For the weak [Palm Sunday]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• St. Matthew 21:1-9

• Zechariah 9:9-12

• Philippians 2:5-11

• St. Matthew 26 & 27

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet 1)
 
Who speaks to you on this day from His Gospel heard, saying:

“Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’”

 
It is not religion, but theology that causes problems in the world. For theology is how you understand and practice your religion. God caused His Passion to be written down that we may learn just what true religion is: receiving what God is giving. This points us to the fact that we are weak according to God’s gifts, which should encourage us to go to them even more.
 
St. Peter, whom we quoted, is the everyman Christian role model. He is the one we look to when we feel good on Sundays, belting out the Nicene Creed, saying Jesus is the Son of the Most High like nobody’s business.
 
He is the saintly example of being wrong. Such as when Pastor asks a question in church or Bible Class, we raise our hand immediately, give our answer, and it’s the wrong one. Then having to be sheepish the rest of the session.
 
He is also the man we turn to when we face our own hypocrisy. This is the fake-Christian Peter. This is the deny-Jesus-three-times, Peter. Why is that a model for us?
 
Well, why are there times when you feel like a fake Christian, like a fraud? The struggles the Christian faces in life are ones we repeatedly come back to, because we're tempted to think the Christian Life should be better than this or should be easier than that and sometimes it feels like you’re just going through the motions.
 
This is one of the main criticisms to Christianity from unbelievers. That it is repetitive, especially if you’re a Lutheran. If you are, then the Spirit really stays away from your church for that reason. You just do the same things over and over again without thinking.
 
Eventually, you become convinced. You feel as if you just do as your told. You believe all the things, you make the confessions, you show up at church. But some part of you raises the red flag. I am just kind of saying the things, but do I really mean it? Do I really believe it? Emotionally you’re not there. Spiritually, you check-out. But you went.
 
What’s going to hurt is that this describes the normal life of a Christian. We can be rough on ourselves for faking it or being double-minded, but it’s a good thing. We just don’t see how.
 
It is a good thing, because it always makes us feel like we are in need of something we are missing out on. We join with St. Paul in Romans 7 and conclude that nothing good dwells in me. You have the desire to do what’s right, but not the ability. When you want to do right and not be fake, evil lies close at hand. You are captive to the law of sin in a body of death (v23-24).
 
This normal Christian Life makes those who love victory nervous. Those who want to see real proof of living faith in the work of your hands cannot bear to believe that they are totally and utterly corrupt. Not on the outside, like dirt to be washed off, but on the inside like cancer to be scraped out. 
 
That doesn't look like winning, that looks like the condemnation of the law. We are living our worst life now. Not opposed to our Best Life Now, trademark, but opposed to our Right Life now. For in truth, our best life, our Right Life comes in glory. Then and only then are we made perfect. 
 
We've got this image that somehow the Christian Church and our lives are supposed to improve increasingly some way. That your behavior will be better, your relationships will improve, your marriage will be better. Things will get easier.
 
Then we go through our week and we keep finding ourselves struggling with the same sins that haven’t yet gone away. That’s a hard life. Who wants to live that way? I wish it would go away. I don’t want to sin anymore or be surrounded by it.
 
Religion is for the weak. God is God and we are not. And rather than employing violence to advance His kingdom, Jesus undermines it with self-giving love. Rather than embracing the indomitable human spirit, Jesus fights the kingdom-fight by going to the cross.
 
“Who is weak and I am not weak”, asks Jesus through St. Paul. Jesus is always more righteous, just, beautiful, compassionate, gracious, and loving than we could ever be. Thus, when we see Him express all this in the choices He makes and the words He uses in holy Scripture, we find them in His weakness. For the glory of this God we worship is only clearly seen in the God-man crowned with thorns and enthroned with nails.
 
This weakness creates vulnerability. Not only is God, in Jesus, able to be handled physically by hands and history, but is able to suffer and die to reconcile man with God. This weakness is uninterested in power and prestige, but only that new life occur. This weakness does not care about looking good or preserving Himself, but only that Divine Service be done to sinners.
 
Jesus does not need to lie to empower or glorify Himself. It is the way of the world that seeks success in material things. It is the weak church that finds proof in numbers and statistics. What a great blunder and misunderstanding on our part to think that faith is based on our being rational, dogmatic, or “blessed”. 
 
Jesus is so weak, that He will not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking wick. Jesus is so weak, no one would recognize Him in a crowd. Jesus is so weak, that He was crucified in weakness, having suffered at the hands of men, and buried.
 
“For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God”, from 2 Corinthians 13:4. He was weak, and yet He lives even though He died. He Who did not consider equality with God an opportunity to assault heaven, makes Himself lowly, becomes the servant to obey the Father’s Will. 
 
And in this Will was the weakness of being born of a virgin and catering to crowds who sing “Hosanna” on Sunday and “Crucify Him” on Friday. The weakness of the anxiety of sweating blood and the power to serve: “For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves” (St Luke 22:27).
 
The weakness of God is stronger than men and is the power of salvation. Christ Crucified is the weakness of God and yet it is the point of His greatest work, able to be accomplished by no one, but God Himself. That is to justify sinners by the blood of Jesus Christ. “For in him all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, on earth and in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19–20).
 
In this weakness, St. Paul proclaims, “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
 
We don’t like to be counselled into weakness, but there we are. If you're not feeling like you're victorious in the Christian life, that's just where you should be. Ironically, those who are in an emotional state of feeling like they've got this or they're winning or achieving “the thing” and don't feel that sense of frustration or sadness or why doesn't this stop or they're crushed by the law or all the different things that we could find flavors of, that is the dangerous position of not needing Christ.
 
For the religious progressive, there is no need for weakness. There is no need for God to break into history, because we are moral and rational and can figure it out on our own. Those who believe that are in darkness. Moving closer to Christ is frustrating and hard. The Law turns its screws into the Christian, so that they need more forgiveness and must return to repent of the same sins again and again.
 
We sin because we are sinners and repeat that cycle until we die. The Christian life, given by Christ, is also as repetitious, forgiving those sins each time, because He is gracious and merciful. Therefore, take heart, dear Christians. If you are struggling, you are close to Christ. You come in front of God as a beggar, crushed and broken. He stands before you as the broken, Body and Blood of Forgiveness.
 
The first will be last and the last will be first. The Nicene creed of the thief on the cross is “Remember me”, O Lord. The confession of the Tax Collector is “have mercy on me”. The cry of the blind man is “I believe, help Thou my unbelief”.
 
Those who are well need no physician, but those who are sick. So, it is we who are sick in our sin who need the Healer, the Ever-living Healer, and we need to hear His words and be relieved of our burden of sin as often as possible. This is the normal, weak Christian Life.
 
The struggle in the faith that we all seem to have, in one way, shape, or form, and the “feeling like a fraud” is part of the deal. This is what the law does. It makes you feel like a fraud. It makes you feel like you're not worth it, in order to reveal the True God Who is not a fraud, even though He dies, and true worth in the Blood of Jesus.
 
Dr. Luther struggled with this and saw it as the devil in the room saying “You are a sinner because of this, this, and this and the holy law convicts you!”
Dr. Luther's response was, “what of it? You forgot a few. Let me show you some others you didn't put in there. I’m worse than you made me out to be.”
 
Because, in the end, it's Christ. It's Christ or nothing. Christ is the solution for all of it. Particularly in his dying and particularly in his suffering.
 

In trouble, comfort [Wednesday in Lent 5]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Romans 8:1-39

• St. John 16:1-33

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet 1)

 

Who speaks to you this evening, from His letter to the Romans, saying:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

 

In all these things. What things? In all those who are against us or say God is against us. In all charges brought against us. In all worldly condemnation. In all feelings of separation, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, and death. 

 

Lest we make the mistake of assigning religious meaning to irreligious things that others have conquered without the need of the cross, we name them along with St. Paul. For it is into this trouble that Jesus sends the Holy Ghost to comfort you.

 

As we ponder our final stanzas from “Dear Christians one and all rejoice” this evening:

9 "Now to My Father I depart,                    10 "What I on earth have done and taught

     From earth to heav'n ascending,                 Guide all your life and teaching;

     And, heav'nly wisdom to impart,                 So shall the kingdom's work be wrought

     The Holy Spirit sending;                               And honored in your preaching.

     In trouble He will comfort you                     But watch lest foes with base alloy

     And teach you always to be true                 The heav'nly treasure should destroy;

     And into truth shall guide you.                    This final word I leave you."

 

What are some things we can conquer without the cross of Jesus? Any sort of personal change falls under this from weight loss, to making better choices, to turning your life around. All of that can be and are done by many who do not believe in Jesus. You do not need Jesus to cut sugar and chemicals out of your food and you don’t need Jesus to steer you in the right direction.

 

This is one of the arguments of the atheists. People don’t need a sky-daddy, as they call Him, to be watching all the time to make sure we’ve been good. They can just look within themselves. Morality can come from humans, from the natural man, they assert. We can live just fine as if we had no god.

 

The problem, I believe, comes when they have to begin to use religious words to describe this “life without the cross”. Religious words such as suffering, justice, and good. Why are those religious words? Because you cannot use them without describing an antithesis. Meaning, when you use them, you are suggesting there is a right and a wrong. 

 

Is it right that I can go to the dentist to fix my teeth and not have to rely and wait for God to fix them Himself? Sin and the works of man need more than just the temporary alleviation of inconvenience. Suffering implies a right and a wrong. It is wrong I am suffering. Who thinks they are right in causing it?

 

This necessitates the need for a conqueror. A just and upright King Who knows what is right and what is wrong, no matter how the mob votes. 

 

Dr. Luther says:

the “holy Christian people are externally recognized by the holy possession of the sacred cross. They must endure every kind of misfortune and persecution, all kinds of trials and evil from the devil, the world, and the flesh (as the Lord’s Prayer indicates) by inward sadness, timidity, fear, outward poverty, contempt, illness, and weakness, in order to become like their head, Christ. And the only reason they must suffer is that they steadfastly adhere to Christ and God’s word, enduring this for the sake of Christ” (AE 41:164-165)

 

Suffering and trouble are not produced by us “leaving our comfort zones” or being on fire for Jesus. They come on their own. And there are two kinds: the sin induced kind, meaning that which we expect when dealing with sinners in our lives. And the other kind, because of our fear, love, and trust in God. 

 

For it is at the cross that Jesus departs to the Father and ascends to heaven. His crucifixion is His whole purpose of being made man, to suffer, die, and take away the sin of the world. In Jesus’s ascent to glory, the Holy Spirit becomes the pastor and preacher. 

 

Jesus ordains the Holy Ghost as pastor and preacher “to prevent one from gaping toward heaven in search of Him, as the fluttering spirits and enthusiasts do, and from divorcing Him from the spoken Word of the ministry. One should know and learn that He will be in and with the Word (preached and taught), and that it will guide us into all truth, in order that we may believe it, use it as a weapon, be preserved by it against all the lies and deceptions of the devil, and prevail in all trials and temptations….The Holy Spirit wants this truth which He is to impress into our hearts to be so firmly fixed that reason and all one’s own thoughts and feelings are relegated to the background. He wants us to adhere solely to the Word and to regard it as the only truth. And through this Word alone He governs the Christian Church to the end” (AE 24:362).

 

This is the importance of the Bible. That we believe it is what God chose to work in this world. To be a means of the Spirit and the only norm and source of our teaching. And the Spirit is not a substitute for Jesus. Jesus sends Him and He takes what Jesus has and hands it over to you. 

 

That is why the Peace Jesus leaves and the comfort the Spirit gives are both found in Word and Sacrament. The Word that reveals our sin and Savior and the Sacraments which purge our sin and unite us to our Savior. This is accomplished even in the midst of suffering. Maybe we should say, especially in the midst of suffering.

 

It is through this preaching that God gives us the certainty of salvation in the forgiveness of sins. The “foes with base alloy” preach and teach of human actions, human feelings, and human understanding. 

 

The preaching of the Kingdom of our Father Who art in heaven gives belief and grace to believe His holy Word and lead godly lives now and in eternity. Christ remains with His Church by sermon and sacrament, turning sorrow into joy and condemnation into consolation. The words of the Holy Spirit are the words of Jesus and they are life.

 

Jesus says “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world

you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” The hymn and this

Lenten Season then draws to a close where it began: “Dear Christians, one and all

rejoice/With exultation springing/And with united heart and voice/And holy rapture

singing/Proclaim the wonders God has done/How His right arm the vict’ry won/What

price our ransom cost Him.”

 

And hopefully now, this hymn has a bit more meaning for you, too.

 

 

True fear of God [Lent 5]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 22:1-14

• Hebrews 9:11-15

• St. John 8:46-59

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet 1)

 

Who speaks to you on this day of His Passion (or suffering) from His Gospel heard, saying:

“So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”

 

In God’s Word, so that we believe and know that He hides His infinitude in suffering and the cross. This is what we should fear from God, not His Almighty power, because He chooses to use that almighty power to save. This is His true, and proper work, such that we can follow His example of mercy to others and have it be holy.

 

The future is a very real thing and we know that there is death in the future, so we fear the future. And with that fear, we and our future are controlled by others. In the first place, the devil uses our fear of death to get us to side with him and love our sin. Hebrews 2:15 says, that through death Christ would “deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

 

The rest of the world uses the same fear of the future of death on us, to get us to side with them, to get us to do inhumane things to each other, and to dehumanize ourselves. One example of this is when we are sent to the polls to decide on national topics. We go in afraid. We are afraid to make the wrong decision. We are afraid people won’t like us because of our vote. We are afraid to go against the grain.  The heavy burden of “if you vote incorrectly, the entire country will cease to exist” is laid on our conscience.

 

Similarly, when worldly affairs are placed in front of us. They pretend that we have some influence on them. That our elected officials, whom we elect, affect the entire world and can move it in the resulting direction. Democracy lives or dies by my index finger on an LCD screen in Accident, Maryland.

 

And with that fear, shame. Shame from those who control us saying they could’ve done it better. In fact, machines can do it better, so we are then dehumanized. No matter what we voted for or chose, AI is going to make life better by replacing human choices. AI can even produce music, produce art, and write papers. All of the human things. And you thought AI was just coming to do the things that we didn’t want to do, the jobs we didn’t want. Little did we know.

 

Yes, little do we know. They say we only use 10% of our brain and most of that is used on bodily functions and not thinking. So we are less than 10% aware of who we are as a human and even less sure of who others are, because they must use their bodily functions of their understanding to give us understanding. Ah what a mess.

 

This is not helped by the fact that when God appears He instills fear. He is a fire that does not consume. He is thunder. He is darkness. He’s a pillar of fire and a voice of thunder, and if any of that touches us, it will kill us.

 

Abraham is dead, they cry. The Prophets are dead. Nobody gets out alive. Though God has promised good to us, the good that we thought God had, or is, is so good that it will kill us. Absolute goodness. Absolute justice. Absolute mercy cannot tolerate our evil, our injustice, or our unmercifulness. As it sits, we now fear every little thing.

 

As Leviticus 26:36 prophesies, “And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues.”

 

Half of the work of the devil is done already and we are ready to fear God to be a hard man Who reaps where He does not sow and Who has mercy on whomever He will. And either we will fear Him to avoid punishment or fear Him with our face in the dust. 

 

If, as the world promises however, you just accept the programming of the world, the fear will go away. They promise. Just accept the fact that you are a tiny, insignificant space-dust-mite and you won’t have to worry about the big things anymore. You sell me your birth right, says Jacob to Esau, and I will feed you.

You don’t really believe you’re human do you? The same as our Lord? You’re replaceable. You’re up-loadable and God wants you dead.

 

Dead to your sins. And although true fear of God does include fearing that He can destroy both body and soul in hell (Matt 10:28), that is only secondary. That is God’s alien work, punishing sinners who refuse to repent, keeping order in Creation. That work, God has no pleasure in. 

 

True fear of God is a matter of the heart, just as faith is, because it concerns the Gospel, not the Law. Anyone can fake a servant’s devotion, kneeling, bowing, and scraping all the while hiding a dagger. True fear is a matter only for sons. Sons who desire to please their father, love him, and not let him down.

 

This is why Jesus shows us true courage in the face of enemies. He is not fearful of those who hate Him, mock Him, or wish Him dead. He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: He hid not His face from shame and spitting (Isa 50:6). He even endures false testimony and blasphemy directed at Him and the Father (Matt 12:31), without flinching.

 

The devil can be bound and chained. Sin can be forgiven.

Death must be defeated. Everybody knows death rules and that the devil has us all in bondage through the fear of death. What is startling is that the God Who wants us alive is the God Who died. He died to kill death.

 

Dying on the cross, the death of Christ is the death of death. Death no more has dominion over Him. Over Him or over you. For have you not heard? “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-4).

 

In this Gospel of the true Son of God, we find His sonship for us and true filial fear of God. That is respect, awe, and adoration because He has passed over former sins (Rom 3:25). He has passed over us in sight of the Blood of Christ. He has passed the knife of His Judgement from Isaac to the ram. The Ram of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

 

We do not have the fear of a prisoner, of someone awaiting his day of torture and agony. And even though we retain our guilt and believe we are sinners in the hands of an angry God, the truth is we are sons in the hands of a loving father. A Father Who “thusly loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

 

That fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That fear of the Lord is how we are to have no other gods before Him. That fear of the Lord causes praise to come from our lips. For true wisdom is the Crucified Christ. True God is the God Who dies and rises again. True praise is the revelation of the God Who gives such power of forgiveness to men.

 

This we fear, love, and trust. The power of salvation for us. The death of death for us. The forgiveness given and shed for us. This is true fear of God: that He uses His phenomenal cosmic powers on caring for little ol’ me. That He uses His infinite wisdom to sacrifice His own Son, not ours. That He uses His Body and His Blood to bring me to that fear and faith, every day.

 

For we have not been given a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-control (2 Tim 1:7). The power to have the infinite Christ dwell in our hearts, the love to be able to please God, and the self-control to bend the knee at the Name of He Who comes in the Name of the Lord, in His Church.

 

When fear, sorrow, temptation and tribulation come, and they will come, doubt not, despair not. 

It is only for a little time. When these are over, then follow their fruits, peace and joy. (Luther’s Sermons, Lenker, Vol 3:76). Then follow faith and joy in the morning of Easter and His Gifts of Word and Sacrament to the Church.

 

From Luke 21:15, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.” A mouth to taste and see that the Lord is Good in His Supper and the wisdom of the God Who died and rose again, for you.

 

So FDR was wrong. The only thing we have to fear is God, not fear and certainly not death. Isaac did not fear it. Abraham did not fear it. They knew that in the very next second, they would be brought back together. Abraham even confessed this in verse 5 of our Old Testament reading, “I and the boy will come again to you all.”

 

Because death is not the end, it is the devil and the wicked who fear death. For after death comes judgement and one must own up to all the work that has been done. For those who are being saved, after death comes rest and peace. We now better understand the great Psalm which declares, “There were they in great fear, where no fear was” (Ps 53:5). There can be no fear because Jesus has defeated death, but there is fear where Jesus has not defeated death, for me.

 

Because that truth is hidden, as we have now hidden Jesus for the remainder of Lent. He is hidden until He is known as Death Slayer, as Grave Robber, as Resurrected and blessed in His Communion with His Church on earth. Then we will know that Abraham lives and the prophets live and that the One Greater than Abraham, our father, and the prophets now stands before us in Unconquerable Life, handing it out freely to those who fear, love, and trust in Him above all things.

 

 

Your Ransom; your Rescue [Wednesday in Lent 4]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Romans 8:1-11

• St. John 14:15-27

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet 1)

 

Who speaks to you this evening, from His letter to the Romans, saying:

“He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you”

 

In the face of arguments of logic and reason, we are often confused. Especially when it comes to holding God to that same, sinful standard. As in, if He doesn’t make sense to me, then I won’t believe. Our sin makes up the rules for logic and reason, therefore, if we don’t like something, we will argue in favor of the opposite, whether we believe it or not. 

 

So when God says suffering produces good, we run away.

 

This we keep in mind as we ponder our 7th and 8th stanzas of “Dear Christians one and all Rejoice” this evening:

7 To me He said: "Stay close to Me,          8 "Though he will shed My precious blood,

     I am your rock and castle.                           Me of My life bereaving,

     Your ransom I Myself will be;                    All this I suffer for your good;

     For you I strive and wrestle.                       Be steadfast and believing.

     For I am yours, and you are Mine,              Life will from death the vict'ry win;

     And where I am you may remain;              My innocence shall bear your sin,

     The foe shall not divide us.                         And you are blest forever.

 

There should always be an interest is digging into things, hymns, bible verses,, etc. that weren’t English to begin with. Such as when we ponder our hymn as we have been during Lent, we should realize that it was written in German first and translated to English. 

 

The first line in the hymn I want to point out is in stanza 8: “be steadfast and believing”. The way it is worded now does not make the connection I believe Dr. Luther wanted to make. As it is, it sounds like Jesus suffering is one thing and our steadfast believing is another. Different corners of the boxing ring.

 

What this leads to is false belief in a dogma that is so popular these days. That Jesus did His work, now I do mine. He did His cross thing long ago, today, I have to make vows in light of that and carry on the work. Because of what use is the cross 2000 years after the fact?

 

Indeed, it is useful only for remembering. It is useful only for paying respects. It is useful for my past and for my future, but what I have to do now, today is in my hands and I’m not going to let establishment religion get in the way of that.

 

But as Romans 8 teaches, Jesus’s work has to do with now just as it had been done then, or just as if we lived then. Verse 11 says, He will give life to our mortal bodies, today. Now. Not only then and at the end. Life has come, will come again, and is coming right now. 

 

Therefore an alternate translation sings, “All this I suffer for thy good, to THAT with firm faith cleave well”. Of utmost importance is you cleaving to Jesus’s suffering. Does He suffer for all eternity? No. He suffered once and was finished. But it was His suffering that completed the purchase of you from sin, death, and the devil. Not His resurrection and not His ascension. 

 

Thus we from teach our English translation as we are to be steadfast and believing, everyday, that Jesus’s suffering was for our good. It is foundational to the Christian faith. It is a dogma that must be kept close to the heart, for there is no other work which allows us to live in His Spirit, as the Epistle says. 

 

Though we are not in the flesh, as the Apostle says, we can’t help but pinch ourselves and find that we are still indeed, in the flesh. We still wear our meat-suits day in and day out. So is St. Paul lying? Is this proof God contradicts Himself? 

 

It becomes important that the terrified conscience then hears words of comfort, “to me He said stay close to me”, “hold this place next to me. its going to be rough from here on out. I will settle all your sinful matters, Jesus sings. I will give all of Myself up for you, I will fight your battle. I am yours and you are mine, my place is your place, and nothing will divide us.

 

But I’m going to have to suffer and bear the cross, to do it, and that is real and scary and in the flesh. And you’re going to have to bear your cross as well, when you follow Me. But when it happens, don’t keep your eyes on your work or your understanding, but on the Promise I just gave you. Cling to my suffering and dying with all the strength of faith, and you will succeed.

 

For, sin is not just accumulated misdeeds and things done or left undone. Sin is a power that holds its victims captive. Old Testament background for the language of ransom/redeem has to do with slavery. Slaves are under the procession of another. They belong to their owner. The law diagnoses your captivity. It reveals who or what “owns” you.

 

Therefore, the work we do, any work we do, is done in captivity. It is owed, regulated, and allowed by sin, death, and the devil. That was the point of stanzas 2 and 3. As the Father Wills it, Jesus is sent to Redeem those in sin’s captivity, but the Redemption is in the Blood. the holy, precious Blood and His innocent suffering and death.

 

Without the cross, there is no redemption. Without Blood, there is no sacrifice for sin (Heb 9:22). So, our hope to which we must cling is His Blood, now delivered into our hands, in the Cup of the New Testament. In the face of Uncertainty to God’s Word, we eat and drink the sure and certain Promise of faith, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. In the face of those who would have us believe God is self-contradictory, we cling to the Body and Blood of Jesus.

 

Going through this world is a roller coaster ride. One day we are on fire for the Lord and movin’ up like George and Wheezy and the next, the Lord sees fit to give us His hardest battles and trials. Our heart does not take this well and move in and out of faith and doubt, trust and rebellion as easily as we walk through a doorway. 

 

“stay close to me”, He sings. His innocence has borne your sin and you are His forever, through cross and trial. You have a new and different Lord. Not sin, death or the devil but Jesus crucified and raised from the grave, through suffering and death. You are relocated from slavery to freedom and baptized into the Body and Blood that fought with death and won.

 

To this great strife of the ages, Jesus Christ contends with the devil in our flesh and Promises that the God Who wants us alive, is the God Who dies. So, hold that crucifix before your closing eyes and don’t blink in the face of trial and tribulation. the Promise of God is stronger than your doubts. The Word of God is stronger than your fears. 

 

His Life WILL from death the victory win and in that, you are blest forever.

 

 

Foolish and Wise Christ [Lent 4]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 16:2-21

• Galatians 4:21-31

• St. John 6:1-15

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet 1)

 

Who speaks to you on this day from His Gospel heard, saying:

“He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do”

 

We are to hear today’s Gospel to learn of the foolishness of God. How He died for sinners who hate Him and yet it is the wisdom hidden from before the ages. We do not need to make fools of ourselves, believing that is how God acts. We simply believe and receive His wisdom in the folly of broken Body, given for you, and His sainting of sinners.

 

They call it April Fools Day, this coming Tuesday, as if it is something fun and silly, which is what we usually do with important history. We foolishly forget details, but remember it only during partying. St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day fall under this abuse. 

 

The very first April fools were allegedly pranked in the 16th century, by Pope Gregory XIII when he decided the world needed a new calendar. And since he was pope, he was in charge of the world. For foolish reasons we won’t get into today, part of the change was moving the new year from Easter (around April 1), to January 1. Those who weren’t in the know about the time change, were called April fools, as they still hadn't adopted the new New Year. Losers.

 

Thus, it used to be, even in our own lifetimes, that fools were bad things. One did not want to be foolish or be called a fool. In fact, many Christian families banned the word “fool” from their household because of Jesus’s warning in St. Matthew 5:22, “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”

 

Today, pop-intelligence has changed all that and it is cool to be called a fool. In literature and media, the foolish are to be coddled and praised, for they are victims. In satanic arts, there is a Fool card and it allegedly foretells of new adventure. That in purity and innocence, we all start out a new chapter in life to learn its lessons. We may face mountains or cliffs, but our optimism will get us through. A leap of faith, if you will!

 

Worse than all that, there are so-called Christians who also want to be fools. Fools for Jesus, as if that makes it better. This is all because of one fraction of one verse in 1 Corinthians 4:10 saying, “We are fools for Christ's sake”. From this, they not only throw away intelligence and debate of important topics in American Christianity, but also they have sanctioned foolishness as sainthood in both the East and the West churches; Orthodox and Rome.

 

And it is as ridiculous as you imagine, as canonized sainthood usually gets. With foolish actions ranging from being homeless on purpose, to sleeping naked on church-porches, to acting the lunatic. Of course, the holy fool is not a real fool, he’s just pretending in order to make a point or to shock people. Sounds like demon possession and hypocrisy to me.

 

“Fool” in the Bible is 99% a bad thing. From, “The fool says in his heart there is no God”, in Psalm 14:1, to Jesus on Easter Day rebuking the disciples saying, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Lk 24:25)

 

So what’s different about that 1 Corinthians verse? St. Paul is being sarcastic! Sarcasm in the Bible?! Nooooo. 

 

Context will give us the truth. St. Paul begins these thoughts with the dogma that Christ is the only foundation (1 Cor 3:11) and that believers are God’s Temple, already built on that Foundation (3:16). All things are already yours (3:21) and you are Christ’s (3:23). This means that no one should be able to trick you into seeking and finding a righteousness that is apart from Christ, such as a foolish righteousness.

 

As examples, St. Paul talks of the slaves of that Temple, the pastors, of which he is one. He wants them to be known as stewards, not fools. “Stewards of the mysteries of God”. Not mysteries as in “the unknown” or “unintelligible”, but mysteries as in “how did God do that?”

 

How has God justified me by His Son when I do not fear, love, and trust Him completely? How did God take on human flesh? How can water do such great things? How can a man forgive my sins? How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things??

 

Repent! There is no mystery in God’s will, as we said last week, and there is no mystery in His plan and purpose for all things. And yet, this is exactly where you assign mystery to God’s Work. Why? Because you don’t want handouts. You don’t want regular old moldy bread from the hands of God, you want adventure in the great wide somewhere. You don’t want fish. You don’t want water. 

 

And if you must take those things from God, you better be able to conjure them up all the time to impress your friends, in His Name, of course. God better make it so that His bread is super bread, so that His water is super water, and so that His words are super words. You know propelling us to heaven and making the sun stand still and stuff. Because you loathe this worthless food, these worthless gifts God is handing out.

 

And there is the danger that St. Paul goes on to warn about. When we involve ourselves in thinking bad is good or that being foolish is some sort of super-holy-living, we go beyond what we have been taught and what has been written. 

 

“I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,” he says back to 1 Corinthians, “that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (4:6-7). Foolish.

 

For, “That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church” (4:17). 

 

And what is it that St. Paul teaches? “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me…For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:23-26).

 

Meaning, true Christian foolishness for Christ is found in us foolishly adhering to and clinging to the Word and Sacrament. When the world says, that’s stupid, we say forgiveness. When the world says “thou fool!”, we say “Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord”. When our sinful nature says, “grumble grumble”, Christ says “eat to the full”.

 

For let us not forget the biggest fool of all: God. Forgive me! In the beginning He created all things and just hands them over to newborns! What did He expect to happen? Then, the descendants of those newborns need rescue, so He floods the whole earth. Later on, He finds the most stiff-necked (Ex 32:9), lying (Amos 2:4), harlotrous (Ez 16:25), and unreliable (Hos 5:11) people on earth to make His own people.

 

Upon those people stumbling, sinning, and rejecting God to His face, He then chooses to destroy them. But His choice of destruction, as He promised, did not come in the usual way of the foolish world; drones and stuff. It came first in the destruction of His own self. God’s wrath against sin mobilized all His might to strike one man: Jesus Christ.

 

Yes, the Fool Who feeds the masses, Who heals the sick, Who raises the dead, Who gets caught, suffers, and will not remove Himself from the cross of shame. That Fool Who believes that His Body and Blood can pay for the sin of the world. That fool Who dies for those Who hate Him. That Fool Who creates His Church and leaves it to men.

 

The Holy One of God, that Famous-est Preacher and healer, hides Himself in His Word and Sacrament. It is impossible to redeem such people with Blood, but Christ does it. It is impossible to feed such ingrates with bread, but Christ does it. It is impossible says the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, for an almighty God to become flesh and accomplish His work, in the flesh.

 

To be a true fool for Christ is to believe and receive His work, accomplished for you, no matter what the world and our sinful senses scream at us. To be a fool for Christ is to cling to His Holy Church throughout the ages, when the devil wants us to progress and move beyond it. To be a fool for Christ, is to not rant and rave as the world does, but to pray and receive as the Church does.

 

And will always do! This is not the new way of doing Church, neither was it new to the Apostles or the Prophets. The Lord has always chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. There is no special reason Israel was chosen, except to show God’s glory in His own work, not theirs.

 

There is no special reason Jesus became flesh and cares for His Church today by Word and Sacrament alone, except to show us up. Where we perceive ourselves to be the great movers and shakers of the Church, inventing this new program or that new way of worship, Christ shows up with a splash of water and says, “wait till you see what I can do with this”.

 

There just is no boasting in the Church with the world’s foolishness of hypocrisy, for the fool believes there is no God Who would stoop so low as to become the Servant of man. Jesus does not allow our works to eclipse His works. His works may seem like foolishness, but they are foolishness with power. 

 

Man’s foolishness divides, believing that we receive more favor from God by going beyond what He has taught and handed out Himself. God’s foolishness is the power to save, for it is the word of the cross. It is the Word of Christ Crucified, foolishness to the world, but the power and wisdom of God, to those who are being saved (1 Cor 1:18, 23-24).

 

And since our Apostles, prophets, and pastors have determined to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him Crucified (1 Cor 2:2), through the folly of that preaching (1:21) the Spirit’s power comes among us and our faith rests not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (2:5).

 

The secret and hidden wisdom of God (2:7), hidden only from the “wise” (2:14), is discerned only by the mind of Christ (2:16). And the mind of Christ is, as stated, Christ’s alone. He has it. Just as you have your own mind, words, and deeds, so Christ. 

 

And part of that secret is revealed to us today as Jesus hands out bread and fish of His own self. That His wisdom and secret are not to remain secret, but to be known. For in His greatest, fool act, He unites Himself to us, sharing His Body, sharing His Blood, and sharing His mind. We do not progress into the mind of Christ, but are baptized into it. 

 

In the feeding of the 5000, Jesus begins to reveal the joy of being fed by Christ, not just externally, but now as a part of His Body. Fed as He is fed. Nourished as He is nourished. Resurrected as He is resurrected. 

 

This union is important, because while we have to play the fool in this life, being overly optimistic, throwing caution to the wind, and beginning, ending and beginning things again in our lives, Christ does not change, for us. Though we think we need to move the goalposts to continue to please Him, He is not moved.

 

He continues to sit in the same spot, day after day, that right hand of God to which He ascended, distributing handouts. And unlike earthly handouts, His produce life and are Life. He calls out daily, hourly, secondly; as at the first hour, so at the second, the third, and even the 11:59th, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here! As for him who lacks understanding, [HE] says to him,

‘Come, eat of my bread And drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live,

And go in the way of understanding’” (Proverbs 9:4-6).

 

“Rejoice with Jerusalem,” with the Church, our Lord proclaims in our Introit for today. Rejoice with the Church “and be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;” 

 

And Isaiah goes on to say why: “That you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom (Christ), that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory (Christ again). For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, and be dandled on her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you;

And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (66:10-13)

 

God's Son, your Servant [Wednesday in Lent 3]

- - NO AUDIO - - TEXT ONLY - -

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Romans 5:1-21

• St. John 13:1-20

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet 1)

 

Who speaks to you this evening, from His letter to the Romans, saying:

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”

 

The main idea in the next two stanzas of our hymn, Dear Christians One And All Rejoice, is “God’s Son, your Servant”. The important thing here, is, not that we make God our servant or fabricate a groveling God, pining for our attention and command. Instead that we realize righteousness is received, not achieved.

 

Jesus presents Himself as the Servant of servant and the Gospel reading reminded us of this, in the washing of feet, and as we hear Him say in St. Matthew 20:28:“the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

 

The 5^th and 6th stanza, for our contemplation:

5 God said to His beloved Son:                      6 The Son obeyed His Father's will,

   "It's time to have compassion.                             Was born of virgin mother;

   Then go, bright jewel of My crown,                    And God's good pleasure to fulfill,

   And bring to all salvation.                                    He came to be my brother.

   From sin and sorrow set them free;                   His royal pow'r disguised He bore;

   Slay bitter death for them that they                   A servant's form, like mine, He wore

   May live with You forever."                                  To lead the devil captive.

 

Now regarding the Gospel reading, we have talked about this before and how we don’t have a sacrament of foot washing. Not just because feet are gross, but because Jesus makes this sweeping statement about what He is doing, saying, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” (Jn 13:8)

 

That is, you can scrub all the feet you want, in your lifetime, yet those actions will not clean you. Contrarywise, you can have your feet scrubbed as many times as you want in your lifetime, the sinful dirt is still not going to wash off. Like Lady MacBeth, the spot won’t get out.

 

Jesus must wash, because He alone knows how to wash. Who better to know than God? Do you know what water washes to get that “heavenly clean”? Does God use soap? Animal fat or soy? God is the only One Who knows what kind of clean He demands, so best let Him sort it out.

 

Second, when we get to our Epistle we find that we heard the “faith alone” chapter of Romans. For there, we hear that it is a necessity that faith alone saves, because it is only the work of one man that accomplishes anything. Righteousness is received, not achieved.

 

We have justification through Jesus only. We have peace, access to faith, and are saved by Jesus alone. “Therefore,” Romans says, “just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” (Rom 5:12, 19) 

 

The first 4 stanzas of our hymn have confessed our human plight: fast bound in Satan’s chains. The freedom of the will is worse than powerless, because it is in bondage. It fights against God’s judgment. Free will even yielded to sin, in Eden. Christ is the bright jewel of God’s crown, from heaven to earth He comes.

 

The religious imagine they build ladders to God: moralism, rationalism, mysticism. However, God gives us His Son on the cross, not on ladders. Jacob’s ladder, I would argue, was cross shaped. God comes to us when we could not climb to Him. In fact, if we could bore our way into heaven with our heads and look around, we would find no one, because Christ lies in a crib and in a woman’s lap. So let us fall back down again, says Dr. Luther. (Luther, quoted by Bayer, 46).

 

The real wonderful part of this hymn is right here in stanza 6, the very first line: the Son obeyed the Father’s Will. That means that what follows next is what the Father Wills. What He wants done, how He wants it done, and by Whom He wants it done. 

 

This is amazing, because it is just laid out there, for everyone to see. No secrets. No pay walls. No pyramid schemes. Born of a virgin, clothed in flesh. More than that, a true man, with a rational body and soul. No fakes. No substitutions. All man. All God. All to be humiliated for you.

 

All in order to die a sinner’s death. He became sin, Who knew no sin, to make you sinless. Conception, birth, growth, Baptism, Temptation, cross, and precious death and burial. His glorious resurrection and ascension and the coming of the Holy Ghost the Comforter. All part of the plan.

 

He is God’s Beloved with the Father’s own delight and Spirit. In weakness, He accomplishes the Almighty feat of redeeming sinners, while they yet actively rebelled. From sin and sorrow we are set free and the devil is captive. For as his jaws closed around Jesus in death, he broke his teeth on heaven’s Creator. 

 

Jesus’s orders are to bring to all salvation. His earthly purpose, in the flesh, is to set us free from sin and sorrow. He is sent with explicit instructions to slay bitter death, that we may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

 

As we sing this hymn during Lent, pray it, we are made to focus where we should. In the midst of our sufferings, hope is being able to look out and ponder the wounds of Christ, that hide our shame and the stripes of Christ that bring us healing.

 

Jesus came not to be served but to serve us His Word and Sacraments, giving His life as a ransom (st Mark 10:45). The old Adam is ever the activist, always devising some scheme for serving God and making it look holy and righteous. Jesus puts an end to it all as He comes to give what we could never achieve.

Righteousness is received not achieved. Behold God’s and your Servant; He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

 

 

Opposite Day and Concupiscence [Lent 3]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Jeremiah 26:1-15

• Ephesians 5:1-9

• St. Luke 11:14-28

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet 1)

 

Who speaks to you on this day from His Gospel heard, saying:

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

 

Thus far from God’s Word, caused to be written and heard so that we more firmly believe in Jesus and the hope He gives. For we do not look for proof of that hope in temporary things, but permanent things. While God gives good to us, the greatest good is His resurrection into which He baptizes us. This is the comfort we give out to our neighbor.

 

We do not give out the comfort of combat, that if we just play Opposite Day with the devil, we will automatically gather with God. That is a satanic trick, for the devil does not care for fair play, logic, or honor. His only concern is gaining his own goal, as evidenced today.

 

For, he tempts the Jews to think that they are godly by destroying the reputation of, what they think, is a false prophet. By doing do, in God’s Name, they are doing God’s Work. However, since there is such a thing as exorcism, their same proofs turn into accusations. They live as if exorcism is real, but then say its false when someone they don’t like does it.

 

This cognitive dissonance is the devil’s work. He can take two positions at the same time. First is we believe that we have the ability to love God above all things, which is why say we can enjoy blessings and kick out the devil, if we have to. Second, we believe all men are sinners and cannot do those things. “At the same time”, our Confessions state, “we attribute to mankind a concupiscence (wicked desire) that is not entirely destroyed by the Holy Spirit and also the ability to love God above all things.” (AP II(I):23-25)

 

Maybe your new “shock of the week” is who shot JFK. And although we have been shocked by that question for well over half a century, we still don’t want to know. We don’t want to know, because the real question is not who shot him, but can we trust our government. And if we can’t trust our government, who are elected officials allegedly, then we can’t trust the people who elected them.

 

This is what gave rise to social media and all the back-biting and hate spewed on the “other party”. It is ok when we do it, though, because we were right. How often we forget that we are voters, as well. Maybe we should give up voting for Lent and forever?

 

Yet, even if we know, we know that nothing will change. Nothing can shock us into changing our minds or our lives anymore. And that scares us, because we know we know and we don’t do anything about it. That depresses us and deflates us, because we like to present ourselves as right and virtuous. When that doesn’t turn out, we point at someone else.

 

When the Jews declare, or maybe ask, that Jesus is doing the devil’s work, they only want to know if they are right or wrong. They don’t want to understand Jesus. Since they can’t be wrong, by default, they simply take the position that Jesus is wrong, no matter what. No matter if it means consigning their own sons to hell with Him.

 

So now who cast out the demon? Who can you trust? Can you trust the Word of God working in and through your sons? Can you trust the same Word of God doing the same work, but through Jesus? Can you trust your super-spiritual discernment as God’s own?

 

Our Confessions state:

Furthermore, remember that God punishes sin with sins. This means that because of their self-confidence, lack of repentance, and willful sins, He later punishes with hard-heartedness and blindness those who had been converted, [as He says in Hebrews 6:4-6]. 

This punishment should not be interpreted to mean that it never had been God's good pleasure that such persons should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. For both these facts are God's revealed will:

1) God will receive into grace all who repent and believe in Christ.

2) He also will punish those who willfully turn away from the holy commandment and again entangle themselves in the world's filth, decorate their hearts for Satan, and despise God's Spirit. They will be hardened, blinded, and eternally condemned if they persist in such things. Even Pharaoh perished in this way. (SD XI:83-84)

 

Repent. Blame never ends with each other. Remember Adam and Eve passed the blame, not onto the serpent, but onto God. “It was the woman You gave me,” said Adam. “It was the serpent You made here,” said Eve. “Its Jesus’s fault I can’t make sense in my arguments against God” or for God, or…I don’t know!

 

With this, we begin to understand Original Sin. Our blame always ends with fingers pointed at God, thus, Original Sin denies obedience to God in our bodies, denies knowing God, and denies placing confidence in God. Moreover the gifts and abilities needed to produce these acts are also completely corrupted in us.

 

Of equal importance is understanding the word concupiscence, which means wicked desire. That when righteousness has been lost, concupiscence takes its place. Since diseased nature cannot fear and love God and believe God, it seeks and loves carnal things. By nature, when we are secure, we hold God's judgment in contempt [and] When we are terrified, we hate God's judgment. 

 

Concupiscence is not only a corruption of physical qualities, but also, in the higher powers, a vicious turning to fleshly things. Thus the Jews, and we, do not realize the devilish contradiction in what we are saying. At the same time, we attribute to mankind a concupiscence that is not entirely destroyed by the Holy Spirit [yet] also the ability to love God above all things. (AP II(I):23-25)

 

According to Jesus, it will take armed robbery in order to remedy this upside-down belief, it will take something stronger than the nurture of the Mother of God, it will take an exorcism. However, as the Jews pointed out, the exorcism will need to be done by someone who is not possessed, otherwise, how would you know it was done?

 

The gift Jesus gives to His Church is faith. Faith is the sinless work of God done in us. Faith is the light shining in the darkness. Faith is the outside work of God overcoming our inward concupiscence and cleansing in such a way to create that belief. And that begins at the Resurrection of Jesus.

 

God will raise up the righteous and Jesus is raised on the Third Day. After the resurrection, there is no question as to Who was right in this Gospel reading. Because it wasn’t about the exorcism, or the Jews authority, or St. Mary, but the Resurrection.

 

That is, the only reason Jesus cast out this demon was to show that His suffering and death would cast out all demons, forever, for those who believe. The only reason St. Mary was highly favored was to prove just how much power is in the faith that the Crucified and Resurrected Lord gives to you. And in His Word and Sacrament, that is always available to you.

 

From the Confessions again:

“…the sense is not that faith, only in the beginning, lays hold of righteousness and salvation, and then resigns its office to the works as though thereafter they had to sustain faith, the righteousness and salvation being already received, but in order that the promise, not only of receiving, but also of retaining righteousness and salvation, may be firm and sure to us. 

St. Paul in Romans 5:2, ascribes to faith not only the entrance to grace, but also that we stand in grace and boast of the future glory, that is, the beginning, middle, and end he ascribes all to faith alone” (SD iv:34).

 

What this means is that receiving faith is promised, as we have by His grace alone. But also retaining faith is promised. If we feel weak, we can ask for strength. If we feel led astray we can ask for guidance. If we are unsure of whether or not Jesus or the devil is casting out demons, we can ask for faith and assurance and it will be given.

 

The devil can lie, cheat, steal, and do fake miracles all he wants. What he cannot do is be crucified and rise again. That is the difference between an exorcism of beelzebub and an exorcism of Christ. In one, faith is taken and in the other, faith is given. In one, wealth, riches, and prosperity is hoarded and locked up, for one. In the other, the very kingdom of heaven itself is given away to all through faith alone.

 

The Word and Sacraments of God cannot be copied. You can be the foremost expert in exorcism in the world, but if you have not the saving power of Christ’s Church, you are scattering God’s people. 

 

But if the Word is gathering us together with the risen Christ and His Church to receive His gifts of forgiveness and life, all the while giving thanks for blessings, exorcisms, and any other spiritual act we experience, then that is Truth. 

 

For experience tells you that you do not have the reason or strength to come to Jesus or believe in Him. You couldn’t even answer the Jews accusation today! But the Holy Spirit has Called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His Gifts, sanctified and keeps you to this day, in the one, true faith. Not in exorcisms, but in the Resurrection of Jesus and the hope of our resurrection in the body, promised.