Vineyard of Value [Septuagesima]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Daniel 9:2-10

• 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:4

• St. Matthew 20:1-16

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Phil 1)

 

Who speaks to you on this day from His Gospel heard, saying:

“Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”

 

So the new Archbishop of Canterbury, that’s England, is a woman, churches owned by private individuals must accept uninvited trespassers, and there are gay babies. All of these are fruits of the Church of the Current Year, as they say. The new confession of faith. Either be a part of the new sensation or get out of the way. Such has the Lord’s Vineyard been abused.

 

It is a well-known Lutheran fact, and will now be here also, that the papal bulletin, issued against Luther in 1520, appealed to the Lord’s Vineyard. It reads (partly) as follows:

BULLETIN AGAINST THE ERRORS OF MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS FOLLOWERS

Leo Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God

For the perpetual memory of the event.

Arise, O Lord, and judge thy cause; remember thy reproaches, which are made by fools all the day long; incline thine ear to our prayers, for foxes have risen up, seeking to destroy the vineyard, whose winepress thou alone hast trodden, and which, when thou art about to ascend to the Father, thou hast committed the care, government, and administration thereof to Peter, as to thy head and vicar, and to his successors, as to the Church triumphant: the wild boar of the forest striveth to destroy it, and the wild beast alone to devour it. Rise up, Peter…Rise up also, we beseech you, Paul…[rise up] all the saints and the rest of the universal Church, whose true interpretation of the sacred writings has been neglected, some, whose minds the father of lies has blinded”, etc. etc.

 

What we get from this is how the Church interpreted “vineyard” from the Bible. That it represented the Church; a fertile ground of growth the Lord places all His care and concern upon. Isaiah 5 speaks of this vineyard, saying, “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes” (v.1-2).

 

But what is going on in the vineyard is not good. Isaiah continues, “He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded thorns”. Indeed, as Pope Leo noted from Song of Solomon 2:15, there are foxes ruining the vineyards. Maybe even Samson’s foxes with torches tied to their tails (Judges 15:4). 

 

On top of the wild boar, referenced from Psalm 80, we can’t help but maybe think vineyards are cursed. And they were, all the way back in Genesis 3 where the Lord says, “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:17-19). 

 

Maybe this is part of the problem of finding workers in the parable from the Gospel today. That the promise of work does not outweigh the despair of overwork for too little pay and suffering for nothing. The workers know the ground is cursed, thus are reluctant to approach the Master of the House. 

 

This is also the problem in our workforce today. Its not that the new generation of workers are lazy, there are lazy people in every generation, but that the incentive to work is below the reward of work. Suffering is not incentive. Long hours are not incentive. Abuse and turmoil are not incentives to return to work day after day.

 

This is not to excuse, but to illuminate us that we may begin to understand. Because this exact thinking has infiltrated the Church, like foxes and boars. Not as the Blessed Dr. Luther, but as fear and offense.

 

Look at how the workers talk to the Master at the end of the day. They are offended, because what they feared from the beginning is coming true. They were overworked and underappreciated, not in a spoiled-brat kind of way, but in a “now I won’t be able to live off this paycheck” kind of way.

 

This is your problem with the Lord’s Church, His Vineyard, today. You logically and reasonably conclude that you are suffering in your relationship with the Lord. He is the Creator, sure, but when it comes to the work, He stands far off and makes you do it, with no praise but only a “now that that’s finished, here’s this” and producing a never-ending list of chores.

 

Thus we see the Church as not worth it. The pope had to mold the church into his own image, in order for it to be worth it to him, making nations bow to him.  We, and the world, in our sin cannot stand the Lord’s vineyard, but neither can we get enough of it on our own terms. 

 

There is another vineyard of great interest to us, in 1 Kings 21. Evil Ahab is king of Israel and Jezebel his wife. There is a man who owns a vineyard right against the king’s palace, named Naboth. Ahab covets the vineyard, but Naboth refuses to sell or trade away his ancestor’s vineyard.

 

Jezebel learns of her husband’s interactions with Naboth. So “she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and she sent the letters to the elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city. And she wrote in the letters, ‘Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people. And set two worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.’” 

 

Ahab, the sinner, was able to acquire the Vineyard, the Church, through the sacrificing of another man, the owner.

 

Now that story goes on and Ahab pays for his sin, but I hope you’ve seen the point. When the Lord plants a Vineyard, it is not something as sterile as we are used to. All we think of is cost and goods and maintenance. These are normal things and can be gained, lost, and regained. No big deal.

 

When the Lord plants a vineyard, not only does He create it out of nothing, but He puts His life on the line to supply it with life and to defend it. When the Lord gives a gift, it is Himself, no matter the form it takes. And the Vineyard is no different.

 

The saying goes, “if you want to make a million dollars off a vineyard, start with 2”. It is a losing venture from the start. Thus God does not only bring two million to His vineyard, He brings Himself. 

 

Now, if God has a vineyard, then it is self-sustaining, completely. He can just command the watering, command the growth, command the harvest and it will be finished perfectly. In other words, there is no logical reason for God to open up His vineyard to Adam, Ahab, Jezebel, Naboth, or any of the workers from today’s Gospel.

 

Jesus reveals this in the words, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?” But Jesus is not the stingy workers who will not take reward or even another vineyard for their troubles. He is allowed to do what He wants with His stuff. And He chooses to give it away.

 

For through the false condemnation of two witnesses on either side of Him and His crucifixion, Jesus opens His vineyard to sinners. He brings His 2 million-dollar natures, God and man, and works in His own vineyard. He endures thirsting, hungering, anguishing. In His humanity, He feels the full weight of the Holy Law which forbids Him grapes and hands Him a crown of thorns.

 

Found guilty of our sin, falsely accused, and tortured Jesus demands better pay for His workers from the Father. He was made our ransom, our bargaining chip on God’s own table. In His suffering, death, and resurrection, Jesus is our payment to God.

 

With bloodless blood, sin entered the world. For though Adam and Eve’s struggle with the devil shed no blood, what they lost was greater: the Image of God in their blood. Death now reigned. No wonder only thorns and tears come out of the cursed ground. 

 

With bloodied blood, sin is removed from this world. For Jesus strove with God and man and prevailed. He strove with God, bargaining His Body and Blood as payment for sin, death, and the power of the devil and He strove with man, proving that His Vineyard is not a trap, but an invitation.

 

For this is not some movie set vineyard, or a spare God has lying around. It is His own Vineyard. How do we know? Because the Vine is there and there is only one. The Vine that Lord planted, back in Psalm 80 has taken root and begun to fruit. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

 

Listen to Psalm 80:

“You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.

The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.

It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.” (v.8-11)

 

Jesus came out of Egypt upon His return to Nazareth, in His Youth. And it is now in His Gospel, that growth happens beyond the normal. For the spreading of the Vine is happening, and being the Son of God Himself, all fall under His dominion.

 

Jesus is the Vine. He is the fruitful soil and the Creator. The Vineyard is His beloved. The place where He chooses to lose everything in order to win everything for His Bride. He causes His Name to dwell there. He appoints His servants, the prophets to speak there. He declares His Justification there, in His Blood, daring any to say He has not kept His Word.

 

So yes, to the sinner, the vineyard is a waste, because it is filled with Christ Crucified. He is not investing in their 401ks, neither is He treating them fairly. Indeed, we thank God that Jesus is not fair. If He were fair, we’d get nothing. If He were fair, we’d be on the cross. If He were fair, we would logically and reasonably be cut off and left to the thorns.

 

But Jesus unfairly offers His Vineyard to you. He invites you to work in it, yes, but He first invites you in. He calls out to you with His Gospel, enlightening you with His gifts, in order that you see the true wonder of the Vineyard. Like St. Paul, He removes the scales of sin from your eyes and you see.

 

You see the wonder, you see the Grace, you see the working of the forgiveness of sins, the granting of faith, and the bestowing of eternal life. That is the work of the Vineyard, that is the fruit of the Vineyard, and that is the Master of the Vineyard. The payment is the same, because Jesus can only give you all of Himself and no more than that. If that is not enough, well…

 

So what is so great about grapes and the Vineyard? It is where Jesus has promised to do His work and there are no substitutions, exchanges, or refunds. It is His and we have no say in the matter. He loves us and continues to offer Himself daily, for our sins, that we might arise as a new man, to live in Him and His vineyard.

 

And we find the Lord here, as He promised. We hear His words as from the song of Songs, “My beloved speaks and says to me, ‘Arise my love, my beautiful one…for the fig tree ripens and the vines are in blossom” (2:10, 13), we are washed in His righteousness, and are fed from the Vine as branches.

 

The Lord is ours and we are the Lord’s and what He chooses for us is life, in His Word and Sacrament.

 

 

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

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 3:1-14

• Acts 9:1-22

• St. Matthew 19:27-30

 

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

Ritual Purity [Epiphany 2]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Amos 9:11-15

• Romans 12:6-16

• St. John 2:1-11

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Sacrifice [Epiphany 1]

LISTEN TO THE (| AUDIO |) HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 42:1-9

• Romans 12:1-5

• St. Luke 2:42-52

 

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

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

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

The Gospel Star [Epiphany of Jesus]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 60:1-6

• Ephesians 3:1-12

• St. Matthew 2:1-12

 

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

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

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

Steady Faith [Christmass 1]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

 READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 11:1-5

• Galatians 4:1-7

• St. Luke 2:33-40

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

Merry 4^th day of Christmass in which we ponder our Lord’s words from His Gospel, saying:

“And His father and His mother marveled at what was said about Him”

 

Christmass is only the beginning. As Jesus continues to make His father and mother marvel at what is said about Him, we too follow along for the marvels. In God’s Word, we hear of marvels because we too are supposed to marvel at these things. The words you use affect you, thus calling Jesus God is important. We are to believe this, come to understand it more, and live life according to it.

 

The Sunday after Christmas is a double-win for the Christian. First, contrary to the world, the celebration continues. There are 12 days of Christmass, not just last Thursday. And second, we breathe a heavy sigh of relief that the commercial and material have forgotten Christmass and that the frozen depths of Purgatory have once again received Mariah Carey.

 

As soon as the Bethlehem light goes out, we also return to our unbelief. With no more store shelves to remind us of the season and no house lights flashing in time to AC/DC, we get back to “real life”. Life that has been put on pause because of lunches, dinners, parties, and giving. It wears a poor soul out.

 

Instead of the chaos, we crave routine. A steady, no frills existence where we can be with the familiar and predict what's coming. So when we are thrust into the Christmass celebration, though we enjoy it, it gets in the way. We can’t do what we want because we have to go see so-and-so. We can’t spend as we wish, because someone needs a present. We can’t leave yet, we just got here.

 

Sts. Joseph and Mary may be glad to see the 8th day after Christmass, in our Gospel today. Since the conception of their Son, there has been no normal. Exhausted by angels, stars, dreams, controversy, and shepherds, they rejoiced to get back to Church.

 

Back to Church as in, “everything according to the Law of the Lord”, as we heard. They had a baby, so normal! So now they must do family and baby things. For Church its going to offer the appropriate sacrifices at the appropriate time. There is no room for surprises. God’s Word is very clear.

 

That means a trip to the Temple. That means prayers. That means service. It is a relief and comfort because God is doing all that work that He has been since the beginning. Same offering. Same sacrifices. Same blessing. Same God.

 

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Sts. Joseph and Mary did not get to rest from marveling. For no sooner had they fulfilled their Temple duties, than St. Simeon came up and began singing, Anna began speaking to everyone who would listen, and they marveled at what was said about Him, once again.

 

Why? Because Jesus is Almighty God. The marvel is that He is not just Almighty God on paper, but almighty God in the arms of His parents, in the arms of shepherds, in the arms of Simeon. The ink has leapt off the pages of Scripture and has become a being that we now must deal with and yet He continues to look normal.

 

Though Jesus returns with His parents to grow like a normal boy, they will soon marvel along with the teachers and priests of Israel when Jesus enters the Temple at 12 years old, questioning and answering the elite. 

 

People will continue to marvel at Jesus, at the words He says and the work He does, the rest of His life. The Apostles marvel at Easter and at the recognition of Jesus in the breaking of the Bread.

 

And what Jesus marvels at, in the face of all this, is unbelief (Mark 6:6). That it takes all of the Christmass chaos, all the Lent chaos, and all of the Easter chaos and yet still there is unbelief. That is the true Christmass miracle and it is a backwards miracle. God being made man is normal. God’s creation not believing it is not normal.

 

It is to this weak and lowly state that Jesus comes. He did not wait for St. Mary to be highly favored, but made her that way, spoke her that way. He did not wait for St. Joseph to be a righteous man, but gave him the righteousness necessary. He did not wait for shepherds, angels, or lowing oxen. But instead made His own way. The Normal Way.

 

Yes, Jesus marvels at unbelief, but He also marvels at belief, saying, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith” (Lk 7:9). This from a non-Jew centurion who confesses that he is not worthy to have Jesus enter under his roof to save his son.

 

Two things here: One, for the centurion it was not normal that the mighty condescend to the weak. Two, it was not normal that death should take a loved one. It was not normal that demons torment the people. It was not normal that wind and wave should kill and destroy. It is not normal that the dead should come back alive.

 

Jesus gives us His Advent to show us how off track we are. It is normal for God to be doing all these things and it is normal for us to live that life, no matter how it shocks our sinful system. Therefore, as Jesus spoke Mary “highly favored”, so too does He speak to us and gives us the faith to live this, godly, normal life.

 

We marvel that God cares so much about our lives that the same words He used for His father, mother, and Apostles work for us. That He speaks of us as highly favored, in Christ. He speaks of us as having greater faith than all Israel, in Christ. That He gives to us eternal life for faith in Christ.

 

Normal is God actually working in our lives, as He said. Normal is being able to handle God as He comes near to bless us. Normal is being able to find Jesus in the breaking of the Bread. Why? Because He loves us and because He chooses to act in this way.

 

So now it is our turn to marvel and continue to do so. Each time we hear the words of the Gospel, that we are free from the guilt and punishment for our sins, for Christ’s sake, we say “So extra ordinary”. But when we see the Way this is accomplished and look at church and font and Altar, we say “so ordinary”.

 

And that is where God locates Himself, in the ordinary. Those things which are repeated countless times. His holy Scripture. The Lord’s Prayer. His Word made flesh. It is the abnormal life of sin that gets in the way, pauses the life of faith, and does not let us do as the Holy Spirit directs. 

 

God’s Way is ordinary. Word, water, bread, wine. Preaching and Teaching. A Church life that continuously runs through that ordinary life of Jesus year after year, just to see Him once again win salvation for us. And that deserves celebration. Not just once a year, but every year. Every Sunday, even. 

 

Jesus doesn’t want a lot for Christmass. Just you. Hearing, believing, and holding sacred the holy things He has set out for you in His Holy Church. The cross stands still as the world spins off its rocker. Drawing nearer to that cross, we marvel at the stillness of the Holy Child, God made man, manifest. God has done this. This is real life now. We marvel at the mightiness of God made man.

 

Merry Christmass.

Served a Son [The Holy Nativity]

| | N0 AUDI0 ~ ~ TEXT 0NLY | |

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 40:1-11

• 1 Corinthians 4:1-5

• St. Matthew 11:2-10

The twenty-fifth day of December.

In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world

 

from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth;

 

the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood;

 

the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham;

 

the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses

and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt;

 

the one thousand and thirty-second year from David's being anointed king;

 

in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;

 

in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;

 

the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome;

 

the forty second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus;

the whole world being at peace,

in the sixth age of the world,

 

Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,

desiring to sanctify the world by His most merciful coming,

being conceived by the Holy Spirit,

and nine months having passed since His conception,

was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary,

being made flesh.

 

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

 
And oh God what a nativity. The depth of God being born in His own Creation as a man is unfathomable. Every other religion will shout you down, saying, God cannot become a man! Little do they know how great the true God actually is.
 
If God was a man, He wouldn’t be God anymore. So how can God be a man? That is the strength of human logic. It can reach up into the heavens and bring down God Himself and call Him to account. “You are not God, you are a man and men are sinners.”
 
And it makes sense, because we know men wrote the Bible and they can’t be trusted either. So the Bible is a sham, God is a sham, therefore Christianity is a sham. Wow. Game. Set. Match, Christians. Get your oppressive God out of my life!
 
Our pride reaches to the heavens as we love to tell God what to do with His Christmas and with His Son. I believe you can hear those echoes in Psalm 115, “Not unto us Lord, not unto us”. This seems to contradict the Christmass refrain, “Unto us a child is born”, from Isaiah 9:6.
 
Now the Word never contradicts itself, but when I put those two together, I’m reminded of Ahaz, the King of Judah during Isaiah’s time. Ahaz receives the Promise of the Virgin Birth, even though he is not faithful, not going to church, and not a believer. 
 
He even removed God from his name, being originally Jehoahaz. 
Now, to give Ahaz 8th-commandment-credit, he did have it rough. His father had apparently been one of the righteous kings of Judah, the southern part of the split kingdom, but his father did not take down the altars and worship places of the false gods in the nation. So Ahaz grew up open-minded and confused. His father said he worshipped the one, true God, but his actions, or inactions, said otherwise.
 
Thus Ahaz bartered with God. He did not pray to Him, but used God’s things from His temple. Ahaz took silver and gold from the Temple to make his own altars to false gods. The very gods that were now making war with him through other countries and winning against him. He thought that if he started to pray to them, they would help him win as well.
 
Ahaz did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and paid for it. Even Israel, their northern kingdom of brothers, came and invaded, taking away goods, money, and people. If it weren’t for the prophets of God, the kingdom of Judah would have been ruined.  
 
Ahaz had two prophets during his reign. Double the chances, yet double the failure. Micah and Isaiah were preaching and teaching all that you read about in their respective books. Thus we come to the conversation between Ahaz and the Lord:
 

“Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying,

Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.

But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.

And He said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isa 7:10-14)

 
Even though God is speaking to Ahaz through His prophet, Ahaz has no use for a God that does not give him what he wants. Ahaz does not seek the Lord’s counsel, nor does he pray to Him, nor does Ahaz believe the Lord. Thus, God’s offer to him. “Ask for a sign. Any sign.” 
 
God is begging to serve the sinner! God is begging Ahaz to repent of his ways and turn to Him again. I can’t even imagine God begging me for anything and I don’t even want to think about it anymore. Ahaz, in his sinfulness, and you in yours, make a beggar out of God.  Because of your love for your sin, God must come begging and serving.
 
Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus, that He is a God of love and service. For, says Jesus, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28)
 
God comes to Ahaz not with a, “I’m going to destroy you”, but with a “I want to give you a sign, so please ask me for one and not your false idols.” God wants Ahaz to know that He is the one that will and can help him. God wants Ahaz to know that He is the one and only true God. 
 
God comes to Ahaz with an invitation and a Promise. God promises to not turn His back on Ahaz, as he has done to Him. He promises a Savior and He invites Ahaz to find there the Gospel, by Grace, through faith, for Christ’s sake alone. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name, Emmanuel.” 
 
Where Ahaz sells God out to the lowest bidder, God invests everything in the sinner. Where sin, death, and the devil attempt to root out Jesus, Jesus roots Himself in the barren places, our hearts, dies in that soil, and rises again producing 100-fold crop of forgiveness. 
 
“Not unto us Lord”, the sinner says in his pride. Don’t worry about me God. Depart, for I am a sinner. You don’t want to be here, to live here, to do Your work here. Stay in heaven, we’ll be fine somehow.
 
Faith continues the Psalm, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” And God’s Name is made flesh and dwells among us. Immanuel. There is no room for pride or false humility. God is acting, let all mortal flesh keep silent.
 
Faith’s only response is to get out of the way, “…let it be to me, according to your Word”, declares St. Mary. Jesus has come to work out salvation for you and to create His faith in you. The humble service and submission of Mary is what Jesus does for us on the cross.
 
So, the cross of Christ is our refuge. Our place to turn when we are full of sin and empty of all hope. Instead of us having to submit to God and work our own humility, Jesus gives us His own. He steps down from heaven and places Himself in a position to serve spiritually and physically. He makes Himself known and open to the sinners, even though we will crucify Him in our sin.
 
Jesus opens Himself up even to Ahaz and does not forsake those who have forsaken Him. Jesus allows His house to be desecrated and robbed in order to rescue us. He allows Himself to be ridiculed and mocked, just so we can be comforted. Jesus humbly takes our sin to the cross as our sinful sense of justice demands of Him.
 
It is Jesus who says to us on the cross, “…let it be done to me according to your word.” Since we will not turn back to God, Jesus sacrifices Himself in order that we may be turned. Turned to His gracious giving of Himself in Body and Blood, in the manger of our mouths.
 
Ahaz did not deserve that God should come and give him a sign.  We poor sinners do not deserve the forgiveness given to us freely. But we are dealing with a God of mercy and kindness. One who gladly and joyfully endures all things, even death on a cross, so that the sinner would not die, but turn and have eternal life through His only-begotten Son, Jesus the Christ.