Sermon: Ash Wednesday – 2025

5 March 2025

Text: Matt 6:1-21

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Jesus calls us to repent.  Lent is a time for self-reflection and self-examination.  It is a time of what St. Paul calls “mortification of the flesh,” which means “self-discipline.”  We are especially mindful this time of year to take sin seriously.  We often complain about our fallen world, and we are quick to point fingers and blame others.  But what we need to be doing is looking in the mirror.

And if you look in the mirror today, you will see a reminder on your forehead.  It is not a reminder of how you are better than others because you came to church, or because you have a cross on your forehead or around your neck.  You see a reminder that you are a poor, miserable sinner, and that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

It’s easy to forget this, dear friends.  We don’t like to think about it.  We don’t like to be reminded that we will die.  I don’t like to be reminded that I will trace the cross on the forehead of the bodies of many of my parishioners when they lay in the casket.  We don’t like to be reminded that we are sinners, and we certainly don’t like to be called to repentance. 

Jesus implores us to “practice righteousness,” but we are not to parade our good works in front of others “in order to be seen by them.”  For that is no good work at all.  In fact, that’s part of the problem and why you have a cross on your forehead, why I’m reminding you of your mortality.  Jesus says: “Stop it.”

Jesus says that we are required to “give to the needy.”  We are required to pray.  We are required to fast.  But we are not to make a show of it before other people.  For when we do such things, we convert good works into sins.  And we poor, miserable sinners are good at that.  We can even turn confessing Jesus into a sin, if it is done with pride.

So by pride, can we turn receiving ashes on the forehead into sin?  Can we sin by going to church?  Can we sin by prayer and Bible-reading and fasting?  Yes we can.  Can we sin by not receiving ashes on the forehead, not going to church, not praying, and not reading the Bible?  Yes, we can do that too.  We’re good at sinning, and we like it.  And that is the problem.

The ashes on your forehead are not a symbol of how good you are, dear friends.  Just the opposite.  They are a sign telling the world that you are a poor, miserable sinner who needs to repent.  They are a confession that because of our sins, we will return to dust.  They are not a boast, but rather a humiliation.  But they are a reminder.

Lent is more than one day, dear friends.  Lent is a forty day journey of giving to the needy, of prayer, and of fasting.  It is a time to hear the Word of God and the preaching of the Word calling you to repentance.  It is also a time to hear the Lord’s words of absolution.  This is a time of the Law, but it is also a time of the Gospel: of the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake.

And that, dear friends, is why the ashes take the shape of a cross.  The cross is a symbol of death, a reminder of law and order, of the penalty for transgression of the Law.  It is a reminder of what Jesus has done for us: dying on the cross so that we can live, shouldering our sins so that we can be forgiven, bearing the burden of the Law so that we can live in the Gospel. 

And as Christians, as those who have been forgiven not because we are good, but because Jesus is perfect, not because we have done good works, but because of Jesus’ perfect works, not because we go to church, but because Jesus has brought us into His church – this cross, and all crosses, are reminders.

“Remember, O man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

And remember that you cannot save yourself.  Your works – even your good works – are hopelessly tainted and corrupted by sin.  You are helpless and dying.  But you are not hopeless and not eternally dying.  You are forgiven because of the cross of Jesus.  You are made alive because of the resurrection of Jesus.  You are assured of salvation because of the atonement of Jesus.

You are also called to remember, O man, your forgiveness when absolution is pronounced over you by authority and command and assurance of Jesus.  You are called to remember the Good News of what our Lord has done for us in the Holy Scriptures and in the preaching of the Word of God.  You are called to remember “the forgiveness of sins” in Christ’s blood when you receive His true body and blood “in memory” of Him.  And you are also called to remember your Holy Baptism, when you were born again and washed of your sins, when you were claimed by the Triune God to be a child of God (“and so we are,” as St. John says). 

You are Christians, dear friends.  And this is nothing about which to boast.  You did nothing (except sin).  Jesus did everything (except sin).  You are capable of no good works (they are Christ working in you through the Holy Spirit).  You have no boast before the world other than Christ and His cross.

Our confession before one another and before the world is that we are poor, miserable sinners, and we are dust and to dust we shall return.  We are marked for death.  But it is also our confession that our hope is in Christ, in the cross, in His grace and mercy. 

We will leave this Divine Service in silence.  Mardi Gras is over.  Today is not a day of feasting.  It is a somber day of reflection.  This is a season of giving to the needy, of prayer, and of fasting.  It is a time of remembrance and a time of self-examination.  This is our forty days in the wilderness to face the devil.  But we do not face him alone, dear friends.  For Jesus is with us.  His Word sustains us.  His Sacrament fortifies us.  And the reminders that we have – the ashes, the cross, and most importantly, our baptism – all point us to Him who gives us forgiveness and life and salvation.

And even in this time of somber remembrance, we are still glad, dear friends.  For we take to heart the words of the hymn:

So we with all our hearts each day

To You our glad thanksgiving pay,
Then walk obedient to Your Word,
And now and ever praise You, Lord.

 Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Jan 28, 2025

28 Jan 2025

Text: Rom 16:17-27

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Paul concludes his letter to the Christians in Rome with a warning: “Watch out.”  He bids Christians to be on alert for “those who cause divisions and create obstacles.”  They do this “contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.”  Paul is referring to the doctrine that he has taught in his preaching, teaching, and letters – which are recorded for us in the New Testament.  This doctrine is the apostolic doctrine.  And as for those who defy the apostolic doctrine, the apostle says: “Avoid them.”

For a long time, modern Christianity has been watered down into a mush of a motto: “Be nice.”  Or as it is more likely to be said today: “Be kind.”  We live in a culture that values individualism to the point where truth itself has been turned into an individual preference: my truth, your truth, his truth, her truth, and even zir truth.  And since truth has become a matter of individual assertion, to deny someone else’s “truth” is seen as “unkind.”  Therefore, according to this unchristian doctrine, it is unchristian to question a man who claims to be a woman, or even a girl who claims to be a cat.  The Christian and apostolic doctrine is that Jesus is not simply “a truth,” but rather “the truth” (John 14:6), and furthermore, that this objective truth “will set you free” (John 8:32).  The world cannot abide this doctrine.

As for those who teach contrary to the apostolic doctrine and contrary to the truth, we are to “avoid them.”

This is also seen as unchristian by the kindness-cult: to avoid people.  This is a violation of the world’s doctrine of “inclusiveness.”  But St. Paul explains that we avoid such people because, “such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.”  And what’s more, their opinions don’t simply stay with the false teachers, since “by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve.” 

It is easy to downgrade the importance of holding fast to the doctrine of Jesus and the apostles.  We can always compromise a little here and a little there, especially in conforming to the world’s “kindness” and “inclusiveness” doctrines.  And little by little, not only our doctrine, but our faith becomes compromised and watered down.  Emphasizing “kindness” over truth leads to a “deeds not creeds” kind of Christianity that will, in turn, destroy our “obedience.”  This is why Paul warns us: “I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.”  Satan is the father of lies and the opponent to the truth, and Paul assures us that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

Let us pay heed to St. Paul’s warning, even as he counseled Timothy: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching [doctrine]. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”  The truth embedded in Paul’s doctrine, “according to the command of the eternal God,” will “bring about the obedience of faith.” 

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Amen. 

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy - Jan 21, 2025

21 Jan 2025

Text: Rom 10:1-21

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Paul laments that most of his countrymen rejected Jesus as the Messiah.  And he analyzes why this is.  Following mainly the lead of the Pharisees, those who rejected Jesus, did so because they rejected the Gospel: which is “the righteousness based on faith.”  Instead, they sought “the righteousness that is based on the law.”  In other words, this is the distinction between justification by grace – which is received by faith – (Eph 2:8-9) vs. the justification that one can earn by perfectly obeying the Law (Luke 10:28).

Justification by the Gospel (as opposed to the Law) is based on the person of Christ: “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” as Paul quotes Deuteronomy (30:14).  Of course, the Word is both the Incarnate Jesus (John 1:14) and “the word of faith that we proclaim.”  And here, St. Paul reveals the truth of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ – who both ascended “into heaven” and descended “into the abyss.”  This is one of those texts of Scripture that are clear and impossible to distort or interpret away: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  This is the Gospel, and Christianity itself is the very Good News of justification by grace, through faith, for the sake of Christ, as testified in the Scriptures.

And the Scriptures are consistent, with the New Testament completing the Old, with Jesus fulfilling the Law (Matt 5:17), with the sacrifice that covered Adam and Eve’s shame (Gen 3:21) being brought to completion on the cross by the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

So what does this mean, dear friends?  It means we now understand fully the Word of God in the Old Testament, as Paul cites it again and again: “Everyone who believes in Him shall not be put to shame” (Ps 25:3).  St. Paul’s Jewish countrymen – trapped in the delusion that they could keep the Law and earn salvation by works – rejected the very grace of God that is for all: both “Jew and Greek.” 

And this is why we are here right now, dear friends: you who hear this Gospel, and I who proclaim it.  For “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.”  And this is not new in the sense that this is something innovative that changes the Old Testament.  For Isaiah was also a preacher of the Word of Christ, and he asks a rhetorical question (as does St Paul so often): “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” (Isa 53:1).  But it is new in that it has been fully revealed to the world – and also to you as a beloved creature of God hearing this Gospel at this very moment.  God wants you to believe, so He wants you to hear this Good News.  In order to hear it, you need someone to preach it (that is, to proclaim it).  And in order to have a preacher, he must be sent.  And this, dear friends, is how justification happens: not by your perfection in keeping the Law, but in your believing the Word of God that is preached to you by one who has been called and ordained for that purpose, who proclaims the Word of God, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us joyfully confess Him: God in the flesh, who as our High Priest offered Himself as the Lamb for our justification, so that we can be declared righteous before God.  Let us believe that Word, and let us proclaim it and let us confess it – whether we are preachers or hearers.  We have Good News for a world that desperately needs to hear it and believe it: both “Jew and Greek.” 

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord” – our Lord Jesus Christ – “will be saved.”

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Jan 14, 2025

14 Jan 2025

Text: Rom 5:1-21

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

“We rejoice in our sufferings,” says St. Paul.  And the apostle goes on to say that suffering leads to endurance, to character, and to hope.  Some Christians in history took this verse out of context and intentionally inflicted suffering upon themselves.  Suffering became a kind of sacrament to some people, even to the point of beating themselves bloody. 

Suffering is part of what it means to live in a fallen world.  God told Eve that “in pain” she would “bring forth children.”  God told Adam that “by the sweat of [his] face” he would eke out a living, and then he would die (Gen 3:16, 19).  And the first two children born to Adam and Eve would give us the first murder, and a banishment of the murderer.  Ever since the fall, philosophers have tried to make sense of suffering.  Stoics reacted to suffering with willpower, seeing suffering as a good thing.  To this day, we have the expression, “No pain, no gain.”

But what is the context here, dear friends?  Paul says, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Because of God’s grace shown us through the cross, through the suffering and death of Jesus, and because we receive this gift by faith – we see suffering in a different light. 

We don’t see suffering as our friend, as something we rush to inflict on ourselves.  As our Lord said, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt 6:34).  We Christians neither seek out suffering as evidence of our salvation, nor see it as evidence of God’s rejection.  Rather we understand that it is part of the fallen world.  We understand that suffering and death are alien to God’s good creation.  We understand that we are sinful and fallen and this is why we suffer.  But we also confess that because of the suffering and death that Jesus took upon Himself at His passion and death, out of love for us, to be the atoning sacrifice for us, to destroy sin, death, and the devil for us – suffering is a defanged and defeated enemy.  Because we know that suffering is temporary and death is transitory – we can endure these things. 

We see this when the daughters of Eve overcome the pain of childbirth.  Our Lord points this out that “when a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world” (John 16:21).  Her suffering, though it is a result of sin and the fall, has become a defeated enemy, and her love for the child overcomes the suffering.  We see this in the sons of Adam who labor, who fight in wars, and who give their lives for that which they love, be it their God, the church, their country, or their families.  We see St. Stephen rejoicing in His own suffering and death: “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 8:56).

Our suffering is not only a reminder of our fallenness, but also a reminder of our Lord’s passion and death – and His resurrection, His atonement for us, and His defeat of the very evil which caused our suffering to begin with.  We mock death with St. Paul, “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55).   And as Paul says, this is “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”  This is true as the apostle says, “since we have been justified by faith,” and because “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

And this is why, dear brothers and sisters, we have overcome suffering and death, not as Stoics, but as Christians.  Since “we have also obtained this access by faith into this grace in which we stand, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings.” 

As the apostle Paul teaches us, in times of want and in times of plenty, we can indeed “do all things through Him who strengthens” us (Phil 4:12-13).  And “if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom 14:8).  And as the apostle Peter teaches us: “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  To Him be the dominion forever and ever” (1 Pet 5:10-11).

Amen.

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

Sermon: Epiphany (observed) – 2025

5 January 2025

Text: Matt 2:1-12 

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

“Behold, the Lord, the Ruler has come, and the kingdom and the power and the glory are in His hand.” 

Today we are observing the Feast of the Epiphany – closing out the Christmas season, and moving on to the next phase of our Lord’s life.  The coming of the wise men is so associated with Christmas that we include the “wise men from the east” in our artwork depicting the nativity of our Lord.

And since art has to depict them somehow, we usually show three of them, wearing crowns, and they are often illustrated as being of different races.  Strictly speaking, we don’t know how many of them there were, or that they were each of a different race.  And there’s nothing to indicate that they were kings.

Even our translation into English as “wise men” isn’t quite accurate.  Sometimes we call them the “magi,” which is based on the Greek word that Matthew uses.  It’s where we get the word “magic.”  In reality, these visitors were probably Pagan priests who practiced astrology.  They came because they “saw His star when it rose.”  They made the long journey from Persia or Babylon to Judea because this event – the birth of Jesus – was that important.  They knew it was world-changing.

We focus on the expensive gifts that they brought: the gold, frankincense, and myrrh – but it is easy to overlook the most important offering of the wise men: their worship.

“For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.”

Word that Pagan priests from the east were looking for a Jewish baby to worship (meaning that they believed that God had been born in human flesh) was troubling to the people of Jerusalem.  But what was especially troubling to King Herod (who was really a phony king installed by the Romans), was that the magi also referred to the baby they were looking for as the one “who has been born king of the Jews.”

Herod, who called himself the “king of the Jews” was not born as the king.  He wasn’t even actually Jewish. So Herod suddenly became interested in what the Scriptures had to say about the Messiah, the Christ. 

So the coming of the wise men was a big deal.  It set off a lot of rumors, and maybe even – at least in Herod’s mind – fueled talk of a revolution, of a new king and a new dynasty being installed.  And after not really caring about what the Bible had to say, the king ordered the “chief priests and scribes” to blow off the dust from the old scrolls (that it sounds like everyone was ignoring when they were read when the people gathered for worship), and “inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” 

And in the little book of Micah, they found that the Christ was to be born in the little town of Bethlehem.  And that the Christ was to be a “ruler” and a “shepherd” of Israel.  And far from being excited, Herod was frightened and filled with rage.  And like every criminal, he worked “secretly,” holding a meeting with the wise men to find out “what time the star had appeared.”  And Herod had a plan.  He sent the wise men to Bethlehem to do the work of hunting down the Christ child.  He told them to come back and “bring me word” when “you have found Him” so that “I too may come and worship Him.”  It’s a pretty good plan, except for God has other plans.  And God used Herod and the Scriptures and the star to lead the magi to Jesus.

“And going into the house they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him.  Then opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.  And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”

Herod’s plan did not work.  We know what his Plan B was: to murder all of the boys born in Bethlehem in the last two years.  Herod’s soldiers put all the baby boys to the sword except one: for once again, God thwarted Herod’s plan, and the Holy Family fled to Egypt on the advice of the “angel of the Lord.”  The Herod family did not love anything about the nation they ruled.  They only loved power.  They did not even love their own family, and they would murder each other in order to keep power.  But God protected the real King Jesus, and Mary and Joseph, from harm.

The way the wise men are illustrated in art is not biblically accurate in the sense that we don’t know how many there were, or that they were kings, or what they looked like.  But again, if you’re going to paint a picture or make a sculpture, you have to picture them somehow.  Christian art is a confession.  For the wise men are teaching us something – and they are teaching us about the most important subject of all: our Lord Jesus Christ.

In showing them as kings, we see an image of Jesus that is biblical.  For in the Book of Revelation, Jesus is revealed as “King of kings” and “Lord of lords.”  Even kings take off their crowns to bow before King Jesus.  And even the phony kings of the Jews, like the criminal Herod family, will bow down before King Jesus and acknowledge Him.  They tried to kill Him, but they will be judged by Him. 

And we see three wise men in our art.  This is helpful because there are three gifts that they are bringing.  But it is also helpful because in former times, mankind was divided into three races.  And we often see the wise men shown as these three races: European, African, and Asian.  For Jesus has come as not only the one born as the King of the Jews – as the wise men confessed at His birth, and as Pontius Pilate would confess at His death – but as the King of all: Jews and Gentiles.  Jesus is even the king of Pagan priests who look into the sky for signs.  We don’t know for sure, but it is also likely that the wise men from the east had the Old Testament scrolls, and they were not only guided by the stars, but by the Word of God.  For the Jews were exiled in Babylon for seventy years, and the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians. 

However they found out, these magi – these Pagan priests, these wise men from the east – made their way to Bethlehem, and were part of God’s plan to reveal the birth of Jesus to the whole world.  And interestingly, God used these Gentile foreigners to announce to the Jews and their rulers that the King of the Jews, the Ruler and Shepherd of Israel, had been born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet Micah said He would be.  And we see the most powerful men in Jerusalem having no power at all over this baby, His mother, and His stepfather. 

But again, dear friends, the most important thing about the wise men, and about the art that we have that depicts them, is that they are bowing to worship Jesus.  For Jesus is not only the King of kings and Lord of lords, He is the Lord God, the Word Made Flesh.  This was revealed to the magi, and they do, in fact, fall down before Jesus, and they worship Him.  It is in this worship that they offer Him their finest treasures.

These foreigners, these Gentiles, these Pagan astrologers, are indeed “wise men,” for the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  They are our teachers, for they teach us who Jesus is, and that we should worship Him as well.  We bring Him our gifts.  We confess Him as the Christ, the King of the Jews, but also the King of all men, the King of all creation. 

And even in this year of our Lord 2025, to say that “Jesus is King” is offensive to some people: the Herods of this world who are invested in their own power, and to Pagans who – unlike the magi – refuse to worship and confess Jesus as Lord.  But we are wise to learn from these wise men, to fall down before our Lord Jesus Christ, to search the Scriptures, and to search the world, for where Jesus is to be found, to come into His physical presence, to confess Him as King and to worship Him as Lord.

Wise men “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” the powerful and the lowly, Jews and Gentiles, men, women, and children, do as the magi: they go to where Jesus is present, and they worship Him.  For He is not only our King and our God, but also our Savior: the Savior of the Nations who has come to save us, shepherd us, rule us, and ransom us. 

“Behold, the Lord, the Ruler has come, and the kingdom and the power and the glory are in His hand.”  

Amen.

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