Next year, in the Resurrection! [Trinity 18]

 WATCH AND LISTEN HERE.

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Deuteronomy 10:10-21
• 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
• St. Matthew 22:34-46

Dear Saints,

Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Christ.

Jesus speaks to us today, saying,

“This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it...”

 One of the major take-aways from this spring, this year really, must be that we are aliens in an alien land, as our Old Testament reading today has taught us when Moses said, “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” in verses 18-19.

 Sojourner of course being another word for not-belonging or alien. This is evident by the fact that the land in which we live thought nothing of cancelling our holy days, as if it had the power to do so, and is poised to cancel Thanksgiving as well. Since it has no respect for our holy days, it has no respect for us, which causes us to conclude that we don’t belong here.

 Jesus encounters this same issue today in the Gospel, for it appears as if He is doing and saying things that are contrary to the law of the land, laws and lands He created no less. He encounters a hard-hearted and stiff-necked people who have no need for His Word and no need for His forgiveness and mercy. He is questioned, interrogated precisely because they think He doesn’t belong.

 This is not the first time this has come up. No, on the very occasion of God ransoming His chosen people of Israel out of Egypt, He remarks on the same subject saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people” (Ex. 32:9). This coming immediately after the wonders of the plagues in Egypt and the passing through the Red Sea on dry ground, no less.

 In the same breath to Moses, Jesus even comments on the hardness of hearts of Israel, even back then saying, “He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so’” (Matt 19:8).

 From the beginning, God’s chosen were liars. Do not think you are exempt. St. Paul warns you in Hebrews 4:7, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”, because he knows that you will.

 So when we listen to our rulers and those around us clamoring for the removal or skipping of holy days, we must begin to question, who is the stiff-necked and hard-hearted?

 One answer is the world. It does not understand the need for holy living so it does not understand the need for faithful hearts to need a yearly cycle. Well, in a sense the devil and the world do understand the need for cycles, which is the whole reason why they would bother attacking feast days in the first place. They have their cycles as well, their unholy, yearly cycles of taxation, government sponsored entertainment, elections, and so on.

 In reality, they have an endless job to disrupt the holy cycle. Hate as they might, they need to yearly obstruct these celebrations. Over and over again, because the cycle, even if interrupted, simply continues on as if nothing ever happened, and will simply celebrate its missed feasts the next year.

 In the feasts we missed this year, there are many lessons to learn. One of them we have mentioned, that we will come around again to that feast next year. Another is the constant lesson God gives to us: a reminder of our own sinful nature, our own failure to celebrate.

 For, we constantly fall for the Pharisee trap, always trying to trap Jesus in His Word. “Which is the greater command, Jesus” we ask, “to love myself, I mean my neighbor, or to be at church on a certain day?” In our sin, we think that there is a priority laid out in God’s commands and so we attempt to find it and catch God in the trap, as the Pharisees had hoped today.

 When we do that, however, we find nothing but disappointment. Not only do we not increase our holiness in attempting to fulfill this law, but Jesus also gives us a face-palm and says, “Let’s start over again from where I lost you.”

 Let’s start over again from Advent and find the place where you went astray. You missed the point of the greatest commandment, because it wasn’t about God or your neighbor primarily, it was about love. Love fulfills all of the law, but it must be a love that is pure and sacrificial. Something Pharisaical sinners such as ourselves do not have. Which is why Jesus continues to speak after He reveals that love fulfills the commands.

 What He goes on to speak of is what He is always speaking of: Himself. And we miss it. We are so caught up in “does God want this” or “Will He be happy with that” or the like, that we confuse God’s Law with God’s Gospel. We confuse “have to” with “get to”.

 Now, don’t get the wrong idea. The law will never go away. It is who God is, after all. But our mistake is thinking that we can do something about that.

 Because Jesus reveals another great commandment by His words, and yet its not a commandment at the same time. He reveals that it is a command to be able to recognize the Christ, the Messiah, and know whose son He is. It seems to even be the priority here and I would say that it is. But it is not a command, because it is on Jesus to reveal Himself. Thus it becomes a matter of love, not ours but God’s, to reveal Himself and give us faith to believe it.

 There you have it. The answer to the Pharisees and the answer to missed festivals is belief. The world has no need for Jesus’ Word because His work is alien to us. God’s proper work is to love and to save, God’s alien work is the work of the cross: to suffer, die, and rise again in order to produce faith in our unfaithful hearts.

 God’s proper work is to command and rule. God’s alien work is to serve sinners salvation. So when He encounters a stiff-necked, uncircumcised-in-heart-and-ears people (Acts 7:51), both works come into play. He comes to His own and His own receive Him not. Well, they do receive Him, but only through a cross.

 In order to keep God’s proper work on earth, we must put God to death. It is the law.

In order to keep God’s alien work on earth, we must become aliens and outcasts ourselves, enduring for a little while hardships, which include not always being able to gather as we wish or choosing not gathering because of our sin.

 Such is the gracious, proper, and alien work of our God that we are shown our sin and shown our Savior. That we are shown how sinful and afraid we really are of God working and communing among us and yet we are given grace to see another year and another chance to celebrate the wonder of His Resurrection.

 Even more than that, each Sunday in the church year is a little Easter. Each Sunday is the chance to hear again our Lord’s command and victory over death. Though the hymns are different, though the propers are different, Jesus tells us that Moses and all the prophets prophesied that the Son of Man should suffer and rise again (Lk. 24:46). 

 Every part of holy Scripture reveals Jesus’ Easter. The land that God swore to our fathers to give them is both geographic and heavenly, in the Resurrection. The gifts in Christ and the fellowship of Jesus, from our Epistle, is given through the risen Lord. Love is the end of the law to all who believe, when Jesus rises from the dead in triumph.

 Now that we have been baptized into His resurrection, we enjoy life in this corrupt world as victors who cannot be oppressed by fiat, jails, or even death. We enjoy, now, His victory as we enjoy the life of Faith in His Church, returning again and again to His person, Word, and work yearly.

 So we are sad and upset. There is always next year. That or we can chose to fear God rather than men and celebrate as we have decided to celebrate and when we have decided to celebrate in the Lectionary and the Liturgy. Both of which have been handed down to us, illegally, by aliens, saints that have gone before us and have worshipped and communed just as we do, in the midst of oppression and suffering. Which, providentially, is exactly how Jesus did it.

 

 

O God, you devil [Trinity 17]

 WATCH AND LISTEN HERE.

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Proverbs 25:6-14
• Ephesians 4:1-6
• St. Luke 14:1-11

Dear Saints,

Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Christ.

Who speaks to you today, in your hearing, saying:

“Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.”

 When God becomes the devil, or devilish. That is the subject we are going to briefly explore today. Of course God is not the devil, but when we undergo temptation or testing in our own sinfulness, He can certainly seem like a devil.

 To start off, I want to talk about Adam and Eve again, because they present such a stark example of what Jesus is talking about. We love to sing the not-so-old song of the not-so-old days about walking in the garden with God. It is a seemingly, beautiful picture of what Adam and Eve probably experienced in being able actually walk with God.

 It was peaceful. The dew was on the roses. God speaks ever so gently and kindly and we never want to leave. But what the song does not go on to sing about is what happens after. Oh it hints at it, saying that He bids us go to woe, but it only suggests that we’ll be sad. The song never tells us why.

 It doesn’t tell us because it would be too hard to explain and too dark, for such a rosy song. The truth of the matter is, God bids us leave the garden because He is about to do violence. Violence from which many will not return to believe in Him.

 Let’s go back to Eden. Adam and Eve walked with God. They sinned. They were kicked out. The first thing that happens after that is violence. Violence that God commits. We are in woe because now God is a God of woe. In Gen 3:21, God clothes Adam and Eve in garments made of skin. Who’s skin? Some dead animal that God had to kill in order to get its skin.

 So it is that the God of lovey-dovey dewy roses is now the God of the butcher shop. The sweet whispers of God are now drowned out by the squeals of death. Death brought on by the sin of Adam. But now that this is God, what are Adam and Eve to do? Will He kill them next?

 Fast-forward to our Sabbath day of rest, in our Gospel reading, and the Pharisees being silent for once. Yet their silence speaks volumes. For these decedents of Adam know that God is “a hard man, reaping where He did not sow, and gathering where He scattered no seed” as the single-talent-bearing man says in Matthew 25:24. 

 So, they test Him again and again. Would God do this? Would God say that? Would God eat with them? Would God talk with her? Would God touch him? These questions frighten the Pharisees, though they ask them in other places. 

 They frighten them because, in their minds, only two options exist. Either God doesn’t associate with sinners, therefore He doesn’t care, therefore He doesn’t exist or at least has left off caring for earth and its creatures. Or God does associate with sinners and they are in for it.

 There is only losing for the sinner, because it is sin that makes God the angry God, the wrathful God, the vengeful God. Sin cannot conceive of any other option, for the self-righteous are always the victim. 

 But Jesus, I’ve always been a good boy. But Jesus, those sinners could have gotten real jobs. But Jesus, you gave us this law and told us to avoid those people.

 God becomes the devil for the sinner, making unreasonable, holier-than-thou demands in His law, demanding mercy at unreasonable times, and demanding a relinquishing of our special seat in front of God to someone at the lowest place.

 Temptations will come and testings will come. It is not by reason that we will survive the war with spirits of evil in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). It is not by reason that we will encounter God as He is and come away believing. That way, we have no chance.

 It turns out, that we don’t have to go very far for rescue from this pharisaical problem. It turns out that brooding over our sin and how special we think we are in order to impress God, only makes things worse and will eventually make us miss the main point.

 That is that God when God becomes devilish, He does so in order to rescue us. Look at Genesis 3 again. Does God commit violence to threaten or to clothe? To demand sacrifice or to show mercy? To rescue or condemn?

 Jesus weeps when violence is done, especially when He must do it to Himself. When He kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden, it was not abandonment. He kicked them out and went with them, lowering Himself beneath their level, and producing the first death in the world with His own godly hands.

 Showing not only what He was going to do to sin, death, and the devil, but revealing that He would get His hands dirty for His creation. In kicking Himself out of the garden, Jesus went ahead of Adam and Eve, into the new land of corruption, and took it all upon Himself, even causing His name to be taken in vain by those who won’t believe.

 In covering Adam and Eve and all their decedents, Jesus has fallen into the pit of hell. In caring for and taking responsibility for all of their acts of sin, He has left His high, and mighty seat in heaven and taken the lowest place in suffering and dying as a sinner, yet without His own sin.

 The God of Eden is the God of hell, for now all that awaits the sinner in the garden is the Tree of Life, everlasting life of sin. The God of Life is the God of death. Were the sinner to eat from the Tree of Life in his sin, he would only receive eternal death. All things are in His hand and that is frightening. Especially when He appears in front of so many people as a man. Our evil spirit cannot stand it. We fall silent, as the Pharisees, with rage. We cannot contain ourselves. God must die and now, as man, He can.

 And He does. And He suffers. The lowest seat turns out to be the seat of sinners, but even worse, a God who appears to be a sinner Himself. Charged with claiming to be the King of the Jews, He dies and is buried a guilty man, falling into the well of the grave on a Sabbath day, unwilling to heal Himself. 

 But only unwilling, because it would ruin His plan of becoming a curse on behalf of His creatures. Unwilling to take the road of revenge and punishment, because He would then leave all of His poor, wretched, sinful people behind. No, as we have seen even in the first book of the Bible, God is willing even to die on a cross to save His wayward sheep.

 Now the devilish God is the crucified God and there is no question as to what His intention and will were from the beginning. Now we see the crucifix and know that His wrath was not aimed at us, but at Himself that He might keep His promise to save and not to curse. 

 In our own trials and temptations then, we don’t seek dewy roses, but a rose-colored soaked God, sacrificing Himself in order that we be covered with His righteousness. And that baptismal righteousness goes with through all testing and temptations, giving us hope.

And it is in this hope that Faith walks in a manner worthy of your calling as Christian. In the humility, gentleness, and patience with which God dealt with you, by His Son on the cross. In love, Jesus bore you out of the baptismal waters towards His own Body and Blood in which is the Spirit of peace and unity.

 In Christ, the better Eden is opened to us by His merit alone. His own Grace carries Him to the grave and His grace alone brings Him back out. In His own Faith, healing is found in His wounds any and every day of the week. In His holy Scripture, He describes for us His invitation to us. To join Him at His own feast where He is both Master and Servant. As the Master, He invites sinners. As the Servant, He gives us the best of the best in Word and Sacrament.

When God becomes the devil, it is solely to destroy sin and death and take the punishment for your sins. For God is never the devil because He never lies. Even though He may act devilish, His promise remains unshaken: Your sins are forgiven. Peace is with you. Even in your darkest hour.

 

 

Life surrounds death [Trinity 16]

 WATCH AND LISTEN HERE.

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• 1 Kings 17:17-24
• Ephesians 3:13-21
• St. Luke 7:11-17

    “As He drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out…”

 A Sunday School question from a child may be, “Where did Adam and Eve live?” In the child’s mind, they had the entire world to live in and all its beautiful places untouched and unpopulated. They could go anywhere, live anywhere, and they had plenty of age, 930 years, to do so. So if they could go anywhere and do anything, the possibilities are endless for an active imagination.

​​​​However, I believe the answer is much sadder than the blessed child imagines. Though the Bible is not clear on this, I believe they set up camp, and did not move, from just outside that fiery gate of Eden from which they had been summarily evicted. At least, in the beginning. 

​​​​“In the very midst of life snares of death surround us”, says Dr. Luther’s hymn, 755 in our hymnals. What all of creation was for Adam and Eve and still is, was Eden. Or at least, what it should be. Adam knew that there was infinite life in God, but now faced with this new world of sin and death, he and his wife only had one thing on their minds: getting back.

​​​​However, Eden was closed. Used and abused, Eden fulfilled its purpose in housing Adam and Eve temporarily. There would be no going back as history has proved. For, as we move ahead in time a bit, today’s Gospel events have shown that the decedents of Adam and Eve are still surrounded by death, though their Lord is the Lord of life.

​​​​In fact, all of Luke chapter 7 is about being surrounded by death. In verses 1-10, a centurion’s vibrant and lively household is struck by the death of one of his slaves. Devastated, the centurion sends out those who are still alive to find Jesus and get a simple word from Him (7:7). A word that would restore full life to the household. 

​​So what did the household do? They sat around the dead waiting for their loved one to come back. They didn’t move on. They didn’t move away. Same with the widow of today’s gospel. She is near her son. For some reason she thinks that if she stays near, maybe he will come back, just as Adam and Eve thought.

​​In the next part of chapter 7, 18-28, Jesus says you will know the Messiah by the fact that He will raise the dead. In verses 29-35, Jesus talks of the dance of death done by those who try to please God with their own merit. In gluttony and drunkeness, lively activities, they only find death. 

​​Finally, in verses 36-50, we hear of St. Mary Magalene. And this is the climax of the chapter because it is Mary who feels death keenest. She knows that, because of her sinful lifestyle, death is but a heartbeat away from taking her to eternal judgement and she has no recourse for mercy. She feels it so much, that she washes Jesus’ feet with her tears of fear which don’t seem to stop.

​​​​Jesus rewards her begging with mercy. Just as He rewards all in this chapter of St. Luke and all who believe in Him with the words, “Your faith has saved you”, depart in peace. These then become the words of His Church, not wishing to merely mimic Christ, but to use the same words in confidence and hope of the same rewards. 

​​​​That our sinful life of death would be forgiven. That our dance with death and sin would be taken away. That our dead would be brought back to us so that life would win out the day once more. For, looking around us, we also find death surrounding us. Though we look busy, we lock ourselves away in our tomb-like houses, we shield ourselves from sun, dirt, and air, and we jump at every cough and shadow. Truly there is no world as deadly as ours.

​​​​So it is that in our sin, the world is flipped upside-down. Now it is in the land of death that we dwell, not life. God’s creation seems distant, a mere pipe-dream. “In the very midst of death” we sing. Our faith has dwindled to the point of us repeating, “Maybe there will be life later, but not today.”

​​​​Jesus disagrees with you. Instead of Jesus hanging His head in defeat, He tells you “Do not weep”. He declares that the dead will rise. He shows another dance; the Easter dance of Life. He brings faith and forgiveness to a dark world of death in order to force life into it once again. 

​​​​While the gates of Eden, the very foundations, have been sealed and destroyed, the mask that forgiveness has torn in two, from top to bottom reveals a better Eden; a perfect Eden. Adam and Eve sat by Eden in despair. They had children and built cities in hope. They left the doorstep, because the promise was not a return to Eden, but a perfect rest and forgiveness from all fear.

​​​Dear Christians, we still live in that Eden-like world of life. It is the devil who wants to convince us that death is the only scenery. It is he who wants us afraid of everything but God and it is he saying, “Your son is never coming back”.

​​​​No, our hymn is correct. In the midst of life; in the midst of the life of Christ, the life of faith, the life of the Church, snares of death surround us, but do not touch us. Death does not have dominion, it only has guerrilla warfare. Because Christ has dominion in heaven and earth, He makes His kingdom on earth through the resurrection of the dead and the forgiveness of sins.

​​​​Christ brings forgiveness to sins that lead to death and He brings resurrection to death, that leads to life. It is in this double portion of promises and hope that we face death ourselves, carefully burying our own dead and boldly marching through life. All in the sure and certain hope that we only face these things for a short amount of time.

​​For these truthful accounts from Luke 7 could be and are accounts from our very lives. We have empty seats in our households. We are doing our best to dance, play, and utterly distract ourselves from the truth of sin, and we have tears that flow over how sinful and close to death we find ourselves daily.

​​​​Who will help us in this strife? Where shall we for refuge go? Jesus is the slave to God who dies in place of the centurions slave. The only son of the Father who fills casket and tomb, in place of other sons. The one who dances with death in a vicious struggle and comes out alive, raising all flesh from the grave, and handing out forgiveness, faith, and salvation.

​​​​The Lord Jesus is our only hope and we flee to His deathly wounds that could not hold Him. For in His dying, we are purchased. In His suffering, we are comforted in knowing that our suffering will end.

​​​​In the meantime, how can we find this Life God wants for us? Where is our own stay from the dark veils of death around us? The last wall we hit in life is here in the Church. For as we process in our own funeral march towards it, Jesus stands at the end, resurrected and serving Life.

​​​Serving life in water, Word, and Bread and Wine. Planting His sacraments in graveyard soil, causing caskets to spring open and reveal living loved ones. Our dance is the liturgical dance of life, around the sacraments.

There will be life today, because the Lord of Life is not only with us, but He dines with us; communes with us. Death is laughed to scorn among us, because Jesus has broke death’s prison. It is a joke. There is no death for the Christian. Death now stands in the marketplace, in his clown outfit.

While we sit at the footstool of Jesus and are clothed in our baptismal garments, which do not fade away. We receive life from the imprinted hand of Christ and nothing else matters. The good that we have chosen, in faith, shall not be taken from us and faith will not allow anything to come between us and God’s love for us in Christ.

So He brings us, not to the gate of Eden, but the gate of heaven. The new way of restoration is the cross. The cross which our Savior bears for you in order to purchase and win your death, in exchange for His life. From the cross, Jesus tells us, “Do not weep”, because the Son will rise again. He will sit up and preach and teach the forgiveness of sins in His own Gospel.

​

 

The Man [Feast of St. Matthew]

 LISTEN AND WATCH HERE.

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Ezekiel 1:10-14
• Ephesians 4:7-116
• St. Matthew 9:9-13

To you all who are beloved of God in Rensselaer (Monticello) called as saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Who speaks to you today as always, only through His Gospel saying,

“For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 In the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel, you hear the prophesy of the Four Gospels to come and proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Isa. 61:2) by the forgiveness of sins. To follow the Holy Ghost handing out and proclaiming whatever He gives and says, these four living creatures are representing what the Gospel does. The fire is the Light of the World speaking His Gospel through them. Speaking of mercy and not sacrifice. Preaching the truth in Love and the fullness of Christ.

 For it has been since Apostolic times that the Church has associated these four living creatures in Ezekiel with the Four Gospels. The human face with the Gospel according to St. Matthew whose feast day we celebrate today, the lion with St. Mark, the ox with St. Luke, and the eagle with St. John. Each animal representing a unique aspect of the Gospel associated with it.

 For St. Matthew, it is the human face, or literally, the face of a man. This is because a recurring phrase in St. Matthew’s gospel is “the man” when talking about and referring to Jesus. The sad part is that it doesn’t come through in English translations, but St. Matthew is known for emphasizing the man-ness of Jesus and focusing on the human nature of Jesus.

 Not that St. Matthew forgets or neglects the divine nature, but that we hear more of how God was made man and what sort of things He spent His time doing, as a man. Meaning they are important for us men. This comes out in our Gospel reading, though again not in English. 

 In v.12, the Greek says, “But The Man, hearing [them], said…”

And it happens all over St. Matthew’s gospel. “The Man” did this or “The Man” did that. Jesus is The Man and as Man He lives a life of perfection, He suffers, dies, and is buried just as men are. It is in this part of the mystery of “God made flesh” that St. Matthew keeps our attention on throughout his gospel book.

 Even though it is St. John’s gospel that holds the phrase “Behold the man” uttered by John the Baptist, the first 2 chapters of St. Matthew are not in the other gospels. This includes the genealogy of the man, Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, that same man giving Jesus His Name, and the wise men, flight to Egypt, and the murder of the Holy Innocents.

 So it is that the Man, Jesus, does hear, as the gospel said He heard the Pharisees. He hears the Pharisees cries of self-righteousness, their self-proclaimed wellness as the gospel says, and He also hears the tax-collectors’ and sinners’ cries for mercy, those who are sick or evilly afflicted with a worldly lifestyle. Jesus hears even when all parties have no idea they are praying for those things.

 For whether you think you are well or think you are sick, Jesus passes in front of us and calls out. But He calls out in a rough way and St. Matthew uses himself as an illustration for us. You see, at the beginning of the gospel pericope, it is Matthew being called and spoken to by Jesus. At the end, Jesus says that He has come to call and speak to sinners. St. Matthew, in his own hand, is calling himself a sinner.

 Now, you would sinfully think that since St. Matthew is writing this gospel to be heard by the whole world that he would take the time to make himself look good. Maybe he would be the first one Jesus called, or the beloved disciple, or the most devoted. This would be the time to do just that and other writers have done it and continue to.

 In the Koran, Mohammed is continuously promoted as the “model for all men” and is given the most “blessings” from Allah. In Mormonism, John Smith had the secret knowledge and all the best stuff from everyone. Even in the eastern religions, you are the best if you live life virtuously and to be copied by everyone else. And any book by a politician, well, you know.

 Instead, St. Matthew knows John the Baptist’s words well, “He must increase and I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30). There is something bigger than St. Matthew happening and St. Matthew is very much aware of this something. We are made aware of his awareness in the very first verse of his entire gospel book and in one other place, for example. 

 When St. Matthew says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” in 1:1, he literally says in the Greek, “The book of the genesis of Jesus Christ…”. Meaning, St. Matthew knew he was writing scripture, as in, finishing or completing what Moses’ book of Genesis started.

 In another place in St. Matthew’s gospel (24:14, 26:13), he records Jesus saying “wherever this gospel is preached” and “this gospel will be preached” throughout the whole world. “This gospel” meaning this book that St. Matthew was writing. 

 But that didn’t matter to St. Matthew. He didn’t try to paint himself rosy. He knew that God knew his sins. He knew that he was already exposed to the Almighty and that every single one of his thoughts, words, and deeds was known. He also knew that they would be revealed to everyone on the Last Day, so why try to hide them now?

 No, St. Matthew’s trust was not in how well he did things in Jesus’ eyes neither was it in how well he wrote about those things that Jesus did. St. Matthew’s trust was in the Man. The Man, come down from the heavens in order to hear sinners and call them to follow Him to Confession and Absolution. 

 Jesus says, “Follow me” and tax-collectors and Pharisees follow Him. Like moths to a flaming torch, all creation cannot help itself around God’s Word. When God says, “Follow me”, St. Matthew rises as if from a deathly, sinful sleep to follow. Man to man, God stands in front of you and speaks to you.

 Jesus stands in front of you, calling you a sinner, but He does so from His cross. He may have the face of a man that you can grab hold of and scourge, but He is also the face of God. And, in St. Matthew’s gospel, He is the God-man come to call sinners to follow Him where His Body and Blood is to be a ransom for the many (Mt. 20:28).

 He makes the demand of you, from our Introit, to speak wisdom, talk of judgment, and hold the law of God in your heart. But instead of extracting that tax from you, He taxes Himself and suffers and dies in order to purchase and win you. 

Neither does He wait for you to write the perfect confession or vow. Instead the wisdom and righteousness He wants is His own words which He conveniently pens down on paper, through the Apostles, for you. In His mercy, Jesus gives us His righteousness found in the gospel that St. Matthew wrote, through the Holy Ghost. Holy Wisdom is found only in speaking God’s Word, which you find in the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

 Thus it becomes St. Matthew’s priority to get his gospel book to all people. He does not just write, but he preaches. Legend has it that he wrote the gospel as a sort of catechetical, farewell letter to the Jews before leaving and being martyred in Persia, some years after. 

 We know that he not only carried his gospel and shared it, but that he did so in the context of the Divine Service, for all the Apostles and pastors “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). 

It is this gospel and Divine Service light that opens our minds to comprehend just how the four living creatures of Ezekiel represent the Gospel. Four faces, four gospels. Wings of the angel messengers that carry the message of God. And the Light of the World, unchanging, not turning to the left or to the right, and flashing for the world to see as we hear Psalm 97:4 say, “His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.”

In Christ Crucified, St. Matthew’s gospel book brings salvation and faith by hearing, in the light of Christ. Christ gives us His Apostle’s teachings to hear and read that we might be equipped, build up His Church, and finally attain the “unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God”…”so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” as our Epistle teaches us today.

 This is the kind of God you worship. This is the kind of Savior you have, that the power of His salvation and redemption is stored in the gospel written by a man, a sinner, a tax-collector no less, and revealing the Son of Man to you, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

 We rise for the Gospel reading during Service, just as St. Matthew rose at our Savior’s words to follow Him. Not because they are pretty, but because in them we hear of mercy, of peace, and of forgiveness from God. We rise from our deathly slumber of our own sin, death, and the devil to once again shout “Amen” and “I believe” upon hearing it. 

We follow Christ through His Church Year, going again and again to the cross through Advent, to Easter, to the Last Day. We look around our own church in faith and see our Lord reclining with us at the Supper Table and know that His Word is for us. That when we hear His Word, we know that we are sick and we know that our God comes with mercy to call sinners to His healing waters, especially in His Gospel.

 

 

God's graven image [Exaltation of the Holy Cross]

 WATCH AND LISTEN HERE.

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Numbers 21:4-9
• Philippians 2:5-11
• St. John 12:20-36

To you all who are beloved of God called as saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, we once again look to the only place God is speaking these days, pointing to His cross, saying,

“Sir we wish to see Jesus”

When we talk about the cross, we are not talking about the actual piece of wood that killed our God, as if a true piece of it would create marvels and miracles among us. This sort of thing is what started this festival in the Church, when back in the 4th century, it was thought that a piece of wood was a piece of the cross. We do not deal with a magical, smoke and mirrors god.

When we talk about the cross, we talk about the crucifix, the cross with Jesus on it. We talk about the cross with Jesus on it, because of what the Greeks demand of Phillip an Andrew today, saying, “Lord, we desire to see Jesus”.

Now, the desire to see God is not unique to Christianity. Every religion, indeed, every person desires to see God. Whether or not they believe God is Who He says He is, or what He says He is, they desire to commune with whatever mysterious power is controlling things and making things what they are.

What is unique to Christianity is the world can see God. when we ask to “see God” we don’t need a golden calf, or a superman, or any other imaginary image to at best pretend to see god. We worship a God Who locates Himself. 

This is why the Greeks from the Gospel can ask Phillip to see Jesus: because He can be seen and He says He’s God. They must have been very familiar with Isaiah 55:6 when God says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” They knew that they didn’t have to search their feelings, they could just search for a man.

For Jesus doesn’t seem to answer the Greeks, at first listen. He appears to go on a side rant talking about seeds of grain and hating life. Jesus does it again as He continues, talking about glory and hours. He concludes that it will only when He is lifted up off the earth that anyone will truly see Him.

So it is that the Gospel reading ends with Jesus hiding Himself. Not because He was tired. Not because He needed to recharge. It is because He is directing us to where He is going to be found; where we can go to see Him.

Dr. Martin Luther said, 

    “Of this I am certain, that God desires to have his works heard

    and read, especially the passion of our Lord. But it is impossible

    for me to hear and bear it in mind without fanning mental images

    of it in my heart For whether I will or not, when I hear of Christ,

    an image of a man hanging on a cross takes form in my heart, just

    as the reflection of my face naturally appears in the water when I 

    look into it. If it is not a sin but good to have the image of Christ 

    in my heart, why should it be a sin to have it in my eyes?”

So when we ask God to show us Jesus, He tells us to seek the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and produced much fruit. That is, the seed of the Word of God Who suffered, died, and was buried.

When we ask God to glorify His Name in all the earth, He turns our eyes and ears towards the Son of God, high and lifted up upon the cross, drawing all men to Himself by way of His death. The light we are to walk in is hidden, but it is hidden behind means in order that it shine more brightly.

You think of the bright light of the Resurrection, as this light, and you are half-right. It is the light of the Resurrection, but it is that light shining through the cross of Christ. For even after the lights of Resurrection and Pentecost fame, the Apostles remain firm in their preaching, telling only of the crucified Christ (1 Cor. 2:2) and boasting only in His cross (Gal. 6:14).

The continued focus of the Apostles’ preaching and teaching was finding Jesus on the cross, whether it was baptizing everyone in His death and resurrection or communing with that same body and blood that hanged on the cross. The Lord of all hides Himself in means of the Spirit so that we might engage Him in all 5 senses.

And we hear that in God’s Word. He expressly teaches us that Jesus is the Divine Image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). The Son of Mary is the image that God fashions for Himself for the world to see. An image that the entire world can look at, contemplate, and come to no other conclusion than God offers Himself in the place of sinners for the forgiveness of sins.

Why would we not want this image in front of us? Why would we not keep it close to us and look to it in times of trouble and doubt? Yes, there is the fear of turning it into an idol, but come on man. Idols are supposed to be comfortable, reassuring, and desirable. It is very hard to make a dying man on a cross sweet and cuddly. 

Yet, this is comfort for the Christian. It is comfort because it is not glorifying capitol punishment. It is glorifying a God Who is gracious and merciful and loving. God gave His only-begotten Son to suffer and die in our place. It is comfort because there is the promise. The promise that if Jesus dies and is buried, like our grain of wheat, that there will be hope.

Moses prophesied Christ’s crucifixion in the bronze serpent, which was also lifted up for the healing of all who looked at it and believed. Hidden in the crucifixion is the narrow way to the healing of God, for by His wounds we are healed (Isa 55:3). Since we will imagine those wounds in our head when we hear of it, we can, in all godliness, fashion a picture of them outside of our head.

So, the goodness of God is hidden in the suffering and death of Jesus, Who is exalted for His work on the cross. To find that goodness for ourselves, we have no choice but to turn to the only place where it is given: the same Body and Blood that worked out our salvation of the cross. 

For this reason, the crucifix has been one of the most treasured images of the church throughout the ages. And, as Moses showed, even before there was a “church” proper. It is our central message, as Christians. It is the center of Jesus’ work for us sinners. 

So much so, that we “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). the crucifix becomes this point of symbolism, teaching, and reinforcement of the important truths of God’s Word.

that is that in sin, God is hidden. He does not allow Himself to be found in the things of this world, even though it be the holiest work ever done. God hates sin. He hates sin so much that He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all and now through Him graciously gives us all things (Rom 8:32).

At the very same time, the crucifix proclaims how much God loves you. God is gracious, merciful, and loving but only in the cross of Christ. God is all inclusive, but He only leaves the door open at the Baptismal font. God is all forgiving, but His hand of mercy only rests on His Supper at the Altar.

God is hidden and yet not. The Greeks cannot see Him because they are not yet looking through Jesus’ crucifixion. Everyone is following Him in the Gospel, because they have not yet witnessed the suffering of God. The world is waiting for a shining throne, shield, and sword to proclaim God’s presence on earth, yet they miss the light of the cross.

Seek first the kingdom of God where He is to be found: in His Word and Sacraments and in the holy images and icons that reveal that truth to us. For the Image of God will return and in order for us to recognize it, we need to acquaint ourselves and memorize it now. It is good, right , and salutary to keep Christ in front of us, literally.

The Martyrdom of the Baptist

 WATCH AND LISTEN HERE.

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Revelation 6:9-11
• Jeremiah 1:17-19
• St. Mark 6:17-29

To you all who are beloved of God called as saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Christ speaks to us by His Gospel, saying,

“When Herod heard John, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.”

 

A really good question to ask yourself, on this holy day of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, is what would you do with him if he showed up today? If you encountered St. John, Christ’s holy front-runner, the man to prepare the way of the Lord, he who pointed out the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, would you sit and listen? Would you follow and write his words down, in order that other should hear?

 

This is a good question because it puts the strength of our faith into perspective. If St. John were to show up today, he would be laughed at, ridiculed, and cast aside. He would be called crazy, only a few people would go to him, and eventually he would end up dead. Sound familiar? 

 

Yes in each and every case of people in the Bible, even Jesus Himself, if they were to show up today, the same things would happen to them that already happened: rejection, suffering and dying. The real scary part is that you may end up doing those things to them! However, that won’t happen. From Adam to St. John, to Jesus. Their purpose is fulfilled and they won’t be coming back to do any more, except end the world.

 

What does this mean for us? It means we need to look to confessing our sins. We need to make sure that we have God’s forgiveness, because the end is near and it isn’t pretty. We take St. John’s example. It wasn’t the government that came down on him with a boot to his face. Though Herod did imprison him, it was the citizenry that called for his execution.

 

The Herod’s in the Bible have strange roles. Yes they are merciless. Yes they are rotten rulers and horrible fathers. But strangely they verge on edge of conversion. The Herod of Christmas calls all his priests together for a Bible class to find where God said He would be born. The Herod of John the Baptist does not kill John, but keeps him in prison and listens to him.

 

The Herod of the book of Acts searches for the Apostles, yes to kill them, but he searches for them anyways, just as you should be seeking out the Apostles and Prophets to hear them and learn from them. 

 

This brings to mind the word of the blind man who received his from Jesus in John chapter 9. The man shows himself to the Jews and they do not believe his story. They question him so extensively that at one point the man asks the Jews: “Why do want to hear my story over and over again? do you want to become His disciples?” (v.27)

 

In this case, becoming the disciples of John the Baptist means letting him speak publicly, letting him be imprisoned, and letting him be beheaded. It seems that the prophets and Apostles are destined to die. The words that they preach leave no room for doubt in the world’s heart that they must perish.

 

This is the force of Gods Word. Simply by saying that you need to repent of divorce and adultery causes Herodias to lose her head and consequently, St. John as well. The Herods and Herodias are minding their own business, living life to its fullest, and playing the game like pros. If only they weren't going against the rules.

 

In a sinful world, Jesus, the prophets, and the Apostles are like Samson’s foxes in Judges 15:

“Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.” (v.4-5)

 

The Philistines were minding their own business, living life to the fullest, and playing the game like pros. Samson butted in and ruined it all. In fact, if the Law would just go away, no one would have any knowledge of sin and there would be peace in the world.

 

Jesus says the Law will not pass away (Mt. 5:18), that He has come to bring a sword (Mt. 10:34) and that all must repent of their sins (Mt. 4:17). His preaching is like a fire (Jer. 23:29). Like a hammer that breaks the rock of sinful peace and does not give peace to the sinner. 

 

When Ahab saw Elijah, he asked, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” When the Jews encounter Jesus they are insistent: “He stirs up the people” (Lk. 23:5). And finally. Pilate, when he saw that Jesus really did stir up a crowd and that he was about to have a riot on his hands, gave Jesus the same fate as the prophets and the Apostles.

 

If the Word of God preached lands men in hot water, then the Word made flesh will not find a different ending. It is in the suffering and death of the martyrs of the faith that we are reminded of Jesus, the God-man, Who takes away the sin of the world.

 

It is in the firm resolve of the martyrs that we witness God’s firm promises to us, to rescue us from this place. Even though, without the knowledge of the Law there’d be no sin, that doesn’t mean a good thing. It simply means that without knowledge of sin, everyone would think that what they are doing is good.

 

This is part of the revelation of Jesus. That as both God and man He not only shows us the excellence of God and His Law, but lives it and dies for it. This shows us how fallen and corrupt the world has become. That it will not even accept its Creator and what’s more, will not even allow Him to live.

 

And yet, the prophets and the Apostles were waiting. Waiting for the time when not even death could stop them. And that time was fulfilled in Christ. For in the resurrection, death lost all of its power. So much so, that the murders of prophets and Apostles become a waste of time and that just gets the devil’s goat.

 

Ahab, the Herods, the Jews, and all sinners waste so much time on death thinking that it is the end of all their problems. They believe that this life is all people have and so they think that if they kill someone that it is the worst thing possible to do to someone else. But because of the resurrection, it is just a waste of time.

 

Ahab chasing after Elijah to kill him is such a waste of time, that if he were to succeed, he would simply speed Elijah to his ultimate goal: God's side forever. That corner that God’s Word backs the world into is that of futility. So much so that even if the world thinks it is getting its way, it is actually doing God’s will.

 

So we see in the Holy Innocents at Christmas and in John the Baptist today a fierce and stalwart spirit, even in the face of death. “Whether we live or whether we die,” they say, “we are the Lord's” (Rom. 14:8). Death has no more dominion over us.

 

As we are also the Lord’s through baptism, we preach His word of forgiveness. But that will back the world into a corner. And like a cornered beast, it will lash out to kill us. In that moment of perceived triumph, the world’s joy will turn into anguish as it realizes it has just lost. As satan thought he had God on the cross and in the grave, we will rise in Jesus’ Resurrection.

 

For that, we give thanks. Thanks that God shows mercy even to the dead, that He saves men, and that He gives us teachers to remind us in His Church. For that, we find strength from Faith, not just to stand tall in front of our enemies, but to stand tall in front of God Who forgives our lack of strength.

 

Finally, we imitate. Now imitate does not mean finding Herod and calling him an adulterer, in order that we have our heads chopped off. I mean, if it came to that then, yes, imitate. But imitate in the sense that, through sickness and in health, you believe God’s Word to gather you around His Word and Sacrament. 

 

For the same faith that Elijah wielded in front of hundreds of false prophets; the same faith that held the Holy Innocents firm to their mothers at the point of a sword; and the same faith that made St. John able to face the Executioners blade, flows in you. And it is this faith that allows you to hear your Lord cry out in forgiveness in His Gospel and it is this faith that dulls, weakens, and brings to nothing any and all things that would separate you from the love of Christ.

 

As Jeremiah says in our second reading heard today, “And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land…They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.” And in the resurrection that Jesus gives you in baptism, you are an iron pillar, even to death.