Palm Sunday [The Passion according to St. Matthew 26:1-27:54]

It is a glorious witness to the power of God when we hear the same Gospel reading from Advent 1, on Palm Sunday. Glorious, because Jesus is coming; not just to a Silent Night in Bethlehem, but to fallen creatures singing His praise today, but shout “Crucify” on Friday.

Thus, Jesus speaks today, saying:

“When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.”

Another wonderful witness comes from the Pharisees. Their patriotic speeches are littered with unintentional prophecy. The high priest declares that it is better for one man to die than for a multitude to suffer and the Pharisees incite the Good Friday crowd to say, “His blood be upon us and our children!”

Pilate gives one final witness before the cross. He inscribes upon it the charges brought against Jesus. In his eyes they were meant to deter anyone else from doing this same thing, so they would not be crucified as well. It read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

Even the Moslems are not to be outdone. 1000 years after Jesus on the same highway that Jesus is riding upon and the same Great Gate He passes through to Jerusalem are, today walled up and blocked with a graveyard. Their thinking is that if a Jewish Messiah were prophesied to come in through the East Gate (the King’s gate) he would have to be ritually clean. Touching dead bodies negates that and here’s a wall just in case.

They are all better witnesses of the person and work or Jesus Christ than you, because they are willing to sacrifice everything for it and take Jesus at His Word. They believe putting Jesus to death would show everyone just how not-godlike Jesus really is.

Remember, death is not your friend or their friend. So, while Jesus will die, death is not going to do what everyone wnts. This is because death is not a thing, in and of itself. Just like sin is not a thing. Both of them are not created things and they have no business being here.

Yet it is here. We can not explain it. We can not rationalize it. It is something that should not be. It causes much harm, much sorrow, and much regret. It is the one thing you avoid at all cost and yet, here Jesus is practically running to His death.

The first time we hear of death, it is from the lips of the Lord. He says that eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil will only lead to the death of Adam. Thus the Prophet of prophets tells us of death and also tells us it is not His doing.

Think about it this way: your bodies cannot handle heaven. They can’t even handle life on earth and yet they were made by God. Does this mean God is a failure? Many of you love various sins and vices and use the excuse that God made you that way. Does this mean God is schizophrenic?

God created all things. There is only one Creator so anything that is here or that we discover is made by Him and yet it is also true that God did not make death. How we understand that is how we understand sin. God created your bodies and souls, but He did not create them corrupted or fallible and yet they are.

Likewise, God created life, but He didn’t create life to end. He is life. That would be ridiculous. In light of this, we call death what it is: a corruption. God created life; sin corrupted it. And it is corrupted beyond repair. It is corrupted to the genetic level, never to be undone.

In your sin, you deserve nothing but this death. In your sin, you also cheer on those who wish to prove God to the world by putting Him to death. You wish to see for yourself, for you are not completely convinced, Jesus dying just like you: alone and afraid.

However, Jesus dying is exactly what the plan is. He says to you, “Your will be done”. You wish to see God share in your struggles and grief? He does. You wish to see God handle the stress of life and the anguish of despair? You got it. You desire to see God having to die? Sure thing.

What the Pharisees don’t understand is that it is precisely through death that Jesus is proven to be faithful and true. It is exactly in His Blood poured out upon them that they save everyone. What Pilate doesn’t get is that a true King lays down His life for friend and foe alike. What the Moslems don’t understand is that not even death can stop this King of Life.

Death is the last enemy to be overcome because it is the last door for a Christian to go trough. Death is the last enemy because it is the final cut between old creation and a new creation, for one who has died has died to sin and sin and the Law can no longer condemn him. However, in Christ, the Christian does not die, but falls asleep.

Jesus, the Lord of life has had His creation wrenched from His hands and thrown down a death spiral. What was once forward, life, is now backwards, death. However, Jesus goes backwards, into death, in order to once again right the ship.

Jesus reverses the reversal. It can not be explained any better. Death, which is irrational and unnatural, must be conquered by the irrational and unnatural; namely the death of God.

And, as we heard last Wednesday evening, this death is proclaimed by your entire body in the Lord’s Supper. No more does sin and sorrow reign, because Jesus has given us His pledge. The sign of all this is the cross of Jesus. His pledge to you is the Sacrament of the Altar.

The real misunderstanding of unbelievers is that God can be both spiritual and physical. Not only that, but that God can die, being one substance and one person with Jesus. That He can be buried in the ground, same as you. That He can fulfill your will in striking the final blow against Jesus and in the same act, relieve you of your guilt as you cry out, “I put my Lord on the cross!”

It was the will of the father to sacrifice His Son. It was the Son’s joy and delight to give His Body and spill His blood upon you and your children, in Baptism. It is the great endeavor of the Lord that the Bridegroom die and bleed upon your sins, in order that Jesus now be your life in death and bring you to heaven’s portals.

Life from death [Lent 5; St. John 8:46-59]

Jesus speaks to you today, saying:

“⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

On Good Friday, you will hear the Jews make a startling declaration. They publicly confess that they have no king but Caesar. At that point it was either admit that Jesus was a king or take Caesar and you know they hated the former more.

Thus they declare a prince of this world as their ruler. Today, you hear something similar. The Scribes and the Pharisees love to claim Abraham as their father; their direct blood-line to the promise of God. They will also do the same to the prophets.

But here, they are not. Notice what they say. They say, “Our father Abraham”, but then note that he died. They say, “Our prophets”, but also note that they died. So who really is their father? Who really is the one that rules over them? Who is this mysterious Caesar that they have voted for unanimously?

As the Jews see it, they are hearing God’s words and are living by them. They have Abraham, Moses, and all the prophets written down for them. They have their faithful teachers preaching and teaching them and yet Jesus says that they do not hear God.

The reason is this: they are dead in their sin and death is their true father. Rather than have Jesus be God, they challenge Him with their god: death. Abraham died and even the Prophets died, Jesus. Are you greater than our God, death?

Can you blame them? Is it easier to believe in death, which you experience everyday, or to believe in life after death of which no one has reported to you?

Think about it. Death is seen as a friend, because he lets you live a full life and then takes you in your sleep. Death eases your burden by removing you from this life. Death quietly waits until you are ready and gives you rest. What a kind and merciful master!

Repent. The dead do not hear God. The dead do not see God and death is not the friend you force him to be. Sure, in your youth, when illness is far away, death is a great adventure waiting just around the corner, but he is really an unwanted intruder, snatching and grabbing when and where he chooses.

Yet, here is where you find yourself: in death’s grip. It is a sure thing. Youth can not prevent it. A fountain or a grail are not going to remove it. Make-up, vegetables, or even right-living all turn on you, when you need them the most.

You find yourself in sin. You find yourself taking up arms against your brothers and hauling them before unbelievers to judge them. You find yourself dead in sin. You find yourself not listening to God. You find that you have no king but Caesar.

Jesus says that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not the God of the dead, but of the living. He says that the Father will glorify Him. He says that He speaks the Word of God. He says that there is a day in which your father Abraham was glad to see and that day involves death.

You and the Jews ask Jesus, “Who do you make yourself out to be, Jesus?” “Are you greater than our god, death?” “We’ll put you on a cross to prove that you aren’t.”

Jesus answers by saying that Abraham has already seen His day and he rejoiced. Jesus answers by saying, “Watch me go to the cross, and I’ll prove it to you.” And when He does, Jesus, who is both God and man, does not become less, but more.

Where last week, Jesus told us of eating heavenly bread, at the cross Jesus eats death for you. You see Jesus crowned with glory because of His suffering and death in order that He would taste death for everyone (Heb.2:9).

The God of all creation; indeed, the only God out there, lowers Himself to sit at your “god’s” table and death lays it all out. The spread is awful. The fare is each and every person’s death since Abel. The main course is your sin and dessert is God on a cross.

And death is swallowed up in life (2Cor.5:4). Death is swallowed up in victory (1Cor.15:54). Jesus makes what the devil has kept in his mouth to come out and the nations no longer stream to him (Jer.51:44).

Jesus has swallowed you, uniting with you; baptizing you into His death in order that you would share in His resurrection (Rom.6:5). The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God in Jesus’ suffering and death is eternal life (Rom.6:23).

The Lord did not create death. He did create the resurrection. The Lord did not create you for death. You body can not handle it, quite literally. As the Jews tempt Jesus, they teach you this by saying that all the really special, godly people died. Even though God was with them, feeding them, and working through them, they still died.

True, but now that even God has died, death is no more, and in faith, though you die you will live. You will know suffering. You will experience dying, but you will never know death. Jesus has taken that away. Even Abraham and the prophets did not die, but fell asleep.

In baptism, you share in this wonderful Gospel. In baptism, you are united, flesh and blood, to the Body that death could not hold onto. In baptism, you are one with the one true God and one true man who has tasted death and yet come out alive. There is no more reason to fear death.

You do not have to bow to it. You do not have to plead with it. You do not have to make bargains or strike up deals with it. Death now serves God in every way. The only power it has over you, now, is to remove you from its shadowed valley.

That’s it. It can not tear you from Jesus. It can not remove faith from you. It can not destroy what God has promised you. It can not take anything from you, for what death has taken, Jesus gives back in the resurrection 100 times over. Death is now a slumber; a portal, from this life of sin to the promised life of eternity, in Christ.

Where this world turns on you and all your efforts yield no fruit in front of death, Jesus turns to you and yields imperishable fruit. Jesus turns to you and offers this fruit in His Sacraments, for there is no other way to obtain fruit from the Tree of Life except from the Lord of Life Who hung on a tree.

Certainly true [Wednesday prayer; Rom.6 & 1 Pet. 3]

Thus far, we have concluded the first three Chief parts of the Catechism. First: the 10 commandments; Second: the Creed, and Third: the Lord’s own Prayer. You could call these first three the Foundation. Not only, in that order, do they explain themselves, but they prepare you for the Sacraments.

In giving the 10 Commands, we hear God tell us what we are to do and not do. Yet, from these commands alone, we do not know God. The Creed then explains the Commands in a way in which we may know Who God is and what we can expect Him to be doing.

Then, in seeing our complete failure with the first part; hearing God’s perfection in the Second part and realizing our utmost need in the Third, we finally come to the sacraments that give Faith something to cling to.

It is at this point that Dr. Luther admitted Christians to the Lord’s Table. On top of confessing Christ’s true Body in the bread and His true Blood in the wine seen on the altar, these first Chief Parts form the kernel of true Faith, in a simple way.

Of course, there is always more to learn from the Bible and the catechism. It would take more than a lifetime to master either of them. Thus, the catechism continues to the second section: the ways in which God gives Faith on earth; also known as the sacraments.

 St. Peter minces no words and describes the sacraments in perfect simplicity: baptism now saves you. Plain as plain can be, St. Peter gives Faith a solid, immovable mountain to stand upon in an ocean of shifting sand. On these four words, false belief is prevented and shame is overcome.

This is because the Word of God promises something here. Now, it is true that God promises long life to those who honor their father and mother, but where is this long life? Can I taste it? Can I touch it? I see people honoring their parents and yet they die the same as everyone else.

The sacraments are different than just a promise made by Jesus. They are a promise attached to a physical location. With Baptism, Jesus promises salvation in a washing with water and the Word. You are not doing the washing. You are not creating the water and you are not imagining the Word. All this is done outside of you.

And that’s the main difference. With honoring your parents or following Jesus or anything else God demands of you, you can find it inside yourself or its something you can attempt. With the Gospel, it is only something you can find outside of you and being done to you.

Thus, holy Scripture presents baptism as the water combined with the Word of God. In fact, God stakes His very honor, power and might upon this sacrament to do what He says it does. This is found also in the Word as Jesus commands and promises, “Go into all the world, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The command is plain. The promise is plain. Do not doubt that baptism is God’s own creation; that, even though it is performed by men’s hands, it is God’s own act of washing you.

“Therefore we always teach that the Sacraments and all external things which God ordains and institutes should not be regarded according to the coarse, external mask (as we regard the shell of a nut) but as that in which God’s Word is enclosed. 

For we also speak of parents and the civil government in the same way. If we propose to regard them in as far as they have noses, eyes, skin, and hair, flesh and bones, they look like Turks and heathen, and some one might come and say: Why should I think more of this person than of others? But because the commandment is added: Honor thy father and thy mother, I behold a different man, adorned and clothed with the majesty and glory of God. The commandment (I say) is the chain of gold about his neck, yes, the crown upon his head, which shows me how and why I should honor this particular flesh and blood.

Thus, and much more even, you must honor Baptism and esteem it glorious on account of the Word, since He Himself has honored it both by words and deeds; moreover, confirmed it with miracles from heaven.

Inverse [Lent 3; St. Luke 11:14-28]

Some say reality is black and white

Most say reality is a gray area, while the rest who are offended by gray say reality is many colors.

They say life is what you make it. They say reality is an illusion. In order to justify your corrupt desires, you are willing to order and reorder reality as you see fit; red, yellow, black, white, whatever.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells you of one reality with two kingdoms: a divided kingdom and a unified kingdom.

In the divided kingdom, there is peace. There is peace because everyone wants the same thing: to be king, but there is only one king: ba’alzebub. Even though you know this, you still struggle to make the best of things. You still work hard and do our duty, even though nothing in life changes. As a result, we make motivation posters.

In this peaceful, divided kingdom demons are seen as heroes, right is wrong, and down is up; and it is in this kingdom that you dwell. In the First part of the Gospel, Jesus shows that a kingdom divided can not stand, implying that the devil and his kingdom are not as divided as you think.

In the second part, Jesus reveals what a united kingdom looks like. That; even if it is swept and put in order, it may be more evil than you realize. And it is more evil in this way: to you, an upright citizen, a man who works hard, earns his living, and makes his own way is someone to be praised.

More than that, he is someone to be imitated. He is someone you want in your club or church because you know he will be a pillar of support. He will always give, he will always volunteer, and he will always be an example.

This is the world we live in. Jesus says it is one way. You say it is another. In your sin, you are incapable of making sound judgment calls according to the Faith. Since the Fall, there is not the least spark of spiritual power remaining or present, in anyone.

Because of all this, Jesus does come to do harm to this kingdom. He comes to spoil the strong man. He has not come solely to cast out demons, but to banish them forever. He has not come to give everyone a turned-around-life, but to bring true life. He has not come to bring peace, but a sword to this kingdom.

This sword falls upon sin, death, and the devil. Even upon you, for you are sin’s servant and the devil’s captive. In your sin, you do the devil’s will by casting judgment on Jesus and saying that He does things in a false way.

Jesus comes to attack and in your sin you are certain it is against you. As Jesus approaches, the fear of punishment rises and also the distaste of perceived injustice in your mouth. You watch Him, waiting for Him to trip up, and see Him mount the cross.

At last! You say. He is going to come to an end and you will no longer have to deal with His persecution and His holier than thou talk. But in the crucifixion and resurrection, the tables are turned. The Holy Spirit waters and gives growth to what Christ had planted by His Gospel and a realization comes.

The realization that the devil, sin, and death have been the enemies this entire time, not you. You have been so concerned with who’s doing what and how well it looks to others that you missed the picture completely. But, because your sinful nature is strong and active only to do what is displeasing to God, Christ is strong and active to destroy and regenerate that nature.

This new, holy nature is not something to be prepared for or for you to accept. It is a whole and complete gift given through Jesus. It is a gift prepared in the flesh, purchased and won in the flesh, and given, you guessed it, in the flesh. This means that in the midst of your sin and this divided kingdom, Jesus gives His gifts in Word and Sacrament.

Dear Christians, the grace of God has already appeared. The storms may gather and the armies of hell may be unfurling hateful banners, but your captain has already taken the field, is holding the field, and you along with it.

Let’s make no mistake, we are all sorely oppressed by demons, despite what things look like. We all are possessed for the signs of possession are not just evil things, but sin against God. It is not just murder, greed, and inhumanity that make a person evil, but a wrong heart towards God. A right heart towards God only comes through suffering.

The suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus clears the smog. In a backwards way Jesus becomes a criminal, pays for sin, and leads the devil captive. Deep guile and great might may be the devil’s work to fool us, but Jesus is not fooled. Jesus knows that His Word is true and that His sacraments offer the promises of God to you , for free.

Your mind and heart are of the flesh and are stuck there. You can no more see inside of a man than you can run through solid concrete. All you get is the front they put up and God help you if you make the wrong decision about someone.

But whether we recognize evil or it pulls a fast one over us all the time; our true and only hope is in Christ and His Word. It is there we hear only of Him and His deeds done for us. It is there that we hear of forgiveness and salvation given by water, bread, and wine. It is in the Word where we hear of the stronger man overcoming the strong man, gaining us as the spoils.

Where the world and our corrupt nature want us in ignorance of the person, words, and works of Christ, the Spirit wills the opposite. Where earthly comforts flee and fail, the Church stands forever as the place where the Gospel is preached in its purity and the Sacraments administered according to it.

Jesus is what makes the church holy. Jesus is what makes you holy. His gifts are what will stand up to the gates of hell and His promises are what will outlast any sustained effort of works on our or the devil’s part. It is not us. It is not from us. It is Jesus. And it is from Jesus.

The reality is that it is all about Jesus. Whether what He does feels right or wrong to you, He is always right. Not that He is showing off, but that He’s doing it all for you. The reality is that we can not trust our own senses, but in Faith, we trust the Word of God.

Your world is divided, but Christ is one. One with the Father; One with the Spirit; and now, one with you. Our senses may be darkened and our reality distorted, but Jesus is the light of our senses and the creator of justification by grace through faith, for His sake.

The Lord's Prayer [Ephesians 3:14-21]

This evening, Jesus tells us that St. Paul is praying, in Ephesians, heard tonight. What he is praying for is the Church. What’s happening in Ephesians is this: the pastors are being persecuted in front of the congregation. Not during service, but those who are preaching the Gospel are being publicly beaten, arrested, and slandered.

This terrifies the congregation,. Not only do they sympathize with their pastors, but in the back of their minds, they know they are next. In our days, we can’t understand this as we have lived in relative peace for quite a few generations, in America.

However, that does not make things easier for you. It makes things harder. Where the early Christians could point to their aggressors, you can not. As we said, there is apparent peace in this country, and yet the Word of God still declares that the enemies are at the gate.

The Christian’s only recourse, indeed the only outlet the Lord gives him, is prayer. There is no other way to communicate to the Lord our needs. You can not get there through the Sacraments; they are a one way street (from God to you). You can not use meditation or dreaming and you certainly can not NOT pray, saying that your life and actions are prayer enough.

The enemies you face today are more sinister than even the serpent in Eden. As we said before,  our enemies parade around as the good guys, even using the Word of God. However, what you have in the Lord’s Prayer is one of the great weapons in your arsenal.

Much to the consternation of many people, the Lord’s Prayer is written down and many despise written things because, they say, that the letter kills, but the spirit makes alive (2 Cor. 3:6). Also of great disappointment to many, is the fact that the Lord’s Prayer is not just a template of prayer with which you may plug and play, copy and paste, as you see fit.

No, the gift Jesus gives us in His prayer is much better than both of those things. For one, it is the prayer JESUS HIMSELF PRAYS. For two, it is a direct revelation of what your needs truly are.

Jesus does not make this hard to understand. He gives you the prayer that He wants to hear you pray, so you should pray it, word for word. You’d think this would be a no-brainer. The Man Who wants to hear prayer gives you a prayer to pray. Don’t mess with it, just pray it as often as possible.

The Ten Commands told us what we must do and the Apostles Creed, what we must believe and in these things alone do we find the best and happiest life. However, even though we have begun to believe, we can not cling to them perfectly.

On top of that, the devil with all his power, together with the whole world and our very own flesh constantly resist this, nothing is more necessary than to continually resort to the ear of God. All our shelter and protection rest in prayer alone, for your needs are greater than the saints (Large Catechism).

This the Lord’s Prayer reveals to us. You hear from Jesus’ own words your great need of hallowing God’s Name; of letting His kingdom come; of letting His will be done; of daily bread; of forgiveness of sins; of aid in temptation and deliverance from evil. In calling upon God in this way, pretty much demanding His help, your prayer is as precious, holy, and pleasing to God as any of the most holy saints.

Do not despise prayer, for God commands it. Do not fake humility, God commands that you call upon Him at all times. He wants to hear it. He wants to answer it. He wants to remove all obstacles in the way of faith and belief for you and He wants you to do it the right way.

Thus you have a crucified and risen Lord and Savior giving you both the way and the words to pray. Not only that, but He has caused His Holy Spirit to work through men and the Church in order that it would be written down. Then, He made it so that you would hear this Gospel and believe.

And by believing these written words of Christ, you then would have exactly what they promise, in Christ.

Reversed [Lent 2; St. Matthew 15:21-28]

Jesus speaks today, saying:

“O woman, great is your faith.”

Consider this Canaanite woman. She neither reaps nor sows. She has not been apart of God’s chosen people. She has not planted her own faith, neither has she built it up, yet she possesses it and it really shows up today.

She is on fire. First off, it takes a lot of courage to speak to a public figure in public. And it takes even more to admit a personal problem in front of everyone, not even mentioning the extremely embarrassing fact that it is demon possession. How would you feel?

But, she does it. She gathers everything she has and shouts at Jesus. Then she tries again. Possibly Jesus didn’t hear over the nasty grumblings of the disciples. Undeterred, she lets loose another round of prayer.

Maybe she will get what she wants this time. She knows what to say and when to say it, if she just hangs in there. She knows she has to be humble and sincere and really mean it. Once Jesus sees her courage, persistence, and abject humility, He must give in. If Jesus wants to save face in the public eye, He can’t refuse such a display, can He?!

Because, to the public and to you, she is a hero. She is battling female oppression. She is standing up for what she believes in. She is demanding justice and she is doing it all while being clever and humble.

This interaction seems to be a very unflattering point in Jesus’ ministry. He tries to save things by making things right in the end, but the damage to His kindly image is done. Not only did He initially refuse to answer this woman, but He also refused to help her.

You have no answer to this. You want to be on Jesus’ side, here and make some excuse for Him like, “its all for the best”, but Jesus may have stuck to His guns and completely refused her. Are you less inclined to fear love and trust Him now? Will you not have His back unless He has yours?

Repent. You believe that there is no justice unless God heals this woman’s daughter. You believe that she has shown herself to be deeply committed and deeply devoted. And yet, it is exactly these things that Jesus rejects.

It wasn’t that long ago that the tables were reversed. God had created the universe in six days and begged Adam for an answer. God also saw the complete corruption of Noah, saved him, and wondered why that family did not remain faithful. God shouted at the whole world through Moses, the psalms, and all the prophets and the world did not answer Him a word.

The devil oppresses your ears and tells Jesus that He can go save some other people. Your sinful nature agrees and rejects Jesus at His word and says He is too harsh, too intolerant, and too unloving. He demands too much and requires the impossible. There is no way to please Him.

But that is just the point. Jesus demands perfection because anything less is worthless. Jesus requires the impossible, because anything less is not worth the effort. Jesus rejects the most holiest deeds, not because they are bad, but because they are not His.

The only reason this section of holy Scripture seems unflattering is because you read it backwards. You read it as you playing the part of the Canaanite woman and it reveals how hard your life is and how hard you work at being a good person.

How you need to read this is with the Canaanite woman playing the part of Jesus. As we have already said, In all of history it has been God who has been the beggar, been the pleader, and has been rejected. And in Jesus this all comes to a head.

Jesus, is the final plea of the Lord. Jesus is God, kneeling before His fallen creation, begging for you to turn back to Him through Word and Sacrament. But, unlike Jesus, we do not give God what He desires, even after a lifetime of burying His face in the dust.

What’s missing is a final step. What the Canaanite woman does not do, or more to the point, is prevented from doing, is offering the final sacrifice in what it takes to get a god to do your will. That final step is blood. That final step to show your god how committed you are and that you really mean business, is to offer your own life as payment.

Jesus stops the woman at that point, because He will be the only one to take that final step. Being completely rejected by His own creation, even His own people, Jesus having even bowed to their every request, Jesus is sacrificed. In your sin, you do not show God mercy, but Jesus shows mercy to the woman and to you, without your sacrifice and good works.

Jesus shows mercy, not just by healing this daughter, but by dying for her. She did not deserve it. She did not even come herself to ask for help. Yet the gift remains the same.

You also did not ask God to send His only Son. You did not ask God to beg you for anything. You did not ask God for handouts and you certainly did not ask Him to give up His prized possession. Far be it from you to demand such a thing.

But this is what He gives you. He is not waiting for your life to turn around. He is not waiting for you to learn how to pray or how to evangelize or how to get Him to do something. He takes the initiative and gives everything He has to you. He rejects what you offer and gives you what He offers.

That is: eternal life, light, and forgiveness of sins. For, in the great faith that the cross of Christ wins for you, you stand, then in the place of Jesus. You then have these great works of faith, similar to the Canaanite woman. Not that they make God love you, but that they show how much God already loves you.

In this backwards way, Jesus destroys your sinful actions and thoughts, taking them to the cross. He does not allow anything to get in the way of this forgiveness of sins He is giving to you. He will not allow anything less than perfection and the entire kingdom of God to be yours as a free gift.

Jesus takes your sins, your works, and your devotion and is crucified, in order that He have the glory. The same great faith that begs of God; the same great faith that keeps Jesus on the cross, is the same great faith you need and have as a free gift of God.

Your blessedness is given to you without works. Your salvation and righteousness comes at the same time that God justifies you by faith. If you wish to be sure of your salvation, do not look the secret counsel of God, but hear Christ.

Hear Christ Jesus, Who is the Book of Life, say that it is God’s will that all men should come to Him who labor and are heavy laden with sin, in order that Jesus give them rest from ALL their work. Even bowing down like a dog, work.

Backwards [Lent I; St. Matthew 4:1-11]

Jesus speaks today, saying:

“And the tempter came…”

St. Matthew calls him the Tempter and St. Mark calls him Satan. In both cases, it is the devil being drawn to Jesus, fulfilling what Jesus said about Himself, that He will draw everyone to Himself (Zech. 8:22).

On Ash Wednesday, we heard that it is directly our responsibility in teaching our children, not just right and wrong, but all of the catechism (Preface to the Large Catechism, Par. 1-6). This is so that when you are confronted with satan, you and your children will be able to not just repel him, but recognize him in the first place.

St. Paul states that satan is not the black-horned, scary demon Hollywood wants us to believe he is. He is an angel; an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). This means that he walks around looking good to us and feeling good to us. He is so tricksy, that he fools you today.

There is an example you need to follow in the gospel reading today. There is someone who follows Jesus. There is someone who hears God’s Word, believes what it says, and does what it says. He is understanding what God is saying and talking to Him. The Word of God is on his lips and he knows its power.

In fact, just as you have been charged with handing down correct teaching to your children, he wants to make sure that he is teaching things correctly as well. So much so, that he makes sure he is exactly where God says to be in order that he get things right.

Of course, the person I’m talking about is the devil, but you were able to tell, right? I mean, just because you are called to do all those same things, doesn’t mean you do them the same way he does, does it?

Jesus speaks of the zeal of God of the Jews (Rom.10), but they were ignorant of the righteousness of God. But to you and me, any action made by such a person would look just as godly. You would not be able to tell the difference.

In today’s epistle (2 Cor. 6:1-10), Jesus describes it as “working together”, but to do so “not receiving the grace of God in vain” . How do you not receive it in vain? How do you know your zeal is different from the devil’s?

An act of volunteering is an act of volunteering. An act of charity is an act of charity. Regardless of the belief of a person, each and every action looks just like all of yours that you say are godly, yet here, everyone else is doing them as well, even the prince of this world.

Jesus being tempted in the wilderness is not just Him versus satan, it is also Jesus versus you. Your works and your thoughts are indistinguishable from the sinful world. You, like Peter, do not wish for Jesus to suffer and die. You would rather find another way.

But, there is no other way. Jesus must fast for 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus must be in an extremely weak state before he faces Satan’s temptation. Jesus must hear His own Word and works used against Him and He must endure.

Jesus must endure underneath the works of satan and the works of men. He must place Himself underneath His own law in order to redeem those under this law of condemnation. And endure He does.

You do not see Jesus stumble at any point. You see Him fasting perfectly. You see Him refusing angelic rescue. You see Him refusing to tap into His divine power. And yet, you see Him using every drop of power to become weak and hungry; to become spit upon and beaten, and to suffer and remain on the cross until death.

This is no small thing that Jesus does. He does not want you going out into deserts, starving yourself to death, and thinking you can beat satan. He does not suffer and die in order for you to believe that your works are what makes your zeal for God righteous.

In order for your zeal to be real and in the true knowledge of the righteousness of God, you need just one thing: faith alone.

We’ve said before that we have nothing God wants, not even our good works and we can see why. They are too similar to evil. Much more to the point, they are not Christ’s works. Only the Son and everything He does pleases the Father. Therefore, in order to please the Father, you must find yourself in the Son.

In Baptism, you are baptized into Christ. This, your catechism tells you all about. This is also a point of departure between you and satan. This is also the point of departure between your works and the world’s works. For in baptism, you are given faith for free.

It is Faith alone that hears and believes that Christ is the righteousness of God. It is Faith alone that despairs of works and instead rests upon the works of Jesus. It is Faith alone that orders mortal flesh to be silent in the face of a serving God. It is Faith alone that saves.

The devil is revealed in all works and his black robes put on, through the same eyes of faith that see Jesus baptizing each and every saint at this font. To satan, the salvation of the world is accomplished apart from the promise of God to accomplish everything.

Faith knows that weakness produces strength, that suffering produces hope, and that a dying God produces the salvation of the world. In that Faith, you go about your works. In the Faith that will confess every act and thought as sinful, you can do the same works as unbelievers and yet be saved.

You don’t need to look for a battle with satan. You don’t have to engage him in any sort of conflict or combat, because your Lord does it for you. Fleeing to Christ means you confess your sins in order to be forgiven again. Our victory has been won. Satan has lost. There is now no more condemnation left for you, because Jesus took it all upon Himself.

Now, in Christ, you are no longer an impostor, but true; you are no longer unknown, but known; you are dying, but behold you live; you are punished, but are not killed; you are sorrowful and yet always rejoicing; you are poor, but make many rich.

You have nothing, but Christ has given you everything, in Him.