Sermon: Easter Sunday - 2021

 

4 April 2021

Text: Mark 16:1-8 (Job 19:23-27, 1 Cor 15:51-57)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

“Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”

St. Paul is quoting an old saying, and he is pointing out that this is what awaits us when our Lord returns, when we will be raised from the dead.  And he points out that this victory over death is nothing that we have earned, but is rather a gift: “But thanks be to God,” he says, “who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For our Lord is the victor, and He shares His victory with us – with every one of us who is baptized and who believes, from the babies to the elderly, from the new convert to the lifetime church member.  This gift is ours, dear friends. 

St. Paul elsewhere teaches us that death is “the wages of sin.”  In other words, we die because we deserve it.  We are sinners.  We do not keep the law.  We act on the sinful nature that we have inherited from our parents and their parents before them, all the way back to our first parents, who rebelled from God in the garden, tempted by the devil.  We deserve to die.  We deserve hell.

And because death is the penalty for sin, and because God’s justice requires that we should be perfect – for that is how mankind was made: perfect – we are lost and condemned.  We have no hope.  We are in debt beyond what we could ever even imagine to pay.  We are in a deep hole without a ladder.  We are helpless, and just waiting to die.

But, dear friends, God does not just throw us away.  He doesn’t abandon us to that which we deserve.  Rather He comes to us bearing His own riches, and Jesus empties Himself of His wealth to become a slave, to become a man without so much as a cloak, to become a condemned prisoner – all so that He could give His riches to us, so that we might indeed pay off the impossible debt.  Jesus descends to where we are in the deep hole where we are stuck.  He is the ladder envisioned in Jacob’s dream, and He Himself bears us on His back, which is bloodied by the lashes of His scourging, carrying us to safety, as a Good Shepherd seeks and saves the lost lamb, carrying him home.

And instead of us merely waiting to die, Jesus Himself intervenes, dying on our behalf, but then rising on our behalf – giving us the promise that because He “gives us the victory,” we too will mock death: “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”  For Jesus destroyed death by dying, and He proved it by walking out of His own tomb under His own power, defying not only death, but the sinful men who conspired to kill Him, as well as the most powerful empire and army known to history.  The sealed tomb and the guard of soldiers were helpless before our Lord, for nothing could or would stop Him from fulfilling the Father’s will that we be rescued – no matter the opposition or the cost.

The women came to the tomb early that Sunday morning, the first Easter, and the first Lord’s Day.  They expected to find what one always finds in a tomb – a lifeless body, unable to move and beginning to decay.  They brought the embalming spices to perform the rites for Jesus that He was denied in the hurry to get Him into the tomb before the Sabbath began.  They came out of love, but they also came in mourning.  They came feeling helpless, and probably greatly confused.  The story was not supposed to end like this.  But still they came.  They came in faith that somehow they would roll away the stone.  They came in faith that they could at least delay the decomposition of the body of Jesus, at least for a little while.  They came even as death seemed to have had the last word.  They came seemingly defeated, and yet they came anyway – still with a little faith.

We too come to Jesus, dear friends, even when we seem to be defeated by death or sorrow or disappointment or any number of things that seems to defeat us.  We come beaten down by the devil, the world, and our sinful nature.  But still we come.  We come week after week on the Lord’s Day to hear the Good News, to be absolved of our sins, and to partake of the Lord’s body and blood, which come to us by means of a miracle – the same body that hung upon the cross to save us, the same blood that dripped onto the world to bless it and reclaim it for God – the very blood that atones for our sins and marks us as redeemed.

And when the women came to the tomb, their first surprise was that “the stone had been rolled back.”  This could not have happened by natural means, like the wind blowing it away.  For “it was very large.”  And where was the seal that had been placed on the tomb by the governor?  Where were the soldiers assigned to guard it? 

This is certainly not what they expected to see.  It must have been weird, and frightening.  And yet, in their faith, they did not run away.  They were looking for Jesus.  They were still looking for Jesus.

And they saw something truly remarkable inside the tomb, “and they were alarmed.”  For tombs normally contain dead bodies, not “a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe.”  And normally, people in tombs don’t talk.  But this mysterious man did: “And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.’”  And what he said next was very good news.  In fact, we call it the Gospel – the Good News that will soon spread throughout the whole world.  But as of this moment, the only ones who know the good news are these women with their embalming spices.  The messenger bears the message: “He has risen.  He is not here.”  And he invites them to see with their own eyes: “See the place where they laid Him.”

But there is no time to marvel, to celebrate, to wonder if they are dreaming, or even to be afraid.  For the angel has work for them to do right away: “But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee.  There you will see Him, just as He told you.”

They did what they were told to do, in spite of their “trembling and astonishment.”  They kept this Good News to themselves until they were able to find Peter and the other ten.  They were afraid, but they “went out and fled from the tomb” on their mission to pass along this Good News.

This Good News is still being circulated around the world today, dear freinds.  Not a single day since that first Easter has there been a lapse in one person repeating the Good News: that Christ is risen, and that His death atones for our sins, and that we too shall rise!  We can indeed taunt death, and we can also look forward to Christ’s return, for He does not come as our judge but as our Advocate, not as our executioner, but as our Redeemer.

And this Good News runs like a scarlet thread throughout the Bible, from God’s declaration to Satan in the Book of Genesis that the Seed of the Woman would crush his head, to the confession of Job – which we heard anew this morning: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand on the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”

Dear brothers and sisters redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall see God and we shall see Him in our own flesh, in our own skin, and with our own eyes.  We will be just as physically complete as Jesus was when He did indeed appear to the disciples and to many people during the forty day celebration of that first Easter, that triumphant time when the risen Lord could indeed say, “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”  For during that first forty-day Eastertide, our Lord would ordain the Eleven and send them out to preach the Good News that they heard from the women who had gone to the tomb.  They will be made apostles, authorized to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them.”

And that is why we are here today, dear friends, to be forgiven and redeemed, to hear again and to rejoice in the Good News, and to praise God for His mercy.  We are here to mock death.  We are here to celebrate life.  We are here to continue to hear and repeat the Good News.  And we join Christians around the world, saying:

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Amen.

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

Sermon: Good Friday - 2021

2 April 2021

Text: John 18:1-19:42 (Isa 52:13-53:12, 2 Cor 5:14-21)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Everyone is an expert on Christianity.

Some people dismiss it because the Bible is just an old book written long ago that was mistranslated.  Of course, people who say this don’t read Hebrew and Greek, nor do they know anything about the vest numbers of manuscripts that we have in many languages validating the accuracy of the texts.

Others say that the Christianity is just a religion of dead white men maintaining power over women and minorities.  Never mind the shocking and radical deviation from the ancient world’s view of women as property to be used and abused, the church’s confession that women are created in God’s image, and that a woman gave birth to God in the flesh.  And never mind the fact that nearly all of the people mentioned in scripture are not European, that the Church is comprised of the faithful “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.”

Others reduce the faith to progressive platitudes: be nice, don’t be racist, accept everyone, approve of any and all sexuality, don’t judge, etc.  And there are those on the right wing who reduce Christianity to being moral and well-behaved: don’t drink, don’t cuss, don’t smoke, don’t dance, stay away from rock music, avoid card-playing, and keep those movies to PG or G ratings.

Still others love to expertly explain that Jesus is a radical: a political revolutionary, an ancient Robin Hood or Karl Marx who stuck it to the man and demanded the destruction of all worldly wealth and institutions. 

But what throws a wrench into all of these myths about Jesus is the cross.

If Jesus came to teach us to live one way or another, to give us morals for living, to lead a political revolution, why did He die?  If Jesus were just another great teacher, moral philosopher, or religious guru, what was the point of His death in the most excruciating way possible?  In fact, the word “excruciating” literally means “from the cross.”  How do our skeptical experts explain His suffering, His passion and death?

The cross has a point, and unless people understand the cross, they will never understand Jesus, the Bible, Christianity, or the Church.  Without the cross, there is no Christianity.  But with the cross, there is a promise that you will rise from your own grave.

No great teacher or master or guru in the history of the world ever rose from the dead, and no-one other than Jesus created such a stir that historical records from outside of the faith reveal that something remarkable happened when Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried.  The cross – and the tomb – continue to confound and confuse people today, and it separates Christianity from all philosophies and religions.  All of them.

There are some people who attack Christianity for being divine “child abuse,” that a twisted divine Father would torture His only begotten Son in order to forgive others.  Such people make God out to be a monster.  Still others claim to be atheists, but express hatred for God.  Churches that want to be politically correct remove their crosses, for the cross continues to offend and scandalize – and rightly so!  The cross is even used by exorcists to drive out demons.  The cross is where Jesus conquered Satan and won salvation for us.  The cross continues to create controversy and stir up hatred.  There is no middle ground when it comes to the cross.

The cross was prophesied a thousand years before the crucifixion of Jesus.  When our Lord prayed, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” from the cross, He was quoting Psalm 22 – written a thousand years before.  This Psalm includes the curious verse: “They have pierced My hands and feet” – written centuries before the Romans invented crucifixion.  There are other remarkable references to Jesus’ crucifixion in Psalm 22 as well. 

And also Isaiah, in the Old Testament reading for Good Friday, seven hundred years Before Christ prophesies the events of Good Friday, with the Messiah scandalously “marred, beyond human semblance,” “despised and rejected by men,” “a man of sorrows,” “wounded for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities,” and “by His stripes we are healed.”  For “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus goes to the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, an atonement for the sins of all, the “Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world.”  The Jesus who is scandalous to so many is Jesus the Savior.  For this Jesus, the true Jesus, is an indictment of all of us.  For only sinful people need a Savior, and only by the shedding of blood, by the death of a victim, can justice be satisfied.

Modern people yammer on and on about justice – the same people who hate Jesus, who despise any kind of legal accountability, who refuse to see in themselves the need for a Savior.  But actual justice is served at the cross.  The true picture of justice is a perfect man, a man who is God, willingly dying in His own blood out of love for those whom He saves and redeems, exchanging His innocence for our guilt.  This is the Jesus that the world hates, and that hatred is indeed what drove the conspiracy to crucify Him.

But the cross is also about mercy: the idea that the guilty should walk away after being acquitted – a promise given to all of us who are baptized and who believe.  This is repugnant to the world, and it reeks of exclusivity and privilege, when in fact, it is a free gift offered to all people without distinction.  All that is required to appropriate the gift is faith, leading to the acknowledgment of guilt, a contrite heart, and a cry to Jesus for help – seeking the remission of sins by His blood.  But that requires introspection and humility – something that the world wants nothing to do with.

And so Christians are the people of the cross.  We are sinners who look to the cross for salvation.  We are mocked and hated.  Nevertheless, we point fellow sinners, even those who hate us, to the cross, to the “ministry of reconciliation,” to the opportunity to become a “new creation”  by being “in Christ.” 

It is at the cross, just before He breathed His last, where the crucified Jesus said, “It is finished!”  He was declaring victory – not over us, but rather on our behalf.  Jesus, the “man of sorrows,” the one who was “stricken, smitten, and afflicted” declares His triumph over sin, death, and the devil, shutting the mouths of those who would redefine the Christ as a mere teacher or guru spouting worldly wisdom or mere moralism. 

The death of Jesus atones for us.  And His burial will deliver one more great scandal and surprise for the entire world to try to explain away, and we will celebrate that very thing on Sunday.

But for now, let us ponder the cross: not merely the sin of wicked men that forcibly pushed Him there, but also the love of God that voluntarily drew Him there.  For it is our sin and God’s mercy that put Him there.  Let us ponder the greatness of His love for us, His sinless life, His sacrificial blood that defeated the devil by the greatest victory in history.  And let us rejoice in the cross no matter what cynics, critics, unbelievers, liars, haters, and know-it-alls have to say about it.  For Jesus died for them too.

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle;
Sing the ending of the fray.
Now above the cross, the trophy,
Sound the loud triumphant lay;
Tell how Christ, the world’s redeemer,
As a victim won the day.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Maundy Thursday - 2021

1 April 2021

Text: John 13:1-15, 34-35 (Ex 12:1-14, 1 Cor 23:32)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

One of the oldest symbols of the Christian faith is, of course, the cross: two intersecting lines, one vertical and one horizontal.  This symbol illustrates who Jesus is, as He is both vertical (divine) and horizontal (human).  He has perfect communion with both God and man, because He is both God and man.

He is also the intersection between eternity and time, between the Creator and creation, and between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Jesus is both/and and not either/or.  And this is the mystery of the Incarnation, that is, the idea that God takes on human flesh.  And this creates situations hard for us to imagine: a man who is perfect, a God who has a mother and who dies, a man who controls the universe by means of His Word, and a God who is sacrificed for the sake of His creatures. 

And on this holy day, we remember the events of that Thursday when Jesus celebrated the Passover one final time with His disciples, and afterward, was arrested and began the ordeal of His passion, leading to His death, and culminating in His resurrection.

But on this day that we call Maundy Thursday, Jesus fulfills what His cousin John the Baptist prophesied, pointing to Jesus and saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world!”

This truth is fulfilled at the Last Supper that completed Passover, which in turn became the Lord’s Supper – in which the Passover is not ended, but brought to its fullness in Christ. 

The Passover was the “memorial day” that the children of Israel were commanded to “keep… as a feast to the Lord.”  It was a remembrance of the miracle of the people being saved from slavery, death, and Pharoah – which points to our being saved from bondage to sin, from death, and from the tyranny of the devil. 

The children of Israel slaughtered the sacrificial lamb, a male without blemish, that served as the substitutionary offering for the sins of the people, for the wages of sin is death.  The Lord Himself provides a substitute, just as He did when Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, and the ram appeared, with his head caught in the thorn-bush.  As a seal of this substitutionary offering, the lamb’s blood was placed on the doors, and the angel of death passed over houses marked by the blood of the lamb.  The lamb’s blood was a miraculous protection that God Himself provided to His people.

And so, Jesus celebrates the final Passover, because from then on, He will be that Lamb, that atoning sacrifice, that substitute.  And instead of killing and eating the flesh of a lamb as a memorial of our freedom, we now have a revised meal, the eating of the flesh of the “Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world.”  And His blood seals us and protects us from the devil.  And that is freedom indeed!

Before giving us this Holy Supper and charging us to do this in His memory, our Lord prepared the disciples by washing them.  This was shocking to them, for rabbis did not debase themselves to serve their students – let alone did they picture God taking the role of a lowly slave washing the filth from their bare feet.  And yet, this is what Jesus does.  Be becomes a servant.  He washes us with water and the Holy Spirit.  And He charges His church to do likewise.

We Christians are to love one another, even if we don’t like one another.  For we are brothers and sisters in His name, and we share table fellowship – horizontally with one another, and vertically with God.  It is God who comes down to eat with us, and it is a man who restores us to fellowship with God.

St. Paul recorded the words that He “received from the Lord,” and which he “also delivered to” us.  We Christians have been doing as our Lord said to do: “Do this in remembrance of Me,” day after day for nearly two thousand years. 

We take bread and wine, we give thanks, we bless it with the very words of Jesus, by whose Word the universe was created, “Take, eat, this is My body, which is given for you…. Drink of it all of you, this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  This is our Passover, the New and Greater Passover, the one all-availing sacrifice whose one death atones for the sins of all the world. 

We no longer have to sacrifice lambs and goats and bulls, for Jesus is the fulfillment of all sacrifices of all time.  What greater sacrifice could there be, dear friends, than God Himself, who died on the cross, who rose from the dead, and whose physical body and blood are given to us in the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper?

And notice that this is not just a symbolic ritual.  For St. Paul cautions us against such thinking: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.  Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.  That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.”

This bread and wine are indeed bread and wine.  But, dear brothers and sisters, they are more than that.  It is both/and.  It is truly the body and blood of Christ.  We must discern the body, that is, confess His presence, or we are doing spiritual damage to ourselves.  And spiritual damage can affect us mentally and even physically.  This sacrament is not a symbol, it is not some kind of vague spiritual presence.  It is what Jesus says it is: His body and His blood.

Some Christians scoff at this.  For how can it be both/and?  Well, dear friends, how can Jesus be both God and man?  How can you be both saint and sinner?  How can the Bible be the Word of God and yet written by men?  If it is too much to believe that the Lord’s own words have the power to make bread His body and wine His blood, than why should we believe that He turned water into wine, let alone created the universe out of nothing by means of His Word, or healed the sick, or raised the dead? 

Our Lord gives us this Lord’s Supper to fortify us for our journey in this fallen world, like the Israelites eating the manna, the bread from heaven, that kept them alive in the desert. 

Jesus washed the feet of His disciples.  He ordained them, sent them to preach, and told them to make disciples by baptism.  And their successors have been baptizing us, washing us, and preparing us for the Supper for nearly two millennia.  And our Lord established the fulfillment of the Passover, the Paschal Feast that we celebrate every Lord’s Day and on special feasts, eating His flesh and drinking His blood upon His gracious invitation, discerning the body and participating in this physical miracle that St. Ignatius of Antioch called, “The medicine of immortality.”

Let us joyfully receive from the Lord what St. Paul delivered to us, what Moses established and what Jesus fulfilled – and what was completed on the cross.  Let us join this holy intersection of the human and the divine, of the physical and the transcendent, of time and eternity: the miracle of the Sacrament of the Altar.  Let us receive the gift that saves us, that connects us to the cross and to the tomb, to our Lord’s incarnation here where we are.  And let us hold this Paschal feast sacred, in our confession and in our celebration, keeping the feast until our Lord’s return in glory, throughout our generations as a statute forever.  Let us keep the feast: like the sign of the cross, in which time and eternity, God and humanity, intersect for our salvation.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Holy Week - 2021

March 30, 2021

Text: Hebrews 3:1-19

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The author of Hebrews warns us, dear friends, not to take our salvation for granted, not to be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”  For we have a treasure that was given to us as a free gift at our baptisms, and we “have come to share in Christ,” partaking of His mercy, His salvation, His eternal life, inheriting all good things from the Father, “if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

The author cites the Psalmist, who remembers and laments the disobedience of the children of Israel in the wilderness under Moses, their “rebellion,” their going “astray,” their putting God “to the test.”  We must pay heed to the Scriptures, how the Word of God shares with us concrete historical examples of those who hardened their hearts and did not enter God’s rest.

Rather than repeat their tragic example, we must follow Jesus: “the apostle and high priest of our confession,” for He is the New and Greater Moses, the one who not only leads us out of our slavery to sin, but who is worthy to take us into the Promised Land.  For He is also the New and Greater Joshua, completing that which Moses could not do.  For Jesus doesn’t merely deliver to us the Law, but He also provides us with the Gospel in His flesh and blood.  He offers forgiveness even to those who stray and return, to those who rebel but repent, to those who harden their heart, but later hear the Word of God and are restored to baptismal grace.

As the author of Hebrews reminds us, those who “fell in the wilderness” were denied entry into the Promised Land because of their disobedience were ultimately “unable to enter because of unbelief,” that is, because of their lack of faith.  They rebelled instead of repented, because they did not have faith in the Word of God that Moses brought to them.  They disbelieved the Law, and so they also disbelieved the Gospel.  The Scriptures did not take root in them like a seed in good soil, because they refused to allow it to germinate.  They rejected the gift of the Word, and so rejected even the faith that was also a gift.

Let us take their example to heart, dear friends.  Let us hear the Word from the Word Made Flesh, and let it take root in us, drawing us especially this Holy Week to our Lord’s cross, to the Promised Land of forgiveness, life, and salvation by His blood – even as He is the very High Priest who makes atonement for us.

For as great as Moses was, “Christ is faithful over God’s house as a Son.  And we are in His house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

Amen.

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

 

Sermon: Palmarum (Palm Sunday) - 2021

28 March 2021

Text: Matt 21:1-9, 26:1-27:66

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

In film-making, there’s a technique we all know about called  the “flash-back.”  We are allowed to look back into time, sometimes from a character’s point of view, or from a God’s-eye view that fills in events from the past to help us understand the story.

But there’s also a technique called the “flash-forward,” where we are given the chance to look into events yet to come, and again, this can be from the point of view of a character, or from a God’s-eye view where we can see everything.

The readings on Palm Sunday form a present tense narrative of our Lord entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday from Matthew 21, and then in our Gospel reading, we get a flash-forward to what is coming on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, from Matthew 26 and 27. 

And so Palm Sunday commemorates the beginning of Holy Week, when our Lord triumphantly entered the Holy City, and flashes forward as we celebrate the Sunday of the Passion, pondering the events yet to come that we will commemorate  later in the week. 

And as we entered our holy house of worship, named “Salem,” in honor of Jerusalem, we came in with palm branches, singing “Hosanna” – just like the “crowds that went before Him and followed Him,” waving branches and spreading them on the road as a royal welcome.  The crowds shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”

And Jesus rode into the city: “humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”  But this image, dear friends, is a flashback to when King Solomon, the Son of David, rode triumphantly into David’s Royal City to be received as the king.  He too rode humbly on a donkey, and was greeted by the shouting crowds. 

Jesus is the Greater Son of David, and His conveyance on a donkey is also symbolic.  In the ancient world, if a king rode a horse, he came in war.  If he rode a donkey or mule, he came in peace.  Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to us in peace.  He makes war on Satan, but He does not make war on us.  For He has come not to condemn us, but to save us.  He will ride a horse in His return, but on this day, He rides a donkey.  And the crowds cry out “Hosanna!” a Hebrew word that means, “Save us!”  For a good king was seen as a savior, a shepherd who serves his people, not a tyrant who comes to devour them.

And yet, even as these crowds chant, “Hosanna,” we flash forward to those crowds who will chant, “Crucify!”

After He rides triumphantly into David’s Royal City, our Lord and King has business to attend to.  He will head straight to the temple and cleanse it, casting out the money-changers and merchants.  He will also perform miracles of healing.  He is establishing His lordship over even the chief priests and the scribes, and as the children in the temple continue to cry out, “Hosanna!” the authorities become resentful and indignant.  They challenge His authority, but our Lord makes them look like fools.  He then tells a series of parables explaining that those who will inherit the kingdom are not the pompous Pharisees, scribes, and elders, but rather the “rabble” and the children who sang “Hosanna” with their palms.  His parables also predict His own death, casting the religious leaders as the villains.  He then preaches a thunderous sermon against the scribes and Pharisees, and then prophesies about the end of the world. 

And it is here, dear brothers and sisters, that we begin our flash-forward.  The so-called high priest is Caiaphas (of course Jesus is the true High Priest and King).  The enemies of Jesus enter into a conspiracy at the home of Caiaphas to kill Jesus.  But they are afraid of the people.  For the people who welcomed Jesus as their King saw His miracles – including His recent raising of Lazarus from the dead.  They heard Him preach.  They knew that He is the Messiah.  So killing Him will be tricky.

And Judas, who came into Jerusalem with Jesus, has become a traitor.  He takes money to betray Jesus.  Our Lord celebrates His final Passover with the disciples, and just after taking Holy Communion from the hand of Jesus, Judas leaves to commit His treachery.  The Passover is a flash-back to the children of Israel leaving Egypt, led by their savior Moses.  They ate a sacrificial lamb whose blood protected them from the angel of death.  And when we celebrate Holy Communion, dear friends, it is also a flashback to this Last Supper and to the Passover.  For the blood of Jesus protects us from eternal death.  He is the “Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world.”  He is the Passover Lamb to end all Passover lambs. 

Our flash-forward continues with Jesus preparing Himself for His arrest and passion, by prayer, in which the disciples cannot stay awake with Him.  And then we see Peter being told that He would deny Jesus, he who likewise joined our Lord in His ride into the Holy City.  And this would come true very soon.

Jesus is betrayed and arrested – no more treated like a king, but treated like a traitor to the nation.  Caiaphas conducts a sham trial, and sends Jesus to be tried by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.  Pilate believes Him to be innocent and tries everything he can think of to release Jesus, but the crowds, no longer shouting “Save us,” are now shouting, “Condemn Him!” 

Jesus the King who rode on the donkey of peace is mocked by the soldiers, men of war, who dress Him in royal robes, crown Him with thorns, and beat Him.  Instead of being led to the cheers of crowds waving palms, He is marched to the jeers of the mobs waving fists. 

Our flash forward takes us to the cross – for that is where this narrative finds its fulfillment, dear friends.  This is our Lord’s enthronement and coronation.  This is where He sues for peace between God and man, and this is where He makes war upon Satan and defeats him.  Christ’s blood shed on the tree fulfills the prayer, “Hosanna!” – for here is where He indeed saves us, our Shepherd King who lays down His life for those whom He rules. 

 Our Lord dies, the sacrificial Lamb without blemish, the Priest who offers the oblation.  And there are even more miraculous signs: darkness at noon, an earthquake, the temple curtain that separated God and man tears in two, and a resurrection of some of the dead in the tombs.  One of the Roman soldiers confessed Him as “the Son of God.”

 Our Lord is buried in the tomb and the tomb is closed up by a stone and guarded with troops.  A government seal was placed on the stone.  And this is where our flash-forward ends, dear friends.  We are held in suspense until we catch up with these events on Thursday and Friday of this week.  For we will follow Jesus to the cross and to the tomb this week, and we know what is to come on Sunday.

 Meanwhile, let us linger with the crowds and with the singing children.  Let us sing our “Hosannas” and welcome Him to be present with us here, in our own little corner of Jerusalem, our Salem, we who confess Him as our King, as our Savior, as our Priest, as our Lamb, and as the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Let us rejoice, knowing that our prayer, “Save us!” is answered unequivocally at the cross, and sealed by His blood, let us partake in His body and blood, the one and the same that was offered to the twelve, the very same born of the virgin Mary and who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried – the same who is risen and who will return in glory.

All glory, laud, and honor
To You, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

As You received their praises,
Accept the prayers we bring,
O source of every blessing,
Our good and gracious King.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 5 - 2021

March 23, 2021

Text: Mark 14:53-72

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Justice is often used as a pretense for injustice. 

Our Lord was arrested on false charges and put on trial illegally.  It was unlawful to try someone at night, and those on the council known to be friendly toward Jesus were not notified of the hearing.  The Council sought “testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they found none.”  For “many bore false witness against Him, but their testimony did not agree.” 

Justice is often used as a pretense to destroy an inconvenient enemy or rival.

More false testimony ensued, including a metaphor that Jesus employed about destroying the temple – but “even about this their testimony did not agree.”  Knowing that His mission was to die convicted of guilt while being innocent, our Lord offered no defense.  Rather, “He remained silent and made no answer.”  The prosecution certainly did not expect this.  They finally asked Jesus if He were the Christ.  His response to this question, His affirmation, is what brought about their wrongful “guilty” verdict in their illegal trial.

Justice in this case was used as a pretense by the prosecution, but as providence by God.

For our Lord Jesus Christ, like the Scapegoat of the Old Testament, was imputed with guilt and sent to die in our place, even as his righteousness was imputed to us.  He was denied justice so that we too might be denied justice.  For if we were judged by an honest court without pretenses, one that heard correct testimony and rendered a just verdict, we would be condemned “as deserving death.”  But He bore the brunt of our sins so that we might be released from the prison that we deserve.

Thanks be to God our Father that He too runs a rigged justice system, in which the innocent is convicted and the guilty go free. And in this divine justice system, the enemy, Satan, is destroyed even by means of this miscarriage of justice: the passion and death of our Lord.

Amen.

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

 

Sermon: Judica (Lent 5) - 2021

21 March 2021

Text: John 8:42-59

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

We Christians are often told that we should be more like Jesus.  This is, of course, true.  But when people say this, they usually think that Jesus condones sin and is just nice to everyone.  They have clearly never read even one of the Gospels.

Yes, we should be more like Jesus.  We are called to take up our cross and follow Him.  We should strive to be without sin – even though we are.  We should struggle to love others perfectly – even though we cannot.  But there is one thing that we cannot be, and that is the salvation of the world.  As the author of Hebrews says: “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come… He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

That, dear friends, we cannot do.  We can only take up our own crosses.  We cannot save the world.  For only Jesus is our substitutionary sacrifice: the Ram caught in a crown of thorns who took the place of Isaac, and the burnt offering who willingly climbed up the hill with the wood on His own back.

And yet after all that our Lord has done for the world, He and His followers are reviled and hated.  Jesus compels no-one.  He does not force anyone to repent.  He does not make anybody listen to Him.  And this is true of the Church.  The exit door is open and unlocked.  Anyone who does not want to hear this sermon can leave.  Anyone who does not believe in Jesus as the redemption of the world is free to abstain from His body and blood.  Anyone who repudiates the faith is perfectly able to renounce his baptism and walk with us no more.

Unlike Muslim countries, there is no death penalty to those who change their minds.  Unlike an army at war, there is no firing squad for deserters.  Unlike Communist China, there are no concentration camps or bullets to the back of the head for dissenters.

And yet, in spite of the entirely voluntary nature of following Jesus, people become enraged – especially when we confess our faith or clarify what it is that we believe.  Simply saying what we believe within earshot of others may incur the wrath of the mob, the loss of a job or status as a student, ostracism from friends, or even criminal charges, as has happened in that repressive and regressive country that is becoming increasingly tyrannical: Canada.  Our own country is poised to pass a law known as the Equality Act that may well criminalize our faith.  It is sufficiently vague as to cause grave concern to many legal experts.

And all of this because we believe that Jesus is God, and we yield to the Bible as the only infallible source of truth.  In some places, simply saying there is objective truth at all is enough to incite violence.

And so it should hardly be shocking to hear the account in our Gospel of the assassination attempt on Jesus.  Our Lord held no political position, had no worldly authority, and coerced no-one.  Anybody and everybody was free to ignore Him, walk away from Him, and live as if He never existed.  But they wouldn’t.  Rather, “they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.”

In the words of the hymnist: “What makes this rage and spite?  He made the lame to run, He gave the blind their sight?”  What fuels their rage, dear friends, is not what he does, but who He is.  And this revelation is what triggered His would-be assassins in the temple: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” 

I am.

This is the name of God.  And Jesus uses it to make it very clear that He is not only older than Abraham, He created Abraham.  In fact, it was Jesus who provided the sacrificial ram for Abraham as a substitute for Abraham’s son Isaac.  It was also Jesus who wrestled with Isaac’s son Jacob and renamed him “Israel” – the one who wrestled with God.  It was Jesus who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, saying, “I am who I am.”  It is Jesus who is the Word, who was in the beginning with God and who was God.  It is Jesus who said, “Let there be light” – and the universe came into being.  And it is Jesus who redeems us by calling us out of our lives of darkness and sin into His marvelous light.  It is Jesus who said, “It is finished.”

The darkness hates the light.  Evil hates the good.  Satan loathes the Christ who destroyed him at the cross.  And the people, under the sway of the devil hate Jesus with an irrational rage.

This is why the crowds then hated Jesus, this is why the mobs today hate Jesus, and this is why you will be hated if you indeed confess Jesus (and if you are not hated, you’re doing it wrong):

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.’”

Our Lord spoke the truth – in season and out of season.  Both preachers and hearers of the Word are called to speak the truth “to men who like it or not like it not.”  We offer the world a more excellent way – not because we are excellent, but because we are not.  And since we are no better than the angry mobs who hate Jesus, and since His blood atones for us and we have salvation, we “receive the promised eternal inheritance.”  We do not speak in order to win an argument or to be found to be right.  Rather we confess this truth out of love for those who are dying without the vaccine, and that vaccine is the Medicine of Immortality that Jesus offers in His blood. 

But receiving the Medicine requires admitting that one is in need of it.  It requires humility to face this condemnation of the Law and to cry out to Jesus for help.  If you have ever wondered why our Divine Service has this prayer near the beginning: “Lord, have mercy,  Christ, have mercy,  Lord, have mercy,” that is the reason why.

Those who are under the sway of the prideful devil will not humble themselves.  Dear friends, this is why at our baptisms we vow to renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways.  And this is why the rage, the spite, the hatred, and even the legal persecution of Christians – who have no worldly power to make anyone listen to us.  And it is our cross to bear the world’s hatred as we follow our Lord. 

Yes, we should strive to be more like Jesus: renouncing the devil and being willing to confess the truth even in the face of mobs who hate us.  For it is love and the truth that conquers hatred and the lie.

Let us indeed be more like Jesus, willing to suffer for the sake of those who wish us harm.  Let us be more like Jesus in pointing people to the great “I am” who “entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” for us and for those who will listen.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 4 - 2021

March 16, 2021

Text: Mark 12:13-27

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

There are honest questions, and then there are trick questions.  Our reading exposes our Lord’s opponents: the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees for the hypocrites that they are.  They are not concerned with the truth.  They are concerned with being “right.”  Jesus is a challenge to their authority and way of life, and so they are also concerned with making Jesus look bad.

They are hoping for a “gotcha” moment, to tangle Jesus up in His own words.  They want to win the argument by hook or by crook, and they always underestimate their divine opponent.

And can you even imagine how foolish they are to try to “butter up” Jesus: “Teacher, we know that You are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion.  For You are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God.”  They think that Jesus is subject to the same shallow flattery that they are.  They think Jesus is as much of a hypocrite as they are.  They are in for a rude awakening.

The conservative Pharisees and Herodians hate the Romans.  They hate paying taxes to Rome.  But they also know that saying so would get you “canceled,” and in first century Rome, it wasn’t just a matter of getting your social media account suspended.  They are trying to trick Jesus into capital treason against the Roman government that they themselves hate and would like to overthrow.  Our Lord quickly dispatches this group by turning a Roman coin into an object lesson.  “And they marveled at Him.”

Next up are the Sadducees – the theological liberals who don’t believe in the resurrection.  So they try to trip Jesus up with a hypothetical question about remarriage.  Our Lord scolds them: “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?”  Our Lord quickly dispatches this group by revealing the nature of the afterlife, and then uses their own Scriptures to disprove their disbelief in the resurrection.  “You are quite wrong,” He tells them.

People still argue with Jesus by attempting to put “Gotchas” onto the Word of God, even to this day – as if anything they come up with is some kind of new discovery of something we Christians have never seen before.  Their motivation isn’t truth, but humiliation of those who confess the Word of God, fair or unfair, logical or not.  This is because our Lord’s enemies insist on being “right” – even when they aren’t.  They do not want to submit to His Word nor to Him who is the Word.  Let us always be willing to be corrected by the Word of God, and to submit humbly to Him who is God in human flesh, even Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Laetare (Lent 4) - 2021

14 March 2021

Text: John 6:1-15 (Ex 16:2-21, Gal 4:21-31)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Unbelievers often ask how there can be suffering when God is all-knowing and all-merciful.  To know the answer to this only requires reading the first three chapters of the Bible. 

God created a perfect world – including Adam and Eve.  They lacked nothing.  But the serpent convinced Eve to disobey God and partake of the one forbidden fruit, promising that she would “be like God.”  When she and her husband listened to the serpent, chaos was unleashed on the earth.  And worst of all, Adam and Eve became mortal.  Their deaths were only a matter of time.  

God had made them to have minds of their own, and the ability to make decisions.  And what goes along with the power to make decisions is the necessity to live with the results.  Because of his sin, God told Adam, who was made from dust, that to dust he would return.  God also told him that the days of superabundant food were over.  He would have to work the ground, but it would not be productive like before.  Man had become burdened by scarcity.

Scarcity means more demand than supply.  And that means we have to figure out who gets what.  One way is that the biggest and strongest eat, and everyone else starves.  Charles Darwin thought this was a great way for nature to advance.  Another way is for men to work the land and trade with each other, taking advantage of the doctrine of vocation so that we could all do what we do best, and be most productive.  But even in this system, there is still scarcity.  And as Jesus said, there will always be the poor among us. 

A German Lutheran in the 1800s thought there might be a better way.  He imagined people sharing everything.  But he rejected the Bible and was a worshiper of  Satan.  He did not believe that fallen man had to deal with shortages.  He thought we could indeed be like God, and that science and management and education would overcome this curse of God.  He promised Eden without God.  He promised superabundance by rejecting God.  His name was Karl Marx.

And under his system, there was no paradise: only starvation and waste, only totalitarianism and the loss of human rights and dignity.  Hundreds of millions of people were killed by Marxist governments in the last century, all trying to overcome Adam’s curse.  But it only made the curse all the worse.

And there are better systems of government and economics than Marxism, but Jesus has a still more excellent way.  He does restore us to the way we were in the Garden of Eden – not with science or management or education, and not even by the division of labor and trade – but by forgiveness. 

And this is what our all-knowing and all-merciful God does about suffering: He takes on human flesh, He suffers with us and for us, He absorbs the curse of Adam into His own body, and He undoes all of the damage that we have done to the world.  He restores us to the image and likeness of God, He removes our mortality, He supplies us superabundantly, and He creates a new heaven and a new earth in which there will be no death.

We see a little glimpse into this in our Gospel, as the vast crowds came to hear Jesus, but there was not enough food.  Scarcity reared its ugly head.  Jesus took five loaves and two fish, and miraculously fed five thousand men and their families.  They “had eaten their fill” and there were “twelve baskets” of leftovers.  This is politics and economics like nobody had ever seen, and the crowds wanted to compel Jesus to be their political ruler – “but He withdrew to the mountain by Himself.”

Jesus was to be enthroned in a different way: on a cross.  For the feeding of the five thousand was but a preview of our future without scarcity.  It is a picture of the kingdom of God – which does not work like politics and economics in our fallen world.  Jesus is not of this world.  Nor is His kingdom.

Instead of scarcity, there will be abundance.  Instead of being tempted by the devil, the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire.  Instead of death, there will be everlasting life.  Instead of a curse, there will be a blessing.

We saw another preview of this world to come as the children of Israel, wandering in the desert, suffered scarcity.  They grumbled against Moses for liberating them, dreaming about the meat pots and eating bread “to the full” back in Egypt.  They conveniently forgot their slavery, their labor, and the meager rations. 

But in spite of their grumbling, our all-knowing and all-merciful Father feeds them with bread from heaven: manna.  This miraculous food did not run out, and it could not be saved.  God provided daily bread to the Israelites – beating back the curse of scarcity, for “whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

Not long after feeding the five thousand, Jesus would point out that He offers something even better: Himself: the true bread of life.  By eating His flesh and drinking His blood, we are given the gift of eternal life.  Not even time is scarce in God’s kingdom.  He is the fulfillment of the sign of the manna.  He is the true bread from heaven.  And the bread that He offers “for the life of the world” is His flesh.  “Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,” says Jesus, “and I will raise Him up on the last day.”

That is our Lord’s promise, dear friends.  Along with all of the things we need for this body and life, Jesus provides His body and blood for us to eat and drink, and so we have the gift of everlasting life.  He is our daily bread from heaven – better than the bread we eat today and are hungry tomorrow, and yes even better than the manna which the fathers ate in the wilderness, and still died.  Jesus is the bread from heaven, so that one who eats of this bread will not die!

The Israelites ate the manna after they had been freed from bondage and from the harsh rule of Pharaoh.  We too eat the Lord’s Supper, having been washed clean in Holy Baptism, being set free from slavery to sin and from the tyranny of the devil. 

St. Paul speaks of how much better it is to be free than to be a slave.  We Christians are not the spiritual heirs of the enslaved Hagar, but rather we are the spiritual heirs of Abraham and Sarah – children of the promise.  For just as the children of Israel were freed from their captivity in Egypt, we too are freed from our captivity to sin, death, and the devil.  For Jesus has overcome all three.

Yes, indeed, our God is all-knowing.  He knows what you need even before you ask, and He “richly and daily provides us with all that we need to support this body and life.”  But what’s more, He richly and eternally provides us all that we need to support everlasting life: His sacrifice on the cross, the gifts of Holy Baptism, of Holy Absolution, of the preached Word, and of the Holy Eucharist in which we eat His flesh and drink His blood, which come to us from heaven, by which we have everlasting life.

And as we venture on past those first three chapters of Genesis, we learn that God Himself is willing to suffer for us, for He is indeed all-knowing, all-merciful, all-loving, and all-sufficient for all of our needs.  His more excellent way is to restore paradise, to remove the curse, to defeat the devil, to raise us from death, to carry this all out by grace – and to accomplish it at the cross.  Rejoice with Jerusalem.  It is finished.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Funeral of Ursula Bulot

13 March 2021

Text: John 11:20-27 (Isa 53:3-6, Rom 5:1-5)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Dear Michael, Jaime, Kelly, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and honored guests.  Peace be with you.

This past year has confronted us with our own mortality.  Most of us know people who have died as a result of the pandemic, as well as others who have died resulting of the complications of dealing with the pandemic.  And in the midst of all of this, you lost your beloved Ursula.

It is for this reason that Arthur and Erna Jacobi brought their daughter to the waters of Holy Baptism, to be set apart as a child of God, made holy in the name of the only true God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  And in this sacrament, she received the gift that Jesus won for her: forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Seven hundred years before our Lord was born, the prophet Isaiah foretold of the Man of Sorrows: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows….  He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities…. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

As we confess week in and week out in our liturgy, we are all poor, miserable sinners.  Every single one of us.  And this is why we are mortal.  On Ash Wednesday, we were reminded: “Remember, O man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  This applies to all of us, from Adam, right down to the last person to be born before our Lord returns.  This mortal burden is placed upon all of us, even our most beloved, like Ursula.

But in spite of it, this Man of Sorrows, this Crucified One, has come to save us and redeem us.  He called Ursula by name at her baptism.  And he also bears your griefs and carries your sorrows in this time of temporary separation.  For the Crucified One is also the Risen One, even as Good Friday inevitably leads to Easter Sunday.

For that is the day of our Lord’s resurrection.  He conquered death, and promises bodily resurrection to all who are baptized and who believe.  This is a promise that Jesus made to Ursula, and it is a promise that God the Son keeps. 

Our Gospel lesson had to do with this very fact.  Jesus’ friend Lazarus died.  He was placed into a tomb.  The tomb was sealed.  His sisters Mary and Martha and their friends mourned his death.  Jesus showed up and interrupted the funeral.  He told Martha, “Your brother will rise again.”  And she confessed that he would indeed rise again, at the resurrection.  But Jesus made an exception for Lazarus, and raised him right then and there, saying: “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

He then asked Martha: “Do you believe this?”  Jesus puts that question to all of us.  We confessed in the creed that we do indeed believe in “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”  For we Christians do not believe that the dead in Christ are destined to be spirits.  We do not believe what other religions believe.  Our faith is radical and even offensive to many.  For Jesus promises a physical, bodily resurrection.  We human beings are meant to live in the flesh: to eat and drink and embrace and laugh and live with our loved ones.  And Jesus will restore us to life again, in the flesh, on the last day.  We will, like Lazarus and like Jesus Himself, walk out of our own tombs.  You will see Ursula again.  Not a spirit, but a person.  You won’t have to content yourself with memories of her.  Rather you will look into her eyes and hear her speak.  You will embrace and laugh and share in the joy of what Jesus has done for us.  This is the promise Jesus made to Ursula at her baptism.  It is the promise made to all of us who believe in Him.

After Jesus told Martha that Lazarus would rise, He asked her: “Do you believe this?”  She replied, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 

And it is Jesus alone who is God who has come into our world.  We are rescued by no other name.  For only Jesus died for us on the cross and paid the penalty for the sins of the entire human race.  By this faith, by answering His question, “Do you believe this” with the same “yes” as Martha – we receive the gift of everlasting life.

St. Paul says, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Dear friends, we are redeemed by Christ, but we still live in this fallen world, hounded by death.  We still mourn, but we do so as people who have hope.  St. Paul speaks of our sufferings – like the suffering you are enduring now – as producing endurance, leading to character, leading to hope.  And in our hope, we receive God’s love “through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

While other religions teach that a person can climb his way to God by good works, it is only the Christian faith that reveals to us that it is God who comes down to us, as a baby in a manger, as a man of sorrows upon a cross, as a risen triumphant Lord leaving behind the tomb, as the sacrifice by which we are restored to communion with the Triune God in whose name we are washed.  And in coming down to us, Jesus saves us, and at the end of this mortal life, He calls us home, like a shepherd gathering His sheep.  And when the time comes, He will call all of us out of our tombs, as He did with Lazarus, and we will rise again.

That’s the promise God made to Ursula, and to all of us.  It is a promise He repeats to you right here and right now by means of His holy Word.  For Jesus is not just a prophet, as other religions believe, or some kind of great moral teacher, as the secular world tells us.  Jesus is God in the flesh.  He is the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in Him, though he die, yet shall he live.

So dear friends, take heart.  You will see Ursula again.  And you will nevermore be separated – even unto eternity.  

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 3 - 2021

March 9, 2021

Text: Mark 9:33-50

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The disciples were discussing something embarrassing.  Jesus asked them about it and they just stood there looking at their sandals.  But He knew that they were arguing over who is the greatest disciple.  So Jesus is going to show them.  He places the greatest disciple in the middle – and it is none of the twelve.  Rather it is a “little child” – one so small that Jesus has to takes him up in His arms.

In the kingdom, greatness is not about accomplishment, intellectual prowess, riches, eloquence, physical strength, or charisma.  It isn’t about degrees, titles, positions, or ink on the resume.  Instead, greatness is humble service and childlike trust. 

For more than fifteen centuries, no Christian church or pastor ever refused baptism to these, our greatest disciples.  Only the radical wing of the Reformation, known as the Anabaptists, separated youth from Holy Baptism.  This is based on the idea that since these “little ones” lack reason, they are incapable of belief.  Hence, “believer’s Baptism” only administered after a certain level of mental development.  But faith and reason are not the same thing.  It doesn’t take intelligence to trust.  The kingdom of God does not exclude the mentally handicapped or those with dementia.  The greatest disciples of all are those who trust – not in themselves or their own strength, but who, in their weakness, trust in Jesus, in His Word.  Little children have no problem believing the Word of God.  As we get older, our reason is often an impediment to our faith rather than empowering it.

This idea that these little ones cannot believe in Jesus is contradicted by our Lord’s clear words in Scripture, referring to “these little ones who believe in Me.”  It doesn’t get much clearer than that, dear friends.

The disciples were right to be embarrassed by their vainglory.  And so should we.  In several contexts, I’ve heard lay people who serve alongside pastors complain that they should not be relegated to pouring coffee, as if this were demeaning work.  But as I pointed out, it is often the pastors and chaplains who pour coffee for people, fetch water for others, and look for humble ways to comfort and be of service.  Truth be told, pastors do a lot of things that people don’t see on Sunday morning.  And this is true with lay Christians as well – who should never think that their work for the kingdom is inferior to those who are called to preach and teach.

“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

Amen.

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

Sermon: Oculi (Lent 3) - 2021

7 March 2021

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

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Our Lord’s opponents and enemies are so jealous of Him, that no matter what He does, it must be evil.  So when He heals people from horrific diseases and gives them a new lease on life, His enemies attack Him for “working on the Sabbath.”  Of course, they don’t mind the priests working on the Sabbath, nor do they refrain from saving one of their livestock animals that falls and needs rescued on the Sabbath.

In addition to miraculous healings and feedings of thousands, our Lord casts out demons.  And today’s Gospel deals with one such successful exorcism done by Jesus.  Instead of giving thanks to God that this man who was formerly held captive by a devil that actually made him unable to speak, the people that hate Jesus came up with a novel way to explain the successful exorcism and express hatred of Jesus at the same time: “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”

Can you imagine being at war, and your county’s general continues winning battle after battle, taking the fight to the enemy and crushing them – only to have the news media back home spreading a conspiracy theory that the general is only winning battles because he is secretly in league with the enemy that he is defeating?

Our Lord points out how ridiculous this charge against Him is by appealing to common sense and history: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.  And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”  He also points to the Jewish exorcists, and asks rhetorically by whom they cast out demons. 

Satan is the enemy.  We mention him every time we pray the Lord’s prayer: “Deliver us from evil.”  A better translation is “deliver us from the evil one.”  In Luther’s morning and evening prayers, we pray “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.”  Satan has been our enemy ever since he brought death and chaos into our perfect world by deceiving Eve and by luring Adam to participate in her sin.  And because of Adam, we are all plagued by sin and death.  Jesus has come to cure us of every disease, raise us from death, defeat the devil, and to accomplish all of this at the cross by crushing the head of the devil.

It is easy to forget that we are at war – especially when we assume that our tomorrows will always be better than our yesterdays, when we are relatively free, unlike people living under tyrannical governments, when we are wealthy and can afford luxuries and have plenty to eat.  Technology just keeps getting better, and we have plenty of things to distract us from really looking evil in the eye. 

But every now and then, we are reminded of the devil’s hatred for us, and the fact that we need to be rescued.  And just as Jesus had His enemies when He walked the earth, He still does today.  There are mockers, who make us ashamed to be Christians.  There are haters, who are on an active campaign to destroy the church and cripple our faith.  There are cultural and political forces that know that we are their enemy, and they apply pressure to stifle and silence us – even if many Christians still think we are friends with the world.  There are demons – the same unseen spirits that Jesus cast out – who oppress us, tempt us, and try to separate us from Christ.  And Jesus is still with us to deliver us from evil, to free us from bondage to sin, Satan, and death, and to provide us with the weaponized Word of God and fortifying sacraments as we fight for King and kingdom – and for each other.

We do not cast out demons by our own strength.  We do not forgive sins by our own righteousness.  We do not win the victory over the devil by our own mighty power.  We have a general who is our King and our Savior, our Redeemer, and our access to God Himself in space and time.  God never slumbers nor sleeps, nor does He take off Sundays to leave us at the mercy of the devil.  And He certainly never cooperates with the kingdom of darkness nor does the bidding of our old evil foe.

Jesus describes His power over Satan using a curious term: the “finger of God.”  There is a famous painting by Michelangelo, depicting the creation, in which God is touching fingers with Adam and giving him the spark of life.  Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the “finger of God” by whom the Father gives life to mankind.  For the Spirit is the “Lord and giver of life.”  Jesus uses this term “finger of God” because it was used in the Old Testament – and we heard it read again today.

The term “finger of God” was actually said by the enemies of the people of God, the Egyptian magicians who were priests of false gods – including the Pharaoh himself.  They could not reproduce the plagues that God allowed Moses to create in Egypt to try to bring Pharaoh to repentance and get him to liberate the children of Israel from their slavery.  The magicians confessed that the “finger of God” was bringing on the plagues, and their false gods and their secret arts and magic could neither recreate it, nor stop it.  When the Spirit comes to each of us, we can resist or we can receive Him in faith and repentance.  Pharaoh did not repent, rather his “heart was hardened.” 

Our Lord Jesus Christ knows that His hearers know this term.  They have heard the story of the Exodus again and again in their lives.  He is, in a sense, comparing them to the feeble magicians and the unrepentant Pharaoh, he who resisted God the Holy Spirit, whose hardened heart was to bring only more plagues, and ultimately death, to his people and his own household as a result. 

The Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.”  The Lord sends each of us this same “finger of God” as a free gift to fight for us and defend us from all evil – even the evil one and his demons.  But the free gift can, and often is, rejected, dear friends.  And those who reject this gift are the ones who align themselves with Beelzebul.  They are the ones whose hardened hearts will only bring more devils, more plagues, and death itself: eternal death.  Such blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, this refusal to believe that the Lord Jesus has come to free us from sin, is indeed the one sin that cannot be forgiven – because one who commits this sin refuses to ask to be forgiven. 

For as our Lord says: “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”  He comes upon you, dear friends, not to destroy you, but to save you.  Jesus Himself went to the cross as a willing sacrifice, a substitutionary offering for our sins, so that we may receive the gift of His righteousness.  This is given to you by the finger of God, the Holy Spirit that you receive when you hear His Word and partake of His sacraments. 

Jesus has come indeed to cast out all demons, Beelzebul, Satan, and every evil.  He calls us to repent and receive the Holy Spirit.  As St. Paul says, our Lord “loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

As we exorcise those young and old who come to us to receive the free gift Holy Baptism, we continue to cast out demons today, saying: “Depart you unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Spirit…”

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