What makes a theologian? Meditation [Wednesday in Advent 2]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Joshua 1:8-9

• Philippians 4:8-9

• St. Luke 2:15-19

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Who speaks to us this evening from Philippians, saying,

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you”

 

One thing all of our readings this evening have in common is the call to find an object. What I mean is, they all talk about the good and the true and good success and marvels, and then the hearers are told to go and find those things. 

 

This book of Law that Joshua is told about which contains strength, courage, and prosperity is written. He is supposed to find it, read it out loud, and act according to it. The just, the pure, and the lovely that St. Paul is preaching about in Philippians, the Christian is told to learn, receive, hear, and see them in St. Paul himself. The shepherds are told to go to Bethlehem, not to look for enlightenment, but to find the baby.

 

Tonight on “How to make a theologian” we discuss meditation. Meditation makes a theologian.

Last week, we discovered that prayer makes a theologian, because through prayer, the believer lays hold of the real Teacher of Scripture, Himself: Jesus Christ. It is not some self-absorbed exercise. 

 

Thus, meditation is also more than just calming the mind. It is also an exercise in both the spiritual and physical realms. Meditatio, our Latin, is grounded in the externum verbum, the external Word. This is evident from the passages in Scripture we have read this evening.

 

What I mean by external is that God is not using us to save ourselves. He is not asking us to dig deep, make ourselves holy, or to be more godly. This would lead to boasting and special treatment, with no use for Jesus and His Work on the cross.

 

Our Confessions put it this way: 

"In these matters, which concern the external, spoken Word, we must hold firmly to the conviction that God gives no one his Spirit or grace except through or with the external Word which comes before. Thus we shall be protected from the enthusiasts-that is, from the spiritualists who boast that they possess the Spirit without and before the Word and who therefore judge, interpret, and twist the Scriptures or spoken Word according to their pleasure" (SA III:VIII:3).

 

Like theology and prayer, meditation is something that everybody does, regardless of its objective. We all take a breather, we all take a step back, we all try to look at the bigger picture. That is, we cannot help but need to meditate on something or another. It is part of what makes us human to search for answers.

 

However, how meditation is usually sold to us is one of two ways. Either you must silence the outside things in order to look deep inside yourself for truth and peace, or you must open yourself to the universe to seek those things. In other words, first ignore God’s external Word in favor of “self”, then seek outside intervention in any other place except God.

 

Through prayer and meditation, Jesus orders those desires in the Truth, by grounding them directly in something outside of themselves. This fact should not be news to the Christian. the One, True God of Holy Scripture is always creating objects. From heaven and earth to us, and every time He interacts with His creation, it is always through objects, through means.

 

Noah’s Ark, the Burning Bush, the Temple, the Prophets. All were created objects that the Lord attached a Promise to. God chooses to do His work, all His work, through means, through tools found in creation.

 

Not just any tools. He doesn’t leave it up to us to discover them or make them. He lays out the tools and also lays out the rules. It is His Word that is to be meditated on. It is His Word that is to be sought out for eternal life. It is His Word alone which grants His Spirit, Who gives faith in Christ Jesus.

 

And although we have His Promise that the Word dwells in us, we are never commanded to seek anything there. We are told specifically what is there, inside us. Filthy rags, crimson transgression, deceit. If our meditating focuses on the inside, we will be dupped and quickly led to evil.

 

And although we have His Promise that the Word is the Creator of all things, we do not have a word from God telling us to seek Him in all things. We are told specifically that the devil and all his angels work lies and murder from the beginning. We are also told that our sinful nature sides with them. So, if our meditating focuses on opening ourselves to the outside, we will be possessed, dupped, and quickly led to evil.

 

Thus, God stands Himself, as Himself. Not as a created object, but the object of faith and works. He is God, three persons in one God. Spirit and now, in the Word made flesh, body and Soul in Jesus Christ. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each Person, with His own thoughts, words, and deeds. 

 

If you want to meditate on the truth, you must contend with the Trinity. This is why we say meditation is grounded in the external Word. There is no meditating apart from or outside of God’s revelation of Himself in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Thus, like prayer, meditation also seeks to lay hold of Jesus Himself.

 

In this way, meditation is also a life to live. To be sure, it is burying yourself in our Lord’s Scripture, as He has given it to us in the Old and New Testaments. But it is also acknowledging that meditations on the Word of Life, bring life. It is reading, hearing, and doing.

 

In Exodus 24, Moses wakes early, prepares for church, and “took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people” (v.7). Joshua, from our Old Testament reading, “There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them” (Joshua 8:35).

 

King Josiah was 8 when he was made king and his people had forgotten God’s Word. So, “He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord” (2 Kings 23:2).

 

Each time, the command is to return to the Book. Hear the Word of the Lord and live, says Jesus (John 5:24). God will not give you His Spirit without His external Word. Without Jesus, the Word of God, and without His revelation in Holy Scriptures, there is no faith, there is no forgiveness of sins, and there is no eternal life.

 

Dr. John Kleinig, a Lutheran pastor and professor in Australia, puts it this way:

“Luther does not envisage the practice of meditation as an inward,

mental activity, but as an outward ritual enactment. As such it was

inspired by the liturgy and derived from the enactment of God's word

publicly in the divine service. God commands the church to preach, read,

hear, sing, and speak His word, so that He could thereby convey and

deliver His Holy Spirit to His people. That external proclamation and

enactment of God's word determines how the student of theology

meditates. Just as the Scriptures are read in the Divine Service, so he

reads them out aloud to himself as he meditates on some part of them.

Just as the psalms are sung there, so he sings them to himself. Just as

God's word is preached there, so he preaches it to himself. Just as God's

word is spoken there, so he hears it addressed personally to himself” (CTQ 66:3:262, July 2002)

 

For the fruit of meditation is preaching and teaching. First we find God’s Law, cold and unmerciful. You may meditate on “You shall not murder” and find only a tyrant god. But true meditation does not let it end there. True meditation finds the fulfillment of “you shall not murder” in the murder of Jesus Christ, Who’s death we proclaim in the eating and drinking of His Body and Blood, until He returns.

 

Unclouded Signs [Advent 2]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

 READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Malachi 4:1-6

• Romans 15:4-13

• St. Luke 21:25-36

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
                  
Who speaks to us on this second Sunday of the new Church Year, saying,

“But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man”

 
In these words, St. Luke does not use the same words as we heard in the parable of the 10 virgins, on Ultimate Sunday: “Watch” and “stay awake”. They are different today, because there is a lot more to “keeping watch”, than just open eyes. 
 
Thus Jesus includes this in His Word to show us the real world He created versus the false world our sin shows us. He wants us to see that it is His Word and His Church which are the Truth and that they will appear weak and insufficient for life. Yet still we should trust in them and memorize our Lord’s teachings, so that we have a foundation for resistance to sin, death, and the devil.
 
With flashing lights to draw our attention, enticing smells, large hits of dopamine, delicious delights, and pleasing sounds to fill all our senses, we are thrown for a loop. We conclude that God has created this wonderful world and so the things in it, all of them, must be part of His plan as well, no matter what they are.
 
This argument has been used on all kinds of things from drugs to sexual immorality. “God made it, so He must want us to use and enjoy!” The devil, the world, and our sinful nature want us asleep at the wheel. They want you drowsy, susceptible, hypnotized which is the opposite of the word Jesus uses in today’s Gospel.
 
Turns out, its not all that hard to hypnotize someone. If you believe John Lennon wrote the greatest song ever in “Imagine”, and then can listen to “So this is Christmas” in the same list, you have been hypnotized. If you think next year’s election is finally going to make you a better person, you’ve been hypnotized. If you believe every spirit, every place that calls itself church, and every person that calls themselves Christian is the same, you’ve been hypnotized.
 
You are easily fooled because you want to be. It is not some flaw in creation, it is our lust for sin. All hypnotic suggestions are accepted because you want them to work, you want them to fix whatever you want fixed with you, and you believe this will finally do it, even if it is going against God’s Word.
 
We will even be fooled by events and signs happening right in front of us. We will become apathetic. There’s a sign in the sun, moon, and stars? Just wait a bit, they’ll go back to normal. The nations are at war? Just send Dennis Rodman and he’ll negotiate peace. Storms at sea? People losing their minds? Just one more minute, one more pill, and one more time and it will go back to normal.
 
It is as St. Peter warned us in his 2nd epistle. Scoffers, in the Last Days, will be following their own sinful desires, preaching, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (v.3-4).
 
Repent. God did not make us wrong, we have gone wrong. We have breathed the thick air of corruption and found it a delight and to be desired to make one wise. Even worse than our own sin in the matter, we are accused of rejecting discipline and the subduing of the flesh, as Jesus commands. 
 
We believe in our sin, that by noticing a pattern or riding out the storm that God will just go away. Hypnotism works, because we want it to work. To undo the hypnotism we need someone Who is not hypnotized, someone not on the inside, but on the outside.
 
So when Jesus comes to undo the hypnotism, He sounds like a madman to us. He has to repeatedly tell the Apostles why He’s here and they still don’t believe Him, even though it is right in front of their eyes. He repeated it so they’d memorize it, it would be imbedded in their brains, and be remembered at the right time.
 
We are confused because the signs of the coming Day of the Lord do not look like we expect. We expect love and peace, calm and restful. Yet Jesus brings swords, upheaval, and alertness. We are not even at liberty to sleep well, or so it seems.
 
So we memorize, not just that our Lord predicted His Cross and Passion, but His doctrine. In the face of the false gods of pornography and excess, we recite, “We should fear love and trust in God above all things”. In front of the false idols that demand all of our time and cash, we recite, “All this He does only out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy”.
 
That is, even though the days grow rougher, we have already been told. We have already been told and given comfort, that these perplexities and fears have been overcome by the Lamb. Not just in the past and not just at the Coming Day, but today. Today you use your catechism, what you have been taught by the Apostles, to undo your hypnosis.
 
By those pure words you have memorized, you see through to the Truth. It is frightening in this world; disasters, wars, and such, but those are not the signs. They are the warnings. The truth of the strength to escape lies in a manger, which does not look to be enough to tackle this world and our sins.
 
Our peace in war comes at the cross. Our relief from fear is given in water, Word, bread, and wine. These are the signs of victory and the signs we are to unhypnotized ourselves with. For amidst the confusion and false flags of perplexity, Jesus offers 4 promises in today’s Gospel.
 
The distress and foreboding simply inaugurate your redemption that is near. The dead fig tree will once again leaf in the coming, eternal summer. God’s Word is forever, thus there is no need to wait for things to go back to “normal”. And the final promise is the strength to stand before the Son of Man. That is the gift of power to be resurrected from the fainting, the sleep, the death that the cares and concerns this world causes.
 
Indeed, the worst the world can do is cause death. But the worst has been overcome by the worst. In His dying, Jesus destroyed death. And if death is defeated, then any and all paths to it have been conquered as well.
 
Thus, the distressing signs of evil and insanity in this world are actually signs of joy and triumph. Not “the end is near”, but Jesus is coming quickly! The sun, moon, and stars sing Re-creation’s song. The nations stress and people faint over free forgiveness. The heavens shake that God draws near to touch the earth with His own Body and Soul.
 
With the birth of Jesus and the coming of His greatest work of salvation on the cross, everything is turned on its head. It appears the world is being turned upside-down, when really it is being righted. It appears as if there is no hope, but in darkness Christ is born and the darkness flees.
 
“So then, brothers” St. Paul preaches in 2 Thessalonians, “stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter” (2 Thess 2:15). That is, recite the words and truths Jesus has already taught and throw those in the face of your doubts and fears.
 
Hold fast to pure doctrine, that Jesus is God in the flesh, come to Judge the earth in Love. Heaven and earth passes away, because God loves us and wants us by His side for all eternity. He has come in the manger, He will come at the End of all, and He comes today bringing truth and peace.
 
The proclamation of the pure Gospel is what overcomes this world. Jesus and the faith He gives, overturns this world of sin. The cry of “the bridegroom is near” and He is lying in a manger, wake the sinner from his sleep, his hypnosis, to rise again and stand before the Son of Man.
 
Who then proclaims His own truth: the graves will be opened and no longer will the signs be as though in a mirror dimly. The truth of Jesus shines in Word and Sacrament, just as they did at the Transfiguration, where “Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory” (Lk 9:32).
 
For Jesus had come to them. From St. Matthew “But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only” (17:7-8).
 
You know the time. It has been taught to you. This world is out of time, but God’s time is eternity. You know the ways of the world and how they will not enter heaven. You have been taught The Way, God’s Way. The way of the Cross in which suffering produces hope.
 
Hope that hopes to be saved. Hope that trust in our dear Lord Jesus Christ, who is both God and man, Who cemented my trust by dying for me and shedding His Blood for me on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.
 
The signs are put in our hearts. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters. (The Silver Chair)
 
 

What makes a Theologian: Prayer [Wednesday in Advent 1]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Daniel 7:9-14

• 2 Peter 3:3-14

• St. Matthew 25:31-46

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Who speaks to us this evening, saying,

“The Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,’”

 

Another verse is like this one, “Come let us reason together” our Lord says in Isaiah 1:18. You may not be interested in God, but He is interested in you. He is close, He is alive, and He is speaking. And, in such an environment, everyone becomes a theologian.

 

The word “theologian” literally means “God worder” or someone who uses words to talk about God. Many today mistake this for just another academic discipline. That if you have the right words, you are the better scholar with more books, more papers, and more peer reviews.

 

This mistake leads to lies, deceit, and immorality. That is the sort of theology people complain about and call “Christian”, when hypocrites are preaching for themselves and chasing after their own desires. A true theologian is quite different, however

 

This will be our topic for this Advent season: what makes a theologian. On the surface, we have already explained it. What makes a theologian is that God speaks and a man hears Him and begins to live his life according to what he has heard, for better or worse.

 

As always, however, we are interested in the whole truth. Thus, we want what’s beneath the surface, for God not only speaks, but acts. And how God acts, will also determine, how we act. In this truth, it has been said among us that there are three things that make a true theologian. They are Prayer, Meditation, and Trial.

 

For this evening, Prayer, or “oratio” is going to be our topic and you may think that it will be a short night, because we already know about prayer. If you follow any Christian on any media, they will talk about prayer. How you must do it, how its necessary for a relationship, how its required to be a Christian. Then they will tell you how they do it, not necessarily how God does it.

 

How God does it is He speaks and then He acts and He details all this in His Book, the Holy Scriptures. Dr. Luther says this, “the Holy Scriptures constitute a book which turns the wisdom of all other books into foolishness, because not one teaches about eternal life except this one alone. Therefore, you should straightway despair of your reason and understanding. With them you will not attain eternal life, but, on the contrary, your presumptuousness will plunge you and others with you out of heaven (as happened to the devil) into the abyss of hell. But kneel down in your little room [Matt. 6:6] and pray to God with real humility and earnestness, that he through his dear Son may give you his Holy Spirit, who will enlighten you, lead you, and give you understanding.” (AE 34:285-286)

 

So firstly, prayer is speaking back to God what He has already spoken to you. Prayer should be something that changes you. You should not be heading to prayer thinking you can make it what you want or you can make life what you want. Remember what the Lord said about Abraham: shall I hide what I am about to do. 

 

God’s Word is prayer and God’s Action is prayer. We don’t have to make it up. Yet, God’s Word does not speak about us, but Jesus. Thus, secondly, prayer is not us becoming our own teacher, but seeking the True Teacher of the Scriptures, Himself: Jesus. 

 

From Dr. Luther again:

“Thus you see how David keeps praying in Psalm 119:26, “Teach me, Lord, instruct me, lead me, show me,” and many more words like these. Although he well knew and daily heard and read the text of Moses and other books besides, still he wants to lay hold of the real teacher of the Scriptures Himself, so that he may not seize upon them pell-mell with his reason and become his own teacher. For such practice gives rise to factious spirits who allow themselves to nurture the delusion that the Scriptures are subject to them and can be easily grasped with their reason, as if they were Markolf or Aesop’s Fables, for which no Holy Spirit and no prayers are needed.” (AE 34:286)

 

The cross of Jesus is our theology and it teaches. Jesus prays first, we listen and pray second. He gives His words and His prayers to His Church and she repeats in devotion. From this comes the Church’s heart and life in Liturgy. Her hymns and practices become the anchor for this new life. 

 

God’s Word and actions determine and order our thoughts, words, and deeds. We do not get to rearrange things as we see fit and still call them holy. we receive what God gives and how He gives it and conform to that Image. We do not do the changing, rather we are changed by prayer.

 

You may not be interested in theology, but theology is interested in you. In giving us prayer, Jesus directs our humanity towards right doctrine. He takes our sinful nature, which prays to anyone and anything other than the one true God, and gives us proper, true prayer.

 

“Lord, teach us to pray”, was the cry of the Apostles. If they had to learn, you have to learn. You have to learn, because part of prayer is praying against your own heart. You want the heart of prayer, there it is. You must learn to pray against your heart of sin, the devil, and the world. 

 

We must also learn to live that life of repentance and that takes special revelation and help from the Holy Spirit, as well. For Prayer is not just many words, but many actions; a life lived in the Faith Given. And faith chooses to live in Christ and in His Church.

 

Prayer, Oratio, is to lay hold of the real Teacher of Scripture, Himself. True faith lays hold of Christ and leans on Him alone. This, opponents of Scripture cannot understand. For by being given the power of prayer, they believe they now can believe, they can choose good, and they can live a righteous life, using God as their stepping stone.

 

A "true theologian" is someone who understands the difference between law and gospel, discerns God's will through suffering and the cross, and learns through prayer, meditation, and trial. He does not attempt to find God through visible, created things rather only through the suffering of Christ.

 

We should not expect prayer to be any different. In speaking our prayers, we say them out loud, because we not only expect to be changed, but we expect God to act. We speak His Words because they are the words of Life. We speak them because we know they are better than our words and will actually accomplish what they say.

 

Everyone cannot help but be a theologian for we all speak of eternal things: justice, peace, righteousness. A true theologian understands that these Godly things only come from the God Who wishes to give them through His Son, Who teaches us, “Our Father, Who art in heaven…”

 

 

Judging Christ [Trinity 26]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Daniel 7:9-14

• 2 Peter 3:3-14

• St. Matthew 25:31-46

 

grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come; from Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
                  
Who speaks to you this Penultimate Sunday saying,

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory”

 
Thus far the Word of God, included in the Bible for us, to once again reveal the memory of God. That He has not forgotten His Promise and that He will keep it. When He returns, He will raise me and all the dead, granting eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is His eternal judgement, fulfilled on the cross, which He comes into this world to enact.
 
Far be it from us to recognize the importance of Jesus teachings today. We quickly pass by the main topic and move immediately to the judging, because we love to judge and we want to be sure we are on the right side of that judgement. Anytime we get to pass attention onto someone else’s faults, we’re all in!
 
The main topics are the first and last verses of the Gospel pericope. So easy. The first one, surprise surprise, talks about Jesus. His return for us, and how He is God of God on His Throne. The last verse is also about Jesus, how dare He, because it speaks of a righteousness given to those who believe. Just the fact that righteousness exists and is available is good news.
 
But today, Jesus breaks the cardinal rule: you shall not judge. If you are going to be a Christian or if you’re not going to be a Christian, you shall not judge. It seems that the whole world follows this one command from Jesus and that is usually the first red flag.
 
For if the world loves it, then there must be something wrong. Something wrong with the command? No. Something wrong with the execution. From God’s mouth to your ears is perfect. Its what happens in between your ears, that is the problem.
 
Whoever uses “you shall not judge”, is usually not interested in actual justice, but only self-justice. This is where the idea of “privilege” comes from. Our self-justice and self-righteousness can propel us to the heights of society. Our favorite mask is “I’m a good guy”, thus when any resistance is encountered, we pull out the “shall not judge” card and gain unparalleled sympathy points.
 
And that’s how today’s “christianity” works. If you disagree with me, I’m the one doing God’s work, not you, so you can’t judge me or everyone will laugh at you. Or, I’m born this way, so God must want it like this and you’re a meanie. Either way God is on my side, prove me wrong. This is how Jesus gets a pass for judging, because He’s on my side and agrees with me all the time.
 
And this works, as we all know very well these days. Yet this works, not only because no one has the guts to stand against anyone else’s “truth”, but it also works because it is God’s Word. And how can you be against that.
 
However, there is an expiration date on this “you shall not judge” card which is overplayed. The expiration date on it is the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. In other words, the card works great to suppress truth and God’s true religion…until He shows up.
 
And until He shows up, sinners will continue to use and abuse His religion. They will continue to be displeased with God Who is displeased with them, in their sin. In Jesus’s appearance in the past, He gives us chapter 25 of St. Matthew’s Gospel which holds the key to understanding sin and sinners.
 
Now you would think the key is Romans 3, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. Once again, a verse the world agrees on, with the same satanic, opposite effect. The real key verse is in this same chapter of St. Matthew, verse 24. Jesus reveals, “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’” (25:24-25).
 
The sinner does not have a problem with righteousness or justice. He completely understands the need to separate between those who follow the rules and those who don’t. What the sinner cannot accept is free mercy and how God accepts no man’s merits.
 
Repent! You have commanded the impossible, says the sinner to God, you have not given mercy, but knowledge and this I still have without You. You may be a tyrant, but with my knowledge I will find a way without You. You are my enemy, if you will not come around to my way of thinking. 
 
They do not know that a man must agree with this “enemy” and that this and only thus, this “enemy” becomes a friend and a Father (AE25:358). For He will not come around to our way of thinking and be changed for us. He will not take our side. He will have mercy, in spite of you.
 
“All of them curse me”, Jesus says, as was prophesied in Isaiah, “they will curse their king and their God” (Jer 15:10, Isa 8:21). Jesus gives us His revelation of His Word, regardless of what will happen to it. And what has happened is its abuse, suppression, and twisting of it. We have crucified His Word in the name of the knowledge of humanity. I remember a tree in the Garden of Eden named that…
 
Jesus has come to do His holy work and it is to show mercy. Similarly, the man who received the one talent should have rejoiced and we should rejoice with him in only receiving one. For it is in the forsaking of all works and all the things of the earth, that we find hope. Christ desires that we hope only in Him and His mercy and not in ourselves.
 
Though in the Gospel today, Jesus separates people one from another, Jesus first separated Himself from Life. And what will you have to be separated from? Your addictions? Your pride? Your self-righteousness? 
 
Why can’t you get rid of those on your own? Because they cling to you and comfort you. They have weaseled their way into your psyche and dopamine-hits such that you cannot help but trust them over God. Sin has rewired you in such a way to see God as the enemy and the devil as your best friend.
 
In this hopelessness, the ruler of this world is judged, in your place. In the midst of our self-righteousness, the Righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, apart from works (Rom 3:21). Outside our abilities and judgements, Jesus is made man, suffers, and dies beneath the judgement of God and of sinners, having been found guilty of all sin for all time.
 
Afterwards, evidence came to light that Jesus was atoning for other’s sins, with no sin of His own. Thus, He was raised from corruption to incorruption, from mortal to immortal. As God, Jesus was sinless and yet able to pay for the sins of the world as if they were His own. This we call the Great Exchange.
 
This Great Exchange we are a part of, because He has given up His Spirit to us. We could in no way believe in Him, come to Him, or agree with Him on anything, with our own reason or strength. We cannot love the things which God loves unless we have the love and will and Spirit which He has. For if there is to be conformity in the things to be loved, there must also be conformity in the feeling of love (AE 25:359).
 
Christ is the Key to making a friend and Father out of the One True God, for us. And He shows up, in the flesh, to show us that we are the goats. Every. Single. One of us. The goats who despise the things of God, knowing Him to be a tyrant and only rewarding those on His side.
 
But goats become lambs in the Great Exchange, when the sins of man are exchanged for the Righteousness of God. Thus before the charity and the hospitality and the kindness of men, the charity, hospitality, and kindness of God must be handed over and crucified.
 
Jesus shows up and declares His judgment: not guilty. The sinners rant and rave, “but muh prophesies, muh exorcisms, muh good deeds. Are they nothing to You, O great God?!”
 
Blessed be the Name of the Lord, they are nothing. They are as nothing compared to the Glory that has come, that will come, and that comes today. Dear Christians, since we have such a great high Priest, we do not have to wait for the last day, for most things to be revealed to us, especially what we’ve been talking about today.
 
For Jesus shows up, Body and Blood, in Church today, declaring His Judgment. Those goats treat God’s Divine Service as they treat everything. But the Sheep hear His voice and follow. They follow to Confession. They follow to Absolution. They follow to the washing of renewal and rebirth. They follow to the Lamb and His Supper. 
 
They rejoice to see His Day. And that Day is the Day He overcame death and the grave to bring His righteousness to us. We agree, our sins deserve nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. And we agree again that those sins have been washed, cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. 
 

Worldly fraud, Christ's Faith [Trinity 25]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 32:1-20

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

• St. Matthew 24:15-28

grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come; from Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

Who speaks to you in today’s Gospel saying:

“And if those days had not been cut short, no man would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

The world is not to be trusted. Only the Word is worthy of faith and trust. And while the goodness faith has given us wants to find trust in this world, too, we must not be fooled. One, into a false sense of trust, and two, to not give trust when it is asked for. This is God’s Word for us today, both heavy and light. Heavy for the wrongs we will endure and light because they come to an end.

This should point us to the Promises made by God to us, which are not fraudulent and are the only sure and certain things in this life. Christ desires us to receive those Promises from His hand, Body and Blood, that we may know for certain he is true to His Word.

What is the Christian to do when facing a world of corruption, after making his vows not to be corrupt? He really has only two options, either recapitulate and become “of the world” once more, for, as the Lord says, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own;” (Jn 15:19).

The other option is to suffer this world’s unpleasantness, refuse to participate in lies and fraud, and be light in a world of darkness. As He continues, “but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you”.
What does our sin do with light? It hides it under a bushel, blows it out, sets it away with false lights to lessen its importance.

As we dwell on our Lord’s words of false christs, false prophets, and false signs, we must believe and acknowledge that these will all come through men. That we will encounter these things, not just in spirit, but in bodies, in flesh and blood. This is why Jesus speaks of actually going out into the wilderness or going in to the inner rooms. There is spiritual fraud and physical fraud, in the life of a Christian.

Fraud we know all too well. Since man was given the ability to speak, he has discovered the ability to lie. In our days we have no-call lists that don’t work, spam blockers that don’t block, and propaganda that keeps propagating.

The frauds call on your godly nature and hide some sort of truth deep in their words to confuse and subdue you. You are only strong when you disagree with their positions and values. You are weak when their values appear to align with yours. Save a tree, save a planet, do good in the world.

It is the “good” that blinds you to facts. And that apparent good is this: if you believe in it, it can’t be all bad. You extend your self-justification to those whom you see as “teammates” and they turn out to not be teammates at all. The turn-coat nature of the fraud is encouraged in phone calls, emails, TV, and online interaction.

Why? Because the fraud does not have to pay for his words. There are no consequences for him simply speaking and offering a deal to you. No laws are broken, no crime committed, and nothing can be done about it, because you agreed to it.

That’s the evil in every sin and temptation. Something wonderful is presented to you wrapped in shiny goodness and self-value, yet upon opening is anything but what you thought you would get. This is the falseness that finds you in these last days. It may not be as flashy as an “anti-Christ”, but the motives are the same. To whittle away your faith, bit by bit, until nothing remains but despair, and you agreed to it in your sin.

Before this, even Moses warned of these frauds. In Deuteronomy 13, he specifically teaches of those doing miracles and wonders in order to defraud and teach to go after other gods. The solution he gives is not cleverness on the people’s part, or anti-fraud laws, but a return to the Word of God.

A return to the Word is necessary both in Church and in your daily lives when dealing with frauds. Not because of some superior morality you find there, to conquer your foes. Or even because, like magic or holy water, it banishes the evildoer. But because a return to the Word is a return to the Body and Blood of Christ.

The fraud finds most of his plans ruined if he must show up and prove himself in his own body. This is partly because he must now pay the consequences of his words with actions. He must show up, prove his lies, and put his reputation on the line. Show me, don’t tell me.

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). To warn us of coming things that would attempt to remove faith from us, Jesus was made man. To ultimately destroy those plans and purposes of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, He suffered, died, rose again, and gives you His Church.

In Christ, all justice is meted out, according to God’s Will. There is no justice or noble, lost cause left undone in the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The injustices done to us in this world are just shadows and ripples left in the wake of satan’s defeat. This is what little power is left to satan and his demons.

And we should learn from it. We should know its going to happen and, since we cannot even tell a real salesman from a fake, in our sin, then we should expect to fall victim to sin and temptation here.

We fraud and are defrauded in our own sin. What will keep us steadfast until the Last Day?

The fight against fraud is the same fight against sin we face everyday. Don’t take anyone’s word for anything over the phone, over email, or from a stranger. Likewise, don’t take any fraud of miracle, wonder, or “good” at face value. Judge these and all things according to the Word.

We can even give thanks for the fraud and dishonesty in the world. For one, we can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly. And two, we can use it to be reminded of God’s Promise to us for our good. He will not defraud or be dishonest with us and instead causes it to do His Will.

If you remember the story of Jacob and Laban in Genesis chapters 29-31, Laban commits fraud against Jacob. Even though Jacob’s name means deceiver, Laban is the one deceived. For 20 years Jacob was deceived, yet still worked honestly and honorably. And after that 20 years, God allowed Jacob to take the best from Laban, enacting justice in the end.

Jacob waits for a blessing from the Lord and for the Lord’s justice. And it comes to pass.
No greedy man ever escapes the vengeance of God. Indeed, they perish because of the growth and increase of their property, which is why we pray against such temptation in the Litany. For they grow only to be cursed and destroyed, not to be blessed. Therefore as often as you see a greedy man, you see a man perishing and ruined. (AE 5:373)

Our prosperity is tied up with Jesus. It may be that we live comfortably in this life. Or not. But since Christ has done all things well, and He has done all things well for us, we need neither fear nor accept the fraud of this world. Even if we think we’ll miss out on something big, we have the bigger promise of prosperity: the Kingdom of God.

Jacob is not the deceiver, neither is God deceived, Who made him. It is satan that is deceived and it is our sinful nature and death that Jesus defrauds on our behalf. They may have their way for our short lifetime, but they are ending.

Indeed, the victory has already been won. Jesus says, “Take heart, I have overcome the world”. Fraud is not God’s invention, so we don’t have to fear it is His work against us. “Goods, fame, child, and wife let these all be gone”, we sing. And we can sing because we receive a hundred-fold back to us, in the end.

The wicked have their reward now and it will be exhausted by the time the Lord returns. Those who store up treasure in heaven will have it for eternity. For our Lord takes the fraud upon Himself, which is why revenge is not an option. Forgiveness is the only option.

Fraud put God at risk, Jesus’s fraud is written, scored into His body. In Christ, God shows His strength by taking responsibility for the fraud, though it was sin and not His, and overcoming it. “Can you rob God”, He asks in Malachi 3:8-9. He continues: “Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me.”

And since this is true, then Jesus’s Church is the only real place. Do you need a noble cause to support? Then support your Church. Do you feel everything and everyone is a lie? Then support the Promises of God in Word and Sacrament. Will no future be secure, no matter how much land, time, or money you give to this or that cause? Christ is the Cause and Creator of all things and His effect is the forgiveness of your sins.

Our Great Priest [Trinity 18]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Deuteronomy 10:10-21

• 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

• St. Matthew 22:34-46

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
 
Who speaks to you this morning saying,

“On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

 
And Jesus is our Prophet. Our Prophet, Priest, and King. Not just like the ones from our history, but the epitome of what it means to be those things. He is the King from Whom all the kings of the earth receive their kingship. He is the Prophet from Whom all prophets receive their prophecy. And He is the Priest from Whom all priests receive their pattern.
 
And what is a priest? Surprisingly, a priest has no real priestly powers or even significance in the grand scheme of things. For example, let’s say you have a disease and it is one of the forbidden ones that God lists. In order, to keep good order and purity within the cities and congregation, they could look at that person and declare them unclean, and maybe a little later find that they got better and declare them clean.
 
But that’s all they had: words. They could not heal the offending diseases nor could they offer anything to aid in healing. You had to heal on your own, you had to treat yourself, and you had to make sure you presented yourself at the proper place and time. 
 
The priest had no powers of precognition, cognition, or post-cognition. If you were getting sick, or were sick, or were hiding your health or your sin, he had no idea. Like your pastor today! 
 
As with everything, we go back to the beginning to find out just what a priest is good for. That means going to Aaron. And it just so happens our Introit today takes us right to him. In the last part, “O Lord, hear the prayer of Thy servants”, that verse goes on in the Book of Sirach to say, “according to the blessing of Aaron concerning Your people”.
 
At this verse, Aaron becomes not only important, but key to the people’s access to God. It sounds as if God will not hear their prayer unless they have believed and received Aaron’s blessing. That blessing you know so well, you could recite it in your sleep, which I hope you do, actually.
 
From Numbers 6:22-26, “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
So shall they put my Name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
 
Quite a few things happening here. “Face” and “countenance” are the same word, so God’s face is very important, in the matter. In that regard, when His face “shines”, it is not a lightbulb, but a revelation. To shine is to reveal in order to be seen. At Aaron’s words, the Face of God is revealed to all, and in so speaking, he has the unique vocation of placing the Name of God on the People of God.
 
Aaron, a man, is given the honor of revealing the Father’s face to all. However, being only a man, he is only given words to teach and declare. Jesus, being both God and man, can not only reveal the Father’s face, but can place His Name directly on those who believe.
 
Repent! In our sin, we believe a priest should be either completely magical and supernatural or completely useless. When presented with the supernatural, we grasp at it all, because we know what life in the flesh is like. When presented with disappointment, with no miraculous flash, we despise even the mention of a man in religion, because we know who we are all too well.
 
Liars, cheats, swindlers. We know our dark hearts and know others have it as well, so we distrust and suspect. We yell and shout when words get too close to our sins and we cower when they hit the mark. “I said in my despair all men are liars” (Ps 116:11).
 
Jesus is our Priest of priests, Who shows us what a priest is actually supposed to be capable of. First, is His active obedience. Where the priests could only declare God’s Law, Jesus fulfilled it perfectly, for us. In His divinity, He kept the Law, even as the Lord promises to keep us, in Aaron’s blessing.
 
Second, is Jesus’s passive obedience. Where the priests could only declare a sin or proclaim an illness or healing had happened, Jesus makes the sacrifice to forgive those sins and heal perfectly. In His humanity, He is able to suffer and die in order to secure the heavenly healing that the regular priests could not give. 
 
Third, is Jesus praying for us. At the Right Hand of the Father, Jesus holds all authority in heaven and on earth and He uses it to pray for you. Now, a man stands in heaven, the God-man, Jesus Christ, offering up your defense for all eternity. Where the priests were only men and maybe their prayers were heard, Jesus not only prays, but answers prayer according to His Will.
 
Finally, what is that will? That pure will of God is not just seen in the giving of words to men, but in the giving of men to preach as well. “Speak to Aaron and his sons” the Lord said. Don’t speak to the air, don’t publish a book, don’t let anyone willy-nilly preach this or that. The Lord gave the Word and great was the company of the preachers, called by Jesus Christ.
 
“As the Father sent me, so I am sending you”, Jesus says. Jesus sends men with His own Words of Authority to bless us, today. 
 
Here now is the teaching from our Gospel and why the question about the Greatest Command and David’s Son are paired together. First is Jesus’s command over the Law. He knows it inside and out, not just because He was the one Who gave it to Moses, Who’s finger wrote on the tablets, but because He is the Law. 
 
And not even just words written on stone, but the Word made flesh. God’s Law is His Word and Jesus is the Word. Thus, the Law Himself has come down to sanctify, not condemn. And He has come down as David’s Son. “The Lord said to my Lord”, is not God speaking to David, but the Father speaking to the Son.
 
This God of gods and Lord of lords Who is not partial and takes no bribes is Jesus Christ. This Jesus is your Halleluiah, says our Old Testament reading, our praise. The great and terrifying things He has done is His incarnation and His innocent suffering and death, for your eyes to see. The great and terrifying things He continues to do, even this day, are to baptize you, speak to you by His Son, and commune with you.
 
It is terrifying, because it is outside of comprehension and outside our corruption
. Not only do we not understand how water, bread, and wine can do such wonderful things, but that this is how He, the Word, chooses to do all things. Who you encounter today, at His Word, is none other than the Almighty. Who you handle and chew on today, is Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless on the Last Day.
 
As Jesus blesses and keeps you, so “the lips of the priest keep knowledge” says Malachi 2:7, “and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” This is the strength of Aaron’s blessing. For it is not his, but God’s own, given to Aaron to do His wonders.
 
The wonders of justifying sinners by grace through the flesh and blood of a man, Who now rules all things at the right hand of God and yet comes to Church to commune with you. That is, to give you all of His glory and benefits in His Body and Blood.
 
And this Glory He puts into Word and Sacrament, for you. That you may not seek out your own glory or the glory of ghosts and spirits, He has given you priests. Priests that keep His Word, His Jesus, that you may find Him often and every time you seek Him. For He is not hidden or a mystery, but accessible and known in His Word.
 
Thus, at God’s Word, the priest is far from useless, for he gets to now declare healing that no doctor on earth could perform. He now gets to administer forgiveness as no blood of sacrifice could offer. He now is given God’s own Word on His lips, “O Lord open my lips, and my mouth with show forth Your Alleluia”, your Christ (Ps 51:15).
 
Though he is not the miracle worker Jesus is, the faith the priest teaches and the eternal life he gives are Christ’s own. And it is Jesus’s own Law that the pure Gospel be preached to all the earth and His Sacraments be administered according to it.
 
We seek the priest who has the Lord’s own knowledge. We seek that man Whom God ordained who preaches that pure Gospel, that we are justified by grace, through faith, for Christ’s sake. That we seek the place where he administers this, at God’s Command, in Word and Sacrament. For the Gospel tells us to be baptized, to commune, and to gather in His Name.
 
That is the knowledge of God in which is found all grace and blessing.
 

Your seat in Christ [Trinity 17]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Proverbs 25:6-14

• Ephesians 4:1-6

• St. Luke 14:1-11

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
 
Who speaks to you this morning saying,

“But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’”

 
Thus far from God’s Word, in which He wants us to think about a seat or a place in heaven. We are to know and believe that Christ takes the Judgement Seat and the Mercy Seat, in His Body, and know and believe we have a seat to be judged and to be shown mercy. This points us to run to Christ in His Word and Sacrament for Mercy and to view our own bodies as worthy of receiving such heavenly gifts.
 
Aren’t weddings fun? The mood, the atmosphere, the free beer? There are even games to be played. Dancing games, catch the flowers game, and the seating game. Going into the reception, you run to each table to find out where you get to sit, where your name is.
 
Table 1? Only if you got married that day. Table 2? Only if you’re family. Table 10? Table 20? All of a sudden you feel as if you are not in the right place. That you should have a seat closer to front. Why? You don’t know why. You only justify your feelings through “I deserve it” or “I’ve done so much for them to overlook me like this”.
 
But really, what is so special about the highest seat? If you think about it, you don’t deserve to be close to the wedding party if only because of all the work you didn’t put into their relationship and this wedding. Sure you were a friend and friends are important, but the stress, strain, and expense was all born by someone else.
 
And that someone else invited you. Invited you to share in a moment of happiness after months of planning and work. What’s so special about the highest seat?
 
King Solomon. There was the highest seat in the land. The wisest, the richest, the most prosperous king in history. Proverbs 25, our Old Testament reading today, was spoken by King Solomon from that highest seat. 
“Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth”, says 1 Kings 10:23. And Nehemiah 13:36:
“Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king”.
 
What was that seat like? Wars, politics, coups, wives, concubines. And ultimately, “his heart turned to other gods” (1 Ki 11:4). Sitting at the top, it was all Solomon could do to just sit. He did not have strength or honor enough to maintain dignity and morality. In his human frailty, he could only choose one or the other. Something had to be sacrificed.
 
That is the Highest Seat: sacrifice and death. The Place of Honor is such a chair that it drains the life out of the sinner. It demands all of your heart, all of your strength, all of your mind, and all of your soul. And all of that strain, all of that sacrifice, kills a man. And this is only an earthly seat!
 
Yet in our pride, that is the seat we believe we deserve. And that is the seat we believe Christ gives us, when we are good church-goers. We believe that if we just say the right church-things, sit in the right church-spot, and make sure everyone knows about it, then the place of honor is ours.
 
Repent. Aren’t weddings nice? Unless there’s no seat for you. This is the case from our Gospel reading. We don’t know which seat is lowest or highest. Will we be the life-long man with dropsy or the holier-than-thou Pharisees? It is only when Jesus sits down, do we know the difference. And when Jesus sits, He of course takes the Highest Seat.
 
Which, as we have just described, is the seat of sacrifice and death. This is why St. Luke put this parable just after a healing miracle and a violation of the Sabbath. If Jesus wants to maintain His dignity and honor of the Lord’s Sabbath, then He must not do any work on the Sabbath, of which healing is a part. If He wants to promote strength and morality, then He must help this man to the best of His ability, violating God’s Law.
 
Jesus reveals the highest and the lowest seat. As a man, where we fall short of God’s glory, He perfectly keeps the Law. As God, where we are unable to help our fellow men even on a Sabbath, Jesus takes this man’s infirmity into Himself. Higher than man’s sinfulness, yet lower than all the punishments of heavenly wrath.
Jesus, both God and man takes both seats.
 
In doing so, He also reveals your seat and there isn’t one. In fact, there’s only one, as our Epistle reading said. “there is one body and one Spirit”. One and it is the Lord’s. Revelation 7:10, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
 
There are others: 12 and 24. 12 for the Apostles to judge the nations (Mt 19:28) and 24 for the elders to fall and worship (Rev 4:4), but those are occupied. 
 
Another part of Ephesians, chapter 2, explains: “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (2:6). 
 
For one, this means we have access through Jesus Christ to all of heaven’s privileges and spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3–14). The power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available and working on our behalf as we walk in this world. We have the whole armor of God at our disposal to help us “stand against the devil’s schemes” and stand firm “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:11–12).
 
However, secondly, there are two humiliating lessons here. First, the one and only seat is Christ’s. Second, God must seat you. Humility is given, not found or earned. For Who is this Jesus Who shows you the seat? He is both God and man, in our flesh. 
St. John Chyrsostom writes in a letter to Leo the Great, “Let us learn to know which nature it is to which the Father said, Share My Seat. It is that nature to which it has been said, ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'” (Epistle 65).
 
According to the flesh of Christ, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Him. According to the flesh of Christ, are the Apostles and Elders given to participate in the Divine Seat. According to His humanity, he gives baptism into that flesh. Our flesh He shares in.
 
And it is according to that flesh, that Body of Christ, that a man is ordained, on earth, to show it to you. For the Seat of Christ is also called the Mercy Seat. In His infinite mercy, He shows you to your seat, through a man. Whether it is the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, upon which you have been built, Christ Jesus being the Cornerstone, or your own pastor. You are led to mercy, in His Church.
 
Mercy found, not just in a future participation in power and authority, but a present communion in forgiveness and salvation. Right now, in your body, you are seated in Christ, in His seat. And it is the sacrament of baptism which accomplishes this communion.
 
Our Large Catechism teaches:
“let everyone esteem his Baptism as a daily dress in which he is to walk constantly, that he may ever be found in the faith and its fruits, that he suppress the old man and grow up in the new. For if we would be Christians, we must practice the work whereby we are Christians. But if any one fall away from it, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy-seat, does not recede from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. If, therefore, we have once in Baptism obtained forgiveness of sin, it will remain every day, as long as we live, that is, as long as we carry the old man about our neck” (LC IV:84).
 
Again, humility is given. In this case, in order to find your seat, you must submit to Baptism, learn baptism, and always remember your baptism. This is why we cross ourselves so much in Church, to remember. To remember what brought us here, to remember Who redeemed us here, and to remember that He makes us belong here.
 
And in order to submit, you must be shown where your Lord is and where He accomplishes all this. In His Word, which He has given to men to preach and teach (Rom 10), in His Baptism, which He has given to men in order to disciple all nations, and in His sacrament of the Altar, which He has given to men, to give to you.
 
Dear Christians, there is no call from God to take your assigned seats at the assigned time. The call is to withstand temptations. The temptations to find a place outside of God’s Way, outside of Christ’s Way, outside of sacrifice and death. 
 
Sacrifice in which the Blood of God fills our baptismal font, as Revelation 1 says, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood”. And the death of God into which we are baptized. And “if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Rom 6:5).
 
And at the Resurrection, the Feast. And at the Feast, the Wedding of the Bride and the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the World.