Jesus speaks to you today, in His Gospel, saying:
In our brave new world of fake news, the fake news outlets
are trying to ban the term “fake news” and they have the money and the lawyers
to get it done. Now, this should frighten you because they’re using the money
you give them by watching their programming. But are you going to believe your
rural back-woods pastor over professionally trained journalists?
This brings us to the most alarming part of this whole
modern controversy: who is telling the truth? And nowhere do we see this
brought forward more vividly than in this recent run of sexual allegations,
where we are all just one accusation away, false or true, from complete
ruination.
For, on one side you have the accusations, which do not have
to be true in order to ruin someone’s career and life. They just have to be a
rumor. I think Jesus talks about gossip somewhere…
However, on the other side you have real victims who are now
being discredited because of all the fake victims. It is to the point in our
media that we do not know who is telling the truth. We don’t wait for facts. We
don’t wait for due process. In post-modern America , you are guilty until proven
innocent and even proven innocence will not get you your life back.
Today, the backwards, back-woods Church lit a candle, people
would say almost as effective and “thoughts and prayers”. Yet, that candle is
lit in the darkness of lies and deception. In lighting that candle, you as a
church, have declared war on fake news, because you believe in the News of the
Son of God.
Indeed, the Church has its own news outlet: the prophets and
the Apostles. This small candle represents all of the Old Testament that has
gone before us in history. Not myth, not legend, not fake news, even if
everyone wants you to believe it is fake.
Today, this Advent candle is lit for St. Jeremiah, whose
book I highly recommend. Jeremiah says that a king is needed in order that
wisdom, justice, and righteousness be executed in the land, because as of right
now, its not. And the “Christian” “scholars” will say, but Jeremiah is fake
news and his book is a myth, not even written by him.
And they will give you proof. Believable proof. Proof that
would, if possible, lead astray the elect. You think you can smell the devil
and his lies from a mile away, but he is 10 times the pastor your pastor is and
he is 10 times the scholar.
Jesus says, “Go into the village in front of you and you
will find a donkey tied and her colt.” And immediately, the apostles can go and
confirm this bit of news Jesus has told them and be amazed. Wow. A donkey. Just
as He said!
Likewise, St. Jeremiah can be justified by saying Judah will be saved and Israel will
dwell securely, by simply offering the end of the Babylonian exile as proof of
his future sight. Wow. A return from exile. To a scorched earth country. Yay…
For, Jesus is not just telling prophesies about donkeys or villages
or kings or exiles. He is living them out. In the actual and accurate eyewitness
account of St. Matthew, Jesus is not just riding a donkey on a lovely spring
day. He is mounting His warhorse and marching upon the darkness of lies and
deceit which say He is not the Son of God.
For this Palm Sunday and Advent 1 Sunday reading is Jesus
beginning His suffering for the entire world. You believe this because Jesus
had just finished telling His disciples, before the donkey, this: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem
It is in this true news that St. Jeremiah’s “return from
exile” is not just to the geographical state of Israel , but towards the
incorporation of forgiven sinners into the body of Christ. It is in this true
news that Jesus marches towards His own death, on a donkey, for your eternal
life and allows His detractors their fake news, because He has something they
don’t have: a Resurrection.
A resurrection that no one in the history of the cosmos has
ever had or ever will have, until the Last Day. Some may have written about a
similar resurrection, but the only eyewitness proof conclusively offered is
that of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John . All other resurrections have
thousands or hundreds of years between the event and the book. Jesus’
resurrection account has only single digits.
Jeremiah is true because the Crucified Son of God says its
true. St. Matthew is true, not because of historical accuracy, but because the
Branch of Jesse has sprouted, hanged on a tree, and gives life to His Church
even in this age. The truth is not that St. Jeremiah is right or even that St.
Matthew is right. The truth is that Jesus is right and gives the Good News that
you are now right; right with God in Him.
Which is why you put your money where your mouth is and
support this, your church and not fake news. Because in this place, against all
other places on earth, you invest in truth; the Truth, who is Christ our Lord.
It is here that heavenly transactions occur, not just in treasure, but in
salvation.
You cannot be saved in your closet. You cannot believe at
your sporting events. You cannot have faith at the foot of a manger scene. You
are only saved in Christ. You only believe at His Word. You only have faith,
because He hands it out to you in Body and Blood.
And the Light of the World prepares you to receive Him in
Baptism, in the Gospel, and in His Supper. He shows you His death and His
resurrection so that when you finally get to the manger, you will not just see
fake news or even feel-good news, but the Body and Blood of Christ, given and
shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.
All of which has yet to be disproved by thousands of
years of scholarship, media, and marketing. Take heart, dear Christian, for
God’s own Child joins you to Him in mercy which proves how greatly God loves
you. The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. Salvation is at hand.
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