Sermon: Christmas Day – 2023

25 Dec 2023

Text: John 1:1-18

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The four Gospels introduce us to Jesus.  But only two of them include Christmas: Matthew and Luke.  Mark makes no mention of Christmas, and begins his biography of Jesus at His baptism.  John makes no mention of Christmas and begins His biography with the creation.  It might seem odd that the church fathers decided that on Christmas Day, we would read the beginning of John’s Gospel, without the narrative of our Lord’s birth.

But St. John – who was part of our Lord’s inner circle in His earthly ministry, and appears to be His closest friend – wants you, dear friend, to know who Jesus is.  We all need to know who Jesus is.  The world needs to know who Jesus is. 

For even unbelievers want to claim Jesus as their own.  They want Jesus to approve of their politics and lifestyles.  They desperately want a Jesus who rejects Christians.  They want a safe Jesus, meaning a Jesus who has been dead for two thousand years.  They want a Jesus that they can put words into His mouth.  They want a Jesus that only reflects the parts of the Bible that that they like, but a Jesus whom they can reject when He says inconvenient and hard things that they don’t like.  They want a philosopher Jesus, a nice-guy Jesus, a hippy Jesus, an accepting Jesus.  They want a Jesus who is their sock puppet, and their weapon to use against the church (the same church that is Jesus’ beloved bride).

And this is nothing new, dear friends.  This is why we read John at Christmas, and the world reads “Rudolph” and “Frosty.”  This is why, at the end of the first century AD, John began His Gospel not with a pregnant Mary, but rather with a yet-to-be created universe.  John wants you to know that Jesus is more than a baby in a manger who grew up to be great; John wants you to know, right off the bat, in the beginning of his Gospel, that Jesus is God.

And that, dear friends, is the wonder and the miracle of Christmas: not a cartoon about a talking snowman, not a Santa on 34^th Street, but rather the historical reality of the birth of God in human form.  The first thing that John wants you to know about Jesus is that He was “in the beginning” at creation, and that He is the “Word.”  The Greek word used here for “Word” is the word “Logos.”  It means that before the universe was created, there was a Logos: an already-existing intelligence.  “Logos” is where we get the word “logic.”  The universe was already planned by Jesus before anything existed.  It didn’t happen by accident.

The very first thing that the apostle John wants you to know about His best friend Jesus is that the universe is not an accident – which means that you are not an accident.  The first thing that John wants you to know about Jesus is that Charles Darwin was wrong.  There are some Christians who insist that all of the rules of logic be followed, and so, for example, they reject our Lord’s presence in the Lord’s Supper – since, as they say, “the finite cannot contain the infinite.”  Or to put it more simply, God cannot be contained in a wafer.  That is normally true.  Just like it is normally true that God cannot be contained in the little town of Bethlehem (which means “House of Bread”).  It is normally true that God cannot be contained in a manger (which means “Food trough”).  It is normally true that God cannot be contained in the body of a newborn (whose name “Jesus” means “God Saves,” and whose nickname “Immanuel” means “God With Us.”).

But there is both nothing normal about Jesus, and there is everything normal about Jesus.  Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the wise men saw a baby boy.  The prophets and John the Baptist saw a King.  Pontius Pilate saw an innocent  man rejected by His own people (who did not receive Him), a prisoner who would not cooperate with the judge who wanted to halt His execution.  The apostles, including John, saw a miracle-working God-man who died on a cross and rose again.  Through the lens of the Gospels and the rest of the books of the New Testament, we see the finite containing the infinite.  We see a God who is the Logos, who is not bound to the rules of logic that He Himself established.  We see God contained in the flesh of the man Jesus, and yes, contained in a wafer of bread and a sip of wine that He Himself declares to be His flesh and blood.  Jesus is the almighty Logos, and He is not limited to anything safe or reasonable or politically acceptable.  He is the King of everyone – including the unbelievers.  John wants you to know that this baby we celebrate at Christmas is God Almighty.

For John not only saw Jesus fishing and teaching and eating and weeping and hungry and thirsty and cold and tired, he also saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain in His full, frightening, divine glory, beaming with uncreated, radiant light.  That’s why John says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Every generation has its own darkness, dear friends.  Mary and Joseph lived in dark times of the political oppression of the unbelievers, and their own nation and religious leaders being corrupt hypocrites.  Adam and Eve lived in the darkness of being deceived by the devil and left in the darkness of the shadow of death.  Noah lived in a world so overcome by darkness that God destroyed it all except for eight people.  The prophets lived in such darkness that God had to speak through a handful of men who were usually abused and killed for speaking the Word.  And even after Jesus established His church, we see the church lapse into disbelief and error, again and again: corrupted by wealth and led around by the nose by the forces of this world’s darkness.  And yet, through it all, there is a Light that the darkness simply cannot overcome.  There is the Word.  There is His promise to be with us to the end of the world.  There is His body and blood and the preaching of the Word that delivers the Word.  There is His Word that you are baptized and forgiven by the power of the triune God Himself.

For as John teaches us – which is His only hint at Christmas: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  This miracle, this most illogical happening that we call the Incarnation, is why the ministers kneel in the creed at the point where we confess: “And was made man.”  It is appropriate for you to kneel or bow as well, dear friends, when you say those words: “And was made man.” All of the heavens and the earth kneel before King Jesus at His Incarnation.  “And was made man.”  It is appropriate for all of creation to worship the man Jesus, for as John wants you to know, this man is unlike any other man who has ever lived.  For He is the Word who was there at the beginning.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This baby in the manger is God almighty.  He is here on earth with us for a reason: to die as a man in order to bear the justice that we deserve for our sins.  Jesus has come on a mission of love to those who receive Him.  For “to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

But He is also here on a mission of wrath against His enemies, against those who hate us.  And all of humanity is one or the other, dear friends.  If Jesus is your King, if you believe that He is the Word Made Flesh who has come to redeem you, then He is your Savior: your King who rescues you.  So repent of your sins, and come to where your King is every chance you get.  Read about Him in His Word.  Listen to His Word read and preached in the church that He promises to be with.  Eat His body and drink His blood, and enjoy a mini Christmas every week of your life as you are able.  For “from His fullness, we have received grace upon grace.” 

Merry Christmas!  Christ is King!

Amen.

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

Sermon: Christmas Eve – 2023

24 Dec 2023

Text: Matt 1:18-2:12

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Two of our readings this evening come from St. Matthew’s Gospel, and they show us the coming of Jesus into our world, as well as His reception by those who receive Him.

Matthew is very clear that this is not a legend or a myth.  It’s not just a heart-warming story to make us feel good.  It’s not a morality tale about marginalized ethnicities or Marxist economics.  It has nothing to do with open borders or immigration.  It is a factual account of a miracle.  Or more accurately, it is the factual account of the beginning of the greatest miracles of all: the life, death, resurrection, ongoing Presence, and return of Jesus: who is God in the flesh.

Matthew says: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.”  St. Luke tells us that the birth of Jesus took place during the reign of Caesar Augustus, at the time of his empire-wide census, when “Quirinius was governor of Syria.”  This is not a “once upon a time” tale that happens in a “galaxy far away” in our imaginations.  This is not a fictional story.  This is a historical narrative concerning the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, and it is the beginning of the recounting of the most extraordinary events in the history of the universe. 

The narrative begins with a virgin named Mary, “betrothed to Joseph.” Young Mary is pregnant.  But she is “with child from the Holy Spirit,” just as Isaiah the prophet spoke of seven hundred years before: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”  This name “Immanuel” is Hebrew for “God with us.”  Isaiah’s hearers in 700 BC understood this to be a miraculous sign that would indicate the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, the one who will crush the serpent’s head and save us.  He is the “man of sorrows” that Isaiah also spoke of, a man who is God, the Lamb who takes away our sin.

Things weren’t looking good at the time when Jesus was born.  The people of God were held captive: to their Pagan Roman occupiers, to their fraudulent collaborator half-breed “king,” to their priests and scribes and rabbis – who were self-serving and corrupt.  God’s Word had not been heard from a prophet in four hundred years.  Their situation calls to mind this winter time of year, when the days are shortest and the darkness is the longest. 

But, dear friends, if you read your Bibles, you will recognize the pattern: it is precisely when everything seems hopeless and dead that God plants seeds, brings life out of death, and asserts victory over evil: when it all seems impossible, when it takes a miracle to get out from under the oppressive darkness.

This is when the virgin gives birth: when all hope seemed to be gone.  That’s when our God likes to do His miraculous work the most: when the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh are boasting in their pride, power, and arrogance that they are invincible.  Well, they are not.  They are a house of cards waiting for our Lord to overturn their tables and send their moneychangers fleeing for the exits.  That is how Jesus comes into this world, but He does so as a baby in order to mock them.

His enemies are afraid.  And they should be.  They try to kill Him as a child.  It’s understandable from a strategic point of view.  Satan will later try to tempt Him, but to no avail.  The devil will try to lure Him out of His mission to die for the sins of the world, but Satan’s temptations fall flat.  And today’s world mocks us, and uses our own schools, universities, courts, and laws – that we pay for – against us. Politicians, celebrities, and even leaders of the church to try to defeat our Lord.  But it’s all in vain, dear friends.  Jesus has already won, and so have we. 

A thousand years before our Lord’s birth, His ancestor, King David, wrote in the Psalms: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed [that is, in the Greek of the New Testament, “against His Christ”].”  And they conspire with each other and say, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.  He who sits in the heavens laughs.  The Lord holds them in derision.”  And furthermore, dear friends, the Psalmist tells us that God will “speak to them in His wrath” and He will install His King “on Zion,” on His “holy hill.”  And the Father says to the King: “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.”

Think of how remarkable this is, dear brothers and sisters!  In the worst of times, God comes to the earth Himself, fulfills all of the prophecies of the Old Testament from Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, and God laughs at His enemies, and the enemies of His people.

We live today in a time of apostasy in the church and oppression from outside the church.  But it doesn’t matter.  Jesus is King.  He rules, reigns, and conquers.  He holds His enemies in derision, and protects us from their harm.  We bear the seal on our foreheads: the sign of the cross.  We are marked and claimed by our baptism, and we see the salvation of the entire world in the form of the weakest of the weak: a baby born to a family descended from kings, but who have been reduced to poverty by wicked men.  Nevertheless, the King is still the King, and He remains King to this day.

And indeed, “let earth receive her King.”  Matthew tells us of the “wise men from the east” who have been tipped off about this “great and mighty wonder” in the “little town of Bethlehem.”  They saw His star in the sky, and they came to “worship Him” who “has been born King of the Jews.” 

And the enemies of God know that truth is found in the Word of the God whom they reject, and the phony King Herod’s bureaucrats and hangers-on actually unroll the forgotten scrolls to discover that “Bethlehem, in the land of Judah” is the place.  From there “will come a ruler who will shepherd [God’s] people Israel.”

And so they learn of the birth of the one who is the “Light of the world,” and loving the darkness, they seek to snuff out His light.  Of course, the Lord holds them in derision and laughs at their futility.  God is not mocked.  The Christ child grows and smashes the serpent’s head, crushing the entire Herod crime family, the phony, corrupt leaders of the Jews, and even the Pagan Roman Empire, in the process. 

And as exciting as this account is, dear friends, this is just the beginning of Matthew’s account of the destruction of evil and the triumph of light over darkness, of life over death, of good over evil, of love over hate, of the church over the world. 

I would encourage you to read Matthew’s Gospel.  Don’t be discouraged.  Don’t be put off by the devil, the world, or your sinful flesh not to.  Read it and revel in it.  It is the most exciting and encouraging account in all of human history: when God became a man, lived for us, fought for us, died for us, rose for us, comes to us in Word and Sacrament for us, and is coming again on the Last Day for us.  It is God’s Word.

It is easy to be discouraged by the world around us, to be convinced that all is lost.  But it is not, dear friends.  Shut off the television.  Throw it in the garbage if you need to.  Pick up the Bible and read.  Read Matthew’s Gospel.  Read it, be amazed, and watch your life transform from defeat to victory, from the black pill to the white pill, from pessimism to optimism. 

Yes, I will give you a spoiler: Jesus wins and we win.  Satan doesn’t want you to read it.  Your government doesn’t want you to read it.  Your schools don’t want you to read it.  Your celebrities that you watch don’t want you to read it.  Reading the Scriptures – and partaking in the Divine Service and the Lord’s Supper – are the ultimate acts of rebellion and optimism that allow you to join God in holding our enemies in derision and laughing at them. 

Our victory began with the Incarnation of Jesus, the miracle of Immanuel: God With Us: the fulfillment of the prophets.  And we participate in the miracle by being part of the narrative itself.  So read, dear friends.  Listen, dear friends.  Take, eat, dear friends.  Take, drink, dear friends.  Confess Christ, dear friends.  Join the wise men who looked upon these signs “with great joy” and who “fell down and worshiped Him.”  Let us too give Him our gifts: the gold, frankincense, and myrrh of our very lives.  Let us hold all those who try to snuff out the Light of Christ, who seek to destroy our worship and confession of Him, with derision.  Let us laugh with the God who saves us, with the King who reigns over us, “evermore and evermore!”

Amen.

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

Sermon: Rorate Coeli (Advent 4) – 2023

24 Dec 2023

Text: John 1:19-28

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

“Who are you?”  This strange question was posed to John the Baptist by the Jewish priests and Levites when crowds came pouring into the desert to hear John preach and to be baptized by him.  The question: “Who are you?” was asked out of fear.  Of course, they all knew who he was.  He was the son of an elderly priest named Zechariah and his elderly wife Elizabeth.  They knew that his name was John.  Their question, “Who are you?” was not really asking him who he was.

Some three years later, a similarly strange question was posed to John’s cousin Jesus, not by Jewish priests and Levites, but by the Roman governor.  Jesus was in the custody of Pontius Pilate, and was being interrogated by him.  The Jews told Pilate that Jesus was claiming to be the Son of God.  Pilate’s response is interesting.  He didn’t roll his eyes.  He didn’t laugh at them.  He didn’t tell the priests and the Levites and Jesus Himself to just go home and stop wasting the governor’s time.  Instead, as John writes, Pilate, hearing “this statement… was even more afraid.”  And his question for Jesus was not “Who are you?” but: “Where are You from?”  He too asks this question out of fear.  Of course, Pilate knows where Jesus is from.  He put it on the sign above His cross: Nazareth.  Jesus is a Galilean from Nazareth.  That’s where He’s from.  Pilate’s question, “Where are You from?” was not really asking Jesus where He came from.

Both of these questions are really the same, dear friends.  For the Jews and the Roman governor were both afraid of the supernatural.  They were afraid of the Christ, the Messiah.  The priests and the Levites controlled the people with the Law, and John was preaching without their approval.  Pilate controlled the people by virtue of Roman law and military occupation, and Jesus was preaching as a King – not to mention as the Son of God – without their approval. 

When Jesus was asked this fearful question, “Where are You from?” – He refused to answer it.  And this made Pilate even more afraid, seeking to release Jesus.  When John was asked the fearful question, “Who are you?” – “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’”  For that was their real question.  They knew who John was, but his preaching was so unlike anything that they had ever heard, recognizing it as supernatural, that they were afraid that John might be the Christ.  “I am not the Christ,” John answers.

But the priests and Levites are still afraid.  Their interrogation continues: “Are you Elijah?”  “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” “No.”  And losing patience, they order John to make it clear what his mission is.  “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,” says John, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”  John is confessing that he is not the Christ, the Messiah, but he is the one announcing that the Christ has come – he is the one prophesied by the prophet Isaiah.

John tells them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

And now, the priests and Levites are really afraid.  For John is indeed a fulfillment of prophecy, but one greater than he is already out there: “among you,” says John. 

The priests and Levites were afraid of the coming of the Christ.  So was Pontius Pilate.  So are the rulers of our world today, dear friends.  And so are all unbelievers.  They are terrified.  They cannot abide people wishing one another Merry Christmas.  They cannot stand public nativity displays – either trying to outlaw them, or to put statues of Satan next to them.  They are afraid.  Satan is afraid.  For our Lord did not come into this world to be an example of niceness.  He came to smash the serpent’s head.  He came to call the priests and the Levites to repentance.  He came to call the governors, kings and emperors of this world to repentance.  He came to call each one of us to repentance. 

He has come to retake the world that was taken from him, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. 

Thirty years before this incident in our Gospel reading, where John is asked, “Who are you?” a Jewish king, King Herod, who was actually a puppet of the Romans, was also afraid.  St. Matthew said that he was “troubled.”  For “wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who was born king of the Jews?’”  For Herod thought that he was himself king of the Jews.  He didn’t want any competition.  So Herod “killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region two years old or under.” 

Herod’s son – whose name was Herod Antipas – eventually executed John the Baptist, and also joined Pilate to put Jesus on trial.  Jesus would also die by execution.  For these powerful people: priests, Levites, kings, and governors, all live in fear.  They are afraid of the Christ.  So are presidents and congressmen and senators and governors and justices today, dear friends.  So do people who control our culture through movies and sports and movies.  They are all afraid.  And like the priests and Levites, Herod and Pilate, and like the Roman Emperors that martyred Christians – they fear our King: Jesus.  Even the simple act of saying, “Merry Christmas, Jesus is King” enrages the demons, and the demons inflame our leaders: political and cultural.

And to this day, a lot of people who ask us questions aren’t really asking questions, dear friends.  They are making accusations.  And we should not fear them, and we should not deny, but confess.

We are not the Christ, but we are Christians.  We worship the one born in Bethlehem, and we confess Him to be nothing less than Emmanuel: God with us, the Word Made Flesh, the Son of God and Son of Man, our King, our God, and our Savior.  And no matter what insults or lies or questions that aren’t really questions that they hurl at us, we don’t care.  We will confess, and will not deny, but confess that Jesus is the Christ.  He is our King.  He is their King.  He is the King of the universe.  And He is coming again.

His coming to us the first time, His miraculous conception and birth, His escape from Herod, His perfect life, His ministry of preaching the kingdom, healing the sick, forgiving sins, raising the dead, and shedding His blood for our redemption, His resurrection and His coming again, are all about Him whose coming we celebrate today and tomorrow, and year after year, Christmas after Christmas, until He returns in glory.

When the world asks us who we are, let us confess and not deny, but let us confess that we are Christians: believers in King Jesus our Redeemer.  Let us celebrate Christmas without fear of who might not like it.  We don’t worship priests and Levites and kings and governors.  We join the wise men from the east in worshiping the miraculous baby born to Mary, the Son of God and the Son of Man.  We are not worthy to untie His sandal, but He is worthy to unbind us from our sins and from the power of death, and to restore our bonds to our God that were broken by our fall into sin and rebellion.  He has come to fix it, and to fix it all. 

Let us worship our King, and let those who are terrified of Him repent and join us in our worship of the Christ.  As we earlier sang the words of the prophet Isaiah, let us ponder our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray: “Rain down, you heavens from above, and let the skies pour down the Righteous One; let the earth open her womb, and bring forth Salvation.”  For we know who He is, and we know where He is from!

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Dec 19, 2023

19 Dec 2023

Text: Rev 7:1-17

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. John reports a vision of the future in his Revelation.  As the Lamb tears open the seven seals on a scroll that only He is worthy to open, and as each seal brings forth various horrific things on the earth, we find ourselves in an interlude between seals six and seven.  And John writes what Jesus reveals to him about what is happening to His people, His church, at this time.

We see 144,000 people being “sealed.”  They come from the twelve tribes of the Old Testament, and there are 12 x 12 x 1000 people in all, pointing to both the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles.  We see the glorious vision of the church of all times: Old and New Testament, Jew and Gentile, the redeemed of every tribe and tongue, being “sealed” (Eph 1:13-14, 2 Cor 1:22), set apart and claimed by God the Holy Spirit, even in these times of tribulation. 

But the church doesn’t stop there with the Church Militant, who are enduring the trials of the world as it comes to an end.  We also see the church beyond the veil: the Church Triumphant: “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  And even then, there are more creatures around the throne of the Lamb: “all the angels” and “the elders and the four living creatures.”  The entire heavenly host “fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.”

What a beautiful picture of the Divine Service, dear friends, when we, the 144,000 still on earth, behind the veil, unable to see the Church Triumphant and the Lamb on the throne with our eyes.  Nevertheless, we see by faith, we see by the Word, we see by the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:1) given to John, and given to us!  And we join with those whom we cannot see: “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.”  We do not see the Lamb with our eyes, but we eat His body and drink His blood.  We do not enter the heavenly throne-room, but heaven comes down to us like unto an embassy of our King.  And the joy of the heavenly hosts, the awe and reverence, the triumph of the church because of the triumph of our King are central to our worship: “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, Amen.

Dear friends, let us keep this vision central when we gather with the 144,000 saints on this earth with each and every celebration of the Mass.  And may our celebrants never lose sight of this vision, make themselves into the focus, turn the chancel into a stage, and treat worship as if it were a dinner theater that involves the audience – turning John’s Revelation into a joke.

Worship is no joke.  It is a privilege granted by the King.  It unites us with our departed loved ones.  But more importantly, it draws us by invitation not only into the throne-room, but to the table of our King as His guests.  And even while we of the symbolic 144,000 of the Church Militant, in the words of the great hymn, “feebly struggle,” let us not forget the promise that we will join the Church Triumphant, who “in glory shine.”  For we shine with the reflected light of Him who is the “Light of the World” (John 8:12)!

“For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  Indeed, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb,” now and even unto eternity!

Amen.

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

Sermon: Gaudete (Advent 3) – 2023

17 Dec 2023

Text: Matt 11:2-11 (Isa 40:1-11, 1 Cor 4:1-5)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Today is one of two days in the church year where you look through, as we say in English, “rose-colored glasses.”  This is the third week in Advent, and we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath.  This Sunday is called by its Latin name: “Gaudete,” meaning “Rejoice.”  It is the first word in the opening Psalm known as the Introit.  “Rejoice in the Lord always, again will I say, rejoice” we sang in the antiphon.

Advent is a time when we reflect on our sins and upon the cause of our sinfulness, but we also reflect on how we are forgiven, meaning, our eyes and ears are turned to our King Jesus and His coming to save us. 

And this time of year, you may hear an old English Christmas carol that is not in our hymnal, called “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”  The chorus speaks of “tidings of comfort and joy.”  The author clearly understood why we break out the rose-colored vestments on this day.  For “comfort and joy” go together, and are reflected in our Old Testament reading from Isaiah (as well as our closing hymn), saying, “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.” 

The word “comfort” does require a little thought, dear friends.  For when we 21^st century Americans hear the word “comfort,” we hear it differently than what Isaiah means.  We think of comfort in terms of car seats, the temperature in the house, how our shoes feel, or how our living-room furniture feels.  We live like kings compared to most of the world, or even compared to how our great-grandparents lived.  This kind of comfort is what Jesus speaks of when He mocks King Herod, “a man dressed in soft clothing” who lives in a king’s house.  And that is not what people came to see when they sought out John the Baptist.  They sought the comfort not of a pillow or Egyptian cotton sheets – but rather the comfort of the Word of God.

The prophet Isaiah explains “comfort” in delivering the prophecy as to how the prophet and preacher should speak: “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord double for her sins.”

Isaiah spoke this Word of the Lord when the people had just lost everything.  Their country had been conquered.  Their capital city had been destroyed.  Their temple had been leveled.  They and their children had been captured and enslaved and sent to Babylon, ruled by foreigners of a different religion and language.  And now the prophet speaks of comfort and joy.  And they can only receive this Word of God by faith.  For there is no worldly comfort in Babylon.  There is no soft clothing, and no king’s house for the Israelites, who were being punished for their sin of idolatry and unfaithfulness to the God of their comfort.  They took their comfort for granted.  And now the prophet preaches comfort.

Their comfort is promised, and it is delivered: by the Word of forgiveness: “tidings of comfort and joy.”  But not as this world gives, dear friends.  For “the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.”  The Word of our God is Jesus.  And the Word is also the Scriptures.  And the Word is also preaching.  For the Word of God is comfort: comfort and joy.  Jesus even speaks of the Holy Spirit as “the Comforter.”  The Holy Spirit is the one who gives all of us exiles and sinners comfort by means of the Word, and who commands preachers to “comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.

Jesus offers this same comfort to John the Baptist.  He is in a dungeon.  It is not a comfortable place.  It is not a king’s house.  And John didn’t wear “soft clothing” even when he was free.  John will be put to death by those wicked ones who were made uncomfortable by God’s Word.  John sends messengers to Jesus seeking comfort, “Are you the one?”  John doesn’t ask his cousin, “Can you do a miracle and break me out of here?”  John doesn’t ask for blankets or legal representation to get him more comfortable prison conditions.  John the Baptist is seeking comfort in the Word of God: the word spoken, and the Word Made Flesh.  John is seeking “tidings of comfort and joy.”

Jesus does not send John’s messengers back with chocolates or an order for his release.  Jesus has comfort far greater: the tidings that He is the one: the one prophesied by Isaiah, promised to the patriarchs, and first mentioned at the Garden of Eden as a prophecy of destruction to the devil himself.  Jesus points John’s disciples to what is happening: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”  For John knows the Scriptures.  John knows Genesis and the rest of Moses.  John knows the Psalms.  John knows the prophets.  John is being reminded of the Word of God and its fulfillment in Christ.  For these are the “tidings of comfort and joy” sung by Christmas carolers.  Jesus gives the greatest comfort of all to St. John: Himself and His Word, His promise, His grace, His forgiveness, life, and salvation. 

Even in exile in Babylon, as slaves without a country, the people of God find comfort, yes, even joy, in the Word of God.  Even in a dungeon, John finds comfort, yes, even joy in the Word Made Flesh who fulfills the Word of God.  Even in our own day and age, in our own struggles with sin, death, and the devil, even as we are increasingly under the occupation of those who worship Satan and who wish to exile and imprison us Christians in our own country, we find comfort, comfort and joy, in the Word: the Word of Scripture, the Word proclaimed, the Word Made Flesh. 

For the comfort spoken of by Isaiah has been fulfilled, dear friends: your “warfare has ended,” your “iniquity is pardoned.”  And it really doesn’t matter if we wear soft clothing or rags, and we are comforted by God in His Word whether we live in king’s houses or shacks.  It doesn’t matter if statues of Satan are placed in our rulers’ houses, and our own brother and sister Christians are sent to prison for refusing to bake cakes or take pictures.  Our comfort is in the Word and in its fulfillment.  Our wicked rulers can imprison us, but they cannot take away our comfort and our joy. 

For no matter how much comfort they take in their own wealth, their own soft clothing, their own king’s houses, their statues of Satan, their repressive laws, their vile culture, their hatred of God and of His Word, and of His people – everything that they cherish withers and fades and passes away.  “But the Word of our God will stand forever.”

God’s people regard us preachers of these “tidings of comfort and joy” as “stewards of the mysteries of God.”  The steward does just what the Lord orders them to do through Isaiah: “Comfort, comfort My people…. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.” 

Dear friends, Jesus comforts us with His Word, and just as He comforts His cousin John by “tidings of comfort and joy,” He promises us, His brothers and sisters: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” 

So yes, we wear rose-colored glasses, provided by our Lord Himself by His Word, even in the worst of circumstances.  For our vision is tinted by “tidings of comfort and joy.”  Your warfare is ended.  Your iniquity is pardoned.  For “the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Dec 12, 2023

12 Dec 2023

Text: Jude 1-25

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

We don’t know much about St. Jude, and his book of only 25 verses is like no other book in scripture.  He matter-of-factly recites historical events that are not found in the Old Testament, and he quotes an extrabiblical book called First Enoch.  And even though Jude’s epistle is so small, a good bit of it quotes Peter’s second epistle.  The early church fathers were not universally convinced that Jude’s epistle was inspired, and so it took a while for the church to accept it into the canon of scripture.  But that it did.

And while this little book is easy to overlook – both literally (a single page easily lost between John’s epistles and John’s revelation) and in terms of its use in our worship and prayers, Jude has important things to say to us in these dark and latter days.

With great urgency, St. Jude warns us about “certain people” who have “crept in unnoticed.”  They are “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”  We need to be aware of this infiltration, dear friends, for James urges us that we must “contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.”  The faith is not ours to change at will.  It is an unchanging truth that was “delivered” or “handed over” – literally “traditioned” to the saints by God Himself.  We cannot deny it or change it without peril to our souls, and what’s more, we are to “contend” – that is, to fight, for it.

Jude reminds us that Jesus Himself was in Egypt with the Israelites – and these false teachers had already infiltrated God’s people there.  He reminds us of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, which “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire” and were punished not only by fire here on earth, but also “eternal fire.”  These same infiltrators plague us today, dear friends, “relying on their dreams” instead of God’s Word.  They “defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.”  They pronounce judgments that not even the archangel Michael dared to utter against Satan himself.  These false teachers have a tradition of their own, from Cain, to Balaam, to Korah (who led the rebellion against Moses, engaging in false worship based on their own desires).  And they have been in the New Testament church as well: “hidden reefs at your love feats… shepherds feeding themselves… for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.”  And we still find them in the church today: “grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires… loud-mouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.”

But we are not overcome by these infiltrators.  We were warned that “in the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions” who “cause divisions.”  As for the faithful, Jude bids us to be built up by the “most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.”  But we are not only called to protect ourselves, but to “save others by snatching them out of the fire.”  And the only one who can keep us “from stumbling” and “present [us] blameless before the presence of His glory” is God Himself, “our Savior.”  St. Jude ends his letter the way we Christians end our prayers and hymns: in a doxology of praise to “Jesus Christ our Lord.”  And to Him “be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.”

Amen.

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

Sermon: Populous Zion (Advent 2) and Confirmation of Genevieve Hart – 2023

10 Dec 2023

Text: Luke 21:25-36 (Mal 4:1-6, Rom 15:4-13)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

While the world sings about talking snowmen, a red-nosed reindeer, and roasting chestnuts, here we are among the festive lights and the beauty of this sanctuary listening to Jesus tell us about “signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on in the world.”

We Christians established Christmas as a celebration, because we rejoice in the coming of Jesus: the first time, as a baby in Bethlehem, and also His upcoming return as the King of Glory.  The world has adopted our joy, but rejected the cause of our joy: Jesus.  We don’t rejoice because it is winter, and we like hot chocolate and carols and mulled wine (though we certainly do).  Rather, these things grow out of our celebration that Jesus has come.

But the world wants to celebrate at the same time that we do, though not for the same reasons.  Secular Christmas has its own religion, and even makes use of some Christian rituals, like gift-giving and decorated trees.  But they greet one another in ways so as to remove both Christ and the Mass from their Christ-Mass vocabulary.  “Happy Holidays,” they say, trying desperately to enjoy a Christless holiday, one of “dissipation and drunkenness” – which gives no real joy, but only “hearts… weighed down” by the “cares of this life.”  The world looks upon the fallenness of their own condition, patching over the brokenness with lights and songs and food and drink.  We Christians, rather, rejoice – with lights and songs and food and drink – in the midst of the crumbling world, because we know a better one is coming, because we know that Jesus has come, and that Jesus is coming again.  So we see “these things begin to take place,” and instead of singing sentimental songs about snow and mistletoe, we sing carols that are hymns, rejoicing in the Incarnation and the birth of Jesus.  And we are also so bold as to sing about His coming again in glory.

And while the world begrudgingly admits that Jesus was born, the world denies that He is coming again.  The world denies the power of the cross.  And the world denies that Jesus promises that even after His ascension, He is with us always, even to the end of the world.  For He is with us where two or three gather in His name.  He is with us when His Word is read and preached.  He is with us when we are born again in Holy Baptism.  And He is with us in the Sacrament of the Altar.

Today, our dear sister Genevieve begins her life of taking Holy Communion with us and with the saints of every age, even saints yet to be born who will eat the body and drink the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ until He returns in glory.  Jesus has come, Jesus is coming again, and even in this “little while” in which we don’t see Him, He is still coming to us, dear friends.  For Genevieve, along with the rest of us, was made ready for His coming at her baptism.  And she is ready to receive Him at the altar because of her confession of faith – the faith that the Holy Spirit reveals to us in the form of the Holy Scriptures.  For from them, Genevieve has learned to confess that she is a sinner (just like the rest of us), and that she is forgiven and marked with the sign of the cross forever (just like the rest of us).  She comes to the altar and receives Jesus in His body and blood, given and shed for her, and so do we, dear friends.  It doesn’t matter what distress and perplexity befall the world.  Jesus is still coming.

And Genevieve’s confirmation verse fits nicely with our Gospel.  For St. John recorded our Lord’s comforting promise: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Fear and trembling and anxiety and desperation are the way of the world.  Our leaders tell us to look at the fig tree and panic: by walking instead of driving, by eating bugs, and by watching television all day so that they can tell us how to think (and buy more of their products that they sell us to ease us from the very worry that they themselves stir up).  We Christians have a more excellent way. 

We hear the promise of Jesus: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”  Just as we can look at the trees and know what season it is, we can see the crumbling world around us, knowing that “the kingdom of God is near.”  The kingdom is near, dear friends, because our king is near.  The kingdom comes to us – and today, Genevieve joins us in receiving our King. 

And this is why we decorate trees (for the trees themselves testify of the one who made them), why we adorn our homes and church with lights (for Jesus is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome), and why we sing (for Jesus is coming “with clouds descending”). 

We rejoice as the prophet Malachi shares the Word of God with us: “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.  You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.  And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.”  We rejoice as the apostle Paul shares the Word of God with us: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

And while the unbelieving world is in a panic about “the environment,” “our democracy” “this-ism and that-phobia” and all of the other things that “set them ablaze,” we Christians know what is really going to happen.  We do as our Lord invites us: “stay awake at all times, praying.”  We too see the leaves on the trees and the “signs in sun and moon and stars.” And in seeing the same things that the world sees and panics over, we hear our Lord (who comes to us) say to us: “Now when you see these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” 

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Dec 5, 2023

5 Dec 2023

Text: 2 Pet 2:1-22

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Peter warns us against “false prophets” and “false teachers… even denying the Master who bought them.”  Of course, we expect as much from the world, but Peter warns us that these will come “among you.”  The only way the church can be led astray by false prophets and teachers, dear friends, is if you allow it to happen.  Such wolves in sheep’s clothing rely on your ignorance and your sensuality – and in their greed, “they will exploit you with false words.”

For the response to the false prophets and teachers is either to recognize and reject them, or be fooled by them, lured by them, and follow them. 

We often hear about people being scammed – whether in person, on the phone, or over the internet.  The scammer tells a lie in order to get access to the victim’s money.  The lie will either prey on the victim’s foolishness or his sensuality, that is, his greed.  So the scammer will either tell the victim that a relative is in need of money right now – maybe in a Mexican jail – and there is no time to waste on thinking this through and going through normal channels.  And if the victim is fooled, he will foolishly cooperate with the scammer.  Another technique is for the scammer to appeal to the person’s greed, that if he plays along with the scammer, he will get rich.  If the victim is greedy, he will greedily cooperate with the scammer.

But, dear friends, we have scammers in the church as well.  We saw it in the days of the apostles, with Simon Magus, a grifter who wanted to buy the power of the Holy Spirit.  We heirs of the Reformation are familiar with the old saying: “When the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs.”  And we have all seen the way certain TV preachers have amassed vast wealth by lying about the Word of God, preaching a get-rich-quick style “gospel” that is not the gospel, but just another scam.

However, there are other false teachers who are not so obvious, dear friends.  They are not on TV.  They are not getting rich.  But they are “denying the Master who bought them” in favor of their own heresies and sensuality.  They have corrupted entire church bodies, universities, and seminaries.  They depend upon your ignorance and sensuality to be believed and followed.  They tell you that Jesus is a myth, that scripture is unreliable, that God (if he or she even exists) accepts alternate forms of sexuality, and that if you don’t agree with them, you are the one who is wrong.  St. Peter has warned us, dear friends.  But if Christians do not read his words, if they are not prepared by being well-catechized, if they are focused on their own greed and sensuality instead of a desire to know the truth – they too will be led astray.

And in time, the pupil begins to resemble his master: acting like “irrational animals,” pontificating blasphemously “about matters of which they are ignorant,” “reveling in their deceptions,” “eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin.”  For these false teachers “entice unsteady souls.  They have hearts trained in greed.” 

Dear friends, let us heed the words of St. Peter and of all of scripture.  We cannot heed them unless we read them – and in the words of the ancient prayer: “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” them.  The Word of God not only equips us to recognize and emulate “the Master who bought [us],” but also prepares us to recognize false prophets and teachers when they show up to scam us right into hell. We are not “irrational animals,” but rational image-bearers whom the Master has bought with His own blood.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Ad Te Levavi (Advent 1) – 2023

3 Dec 2023

Text: Matt 21:1-9 (Jer 23:5-8, Rom 13:8-10, 11-14)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

We have begun a new year in the church, and a new season in the church year: Advent.  The church looks different.  We see different sights and colors in the sanctuary.  Our prayers, hymns, and readings are different.  They all point to the coming of Jesus.  In fact, “Advent” means “coming.”

And even surrounded by all of this imagery that points toward Christmas Day, our Gospel reading has to do with Holy Week and the coming of Easter.  It might not make a lot of sense at first, but it really does.  Because in these four weeks leading up to our celebration of our Lord’s coming at Christmas, we are going to consider the various ways our Lord Jesus comes to us. 

And in this Gospel, Jesus “is coming to you.”  And He is coming “humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”  This is one of the many comings of Jesus.  And it might seem strange that St. Matthew, quoting the prophet Zechariah, describes this entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as “humble.”  For here we see Him entering David’s Royal City the same way that David’s eldest son Solomon – who became one of the richest and most famous men in the world.  For Solomon also rode into his father King David’s Royal City.  In fact, King Solomon was riding his father’s donkey in demonstrating his own claim to the throne.

So how can the prophet Zechariah, and the apostle and evangelist Matthew, call this entry of Jesus “humble”?  But, dear friends, it is true.  Jesus is entering the city humbly.  Although the crowds cheer Him, although they hail Him as their King, although they spread their garments on the road before Him, although they strew palm branches along His path, although they shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the Highest!” – Jesus comes to the city not to begin his reign from a golden throne, but on a wooden cross.  Jesus comes to Jerusalem not to judge, but to be judged.  Jesus comes to the people not on a white stallion, but on a donkey, a foal.  Jesus comes not to wear a crown of gold, but a crown of thorns.  Jesus comes not to hold a scepter, but to carry a reed which will be used to strike Him.  Jesus comes not to be adorned with jewels, but to be beaten and inflicted with sores and wounds dripping with His very blood – His royal blood, His saving blood, His blood given to us humbly in the cup, by which He comes humbly to us, in the Sacrament.

Jesus does not come to Jerusalem like a conquering Caesar or general.  He comes humbly.  But, dear friends, nevertheless, He still comes as a conquering God and ruler of the universe.  He comes to defeat sin, death, and the devil.  He comes to take command over His enemies and to reign over the entire world.  And He comes in what appears to us as humility.

It is fitting that we think about Jesus coming to us humbly on this first week of Advent.  For He first came into our world, humble, within the womb of Mary.  He came on what we today call “Christmas” as a newborn baby, and He came nine months before that, even smaller.  And when Jesus came on Christmas, there were no crowds shouting “Hosanna,” only poor, humble shepherds who saw and heard the strange sight of angels singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.”  And the shepherds said, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened.”  And what they found was a young mother, her husband, and a baby in such humble conditions, that He was lying in a manger: which is a food trough for donkeys and colts and other beasts of burden.  Later, wise men from the east would come, and bow humbly before this little child in worship.

Jesus came in His mother’s womb.  Jesus came as a baby, lying in a manger.  Jesus came as the Son of David, “humble, and mounted on a donkey.”  Jesus came as a man of sorrows, a condemned criminal, beaten and humiliated and nailed to a cross.  Jesus came as a victorious man of flesh and blood who left behind His own tomb.  Jesus came as one who gave authority to the apostles to make disciples by preaching and administering sacraments. 

Jesus comes to us week after week, in the Divine Service, in His Word, and in His sacraments, coming humbly through the work of the men He calls: forgiving us, and saving us, with His Real Presence among us.  And Jesus “will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.”

In all of these comings of Jesus, past, present, and future, He comes in love for us: His beloved people, His redeemed, His sheep whom He has ransomed.  And we, dear friends, come humbly as well.  For we have nothing to offer our Lord and our King other than our worship, our thankfulness, and our praise.  We celebrate our Lord’s coming into our world, for in forgiving us, Jesus fulfills the prophecy we heard from Jeremiah: “The days are coming… when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” 

When we reflect upon the Word taking flesh, we reflect upon His humility.  When we reflect upon His crucifixion, we reflect upon His love.  When we reflect upon His resurrection, we reflect upon His mighty power.  When we reflect upon His coming in Word and sacrament, we reflect upon His divine nature.  When we reflect upon His coming again, we reflect upon His rescuing us from a world that is falling apart.

We reflect upon Jesus’ coming, and we do so with joy and wonder and gratitude.  We reflect upon His limitless power, and with His boundless mercy. 

Because Jesus has come into our world as a man, because Jesus comes among us now under the forms of bread and wine, and because Jesus is coming again in glory as the Lord of all, we are given the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. 

Dear friends, this is a busy time of year.  It can be frustrating, tiring, and maybe even a time of sadness for you.  But let us remember that this season is all about Jesus and His coming.  And that He has come to save us, to forgive us, to give us eternal life, and to bring us a new world that will never again see sorrow.  While we are tempted to focus on ourselves, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, for He has come to bring us Good News!  “Besides this, says St. Paul, “you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.  For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” 

Jesus has come.  Jesus comes to us.  Jesus is coming again.  “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”  Amen.

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