Virginia March for Life Pre-March Homily

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Jesu Juva

“God Became Man for Life”

Text: John 10:11-18; 1 Peter 1:3-25; Psalm 1

 

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

Yesterday was the day of commemoration for Anselm of Canterbury, who lived in the eleventh century and whose most famous work was Cur Deus Homo, or, Why God Became Man. The answer to that is both simple and mind-boggling. The simple is that God Became Man to die. The Son of God takes on human flesh to die for human flesh. The Son of God takes on human flesh to take upon Himself the sin of all human flesh and atone for it. The Son of God takes on human flesh to give our human flesh hope. The hope of life now and life forever. That’s the simple answer. Jesus as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for us.

But that’s also the mind-boggling part! That God would do that for us. For a world and people who ever since Adam and Eve said to God and His creation: Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll do things our way. We don’t need you. Yes, we know what You said, but we disagree. We’ll take what we want, use our sexuality as we want, end our marriages when we want, love myself, not my neighbor, and anyone who gets in my way . . . yeah, they’ve got to go. The elderly, the inconvenient, the bothers, the troublesome, even the baby You gave in the womb.

That’s the world into which the Son of God came. A world definitely in need of His love and saving, but completely undeserving of it. And He came anyway. Because that’s who He is. A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Exodus 34:6, et. al.). He saw His good creation taken captive - captive to sin and death, and did not stand idly by. He acted. He invaded. To battle for us. To battle sin, death, and the devil. To rise from death victorious. To undo death. All death. All the death caused by sin. And not just the death of people, but also the death of families, marriages, and faith. To give us new life and hope.

Which is what we heard from Peter this morning. That we have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And Peter knew a little something about that. He knew the struggles of life and hope and toil; of working all night and catching nothing. He knew the fear and threats of a creation gone wild. He knew rage and spite and lashing out - both against him and from him. He knew despair, he knew failure, he knew death. 

And because Peter knows all that, he also knows joy. The joy of Jesus’ victory. The joy of salvation. The joy of forgiveness. The joy of hope. The joy of having an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us. A joy that can last even when grieved by various trials, because we are being guarded by God - by grace through faith. 

So we gather today in hope and joy. Hope that by the Word and Spirit of God, hearts will be changed and we will change from being a culture of death to a culture of life. Hope that every life will be valued and wanted. Hope that those in positions of authority and responsibility will use their vocations for good and for life. 

Such hope is not easy. It is a struggle. It’s not easy to endure when there is so much death around us, and contrary to what we sang in the Psalm, when the way of the wicked does not seem to be perishing.

At such times, though, we know where our hope and strength will come from. Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord - the Word of the Lord. Who drinks deeply of the words and promises of God  and so is that tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. And, we could say, whose hope does not die. So even if we do not see the way of the wicked perishing now, we know that it will. It must. Just as the darkness perishes in the light, so will all wickedness and evil perish at the coming of Jesus. 

Knowing this, Peter exhorts us to prepare our minds for action. To be holy. To conduct ourselves throughout the time of our exile in fear and faith, knowing the struggle, but also knowing our future, and knowing the victory of Jesus. That we have a Good Shepherd who died for all and wants all as His children and in His flock - even the littlest boy or girl in the womb. And if marching today means even one baby saved, one heart changed, one more person hearing the Word of God and repenting, it is worth it. The Good Shepherd knows each and every sheep. He leaves the ninety-nine in search of the one.

Peter knew what it was like to be that one. Hopeless and lost. And so he knew the joy of being found and born again to a living hope. A faith and hope tested each day by fire, but a faith and hope also renewed each day by the love and forgiveness of Jesus. 

So Peter doesn’t blow smoke - he speaks the truth. And so must we. For only from the depth of sin comes the joy of forgiveness. Only from the depth of the grave comes the joy of the resurrection. And from the deception of the lie comes the joy of the truth. The truth that the Author and Giver of Life is also the lover of Life, who in love laid down His life for your life. He is the man who is blessed, and gives that blessedness to us. 

That is Why God Became Man. That great sinners, grave sinners, all sinners . . . that the deceivers and the deceived . . . that the abortion provider and the abortion user . . . that those blinded by sin and those who see sin and welcome it . . . that all those and all that and more - be subsumed in the love and forgiveness and cross of Jesus. That all be dead and buried with Christ, and rise to life with Him. To a new life, a living hope, a genuine faith, a steadfast love, and an endless joy. 

Joy, for Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] 

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Restoring Hope through the Word”

Text: Luke 24:13-35; 1 Peter 1:17-25

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

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

We had hoped.

We had hope. 

Now we do not. It’s gone. It died on a cross.

So it was for those two men walking, trudging, back to Emmaus. Maybe the longest seven miles of their lives. Two of them, Luke says. Two disciples of Jesus. Two who knew Him . . . or thought they did.

We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.

We had hoped.

We had hope.

Now we do not. 

Their hopes are dashed. No, shattered. No, obliterated. The kind of obliteration there’s no coming back from. Crushing. Death does that.

You probably know something of that. If it hasn’t happened to you, you’ve probably seen it happen to someone else. 

When I was in Seminary, my second year, a fourth year student, Ray, just a couple of months from receiving his call, graduating, and becoming a pastor was killed in a car crash right at the front gate of the Seminary. His fiancée in the car with him survived, but was critically injured. We had hoped . . . 

Marriages start with great hope and joy and celebration. Til death us do part. The hope of children. A future and life together. But how many end too soon? From death, from sin, from selfishness. We had hoped . . .

And we could say the same thing about many careers, friendships, churches, dreams . . . The detritus of shattered lives all around us. Bits and pieces of hopes and dreams. No one wants to be the man on the median begging for money. No one wants to be a single mom. No one thinks it will happen to them. We had hoped . . .

And we wonder why? Why do these things happen? Sometimes there’s an answer. Fault. Blame. Sometimes not. Either way, we think, we just have to make the best of it. 

But is that the life God wants for you? A life where you just have to make the best of it? Trudging, slogging along.

For those two men, trudging back to Emmaus, there was no best of it to be had! There was no picking of these pieces. They had to figure out LIFE again. They thought, they hoped . . . Now, they need NEW thoughts and NEW hopes. But what can compare to this one? What could replace this one? That the Messiah had come! Nothing else will measure up. Or even come close.

Or so they thought . . .

There was a lot of confusion, too. Compounding things in their rattled brains. The report of the women . . . an empty tomb, a vision of angels . . . But that’s what often happens with tragedies or major events. Lots of rumors, stories, reports, many of which later turn out not to be true. We have to wait for the dust to settle. The investigation to take place. Then the truth will come out.

They weren’t there yet. Still too much dust in the air. Too much confusion. Too much pain. 

We had hoped.

We had hope.

Now we do not.

So Jesus cuts through it all - all the hopelessness and confusion. But not just by appearing to them and giving them a glimpse of Him alive - the time for that would come. But first giving them something more steadfast and reliable than that. Something OLD that wasn’t like the many and varied reports coming in that may or may not be true. Something that wouldn’t change because it couldn’t change. Jesus gives them the Word of God. The Word written long before this that not only said all this was going to happen, but that it HAD to happen this way. That it was necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory. That He HAD to die and rise from the dead. This was known, as we heard Peter write in his Epistle, from before the foundation of the world. And then revealed by God through the prophets. Now it has happened. God did it! Why are you surprised? Why are you dismayed? Why are you not rejoicing?

Well, you know why. It’s hard! They’re conflicted. They want to believe, they want to hear more. But once your hopes get shattered, its hard to hope again. Don’t get fooled again! Once bitten, twice shy. So stay with us, stranger. Teach us more. Renew our hope.

And Jesus does. But just for a moment. For now that He has revealed Himself to them in the words of the prophets, now He reveals Himself to them in the breaking of the bread. Not as proof, but as confirmation that the Word of God was true and right all along. So that their faith and hope are firmly anchored not in what they see, but in the Word of God. The Word of God that will last. For the word of the Lord endures forever. 

This we must learn as well. For us, if we see the detritus of shattered lives all around us; bits and pieces of hopes and dreams - even our own! - why are we surprised? If we are hurt, if there is pain, if we are sinned against . . . If there is persecution, opposition, evil in the world . . . If we are betrayed, used, shoved aside . . . Did not the Word of God say this would happen? Jesus Himself also said so. If they hate me, they will hate you. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. The evil one will try to deceive you and mislead you. He will attack and harass you. He will give you no peace. Jesus himself said so . . . so why are we surprised when he does? 

Well, maybe it’s not so much the what as the who. When those we thought we could trust, we could rely on, are the ones doing the hurting and betraying. And then realize, I’ve done it, too! I’ve hurt, I’ve betrayed, I’ve failed, I’ve sinned against my loved ones, I’ve done the shattering, too . . . 

There’s only one who never did. The one who saw the detritus of this world, all the shattered lives, all the broken pieces, who looked around and saw a world harassed and helpless, wounded people like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), and so came to be that shepherd, to pick all up all the shattered pieces, all the dry bones, and renew our hope. So that for all the shattering you’ve done, to say to you I forgive you. For your wounded souls, to say to you I love you. For the betrayal you’ve suffered, to say to you I will never leave you or forsake you. To take your shame away from you and make it His. To wash away your uncleanness. And to feed your hungering and thirsting soul with His own Body and Blood. To restore hope . . . not just to a broken and fallen world, but to broken and fallen you.

Hope even while we are walking through this world. Or slogging, or trudging. Like those disciples. Jesus didn’t immediately reveal Himself to them and make their aching hearts magically go away, and He doesn’t make all our troubles magically go away - though that’s what we want. But He walked with them and stayed with them and gave them what they needed, though they didn’t realize it at the time. 

And He does for us, too. We know what we want, but He knows what we need. The day will come when Jesus will reveal Himself to our eyes, and we will arrive and feast at His eternal table. That day will come, but is not yet. We’re still on the journey. And there will be days of pain, and days of joy. There will be days we are strong and days we are weak. Days of happiness and days when the challenges seem too much for us. Don’t be surprised. It was that way for the patriarch, prophets, and apostles, too. But through it all, they were never alone. 

And as a baptized child of God, baptized into Jesus, you are not and will not be either. You cannot be, for Jesus is risen from the dead and has given you His Spirit. Maybe your sin will make you doubt, maybe like those two disciples on the road, Jesus will hide Himself from you for a moment. But He was there all along. 

So as Jesus taught those two disciples, don’t believe what you see or feel, or the reports coming out of the world that God is irrelevant, or a myth, or dead. You have the Word and truth of the one who said He would die and rise and did so - for you. So that we never have to say . . .

We had hoped.

We had hope.

Now we do not. 

But instead say: Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] 

And rejoice! Rejoice that we are children of God. Even when its hard. For in the midst of an evil and constantly changing and shifting and uncertain world, and people who let us down, and when we let ourselves down, our hope is not here, in this. Our faith and hope and life are in God, the empty tomb, and all His words and promises fulfilled for us by that stranger - but a stranger no more! - walking on the road to Emmaus. 

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

The Congregation at Prayer

For the Third Week of Easter (April 20-25, 2026)

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

Speak the Apostles’ Creed. 

Verse: John 10:9a – [Jesus said:] “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #709 “The King of Love My Shepherd Is”

Hymns for Sunday: 463, 709, 540, 740, 525, 487

Readings for the Week: [The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the Scriptures for this coming Sunday.]

Monday: Psalm 23

Who is the “goodness and mercy” of God who follows you? Why?

Tuesday: Ezekiel 34:11-16

What does God promise to do? Why? What do His sheep need? Why haven’t they received it? How will God fulfill this word?

Wednesday: Isaiah 52:7-10

What good news did Isaiah prophecy? How did the Lord comfort His people? How does He comfort us today? What do we need? How does He give it?

Thursday: Acts 2:42–47

How were the early Christians devoted to God? To one another? Could we be this way today? Should we? Why? How?

Friday: 1 Peter 2:19–25

Why was Christ called on to suffer? Why might you be called on to suffer as well? How can we follow His example here? Who has been given to us to help us do this?

Saturday: John 10:1-10

What does it mean that Jesus is the door? The door to where? How is that door open to us? What does Jesus want for us?

The Catechism - The Ten Commandments: The Close of the Commandments [part 2]: What does this mean? God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore, we should fear His wrath and not do anything against them. But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these commandments. Therefore, we should also love and trust in Him and gladly do what He commands.

Collect for the Week: Almighty God, merciful Father, since You have wakened from death the Shepherd of Your sheep, grant us Your Holy Spirit that when we hear the voice of our Shepherd we may know Him who calls us each by name and follow where He leads; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregation Board of Evangelism and Outreach.

+ the Lutheran Synod of Mexico, for God’s wisdom, blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, guidance, wisdom, and provision for Lutherans for Life.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Collect for the Week © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.

Lutheran Service Book Hymn License: 110019268