lives with each breath that we draw.

Our churches throughout the land are shrinking as parishioners are distracted by shiny things on Sunday mornings instead of the one thing needful: the Word of God as delivered in preaching and in the Sacraments.  We see it again and again in Scripture: as the Lord blesses us, we begin to think we don’t need Him.  We turn up our noses at Him.  We despise preaching and His Word. 

And then all of the sudden, everything changes.  

It might be a diagnosis.  It might be a loved one in an accident.  It might be a pandemic and stock market crash.  And then we realize how frail our lives really are, and how dependent we are upon God’s mercy – mercy that we too often take for granted.  And now we are unable to gather in the church to hear the Word of God and to receive the Sacrament.  

Too often, we think we are lords and Jesus is our servant.  We expect Him to do things our way instead of submitting to how He designed things to work.  Every sin, great and small, is a rebellion against the created order.  And in the Scriptures, dear friends, we see it again and again where God’s people grumble and try to tell God how things should be.  But their arrogance is often checked by hunger or sickness or by an invasion by a cruel enemy.  It seems like these are the only times we will fall to our knees, submit to God’s will, and plead for mercy.  

And how quickly everything can change.  

After our Lord fed the five thousand, the crowds had it in their mind to crown Jesus king.  But that was their will, not the Father’s.  For the Father had a different crown in mind for our Lord.  And even as they were preparing to impose their will on Him “by force,” our Lord “withdrew again to the mountains by Himself.”

Yes, indeed, how quickly everything can change.

But one thing that doesn’t change, one thing is constant, and that is the mercy of God shown to us in our crucified and risen Lord.  Jesus will continue to feed us, even though He may well have withdrawn from us for a time.  He has not abandoned us, but He has certainly called us to repent of our ill-placed confidence and our taking for granted the blessings of gathering around the altar, the font, and the pulpit.  

All of the things that distract us from worship – be they sports or vacations or parties or just the feeling of being in control and not having to submit to anyone – have all fallen by the wayside.  We are without excuse, dear brothers and sisters.  We are being called to repentance.  We are being called to humility.  We are being called to fall upon our knees and to give thanks to the Lord for all of the blessings we have taken for granted.  We are being called to pray for mercy and forgiveness and to recommit our lives and our church to the Gospel, for each one of us to join together in a chain that strengthens the faith of each other.  We are being called to put our trust in God, not in princes or presidents or doctors or scientists.  God works through all of these vocations, but it is God who is in charge.  We are called upon to stop praying “My will be done” and once more pray “Thy will be done.”  There is a reason our liturgy includes the prayer: “Lord, have mercy” at the beginning.  How often we just sing these words out of habit.  But this is now our urgent prayer, dear friends. 

We are being called to return to the Word of God, which is more important than any movie or TV show or sporting event that until a few days ago seemed so important.  We are being called to bear one another’s burdens and to love our neighbor.  

We are being called to see ourselves once again as salt and light in the world (instead of just blending in), and to be prepared to live and die as men and women redeemed by Christ Jesus, without rushing into martyrdom, and without fleeing our cross.  We are called to serve in the ways that we are called to serve.  And when we live our lives according to His will, dear friends, we will have joy no matter what comes in this life.  And as we patiently wait for when we can again gather around the altar, the font, and the pulpit, let us look forward in anticipation to the Easter Feast, no matter when it will be celebrated.  

This particular Sunday in Lent is known as Laetare, based on the Latin verb “to be happy.”  It is a little break in the gloom of Lent that looks forward to the joyful celebration of Easter.  It is part of our calling to be salt and light for the world to be seen rejoicing even in the midst of suffering, for this is an act of faith in the promises of Jesus.  

Pastor Rinkart understood this even in the midst of four thousand funerals.  If Jesus could feed five thousand, surely He can, and will, raise the four thousand.  And no matter how our patience is tried by circumstances in this world, we know that a better world is yet to come.

And so, come what may, we can indeed join Pastor Rinkart at the edge of the grave, and we can sing with joy:

Oh, may this bounteous God

Through all our life be near us,

With ever joyful hearts

And blessed peace to cheer us

And keep us in His grace

And guide us when perplexed

And free us from all ills

In this world and the next.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 3 (St. Patrick) – 2020

17 March 2020

Text: Mark 9:33-50

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin,” warns our Blessed Lord, “it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”  For indeed, He “took a child and put him in the midst of them,” and said, “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”

With the current viral epidemic, we are reminded of the need to protect the most vulnerable: including the very young and the very old.  Spiritually, this is also true, as the very old may be tempted to lose their faith in the face of their mortality, and the very young are still undergoing spiritual formation.  We especially protect young people from sin, as they may not yet understand the consequences, or are so young as to not be able to physically resist one bigger and stronger, especially those they trust.

In our degraded culture, children are special targets for abuse, and to our dismay, we learn that often those most in a position of trust, be they clergy, scout leaders, teachers, and even relatives, are the ones causing these little ones to sin.  

We must learn to see sin like we see the current virus.  Some demographics are much more susceptible to sin, and sin spreads like a virus from person to person.  Young people who grow up confused about gender and sex issues were very often abused as children.  And what’s more, they often grow up to commit similar abuses themselves.  

And like diseases of which there is no cure and no vaccination, we must look to prevention.  We are called upon to resist sin.  Our Lord puts it figuratively when He says: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.”  Better to quarantine ourselves from sin by cutting off temptation and not placing ourselves where the virus of sin can multiply and spread.  We should put procedures in place to protect everyone from abuse.  And just as we should wash our hands frequently in these trying times of the Corona Virus, we should also remember our baptisms frequently, pray, study God’s Word, and fortify ourselves with the Medicine of Immortality, that is, the Lord’s Supper. 

We honor St. Patrick today, who was captured from Britain and enslaved in Ireland as a teenager.  He escaped and turned to Jesus for help.  And rather than respond with hatred, he returned to Ireland, this time as a missionary and bishop, bringing the Irish to our Lord Jesus Christ.  He wrote the hymn we sang today that is still used to cast out the devil in exorcisms.  We bind ourselves to the Trinity, the name in which we were baptized, the name by which sin, death, and the devil have been conquered!

We will not eliminate sin in this life and this fallen world, dear friends, but our Lord urges us to repent, to hear the Gospel, and to serve our neighbors, especially children, in actively resisting the devil.  And thanks be to God we have the ultimate antidote to sin, even Jesus Christ our Lord!  Amen.

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

Sermon: Oculi (Lent 3) - 2020

15 March 2020

Text: Luke 11:14-28 (Ex 8:16-24, Eph 5:1-9)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Jesus casts out a demon, and He is accused by His enemies of being demonic.  Our Lord points out that this makes no sense.  He asks rhetorically, “If Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?” 

He then points out He is actually casting out demons “by the finger of God” and that “the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

Jesus casts our demons by His command.  In a very real way, the Word of Jesus is the finger of God.  The finger of God is His Word.  He points to the demons and they scatter.  For Jesus is God and He commands all things – even the demons.  The Word of God is all powerful – even in times of plagues and fear.

The “finger of God” was how Pharaoh’s magicians explained the plagues of Egypt.  For they could not replicate them.  And this was offensive to Pharaoh, who considered himself to be a god.  The true “finger of God” was calling Pharaoh to repent, and commanding him to let the Israelites leave.  And the “finger of God” provided protection for God’s people – even in a time of these plagues, when fear and chaos reigned supreme.  It is in such times that we need to remind ourselves who actually reigns supreme, as well as to put our trust in the finger of God, that is, His Word!

When our Lord cast our demons and was accused of being in league with the devil, He proved through plain logic that this could not be so.  

He also warns of the necessity of remaining on guard even after a demon has been cast out.  For they can indeed come back, and come back worse than the first time, as it “goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there.  And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Jesus is warning us to put away all evil, to repent, and to put our houses in order, swept clean.  But it is important to remain vigilant, to keep the house clean, so that evil doesn’t return with a vengeance.

How are we to do this, dear friends?  Our Lord tells us at the end of this account, as a well-intentioned woman gave praise to our Lord’s mother.  And it is well-deserved praise, she is indeed blessed, and confessed as much in the Scriptures for “all generations.”  But our Lord responds by saying, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.”

An even greater blessing – even than the blessing of having carried the baby God in her womb, having nursed Him and raised Him – is in hearing the Word of God and keeping it.

It is the Word of God that casts out demons.  It is the Word of God that protects us in trying times.  It is the Word of God that comforts us even in the face of death.  It is the Word of God that forgives our sins.  It is the Word of God that defeats the devil.  It is the Word of God that transforms us by God’s grace and love.

It is the Word of God that empowers us in times of trial. 

And this is why we need the Word of God now more than ever.  We hear the Word proclaimed, and we eat and drink the Word of God in the Sacrament of the Altar.  And while the world around us is in a state of panic, we Christians can be calm, having heard the Word of God, knowing that the finger of God protects us, and having partaken of the Medicine of Immortality: the body and blood of Jesus.

But what does it mean to hear the Word of God “and keep it”?  One translation of the Bible translates “keep” as “obey.”  And yes, we should obey the Word of God, we should obey the Law.  But the Scriptures are more than just the Law, and the word “keep” is not the same as the word “obey.”  This word “keep” is the same Greek word as the word used a few verses before: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe.”  The same word is used for “guard” and for “keep.”  For our treasure is the Word of God, His promises, the Law and the Gospel from the Holy Scriptures.  Our treasure is our reflection and meditation on the Word of God.  And we “guard” our treasure by “keeping” the Word, that is by guarding it in our hearts, by meditating on it, by believing it. 

“Faith comes by hearing,” says St. Paul, “and hearing by the Word of Christ.”  The Word of Christ is the finger of God.  It is God’s Word that we turn to in times of trial.  It is God’s Word that we look to for protection.  It is God’s Word that casts out demons.  It is God’s Word that delivers assurance and faith to us.

And indeed it is good to act prudently when there is sickness.  But panic never helps anything.  According to God’s Word, we can indeed remain calm and take reasonable measures to protect the vulnerable from sickness.  And at the same time, we, the Church, continue to gather.  The Word of God is still proclaimed and preached to everyone who is able to assemble.  We Christians continue to gather around the altar and partake of our Lord Jesus, who promises to be with us even unto eternity.  And for those who are unable to gather with us, the Word and the Sacrament will go to them.

In times of trial, we are reminded that we live in a fallen world, a world of diseases and mortality.  We are reminded of the fallen nature of humanity, as we see shameful behavior in the world as people fear for their lives.  We see displays of self-preservation at the expense of love.  

But we Christians are also given opportunities to love and serve our neighbors.  We are given the opportunity to set an example of calm to the world, because we trust in God.  We act wisely, but without panic.  For the finger of God is upon us, even as we were baptized and born again as His people – like His people that were spared the plagues in Egypt, and who were led to the Promised Land.

We do not have to kowtow to demons or Pharaohs.  We do not have to remain trapped in sin.  We do not have to live as if death has mastery over us.  Yes, we live in the fallen world, but we know that a better world is to come.  We walk in danger, but we walk with Jesus.

As we boldly sing in the hymn:

I walk with Jesus all the way,

His guidance never fails me;

Within His wounds I find a stay

When Satan’s pow’r assails me;

And by His footsteps led,

My path I safely tread.

No evil leads my soul astray;

I walk with Jesus all the way.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Funeral of Gay Dingler

11 March 2020

Text: John 14:1-6 (Isa 25:6-9, 1 Cor 13:1-13)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Dear Joe, Michael, Michelle, Mark, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and honored guests: Peace be with you!

For some of you, today will rank among the most difficult days that you have had to experience, as the burden of losing a loved one, a dear one, a beloved one such as Gay, presses hard upon us.  And yet, there is indeed comfort in the love of family and friends who draw together, grieving together, remembering together, crying together, and even laughing together.

And especially you, Joe, you are blessed to have such loving, devoted children and a family that you and Gay brought into the world to bring you comfort even in a time such as this.

And the greatest comfort is found in the Word of God.  For there is Good News there.  The Scriptures testify of our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered and died to pay for our sins, and who rose again to destroy death, and to turn the grave into something temporary.

We Christians mourn the loss of our loved ones.  We sure do.  But as St. Paul says, we don’t mourn as unbelievers do, for we have hope: hope of the resurrection according to the Lord’s promise.  And keep in mind what “resurrection” means: it means to be raised again in the body.  We Christians don’t believe that we die and live as spirits forever in heaven, playing a harp in the clouds.  We Christians do not believe that our loved ones become angels.  Angels don’t have bodies.  They are spirits.  They cannot eat.  They cannot embrace loved ones.  They cannot marry or have children or grandchildren.  Angels cannot participate in Taco Tuesday.  No indeed, becoming an angel is not what our Lord has in store for our dear sister in Christ, Gay Elizabeth Hamilton Dingler.  Instead, the Lord promises to raise her, bodily, from the dead.

All of the precious memories that I have heard from Gay’s family involve joys of the body: the look on her face as loved ones came to visit, her tears of joy upon being with grandchildren, and yes, Taco Tuesdays and cookouts.  Gay is not an angel, she is a human being created in the image of God!  She is a bodily person unique in the history of humanity.  And because of sin, because our world is fallen, because our ancestors fell into sin, because we too sin – we are mortal.  We die.  But thanks be to God that Jesus says He has gone to “prepare a place for” Gay and for us.  Angels don’t need a “place.”  But we, who live in bodies, do!  Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many rooms.”  He has prepared a room for Gay, so that her face can again light up when loved ones visit.  Scripture speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, and the restoration of our bodies – without age, without sickness, without wearing out. 

When Gay was bodily baptized into Christ, she received the promise of the “resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”  And when I would bring her the body and blood of Christ – as her health often made it difficult for her to come forward – she received her Lord bodily from my hand.  She needed Christ brought to her, because she recognized her need and knew just what He promised her!  She was overjoyed when Joe was baptized and was unquestionably brought into the promise with her.  At every service, Gay confessed her own sinfulness, and she confessed Jesus as her Savior.  And what this means, dear friends, is that our mourning is temporary.  For we all await the resurrection and our eternal reunion in the flesh, in our bodies, where we will once more eat and drink and embrace and look one another in the eyes – never again to be separated, and never again to endure age and suffering.  Never again, dear brothers and sisters!  This is not my promise, it is Christ’s promise!  It is why He came into our world.  It is why Gay was baptized.

For listen again to what eternity is like from the prophet Isaiah; “On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.”  Again, this is not the life of angels, but of human beings created bodily in God’s image, made perfect through our Lord Jesus Christ.  “He will swallow up death forever,” says the Lord.  “The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.”  “Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

Many of Gay’s beloved friends know her from her tireless work as a nurse: ministering to the needs of the body.  And this is a holy vocation of compassion, a work of love for people who are suffering in their bodies.  Again, this is not something the angels can relate to: only fleshly human beings.  Love is not a feeling or emotion; love is action based on self-denial and thinking of others.  Gay’s service as a nurse was a reflection of the love of Christ for all of us.  He worked through her.  Her vocation is a mirror of the Lord’s mercy that expressed itself in His healing of the sick.  The nurse’s work is at times hard and unpleasant, but it is an offering of love.

And we are called to emulate the virtues of the saints, to see how they loved others, and we, looking to Christ, conform our lives into this pattern of love.  And though in this life, we are imperfect, we recognize love: It is patient and kind, it doesn’t envy or boast, it isn’t arrogant or rude, it isn’t self-directed or mean-spirited or filled with resentment.  Rather love “rejoices with the truth.  It “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  And as St. Paul teaches us in the Holy Scriptures, “the greatest of these [virtues] is love.” 

Christ loves Gay.  He placed His own name on her in Holy Baptism.  He fed her with His body and blood.  He strengthened her faith.  He worked through her own love and compassion and calling to serve her husband, her children, her grandchildren, and many, many of her friends in this life – even total strangers!  And Jesus has now called her home to be with Him.  Jesus has prepared a place for Gay, and He will raise her in the body on the last day.

There will be more Taco Tuesdays and opportunities to share a joyful meal together.  There will be tears of reunion, and hugs, and the joy of being together in bodies restored to perfection.  We will see her again, and we will rejoice.  We will be in the presence of Jesus, and we will be the people that we were created to be all along.  God will “wipe away tears from all faces.”  And we indeed have a place prepared by our Lord Jesus Christ, a place of many rooms in our Father’s house. 

And again, as difficult as it is to say goodbye for the time being, we will once more greet one another in eternity.  And this, dear friends, is what St. Paul means by “hope.”  We have “hope” because we have the promise.  Yes, we mourn, but we mourn in the joyful expectation of eternity: an eternity of life in bodies that will never again be parted from one another.  And this is how it is that our Lord invites us right here and right now, through our tears, and in the midst of sorrow, to laugh defiantly at the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh.  For the Lord’s promise is for Gay, for you, for me, and for all who believe.  We are being prepared day by day to be reunited.  And we look forward to it!

Peace be with you!  Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 2 – 2020

10 March 2020

Text: Mark 6:35-56

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Mark shares with us three miracles in one short reading: our Lord’s feeding of the five thousand, His walking on the water, and His healing of many sick people.  None of these can be explained by natural means.  None of these can be replicated by magicians or charlatans.  And it is clear that Jesus is demonstrating who He is and what He has come to do.  

In the feeding of the five thousand, our Lord shows His mastery over the elements.  For Him, creation is not a limitation, but rather creation must bend to His will, for He is the Creator!  From galaxies to electrons, all things are under His command and function according to His divine purpose.  It is our own rebellion from the Lord’s ordering of the universe that has caused all discord in our world – including scarcity and hunger.  Jesus takes mastery over the forces of chaos, places things in order, and shows His love and mercy of His fallen creatures by feeding them!

When the Lord walks on the water to be with His disciples, who were struggling against the wind, He demonstrates His mastery over the forces of nature: by walking on the water and by calming the winds by His command.  The disciples are still reeling from the last miracle.  Jesus tells them: “Take heart; it is I.  Do not be afraid.”  We need not fear even things of nature, for He is the author of the laws of the universe, and He is merciful to us.

In Genesaret, people all over the region bring their sick to Jesus.  In curing them, He again demonstrates His mastery over viruses, broken bodies, and other infirmities of the body.  Jesus again teaches us that all of our illnesses and griefs are not as creation was meant to be, and in forgiving sin; in crushing the head of the serpent, that is, the devil; and in destroying death; He has come to restore that which is broken: that which we, by our sins, have destroyed.  

And the Lord knows that His disciples’ hearts are “hardened,” that our faith in Him is lacking.  He has come to demonstrate who He is by signs, and also to make explicit that His incarnation is a mission of mercy, and indeed, the ultimate act of love.

Let us not harden our hearts, dear friends.  Let us look to the Word to inform us about our Lord and Master, who commands the elements, the weather, and even diseases, who has come to restore the broken and heal the infirm – and to do so at the cross, and at the empty tomb.  Let us indeed heed the Lord’s gracious invitation to “Take heart…. Do not be afraid.”  Let us rejoice in His salvation, and let us not fear, but believe!  Amen.

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