The Congregation at Prayer

For the Week Easter 7 (May 13-18, 2013)

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

Speak the Apostles’ Creed.

Verse: Acts 2:21 – “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #497  “Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord”

Hymns for Sunday: 498, 497, 622, 496, 503, 940

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

Monday:  Psalm 143

How are these words Jesus’ words? Pray this psalm for yourself now as well.

Tuesday:  Numbers 11:24-30

How is this event a foreshadowing of Pentecost?

Wednesday:  Ezekiel 37:1-14

How does God give life to the dry bones? What does He use? Has He done this before? Where? What about now?

Thursday:  Genesis 11:1-9

What were the people trying to do? Why? How and why was this counter to God’s way of working?

Friday:  Acts 2:1-21

What did Peter and the eleven do after the Spirit came? What does this teach about the Holy Spirit and His work?

Saturday:  John 14:23-31

What does it mean to “keep” the Word of God? Is it to obey, or more than that? Why? What then happens?!

The Catechism: Confession: What is the Office of the Keys? The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

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

+ the Word of God to dwell in you richly.

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregation’s Commission on Mercy.

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

+ God’s blessing, guidance, and provision for Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO.

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!

Easter 7 Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“United IN the Word BY the Word”

Text: John 17:20-26

(Acts 1:12-26; Revelation 22:1-6, 12-22)

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

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

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers. I remember my mother saying that when it came to raising her children: we did the best we could, and prayed a lot. All in all, I think that’s a pretty good theology for raising kids. We do the best we can at fulfilling the vocation of father or mother that our gracious Lord has given us, but always knowing how sinful and failing we are, and so entrusting our children to the Lord in prayer. There is no better thing, no more important thing, a parent or anyone else can do that that. Sometimes, I think, we underestimate and so underuse the gift of prayer. We must learn to not do that. It is the best thing, the most powerful thing, we can do. To join our Lord in prayer. Jesus Himself was praying all the time, all over the place in the Gospels. It was the air He breathed. And so for us too as Christians - as little Christs. There may be lots of people you cannot do anything for, but you can pray for them. And even for those you can help, don’t rely on what you can do! Pray for them too! To the One who is almighty and can do all things. To the One who does far more than we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). To the One who has promised to hear and answer the prayers of His children. Your prayers and mine.

Today in the Holy Gospel we heard again Jesus praying. A prayer very much for you and me. For Jesus is praying, as He says, not for these only - not only for the twelve - but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Through their word. You see, the words of the apostles are important. They are the eyewitnesses of all Jesus said and did. Jesus taught them. Jesus showed them. Jesus revealed to them. And now, they report their eyewitness testimony to us in the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament. That’s why - as we heard in the first reading from Acts - the one who replaced Judas in the apostolic band had to be an eyewitness. He had to be one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us. And so the words we hear today from them are not just pious thoughts or spiritual reflections, but the eyewitness testimony of those who were there. Testimony that got most of them killed. But now, to us, testimony through which the Holy Spirit works. We hear and believe.

That is what Jesus prays for here. That, through the word of the apostles, we may all be one with God. It is no mere earthly unity that Jesus is praying for here. That we all just get along. That is too small. And Jesus is not about earthly unity. We could all get along and be united separate from Christ, and we would be lost. That would not fulfill this prayer. But this unity for which Jesus prays here is different. This unity may, in fact, cause division on earth, as Jesus said before: Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53).

That’s not a very good Mother’s Day verse, is it? But the truth is that even more important and vital than our family ties is our tie to our triune God. To be united to Jesus and so be united to His Father. For with Jesus, blood in not thicker than water - water is thicker than blood. The water of baptism trumps all. Families are important, don’t get me wrong. God invented and created them, and all God does is good. But they can become idols in the hands and hearts of sinners, too. Far more vital is to be united to Jesus in His death and resurrection. United with Him as sons of God. And thus united to Him, united to one another. And that kind of unity comes only by the Word and Spirit of God.

For Jesus wants all the world to believe not just anything, but to believe in Him; that He is the One sent from God to be our Saviour. That all trust in Him with their life - our eternal life. To receive forgiveness from Him. To know Him as the One who went to the cross for us. To know how greatly He united Himself to us. Uniting Himself to us in our flesh in a birth like ours, and then uniting Himself to us in our flesh in a death like ours. All so that we be united to Him in a resurrection like His, and live with Him forever. That’s what Easter and this whole Easter season (now concluding) has been all about.

And this unity, this life, this proclamation, this faith, this forgiveness, will come through the word of the apostles. A truth which cause some to laugh, for aren’t those words the problem? Isn’t it the words of the apostles that divide us and cause schism? Does “is” really mean “is” when Jesus said “This is my body,” or only signify, or symbolize? Does “all” really mean “all,” or did Jesus only die for some? Does “I forgive you” really mean “I forgive you,” or is there something we must do? Should babies be baptized? The altar be open? Tongues be spoken? The rapture be looked for? And about a thousand other disputes over the words of the apostles invented over the years . . . even: Is Jesus really our only Saviour from sin, death, and hell, or aren’t there really some couple other ways? So the words of the apostles, their testimony, is often sadly set aside in the name of unity.

But that is not Jesus’ unity. Jesus’ oneness. For the problem is not with the words, but with us. When we do not believe the words. When we doubt and question them. When we do not live by them. When we do not love them, gladly hear and learn them, and cling to them. When we pit word against word, and our thoughts and desires against God’s Word and will. When Bibles grow dusty and hearts grow hard.

But as Jesus prays, it is exactly through their words - which are really Jesus’ words - that we are united. United to Christ and one with God. The words in Holy Baptism that unite us to Christ; that place the name of the Holy Trinity upon us and claim us as His own; that wash us clean from our sins. Yes, His Word says, you are His child. The words in Holy Absolution that not only assure us that our sins are forgiven, but give us the very forgiveness proclaimed. Yes, His word says, you are forgiven. The words of the Holy Supper that make bread and wine the Body and Blood of our Saviour who is then placed into our mouths and poured over our lips as heavenly, holy food; food that isn’t just holy but that makes us holy. Yes, His Word says, Christ in us and we in Christ. And the words of the Holy Gospel telling us the story of Christ and that this is not just the story of others, but our story as well. We too are the ones given sight, healed from our spiritual leprosy, given ears to hear, and raised from the dead. These words, the words of the apostles. These words, Christ’s words. These words, now our words. 

These words which are trustworthy and true. That’s what the angel told John, as we heard in Revelation. Which words? The words of Christ. All of them. We can depend on them. You can stake your life on them. Many did. And testified to their truth through their martyrdom. The words of the world, the thoughts of the world, not so much. But the words of Christ you can take to the bank. No, more than that, you can take them to heaven. NO - they will take you to heaven, even as they bring heaven here to you as Jesus comes to you through His Word and Sacraments.

That this would all be true FOR YOU . . . that’s what Jesus is praying for. That what we now believe we would then see. With our own resurrected eyes. That the glory of being sons of God - a glory which Jesus has already given to us here - we may see as we see Jesus in His resurrected glory. A glory hidden in His incarnation, but which now shines forth fully in Jesus resurrected and ascended.

And with that glory comes also His love; comes also His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God drawing us into the eternal love of God. To know as we are known. To love as we are loved. To glorify God with the whole company of heaven forever as the Bride of Christ. And what is in this heaven - did you hear? The tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit. Twelve, the number of the apostles. The apostles whose word now feeds us with the Word of God, washes us with His forgiveness, and puts in us His Body and Blood. Their word, their testimony, through which our Lord makes us one. One with Him. His work. Not ours. A gift. A blessing.

That’s why Jesus came. And so what He prays for: for us and for our salvation.

When my mother prayed for her children, it was because she knew the dangers of the world. She knew there was much she could not do, and so she entrusted her children to the loving hands of the One who can do all things. A great gift she gave to her children, her prayers.

When Jesus prays for you, however, it is not bcause there is much He cannot do, but rather because He came and DID all things. All that is needed. All that is necessary. And gives it all to you, by grace through faith. And so He prays that you may believe it. And believing, be one with Him. And one with Him, then one with each other. And truly one with each other, that the light of His love and life shine in you now, as it shines in eternity over all who are Christ’s. All whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Your name. For you are Christ’s and Christ is yours. 

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

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

Ascension of our Lord Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Great Joy!”

Text: Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53

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

Forty days. That’s how long Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection. And they needed every one of them. The horror and grief of those three days, when Jesus was crucified and sealed in the tomb left a mark in their heads and in their hearts. And then to see Him resurrected! It is not so easy to believe. And so Jesus comes to them. He appears to not only the twelve, but also to James, His brother, to Paul, and to more than 500 brothers at one time (1 Cor 15:5-8). And they not only see Him and hear His voice, they touch His body and watch Him eat with them. This is no ghost. Jesus is with them. He is risen, just as He said. These are the eye witnesses - over 514 of them! - and they would give their eye witness testimony to the truth of the resurrection. And as any attorney would tell you, if you have 514 eye witnesses testifying to the truth of something, you pretty much have a slam dunk case.

But now the forty days are up, and it is time for Jesus to ascend to the right hand of His Father. Forty days: the same number of days it rained on Noah’s ark. Forty days: the same number of days Moses spent on Mt. Sinai. Forty days: the same number of days Jesus fasted in the wilderness being tempted by satan. Forty days: God’s number of days. So Jesus is taken up from them. A cloud hides Him from their sight. They will not see Him again until He returns in glory. 

They lingered a moment, though. They stood there, staring up into the sky, taking it all in. Two men in white robes - angels - ask them why. We’re not told what their answer was - or maybe we were. For Luke tells us that they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. 

They were not sad that Jesus had left. They were filled with great joy. Do you remember the only other time Luke used that phrase “great joy?” He speaks of joy many times, but of great joy only one other time - when the angel told the shepherds that Jesus was born. When Jesus came down from heaven in His incarnation. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people (Luke 2:10). Now Luke uses it again, for now those words have been fulfilled. Now there is great joy for all people. For Jesus’ victory is for all people. Jesus has triumphed over sin, death, and hell for all people. Jesus has paved the way to heaven for all people. For you. So how could the twelve not be filled with great joy? 

And so that we may understand and have this great joy too, we sang a moment ago of what Jesus has done for us in His ascension: He has raised our human nature, On the clouds to God’s right hand; There we sit in heavenly places, There with Him in glory stand. Jesus reigns, adored by angels; Man with God is on the throne. By our mighty Lord’s ascension We by faith behold our own (LSB #494 v. 5).

Or in other words, Jesus came down from His throne as the Son of God, but now He returns as both God and man. It is not only His divinity that ascends but also our humanity. And with that, the honor and dominion of man, forfeited by Adam, has been restored by Jesus. Man is back where he belongs. With God. No longer divided from God by sin and death. For now sin is forgiven and death is defeated. And as Jesus ascended, so will we ascend. We will not be reincarnated to another life on earth, as some would have us believe. No, as Jesus is risen from the dead and ascends into heaven, so will we. In Him. By our mighty Lord’s ascension We by faith behold our own.

And so filled with that great joy, the disciples are continually in the temple blessing God. No private, mumbled prayers are these! They are proclaiming for all to hear. That there is forgiveness in Jesus. That there is hope in Jesus. That we have a Saviour in Jesus. And when the Holy Spirit came upon them on that first New Testament Pentecost, ten days later, this was the message they carried into all the world, to the end of the earth. The message that has now come to us. The message that now gives us great joy.

Which we need. For how often does the toil, tribulation, and tumult of this world rob us of our joy? This world that seems to be coming apart at the seams, that seems to be plunging deeper and deeper into sin. And the sin that we can’t seem to shake, that keeps erupting out of us no matter how we try to stop it. Where is our Lord’s great joy for us?

It is still in our Lord’s ascension. That’s what Paul explains to the Ephesians; the words we heard earlier. Seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Our Jesus is in control. The rulers of this world may think they are, but our Lord has been setting up and taking down rulers and kingdoms, powers and dominions, longer than any of us have been alive.  And all for the sake of His Church. For all things are under Jesus’ feet for the sake of His Bride. And you can be sure Jesus is still taking care of His Bride, His Church, you, that the Gospel may be proclaimed to the ends of the earth and to the end of the earth. From our limited point of view it may not always seem like it, but we believe it. We confess it. Just as Jesus’ cross did not seem good at the time, but evil, yet turned out to be the greatest good of all, so it is with the crosses we must bear in our day. For while a cloud hid Jesus from the disciples’ sight, it has not hid us from His sight. 

In fact, Jesus’ ascension means that He is more present with us now than He was before. Jesus is not ruling from some far away and unknown place named heaven, but is the one who now as both God and man fills all in all. He is no longer present only in Zacchaeus’ house, or at the table of Simon, or in the home of Mary and Martha, but now is present in fonts, pulpits, and altars all over the world. Speaking to us, washing us, feeding us, and forgiving us. The disciples go out to the ends of the earth not only to speak Jesus but to bring Jesus, to give Jesus. To bring that message of great joy that is for all people: that God is here for you.

Yet even here and with us still, so too has Jesus gone to prepare a place for you, and will come back to take you to be there too (John 14:2-3). For He did, in fact, restore the kingdom to Israel - not the old, earthly Israel, and her old earthly kingdom, but the new Israel, the Church, and a heavenly kingdom. When that day will come when Jesus returns, all flesh is raised, and we will be taken - body and soul - to that kingdom, is not for us to know. But to know that He will is enough.

So today is a day of great joy. The disciples had it right. And so A Hymn of Glory We will Sing (LSB #493), to our risen Christ, ascended Lord. For we are now the ones in white robes, baptismal robes, waiting for Him to come again.

For Christ is ascended! [He is ascended indeed! Alleluia!]

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

Easter 6 Sermon

Sorry! No sermon to post today as we were privileged to have Rev. Richard Resch as our guest preacher.

Easter 5 Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Truth, Cross, and Joy”

Text: John 16:12-22 (Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-7)

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.

There is a change of emphasis in the readings today. The first four weeks of the Easter season our focus has been on the resurrected Jesus, His appearances to His disciples, and how He is our Good Shepherd in life and in death. The focus has been a looking back to what has happened and what it means. Starting today, however, we look forward, to the next step in salvation history as we hear Jesus speaking of the promise and the sending of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit through whom God will continue His work in the world. The Holy Spirit who had always been active and working, but will now be in a new way. For as we heard in the reading from Revealtion, the death and resurrection of Jesus means a new reality - a new heaven, a new earth, and Jesus making all things new. Which sounds like a very exciting time, to say the least.

So what does Jesus say about this? First He tells His disciples: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 

It is a wonder, actually, that they were able to bear as much as they did up to now! So much had happened the past three years they had spent with Jesus. Yet the next few days would hold even more. They would be overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with sadness at His crucifixion, and then overwhelmed with joy at His resurrection. Their heads and hearts would be overloaded with it all. 

So there would be time, later, to complete their education. In the forty days after His resurrection, Jesus would open their minds and open the Scriptures to them and teach them how all that He did fulfilled all that they said. What God had long promised He had now completed. The sly serpent who by death overcame now by death has been overcome. The deceiver who overcame by the tree of the Garden had now been overcome by the tree of the cross. The great exodus, the great passover, the great salvation is now about to be accomplished for all people, in Jesus.

But they could not bear that now. You can only talk about a top so much before you just have to spin it and see it for yourself. Or for those of you who are younger and don’t know what a top is: you can only talk about a computer so much before you just have to turn it on and see it for yourself. And now, Jesus knew, the time had come to stop talking. It was time to go to the cross.

So after that, Jesus says: When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 

Jesus gives them a promise. What they cannot now bear or understand, they will be taught in the future. The Spirit would guide them into all the truth. Not a new truth or a different truth or from a different authority, but in continuity with all that had been spoken before. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit speak one truth with one voice. 

And we heard an example of this guidance in the first reading from Acts, as Peter is guided into the truth that the death and resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit is for all people - Jews and Gentiles alike. Now that was true in the Old Testament as well, but again, now in a new way. For now, the Gentiles were receiving the Holy Spirit just like the Jews. The Holy Spirit was making no distinction but treating all people the same. Before, the Gentiles were gathered into the Jewish people and became Jews to be clean. Now, the Holy Spirit is going out into all the world and making clean not by union with the Jews, but by union with Jesus. It is the same God and the same forgiveness, yet at the same time a great reversal and a new reality. It was a truth Peter needed to learn. A truth the Church needed to learn.

Which is good news for all of us Gentiles gathered here today for it is why we are here. For the Holy Spirit has come to us in the waters of Holy Baptism and made us clean, adopting us as children of God in Christ Jesus. What Peter and the Church learned that day has been happening ever since.

But a warning here: some would use this verse to speak a different “truth.” Some will use this verse to claim that the Holy Spirit has led them into a new “truth” and so what they are saying must be right. The new truth, for example, that new forms of sexuality are okay, that women are now able to serve as pastors, that abortion and mercy killing and assisted suicide is acceptable, that greed is good, that you don’t have to go to church to worship God, and about a hundred or a thousand other new things folks want to be true these days. And how can you say no? The Holy Spirit has led them into this truth after all, they claim.

But the truth - if it be the truth - does not change. To be sure, there are new ways and new realities, new cultures and new times, but the foundation of the truth does not change. The Holy Spirit will not reveal one thing as truth this day and a contrary truth another day. There is one truth, just as there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all (Ephesians 4). And so a truth that changes or contradicts the Scriptures - as those things I mentioned above do - is no truth at all, and is not from the Holy Spirit.

Now, are people caught in those sins welcome in the Church? Is forgiveness and cleansing and newness of life for them? Yes! Or, at least, it should be. That we are not always as welcoming as we should be is undoubtedly true. But it is one thing to welcome them, and quite another to welcome their sin. And it is not that their sin is worse than ours or any other. The truth is that all have sinned, you and I have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3). The goal, though, is not to change the truth and accept the sin, but to repent of the sin and change the sinner. And it is into this truth that the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding His Church. Not a new truth, but this one truth, for all people of all times and places. This truth of repentance and forgiveness and new life in Christ.

And so, Jesus continues, the Holy Spirit will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Sin comes when we glorify ourselves, when we focus on ourselves, when we raise ourselves. The Holy Spirit and the truth glorify Jesus. For it’s all about Jesus. If the glory goes toward an individual, it is not from the Holy Spirit. If the glory to what we do or who we are, it is not from the Holy Spirit. If the glory goes to anything but repentance and forgiveness, to anything but the cross and resurrection, to anything but where those are given to us now in Word and Sacrament, it is not from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit points to Christ, brings all glory to Christ, and brings Christ to all people. And so the Father sent the Son and the Son sent the Spirit, and the Spirit takes us to the Son who takes us to the Father. Three in one and one in three. All for us and for our salvation. 

And this truth is now about to be accomplished. And so Jesus says: “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”

Well what Jesus was talking about was the cross. And when it came to the cross, the pre-Spirited disciples always got it wrong and never understood. They are a microcosm of the world - both then and now - for the wisdom of the cross is foolishness to the world.

So, for example, when Jesus asked His disciples: Who do you say I am? They got it right. Peter replied: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. But then when Jesus explained what that meant - that it meant the cross - Peter got it wrong, saying: No Lord! This shall never happen to you. To which Jesus had to apply the rebuke: Get behind me satan (Matt 16). Or when Jesus told His disciples that the Son of Man was going to be betrayed and they would all run away, Peter says: Never Lord! I will die with you. But when it happened, when the cross appeared, Peter was no where to be found, and was scared to even answer a servant girl honestly (Matt 26). And the other disciples, too. Thomas doubting the resurrection and the power of God (John 20), and James and John wanting a worldly kind of greatness, not the greatness of the cross (Mark 10).

And truthfully, this is where we often get it wrong too. Jesus we like! But the cross - the trials and struggles sent by our loving Father for our good, to strengthen us, to help us, to save us - not so much. But we need the cross. Jesus’ cross, but also the cross laid upon us in our lives. And it is only for a time - a little while. Now granted, it may not seem like it. Those days of Jesus’ crucifixion must have seemed an eternity to the disciples. And maybe your crosses seem to last an eternity. But in truth, an eternity is coming; an eternity of life because of the little while of the cross. Because of the new life, new creation, resurrection and forgiveness of the cross. Because God is merciful. We may not always understand that, as the disciples had trouble understanding it. But it is the truth. The truth that the Spirit is leading us, and teaching us, and enabling us to believe.

And then finally Jesus says: Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 

A woman giving birth is a most apt description of what is indeed happening now in the time of the Church; the time of waiting for Jesus to come again. For the Church, the Bride of Christ, is giving birth to new Christians every day, all over the world. The new birth from above in Holy Baptism. And it is a struggle and in the midst of much struggle. In some countries and places a violent and deadly struggle. For the Church in this world is and always will be under attack. Satan will never rest. But the Church will never be defeated. Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not stand against her (Matt 16). And so while there is travail now; no small sorrow as we see a world spinning deeper into sin, into false doctrine, into relativism, into idolatry; as the Church witnesses her children leaving the faith, or enduring persecution, or suffering martyrdom; and the world in many cases rejoicing . . . joy is coming, Jesus says. 

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 

A joy no one will be able to take. Doesn’t that sound good? There is so much that robs us of joy now, but a promise here from Jesus. A promise to cling to. A joy that is coming. A joy that is, in fact, ours now - just not yet in its fullness and completion. The same joy the disciples felt when they saw the risen Christ. For then we will see the risen Christ, in His same body that appeared to the disciples, when He comes to take home His Bride, forever. To take you home. For as we heard from John in Revelation: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Until that day, that day and joy for which we now wait, we gather at the table, as Peter did with the Gentiles. All of us together. No matter who you are, what you have done, where you have come from. In the Gospel, in Jesus, in Easter, we are all the same. We are all sinners forgiven. We are all slaves set free. We are all the dead in sin raised to a new life. Now given a seat at the table of God, to be served by God. A seat of honor at the Lamb’s High Feast, to eat and drink the Body and Blood of the one who has redeemed us and forgiven our sins, the one who has given us His Spirit, to strengthen us and keep us, and the one who is returning to take us home. Home to a new heaven, a new earth, a new Jerusalem, for new you and new me. 

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

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

Easter 4 Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Forgiveness and Life in Your Good Shepherd”

Text: Psalm 23; John 10:22-30;

Revelation 7:9-17; Acts 20:17-35

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.

You never know where the valley of the shadow of death is going to show up. We expect it in hospital rooms, but not alongside marathon routes, in white powder in letters, or explosions in your neighborhood. We expect it for those who are old, but not for those who are young. We expect it for those who are terminally ill, but not for those who are healthy. But in all these places, in all these ways, and to all these people - and more - it comes. Satan comes to deal death, to grimly reap the wages of sin, and he doesn’t care who, he doesn’t care how, and he doesn’t care when or where. He will enjoy and savor his feast, and if it causes great grief and shock, well that’s just the icing on the cake.

But wherever the valley of the shadow of death is, there is also our Good Shepherd. For He entered the valley of the shadow of death and came out alive on the other side. The only one who has done so. And so He is able to lead us through the valley too. Wherever it comes, whenever it comes, however it comes, you will not be alone. You have a Good Shepherd in life, but even more importantly, you have a Good Shepherd in death. For His care is not just for a time, not just for this life, but for eternity.

That’s what we’re celebrating this Easter season. Our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead - the wages of sin have been paid, the grip of death and the grave have been broken, and the valley of the shadow of death has been conquered. In laying down His life for you on the cross, Jesus has provided you a way to life, that joining you in your death, you join Him in His resurrection. 

And the reading we heard from Revelation confirms this outcome, that it is not Jesus alone who comes out of the valley of death, but a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages . . . [all who] have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And in that great multitude John saw his brother apostles, who had all been taken suddenly and tragically; martyred and killed in horrible ways. In that multitude are those early Christians who had been used as food for hungry lions, burned alive for sport, or had their heads removed from their shoulders. In that great multitude are those who lived to a ripe old age and those taken too soon; the rich and the poor, the well-known and the unknown. And more recently, added to their number have been the many Christians slaughtered in hatred in Muslim lands, and maybe even one or more from Boston or Texas this week. These are the ones, John is told, coming out of the great tribulation. The ones who have come through the valley of the shadow of death, and are now at rest and peace.

For we have a Good Shepherd, and this is what He has promised us: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Though we die, we will not perish. And though we may be snatched from our loved ones in this world, no one will snatch us out of our Saviour’s hand. For our Good Shepherd is no mere man, and His Church is no mere club. The one who has come to save us and care for us is the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present God Himself. The Son of God born in human flesh, chosen not in time but before time, anointed not with oil but with the Holy Spirit, and come not to rescue us from mere earthly enemies, but spiritual powers who would do us eternal harm. Jesus is the original “first responder” who came with His promise of forgiveness and life after satan had set off the bomb of sin to destroy our world.

Those pictures that came out of Boston and Texas this week, and from countless other places before them . . . I often wonder that if we could look at our world spiritually, if we could look past the physical and see the spiritual reality, if that’s not what the whole world would look like. In chaos, in ruins, in devastation, because of sin, death, and the devil. And that not into a nice, organized, got-it-together world, but into exactly such chaos and death came our Saviour. To rescue us, to pull us from the wreckage, and give us life. The Good Shepherd calling out to His sheep, and His voice - falling upon the ears of those buried under rubble of sin - the most wonderful thing that could ever be heard. Calling out to us life and hope.

The apostle Paul knew well such spiritual chaos. He caused it among the Christians with his zealous persecution campaign. He received it, too, after the Good Shepherd reached out and rescued him and he began proclaiming Jesus. And so he warns the pastors in Ephesus (as we heard in the reading from Acts) about this. Don’t be fooled by appearances. Don’t be fooled by lulls in the fighting. Don’t be fooled into distraction. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Notice that Paul points out two sources of this spiritual chaos. First are those who will come from without, like fierce wolves. This is persecution and trouble that can be seen and felt, to scatter the flock in fear and doubt, to cause us to wonder where the care of our Good Shepherd is and maybe to doubt whether He is really good or not. But the second, and more deadly, are those who come from within the church, men speaking twisted things, to draw the faithful away from the Word of truth and so away from their Good Shepherd. These are more dangerous because what they say and do may sound and look good and successful, yet be filled with the deadly poison of false doctrine, twisting the Word of God and causing devastation that cannot be seen and felt until it is too late. 

Don’t be fooled, Paul says. Which is a good warning for us today as well. When sin comes crashing own on you; when the siren song of “you’re okay, we’re all okay” religion starts to tickle your ears and then soothe your ears. Because it does sound good. Things like: we’re strong together, we can get through this together. Now, in a worldy sense, in a national sense, that may very well be true and even helpful. But when that message seeps and creeps and makes it’s way into the spiritual, it’s deadly. For if and when we start thinking we can make it through the valley of the shadow of death without Jesus and apart from Jesus, because we’re united, because we’re strong, the valley has won. 

For when the valley of the shadow of death rears its ugly head, there’s only one unity that matters - and that is our unity with Christ. Which is why anything that does not testify to all people - as Paul proclaimed - repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is not the voice of your Good Shepherd. 

For your Good Shepherd knows not just the physical but the spiritual chaos and ruin that we cannot always see. That’s why, for example, when folks were brought to Jesus for healing, Jesus often looks at them and first says: you’re sins are forgiven. He sees chaos and ruin and knows what is needed to save. And it’s what you need, and it’s what I need, and it’s what the world needs. We may think we need a lot of things, and there are a lot of things important in this world and life. But none more important than this: the forgiveness of sins and unity with Christ. For when you have that, the valley cannot win. Wherever, whenever, however it rears its ugly head, it cannot win.

That’s why we rejoice in Baptism - there is forgiveness of sins and unity with Christ. That’s why we rejoice in Absolution - there is forgiveness of sins and unity with Christ. That’s why we rejoice in the Supper - there is forgiveness of sins and unity with Christ. That’s why we rejoice in the truth of the Scriptures - there is forgiveness of sins and unity with Christ. In all these ways, through all these means, the voice of our Good Shepherd calls out, and His hand reaches out, to save. To grab those whose lives have been buried under the rubble of sin and give them life again. The rubble we may not always see, but which is always there.

That’s why during His earthly ministry, when all those people ran up to Jesus and begged Him for help - I’ll bet at least half the time their neighbors who saw them thought: I didn’t even know he was having troubles. I didn’t even know she was sick. They looked so good. They looked like they had their life together. And maybe that describes you. Maybe others don’t know the sin, don’t know the troubles, don’t know the pain, don’t know all the rubble you’re trapped under, and we’ve become very good at hiding it and making it look like we’ve got it all together. 

But know this: you’re not alone. And I mean that in two ways. You’re not alone, first of all, because everyone else here today has problems too. Don’t be fooled by their appearance. There’s just as much spiritual rubble in here as there is out there. But this not-aloneness, this kind of unity, is not the source of your strength or your help. I can’t save you from the rubble I’m trapped under too. But you’re not alone, second of all, because you’re Good Shepherd is here for you. Here with His forgiveness, here with His resurrected-from-the-rubble life, here with His victory. And He is your strength and your help, and He’s not letting you go.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 

That’s what it means to have a Good Shepherd. For there are wolves without and within. There is rubble we have heaped upon others and rubble that we’ve caused ourselves. There are turns in life and surprises coming that we cannot even imagine right now. It won’t always be easy. But through it all, through forgiveness and unity with Christ, the valley cannot win. In forgiveness and unity with Christ, we have what we need the most. And with forgiveness and unity with Christ, though will die, we will never perish. 

This Sunday proclaims: This Lord is your Shepherd, for Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

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

Easter 3 Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Before and After: Making Old Sinners New”

Text: John 21:1-19 (Acts 9:1-22; Revelation 5:8-14)

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.

This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

It is said that repetition is the mother of learning. And so Jesus does not appear to His disciples just one time after His resurrection, but many times. For the one thing Jesus wants His disciples - and of all times and places - to know, the most important thing, the one thing (as Paul said) that Christianity cannot do without, is the resurrection. That yes, Jesus was dead; really dead and buried in a real tomb, but is now risen from the dead. And so sin, its author (the devil), and its wages (death), have all been conquered by Jesus. Because of this, the way things were is not the way things now are. Jesus is making all things new. New, not by destroying sin and everything sin has infected in a great holocaust and starting over. In our “when-it’s-broke-toss-it-away-and-buy-a-new-one” world, that’s the way we think. But your loving God did not want to throw you away. So Jesus is making all things new one person at a time. Conquering sin, its author, and its wages through His own holocaust on the cross and His powerful resurrection, and then conquering sin, its author, and its wages in you by giving you His victory in the forgiveness of your sins. That you live a new life.

And the account we heard today highlights this truth because it is a story we’ve heard before (Luke 5). And so we get kind of a “before and after” snapshot of the way things were and the way things are with the newness of life Jesus brings. For some three years before this, at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, Peter, James, and John were cleaning their nets after fishing all night and, just like we heard today, had caught nothing. So Jesus tells them, like today, to try again, and when they do they catch so many fish that their nets begin to break and both their boats begin to sink. And when Peter realizes what has just happened, the miracle and the power of God he has just witnessed, he falls on his knees and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). That’s the “before” picture.

But in today’s reading, it’s different. Peter is a changed, a transformed, man. For after this miraculous catch of fish, after John says to Peter “It is the Lord!” this time, Peter is not afraid. This time, in fact, he can’t wait to get to Jesus! He puts on his outer garment and before the other disciples know it, Peter’s jumping out of the boat and into the water to swim and get to Jesus as fast as he can. Before Easter, Peter knew only the weight of his sin. Before Easter, Peter is afraid to be in the presence of God. Before Easter, Peter tells Jesus to leave. But now, after Easter and the peace that Jesus gave (as we heard last week), Peter knows the forgiveness of Jesus. And he is no longer afraid.

So first notice this: Jesus has not changed, and Easter does not mean that He is now done all His work and now it’s up to us. No, He is still working. What He did before Easter He now does after Easter. And Jesus is not just now all “spiritual” - He is still working through the physical, through their calling, or vocation, as fishermen. That didn’t change and won’t change. What changed is the disciples. What changed is us. Jesus’ death and resurrection was not to make Jesus new, but to make us new. To raise us from sin, fear, and death to a new life in Him. Not a new super-spiritualized life, but a new life in your callings, or vocations. Not to take us out of this world, but to make us new in this world. And we see that in Peter. He is a changed man. And so are you.

And yet . . . it seems there’s something on Peter’s mind. For right after this, Jesus (who knows what we all need and provides what we need) asks him three times: Simon, son of John, do you love me? Three times, which (almost all agree) mirror Peter’s three denials of Jesus just a few days before. Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to not deny, but to confess Him. That’s the what of what’s happening here; the question is: why?

Was Peter earning Jesus’ forgiveness? Absolutely not! Jesus died for Peter’s denials on the cross. All the sin of all the people of all the world (including Peter’s and yours and mine) were on Jesus on the cross. That’s done and over with. Jesus doesn’t even bring it up. But if Peter’s like me, and if you’re anything like me, even after you know you’re forgiven, you still have regrets. You still have those nagging voices in your head. Our Lord may forgive our iniquities and remember our sins no more (Jer 31:34), as we heard during Holy Week - but it’s not so easy for us. We remember. I often forget the good I do, but I often cannot seem to forget the sins and mistakes and the wish-I-could-do-that-one-overs. Those sins that haunt, and that satan uses to taunt us.

And so it’s not that Jesus was holding his sin against Peter - Peter was holding his sin against Peter! Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself. And so Jesus lovingly gives Peter three more chances to confess Him. Again, not because Jesus needed it, but because Peter did. 

Now maybe you’re thinking: it’s not the same. It’s easy to confess Jesus in front of Jesus, where it’s safe. But again, this is for Peter. This is what Peter needed now. And did it make a difference? Do we see a new Peter? Well yes, and not just here, but later. For the Peter who was so afraid of death before that he denied knowing Jesus three times, would later go to death on a cross confessing Jesus. Jesus tells him it will be so. Peter the denier would be Peter the martyr. Not to Peter’s credit, but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus working in him. The same death and resurrection of Jesus that is working in you. Maybe you don’t know what you’re going to face in the future, but Jesus knows. And He is preparing you for it. Making you new for it. Just like Peter.

The second thing to take note of in this account today is what Jesus calls His disciples as they are out fishing. He says to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” Children. They’re children here - not disciples, not apostles. For those two titles focus more on what they do - those who follow, those who are sent. But children focuses on what God has done. Because no one does anything to make yourself a child. Being a child happens to you. You are born or adopted into a family. And so while disciple and apostle is the calling given to them and what they then did, children is who they are. 

Which is important here because, once again, what the disciples did is fail! They were out all night and (again!) caught nothing. They denied, betrayed, doubted, ran away, and hid when the going got tough. And how often we fail in our vocations, in our lives, in the tasks assigned to us. But that does not change their status as children of God. For children don’t have to earn their way into the family or earn their keep in it - they are loved because they are children. So it is with the disciples, so it is with Paul - who Jesus made His child even though Paul was working against Jesus! - and so it is with us. We’re children of God because we’ve been made so in Holy Baptism. In those waters Jesus came to us and said: you are mine. And so we are. And that day was Easter day for us! The day (as Paul would later write in his letter to the Romans) when we died with Christ and were resurrected with Christ to a new life (Romans 6).

And so these fishermen who don’t seem to be able to catch any fish, Jesus will use to be His fishers of men (Luke 5:10). And they would be not because of their skill and ability, but just as out on the lake, Jesus would be working, now through His Spirit providing the catch and working through them. And you too. If you ever think you’re too much of a failure for Jesus to use you - as a parent, a child, a Christian, or whatever your callings and places in life - just remember the disciples and take heart! If Jesus wants them as His children and can use and transform them, then He wants you as His child and can use and transform you as well.

And the third thing to take away from this account today is that it is a picture of the kingdom of God coming to us. This is what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer when we say Thy kingdom come. With those words we’re not just praying for God’s kingdom of glory, Heaven, to come and the world to end. No, we’re praying for His kingdom of grace to come to us here and now. His kingdom of grace that came, right there, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that day. His kingdom of grace that came to Paul on the road to Damascus. And His kingdom of grace that comes to us here today. His kingdom of grace that comes as the Lord comes to us, unworthy as we are, with His Word and Spirit and forgiveness and makes us His own.

Many folks pray Thy kingdom come and think only of the scene we heard in the Epistle, with the angels and thrones and all of that. But it’s more than that. God’s kingdom is bigger than that. The readings we heard today show us that He is active and here with us now, bringing His kingdom to us and bringing us into His kingdom. Active in all our various vocations and walks of life. Active as we raise our families, as we work, even as we go fishing. And most importantly, active for us as He comes to us in His Word and Sacraments, giving us faith, forgiving us, transforming us, and making us new.

And so it is a new Peter who jumps out of the boat and swims to the shore and gets to Jesus soaking wet from head to toe! And that’s what we’ll look like when we get to Jesus, too. Soaking wet from living in the water of our baptism. Soaking wet from jumping into those waters every day, as everyday we confess our sin and receive our Lord’s forgiveness and are made new. As everyday we remember that in that water we are children of God, and that the kingdom of God has come to us.

Yet not only do we live “wet” in God’s kingdom of grace here on earth, Jesus also calls out to us come and eat. For just as He prepared and provided food for His disciples then, so He has prepared and provided food for His disciples now. For you. His Body and Blood, that we be sustained in the forgiveness and new life He has given us, eating now in His kingdom of grace, until He one day calls us home to His kingdom of glory and the feast that has no end.

Until then, we join the heavenly chorus in their song to the Lord. A new song, by those made new. The song we heard in Revelation, and that we sing in our litugy: Worthy is Chrst, the Lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free to be people of God. Power, riches, wisdom, and strength, and honor, blessing, and glory are His. This is the feast of victory for our God! For the Lamb who was slain has begun His reign. For He who lived and died now lives and reigns and is working for us and for our salvation. Just as by the Sea of Galilee that day. Making new one person at a time. None too old, none too far gone, none does He give up on. He died for all, He rose for all, and He lives for all, that all be forgiven, all be made new.

That’s why Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] And is here, for you.

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