Ash Wednesday Sermon

Ash Wednesday – March 5^th, 2014

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

The old adage is that if you want a conversation to say polite, there are two things you don’t talk about. Religion and politics! Of course, it seems like folks are still willing to talk up politics, given the popularity of Fox News and MSNBC – but discussions on religion and God and Jesus and faith have been… pushed aside.. Overall, Jesus doesn’t get a lot of mention in public discourse these days in our country, whether we’re talking about politics, the weather, the economy, education, life or death, or anything else, or if He does, it’s just a passing nod without really saying anything. Generally, Americans take their religious convictions to be private and personal.  Even otherwise devout Christians keep Jesus in that Sunday-morning box and bring Him up not at all the rest of the time - Pastor Hall, who used to be at Redeemer, would refer to this as “functional atheism”.

This differs entirely from the view expressed repeatedly in the Scriptures: Psalm 105 “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples”; or Psalm 96“Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”. We who bear the name of the Lord are exhorted to confess it, to make know the reason for the hope that is within us. And yet, when the time comes, we can clam up, be silent.  What is the problem? Why do Christians speak of Christ Jesus, our God and Savior in hushed tones, even with one another? What has driven our speech about the Lord so far underground? Who did this to us?

There is no single answer to all these questions. Obviously, the devil has played his evil role, and he still plays it. The modern world has been mounting its attack on Christianity for a quarter of a millennium and more. Yet you may be surprised who else did this to Christians. In many ways, we’ve done it to ourselves.  We did it, and we continue to do it, when we take on habits of speaking about God and thinking about Him that simply trivialize him. We make Him out to be less than He is and to do so much less than He does. As a result, God ceases to be very important to us. Then He becomes so easy to brush off that it’s downright scary. He can be absent not only from our speech, but also from our hearts.

The modern world has no monopoly on trivializing God, though. We find it in the text. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus referred to three key elements of Jewish piety: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Our Lord observed that folks would make a big show of the fact that they were giving alms. They would pray in the most public places so they could be seen quite readily. They would make themselves look terrible while they were fasting because they wanted others to notice them and sympathize with them. In short, as these people were engaging in all their religious acts, their thoughts hardly centered on God. Their intentions scarcely had the goal of praising Him. They were hypocrites, Jesus pointed out, like actors playing parts. The purpose of their piety was not for them to praise God but instead for them to use God for something they wanted: to be praised by people. They trivialized the great God to be noticed by mere humans. In the end that was all they got: “they have received their reward,” Jesus said repeatedly. Thus Jesus warned, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven”.

Think about church life today. “How many Christians have had their feelings hurt because they didn’t receive ‘the recognition they deserved’ for their service in the church? How many dollars would have been withheld if there had been no memorial plaque in honor of the person who donated the money Soli Deo Gloria, ‘to the glory of God alone’?” It is terrible to use God in an attempt to obtain approval from people. The approval may not follow. But it can be equally bad when the approval does follow, for the approval itself might grow to be the big prize in our eyes, and God ends up being pushed aside. It’s a hollow victory. You get your recognition, and that’s all.

This point applies more broadly; we can trivialize God in other ways to get what we want. Theologically shallow times can persuade us that God’s role in our lives amounts to making us happy or giving us some sort of fulfillment. If this is the way we start thinking, it won’t be long before we find that a nice vacation trip or exciting new job can also give us happiness and fulfillment. The nice warm bed on Sunday morning can give us rest and peace. And we are tempted to settle for that, and that is the reward we receive. The Lord offers us so much, yet in our sin we can settle for a great deal less. Then that’s all we’ll get.

The problem is unbelief, and under God repentance forms the only solution. He has not ceased to be the one with whom we must reckon. Before his judgment we stand, even now. Yet this almighty God remains our Father. The word “Father” is used of God ten times in the first eighteen verses of Matthew 6. He does not want us to be left as orphans. He is and wants to be our Father. He, the “Father of lights,” stands behind all blessings. From him comes “every good gift and every perfect gift”.

Still more, he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He sent his Son into the world and thereby loved the world supremely. Everything Christ did, he did so that he would be your Lord and so that God would be your loving Father. This includes—at the beginning of Lent we recall how it especially includes—Christ’s own suffering and death.

In fact, Jesus is single-mindedly fixed on the death and burial in which he would give his own life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:28), for you. His death and burial stands at the heart of the Gospel. He wasted no time or thought trying to make these things look pretty. It didn’t matter whether his actions met with the approval of people wanting to serve their own purposes. Jesus stood out as different. He was determined to serve his Father. He was determined to do the Father’s will, rather than His own. All he wanted, for himself and for the world, was the approval of God the Father. That was all he needed, and it meant everything.

For a while it appeared impossible to get, when darkness covered the land and Jesus cried out that God had abandoned him (Mt 27:45–46). Yet this was part of carrying out the plan. Christ took your place. He died the death that you should die. St. Paul writes, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”.  This all became clear on the third day, when the burial tomb was empty and the angel said, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus, who had been crucified, was risen as he said. The Father had approved. He approved of Jesus, and in his Son He approves of you.

There is nothing that tops this.  The world might hold out riches before us, our friends might threaten their disapproval if we get too religious-y on them, temptations might come aplenty, but the truth remains, Christ has died and risen for you, you are Baptized into Christ, and God is indeed Your Father, and in Christ, you are His beloved son, His beloved daughter.

And as a child will ask his father, so too you have been given the ability to call upon your Heavenly Father in prayer – indeed, your Heavenly Father wants you to pray to Him.  This is one of the most astonishing things in the world – God Almighty, Maker of all things, actually wants you to bring your requests to Him.  If we actually thought about this, it would astonish us.  How many of us might get a little tongue tied if suddenly talking to a judge, or a celebrity, or even just normal public speech.  And now, God Almighty says, “Go ahead and talk, I’m listening.”

This is why Christ Jesus teaches us to pray.  This is why He gives us the Lord’s Prayer.  He knows that prayer can be daunting, that often words fail us, that we get confused and lose focus.  And so, He teaches us to pray.  And the rest of this Lententide, we will be focused on the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.  Now, because we are doing a rotation, we’re going to jump around a bit.  Next week, Pastor Ray from Garber will preach on the 5^th Petition, then Pastor Dorsch on the 1^st, then Pastor Whittenberg on the 2^nd, then Pastor House on the 3^rd, and finally Pastor Orr on the 4^th.  I’ll get to finish up the 6^th and 7^th on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  So, this Lent, we will mediate upon Christ Jesus, His love for us, and the wonderful gift of prayer that His love has won for us.  God be with you through these upcoming midweek services, as you grow and learn more of His love for you in Christ and His gift of prayer.  In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

Sermon for Quinquagesima

Quinquagesima Sunday – March 2^nd, 2014 – Luke 18:31-43

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
          Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not understand.  Last week, Jesus quoted these words from the Old Testament to describe a lack of belief, a lack of faith.  And they seem quite apt for today’s Gospel lesson as well, for in today’s Gospel we see a contrast, a contrast between the disciples who hear but do not understand, and the blind man who sees more clearly than they do.  So, let us dive into our text and see what we learn today.

          And taking the twelve, He said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.’  Jesus speaks these words to the Disciples just before Palm Sunday – He is trying to prepare them for Holy Week and His own Passion.  And it’s not the first time.  In fact, this is the third time Luke records for us Jesus telling His disciples bluntly that He is going to have to die and rise.  This is why we are going to Jerusalem, this is what the entirety of the Old Testament is pointing towards.  Christ’s death and resurrection.  And Jesus spells it out for them: For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.  And after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise.”  Everything we get starting Maundy Thursday through Easter, spelled out in detail.  All the things we will ponder in just a few weeks ourselves – what we confess in the Creed – and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.  He suffered and was buried.  And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures.  This is some of the basic stuff, this is the sort of thing for which we had been waiting for the Messiah to come.

          And the Disciples don’t get it.  But they understood none of these things.  This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.  They don’t get it.  Why?  Well, what had we heard last week – that Satan would come and snatch the Word away, and some would not understand.  And at this moment, that describes the Disciples.  What Jesus says to them is utterly incomprehensible.  It’s not how they want the story to go, it’s not what they want to happen, and it doesn’t matter if Jesus has told them three times, they still don’t want things to go that way.  Some of them were zealots, and they wanted the glorious revolution against Rome.  Some of them wanted at least power and respect amongst Jewish society, and having your Leader slaughtered doesn’t bring that.  Jesus doesn’t tell them what they want to hear.  And at this time – they blow Him off.  They have their own dreams, their own visions, and who cares what the Word of God has said, indeed, who cares what Jesus Himself says – He must just be confused because He isn’t describing the awesome life of power and success that I want.

          Be wary here, my friends in Christ, because this same temptation can be thrown against us.  How often are there things in Scripture that we don’t like?  And think about this?  How many times does the Word of God show you your sin, condemn you?  The Scriptures are very good at popping holes in the self-righteous bubbles we try to live in.  And it’s easy to ignore that.  It’s much easier to focus on and lament the things others are tempted towards, to focus on the sins of “those people”, and ignore the log that in is our own eye.  Or not just dealing with sin – but what of the Christian life?  Is the Christian life one of power and success and triumph because we are just such good people and we are buddy-buddy with Jesus?  Man, we are in like Flynn!  But then Jesus says, “take up your Cross and follow Me.”  St. Paul says that we are to be living Sacrifices.  That we are to suffer for the sake of the neighbor, that we are to serve them, even surrender our rights and not demand our own way.  This says nothing of my own personal power and glory – in fact, it calls me to be a servant!  We are taught that we are to love God and to love our neighbor – and in our sin, we don’t.  Of ourselves, we have not love, and we are nothing.  I have heard it said that as people we prefer affirmation instead of information – and when the Scriptures inform us of our sin, of our lack, of the fact that we do not control our lives and that there will be hardship, we can brush the Word aside.  We will instead run after any lie or false dream or vision that Satan whips up to affirm our sinful pipe dreams.  Thus is the way of our sinful flesh.

          In our text, the Disciples with their disbelief stand in stark contrast to a blind beggar just outside of Jericho.  As He drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.  And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.  They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”  And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  The blind man sees.  He does.  His day doesn’t start with any grandiose pipe dreams.  He’s not plotting the downfall of the Roman Empire, or running all of Jerusalem.  He hasn’t asked to rule at Jesus’ right hand.  He doesn’t pretend his life is perfect and grand. No, what’s his day been?  Begging.  His wild hopes are, “hey, maybe I get enough food today.”  There’s no delusions.  And then he hears a crowd, and he hears that Jesus is coming.  And he does the only thing he can.  He begs.  He calls out to Jesus, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!  I am blind, but see me, Jesus, see me and show me compassion!  There’s no planning, there’s only the hopes for some mercy now that Jesus is here.

          That, dear friends, is who you are by faith.  You are one who has turned a blind eye to sin and your own delusions, and instead simply cry out to Christ Jesus for mercy.  There’s a reason why we sing over and over have mercy upon us.  There’s a reason it comes up in our prayers, over and over again.  Because in our lives, in our time here in this Church, in this place, we are being trained to see God’s mercy.  To seek His forgiveness, His strength, His righteousness, His life.  Luther’s last words were that we are all beggars before God.  It is not that God needs us, nor that He owes us anything because we are just such good people, but rather we are those who repent, who understand the wretchedness of our sin, our flesh, and the world, and who by the power of the Spirit seek mercy from Christ.

          And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent.  That’s a tough crowd.  You don’t even have the gawkers thinking, “Holy cow, we’ve got a blind guy here, maybe Jesus will heal him!”  Eh, just be quiet.  They hear his pleas for mercy, his cries for help, and there is no love that wells up with in them, no compassion, no pity.  Rather, simple disdain.  And let’s face it – what do we often receive in this world?   The same disdain.  What happens when we live as though we believed that we were actually poor miserable sinners?  We face disdain, we face the rebuke of the world.  Our faith is mocked, and folks wish we would just shut up with our talk of sin, with our talk of needing mercy.  But He cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  He is not put off.  Neither false dreams nor the scorn of men stop him – again and again he cries out for mercy.

          And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to Him.  “What do you want Me to do for you?”  He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”  This is a bold request… but it’s a simple one.  Let me recover my sight, let my body work again, let me be relieved of the impact of sin upon me.  Fix me.  Make me whole.  And Christ responds, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”  And immediately he recovered his sight and followed Him, glorifying God.  And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.  And Jesus heals the guy.  And the guy can see and he praises God.  Simple and straight forward.  And, dear friends, it is what happens to you.  And no, don’t worry, Pastor Brown isn’t going to go all faith-heally blawhbalahwalaha here.  What are you asking of God when you ask for forgiveness?  What is Jesus giving you when He forgives your sin, when He gives you His Body and Blood in His Supper?  Let’s remember our Catechism:  What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?  These words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words.  For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

          When Christ forgives you, you are given life.  Life now.  Now, will that normally show up as eyes that couldn’t see seeing again, or ears that didn’t work suddenly working again.  Eh, most likely not.  But you do have life.  You are filled with Christ’s life, with His love, and that spills out through you.  You do have life – and there will come a time when your aches and pains will go away, when your eyes, your ears, or whatever else doesn’t work will work again – and that is on the Last Day, when on account of Christ you will rise whole and perfected and follow in His train singing His praises.  You are forgiven, life and salvation are yours – and some things we see now, but much we will have to wait to see, to know, to experience.  Because this is the promise that Christ made to you – not that you would not have to struggle against sin – while you are in this life, you are going to have to fight and beat down your sin daily.  Nor has Christ promised you earthly wealth or power or might.  Rather, He has promised you that your sins are forgiven and will be remembered no more, that the power of death and the grave is broken, and that you will rise to be with Him for all eternity in your resurrected body.  This is the hope that He has given you, this is His promise to you.

          And so dear friends, we are called to walk by faith, not by sight.  We are called to beat down our own sinful desires and to ignore the false hopes and dreams the world or our flesh will parade before us.  Rather, we are called to be beggars, beggars who call out to Christ for mercy and await His love and goodness to us.  He will not fail in showing this love to you, for indeed, as we will see in the next few weeks this Lententide, He will fight and beat down Satan and sin and even death itself, so that He may with great love give you life eternal.  In the Name of Christ Jesus, the light of the world + Amen.

Liturgy Shaping Life

I love our liturgy.  I do.  I just wished it shaped our lives more.

What do I mean?  Ponder this - what are the main points, the themes, of the liturgy?  It's a continual cycle of repentance, an asking for mercy - which is then followed by forgiveness, the pronouncement of absolution, of peace, of forgiveness.

It's confession and absolution in sung form, with a sermon (which is primarily a forgiveness thing) and the Supper (which is primarily a forgiveness, life, and salvation thing) standing out as the peak moments of absolution.

It's all about confessing sin and forgiving sin.

Now, ponder this.  Is that how your life the rest of the week is shaped?

Is your week filled with more confession of your own sins or self justification and self-elevation?

Is your week filled with more forgiveness or more disdain toward the neighbor because of something they have done... or even *had* done long ago?

The liturgy isn't merely supposed to be pretty Jesus time, or praise-joy-joy time.  It is also to be training for life - the pattern that extends through the Benediction on into the week.  Our lives are to be ones that are ones of constant repentance and also constant forgiveness.

Yet how often our lives become a matter of how we are better than that person, how often we focus on the remembering of sins rather than the forgiving of sins.

Would that we loved the liturgy, not for it's outward beauty, not for it's artistic value, not for finery, nor for it's trendiness or hipness or dynamic outreach, or whatever other types of things people talk about with Worship.

Would that we loved the liturgy for Confession and Absolution - and would that this pattern stay with us the whole week!

Sexagesima Sermon

Sexagesima Sunday – February 23^rd, 2014 -  Luke 8:4-15

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
          In the three Sundays before Lent, we are given by our Gospel texts a chance to review the three great "Solas" of theology, the three great "alones".  By Grace alone, through faith alone, and Scripture alone.  Last week with the parable of the workers in the vineyard, we saw the grace of God in action, His great love, His great generosity which we ought not let our covetousness or jealousy begrudge.  And this week, in the parable of the sower and the seed, we will be dealing with the gift of Scripture, of God's Word, of the proclamation of the Gospel and some of the frustrations we encounter when using God’s Word.  The explanation of the parable begins, "The seed is the Word of God."  So, with that in mind, let us examine the text.

          And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to Him, He said in a parable, "A sower went out to sow his seed."  Normally, when thinking about or looking at this parable, I will jump right into the parable itself.  It makes sense, if you want to study the parable, look at the parable.  But note the introduction.  There is a great crowd, people from town after town.  And what is Jesus doing?  He is preaching, He is proclaiming the Word.  Even as He is speaking this parable, Jesus *is* the Sower, He is scattering His Word out upon the crowd.  If you want to think of it this way - the parable is an explanation to the disciples, to us, of what is going to happen with that Word that Christ Jesus is proclaiming right then and there – it’s what happens with the Word of God that we proclaim even to this very day.

          And He does so by the image of a sower scattering His seed.  Now, this is still a very powerful image in our society today.  Even though its probably been a while since any of you farmers walked along with a bag of seed and just started tossing it, it's one of those images we have as Americans - be it Johnny Appleseed, who was a big deal back in the Great Lakes, or even the sower that I have on my class ring from OU – it’s one of OU's major logos.  We know sowers. And sowing like that was a haphazard way of doing things.  It's not cold, precise, and logical.  It doesn't measure the cost of the seed and make sure that none is wasted, it doesn't plant the seeds in the single precise spot.  It scatters, it throws the seed to the wind to let the wind take it where the wind wills.  And that too is an important idea - we say "wind" today, but in Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin - the word for "Wind" and "Spirit" are the same thing.  There is a parallel being set up here - just as the wind blows the seed where it wills, so too the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God where the Spirit wills.  Jesus tells this same idea to Nicodemus in John 3 when He says, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  So this is what we see here - we see the sower tossing out his seed, trusting that it will be carried to where it needs to go.

          "And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.  And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.”  Out goes the seed.  Some of the seed ends up not being very productive - not because its bad seed, not because it's not good.  Just, stuff happens.  The birds eat some of it.  Some of it hits rocky soil.  Some of it gets killed by weeds.  We're surrounded by fields here, we all know the sorts of things that can happen to a crop.  That happens to some, and then some of the seed sprouts and grows and matures yields a harvest.  This is just what we see happen in agriculture - if you toss in drought or hail or bugs, we get the same sorts of things, even with our well drilled fields today.  Jesus here is just pointing out the common, simple things that happen.  And then He adds, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

          And the disciples are confused.  What's the point, what does this mean?  And so Jesus says to them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’"  Jesus here is referencing a common refrain of the Old Testament about idols and idolaters.  The idols, the statues have eyes, but they don't see.  They have ears, but they hear nothing.  And those who worship them, who fall into idolatry - they don't see God's truth even though it's clear in front of them, they don't hear the Word even when it is proclaimed to them.  The truth is simple, as simple as what happens to a crop that is sown, but some just will not get it, will deny it, will fight against it.

          And then Jesus explains in detail.  "The seed is the word of God.  The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved."  Jesus is saying: There are going to be those in that crowd that just heard me preach who are going to blow it off right away.  Who shrug it off.  Whom Satan has convinced that there is no God, or that if there were a God He would be doing something much more spectacular than just talking about some crazy old farmer.  After all, we had heard that this miracle worker Jesus was passing by, and we come all this way to see Him, and all He does is talk about tossing seed.  This is simply the reality of what is going to happen.  There are going to be those who hear the Word and couldn't care less.  There are going to be those who hear, and just decide to mock, belittle, and ignore.  They remain fast bound in Satan's clutches - it happens.  Disciples, don't be surprised - and you here, do not be surprised when it happens.  Your beliefs, the truth of God that you proclaim will not always be respected or well received.  That is just the reality of life here in a fallen world. 

          There is another thing that happens in this world.  "And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away."  What else will you see, oh Disciples?  There will be those who love what you preach... but then life won't suddenly get better.  Things will remain hard, and they will flit away.  They will decide that the Word of God doesn't give them enough, and off they will go.  Does this not happen today?  Or the third possibility?  "And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature."  Oh, do we not see this one all the time?  Is not America the land of cares and riches and pleasures?  We have so much wealth and luxuries, and yet we worry about so many things - the artists of today point out how when there is more money there's just more problems.  And how many people today are just simply too busy, have too much going on for them to hear the word?  And they just slowly fall away, waste away.  This is just what is going to happen in the fallen world.

          And then, of course, there is the fourth possibility.  "As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience."  And in some, the Word, the precious seed takes root, springs forth and bears abundant fruit.  This too is something else that happens, something that we see.  So then, what do we do with this parable that we have heard?  Where do we go from here?  And I ask that question, and the first things that comes to my mind are all the stupid, foolish, wrong-headed answers that I have heard.  There is no parable that gets used as a springboard for more stupidity and tomfoolery than this one.

          I have heard people say that this parable teaches us that as Christians we need to focus our efforts at evangelization on finding that good soil, to make sure we don't waste our time, our churchly efforts on bad and rocky ground.  So, let's get this straight - the parable describes how the Word of God is generously proclaimed to call, carried by the Spirit all over the place... but oh no no, we need to focus on figuring out who is good soil... because we are the masters of reading men's hearts I guess.  Or the one take that I hear is where it becomes a giant law bomb - alright, so you people here better be good soil, you better start producing fruit, I want to see more fruit and I want to see it now!  An impatient demand for good works, even as we are told that we will "bear fruit with patience."

          No, what is this parable teaching us?  As Luther would say, as we ought to be able to recite - I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, My Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.  That is the truth we see, we hear in this Gospel lesson, in this parable.  This parable is to be a comfort - and you have been give eyes to see and ears to hear by God not so that God could terrify you, but comfort you.  You live in a sinful world, a world where terrible and horrible things happen.  And God gets mocked, faith gets tested, and we are often just so busy.  That is true.  But God still comes to you in His Word.  The Holy Spirit still wields the Gospel - and He does so not coldly or harshly.  God does not sit combing the details of your life to see if He ought to cut you off of the Gospel train - but instead, the seed is scattered, the Word is proclaimed.  It is to be proclaimed here in this place, even if you've had a terrible week, even if you've been particularly nasty this past week.  A sower went out to sow his seed.  God's Word is to be proclaimed, without a care for where it lands, whether or not those hearing it are worthy enough.  My job as your pastor isn't to figure out how good or bad you are - it is to proclaim to you that Christ Jesus has died for your sins.  And then, the Holy Spirit will do His thing.  Likewise, in your own lives, do not be afraid to confess the faith, to confess Christ Jesus, to tell others that He has died for them and that they are forgiven.  Some won't care, some will fall away.  That happens - but as for you, you know the truth of what Christ has done.  Cling to Christ.  Hear the Word, know that the Scriptures are true, and that Christ has died for you, and your sin is forgiven.  He who has ears, let him hear.  In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

The Sower, the Seed, and Comfort for the Preacher

Being a pastor often means there's plenty of time for guilt and self-doubt.  It's just what happens - when you job is handling the Word of God, sharper than any two edged sword - yeah.  When you are dealing also with a business (because our congregations are also businesses) and the various expectations and demands and goals for success - and these demands conflate with the emotional toil that comes from dealing with the Word of God and the people who need to hear it - it can be a big old whammy.

And then, every year on Sexagesima, we get the parable of the Sower and the Seed.

He who has ears, let him hear.

I don't know if there is anything that is more comforting to me as a pastor than that. 

My task, my goal, my job - it's not to fix people.  It's not to do everything right.  It's not to grow a business.  These are all things beyond my control - I am incapable of these things.  As Luther has us pastors pray, if left to ourselves, we would bring it all to utter destruction.

I am not the architect of the church.  I am not the one who gives it growth.  I am not the chief fixer.  I am not the perfect, unshakable pillar of Lutheranism.  I am not the uber mench.

I'm simply a preacher.  A sower of the seed, one who casts out God's Word.

And he who has ears will hear.

Simple as that.

I don't need to micromanage things - I am simply to preach the Word, and he who has ears will hear.
I don't need to figure out whether that person is really, really repentant - I am simply to preach the Word, and he who has ears will hear.
I don't need to find the secret of massive growth - I am simply to preach the Word, and he who has ears will hear.

Maybe the soil God gives me to sow will be rather dry, or rocky, or weedy.  Or maybe it will be good soil.  I don't know - that's not my responsibility. 

A sower sows the seed.  A preacher preaches the Word.  And the Spirit does what He wills when He wills it.

It's good to be reminded, pastors, that we are not actually one ones in charge. 

He who has ears, let him hear!

Septuagesima Sermon

Septuagesima Sunday – February 16^th, 2014 – Matthew 20:1-16

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

          With the observance of Transfiguration Sunday last week, we see a change in focus in our readings in Church.  We are now in the “Gesima” Sundays, Sundays which have as their focus ideas about how this Christ Jesus, who is indeed true God and true Man, how He relates to the Church.  How does Jesus deal with the Church and how does the Church end up responding to Jesus?  And from what we see in our texts today, it seems as though we don’t always respond well to God.  In fact, we might almost call this Sunday “Grumbling Sunday” – there’s grumbling in the Gospel, grumbling in the Old Testament, and as Paul talks about how as Christians we need self-control and we need to keep on striving towards the goal, he’s probably writing to folks who have been grumbling as well.

          Grumbling seems almost to be an obsession in our country.  As a Baseball fan I like to say that Baseball is the national pastime – but in truth, it’s probably grumbling – and I’m no exception.  I’ve been watching the Olympics – and there’s lots of American journalists grumbling.  I enjoy listening to Sports-talk radio, which is basically listening to other people grumble about sports.  And I doubt I’m alone – if one were to head to the co-op, what might one hear?  If one were to listen to folks talking at their desk at work, what might one hear?  If one pops one’s head in the beauty shop or walks past the people standing in line at Walmart, what might one hear?  Or shall I bring up politics or the government?  Fox News or MSNBC?  Americans like to grumble.

          The sad thing is that our grumbling is so unneeded.  Consider our Gospel text.  For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  Now, remember this about these laborers, the ones hired first.  When the master finds them, they have no job.  Without the master finding them, they would have had no work, they would have made nothing, and probably would have gone hungry.  Instead, the master finds them, He gives them a good wage – a denarius is considered a solid wage in Jesus’ day, so the master isn’t undercutting them or dealing with them on the cheap.  He treats them fantastically.  And then, And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace and to them he said, “You, go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.”  So they went.  Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.  And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing.  And he said to them, “Why do you stand here idle all day?”  They said to him, “because no one has hired us.”  He said to them, “You go and work in the vineyard too.”  So more workers come in, each working less and less time, to where you have folks who only work one hour instead of 12.

          Before we continue with the parable, do note one thing about the master in this parable?  He wants as many workers as he can find, and he keeps bringing them in.  He doesn’t make snap judgments – he doesn’t say to the workers who join at the 11^th hour, “Boy, you people must have been real lazy to not find work” – instead, why aren’t you working?  Let’s put you to work!  Christ deals with people in His Church the same way.  Whereas we can make the snap judgments, whereas we can see the person out there in the world who has been having a rather foul and wicked time of it and think to ourselves how horrible they are – God’s approach is different.  God’s approach is, “It doesn’t matter what they had been doing or where they had been, they ought to be in Church, they ought to be part of My family.”  It’s an astonishing love that God shows, an astonishing desire for the lost – which shouldn’t surprise any of us.  He called us into His Church by His Word, by Baptism, why wouldn’t God want to be calling other people in?  The lectern, pulpit, and font are all still here, guess God still wants more folks here, the folks you know, that you come across in your life.  Whoever they are, they belong here.  And when you see someone who isn’t here, someone who doesn’t know or has forgotten Christ’s love, someone who thinks they aren’t good enough to be here, that’s a tragedy.  God calls us all to His house.

          And when the evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.”  And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.  Now when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.  And in receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them the equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”  And now the complaining sets in.  Why should this lazy bum who hardly did anything, who worked only in the cool of the day get the same thing as me?  And they have a reasonable argument – more work should mean more pay!  The grumblers view everything in light of what they have done – look at our work.  They forget one thing – things all center around the master.

          But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong.  Did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what belongs to you and go.   I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or do you begrudge my generosity?”  Look at how the master has rightly and properly treated these workers who came first.  They had no job – he gave them one.  He promised them a good wage – he gave them a good wage.  In all things the master has done what he said he would – he has treated them completely fairly and honestly.  He has done exactly what he said he would – and yet, they grumble.  And why – not because of how the master treated them, but because of how the master treated others.  If these early workers had been paid first and then sent on their way, if they never knew what the other workers got, would they not have gone home satisfied, content with what the master gave?  Instead, when the comparison kicks in, when they see what another has the complaining begins.

          So what about us? When we grumble, when we complain about how things are going, is our grumbling because God isn’t providing for us and we are doomed. . . or is it rather a matter of us comparing ourselves to someone else and what they have, and then grumbling, then coveting what the other folk have?  That’s the way grumbling works – it ends up being a comparison between you and your neighbor.  This person has this better than me, that person gets this when I don’t.  And when we do that, we begrudge God His generosity.  We see it as evil when God gives good things to our neighbor instead of us.  What God chooses to bless you with has nothing to do with your neighbor.  Rather, God gives freely to you – rejoice.  And yet, instead of focusing our eyes upon God and marveling at His goodness to us, we cast a covetous eye upon our neighbor and are dissatisfied.  Or we can even think up excuses why we needn’t show them love, why we shouldn’t serve and care for them.  We become stingy, for when we grumble, when we complain, we forget His generosity to us.  When we focus on what someone else has, we forget how richly God has blessed us.  When we lament how well God treated us in the past, in the good old days, we spurn the blessings He gives us freely now.  And in our complaining we not only show no love for our neighbor, the neighbor whom God desires to be a part of His family, we also cease showing love towards God and rather show Him contempt.

          So, what should be done?  How should God treat us?  I am reminded of the threat that my parents would make when I was grumbling about what I got – if you don’t like that you can have nothing instead.  Seems a fitting punishment.  Or if we were employers and our employee started grumbling, fine – if this isn’t good enough for you, don’t let the door hit you on the way out and go find another job.  That’s what we could expect in this world, is it not?  But is that how God treats us?  No, master in the parable is gentile in dealing with these first workers – Friend, I am doing you no wrong.  He calls them friend, he treats even those complainers with courtesy and compassion.  He closes no door – he still gives the good wage, even when not appreciated.  I imagine this owner would still be willing to hire these folks the next day – no firing, no blacklisting for them.

          Know and understand how generous, how patient God is with you.  How many times has God continued to give His blessings to you, even when not appreciated?  All blessings, be they material blessings or spiritual blessings.  When we are not thankful, does God not still give us our daily bread?  Behold His great love for you.  When we are lax in our devotion and worship, when hearing His Word and receiving His Supper becomes a secondary priority instead of our first, does God not continually welcome us to His House to hear His Word and receive His forgiveness?  Behold His great love for you.

          This is the point.  Christ Jesus, true God and true Man, came into this world precisely to go to the cross and suffer, to pay the penalty for sin, even the sin of grumbling, even the sin of not appreciating Him and thrusting Him to the side.  It should be no surprise that God continually calls you – for that is how God relates to you, that is how God deals with you.  God is not seeking an excuse to damn you, He is not trying to find a reason to scratch your name out of the book of Life – rather all that He does, everything, is so that you might receive forgiveness for your sins, so that you might be strengthened in faith during the days of your life, so that you might obtain the imperishable prize of heaven.  Or in other words, every action, every thing that God does is based out of His love for you.  Sin would have you forget this, your flesh would have you cast covetous glances at our neighbors, but God in His Word calls you out of the darkness of sin into His marvelous light so that you always see and know and delight in His love for you, will create in you a clean heart.  In all things, remember God’s love, for it is His love that shapes the Church, that shapes you.  That is how Christ Jesus deals with the Church – ever showing love, and in that love ever forgiving us with gladness.  This is His love for you.  In the Name of Christ Jesus, the light of the world.  Amen

Tell Me Why I Shouldn't Listen to Him

But is he Lutheran?

Isn't he wrong on some other topic that he isn't talking about right now?

Didn't you hear about the scandals of his personal life?

You know about his family, right?

You know what his dad, his grandad did back in the old _______ scandal, don't you?

+ + + + +

When you are reading someone's ideas... are the critics engaging the idea, or are they doing something else?  Do we refute ideas, or do we just tell you details as to why you shouldn't listen to someone?

Ack and Alas for Lutheranism today!

The Scarlett Letter

In High School I got to read the classic "The Scarlett Letter".  Unlike many of my classmates, I enjoyed it.  It has one of my favorite quotes - "Let man tremble to win the hand of woman lest he win with it the utmost passion of her heart."

It also was a rather scathing critique of Puritan culture and the idea of shaming as a corrective to society.  And I'll be honest, I don't like shame (which should be no surprise to anyone who reads this blog), I don't like it as a social tool.  It too often a tool of self-righteousness. 




There is a movement again towards shame.  Towards the idea that not only must a person bear the temporal consequences for their actions and sins... but that they ought to continue to be shamed the rest of their lives.  That the finger ought to be pointed, that the preface of "don't you know what this person DID" would be best articulated over and over to where we would never forget this. 



I was trying to think about what stuck me as so futile, so callous about the "shame" culture that seems to be making inroads into Christianity, or moving from radical protestantism into Lutheranism.  And then I realize I've said it before.

The following is what I posted in May of 2012

What changes behavior?  What makes a person new, what makes them to show forth love?  I would hope that anyone reading this blog would be quick to say, "The Gospel" -- that when we receive forgiveness from Christ we are given new life, that He creates in us a clean heart and provides a right spirit, that being filled with His love we then become conduits for that love... just as a branch is a conduit from the vine to the fruit.

Yet what happens so often when we see someone doing something we do not approve of?  We do not seek the end of the Gospel, we do not speak a direct word of repentance so that they might be restored.  Instead, we rely on shame.  We whisper cruel words about them to others and hope that the rising tide of disdain might trickle it's way back to them and that the weight of disapproval might coerce them into a different behavior.

That's not life.  That's just murder.

Seriously.  What life is given by shaming another?  What growth?  What creation?

No, all that happens (at best) is that a person is crushed even more, isolated even more.  That's what sin does -- it isolates, it kills.  At worst, they may be hardened, they may fall into even worse shame and vice simply to be defiant against your petty cruelty -- if you will complain, I'll give you something to complain about!

Christ our Lord does not say, "Blessed are the shame-inducers, for they have made the kingdom a bit nicer a place."  It's blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Shame does not make for peace.  Distant disdain does not make for peace.  Tarnishing a reputation does not make for peace.  Only words of peace and forgiveness make for peace, restore, give life, drive out fear.  Let us remember this.

Transfiguration Sermon

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

            And after six days. . . six days after what?  Before we get into our text this morning, let’s back track a little bit to six days before hand.  Six days before our Gospel, we get Peter’s confession – You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  We get Jesus telling the disciples that He will be crucified, and Peter telling Jesus not to go to the cross.  “Get behind me Satan!”  We have Jesus telling the disciples that if they are to follow Him they must take up their own cross and follow Him.  This is what we see in chapter 16.  The disciples see, but they don’t see.  They need to understand more – and so, a week later, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with Him to one of the mountains in Judea, and there those three disciples witness the transfiguration.

          And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.  One of the things we can do as Christians, and I know it sounds silly, but bear with me, one of things we can forget about Jesus is that Jesus is God.  That this Man Jesus is God Almighty with a capital G, capital A.  That He is God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God.  We see that this morning – that’s what the transfiguration is at its heart.  For this short time on a mountaintop Jesus lets His Divine Nature shine forth unhindered – the Light of Light reveals who He is.  Sometimes when we think about Jesus, we can sort of separate the Man from God – we almost think of Jesus as though His time on earth was just a change of pace from His time in heaven – He took a break from being God but now is back up in heaven doing His God things.  But the transfiguration shows and teaches us otherwise.  This Man Jesus is God.  When we see Jesus, we learn that God has taken up flesh and become Man.  The incarnation is not temporary.  When He was made Man, He remained God, and right now God is a Man.  How much does God want to share in your life?  That He becomes Human Himself.  And when Jesus came down, when He was born of the Virgin Mary – He didn’t give up being God – He wasn’t watered down God, He wasn’t God Lite – He is still true God.  But before His resurrection, He didn’t always let it show.  Why?  Because Jesus doesn’t need to brag about who He is.  Jesus didn’t come to earth to show off how wonderful He is.  He didn’t come to hob-nob or socialize – He came to win salvation – and to do that, He needed to suffer, He needed to let Himself be dragged to death, even death upon a Cross.  But this morning Jesus gives these three disciples and us an Epiphany, a revelation of the truth that He is indeed both God and Man.

          And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him.  This shouldn’t surprise us.  Remember what the Old Testament is often called in Scripture – the Law and the Prophets.  And what do we see here – Moses, the Law-giver, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets – talking to Jesus.  Of course they would be talking to Jesus – all of the Old Testament points forward to Jesus.  Moses looked forward to Christ – for Jesus is the true Tabernacle of God, He is the true and once and for all sacrifice, the true deliverance from slavery, not merely to Egypt, slavery to sin and death.  Elijah looked forward to Jesus – He is the ultimate defeat of Baal and all false Gods, Jesus is the redemption that Elijah preached and prophesized about.  Again, here we see something spelled out that should be obvious.  All of God’s Word points to Christ Jesus and what He does.  The point of the Bible, its main job, is to show forth Christ our Redeemer.

          And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here.  If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  Now, Peter isn’t being silly here – rather he is being quite polite.  The Israelites celebrated the feast of booths, the feast of tabernacles – where they would gather around Jerusalem and set up tents to remember how God preserved them during their wandering in the desert.  It was a religious holiday – and Peter basically asks Jesus if Moses and Elijah are coming to celebrate.  Peter will get things ready – it’s okay Jesus, if they are staying, I’ll get everything ready, you just keep on talking.  But even though he is being very polite and proper, he misses the point.  Jesus didn’t bring you up on the Mountain to have you run errands, Peter.  He brought you here to teach you.  Here Peter has Jesus there before him with this wondrous opportunity and gift, and Peter’s thoughts are elsewhere.  On the holiday that they are celebrating.  On hotels for the guests.  On what Peter could be doing instead.  Just the way we get sometimes, so over busy and worried about what *he* is doing..  Peter gets excited, and his focus shifts, his mind races, and suddenly, just like us, he starts looking at all the things he has to do.  Here is Jesus before Him, transfigured and shining, and Peter wants to head on off and be busy.

Of course, maybe Peter thought this would last a while – that there would be days and days of having Moses and Elijah around – but Peter was mistaken.  This was only to be a brief glimpse of heaven here on earth – heaven doesn’t stick around on earth.  Even before Peter finishes his sentence we hear: He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”  When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise and have no fear.”  And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.  The climax of heaven comes, the Father speaks, and Peter and the rest of the disciples cower in fear and then, gone.  The moment has passed, and it’s just them and Jesus on the mountain.

          You see, Jesus understands.  Jesus gets the point – He knows what He is to be about.  Moses and the Prophets – they pointed forward to Him.  They pointed forward to the spotless Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.  That’s what Jesus is about, that’s what He is going to do – and in order for Him to do this – He has to come down off the mountain.  It’s not yet time for Jesus to eternally shine forth His glory – Jesus still has work to do.  Sin, your sin, Peter, James, and John’s sin, the sin of the world must be dealt with.  Christ must go to the Cross and suffer and die.  This is what Moses and the Prophets pointed to, this is what they proclaimed.  And so, Jesus steps away from the Mount of Transfiguration.  Jesus isn’t about glory.  His main concern isn’t acquiring praise.  He doesn’t want to show off or “live the dream”.  He revealed Himself to the three disciples as He wanted to, and now it is time to head towards the cross.  And Jesus explains why He must head to the cross.

          But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”  Because His eyes are set upon the Cross, because that is where Jesus is going, Jesus can touch the disciples, can tell them to have no fear.  Remember, they were just in the presence of God – sinners before God Almighty.  You know what that does to sinners?  It terrifies them.  Think on Adam in the garden after he sinned.  What does Adam tell God?  “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid.”  That’s what sin does.  It makes us afraid of God, and rightly so, for God is just, and does not tolerate sin.  God is just and punishes sin – punishes our sin.  And yet Jesus tells them to have no fear.  How can He do this – how can He tell these sinful men to have no fear when they’ve heard the voice from heaven, when God Himself has just touched them, God Almighty and pure and righteous?  Because Jesus goes to the Cross – because His eyes are set upon Calvary.  Because Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world – He takes it away from us, Jesus claims our sin, and holding on to our sin, He takes our punishment upon the Cross.  “My God, My God, why hast Thou Forsaken Me?”  That’s not play acting, that’s not just a dramatic line in some book – that is Jesus taking your punishment.  You see, when Jesus says, “have no fear” – He’s not just speaking soothing words.  He’s not telling a little lie to calm you down.  When Jesus says “have no fear” He is telling the disciples that their sin, their reason for having fear, is being taken away by Him.  Christ’s comfort is true comfort, true forgiveness.  Because of what Jesus does upon the Cross, His Word has power and authority to forgive sin, even to this very day, even to us sinners here at Trinity/Zion Lutheran Church.

          This is why the Father says that He is well pleased with Jesus – because Jesus does precisely what the Father wishes.  God is our Creator – He created us to be with Him.  Sin messed that up.  God is not content to let sin mess up His creation.  So, Christ Jesus comes, becomes part of that creation, and fixes it Himself.  Creation will be good again, Man will be good again, and it happens in Christ. This is why the Father is well-pleased with Jesus.  And this is why the Father is well-pleased with you.  When God looks at you, He sees Jesus.  Why?  Because when God looks at you, it’s not rose tinted glasses He uses, but blood stained glasses.  You have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and are now spotless.  You have been Baptized into Christ – His life is now your life.  That’s what Baptism means – that your life is Christ’s – not merely in the sense that “Jesus owns my life” – God has that with or without Baptism.  He’s the Creator of all, and all things belong to Him.  But at Baptism Jesus gives you His own life, covers You with Himself, with His righteousness, and now the Father is well-pleased with you, His forgiven and redeemed Creation.  Your life *is* Christ, it is no longer merely you who lives, but Christ who lives in you.

           And when they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus only.  Of course they saw only Jesus.  Jesus is all they needed.  And Jesus is all we need.  Christ Jesus our Lord gives us life and salvation – which is why in this place we see no other.  We don’t chase after false gods.  We don’t try to work our way up to the Father by our works.  We don’t wait to just get zapped by the Holy Spirit.  Rather, we see Jesus – we see Jesus as He comes to us in His Word, revealing Himself to us – giving us His forgiveness.  We see Jesus as He comes to us in His Supper.  We always see Jesus coming to us, touching us when we are lost in sin, and giving us His forgiveness.  Have no fear, Jesus has come to you, and He is all that you see.  In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World + Amen.

Presentation Sermon

Presentation of Jesus – February 2^nd, 2014 – Luke 2:22-32

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
          You know, this Gospel text was the text for the Sunday after Christmas, and it is one of my favorite texts – there’s the Nunc Dimitis, Simeon taking the child Jesus up in his aged hands and bursting into the same song we will sing in just a few minutes.  It’s a great text – and it’s one that we had just 5 weeks ago.  So why have it today?  Again.  So soon.  Because Groundhog’s day is a Church holiday… sort of.  Today is properly known as the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of our Lord – and it is 40 days after Christmas, because when the firstborn male was 40 days old, you brought the child and mother to the temple and offered sacrifices, both to purify the mother and declare her fit to be back in public and also for the sake of the child.  This day was also known as Candlemass – because it was the custom 600 years ago that if you were going to bless candles, you’d do it today.  Christ, the pure light enters the temple, we might as well bless the candles lighting our church. But there was superstition that developed around this day – as it’s almost halfway to spring – so you get the old English poem - If Candle mas be fair and bright, Winter has another flight. If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Winter will not come again.  Then, you add some Germans in Pennsylvania who say, “We’ll pull out a groundhog and see if he sees his shadow… and then have a party” – and there you go.  So there’s a lot of strange history and custom that goes on into this day, a lot of culture and tradition.

          So what?  So what is the point of this day, this feast, this focus?  Our Epistle lesson from Hebrews actually sums this up, explains it well.  So, let’s work our way through this text from Hebrews and consider it this morning in light of what goes on in our Gospel.  To begin, we hear, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things.”  In the Nicene Creed, we confess that our Lord Jesus was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin and was made man.  So why the doubling up?  Why say that He was “incarnate” and then also “made man”?  There actually is a nuance, a note of some deep theological importance there.  To be “incarnate” simply means to have flesh, to have a body.  And you know what – if God wants to take a body, He can do so.  He’s God, He can do what He wants.  But that phrase “was made man” describes what Hebrews is talking about when it says that He Himself likewise partook of the same things.  If you’re God, you could just say BAM, and then there you are, in a body.  But when Christ comes, it’s not merely to have a body, have flesh – it is to fully take His place among us, to share in all the things of this life that we are exposed to, that were partake of.  He is like us in all ways except sin – and so what does that mean?  It means He was made man.  And He grew like you did.  He went through all the awkward stages of youth that you did.  That this is what we really see here at the Presentation of our Lord.  We can get sort of romantic and sentimental around Christmas time – we can hurry to the happy image of Mary looking bright-eyed and full of energy with perfect hair holding the happy, smiling Baby Jesus.  That’s just the image we like to have – it formed an interesting contrast for me, because that wasn’t what December 26^th looked like when Ambrose was born.  When Christ Jesus comes, He doesn’t come in some super special, Hallmark card way.  He partakes in all the stuff we did.  So, 40 days after He is born, Mary heads to the temple to be purified, because giving birth isn’t easy.  Christ has offerings given up for Him, because He Himself is placed under the same Law, the same burdens, the same obligations as the rest of us.  And so here it is, you have Christ, as He is taken to the temple, shown to be fully taking His place with us.

          And where will that taking His place with us lead?  “He Himself partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to life long slavery.”  Taking His place with us means that Jesus is going to die.  This is what happens to men after the fall.  His incarnation was not going to be just a two week vacation away from heaven to see the sights on earth, but it He would take His place with man, even going to death.  The same Jesus who is carried in His mother’s arms to the temple is going to come to that Temple Palm Sunday, is going to preach and so anger folks with the Truth that He will be put to death.  The same Jesus who had His parents offer up two turtledoves (just like in the Christmas carol) will offer Himself up to purify and redeem His parents, to redeem us.  And the way in which He does this is to die.  There’s a great bit of language here – that through the fear of death we were subject to life long slavery.  Think about this – how much does the fear of death shape and move things in our lives?  Parents watching over their kids, going to a new place, a city, being in traffic?  How much political discourse is spent on wars and fighting – or even health care?  How much does the fear of death drive us?  It drives us like a cruel task-master, where we don’t think first and foremost about what we ought to do, we worry about death.  And it makes sense – death is a big old scary thing.  It’s a nasty tool that Satan uses to keep you fearful and afraid and miserable.  Life long slavery.

          Over and against those fears, behold Christ Jesus, your Lord.  He Himself takes His place with you.  He Himself dies, dies a death that is both gruesome and publicly embarrassing – about as bad a death as you can get.  And why?  To free you from the fear of death, to free you from that slavery that death tries to put you in.  Death is scary – but there is a greater and more profound truth.  Christ Died, and Christ rose, and so shall you.  I look forward to the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.  This is the heart of the Christ faith – that we defy death.  That we celebrate baptism, whereby we are joined to Christ’s death.  Why?  Because He wants us to share in His resurrection.  This is why we eat His Body that was given up for us, His Blood that was shed for us – the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of the Lord’s death – and because He died and rose, so shall we.  Over and against every fear of body or death that Satan tosses in your face stands the greater truth of Christ’s Death and Resurrection.

          And this is not an accidental thing on Jesus’ part.  It’s not as though He stumbled into this death and resurrection for you.  For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham.  Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  There it is.  This is all done for you, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.  Ponder this.  Jesus doesn’t become an angel to redeem fallen angels.  Why do you think Satan rages so fiercely against mankind, why do you think he rages so fiercely against you?  It’s jealousy.  Even as great and mighty as Satan is and was, the chief of the angels – he was always meant to be a servant.  You were created to be the brother, the sister of Christ.  To share in all that belongs to Christ.  To be valued above all creation… including the angels.  The King’s brother outranks the servants – and that’s what you are by virtue of your baptism, you are an adopted child of God.  And when Adam sinned, egged on by Satan’s jealousy and spite, fouled that up, here comes Christ, without hesitation, to become the new High Priest that we need, to make propitiation, that is the full and proper atonement for sin.  To make things all right again, to restore you to perfection, to restore you to holiness, to bring you once again to your proper place as an heir of God.    Christ Jesus does this, and He does it well.

          But what of us in the here and now?  Oh, there after the resurrection, when we are raised, when we see the dominion that we will have over the New Heavens and the New Earth, but what of now?  We get a final, beautiful nuance.  For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.  Jesus understands.  He does.  He gets it.  He knows, He has experienced what life in this world is like – He knows what you go through now.  And so, He is determined to aid you.  He is determined to strengthen you and encourage you with His Word, He is determined to grant you free and ready forgiveness for whenever you fail.  Over and over again.  That’s why we have the Supper so often, frankly, it’s why we should have it even more often – now may this true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and keep you in the one true faith.  Christ understands, and He gives Himself to you so that you may be freed from sin, freed from the fear of death, freed like Simeon to sing, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.”  That’s being freed from the fear of death right there.  Because this is the reality, this is the truth.  Christ Jesus loves you, He has become man to be with you now, to see that you will rise and be with Him for all eternity, that you will share in all that is His.  And Satan and Death and World can’t do a thing to stop it, because their power is broken.

When Joseph and Mary bring Jesus into that temple, they bring Jesus in to take His place as one of us, they bring Jesus in so that He can go about His business of redeeming and forgiving you and winning you eternal life with His own Blood.  The cruel slavery of death is broken, the reign of Satan must yield to the reign of Christ, and we all have been made pure in Him, all thanks be to God.  In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +