Faith alone Justifies [The Conversion of St. Paul - Jan 25]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 3:1-14

• Acts 9:1-22

• St. Matthew 19:27-30

 

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

Who speaks to you on this celebration of the Conversion of St. Paul, saying:

“Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”

 

Thus far from God’s Word written that we might learn of conversion. That conversion is the sole work of the Holy Spirit. Conversion means to be turned by something other than yourself and by it be regenerated to something new. In this case, a Christian, that is one who is saved by grace, through faith, for Christ’s sake alone. Becoming a Christian is only possible by His work, this is why He promises to do His work among us.

 

We know this, because Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is among us as One Who serves. And as Acts taught us today, Jesus is One Who intervenes directly in order that His Name be carried into the whole world and to all people. In other words, God promises to use means, earthly tools, to do His great work of Salvation.

 

In fact, we believe, teach, and confess that we “condemn the Anabaptists and others who think that the Holy Ghost comes to men without the external Word, through their own preparations and works”, thus far from our Augsburg Confession (AC V). This is not just a Lutheran teaching. It is a Lutheran teaching because it is a biblical teaching, that salvation comes from Scripture Alone.

 

So if it is Biblical, then it means we can find it in the Bible, right? That we can find the Lutherans in the Bible? That maybe even St. Paul himself was a Lutheran? 

 

Now I know that’s silly, but only 50% silly and only because the Lutherans showed up 1500 years or so after St. Paul and the Apostles. However, remember that being Lutheran just means being Christian. It means that you believe, teach and confess that all of the Bible is God’s Word and that He works His salvation through it and His Sacraments.

 

So let’s go and listen to St. Paul’s preaching in Acts and see if it is in line with that.

 

The book of Acts is not just some historical biography of the Apostles, as if all we can get out of it is examples of a good life and good works. Instead, St. Luke’s intent, St. Luke wrote Acts, is to preach and teach that we must all be justified alone by faith in Jesus Christ, without any contribution from the Law or help from our works (AE 35:363).

 

St. Paul’s own conversion is a testament to this. For, how did St. Paul prepare his heart and mind to meet Jesus on the road to Damascus that day? By killing Christians? By persecuting the Church that Jesus sacrificed Himself to create? Is that an example for you to have your own “Damascus Road moment”??!

 

St. Paul was converted with no merit or worthiness within himself. He was found on the roadside to be an empty stone jar, zealous only for the law and Christ came and filled him. Filled him with what? Look in Acts. St. Paul was filled with the Word first, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:15-16).

 

And go he does, blind as a bat, led into the house of Judas (not that Judas) not eating or drinking for 3 days. On the third day, his pastor came to him, though they didn’t know each other yet.

Ananias brought the Divine Service to blind and famished St. Paul:

“Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength” (v.17-19).

 

Do you see the Church there as you know it, here, in this place?? Preaching, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper? I do. In chapter 13 of Acts, where we first hear of his name change to Paul, we get to hear his first sermon in a synagogue at Antioch. 

 

There, he appeals to the five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings all to show that from David’s seed, “God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised” (Acts 13:16-23). He did not use cleverly devised myths or philosophical knavery, but Scripture Alone in order to convert his own people. How very Lutheran.

 

He concludes his sermon with Grace Alone and Faith alone, saying, “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses” (v.38-39).

 

This is how he continued to preach until the day he was martyred, spending “considerable time…speaking boldly for the Lord, Who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling [him] to perform signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3).  

 

His sermons did not change no matter who he was talking to or even if he was being tortured. In Acts 22 about to be persecuted, he made a defense in order to not be recounting his conversion: “I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today” (Acts 22:3). “The Law”, being another way to describe the five books of Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Scripture again.

 

“The God of our ancestors has chosen you”, he concludes, “to know His Will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth…And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His Name” (v.14-16). Baptism is only received by faith in His Name, given to you by grace alone. 

 

In Rome, in his last 2 years of life, St. Paul “witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus” (Acts 28:23).

 

St. Paul’s hope was not in his conversion experience, but consistently and predictably in “What God promised to his ancestors” (Acts 26:6). Hope is trust, faith, and hope endured all the things St. Paul went through, not because of his own mettle, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. That hope, that promise is only found revealed in Holy Scriptures (v.7), and can only be received by God’s grace (v.18).

 

St. Paul is not a riches to rags story or a privileged to marginalized story. He has not come to lift up the poor and destitute to seize the means of production from capitalist scum. He has come as a tool, someone else’s instrument, to preach someone else’s message. 

 

St. Paul does not get to use his life as he wants, not because he is under contract or has been possessed, nullifying his free will. But because the truth has constrained him. “For the love of Christ constrains us”, he says in 2 Corinthians 5, “because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him Who for their sake died and was raised” (v.14-15).

 

In other words, having received the complete truth of this world, that Jesus has come in the flesh to save and forgive, nothing else in all creation matters except that Gospel. “For I was determined to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). 

 

At this, all of the book of Acts and every epistle and sermon from an Apostle confesses: sola fides justificat, by faith alone we are justified. St. Paul’s life may show that it only takes one touch from God to change a person, but what a touch! We now know what it means to be God’s man on this earth. Not leading armies, starting cults, or gaining popularity, but bearing the cross.

 

Going back to our Acts 9 reading, Jesus says, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My Name.” (v.16). A true Apostle, even a true believer, is marked by the presence of the cross, of suffering. Not self-induced suffering, nor self-seeking suffering, but a progressive recognition of sin in their lives.

 

Sin that needs forgiveness. Rebellion that needs justification. A dead, sinful heart that need resurrection. This is true conversion. That the sinner is wakened from his death-sleep, justified before God for Christ’s sake, and stood again in the very life of Christ. This is why God causes St. Paul to use these words in Romans 6: All of us have been baptized into His death. “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.” (v.4)

 

No human can initiate or instigate his own conversion, because he is dead in his sin and dead men don’t do much of anything. However, when they are raised to new life in Christ, when the Holy Spirit calls them by the Gospel, when the Holy Trinity’s ultimate work of all eternity comes to be, the sinner is forgiven.

 

And in the face of such overwhelming grace and faith, what is there left to do but give thanks and live this life for Christ? There is no payment to be remitted. There is no gift to be given. There is no sacrifice or reformed life holy enough to merit. Jesus is on His throne and all is forgiven in His Body and Blood.

 

Even though I would still call St. Paul a Lutheran, on his way to Damascus, he was not planning on becoming a Christian. If it were not for the intervention of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul would have continued as Saul spreading murder, hate, and division, like internet Lutherans.

 

St. Paul called Jesus Lord, at his conversion, because he knew and believed the Lord’s promises from Scripture alone. St. Paul was called by Jesus directly, without any merit or worthiness in himself, but was given merit to be the Lord’s instrument by Grace alone.

 

And only through faith alone, does St. Paul endure the life beneath the cross of Christ, suffering for His Name’s sake, trusting in the sure and certain promises of Him Who rose from the dead, that there is hope in eternal life.

 

And St. Paul found all of that in the Lord’s Word and Sacrament, just as you do today.

 

 

Ritual Purity [Epiphany 2]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Amos 9:11-15

• Romans 12:6-16

• St. John 2:1-11

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

Who speaks to you on this 2nd Sunday after His Epiphany in His Gospel heard today, saying:

“Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.”

 

Thus far from God’s Word. And He wants us to hear about this purification so that we begin to understand His purification, for us. That in His Promise alone are we purified. Thus, for ourselves and others, we should seek purity in no other place than the Word and Sacrament of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In the Church, we understand purification. Not quite on the Jewish level, yet, but on the Christian level, which is the proper purification anyway. Our Baptismal rite reveals this to us and puts us through the motions as well. 

 

For in the rite of God’s gift of Baptism, there is movement. Of course, we have to get in church, we have to move to the font, and we have to move back. This doesn’t make it a work condemned, like the protestants shout, “by grace not works!” 

 

It just means there is more to it and more going on than just our movements, our work. For baptisms, we begin in the back of Church, near the Narthex, the entrance. This is because purification is not the same thing as holiness and in your impurity, you do not belong in God’s house.

 

Thus, a purification takes place before the candidate approaches the holy things of God. We even say this in the first prayer of the Rite: “The Word of God also teaches that we are all conceived and born sinful and are under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as His own.

Therefore, depart, thou unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Spirit in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

 

So before we even get to the Font, a purification takes place. We understand this “washing” form of purity, for we practice it. Whether its washing our hands or creating a new nation on earth. We separate what we don’t want from what we do want. 

 

If your job is to process spread sheets, you get paid for your talent in spreadsheets, not your love of Warhammer 40K. If your job is to remain faithful to one woman, till death y’all do part, then your relationship is to be monogamous. These and others should be simple concepts for us, humans, so why can’t we get them straight?

 

The stone jars at the Wedding of Cana were presumed empty, because Jesus commanded them to be filled with water. They were empty because all those who needed to be cleansed for the marriage had been. They were empty and now there was no more purification left for those who wanted to come late. The problem that leaves is what about us? 

 

Repent. Yes, there is a ritual purification of the Jews and it hasn’t died out. Our American culture has adopted many of those same rituals, but took out the religion, allegedly. We brush our teeth ritually, we clean our clothes ritually, we do our laundry ritually. And because of germ theory, we also are fearful of pathogens so we wash our hands religiously and everything else anytime we get dirty.

 

That’s just good hygiene, we say. Its how one stays healthy and God must want it this way so it is our holy duty to remain clean. However, just like purity, hygiene also has two meanings. 

First, purity’s two meanings: In John 13, Jesus washes His disciples’ feet. Thus, the Protestants have made this a sacrament, because if Jesus doesn’t wash you you aren’t clean. But one disciple, though his feet were cleaned, didn’t make the cut. So much for that theory.

 

Jesus said, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you”, referring to Judas. Likewise, when Jesus speaks of hygiene in 1 Timothy 6:3-4, He says, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words [the hygiene Logos] of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.”

 

The hygiene and purity Scripture is talking about requires more than soap and water and more than copying Jesus. Because, the pathogen that Jewish and American washing cannot remove is sin. Like Lady MacBeth, no amount of scrubbing would save Judas from his sin. This is why true purity is only accomplished by sacrament, that is the promise of God to make one pure through His means.

 

When Jesus made note of the fact that the Jars for Purification totaled over 180 gallons, He was making sure we knew just how great the amount of water was, to the point of absurdity. And that only for one wedding party. Imagine how much is needed for all people of all time? Much more then, when He turns the water to wine. That number becomes even more absurd, because wine is more valuable than water.

 

Meaning, we are not to seek a purity outside of or without Jesus. Much more so, we are not to seek a purity that Jesus did not promise. Indeed, we can’t. Yes the Jews practiced cleanliness and ritual purity, yet they were still considered unclean and their devotion did not save them. In John 10, Jesus promises that He has come to bring life abundantly. And in 15, He says, “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you” (v.3).

 

Jesus has come to create a purity for you, at His Word. A purity you could not generate on your own or even “with God’s help”. You must have a purity granted from God Himself, and He is not handing out contracts and purity rings. Meaning, you are not able to wash yourself clean enough to enter the Wedding Feast of God.

 

The more-abundant purification is found only in Christ and, as He said, only at His Word. That is, at the Word made flesh. For Jesus has come to fulfill all purity, to complete it, in His own baptism. Not so that our washing of hands and feet would be acceptable to Him, but so that we may obtain the purity that grants eternal life by His side, by His grace.

 

Thus, Jesus did not instigate us to purify ourselves, but He, “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact image of His nature”, upholding “the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3).

 

After making purification for sins on the cross, He returned to His rightful throne and took back His divine powers He had set aside in the ever-blessed virgin’s womb. And, at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel, having been given all authority in heaven and on earth, He invites us to commune in His own purity saying, “be baptized”.

 

He invites us today, with Him at the Wedding of Cana, to look into the jars for purification and find them empty. We find that the purification of man has emptied them of all godliness and holiness. Maybe those who washed before were clean, but now we are not.

 

He invites us to look again and this time we see water, filled to the brim. His Word commanded His servants to fill them. There is now an abundance of purification happening with Jesus and maybe a place even for me. For all He has to do is speak the Words and it is so. It doesn’t end with water, though.

 

He invites us to look a third time and this time we see the wine. At this point, Jesus finally allows His deacons to carry that to the people and offer it to them. From Word to water to wine; there is life in His Word, purification in the water, and holiness in the wine.  

 

“Behold, the days are coming”, saith the Lord in our Old Testament reading, “when the mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it” (Amos 9:13, 15). And in our impurity, we think its strange and believe maybe it just means celebration time. But in the purity of Christ, we see fulfillment. That is, the whole earth now drips with the Lord’s Body and Blood, celebrated and distributed at every Altar on earth, faithful to the Word of God.

 

The Gospel, the Promise, is preached through all the earth, through the Lord’s sacraments. Not only has the Lord given His Word, but He continues to work His salvation among His Christians, in His true Body and Blood. Our complete purification is found in the Promise of Jesus, not in any quest or ritual we imagine for ourselves. For it is not your feet that are unclean, but your heart.

 

Jesus purifies our heart that we may approach God. And on approach, find His feast laid out with baptismal garments provided. These are now the holy things of God, which when communed with, commute that holiness. That is, because you have touched them, obeyed the Lord’s invitation, and hear, are baptized, and eat and drink, you are saved.

 

Because that is the Promise. We did not make it up. Church is not like our wedding parties where we play WWF music with pyrotechnics, or whatever other clever things we imagine. “What does that have to do with Me”, Jesus asks. 

 

And we can answer: everything. It has everything to do with Jesus. If He were not here, none of this would exist. If He were not here, we would be lost in our impurity, drowning in self-help. But with Jesus, His Word and Sacraments are life-giving, rich in grace, and a divine washing of the Holy Spirit.

 

Sacrifice [Epiphany 1]

LISTEN TO THE (| AUDIO |) HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 42:1-9

• Romans 12:1-5

• St. Luke 2:42-52

 

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
 
Who speaks to you on this the Sunday after His Epiphany in His Gospel heard today, saying:

“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”

 
Whenever we speak of sacrament and sacrifice, we must always frame it first within the Divine Service. Not because you’re not allowed to question, but because this is how the life of Faith God has given us in His Son, works. Sacrifice is not understood outside of the Divine Service of God, therefore, through His Word today, God invites us to His Sacrifice, to see what He is doing, and to commune in it. 
 
It seems as if Jesus made His father and mother give a big sacrifice, in letting Him go off on His own and spend an extended weekend in the Temple. And then He has the audacity to talk back to them. when they find each other again. Truly it is difficult being the parents of God. Which disciplinary options would you choose?
 
What is a sacrifice? Is it really a sacrifice to be the guardians of young Jesus? Our Epistle reading this morning mentioned sacrifice. It said, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (12:1). 
 
A sacrifice is usually dead, not living. As we understand it, a sacrifice is something given away never to return. Whether it is an animal sacrifice that is killed to appease a deity, or a sacrifice you make for someone else. What you offer does not come back to you, but you hope it is enough.
 
And that hope is unfounded. You have no proof that your sacrifice will accomplish whatever you made it for. If the Temple sacrifices did not have God’s own Promise behind them, Sts. Joseph and Mary would have no reason to believe and make the pilgrimage journey, in the Gospel today. And for today, having been missing for three days, Jesus had become their sacrifice.
 
It was Passover, after all. Each family was required by law, to journey to the Temple for this Feast and bring the appropriate sacrifice. St. Joseph had brought the required money for offering and he brought the required sheep for the Passover celebration, but he had not counted on the fact that he brought the Lamb, as well.
 
Maybe the words of Abraham, spoken to Isaac, echoed in St. Joseph’s head at that moment, “The Lord will provide for Himself the Lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Gen 22:8) and it turns out to be his son. Maybe, in his panic and dread, he tried to remember the Passover promise that all the firstborn of Israel would be passed over and live (Exodus 12:13), in order to placate himself.
 
He had made the right sacrifices so his son should also be passed over and live. 
Repent. You believe, like St. Joseph and St. Mary the ever-blessed, virgin Mother of God, that you bring the right sacrifices. They thought they had brought enough in the earthly fruits of their labors, as Cain thought. And yet we are not even a chapter away from St. Simeon’s words, “a sword shall pierce your soul also” (Lk 2:35).
 
We forget what a sacrifice actually is. It is not just earthly fruits that can be replenished. Time, talent, money are all things we think are sacrifices we can make to God, because they are valuable to us. But are they valuable to God? We never ask that question. We don’t want to think about it, because deep down we know the answer: No.
 
There is no amount we can pay. No gift we can give. To even give up a son as Adam, Abraham, and David know very well, is a small price to pay for favor and blessing, if that is what is commanded.
 
If that is what is commanded. So is it? Is God a God of sacrifice Who will take away your children if you don’t make Him happy? 
 
He would, if God were like you. What we think is a sacrifice is not a sacrifice according to the One Who commanded it, because He didn’t command it. Let’s look at our Gospel reading again. Jesus asks why His parents were searching for Him if they knew He was supposed to be in His Father’s House.
 
And the most famous thing about His Father’s House; that is, the first thing we think of when we think of the Temple, or really any old-time religion is…sacrifice. Cain and Abel knew this and all of the people in Genesis knew this even before Moses recorded sacrificial procedure in Exodus and Leviticus. It was required, as Psalm 50 says, “Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice” (Ps 50:5)
 
And yet Jesus declares, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Matt 9:13) and He was getting neither, for a sacrifice can be made in unbelief just as well as in belief. Therefore, true sacrifice was to prove faith was present, not the other way round. Jesus points this out in Malachi, “When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person? saith the Lord of Hosts” (1:8).
 
So when did a sacrifice become a sacrifice? When it was born? When it was bought? When it was brought? When it was sacrificed? You had already planned in your heart what to offer to God, before you got to Temple, before you got to Church. 
 
From 1 Samuel 15:22, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams”.
 
This is the reason Jesus says, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness”, in St. Luke 22:52-53. They have come in the name of obedience, but are not obeying. God’s command has slipped through their blood-stained fingers.
 
Now it is not that there is no sacrifice, as if we can just replace sacrifice with mercy on our own terms. God sets the terms and none of His Word will pass away. St. Zephaniah proclaims, “Be silent at the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated His guests” (1:7).
 
Thus, sacrifice is a matter of mercy, but it is a matter of God’s Mercy, not yours. We sit and wait to see what that means and what that means is Jesus abiding in the House of the Lord forever, known forever as the sacrifice of the Lord. He is in His Father’s house as the sacrifice for you.
 
“Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins”, says Hebrews 10, but Jesus, “when He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God” (10:11-12).
 
Thus the sacrifice was always meant to prove Jesus was present, making the sacrifice acceptable, whatever it was, and forgiving the sins of those offering. Sacrifice was always the invitation of God to come and see what He was doing and what He was saying. 
 
For example, Communion does not become the Body and Blood by magic. We are not going to, now, take these things off the Altar, place them on our own tables and eat as if nothing was different. The moment you step into church and see the Altar, they are to be used for nothing else, because that is what’s shown to you.
 
If we had them lying around in boxes on the floor and made a grab-fest out of it, then we would say of them, “worthless”. However, sacrifice was of such importance that Jesus made eternal festivals out of them. Passover was to be celebrated forever, never to end. Date, Time, and Place were all set in holy Scripture. To transgress was to be cut off.
 
Because God was bringing His sacrifice along with us. The Man, Jesus Christ, walks among His family and His people empty handed, on His way to Passover. The whole world watches, wondering what an empty-handed man will offer on the Altar.
 
He passes by family handouts. He passes up the money changers. He turns away charity and loopholes. He stands in front of His Father’s Divine Service and opens His mouth, “Here I am. Send Me, send Me.”
 
He remains in His Father’s House forever, as the crucified, so that when you come up in your spiritual worship, you may be accepted. Spiritual worship, as in no flesh can make satisfaction for sin, no fleshly work you do may be brought up. You are stood next to Jesus and weighed in the balance. 
 
It is not you who lives, but Christ in you. And if Christ is in you, by grace through faith, that is on His terms, then you have a living sacrifice. And His Terms are simple: Hearing produces faith, be baptized and be saved, eat and drink and be forgiven.
 
“The father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate” (St. Luke 1522-24).
 
For, as Judith says, “all sacrifice is too little to be a sweet fragrance for You and all the fat is not sufficient for Your burnt offering, but he who fears the Lord is great at all times” (16:16). 
 
Jesus is, today, handing out the Sacrifice worthy to be on the Altar of God, which is the Sacrament. Those things through which God has promised to work salvation, for you. The Divine Service circles around those things which are simply, the declaration of grace, the Lessons, the Sermon, the distribution of the Holy Supper, and the Benedictions.
 
The Sacrifices of the Divine Service, done in Christ, are the confession of sins, the prayers, the hymns, canticles, creeds, and our offerings. The sacraments enact God’s holiness in this place and the sacrifices prove faith is present and listening. God does His work first, we are then invited to participate or commune in it.
 
This is why we can bring our sacrifices with joy, not because we know they are enough, but because we know and believe forgiveness is ours. And if forgiveness is ours, then the Son is ours. If the Son is ours, then so is life everlasting.
 
We offer our sacrifices in the One Sacrifice. We think we are bringing money, but we are surprised to see we have brought Jesus as well.
 
 

The Gospel Star [Epiphany of Jesus]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 60:1-6

• Ephesians 3:1-12

• St. Matthew 2:1-12

 

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
 
Who speaks to you today saying:

“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel”

 
Though today is technically the 11th day of Christmass, we are instead celebrating the Epiphany. For there is a church law that allows you to transfer feast days to the closest Sunday, sometimes even to the next available Sunday. 
 
For example, this year, we were supposed to have celebrated the Feast of the Holy Innocents on the Sunday after Christmass, instead of the First Sunday of Christmass, and to have moved the First Sunday of Christmas to today. Similarly, since Transfiguration Sunday is a newer day compared to the Conversion of St. Paul, set for January 25th, Transfiguration gets bumped completely this year.
 
And this is just to help the Church organize what and when to celebrate.
 
Yet, this should not disgust us yet, for we consider ourselves a nation of laws. They are there for order and to keep the peace. If you break the law, you should be punished, for law-breaking hurts a society. 
 
If only there was a way to pass the perfect law so that we could always be at peace. Something like, “No laws shall ever be broken”.
There was a wise man from Canada named Mr. Lee, who offered a parable about trees. The short trees felt they were being oppressed by the tall trees, because the tall trees were grabbing up all the light. The short trees formed a union and passed a noble law that all trees be kept equal by hatchet, ax, and saw.
 
The lesson about the law that begins to emerge is that no matter how noble your motivation is, you are not exempt from the laws you create. For example, during its two biggest, domestic upheavals, the Civil War and the Great Depression, the US did the same thing. It passed a noble law that said any rebellion against the government is illegal. 
 
At first that makes sense, but what happens when laws are created for some and not for all? Or when laws are superfluous, having less to do with peace and more for taking and keeping power? For your good, comrade, you must give up all your rights, because they conflict with the government’s rights.
 
In our Gospel reading today, there are two laws in direct conflict with one another. The first law is God’s and in it we hear of three things. First is that there is to be a king in Israel, or rather the promise is that there will always be a descendant of David on the throne (Jer 33:17). Second, is that Bethlehem shall produce a Ruler Shepherd, and Third, there will be a star (Num. 24:17).
 
The opposing side includes Herod, but also all Jerusalem with him, meaning all sinners. For their law consisted of three things as well. Herod was king, matter-of-factly, Jerusalem is the real capitol for the Embassy, er, for the true king, and the only star is the king who produces real results, in God’s name of course.
 
Why the conflict? Because what sin has done to the Law of God is elevate the adjectives of the Law over the words. It is expressed this way: if you are a true Jesus-follower and you believe that God is loving and compassionate and just (adjectives), then you believe in a God Who values free will. God always consistently gives free agency to everyone in the Bible. He never forces anyone’s hand.
 
God leads with compassion, not control. He cares more about your heart and compassion, than stupid rigid rules. Look, says Herod, I was chosen in fairness. I might not be exactly from David’s family line, but I’m on the throne, that means God wants me here. Don’t judge me, bro. God meets us where we are, He doesn’t condemn from afar.
 
It is sin that makes the Herods so violent, because they must justify their presence on the throne. Justify with their own reason, against God’s reason. Herod is a false king. He has no claim to the title, properly understood. And yet, by law he is allowed to take up the throne and reign.
 
When human virtue becomes the main way we define God’s Law, we lose the law. When “unconditional” becomes the main adjective for the love of God, the cross becomes unnecessary, repentance becomes optional, and salvation becomes presumed. 
 
In sin, our choices become the sacred. In sin, our decisions become the divine. In sin, our “god of love would never require suffering as proof of obedience.” In king Herod, we see the ultimate replacement of God. God is replaced by the human legalism that He gave, allegedly. That is, we have reduced God to contracts and our experiences.
 
Repent. You believe that since God is love and love, in your experience, is not making someone cry or suffer, then that is God. You also believe that God’s Law is the end of His revelation to us. That He has set down the rules and you either follow them or you don’t.
 
Then we are confronted with the Herod problem: what about Jesus? If we have God’s ultimate revelation in His Law, then what is Jesus doing here? We can handle it like Herod did and kill Him, then the problem goes away, even though it doesn’t. Or we can handle it like the Jews and make the law say: there can be no messiah, and the problem goes away.
 
The Law from God is our guardian, our schoolmaster, until faith arrives. There was something more that God had planned from the beginning. Not that the Law was insufficient or unholy or useless, but that it was unusable on the unrighteous. Meaning simply that lawbreakers break the law.
 
You can make any law you want, but in the face of someone who breaks the law, it is no good. In our Old Testament reading, it sounds as if you can just pay God off, if you break it. As long as you pay the fine, you will be fine. 
 
But Isaiah 60 goes on, “Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you, but in my love I had mercy on you” (v.10). By this we are led to believe that keeping the Law involves love, not just obedience.
 
And just in case the Herods and Jews of the world try to get ahead of everyone else using lawyers, Jesus declares that the Law of God is spiritual (Rom 7:14). Meaning, no matter what we do with our bodies, keeping the Law requires more. It requires faith. It requires the physical and the spiritual coming together.
 
Thus, Galatians 3, “the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (v.24). The Law doesn’t go away. The sting of death is still sin, and the power of sin is still the law (1 Cor 15:56), but Christ has been raised from the dead. What then?
 
The Gospel. The Gospel, as our Epistle reading says, which is grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ, the mystery hidden for the ages, and God’s eternal purpose. The Gospel is grace, because it is also for Herod and the Jews. It is unsearchable because no sinner expects God to be made man. It is a mystery, because it is in the world, yet remains holy and all of this because God’s eternal purpose is forgiveness.
 
Our confessions state: “This knowledge [of sin] comes from the Law, but is not sufficient for saving conversion to God, if faith in Christ be not added, whose merits the comforting preaching of the holy Gospel offers to all penitent sinners who are terrified by the preaching of the Law. For the Gospel proclaims the forgiveness of sins, not to coarse and secure hearts, but to the bruised or penitent” (SD V:9)
 
“For the Law says indeed that it is God's will and command that we should walk in a new life, but it does not give the power and ability to begin and do it; but the Holy Ghost, who is given and received, not through the Law, but through the preaching of the Gospel (Gal. 3:14), renews the heart…Therefore, as often as believers stumble, they are reproved by the Holy Spirit from the Law, and by the same Spirit are raised up and comforted again with the preaching of the Holy Gospel” (SD VI:11-14).
 
And again:
“since the Law is a schoolmaster unto Christ that we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24) and thus points and leads us not from Christ, but to Christ, who is the end of the Law (Rom. 10:4) [that we] be comforted and strengthened again by the preaching of the holy Gospel concerning Christ, our Lord, namely, that to those who believe the Gospel, God forgives all their sins through Christ, adopts them as children for His sake, and out of pure grace, without any merit on their part, justifies and saves them, however, not in such a way that they may abuse the grace of God, and sin hoping for grace” (SD V:24-25)
 
In this way, the Gospel, Jesus, slips out of Herod’s bloody fist and will go on to shed His own blood for the sins of the world. In this way, the Gospel, Jesus, passes directly in front of the Jews and they see it not. 
 
For it is in Christ we see the full revelation of God in the flesh and that revelation is mercy. And mercy is what the Law cannot give to sinners, because we don’t want mercy. We want to be right, but only Christ is Right and the Law brings us to Christ, Who makes us right in His Blood.
 
So we return to the Gospel, which is the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ, through which God gives forgiveness, faith, life, and the power to please Him with good works. The Law that said there will always be David’s Son on the throne, is now Gospel. It was a promise, not a legal demand, a promise only to be fulfilled by someone who can always be there: the Resurrected Jesus.
 
Then on to Bethlehem. It is not that Jerusalem wasn’t chosen, it is that mercy is chosen. Yes Jerusalem is mighty, but the older shall serve the younger (Gen 25:23). And as Jesus explains, “the greatest among you shall be your servant”, in Matthew 23:11. Christ shall suffer and die to serve forgiveness and salvation to His people. The cross is the throne, not the Temple mount.
 
And finally the star. In our sin we do not shine bright like a diamond and no amount of knowledge of the Law will make it so. God must give the light and that light is that He is made man to shepherd His people to the green pastures of eternal life.
 
And this mystery is not found in hearts, or pen, or paper, but in the Church, as our Epistle says. In the Church that preaches the pure Gospel and administers the sacrament according to it. In God’s mercy, He has brought the Gospel forward in time to us. He has brought forward the star, the Bethlehem, and the manger to this place.
 
Not because those actual things at that time were the Gospel, but His Promise in His Word was. That is what was missing from the Law. That Promise that the Law is good and wise and will bring us to the Gospel. This is what a good teacher does. He leads on and has the goal of making the student like the teacher.
 
In this case, the Gospel makes the Law digestible for sinners. Since we demand a king, Christ is our King. Since we demand justice, Christ stands on the cross. Since we demand love, Jesus loves more than we could ever love each other or ourselves. 
 
For our love only excuses and accuses. It is a love restricted by sin and the law. We excuse those we “love” and accuse those we “hate”. True Love, that is True God, covers a multitude of sins and does not leave His people comfortless. True love allows access to God’s Grace, through Word and Sacrament, in His Church on earth. And in that Gospel, makes us like Christ, holy and righteous to God, now and forever.