The Rock and Moses [Septuagesima; St. Matthew 20:1-16]

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Jesus speaks to you His words saying,

“These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

Originating from the 17^th century is the proverb: "you can't get blood out of a stone" or "you can't get water out of a stone". Jesus is the Rock of our salvation, yet today we hear the workers in the vineyard complaining that they are like rocks, having born the scorching sun all day in their labors.

In the epistle, St. Paul calls Jesus the “spiritual rock”. We are not to be fooled, however. This does not mean metaphor, it means that the Rock was of spiritual origin, i.e. from God, as Jesus was. St. Paul also calls the Manna received in the wilderness "spiritual", yet it was real enough to need physical collecting and staved off genuine hunger.

Thus, when we get to the OT reading and hear of Moses striking a rock, we hear that he is not just striking a rock, but striking Jesus. Moses represents the Law. Jesus was struck, or crucified, by Israel for presuming to violate the Law, for claiming to be God, which He is! When He was struck, "crucified", living water for all humanity was poured out.

For Israel wandering the wilderness, water flowing from the rock is life, in a desert with no water. And this rock was with Israel all the way. The same Rock followed Israel from Horeb (our reading today; Ex 17:1-7), the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, to Kadesh all the way around to the NE part of the peninsula, to Nebo, back south a bit then all the way to the northern tip of the Dead Sea, where all Israel would cross the Jordan into Israel.

To do all the wonders in front of Pharaoh, God told Moses to use his rod. This is a physical means God told Moses to use to accomplish God’s will on earth. This is the same rod Moses uses to strike the rock for water to gush out for the people.

The reason this is important is because this same incident occurs again where the people are thirsty in the desert and blame Moses and Aaron for leading them to their deaths. This second time, though, God tells Moses not to strike the Rock, but to take his rod and speak to it, then water will come out.

Moses, having his doubts, reverts not to God’s Word here, but to God’s earlier command to strike the Rock, which he does, twice, and water comes out. This is understandable, because God’s Word before was strike it and Moses had also struck the Nile to make that water blood. There is even a Jewish interpretation of this incident from the 2^nd century that says Moses hit it twice because the first time blood started dripping, in stead of water gushing out.

Now, this would all be making a mountain out of a mole-hill if this were not the incident that gets Moses barred from entering the Promised Land. Because he is, we have something greater going on here and that is Moses has not kept the Lord holy in front of His people.

Moses has not just disobeyed, but has thought to himself that striking Christ twice is just as good as speaking to Him. But that’s just it. Christ is stricken once for all time. He suffers and dies on the cross once for all. He will not suffer a second time, nor will He be subject to smittings of any kind. His humiliation is over. It is the time of His exaltation.

Jesus is always the One who is persecuted, even when He is smitten and afflicted by God and especially when men esteem Him stricken. It is then that they scatter as a flock when the shepherd is struck. The Judge of Israel has been judged with the rod. Wrath and punishment has been placed upon Him for the forgiveness of sins.

Notice how when Jesus is struck again by Moses, water still comes out. Only grace allows entrance into heavenly places. The Law only brings guilt and shame. Moses representative of the Law, is barred from the Promised Land, because only God's Grace incorporates you into "the Promised land”. This is why it is Joshua that takes them in! Joshua is Hebrew for Jesus! The Law is the 1st five books of the Old Testament, called the Torah, but the very next book is "Joshua".

“Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?” (Ps. 78:20). Indeed. As Jesus turns the other cheek towards Moses and the people of Israel in this second smitting, He not only gushes out spiritual drink, but spiritual food even this day.

The Son of God is struck on behalf of sinners, and out of Him comes water and blood. Water to fill the fonts of His Church and Blood to fill her chalices. The Rock of Israel no longer wanders around seeking a place to rest His head. He dwells with the baptized in His Church, whom He has purchased with His Body and His Blood.

It is on the rock of Golgotha that the Rock takes His final stand, putting sin and death to death and giving the final judgment to the father of lies: guilty! Jesus is the one Who does the striking, the judging, and the saving.

Jesus strikes Himself, judges Himself, and saves Himself and all others, on the cross. He tears, and He heals; he has smitten, and he will bind up. Come, and let us return unto the Lord, for His mercy endures forever. Let us return to the One Who endures with marks in His hands from those in the house of His friends and find forgiveness instead of judgment.

For now the same cloud and sea that covered Israel’s transgressions, flows through this font, into which we are baptized. The same food and drink that preserved Israel, preserves us in the forgiveness of sins. The same Good Shepherd that was struck for our iniquities, now grants us eternal rest in the true Promised Land of His resurrected body.

For today, in Christ, we fulfill the command Moses was unable to bear. We speak and do not strike. We labor and do not grow tired. We receive from the hand of the Lord and do not complain. We carry our cross and lay it at the Altar, agreeing with the Lord that life is a good trade for sin and death.

In Christ we receive the denarius of salvation because Jesus has been stricken, but will never be again. The picture of the crucifixion that Moses gave us is played out once upon the cross so that whenever we are brought in to the Vineyard, we find the same full payment made ready for us as did Moses and all who went before us.

Not because we have borne equal amounts of duty or labor, but because we have been given equal amounts of the Savior Who rose again having borne the burden of His people’s sins and the scorching heat of their grumbling. From the side of our Rock, our Lord Jesus, comes only the forgiveness of sins.

Evolution can't even [Transfiguration; St. Matthew 17:1-9]

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This is taught to us today as Jesus says,

“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun,and his clothes became white as light.”

The word Jesus uses to describe His Transfiguration is “metamorphosis”, the word we usually use for things like rocks and butterflies. In our world today, metamorphosis is used to describe an evolutionary change. You get the same bug but it has undergone such a drastic change that metamorphosis is the only way to describe it.

Evolutionists use metamorphosis, to prove that divine creation is not possible. They say that perhaps 280 million years ago, through a chance mutation, only insects, and only certain insects, developed the ability to metamorph. The reason is, that at first they all hatched from eggs as mini adult insects, but these young and the more mature were competing for the same food sources, so they needed to evolve as food became scarce.

They say that the possibility for metamorphosis was already there in the DNA, just not being used. We would argue for Irreducible Complexity, which basically means, if certain insects do not metamorph that have always used metamorphosis, then they die out. It is a complex process that is necessary for the species. You can not take it away or rewind to some point in history when it was not happening.

However, the evolutionist would say, if taken step by step, the metamorphic process can happen or not happen on its own then, of course, offering no proof for any of this. Simply put, if we believe evolution to be true, it colors our view of the rest of the world, as in this case of Jesus metamorphing. If evolution is our worldview, then what Jesus has is already inside everyone, so there is no need for Jesus to give us this glory or go to the cross, because the process of evolution will eventually lead us to it.

To be fair, the point of evolution is not to be a worldview, but it is, so people can’t help but have their opinions colored by this view. There is no such thing as “strictly for science”. What we practice and what we study is how we view and behave in the real world. Thus, if we already have inside us what Jesus needs in order to be worshipped by angels, shepherds, and wise men; if it is natural for us to be baptized by a dove splitting the heavens; if we too have the potential for natural glowing skin, then what is the use for Jesus?

In the evolutionary view of the world, not only is dormant complexity already inside all things, but they have the computer generated models, that they wrote, to prove it. The supernatural is not needed to pick up the pieces of a broken heart or to improve the devastated lives of victims of socialism. All it takes are hands and hearts of regular people working with the happiness already inside them.

Yet this is the hypocrisy. Viewing life and others through the lens of evolution has brought no good to daily life.

Repent. Contrary to the evolutionary worldview, life does matter, but we all are starving for life. Jesus has come on the scene exactly because we are lacking in anything that is good in every way, shape, and form. When we look inside ourselves, we don’t see potential, but filthy, corrupt hearts.

In the evolutionary worldview, life is optional, because room needs to be made for the fit, so necessarily the unfit must die. This view spills over from science into real life relationships. When one is not fit to live, i.e. an infant or the elderly, then they are killed off to make room for the new, supposedly meta, more-fit beings.

The Christian worldview is completely the opposite. It is Jesus Who takes the small and the foolish to confound the great and the wise. God Almighty becomes an infant, unfit to live on His own, in order to save the world. The Ancient of Days becomes poorer than the poor and needy in order to raise them to the highest heights of heaven. Our heavenly Father is euthanized for the greatest good: the forgiveness of sins.

The Kingdom of heaven is opposed to the power and wisdom of the world, simply because He chooses to act in a simple and humble way. While the world is looking for Superman, the Lord of Creation humbles Himself to be born of a virgin. While the world is looking for a cure, the Cure of Souls hangs on a cross for them.

What humanity lacks is the divine image inside them and outside them. We can not look inside ourselves and find the Metamorphosis needed to accomplish faith, hope, and charity. It has to be given to us and it has to be received by Faith. Faith is now the ruling mutation that not only changes a person, but regenerates him into the true Person, Jesus Christ. So really its not a mutation at all.

In this way the Statue of Liberty is correct. Her assessment of who all need to be rescued is exactly the people Jesus gathers into His Church: “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” These cast offs that are not worth time and money. These wretched refuse, these homeless, these tempest-tost.” All that the world deems unfit, the Lord brings into His kingdom.

Christ comes to bring down the mighty and exalt the lowly. He has come to rescue those who need rescuing. He has come to heal those who need healing. If humanity has everything it needs already within it, then Jesus did not come for humanity. It takes much more faith to believe in 13 billion years and many more chance mutations, than to believe that Jesus is God and man.

His transfiguration is not the Son of God showing off what humanity is truly capable of. His transfiguration is Him showing what He is going to endure and accomplish for humanity. True mutation, true evolution is found in God, but it is backwards, not forwards. For God becomes a man and then becomes a worm, on the cross. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, causes the old sinful nature of death and destruction to be taken away until nothing is left but the faith of Jesus.

In the Transfiguration we are shown, not what humanity can do, but Who it is that is born of a virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, is crucified, died and is buried. We see that this transfigured God-man will be the one to fully confront sin, death, and the devil and, no matter that it looks like a defeat to us, He will win and purchase the forgiveness of sins.

Not only will He win, but this same transfigured Jesus will be the One to bring all of us with Him. We will not be left to evolutionary devices, but we are exalted to His side and incorporated into His Body. The same body that died and rose again, feeds us even this day.

Because of the transfiguration and sacrifice Jesus made, the Christian’s worldview is different. Now a life is a life, no matter how small, because that life is worthy to receive the forgiveness of sins from the hand of his Creator.

There is no forgiveness in the world and its evolution; no mercy. There is no hope in 13.7 billion years or chance metamorphosis. All is vanity. All except what God has wrought Himself, purchasing forgiveness in His true Body and true Blood.

Expecting a God-man [Baptism of Jesus; St. Matthew 3:13-17]

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Jesus speaks to you all today saying,

“and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

In the Old Testament, God worked out His will on earth through many things from giant fish, to burning bushes, to talking donkeys. There was even a cloud, like the one showing up on the scene of Jesus’ baptism today. The cloud was the means God used the longest as it was the mode of appearance God chose when entering the Temple for Divine Service each and every time a sacrifice was offered up for the forgiveness of sins.

And that’s fine. We are not afraid of means. God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all work through means. Even if it is a dream, someone in it is talking. And this is what we want to get at today. We want to say that God can work in people’s lives however He wants, but in the baptism of our Lord, we see that He uses very limited means to do so.

Each and every time God appeared to a patriarch or a prophet or a Joe Schmoe it was always as a man or as a part of a man doing something we would recognize as human. Whether it was sitting or speaking, the Lord wanted His appearances to be as human as possible. In fact, in the Bible, God’s presence is almost always predicated by this phrase, “The Word of the Lord appeared” to so and so.

Meaning, that when God was speaking, He could be seen in some shape or form. It is never, “a voice came out of nowhere” or “I had a dream about a visiting ghost”. When God speaks, He is always there. The examples we have are numerous. As I said, every time God wants something done, He appears and talks. Here are some examples:

In the Garden of Eden, Moses said God walked in the garden. Spirits don’t walk. Feet and legs walk. In the Burning Bush incident, yes the Lord was speaking out of the burning bush, but it wasn’t just the bush that was there. There was also an angel there. No disembodiment; no mystical fire-whispering.

Later on, when Moses, Aaron, and 40 of Israel’s elders were on the mountain communing with God, they see His feet. Feet belong to a body and the body was assumed to belong to God.

St. Joshua was about to engage Jericho, but in his way, in the middle of the battlefield stood a Captain of the Lord’s army. “Captain” describes a person, not a spirit or ghost. When St. Samuel heard the Lord call him in his sleep, Samuel wasn’t talking to the wall, but it says that the Lord appeared to Samuel. Samuel saw someone.

When the prophets start preaching, Scripture says that the Word came through the prophets themselves. They became the mouth of the Lord; messengers or angels. Angel means “messenger”. Finally, when king Belshazzar was being judged in the book of St. Daniel, a hand appears and begins to write on the wall that very judgment. A hand which is part of a body. And so on and so forth.

Repent. The Word of God is known in His very own Body and is now revealed to us as the only-begotten Son, the only one with Whom God is well pleased and we will not see any other revelation of God’s presence nor will God approach us in any other way except in the Body of His Son, Jesus Christ.

While we will not discount dreams and visions, the more sure and certain word is God’s Word, Who is Jesus. Even the centurion standing guard at the cross, spoke God’s word declaring for all the world to hear, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

We do not worship in spirit only. We do not serve a God who is invisible and hidden only. We do not walk around on earth with our eyes and ears closed and say, “We live by faith”. God is the one Who opens eyes and ears to hear His Son speak of the forgiveness of sins, purchased and won by the holy, innocent, bitter suffering and death of Jesus on the cross.

We could go on and on with example after example from the Bible, showing that God was expected to show up. That His Messiah, with Whom He was well pleased, would be the one to rescue Israel from their sins and usher in the reign of the heavens upon the earth. And, that He would do it, in the flesh.

It doesn’t matter if God is too infinite, He chose to live in the finite. Its doesn’t matter if God is one, He is the Three in One. It doesn’t matter if God is separate and holy, He chose to dwell among us. It doesn’t matter if God is completely other, in Jesus we see that He is our Father, our Brother, and our friend.

Why Christmass and Epiphany matter, is because when it comes time to rescue humanity from their sins and shepherd them, God does so in such a way that is near and dear to our hearts. So near, that He looks just like one of us having a body and a soul. So that when He offers to serve us His forgiveness and His righteousness, we are able to find it, recognize it, and enact it.

Sticking with Baptism, Jesus does not leave baptism up to a metaphorical fire, nor does He mysteriously throw a spirit-baptism at us and say, “good luck figuring that one out”. Instead, He places Himself in the familiar forms and motions that we ourselves go through when we want to wash: we take our bodies, we find water, and we wash.

When we, or anyone else, are seeking God, His Kingdom, and His righteousness, we find all of it wrapped neatly in a man-shaped box. God chooses to place Himself in a box and chooses to be baptized, not just as an example for us to follow, but as an example we can easily follow and through it receive God’s salvation. So that when we encounter God’s redemption and great work of salvation, we see it as a man being washed in water, suffering and dying, and rising again from the dead.

This means, that when we want that same salvation and righteousness for ourselves, we need look no further than our own bodies. There is no walking through fire or spiritual quest. We use the body we were born with, the tools and environment we grew up with, and create heaven on earth.

Not through our own actions, but through the command and Word of God. Baptism is not our idea. God being 100% man and 100% God is not our idea, either, much less Holy Communion, the Church, or pastors. When God’s Word commands us to baptized, it also commands water to be used. When it commands that water be used, it necessarily requires that a man use the water and the Word and that another man receive the water and the Word, in order to fulfill all righteousness in us as well.

Revealing light [Epiphany; St. Matthew 2:1-12]

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Jesus speaks to you today saying:

“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”

To get a few things out of the way first:

There were not three wise men, but three gifts.

The wise men were lead by the Word of God, not only the star.

And Epiphany is a continuation of Christmass; meaning it is a continuing celebration of God revealing Himself to us: Who He is, what He’s doing, what He’s thinking, and where it’s all happening. (Spoiler alert: its all with Jesus, in the flesh)

So, for today we will focus on where the star “mis-leads” the wise guys and what is truly revealed to them when they get to their final destination.

First off, they declare themselves to be seekers of the King of the Jews. I mean, what else would a supernatural, heavenly event announce anyway? Thus, in their minds, the star probably leads them to the right place in the first place. I mean, you find kings in kings houses. Why would you look for a king in a domesticated feeding trough?

So they go to find the king in the king’s palace, Jerusalem, but instead they find a usurper and a deceiver, Herod. Disappointment number 1. You can feel the let down hang heavy in the room. Waiting for years, these wise men travel from far only to find an old warmonger on the throne, instead of a great and glorious wonder that the star of Bethlehem implies.

This disappointment is quickly alleviated though, as the Word of God recalculates their route. Those who do not believe, the chief priest and scribes, preach God’s Word to the wise men, but the wise men do believe and do as the Word says: Go to Bethlehem.

Spirits back in high gear, they find the star again and it seems to shine brighter this time around. On the way to Bethlehem they wipe their brows and sigh at the fools they had been to think Herod was the king. Relieved, their steps are light on their way to Bethlehem, their true destination.

The star stops and so does their breathing. Their joy is palpable. Their hearts are beating hard in their chests as they approach the house. They step inside, steeling themselves to see the blazing glory of the real King and…….

A child. A drooling, whiny, toddler graces their vision. Years of study, months of planning, weeks of traveling, and this is the reward? A bouncing, baby, brat? No offense, Jesus, but the sight the magi beheld was probably not what they were expecting and were probably more or less disappointed. Probably.

Repent! The light of Christ is great and glorious, but not according to the world’s standards. While we want to see majesty and power, God offers us humility and weakness. Where we want grandeur and pomp, God offers poverty and simplicity.

In fact, the light of God, while glorious and filled with infinite joy, does not bring joy to the sinner. King David warns us that in God’s light our iniquities are set before Him and our secret sins are laid bare in the light of His presence.

This means that when God is present, it is not just cupcakes and rainbows, but full on guilt for our transgressions. Its no wonder that the Christ-child did not meet the magi’s expectations, because they did not just find a King, but a light that revealed their sins to them and to Him.

This is the same affect the crucifix is to have on us. We and many others in sin, look upon Jesus on the cross and are taken aback. We shiver at the sight of such violence and immediately work to restore decency in the church by removing such an image. This is because it reveals our sin to us. It reveals that we are sinners and that we deserve nothing but punishment.

Yet, it is in this same light of the cross that our Savior is revealed. Because at the cross we do not just find a man suffering, we see the true Light which has come into the world; the Word made flesh to dwell among us; the light that shines in the darkness, but is not overcome.

Thus, at the same time the magi, and us, find our sins in the light of God, we also find the light of forgiveness. For this toddler shinning with the brightness of the star is the same Jesus Who will save His people from their sins.

The same light that reveals our sinfulness, also reveals our salvation. The light that exposes us also covers and heals us. And exposed, we can only do one of two things: run away or bow down and worship. If we do not have faith, we will run away. If God has granted us faith, then we will shrug our shoulders, say “God can do as He likes”, and offer our gifts in the midst of things we do not understand, just as the magi offered gifts to a child.

This same light did not fade with the star of Bethlehem. It is through the preaching of the Gospel that this light continues to shine in the Church. “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

This means that God is still speaking and in our days He speaks to us through His Son, Who in turn gives His word to His pastors. Because, as we said right away, it wasn’t just the star that lead the wise men, but God’s word spoken by the prophets.

The Word still reveals the Light of Christ to us. It still reveals our sins and reveals our Savior. It continues to disappoint us in the light of daily troubles, but causes us to marvel at its granting of life everlasting.

In faith, we no longer run away from this light feeling disappointment and anger, but we are brought to it by the Holy Spirit, we are bathed in it, spoken to by it, and fed by it in order that we find peace with God. Now that God has become just like one of us, except without sin, we find peace and joy in both soul and body.

Now that Jesus has taken on our flesh, we behold His light as the light of an eternal banquet, prepared for His sake, in our honor of being lost in the darkness, but now being found by the light of Christ which no darkness can overcome. Now, in the light, we are children of the light in Church and see that Jesus indeed will suffer and die and rise again, for us.

Anna and old age [Christmas 1; St. Luke 2:33-40]

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Who speaks to you today saying:

“And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.”

On this, the 7^th day of Christ’s Mass, Jesus has been brought to the Temple to be circumcised, to be brought into the covenant and promise of God, made to His people, that He would save them from their sins. Joseph and Mary are marveling at this covenant in the words of Simeon’s song he just sang to them which we sing every Sunday: the Nunc Dimittis.

The canticle Simeon sings upon seeing the Christ-child, we sing after seeing Him on the altar and communing with Him in the flesh.  Thus Anna also comes up to see Jesus, because she too hears the words of the Promise fulfilled in front of her face.  Yet, she quickly fades into the background from whence she came and that’s ok, because her true identity is caught up in eternity, in Jesus.

She is to be weak, so God can be strong.  She is to be barren, having a lifeless womb that is unable to bear fruit in old age, so God can be fruitful in abundance, not only giving her the Christ-child she really is asking for, but making Him born in the flesh, in her time. 

Anna’s identity is wrapped in and around what Jesus has come to do.  For while Anna was a prophetess, apparently blazing the path for future feminists’ roles in the Church, she dies, leaving an empty space.  Because, after she dies, no one notices, just as no one noticed her working in the Temple all those years. 

Anna, having lost husband and any children to speak of, lives her life in the Church, in this case the Temple, in obscurity.  In other words, she loses herself, quite literally, in the work of the Lord.  Caught up in His service to her, she is able to find some sense of healing and patience, until the Lord comes again to take her, which does not happen until she is old.

In our sins, which are many, we are barren.  We struggle all our lives to make a name for ourselves or at least leave a legacy which creates such busy-ness, you would think that we are full of life.  You would think that there is lots going on here on earth.  We attend schooling, we work, we chase dreams, we create families, and we even love.  How can God say that we are barren?

All of these things are wonderful things and we should approach them and use them to their fullest extent, as God would want us to.  But what happens when we do?  Schooling fails us.  Teachers and curriculum are not always the best and the students fail to listen.

Our jobs don’t last forever. Dreams are like wisps of wind, families are not always stable, and love is just a passing flame for over half the country and we are left alone, just like Anna.

Repent! The blessing we receive is the blessing St. Mary receives, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 

What kind of blessing is that? The blessing is the same one we receive in having to wait an entire lifetime for Jesus. Meaning, a blessing of old age. This is the thought that is expressed by Simeon and Anna. They have been waiting, when will the glory of the Lord appear in His Temple? These two see this fulfillment, where billions before them did not.

As God promised and as Simeon declared, Anna is alive to see the birth of Jesus.  She is alive, by the grace of God, and sees her true Bridegroom coming for her in the flesh.  She sees Him take our form, placing Himself under the law for us.  He is given an earthly name and He is given the earthly sign of the Covenant between God and man: circumcision, all this to show Anna and all of us how much of a God of love He truly is.

For, we see on the cross how Jesus is the child appointed for the falling and rising of many.  First He falls in His death and burial, then He rises in His resurrection.  Then we Christians follow His pattern: dying to sin and rising to new life every day in confession and absolution.  He suffered on the cross, we suffer in water, word, bread, and wine and are forgiven.  And where forgiveness is, there is life, and salvation.

It is on the cross that Jesus accomplishes all this for us.  If it is His will, we will pass our short time on earth healthy, wealthy, and wise.  More often than not, we bear the cross in this valley of sorrow and so we learn to trust in God’s ways and God’s time.  Anna suffered many years without child and spouse, yet she still entrusted those days and burdens to her Lord.  She had nothing in life, yet she still found everything in the comfort and joy her heavenly Father gave her in Christ.

This same promise of blessing we find in the Church today.  Jesus promises that through the cross; though we lose all our earthly possessions; though our life is long and filled out or cut short, He brings His heavenly treasures down to earth where we may find them easily.  Though we lose family, we are gifted with an hundred fold in the Church.

In this way, the Church becomes the place we turn to when all else is collapsing around us.  You can have the worst day possible and yet hear the words, “given and shed for the forgiveness of sins” and give thanks to God.  You can lose loved ones and yet hear the words, “And everyone who has lost houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life”, and know that this blessing is truly yours.

It is comforting to know that when all earthly comforts fail and flee, you can still say the Lord’s Prayer and know that He hears you. It is comforting to know that your baptism will not wash off, no matter how hard sin and death scour it. It is a true comfort to hear and believe that the Christ-child is born for you and is cradled in your hands and mouth in the Lord’s Supper. Any time spent in Church is well spent, always.

It is not a surprise then that we find Anna in the Temple.  It is not a surprise that we find our selves in the Church and it is certainly no surprise to find Jesus here.  Anna flees to the rock of her salvation and He doesn’t disappoint.  He comforts her with His Psalms, His Prophets, and His Promise of salvation.  She repeats them back to Him, as if to remind Him not to forget her and, knowing that He doesn’t, He helps her and keeps her in the one true Faith.

To us waiting for the redemption of man, even to our own old age and the old age of St. Luke, it doesn’t matter how long Jesus takes.  Because for us, He takes a body just like ours and chooses to dwell and commune with us in our bodies, in the Divine Service.

This is what the Introit and Old Testament readings are talking about.  The Lord reigns from a tree and is clothed in the majestic raiment of Body and Blood. The Root of Jesse is the Son of God that suffers and dies in order that He adopt you as sons for the Kingdom.

So, we imitate Anna. She went to and stayed in the place most familiar to her.  Not her own home that was barren, but God’s house which is full of promise and where God has taken her into His very Body, making her a part of His family.  As His little child, she is made to rest and is comforted by the fact that her Lord has come to serve her salvation on a silver platter, no matter how long or short her life is.

God establishes a house not made by human hands, but from eternity, in His Son.  The true temple that Anna longed to dwell in and serve at is the Body of Jesus, as we hear Him say to the Pharisees, “Destroy this Temple and I will rebuild it in three days”.  This is why the Body and Blood of Christ is so important. 

This is why it is such a big deal to see Jesus born in the flesh, as a child, and why Simeon and Anna are prominent on the first Sunday after Christmas. The Temple is now the Body of a man. Salvation is found in the pierced hands and side of the Body of God.

This Body is God’s Temple.  This child brings about Redemption in His body and hands it out to His Body, the Church. Christmass is and remains at the Lord’s Altar. Everything else is tinsel and trimmings, at best.

Zoe and the Mass [Christmas Day; St. John 1:1-14]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

"In Him was Life and the Life was the light of men."

More important than keeping Christ in Christmas is keeping the Mass in Christmass. This is the real defining character between those that believe and those who don’t, because anyone can say Christ and it can mean whatever they want. The way words are twisted around, I bet someone could even say, “Christ is Lord” and get away with not meaning what it literally means.

The reason its better to keep the Mass in Christmas is because it is in the Mass, the Divine service, where the Christmas rubber hits the road. We can bring Christmas trees in church and prove we don’t worship them by communing with Jesus instead. We can prove we don’t worship images or idols or commercialism by placing these things along side the Service and having Service dominate.

For in the Service the True Light is offered, not just thought about. In the Mass, Christ comes to and communes with His people. It is not a birthday party, but a death and life giving party each and every time we gather.

I tell you the Church was in mind from the beginning and we can say that in this way. Today you heard Jesus speak you the words, “In the beginning”, meaning since the creation of time. Then He went on to say that Life is inside Him and that Life is the light of men.

Strange, you would think Life would be the light of Jesus, He is the Light after all. But not this time. This time this life is our light. That is because this life is our mother, for in the beginning, as St. John has told us, was life and she was married.

The Greek word for life is Zoe, like the name, and though you may not recognize it Zoe was the first woman, created from the side of Adam, her husband. You know her by her Hebrew name, Eve.

Thus, Adam, the prophet, priest, and king he was, gave his wife a very prophetic name, Zoe, Life, for she is the mother of all the living. At Christmas, Zoe’s namesake is now transferred to Mary, not just because Zoe failed, but because St. Mary now becomes the mother of the Lord of Life, i.e. all life.

This is because “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Where Zoe was the first mother of all the living, St. Mary is the first Mother of God. But the title does not stop with St. Mary. She then hands it over to the rightful owner, of whom Zoe and Mary were only copies, that is the one, true Bride of Christ: the Church.

Now in water, Word, and bread and wine our true mother births us, keeps us, and feeds us that we too might grow and become strong in the faith, increasing in wisdom. In Christ, Zoe, life, lives and has its being. And this Zoe, this church which births Christians, is our light. Not that we are the source of that light, but that the light shines in and through us, because we dwell with and commune with the light.

The true light of the Church is the Eternal Life Jesus gives only in His Sacraments. This light shines in the darkness of a decaying culture and a decaying earth, calling sinners to repentance. Through her the true Light comes into the world and lightens all men.

In this Church we are not born of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God by His Word and sacraments. The Word became flesh to dwell among us, not in our heads or dreams, but in the flesh Whose glory is on the cross.

And that crucifixion is all over the Mass that is offered here for you, as often as you desire it. So we keep the Mass in Christmas and joy remains in the world, as the angels sing with us, even on this holy Christmass Day.

Passing rain-shower [Christmas Eve; Lessons and Carols]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

We do not go back to the manger, we can’t. We go to where the Word directs us. We go to the Church of the Spirit and receive the gifts of the Spirit by faith alone.

Emmanuel [Advent 4; St. John 1:19-28]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

Emmanuel speaks to you today saying,

“He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed,

‘I am not the Christ.’.”

St. John the Baptist is giving his testimony. His last will and testimony, for it will be at these words that St. John will be martyred. Martyred for the faith; not insurrection, not sedition, and not rebellion. But simply the faith. The same faith you have that leads you to defy all laws and head to Church as often as you can.

Thus in the second greatest testimony we have from John, he prophesys to us saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The first greatest is him pointing us to Jesus, because this second is a rule for Christians to live their lives by.

We talked about this life last week as a life of repentance. How you decrease yourself is by admitting to and confessing your sinful nature in front of a holy God that is sacrificed on the cross in your place. How Christ increases is by you submitting yourself to His Church and His rules. Meaning you receive grace and forgiveness in the way Jesus has prescribed in Word and Sacrament.

This holy God is not a God far off, but He is Emmanuel. Our king and Lord, the expectation of all nations and their savior. And that is our prayer to this Emmanuel, that He come Himself to save us. Not just help us out of this or that trouble, not just boost us up here and there, or even coach us on this or that issue.

The prayer is to save us as a Savior. In stories, you only need a savior at a time and place where all your resources, reserves, and talents have been completely exhausted. You have nothing left. You are about to epically lose in the most humiliating way. You need a savior.

A mighty savior like John? Who stands up to government and the ruling class and decries their sins against humanity. No, he loses his head in prison and dies. A mighty savior like Moses? Who confronts the slave driver, frees his people, and leads them through the Red Sea on dry ground. He disobeys God and dies in the mountains alone.

What about Abraham? He is the Patriarch is the Jews to this day. He is the father they all claim lineage to, the man they all swear by, and the prophet they all follow. Abraham showed great faith and fortitude in leaving the comforts of family and home to go at God’s command, to a place that had yet to be revealed to him. He was a wanderer.

Abraham only had one son with promise, disobeyed many times, and died as well. What about Noah, or Enoch, or Adam?

All of these men exercised the faith God gave them in such great ways, we think. If only we could have commands from God like they did, then we could really shop off our stuff and prove that we are real Christians.

“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. 

Repent! That something better is God in flesh made manifest. We have the completion; the perfection of this Promise. The same promise given in shadows in ancient times is presented to us in shining light. To us a child is born. To us a Son is given.

Born of a humble virgin, yet holds the whole creation in His hand. Whose essence none can touch and yet is bound in swaddling clothes as a child. God Who, in the beginning, established the heavens, yet lies in a manger. Who rained manna on His people in the wilderness yet is fed on milk from His mother’s breast.

The God-man, Jesus, Who is all these things now gives you the same faith of the patriarchs for free, yet your task is greater than theirs. What could be greater than governing a newly created earth, or sailing an Ark, or conquering lands in God’s Name, or confronting Kings, or parting seas, or bringing down governments, you ask?

Going to Church. Jesus sent all those men to do all those crazy things all in order to point towards Himself and His Church. Abraham went out, not to conquer an earthly city, but to find a heavenly city of promise. Noah built an ark, not because he needed a new hobby, but because he wanted to live in the house of God’s promise. John the Baptist did not call for the overturning of government, he preached the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

In going to church, we decrease ourselves by admitting we don’t have what it takes to be righteous, to be holy, or to be pleasing to God and need it handed out to us and handed down to us, for they are beyond our means.

But Emmanuel is not content to leave us in such a sad estate. Indeed His is so jealous for you that He takes the seat below you and is the One Who truly “decreases” Himself to a position below you by suffering and dying for the world on the cross. This is so that you are not decreased, but increased in Him.

Thus, at the same time that going to church is a struggle and a sacrifice, it is also your coronation and glorification. For it is in the Divine Service that the Holy Spirit gave us where you are high and lifted up. You are set in the seat of honor. You are given all power, and glory, and blessing, and honor, because Jesus came to save you, not Himself.

Now that God is a man, just like us, we receive the promise in our hands, not just as a formal title. We receive the blessings of God by means of water, word, and bread and wine. We don’t need to image mysterious quests or impossible standards. Christ is the standard and Christ is the fulfilled quest and He gives away all the benefits.

The real reason for Christmas is you. You receive all the gifts from God. You receive all the love from God. You receive the warmth of His house, readings in your honor, and a seat at the eternal feast.

For Emmanuel comes from the world of corruption, in crimsoned garments from the city of death and is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength from the cross and He is mighty to save, even in death.

His apparel is red for He has borne the wrath of God, suffered and died. He has done it alone, with no help. He has trampled sin, death, and darkness for us. For the day of vengeance and redemption was the day of crucifixion. His own arm brings us salvation and His own zeal held Him fast to the tree.