Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kerrville Texas

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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Second to Last Sunday of the Church Year
2 Peter 3.3-14 + Matthew 25.31-46

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

We heard these comforting words in last week’s epistle: “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4.16-17). Christ will return openly for all the world to see. He will raise the dead to new life and they, together with Christians who are alive on that day, will be gathered to Christ. In today’s epistle we hear of another event to occur on the day when the Lord returns. St. Peter tells us, “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” This world—and everything in it and the worldly way of life—will be destroyed by fire. The earth and the cosmos we live in are in bondage to sin and must be destroyed so that God may create new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

And in today’s gospel we hear of yet another event on that Last Day: The Final Judgment. Christ will return in His glory—His divinity shining through His human nature as it did at His transfiguration—and all the holy angels will be with Him. He will sit on the throne of His glory. All nations—the living and those whom He resurrected from the dead, all people who have ever lived—will be gathered before Him. From all the nations, every person individually will be judged. It will be like when a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. He then presents witnesses to confirm His judgment. Those on the right did works of mercy for the brethren, while those on Christ’s left did not do works of mercy for the brethren. Then comes the final verdict. Those on His left hand will go into everlasting punishment. Those on His right hand—the righteous—will go into the bliss of eternal life.

If you were to ask Christians which articles of the Faith comfort them and encourage them, the Final Judgment probably would not be one of them. We expect that unbelievers would take no comfort in the Final Judgment. In fact, we would find that they do not believe in a final judgment. The more vocal of them would say something like the scoffers that St. Peter speaks of in in the epistle, who say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” We expect the unbeliever not to take any comfort in the final judgment. If anything, the church confesses the Final Judgment to the unbelieving world so that the threat of eternal punishment, the threat of being judged by God and found unworthy of everlasting life, might bring some people repentance. Peter even tells us this why the Lord delays judgment. He is patient towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

And if the Final Judgment should terrify the wicked and unbelieving, why isn’t it something that Christians look forward to? Why, then, isn’t this article of faith—and He shall come again in glory to judge both the quick and the dead—comforting and encouraging for those who believe Christ’s words? It may be because we hear Jesus’ words and think that our good works will be the basis for the judgment. Jesus tells those on His right, “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” This is the portion of the text that people seem to remember most clearly, probably because Jesus then says to those on His left, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.” So many Christians hear Jesus’ words and understand Him mean that if you want to be judged as a sheep and placed on His right hand, you’d better get busy and start earning it.

Well-intentioned Christians also hear that they do works of mercy for Christ Himself when they do them “to one of the least of these My brethren,” and assume that this means any every poor, destitute, and or marginalized person whom the world sees as the least. Assuming that the poor are Jesus’ brethren, they seek to do works of mercy for anyone who needs them. Now, there is nothing wrong with doing works of mercy for the neighbor God puts in our path. But Jesus is speaking to something more specific than the random neighbor who needs food and drink, shelter, clothing, and companionship. Jesus’ brethren are not all mankind, nor does He give that title to the poor simply because they are poor. The brethren of Jesus are believers. “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” Paul says (Gal 3:26). Jesus Himself says, “Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” Jesus commends the sheep for their works of mercy towards Christians—more than that—their fellow Christians, who do works of mercy for one another not to become righteous, but because they are righteous by faith in Christ.

Before Jesus brings forward the sheep’s works of mercy as witnesses, He says, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” The sheep are blessed of God the Father. God the Father speaks well of the sheep. Why? Not because of their works of mercy, but as Jesus tells the disciples John 16:27, “The Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” The sheep believe in God’s Son—not by their ability, but by God’s gift—and that God counts that faith in Christ as righteousness in His sight. God the Father forgives the sins—all the sins—of those who believe in His Son and love Him, so that those sins are no more. By faith our sins are blotted out like a thick cloud (Is 44:22), cast into the depths of the sea (Mic 7:19), for God has promised in Jeremiah 31:34, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” It is to believers who persevere in faith until the end that Jesus says, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” As Jesus’ brethren, the sheep love their neighbor—yes, every neighbor whom God places in their path—but especially their fellow Christians, and these works for the brethren bore witness to their faith in Christ and their love for Him.

This is why you should look forward to judgment. It is not a day of wrath for those who believe in Christ. It is not a day to have your sins—even the ones which are known only to you and God—revealed for all mankind to see and hear. Your sins are forgiven, and God remembers them no more. It certainly is not a day to fear because of the smallness, the incompleteness, or the imperfection of your good works to others. Christ joyfully receives them because they are they done in faith.

The unbeliever has everything to fear from that day, which is part of the reason they deny it will happen. Even if they have truckloads of charitable deeds, helping the poor and those whom society labels as the least, none of them are good in God’s sight because they were not done in faith, by those who believes Christ and enjoys the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in God’s sight. As St. Paul says in Romans 14:23, “Whatever is not from faith is sin,” and in Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” But for you—and all who are righteous by faith, the judgment is something to look forward to. In this life, the Final Judgment encourages us to works of mercy for the brethren, for when Christ returns, those works will bear witness to the fact that we believed the Lord Jesus Christ, received the forgiveness of all our sins, and perfect righteousness. Look forward to the resurrection of the body. Look forward to the destruction of the old creation and the new heavens and new heart. And look forward to the judgment! For on that day you—and all who persevere in faith until the end, will hear these words, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Amen.

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

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1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 + Matthew 24.15–28
Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity

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

“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoke of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” This was the disciples’ sign. When they saw this abomination in the temple, they would know that the end of the temple, Jerusalem, and the Jewish nation was near. When they saw this abomination that causes desolation they were to flee to the mountains immediately. If someone was on their housetop—Jewish homes were usually had flat roofs—they weren’t to go inside to gather up any belongings or valuables. Those things could be replaced. If they were out in the field working, they weren’t to go back and get their shirts. When they saw this abomination, they were to drop everything and flee. To impress the urgency upon them He says, “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.” There are many things which might slow them down, and they are to pray that when the time comes, when they see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, they let nothing deter them.

What the abomination of desolation was, exactly, we are not sure. Daniel prophesies that after the Messiah is cut off, “The people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined” (Dan 9:26). This is what happened. The Messiah was cut off by the Jews, crucified. After His resurrection He sent His apostles to the Jews to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in His name. While many Jews believed, many persecuted the apostles. In 70 A.D., the Romans—the people of the prince—arrived at Jerusalem, laid siege to the city, and razed it to the ground. Daniel also prophesied, “On the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Between the time of Christ and the arrival of the Roman army there would be abominations among the Jews. By rejecting their Messiah, the one whom the temple sacrifices foreshadowed, they made their worship in the temple idolatrous. It seems, then, that many things blended to make the abomination of desolation. The antichristian worship and teaching of the Jews, increasing idolatry in general, and the approaching Roman army. When the faithful saw these things, they were to immediately flee.

And by God’s grace, that is what they did. Eusebius, the father of church history, writes, “The people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come thither from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men” (HE 3.5.3). The faithful, those who believed in Christ, heard His word recorded by St. Matthew and, when they saw these things begin to happen before their very eyes, they fled to the mountains just as Jesus had commanded. They sojourned to a city called Pella beyond the Jordan River. By heeding Jesus’ word, they saved their lives.

This physical fleeing from Jerusalem and Judea is paired with another spiritual fleeing as well. During this period many false Messiahs rose up, rallying the Jews around the idea of a restored nation of Israel. Some claimed to be the Christ, leading the people to misery and captivity as they tried to subvert God’s judgment for their sin of rejecting their true Messiah. Along with false christs, false Prophets arose, as we hear about in the epistles, who brought destructive heresies with them. Some denied Christ’s divinity. Others denied His humanity. Some taught that works of law were necessary for salvation. Others taught that works aren’t necessary, and believers can live in sin so that God’s grace in Christ could abound all the more in the lives of believers. Some of these false christs and false prophets would even do signs and wonders—miracles—that would be so convincing they would deceive God’s elect if it were possible. Signs and wonders, for as awesome as they might be, are nothing if they do not accompany and adorn Christ’s true teaching, because they lead away from Christ’s teaching.

Having fled one abomination—one perversion of God’s doctrine—they were to be on guard against other abominations that bring desolation to the soul as well. They were to live in Christ’s teaching which He had given to the apostles and they recorded in the New Testament. They were to flee from everything that taught differently than Christ and His apostles taught, looking for Christ in His Word—Holy Scripture—until He returned. On that day there will be no doubt that “there is the Christ!” For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” The Lord Himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

This is Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ question, “When will the temple be destroyed and what will the sign of Your coming and the end be?” Jesus answers this way, not just for their benefit, but for ours. As it was in those days, it will be in the last days, the end times, the entire New Testament period.

What is the abomination of desolation during the entire New Testament period? It’s idolatry of every kind. Scripture often calls idolatry an abomination because it is a perversion of the worship of God and the teaching of Christ. Sometimes it is crass and obvious idolatry, as when churches teach universalism—that all religions lead to everlasting life—or friendship with the world’s thinking, as well churches teach that evolution, homosexuality, or lawlessness is compatible with Scripture. These are idolatrous because they remake Christ’s teaching in the image of the world and popular opinion. Often times, the idolatry is more subtle, as when churches teach enthusiasm—the idea that God speaks directly to us in our hearts and intuitions—for this is the most popular way of saying, “Look, here is Christ!” or “There!” This, along with many other misunderstandings of Christ’s word— is idolatry because it teaches people to seek God within themselves rather than in the places He has promised to be—the preaching of His Word, Holy Scripture, Baptism, and His Supper. It doesn’t matter if there are signs and wonders. Pharaoh’s magicians were able to mimic the first several plagues, so there is no certainty in signs and wonders themselves, only in the Word of God.

And as Jesus taught urgency in this to the believing Jews in and around Jerusalem, so He wants to impress that upon us as well. We are not to doddle when we see idolatry and falsehood in the church and world. We are not to remain with it, wait it out, hoping that God will change it. We are commanded to flee from it. Sometimes that means physically fleeing from idolatry and false prophets in churches, as Paul says in Romans 16:17, “Note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.” We are also to flee spiritually from idolatry and falsehood in the world, not allowing ourselves to fear, love, or trust in anything more than we fear God, love Him, and trust Him. In these last days, the end times, the entire period of the New Testament, we flee to the mountains, the rock of our salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ, and we don’t look back on the things we may miss out on. For only by fleeing abominations, false christs and prophets, do we save our lives and persevere in faith unto the end.

Just as the Christians fled to the city of Pella and became sojourners in their own land, we, too, become sojourners and pilgrims in our own land. We live in the world but not as ones who are of this world. We eagerly await the day when Christ returns. On that day everyone will see Him. For His return will be as the lightning comes from the east and flashes in the west. And where the carcass is, there the eagles will gather. When the crucified and resurrected Christ descends, there will we, and all resurrected believers, be. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. In these last days we flee from falsehood to Christ in His Word, not looking back to what we have left, but forward to the day when He descends from heaven, and we meet Him in the air to be with Him forever. Amen.

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

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The Festival of All Saints
Revelation 7.2-17 + Matthew 5.1–12

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

On All Saints Day Jesus teaches us what true blessedness is, and it is very different from the blessedness the world seeks. The world says, “Blessed are the rich are spirit.” To be rich in spirit means to imagine either God either does not care how one lives, or, that no matter how one lives, God surely approves of his decisions and lifestyle. The rich in spirit do not need to give thought to their sins. They are confident that the kingdom of heaven is theirs because God owes it to them. True blessedness is the opposite. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus says. To be poor in spirit is to be humble before God, penitent and contrite over their sins. The poor in spirit understand that, because of their sins, God does not owe them anything except temporal and eternal punishment. But the poor in spirit are truly blessed. “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” for God only gives His kingdom to those who confess their sins, their spiritual poverty and lack, and look to God for forgiveness and every spiritual blessing, including His kingdom, which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:7).

The world says, “Blessed are those who are comfortable in the world, who love their lives in this world.” To be comfortable in the world is to be friends with the world and its ways. It is to conform one’s thinking to the world’s thinking, so that one praises what the world praises and pursues what the world prioritizes. The world says you are blessed if you go along with the homosexual and transgender movements, because the world will leave you alone. The world says you will be blessed if you embrace evolution, because you will be with the majority, and no one will think you are an unintelligent rube. The world promises to bless you with comfort if you just believe what it believes. But true blessedness is different. “Blessed are those who mourn,” Jesus says. This means to mourn over the state of the world, our country, and society. It is to be oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked and tormented over the depravity of one sees on television, the internet, and in others. To mourn these things is to be  truly blessed because those who mourn shall be comforted,” not with the world’s comfort, nor with non-existent promise of better days of ahead, but with the fact that Christ will return to judge the world in righteousness, punishing the wicked and rewarding the faithful.

The world says, “Blessed are the ones who trust in themselves, their own abilities, strength, and ingenuity!” But Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek.” He is quoting Psalm 37. The Psalmist describes the meek as “those who wait on the Lord” (Ps 37:11) while the wicked prosper. We are acquainted with this in our own times. The wicked prosper. Evil people oppress others. And as we mourn over this, the Psalmist tells us, “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret — it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more. But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” If you do not have an office whose duty it is to right the world’s wrongs, then wait upon the Lord. He will bring justice in His own time in ways than ours.

 The world says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for wealth and luxury, power and popularity.” The world promises blessedness to those who relentlessly pursue these things and sacrifice themselves to achieve them. But Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” promising, “for they shall be filled.” To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to crave Christ’s righteousness—which God gives us freely by grace through faith in the gospel—but also righteousness in our lives. True blessedness is the desire to live righteously, to act justly, to live according to God’s commandments, not just outwardly but inwardly. Righteously living only comes from being justified—declared righteous—by faith in Christ. The one who hungers and thirsts after these blessings of righteousness in God’s sight and righteous living is truly blessed because that one will be filled. The one who hungers and thirsts for wealth and luxury, power, and popularity, will never be filled, they will never receive what they seek, and if they do, it will never be enough. But the one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness will receive and be satisfied with the righteousness of God.

The world says, “Blessed are the unmerciful, those who hold grudges and keep watch over those who have wronged them.” But Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” Having received mercy from God, we are merciful to those who sin against us, willing and waiting to forgive them when they are sorry. Along these same lines Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Having been reconciled to God by faith in His Son and having received the adoption as God’s sons, we seek to live in peace with everyone as much as depends on us. The world says, “Blessed are the those who follow the desires of their hearts, whatever they may be!” But Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Like hungering and thirsting for righteousness, this is first the purity that God gives to us and we receive by faith, and then as a result, fighting the sin that dwells in our hearts, putting it away at every turn so that it does not lead us into further sin and impurity.

The result of living this life of faith—poor in spirit, mourning over wickedness in the world, meekly waiting for the Lord’s deliverance, hungering, and thirsting after righteousness and purity, and being merciful and peaceable—will be persecution. The world hated Christ when He walked the earth, so it hates that those who follow Christ, who forsake the counterfeit blessedness of the world for the true blessedness of faith in Christ. St. Paul says plainly in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” But even in this, whether the world mocks you, murders you, or something in between, you are blessed. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” This is the life of the saints on earth. There is trouble and hardship. There is persecution and cross. These are the life of the saints in this world because they look for a better blessedness than the world offers, a blessedness which the saints experience in this life by faith alongside the poverty in spirit, the grief, the patience, and all the other fruits of faith Jesus teaches in the beatitudes. In the midst of hardship and grief, cross and persecution, the kingdom is ours.

Although we do not look blessed in the eyes of the flesh and the world, we know that is not the case. For not only do we possess true blessedness—the kingdom of heaven—now, by faith, but we will, one day, possess the kingdom of God by sight, even as the saints who have gone before us currently enjoy it. Christ shows us this sweet and blessed country in the epistle. John sees the elect, 144,000 to signify that their number is known to God, but to our eyes, and John’s, a great multitude which no one could number. He sees them in robes made white by the blood of the lamb, robes signifying Christ’s perfect righteousness and the perfect joy of heavenly bliss. He sees them with palm branches in their hands, signifying the Lamb’s victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil, which He graciously shared with them, so that they are at perfect peace, before the throne of God, serving Him day and night. They suffer no poverty, no lack, and no grief, for the Lamb leads them living fountains of water. This is the blessedness of the saints who have gone before us, and we comfort ourselves with this fact as whenever we think about our loved ones who have died in the faith. For they are among that number. And we comfort ourselves with the fact that this is the blessedness of the saints to which we look forward and for which we strive. For the blessedness John sees, which the saints in Christ’s Church Triumphant now enjoy, is the blessedness which He promises you when He says, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” Amen.

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

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The Festival of the Reformation
Galatians 2.16-21 + John 8.31-36

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

In today’s gospel lesson Jesus tells some Jews who believed in Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They had begun to believe in Him so He encouraged them to remain in His word. Only by remaining in His word would they be set free. When these Jews hear this, they showed that their minds are still set on earthly things. They hear about freedom, and they immediately think of political freedoms. Suffering from a moment of historical amnesia, they retort, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free’?” They, of course, been in bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt, laboring under the coercion of Pharaoh’s taskmasters, but Jesus passes over this because He is not teaching about worldly freedom, His kingdom, after all, is not of this world. He is speaking of freedom from sin. “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin—whoever practices it—is a slave of sin.” To be a slave of sin means that sin is one’s master. To be a slave of sin is to obey its lusts and desires when they arise in one’s flesh. To be a slave of sin is to even offer the members of one’s own body and mind to serve sin’s will.

Christ has come to set free those who enslaved by sin. He frees them by His word. Christ’s word is the word of forgiveness earned at the cross, given freely by grace, and received by sinners by faith, believing the promise that God wants to forgive their sins for Jesus’ sake. Christ’s word also brings His perfect righteousness with it. He dies to make perfect payment for the sins of the world, but before He suffered and died, He lived a perfect life under God’s law. Jesus’ word is the gospel by which sins are forgiven, taken away, and detached from the sinner, and by which Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to the sinner, so that he is justified—declared righteous in God’s sight. This is proclaimed in Christ’s word—the gospel—and it is received by faith alone, simply by believing it to be true for you. And since we receive the forgiveness of sins and Christ’s righteousness by faith, that means we do not earn it, merit it, or deserve it by anything we have done. St. Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians 2[:8-9], “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

By giving us His grace—the forgiveness of sins and His perfect righteousness—by faith and not works, Christ is also teaching us that His word sets us free from the law’s demands and coercion. The law demands obedience, not just once, but always. The law demands obedience, not just in our outward behavior, but in the heart and motivation. By faith you are saved and counted perfectly righteous in God’s sight, therefore the law can make no more demands of you. It cannot condemn you because you are righteous with the righteousness of Jesus. This does not mean the law is nothing to you, of course. By faith, you reborn as sons of God, even God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10). You are recreated, regenerated, and reborn by faith so that you might live according to the law— not to earn God’s favor—but because He favors you, forgives you, and sees you with the righteousness of Jesus. This is how the Jesus’ word sets us free. It sets us free from our sins and their guilt. It sets us free from the law’s compulsion. It sets us free to be sons of God who serve one another in love according to God’s commandments, since love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom 13:10).

All of this is yours by faith. But it is not enough to believe once. You must abide, or remain, in His word. That is where the Jews with whom Jesus spoke had trouble. They believed in Christ but also wanted the fact that they were Abaham’s descendants to count for something. They had been circumcised, after all! They lived in God’s law, meticulously obeying it, observing the sabbath, abstaining from forbidden foods, and other things the law demanded. But none of this set them free. None of these observances made them God’s people, or even kept them as God’s people. That was never the purpose of the law. The law was to show them that they were enslaved to sin so that they would look yearningly for the Christ, who would free them from their sin, give them new hearts, and make them sons who would abide in God’s house forever. Jesus is clear, only the Son sets them free, not their genealogy, not their circumcision, nor even these things combined with Jesus. It is Jesus alone. This was the word they were to remain in. And this was their temptation, to abandon Jesus’ word and put their trust in their own works or a combination of their faith in Christ plus their own merits.

It was not just the Jews that faced this temptation, it was the gentile converts to the faith as well. Paul preached the gospel and its freedom—from sin’s slavery and from the law’s coercion—to the Galatians. But after he moved on, false teachers moved in. They taught that circumcision was necessary in addition to faith in Christ. By adding a work of the law to their justification, the Galatians abandoned Christ’s word and their freedom to live in the law without coercion. They were back under law. Even though it looked like gospel because Jesus was still in the picture, there was something in the picture with Jesus, and so it was not the same Jesus at all. Paul puts it to them very clearly, saying three times in the epistle that man is not justified by works of law but faith in Christ Jesus. Period. He reminds them, that through the law he died to the law and its demands so that he might live to God by faith, saying, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” By faith in Christ, Paul lived to God, doing good works, no to earn God’s favor, but because by faith he enjoyed God’s favor and forgiveness, so that Christ dwelt in Him.

The church in every age of the world is faced with the temptation that the Jews and the Galatians fell: to look for freedom from sin, guilt, and the law’s demands, in our own contribution, in our own merits, in our worthiness. Sadly, the church has often fallen to this temptation and invited her children to look for forgiveness, freedom from sin, and godly lives by combing Jesus with works of law. The church or Rome did this in many ways, allowing the doctrine and men and demons into her midst, teaching God’s baptized children that faith in Christ was not enough, it must be combined with works, with love, in order to justify sinners and obtain God’s forgiveness. The Mass—the church’s service of Holy Communion—which Christ gave to the church to give His forgiveness to the church, was turned into a work offered back to God to earn the forgiveness of sins. The baptized were taught to pray to Mary and the saints for their merits, their help, and their prayers, contrary to Holy Scripture. But most of all, the baptized were taught to trust in their own works, in their own satisfactions to please God and eventually, through the course of life, justify them in God’s sight. But our Lord had mercy and sent Dr. Luther to rediscover the gospel of God’s grace for Christ’s sake, that man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. With this gospel restored, so was the Mass, prayer, good works, and so many other articles of the Christian faith restored to their proper places and gifts of God and responses to the freedom God gives in the gospel from sin and the law’s coercion.

The message of the Reformation is to remain in Christ’s word. Every generation faces the temptation to add, subtract, multiply, and divide Christ’s word. But this is not what Jesus’ disciples do. They abide in His word, the word which presents us with salvation by God’s grace alone, for the sake of Christ alone, received through faith alone, not by works of law or even faith formed by works of law. True freedom from sin’s guilt and condemnation come by looking solely to Christ and Him crucified, believing that His perfect obedience and His innocent, bitter suffering and death pay for our sins. True freedom from the law’s demands of external and internal perfection come only from faith in the gospel which says, “God sees me as righteous because, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe in His Son.” Freedom comes by faith which makes us sons of God who dwell in His house forever and who walk in the good works God teaches us in His commandments, because the life which we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself 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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Ephesians 6.10–17 + John 4.46-54
Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will be no means believe.” This was not the answer the nobleman had expected. He came to Jesus and implored him to come down to his house and heal his son who was at the point of death. He had heard of Jesus’ divine power and His willingness to help those who came to Him. He expected—he needed—Jesus to come down to his house and heal his son. For this faith, Jesus rebuffs him. Not because the nobleman’s faith was false or hypocritical, but because his faith was weak. His faith is based on sight and experience. His faith needs Jesus to come into his house. His faith needs to see Jesus lay His hand on his son and heal him. Jesus sees the nobleman’s weak faith, that his faith is based on sight and experience, so He chastises him so that that He might strengthen his faith so that it is not based on, or looking for, signs and wonders, but on Jesus’ word.

The nobleman implores Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” And Jesus gives him all He is going to give him: a promise. “Go your way, your son lives.” Jesus exercises the nobleman with this promise. The nobleman had a choice. He could have remained in his weak faith that needed the visible presence of Jesus in his home, or he could go home with only Jesus’ promise. The nobleman rises to the occasion. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. He understood Jesus’ rebuff. Belief—faith—is not about seeing signs and wonders. When faith relies upon signs and wonders and needs to see them, that faith is quickly rocked when it does not see the signs and wonders it wants. It may imagine it sees signs and wonders because if it does not, it might cease to exist at all. The nobleman understands. It is not about signs and wonders. It is about the word of Jesus, regardless of what one sees and hears, experiences, and feels. He turns around and goes back home, without Jesus, but with Jesus because He has Jesus’ promise.

The next day his servants meet him on the way and tell him, “Your son lives!” When he asks them when his son got better, they tell him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The nobleman knew that was the same hour at which Jesus had said, “Go your way, your son lives.” John writes, “And he himself believed, and his whole household.” The nobleman had already believed. That faith drove him to Jesus in the first place. The nobleman believed Jesus’ word the day before and made his way back home. He knew that His son lived. Jesus told him. Now, however, that his servants have confirmed Jesus’ word, he believes that no matter what happens in the future, Christ would help him, sustain him, and bring him through it. Jesus answered his prayer by healing his son, but He gave him much more. He strengthened his faith so that it did not need signs and wonders. His faith now rested solely upon the mercy and promise of Jesus.

This is how Christ treats all who believe in Him. Where their faith is weak, He strengthens it. Where their faith is misdirected towards what it sees and experiences, He redirects it. His will for us is not only that we believe in Him, but that we continually believe in Him and that we grow in faith towards Him. He does not want our faith to be based on signs and wonders. He does not want us to rely upon what we see and experience, but on His Word alone. This is even more important because Jesus tells us, “False christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt 24:24). He wants to strengthen our faith so that it relies solely on His word so that we are not driven back and forth by every sign and wonder we see, or think we see! For the devil and the false prophets easily capitalize on the weak faith of many who seek signs and wonders. By mighty works that lead countless souls away from God’s word to their own imaginations. So that we do not fall prey to false christs and false prophets, Jesus wants to strengthen our faith.

And He strengthens our faith in the same way He did for the nobleman. The nobleman experienced great need. His son was at the point of death. Jesus’ only answer for this was a word, “Go your way, your son lives.” Against everything the nobleman felt in his heart—his fear, his anxiety, his grief—he held tightly to Jesus’ word and went back home. This is how Jesus so often exercises our faith. He allows crosses—which are hardships that come specifically because we confess Christ. He allows us to be tempted by the devil, by the influence of the world, and by our own sinful flesh. He allows trials and afflictions to come upon us. He allows these to come upon us so that we exercise ourselves by clinging to the word that He has already given us.

When God lays the cross upon us, so that we must suffer in this life because we confess Christ, or that we must be put at a disadvantage because of the name ‘Christian,’ we pray that God removes the cross when it is best for us. Until then, we steel ourselves with His word, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Mat 16:24-25). When we are persecuted and poked by others because we live differently than the world, we cling to the Spirit’s word to Timothy through St. Paul, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12). God tells us to expect crosses—though not to go looking for them—and He commands us to bear them even as our Lord Jesus bore His cross as He paid for all our sins. If we look for signs and wonders that God will make this world a better place or give us an easier time, we look for things God has not promised. He wants us to bear our crosses and look forward to our heavenly country, our eternal inheritance.

When life goes poorly, when things do not turn out as we wanted them to, when God allows affliction, or when the devil and wicked men prevail and bring us harm, Christ is exercising us so that we trust even more confidently in His word. St. Paul says, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). While many look to God for a sign or wonder so that they might understand why God is sending the affliction, faith looks to His Word, accepts the affliction, and knows that God who sent it knows how best to end it, and endures the affliction in that faith.

When temptation to sin comes—and it must come—we are not to complain within ourselves that God has abandoned us or imagine that we are weak because we are tempted. Christ Himself was tempted in the days of His humiliation, not once but continually. Temptations—like our crosses—are signs that we are Christians, and that God wants to exercise us so that we trust even more in His word and not what we see and feel. The Holy Spirit tells us through St. Paul that He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1 Cor 10:13). How do you bear the temptation? How to do endure it until it is removed? Not by sign, wonder, or miracle, but by the using of the word as an armor. Gird your waist with truth—knowing God’s truth rather than the lies which tempt you to sin. Put on the breastplate of righteousness—knowing that you are righteous in God’s sight by faith in Christ, and therefore the temptation has no power over you. Put the gospel of peace on your feet, so that in temptation you run quickly to the peace of Jesus, who Himself was tempted. Take the shield of faith, for faith is the defense against all temptations. Faith says, “God has forbidden this that tempts me, and has given me far better.” Wear the knowledge of your salvation like a helmet, protecting your thoughts, and use the word of God as sword, to slay the temptation as Christ Himself did in the wilderness, telling the devil, “It is written.”

Christ does not us to look for, wait for, expect, or need signs and wonders so believe. He wants something stronger than that. So, He gives you His Word. He gives you faith in His Word, so that in every exercise you may grow to learn more the truth of what St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “We Walk by faith, not by sight.” There is no need for signs and wonders. We have the word. And having the word, we have Christ Himself with us through all things. Amen.

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

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Ephesians 5.15–21 + Matthew 22.1–14
Twentieth Sunday After Trinity

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

In this Sunday’s parable Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who arranged a wedding feast for his son. When the time arrived to celebrate the wedding, the king sent out his servants to call those whom he had previously invited. But they were not willing to come. The king genuinely wanted these people to come to the wedding, so he sent out other servants and instructed the servants, “Tell those who are invited, ‘See, I have prepared by dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” But those who were invited will not have anything to do with the feast. They made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. They despised the king’s feast and his gracious invitation. They thought more of the things of daily life than they did this feast. The rest, however, seized the king’s servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. Some think little of the invitation and the one who made it. Others hate the invitation, the feast, and the king, so they treat his servants with force, with spite, and kill them. They shot the messenger. When the king heard of all this, he was furious. He sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. The king had earnestly invited them to enjoy the wedding. By rejecting the feast and the gracious invitation they judged themselves unworthy of being citizens of the kingdom and were given the reward of rebellion.

The king is known chiefly for showing mercy and wants people to enjoy the feast He has graciously prepared, so he says to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.” The king tells his servants to into all the world, and they do. The servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad—those who do not live upright lives—and good—those who live decently. The servants invite all the people, and the wedding hall is filled. But not all who are at the wedding truly partaking of it. The king sees a guest without a wedding garment. The wedding garment was provided by the king upon entry to the feast. The fact that this man is not wearing it is a sign of rebelliousness and disobedience. When the king approached the man and asks him why he is improperly attired, he was speechless. He receives a similar judgment to those who were initially. He is bound hand and foot, taken away, and cast into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus then tells us the point of the parable: “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Many are called the wedding feast. Few are chosen to partake in it.

Jesus is teaching the article of the we call predestination, or eternal election. This parable is how Jesus wants us to view our eternal election. Typically, people will start any thinking about predestination from God’s point of view, that God, from eternity, chose some to be saved eternally. Beginning here, however, usually lead to all sorts of questions which Scripture does not answer and assertions that Scripture does not make. Human reason, peering into what God has not revealed, imagines, “If God predestined some to salvation, He must have predestined the rest to eternal wrath.” But Scripture does not say this. Human reason then says, “Well, if God has predestined some to salvation, but God is not the author of evil, He must have simply passed over the rest, leaving them the eternal punishment they deserved.” Others will reason that there must be a cause in the people themselves, so that the elect would use “free will” to choose to belief, while the reprobate would use their free will to reject faith in Christ. But Scripture says that the Holy Spirit creates faith, so our initial belief in the gospel is not an exercise of any spiritual free will. Even when we say that God elected those whom He foresaw would believe by His Holy Spirit, that still does not penetrate the darkness that shrouds that which God has not revealed to us in Scripture.

When we approach predestination from the perspective of God’s hidden will and with human reason, predestination is easily viewed falsely and usually in ways that lead to uncertainty and even despair. But if we think about predestination like Jesus teaches us to in this parable, then we find ourselves on surer footing and can even joy in it. How does this parable teach predestination? The king is God the Father. The wedding for His Son is the incarnation. God unites His Son with human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He lives a perfect life, earning perfect righteousness in God’s sight. He dies innocently to atone for the world’s sins, earning perfect forgiveness for all sins. This is the feast God prepares. He invited the Jews through Moses and the prophets, and finally through Christ’s apostles. But when most of the Jews rejected the invitation of the gospel, God sent the Roman army to burn their city—Jerusalem—to the ground. He sent His servants—the apostles and those who follow in them in the ministry—to go into all the world and bring the good and the bad—those who the world considers good people and those whom the world considers bad people—into church where they enjoy the blessings of the wedding feast. But to enjoy the wedding and remain in it for eternity, the wedding garment must be worn. The wedding garment is Christ Himself, whom we put on in Holy Baptism and faith, clothing ourselves with His righteousness. Those who outwardly belong to the church but do not have faith in their hearts are not wearing the wedding garment, so on the last day, Christ will have them bound, taken away, and thrown in the outer darkness of hell.

What does this parable tell us about our eternal election? God has prepared Christ and His blessings for you to feast on. He calls all people—the good and bad—by the gospel, and earnestly desires that all men be saved. By the working of the Holy Spirit, you have believed that invitation and been clothed with the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness. Now, stay clothed. God promises to strengthen, increase, and support to the end the good work which He has begun in you, if you adhere to God’s word, pray diligently, abide in God’s grace, and faithfully use the gifts He has given you. When you live as one who is baptized, who hears God’s word and takes it to heart, applying it yourself, prays, and lives in love, you can be certain that you are among the elect. The elect says, “I am baptized, and I am, by God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, living in my baptism, daily repenting, daily trusting Christ, and daily striving to live in love.” This is how you are diligent to make your call and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10), not to God, but to yourself. Since he who endures to the end shall be saved, we wear the wedding garment every day, enjoying all the blessings God gives to us by faith in the wedding of Christ’s incarnation, suffering, and death, so that whenever our Lord calls us from this vale of tears, He may find us wearing His righteousness.

The parable also serves to warn us. Not all people accept the gospel’s call, just as most of the Jews did not accept the apostles’ invitation. In every period of history, there are many who reject the invitation, despising it, hating it, even persecuting its true messengers. But Jesus also wants to warn us against hypocrisy, against accepting the gospel’s invitation only to take off the wedding garment by willful sinning, imaging that faith can coexist with the desire to sin, or by thinking little of it, not hearing the word, and applying it to oneself. The one who does these things may still outwardly belong to the church, he may visibly participate, but without the wedding garment of faith in Christ—unless there is repentance and reclothing oneself with Christ—the outer darkness awaits. By this, our Lord warns us against hypocrisy, so that we truly wear the wedding garment of faith in Christ, and if we have perchance cast it off, that we return to it by repentance.

Approaching presentation as Jesus does, it is a comforting doctrine. God has prepared salvation for us by grace alone. He has called by His gospel through His servants. He has provided us with the robe of His righteousness. He has given us His Holy Spirit so that we might, with new wills and new minds, continually heed the gospel’s invitation and wear Christ. Ogling at eternity will not bring you this comfort, only questions God does not answer in Scripture, and with that, uncertainty, and doubt, which are not of the gospel. Only in approaching predestination as Jesus teaches us to, continually wearing the wedding garment, can we rejoice that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (Eph 1:4-5). Amen.

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

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