The St. James learning curve [Feast of St. James the Greater]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Acts 11:27-12:5
• 1 Corinthians 4:9-15
• St. Matthew 20:20-23

To you who are called; to you who are beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

           

Who speaks to you all today, saying,

“I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.”

When we talk about James, it is important to remember that there are 3 Jameses of the New Testament. There is St. James, the brother of Jesus, author of the epistle that bears his name. There is also St. James the lesser, son of Alphaeus and there is our James for today, a son of Zebedee, a son of Thunder. Called a son of thunder, along with his brother John, because they asked Jesus to call down fire from heaven upon a hostile-to-the-faith Samaritan village, in Luke 9.

Today’s celebration is one of martyrdom; laying down your life for the Faith and belief that God was made man. James gave his life for something he was taught; something he knew. “We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony” (Jn. 3:11). For, as St. Paul says, “one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die” (Rom 5:7).

In this age of drone strikes, we are not asked to risk our own lives. St. James and the other Apostles are not dying on a whim or at the promise of riches or fame. They lived their entire lives in poverty and in constant threat to their lives and families. They were not simple martyrs dying for a small, lost cause that no one believed in. Not one of us would die for such a thing. They died, offered their lives up, because they knew.

They were all trained. Three years, or so, Jesus trained His Apostles before He ascended to heaven and sent them out. For three years, St. Paul was trained after his conversion, he did not just jump into it as most surmise. They listened. They studied. They learned to know and believe.

Dying is no small matter for us. In fact most Americans spend their whole life medicining death away, so it takes a complete convincing to even approach that level of dedication. We promise, in our confirmation, to die for the faith rather than give it up. So we read up on it and gather our info. This is why we bother to study theology, even when we think its unnecessary.

Do not be fooled. Theology literally means “God’s words”. You read the Bible, you’re a theologian. You think about God, you’re a theologian. It is not an area of study that we just “leave to the experts”, who simply make formula after formula, program after program complex and hard to follow. In fact, Theology can not be properly or even accurately understood without the role of faith in the life of the ordinary man. Jesus died for sinners, not for formulas or programs.

One of the lessons we get from studying theology is that the life of faith that we interact with in Church is not a given in nature. Fallen man did not suddenly grasp the context of religion towards God. These things needed to be revealed and re-taught over the course of thousands of years. God walked with Adam in the Garden. What were they doing? Schooling. The progression of the Bible is not an evolution of a religion, but a continued revelation and catechesis of Who God is.

More importantly, these things were not just revealed by miracles. God uses means. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all use means to accomplish all their goals. God chose human actors in history who withheld personal preference in order to hear and receive the revelation. Over time, the more that was preached by these men, the more later generations would benefit, finally being able to recognize Jesus when He was made man.

Yet, how the story goes, not everyone did. Even with the ultimate revelation there are still some who do not know you need to be born again and who do not believe in the Resurrection.

In the fallen world, life is nasty, brutish, and short. It is the darkness and old night of sin, where men live lives just getting by. It was theology, given by God; it was the revelation of the forgiveness of sins that allowed and does allow man to become a knowledgeable, physical communer with this current, prosperous age of the Church.

The world we see around us is a result of grace and we know this, not because we have guessed, tested, and compared societies that have theology against those that don’t. Instead, we know this because God understands the necessary relationships we have with each other, with Him, and with the world and urges us to be taught.

In studying theology, we are given the ability to interpret the course of history, to appreciate and hold in high regard the contributions of the Gospel in the Church, and determine virtue and what is best in life. In this light, you become a preserver of forgiveness in your home and in your community.

You bear the burden of ensuring that the forgiveness of sins is preached and the Sacraments administered according to the Gospel. But we are prone to wrong decisions, and intellectuals, the masses, the politicians, and the media continue to hate the Church. They propagate a different religion which undermines faith and even the regular lives of people around the world, wishing destruction rather than peace.

Support what you like or it goes away. Teach your children or someone else will. Live by your values or you will be a slave to others’ values. This is why understanding theology is important. A fractured, multi-denominational church and the false hope of false gods from state and society alike, make studying an imperative, now more than ever. 

This is not simply an intellectual endeavor. There is beauty in understanding these things. Being able to see more and more through God’s eyes, puts color into a gray world. Learning more and more of how things are supposed to be, assembles the world into its proper places like a puzzle. This knowledge banishes fear and is the Rock promised.

Faith is intellectual and spiritual. All the pieces fall into perfect place in the faith of St. James and all the Apostles. So much so that they give up family and livelihood in order to prove it. And what is this perfect place the Apostles found or rather that found them?

Hebrews 5 tells us: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who listen to him” (5:7-9).

St. James and the Apostles, armed with the certainty of the perfect and Resurrected Jesus, were able to climb that last hurdle and suffer and die as their God did. They had to learn about it. It had to be revealed to them, first by the Mary’s, then by Jesus, the God-man, Himself.

I do not write these things to make you ashamed (1 Cor 4:14), says St. Paul. Jesus does not present His Bible to you to make you feel dumb or intimidated. He presents holy Scripture AND His holy Body and Blood in order that you hear, see, taste, touch, and smell and believe. He unites spiritual with physical learning to give you the answers you seek. 

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105)

“grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18)

Knowing and learning doesn’t grant you grace and forgiveness and peace with God. Only Christ can give that and He does, for free. Your knowing and learning is for your benefit so that you do not play with intellectual fire, chasing after this or that fancy speaker, but with water, Word, and Body and Blood. 

Miracle upon miracle, we live in the Age of the Church. We live in the era where Grace wins out over all. Where knowing the Lord is not enough. St. Jeremiah says, “No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’”

Knowing is not just study of ink and paper or even turning your life around. Knowing is being forgiven. Knowing is finding communion with Jesus. Knowing is living the life of faith built around Christ and His Church and confessing the same. We must read and understand theology because in knowledge is truth and in truth there is hope. 

In order to know God we must know Christ. In order to know Christ we must find where He has promised to be. In order to find Him, we must hear Him and how can we hear if someone is not preaching. “And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Rom 10:15) and faith comes by hearing.

The Father sends the Son. The Son sends His Apostles. The Apostles send the pastors. The pastors preach and teach the Gospel of Christ, that is the free forgiveness of sins in Jesus. The Spiritual sends the physical and the physical lives like the spiritual. St. James goes and literally sticks his neck out for his Savior’s Church. Not a book. Not a class. Not a curriculum. But a Bridegroom and a Bride.

A Bridegroom that promises resurrection to His Bride, because even though she learns all there is to know, she will still face the unknown; she will still face death. But her catechesis and study has led her there. Jesus brings you to that portal, but because of the cross, it leads to bliss untold. And there in shining, gold letters it is written:

"Who there My cross has shared. Finds here a crown prepared; Who there with Me has died. Shall here be glorified."

Why the Commands? [Trinity 6]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 20:1-17
• Romans 6:3-11
• St. Matthew 5:20-26

To you who are called; to you who are beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

Who speaks to you all today saying,

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

For us in this realm Earth, who retain our sin and yet are forgiven, there are only two principles given for a mental grasp of reality. Their college names are Causality and Teleology. Before you check out, know that you use these things every day to sort your life out, you just usually don’t give them their proper names.

Causality is simply the philosophical term to describe all relationships of cause and effect. Really, you are all causalists. As I said, you use cause and effect everyday. You take medicine, you get better. You apologize to your wife, she lets you back in the house. You work, you get paid. Every action, or cause, results in an effect and you adjust your life accordingly.

You look at the 10 Commandments in this light. If you don’t murder someone, they may decide to be friendly towards you. Jesus uses this same thinking when explaining the 5th Command, in the Gospel, today. Murder will cause you to be judged. Our problem as sinners is that Jesus doesn’t end His sermon with the physical act of murder. Anger, insults, or name calling will also cause you to be judged. And even if you’re not angry, but your brother is, that still causes judgement.

For the sinner, the causes that lead to the effect of judgement seem to go on and on to infinity and do not stop, even with a command from God. Our natural response to this apparent unfairness is to ask “why”. And that’s when our second fancy word comes into play.

Teleology is the philosophical term used for explaining the purpose, or end, of something. Whenever you are asked the “why” question, one of the reasonable ways to answer it would be to explain the good of what you are asked about. If someone asks you “why have a table”, you could answer, “because its good for eating on”. 

Causally, the 10 Commands are given to you because you commit the sins described. Sin caused the 10 commands. St. Paul says in Galatians 3:19, “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions”. So our sin is the cause of the Commandments and the purpose of the commandments is to restrain and reveal our sin. 

What you have just figured out is that there is no way out of your sin. You treat long lists the same way you treat long words: as trash. In sin, you cannot comprehend the goodness of God’s Law, because no matter what you do with it it always condemns you and your neighbor. No matter how much good you attempt to squeeze out of it, by your own actions, it always ends up badly in God’s eyes.

So, we come to the depressing conclusion that we sin because we are sinners and our purpose is to only sin more and more. No matter how many times we read Exodus 20, it always talks about us and it never changes. No matter how many times we read Matthew 5, it always talks about us and it never changes. You will never get out until you pay the last penny.

Rom. 10:4, Jesus is the teleology of the Law. The English usually reads as “end” as if after Jesus the law is going away, but Jesus promises the opposite in Matthew 5:18, so that can’t be true. What Jesus says in Romans is that He is the purpose of the Law, the completion, the perfection. He is also the end of your infinite cycle of sinning. 

Sin caused the Law. The Law caused and increased sin, in order that sin be revealed as deadly. A vicious circle. Jesus was born under the Law, with our sin, in order that it be revealed that Christ died for sinners, to die to sin, and to redeem those under the Law (Gal. 4:4-5). 

So, what do we say? Why the Law then? Why these Ten Commandments that hurt instead of help? Because of Jesus.

Jesus created the world out of love for you. He made a universe of life, light, and peace. Sin and death intruded through our sin, destroying everything and sending us on a fast track to eternal death. We couldn’t believe it, so Jesus gave the Commandments. Through the Commandments we see how pure towards God life should be, but they do not give us the necessary purity.

The prophets attempted to teach this purity, but each and every time it resulted in more sin and death. Jesus then creates salvation through faith in Him, by ending sin and death on the cross. Thus another purpose of the 10 Commands is to reveal Jesus to us.

The purpose of revealing our sin by the Holy Ghost, in the 10 Commands, is to turn us towards the cross. The purpose of showing us the endless cycle of death we put ourselves in, in the 10 Commands, is to show the rescue and redemption of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.

So it is that we find our pastor, St. Paul, preaching and teaching us our solution and our salvation. The solution is the death and resurrection of the giver of the Commandments Himself. The salvation is death to sin and life towards God, in baptism.

“One who has died has been set free from sin”. As in, once a death occurs, you are free. Now it may be your death that causes this freedom, but God’s Word says that its the death of the Son of God. Again, sin causes our destruction and its effect is eternal death. Christ alone causes sin and death to be defeated and gives us His credit for doing so and its effect is the free forgiveness of sins.

Love caused God’s incarnation. God’s love caused Him to give His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him would not die. Christ’s great love for His Father and for you caused Him to die and make full payment for your sins. 

This redemption causes us to be free from the guilt and condemnation of God’s Law, such that we begin to love it instead of loathe it. Now in faith, we discover the true purpose or end of the Law: love. Love God. Love your neighbor. God so loved the world…

Everything causes death and effects us fatally, both mentally and physically. Jesus causes life to sprout out of death. In faith, we live our lives in the face of death and uncertainty, because we don’t find or measure our certainty by worldly standards. 

Even if the world was ending tomorrow; even if we feel like we have nothing to do, nothing to stand on, and nothing to contribute, the Lord gives us a full life. The 10 Commands become that life to live in the midst of death. Not that following them gives you life, but you being able to hear them and love them, shows that faith and life are still on earth and still for you.

In faith, we love the 10 Commands, even though they only point out our sin and death, because in that sin and death we also see our God on the cross, defeating sin and death. No matter what the world throws at us, we find ourselves doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts, in faith. Not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about death. The world may break our bodies (a microbe or virus or bomb can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7).

Life is for living [Trinity 5]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• 1 Kings 19:11-21
• 1 Peter 3:8-15
• St. Luke 5:1-11

fullofeyes.com

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

Who speaks to you today in the Gospel, saying,

“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

At this time, I would like to reveal the deepest, darkest secret that every pastor has and wants to keep. I probably shouldn’t be doing this, but you must know. This is the secret: your pastor is trying to kill you.

Its true. Think of all the things he puts you through. He forces you to worship next to people you don’t like. He makes you do things that are uncomfortable and sometimes outright repulsive. He attempts to drown you when you are small and helpless. He does his best to bore you with words. He compels you to eat and drink questionable contraband and really is only useful at a funeral, some of the time.

He wants you dead. I want you dead. Hahahahaha. Anyways, moving on.

In our Old Testament reading, God wants Elijah dead. At this point in 1 Kings 19, Elijah’s life is in high gear. He is just coming away from a complete and utter victory. God declared, through him, there would be no rain for 3 years until Elijah confront Ahab and destroy the prophets of Ba’al. 

And it worked out just as God said. At the end of a three year drought and subsequent famine, Elijah faced off, alone, against 450 prophets of Ba’al, 400 prophets of the Ashera, and all of Israel fooled into worshiping these false gods. The altars set up. The sacrifices offered. The fire descends from heaven. The flames consume only Elijah’s offering. The Lord is God. 850 false prophets lose their lives. The rain returns. Everyone is happy.

Everyone, except God, it seems. Jezebel yet lives and, despite this fatal defeat of her religion and her power, she still has enough political power to threaten the life of Elijah. These last three years, she has done the same, and now even after all this, nothing changes. God, it seems, is still after Elijah’s life and Elijah gets it. He says in 19:4, “Kill me now, God. I get it. None of this will be over until I die.”

God wants Elijah dead. Even as we come to what we heard read today, God tells Elijah to go to a mountain, apparently in order to kill him with a hurricane, an earthquake, and a fire. Elijah hides, but God seems to trick him to come out of his hiding place with that low whisper. When Elijah comes out, that low whisper tells him to go back to the people that want to kill him.

In the Gospel reading, St. Peter is fishing and living his life. He has, thus far, been able to avoid God’s wrath, unlike Elijah whose story he knows very well, and live a pretty quiet and simple life. Catching no fish is common in his trade. You have good days and bad in business. We all know this. Then comes the bargaining with God, “God, if you just get me through this I’ll do whatever”.

God wants St. Peter dead. He appears in front of St. Peter, calling Himself Jesus. He gives St. Peter what he wished for. St. Peter tells Him to go away, because he knows what it means for God to draw near. Death. Earthquakes, fire, hurricanes, plagues, low whispers, full nets of fish…

The Lord says, “Blessed in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 116:15) and apparently means it. You with your sinful nature cannot be a force of good. The bad things you don’t want to do, you always end up doing. Therefore, in your sin, God wants you dead. But does this really mean God is after you?

Repent. This argument against Christianity and her God is made daily. That God doesn’t really care about your happiness and wants only your destruction, is their motto. And its ours too. The whole world is out to take our life. If we live normally, we grow old, suffer, and die. If we get sick, we suffer, maybe get better, grow old and die. If we get sick and don’t get better, we suffer and we die. 

Moses complained about it. Even the mighty Samson was whining about winning a victory and then being left to die of thirst, by God (Judg. 15:18). They and we are told to not question God, very convenient. 

Now, all this would be true, if death was the end. All these accusations would hold up against God, if there was no resurrection. Now that sounds easy enough, but the Resurrection isn’t just something in the future that doesn’t affect us now. It changes the entire world: past, present, and future.

Yes, it will be wonderful to rise again from the dead, but knowing that there is more life after this life makes this life all the more important. All lives matter because of the Resurrection. Because there is life and more life, it means death is not a part of things and is not supposed to be here.

If death is not supposed to be here, then anything involving death or requiring death to progress, such as Evolution, is wrong. If this is wrong, then it is also wrong to assume that God is after your life, even though it looks that way. 

We live in an upside-down world where right is wrong and death is life. If you take the position that God is a murderer, then some of the world may make some sense, but you never come to a good answer about life. If you take the position that the Resurrection is true and God desires not the death of a sinner (Eze. 33:11), then it is the world trying to take your life, not God.

Whether you are sick to death, bored to death, or killed to death, it is the world’s and man’s doing. We kill ourselves, in effect, daily with all our vices and satan rejoices. He says to God, look at how I kill them and thin your numbers! God says, ok we can play that game. Go ahead and kill them. I’ll just resurrect them.

These fish that Jesus catches did not deserve their fate; that is, to be caught, and eaten. But unknown to them, they were living a lie. A life full of fear and death that they were not created to endure, nor meant to. The net is their resurrection into the real world; the better world; the resurrected world and yet to their sin-filled selves, it looks like death.

In sin, we see things upside-down. We do our utmost to cling to this life and yet God wants us to understand that this is not the way things really are. In sin, we see God against us. In sin, we see God trying to kill us.

Jesus says:

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though he dies” (Jn. 11:25).

“Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life.” (Jn. 6:47)

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” (Jn. 6:51)

“Because I live, you also will live.” (Jn. 14:19)

Life is the answer; God’s answer, always, but death is the enemy in the way. The solution is to de-fang death. God suffers death in our place, in order that “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20) be true. In Jesus, we exchange the false life, filled with death, for real life, filled with life. Though we must pass through death, because of the cross of Christ, the death God and your pastor desires for you is a peaceful sleep.

Breaking the chains of death, Jesus has burned away any lasting suffering you may encounter. In fact, you have already died, dear Christian. You have already come as close to actual death as you ever will in your life, in baptism. For, you have already been baptized into the death of Christ. The suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus has solved the problem of sinful death. He has made it a doorway to Himself.

Now, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Now, if I live a normal life, I get to spend it in faith, in Christ, in His Church. If I catch something and suffer, but get better, I still get to spend life in faith, loving God and serving my neighbor, in His Church. If I catch something, suffer and die, then I am sped to my Savior’s side forever, never to die or suffer again.

Where is the losing there? Where is the fear there? It is a win-win-win situation that Jesus has baptized you into. Jesus says to not fear this life. “Do not fear what man can do to you” (Matt. 10:28). St. Peter is caught in Jesus’ net and is afraid he’s going to die and lose, just like the fish. Jesus repeats Himself again, “Do not be afraid” you will live.

The world is wrong. Jesus is right. Life is always the correct choice, even if it results in death, because then it results in the resurrection from the dead. Death is wrong. Life is right. Jesus tells St. Peter that “from now on you will be catching men”. 

Jesus literally says, “catching men alive”. Not dead or for food, but alive. Jesus says the same in Luke 17:33, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life [will be caught alive].” God catches you with His absolution, His Gospel in order that you live. And even if you die, you will live forever because your sins are forgiven you.

The Lord wants you alive in order that you may hear about His kingdom of forgiveness and in turn forgive others. The Lord makes you alive through baptism and the Lord’s Supper and catechesis. Your pastor and Jesus want you dead to your sin and alive to God, which baptism does for you. 

Dead or alive, Christ does not let you go. Dead or alive, you will receive the reward of heaven, in Faith. Dead or alive, God wants you in His Church, either here, in time, or with Him in eternity. Either way, you get to live.

Freedom [Trinity 4]

LISTEN AND WATCH HERE.

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 50:15-21
• Romans 8:18-23
• St. Luke 6:36-42

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

Who speaks to you today in the Gospel, saying,

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

It is an eerie and ironic Independence Day this year as we celebrate away from each other, in fear, and only at the say-so of our government. It is exactly to this type of situation that the Constitution was written against, making a clear distinction between a free man and a slave.

And it is exactly this sort of situation, between freedom and slavery, that today’s Gospel touches on, as Jesus talks about freedom. The freedom to not be judgmental, to not be condemning, to not be unforgiving, and to regain sight. These things are what mark a truly free man, a noble among his peers.

You can not justify being a slave owner with the Bible. Its just not there. The Bible talks about slaves, but never says “slavery is the way to go”. You can not justify making another person less than human, either. Whether you judge him by his amount of melanin, intellect, or beliefs. Those things are not commandments. People engage in them, but God curbs these awful behaviors with His commands. 

Yes, there are comments on slavery and slaves. There was even an old Bible that was given to slaves that had most of the Old Testament edited out, literally called the Slave Bible. Why? Because, in the real Bible, there are more comments and examples and emphases on freedom than anything else. In fact, the very purpose of slaves in the first place, was freedom. You became a slave to be free or you acquired a slave in order to set them free. 

Slave was never a permanent or hereditary vocation. It was a temp job until freedom and freedom always came. That is a commandment. Even if the person has debt enough for ten lifetimes, 7 years is the limit. The purpose of becoming a slave was to provide you with a way to work off crimes committed by you. You broke the law. You need to pay. Why rot in prison when you can be productive?

Regardless, freedom wins out the day. Even when we don’t want it. For in your sin, not only do you wish slavery (of any kind) upon others, but you also wish it upon yourself. St. Paul even comments on this in 2 Corinthians, “For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face” (v.20). He is saying this to Christians.

Repent. Here is the satanic twist to Jesus’ words about judging and condemning and persecuting. The Prodigal son demands to be made a slave. Joseph’s brothers demand to be slaves. All of Israel clamor for Moses to take them back to Egypt. All because they think that being a slave or making slaves will atone for their own wickedness.

We make someone else a slave because we feel inferior. We make ourselves slaves because we feel inferior. This is the deadly cycle that involves any human action aimed at controlling another. It is full of self-loathing, self-pity, and self-hatred. None of which are ever a part of God’s plan.

So what is God’s plan for us, even for today’s independence celebration? Ask Joseph, for Joseph stands in the place of God as his brothers attempt to worship him. Ask Moses, for he also stands as God’s man on earth, even as all of Israel votes unanimously for ending their own freedom. Both Joseph and Moses and every “hero of faith” knows that God always chooses freedom over slavery.

Joseph had every right to take revenge upon his brothers. He had enough power and legal backing to make whatever decision he wanted and Pharaoh and all Egypt would approve and call it right. He probably even had God on his side. The Old Testament reading and Joseph’s struggle with it, is a precursor to Jesus’ temptation by satan.

Joseph set his brothers free. He chose freedom over anything else. Moses set Israel free. He chose freedom over anything else. So what do you suppose God will do with us, who literally deserve nothing but eternal enslavement?

“Your Father is merciful”, He says, and “your Father is merciful” He shows. Jesus tells us that the Son has come to set us free and shows us that God’s choice is always mercy and freedom. Jesus Himself says that He came to serve, not to be served.

It is God’s own choice to stand in front of His enslaved creatures and let us enslave Him. Love draws God near in order to set us free by His suffering, death, and resurrection. There is no third option. No one can be a slave in Christ, for freedom He has set us free (Gal. 5:1).

In Gospel fashion, Jesus offers Himself in our place and in fact lets us do the offering. Unlike Joseph, we demand vengeance and we demand it from Jesus. We can not tolerate that someone is free and we are not, so we cuff Jesus with our sin and death, and lock Him in the cross and tomb.

Jesus destroys the prison we built for Him, not just for His own sake, but for our sake. For we have built for ourselves an evil house (Eze. 16:24), a shrine to attend instead of Gods Church. The idol that we make dwell there demands death and we sacrifice whoever to it, as long as its not our turn in the furnace. 

Jesus willingly takes our yoke upon Him and lets us bind Him and throw Him into the furnace, but before He goes He reminds us that He will not bow down to us or our gods, and that even though the Father will not save Him from the flames, the suffering, or the death, He will raise Him up 3 days later. The same as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo.

Out of the furnace, Jesus rises, in order that out of the furnace we arise. Out of the Lion’s Den, out of Egypt, out of debt, out of the slavery of sin, Jesus blazes the path of true obedience. He baptizes us onto this path, not that we may go through the same suffering as He, but so that we may participate in, commune in, and benefit from His works. 

For we can not set ourselves free, neither can we atone for our crimes. We need a Redeemer. We are still a part of the Household of God, but as slaves. The Son sets us free and we are free indeed. The Son, through His Word and Sacraments, adopts us as sons like Him, free like Him. Sons that are no longer beholden to debt or intolerance, but are free. Free from all earthly bondage and lord of all he sees. 

And yet is an utterly dutiful man, servant of all, subject to all. In the world we have such outdated ideas as “if there is a lord then there is a servant”. No, in Christianity, all false dichotomies are false idols. In Christ the Lord and the servant are one person. 

In 1 Cor. 9 [:19], ‘For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all” says St. Paul and Jesus, through Him. And in Rom. 13[:8], ‘Owe no one anything, except to love one another.’ Love by its very nature is ready to serve and be subject to him who is loved. So Christ, although He was Lord of all, was ‘born of woman, born under the law’ [Gal. 4:4], and therefore was at the same time a free man and servant, ‘in the form of God’ and ‘of a servant.’ [Phil. 2:6-7].” (Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian)

As utterly free as Christ was, He also bound Himself under the law to serve His creatures and win their salvation. Christ’s salvific example becomes the form of Christian freedom.

First, the inner man becomes righteous, free, and a pious Christian in Christ. The Word does it all. For, “One thing, and only one thing, is necessary for Christian life, righteousness, and freedom. That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the gospel of Christ, as Christ says in John 11[:25], ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live’; as John 8[:36], ‘So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’; and Matt. 4[:4], ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'” (Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian)

Luther specifies which Word he means: “The Word is the gospel of God concerning his Son, who was made flesh, suffered, rose from the dead, and was glorified through the Spirit who sanctifies.” What a comfort this Gospel brings with it! By faith alone the Christian receives all that Christ gives. “Faith alone is the saving and efficacious use of the Word of God, according to Rom. 10[:9]: ‘If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.'” A man is “justified by faith alone and not any works; for if it could be justified by anything else, it would not need the Word, and consequently it would not need faith.”

Christian freedom is a gift from Christ Himself, “For freedom Christ has set us free…” (Galatians 5:1). What Christ did to win salvation in His divine and human natures, He now gives to those who by baptism bear His name: Christian. God justifies the sinner by faith alone. The sinner is changed in inner and outer man after the likeness of Christ. 

The Christian is at once utterly free in faith and a servant to all in works of love at God’s declaration. The constitution of Christian life is lived between these twin poles of faith and love. Faith that lets us see ourselves as redeemed by Christ and love that lets us see that all are worthy of that same free love of God, in Christ.