Sermon for Advent 1 Midweek Evening Prayer

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Jesu Juva

“The Blessing of Being Visited”

Text: Genesis 18:1-14; Luke 1:57-79

 

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Benedictus. The words spoken by Zechariah when his son John was born. For nine months he had been unable to speak. For nine months his tongue had been bound by God, because he did not believe that God could or would give him and his up-til-now-barren wife Elizabeth a son in their old age. For nine months, Zechariah thought about what to say when his tongue was finally loosed and he could speak again. And he spoke this, the Benedictus. Words that praise God, telling of how He was now fulfilling the words of the prophets, doing what He promised. And one of the first words he used here to describe this was visited. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.

If you’ve been in the hospital, or laid up at home, or isolated in a pandemic, you know how nice it is to get visitors. People in prison, the elderly in nursing facilities, long for visitors. It is still not good for man - or woman - to be alone. We need each other. God created us to be in community - with Him and with each other. This time of year, visiting is front and center on many people’s minds. Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest time of the year for traveling and visiting. At Christmas we like to visit friends and family, have open houses and parties. We know this is a good thing.

And yet what God has brought together, sin separates. I remember when I was young and there was a knock on the door, we kids would rush to see who could answer the door, excited about who was visiting us. Now a knock on the door brings feelings of dread - what are they selling, are they going to try to scam me. Many people won’t even answer the door anymore. Gone are the days when people would stop by unannounced, just for a visit. Hospitality, taking time out of your day for someone, is much a thing of the past. We’re too busy. Send a text instead. I’ll see it on your social media feed. That might be more efficient, but it’s not better. We’ve lost something. Something valuable, something precious. Visiting is personal. Visiting means you matter. 

So when Zechariah says that God has visited and redeemed his people, we shouldn’t skip over that too quickly. That’s a significant thing.

We heard the story tonight of when God visited Abraham. Abraham was thrilled to have visitors. He ran to them when he saw them and considered it an honor to host them. He gifted them with not just a snack, but a feast with cakes of fine flour and a fattened calf. But in this it was Abraham who truly received a gift. For when God visits, He brings life. And He did. The time had come for the son promised to Abraham to be born. It would be within the next year. It did not matter that he and Sarah were old. It did not matter that up-til-now Sarah was barren. God visited to bring life, and life they would have.

So it was also in the days of Zechariah. But God did not visit Zechariah. That was an angel, the angel Gabriel, sent by God with His powerful Word. A Word that brought life. Elizabeth’s womb would come to life, she would conceive, and in nine months bear a son they would name John, a name which means the Lord has shown favor. 

But Zechariah was not wrong when He spoke the words of the Benedictus, that God had visited his people. He knew that the birth of his son meant this. That the birth of his son was a sign that God was now visiting His people, that the Messiah was here. For his son was the promised forerunner. For you, child - the child old Zechariah never thought he would hold in his arms! - you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways. Which means the Lord was following close behind. In fact, the Lord was only three months from His own birth in Bethlehem. And this visiting of the Lord would bring life. Life for us. Life for the outcast, the sinner, the leper. Life for all who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Which means life for us. For that’s us. The church is now being cast out more and more from a world that doesn’t want the Word of God or those who believe it and live by it. We are sinners, infected from head-to-toe with that spiritual leprosy. We are the ones sitting in the darkness of the sin and evil of our world, and shrouded under the shadow of death. We need the life the visiting of the Lord brings.

That’s why we always start the season of Advent with the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, with the crowds of people who excitedly rushed out like children to greet their visiting king. We join them. Because He is visiting us with life. Life that would come with His death on the cross. His death as the outcast. His death with our sin and spiritual leprosy. His death in the darkness. But His death to break the bonds of death and rise from death. To, as the psalmist says, turn our mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11), our darkness into light, our sadness into joy. The Lord visits and we receive His gifts.

The thing about visiting, though, is that it’s not permanent. Visitors come and go. They stay only for a short time and then the time comes for them to go back home. Often we wish they would stay longer. So, too, with Jesus . . . in a sense. His ministry here lasted only some 33 years, and then was His ascension, returning to the Father. But though His visible presence was no longer, He did not leave us orphans (John 14:18). I am with you always, He told His disciples (Mathew 28:20). He sent His Holy Spirit. And then, too, He promised to return, to visit us again. Next time in glory. And in that visitation, not to enter our homes, but for us to enter His - and not for a visit, but to dwell with Him there forever.

That is what filled Zechariah, who began with such great doubt, with such great joy! Yes, he rejoiced that he and Elizabeth would finally have a son. Yes, he rejoiced when that son was born. But as he realized through nine months of silence, the greatest joy he had was that God was now visiting His people. That the long-promised and long-awaited Messiah was now here. The son God’s people had been waiting for far longer than he had been hoping for a son. 

That is our joy, too. For God in His Son and through the Spirit has visited us and given us life and joy in Him. So we too

Sing praise to the God of Israel!

Sing praise for His visitation!

Redeeming His people from their sin,

Accomplishing [our] salvation,

Upraising a mighty horn within

The house of His servant David! (LSB #936 v. 1)

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent

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Jesu Juva

“Do You Know What Time It Is?”

Text: Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 21:1-11; Romans 13:8-14

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

What time is it? Oh! I gotta go! Who of us hasn’t said that?

It’s important to know what time it is. To get to school on time, to your doctor’s appointment on time, to get to church on time! If you lose track of time, or ignore the time, the consequences could be mild - you just miss something you wanted to see. Or they could be severe - you could get fired.

But it’s not just the time of day. The time of year is important, too. Stores know this. You don’t stock up on Turkeys in April, and you don’t sell many swimsuits in January. You don’t plant your garden in November, and snow shovels in July probably aren’t going to sell. 

Don’t forget to spring forward and fall back one hour, and don’t get those mixed up!

And one of the difficult things for people with dementia or other diseases of the mind is losing track of time. Sundowning, they call it. Thinking that nighttime is daytime, and daytime is nighttime. 

The Scriptures know how important time is. When God created the sun and moon and stars, they weren’t only for light, but, God said, let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years (Genesis 1:14). There is also a famous passage in Ecclesiastes which says there is a time for everything (ch. 3).

So today we begin a new church year, which helps us keep track of time - but not our time, earthly time, but God’s time, heavenly time. That’s why the church uses a different calendar than the world, why the church has different seasons than the world. We look at things differently. Mothers Day and Fathers Day are important, but Christmas and Easter more. Good Friday shows us love infinitely greater than any Valentines Day. And more important than the seasons that are based on the earth revolving around the sun (named Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) are the seasons that revolve around the Sun of God (named Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost). They focus us on God’s time. And the one who is, by the way, the creator of time.

We heard about time in the Scriptures read today. Isaiah mentioned the latter days. St. Paul said you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. And Jesus certainly knew what time it was when He entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey to the shouts of Hosanna! It was time to hosanna the people. It was time to save them. It was time to go the cross.

This was the time Jesus had been preparing for - not just His whole life, but for all of time! The Scriptures tell us that God planned for this even before He created us. He knew there would be sin, He knew we would need saving and a Saviour, and He planned for it. Then He promised that Saviour to Adam and Eve after they did what He knew they would - fall into sin. And then, St. Paul says in Galatians, when the fullness of time had come - or, at just the right time - God sent forth his Son (4:4). And now, Jesus knew as He rode into Jerusalem that time, an eternity of waiting had come down to this, that an eternity of sin would be held against Him on the cross, and He would be crushed for it. He would be crushed, so we would not. He would bear the weight, so we could be forgiven. He would die, and then rise from the dead, so that we who die, could also rise to life again. To give us confidence when facing death. To give us hope when we see others die. The time had come.

So if there was a clock in heaven, the first alarm would have indicated the time for Jesus to come in the flesh. And He did. There is no snooze button in heaven. For, the psalmist tells us anyway, that God neither slumbers nor sleeps (121:4). Once Jesus came and did His work, however, that alarm was reset, to another time in the future, for Jesus to come again in glory. God knows when that time is - we do not. But as surely as the time came for Jesus to come in the flesh, so too will the time come for Him to come in glory.

Those are the latter days, culminating with the Last Day. When, as Isaiah said, God’s kingdom will be established above all others. There will be peace and no more war, so beat [your] swords into plowshares, and your spears into pruning hooks. And, Isaiah says, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Which, on that day, that Last Day, means that we walk in the light that IS the Lord. That’s what the book of Revelation tells us, that when the day of eternity dawns, we will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be [our] light (22:5). The glory of God will light our way (21:23). That’s hard to imagine, not needing the sun anymore. But no more war, only peace; no more sin, only love . . . I’ll take that. 

But it’s not that yet, as you know. That second alarm hasn’t gone off yet. There is still lots of sin, lots of war, lots of troubles. Lots of struggles, lots of heartache, lots of problems. Lots of disease, lots of death, lots of sadness. Now, the light of the Lord we walk by is His Word. The psalmist told us that, too: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (119:105). The Word of God directs us and leads us, but also gives us what we need. The Word directs us to the cross to find our life there. The Word directs us to water to find and receive our new life there. The Word directs us to the altar to find and receive our heavenly food, the Body and Blood of Jesus, there. The Word directs us to the Gospel to find and receive our forgiveness there. Just as the world has its own calendar to mark time, but we have a different one, so too the world has its own words that direct and lead them. The question is: where are they going? Where are they being led? And do we really want to follow? Do we really want to go where those words are are leading?

Or maybe there’s a better word, a better way . . .

Which brings us to the words we heard today from St. Paul: you know the time, he says; that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. Now is not the time to hit the snooze button as Christians! To put off what we should be doing now. To think that second heavenly alarm is still a long way from going off. It might not be. Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed, Paul adds. And it grows closer with each passing day. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. Or, maybe put it this way: the Son has been up, risen from the dead, for a long time. So it’s time for us to get ready - do those things we do when the sun comes up. It’s time for us to get up and wash - to remember when you were washed in baptism and now receive the ongoing washing of absolution. It’s time for us to get dressed - in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. It’s time for us to eat - the Body and Blood of Jesus that gives us strength and life. For, Paul said, you know the time. 

You know . . . so why, Paul asks the Romans, are you living like it’s night? For them, according to Paul, that meant living in orgies and drunkenness, in sexual immorality and sensuality, in quarreling and jealousy. What is it for you? Perhaps some of those things. But maybe for you it’s other things, other sins. Things you’re doing you know you shouldn’t be. Things you know you should be doing but aren’t. Things of body and soul. Things you would stop doing or start doing if you knew the time. Well, Paul says, you know the time. And it’s time. Time to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Which is to say: to love one another. And Paul lists some of those ways, how to do that, going through the commandments. It is to not commit adultery, or even lust. To not murder, or even hate or belittle others. To not steal, or even make your personal wealth what it’s all about. To not covet, or ever take your eyes off Christ for what gives your life meaning and purpose and value. Those things can’t save you, but then can kill you. And if we’re living in days when we might not ever get to light that rose-colored candle on the Advent wreath . . . maybe it’s time.

Jesus knew it was time - not to get on His horse! - but to get on His donkey. To fight a different kind of battle. One that would be won in the strength of weakness, in the power of humility, and in the victory of death. Strength, power and victory the people wanted! Weakness, humility, and death . . . not so much. But with Jesus, it’s always both. Even when things seem like opposites, they aren’t with Jesus. Jesus always gives you more. And that more is for your good. Your eternal good. Jesus fulfilled those shouts of hosanna! just not as the people expected. Your’s too. When you cry out to cry for help, for God to save. So that when that second heavenly alarm goes off, and Jesus comes in glory, you’ll be awake and ready to sing, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

So we’ll practice that today, in a moment. We’ll sing those same words as Jesus comes to us today, again humbly, riding in the bread and wine. Here, practice doesn’t make perfect - Jesus does. Perfect in the forgiveness of your sins. So we’ll rejoice now, for that, and we’ll rejoice when the bread and wine goes away and we finally see Jesus as He is. We’ll rejoice like they did on that Palm Sunday, because our King is coming to us, righteous and having salvation. Our salvation. That Day we’ll finally be “off the clock,” and living in peace, joy, and rest, forever. And how good does that sound?

So the Church prays, not just this season, but especially this season of Advent, Savior of the nations, come! (LSB #332) Come! O come, Emmanuel! (LSB #357)

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon on Eve of National Thanksgiving

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Jesu Juva

“A Thanksgiving Carol”

Text: Deuteronomy 8:1-10; Luke 17:11-19; Philippians 4:6-20

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Ebenezer Scrooge was haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, future, and present. The Holy Spirit doesn’t haunt us like the ghosts did Scrooge, but on a holiday like Thanksgiving, He can help us expand our thinking about this day, to look not just at the present, but also the past and the future as reasons to give thanks.

So first, we heard today from Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. The people of Israel surely had reason to give thanks: they were about to go into the Promised Land and receive their long awaited home. But Moses also directs them to the past - to all that God had done for them and given to them: the manna, the fact that their clothing did not wear out for forty years, and that their foot did not swell - that is, that God kept them in good health and strength all those years. And not only those things, but also how God humbled them and disciplined them - those were gifts to be thankful for, too.

But here’s the thing: remember who Moses was talking to here. The people who would go into the Promised Land were not the people who came up out of Egypt. That crowd, because they did not trust God and would not go into the Promised Land the first time they got here, died in the wilderness for their rebellion. It is their children to whom Moses now speaks. A group who know nothing but living in the wilderness. So by directing them to think about the past forty years, Moses is really directing them to think about their whole lives.

So perhaps this is good for us today as well. At a holiday like Thanksgiving, we usually think about the past year and all we are thankful for - but maybe that’s not enough. Maybe we need to think back over our whole lives and realize all we have to be thankful for. We have a different perspective now than we did then. We can see things perhaps a bit more clearly. How the wild things we did in our youth could have turned out a lot differently than they did. How God used trying and difficult times for His good. How, though we didn’t realize it at the time, God’s hand led and directed us to where we are today. So the Holy Spirit, working through the words of Moses, can help us see the past and give thanks for the work of God all through our lives.

We also heard today the familiar story of the ten lepers that Jesus healed. Usually the focus is on the one leper who returned to give thanks to God - not at the Temple, but where God now stood clothed in human flesh. But with this story the Holy Spirit can help us give thanks for the future. For here were ten men who had no future. They barely had a present. They were going to die lonely, horrible deaths. But to those who had no future, Jesus gave a future, and at least to the one who returned, an eternal future. 

The same is true for us. We are men and women who have a future, but not a good one! The spiritual leprosy of our trespasses and sins had sentenced us to a future of misery and condemnation, apart from God. Until Jesus came along. Until Jesus did not stand at a distance from us, but came to be with us. To be with lepers and sinners. To live with us as one of us. To mercy us. To take our sin and death upon Himself and die a lonely and horrible death on the cross, so that we could live. So that we could have a future. A future in heaven at a feast that doesn’t just last a day like Thanksgiving - or a few more with leftovers - but a feast that has no end. 

So tonight we give thanks for our future as well as we come and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. This meal that some Christians call the eucharist - the giving thanks. Here we receive the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for our forgiveness, and then offer our sacrifice of praise and thanks for all that He has done. And we know that this feast is just the beginning, just the foretaste of the feast to come, our future, heavenly feast, that has no end. So the Holy Spirit, working through the words of Luke, can help us look to the future and give thanks to God for a future that is, for us, just as sure and certain as the past.

Which brings us to the present and the words of St. Paul to the Philippians. He reminds us to give thanks in our prayers. He encourages us to think on and practice those good things in life we have to be thankful for - those people and things that are blessings to us, and that we might be to others. And he gives thanks for the Christians in Philippi for being a blessing to him - they were concerned for him, they shared in his troubles, they sent him help time and again, without Paul even asking for it. When Paul was in need, God gave him the Philippians. 

And then Paul said this: I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yes, Paul had learned to be content in any and all situations in life, but it was God using the Philippians and their love that strengthened and enabled Paul to go on. 

So in addition to the blessings of the past and the sure and certain promises of the future that give us cause for thanksgiving, there are those the Lord has given us today. Perhaps we overlook them. Perhaps we take them for granted. But the Holy Spirit, working through the words of St. Paul, can help us consider and see the blessings that are right in front of us each day, but that perhaps we are blind to. And to see the hand of God at work in them and through them for us. 

And this too: this letter to the Philippians Paul wrote from prison. Thanksgiving is not just when everything is going our way, but maybe especially when they are not. When we see the devastation of sin, the horror of death, the damage that the devil and his lies are causing, the division in the world that seems to keep getting worse. When it seems that there is little to be thankful for, perhaps it is especially at those times that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Thanksgiving, can open our eyes and hearts to what we have to be thankful for in the past and the future, which will then help and enable us to be thankful for the present, and for the work of God and the gifts of God for us now.

So we sang, Forgive us Lord, for shallow thankfulness (LSB #788). But we also pray come, Holy Spirit! Work in our hearts, open our eyes, and enable us to give You thanks now, and praise You in Your kingdom forever.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year

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Jesu Juva

“The Man in the Middle”

Text: Luke 23:27-43; Malachi 3:13-18; Colossians 1:13-20

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”

Jesus doesn’t want their tears. Not tears of pity anyway. He wants to go to the cross. The agony of the Garden is behind Him. For this He came. He lays down His life for the life of the world. 

Don’t weep for Him, He says. No, weep for yourselves. Because this is just the beginning. It’s going to get worse. How much worse? For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’

Blessed are the barren?! Barrenness, childlessness, was considered a curse in the Old Testament. Such women were shamed. But now, or soon . . . blessed? That’s quite a change! Driven by the sin and evil in the world. Sin and evil that not only rejects, but actively works against, the good. Like here, with Jesus. He can’t just be rejected, He must be eliminated. 

And if they’re doing this, Jesus says, what you see here, crucifying Him, the green tree, the innocent one, the very Son of God, who heals and restores and lifts up and gives hope . . . what’s going to happen in the days to come, when the wood is dry? It will be so bad that they want to die - it will be preferable for the mountains to fall on them and the hills to cover them.

Are we there yet? Maybe. There’s a lot of sin and evil in our world. Working against the good, the godly. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Barrenness, childlessness, is now considered not only a blessing and a virtue but an imperative by some. And as we’ve seen, don’t try to take that “blessing” away, or you will incur wrath! For them, conceiving children is a curse. 

The Old Testament prophets had spoken words like this, when the people rebelled against God and went after the gods of the nations, all kinds of false gods, and worshipped them under every green tree. Jesus is the green tree here we ought to worship, the one we look to for what we need and every good thing, but that is the tree they weren’t interested in. So there was going to be judgment, the prophets said, and it was going to be bad. 

But here, with Jesus, is the ultimate rebellion, the pinnacle of rebellion. Rejecting and crucifying the very Son of God. The hands that formed Adam from the dust of the ground now pierced through with nails. The feet that once walked in the Garden in the cool of the day, now spiked, immoveable, to a cross. The mouth that in the beginning spoke everything into being now filled with sour wine. Kings usually get the best of wines, but Jesus gets sour wine, cheap wine. The “two buck chuck” that turned rancid.

For you see what going on here? They want to control God. 

That’s the bottom line. Make God do our bidding. Keep God in the box we want Him in. That’s the basis of all false religions, including the Baals of the Old Testament - you do for God so God will do for you. Control. This is what I want, God, and we expect Him to do it. After all, what good is having a God if you don’t get what you want? If He gets in the way of what you want? That’s why many jettison Jesus today. That’s not what I want for my life, so I’ll get it some other way. And they turn to false gods. Money will get me what I want. Power will get me where I want to go. Success will elevate me. Popularity will make me immortal. 

And with these we, too, are tempted. And it’s hard to resist, isn’t it? Because it seems to be working for others! Or to use the words of the prophet Malachi that we heard today, What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.

So why not me? Why not get what I can? Get my piece of the pie? 

But a world that does this to the green tree, to Jesus,  will do it also to the dry wood - dry, sinful you. Because what you have someone else wants. Where you are someone else wants to be. What you say someone else doesn’t like. So they might crucify you, too. Maybe not literally, but the world is crucifying people that stand in their way, if you don’t go along with their agenda, if you speak the wrong words. They hated Jesus for it, and they’ll hate you for it, too. People have lost all they worked for their whole lives. They have been dragged through the mud. And no apologies. The world just moves on to consume the next tree.

The criminal on the cross next to Jesus went for his. We’re not told what he did, the charge against him, what the inscription above his cross was. Some criminals the world likes - like Barabbas. Some it crucifies. The world is undependable. It wants to control God but wants no one to control it. Very satanic, evil, in that way. 

But while that criminal was on the cross, he found hope. He began by railing against Jesus just like all the others. But at some point, he realized something wasn’t right here. Something was “off.” That the man in the middle wasn’t guilty. That the man in the middle had done nothing wrong. That the man in the middle was innocent. The man in the middle didn’t hate, but forgave. The man in the middle didn’t curse, but prayed. The man in the middle knew something, had something - a something, he needed. The man in the middle wasn’t like the rest, wasn’t like the world. No spite, no evil, from the man in the middle. Even here, even on the cross, only compassion and forgiveness. So . . . for him, too? Maybe? So he asks Jesus: remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus, I like to think with a smile on his face, or at least as much of a smile as he could muster while on a cross, says to that criminal: yes. Certainly. Today, in fact. “When” is today. Today, you will be with me in Paradise. 

And with that sentence, maybe so softly spoken that few others heard it, but heard by untold numbers of others since because of Luke, we hear that a world that tries to control God can’t. Their words couldn’t do it. Their deeds couldn’t do it. Even their nails couldn’t do it. For even hanging in the midst of evil, Jesus speaks words of love and forgiveness. He would not become like them. He dies - and then rises from the dead! - to make us like Him. To give us dry, dead trees life again. 

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

The cross - and staying on it - was Jesus remembering. Remembering our need for life. Remembering our need for forgiveness. Remembering His promise to save. And acting. Doing it. Fulfilling every word, every promise. So that when Jesus says, Today, you will be with me in Paradise, those are no empty words, like so many we hear today. But truth. 

And the truth spoken to you where Jesus and His cross are for you today. In the waters of baptism, Jesus is saying: If you are to die today, today, you will be with me in Paradise. When you hear the words of Absolution, or the Gospel, it is Jesus saying: If you are to die today, today, you will be with me in Paradise. When you come and eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus here at His Supper, it is Jesus saying to you: If you are to die today, today, you will be with me in Paradise. And with those words and that promise, dry, dead, sinful trees are given life and begin to green and grow again. That your sin no longer control you. That the sin and evil in the world no longer overcome or overwhelm you. That you know that God is not so easily controlled. He will accomplish His good and gracious will, even using the sin and rebellion and evil in this world to do so.

For in truth, the arrogant are not blessed, evildoers do not prosper, and those who put God to the test do not escape. Children are a blessing, the words of God are truth, and the ways of God are good. 

If it doesn’t seem that way to you, if you are despairing, if all you can see is your sin, if you have days where you wish the mountains would fall on you and the hills cover you because of all that is happening in the world and in your life, if it seems like you are being crucified . . . take a lesson from the criminal on the cross. Stop obsessing over yourself, stop railing against the world, and turn your head to the man in the middle. And see there not just everything’s that wrong, with the sin and evil of the world crucifying God, with my sin heaped upon Him . . . but see there everything’s that right, with your God coming to do that for you, wanting to do that for you, dying there with you, to give you life. To be the man in the middle - not just between two criminals on Golgotha, but the man in the middle between life and death, between God and man, between heaven and hell, between you and the devil, to say to you, if you are to die today, Today, you will be with me in Paradise.

That’s a good way to end the Church Year, don’t you think? A good way to end your life, and a good way to end each day. With the Word of God, the promise of God, the forgiveness of God. The God we cannot control, and that’s a good thing. A good thing because He is always working good for us. When we try to control Him, we are only hurting ourselves. When I put myself in the middle, try to have control and have everything revolve around me, I die. When Jesus is the man in the middle, I live. When Jesus is the man in the middle, I have hope. 

So when the day comes when death comes upon you, whether it is today, tomorrow, or some other day, and you awaken in Paradise, against all odds, against what you deserve, it will be because the man in the middle said you could, and would. Because the man in the middle shed His blood for you. Because the man in the middle is your Saviour.

And on that day, He’ll be in the middle then, too. In the middle of all the angels and criminals made saints, praising Him for all that He has done for us. There will be no more weeping and tears, for He will wipe away every tear. And no sour wine! Only, as Isaiah tells us, the richest of foods and the best of wines (25:6-8). 

Because of the man in the middle. If it seems like He’s getting in your way, it’s because you’re trying to put yourself in the middle. So turn and repent. You don’t want to be in the middle! That’s His place. He wants to be there. For you. So that you can be with Him in Paradise.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Quietly Confident”

Text: Luke 21:5-36; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-13; Malachi 4:1-6

 

[Some of the thoughts and words of this sermon from “Confidence and Quietness” by Rev. Dr. Adam Koontz in Concordia Pulpit Resources, 32.4, 38-41.]

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Many of the words we heard today, from Malachi, from Jesus, are . . . how shall we characterize them? Disturbing? Unsettling? Frightening?

Blazing fire and utter destruction. The destruction of the Temple. False preachers and prophets. Wars and tumults. Earthquakes, famines, and pestilences. Terrors in the heavens and on the earth. Persecution and death. Jerusalem surrounded by armies, and then trampled underfoot. Nations in distress, people perplexed and fainting with fear. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Coming to a world which, quite honestly, seems at that point to be hanging on by a thread. 

Many of these things have already happened. The Temple was destroyed and Jerusalem trampled underfoot - although it has since been rebuilt. The city, at least. Not the Temple. Earthquakes and famines continue. We just came out of a two year pestilence. Wars and tumults end in one place only to pop up in another. Nations in distress, people either not knowing what to think or hyperventilating in fear. And the wrong finger on the wrong button could quickly cut that thread the world is hanging on. For hundreds of years, thousands of years, people have seen all these things and thought: this is it. This must be it. 

But so far, no Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Some people among the Thessalonians, though, thought Jesus had already come again. And they missed it. They missed Him. So now what? Nothing really matters now, does it? if that is true. So Paul writes to reassure them. Oh, no, Jesus hasn’t returned yet! Lots of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things still to come! OK, he didn’t say that, even though it was true. But with all this going on, he says, do this: pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead. That in these uncertain, perilous, perhaps frightening times, the truth of God’s Word be proclaimed in all the world, to help those who don’t know what to think, and that people not be deceived or mislead by untruths or half-truths. And for this truth especially to spread: that in the midst of all this, the Lord is faithful. And that He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. That no matter what happens, we have a Father and Saviour who does what He says. Always. That when there’s nothing in this world that you can count on, you can count on Him. Therefore, Paul prays for the Thessalonians, May the Lord - this faithful Lord, this establishing and guarding Lord - direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. But direct your hearts and minds not to a God far away, but to where is the reason for our confidence and faith: to the cross. To the God who would do that, who would come into this messed-up and self-destructive world and shed His blood, for you. To save you and a world that seems to be falling apart at the seams.

For the cross was the culmination of His faithfulness, the fulfillment of all the promises of the Old Testament. Which promise of His failed? Which wasn’t fulfilled? Not a single one. And not a single day has gone by when you have lived apart from His care and love. Maybe you’ve known it, maybe you haven’t, maybe it has seemed as if God was not caring and loving at all. And yet He was. There all the time. Working for you and your salvation. In small ways, big ways, and even to the point of sending His Son to die for your sins and the sins of the whole world. The Lord is faithful indeed.

And steadfast, as Paul then said. The world? Changing constantly. It did in Paul’s day, and in ours. What we thought was sure, wasn’t. What we thought would last, didn’t. What we thought we could count on, let us down. Life flies by, and who knows what tomorrow will bring? But the Word of the Lord endures forever. That is what is sure and steadfast. That is what we can count on when there’s nothing we can count on. In every bad day, week, month, or year; in every little difficulty or big bill, every temporary inconvenience, or life-altering accident or diagnosis; in every anxious day and sleepless night, you have a loving Father who knows, and a steadfast Saviour who went through it, too. Who went through all the suffering of this world and life, and rose victorious, that you will, too. So that whatever comes, and however difficult, it will not, can not, defeat you who are in Christ Jesus and in His care.

So maybe, as Jesus said, the fig tree is in full leaf and the kingdom of God is near. As I said, people for hundreds and thousands of years have thought so - one of these days we’re going to be right. But until that day, what? Until that day, how shall we live? We hear about that, too, today.

Jesus mentions two ditches for us to avoid. The first is one of denial, of dissipation and drunkenness. That is, to drink and party, have fun, and try to forget about all that we see happening, all the signs. The other, the opposite ditch, is to get so wrapped up in the trials, troubles, and tribulations, all the cares of this life, that we get crushed under them, see no way out, and give up. Both, actually, are ways of giving up, aren’t they? And, obviously, neither of those is where we want to be. Neither of those is helpful. Neither of those will help us, or others.

And how can we give up on a Saviour who never gives up on us? Who is faithful and true to every Word, every promise? Who not only died on the cross for you, but then washed you clean with the blood He shed there for you in your Baptism, who speaks the same word of forgiveness He spoke there to you here in the Absolution, who feeds you with the Body and Blood He took on in His birth to hang there on the cross, and who at His Ascension told you: I’m not leaving you; lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). All these things are the answers to our prayers, how Jesus gives us the strength to escape. All these things will enable us to stand before the Son of Man at His coming with confidence and joy.

But life isn’t just about getting through, hanging on. All these things also enable us to live our lives now in a way fitting for believers; suitable for we who are confident that our Father is providing for us each and every day. Paul uses a particularly apt where here for this: quietness. Do your work quietly. 

Now what does that mean? Well, first of all, and most obvious of all, that is the opposite of running your mouth, which seems to be a particular problem in our day and age, but it was in Paul’s day, too. Then and now, we have people yammering on about everything, having an opinion on every subject, hurting others with their words, and not caring whether what they say is true or not - it doesn’t matter, as long as they’re heard. Paul calls them busybodies, who were all talk and no action. Who just stirred up trouble and strife and didn’t lift a finger to help. That’s not right or good or helpful; not why we’re here. So to that, Paul said, If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Which sounds pretty harsh, but all talk and no work - as attractive as that may sound - has its consequences.

Jesus knew that. He knew that forgiveness and mercy were not just words but would cost His life, and He laid down his life for you. Paul knew that Jesus had paid his whole debt of sin and he preached that, but he also imitated Christ and laid down his life for those he preached to. He worked for his own support so these Christians wouldn’t have to go without the Gospel because they couldn’t pay him. 

And this you know, too. That Jesus backed up His words with deeds and paid the debt of your sin - all of it! - freeing you to now bear the cost of others, imitating Paul who imitated Christ. Not just talk a good game, but provide food for people in need, help women who are pregnant and in need, support those who are elderly and can’t take care of things like they used to, give rides, pray for those in need, go out of your way. And you don’t need to crow about it and tell everyone the good you’re doing. But just as Christ bore your burden and Paul the Thessalonians’, so we who are in Christ are always bearing one another’s burdens. And if we’re not . . .  well, that is not a life in Christ, the one who bore us and all our sins. 

That’s why Paul is so definite and says what he does to us today - that we not fall into a vain and empty life that is all talk, even if it’s good and pious talk; a life that sounds good but does nothing; that speaks of love but shows no love. Luther said the same thing when he said: Faith alone saves, yes, but faith is never alone. Faith is always active in love. Because faith is quietly confident in Christ. Confident in all that He has done for us, so we rest in His love and love others. We can rest from our labors to save ourselves and instead serve others. Quietly. At peace. Not needing recognition. But in gratitude. And especially as we see the signs.

But know this, too: quietness and silence are not the same thing. Quietness does speak. Yes, actions speak louder than words, but sometimes words are needed, too. Quietness speaks not attention-seeking words of self-recognition, but words of encouragement, words of forgiveness. Quietness sings and prays. Quietness speaks of Christ. Quietness is happy to listen, quick to hear, slow to speak, and doesn’t need to set the world on fire. Because quietness is confident the Lord will act and fulfill His Word.

This quietness was Christ’s, and so it’s yours, too. Jesus was quiet when satan taunted Him in the wilderness, yet used God’s Word to fight. He was quiet in the face of many accusers and when they condemned Him to the cross, yet also prayed for His mockers’ and crucifiers’ forgiveness. Jesus didn’t have to shout down those who shouted Him down. Quietness is confident. It is loudness, brashness, babbling, gossiping that is not confident; that is nervous and anxious and needs to be heard and seen. Christ, in His quietness, looked only to God for vindication and life, and He was not put to shame. In quietness, He was raised on the third day.

This quietness of Christ’s is your quietness now. His confidence your confidence. In the work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for you. That no matter how messed up this world is or becomes, you have a God above it all. No matter how close to the end we are, you have a Saviour and a promised future in Him. That no matter what each day brings, it brings with it the love of Your Father, the forgiveness of your Saviour, and the strength of the Spirit. The Lord is faithful. His Word endures forever. When there’s nothing in this world you can count on, you can count on that.

So until that day, when the Son of Man [comes] in a cloud with power and great glory, live in quiet confidence. Don’t give up on your Saviour who does not give up on you. Who bore your burdens, and still does. That in His strength and love and grace and mercy, we can bear one another’s burdens, in our families, our churches, our neighborhoods. Not for the world’s acclaim or applause - that’s unlikely anyway. But because you have a Father who sees in secret, and a Saviour in whose nail-scarred hands your life is safe and secure. And when He does appear, He who rescued you, who established you and guarded you in this world and life - and He is! - you will meet Him, as Malachi said, like calves leaping from the stall, and He will take you up with Himself, to the life and glory He has for you and all His children. He is steadfast and faithful, and will surely do it. So as we wait, do not fear. Do not be anxious. Yes, The Day Is Surely Drawing Near (LSB #508). So Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers (LSB #515)! You beloved of the Lord. Rejoice and pray: Come, Lord Jesus!

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Feast of All Saints

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Jesu Juva

“Hope that Does Not Disappoint”

Text: Revelation 7:9-17; Matthew 5:1-12; 1 John 3:1-3

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

What the world cannot achieve, Jesus has. We heard today of John’s great vision of heaven, of a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. Our world seeks such unity and peace, but these noble goals continue to elude us. Wars continue, favoritism continues, hatred, prejudice, and bias continue. There are the haves and the have nots, the ins and the outs, the smart people who agree with me and the stupid people who don’t, and so those the world wants and those the world thinks we’d be better off without. Even when we get a taste of unity and peace, like after a national tragedy, it doesn’t last long. So this great multitude is found nowhere on earth. There is instead division. And not only in the world, but in our country, in our communities, even sometimes in our families. 

We long for this unity and peace. But even our best efforts fail. We fail. We sin. We add to the division. Our sinful nature gets the better of us and we lash out. Or maybe it was a comment we made - live and in person, or on social media - and we didn’t realize the hurt it would cause, but it did. Sometimes for us to get ahead we have to put down others, we think - and so we do. Or maybe it was what that person did to me - unforgivable! Meaning: a divide that is permanent; irreparable. Because this world is filled with sinners - sinners like you and me - this vision of heaven will never be reality on earth.

Unless . . . unless there was some other way we could be united and at peace. If there was someone who could heal the hurts. Politicians always promise to do that. They are this election cycle, too. But they never do. For they can’t, really. But what if there was someone who could . . . Someone who could forgive the unforgivable. Someone who could love the unlovable. Someone who could bring us together despite our differences. Someone who knows us at our very worst, and could make us our very best. Someone who didn’t care where we were from, what funny accent we had, what color our skin. Someone who could bring together what sin has divided, and help us see others as He does - not as opposition, but people who are scared, lost, confused, overwhelmed, hurting, lonely, who just need someone. Someone to love them. But not the kind of love that loves you as long as you’re useful and then kicks you to the curb, but the kind of love that loves you when you’re lying in the gutter, beat up and thrown out, and lifts you up and provides for you. Someone who would do that . . . well, He would have a great multitude around Him, don’t you think?

Oh, He would have His detractors, too, to be sure. Those who don’t approve of that kind of love, that kind of care, who want unity and peace only on their terms. They might even try to get rid of someone who would go against their wishes and the way they think things should be done. Crucify Him, even! 

But what if even that couldn’t stop Him? If He came back from the dead and continued His work, but now on an even larger scale than before? Uniting not only people on earth, but heaven and earth, the living and the dead! And not only in one place, but in and from every pulpit, altar, and font around the world. His message, His peace, His hand, His forgiveness, His life, extended to every time and place. Wouldn’t that be something? Something glorious! And someone worthy of praise for doing this! For His blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power.

But isn’t that what we just sang! This is the feast of victory for our God. . . . Power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and blessing and glory are His. And isn’t this what we just saw, the hand of God, the water of God, and the Word of God taking a sinner and making her a saint? Taking an enemy and making little Abigail His child. Isn’t this what we heard earlier when we confessed that we lived this week again at our worst, and He lifted us up and we heard Him say: I forgive you all your sins, all your worst, all your shame. And isn’t this what we’re anticipating, coming to this altar in a moment to open our mouths and be fed by the one who has united us here like this. And who not only unites us together here, but wants us united with Him forever. 

So isn’t this here what we long for? Here is the unity and peace we need. Here is the forgiveness and love we need. Here is heaven on earth. Here is that great multitude on earth, together with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, known and seen with the ears and eyes of faith. Because here is Jesus. The someone we need, the someone to do what we cannot and could never do, the someone who unites us to each other because He has united us all in Himself. Here is Jesus for that. Here is Jesus for you. What the world cannot achieve, Jesus has.

So blessed are we. We heard that over and over in the Gospel today - blessed are we. Not because we have everything we want - because, quite frankly, some of those things listed there for those who are blessed I’d rather not have or be! I’d rather be rich in spirit than poor in spirit. I’d rather not mourn or be meek. I’d rather not have to hunger and thirst for righteousness, have to put myself out and be merciful, have to play the peacemaker, and I’d really rather not be persecuted, reviled, or spoken evil of! But in this world of sin and death; of division, not unity; of strife, not peace - this is our reality. The reality little Abigail was just born into. 

But there is another reality that little Abigail was just REborn into as well today. The reality of a Saviour named Jesus. Who does bless us living in this world of sin and death. Who blesses us with exactly what we need. With the unity and peace, love and forgiveness we need. Which is found only in one place: in Him. For this is the blessing: He blesses us with Himself. And when you receive Jesus, you also get all that’s His. In Baptism, we receive Jesus. In the Absolution, we receive Jesus. In the Gospel, we receive Jesus. In the Supper, we receive Jesus. And with Him, His forgiveness, His life, His salvation are given to us. His kingdom and His sonship are given to us. And His family is given to us. So today, we gained a new sister named Abby, and she gained a whole lotta brothers and sisters in Christ! A great multitude, in fact, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. And times.

But Abby got more than that this morning. She also made a powerful enemy in satan who is going to hound her relentlessly, as he does you. Who is going to persecute her for Christ’s righteousness given to her. Who is going to revile her and persecute her and utter all kinds of evil against her for belonging to Christ, as he does you. Who is going to try to lure her and tempt her and convince her that life is better and easier with him. And, well, easier? Maybe. The world loves its own and those who agree with it. But better? Not a chance. For while there may be trial, tribulation, trouble, and sorrow now, for a while, in Christ, there is an eternity of blessing. Of no more hunger or thirst. Of no scorching heat. Of living water and no more tears. An eternity of what we so long for: unity and peace. For what the world cannot achieve - even though satan may lyingly promise it - Jesus has. 

And we celebrate that today, this All Saints Day. For all the saints are saints because of Him. What the world cannot achieve, Jesus has. And what we cannot achieve, Jesus has. We could never be saints on our own. We can never make ourselves holy. Holiness is of God and is His gift to us in Jesus. So only in Jesus are we holy. Only in Jesus are we saints. But we are all saints in Him. Saints who are part of that great multitude - now by faith, but one day by sight. 

And today, Abby too. For today she has washed her robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Yes this little one, only 35 days old. She cannot stand, and yet is standing around the throne of God with us. She cannot speak, and yet is crying out in the worship and praise of God with us. Her parents comfort her, but so does her Father and Saviour. Her parents feed her, but she is also satisfied with the bread of life from heaven. And she is blessed, not just with loving and caring earthly parents, but with an even more loving and caring and eternal Father. Who will do everything for her for eternity. 

And what is true for her is true for you. Blessed is she. And blessed you are. Blessed in this world so messed up, so lost. Blessed to be in this little outpost of unity and peace in a world disunited and not at peace, this little outpost called the church. Where All Saints gather together every week. Around Jesus, in Jesus, to receive Jesus. To receive what we could never achieve or do for ourselves. What if there was someone . . . to give us such a life, and such hope? 

Hope that we will see our loved ones who died in the faith again. Hope for the newborns brought into this world of sin and death. Hope for the ones the world has no use for. Hope for not only when we’ve been kicked to the gutter, but when we’ve put ourselves there. Hope for unity and peace. 

That’s exactly what we’ve been singing about today, paraphrases of what we heard in the Scriptures today! Despised and scorned they sojourned here; But now how glorious they appear. On earth they wept through bitter years; Now God has wiped away their tears (LSB #676). We feebly struggle . . . And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long . . . But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day; The saints - triumphant! - rise in bright array (LSB #677). Rise, because of Jesus and His resurrection that conquers all. Our hope that is greater than any heartache, trouble, persecution, or deep, dark grave. Hope that will not disappoint. Hope that is sure and certain - as sure and certain as the empty tomb. Hope that can sustain us against this world at its worst, and even when that worst has crept into, snuck into, us. Our someone, the someone we need, is coming for All His Saints, as He does now with His forgiveness, so He will then, and we will from our labors rest. You and me, little Abigail, and those we don’t even know who they are, but who will join us in that great multitude that no one can number. No one but Jesus, that is. 

For He knows. He knows each and every one. By name. And there will be unity, and there will be peace, and there will be joy. And there will be singing and there will be feasting. But most of all there will be Him. Our someone. Who did this for us. And we - with all the saints - will be with Him. And that’s all that will matter. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.