Backwards Joy [Advent 3; St. Matthew 11:2-10]

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Who speaks to you, even this day, saying:

“This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.’”

Our pink candle, the candle of joy, goes to Isaiah, the fifth gospel writer, as he speaks to us “comfort”. Yet, as he does so, he also feels the need to throw in warfare, iniquity, deserts, withering and fading. Isaiah follows Malachi in giving us comfort, but adding some death and destruction to it.

Not to be a downer as we get closer to Christmas, but we have been fighting a war for over 17 years now with no end in sight. We have seen the iniquity of ourselves in the actions of our elected officials and we continue to see an expanding desert of withering and fading values in our culture. What’s there to be joyful about?

Indeed, if we have received anything from our prophets thus far this Advent, it is that we deal with a very backwards God, or it is us that are backwards. This is not lost on John the Baptist, either, for I’m sure he had Isaiah 40 already memorized, even chapters 35 and 61, which Jesus quotes back to him through is disciples.

And if he had chapter 61 memorized, then he would have been able to pick up on Jesus’ glaring omission of the second have of verse 1 which reads, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;”

Here, John is in prison and Jesus is quoting Scriptures in an incomplete way, on purpose. Jesus knows what He’s doing and what we and John are going to hear.

John’s sinful, selfish ears hear “prison break”. Our similar ears hear, “prison break”. Jesus seems to forget. Now, some would say Jesus wasn’t really God so He couldn’t break John out anyway, unless by some legal litigation within reason. In a similar light, we make excuses for Jesus and say that it wasn’t John’s time or God had other plans, or God’s gifts are all in the future, so nothing can be done now.

Repent. You are backwards. You hear of warfare and rumors of warfare and you only think of tanks and bombs in your backyard. You hear of withering and fading and think only of that happening to others, not you. You see and hear “jail-time” and immediately thank God that you are not like those men; like John the Baptist.

Listen. Jesus caps off His return message to John and his disciples saying, “blessed is the man who is not offended by me.” How can you be scandalized by Jesus? How could John the Baptist; John the “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” Baptist be offended by Jesus?

In Jesus’ incarnation, He has explicitly and purposefully gone to those who we deem unworthy. The Lord offends by going to repeat sinners and forgiving them. He is offensive because He brings His healing Gospel to the blind and not to those who see.

He gives His life-giving spirit to the dead, not to the living. He spends all His heavenly energy on the lame, the deaf, and the poor and spends not one calorie for the self-righteous. He breathes on the withering and the fading and turns the other cheek to the prosperous.

God dying on the cross is as opposite and backwards as you can get. The Gospel is backwards from what we think. We want swift justice for those who sin against us, yet we find God handing out forgiveness willy-nilly. We want power and blessing, but we find God handing out crosses. We want mightiness, but all that is given is Word and Sacrament.

So hear again Isaiah’s Word of God to John the Baptist: “God’s Church has received double for all her sins.” Double belief, double faith, and double forgiveness. The Word of the Lord that stands forever is the justification of the sinner by grace, through faith, for Christ’s sake. The deeds of Christ that John saw were the forgiveness of sins, but that does not break down prison walls.

Unless of course, you are imprisoned in sin and death. Unless you are blinded and deafened by your own self-righteousness that doesn’t go away. Unless you are impoverished by death and shackled to its inevitability. If those things are true, then your prison walls have tumbled at the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

In this new light of the hope of the Resurrection, there are no blind, lame, lepers, deaf, poor, or dead. In the faith of Christ, wars are ended, iniquity is pardoned, and the grass and flowers are made of incorruptible and imperishable material, that of the Holy Spirit.

This offends our reasoned certainties, because the Gospel that saves is among all those “unworthies” from Matthew verse 5. this does not offend faith, however, because Faith reveals that, in our sin, we are an intimate partner in that group.

We don’t have to be lying in a hospice bed to know we are done for. We don’t have to be in prison to know how bad our sins are. We don’t have to be six feet under to know there’s no escape. We can hear the Word of the Lord, believe that stuff, and then believe that He has come in the flesh to rescue us from such a thing.

John must stay in prison. John must lose His head. Not for the greater good, but to show that prison bars and the executioner’s axe can not lift the Gospel from Him. Just as the paralyzed remain paralyzed, the poor remain poor, and the dead remain dead, so must life move towards the Resurrection, because the Gospel has been preached to poor, miserable sinners. Bars and locks can not keep that Gospel out. Dirt and coffins do not stay the power of salvation.

John’s joy, and our joy, does not lie in what the world or the princes of this world can do for us or against us. The joy of the prophet’s candles is that this world will come to an end along with everything in it. But what will endure is the Word of God. The Word of God that promises comfort in the midst of warfare. The Word of God that promises pardon in the midst of sinning. That Word of God that promises life in the midst of death.

The Lord says in Isaiah, “Hear,you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord?” The answer is of course, is “no one”, because no one is as blind as Jesus Who dies for those who hate Him. No one is as deaf as Jesus Who forgives those who despise Him.

The offense comes when God takes on all the warfare, blindness, lameness, leprosy, deafness, death, and poverty of everyone upon Himself. We want to be let out of prisons, but Jesus put Himself into prison. We want to be super spiritual, but Jesus placed Himself beneath that.

The Gospel is the opposite. If we want to seek the Gospel, it must be among sinners; sinners given the Word and Sacraments for the forgiveness of sins. This is the joy of the prophets and this is the joy of all the faithful, triumphant in the crucifixion of Christ.

Waiting [Advent 2; St. Luke 21:25-36]

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Jesus speaks to you today, in His Gospel, saying,

“So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”

On this second Sunday in Advent, we continue to ponder our Advent wreath and its meaning. Last week, we learned that the candles are lit in memory of the Old Testament prophets and that the first candle represented hope. Hope that the promise of God made flesh would be coming soon and be everything the Lord said it would be.

This week we focus on our second candle and ponder two things, in light of what St. Malachi spoke to us today: faith and preparation. Faith such as what the prophets had in prophesying and not getting to see that prophesy come true and preparation in the fact that God becomes silent.

Especially with St. Malachi’s case, he is the Old Testament prophet that caps off the Old Testament. His book of prophesy is the last thing the people of Israel will hear from God for the next 430 years or until John the Baptist shows up. 430 years.

When we have a Last will and testament from a loved one, we usually hold that pretty close to our hearts, because it is the last time our loved one spoke to us or wrote what they were thinking of, to us. It becomes extremely important and what we use to determine what our loved one would want to happen in our lives.

So we hear our prophet, speaking to us in our familiar Church, and it doesn’t seem like we get a nice, comforting message from him. He tells of a Day that is coming, burning like an oven and if we don’t fear, it will burn us up as well. But even if we do fear, there’s going to be burning anyway, for the sun of righteous burning is going to rise upon us.

The only comfort we are given is a command to remember Moses and to be on the look out for Elijah, but if Elijah doesn’t come, then there will still be destruction.

Wait, what? Are we supposed to wait or look for the guy? Must there really be a burning no matter what? Can’t we skip that part? Don’t you want to leave on a high note, God, and not such a doom and gloom laden parting?

Repent. When was the last time you remembered the 10 Commandments? Our small catechisms sit and gather dust when they should be for gathering the family, as it says, “As the head of the family should teach … in a simple way to his household.” We do not fear the Lord. This is easy enough to see in what passes for seasonal decorations.

Neither do we wait for Him. We are so quick to get to what we think we should be doing, that nobody stops for prayer at church nor Bible study at church. Yet, God is insistent that He will come. Not only does St. Malachi say it, but St. Paul also quotes Moses, King David, and Isaiah who repeat that sounding joy, in the reading from Romans today.

In sin, Advent is something we do not wish to pass through and would much rather get to Christmas. While it is a good thing to get to Christmas, as it is promised to happen, to rush things only causes more sin and anxiety. Because the heavens are being shaken.

Our Lord waits and yet He does not wait. Our Lord does wait for the right time to do everything. Jesus was not late in coming to rescue His people from their sins, but came at the proper time, as all God’s actions do.

Yet, in Christ we see the Lord in haste. He is quick to take action, not waiting for our say so or approval. He comes in His own way and doing His own work, work for the salvation of the world. The Lord gives ear to our pleas and returns, as our Introit says. He does not delay, but comes quickly to the womb; to our flesh.

Thus we hear this story again this year, as the years before. Just as the fig tree starts to leaf, so does the seasons of the Church prepare you, teach you, and mold you into the Christ-like creature the Holy Spirit desires.

Jesus comes quickly because we would not do anything on our own. Left to find our own way through God’s Word or His Church, we would consistently find idols and demons. Thus it is the Word and Sacraments that St. Paul points to in Romans saying, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

It is belief that spans the time and space between God’s action and apparent inaction. It is belief that His words are true and His promise fulfilled. It is belief that this short time of darkness and tribulation will come to an end. Winter is bearable, because we know Spring is right around the corner.

What we don’t know is what we’ll have to go through to get there. What comes between now and Christmas? Will we make it? What about the time between now and summer or the Lord’s Return?

What we do know is that the Word made flesh shakes the heavens, and earth and sin can not stand it. We know that our redemption has not only drawn near, but has already come for us in Word and Sacrament. We have seen the anguish of the world and the havoc it wreaks on our lives, and yet find peace in the Church and her liturgy.

When we are weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, the Church stays awake at all times, offering prayer and Service. Teaching those who listen and proclaiming the strength of Jesus that leads us out of those evil things, to see Him face to face. His preparations are complete and are the only ones that matter.

For we may not know all things, but we know that what the Lord has told us is true and certain and worthy of Faith. We know how God actually deals with everyone each and every time and that will not change, even 430 years from now.

We know:

(1) people will be brought to the faith by water Baptism in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, both as infants and as adult converts

(2) Men - called and ordained pastors - will preach the gospel, administer the body and blood of Christ, and absolve sinners

(3) The creeds of the church will be confessed by the faithful as they have since the earliest centuries

(4) Hymns confessing Christ and divine grace will continue to be sung by the faithful

(5) Young people will be catechized in the faith through catechisms that they will learn by heart

(6) The church's liturgy will continue as it has since the earliest centuries - focused at altar, font, and pulpit; spoken and chanted, with reverence and holy joy, transcending age, ethnicity, and subcultures and uniting the church across time and place

(7) In their personal piety, Christians will make the sign of the holy cross, pray the Lord's Prayer, and chant the psalms, collects, and the daily offices of the church

(8) The canonical biblical books will be studied in their original languages and taught in the common tongues, as well as the historic confessions of the church

(9) Pastors will visit the sick, the shut-in, the dying, the poor, the outcast, and others who are forgotten and left behind by our shallow entertainment and youth culture (which is embraced and obsessed over by the church growth experts). They will bring them the Good News of Jesus Christ and will anoint them and prepare them to die in the faith of Jesus Christ

(10) Christians will continue to endure persecution, as the cross is, and will remain, a mark of the church until the Lord returns in glory.

Familiar [Advent 1; St. Matthew 21:1-9]

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Jesus speaks to us on this first Sunday of the Church Year, through His Gospel and says,

“This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet”

To dispel any annual myths that rise against you this season: Advent and Christmas are not pagan holy days that have been co-opted by the Church. It is the other way around. The pagans have co-opted Christian themes and words and celebrations in derision of it. Christ was here first.

It really is as simple as that. Even though it took the Church awhile to catch on to what God was doing in life, does not mean that these celebrations did not exist within the Church, even the Old Testament Church.

And that is really what we celebrate during Advent, at the beginning of the Church Year. We go back to the beginning. Back to the Creation of the World and remember from that time forward all the things that have prepared God’s people for His coming in the flesh.

One of the ways the Church recognizes and teaches this is in the Advent wreath. If you noticed, we light each new candle before the reading from the Old Testament. In other words, the candle is lit to remind us that the Old Testament is about Jesus and every prophets’ witness to that fact.

What’s funny is that for the rest of chapter 23 in Jeremiah, the Lord is lamenting over His false prophets. His heart is broken because of their lies to His people. Even the land mourns (v.10) because both prophet and priest are polluted (v.11). They dream their own dreams and speak from their own imaginations. They prophesy peace where there is no peace. They say calamity will not befall you, but it is all around.

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.  Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.  Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.  I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. (Jer 23:1-4)

It is not simply the occurrence of future events that prove the prophets true, it is the appearance of the Shepherd Who gathers. Who gathers to a place where no more fear, trembling, or waywardness occurs. A perfect place of peace, if you will.

Repent! You read the Old Testament, if you do at all, and completely pass by the Coming of Jesus. You instead look for quaint stories, inspirational quotes, or even rules to live by. When none of those things come to hand, you pass it off as too hard to understand or worse yet, you deem it holds no value for you today.

The hour has come for you to wake from such a slumber of sinful death, where constant doubts assail you and the winds of fads and popular speakers rock you to and fro. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, St. Paul says. In other words: remember your baptism.

Remember your baptism, in which is your hope, because it was there that Christ saved you and brought you out of darkness, clothing you with Himself. This is the secondary function of our candle lit on the Advent wreath. This candle should remind you of your own baptismal candle lit at your baptism, igniting hope within you. The hope of everlasting life.

Traditionally, this first candle on the Advent wreath represented “hope”, Hope in the fulfilled prophesies of God, from the Old Testament, in Christ. Our Sundays in the Church year make it easy for us. Just look at the Old Testament reading next to the New Testament and compare.

See how your King comes for you, righteous and having salvation? See how the Branch Who is King will rise up as a mighty ruler, employing humility rather than force? See how the new Judah is saved in sacrifice and the new Israel dwells securely in her baptismal garments?

And Christ has not just gathered out of Egypt, or the north countries, or even throughout the whole world. He has even gathered from the dead; those long dead and those recently dead. His Word is the Word of Life that awakens the slumbering sinner to new life before God. His prophesies are of Himself coming quickly to rescue His people from the clutches of sin, death, and the power of the devil.

The King of Righteousness and Justice rides on a lowly beast of burden. He chooses the lowest seat. He dwells on the hardest couch. He refuses neither crib nor cross in order to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify His people. He snuffs out His own light, that the light of faith would shine brightly for eternity, for you.

For the light of the world; the Righteous Branch hangs on a tree. Salvation, security, and redemption come in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is the first and primary responsibility of the prophets: to make sure that God’s people hear and know this promise, but not just so God can predict the future.

No behind all the fulfilled prophesies, behind all the mighty acts and wonders, behind all the connected-ness of Scripture, is familiarity. The Prophets preach God’s promise because it doesn’t change. They can hand it down, generation after generation, and it be the same so that when people hear it, they say, “Oh yes. I remember.”

Each prophet repeats what previous prophets have spoken and each time faith is created and memorization encouraged. If God says it enough, its gotta stick one of these times, right? This is how Holy Scripture gets to you and this is how the holy prophets preach to you: through familiarity.

Because, now it is your church. But not just yours, also your parents’, also your grandparents’, great-grandparents, and on and on till you get to Jesus. God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. Those living in faith, right now, who have died before us. They hear the same Word of God, they sing the same songs of the angels, they pray and commune in the same way: with God and with us.

This small, man-made candle represents all of that and more. That in this tiny bit of flame that God gives us, we see the entire Church, throughout all time, wrapped in swaddling clothes with Christ. That the repetitious Service, ceremonies, and readings are a beautiful reminder of what our ancestors heard and did. That God not only gave us prophets, but fathers and families stretching back to the beginning of time.

The Church is designed to be familiar so that when we hear the prophets we also say, “Oh yes. I remember.” We should know her ceremonies, Services, and hymns like the back of our own hands. And when we look at that hand, we should also see there the marks of nail and cross and remember the Son born to us, Who wins for us such wonderful gifts.

No I in Christ [Trinity 27; St. Matthew 25:1-13]

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So, Jesus speaks to us today in His Ultimate Gospel and says,

“And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.”

Let us set this straight once again, for the hour has come for all things to end and Christ to return, on this final, ultimate Sunday. There is no amount of preparation you can do to be ready for the Last Day. Nothing. No amount of charity work, no amount of volunteering, and no amount of giving will get you into that Wedding feast that the 5 wise virgins attend. None.

Why is that? Because whenever you focus on “doing the Lord’s work” or “following Jesus”, your mind, actions, and energy are all centered around you. Not God. Not the Word. Not Jesus. You.

Have I built my house upon the rock or upon the sand? Have I found the truth? Is my mind opened to the truth?

Have I invested heavily—of heart, mind and energies—in this "pearl of great price" that I have been offered (Matthew 13:44– 46), or do I have "itching ears" that would rather listen to "new truths" and fables (2 Timothy 4:3– 4)?

Have I carefully proven what I believe, or do I follow my feelings and listen to the latest doctrine or self-appointed prophet or teacher who comes along (1 Thessalonians 5:21)? Am I seeking first the Kingdom of God, or do I make other priorities more important in my life (Matthew 6:33)?

Am I striving to grow close to God while He can be found, or am I putting off the most important decisions in life until later (Isaiah 55:6–9)?

Am I eagerly anticipating and actively preparing for Christ’s return, or am I hoping for more time to enjoy the transient pleasures of this world?

Since others cannot believe for me, I must buy, invest, and make the effort myself!

I, I, I. My, my, my. Me, me, me. If this is the teaching you are clinging to, then you have fallen to the same sin that the 5 foolish virgins have: that you must buy faith for yourself. This is the popular “Christian” teaching in America. This is what most Christians think this parable is about, that God demands you invest in a personal, private faith or be found with an empty lamp. Be sure God finds you doing good works, when He returns, or be locked out of the Wedding.

Repent. The reason why the Last Day, and the book of Revelation, and any other spot in the Bible seem more frightening than they actually are, is because if your faith depends on you, then nothing could be worse than approaching the Day of the Lord quickly, because no matter how hard you try your faith seems forced and your lamp is always empty. All the hard work I do is good for one day, but not the next, so you depend on the next day or the next thing you buy to keep you on the straight and narrow.

The Lord says, “I will go before you

    and level the exalted places,

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze

    and cut through the bars of iron” (Is. 45:2)

Jesus will go first. He will be the first and only God to be born of a virgin. He will be the first God-man. He will be the first sinless person. He will be the first to suffer in the exalted place of the cross. He will be the first to break in pieces the doors of bronze that life hides behind in death. He will be the first to cut through the bars of iron that imprison everlasting life.

Jesus says that “…the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated His guests.” (Zep. 1:7) The sacrifice prepared is Jesus, the God-man, first born of the dead. The Lord prepares His own way and prepares His own people, because the preparations to be made to enter heaven are too much for a sinful and fallen creation.

But now that Christ has appeared, He has “…abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). Jesus walks in front to prepare His own Way. The Way of salvation and forgiveness for you. The Way of Life, blazed by His suffering, death, and resurrection. And there is no other way.

In Christ, all things are already prepared. They are already ready. It is a finished product that the Lord presents to you today. Complete. Filled up. Which brings us back to our virgins. It is not the ones who filled up their lamps that enter the already-prepared wedding, it is the ones who stayed regardless.

In our Nunc Dimittis, which we sing with St. Simeon, you sing thusly: “…for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Lk. 2:30-32).

In our favorite Psalm, it is the Lord preparing the Table before our enemies (Ps. 23:5). There just is no getting around it. We do not prepare; the Lord prepares us. How do we know we are prepared if there’s nothing we can do about it? Belief. Belief prepares you.

Dr. Luther’s explanation of the Sacrament of the Altar gives us this key clue into the Prepared Life before God. He asks, “Who, then, receives such Sacrament worthily?

The Answer: “Fasting and bodily preparation is, indeed, a fine outward training; but he is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins.

But he that does not believe these words, or doubts, is unworthy and unfit; for the words For you require altogether believing hearts.”

Faith. Belief. Trusting in what God has given. All these things are what you “do” to prepare for the Coming of Christ. Illness can not stop these preparations. Death does not end them, either, for they are the Lord’s. The Lord preaches His Gospel through all the earth and creates believers. The Lord distributes His sacraments and sanctifies His people.

The Lord calls you to Church in order that you would hear all these things and believe that they are yours, simply because the Lord says they are.

Dear Christians, your lamps are full. Not just full, but over flowing. In the Word and Sacrament, you hold a blazing torch in your hand who’s fire spills over to all the earth. It consumes death and sin and leaves no trace. Out of its purifying flames steps one like the Son of Man, glorious in His appearance.

Continue to ask your questions about your preparations. Continue to struggle with your sins and continue to strive towards more of Christ. But do it in hope and in belief. Struggle and strive in the wild assertion that, though you must wait, everything is already ready for you. Believe, that though you must die, the death of a saint such as yourself results in life everlasting with Jesus.

Life given [Trinity 26; St. Matthew 25:31-46]

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So, Jesus speaks to us today in His Penultimate Gospel and says,

“Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

Penultimate is the word used for “second to last”, following of course, the word for last: ultimate. And what we are to take away from today, especially as we continue to circle around this text year after year, is that the Lord is Coming and He is coming soon.

As we discussed last week, the thing that keeps us on the straight and narrow towards the Lord’s Return is Confession and Absolution within the Divine Service. We need that Confession of our sins, because Jesus came to forgive sinners and if we say we have sin, Jesus then absolves us and we know He is there, as He promised.

In the Divine Service then, we examine ourselves after Absolution and determine that, in Christ, we are worthy to receive the Sacrament and stand before God’s judgment of us to be declared blessed and not declared condemned.

Thus, when our Collect of the Day:

"O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by Thy Holy Spirit: that, being ever mindful of the end of all things and the day of Thy just Judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here and dwell with Thee forever hereafter; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the same Holy Ghost: ever one God, world without end. Amen."

it urges continuous study and meditation on the end of all things and the final judgment, we are stirred to holy living and a “forever after” with our Lord. Here, of course, study does not just mean reading your Bible at home, neither does holy living simply mean going out and being a nice person.

The Collect calls us to be mindful. This includes study, but also includes a life lived IN holiness. They go together. And a life lived in holiness is nothing more than receiving the holy Sacrament from the hand of Christ Himself. For Christ has promised to dwell with us where we gather around His Name and it is here that His name is proclaimed in Gospel purity. Being baptized into Christ we are placed in holiness Himself.

So when we begin to digest our Introit from Psalm 54, we are not crying out in despair against those who are after our soul, but we are crying out in the midst of mercy; in the midst of the Divine Service; in the midst of this holy life Christ gives us for free. “Save me, O God”, “Hosanna”, we cry out, and He is right there saying take and eat and drink for your salvation.

So we have a pre-judgment party! A foretaste of the Last Day. This is every Sunday in the Divine Service. In today’s world, everyone is worried about finding the date and time for when the Lord will return and the Lutheran’s are all like, “Hey. He’s been coming to Church ever since we’ve been here. Why the fuss?”

Repent! Why is it that all that comes to mind when you think of rescue from God is that you want Him to make your lives easier? All you value God’s salvation for is how comfortable your lives may become. When things go bad, you call on God. When things go well you leave Him alone. Sin becomes just a few mistakes you make along the way, asking for help to correct them and prevent them in the future.

Praying to God to rule and govern your hearts and minds is saying that you don’t do it, more to the point, that you can’t do it. Begging God to stir up our hearts to His way of living is saying that we weren’t living that way to begin with. Shouting “Hosanna”; pleading for salvation is saying that sin is so much more than a tiny mistake.

When Jesus tells us that His purpose is to seek and save that which is lost, He doesn’t mean that He’s looking for a little lamb who lost their way or made a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost, meaning something that has gone away and is not coming back. Whenever we read the word “lost” in the Bible, it is important to remember that this word means death.

It is no small thing then, that we see the Lord of all Creation come down in the flesh and rescue humanity by way of the cross. A mistake can be corrected. A wrong can be righted. A sin cannot and does not go away. Sin is an infection. A corruption on the genetic level with no hope of a cure.

No hope, until Christ purchases and wins a cure: His own sacrifice and death. It is in His life of suffering that the holy way is opened for the possibility of redemption from our sin. He does not say “try harder” or “you can do better next time”. He says in Matthew 20:

“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Jesus is saying that He doesn’t just want simple obedience in your life, He wants you to believe Him. Believe that He suffered and died for you. Believe that He created a life of holiness, for you. Believe that He has come to rescue you from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Believe that He dwells with you in Word and Sacrament.

In dividing the sheep and the goats today, Jesus is making a distinction. He is defining who the sheep are and who the goats are. Not because inherently there’s a difference, but because of what He says about them. He wants the sheep to believe they are sheep, because of what He has done for them and He wants the goats to believe they are goats because of what they think they have done for themselves.

Jesus does not lay out a plan for a fulfilling life in describing His sheep. He lays out the plan of His life. For Jesus feeds the hungry and the thirsty in Communion. Jesus calls the unloved stranger, loved with His Gospel. Jesus clothes the sinful in baptism. Jesus comes to the sin-sick and sin-shackled and visits them with forgiveness and freedom.

In faith, the sheep, those who believe, take on a Christ-like character without even knowing it and through no merit or worthiness in them, they live and work. In faith, the sheep live their lives and are surprised when Jesus declares that such sinful creatures as themselves do and have done works that are pleasing to God. In faith, the sheep die and are wakened to the sound of the Shepherd’s voice praising them for all the things He did in their lives.

Will there be such faith when the Son of Man returns to earth, Jesus asks (Lk. 18:8). Will our holy living take on a character of our own making or will we continue to live the Life Jesus gave us in His Church? In these final days of earth, Jesus has already given us all we need to prepare and survive until He returns.

He has given us faith. He has given us His holy life of faith, to be lived out in the Church. He has presented Himself and His Service in such a manner that all hearts are moved to belief in His salvation.

So that when we hear, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Gal. 2:20-21), our own hearts and minds are taught to conclude that we too are blessed by our Father in heaven and stand to inherit the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.

Idolize me [Trinity 25; St. Matthew 24:15-28]

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On this antepenultimate Sunday, our Lord speaks directly to us saying:

“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”

Every time “abomination” is used in the Bible, it refers to idols and that which is offered to them. Which means that one of the key ways to recognize the abomination is to understand what an idol is and what an idol is not.

It is popularly taught, even in churches, that idols are only physical things. They are statues or pictures that people buy in tourist traps and use to decorate their house. It is taught that the buddha statues are a part of this category because it all falls under the heading of “graven image”.

This of course from our first Commandment from God which tells us not to have any other gods before Him. Some churches mistakenly split this commandment into 2 where one says “no other gods” and the other is “no graven image”, which causes the confusion. If we separate other gods and images, then we get a list of commands that are doable.

This way of teaching allows us to love an invisible God over other invisible gods and call it a day. That’s easy. We can put away the physical things that seem to represent other gods or heaven things. That’s easy, too. And there’s 2 commandments checked off our to-do list. Won’t God be pleased?

God forbid! The true teaching of the first command is one: that the worship of other gods is the worship of idols, for there is only one, living God. All others are fakes who cannot hear or see or talk (Ps. 135:16). Which means that simply throwing out your buddha statue or favorite painting is not enough to rid you of crimes against the first commandment.

This is because an idol demands much more than mere presence. It demands worship. It demands obedience. It demands a church. The Lord goes on in describing the first command, saying: “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Ex. 20:5)

Repent. You think statues and other works of art fool God. You believe that if you just keep these things out of your life that you will be free from idols and demons harassing you and tempting you away from Christ. And you are wrong.

It is the idols and demons that we keep secret, that are the real danger. The Lord sees the idols and graven images in our hearts (Jer. 17:9). Our heart is deceitful above all things when the truth is we should be loving God above all things. Anything can take our fear, love, and trust away from God. Your own reason or thinking, wealth, your belly or emotions, even our own families. There is nothing in all Creation resistant to being made into an idol by you.

Since we are not safe and since we have secret idols we keep hidden, what is going to rescue us from our idolatry? The idols are abominations. They are abominations, because they remove people from the true Church and place them into the Devil’s chapel. And it works, because the devil’s chapel does things and sounds exactly like Christ’s Church complete with its own word and sacraments.

What may surprise you is that security is found in Confession and Absolution. Yes, of course the answer is Jesus, but there are so many Jesus’ out there, which one is the right one? It is the one that is confessed correctly according to His Word.

And it is only the Word confessed in His Church that saves and prevents false idols in your hearts, because it is only in the place where Christ creates His salvation that will hold any sort of protection for you. By this I mean, the place where Jesus says something is what it is, regardless of what we see.

We confess that all we see are a gathered, rag-tag group of sinners who are probably worse people than myself, sitting next to me. Yet, Jesus says that they are faithful and forgiven and worthy to receive the gifts of the most-high God. In that we believe Jesus’ words over our own understanding, we are absolved.

We confess that all we see is water from the tap, filled with fluoride and other chemicals designed for our good, not worth a second thought when spilled or stepped in. Yet, Jesus says this is the River of Life. A worthy vessel to be used in washing the heart for one’s salvation. A water that tears open the heavens gains favor from God. In that we believe Jesus instead of our eyes, we are absolved.

We confess that all we see are bread and wine, found on any table in the world, made from the same grapes that children eat and from the same grains that animals eat. Yet, the Lord declares, “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood”. The same body and blood that rule the heavens and all the powers therein. Believing these words, we have what the promise declares: the forgiveness of sins.

This is the priceless gift purchased with the Blood of Christ on the cross. A Confessing Church; a place in time and space that you can get to, where no idolatry is present. Where Jesus makes a stronghold against the Abomination that is the anti-Church. In confessing your sin of unbelief, idols, and graven images you freely receive the absolution of Christ and His Faith which does not fail.

In the Holy Ark of Christ’s Word, the Abomination of Desolation does not have a foothold. In Christ’s Church, we always hear the words, “Here is the Christ” and “there He is”, because they are the words of Jesus, not of men. He is not in the secret places where the devil will try to lure you to remove your faith.

Jesus is in the public places. As the lightning comes from the east and shines in the west, so is the Church of Christ. It is all over the world, yet it is one body of Christ. And it is obvious, just as the lightning is. She is decorated as one who is loved. With art, with care, and with purpose. She houses the gifts of God that bring salvation and all her décor is only to direct people to them.

She calls pastors, she cries out with the wisdom of God, and she treasures and administers the Word and Sacraments to a dying and idolatrous world, because her gifts are only for idolaters. They are only for those who are lost sinners, destroyed by the sin and corruption of unbelief.

Jesus has not left us uninformed or defenseless or without hope. We have been given the Word. It guides and informs as to where Christ is saving His people from sin, death, and the power of the devil. We have been given the Sacraments. They heal, nourish, and keep us in the true faith which repels even the very gates of hell.

We have also been given the Resurrection and by it hope. Hope that this life of idols and demons is not all there is. Hope that though the forces of darkness gather stronger and stronger, they do not win. They have been judged. The deed is done. They lie. Jesus does not. The true Church gathers where the crucified and risen corpse, or Body of Jesus is.

Thus the new command is for you to bring your idols and your sin as offering. They are the only things truly owned by you. You are to cast them down at the feet of this Altar, not in obedience but in Faith that they will be exchanged for righteousness and the true image of God: Christ the Crucified.

The day after death [Trinity 24; St. Matthew 9:18-26]

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Who speaks to us in today’s Gospel saying:

“Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has saved you.’ And instantly the woman was saved.”

Following the wake of violence left by Halloween in death and darkness, is the breaking of the eternal dawn of All Saint’s Day, which is the hope of the believer: to be translated to the side of Christ for eternity as a saint.

This pattern is repeated throughout the Church year and even throughout the Bible. Death then resurrection. Suffering, then glory. Darkness, then light. Evening, then morning.

This is for a reason: repetition is the mother of memory. In the life of God’s child, this pattern should begin to inform your entire life. It should mold and blend itself into the fabric of drudgery and monotony that you bring with you here, from the rest of your week. For, as our soaps say, the sun also rises.

It should be no surprise then that All Saint’s Day follows the pattern. In the light of hope and mercy from God, for our loved ones that have died before us in the faith, the sun sets and rises on the next day. A day which feels emptier and grayer for our loss. Yet, a day that the Lord has made for us to trudge through, even so.

We have already discussed this March of the Christian through life, when we heard of another son that was close to death. For that son, Jesus simply spoke the Word from afar and the boy came back to life. Yet, his father still had to leave his son’s side, approach a man he never met, and hope that He could do something. A dark journey through sin and death to reach his son’s side, alive again.

Today, however, the young girl is dead. Where they may have been hope for recovery of the son, since he had not yet died when his father left him, today a father leaves the house of death with one more on her way to populate the cemetery.

To top it all off, there is a zombie following Jesus. Part of the living dead, a woman who cannot stop herself from bleeding out attempts to grab a hold of Jesus just in case that might save her. And she needs saving, not just a healer. She knows that if just a doctor looks at her, she might just open up again and be in trouble. She needs healing and rescue from this ever happening to her again.

Repent. You are the living dead. You are the Walking Dead. You may not be as bad off as some others, but your sin has left you with a festering, fatal wound. You may not have to march hundreds of miles amid criminals and the forces of nature with your children. You may not have to dive for cover at the sound of aircraft and hope its not coming for you. You may not even have to struggle as a person like some people in the political party that you oppose.

You may be the holiest person on earth, but you are dead to God. You may be following in the train of Jesus, but you are bleeding out, fatally so. Your sin has caused great corruption to your flesh and no amount of hypocrisy is going to cover it up, yet you must still offer your neighbor the benefit of the doubt saying, “Satan made him do it”.

Two things: 1) Jesus enters the House and 2) Jesus bleeds.

This week, Jesus does not hesitate to follow this father into death. Now there’s something. We always say how wonderful it is that I follow Jesus, when Jesus is doing the following today. Jesus follows in order to bring life in exchange for His death. He rose from where He was sitting and where He was buried in order to cause this girl to rise back to life.

In this same way, your Pastor comes to Christ in the Divine Service, calling to Him saying, “Savior, my church has just died, but come and lay your pierced hands upon her in Your sacraments and she will live.” And Jesus follows, processes to the Divine Service, even here, and raises all of you to new life in front of God.

Through His open wounds, Jesus has poured out everlasting life upon your heads and into your mouths. These same wounds were opened to bind up the woman with the flow of blood. Her blood stopped and Christ’s blood flowed. Her living death became His eternal life which He gives to her. Her condemnation became His salvation.

Jesus bleeds out instead of you. Jesus lowers His head to enter this church. He comes because here there are sinners to be rescued. He stays because here there are sinful wounds needing forgiveness. He presides because here there is bread from heaven to be eaten and the blood of God to be drunk.

As the Church turns towards the End of Her liturgical year, it is a turn towards death for before the Lord comes there will be Satan’s little season. Meaning, it will get worse before it gets better. And that is ok. It is how its supposed to be. We are not supposed to like it here. We are to despise the death we find at every corner.

Yet, we are not to despise the Life that Christ freely gives to us. We are not to despise preaching and His Word. Jesus preached and this woman ceased to bleed. Jesus called to the daughter and she awoke from her deathly slumber. The Word of God raises us and will raise us. We stand with boldness today at His Altar and we will stand on the Last Day, never to die again, seeing Him face to face.

In the midst of life, there is death. In the midst of death there stands the Crucified and Risen Lord. In the midst of death’s dark veil, the powers of hell overtake us. In the midst of hell is the Conqueror with His blood-red banner of victory. In the midst of utter woe, our sins oppress us. In the midst of sin stands Christ Crucified, Who takes away the sin of the World.

On these days which you must continue to press on in this shadowed valley, begrudging each step, you get to sing with all the saints in glory. You approach the Lord of Life in His Supper and commune with Him and all who have died in the faith before you. This day of sin and death, you are awakened to new life, life filled with the Body and Blood of Christ singing the songs of saints and angels.

You do not have to wait for the Last Day or even your own death to sing the Resurrection song. Because God communes with you this day, death and sorrow all belong to the former days. Though the shadows appear to be lengthening, they are growing shorter. The night is ending. Clouds of death are breaking. Storms of sin are ceasing. The Son of Peace rises. Baptism now saves you.

God has promised and Christ prepares the meal that seals the deal. Christ has passed the eternal gates, bringing back His Word and Sacraments to fool the wise and comfort the poor in spirit and heaven rejoices at the Church that produces such believing Christians with those gifts!

Do NOT imagine [Trinity 22; St. Matthew 18:23-35]

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Jesus speaks to us in today’s Gospel saying:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.”

We do not have to imagine or explore the meanings God gives us in parables as to what the Kingdom of heaven may or may not be like. It is sunarai, a bearing together with God, the cross. When Jesus tells us “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to”, what He is actually saying is that this is how the kingdom is on earth. And when He wishes to “settle accounts”, it is not a one-sided debt repayment, but a bearing together of the cross of payment.

Parables give teachers and preachers of the Word so much trouble, because we do not sit and ponder what words actually mean. To say, “may be compared to” is only inviting us to think about ourselves and not Jesus, when in every parable Jesus is declaring that this is about Him, not you.

Therefore, we must say that the kingdom of heaven “is the same as”, not just a soft “may be compared to”. We re-translate this way, because in other parts of the Bible this same word is the difference between life and death.

In Psalm 28, king David laments that if God were to forget to save him, that he would “be the same as” those who go down to the pit. In other words, he would be sent to hell and everlasting death, if God did not have a plan to bear David’s sins away.

In Ezekiel 31, the Lord is deriding Pharaoh saying that he is a king unlike any other king on earth in his earthly glory. Yet other kingdoms were “the same as you” in that they were cut off from the face of the earth, just like you will be.

In these two instances and others, being “the same as” something quite literally means that what happens to them, happens to you. Thus, when we apply that to our parable, we have to concretely say that what happens in the parable is going to happen in the kingdom.

There is no room for imaginative exploration or sloughing it off as an “earthly story with heavenly meaning”. This is real. You are in debt up to your ears and either you have that debt covered by Christ or you are cut off as Pharaoh is and must repay it on your own. Jesus paints a stark picture for us so we get it. He is not ambiguous or metaphoric.

You do not get to make the Bible say what you want it to say. Jesus gives you His Word and that’s that. It is concrete and it is black and white, because otherwise you wouldn’t get it, you would never figure it out on your own, and you’d always read the Bible wrong.

God does not create burdens, but He lifts them. Don’t lean on your own understanding and especially do not lean on the understanding of those who only see Jesus as an invitation to imagine something greater, instead of the Savior He is. For you need to repent of sin, not change your mind on God.

Which brings us to how the kingdom will “settle accounts” with you. Again, Jesus is talking about more than just financial stewardship towards our neighbor. You are to forgive debts, but you don’t. You are to show mercy, but you don’t, but when you want forgiveness and mercy, it better be there in spades.

In this second word we are looking at, Jesus is doing more than just “settling accounts”, He is “bearing together”. God has come to settle as equals, even fulfilling His own law of “bearing one another’s burdens”. Meaning, God will repay.

So we should read this verse in this way: “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is the same as a king who wished to bear with his servants.” God is wanting to extract repayment from His servants, but He does so in a way in which He is the One repaying. He does this by coming so close to us, that He takes our place and pays our debts for us.

We can read it this way in the Bible, because this word “to bear” is used almost exclusively by Jesus to refer to His cross. In fact, His command to take up your cross, or bear your cross, and follow Him, uses this word. You are also to bear Christ’s yoke upon you, because it is easy.

Jesus is also the God-man Who bears away the sin of the world, as we sing each Sunday. And Jesus makes sure we know He is repaying in our place by saying that no one bears His life away, but He lays it down of His own authority.

Jesus has come to settle accounts, but in a backwards, Kingdom of heaven way. In other words, together with you in mercy and forgiveness. He has come that He might show you that your life-crushing debt is too much for you. That your sin and death kill and destroy. There is no room for self-righteousness, much less for self-improvement or imagination. You are dead in your debts.

As in our parable, the Lord takes the debt upon Himself, it doesn’t just go away, He is the one who owns it after all. Whether or not it is paid back, the Lord is in debt. He is in debt because He is a severe man bearing up a cross that He did not put down and reaping the sin and death that He did not sow. Debts do not go away, they cling to the Lamb of God.

Thus, the cry from the Good Friday crowd: “Bear Him away! Bear Him away! Crucify Him!” “Bear Him away and release to us Barabbas.” Not just that crowd, but your sin also cries out in this way and yet this is the will of God: that the guilty go free and the Innocent man is condemned.

Jesus bears the cross alone in order that He might bear together with you your own cross in this life. Jesus is sacrificed and dies in order that your debts be paid in full and whatever else you rack up in the future be paid for as well. (Good Samaritan)

Now, through the cross of Christ you become like Him Who became like you in every way except without His own sin and death. You are made the same as Jesus. You are baptized into the same baptism as Jesus. You bear the cross the same as Simon of Cyrene: you carry it in this life, but its end punishment is taken by another in your place.

The Kingdom of heaven is the same as the Lord coming to settle debts on earth: in the forgiveness and mercy of the Crucified Jesus. This is how the kingdom will act here. This is what is going to happen to you once you enter the kingdom of heaven. No guess work. No speculation. You bring debts that are forgiven in the blood of Christ.

You are not left alone to repay your debts. Your Lord comes down all glorious not to extract, but to forgive. He extracts payment from Himself. His sacrifice is the one, true currency of heaven, the same as it is on earth. Therefore, the Lord bears our earthly burdens together, with us, and opens His treasuries to spill out His sacraments upon His Church, in an overpayment for our debts.

Death despised [Trinity 21; St. John 4:46-54]

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Jesus speaks to you in His Word, saying,

“So Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’”

While this sons lives, there may be hope. Hope for a cure. Hope for a miracle. Hope for betterment. Once the son dies, however, there is no longer any hope. Thus, the official somewhat misspeaks when he cries for Jesus to hurry to his house, before his son dies.

Yet, we cannot blame this father, for in his young son’s draining life, he sees the abyss and in the abyss he sees nothing. What he can not see frightens him as it does you, yet this is exactly what Jesus is asking us to do in today’s Gospel: trust even though we can not see.

Jesus is demanding the impossible and the people around Him get it, because what they do is laugh at Him and we laugh with them. But I would never, you say. There is more to laughing at Jesus than being there at that time and more to laughing at Jesus than actually laughing out loud.

When we laugh at something in derision, it means we think little of it and wish to demean and diminish it until it becomes unimportant. In our diets, in our exercise, in our pharmaceuticals we laugh at death as if it is such a small matter. Indeed we fool ourselves into thinking that, because I am alive, death is a friend waiting for me or something I don’t have to worry about.

But death can not be laughed off. We can not just shrug off its fear for fear of losing our lives to its fear, because everywhere we look we see death. Life is a constant journey towards death. All around us works are ended because of death, efforts are halted, and dreams snuffed out. One after another dies and the living must merely engage in the miserable business of carrying one another to the grave.

Even the saints feel the fear of death. They were afraid of death. Jesus prophesies to St. Peter saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (Jn. 21:18)

The place we do not wish to go is into the grave. Therefore we should fear and tremble at death, even though we must pass through it, for the fear of death is natural. It’s a penalty, therefore it is something sad. According to the flesh, we fear this invisible thing called death, but trust that it will come for us.

Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.” (Mk. 5:36) Do not fear the unknown. Do not fear the invisible. Just believe. What does belief allow you to do? Ask the father in today’s Gospel.

He journeys from depths of woe and cries out to God. From his home where his son is destined to die, he traverses an arduous road, in melancholy and despair, to where Jesus is. He travels the dark road of God’s absence alone, finding neither help nor comfort in his son’s fatal ailment.

When he finally reaches Jesus, he is tested even further. Jesus does not give him a potion, or a pill, and neither does Jesus go to his house. Jesus simply sends him away with a word: “Go”

If that was not disappointing enough, now the Official must make the return trip. It is a trip just as dark and solitary as the first, for now he must return to his son, who by this time is probably dead, but he doesn’t make it that far.

Dear Christians, this journey the official undertakes is a liturgical journey. He begins in death, both his own and his son’s. Jesus is preaching and teaching throughout the land, calling out His doctrine with a loud voice, awakening the official to new life, a life filled with the hope of life for himself and his son.

He follows the voice, finds its speaker, and receives a Word. A Word that is every bit as potent as the Word that said, “Let there be light”. But he is sent away. He is sent back on his death-filled journey, but he is not sent to death, but to servants. Servants who have now been conscripted to God’s service for they bring good news: Your son lives.

The man is interrupted on his way to death, by the Word of Life and he is not even home yet. Christians are on this same road. We walk through this valley of the shadow of woe and death only to receive a word from Jesus, sent back through only to end up at His Church where the Good News is preached, then finally on to the Resurrection at the end.

That Good News? “You live”. Jesus has disrupted the cycle of death forever by dying Himself. He stands at the peak of our journey only because He has also stood at the bottom. Jesus has not only gone down before this son had died, but He went into the very heart of death, first, tore it out, that all who believe may live forever.

On the cross, God and man hanged and bled death to death. There was nothing fear or death could do to stop it. In fear, death closed its jaws around Jesus and in despair it bit into God, the Ever Living. As Jesus’ life blood flowed from Him, death’s own blood flowed out of it, for death could not contain the Almighty.

Jesus tells all of us to not fear, but believe. Don’t fear the invisible, because now that Christ as stepped up and stepped down from the cross, He gives you an invisible weapon to fight an invisible foe: faith.

Faith is the glove that gets a grip on death. Faith is the sword that pierces death. Faith is the trust to walk the long, dark road in death’s shadow and make it to the Servants of the Lord in the Divine Service, hearing the Word of the Gospel, and believing that it is yours.

Thus, we should fault no one for being full of despair about this life, that they wage war against foe and friend alike. For, without faith in Christ there is only this temporal existence and they must be unwilling to lose it. There is no hope for them afterwards only eternal wrath and an unwillingness to accept even that.

The Christian, however, knows death. We who have been redeemed by the physical blood of Jesus should practice the art of despising death and look upon it as a deep, sound, sweet sleep and consider the coffin nothing less than our Lord’s bosom or Paradise and the grave but a soft bed of ease and rest.

In our sin, we stray to the right in security where we should have been fearful and to the left in fear, when we should have felt secure. We find ourselves wholly inadequate to deal with death. But we do not curl up and die because of this, but in the true Light of Christ, find that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Therefore we enter His Church as well, to hear, to receive, and to believe His Word of forgiveness of our own sins and His powerful word of redemption against our own death. So that, when others who despair of life enter, they find the promise waiting for them as well.

Those who know death best, must fight him the most. Jesus fought and conquered. We are given that victory in order that we go out proclaiming the good news to everyone we meet on the road to Capernaum: “Death is dead. You, and your sons, shall live.” And that we might taste that good news on our lips and on our tongues.

Gratz on your nuptials [Trinity 20; St. Matthew 22:1-14]

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Jesus speaks to you today, from His own Gospel, saying,

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son:”

Jesus is everywhere, because He is God, but He doesn’t want you to see Him as everywhere and neither do I. In fact, He took the trouble to be born of a virgin in order to prove that fact to you. What we see in the Gospel today is this king, who acts just as the kingdom of heaven does, destroying and setting fire to people and cities.

If Jesus is everywhere, we start to get a bit uncomfortable when He does these sorts of not-so-popular things. Because then, He is there, in, with, and under the destruction and the inferno. Not exactly a Jesus that appeals to the crowds.

Now, we don’t want you to ignore that part or brush it off as “incomprehensible-god-stuff”, but we want you to see Christ fighting for you. You need to not side with the world when it accuses God of wrath and vengeance, in a social justice sort of way. Instead see that the true enemies of God are sin death and the devil and whenever God “goes to war” it is always against these things even though people are usually causes and casualties.

In this light, we want you to see this as righteous, unfortunate violence, because the real event is this wedding and the violence is only done in response to this wedding. And we understand weddings.

The main event centers around a man and a woman who love each other and are prepared to go in front of God to declare it. All the traditions associated, then, flow from that fact. The engagement party where the bride-to-be is congratulated on how big her ring is. The bridal shower where dreams of sparkles and beauty fill the bride-to-be’s head and where other brides reminisce as to their own fantasies and dreams come true.

Minds are filled with dazzling whites, long-flowing trains and robes, and flowers. Not one thing goes wrong. Everything is perfect and so planning becomes a breeze. Catering, venues, seating. Favorite foods are imagined and ordered. Scenes that have filled the dreams of young girls are sought out and reserved. Family and friends that have been at odds or far off come near and get along.

The invitations are sent out, crafty and full of glitter. None are any different than another. They all say, please come. Come to celebrate my dreams coming true. Do not hesitate. Do not worry about food or transportation or clothing. Just come and be with us.

All things put in order, the last celebration before the wedding takes place. Regardless of how out-of-hand some of these get, there comes the Bachelor and Bachelorette parties. The final times that these two people will be living life as boy and girl and finally make the jump to man and wife. And then, the big day.

Ushers stand in waiting. Attendants are occupied with anything having to do with bride and groom. Anticipation mounts. The hymn sounds on the pipes. The crowd rises. The Bride is here.

This is the celebration set up for you, dear Christians. In your own baptized life, you are being prepared to receive this honor. Your Savior has made the preparations. He has sent out His invitation, inviting not just some, but any and everybody. He is so excited and in love that He makes it so that anyone can come to the wedding.

No expense is too grand. All are pampered, washed and clothed. Earth is too small a venue for this event, thus heaven and eternity will have to do. Cows, pigs, or lambs? Not good enough. The very bread of heaven: the flesh and blood of God will only do for this feast of eternal happiness.

Thus you, the Church, comes and the whole universe rises in reverence. You dazzle in your baptismal garments, shining as brightly as your Lord. The whiteness and size of your train is enormous and practically fills the whole space. You are adorned. You are beautiful. You are loved.

This is the moment Jesus has prepared for. Though all the honor and glory and wisdom and power and blessing are His, He has given it all to you to show you off. He has showered you with all His kingdom has to offer. You are crowned with the sun and the stars, with the moon at your feet.

It is the sinner that has come through great tribulation and has washed his robes in the blood of the Lamb. It is the Beloved. The Called. The well-cared-for. The Church. The Bride of Christ. The trumpets blare. The organ on full. Heavenly choirs soar in anthems which never on earth were recorded.

And this is what incites violence? This is the cause of neglect and hatred? How can that possibly be? How in the world could this perfect scene be ruined?

Only sin and death could be so crass and so coarse. It is only sin that sees such a wonderful gift and hates it. In our own Jesus-Derangement-Syndrome, we run from so wonderful a wedding, even though it is all for us.

But worthy is the Lamb that makes us worthy. Praise be to God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, that this resplendent, perfect wedding is not dependent upon our acceptance and neither is it dependent on our reaction to it. It all depends on Christ and His Holy Spirit.

For it is His Spirit Who calls us, baptizes us, and dwells with us in order that, when the time comes, we will go to the wedding, because it is Faith that leads us. We trust not in ourselves, but in the Invitation and Calling Jesus sends. We look not inside of ourselves to find if we are well enough, or good enough, or free enough. Jesus calls. The Spirit obeys.

But as we have unfolded the heavenly scene, it is not obedience in drudgery and begrudgery, but love. Pure, unconditional love moves us, because that is what Jesus has given to us in His flesh and blood. His wonderful sacrifice which paid for us and redeemed us has ensured not only our participation, but the place of honor.

Unbelief is the only thing to prevent entrance and reception of so wonderful a wedding. What Jesus wants you to see is not unbelief, but belief, so that each wedding you attend, you not only see others being honored and loved, but you see yourself.

You see yourself at the time when Jesus comes for you. That you will be the Bride and He will be the proud and loving Groom Who has speared no expense, even His own life, in order to create this very perfect state of affairs for you.

This is not imaginary. This is reality. You do not have to pretend and be disappointed later. This is what your reception into heaven will be like. This is what your arrival will set off. This is what your Savior has planned for you and He has been so kind that He has left out all sin, all death, and the devil. Nothing will ruin your moment. Nothing will stand in your way. Nothing could be more perfect than you, the spotless bride of Christ.

And Jesus wants you to see and to know that He will be there, at this feast, for you.

Ladder [Trinity 19; St. Matthew 9:1-8]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

Jesus is speaking to you, from His own Gospel, saying,

“And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’”

Now, if I’m going to talk about Jacob’s Ladder today, we are going to have to throw away some chaff first. One such piece, is the idea of a corporate ladder, that we start at the bottom rung with low salary, low expectations, but high potential. I mean, at the bottom the only direction you can go is up, right?

The sad part is, this image is what most Christian teachers give us of Jacob’s Ladder. That it is set up for us to ascend on it, like the angels did. But we are no angels. Worse yet, they will smash Jesus in there and say that He is the Ladder by which we ascend, essentially making Jesus into nothing more than a stepping stone to our success.

The third interesting ladder image is the electronic version of Jacob’s Ladder. It is a device that sets off an electric current between two parallel, bare wires from bottom to top in a never ending ascent. We can also see the corporate ladder as never ending and the “Jesus ladder” the same way. Rung, after rung, after rung…

All of these are never ending ladders because all of them continually demand something from you even if you have just given that same thing or even if you are close to the top. You may step up one rung, but there will always be another, with no end in sight. This is not the type of ladder that Jacob sees.

In the Bible this is the only place something like this is mentioned with this particular Hebrew word. The verb form of this word usually is meant to be exalted or to build up. The Lord says to Pharaoh, “You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.” ( Ex 9:17) Very much a negative use, but can be positive as well as King David shows us: “Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him Who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him!” (Ps 68:4)

So it is something that is built up to enable ascent and as the Lord pointed out, for descent as well. That part most teachers leave out. Yes ladders are good for going up, but they are equally as good for going down. But going up is the popular message, not coming down.

Yet, we don’t want the popular message. We want the truth. The truth lies in what the Lord is doing with this ladder, because so far Jacob is sleeping, inactive and only angels are using it and as we well know, we are not angels, nor will we ever be.

The truth lies in the little preposition: “above”. The Lord is not above the ladder, as most people suggest, but He is on the ladder. More to the point He is being supported by the ladder. And if we are to take Jesus at His word when He tells Nathaniel that “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”, then we must conclude that Jesus is on the cross.

This is what He meant when He spoke to Nathaniel. This is what He meant when He revealed Himself to Jacob and Jacob is sleeping the sleep of sin and death, while Jesus is doing the work.

Repent. You lean on your own understanding and as the pillars of the Philistines palace rested upon the support beams Samson was chained to, the Lord’s Prophet and Judge knocks it over, sending you to be imprisoned by your sin.

You have leaned on oppression and guile and not trusted in God’s Word (isa. 30:12) that He is consistent and relentless in His preaching of Jesus. Because you would rather the Bible give you delusions of grandeur, “…this iniquity shall be to you

    like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,

    whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel

    that is smashed so ruthlessly

that among its fragments not a shard is found

    with which to take fire from the hearth,

    or to dip up water out of the cistern.” (Is. 30:13-14) Or like a ladder that is knocked down.

In returning and rest you shall be saved, says the Lord (Is. 30:15). It is exactly in the paralytic in today’s Gospel that we see this returning and rest. He returns, but involuntarily so. Friends must force him to get out, must force him through the crowds, and must force him to Jesus.

And what does Jesus do? Does He boost him up to the top rung of the ladder? Does He give the paralytic the energy and motivation to make it to the top? Or does He tell him to go home?

Jesus speaks to this man the Word, the word of forgiveness and mercy from God. The same God that sets up this impossible ladder. Impossible because we are not on it, we can not use it, and we can’t see it. Even Jacob misses his opportunity and he was right there.

The ladder and the vision were only there for one reason and it is the same reason that this paralytic heard Jesus and was forgiven. In the gospel of St. Mark, he also describes this scene, but the friends have to work a little harder. They need to go to the roof of the house Jesus is in and lower their friend down from the roof to where Jesus is.

Did you get that? The vision and the Word are here because Jesus is not at the top of the ladder, but at the bottom. The angels may be moving up and down this ladder, but it is only in service to the one upon it. The One Who is being crucified upon it.

Jesus descends from heaven to give Jacob the vision and stays there. Jacob gets it, because he immediately wakes up and builds a mini Temple right where it happened, signifying the permanent residence of God with man.

This is shown in the same way to Jacob’s descendants in Jesus’ time. God descends into the virgin’s womb and ascends the cross. When that wooden structure is set up on earth, the Lord is placed upon it to suffer and die for the sins of the world.

You may climb Jacob’s ladder if you wish, but you will only find death there, death by crucifixion. For it is the never-ending demand of the Law that commands perfection ,but doesn’t give it. That demands ascent, but only paralyzes. That demands mercy, but only gets sacrifices.

Jesus has climbed the ladder and paralyzed Himself upon it, for you. He has clung to the cross in order that not only angels may come and go from heaven, but also His Holy Spirit so that all the gifts He purchase and won there would be freely distributed to you.

“In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return…” (Isa. 10:20-21)

In the rest that the cross provides, and the return that baptism gives, we find salvation. Not because we looked for it, but because it was brought down to us from heaven and the preachers of this forgiveness lowered us down in the paralysis of our sins, into the Divine Service so that the Lord could serve us His salvation.

The Church that Jesus has suffered and died for is at the bottom of the ladder. The Holy Spirit, Who is handing out the gifts of Jesus, to the Church, is at the bottom of the ladder and we all sit, praising the One Who is supported by the ladder, because He died upon it to give such great gifts of forgiveness to men, through His crucifixion and resurrection.