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]

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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.
 

In the world [Christmass Eve]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 7:10-14

• Romans 1:1-6

• St. Matthew 1:18-21

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

 

Who speaks to us on this eve of His own nativity, saying,

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”

 

God works in the world, but He does not work with the world. God is in the world, but He is not of the world. And this is the familiar verse for us, from Jesus, that is to be in the world not of the world. Well, actually its “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world”, from John 17:14-16.

 

God works in the world and we can see it in our Gospel reading, verse by verse. “The birth of Jesus Christ took place”, that is God uses human fetal development, human maturing, and human birth, all of which with we are very familiar, to come into the world. St. Mary was betrothed to St. Joseph, that is the Father uses marriage, as we know it, to make this family for Jesus. 

 

The compassion of St. Joseph is not an earthly concept, but the Lord allows us to find compassion in this life, so we understand it. Sleep and dreams happen in our own slumber, being encouraged to take a leap of faith and get married, and having children and a family. All of which even unbelievers get to take part in. Christians do not corner the market on any of this. 

 

And this is what we must discern, that God gives this “daily bread” to everyone, even all evil people, though they hate them. Therefore, there is no command and no promise to find God in those things. For example, just because we get married to someone in some way, does not mean that we have faith in Christ, receive the forgiveness of sins, or have eternal life.

 

If we believed that, we would be of the world, believing that the things of the world grant divinity. That simply because we develop as a human, that is divine. That because we sleep and dream, those are things from God sent to save us. That, because we take leaps of faith, we know that God will give us what we leap for.

 

That is not how Christmass goes. If you notice, God is using those things which He created, but using them in ways we refuse to, in our sin. He is birthing our Savior because, in our sin, there is no way for us to bear sinless children. According to the promise of the virgin birth, God makes it so.

 

That is also the only way human development from conception to the grave, is divine. It is because the holy life of Jesus spent time in that development, that we can say “all life is holy”. Yet, we do not look for a divine spark in an embryo, in order to gain God’s eternal compassion.

 

Just because you are married, or sleep, or have dreams, or are in a family does not mean God has given you eternal life. God truly works in the world, but He has not left a trail of bread crumbs in the world for us to follow, hope to not lose any of it, and earn His love.

 

The birth of Jesus Christ happened the way it happened because God willed it. And He willed it in order that we find Him to be a good and gracious Father, a self-donating Son, and a sanctifying Spirit. 

 

Does that makes sense? I hope it does. You will not find the forgiveness of sins in birthing children. Children are an heritage, a gift, a fruit of the Lord Who has suffered and died for you. For being in the world and not of the world does not simply mean we change our principles. It means we must be changed, inside and out.

 

So it is not birth, in and of itself, it is the birth of Christ and the Promise that He is the Word made flesh, sent to save His people from their sins. It is not simply being a virgin that allows God entrance into the world, it is the virgin birth Promised to bring forth Jesus. Not just marriage, but God’s promises in marriage. Not just being human, but the promise of rescued humans.

 

Thus, returning to Jesus’s words to Joseph, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”, that which is truly God’s work is only from the Holy Spirit. And how we know its from the Holy Spirit is if it was promised.

 

This is because, in this fallen world, nothing is promised. The birth of a child is not promised. It is perilous business being pregnant, let alone giving birth. The life of both mother and child are at stake. 

 

Being married is perilous. If you chose the wrong person to marry, it could be disastrous for both parties and the children. Heartache, struggle, anger. Marriage is not promised. Being parents, getting proper sleep, and all this in safety to guarantee survival is not promised. So even in the real world, faith is necessary.

 

Faith that things will all work out. Faith that everything will be ok. Faith that what others have would be promised to us. Indeed, “the righteous shall live by faith” alone (Rom 1:17)

 

So we seek the birth of Jesus and He was born, as promised, in Bethlehem, never to be born again. We seek the saints Mary and Joseph as promised, and we found them as guardians of Jesus until He matured. We will not find Jesus with them, in that way, again. We seek the Lord’s strength in marriage and rest, as promised, not that Jesus will be revealed in dreams again, but that we hear and believe.

 

Thus the promise for us today is not to find Jesus in swaddling clothes, but to find Him as promised, wrapped in Bread and wine at the Altar of His church. The righteous live by faith, that is the promise of salvation, given out by God, in the world. This, the word Christmas, teaches us.

 

The word Christmas is from two words: Christ and Mass. You see, Christmass was always a Service in Church. A time offered by God’s Church to come and give thanks, to offer thanksgiving in this world. A thanksgiving that must first descend from heaven and a service that must be God’s own.

 

The Mass, or the Divine Service, is God’s work in the world which is not of this world. Anything that we accomplish is of the world. It cannot be helped. We are born of the flesh and that which is born of the flesh is flesh, sinful flesh. This is the importance of Jesus being made man, that now, in the world, there is that which is not of the world: forgiveness.

 

The divine Service offered here is God’s work in the world. There is nothing special about ink and page in itself, but with the Word of God it is His life-giving Word, able to give heavenly faith. There is nothing special about water, but with God’s Promise it is a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

 

Bread and wine can be found on any table and in any store, without God’s promise, that is. But with God’s Promise, what is in the world has been raised out of the world in order to accomplish the Will of God. That Will being for us to hallow His Name and strengthen and keep us in His Word and faith until we die.

 

Now, we seek the child of Bethlehem nowhere else besides these promises. We seek Him in Word, water, bread and wine. Not because they are otherworldly, but because God has attached His Promises to them, for you. We will find Him in no other place. Jesus chooses to dwell with us in no other way. 

 

He has given us His Word, as He said in St. John 17 which I quoted earlier. He has given us His Word as both promise and sacrament. Promise that He will be faithful and rescue us from our sins and Sacrament that He will perform that faithfulness and rescue in front of our eyes today, not just in the end. 

 

Being in the world and not of the world, means more than just being kinder, nicer, and merry. It means going to church. It means being brought out of the world by God’s own Promise and it means living this new life in Christ, by the very things He has promised to leave in the world, just for you.

Losing to win [Advent 4]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Deuteronomy 18:15-19

• Philippians 4:4-7

• St. John 1:19-28

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
                  
Who speaks to us on this last Sunday before His Nativity, saying,

“I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know”

 
 One of the reasons we do not know, is because we are always changing and Jesus is not. This is part of God’s Word to show that Baptism doesn’t change, because our Savior and His Promise doesn’t change. This teaches that we should not resist. We are usually told to not resist change, but in God’s true religion it is the opposite. Never tire of doing the same thing for the same God Who delights in it.
 
For no matter how hard you struggle, in the end, you must lose. “It is appointed for man once to die” and dying is losing (Heb 9:27). We feel it at every sickbed. We feel it at every funeral. Even King David feels it deeply and complains to God, in Psalm 6, “Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” (v.4-5).
 
If you remember last week, we came to believe that John the Baptist must also lose and he does. He is alone in the wilderness. Sure he has a few disciples, but nothing serious. He dresses funny, eats funny, and won’t comply with any of the other sects in Judaism trying to overthrow the Romans. He especially rejects the authority of the Pharisees and current priests.
 
Our saying goes, “you can’t win for losing”. You can hear John the Baptist's frustration at this revelation, in today’s Gospel. Its not that he’s begging for his life, its that he’s begging for the truth. Don’t persecute me, I’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t throw me in jail, I’ve broken no laws. Don’t behead me, I don’t deserve it.
 
In fact, just the opposite. John the Baptist did all the right things, spoke the truth, and showed mercy. John did all the right things, said all the right things, and believed all the right things. Yet, in the end he must lose. 
 
Hear John’s last words recorded in Scripture to get the idea:

“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:27-36)

 
He must increase and I must decrease. The friend of the Bridegroom is only given His voice, His words, to joy in and he must admit, confess, and submit to the fact that the Father loves the Son only. 
 
In our lives, we live this struggle daily. Every day it seems as if God has left us to our own devices. So much so that entire religious sects have been created from this false belief. God has set us on our way, yet in our sin we doubt it ever happened, so we’re on our own. 
 
In our sinfulness we get bored of repetition. Because of this, we associate failure with boredom. Because nothing changes and nothing different happens, we assume in our hearts that we must be doing something wrong. Its wrong because we are not accomplishing anything, we are not moving forward, we are not doing what we were created to do!
 
So says satan. For from the beginning, he is a liar and a murderer. Eve, he said, aren’t you tired of the same old fruit, day in and day out? Don’t you want something different, something exciting, something meaningful? 
 
Thus, the Temptation of Jesus was the same, the devil is not original after all. But instead of fruit, it was the fruit of Jesus’s labors, the fruit of His Faith. Why do you starve yourself waiting for someone to come feed you? Just make your own bread and forsake those whom You created. Do you not know Your own worth? Throw Yourself off the Temple, gather the angels, and show to everyone what You’re truly capable of.
 
Your talent and power are wasted on the humans. Serve under me and I will make you the greatest born among women. No one will stand in Your way and You will make the greatest kingdom on earth however You want.
 
I hope you hear in these temptations the devil’s own words in your ears concerning your church, and your family, and all the other repetitious things that God has put in your life. 
 
Imagine your heart rebelling one day. Meh, today I don’t feel like working, it says. Blood, blood, blood. Pump, pump. pump. I want adventure. I want something different. Something fresher! Imagine anything in all of Creation going on strike and doing something different. 
 
Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case is, God has given us the will to imagine something different, something apart from God. That is the temptation to sin, because whatever we imagine still retains God’s goodness in it. 
 
For example, a belief in evolution without God, as opposed to God’s Creation of all things, presupposes things would work together to create life, without God. It assumes life will just form on its own, because that’s our experience. But life is God’s realm.
 
And if life is God’s realm, then He knows how best to order it. John confesses this, as we already heard. It is enough that the Bridegroom has given us His voice. It is enough that the Bridegroom comes from above and has the Father’s love. It is enough that the Bridegroom has come down from His chamber and nothing is hid from the heat of His Love.
 
For on top of giving us a heart that pumps day in and day out without complaining, and all other things in creation that are for our benefit, He also gives Himself. That is also still His Word, yet His Word is unlike our words. St. John did not mean that it is enough for Him to speak every now and then or to give visions. On top of that, John meant that the Word would be given, Himself.
 
And the Word was made flesh, as John chapter 1 says. The Word was made flesh and St. John the Baptist’s joy is fulfilled. Joy that a Prophet like us has arisen. Joy that the words of the Almighty are in His mouth. Joy, that a man has been born.
 
For, there’s more to Deuteronomy 18. The chapter ends right after our pericope reading, with instructions on how to spot a false prophet. A false prophet will have God’s own wrath on him if he does not speak the exact words from the Lord’s own mouth. 
 
From verse 22, “when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
 
“if the word does not come to pass” means “if the Word is not born”. In other words, if he does not point to Jesus, he is a false prophet. Moses did not get to point to Jesus in the flesh. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi did not get to point to the Word of God and say, “Behold the man”. Thus they lost in the end. 
 
Even Jesus, pointing Himself out as God and man, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins on the cross, lost in the end. As the True Prophet, however, Jesus's loss was gain. Tempting Jesus only resulted in draining all the power out of temptation. Murdering Jesus only resulted in draining out all the power of death.
 
The prophets did not stop pointing to Jesus. The Apostles did not stop pointing to Jesus. And your faith today is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Says Ephesians (2:20). And the apostles were proclaiming the death of Jesus until He comes, in Communion.
 
“Do not grow tired of doing good” (Gal 6:9), that is, do not grow tired of doing THE Good: receiving from God the Good He wants to give you. Now imagine if God were to change His mind and His ways? This is why St. John the Baptist likened Jesus coming to a Bridegroom. The Bridegroom pledges His Truth and His faithfulness to the Bride. He does not change.
 
We must lose. We must lose out to God. We must give up on trying to refresh or excite our spirit and proclaim it to be “from God”. God has promised and only He can accomplish our victory that we so long and pray for. He has done it. He will do it and He continues to feed it to us, even today. 
 
So we lose and Jesus wins. We lose our grand and flashy entrance of God into the world and He wins His birth in a manger. We lose our false ideas of increasing mercy and grace and God wins at the cross. We lose our sinfulness of thinking we can do better than God and God wins by continuing to give us His Spirit by His spoken Word, cleanse us in Baptism, and feed us in Communion.
 
We decrease and Jesus increases in His Word and Sacrament. And isn’t that what we wanted all along?