Confession of St. Peter

Video of Service

The Confession of St. Peter

January 18, 2026

Text: Mark 8:27-9:1

            “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35; ESV).

            Peter had to die.  There were no two ways about it.  He knew it, and so he wrote, “I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me” (2 Peter 1:13-14; ESV).  Our Lord Jesus Christ made it clear to him, of course, at the end of St. John’s Gospel: “‘when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.’  (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)  And after saying this he said to him, ‘Follow me’” (John 21:18-19).

            Peter had to die.  Because he confessed of Jesus, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29).  Satan doesn’t like that confession.  And, therefore, the world doesn’t like that confession, either.  And frankly, our own sinful flesh doesn’t like that confession, as Peter himself proves in this very episode.  Because that confession means the downfall of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh.  It means that Jesus is King, and Jesus is God, and that God, the Son of God, has come into the flesh to snatch us away from the devil’s kingdom, claim our allegiance over against the unbelieving world, and do Old Adam to death, raising us to new life in Himself. 

            Peter had to die.  Because the Christ Peter follows had to die.  Jesus teaches Peter and the disciples what it means that He is the Christ.  “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again” (v. 31; emphasis added).  He must.  The Greek word (δεῖ) indicates divine necessity.  This is why God sent Him.

            Peter had to die.  Because martyrdom is the ultimate confession.  Martyr means witness.  In Christian terms, it can simply mean the testimony we bear to the Lord Jesus, our confession of faith.  But it has come to mean dying as a consequence of maintaining that confession.  The disciple is called upon to lose his life for Jesus and for the Gospel, and so find it.  And sometimes that means bodily suffering and death.  But there is a Promise attached to that.  Whoever loses his life for Jesus will save it.  The one who is not ashamed… who does not deny Jesus and His Words under threat of persecution, but persists in this confession, no matter the consequences…  of him, Jesus will not be ashamed when He comes into the glory of His Father.  But let us be warned: The opposite is true, as well, as our Lord here explicitly states: “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (v. 38).  Peter was such a one, ashamed of Jesus in the hour of trial, denying Him three times.  Thank God, the Lord looked at Peter (Luke 22:61), and bid His rooster preach a sunrise sermon (v. 60), and so brought Peter back to Himself in repentance (he wept bitterly), and then restoration and faith (Do you love Me, Peter?  Feed My lambs.  Tend My sheep.  Feed My sheep.  Follow Me [John 21:15-19]).

            We see the seeds of this denial already in our text.  After Jesus teaches the disciples that the Christ must suffer and die at the hands of sinners, and for sinners, Peter takes him aside and rebukes Him.  Peter doesn’t want that kind of Christ.  Peter has in mind the things of men… power, might, glory… not the things of God… weakness, suffering, humiliation… the cross…  We know the blistering words this elicits from Jesus.  “Get behind me, Satan!” (Mark 8:33).  It kills Peter to hear it.  But then, that’s right, isn’t it.  Peter has to die. 

            The same is true of you and me.  When we have in mind the things of men, rather than the things of God, Jesus must speak us to death with His Law.  That He may raise us to life… His life… by His Gospel.  When we want a Christ other than the Christ of the cross… a Christ who obliterates His (and our) enemies in a blaze of power, might, and glory, not One who accomplishes His mission in weakness, suffering, and humiliation… Jesus says to us, “Get behind me, Satan!”  It kills us to hear it.  But then, that’s right, isn’t it.  We have to die.

            To ourselves, first of all.  That we may live in Christ alone.  Jesus does that to us in Baptism.  Old Adam, drowned in the water.  New Creation emerging and arising to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.  He does it in Scripture, and preaching.  Law and Gospel.  Repentance and faith.  Daily life, planted in the blest baptismal water.  Possessed by the Spirit.  Nourished by the body and the blood that was given and shed for us on the cross.

            And then, who knows?  We may have to die, bodily, for Jesus’ sake, and for the Gospel.  Well… it’s a scary thought, but then, is it really so bad?  We all have to die, anyway, unless Jesus returns first.  If our death is for Jesus, all the better.  God grant us His Spirit, and courage, that if we are called upon to shed our blood for the One who shed His blood for us, we do so, with confidence and joy, maintaining our confession to the end.  But in any case, we are called to be martyrs, witnesses, confessors, no matter the consequence.  Whether simple rejection (the worst most of us have ever had to suffer), or imprisonment, torture, and execution.  Let it be so.  Beloved… you and I, we have to die.

            Because we confess of Jesus, “You are the Christ.”  Because the Christ we follow had to die.  Following Him necessarily (and divinely so) means our journey to eternal life goes by way of the cross.  So be it.  Deny yourself.  Take it up, the cross Jesus gives.  And follow Him.  In weakness, and suffering, and humiliation.  Because you know where this all ends up.  After three days, He must… (what?)… rise again.  And so you.  He will raise you.  Bodily, in the End.  And eternally.  The only way to that life is the death of Christ.  And your death with Christ, and in Christ.  Your life being, as Paul says, “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

            Peter had to die.  And he did.  First, to himself, in repentance.  And then, quite literally, in fulfillment of the Lord’s Word: He stretched out his hands, and others dressed him, and led him where he did not want to go.  Crucified in Rome, it is believed.  Upside down, believing himself unworthy to die in the same manner as Jesus (thus his symbol is an upside down cross).  This happened, apparently, on the same day Paul was beheaded, both by order of Emperor Nero, who blamed the Christians for the Great Fire in the imperial city.

            Peter died.  But Peter lives.  He joins us, by the way, at the altar, every time we gather, “with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.”  Jesus will raise him up on the Last Day.

            You have died with Christ.  But you live.  In Christ.  And you will die, whether a martyr’s death, or some other way.  But you will live.  Eternally.  Jesus will raise you up on the Last Day.

            Because Jesus died.  But Jesus lives.  He is risen from the dead.  And so, you confess Him, your Savior, your God.  You’ve already lost your life in Him, and so found it (Baptism, faith).  In light of that, what could the devil or the world possibly do to you, that it would be worth giving that up?  Lose your life?  Die?  Okay.  Because Christ is risen, and so, for you who are in Christ, the final word is Life.  You live.  And that, forevermore.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

The Baptism of Our Lord

Video of Service

The Baptism of Our Lord (A)

January 11, 2026

Text: Matt. 3:13-17

            “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15; ESV).

            John would have prevented Jesus from submitting to his Baptism.  John’s Baptism, after all, was for repentance, and Jesus had no sins for which He needed to repent.  True enough.  Jesus, though fully Man, is nevertheless the sinless Son of God.  But here He is in the water with John, and with all the sinners lined up for the bath.  John, for his part, recognizes that he ought to be baptized by Jesus.  John is a sinner, and he knows it.  But here is Jesus, desiring to be baptized, and let it be so now, John, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

            All righteousness does need to be fulfilled, you know, or it is not righteousness.  Any amount of unrighteousness is unrighteousness.  Well, that is our problem.  We cannot fulfill all righteousness.  We cannot fulfill God’s Commandments.  We break them all over the place, and we never really live up to them.  That is already true in terms of outward behavior.  Stealing, adultery, murder, gossip or slander.  Hurting or harming our neighbor in his body.  Hurting or harming our neighbor in his soul.  Something… or several somethings… on that list got you as you heard it.  That is, the Law convicted you.  So, that is bad enough.  But then Jesus goes and points out to us that Commandment keeping isn’t just an outward matter, but a matter of the heart.  And now we’re all nailed by every single one of the Commandments… “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder’… But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matt. 5:21-22).  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (vv. 27-28).  And how about, simply, “You shall not covet” (Ex. 20:17).  See, the heart.  Not just outward behavior.  And whether outward or inward, the sins we commit are really only a symptom of the problem.  We are conceived and born in sin.  Inherited from Adam.  And that is really the problem.  Original sin, we call it.  It is the mortal disease that infects our nature to our very core, and it is that which gives birth to our actual sins of thought, word, and deed.  Before we even have a chance to sin, we are sinners.  See, it is not that we are sinners because we sin.  It is that we sin because we are sinners.  Understand?  Original sin is the disease.  Actual sins are the manifestations of that disease.  Okay, so, we’re unrighteous, as we confessed right off the bat at the beginning of Service.  And, as a result, if there is any hope of fulfilling all righteousness, it can’t come from us.

            And that is the answer to John’s conundrum.  Why would Jesus present Himself to be baptized?  He isn’t doing it for His sake.  He’s doing it for us.  Jesus comes to be baptized into us.  Into our sin and death.  Into our unrighteousness.  Into our breaking of the Commandments and failure to perform them.  Into our fallen flesh.  He soaks it all up into Himself, as He is baptized, there, in the Jordan.

            And He does something else in His Baptism.  He leaves something behind in the water.  What?  Himself.  His righteousness.  His death, and resurrection life.  His keeping and fulfilling of the Commandments.  His new, pure, and sinless flesh.  Why?  So that John’s Baptism of repentance may give way to the fulness of Christian Baptism when our Lord rises again.  So that ever after, we may be baptized into Christ.  And all that is His becomes ours, even as He takes up all that is ours, and bears it to the cross, to bleed all over it and die for it. 

            The Great Exchange, or Happy Exchange, as it is sometimes called.  The Sweet Swap.  St. Paul defines it this way in 2^nd Corinthians: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).  And in Romans: “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3-4).  And in Galatians: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13).  Again, see… He takes what is ours, and gives us what is His.

            The exchange takes place in the water.  There, we are clothed in Christ, the Sacrifice for our sins, and He is clothed… or better, unclothed… in us; like Adam and Eve in the Garden, in the shame and nakedness of our guilt.  “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27).  Clothed.  “And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak,” unclothed, “and put his own clothes on him,” clothed with our sin… “And they led him out to crucify him” (Mark 15:20).  He dies our death.  We live His life.  “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).  The Great Exchange.

            So… one with Christ in the water.  That means all His perfect keeping of the Law is credited to us.  We heard last week about our Lord’s keeping of the first three Commandments by being in the Father’s House, about the things of His Father, and His keeping of the Fourth Commandment as He goes back to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph and submits to them (Luke 2:41-52).  He did that for us, in our place, so that where we have not kept those Commandments, He has, and He gives His keeping of those Commandments to us as a gift.  Again, it happens in Baptism.  His righteousness is our righteousness.  And then the guilt of our not keeping those Commandments, He takes upon Himself, to be punished and put to death on the cross.  There are a couple theological terms that are helpful to learn in this regard.  We call our Lord’s keeping of the Commandments in our place, His active righteousness.  He perfectly fulfills the Father’s will in His earthly life, in thought, word, and deed, and He gives us the credit for it.  Then, we call our Lord’s suffering the punishment for our sins, in our place, His passive righteousness.  Passive, not because He isn’t doing anything, but according to the meaning of the Latin root, passivus, meaning to suffer or endure.  He is baptized into us to be able to do that for us.  We are baptized into Him to receive it.  And in this way, all righteousness is fulfilled. 

            What else happens in the water?  The things that happen visibly and audibly to Jesus in His Baptism, happen invisibly, but still audibly in the rite and in the preaching, to us.  That is to say, there is Jesus in the water, to receive us into Himself.  And heaven is opened.  And there is the Spirit descending and coming to rest on us, to enkindle faith in us and fan it into flame, to guide us into all truth, sanctify us, and keep us in Christ.  And there is the voice of the Father, declaring of Jesus, and therefore of you in Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).  That is justification language.  God is well pleased with us, because all righteousness is fulfilled in Christ.  All of it.  And then, all of it, given to us.  As a gift.  By grace.  Understand this, because this is the heart and center of the Christian faith: Now that you are in Christ, when God looks at you, He sees perfect righteousness.  It is a righteousness from outside of you.  It is the righteousness of His Son.  Jesus takes away your sins.  He gives you His righteousness in exchange.  That is the reality of your Baptism into Him. 

            So, first thing when you arise in the morning beloved, and last thing before you go to sleep at night, you can make the sign of the holy cross (as Dr. Luther recommends), and invoke the blessed Name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  And you can remember that you are a beloved, blood-bought child of God, united to the death and resurrection of Christ, immersed in His Holy Spirit.  And, therefore, all your sins are forgiven, and all righteousness is fulfilled for you.  And you can live, and die, and live forever in that reality.  Let it be so now.  It is.  Because Jesus is in the water with you.  For you.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.     

 

Second Sunday after Christmas

Video of Service

Second Sunday after Christmas (A)

January 4, 2026

Text: Luke 2:40-52

            When you are looking for Jesus, where do you expect to find Him?

            Mary and Joseph should have known.  Where else would He be?  Did they not remember the Promises given them concerning Him?  The preaching of the Angel Gabriel?  The shepherds?  The wise men?  Simeon and Anna?  The Hebrew Scriptures of which their Boy is the fulfillment?  But where did they look when they thought they’d lost Him?  For three long days, everywhere but where they should have known Him to be.  “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49; ESV).  The place of teaching?  The place of prayer?  The place of sacrifice for sins, and communion with God?

            They knew.  But they did not know.  Like us.  Why do we forget?  Why are we so easily deceived?  Well, we know.  It is Old Adam in us.  Ever susceptible to the devil’s tricks, and the world’s siren songs.  And, of course, sufficient in and of ourselves, to deceive ourselves by our own fallen, sinful passions.  So that, when we become aware of our great need for Jesus, for salvation, for a Savior… we look in all the wrong places.  In ourselves.  In our own heart, our own mind.  To our own scruples, our own righteousness.  To escape.  Amusement.  Pleasure.  Retail therapy.  Food.  Sex.  Substance abuse.  The list could go on and on.  And we know this, but insanely, we keep trying the same things over and over again, with the same results.  Ask yourself once again, whatever your substitute Jesus may be… does it ever work?  Do you ever find fulfillment and meaning and life and salvation in those things?

            When you need Jesus, you know just where to find Him.  He’s told you.  It’s no secret.  “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  Well, “house,” yes.  That is a good word in this text.  This is, after all, the Temple, the House of God, where Mary and Joseph find Jesus after three days of frantic searching.  God’s gifts are located.  They are not ambiguous or ethereal, indefinable somethings that come to you mystically by immersion in some kind of spiritual atmosphere.  God gives His gifts audibly and tangibly in a concrete location.  So, “I must be in my Father’s house.”  In the Old Testament, we think of the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple.  In the New Testament, we think of the Church.  When you are looking for Jesus, you come to His House.  You come to Church.  And you always need Him, so, beloved, always come to Church.

            But it’s not just a matter of being in the building.  And I think we have a clue to that in the Greek of this verse, which actually doesn’t say the word, “house.”  Literally, the verse says, “Did you not know that I must be in the things of My Father?”  And what are the things of Jesus’ Father?  There is Jesus, sitting in the midst of the Teachers… The Teachers of what?  The Torah, the Word… listening to them, and teaching them by asking and answering questions.  Jesus is embedded in His Word.  The things of His Father are the things of His Word, the things by which God imparts His Spirit, and salvation, and Christ Himself.  In other words, this is a Means of Grace text.  Jesus is talking about His Word and Sacraments.  When you are looking for Jesus… when you need Jesus… you will always find Him in Baptism, Scripture, preaching, and Supper.  That is where you should expect to find Him.  And you always will.  You will always find Him speaking your sins forgiven, speaking Himself and His life and His strength and His Spirit into you, immersing you in Himself and His cleansing blood, feeding you with His very body, His very blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  Don’t go looking all over the place for Jesus.  Look for Him here, in His Father’s House, in the things of His Father.

            But then, there is a second question to which we are directed in this text.  When you are looking for Jesus, what kind of Jesus are you expecting to find?

            Again, Mary and Joseph should have known.  But they were looking for the wrong kind of Jesus.  In spite of all the Promises.  In spite of the angel, and the shepherds, and the wise men.  In spite of Simeon and Anna, and the Hebrew Scriptures.  Mary and Joseph were looking for a merely human Child.  A good Boy.  A Gift of God.  But your typical twelve-year-old, who gets distracted, maybe misses some of His parents’ instructions (“be here at this time with all your things packed so we can get on the road”), and who maybe even gets ideas of His own, and takes risks that He shouldn’t, thinking He can handle it.  That is why they look all over the city.  Where are some of Jesus’ favorite places?  Where are the curiosities?  Where might a twelve-year-old Boy find Himself after sneaking away from His parents?  Three days, it takes them.  Finally, to look in the place they should have known all along.  Because they forgot who they were looking for.  In their mind, they were looking for Joseph’s Son (“your father and I have been looking for you in great distress” [v. 48]).  But see, had they been looking for the Son of God and Sacrifice for the sins of the world, there would have been only one place to look for Him.  The Father’s House.  Where the Sacrifices are made.  In the things of the Father. 

            Because we are fallen people, we often find ourselves looking for the wrong Jesus, too.  Perhaps a merely human Jesus.  A good Man.  A teacher of wisdom and morals.  And example of how to live your best life (hard to reconcile that with the cross, though).  Or, maybe we want a purely spiritual Jesus who just comes into our hearts and gives us the warm fuzzies.  Perhaps we are looking for a Jesus who will confirm our own preferences and opinions.  Perhaps a political Jesus, who set the governments of this world straight.  We are all often looking for a Jesus who just wants us to be happy.  Who just wants us to feel good about ourselves.  And so we say things like, “My Jesus would never…” say or do whatever the Bible says He says or does that we don’t like.  Or, “The Jesus I worship would…” do or say the things we want Him to do or say.  But that Jesus isn’t the right One, beloved… the true One, the One from God, and who is God.  That Jesus is an idol of your own making. 

            But it often happens, thank God (and has happened among us, because we are here today), that after hours, or days, or even years of searching for the wrong Jesus, and in all the wrong places, and in great distress… by God’s grace, we stumble into the place, and before the Jesus, where and whom we should have known all along.  That is, we meet the incarnate Son of God in the things of His Father, the Word and Sacraments, preached and distributed here in the Father’s House.  That is a gift of the Holy Spirit, beloved.  Do not despise it.  Receive it, and rejoice in it.

            Know this about yourself.  This side of heaven and the full and final death of Old Adam, you will always be prone to looking for the wrong Jesus in all the wrong places.  So, watch for that, and repent of it whenever it happens.  That is, stop that false searching in its tracks.  And listen again to the Promises, and return where you know you will always find Jesus for you.  Here.  In the things of the Father. 

            This is the Jesus who became flesh to die for your sins.  For three days, we disciples thought we’d lost Him, didn’t we?  Crucified, dead, and buried.  But then what?  Looking in the wrong place… the tomb… we heard the preaching of the angel.  He is no longer dead.  He is risen.  And when He speaks His Word, your heart will burn within you.  And you will recognize Him in the Breaking of the Bread.  That is to say, in the things of the Father (the Gospel)… there, we find the Son of God in risen and living human flesh and blood.  He is always in the Word.  The audible, tangible, located Word. 

            All of which is to say, beloved: You’ve come to the right place.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                      

First Sunday after Christmas

Video of Service

First Sunday after Christmas/ The Holy Innocents, Martyrs

December 28, 2025

Text: Matt. 2:13-23

            Merry Christmas! 

            Though, our Holy Gospel doesn’t seem very Christmassy, does it?  The whole thing is covered in blood!  The blood of babies, no less.

            The little Lord Jesus is marked for death from the very beginning.  The devil hates Him.  And hates all babies because of Him.  Those held captive by the devil, including the princes of this world, hate Him, too.  And so, they hate babies because of Him.  They hate Him because they know that unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given (Is. 9:6).  They know that, in the fullness of time, “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5; ESV).  They know they were robbed of a kingdom by the Seed of the Woman, who crushes the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15).  Thus the war on babies, and marriage, and families, and sex.  And life.  And the Lord.  And His Church. 

            And so, the baby boys of Bethlehem shed their blood.  The Holy Innocents, we call them, cut down at such a tender age.  They are victims, but they are more than that.  They are martyrs.  They shed their blood for Jesus.  And they are prophets.  They foreshadow the blood of Another.  Jesus escapes to Egypt, for now.  But He will not always.  This is why He has come.  He was born with flesh and blood for this very purpose.  To give that flesh, and shed that blood, for these dear boys, and for us all.  To snatch us out of Satan’s claws, and death’s dread jaws.  Yes, even those precious little boys.  To live with Him in His Kingdom.  And that means resurrection and eternal life.  So… Satan and his henchmen have been after babies, and after all of us, ever since. 

            It doesn’t seem very Christmassy.  But it reminds me of the Christmas story as told by St. John.  Now, you are more familiar with Luke’s, and even Matthew’s, telling.  And, true, you know John’s theology of the Incarnation as we read it Christmas Day, that “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).  Wonderful.  But I am talking about the Christmas story as John tells it in the Book of Revelation.  Do you remember?  I’m sure you do.  But just in case, here it is again.

            A “great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.  She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.  And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.  His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.  And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.  She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days” (Rev. 12:1-6).

            Wouldn’t that make a great Christmas pageant?  Maybe next year.  Who is the woman, clothed with the sun, with the moon as her footstool, and a crown of twelve stars?  Mary, of course.  Who else?  Well… God’s Old Testament people, Israel.  And above all, dear Mother Church.  And whether Mary, or Israel, or the Church, understand, this glory is not inherent in her, but has been given to her.  Bestowed on her, by God, by grace.  The twelve stars are the twelve Apostles, the Twelve new Patriarchs.  And, of course, we know who the Male Child is, to whom Mary, Israel, the Church gives birth.  He is our Lord Jesus.  See?  Christmas. 

            Ah, but who is the great, red dragon?  We know that, too.  The serpent.  The devil.  Who else could it be?  And there he is, dressed up to look like a mighty god.  Seven heads.  False wisdom.  Ten horns.  Strength, but far inferior to the strength of the one true God.  On his heads, seven diadems.  As though he were the rightful king.  He does have a following, though, doesn’t he?  A third of the stars of heaven, swept down and cast upon the earth.  The fallen angels.  The demons. 

            What is he doing?  This is where the account reflects our holy Gospel.  He is standing before the woman, waiting for her to give birth, so that he can devour her Child.  Now, the story moves quickly, but it is worth pausing here, and reflecting.  Is he successful?  Well, yes and no.  Yes, because… what, in fact, happens to the Child?  The dragon catches Him in his steely teeth.  The serpent crushes His heel.  The cross.  Right? 

            Okay, please grant me a little Christmas indulgence as I detour to a story within a story within a story, but… this is Aslan and the Stone Table in Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, right?  Do you remember it?  Have you read it?  If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?  The white witch (the devil figure) demands of Aslan (the Christ figure) the sacrifice of his life on the Stone Table, if he is to make atonement for Edmund’s sin of betrayal.  And the lion does it.  He willingly gives himself as sacrifice.  He submits to the ropes and taunts and swords of the witch and her wicked hordes.  They torment him.  They humiliate him.  The shave him of his glorious mane.  And then, with a cackle, the witch plunges the blade in a mortal blow. 

            She think’s she’s won.  There is great celebration among her hellish beasts.  But what happens?  (Spoiler alert!)  After a short and very sad time, all at once, the children hear a great cracking, a deafening noise.  It is the Stone Table, broken in half!  And then, what do they see, but him!  Well, they hear him first, speaking to them.  Just like us and Jesus.  See, He is risen from the dead.  And then, a romp.  And a mighty roar!  And the rescue of all Narnia, and the utter defeat of the white witch and her minions.

            The dragon thought he’d won, devouring the Child, and now he’d make short work of the woman and her children (believers, us).  But what happened?  (Spoiler alert!)  A great cracking.  The crushing of the serpent’s head.  Death itself, broken in half.  The stone rolled away from the tomb.  And then, they see Him.  The women.  And the Apostles.  And we will, too.  Though, first, we’ll hear Him speaking to us, as we do this day.  See, He is risen from the dead.  And ascended to the right hand of God, to rescue, and to rule.  The story in Revelation sums it all up with the words, “her child was caught up to God and to his throne” (v. 5).  And as for the woman (here, particularly, the Church)?  Given a safe place in the wilderness, prepared for her by God (v. 6).  Now, it is the wilderness.  That is, there is danger and suffering and want to be endured.  It is the wilderness of life in this world, this side of the veil.  But God keeps us.  And nourishes us.  Throughout the whole time appointed, represented by the 1,260 days.  Don’t take that number literally, by the way.  It is only meant to teach us that the time is short, that the days of grief are limited. 

            The Male Child is coming back soon.  The Day is known to God.  But in the meantime, there is blood to be shed for the Kingdom, martyrdom to be borne.  And it has everything to do with Christmas.  The whole thing is covered in blood.  Bethlehem’s boys are the first, and they are prophets.  But they are not the last.  Their blood proclaims the death of Christ for us, and the bloody witness of those yet to come.  Stephen next takes up the task (his Feast Day was Friday).  Then James.  Then the Apostles.  Then countless Christians, to this very day, shedding their blood for the Savior who shed His blood for them.  We don’t know… perhaps some of us will be in that number.  God grant us, in the moment of decision, to be ready.  And willing. 

            And we can be ready and willing, because, though the dragon did, in a sense, get the Child… he lost Him!  And lost us, in Him.  It is true, the wages of sin is death.  But there is a deeper Truth… a Truth the devil cannot comprehend.  In Christ, born of Mary, death is now the portal to Life!  Jesus died, but He is risen.  The dragon may kill us, but he cannot keep us.  Because we are in Christ, who lives.  And rules.  And romps.  And roars.  The eternal Gospel roars forth from His mouth, and the mouths of His martyrs and confessors… you. 

            Not very Christmassy, the slaughter of Bethlehem’s boys?  Oh, quite the contrary.  The Christmas surprise is that they live, because Jesus lives.  And so do we.  Let the world and its prince rage and hate.  They can slay our bodies, but they cannot take our Life.  And so, merry Christmas!  Merry Christmas, indeed!  Jesus has come, and we are sons of God.  Rachel is comforted.  The devil be damned.  The blood of the babies preaches the blood of the Baby.  He was born to die your death.  He was born that you might live.  Rejoice this day, dear Christian friends.  Christ, the Lord, is born for you.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                        

Christmas Day

Video of Service

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day

December 25, 2025

Text: John 1:1-18

            “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14; ESV).

            The Word.  That is our Lord’s divine nature.  He is God, the Son of God.  In the beginning, He was with God, and was God, and is God, ever shall be God.  Begotten of the Father from all eternity.  He is the Speaking Forth of God, the And God Said, and so it was.  In fact, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (v. 3).  The Word.  In Greek, Logos.  He is God’s Logic, His Reason.  That is, this Son, this Word of our Father, is the Designer of the design that is the wonder of this created universe.  Next time you marvel at a sunset, or behold a towering and majestic mountain, or stand before the crashing waves of the sea, give thanks to God the Word.  That is His work.  That is the Father’s work through Him.  And if ever you consider the sublime complexities of creation’s mechanics and structure, of some particular life form, of a living cell, or an atom… that is the fingerprint of the Word, the Son.  He created the world (Heb. 1:2).  And He upholds the universe by the Word of His power (v. 3).  God’s Speaking Forth (again, the Son) holds everything together.  And He reveals the Father.  “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (v. 3).  If you know the Son, you know the Father.  “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (John 14:8).  “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me…?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (v. 9).  And so, He is the Light.  He shines the radiance of God wherever the darkness overtakes us.  Upon our sins, to eradicate them.  Upon the demons, so that they flee.  Upon the grave, so it must give us up.  Into every fallen corner of creation.  “Far as the curse is found,” as we sing (LSB 387:3).  He is the Light of men, the Light the Spirit turns on for us, and therefore our true Life (John 1:4).  And that “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not,” and cannot, “overcome it” (v. 5).  The Word, God, the Son of God.

            Became flesh.  That is our Lord’s human nature.  The Incarnation, a God with body and blood.  That is the miracle of Christmas.  Or, actually, nine months before that, at the Annunciation, when our Lord was conceived in the womb of Mary (cf. Luke 1:26-38).  But Christmas is His birth.  And don’t let the familiarity of that stifle your wonder.  The birth of a baby is always precious, and wondrous.  We heard the story of this birth again last night, and knelt with shepherds and beasts before the bundle of joy in the feeding trough.  This birth, though, is different than other births.  More precious.  More wonderful.  I’m sure, as they held Him, like other parents, Mary and Joseph counted… ten fingers, ten toes. His tiny hands and beautiful little feet.  But these have a purpose infinitely beyond your average newborn’s.  Or any newborn’s.  Those little hands will grow to clasp piercing nail and wood.  Those beautiful feet, to be marred by serpent’s fang and iron spike.  How about that sacred little head?  Formed to sweat drops of blood in a garden, and be crowned with thorns.  Thorns and thistles.  That was the curse in another Garden, was it not (Gen. 3:18)?  And, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (v. 19).  Well, by the sweat of His face, we shall eat the Bread of Life. 

            Imagine the holy parents, tracing the spine of their newborn Babe, not knowing… not even beginning to imagine… that this back is given to be torn by whip and scourge.  His mother listening to the beat of His tiny heart, blissfully unaware that that heart will be stilled by the fire of God’s wrath.  That little rib cage, filling with breath, exhaling with infant coos and cries… to be torn by Roman spear.  So that out pours blood and water.  Making all things new.  A New Adam, birthing a New Eve from His riven side.  Filling font and chalice.  Sanctifying for Himself, a Bride, the Church.  Washing her by water and the Word, the living water flowing forth from His belly.  That He might present her to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing… holy, and without blemish (Eph. 5:25-27). 

            As Mary cradled Him in her arms, she probably wondered, as mothers do, “Will He ever be married?”  Well, we know the answer to that.  Yes!  To His people.  His redeemed.  To us.  The Word became flesh, why?  To dwell among us.  To make His home with us.  (In both His natures, by the way, divine and human.  You can’t separate them, now, since His Incarnation.)  As a Bridegroom with His Bride.  To pitch His tent among us.  To Tabernacle with us.  To be, in the fullest sense of the word, our Immanuel, our God-with-Us.  He does it by virtue of His death on the cross.  He was born for that.  But not only for that.  Not only for death.  For life.  With us.  For resurrection.  Those ten fingers, ten toes, pulsing with life once again, and on the move for our salvation.  Hands and feet bearing His wounds as trophies of our redemption.  Crown of thorns exchanged for a crown of glory.  His riven side, still birthing and nourishing children for God.  You and me, and all believers in Christ.  He was born for that. 

            Now, we are often deceived into thinking we must wait for heaven, or for the resurrection on the Last Day, to experience His dwelling with us.  But then, we’ve been catechized better than that.  You know that every time you make the sign of the cross, or dip your fingers into the water of the font… every time you wake up in the morning and remember your Baptism into Christ… every time you hear the living voice of the Word made flesh in the proclamation of the Gospel… every time you kneel before this feeding trough to eat the Bread of Life, and drink His cleansing and healing blood… you know that that is Christmas!  Because that is the Word, God’s Son, in the flesh born of Mary, dwelling with you.  And so, you see His glory.  By faith now, and one day soon, with your own eyes.  Glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).  You receive of His fullness, gift upon gift, grace upon grace upon grace upon grace (v. 16).  And you know and see a grace and truth beyond imagination: Jesus’ Father is your Father.  You are His beloved child.  God, the only God, who is at the Father’s side (and that is to say, the Son), has made Him known to you.  And so, you know what so many in our world do not know.  All the rejoicing, and singing, and feasting… all the giving and receiving… all the joy of this day… comes from this, the Christmas Gospel: The Word became flesh, and He dwells among us.  Christ is born for you.  Merry Christmas!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                   

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Eve

Video of Service

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Eve

December 24, 2025

Text: Luke 2:1-20

            When the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, oppressed, weighed down, sighing and crying to God above, Moses reports that “God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abrham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the people of Israel—and” then, simply – and beautifully – “God knew” (Ex. 2:24-25; ESV; emphasis added). 

            When all the earth was enslaved by sin, by death and the devil, oppressed, weighed down, sighing and crying to God above… when you, yourself, who know the tyranny of the ponderous chains of your own making, oppressed by guilt, weighed down by shame… when you sigh and cry to God above over the grief and fallenness and brokenness of it all… well… the same is true for you, is it not?  That is the Good News we hear this night. 

            God hears your groaning.  He remembers His Covenant with you and all the earth.  God sees.  And then, simply – and beautifully – God knows.  And so, He comes.  In the fulness of time, God sent His Son.  Born of woman.  Born under the Law, to redeem those under the Law.  That we might receive adoption as sons (Gal. 4:4-5)… daughters and sons, children of God.  “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11; KJV).

            Beloved, take great comfort in this.  God knows.  He knows you.  He knows everything about you.  Everything you are.  Everything you’ve done.  Everything done to you.  Everywhere you’ve been.  Your sins.  Your fears.  Your heartbreak.  Your tears.  He knows, and He comes.  For all of that.  For you.

            He knows what it is to suffer under tyranny.  A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed (v. 1).  He knows poverty.  He knows hardship.  He knows what it is to be left out in the cold.  She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn (v. 7).

            He knows, because God is born of Mary in our flesh and blood.  Clothed in us, to be God-with-Us, our Lord, Emmanuel.  He knows what it is to be a Baby, a Child.  To develop in the womb, and pass through the birth canal.  Mary’s God, nursing at her breast.  Incredible!  He fills His diaper, like any other infant (God does that.  Just think of it!).  He spits up, and He has to be burped (God has to be burped!).  In spite of the carol, I am certain He cries.  Because we cry.  And He grows, with all the attendant pains.  And He suffers sickness.  He learns to walk.  He learns to talk, though He is the Word of God made flesh.  He skins His knees.  He cries for His mother in the darkness of night.  Other kids make fun of Him, and probably bully Him.  The Bible doesn’t say that part, but we know that He knows.

            The hormones and changes of a teen-aged boy.  The thorns and thistles of learning a trade.  The carpenter’s Son, He knows hard work.  He knows disappointment.  And He knows about grief.  Let’s not forget… At some point, He buried St. Joseph, His dad.  He ached at the sorrow of His dear mother.  He wept at the tomb of Lazarus, His friend.  He knows the burning of bitter tears.  Just like you.  He knows.  He knows. 

            He knows hunger.  He knows thirst.  He knows the betrayal of a trusted friend.  He knows how weariness can overcome a man.  And anger over injustice.  And displeasure.  And distress.

            He knows what it is to be targeted for death.  His whole life, He is pursued by the rulers of this world: Herod, the Chief Priests, the Scribes, and bloodthirsty masses.  The devil.  Satan thought that he could kill God.  And as it happens, that is precisely what he did. 

            But see… It was not enough for Jesus to be tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, as the writer to the Hebrews preaches (4:15).  Knowing what He knows, He would know it all the way.  The worst we could do to Him, that death and hell could throw at him.  The old snake must have cackled, sinking fang into that sacred heel, while the soldiers drove the nails, and gambled for His garments.  Naked, He hangs, bridging heaven and earth, while bystanders point, and laugh, and scoff. 

            What nobody sees, except for a thief, and a Roman centurion, when all is said and done, is that this is all according to plan.  Jesus knew it all along.  He came for this, made man, our flesh.  To suffer, to die, in the cosmic battle.  The battle for you, for your rescue and release.  The answer to your groaning, your crying and sighing, is lying in a manger, and hanging on a cross.  Jesus is born, your Paschal Lamb.  It is His blood that marks your door, so that Death passes over.  He leads you in Exodus, from oppression and slavery, to liberty and life-eternal with Him.  Through the Red Sea waters of your Baptism into Him.  Pharaoh is drowned.  The serpent’s head is crushed.  He knows, and He leads you.  In the wilderness of this world.  In sorrow and in joy.  In weariness and wonder.  In rest and refreshment.  In labor and love.  He knows it all, the full range of human experience.  And He knows you.  Knows you complete.  And He loves you.  And lives for you.  And He calls you His own. 

            But so also, Jesus knows what we do not know.  He knows what it is to be raised from the dead.  That we may know it one Day, very soon.  He knows what He is doing to bring you over Jordan.  To give you a place in His Promised Land.  New Creation.  New heavens.  New earth.  New life.  A glorious inheritance.  He knows.  He knows.

            That you may know, the Lord has given you a sign: You will find Him, right where He has promised to be for you: Wrapped up in the swaddling clothes of the Scriptures, and laid upon the altar under bread and wine.  Releasing you from bondage.  Forgiving your sins.  Assuaging your sorrows.  Wiping away your tears.  Jesus Christ.  God in human flesh.  He knows.  So He comes.  And here He is, beloved.  Here He is.  For you.

            “O holy child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today.  We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel!” (LSB 361:4).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.