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.

Sermon: Reminiscere (Lent 2) - 2020

8 March 2020

Text: Matt 15:21-28

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Are you worthy of God’s mercy?  The easiest way to answer this question is to examine your life in terms of the Ten Commandments?  Do you keep them?

If you say “Yes,” you are definitely unworthy of the Lord’s mercy, for by your own claim that you are perfect, you are saying that you don’t even need God’s mercy.  And you are a liar to boot.  For you know that you don’t keep the commandments.

If you say, “No,” then you are a poor, miserable sinner, in rebellion against God and His Law.  And that being the case, why would you think that you are worthy of God’s mercy?  Why shouldn’t He simply ignore your prayers and let you lie in the bed that you have made?  Why should God even care if demons are oppressing you or a member of your family?  Why should He hear your prayers if you are an outlaw and a traitor?

The Canaanite woman was well aware of her unworthiness.  In the Old Testament, God scolded the Israelites for not exterminating every man, woman, and child among the Canaanites.  According to the Word of God, His Law, and His divine justice, she should not even exist.  And she knew the resentment and the ostracism from the Jews in her own day.

She also had a daughter who was “severely oppressed by a demon.”  It is likely that her daughter was engaging in some kind of evil activity that opened the door to the demonic realm.  Maybe she was engaging in some kind of sorcery or witchcraft, or some kind of wicked behavior that brought Satan in on herself.  

Finally, the Canaanite woman was being ignored by Jesus when she asked for help.  She was also shunned by the disciples, who “came and begged [Jesus], saying, ‘Send her away, for she is crying after us.’”  Jesus even seemed to agree with their annoyance, as He shunned her based on her ethnicity: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Was the Canaanite woman worthy of the mercy she begged for?  Absolutely not.  She was a Gentile, worse yet, a Canaanite, she had a demonic daughter, and she was making a pest of herself to Jesus and the disciples.

And so in her unworthiness, what does she do?  Does she give up and leave?  Does she lash out in anger?  Does she seek to destroy Jesus?  Look at her response, dear friends.  “She came and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

I remember a few years ago, there was a fad among some Christians praying this obscure prayer from First Chronicles in the Old Testament, called the Prayer of Jabez.  Praying this prayer was supposed to be a formula for success and power.  This was, as expected, latched onto by the same people who watch TV preachers and other religious charlatans on crazy cable channels.  

But as far as powerful prayer goes, the prayer of the Canaanite woman is powerful: “Lord, help me.”  It isn’t a very impressive-sounding prayer, like the prayer of Jabez.  It doesn’t have the poetic beauty of our historic collects of the Church.  “Lord, help me” is the prayer of the desperate, and of the prayer of the believer: the one who believes that Jesus will hear and that Jesus will help.  “Lord, help me” is a prayer that acknowledges the Lordship of Jesus, and His mighty power to put right that which is broken.  It is the prayer of a loving mother who believes in the power of Jesus over the devils.  And the power of this prayer is the faith of the one praying – her faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And still, the Lord tests her persistent faith: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

This is rather inflammatory language.  He is comparing a woman who belongs to a race that is often treated as inferior to a dog.  

And notice her response.  She does not deny that she is to be considered a dog.  “Yes, Lord,” she says.  And yet, she prays boldly, as one who is not worthy, saying, “Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

And her admission of unworthiness, and yet her willingness to ask for help from Jesus anyway is a sign of her faith!  Our Lord says so: “O woman, great is your faith!  Be it done for you as you desire.”  And the daughter of the persistent Canaanite woman “was healed instantly.”

Dear friends, we are not worthy of God’s mercy.  And yet, Jesus does not answer our prayers based on our worthiness, rather, He hears our prayers for mercy because He is merciful.  He is worthy to be praised and worshiped.  He is the very definition of love.  He will not refuse the prayer: “Lord, help me.”  He has come into our fallen world for their very purpose.  He comes to help the unworthy and the humble, those who lack worldly standing and power, and those oppressed by the devil.

For indeed, the Master takes care of all of His creatures – even dogs and sparrows and the grass of the field.  He provides food to all, in due season, at the proper time.  He opens His hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing.  And in His open hand is the scar of a nail – the wound of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Lamb who is worthy to open the seals, the Lamb whose blood atones for all of our sin and unworthiness.  

And we too receive the crumbs from the bread of life, dear friends, the small wafer of bread that is truly the body of the Lord, and the small sip of wine that is truly the blood of the Lord.  These are indeed gifts from the Master’s table, the worthy for the unworthy.  But through His worthiness, by His grace, in His mercy, we, the unworthy and declared worthy!

This is the good news that Jesus came to deliver not only to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel,” but to the lost sheep of Canaan, and of Gretna, and of the whole world.  

And when we receive His gospel, His Word, His body, His blood, be assured that the demons are cast out, the devil is in retreat, and our prayer “deliver us from evil” is answered, even as the Lord hears the prayer of the unworthy Canaanite woman.  Let us emulate the persistent faith of this sinner-become-saint in her prayers for help, and let us be made worthy by faith, through grace, by means of the Crucified One, whose worthiness makes us worthy of God’s mercy.  Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Mar 3

3 March 2020

Text: John 11:17-37

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

In the lead-up to the resurrection of Lazarus, the actions conversations are interesting.  Everyone in Bethany is unknowingly on the verge of not just an inexplicable miracle, but also the return of their friend and relative Lazarus, whom they put in the tomb four days ago.  Of course, they are happy to see Jesus, but they would rather that He had come while Lazarus was still alive.  Maybe they even heard from the disciples how Jesus had deliberately delayed coming when Lazarus was critically ill.

We can only imagine the confusion swirling about their minds.

Lazarus’s sisters, Mary and Martha, react differently when they heard that Jesus was coming.  Martha “went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house.”  Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”  There may be a bit of bitterness, or at least regret, in her voice, as she ponders what could have been.  And yet, she still has faith: “But even now,” she says, “But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give You.” 

She then confesses her faith in the resurrection “on the last day.”  Of course, Jesus is the resurrection, and He is the “Last Day” in the sense that He is the fullness of time, the fulfillment of all prophecy, the Alpha and the Omega.  And she confesses Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of God.” 

Upon prompting from Martha, Mary also comes to see Jesus.

Of course, everyone is still mourning.  The weeping even overcomes Jesus, and He joins them in their sorrow.  Even though He has come to conquer death, even though He is on the verge of raising Lazarus from the dead – death is still horrific and sorrowful, the pinnacle of the destruction of sin and the devastation wrought by our fall into temptation.

And finally, there is mockery: “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” someone blurts out.

These are all real, raw, and honest reactions to death: a mixture of sadness, anger, disbelief, and faith that hangs in there even if by a thread.  We too react this way when confronted by death.  Our faith may be shaken.  Our sorrow may seem overwhelming.  But over it all stands Jesus, who weeps with us, but who calls the believers out by name on the last day, reuniting all of us in a glorious life that will have no end.  Let us all see ourselves not only in Mary and Martha and in the mourners, but also in Lazarus, for whom death was but a temporary annoyance.  Amen.

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

Sermon: Invocabit (Lent 1) - 2020

1 March 2020

Text: Matt 4:1-11

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Jesus is tempted, and Jesus overcomes temptation.  And so we are tempted to say, “So what?  He’s God.  He wasn’t really tempted.”  But this is to deny our Lord’s humanity.

It is a mystery, dear friends.  Jesus is completely God, and completely man.  And yet, He is not two Christs, but one Christ.  Theologians have all kinds of technical explanations and terminology for this, but the bottom line is that Jesus is God who broke into space and time – and even into our flesh – to rescue us.  His divinity makes Him the perfect sacrificial Lamb, whose death isn’t a payment for what He deserves, but rather His death pays for what we deserve.  And at the same time, His humanity means that He can, in fact, die.  If He couldn’t die, He couldn’t pay for our sins.

When He was on the cross, He was mocked by those who said: “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself.”  Of course, He could have saved Himself.  It was within His power to come down from the cross.  He could have turned the tables on the world that crucified Him.  But He could not have saved the world by doing so.  So there is some truth in what was said.  His love for us meant that He could not come down from the cross – and at the same time atone for the sins of the world.

Such is our God, about whom we can use the word “can’t” – not for want of power, but because, by His nature, He is incapable of not loving us.  

And so our God in the flesh deals with all of the things we ordinary human beings deal with: anxiety, pain and suffering, and even death.  Jesus suffers all of these things even as we do, only He suffers more – knowing that He deserves none of these things.

Temptation is one such thing.  Unlike the rest of God’s creation, we have a rational mind.  We can be taught and instructed.  We have a moral compass.  We know right and wrong.  And this is what temptation is: our desire wrestles with our morals.  And to complicate matters, we have an enemy, the devil, the serpent, whose hatred of God and of mankind makes it impossible for him to love, impossible for him not to interfere in the affairs of man.  He is truly the anti-Christ, but he can only appear to us in various forms.  Unlike our Lord, Satan is not human, and certainly does not come to us out of love and a desire to rescue us.

Jesus is described as the Second Adam, the reboot of humanity.  The first Adam yielded to temptation from his wife, who yielded to temptation from the devil, the serpent.  Not content with his place in the cosmic pecking order, Satan enlisted humanity in his cause of overturning the order of creation.  He tempted the woman to take charge and wear the pants in the family.  And she in turn tempted her husband to join her in the Satanic rebellion against God’s authority, defying God’s Law, and desiring to be godlike himself.  Temptation became action, sinful action, and the cost of this violation of God’s Law was a mortal tear in the fabric of the universe.  Since that day, hell has been unleashed on our planet.  Satan has taken charge of the world and of the hearts of man, largely through the weapon of temptation.

Hence God’s rescue mission.  Hence Adam 2.0.  Hence the incarnate God, the Christ, doing battle with the serpent, the devil, yet again.  Only this time, the New Adam does not fall like the Old Adam.  The bride of the New Adam, the Church, will be saved by her bridegroom, unlike the bride of the Old Adam, Eve, whose bridegroom assured her death by succumbing to temptation himself.

And this is what this temptation in the wilderness is all about, dear friends.  The fate of the universe hangs on our Lord being victorious in this battle.

And what’s more, our Lord reveals the kind of thing that repels and repulses the crafts and assaults of the devil.  Three times, Jesus cites Scripture, the Word of God, and hurls it at Satan, the accuser and the tempter, the serpent, the father of lies.  For a lie is a powerful thing.  It can confuse.  It can mislead.  It can lead directly to death.  But it cannot abide truth.  Truth is like a small light that dispels darkness.  And a liar, once exposed, loses his power.

The Word of God is incapable of lying, dear friends.  And so when you hear “Thus says the Lord,” you are hearing something that causes the devil to shrink away defeated, even as his power and malice were destroyed by the cross, as Jesus completed His mission to crush the head of the serpent and to gather His sheep into the green pasture of Paradise in which God placed us at Eden, before the serpent corrupted Paradise and mangled creation by his lies and temptation.

And so when we are tempted, we have a blueprint for pushing back.  Jesus came to rescue us, not merely to give us instructions to save ourselves.  But there is an element of teaching going on here.  For even though Jesus saves us, we are still rational creatures with a will.  God will not physically restrain you from sin.  He loves you too much to turn you into a robot or a zombie.  You are not a brute beast; you are a human being with a mind.  God will not impose salvation on you.  You can indeed choose to follow the serpent, though we know where this leads.  Jesus saves you by calling to you, by urging you to follow Him, by offering you opportunity to hear His Word, to be absolved of your sins, to be baptized, and to partake of the body and blood of the Lord for the strengthening of your faith.  But Jesus will not force you to do anything.  You are free.

And so if you want to serve truth instead of the lie, if you want to resist the temptations of the devil that you know will lead you astray and cause you harm, if you want to turn in repentance and follow Jesus instead of the serpent – you can see how to do it, and what your greatest weapon is: the Word of God.

The pure Word of God in Scripture is what Jesus – who is the incarnate Word of God – uses to repel the devil.  Three times, He says, “It is written.”  Satan tries to distort the meaning of the Word of God, but Jesus is having none of that.  Jesus shows us how important it is to know the Scriptures, and to be guided by their light.  It isn’t enough to know right from wrong, dear friends.  For we all know that.  We need the Word of God to repel the devil and deliver us from temptation.

When the serpent first tempted mankind in Eden, notice that he did not directly attack God nor did he threaten or coerce Eve.  Rather, he just injected a little doubt, a small wedge of disbelief and distrust of God’s Word: “Did God actually say…?”

We are surrounded by this temptation, dear friends.  Nearly every image we see on TV, in the movies, in magazines, books, websites, and in our schools and universities, we are bombarded with “Did God actually say...?” and we are tempted by Satan to pursue our own desires instead of the will of God.

The kind of Satanism that used to be quiet and behind the scenes in Hollywood, in politics, in sports and entertainment, in public schools (and even some Christian schools), in universities, in public libraries, and in popular music, has now become open Luciferianism.  Secret societies dedicated to Lucifer (that is, the devil, the false angel of light) are finding their way into the popular culture.  You’ll see the tee shirts with pentagrams and the goat-headed Baphomet idol when you simply go to the store to pick up groceries.  Disney cartoons now feature demons and deviant sexuality – not to mention disrespect of parents and hatred for normal social institutions.  

“Did God actually say…?”

And still, Christian parents allow their children – and even themselves – to be seduced by the serpent.  What we should be doing, dear friends, is learning the Word of God.  In the words of the ancient prayer, we must “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the Bible.  There is no excuse today.  We have so many resources for reading and understanding the Scriptures.  You don’t need to read Hebrew and Greek and understand the technical theological terms for how Jesus is both God and man. You can if you want to, of course.  But what you actually need to do is to read and understand the Scriptures so that you can recognize the truth, discern the lie, and rebuke the devil.  And you cannot do that if your worldview is shaped by Hollywood and Big Media while your Bible is a dusty, decorative coffee-table prop, or a pristine relic of your baptism or confirmation.

Once again, dear friends, Jesus will not force you to do anything.  But if you call upon Him, He will protect you, and the Holy Spirit will guide you to the truth and lead you where you need to be for the sake of yourselves, your families, your friends, and if you have children – for them as well.  There is still time to board the Ark.

Now it is Lent.  “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  Now is the time to say, “Be gone, Satan!  For it is written….”  Amen.

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