Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kerrville Texas

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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Ephesians 4.22-28 + Matthew 9.1-8
19th Sunday after Trinity

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

Jesus enters Capernaum, His own city, and is confronted by several men carrying a paralytic on his bed. St. Mark gives us more details. Mark records that Jesus was in a house, and “Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door” (Mark 2:2). Jesus preaches repentance and God’s mercy to the packed house. Undeterred by the number of people, the paralytic’s friends climb onto roof and haul their friend in the bed up their too. The Israelites built their houses to have flat roofs, which is why these friends can then dig a bed-sized hole in the roof. Once “they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying” (Mark 2:4). These men believed that Jesus was able to help their friend and heal him. The paralytic believed this too, otherwise he would not have let his friends hoist him up onto the roof and lower him down through the man-sized whole the roof. Jesus stopped preaching at that moment, sees the faith of these men, paralytic included, and says, “Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.” Jesus rewards their faith. He gives the man what truly needs first, for he has two afflictions, the most obvious is his broken body. But the paralytic’s other affliction is far more dire and deadly. He is a sinner who has come to Jesus looking for mercy. Through the legs of his friends, he has fled to the throne of grace. And those who seek mercy for their sins from Jesus will always find it.

“Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.” Those words are far better than any physical healing because these words revive the soul wearied by sin. Those words are salve to the conscience troubled by its transgressions against God. The absolution of Jesus rejoices the heart that is burdened with guilt and regret over what it has done and what it has left undone. These are the most blessed words a penitent sinner can hear. He calls him “Son” because the conscience vexed by guilt cries out to God in the words of the prodigal son, “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:21). Sin removes us from the kingdom and family of God the heavenly Father and brings us back to the kingdom of the devil. But Christ recalls the paralytic from the agony of having lost his sonship. By this we also see that the paralytic had faith that Christ would be merciful to him, because faith is what makes us children of God as St. Paul says in Galatians 3:26, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Christ tells the paralytic, “Be of good cheer,” because the conscience weighed down with knowledge of its sinfulness cannot rejoice since it only feels God’s wrath. Christ calls the paralytic away from dwelling on his sins because those sins are removed, and they are no more. It is as David sings in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Godly sorrow leads the sinner to repent of sin and flee to Jesus for mercy, and Godly sorrow always leads to forgiveness, and forgiveness, to joy and thanksgiving.

The sinful flesh, however, does not desire this gift and works to undermine and destroy it. This is what leads the scribes to say within themselves, “These man blasphemes.” Only God can forgive sins. He says as much in Isaiah 43:25 when He proclaims: “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” Since the scribes imagine that Christ is just a man like any other, they fail to see that Christ is also true God, that “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9). The man Jesus is God in human flesh, and in this way “God had given such power to men.” By uniting with the human nature in the incarnation, God the Son has bestowed upon human flesh the ability to forgive sins.  To prove that He has the authority which only God can possess He says to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. As I have given you new spiritual life by forgiving all your sins and giving you a cheerful conscience, so I give you a new physical life. “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?” It is much easier to say someone’s sins are forgiven because you can’t see if it’s really happened. It is much more difficult to fix the broken body and straighten the crooked spine with just a word. Christ does the more difficult to prove He has divine authority to forgive sins and raise sinners to new life. The crowd marvels and glorifies God as it opens to let the former paralytic leave, bed in hand. The crowd marvels and glorifies God for the greater gift: that God in Christ forgives penitent sinners. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19).

Christ still gives such power to men. It is still true that only God can forgive sins, so before Christ ascended to sit on the right hand of the Father He gave this power to His apostles. On the evening of His resurrection, on that first day of the week, Christ appeared to the ten apostles. Ten, because Thomas was absent and Judas hand hanged himself because he was swallowed by worldly regret and despaired of God’s mercy, imagining himself beyond the pale of Christ’s forgiveness. On that evening Christ appears to the apostles and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20:22-23). Though Christ ascended and no longer walks the earth, forgiving sins, He gave the apostles and their heirs the ministry of reconciliation, the ministry which pleads with sinners, “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20) by repenting and believing the gospel. This is how God in Christ continues to reconcile sinners to Himself until the day He returns to judge the quick and the dead. For He tells His apostles in Luke 10:16—and those who were appointed after them, even to this day—“He who hears you hears me.”

And because that word is Jesus’ word, it gives you what it says. That word forgives your sins. That word absolves you so that your sins are removed “as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). The minister is God’s instrument, so that when you hear the absolution it is word of the One who says to Isaiah, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins” (Is 43:25). When you hear that word spoken into your ear, it is the Lord who says to Isaiah, “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins” (Is 44:22). Since the word of the Pastor is God’s Word, it should be received as God’s Word. Not with doubt or ambivalence, but in faith, for faith alone is how the promise of the forgiveness of sins is received. As the paralytic, through his friends, approached Christ is faith, trusting in His mercy, so we to ought to approach God with a true and lively faith. When sins oppress your conscience and you know in your heart that you are no longer worthy to be called a son of God, remember Christ’s words to the paralytic, words which He still speaks to you through His called servant, “Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.”

And where there is forgiveness there is life. He told the paralytic to arise, take up his bed and go home. He says to those He absolves: “Arise from your sins. Leave them behind and remain in them no longer. Strive against temptation by the power of My Word and faith in the promise that your former sins have been forgiven.” This is why St. Paul tells us to “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts” in today’s Epistle lesson. Christ raises us to a new life in which we walk, not in our former sins and the lusts that deceive us and lead us back into those sins, but according to a renewed spirit of the mind. Paul exhorts us to “continually put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” The new man fights sign in his body. The new man lives in righteousness and purity towards others and oneself. Having raised the new man in you in Holy Baptism, Christ absolves you again and says, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house,” so He says to you, “Arise, take up the New Man you put on in Holy Baptism, and go to your house and live in your callings righteously.” As you to your house and your callings, take courage and live as one whom God has called “Son” through baptism and faith. Live as one whose sins God has graciously forgiven for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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

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The Festival of St. Michael and All Angels
Revelation 12.7–12 + Matthew 18.1–11

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

Today—September 29—is the Festival of St. Michael and All Angels. It is the day the church has selected to specifically teach us about the angels. It’s not that we never hear about angels throughout the church’s year. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary to announce to hear that she will conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and bear the Son of God. An angel appears to Joseph in dreams, directing him in his leadership of the holy family throughout the Christmas season. Speaking of Christmas, an angel appears to shepherds watching their flocks by night, tells them about the Messiah’s birth, and is joined by the heavenly host singing “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Lk 2:14). Angels announce Christ’s resurrection and His return in glory. From these passages and others, we understand that the angels are God’s messengers. In fact, the word angel means messenger. But bringing messages from God is just one of the ways they minister to or serve God. After Jesus fasted forty days and defeated the devil’s temptations, angels came and ministered to him (Matt 4:11). After praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him (Luke 22:43). On the Last Day when Christ returns, “The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire” (Matt 13:49-50). From all this, we know that angels serve God and minister to Christ.

But today, St. Michael and All Angels teaches us specifically how God serves us and ministers to us through the ministry of His angels. Jesus tells His disciples in the Gospel that they are not to despise, or think lightly, of the little ones brought to Him. Christians are to be careful not to offend the little ones in word or deed but to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4). To help Christian parents keep this in mind, Jesus reminds us, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” From this we know that all children brought to Jesus—and children are brought to Jesus now by bringing them to Holy Baptism—have an angel to watch over them. And if God gives little ones who are brought to Him angels for their protection, how much more ought we to protect children from opportunities and temptations to sin by our example and our teaching? These little ones believe and enjoy all the blessings of God, including angelic protection. How much more ought we to think highly of them and our duty to them as parents, pastors, and congregations?

And the little ones brought to Jesus in Holy Baptism don’t “age out” of angelic protection, either. Throughout Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God sends His holy angels to minister to those who believe in Him. Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.”Psalm 91:11 says, “He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.” God sent two angels to Sodom to save Lot in Genesis 19. After surviving a night in the lion’s den, Daniel tells the king, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you” (Dan 6:22). When Lazarus died, he was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (Lk 16:22). It was an angel whom God sent to rescue Peter from prison and certain death in Acts 12. So it is not just little ones to whom God sends His holy angels. It is all who believe in Him. Unbelievers do not have angels, and if a believer falls from faith, he does not have the fellowship and protection of the holy angels. The author of Hebrews asks, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? (Heb 1:14). Yet, when there is repentance and return, the holy angels rejoice, for there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk 15:10). This is motivation—as if we didn’t have enough in the gospel—to live godly lives and repent as often as we need, lest we lose the fellowship of the holy angels.

Today’s Epistle reminds us why we need the protection of the holy angels, for not all angels are holy. Sometime before the sixth day of the world, an angel—whom we now call the devil—chose not to remain in the truth. Jesus says this one “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” Choosing of his own free will not to remain in the truth, he corrupted himself with lies. Nor was he alone. He was the chief of those angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, as Jude writes in his epistle (6). The devil then went on to murder our first parents by lying to them and tempting them to sin, the wages of which is death. Now, God promised to send a Messiah who would crush the serpent’s head; all who believed that promise received the forgiveness of their sins and everlasting life. But the devil still went before God’s throne to accuse them, as he did to Job.

That is, until the Messiah arrived and conquered. That is what we see in today’s epistle. St. John sees a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and his angels fought. It seems that this battle took place after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ to the right hand of God. The dragon and his angels did not prevail, nor was place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. No longer can the devil go before God’s throne to accuse those who believe in Christ Jesus, for Christ Jesus Himself is at God’s right hand, interceding for those who trust the promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation for His sake. With Satan cast out, the heavens rejoice, and so do all who believe Jesus’ gospel, for there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:1).

But the voice John hears from heaven also warns us, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” Unable to accuse the saints before God day and night, he is cast, not to Hell but to earth. Peter says in God cast the evil angels down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment in 2 Peter 2:4. But by this we don’t understand hell itself, but the torments of hell, so that the evil angels, here on earth, are tormented by the fact that they will enter eternal punishment when Christ returns and that they are chained in that they can only do what God permits. And for now, until Christ returns, God permits the devil to rule as the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2). During this age, the devil is like a bird of prey who snatches the word of God from the hearts of those who half-heartedly hear God’s word, “lest they should believe and be saved” (Lk 8:12). Here on earth he walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Ptr 5:8).

This is the reason God sends His holy angels to minister for those who will inherit salvation. Our fight, our battle, is not against flesh and blood, no matter how much it may seem to be the case at times. Our fight is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places(Eph 6:12). For this fight, God gives us the armor of the gospel, the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. And for this fight against the devil and his angels, He also sends us His holy angels. The same Michael, the same heavenly host, who victoriously battled the dragon and his angels battles for us in arenas unseen. For this angelic protection in every danger and temptation, we pray each morning and evening with the words of the Small Catechism, “Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.” For this, we give God thanks and praise, that though we are beset by many enemies, our accuser has been cast down, and we conquer by the blood of the lamb. Amen.

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

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17th Sunday after Trinity
Ephesians 4.1–6 + Luke 14.1–11

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

St. Paul encourages us to walk in such a way that is worthy of the calling with which we were called. The calling with which we were called is the gospel, for in the gospel God calls us to leave our sins and have them forgiven freely for Jesus’ sake. In the gospel, God the Father calls us to be baptized so that He might make us His children, and if children, then heirs of the inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away—eternal life. In the gospel, God calls us into the church, the body of His Son, and gives us His Holy Spirit. Because there is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all, we strive to keep this unity in the body of peace. Since God has called us in the gospel to the body of Christ, we walk worthy of this calling by walking with all lowliness and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the body of peace. Paul would have the Ephesians—and all Christians—take an attitude of lowliness and gentleness towards their fellow Christians, so that they esteem others above themselves and look out for what is best for others, and thus the entire body of Christ.

Paul was no hypocrite in this. This is how Paul himself walked. He reminds the Ephesians pastors in Acts 20 [:18-19], “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility.” Not only did He himself walk in humility and conduct his ministry in humility, but he taught all ministers of the church to walk this way. He wrote to Timothy, “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim 2:24-26). Paul’s humility didn’t mean there wasn’t a vitriolic reaction to his ministry. His detractors caused an uproar—and almost a riot—in Ephesus. Nor does humility mean that pastors must never correct those who oppose their doctrine. Humility means that ministers are patient with their hearers, bearing with them in love so that they, too, may heed the call of the gospel, walk worthy of the gospel, and esteem others above themselves and look out for what is best for others, and thus the entire body of Christ.

This is what our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in today’s gospel as well. Although the Pharisees were generally antagonistic towards Him, Jesus bore with them in love and went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath. Being proud men who trusted that they were righteous in God’s sight because they walked according to the letter of the law of Moses, they watched Him closely, looking for reasons to attack His teaching and humble Him. But Jesus is lowly and gentle with them. A man with dropsy, what we call edema today, is present. He’s retaining water so that, most likely, his legs are swollen with fluid and his joints are stiff, so that it’s painful for him to walk. Knowing how closely the proud Pharisees are watching Him, looking for a way to put Him down and puff themselves up, Jesus asks them, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees’ answer was an emphatic, “No!” In the chapter before this, Luke records how Jesus healed a woman who was bent over and could not stand up straight for eighteen years. He did this in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The ruler of the synagogue was irate that Jesus did this and said, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day” (Lk 13:14). This man had puffed himself up with pride so that he looked down on Jesus and the poor woman. Jesus points out his hypocrisy—and legalism—by asking, “Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound — think of it — for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” (Lk 13:15-16). If the Pharisees loose their animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath, they should have no qualms about Jesus loosing this woman from her infirmity.

Jesus gives a similar answer to his host and the other guests on this particular Sabbath. He heals the man of the edema and lets him go. Then He asks the onlookers, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” No one could answer Him because the answer was “None of us. Each of us would do precisely that for our animals.” Jesus lets the self-condemnation do its work. In their pride, they loved their animals more than their fellow Israelites. They walked unworthily of the calling with which they had been called, esteeming themselves above others and only looking out for their own interests. For although the Lord had commanded that no work be done on the Sabbath, He had also said in Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Not only that, but Sabbath observe would go the way of all the ceremonial law of Moses since the blessings to the Sabbath pointed were arriving in the gospel, while the law of love endures forever.

Jesus then tells His host and fellow guests a parable so that the true teaching of God’s word might be driven deeper into their hearts. He had noticed before the meal each how one chose the best places—the most honorable places at the table—for themselves and tried to put others in their place. This comes as no surprise, for this is the same pride Jesus rebuked by healing the man with dropsy. Jesus sees no lowliness, no gentleness, no bearing with one another in love, no endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the body of peace in their walk. They walked in pride and self-conceit, everyone looking out for their own interests above the interests of others. So He tells them when they’re invited to a wedding feast they shouldn’t seat themselves in the honorable places, because when someone more honorable comes along, they will endure the humiliation of being asked to move to a less honorable seat. Instead, they are to take the lowest place at the wedding feast. Then the host will show them honor by saying, “Friend, go up higher.” Not only will the humble one be raised up to a more honorable seat, but the host will honor him with the title of friend, one whom the host truly loves. If such humility is to be employed at the greatest of feasts, how much more should it be employed for a weekly Sabbath meal?

Jesus’ parable takes us back to where we began. You have been called by the gospel to leave your sins and have them forgiven freely for Jesus’ sake. All who have been baptized have been reborn as children of God, heirs of eternal life, and members of Christ’s body—His Holy Church. Therefore, walk this way: “Worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the body of peace.” Christ would have us esteem others above ourselves. This doesn’t mean we behave as doormats, nor does it mean we allow others to sinfully take advantage of us, for neither of these is loving towards ourselves, our neighbor, or the God who has called us by the gospel. Loving our neighbors as ourselves means we must love ourselves as ones whom God loves because we love His Son. He even calls us “friends” and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6) by faith in Christ. Only by believing this and growing in this belief may we walk worthy of this calling and esteem others more than we esteem ourselves. Paul explains what this looks like in Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Esteem others above ourselves simply means to love others as Christ has loved them—and us—so that we do what is best for them and us. And what is best for our fellow believers is best for us because we belong to the same body. As there is one body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, to look out for what is best for others is to look out for what is best for ourselves. Being called thus, let us walk this way. Amen.

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

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16th Sunday after Trinity
Ephesians 3.13–21 + Luke 7.11–17

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

In the twentieth chapter of Revelation, St. John sees an angel coming down from heaven. The angel lays hold of the dragon—the devil—and binds him for a thousand years. Those who had been martyred—who had lost their lives for the confession of Christ—lived and reigned with Christ during this period of time. But it wasn’t just the martyrs who lived and reigned with Christ. It was all who had taken part in what John calls the first resurrection. He says in Revelation 20:6, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” All who are raised during the first resurrection are immune to the second death—eternal death—for having been raised by Christ, though they die, they live forever, and death has no power over them.

In today’s appointed Scripture lessons, we see the first resurrection and a picture of the second. The thousand years—the millennium reign of Christ and the saints—is not literally a thousand years; just the rest of the numbers in Revelation are not literally but symbolic. It is ten times ten times ten, a number of completeness. The thousand years in which the devil is bound—though not completely powerless—is the age of the church, the New Testament period, the time between Christ’s ascension and the period right before His return in glory. During the New Testament period, the gospel goes forth to all nations, raising men, women, and children from the death of sin to the new life of Christ, which is faith.

St. Paul describes the gospel’s effects as a resurrection from spiritual death in Ephesians 2 [:1-3]. “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” You were dead in trespasses and sin. Everyone is, by nature, born spiritually dead. Born without any fear of God, love of God, or trust in God, mankind walks according to the course of this world, which values everything God hates. The prince of the power of the air—the devil—is at work in the sons of disobedience—all who live lives disobeying God’s commands and obeying the desires of their own flesh and minds. All people are born in spiritual death, which is why all people sin, living selfishly for their own desires, and this spiritual death will culminate in the second death of everlasting punishment.

But Paul goes on. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:4-7). God is rich in mercy. God loves us greatly. And because He is merciful and loving, He has sent His only begotten Son to die for all our sins and rise from the dead so that He might justify all who believe in Him. This is the first resurrection, the resurrection Jesus speaks of in John 5:25 when He says, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”When God the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts in Holy Baptism and faith, He resurrects us to new life. Before baptism and faith, we were spiritually dead. But God makes us alive through faith. Whether St. Paul calls it the New Creation, the New Man, or, as he does in today’s epistle, the inner man, it is the same. God raises us from the death of our sins to new life, which lives and breathes in thanksgiving to the God who has forgiven our sins and even dwells in our hearts by faith, so that we may now live as sons of obedience and conduct ourselves—not in the desires of our sinful flesh—but fulfilling the will of God in our bodies and minds.

But partaking in the first resurrection by baptism and faith means tribulation. For those who have been raised from the death of sin no longer walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. That leads to conflict. Conflict with the world. Conflict with the devil. Conflict with our own flesh. Sometimes the conflict is physical persecution. Sometimes the conflict is being oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (2 Peter 2:7). Sometimes it is the inward conflict of fighting against our flesh, which lusts against the Spirit (Gal 5:17). St. Paul suffered all these, but it was especially physical persecution that led him to write at the beginning of today’s Epistle, “I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.” He did not want them to lose heart and imagine that if he, the apostle who had brought the gospel to them, suffered so much for the sake of the gospel, then how could they endure their conflicts as new men in Christ?

The apostle prays that God the Father would grant them to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. He asks that God would build them up in the first resurrection, that their new natures be strengthened with the Holy Spirit, that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith; that being rooted and grounded in love, they may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depths and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that they may be filled with all the fullness of God. Paul prays God strengthen the inner man—the new man within them—and the only thing that strengthens the inner man is the gospel. The new life of faith—which begins to fear God, to love Him, to trust Him above all things, and to love its neighbor—is nourished and strengthened by the same means Christ used to raise it to life. Contemplating how much God loves them, as well as the knowledge of Christ’s death for their sins because of His unfathomable love for them, is how God strengthens the inner man of faith to endure every conflict with the devil, the world, and their own sinful flesh. This is how the saints live and reign with Christ now during the time of the New Testament. We reign over the sin in our bodies; we overcome every spiritual conflict, not with our own power but by the power of Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. 

This same almighty power by which He has raised us from the death of sin, the same almighty power by which He strengthens us according to the inner man, He will demonstrate on the Last Day when He raises all mankind from the dead. As the young man came back to life at Christ’s word, “Young man, I say to you, arise,” so will all mankind—believing and unbelieving—rise from the dead when the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God (1 Thess 4:16). As Christ gave the young man back to his mother, so on the last day He will reunite resurrected believers with the family of God who, with them, had a share in the first resurrection of baptism and faith. As the widow at Nain rejoiced to have her only son restored to her, so all the resurrected will rejoice to be reunited with one another and with the Triune God Himself in perfect blessedness and joy. For “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power” (Rev 20:6).

To that end, may God grant you, dear saints, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and ground in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with the fullness of God. For He has raised you in baptism, and He raises you every day as you use your baptism to repent of your sins, believe His gospel, and live and reign as the inner man. By this power at work in us, the second death has no power. Amen.

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

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