Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kerrville Texas

Romans 12.1–5 + Luke 2.41–52
First Sunday after Epiphany

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Throughout the season of Epiphany, which means “manifestation,” Jesus manifests, or makes known His divine glory. Today’s gospel lesson records the only occasion during His childhood when He manifested His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When Jesus was twelve years old, Mary, Joseph, and He go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. They celebrate the Feast as God had commanded, then they go back home to Nazareth, part of a large caravan of relatives and acquaintances who are all heading in the same direction home. Assuming Jesus is in the caravan, they go a day’s journey, only to realize at the end of the day that their son isn’t with them. They make the journey back to Jerusalem and after three days of anxious searching, they finally find the boy. He is in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone there—including the teachers of Scripture—were astonished at His understanding and His answers. Mary and Joseph, finding Him like this, marvel at Him as well. But Mary must ask Him the question any mother would ask her son in this situation, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”

Jesus had already manifested a bit of His divine glory in His understanding and answers, but it is in His answer to His mother that He reveals a bit more. He responds to her, “Why did you seek Me? Did you know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Jesus knows who He is and why He is here. Mary and Joseph seem to have forgotten that their Son was the eternal Son of God in human flesh. They intellectually knew that Jesus was the Son of God and promised Messiah. But that doesn’t mean they dwelt upon that fact every moment of every day. They had vocations to attend to, especially the vocation of parent, raising their son in the fear and admonition of the Lord. That Mary had forgotten this to a certain extent is evident from her words, “Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” Mary knew Joseph was not Jesus’ father. He was her husband and Jesus’ guardian, but not His father. Jesus respectfully corrects His mother. “Did you know that I must be about My Father’s business?”  He reminds both Mary and Joseph of what they had, for whatever reason, neglected at the moment, that He is God’s eternal Son and must concern Himself with the things of His Father, especially the Divine Word which is about Him and the redemption He will earn for all humanity.  In this, Jesus shows His obedience to the First Commandment, for He demonstrates that He loves God, His Father and His will above all things.

Mary and Joseph do not understand this at the moment. They’re relieved to have found Him and perhaps grieved at what He had put them through. But Jesus doesn’t press the issue. In fact, He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. In this, Jesus was obedience to the Fourth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” Even though God was His Father from all eternity, Mary is His mother according to the flesh. And Joseph, while not His biological father, is Mary’s husband and His earthly father. Jesus goes back home with them and honors, them, serves and obeys them, loves and cherishes them. He does what they tell Him to do, and He does it joyfully. If Jesus’ questions and answers to the teachers of the law in the temple reveal a glimpse of His glory as the Word of God, then His submission to His parents reveals that though He is true God, He has become flesh to live under the law to fulfil the law completely, from the heart, as the substitute for sinners who cannot live under the law and fulfill it entirely, from the heart. This is why God’s Son was conceived, born, and lived a normal human life, so that He might pass through the stages of life, living according to God’s will, earning perfect righteousness that He can bestow on all who place their trust in Him. This reveals the glory of His grace, in that He becomes flesh to do for us what we are unable to do for ourselves because of our sinful nature. This reveals the glory of His grace because He then credits all who penitently believe in Him with His righteousness under the law, so that God the Father sees you as perfectly righteous because you believe in His Son. He gives us a glimpse of all of this at this epiphany of His glory when He was twelve years old.

Jesus also teaches us, already at twelve years old, how we as sons of God by faith—sins forgiven and clothed with Christ’s perfect righteousness—are to live. First, we are not to forget just who Jesus is. Like Mary and Joseph, it is easy for us to intellectually know that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who is primarily concerned with His Father’s business, which is our redemption, our justification, and that we persevere in faith unto the end. Some treat Jesus as if He were a genie in lamp to grant people’s wishes or a vending machine that dispenses what we want. Others treat Jesus as a therapist that never judges or condemns but only encourages them in whatever they think is right. But as Jesus reminded His earthly mother and father that He must be about His Father’s business, so He reminds us of this once again so that if we looked to Him as what He is not, we may repent and look to Him for who He is and ask Him for what He promised to give.

As sons of God, adopted by God the waters of Holy Baptism, Jesus’ example encourages us to be about our Father’s business. As the boy Jesus lingered in Jerusalem after the Passover, we begin to linger over God’s word, listening to it and asking questions of it as we apply it ourselves. Loving God for the great gifts He gives us in His Son, we love the habitation of His house and the place where His glory dwells. Loving God’s word is a chief way we love God. Those who call themselves Christians yet stay away from God’s Word will find the fire of their love for God growing cold, if not extinguished entirely. His Word teaches you to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. His will is that, like Christ, you live for the sake others and sacrifice yourself for their good. His word renews your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. His word is His instrument for teaching what things we ought to do, but also His instrument for giving us grace and power to faithfully fulfil those things we ought to do.

By His obedience to His earthly parents, Christ teaches us that love and obedience to God entails love for and submission to others. Jesus does not play one commandment off another. He doesn’t excuse Himself form obeying Mary and Joseph because He’s busy obeying God His Father. Obedience and submission to his earthly parents is part of His love and obedience for God His Father. This is why Luther begins his explanation of the commandment, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise parents and those in authority over us; but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.” Children are to obey their parents. This is a good work God has given them to do. Citizens are to honor and obey their authorities because we fear and love God. St. Peter tells us, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good” (1 Pe 2:13–14). Christians even submit to one another out of fear of God, giving place to others’ needs, not thinking of themselves more highly than he ought to think. When a child submits to his or her parents, when citizens, submit to their ruler and the laws of the land, when a Christian submits and yields to another out of love, these are truly good works. The only time children are not to obey parents and citizens are not to obey those placed in authority is when they demand children and citizens to sin. In those cases, the Christan must say with the St. Peter before the Sanhedrin, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Jesus has shown you again precisely who He is, the eternal Son of God in your flesh. And He has shown you what His Father’s business is—your redemption. Having been redeemed and made sons of God by baptism, may be about your heavenly Father’s business as well. Learn His Word and promises so that you persevere in faith unto the end. Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, and this, by loving others and submitting to them because by the Holy Spirit’s work, you have begun to fear and love God above all things. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Second Sunday after Christmas
1 Peter 4.12–19 + Matthew 2.13–23

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

On this twelfth and final day of Christmas, the Holy Spirit reminds us again that danger and suffering follow the child whose birth we celebrate. Not only Him, but danger, suffering, and even death pursue those who are close to Him. Our gospel takes place after tomorrow’s gospel. Tomorrow is the Epiphany of our Lord, the day in which the gentile Magi from the east visit Christ and worship Him. They follow the star to Bethlehem, meet with Herod, and Herod sends them to Bethlehem with the request that they bring word back to Herod, so that he might allegedly go and worship the child. The Magi are warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and as they head back to their eastern countries, the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says to him, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” God, who knows all things and sees all things from eternity, warns Joseph of Herod’s plot even before Herod has given the command. Joseph believes God’s word, and that night takes Mary and the child, fleeing to Egypt, another Roman province where Herod has no jurisdiction. This is how God protects the holy family from Herod’s rage on account of Christ.

He does not, however, protect the children in Bethlehem and its surrounding area. When Herod realizes the Magi are not coming back to him with the child’s location, he becomes exceedingly angry. Herod did not want to worship the one “born king of the Jews” (Matt 2:2) but kill Him. Herod was known for such a thing. He had three of his sons executed on suspicion of treason, so that Caesar Augustus allegedly said, “It’s better to be Herod’s pig than his son.” The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that before Herod died, he ordered all the principal men of the entire Jewish nation come to him, be captured in the hippodrome, and murdered at the moment of his death so that there would be “memorable mourning” at his funeral. Thankfully, his sister and brother-in-law did not comply. Herod, paranoid for this throne at the news that the “king of the Jews” has been born, and enraged at the Magi, orders the male children in Bethlehem and the surrounding area, two years old and under, to be killed.

These children, whom the church has honored with the title of Holy Innocents, were close to Christ and died for it. Joseph and Mary were united with Christ in one of the closest ways humanly possible, mother and guardian. It makes sense that if the Child were persecuted, His earthly father and mother would suffer. Simeon told Mary that in last week’s gospel when he told her, “A sword will pierce through your own soul also.” She will suffer on account of being the mother of God. In one sense, the male children, two years and under, have no relation to Christ. They just happen to be in close physically proximity to him when He is born. But these children are closer to Christ than that. As male descendants of Abraham, they would have been circumcised on the eighth day of their lives. Their circumcision brought them into God’s covenant so that they were His people—His children—and were righteous in God’s sight by faith, since circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of faith. By circumcision they had faith. As believing infants, each one entered eternal glory in the moment when Herod’s wrath fell upon them. Those male children are the first martyrs to die on account of Christ.

Where Jesus is, there is danger for those who are close to Him. Not only for those who are close to Him by blood, His earthly family, during the days of His earthly ministry, but also for those who believe in Him. He says in Luke 8:21, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” As sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, you are His family. Where Jesus is, there is danger for those who are righteous by faith in Him as the Holy Innocents were close to Him, not by circumcision but baptism. St. Paul calls baptism “the circumcision made without hands” in Colossians 2:11. Instead of cutting off the foreskin of the flesh, baptism is the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh. Baptism both buries us with Christ and raises us with Christ. Like circumcision in the old covenant, baptism makes you a child of God, one of His people, and heir of all the blessings of Christ. You, and all who believe and are baptized—from the smallest infant to the most aged man—are Christ’s brothers and sisters.

Which means there is danger for you because you are so close to Christ. St. Peter writes to you in today’s epistle, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” As ones who partake in Christ’s blessings—the forgiveness of all of your sins, the Holy Spirit, and the promise of an eternal inheritance—you will also partake in Christ’s sufferings. Peter especially has in mind being reproached, criticized, or mocked for the name of Christ, that is, for being a Christian, confessing Christ, believing, and living His doctrine. If you suffer these things at your job, with your family, amongst your friends, or even from the authorities, St. Peter would have you rejoice. You should rejoice because you are partaking, to whatever extend the Lord allows, in Christ’s suffering. Peter also bids you, when you suffer according to the will of God, to commit your souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. Whatever danger you face on account of Christ, regardless of what it is, rejoice and commit yourself to God, who has made you His beloved child in the circumcision made without hands, a beloved child whom He promises never to leave and never to forsake, but to protects you from all danger and delivers you from all evil.

Today’s gospel also teaches us the ways God protects us from all danger and delivers us from all evil. Sometimes he stops the danger from ever reaching us. This is the protection David sings of in Psalm 91:10 when he says, “No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.”  At other times, He allows us to fall into danger so that He may redeem us and show us what He promises in His word. In Genesis 48:16 Jacob calls God, “The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil.” This is what happens to the Holy Family in today’s gospel. Herod was about to call for the murder of the Bethlehem children for Christ’s sake when the angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream. The Lord removed Joseph, Mary, and Christ from the danger so that it could not touch them. Foreseeing Herod’s wrath, He redeemed the holy family from Herod by directing them to the safety of Egypt. God allows danger and evil to come up on us to exercise our faith in His word, and so that He can prove His word to us when He delivers us from the evil.

This can even be said of the holy innocents. God allowed them to partake in Christ’s sufferings by being unjustly persecuted and killed for the sake of Christ. The world looks at the holy innocents and scoff at God, saying, “Why didn’t He rescue them?” But faith sees their deaths at the hand of the tyrant as their recuse from all evil as well. The eyes of faith see God’s providential work of taking these circumcised infants out of this veil of tears, out from this sinful, broken, world, into everlasting bliss where there is no evil, no tears, and no suffering. With this, God would teach us to view the death of believers—whether martyred or not—as His removing them from this sinful world to a far better one, while we remain in a world in which we must still persevere in faith unto the end. God knew Herod’s paranoid, sinful rage and brought good out of the evil He intended and the evil He accomplished. God used it to fulfill prophesy. He used it to bring the holy innocents to a life far better than this one. He used it to teach you to rejoice when you suffer for the sake of His only begotten Son. It is dangerous to be close to Christ, but God defends us from all danger and redeems us from all evil, so that in every suffering, we may rejoice and say with the apostle, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” This makes every evil and every danger for Christ’s sake is a testament to God’s great love and care for us. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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First Sunday after Christmas
Galatians 4.1–7 + Luke 2.33-40

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s gospel lesson opens with Mary and Joseph marveling at those things which were spoken of Him. They are in the temple, forty days after Jesus’ birth to present Him to the Lord according to the law of Moses. While they are there, the Holy Spirit leads Simeon, a devout believer whom He had promised would live to see the promised Messiah. Simeon enters the temple, goes to the holy family, scoops up infant Jesus in his arms and sings what you know as the Nunc Dimittis, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

Mary and Joseph marvel—they’re amazed at this man’s words—because he confirms what the angel Gabriel had told Mary over ten months before, and what the angel told the shepherds on the night when Jesus was born. Mary’s child was the Lord’s salvation. That’s even what His name—Jesus—means. Mary’s child is the Lord’s salvation for all people, non-Jew and Jew alike. He will lighten the gentiles by teaching them the way of salvation. The people of Israel will rejoice that in Him, God fulfills His promises to the patriarchs. The Holy Spirit promised Simeon that he would not die until he sees the Lord’s Christ for Simeon’s sake, as a reward for Simeon’s steadfast devotion and waiting for the Consolation of Israel (Lk 2:25). But the Holy Spirit also made this promise to Simeon so that He might confirm Joseph and Mary’s faith through Simeon’s words. Mary and Joseph were flesh and blood people like us. They didn’t walk around always thinking of their son as the Christ and Son of God. They had vocations to attend to, especially the vocation of raising this little one. The Holy Spirit’s words through Simeon are to confirm their faith so that they go about their duties as Jesus’ parents with steadfastness, devotion, and diligence.

Through Simeon’s words, the Holy Spirit also warns the parents of what is to come. He blesses them and says to Mary, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” It is one thing—a vitally important thing—to know that this child is the Lord’s salvation and that He is for all people, a light to lighten the gentiles and the reason for Israel to glory in God and rejoice. But it is just as important to know that their child will be divisive. He is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel. Many in Israel, many of the Jews, will fall because of the child. This is a spiritual fall, a spiritual stumbling on account of Christ. Many in Israel will fall, not because He pushes them, but because they stumble over Him. The Lord had said through the prophet Isaiah, “He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  ¹⁵ And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and taken” (Is 8:14-15). Many of the Jews will be offended by Him. Many will be offended that His kingdom will not be a worldly kingdom. Many will be offended at His teaching that their righteousness—their outward fulfillment of the law—is really just self-righteousness if it doesn’t proceed from faith. Offended, they will fall and be broken on this stone of stumbling.

Not all will be offended, however. This child is appointed for the rising of many in Israel as well! There will be many who are not offended by His kingdom and teaching. Many will humble themselves, repent of their sins, and seek God’s mercy for the child’s sake, will rise. They will rise from penitential humility to the joy of the gospel. They will rise from the kingdom of the devil, who oppressed their consciences with guilt, to the freedom of sins forgiven and heaven opened. They will rise from slavery to sin to a new life animated by the Holy Spirit. And on the Last Day, when the Christ returns, they will rise from their graves—with all believers who persevere to the end—with glorified and incorruptible bodies, to live eternally in the everlasting blessedness of God’s presence.

This child will also be a sign which will be spoken against. He will be rejected and condemned. This is the child’s fate, so, of course it will affect His mother. Simeon says, “A sword will pierce through your own soul also.” She will be standing by the cross of Jesus, watching the world pour out its hatred, rejection, and wrath on her son. It is important that Mary know this, so that when she sees her countrymen and kinsmen become offended by her Son and turn away from Him, she isn’t offended and fall away as well. It is important she know this so that when she experiences the sword of persecution and suffering piercing her own heart, she does not give up her faith in what she has been told about her Son, that He is the Lord’s salvation for all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory and rejoicing of the true Israel.

This is, of course, written for our learning, too. Two thousand years later, the Son of Mary still causes many to fall and rise. Two thousand years later, Mary’s child is still a sign which is spoken against. Those who think His kingdom should be of this world stumble and fall when they hear that God’s kingdom is His reign over the hearts of men by His gospel, which is a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). Some speak against Christ and His kingdom, mocking it because they think it should be a kingdom of social and economic equality. Others speak against it because they imagine it to be a Christian society in which everyone is ruled by God’s law. People on both sides say, “The church isn’t doing enough to make this world what it should be!” But they are simply offended at the Christ who tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

Others stumble over Christ and fall because of they are self-righteous. Some are self-righteous in the sense that they think to be good enough for God on their own, without Christ, without faith, that God should approve of them because they’re good people, or at least not like other people. Others are self-righteous in the sense that they imagine they have Christ and the forgiveness of sins even though they continue in their sins and feel no need to repent and live differently. They imagine since God’s grace abounds; sin must abound as well. When confronted with the God’s righteous condemnation of sin, they are offended that Christ calls sinners to repentance and growth in godliness, not to continued sinning. Simeon’s words are necessary for us to know, so that when we see people offended at the Christian faith, when we see people spurn the gospel, when see masses of people confess Christ with their lips but never hear His Word and live Chrisitan lives, we understand that this is child has been appointed for this. If the Holy Spirit did not want Mary and Joseph to be offended at the world and the hypocrite’s rejection of their Son, how much more does He want you to know this in advance, so that you may not stumble and fall over Christ when you see it in for yourself? The child is still revealing the thoughts of many hearts as some fall and some rise on account of Him.

The Holy Spirit does not want you to be discouraged by what you hear and see in the world and in most of what calls itself Christ’s church but is not. Nor does He want you to be offended so that you fall away when you experience cross and hardship for this child’s sake. He wants you to remain faithful unto the end, like Simeon and Anna, joyfully receiving the redemption Christ has brought. Even though many stumble over Christ and although many speak against Him, the Holy Spirit reminds you that regardless of what people may expect Him to be, this child is the Consolation of Israel, He is God’s promised redemption. He is the light to lighten the gentiles by the gospel, and the boast of Israel. And although you’ve already been told, marvel at this, as Mary and Joseph did, though they had already been told. Be devout of Simeon had been. Dedicate yourself to prayer and disciplining your flesh as Anna did. The world and false church will only speak against Christ, His kingdom, and His gospel because it isn’t what they think it should be or want it to be. Leave them to it. The Holy Spirit has told you this would happen. Instead, marvel in faith at the words of Simeon and Anna, and rejoice, for this Child is your Savior and your Redemption. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Christmas Day
Hebrews 1.1-12 + John 1.1-14

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

In times past, God sent prophets to His people, men in whom the Holy Spirit dwelled, men whom the Holy Spirit inspired to preach and write the divine word God revealed to them. God also sent angels to His people to communicate His word to them. But the child whom we celebrate today is not a prophet, at least not in the sense that he is a regular man whom the Holy Spirit indwells. Nor is He an angel. The child born today is the eternal Son of God Himself. This is the point the author of Hebrews makes in the epistle. God speaks to us now, in these last days, not by prophet or angel, but by His Son. As God’s true Son, He is the heir of all things. He is the One through whom God the Father created all things, meaning that He Himself is not part of the creation, making Him a creature. He is God’s only begotten Son, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. He to the God the Father as brightness it to the sun in the sky. He the exact image of God the Father, the only one who truly knows God the Father and reveals Him to those whom He wills. He is not an angel. The angels worship Him. He sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high. The angels are his ministers to serve Him. The One whose birth we celebrate is God’s true and only begotten Son.

John calls Him the Word who was with God in the beginning, by who all things were made, so that without Him nothing was made that was made. We see this in the opening verses of Genesis. How does God create the heavens and the earth? He speaks, and the Word He speaks brings into being the things that did not previously exist. We see this in Psalm 33:6 where David confesses, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. Not only was the Word the One by whom God the Father made all things, John says that in the Word was life, and the life was the light of men. The Word is the creator. He is the sustainer. The author of Hebrews and John the apostle, the author of the fourth gospel, are saying one and the same thing: God the Son, God the Word, who exists eternally and partook in the work of creating all things—this is the one who became flesh and dwelt among us.

Why? The author of Hebrews says, “God . . . has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” He has come to speak God’s Word to us, to reveal God the Father’s grace and goodwill toward us. As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. All the teaching of God the Son, all His doctrine, has this aim in mind: that people might become children of God. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,” John says, “the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Word becomes flesh. He takes on our entire human existence—body, soul, spirit, mind, everything except sin—so that He might redeem humanity from the corruption of sin in this life and eternal death in the life of the world to come. He becomes flesh, a Son of Man, so that sons of men might become sons of God.

Father Adam was created as son of God. In Luke’s gospel, the evangelist traces Joseph’s genealogy to “Adam, son of God.” Adam was not a son of God in the same way the Word is. The Word was God by nature. Adam was “son of God” by adoption. God created him righteous and with knowledge of God and His will. But Adam lost this when he corrupted himself with sin. Even though God had given him everything he needed and made him in His own image and likeness, Adam chose to become a son of the devil instead, and with that choice, lost his sonship, his original righteousness, and his knowledge of God and God’s will. Adam even passed on his sin, his guilt, and his darkened spiritual understanding to his children. Moses says, “Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth” (Gen 5.3). Adam was restored to his status as “Son of God” by faith in God’s promise to send the Seed of woman, the Messiah. By faith God began to renew Adam in righteousness and the knowledge of God. But that could only begin to be restored in this life. The completion would have to wait until the resurrection of the body on the Last Day, when the sinful flesh is no more. Yet Adam was restored, by faith in the promised Seed.

Just like you are, for that is the point of all Jesus’ teaching. As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Adam received Christ by faith when he believed the promise that the woman’s Seed would crush the serpent’s head. He looked forward to Christ the Lord. He hoped for it, along with the patriarchs, prophets, and the faithful of Israel. But you have heard that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. You do not look forward the promised redemption in the Seed of the woman. God has already accomplished that in the conception, birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection of God the Son in human flesh. It is faith in Jesus’ teaching, which is all about His suffering and death, by which you are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Holy Spirit rebirths you through the gospel of Christ, as it comes into your ears and penetrates your hearts. The Holy Spirit rebirths you through the waters of Holy Baptism as well. By faith and baptism, God forgives your sins for Jesus’ sake. By faith and baptism, God counts you as perfectly righteous in His sight with the righteousness of His Son, Jesus. By faith and baptism, you are reborn as sons of God, who have the Holy Spirit so that you may begin to live and grow in righteousness and the true knowledge of God and His will. This rebirth is not your own doing. Not only is it not of blood, so that you are born into it. It is not of the will of the flesh nor the will of God. For the faith to believe in Christ, the faith that rebirths you as sons of God is the work of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8). This faith receives Jesus. This faith believes in His name—His teaching, His promises, and all His benefits. He accomplishes this in you in the same way He accomplished the creation—by His almighty power as the eternal Son of God.

And as sons, you are heirs. As God the Father appointed His only begotten Son heir of all things, so you, as children of God through faith and baptism, are heirs of all things that belong to God, sharing them with your elder brother in the flesh, Christ Jesus. You are an heir to eternal life. You are an heir to everlasting blessedness. You are an heir to what St. Peter calls “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). As sons of God by faith and baptism, you even rule with Christ in the heavenly places, though we only have this by faith now in this life. Just as Christ—according to the flesh—had become so much better than the angels and obtained a more excellent name than they, so you receive a better name and inheritance than the angels, so that St. Paul can even ask the Corinthians, “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” (1 Cor 6:3). All of this—and whatever else the Son has—we have now by faith and will have it by sight when He comes again in glory.

On this day we celebrate the birth of Christ, the birth of the eternal Son of God in human flesh. God the Father gives us, not a prophet, and not an angel. He gives us His only Begotten Son, in our nature, so that He might redeem our nature and exalt it to the highest heavens, not for Himself, but for our sake. He becomes flesh, a Son of Man, so that sons of men might become sons of God, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. For His birth in the flesh, we give God thanks and praise. For our new birth of water and the Spirit, for our adoption as sons of God, for being made heirs of all things with Christ and receiving His most excellent name, we give Him thanks and praise. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Christmas Eve
Isaiah 9.2-7 + Luke 2.1-20

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

On the night in which Mary brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, there were shepherds in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. It was to these nightshift shepherds that an angel of the Lord appeared. The angel stood before them. The glory of the Lord—which was like a consuming fire on the top of Mount Sinai—shone around them and they were greatly afraid. But the glory of the Lord did not shine in wrath, in judgment, or in condemnation. It shone forth in love to these poor shepherds. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.” This angel came to bring them good tidings—literally, to preach the gospel—to them! It is a message of great joy—joy so great that it overwhelms the shepherd’s great fear of God. It is a message that will be, not just to the shepherds, but to all people.

The gospel of great joy the angel brings them is this: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The Christ—which is Greek for the Hebrew word Messiah—who had been promised to Adam and Eve, who would bruise the serpent’s head and destroy the serpent’s works, is born. The Christ who had been promised to come from Abraham’s loins, the one in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Gen 12:3), is born. The Christ, the seed of David for whom God would establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:13), is born. The child that is born in David’s city is the Christ the Lord—the Lord God Himself in human flesh. He is born to destroy the work of the serpent—sin, death, and eternal punishment. He is born to bless all families of the earth by atoning for the sins of all mankind, so that all who believe in Him may be forgiven of their sins and counted righteous in God’s sight. He is born to establish an everlasting kingdom—not a patch of land, nor a thousand-year reign on earth—a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17).

I imagine the shepherds had not moved in inch, when the one angel is joined by a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” The angels’ song praises God and calls the shepherds to glorify God with the utmost, highest, and loftiest praise. Their song also teaches them about this Savior who is born to them.

This child is born to bring peace on earth. Not world peace. Not the cessation of violence. Not utopia. This child is born to make peace between God and man. By sinning in Eden, Adam and Eve rejected peace with God and pursued their own desire, their own pride, and their own way. They passed this sinful nature on to all their children, so that apart from the Holy Spirit, everyone is wicked. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. The things God approves of, mankind despises. The things mankind approves of and exalts, God abominates. St. Paul says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Rom 8:7). Without God’s intervention, without a Savior, there can be no peace between man and God.

But in this child God and man are reconciled. First in the child himself. He is both man and God. He it truly man, born of the seed of David, born of woman, like us in every way except He is without sin. And yet He is true God, begotten from God the Father from all eternity. By assuming human flesh, the eternal Son of God reconciles God to man in His flesh. He goes further than that, though. He earns for mankind the things that make for our peace with God. He lives a perfectly righteous life since the best righteousness we can muster is an external, hypocritical righteousness. He suffers and dies to make satisfaction for our sins, as the prophet Isaiah says, “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him” (Is 53:5). He earns forgiveness of sins for all mankind, so that whoever believes in Him is justified in God’s sight, fully forgiven and perfectly righteous. And having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1). This is the peace this child brings.

The child shows God’s goodwill toward men. Although God could have cast the entire human race into the eternal punishment of hell—for we deserve it—He did not. Nor did wait for us to save ourselves, for we cannot. St. Paul says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He is graciously disposed towards mankind, even though Adam and Eve listened to the devil and went over to his kingdom. God loves His creatures and wants all men to be saved through faith in His Son. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), sorrowing over their sins and trusting the atoning death of Jesus covers their sins. This child born in the city of David shows us how much God loves us and the way He has loved the world. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He has done all of this out of His good will and pleasure, without any merit or worthiness in us.

The shepherds had no need to be afraid. For in this child, God has become man, the Word, who was God, has become flesh and dwelt among us and died for us, that we might have peace with God now and for all eternity. There is no other word for this than glad tidings, good news . . .  gospel. As the shepherds had no reason to be afraid, neither do you.  If God has become flesh to destroy the work of the devil, bless all families of the earth, and establish an everlasting kingdom, then there is no need to be afraid whatsoever. This child did not come to deliver a law which condemns sinners for their sins of thought, word, and deeds they have done and the good they have left undone. God wrote that law on our hearts at creation and reiterated it on Mount Sinai This child is not born to bring sinners to the everlasting condemnation they deserve for their sins. He is born to take your deserved punishment upon Himself. Those who do not believe in Him, are not repentant, and want to be their own Savior, will be judged on the last day by He who is born on this day. But today is the day of salvation. As long as it is today, the glad tidings of the angel goes forth, so that you might repent of your sins yet again, believe His gospel all the more firmly, and persevere in the same repentance and faith all the days of your life so that you come into life everlasting.

Hearing this, the shepherds went into Bethlehem to see that thing that had come to pass, which the Lord had made known to them. There they saw exactly what the angel had told them they would see. They found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. They saw with their eyes Christ the Lord, their Savior from sin, death, and the devil, in human flesh. They saw with their eyes the One who would bring them peace with God and the One who showed them God’s gracious goodwill toward them and all mankind. They saw in the child how much God loved them. And finishing what were probably wide-eyed praises and unspeakable joys at seeing the child, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child, about God’s gift of peace and goodwill, about Christ the Lord, their Savior. Then they returned to their work, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

Unlike those shepherds, you have not seen the angel of the Lord and had the glory of the Lord shine around you. Unlike those shepherds, you have not seen the Christ child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. But you have heard the angel’s glad tidings. You have heard the heavenly hosts’ cradlesong, the Gloria in Excelsis. The child is your Savior. He is Christ the Lord who has come to bring you peace with God and show the gracious favor God has for you. This child shows you how much God loves you, that He would become man to live, suffer, and die as your substitute, so that you—and all the penitent faithful—may be with Him in heavenly blessedness forever.  May it be unto you as it was for those shepherds, so that you hearing, you believe, and believing all the more firmly, you sing with joyful tongue that sweetest ancient cradle-song. “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior—your Savior—who is Christ the Lord.” Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Philippians 4.4-7 + John 1.19-28
Rorate Coeli, the Fourth Sunday in Advent

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

John is not the Christ. Nor is he Elijah, though he comes in the spirit and power of Elijah. Nor is the Prophet foretold by Moses. He is “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the LORD,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” John’s call was to make ready a people prepared for the Lord who was coming. A prepared people are penitent. The voice says, “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low.” The valley signifies the humble penitent, those who acknowledge their sins against God and their neighbor, are sorry for their sins, and want to amend their lives. The mountains and hills—the high places—signify the proud who think they need no repentance. The voice levels the mountains and hills to the ground, showing men their sins and rebuking people for their spiritual pride, so that they might acknowledge their sins and their deserved punishment, while the voice forgives the humble penitent and raises them up to the status of ‘children of God.’ Sins are confessed. Sins are forgiven. Then sinful lives are amended, for the voice says: “The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth” (Is 40:4).

This is how John made ready a people prepared for the Lord. He preached so that they might know their sins against their neighbor and their sins against God. He preached against their sins of thought, word, and deed. He preached the wrath of God that sinners deserve on account of their sins so that men would acknowledge what they deserve, seek forgiveness for God, and desire to amend their sinful lives. This is why John baptized. God, who called him to preach, also called him to administer what the evangelists call “a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mk 1:14; Lk 3:3). The people came to him, heard him, confessed their sins, then received the forgiveness of all their sins through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Ti 3:5). Sins forgiven, all who were baptized reborn by the Holy Spirt as new creatures, children of God, in whom the Holy Spirit began to renew so that they would bear the fruits of repentance—an amended life—and His fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). John preached and baptized to prepare a people who were penitent, who knew they had a gracious God who forgives them, and who bore the fruits of repentance out of thankfulness and praise for the salvation God had so freely bestowed, without any merit or worthiness in them.

This is how we are prepared as well. John’s ministry is no different than the Christ’s ministry, His apostles’ ministry, and the church’s ministry. God’s ministers, like John, are to make ready a people prepared for the Lord who will return to judge the quick and the dead. We preach repentance to you, so that you might know your sins, regret them, and acknowledge the eternal punishment you deserve. We lead you to the baptism for the remission of sins, in which the Holy Spirit regenerates you as sons of God who know that, for Christ’s sake, you have a gracious God, and begins to renew your hearts and minds so that you begin to bear fruit worthy of repentance—the amendment of your sinful lives.

It is to hearts and minds renewed by baptism and faith that St. Paul speaks in today’s epistle lesson. In this short lesson St. Paul calls you to continue to bear the fruits of faith—the fruits of knowing that your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake—toward God and you neighbor. He tells you, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” To rejoice in the Lord is to take joy in the Lord, so that He is your source of blessedness and happiness. And how could the Lord not be? He brings salvation with Him for those who are lowly, for those who are contrite over their sins. He brings redemption for those who deserve eternal punishment for their sins by enduring the full wrath of God against sinners. He takes what is yours as His own and gives you what is His, so that there is no wrath, no condemnation, no eternal punishment for those who believe in Him. For where wrath, condemnation, and punishment are taken away there is joy, there is thanksgiving, and there is peace. When you consider what you deserve on account of your sins and how Christ has taken them upon Himself to give you forgiveness and His righteousness, how can you not but rejoice in the Lord?

Many people rejoice in their money. They rejoice in their possessions. Some rejoice in their pleasures. Others rejoice in their health. Some rejoice in the world’s honor and favor. None of these—and whatever else besides the Lord people rejoice in—bring true joy and happiness. They may bring temporary joy. They may bring joy in them for a moment. But like the grass of the field, that joy is here today and gone tomorrow. The things of this world cannot bear the load people put on them. They aren’t meant to. True joy belongs only to the Lord. Since the Lord alone is the fount and source of all goodness, all bliss, and all blessedness, to rejoice in the Lord is to trust in Him, to glory in Him, and be confident that He is your gracious Father who has baptized you, given you the status of ‘children of God,’  and who therefore daily richly forgives you all your sins for Jesus’ sake as you repent them. And so that you don’t think this is something to do only once, or from time to time, St. Paul tells you, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” He teaches your hearts to rejoice in the Lord—His gospel, His blessings, His promises to you—so that he writes, “Again I say, rejoice!”

But he goes on. “Let your gentleness by known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” It is sometimes translated “moderation,” to mean that you have a kind disposition toward all with whom you come into contact. This gentleness naturally flows out of rejoicing in the Lord. This is the only way you can put others’ needs before your own. This gentleness, a fruit of the Spirit, moves each one to look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others (Phil 2:4) and bear one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2), so that you submit to one another in the fear of the Lord (Eph 5:21). Even if someone were to treat you poorly, with disdain and ingratitude, even if they persecute you, you can still be gentle in disposition toward them because they cannot deprive you of our source of joy. They cannot take God’s forgiveness, His Holy Spirit, the promise of everlasting blessedness from you. They cannot take your identity as ‘sons of God’ by Holy Baptism. You can be gentle—adapting and accommodating yourself to others—for one reason: The Lord is at hand. He will not leave you nor will He forsake you. He will make sure you get the things you need for this life, and, if you are wronged, He will vindicate you when He returns and renders to each one according to his deeds (Rom 2:6).

This is why it follows, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” God takes care of you and all your needs. When anxiety about the future comes upon you, God wants you to make your requests known to Him. The Lord says in Psalm 55:22, “Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” The apostle Peter teaches you to humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you (1 Pt 5:7). Rejoicing in the Lord, then, is the antidote for anxiety about the future and one’s life. Rejoicing in Him, trusting that in Christ, God is your loving Father, will you cast your anxieties upon Him in prayer, even with thanksgiving for the blessings He gives you in the gospel. Rejoicing in the Lord so that He your source of blessedness, happiness, and security means that the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It is not a worldly peace. Worldly peace is the cessation of violence, hostilities, trouble, or hardship. The peace that surpasses all understanding is the peace of contentedness with God Himself and what He promises.

John the Baptist made ready a people prepared for the Lord’s first advent in the flesh. He still makes ready a people prepared for the Lord; a penitent, forgiven, and fruit bearing people. His testimony prepares you for Christ’s return by pointing you to the things that make for your joy: repentance, baptism and faith. Live in these and rejoice in the Lord and in the Lord alone. Live in these and let your gentleness be known to all with whom you come into contact, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Live in these, and let your mouth be filled with prayer with thanksgiving. Living in these—repentance and the promises God made to you in your baptism—and you will be guarded by the peace that surpasses all understating. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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1 Corinthians 4.1-5 + Matthew 11.2-10
Gaudete, the Third Sunday in Advent

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Before John was even conceived, the angel Gabriel said, “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Lk 1:17). That is precisely what John did in his ministry. His preaching was with the same spirit and power as the Old Testament prophet, Elijah. He fearlessly showed his hearers their sins. Those who came to a knowledge of their sins, were sorry for them, and wanted to amend their sinful lives, received the baptism John preached, a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Lk 3:3). Bring sinners to repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of their sins was how John made ready a people prepared for the Lord who was to come.

John faithfully discharged his office. He was not a respecter of persons. He did excuse the scribes and pharisees from repentance.  Nor was he partial to the poor so that they were exempt. His message was for everyone: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt 3:2). St. Luke records that when the multitudes came out into the wilderness to be baptized by him, he said, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Lk 3:7-9). He also told them, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Lk 3:17). John’s message could not have been clearer. God’s wrath is coming. No one is exempt. No excuses will be accepted. Repent of your sins. Be baptized to be forgiven of your sins. Then bear fruit worthy of repentance so that you abandon your sins. Otherwise, you will be cut down like a dead tree and, like chaff, thrown into everlasting fire.

That John was not a respecter of persons, and was faithful in his office of preaching repentance to all men, is evident in the fact that at the beginning of today’s gospel lesson, John is in prison. Herod had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her.  For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mk 6:17-18). Herod had divorced his wife to marry Herodias, who had divorced her husband, Philip. As a public figure who was publicly sinning, John preached against Herod so that others would know this behavior—and the heart that led to this behavior—was sin. And while Herod let John live, his days were numbered. Herodias, Herod’s new wife, could not bear John’s preaching and when the opportunity arises, she gets his head on a silver platter. So, we see what is always the case. Some hear the preaching of repentance and respond with repentance, faith, and go on to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Others cannot bear to hear that their behaviors—and the heart that leads to those behaviors—is an abomination to God—so they must silence the messenger one way or another. As today’s gospel lesson begins, John has been imprisoned but has not yet been beheaded.

It is with these two things in mind—His preaching of God’s coming wrath and the fact that he is imprisoned—that he sends two of his disciples to Jesus to ask him, “Are You the coming one, or do we look for another?” Jesus has come. John baptized Him, saw the Spirit alighting on Him, and he proclaimed Jesus to be the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Yet there is no wrath. The ax was not laid at the root of the tree, ready to cut down the impenitent unfruitful. Jesus was not cleansing the threshing floor, gathering the wheat into His barn and tossing the chaff into unquenchable fire. John had been faithful to His divine calling, even to the point of being imprisoned. Yet, Jesus did not seem very much like the Coming One he had foretold, so he goes straight to the source, sending two of his disciples so that he might better understand Jesus.

And Jesus is happy to answer. He tells them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Jesus is not chastising John. He is encouraging him. Jesus points John to His deeds, because these are the deeds the prophets prophesied about the Christ. Primarily, though, He points John to what he hears: the poor have the gospel preached to them. Not the financially poor, but those who are poor in spirit, those who acknowledge their spiritual poverty, that they have nothing to offer God but everything to ask of Him. Jesus preaches the gospel to them. He opens the kingdom of heaven to them. He gives His Holy Spirit to them to live new lives in which they bear fruit worthy of repentance, fight against and no longer living in their sins. Wrath is still coming. Judgment is still on its way. But before the appointed time for judgment, the gospel much be preached so that all might come to repentance and escape the wrath that is to come. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. It is as if Jesus were saying, “I am the Coming One, dear John, and all that your preached about Me is most certainly true and I will accomplish it. You leave that to Me, though. You, for your part, remain faithful no matter what.”

Then, after John’s disciples leave, Jesus encourages the crowd. They knew that John wasn’t a reed shaken by the wind, someone who would tell them what they wanted to hear. They knew he wasn’t a king or ruler who would give them luxury or prosperity. They went out into the wilderness to hear John because they knew he was a prophet. Jesus confirms for them that John is more than a prophet. He is the forerunner of the Messiah foretold by the prophets, who would prepare His way. All that John said would come true. The Messiah will come with His winnowing fand in hand. He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Lk 3:17). But not right now. Now He comes in blessing. Now He comes to heal the broken in body as proof that He, by His word alone, heals the broken in spirit. Now, He comes to die for the sins of the world, so that all who repent of their sins and trust His atoning death receive the forgiveness He earned. It’s as if Jesus were saying, “If you listened to John you will listen to Me, for I am Coming One whose way He prepared. Remain faithful to My word and teaching, and you will not come into judgment, but when the appointed time arrives, your praise will come from God the Father, for He will welcome you into His everlasting kingdom because you have believed in Me.” 

And just as John had to be faithful between Christ’s two advents, so do we. In today’s epistle Paul speaks of who Christians view faithful ministers. They are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. Like John, ministers cannot be reeds shaken by the wind of popular opinion. Like John, they cannot live the soft life of luxury in the world. Like John, they cannot care for men’s judgment one way or another, for accolades or admiration, criticism or castigation. The only thing that matters is faithfulness. And while you are not servants of God and stewards of the mysteries of God, you are Christians, and as Christians, faithfulness is required of you as well in between Christ’s first and second advent. You are tempted to be a reed shaken by the wind, to go along with the world’s thinking, so that you are no different in your worldview and behavior than the unbelieving. You are tempted by the world to seek the soft life of luxury and love the things of this world more than the mysteries of God—His gospel, His sacraments, His promises. You are tempted to faithlessness, even as ministers are so tempted.

So that you remain faithful and persevere unto the end, Jesus encourages you. The day of wrath will come. The Judgment still approaches. But today Jesus still preaches good news to the poor in spirit, so that you might live in repentance and in the promises He made to you in Holy Baptism. Remain faithful no matter what, just as John did, between the two advents of Christ. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Romans 15.4-13 + Luke 21.25-36
Populus Zion, the Second Sunday in Advent

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

In today’s gospel Jesus tells us the signs that will precede His second advent. He says, “There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.” Signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars sounds familiar. Kerrville experienced an annular solar eclipse in October of last year and a total solar eclipse this last April. Four days ago, astronomers spotted a small asteroid, just over two inches wide, just before it hit the atmosphere above northern Siberia and made a fireball in the sky. Signs on the earth—distress of nations—sounds familiar, too. In fact, with the internet, we can hear about the distress of nations as it’s happening. War between Russia and Ukraine. Something now going on in Syria again. Political unrest in South Korea, the French government collapsing again; all this just in the last week. We have seen the sea and the waves roaring in the past months with Hurricanes making landfall and bring death and destruction to the southeastern states. There’s no doubt that we’re seeing the signs Jesus said would precede His second coming.

But aren’t these normal occurrences? Don’t eclipse and comets, wars and unrest regularly occur throughout the world? Of course. That is why Jesus attaches His promise to them, so when Christians see signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, they look up and lift up their heads, because their redemption draws near. Jesus takes these things which occur so regularly in our sinful world and puts them to use for our salvation. He turns them from being distressing occurrences into signs which Christians use to remind us to eagerly anticipate Christ’s return. He says, “When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” As the buds on a fig tree would tell the disciples that summer was drawing near, these signs show Christians that the eternal summer of the kingdom of God draws near. Jesus does not want us to think of His return in glory—and the redemption He brings—only once or twice. He wants to be continually reminding us of the fact that He is coming again, so that we do not come to love the things of this sinful world but look forward to the kingdom He has prepared for believers from before the foundation of the world. By attaching His word of promise to these signs, He encourages us to wait for our future redemption.

But He also gives Christians a sign of warning. He says, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” By this He isn’t saying that He will return in glory during the apostles’ lives. Jesus often uses the word “generation” to describe the unbelieving Jews. In Matthew 13, when a group of Pharisees claims Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of Demons, then some of them asks for a sign, Jesus calls them “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matt 12:39). When Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign from Jesus in Matthew 16, He calls them “A wicked and adulterous generation” (Matt 16:4). The generation which will by no means pass away until all these things take place is the unbelieving Jews. This is why the Jews, as a people, and the modern state of Israel, still exist. Zionists imagine that modern Israel’s existence proves that she is God’s special people, with a special plan of salvation that does not include Christ. But Jesus tells us that even as they vehemently deny Christ, they serve as a sign to warn His Christians not to forfeit their salvation by imagining they remain God’s children while the place their faith in things other than Christ.

This is why Jesus says, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” We often think of falling away from faith—and placing our faith in something other than Christ—as an obvious process. But it happens more stealthily than we want to think it does. It begins when Christians do not take heed to themselves by hearing God’s word and applying to themselves so that they daily repent of their sins, meditate on the gospel, and order their lives according to God’s commandments. The heart begins to take heed to other things. Carousing and drunkenness weigh the heart down so that it cannot watch, it cannot pray, it cannot see things as God would have us see them. This is the case with any sinful pleasure we indulge in. It weighs down the heart and focuses it on the things of this world, and in such a way that drives out faith and the Holy Ghost, so that the heart is no longer prepared for Christ’s return, though in the stupor of sin it imagines it is still ready.

To carousing and drunkenness Jesus adds the cares of life. The cares of life are the things we have to attend to every day as part of our daily lives. Our work, our education if we’re a student, our family, paying the bills, helping our neighbors, taking care of our health, even our leisure time are all part of the cares of this life. These cares aren’t sinful in and of themselves. In fact, they are gifts from God. But when we allow them to weigh our hearts down, then our hearts become focused on them, as if they were the “end all be all” of life. If we let them, the cares of this life will drag our eyes away from Christ, so that we come to love our life in this world more than we love His promises, more than we love His return, more than we love the redemption He will bring with Him when He returns. It is possible to get too comfortable with this life and forfeit the far better life of the world to come. Those whose hearts are weighed down, either by love of sinning or by the cares of life, will find that that day—the day of Christ’s return in glory—comes upon them unexpectedly as a snare upon them.

Jesus tell His disciples all this so that they watch and pray. “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  When you see signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, direct your thoughts to Christ’s promise to return in glory brighter than the sun, and that those who persevere in the faith unto the end “shall shine like the brightness of the firmament” (Dan 12:3). When you see on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, remind yourself that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ, and that He rules all things for the sake of His church. When you see the sea and the waves roaring, pray for the safety of those who are in its path of devastation, and direct your thoughts to the fact that the Lord destroyed the world once with water, but the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, as St. Peter teaches, and that we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:16-7, 13). When you see the Jews still claiming to be God’s chosen people despite denying what Paul says, that “Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,” pray for their conversion, and fight spiritual pride and self-righteousness in yourself if it should well up within your heart, and give thanks to God for the redemption He provides for you in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and remain in it by faith.

“When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” You have this redemption now by faith in Christ, but when He returns, you will have it by sight and experience the joys of everlasting bliss. Until that day, watch and pray. Do not let the sins of this world cling to you. Repent them and fight them with the gospel of forgiveness and new life. Do not cling to the cares of life, but to the word of eternal life, for He has said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Go in the peace and joy of the gospel—that your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake—that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let every sign in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, the sea and the waves roaring stir up your hearts to look forward to Christ’s return, His redemption, and life of the world to come. Let these things stir up your hope so that you pray with St. John at the end of Revelation, “Come, Lord Jeus!” and mean it. Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Ad Te Levai, the First Sunday in Advent
Romans 13.11-14 + Matthew 21.1-9

Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” These words from the prophet Zechariah, and Christ’s fulfillment of them on Palm Sunday, perfectly teaches His first advent in two ways. First, the King comes to you. We do not come to Him; and second, He does not come to you as earthly kings do, collecting taxes and tribute, demanding service and homage. He comes lowly and humble, not to take but give.

Your King comes to you because you cannot come to Him by your own reason, strength, or willpower. You are descendants of Adam and Eve, who disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, corrupted themselves with sin, and passed their sin and its guilt to every single one of their descendants born in the natural way, that is, born of a man and woman. Your sinful nature does the same thing theirs did once they corrupted themselves. Feeling shame at their nakedness, they attempted to cover that shame by covering their private parts with fig leaves sewn together. This is what we do when we become aware of our sin, when we feel shame over who we are or what we have done. We try to cover our shame by sewing excuses together and clothe ourselves in them. And like our first parents, we flee at the sound of God’s voice. They heard God calling for them and they hid themselves. They did not want to come to God, and neither does the sinful nature we inherited from them. The sinful nature only wants to flee from God, and it’s understanding is darkened so much that it imagines it can flee and successfully hide from God. Like Adam and Eve, we, sharing their corrupted nature, cannot come to God, nor do we want to.

Nor, when He arrives, can you offer him anything. There is nothing you have that He needs. He says in Psalm 50:12, “The world is Mine, and all its fullness.”  Nor do you possess anything in yourself that is worthy of Him. You are not so good that you can offer Him your goodness. You are not so righteous that you can give Him any of your righteousness. In fact, the inspired prophet laments in Isaiah 64:6, “We are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” Not only do we have nothing to offer God, we deserve nothing but condemnation from Him.

This is why Jesus—the King—comes to you. He comes to you because you cannot, of yourselves, come to God. This is why Jesus—the King—comes to you lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. He becomes flesh and comes to you in lowliness so that He might call you to Himself. He does not come in condemnation, wrath, and judgment, though we deserve it. He comes in the flesh to take your deserved condemnation upon Himself, so that all who believe in Him might not perish but have eternal life. When James and John want to call down fire from haven to consume a town of Samaritans that rejected Jesus, Jesus tells them, “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Lk 9:56). He says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus the Christ—the King—comes to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey, so that you might know Him chiefly as your King who comes to you to give you rest, to take your burden—the guilt of your sin—and replace it with His burden, which is the gospel, by forgiving your sins, giving you His perfect righteousness, and promising everlasting life to all endure unto the end in faith.

This doesn’t mean that Jesus never condemned sin during His first advent. Jesus showed many how they fell short of God’s standard in the Law. He condemned the self-righteousness of the Pharisees, the unbelief of the Sadducees, and called all people to repent of their sins. That must be done. In order to call people to believe in the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake, people must first believe they are sinners in need of forgiveness. Just as sick men won’t seek medicine if their illness isn’t diagnosed, so Christ diagnoses sin in those who hear Him so that they might seek from Him, the Good Physician, the medicine of forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and salvation. Nor does the fact that Jesus came to save and not destroy mean that there is no judgment at all. Jesus says in John 12[:47-48], “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” The day will come when Christ returns to judge those who have rejected Him and refused to believe His teaching. But during His first advent He came to seek and save that which was lost by calling sinners to repentance.

What Jesus did during His earthly ministry continues today and will continue until the day He returns to judge the quick and the dead. It is still His first advent, after all. His second advent—His second coming in glory—is not yet. Although He is ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, and fills all things so that all things are present to Him, His ministry continues through the Holy Ministry, which He established to preach the gospel. He continues to call sinners to repentance so that their sins might escape the wrath to come when He returns in glory. He continues to offer rest to the soul who labors under the heavy burden of sin and guilt and wants to be free of them. He gives you His Holy Spirit to create faith in your heart, so that by faith He might replace your guilty burden with His gospel burden as often and just as quickly as you repent of your sins. He gives you His Holy Spirit to renew your heart and mind, so that you no longer flee from God, or sew together excuses to cover your sins, but receive Him and the gifts He comes to bring to all who truly repent.

And having received Christ and His forgiveness—which is His rest for your soul—by faith, the Holy Spirit then moves you to do as the people did on Palm Sunday who received the King in faith. They spread their clothes on the road to prepare a highway for Jesus. The clothing you lay before Him is the Old Man, your sinful nature with its passions and desires. You lay down the sinful nature so that Jesus may trample it underfoot and provide you with a new garment, the robe of His righteousness. St. Paul exhorts you to this each day, especially as your salvation—that is, Christ’s return in glory—grows nearer with each passing day. He says, “Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Because your King comes to you, lowly and gently, offering you the forgiveness of your sins each day and His Holy Spirit, cast off your sins whenever you feel them in your flesh, and put on Christ as an armor against them, to protect you from their guilt and so that you make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.

Others in the crowd on Palm Sunday cut down palm branches others cut down palm branches—the ancient symbol of victory—and spread them in Jesus’ path. The palm branches you set before the Lord are your praises for the victory that He has won for us on the cross, but also for the victory over your sins He works in you each day as you grow in holiness. As often as there is victory over temptation, no matter how little it may seem, we lay that victory before Christ in thanksgiving, recognizing that it came, not from your own strength, but from His working in you by His word. For His victory for you and His victory in you, offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name (Heb 13:15), even as the crowd that received its King in faith shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!”  It is still the first advent of your King. He still comes to you, lowly and gently in His Word, to woo you with His blessings and invite you into the rest He provides for your souls. Lay down the garment of your flesh at Christ’s feet, put on Christ, and praise Him until His second advent. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Last Sunday of the Church Year
1 Thessalonians 5.1-11 + Matthew 25.1-13

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The church’s year ends with this command, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Jesus illustrates this command for us by comparing the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. These virgins are the bridal party who will accompany the bridegroom to the wedding banquet. Since the bridegroom could arrive at any time, even after dark, the ten virgins took their lamps with them. Jesus tells us that five of the virgins were wise and five were foolish. The foolish virgins took their lamps, but did not take any oil along with them. The virgins who were wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. The foolish virgins imagined that the oil they had in their lamps was enough. The wise, on the hand, would not allow for the possibility of not having enough oil. All ten virgins wait for the bridegroom. All ten virgins fall asleep as the bridegroom is delayed. All ten virgins are raised by the cry, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” And all ten rise and trim their lamps.

It is at that moment that the foolishness of the five becomes apparent. They started off with oil in their lamps, but once the cry awakens them from their slumber and they trim their lamps, they realize they had not watched properly. The little oil they had in their lamps was used up. And without oil in their lamps, their lamps could not burn and produce light. They turn to the wise for oil but the wise cannot give them any without depriving themselves of what they need for their lamps. The foolish virgins rush to those who sell oil, even though it is the middle of the night. While they are gone the bridegroom arrives. The wise virgins who watched properly, with oil for their lamps, were ready and went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. The foolish virgins, back from the merchant, knock on the shut door and cry, “Lord, Lord, open to us,” only to hear in response, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” The bridegroom only knows those attendants who are ready for him, who go out to meet with oil in their vessels and lamps aglow.

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” The bridegroom is the Lord Jesus Christ. The ten virgins are all those who profess themselves to be Christians. As the virgins wait for the arrival of the bridegroom, not knowing when he might arrive, all Christians are called to watch for Christ’s return, the day and the hour unknown. The wedding banquet is everlasting life, while the shut door signifies finally of Christ’s judgment that day. The fact that five of the virgins in the parable—half of them—do not properly watch for bridegroom teaches us that not all who profess themselves to be Christians are actually Christians. They have the lamp. They outwardly appear to be waiting for Christ’s return in glory. But they have no oil for their lamp. The lamp is the human heart. The oil is faith in Christ, which enlightens the hearts with the gospel and burns with love toward God. Jesus’ warning is stern and dire. Since you do not know the day on which the Son of Man is coming; since you do not know the hour of His return, watch. When we think of watching for Christ’s return, we often think of watching for the signs outside of our ourselves. We may think of watching the heavens, watching current events unfold such as wars and rumors of wars. We watch society decay. Christ teaches us to see these things as signs of His coming. But these are not what Jesus wants us to watch for in this this parable.

The parable of the ten virgins teaches us to watch ourselves, lest our oil runs out and we find ourselves without faith when we die or Christ returns, whichever happens first. As the foolish virgins did not think it would be necessary to replenish their oil, many Christians do not think it necessary to feed, nourish, and replenish their faith by hearing God’s word. How many people profess to be Christian, yet when asked, “Where do you go to church?” their answer is, “Nowhere.” Yet faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17). To stay away from the preaching of God’s word is to cut oneself off from the place where oil is being sold, from the way God had ordained to give us faith, strengthen our faith, so that we persevere in faith unto the end and be saved.

This also means that those who profess themselves to be Christians must not only hear God’s word preached, but they must also have ears to hear it. They must apply it to themselves, meditate on it, and inwardly digest it. Too many who profess themselves to be Christians think that if they merely attend service, regardless of how they heard God’s word—their faith is strengthened. Still others who profess themselves to be Christians convince themselves that they cannot lose their faith no matter what they do or how they live. They say, “Grace abounds! No matter what I do, God forgives my sins!” They imagine that continuing in their sin is compatible with faith. That is, if they even think what they are doing is sin. So many who profess themselves to be Christians imagine that they can live as the world lives—with its priorities, its way of thinking—and that is perfectly compatible with faith.

But refusal to hear God’s word preached, complacency towards the word which is preached, and the desire to continue in sin cannot dwell in the heart with faith. They are the faith’s opposites. It is not enough that you have come to believe. Jesus says, “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt 10:22). Faith can only endure it if is fed and nourished by hearing and reading God’s word with ears to hear and hearts to believe it. The fire of faith in one’s heart can suffocated by complacency and deliberate sinning, which is why St. Paul tells the Corinthians, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Cor 9:27). If faith is not fed and nourished by God’s Word and His sacrament, your oil will, over the course of time, fail. It is sobering to be confronted with the thought of your faith failing and you being unaware of it. Sadly, too many of those who profess themselves Christians are in that state, their faith has failed, their oil has run out, yet they imagine, because they have the outward trappings or a faint idea of faith, or simply a high opinion of themselves, that they are perfectly prepared.

Like the five foolish virgins, those who profess themselves Christians do not have the oil of faith will be shut out of the wedding feast. They will hear that terrible judgment, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Christ does not know them in this life because they do not hear His word with good and honest hearts. He does not know them in this life because they do not hear His voice in His word and follow their good shepherd in their deeds. The foolish will find the door to the kingdom of heaven, which had been opened throughout their lives, now shut forever.

Obviously, Jesus wants you to be wise virgins waiting for His return. He wants you to understand this situation and what it requires of you, so that with the wisdom He provides, you may continually replenish the oil of faith to enlighten your hearts with His gospel, so that they burn with love toward God. This is how Paul encourages the Thessalonians in today’s epistle: “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Faith and love protect our hearts—from the love of sensing, from complacency, and plain old presumption. The hope of salvation—meaning the certainty of our salvation—protects our thinking from succumbing to the world’s priorities and way of thinking and keeps us ever mindful of the fact that God has appointed to obtain salvation through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us to endure to the end and be saved.

And to that end He provides oil in this life. He works faith in our hearts—and strengthens, fortifies, and builds it—through His word and sacrament. He wants you, dear saints, to endure unto the end so that when you hear the cry, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him,” He will greet you as one whom He knows as His own and take you with Him into the wedding feast of everlasting bliss of which we cannot even begin to imagine, for, “As it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9).  “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” to take you to this feast. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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