Luke 10, 23-37

Many who call themselves Christians believe that if they want God to give his blessings to them, they have to first give their works to him. However, our Lord teaches us in this parable that it’s not God, but our neighbor who needs our works.

The only thing God wants from us is faith. He wants us to trust in him, that he whose love knows no bounds will provide us, not only with what we need in this life, but even more importantly, with all that we need to inherit eternal life.

This Lawyer, who was well versed in the Law God had given Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai, did not possess such a faith. Rather than trusting in what God through his Incarnate Son would do for him and for his salvation, he asked Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

The question itself was foolish for two reasons: First, it contradicted itself. An inheritance is not earned by what one does, but is freely given on the basis of who one is. Second, it implied the impossible — that sinful man can do what the Law requires to obtain eternal life for himself.

But rather than mock his Law question, Jesus gave this man a Law response: “What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?” Not surprisingly, he who had been well instructed in the Law knew the answer. Quoting from both Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19, he replied, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this, and you will live.”

One would think that this conversation would have ended there. The lawyer correctly stated what the Law demands, and Jesus replied by saying that if he did what the Law demands, he would merit eternal life. But it didn’t end there. Instead, the lawyer wanted to justify himself. Why? Because rather than assure him of eternal life, the Law did what it’s supposed to do: it made him conscious of his sin. Even he had to admit that he who sins does not love God above all things.

In an attempt to appease his conscience, this lawyer did what sinners naturally do when they feel guilt over their sin. He focused only on a small part of the Law — a part that he thought he not only could keep, but did keep. This man was convinced that he loved his neighbor as much as he loved himself, until Jesus, by means of this parable, showed him that his neighbor was not only those who loved and respected him, but also his sworn enemy. No self-respecting Jew in those days would even think of showing a Samaritan the mercy that this Samaritan showed the Jew who had fallen among thieves.

Of course, Jesus did not tell this parable only for his sake. “Go and do likewise” is what the Law requires of all men, including you and me. We who are required to love God above all things are to show our love for God by loving our neighbor as much as we love ourselves, regardless of who he may be. But that’s as impossible for us to do as it was for this Lawyer. We don’t love our neighbor nearly as much as we love ourselves, because we don’t — and due to the sin that permeates our flesh, can’t — love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.

So keep your works out of heaven. God doesn’t need them, and tainted as they are with sin, they cannot save you.

But we do need works to inherit eternal life. And that brings us back to Jesus’ parable. Those of us who have been blessed with the eyes of faith see that it is not only a preaching of the Law, but also a preaching of the Gospel. It not only teaches that we can do nothing to obtain eternal life, but also points to him who could and did obtain it for us.

This brings to my mind a question which a certain pastor — who in his blindness adamantly held to the belief that this parable was only a preaching of the Law — once asked me in a mocking tone: “If Jesus is the Good Samaritan, then why can’t you also say Jesus is the donkey?” Talk about “out of the mouth of babes!” Jesus is the donkey in this parable — and so much more.

Before the Son of God, in the fashion of this Samaritan, could come and heal us, he had to become for us the victim that fell among the thief. Moved by a degree of mercy that goes beyond all human comprehension, he allowed the Serpent of Eden to “strike his heel,” as God prophesied after the Fall. This Satan did through evil men who tortured and crucified our Lord — not leaving him half dead, but fully dead — as that was the price of our redemption from the curse of sin.

Having paid that price in full for all men by the shedding of his holy, precious blood, Jesus in mercy came to us, as this Samaritan came to that wounded man on the side of the road (for we would not, indeed could not, come to him) and cleansed us of our wounds in the blessed waters of Holy Baptism. There he covered them, not with bandages as the Samaritan did for that wounded man, but with his perfect righteousness: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ,” the Blessed Apostle declares.

Then our Savior did what this donkey did. As it carried that victim to the inn, so he carried us into his Church. Did he not in another parable picture himself as a shepherd, who, when he found his lost sheep, put him on his shoulders and carried him back to the flock? So yes, the donkey in this parable is indeed an image of Jesus.

At the inn he charges the innkeeper — that is, his ordained minister who serves as the mouth and hands of Christ — to care for us through the faithful use of what Christ has given him, not two denarii, but the Word which testifies of Christ and the Holy Supper, which offers the forgiveness of sins to all who feast on Christ — more specifically, on the Body and Blood of Christ — in faith.

Dear Christian, because you, due to sin, can neither love God nor your neighbor as the Law demands, these are the works of mercy the Son of God has done and will continue to do for you until the day he, who portrays himself in this parable as victim, Samaritan, donkey, innkeeper, and denarii, returns and completes his works of mercy by taking you to your eternal home in heaven.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Mar 7, 31-37

God did not create physical defects. “God saw all that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” So why was this man deaf and mute? Why is it that infirmities and diseases also afflict people today? And why is it that eventually our life will end in death? It’s not because God lied when he described his creation as very good. He did indeed create perfect people and put them into a perfect world. But all that changed when man allowed sin into this world. With sin comes death, and all the afflictions that go along with it.

Not surprisingly, the sinful mind does not agree with this. That which is always hostile to God is quick to blame God for the physical afflictions that plague us in this world, often accusing him of acting unfairly towards us.

I agree that God treats his people unfairly, but not when he allows us to suffer. God’s unfairness reveals itself in this, that he uses our afflictions to remind us that because this sin-ruined life is not the life he desires for us, we need him to deliver us from its evils by bringing us safely into his heavenly kingdom. This is what his miracles, including the one here, foreshadowed—that our Lord can and will restore to everyone who believes in him the perfect life that he created for man in the beginning.

Still, it would be foolish to ignore the present reality of which this man’s physical afflictions remind us: that with sin comes suffering; and not only in this life, but forever, without measure, in the life to come. And also in that reality our Lord wants us to view this miracle.

It’s true that his healing of this deaf-mute was an act of compassion, and he who delivered him from his physical afflictions has in many ways and at many times also delivered us from ours. But what we sinners really need is for our Lord to perform a miracle of even greater compassion. Since, “Whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life,” we need him to open our sin-plugged ears, “For how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?”

But you say, you can hear God’s words as they are read to you from before this Altar and then preached to you from this pulpit. In fact, you’re hearing them right now. To that I reply, it’s one thing to hear God’s words; it’s a whole different matter to hear the Word which God through those words is proclaiming.

The Children of Israel provided a perfect example of this. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two Tablets of Testimony in his hands and read those words to these people, which included this, the first of his Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before Me,” they replied, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” Yet not even one month later, they fashioned a golden calf and worshiped it. So while they heard the words of the Lord from the mouth of Moses, sin had plugged their ears, so that they did not—indeed, could not—hear the Word those words were proclaiming.

Are we any different? Hardly. The fact that we, after hearing God’s words in his Service, go out into the world and sin with this world is clear proof that sin often renders us as deaf as it did the Children of Israel.

But fear not, dear Christian. Because, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” the miracle your Lord performed on this deaf-mute, he performed in an even greater and far more compassionate way on you.

Because he could not hear, Jesus took this man aside and preached to him by means of sign language. He put his finger into his ear to show him where he was going to work his miracle. Then he spit to inform him that this miracle would be worked by what would issue forth from his mouth. After that, he touched his tongue as a sign that the impediment in his speech would be removed when his ears were opened. And having explained these things to him through sign language, Jesus then spoke. “Ephphatha,” he said in Aramaic, which means, “Be opened.” And “immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.”

Of course, this should come as no surprise to us who are acquainted with Holy Scripture. God always chooses to work through his Word. In the beginning he spoke, and all things came into existence out of nothing. During a fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee Jesus, the Son of God, spoke to the wind and the waves, and there was complete calm. He also spoke to demons that had possessed a person’s body and they fled, to diseases, and they left; even to death, and the deceased came back to life.

So when the Lord touched your ears with his words, you were blessed with faith to hear his Word. You believe that though you have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, you are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that comes in Jesus Christ. You believe that Baptism is not simple water only, but Water, which connected with his almighty Word, washes sins away. You believe that the Word of Absolution, which you hear after you confess your sins in true repentance, is not the word of your pastor, but the Word of your Lord speaking through your pastor. And when you hear me chant the words of Christ’s Last Will and Testament—“Take and eat. This is my Body, which is given for you... Drink of it, all of you. This cup is the New Testament in my Blood, which is shed for you”—you believe that what appears to be only bread is in fact Christ’s Body united by his almighty Word to that bread for you to eat, and what appears to be only wine is in fact Christ’s Blood united by that same almighty Word to the wine for you to drink, for the forgiveness of your sins.

And with your ears miraculously opened to hear and so to believe the Word that his words proclaim, your tongue is loosed, and you are able to confess, as did this astonished crowd, but with a spiritual understanding they never had: “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Luke 18, 9-14

In the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, our Lord teaches a simple truth that makes no sense whatsoever to the sinful mind. The evil man—the one who was not only a traitor to his own people as he worked for the hated Romans who occupied their land, but who also stole from them by charging more than was required and pocketing the excess to make himself rich—God justified. He declared him not guilty of sin, which means that the kingdom of heaven was opened to him.

In contrast, the good man—the one who dedicated his entire life to keeping the laws which God gave his Old Testament people on Mount Sinai, who fasted not just at God-appointed times but twice a week, avoided many sins prevalent in his society, and gave a tenth of all he possessed—God did not justify. So he remained in his sins and was condemned to hell.

Do you see what I mean by making no sense? The “good” man is sentenced to burn in the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, while the “bad” man is forgiven and welcomed to live in blessed and eternal communion with his God. How can He who is holy allow it to be this way? He doesn’t. To those who know neither man’s sinful state nor God’s grace, Jesus’ parable may appear that He does. But what is it people say about appearances? They can be deceiving.

It is true that the tax collector didn’t deserve to be justified, but then, neither did this Pharisee. Listen carefully to the prayer he prayed in the temple court, and you will see that though he appeared to be good outwardly, he in his heart had no respect whatsoever for God’s holy Law. This Law demands that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. But the Pharisee’s prayer revealed that the one he truly loved was himself: “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.” How similar his prayer was to the prayers and hymns frequently offered in “happy, clappy praise worship” today.

The Law also demands that our love for God be revealed in the love we show our neighbor. But void of love for God, this Pharisee expressed no love toward others either: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.” So proud was he of himself that he could do nothing but despise his neighbor, whom he regarded as far less pious and therefore far less deserving of God’s favor than he.

Now, do not think Jesus’ parable is only a story about two men who didn’t really exist anyway. We actually see the ungodly characteristics of this Pharisee in Cain, the first child born into this world. Though he believed in God, as did the Pharisee, he loved himself more than God. He revealed this not in prayer, but in his sacrifice. He offered it not out of love for what God promised to do for him, but to show God how worthy he was of blessings. And when God rejected his profane sacrifice, his anger over what he perceived as unfairness moved him to murder his brother in jealousy.

Let that be a warning to you, for whom these things were written. Do not exalt yourself by foolishly comparing your supposedly good deeds to the sins of others, concluding that you are better, as did this Pharisee. And do not think so highly of yourself that you become deeply offended when the Lord, through the preaching of His Law, reveals your sins, as did Cain. For the Lord’s warning is clear: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.” He who trusts in his own merits to gain favor with God will be judged as sinful and condemned. But “he who humbles himself will be exalted.” And that brings us now to the tax collector.

No one who believes what God in His Law decrees will excuse his sinful life with the absurd statement that a loving God would never send anyone to a place of suffering like hell, and then try to justify that lie with the equally absurd claim, “God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” It’s not the sin God condemns to everlasting punishment, is it? It’s the sinner. Though our culture excuses—and in many cases accepts and even defends—acts of wickedness, violence, and sexual perversion, what God labeled as sin in the past, He still regards as sin today, and He condemns those who refuse to repent to suffer with this self-righteous Pharisee in hell.

But returning now to the tax collector, it’s not just our Lord who viewed his life as worthy of damnation. Even more remarkable, that’s how he viewed it as well. Look at his shame. He stood off in a corner of the temple court, too embarrassed to have others see him. He would not even look up to heaven, for he knew full well what he deserved from God, but instead beat his breast, a Jewish sign of shock and horror.

Yet his shame, great as it was, did not turn into despair. Blessed by the Holy Spirit through the Word he heard, he believed that this holy God was also a merciful God, who not only desired his salvation but promised to send a Savior into the world to merit it for him. So he prayed in faith, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And God was merciful to him, as he went down to his house justified—not because he felt shame, nor because he prayed, indeed, not by anything he felt, said, or did, but freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Again, we see this played out in real life. Unlike Cain’s, God accepted the sacrifice of his brother Abel, who “by faith offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness he was righteous.” Abel’s sacrifice was a confession of faith in what God promised to do for him. He gave what he did not to obtain favor with God, as did his brother, but because he believed God’s promise that the Woman’s Seed would crush the serpent’s head, even though the serpent would strike His heel.

And as ones who also believe that they are justified not by works, lest they should boast, but by the bloody Sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son on the altar of the cross, I now invite you to come up to this Altar to feast on that Sacrifice as a blessed Sacrament for the forgiveness of your sins. For he whose sins are forgiven is justified in God’s sight, and therefore as welcome as this repentant tax collector to enter the kingdom of heaven.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Luke 19, 41-48

On that most holy night, when the Word who was with God in the beginning—because He is God—became flesh and dwelt among us, the Blessed Virgin, who had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, gave birth to her firstborn Son, the Son of God through whom all things were made. This happened in the filth of a stable, no less. A chorus of angels appeared before the shepherds as they kept watch over their flocks in the fields of Bethlehem and sang the Hymn of Praise, which we also sing when we approach Mary’s Son in His Service: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men.”

But do not mistake the peace Jesus came to bring with the peace, say, President Trump, for example, is trying to achieve between Russia and Ukraine. Even if that peace becomes a reality—and that is by no means a sure thing—there will still be bloody conflicts in this world. Our Lord made that very clear when He listed this as one of the signs that will occur before His return: “There will be wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” That’s certainly been true in our lives, but for Israel, it’s pretty much their entire history. With the exception of Solomon’s reign some 2,900 years ago, the land of Israel has been a battleground: first with the Canaanites who inhabited the land God promised to Abraham’s descendants, then with the Egyptians to the south, followed by the powers to the north—Syria and Assyria—then the empires to the east—Babylon and Persia—then the powers to the west—Greece and Rome. After them, the Muslims controlled the land. It wasn’t until 1948, after two World Wars, that the Jews were once again allowed to rule in the land, and yet still they have no peace.

But we Christians do. Not with the people of this world, for this world hates Christians—it always has and always will. But “having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Of course, it wasn’t always this way. On the sixth day, I believe, the very day God created Adam and Eve, Satan convinced them to rebel against Him and sin. Thus began the war between God and man. For the sinful mind, which is the mind of every one of Adam’s descendants—including you and me, having been conceived in the sinful image of Adam—is hostile toward God, and reveals its hostility by refusing to submit to the Law of God.

I ask you: what could be more foolish, more futile, than for the creature to wage war against his Creator, than for sinful men to take a stand against almighty God? Look at what happened to the Jews in Jerusalem who tried to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit inspired St. Luke to record this historic event in the pages of Holy Scripture for our learning. In their hostility, they didn’t only kill many of the prophets whom God sent to call them to repentance; they actually turned against the Lord Himself when He came in the flesh to save them from the curse of their sins. They arrested Him, falsely condemned Him, and handed Him over to the Romans, whom they persuaded to crucify Him. They were determined, albeit unknowingly, to remain at war with God rather than at peace. So God—whose patience, though great, is not eternal—finally rejected them. In the year of our Lord 70, only thirty-seven years after the time of His visitation, He allowed the Roman armies to destroy them and level their city to the ground.

History portrays the siege of Jerusalem as extremely brutal. The most merciful fate for its inhabitants was to die by the sword, for others perished by starvation and disease. Their bodies were piled in the streets and left to rot. Survivors, in their severe hunger, boiled and ate the leather straps of their sandals. Many mothers killed their own children to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Romans; some even resorted to cannibalizing the flesh of the dead to survive. Those who were captured and not tortured or executed were sold into slavery. And yet, even this horror was only a faint image of the greater torment suffered by those who foolishly waged war against God. For as great as their physical suffering was, it is nothing compared to what they now endure at the hands of almighty God in the unquenchable fires of hell.

This brings us back to the Hymn of Praise the angelic chorus sang on the night of Jesus’ birth, and which we sing as we approach Him in His Service: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men.” The reason the Son of God appeared in our flesh was to establish peace between this holy God and sinful men. However, to do so, He would have to suffer the punishment that man brought upon himself for waging war against God. He, who once fashioned a whip out of cords to drive idolaters from the temple, gave His back to the scourge. And He, who overturned the tables of the greedy money changers, paid at the expense of His holy, precious blood the price required to redeem you from Satan’s house of eternal torment.

Sadly, the Jews of Jerusalem did not know the time of His visitation. But by the grace of God, you do. And I say “by the grace of God” because “No man can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” It is the Spirit who has blessed you with the gift of faith to believe—not only that Jesus came into the world to establish peace between God and man, but also that He visits you in this, His House of Prayer, today to bring you this peace through the forgiveness of your sins.

For he whose sins are forgiven is no longer subject to God’s wrath and punishment. And he whom the Holy Spirit has blessed with faith is no longer at war with God. His sinful flesh may still rebel, as shown by the sins he commits daily, but trusting in the merits of his Savior, he knows he is at peace with God. This peace brings him comfort even in this war-torn world, but even better, it promises the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore in the presence of His Lord.

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

Luke 16, 1-9

The parable you just heard is the last of four parables our Lord spoke in response to the complaint of the scribes and Pharisees, who accused him saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus shows how he lovingly goes after the lost until he finds them. In the Parable of the Lost Coin, he explains how he often works through his Bride, the Church. And in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, he assures the repentant sinner that when he returns, he will be welcomed back as a son and heir of everlasting life. This final parable, however, has a different focus: it teaches Christians how to properly care for their faith so that they do not become lost but remain faithful to the Lord even unto death.

Consider the question the steward in the parable asked his master’s debtors, a question worth asking yourself: “How much do you owe your Master?” There are two ways to view this question. One is in light of all that your heavenly Father has given you. He gave you life itself—without his power working through your parents, you would not exist. Having given you life, he preserves it, providing daily all you need to stay alive, and as Americans, more than what you need. He also protects your life, keeping many dangers away and delivering you from those he allows to come. In that sense, you owe him everything, because all you have comes from him. The other way to view this question, however, is in light of the debt you have accumulated with God—your sin. Some might object, saying, “But what about the good things I do?” Such reasoning fails to grasp the depth of sin, for as Scripture says, “There is no one who does good, no, not one.” The self-righteous, whom David calls “the haughty,” refuse to accept that everything we do is tainted by sin. Thus, even our thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds only increase the debt we owe God.

So, it is not only the scribes and Pharisees who are guilty. We too are the steward in this parable, having wasted our Master’s goods in a life of sin. And on Judgment Day, when our Lord and Master calls us to give an account of our stewardship, the verdict should rightly be, “You can no longer be steward. Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Do you believe this? You should, because it is what God’s Law declares, and God is not a man that he should lie. Therefore, instead of asking, “What about the good things I do?” the real question we must ask ourselves in light of God’s coming judgment is the one the steward asked himself: “What shall I do?”

The answer is sobering—there is nothing we can do to pay off the debt of sin we owe God. Yet the good news is that we do not have to, for Christ has already done it for us. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” In Christ, God did not simply reduce your debt, as the steward did for his master’s debtors. He did not merely begin to pay off a portion of it and leave the rest for you to finish by keeping the Law. Instead, Christ took your entire debt upon himself—he who had no sin became sin for you—and paid it off completely. “It is finished,” he declared before bowing his head and dying. The debt of sin has been paid in full by his holy, precious blood.

King David understood this, singing, “Who is a God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? God is my strength and power, and he makes my way perfect.” David’s salvation, like ours, had nothing to do with himself but everything to do with God’s grace and mercy. Faith, which is itself a gift of God, clings to this truth and acts accordingly, just as the steward did when he was fired. The master did not praise him for stealing, but for acting wisely and prudently with what was entrusted to him. He used earthly means to escape the ruin his own mismanagement had caused.

That is the lesson Jesus teaches his disciples through this parable: “Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.” Faith does not live for wealth and possessions as unbelievers do, but it uses them wisely, knowing as Paul reminds us, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape.” That way of escape is found in the Means of Grace—the mysteries of God through which forgiveness and salvation are delivered to us.

Faith, therefore, desires baptism in the name of the Triune God, so that the sinner, washed in Christ’s blood, may be cleansed of all unrighteousness. After baptism, faith leads us to confess our sins and hear the absolution spoken by Christ’s servant. It hungers for God’s Word preached and yearns for the Lord’s Supper, the sacred meal of Christ’s body and blood, given for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith.

Dear Christian, when you live by this faith, you are wisely and prudently using unrighteous mammon for eternal gain. On the Day of Judgment, you will not hear your Lord say, “Depart from me, for you can no longer be my steward,” but instead, “Well done, good and faithful steward. Enter into the joy of your everlasting home.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Matthew 7, 15-23

God is love. Love needs an object. So God created man to be the object of His love. God revealed His love to man in the world He created for him, which He Himself, after completing His creation, described as “very good.” He also showed His love in the way He made man—creating him “in His own image,” with an immortal soul and a righteousness that found its greatest joy in obeying God’s holy decrees. Additionally, God created a special garden where man could meet his Creator and enjoy close fellowship with Him in blessed communion.

All this God did, even though He knew man would rebel against Him, fall into sin, and become hostile toward Him. Believe me, God was not caught off guard by this tragic turn of events. He knew from all eternity that it would happen. Because of this foreknowledge, His plan for man’s salvation was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. From eternity, God chose His only begotten Son—the Word who was with God in the beginning, because He is God—to take on human flesh, suffer sin’s curse in our place, and redeem us from the fiery pit of hell by His holy, precious blood.

God did this not because He saw something good in us that made us worth saving, but for the same reason He created us: love. St. John expressed it well when he wrote, inspired by the Holy Spirit, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

In love, Christ Jesus made the tree of the cross a tree of life for you. There, the sinless died for the sinful. In so doing, He reconciled you to God by obtaining God’s full and free forgiveness of all your sins. And He who is holy can forgive you because He punished His Son, who bore those sins in His flesh for you.

To ensure that the forgiveness won by the shedding of His holy, precious blood might be given and applied to you, He who is love instituted the Holy Sacraments—Baptism, Absolution, and the Feast of His Body and Blood—as the means by which He comes to you with this blood-bought gift. Whoever believes this will seek Christ in these holy mysteries for salvation and life.

“But how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?… For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” It is for this very reason that Love, personified in Christ Jesus, instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry. Into this office, He places certain chosen men to be His voice—voices through which He proclaims sin and grace, law and Gospel, salvation for sinners who renounce their sin and sinfulness and turn to Him in true repentance. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things.”

But they are not the only ones preaching to God’s people. Satan, who loves to mimic God, also sends prophets into the world to be his voice—the voice through which he spreads his damning lies. Now, it is true that the ministers Christ sends are as different from Satan’s prophets as night is from day. They are shepherds of the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers. Their responsibility is not only to lead Christ’s sheep to the green pastures and still waters of Word and Sacrament, but also to guard and protect them from the life-destroying errors Satan spreads through his voices. Doing the latter, while not always popular with the sheep, is just as important as doing the former. As a now-sainted Lutheran seminary professor once said, “To preach only the truth and not also to point out and condemn error wherever it exists is to fatten the sheep for the wolf.”

In sharp contrast to these under-shepherds of the Good Shepherd, false prophets seek to devour souls. That may not be their intent—they may very well believe they are doing God’s will. But remember what Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” It is not the Father’s will to insert man’s efforts into the act of salvation, as false prophets, well-intentioned or not, inevitably do. This only leads souls away from Christ and into the jaws of the ravenous wolf.

But as great as the difference is between Christ’s ministers and false prophets, it’s not easily visible to the naked eye—and that’s what makes them so dangerous. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They look like Christians, act like Christians, and often sound like Christians as they cloak their satanic lies in the words of Scripture.

The conservative Protestant, who believes the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, will teach many truths from Scripture, but not in a way that testifies to Him who is the Truth. And that, ultimately, is the purpose of Scripture: “to make one wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” The liberal, believing that human understanding constantly changes, insists that Scripture must change too. What was once regarded as sinful no longer is and thus should no longer be condemned. Repentance is turned into tolerance in the name of what is mistakenly believed to be love. Many modern liturgical churches, while beautifully preserving ancient practices, view their observances as good works that merit grace, rather than outward confessions of Christ’s presence. And the Evangelical often finds assurance of salvation not in God’s promises, but in their emotional or subjective response to God’s love—rather than in the objective promises God has attached to His Means of Grace.

Beware of false prophets! They may look like sheep, but they are wolves that seek to devour your soul. Their lies lead you away from Him who is your life. “You will know them by their fruits,” Jesus says—that is, by comparing what they preach to what He teaches in His Word.

“But,” you say, “you don’t know Scripture well enough to identify the bad fruit these bad trees are producing.” To that, dear Christian, I say: Now you know what Bible Class is for.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Mark 8, 1-9

To the priestly class of Israel, commonly called the Sadducees, who did not believe in life after death, Jesus said, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” He who in the beginning breathed life into Adam when he was nothing more than a well-formed pile of dirt also provided him with what he needed to sustain that life: “Out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that was pleasant to the eye and good for food… And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.’” There is no doubt that when sin entered the world, the earth’s ability to produce food was greatly hindered due to an environment that was far less perfect than the one God originally created. Nevertheless, God still uses the earth to provide. As the Psalmist declared, “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season; you open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”

From these words, it’s clear that it is not the earth itself, but our Father in heaven who works through the earth to give us what we need to sustain the life He has given. And we have no reason to doubt His ability to do this. He fed the children of Israel with manna in the morning and quail in the evening every day for forty years in the wilderness. He fed a crowd of 5,000 men, plus women and children, with only five barley loaves and two small fish. And in today’s Gospel, we hear how He fed a crowd of about 4,000 with only seven loaves and a few small fish.

Of course, these were exceptions and not the norm. Generally speaking, the principle holds true that “If a man will not work, neither should he eat.” This was true even in the beginning, as God placed man in the garden “to work it.” But it is God who blesses the ground so that it produces good food, and it is God who blesses man’s labors so that he is able to obtain this food, prompting the believer to confess, “Not by my power nor by the strength of my hand have I obtained these things, but by the grace and mercy of God alone.”

For this we ought to thank and praise Him every day. Yet the earthly food that sustains our body in this life cannot keep us alive forever. Eventually, we will die, for that is “the wages of sin.” So God, who is not the God of the dead, but of the living, graciously provides food that actually can sustain life forever. In fact, He provided this food for Adam even before Adam had fallen into sin.

In addition to the trees that were pleasant to the eye and from which Adam could freely eat, God planted two special trees in the middle of the garden. From the first, called “the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” He commanded Adam to fast as an act of faith, trusting God’s word of promise that He would provide every good and perfect gift. But of the second tree, “the Tree of Life,” God invited Adam to eat, as its fruit would provide him with the nourishment he needed to live in blessed communion with God eternally. Unfortunately, because Adam sinned and ate of the first tree, God forbade him to eat the fruit of the second, lest he live in a state of sin forever. Thus, he and all his descendants would die.

But so that we would not suffer eternal death for our sins, the God of the living sent His only begotten Son into the world to suffer that death in our place, that we might be restored to life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And therein lies the reason why the Lord God planted the Tree of Life in Eden, even though He foreknew that man would never eat of its fruit. It still serves today as an image of how He saved fallen man. As the fruit which hung on that tree promised eternal life to those who ate of it, so He who hung on the cursed tree of the cross gives that life to all who feast on Him.

Thus, on the day after He fed the crowd of more than 5,000, Jesus said to them, “Do not labor for food which perishes, but for food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you.” Then, a bit later in His sermon, He identified what that food is: “I AM the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” The eating of which our Lord was speaking here is a spiritual eating—a feasting on Christ by faith, believing that He is our Salvation and Life. But this in no way excludes a sacramental eating of Christ, which brings us to today’s Gospel.

The Feeding of the 4,000 is in many ways similar to the Feeding of the 5,000, but there are some key differences as well. St. Mark tells us that Jesus fed these people on the third day, not the same day as the 5,000. The third day is the day Jesus rose from the dead to restore life to fallen men. The Holy Evangelist also points out that the reason Jesus miraculously fed this crowd was so that they could make it safely home. Likewise, Jesus takes simple bread and wine, which, blessed by His almighty Word, become hosts for His Body and His Blood. And He uses this even smaller amount of food—miraculously provided—to give us the nourishment we need to make it safely to our eternal home.

But only he will eat who hungers for it. Just as God planted two trees in the garden, He instituted His Service with two parts. In the Service of the Word, which coincides with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, He proclaims how Jesus redeemed us from the curse of sin by becoming a curse for us. Then, strengthened by hearing that Word, we proceed to the Service of Holy Communion, which coincides with the Tree of Life, that we may feast on Christ for life.

This Feast, dear Christian, is the climax of God’s Service—the very thing to which the Service of the Word is intended to lead you. This is why the Sacrament is properly celebrated not just on certain designated “Communion Sundays,” as is sadly the case in far too many churches today, but every Sunday, Holy Day, and whenever else it is requested—as Christians historically did and as our Lutheran Confessions rightly affirm. For he who in faith eats and drinks the Food that is Christ will live in eternal communion with Him, who is the God not of the dead, but of the living.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Matthew 5, 20-26

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” So Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount, from which our Gospel is taken. The “poor in spirit” are those who have been brought to the realization—something they never would have concluded on their own—that they have nothing to offer God that can contribute in any way to their salvation. Because of this, they mourn, are meek rather than arrogant, and hunger and thirst for righteousness. They are also reviled and persecuted by a world that hates the Christ they embrace for salvation and life. That doesn’t sound as if they are blessed at all, does it? And yet our Lord, in this sermon, tells them to rejoice and be glad, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Not surprisingly, sinful man sees things quite differently. Rather than seeing poverty, mourning, meekness, hunger, thirst, and persecution as blessings, he regards them as signs of weakness and being cursed. By nature, he is proud, strong, and self-assured. Rather than glorying in God’s grace, he glories in his own abilities and accomplishments. This explains why so many church bodies falsely teach, and why so many Christians are so easily misled into believing, that Jesus preached this sermon to instruct his disciples on what they must do to prove themselves righteous enough to enter the kingdom of heaven.

It is true, of course, that only the righteous will enter this kingdom. But the righteousness God requires surpasses the abilities of fallen men. Jesus made this crystal clear in his Sermon on the Mount when he told his disciples, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Pharisees in Jesus’ day, along with the group of scribes within their sect, were considered the most outwardly righteous among the Jews. They devoted their lives to walking the walk and talking the talk. Yet even their righteousness, Jesus says, was not enough. For the righteousness God requires is a perfect righteousness. Jesus’ interpretation of the Fifth Commandment in this sermon reveals just how impossible it is for sinful men—including you and me—to obtain such righteousness.

“You shall not murder.” That’s what the Fifth Commandment declares. But simply refraining from murder does not qualify as keeping it. I’ve never murdered anyone, and yet I have in no way fulfilled what God demands—not even close. Listen to how far Jesus takes this commandment: “Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment,” and he who speaks a word of condemnation against him is in danger of hellfire.

From this, we see that in God’s eyes, murder is not only an outward act but also an inward one. It involves not just taking someone’s life unjustly, but also harboring hate rather than love in one’s heart toward that person—regardless of what they may have done or said.

Now that you’ve heard just how far the law reaches—that it touches not only your deeds and words but also your emotions and feelings—do you really think Jesus preached this sermon to instruct his disciples on what they must do to enter the kingdom of heaven? From this one commandment alone, he shows you that you do not possess the righteousness that merits eternal life. What you truly deserve is for him, the Judge, to hand you over to the officer, Satan, who would then throw you into the prison of hell.

But in his great mercy for you, God’s Son endured those searing flames in the hellish heat of Golgotha. He paid for your sins with his life. He suffered the death that was the due penalty for your sins, and in doing so, he won for you God’s forgiveness—freedom from the eternal prison sentence your sinful thoughts, words, and deeds had earned.

So that the salvation he won might be given to you personally, he instituted Holy Baptism. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

In the simple act of Holy Baptism, Christ’s work of redemption was credited to you: his death became the death that paid the punishment for your sins; his burial, the burial that removed your sinful flesh from God’s sight; and his resurrection, the resurrection that made it possible for you to be raised to a new life as a forgiven child of God.

While you have been set free from the prison of hell through your baptism into Christ, the question remains: are you righteous enough to enter the kingdom of heaven? Yes—by all means—but not on the basis of your own righteousness. It is the righteousness of Christ, who perfectly kept not only the Fifth Commandment but every one of God’s holy, immutable decrees in your place. His righteousness is what makes you worthy to enter the eternal kingdom. And it was imputed to you—made your own—also in your baptism: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ,” as the blessed Apostle explains.

From this, you can see the true purpose of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Rather than instructing you on what you must do as disciples of Christ, it describes who you are through faith in Christ. You are righteous—far more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees—for yours is the perfect righteousness of Christ himself.

Therefore rejoice, dear Christian, and be glad. The kingdom of heaven is opened to you. And so that it remains open to you—even unto death—your Lord will now satisfy your hunger and thirst for righteousness by serving you his Body to eat and his Blood to drink for the forgiveness of your sins, thus assuring you of everlasting life and salvation.

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

Luke 5, 1-11

God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. God also spoke through His angel Gabriel to a virgin named Mary, saying, “Behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” A twofold miracle took place: a virgin conceived, and the Child she conceived in her womb was the eternal Son of God. Years later, when He and His disciples were caught in a fierce storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” The wind ceased, and there was great calm. So it went throughout the three years of His earthly ministry. When Jesus commanded diseases to leave, they left. When He told demons to depart, they departed. And when He cried out, “Lazarus, come forth!” the man who had been dead four days came out of his tomb alive and well. For God’s Word, because it is the Word of the Almighty God, always does what it says.

So why should any of us be surprised that when Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch,” they caught so many fish that they filled two boats to the point where they began to sink—even though they had caught nothing the previous night and were now fishing at the wrong time of day, in the wrong part of the sea? But this is not just a fish story. The reason Jesus performed this miracle was to substantiate the message He was preaching to the multitudes gathered on shore to hear Him. The most obvious thing they learned from this event was that Jesus is who He claimed to be: the almighty Son of God. For who could do what He did here but God alone?

But that’s not the only truth He proclaimed by this miracle. He also showed where His people are to find Him for salvation and life. It’s not on the Sea of Galilee, of course. Rather, His presence with the disciples in that boat was a visual reminder that He is present with His people in the Holy Ark that is His Church. To ensure they receive the blessings He offers there, He ordains men into the Office of the Holy Ministry to do what He called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to do—literally, in the Greek, “to catch men alive.” As fishermen, they pulled fish from the water into their boats to die. But as fishers of men, they were to bring sinners—who are by nature dead in their trespasses and sins—into the Church, that they, through Christ, might live and never die—not an earthly death, but eternal death.

In fact, our Lord performed that very miracle on Simon Peter right then. Consider Peter’s reaction to the great catch of fish. It reminded him, in a terrifying way, that he was in the presence of a holy God. “He fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’” Peter was right. He was a sinful man. How, then, could he stand in the presence of this holy, almighty God, who condemns sinners to the everlasting fires of hell? What Peter had forgotten was that this holy, almighty God was also his gracious and merciful Savior. It was He upon whom the sins of the world would be placed—He who would suffer the punishment God imposed upon all men for their sins. By this, He would pay the price of redemption from sin and merit for all men God’s full and free forgiveness.

So rather than condemn Peter for his sins, Jesus said to His frightened apostle, “Do not be afraid.” And Peter, who was feeling the pangs of death over his sins, was miraculously raised to life by the power of that almighty Word.

But if God’s Word is so powerful, why is it that the churches which preach it most faithfully are the ones that appear to be struggling most severely? Such a question, though asked frequently, reveals a lack of both understanding and gratitude. It shows a lack of understanding because it fails to acknowledge that God’s will will always be done. As He said through the prophet Isaiah, “My Word shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Not everyone who hears His Word, even when rightly preached, will believe. Sometimes, as with Pharaoh, it is God’s will to harden the heart of the unbeliever. But whatever God in His infinite wisdom wills to do through His Word, it will always accomplish what He pleases.

This also points to a lack of gratitude. Instead of trying to dictate to God what His will should be, we should rejoice and give thanks for what He has accomplished in us through His almighty Word—namely, our salvation. He pulled us out of the murky depths of hell and brought us into the Holy Ark that is His Church. Though we were dead in sin, we were raised to new life as God’s forgiven children in Christ. Rather than harden our hearts, He, through the preaching of His Word, brought us to faith in Christ as our Salvation and Life. This, too, is a miracle—one we should not be surprised by, for He said, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

As evidence of this faith, we earlier in this service did what St. Peter did in that boat. We fell on our knees before the Lord—if not physically, then certainly and more importantly in our hearts and minds—and confessed our sinfulness to Him. And just as He did for St. Peter, He removed our fear by speaking to us through the voice of His minister: “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Now, having had our faith renewed and strengthened through the preaching of His almighty Word, we will come to this altar for the Feast. It is a Feast served by His minister’s hand—not just of bread and wine, even though that is all we see, feel, and taste, but of His Body and Blood, miraculously united by His Word to the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of our sins.

And our Lord, in His grace and mercy, will continue to do this for us until He brings us—in the full boat of Holy Christendom—to the eternal shores of heaven.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Luke 6, 36-42

What matters to our God is not only what we do, but why we do it. In His Sermon on the Plain, from which today’s Gospel is taken, our Lord instructs His disciples of every age, including you and me, not just to do good to others, but to do so out of mercy. But only he can show mercy who has been shown mercy; thus the words of our Lord: “Therefore be merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” And how is our Father in heaven merciful? By treating us not as we deserve for our sins, but out of sheer grace alone.

God provided His Old Testament people with a shadow of this in Joseph, the son of Jacob. By means of two dreams, He revealed to this young man that He would put him in authority over his brothers to save not only their bodies from a seven-year famine, but also—and even more importantly—their souls from the evil influences of the Canaanites in whose land they were living. But despised by his jealous brothers, he was sold into slavery and forced to serve the pagan Egyptians, until he, by the mighty hand of God, was exalted to be ruler over those Egyptians, second only to Pharaoh himself. And being in authority, he invited his father and brothers to live in Egypt so that he could provide for them and their children. But as you heard earlier, when Jacob died, his brothers, still filled with guilt over what they had done, feared he would seek revenge. So they begged Joseph for forgiveness. And in mercy, he did forgive them—fully and unconditionally.

Do you not see in this an image of the even greater mercy our Heavenly Father showed us in His beloved Son Jesus Christ? He sent Him into the world to save both our body and our soul from an eternal death in hell. And as was Joseph, so Jesus too was despised by His brothers—the Jews—who handed Him over to the pagan Romans to die the death of a slave: death by crucifixion. But on the third day He rose from the dead and was exalted, as was Joseph—only in His case, to the right hand of the Father. There He intercedes for us and pleads with His Father to forgive us fully and unconditionally, just as Joseph forgave his brothers, because He, unlike Joseph, gave His life as the Sacrifice that satisfied the punishment God imposed upon us for our sins.

Whoever believes this has, to borrow our Lord’s metaphor, the plank removed from his eye. So our Heavenly Father in mercy poured out His Holy Spirit into our hearts through the preaching and our hearing of His Word to bring us to faith in Jesus as our Savior. Then He in mercy led us to the Font, where He, in the blood-tinged waters of Holy Baptism, washed away the filth of our sins. And we who were born of sinful flesh were born from above as forgiven children of God and heirs of everlasting life.

Dear Christian, there is no greater mercy we could ever be shown than that! God saw that we are stuck in death, and He had mercy on us and gave us life. God saw how much we covet the things of this world that will all someday pass away, and He had mercy on us and led us to a church that offers us not the temporal things of this life, but treasures that will never perish, spoil, or fade away. God saw that we are children of hell, and He had mercy on us and opened up heaven to us. And because we brought nothing into this world, God in His mercy also provides us daily with all that we need to support our body in this life—and so much more.

“Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” Our Lord doesn’t say, “Be merciful, and then your Father will also be merciful.” We do not merit God’s mercy by showing mercy. Rather, we show mercy because we’ve been shown mercy. And in His Sermon on the Plain, Jesus instructs us on how we, as children of our Heavenly Father, are to show mercy: Judge not. Condemn not. Forgive. And give freely.

However, fallen flesh—which is also our flesh—rails against each and all of these commands. After all, they require that we put ourselves aside, and sinners, who are by nature selfish, are not always willing to do that. They may forgive, but only if there’s something in it for them—some benefit they receive from it, such as the praise of men. But to show mercy by forgiving those who’ve wronged them fully and unconditionally—that they’re not always so inclined to do.

Consider, then, these words of St. John: “Whoever says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” And to make sure every sinner is convicted by his words, he continues, “And this command we have from Him: that he who loves God must also love his brother.” The word “must” clearly implies that this is neither a choice nor an option for us, but a command God demands us to obey.

That’s quite the quandary for us sinners, is it not? The Law says we must not judge, or we will be judged. We must not condemn, or we will be condemned. Instead, we must forgive, or we will not be forgiven, and must freely give, or it won’t be given to us. Yet the selfish nature of our sinful flesh tells us to judge and condemn our brother for the speck in his eye rather than forgive and show him mercy.

But thanks be to God, that the mercy He’s shown us, He continues to show to us—even when we, due to the sin that dwells within us, refuse to show mercy to our brother. When we, convicted by the judgment and condemnation of the Law, confess our sins to Him, He, through the voice of His minister, forgives us for His name’s sake.

When we listen to the Word by which His Spirit brought us to faith in Christ, as it is preached from this pulpit, He strengthens our faith in His mercy so that we hold firmly to the hope that we remain His forgiven child in Christ despite our sinful behavior.

And as if those two gifts weren’t enough, our Lord in His mercy has given us His Holy Supper. In this, the greatest of all feasts, He serves us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink for the forgiveness of our sins—thus assuring us, who eagerly await the redemption of our body from the bondage of sin’s corruption, that He in His mercy will bring us through death into everlasting life.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Luke 15, 1-10

The Prophet Micah once asked, “Who is a God like you?”—a rhetorical question meant to lead God’s people to the only possible answer: there is no god like the one, true God. Unlike the idols of this world—mere figments of sinful human imagination that demand their followers earn their favor—the true God stands apart. Yes, He also demands obedience: that we have no other gods, that we fear, love, and trust in Him above all else. His decrees are holy, and to break even one, even once, is to incur His condemnation. But what sets Him apart from all false gods is that, knowing our inability to meet His demands, He does what they never could—He pardons iniquity, passes over transgressions, and delights in mercy.

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” Only those who, like St. Paul, confess, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells… For the good that I will to do I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice,” will truly humble themselves before this holy God. The hypocrite scoffs, “Everyone knows he’s a sinner,” as if mere acknowledgment is enough. While it’s true that most people don’t claim to be perfect, few are willing to admit that we sin because we are born in sin, enslaved to it, and deserving only of God’s punishment.

This reality doesn’t make us feel good, nor is it meant to. “The law brings wrath,” explains the Apostle Paul. It demands what we cannot do and condemns us for failing. Yet it was precisely because of this condemnation that tax collectors and sinners—the moral outcasts of Jewish society—drew near to Jesus. Knowing their sinful lives earned only God's wrath, they saw in Jesus the Savior who had come to win God’s favor on their behalf.

The Pharisees, however, could not comprehend this grace. They grumbled, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” Their pride blinded them. They quickly condemned others while resisting any rebuke of their own sinfulness. In response, Jesus told four parables, two of which are included in this Sunday’s Gospel, to explain why He welcomed sinners. These parables expose the Pharisees' hypocrisy—those who removed specks from others’ eyes while ignoring the planks in their own.

In the first parable, a shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep to search for one that wandered off. When he finds it, he carries it home with joy. This illustrates the Savior’s role: He carries. Jesus bore the world’s sin in His flesh, suffering God’s wrath even unto death. In doing so, He proved Himself the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

But His work did not stop at the cross. Because we, like sheep, continue to go astray, the Lamb becomes our Shepherd, constantly seeking us out lest the devil, a roaring lion, devours us. Each time we wander into sin, He finds us and carries us back to the safety of His flock—even when we resist leaving our sin behind.

It is by His work alone that we have come today to receive His gifts, and by His work alone we will, on the Last Day, be counted among the sheep on His right hand, hearing, “Come, you blessed of My Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

The second parable tells of a woman who loses a valuable coin. She lights a lamp and sweeps her house until she finds it. This woman represents the Church, the Bride of Christ. The coin symbolizes one of her own who has become lost in sin. Just as a coin cannot help itself be found, a sinner cannot return to God by his own power.

So the Church uses what her Bridegroom has given her: the light of God’s Word. The Law reveals the righteous path and our sinful divergence from it. Then she takes the broom—also the Word of God—as the Gospel sweeps away our sin and brings us back to the One who forgives.

These parables reveal a profound truth: there is no god like our God. He suffered for the punishment we earned. He searches for us in our sin. And when He finds us, He carries us back to His Church, where we are protected from the enemy and nourished by His Body and Blood—until He returns to bring us home. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Luke 14, 16-24

It is not only essential for this life—it is also essential for eternal life. We see this all the way back in the beginning. God planted two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden. From the first, He commanded Adam not to eat, lest he die. To those who ate of the second tree, He promised eternal life in blessed communion with Him. Unfortunately, Adam, deceived by the Tempter, ate from the first tree and was therefore denied access to the second. As a result, he would die.

Still, God desires that man live in blessed and eternal communion with Him. So, He has provided us with another meal, one that also gives life—but in a much different form and from a much different tree. Listen to what Jesus preached to many of those Galileans, whose stomachs He had previously and miraculously filled with only five barley loaves and two small fish: “Do not labor for food which perishes, but for food which endures to everlasting life… I AM the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give him is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world… For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”

It’s true—Jesus presents Himself in these words as bread, not fruit. But just as that life-giving fruit hung in the Garden of Eden, so too did He hang on a tree—the tree of the cross. There, on that cursed tree, He shed His holy, precious blood, which—because it is the blood of God’s only begotten Son—paid in full the price that God in His holy Law required to redeem all men from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

But it is not enough just to have food prepared for you. The only way it can nourish you is if you eat it, and you cannot eat it unless it is served. So it is with the Bread of Life.

And that leads us directly to Jesus’ parable: “A certain man,” He says, “gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’” That “certain man” is our Heavenly Father, who invites all men to eat the Food which was prepared at such great cost, that they might live in blessed communion with Him forever. The Food that He offers in His great supper is, as I said, Christ Jesus Himself, who was roasted—if you will—on the spit of the cross. The servant (or slave, in the Greek) whom He has sent out to invite guests to His feast and whom He has appointed to serve this feast to those who have come, is His called and ordained minister.

And he serves this great supper not just in one but in two courses: first, in the reading, preaching, and singing of God’s holy Word; then, in the Sacrament, where we not only spiritually by faith, but also physically with our mouths, eat Christ’s body under blessed bread and drink His blood under blessed wine. He promises that all who partake of His great supper in the faith that by this they are receiving the merits of His Son’s redemptive work will be nourished for eternal life.

In contrast, those who refuse to feast on Christ in His Service will not be allowed to feast with Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven. But what if they still believe in Christ? Just believing that food can nourish you will not actually do so unless you eat it. And he who believes that Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life will not reject the invitation to come to the feast where this Bread is served for life.

So in light of that, I ask you: where do you see yourself in this parable? Is it among those men who with one accord began to make excuses—who foolishly regard the things of this world as more important than the feast of which sinners may eat and live forever?

The things of this world are gifts from our Father in heaven for us to use and enjoy so long as we have them here on earth. Not to do so, or to complain that we do not have enough of them, is an act of pure ingratitude. But when those things become more important to us than the Bread of Life—when we pursue them to the point where we willingly, even happily, deny ourselves the heavenly feast that is God’s Service—they become idols, which rather than enhance our earthly life, put us in danger of losing the gift of eternal life.

Of course, if we are being honest with ourselves, we would admit that we have at times allowed the things of this world to deprive us of feasting on Christ in the great supper—every one of us. And yet, by the grace of God, here we are in His house today. That means it’s not only in those who made excuses that we see ourselves in Jesus’ parable; it’s also in the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind who came when invited.

For the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Law, has shown us that we are by nature poor—having nothing to offer God for our salvation—maimed and outwardly disfigured by our innumerable sins, lame and powerless to bring ourselves to Christ, and blind to the degree that we can’t even see Christ as our salvation and life. Then, having convinced us by this that we can neither think nor say nor feel nor do anything that can contribute in any way towards our salvation, the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Gospel, opens our sin-blinded eyes to see and strengthens our weakened legs to come to Christ in the faith that He covers the ugliness of our sinful flesh in the beauty of His righteousness and endows us with the riches of heaven.

And that faith is what brings you to the great supper. You believe that the Food you receive through preaching and the Sacrament is Christ, and that by feasting on Him, you are nourished with the forgiveness that brings everlasting life.

Therefore, rejoice, dear Christian—even though it may be hot and uncomfortable in here right now! For you who feast on Christ today will feast with Christ in the life to come.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Luke 16, 19-31

Though their earthly lives were very different—one could even say complete opposites—the rich man and poor Lazarus did have this in common: they both died, and for the same reason we also will someday die. Conceived in sin, they sinned every day of their life. And God’s holy, immutable Law decrees, “The soul that sins, it shall die.”

But that’s not the only thing these two men had in common. Both the rich man and also poor Lazarus are now living, even though they died. And contrary to what many believe happens to people after they die, neither is living as a disembodied spirit. God did not create man as a spiritual creature—that is, a soul without a body—but with a soul that dwells in a body. That’s what makes us human. So even though the bodies of these two men died, were buried, and returned to the dust from which they were taken, they are very much alive, as evidenced by the fact that the once rich, now poor man in hell begs Abraham—who, by the way, is described as having a bosom or lap—to send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue. Of course, this comes as no surprise to us who believe that Christ rose from the dead as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

But where they’re living is very different. Lazarus, who lacked even the basic necessities of this life, died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, a phrase which implies close fellowship with this Old Testament believer in heaven. And while Jesus describes him as living in a timeless, unchangeable state of bliss, He does not describe what this bliss is like. For the bliss of heaven goes beyond human comprehension and therefore cannot be described in human language. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love Him,” is how St. Paul explained it.

In contrast, the once rich man, when he died, was cast into hell, where he is living in a timeless and unchangeable state of torment. He begs for a drop of water to be placed on his tongue because he is on fire. He sees the state of bliss in which Lazarus lives and is distraught, for he knows he will never experience it. As Abraham explained, “…between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, neither can those from there pass to us.”

Jesus’ account of the rich man and poor Lazarus, which I believe to be real and not a parable, tends to raise this question in the minds of many Christians: “What must I do to escape the hell I deserve for my sins and to enter into heaven’s bliss instead?” That question is as foolish as it is predictable. For having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, the only thing any of us have done is merit a place with that once rich man in hell.

But there is a legitimate question which this event should raise in our minds: Why did Lazarus, whose death proved that he too had sinned, go to heaven? Listen again to the answer that came from the Spirit-inspired pen of St. John: “God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”—that is, the One who appeased God’s wrath over sin by serving the death sentence His law imposed upon all men because of sin.

However, to accomplish this for us men and for our salvation, the Son of God had to humble Himself and become very much like Lazarus. He too was poor, having no place on earth to lay His head. He was also hungry after fasting forty days and nights in the wilderness. He was despised by those who were far richer than He. And though He had not sinned, wicked men beat Him with their fists, pierced His head with thorns, and ripped the flesh off His back by the scourge, thus covering His body with painful sores. Then, He died, as did Lazarus. But He did not stay dead, any more than did Lazarus. On the third day He rose from the dead as Victor over Satan. For by His sufferings, death, and resurrection, Christ Jesus obtained for us sinful men God’s full and free forgiveness. “Whoever believes this,” you heard Jesus say to Nicodemus last Sunday, “will not perish, but have eternal life.”

Which brings us back to that poor man in hell. Realizing that his state of torment is eternal, he pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers, thinking that if they saw someone rise from the dead, they would believe. But Abraham’s response reveals that faith does not come by miracles, but by something even more powerful: “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them… If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”

Let that be a warning to all who despise preaching and His Word, who, imitating the foolish ways of this once rich man, live for the pleasures and treasures of this world, which cannot save and will through death pass away. To neglect God’s Word—and that inevitably leads to neglecting the Sacrament as well—is to reject Christ. And he who rejects Christ will end up with this now poor man in hell.

But thanks be to God, you not only have Moses and the Prophets, but also the Evangelists and the Apostles—that is, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Thanks be to God, you were given ears to hear that Word, which from Genesis to Revelation proclaims Christ as the Savior of the world. And thanks be to God, you were blessed with faith by your hearing of that Word to receive Christ, first in Holy Baptism and now in the Holy Feast of His Body and Blood, for the forgiveness of your sins.

Dear Christian, “Hold fast what you have.” So says Jesus, that when you die, rather than perish with this poor man in the unquenchable fires of hell, you will live with Lazarus in the incomprehensible bliss of heaven, where you will experience fullness of joys and pleasures forevermore.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

John 3, 1-15

When the Children of Israel spoke against God and His servant Moses, complaining bitterly about the manna He graciously provided each morning during their journey to the Promised Land, God allowed the venomous snakes that had been kept from their camp to slither in among them. These snakes bit the people, injecting venom that produced a wound so painful it felt as if they were on fire, and many died. While it may not have seemed like it at the time, this was actually an act of mercy—not only because it brought the people to repentance, but also because it served as a vivid reminder of a greater suffering caused by just one serpent. Satan, having possessed the body of a snake, injected our first parents with a venom far more powerful: sin. This venom causes not just physical pain but fiery spiritual death in hell, and it has been passed down to all people through the sinful seed of their father.

No wonder, then, that Adam and Eve, after being infected with sin, ran and hid among the trees when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden. No wonder Isaiah, who inherited this same sin, cried out in terror before God's throne, “Woe is me, for I am undone! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!” And no wonder sinful mankind has long tried to deal with its fear of God either by creating false gods or by denying God's existence altogether. But despite all human efforts, the decree of the holy God stands firm: whoever has been infected with the venom of sin, unless cured, will suffer eternal death in the fires of hell.

Yet, “Oh, the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” These words remind us that it is not only God's Triune nature that confounds human reason, but also His gracious ways of working for our salvation. We see a foreshadowing of this in His dealings with the ungrateful Israelites. After using the venomous snakes to remind them of their need for His saving grace, He also provided a vivid picture of that salvation. God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and raise it on a pole. He attached to it a promise: anyone who was bitten and looked upon it in faith would live.

Jesus Himself explained the significance of this event to Nicodemus, saying, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” Just as the venomous snakes represented Satan, so the bronze snake on the pole prefigured Christ on the cross. But why a snake—the image of Satan—as a symbol of Christ? Because the sinless Son of God became sin for us. He bore in His own body the deadly venom injected into Adam so that, by His bloody death on the cross, He might deliver us from the fiery death that sin brings.

This, then, is the incomprehensible way of our incomprehensible God. To reclaim His wayward children, the Father sent His Son into the world to suffer the hell we deserved. The Son offered up His life as a sin-offering to obtain the antidote for sin: God's forgiveness. The Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, gives us faith to look to the crucified Christ and receive this antidote so that we may not die, but live.

But where are we to look for Him in faith? Christ is no longer on the cross, nor is He in the grave, but He has risen and ascended to the right hand of the Father. And since none of us can ascend into heaven, where then are we to find Him to receive the forgiveness that brings salvation and life? Just as God attached His promise of healing to the bronze serpent, and just as He purified Isaiah’s lips with a live coal from the altar, so too has He attached His promise of salvation to certain created things.

To Nicodemus, Jesus said, “...unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” This is a clear reference to Holy Baptism, through which God washes away all our sins. In Baptism, we who were born of sinful flesh are reborn from above as children of God and heirs of eternal life. But water is not the only created thing to which God has attached His saving promise. There is also the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, in which Christ unites His body and blood. By eating and drinking this Holy Feast, we are nourished with the forgiveness that renders sin’s deadly venom powerless.

To neglect Baptism and the Lord’s Supper is to reject Christ in unbelief. And he who rejects Christ will succumb to Satan’s venom and suffer the fiery death of hell. But the one born of the Spirit has faith to receive Christ in these means of grace and, therefore, will not perish but live in eternal communion with God—whose ways and essence are as glorious as they are incomprehensible.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

John 14, 23-31

            Just moments ago you heard Jesus say to his disciples, “If anyone loves me, he will keep (literally: hold tightly to) my word.”  To hold tightly to God’s Word is to believe all that it teaches.

            But what the law, which is part of God’s Word, teaches is that you were brought forth in iniquity and in sin your mother conceived you.  Because of this, what you do is not the good you want to do, but rather the evil you do not want to do.  And for this, you deserve to spend eternity with the devil and his angels in the blazing inferno that is hell. 

            Rather than hold tightly to that in faith, the nature of fallen flesh when it hears that is to reject it in anger.  And when it hears the Gospel, which is the other great teaching of God’s Word, promise salvation through the merits of Christ, it is offended, because that takes all glory away from man and makes him totally reliant on the mercy of God.

            Yet here you are, taking the Law to heart when it condemns you, and deriving comfort from the Gospel’s promise of salvation through Christ.  Why is that?  Why are you holding tightly to the Word, which your own sinful flesh rejects? 

            Many, listening to human reason rather than inspired Word, are convinced it’s because they chose to believe in Christ.  I agree that a choice was made.  But I strongly disagree that this was a choice you made, could make, or even wanted to make.  So does St. Paul, who wrote under inspiration, “The man without the Spirit does not  accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.”

            Still, a choice was made, just not by you. “In Christ God chose us before the foundation of the world,” St. Paul declares, “that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will… And you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is a guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (which of course is you), to the praise of his glory.”

            What St. Paul wrote had been miraculously fulfilled on Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after our Lord’s Resurrection. According to Mosaic Law, on the first day of this eight day OT festival the first fruits of every grain harvest, which by law was one-tenth of that harvest, was to be brought to the Temple and presented to God as a thank offering.

            And this pointed ahead to an even greater harvest, the harvest of souls into his Church.  This harvest would take place, not by the actions of sinful men, but by the work of the Holy Spirit through his preached Word: Thus, this promise our Lord made to his disciples on Maundy Thursday, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” 

            And so it happened on this Pentecost Sunday.  As the disciples were all with one accord gathered together in one place, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, as evidence by the sound of a rushing wind (for the Holy Spirit is the Wind or Breath of God that breathes life into those who are dead in sin), and also by the tongues of fire (for as fire does created light, so the Holy Spirit shines the Light that is Christ upon those who walk in the darkness of unbelief).  And with the power of the Holy Spirit now in and working through them, these men began to speak to the people who had gathered before them when they too heard the sound of the wind the wonderful works of God.  For what could be more wonderful than for God to come down from heaven, take on our flesh, and be found as a man, than for him who is holy to bear our sin and who is immortal to die for those sins that we might be forgiven, than for him who is the Life to rise from the dead and in so doing, to conquer, not only death and the grave, but also sin and the devil, so that when we rise, it will not be to hell, but to everlasting life in heaven?

            In giving his Apostles the ability to preach these wonderful works of God and in giving the Jews, who had come from around the world for the Feast of Pentecost, the ability to hear those words in their own language no less, the Holy Spirit was able to blessed them with faith in Christ.  And 3,000 of them were baptized that day.  Thus, began the harvesting of souls into his Church during the NT Age. 

            And you, dear Christian, are part of that harvest.  Though it angered your sinful flesh, the Holy Spirit by the preaching of the Law convicted you of the sin you are, so that renouncing yourself, you asked what many in that Pentecost crowd did, “What shall I do?”  Then, by the preaching of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit told you what to do, even as he through St. Peter did the crowd that had gathered before him, “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you in the name of Jesus, for the remission of your sins.”

            Blessed with faith through the hearing of his preached Word, you were led by the Holy Spirit to the Font, whose Blessed Waters cleansed you of your sins and so, figuratively speaking, extinguished for you the fire to which you were condemned because of those sins.  But the Holy Spirit’s work in you did not end there.  Again, blessed with faith through the hearing of his preached Word, you are now led by the Holy Spirit up to this Altar, where you feast on the only Food of which a man may eat and live forever: the Food of Christ’s Body and Blood under Blessed Bread and Wine. 

            And though many other churches solely for the sake of popularity have exchanged preaching Law and Gospel for teaching lessons on morality, and have turned the life-giving Sacraments into nothing more than an outward show, the Holy Spirit has brought you into a church, where the Word is preached in its truth and the Sacraments are administered according to their institution, so that you can do what those Christians of old did after they were baptized: “Continue steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.”

            That is why you are here today.  It’s wasn’t because you at some point in your life made a good choice, but because the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, blessed you with faith to keep - that is, to hold tightly to - his Word says, that life and salvation come solely through the merits of your Savior Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glory.

            In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

John 15, 26-16:5

On Maundy Thursday, after the Lord instituted the Holy Supper and washed his disciples’ feet in an act of humility and service, he spoke to them of things to come. He told them how the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, would testify of him—not only to them, but also through them as his Apostles. Then the Lord issued this warning to them: “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble”—that is, to fall from the faith. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”

Yet stumble they did, that very night in fact, as they fled out of the garden in fear and hid themselves in a locked room. St. Peter, who earlier had boasted he would never do so, stumbled even further as he denied his Lord three times. Of course, they are by no means the only Christians to have done so. Because this is the nature of fallen flesh, you, led by the sin in which you were conceived, also stumble—every day of your earthly life. You stumble when you forsake God, as did the disciples, for that which is unholy. In doing so, you also deny God, as did St. Peter, foolishly believing that this is what you must do to protect your life, when in fact the very opposite is true. He who forsakes and denies God is in danger of losing his life, for he has separated himself from him who is our Life.

But take heart, dear Christian. Even though the disciples stumbled, even though they all forsook him and one denied him three times, in mercy and in grace they were restored. They were, because after our Lord taught them in that upper room, he allowed himself to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, after which he was put on trial and subjected to false accusations, mocking, and even beatings. Though he had broken no law, he was sentenced—not just to death, but to the worst, most painful, most humiliating death ever devised by men. On Golgotha our Lord was crucified, and after six hours—not only of physical torture but also of facing the wrath of his Father over the sins of the world—he gave up his life as the Sacrifice, the one-and-for-all Sacrifice, that atoned for the sins of the world.

It was by the shedding of his holy, precious blood on that cursed tree that our Lord paid for his disciples’ stumbling, for Peter’s denial, and yes, for your transgressions—your stumbling and denials as well. By his death he destroyed him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, as he won your forgiveness. In his emptying of the tomb is the promise that your grave too will be emptied someday. And in his Ascension is the promise that when you are raised, you will ascend, as did he, into heaven to live in blessed communion with your God eternally.

That you believe, and do not deny or even just doubt this, Christ sends the Holy Spirit from the Father to testify of what he has done to save you. He works faith in you by your hearing of his testimony, so that you live no longer for this life, but for the even better one that is to come. This faith-producing Word the Holy Spirit proclaims to you through his Church.

Thus, what Jesus told his disciples in that upper room, he now says to you as ones who were incorporated into his Church by Holy Baptism: “You also are to bear witness.” You bear witness of Christ not through canned evangelism programs or by intruding into people’s privacy when you confront them at their front door, but in what you say to others when the opportunity to speak of Christ arises—and even more emphatically in the way you conduct yourself around the people of this world.

But do you know that from the Greek word for witness, which is “martyrion,” comes the English word “martyr”? For how could you give a greater witness of Christ than to suffer for Christ? And the more clearly you bear witness of Christ to others in both word and deed, the more deeply you will be hated by this world, which flat-out rejects Christ. We’ve seen evidence of this right here in our own congregation. Because Christ is boldly proclaimed and confessed in our services, visitors have walked out, and a significant number of our own members refuse to attend.

But this should not surprise us. Our Lord told us this would happen: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil falsely against you for my name’s sake.” Again, “All men will hate you because of me.” And let’s not forget the words you heard from his mouth today: “The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”

And don’t think these warnings applied only to Christians in Biblical times. Persecution comes to Christians of every age so long as they are living in this sinful world—and not as punishment for their sins. It’s not a punishment to suffer for Christ, but an honor. In fact, “To this you were called,” St. Peter explains, “because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

So, persecution has come, is coming, and will continue to come against Christians—and not only from evil men outside, but also from hypocrites within the Church. Remember, it was the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the Jews, who handed Jesus over to the Romans to be crucified.

And though, due to the nature of our fallen flesh, we may at times hide our faith or even deny it, as did St. Peter, this is our hope: that when we stumble, our Lord is there to pick us up; when we fall away, our Lord comes after us, and when he finds us, he carries us back into the safety of his Church. There, the Holy Spirit strengthens our faith through his Word, so that we face rather than flee persecution. There he also feeds us the Food that sustains us as his disciples: his Body that was given and his Blood that was shed.

And because he does, you, dear Christian, can live in the sure and certain hope that what was true of Christ will also be true of you. As glory came to him through the cross he bore for you in his life, so through the crosses you bear for him in your life will also come glory—a glory without measure, that lasts forever, in the life to come.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

John 16, 23-30

Prayer is without a doubt one of the most common forms—maybe even the most common form—of worship. Every person who considers himself religious prays. Even those who are not religious may do so when everything else they’ve tried has failed.

But is every prayer heard and answered? No. I direct you to the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel during the days of Elijah as proof of this. In an attempt to have their god rain fire down from heaven and consume their sacrifice, they prayed as persistently as anyone can: from morning till evening, we are told, and as intensely as anyone can, even mutilating their bodies with knives and lances until their blood flowed. And what was the result? “No one answered, no one paid attention.”

Of course not, for these prophets prayed to an idol that could neither hear nor help them. And sadly, many Christians today pray to dead people who cannot hear or help them either. But the misconceptions concerning prayer do not stop there, I’m afraid. Many Christians today—again in the fashion of those false prophets of old—see prayer as a way to manipulate God and compel Him to do what they want. They may not mutilate themselves as those men did, but they falsely and foolishly believe that the more they pray, and the more people they can get to pray on their behalf, the better their chances are of getting a favorable answer.

Thankfully, we don’t have a God whom we can manipulate to carry out our will. We have a God who, in His grace and mercy, is determined to carry out His will for us, which is our eternal salvation. And good thing, too. Listen again to these Spirit-inspired words of St. James: “…he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

The Law of God is a mirror, in which you see an honest reflection of yourself. If, after examining yourself in this mirror, you see the reflection of a person who does all that the law demands—who is pure in thought, word, and deed—you will be blessed by what you do, not only in this life, but also in the life to come. But that’s not what you see, is it? In fact, it’s the very opposite. When you examine yourself in the mirror of God’s holy Law, comparing your works to those that God demands of you, you see the reflection of a sinner who has earned for himself a one-way ticket to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

That you do not despair over this, let me say it again: God’s will is not that you perish, but that you have everlasting life in blessed communion with Him. For this reason He sent His only begotten Son into the world to do for you what you, weakened by sin, could never do for yourself. The Word, who was with God in the beginning—because He is God—became flesh. The Sinless made His dwelling among the sinful. But even more remarkable, the Holy One became sin for you that He might suffer the punishment that your sin brought down upon you.

This He did by His cursed death on the cursed tree. And after He obtained God’s full and free forgiveness of all your sins through this, He was taken down from the cross and laid to rest in a tomb—but not for long. On the third day, He took up His life again, and forty days after that, ascended to the Father—not to abandon you, but so that He could wash and cleanse you of all your sins in the flood of your Baptism. And after that, place His Body united to bread into your mouth to eat and pour His Blood united to wine over your lips to drink, for the forgiveness of your sins. For he whose sins are forgiven by Him has life and salvation through Him.

But only he who believes this receives these gifts. Thus, your Lord—who gives Himself to you in the Sacraments—speaks to you through His Word. For it is through your hearing of His Word that the Holy Spirit blesses you with faith to receive your Savior where He is present for you and for your salvation today.

Now, it is in the light of all this, and only in that light, that Jesus made this promise directly to His disciples on the night He was betrayed, and indirectly to you through the pen of St. John: “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you.”

The first and most obvious thing He teaches by these words is to whom you are to pray. It is not to false gods, as pagans do, nor is it to dead people, as do far too many misinformed Christians, but it is only to the one true God. For He who is ever-present will hear you, He who is almighty can help you, and He who is love will in love do whatever must be done to save you.

But is this God not also holy? And is it not a fact that any sinner who dares to approach Him on his own will be struck down and die? Indeed, it is—which is why Jesus didn’t say, “Whatever you ask the Father He will give you,” but, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you.”

To pray “in Jesus’ name” is to pray in the faith that you can approach this holy God through Him who is your righteousness, and He will receive you, hear you, and answer your prayers—every one of them—regardless of where or when you pray them.

You can find proof of this also on Mount Carmel. God didn’t answer the prayer of those prophets who prayed to a false god. But when His prophet Elijah prayed, “O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again,” the fire of the Lord fell down from heaven and consumed his sacrifice—even the altar on which it lay. And as the people of Israel, who were wavering at the time as to whether the Lord was God or Baal, saw it, they fell down on their faces and confessed, “The Lord, He is God!”

Therefore, dear Christian, when you pray, pray as did Elijah: confidently and without any doubt or uncertainty that your Father in heaven, for Jesus’ sake, will answer your prayer and give you—not necessarily what you want—but always what you need for your salvation.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

John 16, 5-15

It is arguably the most well-known passage in all of Scripture: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” The words are clear. Everlasting life, which is life in blessed communion with God, is not earned by what one does for Jesus but is freely given to those who trust in what Jesus has done for them.

This Gospel is proclaimed throughout the Old Testament. Adam named his wife Eve, which means “living,” because he believed God’s promise that the Woman’s Seed would restore life to fallen man, crushing the serpent’s head by allowing the serpent to strike his heel in the process. Of Abraham it was said, “He believed in the Lord, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Abraham was not righteous; he still sinned. But God counted him as righteous because he was blessed with faith to believe that the Messiah, who would come into the world through his seed, would win his salvation. Earlier, the prophet Isaiah confessed the same when he said, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”

The New Testament proclaims that the Messiah God promised of old is his Son, Jesus Christ, who declared to Martha, as she grieved over the death of her brother Lazarus, “Whoever lives and believes in me, though he may die a physical death, shall never die an eternal death.” St. Peter, not long after Pentecost, stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin—the very same body that condemned Jesus—and confessed, “Salvation is found only in Jesus Christ. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” And a few years later, when a jailer in the Greek town of Philippi asked Paul and Silas what he had to do to be saved, they didn’t reply, “Be a good person and keep the commandments as best you can,” but rather, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

So why do so many who profess to be Christians look not only to their Savior’s redemptive work but also to the works of men—whether their own or those of another—for their salvation? Why do more and more people today want the funeral of their loved one to be a celebration of his earthly life, which was a life of sin (or else he wouldn’t have died), rather than a celebration of what Christ has done to give him eternal life? And why is it that an alarming number of Lutherans, who were taught that salvation is the gift the Son of God won for them by his sufferings, death, and resurrection, find so many excuses not to come to Christ in his service, where he is present to give this gift to them?

In a word: unbelief. The sinful flesh—passed down to every one of us through the sinful seed of our fathers—refuses to believe that we are so corrupted and so lost in sin that we can do nothing to merit or contribute, even in the tiniest bit, to our salvation. All we have earned for ourselves by our deeds—and all we can earn—is God’s temporal and eternal punishment.

But do not despair. Our sinful flesh may be hostile to God, but God is not hostile to us. On the contrary, he is a God of grace, a God who desires our salvation—and not only ours, but the salvation of the world.

That should be evident to you in this promise, which Jesus made to his disciples on the night he was betrayed. They were filled with sorrow because he said he was going away. He told them, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (whom he later identified as the Spirit of truth) will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you.” Then he explained why this was to their advantage: “He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.”

Last week, I heard a local Roman Catholic bishop, when interviewed by a newscaster, say that God speaks to us not only in his Word but also through the Pope. Nowhere does Scripture make such a claim. Listen again to these words of St. James: “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Do you hear anything in that about the Pope’s words? No! It is through the preaching of God’s Word alone that the Holy Spirit takes what is Christ’s and declares it to you. And it is through your hearing of his Word that he blesses you with faith to believe what it says: that life and salvation come not by what you do for Christ—as the Pope and other false prophets teach—but solely by what Christ has done for you.

But because your flesh does not want to believe that, the Holy Spirit must first convict you of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment through the preaching of the Law, which is part of his Word: of sin, because you who were conceived in sin are under the power of sin; of righteousness, because everything you do is so tainted by that sin that it’s impossible for you to make yourself righteous in God’s sight; and of judgment, because whoever trusts in his own deeds for salvation will be judged and condemned with Satan to the unquenchable fires of hell.

Now, once the Holy Spirit convicts you of that through the preaching of the Law, then he, through the Gospel, declares what Christ Jesus has done, still does, and will do for you as your Savior. What he did was bear your sins even to death on the cross, and by this, he merited God’s full and free forgiveness of all those sins. What he does for you today is come to you in the Word that is preached and, even more personally, in the Holy Feast of his Body and Blood, which is served to you so that the forgiveness he merited for all by his salvific work might be given to you for life and salvation.

And because you—whom the Holy Spirit has blessed with faith to believe this—are accounted as righteous in God’s sight, you live in the sure and certain hope of what your now exalted Lord will do for you when he comes again in glory. He will welcome you to live in blessed and eternal communion with him.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

John 16, 16-23

Seven times the Holy Evangelist used the phrase “a little while.” Do you think he’s trying to tell us something?

Jesus, who spoke these words, certainly was his disciples. In a little while, the very next day in fact, they would experience the sorrow of losing him in death. But in a little while, on the third day to be exact, he would rise from the dead, and they would see him again. And their sorrow would turn into joy.

However, forty days later Jesus would ascend into heaven. And though we do see his gracious acts, which he after Pentecost carried out through his Apostles and continues to do so today through his ordained ministers, we do not see him. But, in a little while we will see him, when he returns in glory to bring us home with him into heaven.

A little while? It’s already been over 2,000 years! How can you call that “a little while”? “Beloved, do not forget this one thing,” St. Peter explained to the Christians of his day, “that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.”

There’s no doubt that our Lord’s definition of “a little while” is not our definition. After all, we are creatures of time. We judge when things happen by hours, days, weeks, months, and years. But God, who is from everlasting to everlasting, dwells in eternity, which is outside of time. With him there is no, “What was,” or, “What will be;” but only, “What is.”

He confessed this when he revealed his name to Moses at the Burning Bush, and through Moses to the Children of Israel in bondage, as I AM. And our Lord Jesus Christ applied that same name to himself, when he said, “I AM the Bread of life,” “I AM the Light of the world,” “I AM the Good Shepherd,” and so on. He does not call himself, “I was,” or, “I will be,” but rather, “I AM,” which led his OT people to call him, “Jaweh,” a Hebrew verb form, which translated means, “HE IS.”

I know. To us who live in time, that goes way beyond what we can comprehend. But in heaven we will, for there we too will be living in the realm of eternity. In heaven, as well as in hell (for the damned also live outside of time), there is no past or future; only what is, whether that is the suffering and despair of hell or the bliss and glory of heaven.

Compared to that, everything here in time lasts only for “a little while.” And for us Christians, that means that in a little while all our suffering, pain, and sorrows will pass away. Our Lord used a rather vivid—and on this Mother’s Day I would say a most appropriate—illustration to impress this truth upon his Apostles: “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a man has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”

The disciples did believe that Jesus is I AM, the God who delivered their ancestors from bondage in Egypt and led them through the wilderness for forty years to the Promised Land of Canaan, and so also believed him to be Immanuel, that is, “God with us.” So when he explained to them that in a little while they would not see him, which implied he would not be with them, they were confused: “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?’ We do not know what he is saying.”

What they did not know at the time, yet would in a little while, we by the grace of God know and believe today. Our Lord would go the way of the cross. He would offer his life for our life, suffer God’s wrath over our sins, become the One cursed of God to redeem us from the curse we sinful creatures brought upon ourselves, then be buried in a tomb far out of their sight. But in a little while, they would see him again, when he rose from the dead. And on that day their sorrow would turn into joy.

Then, forty days later, they would not see him again—in fact, not for the rest of their earthly life—for he would ascend into heaven. Yet this time they were not overcome with sorrow, just the opposite. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, because of this promise he made to them before his Ascension, “And lo, I will be with you always even to the end of the age.”

Dear Christian, I AM is still Immanuel. The fact that you don’t see him doesn’t change that. He is still with you. In fact, you’ve met him and continue to meet him. You met him, for most of you years ago, in the waters of Holy Baptism, where he washed and cleansed you of all your sins. And you’re meeting him today, in the Word that is preached to you, for he is the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, as well as at this Altar, where you feast on his Body that was given and his Blood that was shed for you, for forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you won’t experience suffering, pain, and sorrows in this life. Everyone does, believer as well as unbeliever—for that’s the consequence of living in a world ruined by sin.

But this is your hope—and it’s a hope only Christians have—that in a little while, I AM will return to deliver you from every evil and bring you safely into his heavenly kingdom.

And on that day, that wonderful day when you see your Lord coming in the clouds with power and great glory, you will no longer remember the anguish you had to endure in this life. Instead, what Jesus said would happen to his disciples when he rose from the dead, will also happen to you when you are raised from the dead: Your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.