Church and State [Easter 5]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 12:1-6

• James 1:16-21

• St. John 16:5-15

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 1)
 
Who speaks to you today, saying:

“And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:”

 
Jesus causes this to be written in His Word to dispel confusion. The world is confusing and anxiety inducing because the devil sets up institution after institution to lead you away from Jesus. His institutions are all glamorous, generous, and virtuous; smoke and mirrors. He makes sure to check off all the boxes on the “what would Jesus do” list so that you begin to believe that in those places you find Jesus, instead of His Church.
 
The boxes he connivingly leaves blank, as preached to us today from the Gospel, are the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of the God-man, and the final judgement. The devil copies and twists the Church in order to lead astray. The Spirit of Truth calls and confirms us by that Gospel, enlightens us with His Gifts, sanctifies, and keeps us in the true faith.
 
What we see in modern events is a repeat of history. Probably because we have tried so hard to erase or rewrite it. What we tackle and throw down as a false idol today, is the state and its church. Specifically, the relationship between the Church and the State.
 
The problem of the marriage of Church and state is not that a Roman Catholic gets elected president, nor is it that Christian values may creep into policy and opinions. The first problem is that the State hates the Church. The State sees no value in the Church except to pawn itself off as morally superior and “with the people”. In other words, to get votes and retain power.
 
Back in Dr. Luther’s time, the state was supposedly a defender of the Church, because the rulers were allegedly faithful churchmen and defenders of what was good and true. However, when you don’t have a good ruler, or good representation, you don’t get a good church and that bad church then has an army to impose itself on others. The result is oppression and repression of the Truth of Jesus.
 
Today, we see the push for “freedom from religion”. “Separation of Church and State” has come to mean the complete absence of religion, or at least what most think is religion. However, that leads to a vacuum of religion. For, without some form of religion, there is no moral high-ground. Thus, the State creates its own religion to fill that void and remain “right”.
 
Though this state church may call itself a “church”, it is not the Church of Christ. When you make a contract with the state to exchange funds and services, you are a state church. When you preach every political policy and every media outlet shares your views, you are a state church. When your religious platform is a steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation, not salvation, then you are a state church.
 
Why? For one, racial justice is code word for “some races and not others”. “Reconciliation” is code word for some conflicts and not others. “Morality” is code word for aiding some people, but not all, especially not babies in the womb. “Jesus” is not God made man, but code for caring for the poor and vulnerable who we deem are poor and vulnerable. 
 
In this light, the “faith” of the State Church does not create more Christians, but more unbelievers. Since your “dogma” is aligned with the state, then the people who don’t agree are second class Christians at best and really don’t belong at all. Who’s going to join that? On the other side: if you only have to believe in social reform to have faith, then no Jesus is necessary for that.
 
That is the real danger of the State Church, that it presents false doctrine and teaching as “what Jesus wants us to do”. This then becomes “the church” to everyone who is looking for The Church. It holds up future visions and endless “progress” as the moral code, regardless if we ever reach it. God is far away, unknowable, and untouchable. A true Christian cannot tolerate such nonsense.
 
Where is the sanity? In today’s Gospel. Jesus is directly concerned with all the previously mentioned suffering. In order to care for us perfectly, He wants us to know where we find His morality, where we find His righteousness, and where we find His Judgement. And if you only pay nominal attention, you will note that it is not inside humans or humanitarian work, but Jesus alone.
 
Let’s let Jesus speak:
Concerning sin because they do not believe in me, He says. That is, sin has nothing to do with racial inequality, government standoffs, or public funding, but has everything to do with believing in the Person, Word, and Work of Christ. 
 
Would Jesus care for the poor and vulnerable? Of course. How would He do it? By suffering, dying, rising to new life, and creating a blessed place at His side, for them, for all eternity. Can you not enter heaven if you are poor, oppressed, or persecuted? Actually, its only those groups who get in! 
 
So what happens if you un-poor the poor? According to the state “christians”, if they are not poor, they are privileged, and if they are privileged then they are excluded from the mission of Jesus. No heaven for you.
 
Concerning righteousness, Jesus goes on, because they do not believe in me. This we can see from any and all fake-church statements. There is no Jesus there! They are committed to every other cause in the world, except to Jesus. Oh, they may tack on His Name to any and everything, but if He is not forgiving sins, granting faith, and giving eternal life, then the word “Jesus” doesn’t mean anything.
 
You can work towards social justice, racial justice, and gender justice without Jesus. You don’t get to claim He’s on your side because of some superior sense of morality. Works do not get you into heaven. The Law is ended and fulfilled in Christ. The only way your works are Christ-like is if you are being crucified for your faith.
 
Finally, concerning judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged. The prince of the air has certainly taken the doctrines of the Church and twisted them. Today, if you are against any public policy or law that “helps”, you are judged as not a Christian.
 
If you are against a certain political affiliation that is helping those less fortunate, on paper, then you are excommunicated. The devil has taken Church, run it through the State grinder, and created a monster, a beast, the Anti-church, where belief in people is the chief article on which the state church stands or falls.
 
We live in a world that loves to play games with words, in order to find who has the highest moral currency, in other words, to virtue signal. However, according to the Truth, all sinners are welcome; all are welcome in Christ’s Church. The prostitute ate with Jesus, but they went away changed, He did not. The tax collector drank with Jesus, but they went away changed, Jesus did not. 
 
Instead of grandstanding, we need actual work: the work of Christ. The sinner must come to Jesus, but in repentance and will not stay the same, by virtue of the Spirit of Truth. The true work of the Church is teaching about redemption and salvation, not social initiatives. The Church defends the faith through the Kingdom of Christ Crucified, the true Ruler of this world Who was judged and deemed not fit for it.
 
Already in Faith, the Christian will fight for justice, compassion, and reconciliation. To get faith, the Christian must let Christ fight and do the work. 
 
And herein lies the difference between the churches or between the kingdoms. The earthly kingdom takes and only asks for more, more, more. According to God, in 1 Samuel 8:10-18, the earthly kingdom will take your sons and daughters for service. Its economy will be taking the first fruits of your labor to increase its own. 
 
It is obeying men rather than God and “in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day” (1 Sam 8:18). Why? Because now we have our god, our king to fight for us, and we voted for him. We do not need a Father in heaven.
 
The Church, the Kingdom of heaven only gives. The complete opposite. Jesus says His kingdom is not of this world, because His kingdom gives. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
 
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps 51:17). This Jesus shows and gives on the cross to inaugurate His Kingdom over and against the world. The broken spirit and heart are Christ’s, because “it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10).
 
The Church on earth is unique in that She bears the cross in order to be conformed to the Image of Christ. She suffers in order to relate to sufferers. Jesus sends His Spirit to His Church to establish His Rock, that we may physically run to it. Where the world spins, our hearts are fixed on the cross of Christ, where true joys are to be found.
 
The Good Shepherd cries out in the Truth of the Gospel: forgiveness for His sake alone, and we hear His voice and follow Him to His Table.
 
Alleluia!
Amen.
 

Vocation of waiting [Easter 4]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 40:25-31

• 1 Peter 2:11-20

• St. John 16:16-22

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 1)
 
Who speaks to you today, saying:

“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me”

 
Jesus causes this to be written in His Word so that we hear of His omniscience, even of our vocations. That He knows best how to work out our salvation, in this life. This should point us to the mercy and grace He hides in our day-to-day-little-things, seek out His forgiveness in Word and Sacrament, and teach this way of the cross to everyone.
 
What do we usually mean when we say “a little while”? It means wait. Just a bit longer, if you wait, and you will see what its all about, whatever it may be.
 
And we hate it.
 
This “hatred” is the part we contribute to God’s Salvation history, found in His Bible, which is not a contribution really. 
Some examples: Eve had it all. Every tree, freshly, cleanly, and newly made, was hers to eat from, except one. And there was a reason for that, though God did not give details. There was a mystery. There was something different about this one tree that was not told to her or her husband. What could it be? 
 
Everyone raced to be just like God. They wanted to be perfectly free like Him. They wanted ownership like Him, over body and world. They wanted to create just like Him. The Nephilim led the charge for the whole world to discover just what is it like to be God. Why must we wait for God to show us Himself and why must we listen to Noah?
 
Everyone was racing to be near God. They heard Him speak of the luxuries and pleasures at His side and wanted to achieve paradise as quickly as possible. Streets of gold? Perfect love? That sounds a mite better than life as we’ve come to know it. God said He was near, so maybe if we just live higher in the sky, we’ll get there. Why wait?
 
And on and on. Always impatient. Never waiting. Why do you say, O people, that your ways are hidden from the Lord and that He disregards your rights? You cannot hide from the Lord, even were you to make your bed in hell. And rights? Who says you get rights?
 
Another two aspects of vocation we ponder today are: 1) vocations are for our earthly kingdom only and do not reach into heaven. And 2) we don’t get to pick them. Though we said that last week, today Jesus really slams it home and commands that our vocation, regarding God, is to wait.
 
Psalm 27:14 demands, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
 
The Psalms are full of “waiting” and they usually describe it as a good thing. Sometimes, it is those who lie in wait to trap the righteous, but that is hearing God’s threats. If you are waiting for something you have devised yourself, then you are waiting to either grab it from your neighbor or from God.
 
That’s what we believe about this world, in our sin. So repent of these sins of coveting. We believe we have been dumped here and all “waiting” entails is “grab what you can and give nothing back” until whenever God feels like showing back up. Meanwhile, we have to live through this life of waiting.
 
Waiting for a train to go 
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
 
Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance…so says Dr. Seuss.
 
As the sinner says, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?” (2 Kings 6:33). Eve didn’t want to stare at a seemingly useless tree anymore. She didn’t want to wait. She wanted the mystery now. The people at Noah’s time wanted to know what it was like to be God, so they grabbed at it violently. Abusing every natural law, as they believe God does. They didn’t want to wait.
 
They waited without hope. They waited, without faith.
Without faith there is no hope. Eve did not have faith that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil could be anything but for food, so she ate instead of waiting to see the glory of the Lord hanging on a tree, for her. 
 
The men of Noah’s time didn’t want to see what God was going to do with their flesh, so they took every opportunity to indulge in sin, instead of waiting for the spiritual and bodily renewal of Christ. The men of Babel didn’t care that God cared and wanted out of all the suffering now. They clawed their way up to heaven instead of waiting to see the Kingdom of heaven descend to earth.
 
We are not in charge, Jesus is. Every time we go through His life in the Church Year, we place ourselves on that conveyor belt. And starting at Advent, we know we are going to get to Easter and we know we can’t get there except through the cross. 
 
And that is where we are and where Jesus has placed us: on the conveyor belt. We are all moving towards the End of all things, but we do so in hope, because faith is not put to shame. When Jesus gives us the Maundy Thursday command to “wait just a little while and you will see me”, He is, at first, pointing to His burial and resurrection. 
 
This so He can prove Himself to be faithful in a little bit, as He said before, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much” (Lk 16:10). That is, if He can show to the Apostles that He can suffer, die, and be buried, essentially being removed from their sight and from this life, and yet reappear, then He can also be trusted in much, that is to keep His promise to return again.
 
Jesus is promising us that if we wait a little while, we will weep and lament. If we just wait a little while, our sorrow will turn into joy. We must endure only for a short time: a lifetime, perhaps, if Jesus doesn’t come back before then, but what is a lifetime compared to eternity?
 
Jesus is faithful in the little things. He does give us work to pass the time, holy work. He lets our ship come in and the fish bite and our phones ring. On top of all those blessings, He has left the door to Himself and the End cracked open. The light is leaking out into His Church. His Spirit has free reign to come and go from eternity as He pleases.
 
And the Promises and gifts that He brings are from the End. The Promises of Faith in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. These are what He has imbued us with, on the conveyor belt. The Gifts of Word and Sacrament occupy our place in the waiting room, granting salvation to all who hear and believe.
 
So wait. Wait with Abraham, if you must, as Hebrews 6:15 says, “And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise” and we all know how Abraham waited. Not very well! Ishmael, pawning his wife off as his sister, not once but twice! And then having other wives. Not a very good waiting job. Yet, the blood of Christ covers even such impatient waiting. He had faith in forgiveness and that faith obtained the Promise.
 
It is easy to be confused, here in life. There are many hazards, many anxieties, and many blind spots. Jesus gives us the signs that a child could follow: Words, His cross, water, bread, wine. These now occupy both realms of our vocation, because it is only in the Lord’s Word and Sacrament that we can grab hold of His promise to return.
 
He leaves them in our possession as a token and promise that what He says, He will do. Just as He has done and just as He is now doing today. For through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, you now feast on the fruit that Eve so desperately wanted, but couldn’t wait for. 
 
In faith, you now share in the flesh of God that the Nephilim so desperately chased after. By grace alone, you now know what it will be like to be near God for all eternity, as you practice, not on top of a gigantic tower, but in the Divine Service and in the little things. 
 
That is where you wait and that is how you wait. Jesus has brought the fruit to you, where you are. Jesus has brought His Body, the Church, to you, where you are. Jesus has descended to dwell with His people and left heaven and the super-spiritual to the devil. 
 
For, heaven is wherever Jesus is. The End is whenever Jesus is. If that is the case, then we have all we have been waiting for, right in our hands today. Wait on the Lord and He will strengthen your heart, replacing it with His own (Ps 27:14). Wait on the Lord, and He will show you grace and mercy in His Gospel (Isaiah 30:18).
 
The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still as He performs His Divine Service, for you, today. (Exodus 14:14)
And in the pew, remembering the Sabbath, “I wait for your salvation, O Lord” (Genesis 49:18).

Vocation of the sheep [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

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 1)

 

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

“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

 
Listening to God is like listening to your parents. You may not agree, but He is God, so He has His own say in matters. One of those matters is good works and one of the ways we understand good works is Vocation, God’s calling He gives to us in this life. He causes Vocation to be written of in His Word that we might hear His voice on this matter and properly interact with Him.
 
In order to listen to a voice, the Good Shepherd must call out. And Jesus has called out from the cross, crying out with a loud voice and handing over His Spirit to His Church. What we are to hear from the Good Shepherd is this Call or Vocation, especially since our Epistle speaks of it too.
 
And in true Law-Gospel fashion, when God Calls, or gives us our calling, we receive it in two ways. The first calling, or vocation, we have is to Faith. This is our heavenly vocation to be forgiven and redeemed sinners. The Holy Spirit Calls us with the Gospel, sustains, and keeps us in the one true faith. This heaven accomplishes without our works.
 
The second vocation is our earthly call to love our neighbor. This vocation St. Paul begins to reveal in 1 Corinthians 7:20 where he teaches, “let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.”
 
That is to say, one of the gifts of God for us is our earthly vocation: the work He gives us to be a part of, in His Creation. What we will NOT talk about today is what our feelings tell us is our calling in life. Not even what we enjoy doing, as our calling, though that sometimes overlaps. 
 
The Call, Vocation we are talking about today is our station in life. Where and what we are born into, most of which we have no control over. Who our family is and where and what we are doing at the moment. Wherever it is that God has saved us. When He did, we were in a certain place in our lives. After He saved us, we remained there, thanks be to God.
 
Vocation from God can be maybe better understood as a station, a duty-bound place. As opposed to our dreamed-up-life or what we have plans for, our station is the place we have been put, now. Who our parents are and we as their child. Who our siblings are and we as their brother or sister. Who our employer is and who we are as employee. Who is in our neighborhood and who we are as their neighbor.
 
These things which we seemingly have little to no control over, are our vocations. The everyday, the rat-race, the hum-drum. If we are hungry, God feeds us Himself…through the vocation of a farmer. If we are sick, God comes to heal us Himself…through the vocations of healthcare. 
 
Though He could give to us directly, by miraculous provision as He fed the children of Israel in the desert, God has chosen to work through man, who, in their different capacities and according to their different talents, serve each other.
 
God could have decided to populate the earth by creating each new person from the dust, as He did Adam. Instead, He chose to create new life through the vocation of husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. God calls men and women together and grants them the unfathomable ability to have children.
 
The ability to read God's Word is an inexpressibly precious blessing, but reading is an ability that did not spring fully formed in our young minds. It required the vocation of teachers. God protects us through the cop on the beat and the whole panoply of the legal system. He gives us beauty and meaning through artists. He lets us travel through the ministry of auto workers, mechanics, road crews, and airline employees. He keeps us clean through the work of garbage collectors, plumbers, sanitation workers, and the sometimes-undocumented aliens who clean our hotel rooms. 
 
And instead of enjoying this merciful and wonderful gift from our Father, we despise it and reject it for the limelight. We fall for the trap every time someone asks us, “I know what you do for a living, but what do you do for Christ?” You’re right, we agree. I must follow a higher path, even if it means I forsake those who depend on me. God wills it!
 
Repent. This is why understanding vocation is important, because what people mean, what satan means, when they ask that question is in direct contrast to what our Good Shepherd is accomplishing among us. The Good Shepherd gathers us, sanctifies us, and gives us a new life in Him within the sheep-pen. We are tempted to want what is beyond the sheepfold.
 
That is, in our sin, we believe God wants a truly spiritual life where we make vows to Him. Yes, we have put ourselves back in the cloister and made monks and nuns of ourselves. It may not seem like it was in the past, but we are neo-monks. Ones who promise God to serve Him full-time. 
 
In order to make ourselves a true believer, we seek the new councils of perfection, where we devote every day to prayer, contemplation, worship, and the service of God, as we see fit. Marriage, parenthood, and human relationships are all earthly attachments. Having a heavenly vocation means the willingness to vow our lives to higher things.
 
The Sheepfold we are gathered into is a messy thing. Sheep are not the best of farm animals and so we can understand the pull to be more than we are, to find a life “outside” that is more holy, more righteous, and more pleasing to God. And then wonder why we cannot find God in our lives anymore.
 
Our Old Testament and Gospel reading place the work of Christ in the center, because it is the Son’s vocation to do the will of the Father, that is to save His people from their sin, set them free from sorrow, and slay bitter death. It is Jesus’s job to not only order our heavenly vocation, being saved, but also our earthly one. 
 
We do not make or break His vocation with our own. If we try to seek the sinless life in our vocation or by our vocation, we cast aside the work of Jesus. If we imagine sinless choices we make because of our super-spiritual vocation, we choose sin over Jesus. 
 
When St. Peter explains the example Jesus left us, in the Epistle reading today, he explains it in a way that we cannot attain that Example unless we are first made an example of. First, Jesus’s vocation must be accomplished and it must be accomplished for us. That is, we must be brought into the Sheepfold of perfection in front of God only for Christ’s sake.
 
And only in that “pen” of Grace and Faith and Scriptures can we then find our vocation ready and waiting. He committed no sin that we might find forgiveness for ours. He did not revile, that we might be brought His own righteousness. His bearing our sins on the tree, in His Body, was to bring us a life that is pleasing to God: the life of faith in His Son.
 
In His wounds we are healed and when we stray from that, when we stray from relying on His vocation and instead believe we know what the Spirit has led us to and what heavenly work and worship is there, we become the violent invaders of heaven and once again crucify Jesus, in our sin.
 
Jesus gives us His wounds and His healing in His Church. He tells us exactly where He will be for us, what He expects from us, and when He will accomplish such a thing. Our heavenly vocation, the most and highest-est Calling God has given to us, the most spiritual and holy thing we can accomplish on earth, is to receive from God’s hand what He is handing out. This, our Divine Service is centered on.
 
When we leave His blessed sanctuary of revealed glory, we enter into His hidden glory. That hidden glory, in the Christian life, is to practice that same faithfulness in little things, in our vocation. Holding down a 9-5 at DG Market is more difficult and more glorious, even than martyrdom.
 
Martyrdom is aided by an agitated time, an emotional disposition, and is often quickly won. It only takes a brief moment and that moment is black and white. However, being faithful in little things involves bearing presently and patiently the quiet tedium of a monotonous, elapsing life, to the praise of the Lord. (The Word Remains, Wilhelm Löhe, p.81)
 
In our Vocation, God gives us the charge of sustaining His creation. Not that it is on us, but He chooses to work through His Law, through us, to fight for the good, the true, and the noble in our lives. We need no super-spiritual vow to enact God’s will in this life. We have simply to remain vigilant in our station. 
 
Is our neighbor in need, as we watch behind the DG Market counter? We know God’s will then. Is someone sad or a fight about to happen? Peacemaker it is!
 
Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?
 
We may not make the headlines. History may not remember us. No one may ever know of the little things God chooses us to accomplish, in His Name, but what does that matter? Jesus has given us life in His Name, not ours and not our works. He has also then prepared works for us, to live with Him in His Sheepfold, works He authorizes. That is, Word and Sacrament and our holy Vocation.
 
And what we do in our vocations, is what we do for Christ. Are you an airline pilot? Then what you do for Jesus is flying people around.
 
Alleluia…
In the Name…
 
 

Flesh and bone Faith [Easter 2]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Ezekiel 34:11-16

• 1 Peter 2:21-25

• St. John 10:11-16

 

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, saying to St. 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.”

 
Jesus appears to many after His resurrection to prove just one thing: that the one, true God was made man. God says in multiple places, that you recognize the Holy Spirit by His acknowledgement of Jesus in the flesh, come from God (1 John 4:2). It will be the antichrist and his ilk who will deny that Jesus has come in the flesh (2 John 1:7), and continues to do so today.
 
God wants us to realize this and keep the Body and Blood of Jesus close so that we are able to make that Good confession. That here, in this place, in this church, God comes down, in His own Body, to dwell among us.
 
What St. Thomas does for us all today, is teach us the importance of practical application. Practical application is very much misunderstood in churches today. Most believe that there is a disconnect from God’s Word to our lives, as if God speaks, but it is in such mystery that we need a leader to apply it to our lives for us. 
 
That is true, however, if we are only searching for work for us to do in God’s Word. If we believe that, since we were not alive at the time of Jesus, that we just have our works to rely on, basic instructions found in the Bible, then the Word will forever be a mystery to us and God will remain far away.
 
If we follow St. Thomas, however, and require confirmation and return to the only source of such a confirmation, then we will find the meat of faith. For, works and book learnin’ only take you, maybe, half way there. The other half of faith is “doing”. But “doing” in Christ’s Church and that means rest; it means receiving what the Lord is giving, not giving what you have to offer.
 
For, St. Thomas demands and returns to the flesh and bone of faith. He knew and believed that Jesus taught more than simple platitudes and “be nice to each other’s. Though that was included, He knew Jesus taught that faith is flesh and blood and he wasn’t going to accept any other religion than that. His brothers could write and prattle on about visions they had, but if he wasn’t in communion, then he was out.
 
In other words, if its just a symbol, than to hell with it. If Faith is just a symbol, then we can find a better one. If baptism is just a “representation”, then its garbage. If the Lord’s Supper is just an outward sign, then clear the table and put something better in front of us. Symbols and signs are no good, unless they have God’s own blood in them.
 
Today, we hear of the examination of St. Thomas. He is in front of his pastor, his God and Lord, and the question is, “Can Faith be bloodless?” St. Thomas replies that he will absolutely never believe in a bloodless religion. He wanted his commandments, which he memorized, to be written in the braille of spear and nail. He demanded his confirmation quiz be handed over by raw, imprinted palms.
 
For his catechesis was done all in the body. That is, not only did he assist, but was taught by God in the flesh. His Lord told him that His greatest work was to be done as a man. His Incarnation, His nativity, His baptism, fasting, and temptation; His agony and bloody sweat, and His cross and passion.
 
Why would the religion change after the crucifixion? Why should, what was begun in the flesh, end in the spiritual? Why would God take time out of His busy schedule to be made man, walk around for 30 years, rise again, show Himself for another 40 days to over 500 people in the flesh, only to hand over a super-spiritual-good-feelings religion?
 
St. Thomas was being examined, but he was examining the other Apostles as well. “You guys just can’t believe every Tom, Dick, or Harry ghost that comes along claiming to be the Lord!” “You need the flesh. You need the bone. You need the life, true life, flowing and coursing through you and your faith.” “Y’all need Jesus’s invitation to touch and taste and see that a spirit does not have flesh and bone.”
 
This is true confirmation in front of God: belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, in order that He may commune with His Church until He returns. This is also why we catechize. Not to indoctrinate or manipulate, but to reason together with the Lord. One of the uniquenesses of Lutheranism is that we let God speak, no matter what He says.
 
God’s Word is God’s Word. If there is a difficult topic or event or anything we are facing, we say, “Let’s see what the Bible says”. We don’t go to YouTube or some man who is popular and thinks he knows it all. We go to the source and Norm of our Faith. We let the Bible speak and change ourselves accordingly. There we find Law and Gospel, Commands and Promises, threats and gifts. 
 
Another Lutheran difference is that the Gospel is central. Gospel doesn’t just mean “good news you are saved to do great things in your life”. It means that Christ Crucified has freed you from the guilt and condemnation of your sins. It means that He has united you into His Body and still communes with you today. It is Good News, but its Good news for all eternity.
 
We also believe the Gospel is objective. Most of the world will speak of “What Jesus means to me” or “what Jesus has done in my life”. That is subjective, meaning true for you and no one else. Objective means that the Word is done outside of you, without your input or opinion. God doesn’t help get you saved, He has saved you, on His own, without your prayers.
 
A fourth Lutheran Difference is that we are an historic faith. We have not cut ties with the past, no matter how messy, and we do not throw out tradition, though others may use it or abuse it. “All of the history, none of the heresy”, we would say. Part of the Reformation fight was to keep the good parts and reform or get rid of the bad.
 
And finally, our doctrine of Vocation. That we live a life of faith both in spirit and in body. We think and dwell on heavenly things and yet have plenty of seemingly menial work to do, loving our neighbor as ourselves. And there is equal blessing and godliness in both. 
 
This is what it means to be Lutheran. Whatever God says, we affirm it. Saved by grace alone? We affirm it. The Word is above tradition? We affirm it. Jesus says bread and wine, Body and Blood? We affirm it. 
 
The Reformation wasn’t splitting off and starting a new church with no tradition. It was restoring faith to its roots. Confronting what was and is rotten and maintaining what’s pure. St. Thomas did not say, “We don’t need the flesh and Blood of Jesus. We need to go forward. We need to fulfill the mission.” 
 
St. Thomas returned to his origin; his Creator and Re-Creator confessing, “My Lord and my God.” He let Jesus speak for Himself. How are we doing this Jesus? Word and Sacrament? Ok.
He allowed Jesus to put the Gospel, the free forgiveness of sins, in the center, by receiving the hands and side of Christ. 
 
And in the flesh and bone of Jesus, St. Thomas knew that it was not his body nor his imagination. He knew that it was the same Jesus of the past three years in front of him, and that his life had now been included by grace through faith.
 
In other words, St. Thomas was a Lutheran. He missed one Sunday at church and felt so bad he demanded that his faith be re-examined. He didn’t doubt Jesus, he doubted himself and his ability to remain in the one, true faith without the wounds of Jesus Christ Crucified, for him. His faith wanted the spiritual and the physical or he would never believe it.
 
This is what we do on Sundays, for we are St. Thomas’s church. His belief, his faith, his teaching and doctrine, handed down to us in an unbroken line. And so we teach and pass it on. And so we confirm, shaping minds and hearts towards a faithful piety in this life.
 
Now, I had promised the girls there wouldn’t be an evaluation in front of everybody, but I changed my mind. Just to have a bit of fun, let’s see how well we do.
 
The mind and heart shaped by Lutheran piety can complete all of these ellipses:
- We should fear and…
- This is most certainly…
- A mighty fortress...
See? Easy. How about a little harder.
- Glory be to God on high…
- I believe that I cannot by my own…
- ...that we are by nature…
- Yes, yes it shall...
 
I know this one will trip you up. Everyone help them out with this one, please:
- The Lord be with you. . .          
 
Jesus has given St. Thomas, all the Apostles and Prophets, and us new life. A new life to be lived remembering Him and loving Him with all of our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength (Mk 12:30). And if with all our strength, then there better be something in our hands, in God’s Church.
 
Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Basics: Resurrection [Easter Sunday]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Job 19:23-27

• 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

• St. Mark 16:1-8

 

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:

“But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

 
With these words, God tenderly invites Mary to believe that she incorrectly recited her catechism. She got pretty far, but when it came time to recite St. Mark 14:28, “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee” which was only four days before this, during the Last Supper.
 
Memory plays a key role in Faith and is, in fact, the job of the Holy Spirit. That He will “teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:26). When we remember, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. In order to foster this life of remembrance, we go back to the basics.
 
Back to basics. Nuts and bolts. If you want to master anything, they say, you need to master the basics. Everybody knows Jesus was raised from the dead, right? That’s basic Christianity! Good. We’ll start there today.
 
And we’ll even start like this: the Bible does not have to be the Word of God in order to prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ! How about them apples? It can be regarded as merely a volume of literature from its own time and place. Pastor, are you saying you don’t need faith for the resurrection? Just hold on and we’ll get there.
 
Basics of basics is: Jesus rose from the dead. while that is a statement of faith, it is also a statement of historic fact. God is so great that He has opened Himself up to history to be investigated. And if you want to start somewhere with your friend, to get them to church, here are 5 historical facts that pert near all historians, believers and skeptics, believe about Jesus:
    1. Jesus died by crucifixion
    2. Jesus’s tomb was empty, after His burial
    3. Jesus’s disciples sincerely believed that He rose from the dead and appeared to them
    4. Paul, the Church Persecutor, converted and started preaching about the risen Jesus
    5. James, the skeptic, converted and preached the resurrection as well
 
To historians, the New Testament is just a collection of papers bearing witness to a certain time and place. Jesus on the cross is attested to by more than just the Bible, but the books of the Bible have also been shown to be historically accurate. Meaning, both the New Testament and outside sources agree there was a man named Jesus and that He died by crucifixion. 
 
The same accounts also agree that the tomb of Jesus was empty, after His crucifixion. that doesn’t mean resurrection yet, but it does mean that many witnesses, even opponents of each other, agree that somehow the tomb was empty. either Jesus revived or His disciples stole His body. regardless, Jesus was not where He was left, Easter morning.
 
Third, most New Testament scholars agree that those who followed Jesus actually believed that He rose from the dead and appeared to them for a period of time. It is what those disciples wrote and attested to, which is the focus, not that it was true or not. Truth aside, it is historically accurate to say a buncha folks believe they saw Jesus after His death.
 
Fourth and fifth are tied together. St. Paul and St. James were both opponents of the Faith. St Paul because he was a Jew and St. James because Jesus was his brother and you don’t believe crazy things about your brother. Yet in both cases, these two opponents changed their minds. They both encountered some event that led to them siding with their opponents, instead.
 
The question then comes: what’s the best, historic explanation for all the facts? Skeptics’ arguments can account for some of these facts, 2 or three at one time, but not all. The Bible, as God’s Word, accounts for and explains all the facts. That is, the truth of the resurrection and the proof that Jesus lives takes all these historic facts and ties them together.
 
That is the only explanation that does that. Which means, to begin to talk about the resurrection of Jesus, doesn't take a leap of faith, so to speak. the leap of faith comes when you want to explain the necessity and benefits of the resurrection of Jesus. That’s when you must rely on God's Word as God’s Word.
 
God’s Word can be verified out side of faith. He opens Himself to such investigation. If I were writing an epistle or other part of what would become a Bible, I would do it differently. I would never make any of my claims falsifiable. I would make it so that its never possible to prove that my claims are false. 
 
So the resurrection is true with or without faith. What faith claims for us is the God-given benefits. What are the benefits of a resurrection?
 
In Psalm 17:15, David expresses confidence that God will satisfy him as well with a resurrection, “As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.” How does David know this will happen? He explains in Psalm 16:10, “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”
 
At Pentecost Peter applies Psalm 16 to God raising Christ from the dead (Acts 2:22-28). Peter points out the obvious, namely, that David is dead in his tomb to this day (2:29). But not so for Christ! “Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he [David] foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (2:30-32)
 
Ps 22:29 that all of God’s people will also undergo a resurrection, “All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.”
Psalm 103:4 “He redeems your life from the pit”
Hosea 6:2 announces, “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.”
 
Isaiah 26:19 echoes the hope of a resurrection from the perspective of the saints, “Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.”
 
Though the resurrection is fact, only the Word and Sacraments produce faith. Faith that the resurrection is not just fact, but doctrine. Doctrine that gives life and hands over the benefits of that resurrection to those who believe. 
 
Of those Easter promises, St. John Chrysostom from the 4th century, preaches:
 
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!
 
 

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]

* * NO AUDIO * * TEXT ONLY * *

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.