Sad Divider [Lent 3]

 READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Jeremiah 26:1-15

• Ephesians 5:1-9

• St. Luke 11:14-28

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 

Who speaks to us today, saying,

“And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”

Of course we can answer our Lord and say, that it won’t stand. How can it, as He has already asked. In fact, satan was doomed from the beginning. Its in his name after all. Diabolos, which is the Greek, very literally means to divide. It has the same prefix as “diagonal”, which is to cut across, or draw through two non-adjacent angles, as us nerds would say.

Satan is divided from the start, even against himself. Why? Because on one hand he is a creature of God and knows Him very completely. He understands God’s will of mercy and salvation. On the other hand, he just can’t bring himself to face that scientific fact of God’s will. His will, his heart, and his soul are divided and he will stop at nothing to divide the entire world with him.

And what does this division produce? Fear. And fear produces hypocrisy. Our two groups accusing Jesus today, illustrate this point. The first group that accuses Him of demon possession, is in fact the ones that are demon-possessed, as are all sinners. As we say in our baptismal rite, “Therefore depart, thou unclean spirit and make room for the Holy Spirit” (LSB Agenda, 13).

The second group attempting to tempt Jesus, are in fact afflicted with temptation. So much so, that they are hell-bent on proving that God is the Tempter, and not them, with their own temptations. The vision of their skeptic minds was keen enough to make them blind to any unexpected act too large for their small world of fact (LSB 472:2).

We shout at God along with these two groups: You are not like us! You are not possessed like us. You do not suffer like us! You are not tempted like us! We cast you out like these demons! We will embrace our sinful hypocrisy, since there is no alternative, and instead exorcise the holy from us forever.

The Lord says, “challenge accepted”. You will be given over to your lusts. You will fear, love, and trust everything and anything besides Me. You will take my Name in vain, you will desecrate my Sabbath, you will dishonor father and mother, you will murder, steal, lie, and you will covet.

You will reach a point of disregard for others and self so deep, that you will say, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry” (Lk. 12:19). For when you become strong in that, just as our strong man in the Gospel, you can safeguard your new normal. When everyone agrees with you, there is peace. When you force true unity upon everyone, then utopia is gained.

Jesus says that there is always someone stronger than you and in this case it holds true. For a stronger Man has descended upon the scene and has called out His challenge. In the face of all humanity loving their sins, He in His humanity loves the sinner. 

He who knows no temptation is not so far removed as to not understand temptation, but He proves His point to us by becoming weak enough to have to endure it. He Who does not suffer and is not sorely oppressed by demons, suffers as a Man and allows the demons to have their way of betraying Him, scourging Him, and killing Him. 

The Man Who knew no sin is the God-Man Jesus Christ and He is the stronger man Who takes on the role of domestic terrorist, in order to plunder the devil’s treasure house, the earth. And His victory is complete. Not because His heavy sword of righteous and holy wrath falls upon the devil to end him, but because the heavy weight of responsibility and righteousness falls upon Jesus.

God may be a “man of war” (Ex. 15:3), but God is love (1 Jn 4:8). How can this all be true at the same time? Through God’s selfless act of suffering on the cross for all of you, that’s how. The war that the Lord fights is for the honor and glory of His Name which He has placed upon you and you have soiled with sin. In this fight, there is no other path but the path of love, the upside-down path where the innocent is punished, God, and the guilty go free, you.

Jesus is the stronger man, indeed the strongest man, and spoils the spoiler of his prey, but makes that spoil so wonderful and precious that not even heaven would reject it. He takes the spoils of satan, of the divider, and unites them to Himself, body and soul. There is now no separation and no condemnation in Christ, for sin has been atoned for and hypocrisy has been put away forever.

In the cross, the Lord shields us from temptation and guards us from every evil, even the demonic. There is no fear where Jesus fights for His forgiven sinners, for His war, this perfect love, casts out fear (1 Jn 4:18). His struggle to be cast out as a demon, suffer, die and 3 days later rise again has ended the war and this work has accomplished salvation for all who are baptized and believe.

In Christ, we are given the baptism that breaks the darkness and drives out demons. In Christ, we are given the Supper that ends all ills and woe of body and soul and converts our temptation into hunger for God’s Word. In Christ, we are handed the Word of God in the flesh and are blessed without fear of betrayal or sabotage.

For, in Christ, we have nothing on the line in this deal with God. There is no collateral we have put up, no inheritance we have to divide, and no loved ones we have to give up in order to gain His favor and blessing. It is all on God and His honor and His holiness and His fight to keep His promise to save His people from their sins.

In this blessed baptismal life, we have been given a life that never ends and so we say with Jesus, what can man do to me, if the Lord is my helper? I will not fear (Heb 13:6). “…though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam” (Ps 46:2-3), though “the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain”, though “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed”, He has promised to never leave me nor forsake me (Heb 13:5).

For if He does not shrink away from a horrible death at the hands of His enemies, that He could have prevented, “how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things” (Rom 8:32), even His entire kingdom (Lk 12:32).

Do not give in to fear. Do not lose hope. Do not turn on those whom you love and treasure. Your Lord has defeated fear and despair to free you to live and love fully and completely. Truly and deeply “relax, eat, drink, be merry”, but do so in the Word and Sacraments that the Lord provides, for they are the way out of this mess. They are the signposts towards the promise of the end of all suffering and pain.

“A man reaps what he sows” and the devil sows division. “A man reaps what he sows” and Jesus sows unity with God. If it divides people, you can be sure the devil’s hand is in it. If the forgiveness of sins is being handed out freely to all people, you can be sure that is God’s unifying hand. Beware of the Divider, but be more aware of the great, personal union you have been given with God and commune with Him as often as possible. 

Apocryphal Mercy [Wednesday in Lent 2]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

 Readings in Holy Scripture

        Additions to Esther 13:8-17

        St. Matthew 20:17-28

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 Jn. 1)

 

This evening, we hear Jesus speak from His holy Scripture. And later on, you will head home and look for Esther chapter 13 in your Bible and you will not find it there. If you are extra curious, you may investigate further and find that many books are mentioned and quoted in your “regular” Bible that are not to be found in a “regular Bible”.

The Book of Jude in the New Testament is our most obvious transgressor here. Obvious because we probably read it more often than the other books I will mention. In v.9 of Jude, he quotes a book by the name of the Assumption of Moses saying, “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’”

 

And again in v.14-15, he quotes the Book of Enoch saying, “It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’”

What are those books? Who wrote them? Why are they not in the Bible if they are quoted in the Bible? On top of those two, there are some 21 other books similarly mentioned and missing from the Bible, including the Book of Jasher mentioned in Joshua 10:13, the Book of the Wars of the Lord in Numbers 21:14, and The Manner of the Kingdom in 1 Samuel 10:25. Most of these are lost to us, but the Additions to Esther, heard this evening, are still to be found in the Apocrypha.

The Apocrypha is part of the Greek Old Testament called the Septuagint. As far as we know, it was compiled two centuries before Jesus’s birth and could be the oldest recorded Bible we have access to. Even older than the Hebrew version we know by several centuries. Does this make one Bible better than another? No. But it does give us more of God to ponder.

During the Reformation, these books were not removed, but were simply called into question regarding their authorship. Since the Apocrypha cannot prove that the books it has were authored by the men it says, we can not be sure of its authority to produce doctrines of faith. Hence the name “apocrypha” means “hidden”, as in the real authors are hidden from us.

But calling them into question does not mean they are worthless to the Church. In fact, Dr. Luther included them in his German translation of the Bible and said “These books are not held equal to the Scriptures, but are useful and good to read.” (LW 35:232).

So what are our lessons for this evening? First, is to realize the depth of the riches and wisdom of God in that He really has been involved with us since the beginning of all things. That He has not stopped caring for His creation and He has not stopped watching over us, such that these apocryphal books and other, non-biblical books of wisdom can be useful to us.

Second, is to repent of our ignorance and inability to comprehend such vastness and of our pride and arrogance in thinking our days are the height of excellence. That we know so much more than our ancestors. In fact, I would argue that we know less.

And third, is to bask in the glory of God’s mercy and grace that He shows to us, even through apocryphal books, and begin to find ourselves praying like Mordecai in the reading from Esther. For we do not deserve to sit at God’s right hand or His left, as the Lord spoke in St. Matthew’s gospel this evening, but in mercy He grants us to drink from His cup and find only forgiveness. In kindness, He grants us His baptism which only restores life and faith.

Going back to our Esther reading: For God does indeed rule over all, as Mordecai tells us and as we hear elsewhere in the Bible, and yet Jesus thinks of men so much that He comes down to save us. No one can resist this plan. Not sin, not death, and not the devil, for who in their right minds would go through with a crucifixion to atone for enemies?

These three foes strive to eliminate us, yet our Lord spares us by drinking to the dregs, God’s wrath and leaving only blessing for us in His cup. This mercy turns our mourning into feasting, not just in eternity next to Him, but even today at this Altar. For we now live in a time where we sing praise to the Lord’s Name in His Divine Service and instead of destroying our sinful mouths, He places His true Body and true Blood in them, fulfilling His promise to us.

Mordecai of course is praying for the Messiah to come and do His work that He promised to do. Of ruling in mercy, saving by grace, justifying by faith, all of which are only found in the cross of Christ. There is no other way to interpret his prayer or any other part of the Bible or books in it that claim to talk about God.

So read and enjoy the Additions to Esther, the Book of Wisdom, and the Maccabees. Enjoy the non-biblical snippets of wisdom God grants to all people in Aesop, poetry, and other classics. And hear in them the rest and relief of having a God that is near and not far off, not just sharing in wisdom, but sharing in life and Body and Blood.

Take up your cross [Lent 2]

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 32:22-32

• 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7

• St. Matthew 15:21-28

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 

Who speaks to us today, saying,

“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.”

In all three Lectionary readings today, we hear of the cross placed upon our backs and not even the atheists get to throw theirs down. For Jacob must wring a blessing out of God, St. Paul sets a high bar for purity of life, and the Canaanite woman has a really bad day. For the cross that Jesus tells us to pick up, in Matthew 16:24, is many things to the sinner and the Canaanite woman reveals this to us today.

The cross given to everyone is injury, humiliation, and suffering. It is atonement, glory, and salvation. But the primary example the cross gives us is the first one overlooked. That is that the cross is how God tells us Who He is and how He acts towards His creation.

In the creation of all things, the Ten Commandments, and other godly acts, we get to know the one, true God as He desires to be known. Dr. Luther says, “It does [a person] no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross.” (LW 31:52-53). 

You can not be a true theologian if you do not comprehend what you see happening around you as acts of God through suffering and the cross. What this means is that if you are looking at the outside world for signs of God’s grace and blessing, you will end up in the wrong place. You will end up at Wall Street or DC, where the rich get richer. You will end up in tyrant’s and dictator’s houses. You will end up in places that seem to have all they could ever wish for or pray for.

You will climb the mountain of God, reach the heights, and when you peep in to catch God, you will find the devil laughing at you. Earthly greatness and blessings are not signs of God’s favor and grace. Though they can be, there is only the certain word from Jesus that His kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18:36).

As is the case of the Canaanite woman today, for though she is commended in the end, for her faith, she is seen carrying her cross. The cross of having to leave her child while she seeks help. The cross of God remaining silent through her afflictions. The cross of being rejected and the cross of humiliation.

Neither does Jacob does not get out of bearing his cross without physical injury. St. Paul, the author of our Epistle reading, likewise does not get out of bearing his cross without a thorn in his side. Is this suffering something they chose themselves to prove their loyalty to God? Did they brag about being willing to even die for God, if He would just give them a chance to prove themselves?

No. True “cross bearing” is not something we choose or even get a say in. In fact, it is usually the kind of suffering which, if it were possible, we would gladly be rid of, not accept as some kind of challenge. Competitions you can train for, study for, and prepare for. Bearing a cross you can not.

Even Jesus was made unaware of His future, in His humanity. As a man, He could not see into His future, but only knew that suffering was going to take place. So much so, that He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for it to passover Him. That God’s will of placing the cross upon His only Begotten Son would not take place.

As we know all too well, our Lord bears the cross. Not just suffering and shame, but gash and wound. Jesus does not only suffer the psychological onslaught of being kicked out of His own world through capitol punishment, but also had to endure that same onslaught in His flesh.

In the case of Jesus, for though He is commended on Easter and in the end, for His faith, He is seen carrying His cross. The cross of having to leave His heavenly home while He seeks His rebellious, possessed creation. The cross of God remaining silent through His afflictions. The cross of being rejected and the cross of humiliation, in His suffering and death.

All this He must bear, because He has our sins with Him and sin cannot stand in front of God. Jesus does not get out of bearing the cross without injury. Injured to death. Where St. Paul gets away with a stitch in his side and St. Jacob gets out with a limp, Jesus does not.

Where the Canaanite woman gains relief, on account of her faith, Jesus’s cup does not pass from Him. Who God is, as seen through the cross, is the God of lovingkindness and patience the Old Testament tried to tell us about. It took the cross to prove it to us, because He can be pretty omnipotent and far off.

In the cross, God is the God Who is selfless and Who cares. He accomplishes the regeneration of the world and the sinner at the loss of His own life. For it is only in the cross of Christ that there is the power of salvation (1 Cor. 1:18). This means that is it in Jesus dying for us, not His death, not His resurrection, that saves us. It is Jesus in the process of dying that He faces His final humiliation and pays all the debt we owe in full.

This is why the Church keeps Jesus on the cross. This is why we cross ourselves when faced with our own sin, danger, and every evil. This is why the sign of the cross is the first gift the Church gives us in Baptism. For if the God-man, Jesus, carried the cross and rose victorious, so shall we men likewise win in the end.

So the cross is laid upon us as we follow our Savior in faith and belief, for four reasons, Dr. Luther says. 

First, that we be conformed to the image of his dear Son, Christ, so that we may become like him here in suffering and there in that life to come in honor and glory (LW 51:206). “For those whom he foreknew”, says Romans 8, “he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom 8:29-30)

And 

“…be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph 5:1)

Second, so that when the devil assaults and torments us because he can’t stand the Word, “we may learn from our own experience [from God] that the small, weak, miserable Word is stronger than the devil and the gates of hell (LW 51:207).

Third, “in order that when we are not in trouble and suffering, this excellent treasure which we have may not merely make us sleepy and secure” (LW 51:207). Meaning, now that we know the crafts and assaults of the devil, we can remember Christ’s great rescue and learn to stay vigilant, as Paul says, “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).

And finally, “Christian suffering (bearing the cross) is nobler and precious above all other human suffering because, since Christ himself suffered, He also hallowed the suffering of all His Christians” (LW 51:207). In fact, “when [non-Christians] run into affliction and suffering, they have nothing to comfort them, for they do not have the mighty promises and the confidence in God which Christians have. Therefore they cannot comfort themselves with the assurance that God will help them to bear the affliction, much less can they count on it that he will turn their affliction and suffering to good” (LW 51:201).

This is why there is no hope in an empty cross, because if the cross is empty then there is no promise of help. It is the crucifix that reminds us that Jesus was there and that He is here today, in His Body and Blood, bearing our cross with us and that He will finally remove it forever, just as His was removed.

It is not the cross, but the Body of Christ on the cross as our brother Who is like us in every way except without sin, and our God Who is strong enough to defeat sin, death, and the devil for us, even in death, that gives us hope and comfort. Sharing all the weaknesses and ailments of our body, Jesus shows us what God really thinks about His creation.

That is that He is going to make it worthy of His salvation at no expense to us, but at great expense to Himself. That He is a self-giving and self-donating God, Who does not wait for us to be perfect or worthy to be next to Him, but instead gives us His perfection and worthiness, in Christ. For it is in Christ that God and man are joined together for all eternity and not even death on a cross can tear that asunder.

Such is the revelation of the cross of Christ and bearing it as Christians.

Wednesday in Lent 1 [Feast of St. Matthias]

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE
        - Acts 1:15-26
        - St. Matthew 11:25-30

Shield of St. Matthias, beheaded for the faith

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 Jn. 1)

 

This evening, we hear Jesus speak from His Epistle and Gospel as we ponder St. Matthias

 

As with all celebrations of saints, our lessons from them are two-fold. One that we learn from them what great faith Christ gives us, and two, that we follow their examples. In the case of St. Matthias today, his example is that of the loser.

 

Picture our reading from Acts this way: First off, St. Matthias is a replacement. Let another take his place or office, says verse 20. Matthias is second string, at best. Secondly, Matthias is one of two to be chosen, seemingly not special enough to stand out on his own. 

 

Thirdly, he is not even the 13th Apostle (Judas, 12, replacement, 13, etc), for even though St. Matthias is chosen by the Apostles by lot and with God’s direction, God chooses His own 13th man 9 chapters later, in the conversion of St. Paul.

 

With that disappointment, we never hear about St. Matthias again. Or at least holy Scripture does not mention him again. He is not just the one picked last for the dodge-ball game, he is picked last and then not even needed for the game.

 

What a blessing St. Matthias is! In a world full of braggarts, selfies, and self-worship, St. Matthias teaches that behind the scenes is best. Did God reject his apostleship? No. He confirmed it through St. Peter and the 12 as Acts 1:26 says, “…and he was added to the eleven…”

 

This is the lesson of Abel. Who was Abel? What did he accomplish? Who were his wife and children? He was the second son, the leftovers. His name means “vanity”, as his mother named him. Yet, God had regard to his offering of the lamb and Abel’s blood cries out to God, even after he is killed (Gen. 4:4, 10).

 

As we heard 2 Sunday’s ago, David is the eighth son. A leftover, an extra. He is not invited to feasts or special occasions, because someone has to mind the lambs. Samuel asks, “Are these all the sons you have?” And Jesse replies, “Well we have one more, but he’s useless.” (1 Sam 16:11)

 

The entire nation of Israel, likewise, was unwanted in the earth for they are a stubborn and stiff-necked people (Ex. 32:9, Isa 48:4, and others). Who wants those types in their cities? And yet the Lord says in Exodus 4:22, “Israel is my Son”.

 

And it is the Son that reveals this truth, not just in Word and deed, but Body and Blood. Jesus is both first and last in many ways. He is first in line to feel God’s wrath in full, so that we would not even find a place in that line. Jesus is last place for God’s blessing and inheritance, in order that it be used up on us first. Jesus is first to rise again from the dead so that we may follow that train and He will be the last one on earth before it is remade, to get all of us out first.

 

The joke is on those picked first. The joke is on the wise and understanding. For the Gospel, the salvific preaching that God forgives sins for free in the cross of His Son, is for the infant, for the last, and for the simple. 

 

Of what use was St. Joseph? Jesus already had a heavenly Father, what need for an earthly one? Yet in that extreme humility and quietness, St. Joseph raises the Son of God, teaching Him wisdom and what’s necessary to live a life. Though his role was out of the limelight, his part was crucial.

 

Likewise, with St. Matthias. His role is crucial because he is to spread the Message. Not his own, filled with self-promotion and self-aggrandizement, but Christ’s message which is not about St. Matthias at all. Neither is it about St. Joseph, Israel, St. David, or St. Abel. 

 

It is that the Son reveals the Father to the world, for their salvation. It is the light burden and easy yoke of the forgiveness of sins. It is rest from constant slander and administration. It is the grace given to those poor sinners who have the Gospel preached to them and repent.

 

“The first shall be last, and the last shall be first”, Jesus says in St. Matthew 20:16 and elsewhere. Not that we strive to be last, but that we repent that we are last in our sins, we believe that Christ became even more last than us in His crucifixion, and proclaim that death first, in His Supper on the Altar until He returns again (1 Cor 11:26).

 

Christ is the first and the Last. No matter whether we have big parts to play or small parts. Whether we start many churches like St. Paul or “strive to live quietly” (1 Thess 4:11), the Word of God that is more certain (2 Pet 1:19) and is ours in every case.

 

And that Word has taken flesh and dwelt among us. He has given His Body and Blood in a pledge and promise of immortality. You are necessary to proclaim the message of the Apostles, “…beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection”, as our Lord proclaims through St. Peter in Acts 1.

 

The Office now dwells among us in a sure and certain hope, a promise for life and not death. “…a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:19-20).

 

In Christ, you are not a replacement, neither is St. Matthias. You are crucial, critical to the Lord’s plans of salvation. In Christ, you are also a replacement, however. For Christ has replaced Himself with you, giving you His crown of honor and glory and justifying you by grace, through faith.

 

You are redeemable [Lent 1]

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 3:1-21

• 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

• St. Matthew 4:1-11

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 

Who speaks to us today, saying,

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil”

 

As we ponder the Temptation of Jesus today, we should remember that God has been building up to this point the last few weeks, in the readings of His Church. Especially with Ash Wednesday fresh in our minds, when we felt the sting of death and sin in our flesh. Not that we won’t today, but now we can look at temptation in its proper light.

 

When we think of temptation, we think of the big things. Take Jesus’ example as an example. He is tempted by kingdoms, glory, and pride. All of which we have been taught to avoid, since we were younger. He was also tempted by bread. A little harder, for those of us who have tried different diets, but still manageable. This temptation of Jesus seems like a gimme.

 

In fact, most of the temptations we think about from day to day seem to be easier than the Bible suggests they are. Lets go down the list. Don’t be a glutton, everything in moderation. Don’t be too greedy, help the little guy, there’s enough for everyone. Don’t be slothful, others depend on you and you have to work to survive. 

 

Don’t get angry, it just leads to more anger, be happy. Don’t be envious, what you have is good enough. No pride either, a little humility goes a long way. No lust or adultery. These things are easy to do, because not only do they hurt others around you and make you look bad, but they also hurt you. 

 

Because of social pressure, we have an relatively easy way of keeping our public life in check. Since we don’t want to go to jail, cause drama, or end up dead or poor we keep up appearances and if we happen to have a pull towards doing something nefarious, we keep it to ourselves and deal with it.

 

Easy.

 

Something that becomes easy in life, becomes automatic. Something that becomes automatic, becomes forgotten. And something forgotten festers and grows out of sight out of mind.

 

Here we see the danger of “majoring in the minors”, in other words using up all our energy on looking good to others, in stead of using that energy towards a life of faith. For Jesus spent all His energy in order to purchase and win your victory over temptation.

 

Do not spend your energy on what is a temptation or what is testing from God. In your sin, you won’t be able to tell the difference. Each and every test or temptation, your job is to run to confession and God’s job is to be tempted on your behalf and redeem you.

 

Because you are redeemable. And you must be armed with this Redemption and daily expect to be “incessantly attacked, in order that no one may go on in security and heedlessly, as though the devil were far from us, but at all times expect and parry his blows. For though I am now chaste, patient, kind, and in firm faith, the devil will this very hour send such an arrow into my heart that I can scarcely stand. For he is an enemy that never desists nor becomes tired, so that when one temptation ceases, there always arise others and fresh ones”, says Dr. Luther in his Large Catechism (LC:III:109)

 

Life is full of stumbling and we pray, “lead us not into temptation” Lord. Not that we get to avoid it, but we pray that we may not fall and be drowned in it. Instead, in Christ, all these work out for our good. St. James says, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (1:12).

 

Why is a man suffering under trial and temptation to rejoice? Because “…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces …hope” (Rom 5:3-4). Are you tempted? Your Lord was also tempted. Are you heavily burdened? Your Lord was burdened and carried your griefs and sorrows. You rejoice, because Jesus rejoices in that He has defeated sin, death, and the devil, for you.

 

“…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials” (2 Pet 2:9). See how He parries every attack from Satan! See how nothing can sway Him from His course! See the strength that the man of God possess. Did He fail? Did He stumble? Did He turn tail?

 

As we sang today, The Valiant One has taken the field and fights for us. The Champion has come. The seed of the woman Who will crush the serpent’s head has now arrived. His sword is His Word, His shield is His true Body and Blood, and His power is His cross.

 

“Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God…If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”, says St. Peter in his first epistle, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” (1 Pet 4:16-19).

 

Do not fear what you are about to suffer, be faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10), for what today is a cross and a crown of thorns, tomorrow is freedom and the victor’s crown. Today we must bear down in patient endurance, tomorrow, the Lord “…will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth” (Rev. 3:10).

 

Today is bread and wine, tomorrow is an eternal feast. Today is dust and ashes, tomorrow is everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness. But now is the favorable time for the salvation of God to appear in front of you and work just as well as it did during the temptation of Jesus. 

 

For Christ’s victory is brought to you, is handed over to you, weekly. He places you upon the victor’s pedestal and drapes the medal over your head. To the victor go the spoils, He says, as He baptizes you and communes you into His death and resurrection; into His victory.

 

Temptation and testing are not easy. But no matter how much you are tempted or tested, nor how much you think yourself unworthy to receive God’s forgiveness and blessing, you are because the Lord commands it.

 

“you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”, says 1 Peter 2:9.

 

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col 1:13)

 

And Acts 26:18,

“I will deliver you…to open your eyes, so that you may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that you may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me”, a place at the Table, as it were. You are redeemed. The Word makes it so.

Repent! [Ash Wednesday]

TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO CLICK HERE. 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE
        - Jonah 3:1-10
        - 2 Peter 1:2-11
        - St. Matthew 6:16-21

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 

Who speaks to us today, saying,

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

I call for this day to be a day of repentance. For God calls all to repentance. We need it as a lost and condemned creature, as an holder of a holy vocation, and as a citizen. In fact, our entire country should be called upon to repent, for there is wickedness everywhere.

What sins does the great US of A have to repent of, you ask? There are the red sins of stealing the election and race shaming white people. There are the blue sins of greed and poor stewardship. There are the bipartisan sins of non-compliance and overspending. But those are just red herrings.

The real sins of our country, on top of those already mentioned, is its continuous wars, its thievery and plunder of the people, and its enslavement of those in poverty to its debt-based system. Among other things such as fostered division, lies, corruption, and breaking of its own laws. Is this really a government given by God and worthy of obedience?

You would not think, that at the peak of prosperity, the depth of sins would be so deep. But what a dark time to be alive. Repent or God may not relent of the disaster that is about to befall us. Do not think you are exempt from God’s Word just because you won the lottery and are alive in the greatest country in history.

This Word from Joel is for you: “’Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning’”. There is no time to lose. Now is the time, for today salvation is nearer to us than it eve has been. Our Lord returns, will you be ready?

Make no mistake. We do not live in God’s country. We dwell in Babylon. The Book of Revelation gives us nice, concrete announcements that this is so. 14:8 says, “Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

In chapter 18, Babylon falls by God’s hand and yet everyone on earth weeps for her and even, how Ash Wednesday of them, “…threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

‘Alas, alas, for the great city!’” (v. 19). And in v. 4, Jesus must call out His elect from among Babylon’s ranks, saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”

Babylon is our home, ashes are our lot, and repentance should be the way of life, as Dr. Luther taught in his 95 Theses. Not only that, but it is our Lord’s words to us in His first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5, in which He begins by preaching “Repent, for the Kingdom of the heavens is at hand, from the chapter before (4:17).

This is not penance, as the monks and Romans teach it, for penance is simply an outward work. Yet we should be as specific as Dr. Luther. He says it doesn’t mean inward or outward only, but both, for there is no inward repentance which does not outwardly work diverse mortifications of the flesh. (LW 31:25)

So it is that the prophet Joel already told us today to repent, but to rend our hearts and not our garments. How do you rend a heart? Well, you could follow Jesus’s example and have a Roman spear shoved into your side for the sins of the world. Or, you could let the Church of the Holy Spirit guide you.

The hard part about repenting is agonizing over sins as the monks and super-spiritual do. It is easy work to be alone, when no one is watching, and weep on our beds over the horrible sins we both commit and acquiesce to and then to tell everyone about how repentant we are. 

What is hard is admitting those same, agonizing sins to someone other than a spirit. In the days of Jonah, everyone was so repentant that they were having a whale of a time. Partying, marrying and giving in marriage, and enjoying how great their blessed nation was. 

Little to their delight, someone stepping in front of them and said, “Repent”. Of course, they thought they were repenting. They thought they were doing everything right. God was blessing their nation, was He not?

Of course He was. God blesses everyone in this Age of Grace through the Body and Blood of Jesus. However, God’s blessing is on more than seedtime and harvest. God’s blessing also reveals how much we need a Savior, I would say even moreso, because of the words of Jesus to repent.

Job repents in dust and ashes, after the Lord chastises him in chapter 42. Nineveh repents at Jonah’s words, in sackcloth and ashes, Jonah 3:5-9. Daniel gave his “attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” (9:3). And our practice of not sitting in dust, but putting it on our heads comes from Lamentations 2:10, “The elders of the daughter of Zion Sit on the ground, they are silent. They have thrown dust on their heads; They have girded themselves with sackcloth.”

Just as we are body and soul in one person, so does our inward reflect on the outward and the outward influences the inward. What we practice on the outside is what our soul looks like on  the inside. Likewise, what look like on the inside reveals itself on the outside. 

So we repent. Not just anywhere, but in Church. For it is God’s Church that gives us an easy, straight-forward, biblical, godly way of Confession. Not Ash Wednesday every day, but Confession and Absolution any and every time we need it. 

In this way, God allows us a place to approach Him on bended knee, not just on the inside, but on the outside as well. How daunting is it coming into church, indeed, coming in for the first time? That is the presence of God, ready to either retain your sins or forgive them. Which will He do?

that answer lies on the cross. Fro everyone who has been bitten by the Serpent, if he looks to His God on the cross, he will live (Num 21:8-9). Everyone who feels the blessing of God, convicting him of his sins, may sit and contemplate the dust and ashes upon His savior and receive forgiveness in body and blood.

for that is the true meaning of ashes upon the forehead and the rending of hearts. that God and man, in Christ, sat in the ashes of our humanity, was covered by the dust of the tomb of our sins, and repented towards the Father on our behalf. 

While Jesus was smothered by the ashes, we bear a tiny cross on our heads to remind us that from dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. But the dust is no longer an eternal dust, but a peaceful sleep. For we sleep in the dust of our Lord, baptized into His death, and we will be raised without ashes, baptized into His resurrection.

In these last days, we grieve over our sin and the sins around us. knowing that both continue to threaten to drag us into hell and destroy the peaceful times we enjoy. However, it is the blessing to recognize sins and faith to believe in forgiveness, that lets us walk around with our heavy cross, following Jesus. 

Because Jesus doesn’t stop at sin or death. He doesn’t stop at the confessional booth nor the penance we think we need to do in payment. Jesus continues on to His suffering, death, and resurrection. Jesus continues on to the Eternal Eighth Day of Easter, that never ends.

This is part of the reason we begin counting down towards Easter, even before we get to Lent, because we want to make it to Easter that much quicker. Our sins destroy us and weigh us down. We are tired and we beg for rest from the Crucified and Risen Lord Who promises both in eternity and even today in Word and Sacrament.