Gathering without sin; Tradition in the Church [Easter 3]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Ezekiel 34:11-16

• 1 Peter 2:21-25

• St. John 10:11-16

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. (Titus 1:4)

 

Who speaks to you today, saying:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”

 

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, it is eternally important that you remember why you are here as a Christian and as a Lutheran. That is because you are saved. Not because of who you are, but because of what Jesus did for you. You have fled from God. You have cooperated with the wolves to snatch you away and scatter you, but the “life laid down” returns you to the Shepherd and Overseer of your entire being.

 

That is the Gospel. If anyone preaches a different Gospel, they are trying to sell something. That something is salvation. In this thought, we look at the world and its beliefs and find that, truly, there are only two religions: the religion of “I can save myself” and the religion of “I need a Savior”. The religion of “Do this” and the religion of “Done”.

 

This understanding gives us a space of clarity, where we can clearly see who is who. For instance, we can see the world flop back and forth like a reed shaken by the wind. One second, it is “believe in yourself” and “you do you” and “believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything”. The next second its “just comply” and “just follow the rules” and “well, he’s in charge so”. 

 

What this produces is encapsulated in a relatively new term: “clown world”. That’s the world we live in today. The world where we say “peace, peace”, but continue to create war. The world where we are eternally concerned with water pretending to be beer, state schools institutionalizing our children, and whose party is the best party and nothing is done about it.

 

Clown world gathers around these hypocrisies religiously and in predictable cycles. Is someone up for re-election and they throw a bone to the people? Funny, that. 

 

Repent! The good news is that we are up against a clown world, which makes it easy to stand up to. The bad news is we use the clown system in the hopes of changing it from the inside. And all that happens then, is we get absorbed into the Clown Religion of “Do this, as we say”.

 

Our cowardice is not found in whether or not we have changed public policy or “won”. Our sinful cowardice is found in the fact that we refuse to employ organized religion against this organized clown religion. All this turmoil is not accidental. The saying goes, “They kick the dog with reckless abandon so the minute it tries to defend itself they can justify shooting it.” That is the play that is being run, and we ought to conduct ourselves accordingly. We must live as though we know what they intend to do. It is obvious, but don’t take their bait.

 

The universal message from Christ today, is that He will gather. He gathers by organizing His religion and setting up the freedom of ceremony and celebration. 

 

First, Christ’s organization is focused solely on one, easily-accessible point: Himself. Son of God. Son of Man. Three in One, Creator, Savior, and Sanctifier of all. All focus is on Him, because He takes all the attention, in other words, He does all the work. The actions are His, the rewards are His, the glory is His.

 

This means we are people of the Word, not people of the Book. People of the Word made flesh. God of God is the center. The next circle of organization is the Word and Sacrament of Jesus. And this is still the circle of “done”. For in those things, salvation is Done for you in the way the Lord wants it. His rules.

 

Outside of this circle, is the authority of Tradition, which includes our ceremonies, hymns, and familiar church functions. Here we need only take three steps to ensure we remain in communion with Christ: 1. We only keep tradition that does not cause us to sin, 2. we only keep what is beneficial to peace, tranquility, and good order in the Church and, 3. We do not burden consciences. In other words, get out of God’s way and let Him do His work.

 

Now we can debate over whether or not God is working in clown world and what that looks like. But there is no debate about how God is working in His Church. That is His business and that is how Gathering around His work becomes universal. It is not what we do about God, but what He does among us.

 

When God was made man, He entered Clown World, so we too should not be afraid of standing up for what is right in civil and political circles. He entered Clown World and found two schools of thought, in the “Do this” religion.

 

The first was Traditionalism. The belief of the Pharisees that because something is in the Past, it is automatically “good”, no mater what. Is the High Priest God’s chosen for the moment? Then you better not disagree with him, but give him all your money. Jesus ran into this “traditionalist” High Priest and was sentenced to death.

 

The second was Progressivism. The belief of the Pharisees that because God has “left us” to our own devices, now what we say and do are “God’s will”, prove me wrong. If we say this Jesus must be crucified, then it is God’s will. Two views many churches hold to, today.

 

Where the Jews were successful is that both of these beliefs are cherished by the Clown World. The State also has its Traditionalism, which says “The peace of the State no matter what”. And also its own Progressivism, which taught we need to believe all religions. This religion in Israel says Jesus needs to die. Ok! Today, His Christians need to die. Ok!

 

What is unique about Jesus is, He did not become a new Civil Leader. He is the Savior. He taught that Clown World has added to God’s Word things He never said and has subtracted from God’s Word things He did say. God never said, “There is no king but Caesar”, but He did say, “Thus the Son of man must be handed over, suffer, be crucified, and rise again three days later.”

 

Gathering around this Christ is a ceremony we can do without sin. One thing that means is it is free from Clown World influence and becomes the place where we stand against it. And stand against it we do. “friendship with the world is hostility toward God” says James 4:4. Faith automatically puts you at odds with clowns.

 

So, what is the next question?

 

“Who will deliver us?”

 

He.

 

“we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength”, says 2 Corinthians, “that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Cor 1:8-10)

 

“Who will deliver me from this body of death?”, says Romans 7, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:24-25)

 

And it is our Organizer and Gatherer, Jesus Christ Who says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the [clown] world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the [clown] world.” (Jn 16:33)

 

He has delivered us. We are numbered with the Faithfull in the Savior. That is our religion. He will deliver us.

Clown World has a very unpleasant end. Eternal Life in Him does not. 

 

What about for today? Today, He tells us, “Do not neglect congregating together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:25). And when you congregate, Commune and devote yourselves, religiously, “to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

 

For “you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (Jn 5:39). 

 

Being Traditional is not a sin, saying it is infallible is. Appreciating Progress is not a sin, throwing out all of God’s work in history, is. Standing strong on the Crucified and Risen Christ and His Word and Sacrament is not a sin and never will be. Sacrificing Him in place of anything else, is.

 

We find sin and it is Good, because the Savior has come for sinners. Sin this or sin that, all is forgiven and all is forgivable. Remember, this free forgiveness, this Gospel, is the reason we gather and is the power of God for salvation. That is the Power to withstand even the Gates of Clown World, for you.

 

Men in Church and Office [Easter 2]

([]  LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE  []) 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Ezekiel 37:1-14

• 1 John 5:4-10

• St. John 20:19-31

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. (Titus 1:4)

 

Who speaks to you today, saying:

“Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’”

 

Easy for Jesus to say to St. Thomas, while they were both standing there, facing each other in the flesh. Jesus, the God-man, presenting Himself to St. Thomas the man. Jesus having suffered all the violence of the world and St. Thomas, in that same faith, preparing to face the violence of the world with the knowledge of the Resurrection of the dead.

 

What makes a man? Really that question involves masculinity, and if you ask what masculinity is, these days, you’ll immediately get redirected to “toxic masculinity”. What is silly, and I say silly in a depressing way, is that the elites’ description of “toxic masculinity” happens to be the opposite of masculinity and their definition of acceptable masculinity is feminism.

 

No winning that one. One term that has come out of this absurd social pressure put on our young men today is “soy boy”. This comes from the fact that soy contains high levels of estrogen and that most of our food today has been saturated with soy and soy products, changing our men into women or at least more feminine. Hence “soy boy”.

 

Why this is relevant today, is because we are once again vindicating St. Thomas and Jesus from the charge of being feminist, or soy boys. Not that feminine is bad, its just not for men. St. Thomas, false teachers of the church would say, is whining about his apparent exclusion from seeing the Lord Jesus, resurrected from the dead. 

 

He then throws a fit and pouts saying, “I won’t believe unless I see and touch. Never ever forever never!” And then his lower lip protrudes and he stomps around the upper room, plopping himself into a far corner with furrowed brow. Or maybe he took the “higher ground” and accepted things saying, “you know, I haven’t seen Him, but Mary has. Why not let her take my place as an Apostle?” St. Thomas, a progressive before his time…

 

This is what we have done to our young men in our day and we wonder why they aren’t showing up. They aren’t showing up in families, they aren’t showing up at work, and they aren’t showing up at church. We have cowed them into thinking their masculinity is a disease, that they are always mansplaining or always toxic, and that they must move aside for true leadership. And that’s where they went. To the side.

 

Repent. None of this is one bit of what St. Thomas did. St. Thomas stands up for what is right, here, and that is real masculinity. He has God’s Word that Jesus Christ is not only his friend (Jn 15:15), but his brother (Jn 20:17). His brother and fellow inheritor with Jesus, of the kingdom of heaven (Rom 8:17).

 

On top of all that, is the glorious promise from St. Matthew 19:28, “when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” St. Thomas is holding Jesus to His Word as He taught him to.

 

Thus, when it comes to “following Jesus” and taking the Gospel to all lands, if St. Thomas is not a witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, then what kind of Apostle is he to be? St. Thomas stands up for what is right, stands up for God’s Word, and that God keep His promise and include St. Thomas.

 

Jesus faces self-sacrifice, suffering, violence, and testing in order to accomplish His great work for you. Jesus is masculinity par excellence. In more of a feminist spirit, we would expect Jesus to concede, to placate, to yield ground in an attempt make a better deal for both sides. However, against sin and death, no quarter will be given.

 

In Jesus’s self-affirmation as a man, the God man, He denied Himself, picked up His cross, and followed the Father’s will. Father! 

In this, Jesus is at risk of being left out. In Jesus, God opens Himself up to being expendable. That if He cannot even save His fallen creation from their sin, what kind of loving, merciful, and all-powerful God is He?

 

God takes the risk. He opens Himself completely, even to the abusive hands of soy-boys who cannot think for themselves and cannot believe in a self-donating God. There must be some other way, they believe, not just through this Jesus. What about the way that makes me feel like a special boy? What about the way that lets me cower and grovel and abase myself to curry favor and climb the ladder?

 

God sends a man to do the work, where He will literally stand up, in the end. Stand up is another word for rising again from the dead. When Job says, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth” (19:25), he’s talking about the Resurrection of the Body. Jesus stands up to sin. Jesus stands up to death. Jesus stands up to the power of the devil, willing to fight, inflict pain, and suffer and endure pain, all of which is very adverse to the non-masculine spirit.

 

And all this not even for Himself. Here is another key, masculine point. The man does not ask “what's in it for him”, but “will it help others”. Will his shouldering of this suffering be of benefit to his family, to his brother, to his neighbor? 

 

Jesus’s work is done for everyone else EXCEPT Himself, in order that all turn from their evil ways and live. St. Thomas stands up in that Work, not for himself, but so that the Word may go out to all lands and that the forgiveness of sins be preached to all the world. And, according to tradition, what was in it for him was a fatal spear wound, on the hill of St. Thomas, in India.

 

God sends the man Jesus, and He in turn, sends men to continue His work in His Church, of self-denial for the benefit of others. So we should expect men to show up. In Church and in the Office of Holy Ministry, that of being a Pastor. 

 

One thing we can do in our day and age is to offer this alternative to our ostracized young men. To tell them you are welcome here. If no one else wants what you have to offer, we do. We want to call you to the highest purpose of your life. We want your time and energy and effort and your will - and your goodwill.

 

The evidence is overwhelming that when fathers drop out of the church, their children of both sexes overwhelmingly do as well.  Conversely, if fathers remain faithful, their children will do so also in much higher percentages, compared to only their mother remaining faithful. 

 

Thus, the cosmos that the Lord gives us is orderly and it is ordered under a Patriarchy, the Father being at the top. We then have our own biological fathers. We also have spiritual fathers, who are men called and ordained rightly to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments. This masculinity is not a kingship, but a headship, where the head has every incentive to sacrifice itself for the good of the body.

 

Not concession, but steadfastness. Not kingship, but sacrifice. Not child’s play, but manly living in God’s Word, according to His order, and according to His example. In this simple act of rebellion, against the modern culture, daring to be masculine as father, in family, and coming to Church, is high treason.

 

In Faith given by God, we hear these words of promise and know they are for us. That is truly what “blessed are those who have not seen” means. It does not mean blind, closed minds. It means courage, faithfulness, and trustworthiness. All of which Jesus Christ shows towards us and gives to us, that we would have His Promises ourselves.

 

New Old Title [The Resurrection of Jesus]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Job 19:23-27

• 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

• St. Mark 16:1-8

To all of you, baptized into the death and resurrection of the true Son of God: Grace, Mercy, and Peace are secure for you from God our Father, through our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus the Crucified of God!

 

Who speaks to us, even today, and we have been given ears to hear:

“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, The Crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

 

St. Mark in his gospel, along with St. Matthew, gives a new title to Jesus, which is really an old title, an eternal title. When they say, “You seek Jesus, who was crucified”, it can be heard as, “You seek Jesus, The Crucified.” As it is given by the angels at the tomb, “The Crucified” is how Jesus is addressed in eternity. This is important, because it is not only how the Apostles find Him (see my hands and side), but how we find Him even today.
 
This title now is the heading over all of His work since the beginning. As in, we now read back into the Old Testament, what the New has revealed to us.
Some examples: In the Beginning, the Crucified created the heavens and the earth. The Crucified said to Noah, I will establish my covenant with you (Gen 6:18). Then the Crucified appeared to Abraham and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Crucified, who had appeared to him. (Gen 12:7)
 
Jacob said, “I have seen the Crucified face to face, and yet my life has been delivered” (Gen 32:30).
Samuel declared, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of The Crucified rushed upon David from that day forward” (1 Sam 16:13).
And the Word of the Crucified came to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea and all to Whom the Son chose to reveal Himself to.
 
Why is it so important to Jesus that He receive this new title when He had so many others that we love to put on t-shirts and buttons. Crucified is low on that list. But it is high on heaven’s list. How backwards. That is why its important, because the world’s honor is not God’s honor. The world’s glory, is not God’s Glory.
 
We have already experienced the world’s glory in titling Jesus the King of the Jews and hanging it over His suffering and crucified head. Thinking they got rid of Him, they did God’s will in offering the Paschal Lamb, Whom God so freely gave us. The Crucified’s blood now marks our door, faith points to it, death passes over, and satan cannot harm us.
 
Repent. In wishing to be refreshing and relevant to the world, we jettison the titles, the gifts, and words, that do not change from God. We wish to cast away the bonds of history that titles such as “lutheran” give us. We desire to burst the cords of denomination and history hoping that, this time, the change we make is God pleasing and we burst at the seams with attendees.
 
We exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25). For the first thing to go in our new titles is “Crucified”. No crucifix passes through those doors. The only corpus in those rooms are people, front and center and focused. No Jesus dwells in the midst, in image or statue, because we are so holy that we don’t even have pictures of God, as He commanded.
 
Judas hoped for the same things. St Peter even tried to alter Christ’s title, but was rebuked. 
If Christ is not the Crucified, then you stumble with the Jews and live in foolishness with the gentiles (1 Cor 1:23). “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14).
 
Today, we are children of Light, once again, by Christ’s words of Absolution, and we walk around in the Light that was before the Beginning. We do not stumble. We are not foolish, but wise in God’s Foolish Work of Salvation through His Crucified. We rise to new life daily, drowning our Old Adam so that the New, Crucified Adam can emerge.

This, Dr. Luther wished to convey to us in his hymn, which we just sung. We the Offender, Christ the Offended. We the Sinner, Christ the Sinless.
 

In the Great Exchange, Death is deathless, the Sinner is Sinless, and the Offender is Righteous. Forever. Done. No changing God’s mind.

In this Unchangeableness, we keep the Easter feast this day and every year. We keep all the little Easters, that are the rest of the Sundays of the year, every Sunday. Non-stop, unashamed of labels, history, or alleged irrelevance. 

 

Nothing is more relevant to a dying, sinful world than our public celebration today. Nothing is more refreshing than to have the Crucified among us, communing with us, saving us.

 

Of Easter, St. John Chrysostom from the 4th century, says:

 

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast.

If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.

If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense.

If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward.

If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast.

If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore.

If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing.

If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts.

And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering.

Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second.

You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day.

Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast.

The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness.

 

Let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free.

He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.

By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.

He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions.

It was embittered, for it was abolished.

It was embittered, for it was mocked.

It was embittered, for it was slain.

It was embittered, for it was overthrown.

It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.

It took a body, and met God face to face.

It took earth, and encountered Heaven.

It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory?

Christ is risen, and you are overthrown.

Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen.

Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.

Christ is risen, and life reigns.

Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.

For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages.

Forever and ever.

Amen.

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!

 

Faith, the Answer [Easter Sunrise]

 

T E X T O N L Y

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Zechariah 9:9-12

• Philippians 2:5-11

• St. Matthew 26:1-27:66

Grace, mercy, and peace [are yours] from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim 1)

 

The Lord speaks, saying:

“for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead”

 

Mary Magdalen came to the empty tomb in unbelief. Twice. She did not preach the first Easter Sermon to the Apostles, for there was no church Service going on. She did bring a message though, a message that she delivered in bewilderment and unbelief. Yes unbelief, as Jesus said, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (St John 20:9)

 

The Marys, there was more than one, came to the tomb seeking a dead body. They brought spices and a change of cloths to clean up and honor, as best they could, the apparent empty, end of the Man they called, “Teacher”. But there is trouble. The dead body has been moved, “I do not know where they have taken His dead Body”. They did not understand, even with the words they spoke themselves: “I have seen the Lord.”

 

Of course you’ve seen the Lord, Mary, the disciples possibly replied. We all have. We saw Him walking around and preaching. We saw Him chatting and eating. We saw Him alive and laughing, drinking and making merry, crying and comforting. But that is no more. No more. We thought He was the one, but no longer. All that’s left for us is to die in the same way He did. Why did it come to this?

 

We run into the tombs of our own lives, many more times than Mary, thinking that this time there might be life. Life in the midst of death. In the midst of paychecks and bosses that couldn’t care less, of dysfunctional family and authority figures, of dogged steps and failed hopes and dreams. We run to the material and find no one to fight for us, no not one.

 

So where is the answer? Must we today only rely on the words, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”? How does that encourage anyone to believe and come to church more often?

 

Repent. Instead of searching for the Truth, we attempt to fill up this empty tomb in front of us, because reason says its not supposed to be empty! We believe with our whole heart that if we can just put the Tomb back together, the way its supposed to be, then we can get on with this life in which death surrounds us, comfortably numb.

 

In that tomb we throw our trash. All the things that we perceive as negatively impacting our life. We dump into this pit in the hopes that the stone will be rolled back into place, and we’ll never have to deal with them. Or maybe this is how we deal with them, honoring them, idolizing them, in the hopes that, maybe if they go into this tomb, we won’t have to and something good will come out of it.

 

Garbage from garbage is garbage. Those born of the flesh are flesh and the flesh is always hostile towards God. So hostile, that it would rather sit in a dark, solitary upper room for days, than to go outside and face the light. Because that light is the light of death, of Pharisees and soldiers issuing warrants for arrest, and God seeking vengeance for the death of His Son.

 

Such is life, religion, and everything without the Resurrection. Such are the thoughts and attempts made at conquering our lives, without the wounds and stripes on the risen body of Christ. 

 

You who face this world of death, what if Faith is the answer? You who trust in your own works, do you also attempt to quench your thirst with dry water? Do you fill your belly with air? Do you become angry at KFC for not carrying the BigMac on their menu?

 

You cannot find the answer to those questions if you dismiss, a priori, the answer that Jesus gives. And that answer is faith. 

 

Now faith is not belief in the absence of evidence. That is a false construct of disinformation and fake news. Faith is rational. Faith is intelligent. We can’t blame the Marys and the Apostles for not understanding. Instead we agonize with them and wait on the Lord to reveal His answer.

 

Jesus is like a man, Who having been possessed with the sins of the world, returns to His Tomb, His “house from which He came”, and finds it swept, cleaned, and put in order (Mt 12:43-45). The linen clothes were folded and lying there, neat and tidy, as our Gospel told us.

 

After housing the Lord of Life, the tomb is now infinitely larger on the inside, than it is on the outside and ready for other occupants. That is sin, death, and the power of the devil, for Jesus brings with Him, not seven others, but seven times seventy others who were dead in their sins, in order that at the last He would seal the tomb once more, this time forever and they never die again.

 

Where we want to find meaning in our works of death, Jesus brings light and life to all who would believe. This Light and Life is brought into focused focus when the Marys and the Apostles see. When they see the marks in His hands and the holes in His feet. When they read like braille the stripes of torture on His skin and when their hand reaches out to His Body and it meets resistance, instead of apparition.

 

No bloodless or disembodied salvation did God accomplish. No dead works did Jesus accomplish, that He would have to do them over and over again. No faulty religion or empty transcendence does Jesus offer in His Body and Blood, but the Truth. The truth about you and the truth of this world. 

 

In this is truth. That God was made man, suffered, was crucified, buried, and on the Third Day rose again. And that He has ordained that this day never end, this new day when the dead come back to life. It is in this truth that we now turn again to face life, in the midst of death. Being baptized, when we hear His word and believe, we will never die and even if we die, we shall live in Him.

 

We cannot dismiss the fact of the Resurrection, for on it hangs true religion and true knowledge. If Christ is not raised from the dead, then we are still in our sin, we are still in this confounded world which offers no solutions, no peace, and no mercy. 

 

“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?!” (Ps 22:1) was our psalm last Thursday. Yet, the same psalm that crushed us, that killed us, makes us alive again with the Gospel saying:

“For he has not despised or abhorred

    the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

    but has heard, when he cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation;

    my vows I will perform before those who fear him.

The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;

    those who seek him shall praise the Lord!” (22:24-26)

 

The Tomb that was supposed to be for the Marys, the Apostles, and you now evicts them and vomits you out. The grave wherein I will lay, Jesus occupies with so much life that it cannot hold me or you. Jesus ten-finger-death-punched a cross-shaped hole in the stomach of death. The wicked no longer eat, but only the righteous and are satisfied.

 

Only those baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ will eat and be satisfied in the great congregation, which is His Bride the Church. The truth that the Marys and the Apostles sought among the dead, is the living Christ offered in Word and Sacrament, Who makes the dead alive again. The truth that you desperately chase, is the Crucified Jesus, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins.

 

Here is the mercy that the world cannot produce. Here is the peace that the world cannot give. Here is salvation, redemption, and transcendence sought by all: God in the flesh, communing with His people on earth.

 

Eat and be satisfied today. Sing out loudly all the hymns and canticles that you fasted from, this Lententide. Rejoice in the Joy that comes from being a redeemed child of God. 

 

For you, who had no first fruits to offer, possess fully the Firstfruits from the dead, Who is Christ.

You who had no reason to hope, now cling to Jesus Who ascends to the Father and descends to His Divine Service of rich food and well aged wine.

 

You who find no answers in yawning graves, have and retain the “Yes” in Christ Jesus. Yes, death is not the end, yes suffering has an end, yes your life has meaning, yes, Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

 

A Good show [Good Friday]

 

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Hosea 6:1-6

• Exodus 12:1-12

• St. John 18:1-19:42

Grace, mercy, and peace from Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim 1)

 

Who speaks to you on this Good Friday from His suffering heard, saying:

“’Whom do you seek?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he.’”

 

King of kings and Lord of lords. And He shall reign forever and ever from a tree. Halleluiah, halleluiah, halleluiah, halleluiah. Oops. I said the A word. Or is it the “H” word?

 

What did you come to Church, tonight, to see? A reed shaken upon a head, by the hands of men?

What did you come out to see? A man in soft clothes of many colors or maybe one Who has come from Edom, with crimson-stained garments, spattered with lifeblood?

Behold, those in soft-clothing, with blood on their hands are in kings palaces and politicians’ mansions.

 

What did you come out to see tonight? Maybe you thought your Bread King would fill your pantry or your miracle King would heal all your ills. Or entertainment? Jesus, bring yourself down off the cross, dance around speaking in tongues, then we’ll believe.

 

Maybe you thought there was a show on tonight. That for the price of admission, you’d be entertained, like with a clown. Because, when it comes down to it, that’s all we really want from God: entertainment. We don’t care what He says, as long as its nice and we can feel good about ourselves. We don’t care what He does, as long as its in the past and has nothing to do with how I worship Him today

 

We don’t care to stay too long either, or it might become not as special. We don’t dare dwell on Christ on the Cross. Its too dark. Too depressing. Not churchy enough.

 

I will tell you what I came out to see. I came to see the Crucified. I came to see a corpus, a body on that cross. I came to see God stopped dead in His tracks, literally. Why? Because I am an enemy of God in my sin and while I was an enemy of God, I was reconciled to Him by the death of His Son (Rom 5:10). That’s what He wants. That’s how He wanted it. Give God the glory great things He has done.

 

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David” (Is 55:2-3).

 

He came to be despised and rejected by men. To be heavy with sorrow and grief. The shame that made us hide our face from Him, He wore as a badge of courage, those marks of thorn and reed. Though we judged Him forsaken by God, He bore our griefs and iniquities. Why do we whitewash our churches and services and empty our crosses?

 

Being pierced, crushed, and tortured He buys us peace. Having been afflicted with numerous, fatal wounds, we are healed, because from those open and flowing wounds comes the lifeblood of God Himself, in which is life eternal.

 

Like a lamb led to the slaughter, our Man does not turn to the left or to the right. No more praying for relief, no more threatening with legions of angels, and no more arguing. The Table is set. The cards are down. The chips fall where they may.

 

And when the dust settles, the Lamb that was slain, stands upright again. He can stay on the cross. He can hold up the crown of thorns. He can withstand the scourging of reeds and rods and stand again. And when He stands He shouts out, “Today you will be with me in paradise”.

 

Its not the sentencing of the innocent, or the death, or the burial, but at the announcement of our inclusion. That is when the News is Good News. “We are included!”

Then the new song is started up, everyone already knowing the words, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev 5:9).

 

By thorn, nail, and spear a fountain is opened up “to cleanse from sin and uncleanness” (Zech 13:1). False Idols will be cut off and “I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God’” (Zech 13:9).

 

Your “sin…is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of [your] heart” (Jer 17:1). “For thus says the Lord: ‘Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous.

There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you’” (Jer 30:12-13). There has never been a case such as yours where the patient lived.

 

Until Christ. 

For thus saith the Lord, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the wrath-absorbing sacrifice for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10).

 

So what have we come here for, tonight? We have come to be witness and party to God’s great work of history: salvation for sinners. We testify that God has done this through the suffering, death, and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as He wanted. And we proclaim that death until He comes, by eating and drinking His Feast, and keeping the reminder in front of our faces, of just where and how this was accomplished: Christ on the cross.

 

We have come to proclaim His death until He comes again. To testify by Word, Water, Bread and Wine that our King of Glory, strong and mighty, reigns forever as the Crucified, as we adorn His Church with Him, The Crucified.

 

Stripped [Maundy Thursday]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 12:1-14

• 1 Corinthians 11:23-32

• St. John 13:1-15

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim 1)
 
Jesus speaks to you tonight, from His Holy Supper, through the Gospel, saying:

“He rose from supper. He stripped off his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.”

 
Tonight, we strip our altar, made with our own hands, not God’s, not in the hope of receiving some special grace or gift from God in doing so, but in the hope that our conscience will be as stricken, smitten, and afflicted as our Lord. We only keep the ceremonies that teach what we need to know about Christ.
 
And what does stripping the Altar have to do with the doctrines of Jesus, necessary for faith? It is a mark of the Messiah, a prophesy, and so that you know the Messiah communes at this Altar, we make our Altar like our Messiah.
 
Joseph was stripped of his coat of many colors by his brothers, in their desire to kill him. When King Saul died, his enemies stripped him and sent “messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people” (1 Sam 31:9), that their enemy king was defeated. 
 
Job prophesies, in his Easter chapter (19), saying, “He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head” yet, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” 
 
So we come to the humiliation of Jesus and hear this same prophetic pattern fulfilled, “And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’” (St. Matt 27:28-29) and it is Good News to carry to the people!
 
But the delivery of this prophesy does not stop there! What is it that the Marys and St. Peter and St John see in the tomb? They see cloths, stripped off! Jesus, rising from the dead, strips Himself. He strips Himself of the old linens, the old wineskins, the old leaven of sin, death, and the power of the devil and leaves them in the grave.
 
The mortality of Christ has now put on immortality. The corruption that was laid on Christ has been turned to incorruption. In the twinkling of an eye. Cast off and bedecked. This is the movement that we are then given to live out in our life of Faith.
 
Look at St. Peter after the Resurrection of Jesus, for example. After the St. Thomas incident, Peter still does not understand what Jesus did for him and declared, “I’m going fishing” (St John 21:3). Jesus continues to chase after His weary, confused Apostles and appears to them again, this time on the shore while they are in the boats, a familiar scene. 
 
When St. John exclaims that it is Jesus, St. Peter clothes himself, for he was stripped for work. He was stripped for the earthly work of slugging through sin, guilty of unbelief. But when the Lord appears, when Jesus shows up, St. Peter gets dressed. He dresses in the outer garment that is his in Christ Jesus, that is, Christ’s righteousness.
 
He dresses in that garment to remind himself and to reinvigorate his faith, that he is baptized, that he does believe, and that he is now going to eat with Jesus. Similar to tonight’s Gospel where St. Peter also declares that he should strip so that Jesus may wash all of him before he communes, Jesus speaks of a better way.
 
The better way of Word and Sacrament. Of rebirth and regeneration. Of the stripping off the old and being clothed in the new. This is why we attempt to dress different for Sundays, because we believe that we come into heaven’s own Temple here. That Christ Himself, appears on our shore of Chancel and Pulpit to cry out to us: Come and break bread.
 
When we are invited to the wedding feast, the clothes are provided, the uniforms furnished. We all look alike in Christ, for we all look like little Christs. We are stripped of sin and death and dressed to enter into the presence of our sinless and deathless Lord and Savior, fully clothed in Him.
 
In these new clothes, St. Paul can now say, “If we judged ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Cor 11:31), because if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can say to God, I am baptized into Christ! So now our judgement from the Lord is discipline. A knock on the side of the head to keep us on the straight and narrow. An example to keep us going towards communing with His only begotten Son.
 
Thus, Jesus interrupts the Last Supper in order to remind His disciples, to rekindle the struggling faith in His Word and in His Promises, washing completely, from head to toe, from cradle to grave, those who hear His Word and believe it.
 
Jesus lays aside His outer garments to reveal His Body, His Blood, and the new, watery garments that appeal to God for a good conscience, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 3:21). Jesus gives Himself and we take Him bare-faced. He created this world bare-faced, He was made man barefaced, he did His work barefaced, and He continues among you, stripped for the work of cleansing you from your sins.

In order that you, now in the robes of Christ, may touch, smell, hear, taste and see that the Lord is good.