St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles

St. Peter & St. Paul, Apostles

June 29, 2025

Text: Matt. 16:13-19

            The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul is one of the oldest saints’ days on the Church calendar.  It commemorates the day on which, according to tradition, both Apostles were martyred in Rome.  Same day under Emperor Nero, St. Peter being crucified upside down, St. Paul, beheaded.  That is a powerful thing, the shedding of blood for the confession of Christ… the shedding of blood for the One who shed His blood for our redemption.  The word “martyr,” from the Greek word μάρτυς, literally means “witness.”  St. Peter and St. Paul were martyred for their witness to Jesus Christ, that He is God, the Son of God, who died for the sins of the world, and that He is now risen from the dead, lives, and reigns. 

            The emperor sought to silence them.  But their blood only sealed their ministry this side of the veil.  Behold, they still speak.  This very day, we hear their voices.  Peter, declaring of Jesus that which was revealed to him by the Father, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16; ESV).  Paul, having received the Gospel revelation directly from Jesus, relating the signs and wonders God had done through him and Barnabas among the Gentiles (Acts 15:12).  You can’t actually kill an Apostle.  You can’t actually kill any Christian.  And you certainly can’t silence them.  Because, when you kill them, they just go on living.  And their blood cries out from the ground, a testimony to the One who shed His blood, but lives forevermore. 

            What unlikely candidates they were, though, Peter and Paul.  Right?  Peter, a Galilean fisherman, called, now, to be a fisher of men.  But how often is he shoving his foot in his mouth?  We don’t have it in our text, but right after his great confession of Christ (that confession being the rock upon which Jesus builds His Church), Peter flubs it all up by rebuking Jesus for all this suffering and death talk.  It earns him a rebuke in kind: “Get behind me, Satan!  You are a hindrance to me.  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matt. 16:23).  Or, how about on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter wants to build three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah?  Both Luke and Mark (and Mark was probably recording Peter’s own memoirs) can’t help but commentate that Peter didn’t know what he was talking about (Luke 9:33; Mark 9:6)!  How about the boast, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away… Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you” (Matt. 26:34-35), and, of course, how did that all end up?  Before the cock could crow twice, three times Peter denied his Lord.  And he went out and wept bitterly (v. 75). 

            Good old Peter.  He just can’t win.  He wants to walk on water like Jesus, but when he sees the wind and the waves, he doubts the Lord’s Word, and he sinks, and Jesus has to rescue him (14:29-31) (Boy, if that isn’t enigmatic of what Jesus does for Peter, and for all of us, over and over and over again, I don’t know what is!).  What else?  He wants to verify the empty tomb on Easter morn, but he can’t outrun John, who beats him to the garden (John 20:4).  He wants to see the risen Lord, there, on the shore, but he seems to lose his mind a little, putting on his clothes before jumping in the water, even though the boat is only a little way off (21:7-8).  But Peter loves Jesus.  And Jesus restores Peter.  Three times (one for each denial), “Do you love me?”  And three times, “Feed my lambs… Tend my sheep… Feed my sheep” (vv. 15-19), and a Promise… An odd one, to be sure.  I’ll paraphrase: “You’re gonna stretch out your hands… on the cross!  Just like Me.  You’re gonna be dressed… with the cross!  Just like Me.  You’ll be carried to your death… Just like Me.  And in this way, you’ll glorify God.  Follow Me, Peter.  Follow Me… to the cross!  To death!  And so, to life.”

            And, what about Paul?  Saul, as the Pharisee, and son of Pharisees, was known, according to his Hebrew name?  An up-and-comer among the Jews.  A student of the great Gamaliel.  Standing there, guarding the coats, and approving of Stephen’s stoning (Acts 7:58; 8:1).  Ravaging the Church, entering house after house, dragging off Christians, men and women, to prison (8:3).  On his way to Damascus to do the same, Jesus had to knock him on his keester.  “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?... Who are you, Lord?... I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (9:4-5).  Struck blind for three days (a number I think not insignificant), the Lord restored his sight and baptized him by the hand of a disciple named Ananias (vv. 17-18), so that Paul would now open the eyes of the Gentiles from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that the Gentiles, too, might receive a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus (26:17-18).

            But Paul had his rough edges, to be sure, even after he became a Christian.  Breaking with Barnabas over poor John Mark’s weakness, not wanting to take with them on their missionary journey, one who had abandoned them when the going got rough (Acts 15:38).  So… broken relationships and impatience with the weaker brother.  Then, a contentious argument with Peter.  Now, Peter was in the wrong, to be sure.  He had previously been eating with Gentiles, but when some men from James came along, suddenly Peter withdrew, so that even Barnabas was led astray.  “I opposed him to his face,” Paul says of the confrontation with Peter, “because he stood condemned... I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’” (Gal. 2:11, 14).  In other words, “Why’d you stop eating with them, Peter?  Just to show off for the Judaizers?  Afraid of what they might think of you?”  Well, Paul was right.  But you can be right without being so… right, you know?  So… combative.  Prickly, maybe, is the word to describe Paul.  Rather difficult, sometimes.  You should know that Paul made up with all of the above.  He speaks warmly of Barnabas and Mark in his letters, and Peter mentions the letters of “our beloved brother Paul” in his second epistle (2 Peter 3:15).  Christians have their differences this side of the veil, it is true.  Saints on earth are still sinful, simul iustus et peccator.  But we must always reconcile.  We must always cover over one another’s sins and weaknesses with love, and bear with each other in patience.  As Paul did for the brothers, and the brothers did for Paul. 

            Look what Jesus did, though, in calling Peter… in calling Paul… to be His disciples.  To be His Apostles… arguably the two greatest Apostles.  Paul speaks from experience when he writes to the Corinthians, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Cor. 1:27-31).  Do you see the comfort, here, for you?  If God could use such unlikely candidates as Peter and Paul to be His two great Apostles… who, though dead, are still living… and speaking… preaching!... He can use you.  He didn’t make a mistake when He called you to be His own.  He loves you.  He sent His Son to redeem you by His own blood and death.  You are precious to Him. 

            Yes, even you.  Even though you so often put your foot in your mouth, speaking before you think.  Even though you’d rather bypass the cross, and boast in glory.  Even though, when the going gets tough, you deny your Lord to save your own skin.  Jesus loves you.  Jesus restores you.  And He calls you to follow Him and confess Him.

            Yes, even you.  Even though you’ve done some horrendous things to others.  Even to fellow Christians.  Even though you’ve broken relationships and shut weaker brothers and sisters out of your life.  Insisted on your own way.  Been combative.  Prickly.  Difficult. 

            Even you.  Repent of all that, of course.  Humble yourself.  Apologize.  Confess, to God and to your neighbor.  Be absolved.  Be reconciled.  By the power of Christ’s blood, which covers all sin.  But understand, you belong in God’s Kingdom, not because you deserve it, but because Jesus says so.  And He brings it about by His death and resurrection for you.  The day He said, through His disciple (probably a pastor), “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” He healed you.  He opened your eyes.  He restored you.  “Do you love Me?  Yes, Lord, you know that I love You.”  He called you.  “Follow Me.”  And confess Me.  Confess what My Father has revealed to you.  All the way to death.  For dying, you live.  And confessing, you speak even beyond the grave. 

            It’s a powerful thing, confessing Christ as the Son of the living God, even unto the shedding of blood.  Because God is faithful.  Christ is faithful.  He shed His blood for us.  May He now keep us faithful unto death, like St. Peter, St. Paul, and so to give us the crown of life (Rev. 2:10).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.             

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7C)

June 22, 2025

Text: Luke 8:26-39

            Look what havoc the demons can wreak in a human life.  We see this in the extreme in the case of Gerasene demoniac.  Naked… like Adam in the Garden, shamefully exposed.  Driven from his home… like Adam from the Garden.  Like Cain, who had to flee after murdering his brother, Abel.  Obsessed with death and unclean things… like the forbidden fruit, not unclean in itself, but in the eating of which Adam would know evil (uncleanness), and surely die.  Like the men of Sodom.  Like Pharaoh and the Egyptians.  Like King Saul, consulting the witch of Endor.  Like so many of the wicked kings of Israel and Judah, and those who followed them into demonic idolatry.  Alone.  That’s where it all leaves a person.  Isolated.  Relationships broken with everyone around you.  Relationship broken with God. 

            Now, this man, the Gerasene demoniac, was physically possessed, and by a whole lot of demons.  “Legion,” they called themselves collectively, and who knows how many actually possessed him, but a Roman Legion is between four and five thousand soldiers, so… many!  Physical possession seems to be rare, although, who knows?  Nevertheless, what our Lord is teaching us in this Gospel is the kind of damage demons do in your life, in whatever way they interact with you.  Think of this, first, on a grand cultural scale.  I contend you can actually see this with your own two eyes. 

            Naked.  The shameful mistreatment and misuse of the body… one’s own and one’s neighbor’s… and sexuality.  Pornography.  Sexual perversions.  Chemical and physical mutilations, just to name a few.  It all flies under the banner, “The Sexual Revolution,” the breaking of bonds placed on us for our own good.  Throwing all restraint to the wind.

            Driven from home.  Rejection of God’s design for domestic stability.  Rejection of marriage: one man, one woman, living together in love and fidelity, for life.  Rejection of children.  Rebellion against parents.  All in the name of living for self.  Self-fulfillment.  Self-actualization.  Selfishness is what it really is.  Self-idolatry. 

            Obsessed with death and unclean things.  The elimination of the helpless and vulnerable on both ends of life.  The illusion of control over death.  “Death with dignity,” we call it, though it is anything but.  Meanwhile, suicide is at epidemic levels, as is self-harm.  And, if you’re blessed to be insulated from this, you may not know it, but obsession with occultic things is very popular, and becoming more and more common place.

            And so… Alone.  Isolated.  Broken. 

            Now, I’m not just railing on the evil things other people are doing, out there.  “Those people,” you know.  This battle is raging in your own heart.  You know it.  Examine yourself.  Be honest.  You are a son of Adam, a daughter of Eve, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  Where are you naked?  Driven from home?  Obsessed with death and unclean things?  Alone… isolated by your own sin?  See, you don’t have to be possessed to be harassed by the demonic.  The devil is one of your three main enemies, and he works through the other two, the world and your own sinful nature, to cut you off from God, and from other people.  The goal, really, is your damnation.  Hell.  Billy Joel famously sang (I’m paraphrasing, here), that hell is better than heaven, because the sinners are much more fun than the saints, so he’d rather hang out with the sinners for all eternity.  But in the Bible, hell is not described as hanging out with the rebels.  It is described as isolation.  The outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12).  What did Jesus say when He suffered hell for us on the cross?  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).

            What havoc can the demons wreak in a human life?  Your life?  That.  Okay.  Jesus wants us to know just where we stand if He doesn’t step in.  Death and destruction.  That’s all demons can do.  The pigs, by the way, are an illustration of what the demons, finally, intend to do to human beings… to you.  Unclean beasts, under demonic control, driven to the slaughter, driven into the abyss. 

            But now, look what Jesus does when He steps into the chaos and destruction wrought by the demons.  He has power over them.  Let it not be lost on you that they are answerable to Him.  When He asks a question, they must respond.  “What is your name?” (Luke 8:36; ESV).  “‘Legion,’ for many demons had entered him.”  And they’re afraid of Him.  And for good reason.  They know who He is, and they know what He will do to them in the end.  “I beg you, do not torment me” (v. 28).  He is their judge.  He is the One come to conquer them, and punish them.  And it is He who drives them out.  Remember this, no pastor or priest is an exorcist, properly speaking.  Jesus is the Exorcist.  Jesus alone has power over the demons.  He often uses clergy and other Christians to do His work, but He is the One who does it, and we ought never be under any illusions about that.  The minute we think we have any power over the devil, the old snake has us where he wants us.  Pride, right?  We fall for it all the time. 

            Now, look what happens to the Gerasene man when Jesus steps into the chaos and destruction surrounding him.  How do we find the man?  The demons gone.  Sitting at the feet of Jesus… like Mary, who has chosen the good portion, the one thing necessary, which will not be taken away from her (10:42), the Lord’s Word of Life.  Like Adam, who heard and believed the Word of Promise, the Seed of the Woman, who would crush the serpent’s head.  Like you, sitting here, today, at the feet of Jesus, believing His forgiving, redeeming, life-giving Word.

            Clothed…  No longer naked.  Covered, like Adam and Eve, with animal skins in the Garden.  Like the holy priests of ancient Israel in their splendid robes of holiness.  Like the Bride of Christ.  Like you, baptized into Christ, clothed with Christ, covered in His Sacrifice, and His righteousness.  Shame removed.

            In his right mind… No longer obsessed with death and uncleanness.  No, he’s clean, now.  With the cleanness of Jesus!  And alive!  More alive than he’s ever been.  He’s been given Jesus’ own life.  Like Jairus’ daughter.  Like the son of the widow in Nain.  Like Lazarus, called out of the grave, unbound, and free.  No longer conformed to this world and its demonic influencers, but transformed by the renewal of his mind, in the image of Christ.  Like you, here, now, renewed, enlightened, and enlivened by the Holy Spirit in the holy Word of Christ, and the Sacrament of His body and blood. 

            And so, no longer alone.  No longer isolated.  Restoration.  Healing for the brokenness.  Like you.  Christ is with you.  You are immersed in Him.  He’s in you… in your ears and in your mouth, invading your heart and soul.  God’s own child, beloved of the Father.  Possessed, now, by the Holy Spirit.  Surrounded by a loving Family, the Church, those who hear the Word of God, and do it (Luke 8:21).

            That is the answer, then, to all the havoc the demons can wreak, and have wrought, in your life.  Jesus Christ.  Present for you, in the very midst of the demonic chaos and destruction.  Taking charge.  Casting out, and driving away.  Restoring you.  Forgiving your sins.  Enlivening you.  Surrounding you with His love and care.

            Beloved, don’t give yourself to the things of the demons.  The nakedness of sexual sin and the shameful mistreatment of your body, and the bodies of others.  Rebellion against God’s order in marriage, family, and government.  Obsession with uncleanness and death, which are the things of Satan.  What is your guilt with regard to these things?  Where have the demons gained a foothold?  Don’t hide it any longer.  Come to your pastor for Confession and Absolution, so that Jesus can deal with these things.  Be, instead, in the things of Jesus.  Use the gifts He gives you.  His Word.  Prayer.  Supportive brothers and sisters in the Church.  The Office of the Holy Ministry.  The Supper.

            What will be the result?  You’ll be right where you belong… at the beautiful feet of Jesus, hearing and believing the Good News.  Clothed with Him.  In your right mind, which is the mind of Christ.  Loved.  A place in a New Community… Christ’s Community.  A family… Christ’s Family.  Full of joy and free.

            And then, for as many days as God gives you, you can go and tell, like the Gerasene man.  Go and tell how much God has done for you.  Go and tell how much Jesus has done for you.  That others may be likewise freed.  That is exactly what is needed in this dark and dreary world.  The Word of Christ, that casts out Satan.  The Word of Jesus, the Exorcist.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                           

The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity (C)

June 15, 2025

Text: John 8:48-59

            We confessed the Athanasian Creed this afternoon, and that is good and right on Trinity Sunday, holding forth, as it does, the confession of the Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity, one God, three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… and the Two Natures of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God, the Son of God, became Man, and that this Man is our God, born of the Virgin Mary, to accomplish our salvation.  Profound stuff, the Athanasian Creed.  We should probably bring it out more than once a year.

            But this Trinity Sunday also coincides with a very significant milestone anniversary for what eventually became our Nicene Creed.  This past Thursday commemorated the 1700^th Anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325.  That was also the First Ecumenical Council.  Ecumenical refers to the whole Church throughout the world, sending representatives to meet together as one holy Church of God.  Before this there had been local councils to settle certain disputes and bring unity to the local Churches, but here, all the bishops, as many as possible, were to gather in what is now the city of Iznik in Turkey, Nicaea, or Nikaia in the ancient world.  And do you see why this is important?  This is one case where the whole Christian, catholic, orthodox Church came to agreement.  We consider at least the first seven ecumenical councils, and especially the first four, to be part of our own Lutheran heritage… though, to be sure, the last of them predates Martin Luther and the Reformation by roughly 700 years, AND we evaluate every conciliar decree according to Holy Scripture...  Nevertheless, the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea has a profound impact on this congregation, Sunday after Sunday, as we confess the Nicene Creed.  Well, to be clear, the Creed we actually confess is the modification adopted by the next council in Constantinople in 381, so that the full name of it is the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (aren’t you glad we just call it the Nicene Creed?). 

            Anyway, what was it about?  Why was it written?  The occasion for the council of Nicaea was the trouble stirred up by a contentious priest named Arius.  (Remember this: It is not true doctrine that divides.  False doctrine divides.)  Arianism (as his particular heresy came to be known) denied the full divinity of the Son of God.  Arius said that the Son was not God in the true sense, but only called God honorifically.  (Jehovah’s Witnesses are essentially Arians.)  He called the Son the first of God’s creatures, and insisted that there was a time when the Son was not.  He even wrote hymns about this.  And they caught on.  There was a time when Arianism was more prevalent than orthodox Christianity in the Church. 

            Well, this created division among the Churches in the Roman Empire.  It was a big fight.  And so, as the first Emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine the Great wanted this problem solved.  So he called the council, and even presided over it.  (This is a mixture of Church and state to which we Americans are unaccustomed, to say the least.)  Look how history lined up just right, though, for this council to gather in peace.  It really is a miracle, when you think about it.  Arius and his friends made their case, that the Son is a creature, created in time, not fully God.  (This, by the way, is the council where, according to legend, St. Nicholas punched Arius for his blasphemes… okay, it was a mostly peaceful council!)  The orthodox Christians, including Arius’ bishop, Alexander (who had excommunicated Arius), and Alexander’s deacon, Athanasius (for which the Athanasian Creed is named, though he didn’t write it), made theirs.  Namely, that the Son is fully God, coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Spirit.  One God, Three Persons.  And that, though there was a time when the Man, Jesus, was not, there was never a time when the Son was not.  And, note this… on the basis of Holy Scripture, they made their case.  The orthodox theologians weren’t making up something new.  If they were, we should reject them.  All of the phrases in the Creed are Scriptural.  They were confessing the ancient faith delivered to them by the Apostles and Prophets, and by Christ Himself.

            And, you know, one of the most important passages of Scripture marshalled for their support, was our Holy Gospel from John 8.  The orthodox faith confessed by the Council of Nicaea was that given by Jesus Himself.  What does He say?  (It absolutely confounds the Jews!)  “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58; ESV; emphasis added).  Now, there was no question in anyone’s mind what Jesus meant by that.  “Before Abraham was,” that is to say, eternal…  “I AM,” that is, the Divine Name.  Jesus is pointing to Himself, and saying, “The almighty and eternal God, right here, in the flesh.  I AM God.”  Distinct from the Father.  “It is my Father who glorifies me,” He says (v. 54).  Distinct from the Spirit, too, though we go to other passages for that.  Yet one God.  “I and the Father are one,” He says in John 10 (v. 30).  That the Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant is evidenced in their response… “they picked up stones to throw at him” (8:59), the penalty for blasphemy.  And earlier in John, we read, “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because… he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (5:18).  So, the teaching of Nicaea is simply the teaching of Jesus.

            Oh, Arius had his Scripture passages, too.  You know one of the chief texts?  Our Old Testament reading, Proverbs 8.  Jesus is the Wisdom personified in that text, the One who was there with the Father at Creation.  True enough.  We don’t dispute that.  It’s a beautiful passage, paralleling the great Christmas text of John 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (vv. 1, 3).  But, Arius says, look what else Wisdom says in Proverbs 8: I was “the first of his acts of old.  Ages ago I was set up…  When there were no depths I was brought forth… before the hills, I was brought forth” (vv. 22-25).  Sounds like there was a time when He was not, and then He was.  Now, this is important, in case any of you are tempted to become Arians.  Was there really a time before God had Wisdom?  Was there really at time when God was not wise?  Do you really want to say that?  If Wisdom is the Son, and there was a time before God had the Son, that would be to say there was a time before God had Wisdom.  Nonsense.  Proverbs 8 is not saying that Wisdom, or the Son, was created in time.  Read the text closer.  Proverbs 8 is speaking about the eternal Wisdom of God, the Father’s eternal generation, eternal begetting of His Son, so that there was never a time when the Son was not.  And so, there was never a time when the Father was not wise.  And there was never a time when the Father was not the Father (that’s a good meditation on this Father’s Day).  Remember how you learned this in the Catechism: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.”[1]  Stick with that.  Arius is not a good exegete, not a trustworthy biblical interpreter.  Don’t listen to him. 

            So, here is the wording of the Creed aimed directly at Arius.  You know it, and you say it all the time: Jesus Christ is “the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father”… that last one was ironed out at Constantinople… “by whom all things were made” (LSB 191).  Every time you say that, you’re sticking it to Arius, and standing with the orthodox Fathers of the Church.  More importantly, you’re standing with Jesus and the His Apostles.  You’re standing with all orthodox Christians everywhere, and in all times.  And you’re confessing what Jesus says of Himself: “before Abraham was, I AM!”

            Like Jesus before them, the orthodox Fathers and their heirs suffered for that confession.  There was violence.  There was persecution.  Like Jesus and your Fathers in the faith, you may suffer for it, too.  It really is an audacious act every time you confess the Christian Creed.  People die for this, you know.  You’re probably okay today, but the day may come when it costs you your reputation, your livelihood, your possessions, your home, your freedom, your safety… your life.  “A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).  “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).

            But it’s worth it.  It’s worth it, because this faith and confession are your eternal life.  See, if it was just a creature… even the first and best creature created by God… who became flesh and suffered and died on the cross… even if that creature rose again… so what?  Noble, maybe, but it does you no good, because it doesn’t have the weight of the Almighty and Eternal God behind it.  If a mere creature died for you, your sins are not forgiven, and you are lost.  Jesus had to be a flesh and blood man, to be sure, in order to suffer and die (God can’t do those things, otherwise).  But He had to be true God, the eternal Son of the Father, for that suffering and death to atone for your sins and the sins of the whole world.  Dr. Luther puts it this way: “We Christians should know that if God is not in the scale to give it weight, we, on our side, sink to the ground. I mean it this way: if it cannot be said that God died for us, but only a man, we are lost; but if God’s death and a dead God lie in the balance, His side goes down and ours goes up like a light and empty scale. Yet He can also readily go up again, or leap out of the scale! But He could not sit on the scale unless He became a man like us, so that it could be called God’s dying, God’s martyrdom, God’s blood, and God’s death. For God in His own nature cannot die; but now that God and man are united in one person, it is called God’s death when the man dies who is one substance or one person with God.”[2]

            Dear Christians, God died for you.  Think about that.  God in your flesh.  Very God of very God.  Incarnate by the Holy Spirit.  Born of the Virgin Mary.  Therefore, your sins are forgiven.  You have eternal life.  You confess this every Sunday.  1700 years ago, the Fathers at the Council of Nicaea confessed it.  So, this may be a little unorthodox… or, then again, it is the very definition of orthodoxy… Let’s turn to the Nicene Creed on p. 191 of Lutheran Service Book, or the inside back cover, or just call it to memory by heart, but let’s confess it, this gift that is our Creed…  Ready?  “I believe in one God…” etc.

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

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[1] Catechism quotes from Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986), emphasis added. 

[2] On the Councils and the Church, quoted in the Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration VIII:44, Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, McCain et al., Eds. (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005, 2006) pp. 588-89.

The Day of Pentecost

The Day of Pentecost (C)

The Confirmation of Brandon Nicholas Alexander Yadao Wyatt

June 8, 2025

Text: John 14:23-31

            What is Confirmation?  Our brothers and sisters in the Roman Church call it a Sacrament.  They say that Confirmation more perfectly binds a person to the Church, and imparts a special strength of the Holy Spirit.  That is not our theology, for the simple reason that the rite of Confirmation is not commanded by God in Holy Scripture.  It does not meet our definition of a Sacrament, which is a ceremony instituted by God, God’s Word and command combined with a visible element, imparting the forgiveness of sins.  That definition isn’t new with Lutheranism, by the way.  That is St. Augustine’s definition in the Fifth Century. 

            This is to say that Confirmation is a human rite, a human tradition.  It is a good rite, a good tradition.  But it is neither commanded nor forbidden in Holy Scripture.  What is commanded by God in Scripture is catechesis, the teaching of the faith, Catechism class.  And for Lutherans, as for other Christians, the rite of Confirmation is often the capstone of a particular course of catechesis.  Not a graduation!  We never graduate from Catechism class.  That is a lifelong pursuit.  But the culmination of a special time of catechesis, leading to public confession of the faith and full immersion into the sacramental life of the Church. 

            So, again, what is it?  What is Confirmation?  It is the opportunity for the confirmand (the one being confirmed) to publicly confess his faith, to publicly confess that he believes what he has been taught in catechesis, that he believes what this Church teaches on the basis of Holy Scripture.  He publicly renounces the devil, and all his works, and all his ways.  He publicly adopts the Christian Creed as his own.  He publicly promises, by the grace of God, to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully… that is, to come to Church faithfully… to live according to that Word, and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from this faith and confession… that is, he promises to be a martyr, if necessary.  This is so important, because Jesus says, “whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32-33; NKJV).  Confirmation is not commanded, but the confession of faith, the confession of Jesus that happens in the Confirmation, is commanded.

            And think how important this is for one who was baptized as an infant, whose parents and Godparents made these vows on his behalf (the vows in Confirmation are virtually the same as those made during a Baptism).  Here the confirmand gives his “yes” to these vows with his own mouth. 

            For that matter, think how important this is for one who was baptized as an older child or adult.  In that case, he already had a little catechesis… enough, at least, to understand the basics of the faith and what was happening in Baptism.  And he spoke those vows at his Baptism with his own mouth, but now he has an even fuller understanding of the faith, and what those vows mean, and again, he’s boldly and consciously saying he’d rather die a martyr’s death than renounce this faith and confession. 

            Think how important it is for you to hear that, whether you’re anticipating your own Confirmation, in which case this is preparing you for that day, or if you were confirmed years ago.  Every Confirmation is an opportunity for you to review what you confessed, the vows you made, and commit yourself to that once again. 

            And then, the blessing.  Pastoral hands on the head of the confirmand.  In the Bible, the laying on of hands is always connected with the impartation of spiritual gifts: The healing of a sickness, an ordination into the pastoral office, some kind of consecration (the Confirmation blessing is that), the bestowal of spiritual strength, or some other gift.  Confirmation is not a Sacrament by Augustine’s definition, but Lutherans sometimes go too far the other way, as though Confirmation is nothing at all, other than a rite of passage.  Knock it off, Lutherans.  Christian blessing is not just a pious wish for good stuff to happen, but the actual bestowal of the good stuff, the stuff of God’s Promises in Christ.  Pastors are to give blessings, to be sure, but it’s not just the pastor’s job.  Priests give blessings.  And all of you who are baptized into Christ are God’s priests.  So you should bless.  Say, “God bless you,” to people, and mean it.  And believe that God does just that when you say it… He blesses people!

            So, what is the blessing in Confirmation?  “Brandon, the almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven you all your sins, strengthen you with His grace to life X everlasting” (LSB 273).  And that is what God then does.  Strengthening, in His grace, to life everlasting.  And then a Scripture passage, the very Word of God, that does what it says.  I’ve talked about Confirmation verses before.  If you know your Confirmation verse, memorize it, meditate on it often, and make it a theme verse in your life. 

            And then, prayer.  The prayer of the Church for the confirmand.  Powerful stuff.  Never underestimate it.  The devil wants you to think prayer is useless, but it is, in fact, the mighty gift of God that fends off the hordes of hell, and carries the whole world in God’s preservation and care.  So, think what this does for the confirmand, when the prayers are spoken, and you add your “Amen” to them. 

            What is Confirmation?  It’s a human rite, to be sure.  We don’t have to do it.  But, oh, how good it is to do.  It is wise.  It is helpful.  It is beautiful.  It builds up the body of Christ.

            And what does all this have to do with Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit?  The Spirit gives us faith in Jesus Christ.  It is only by the Spirit, active in His holy Word, and in Holy Baptism, that our confirmand, or any one of us, has faith in Christ, his Savior.  It is only by the Spirit that our confirmand, or any one of us, grows in the faith, and in holy wisdom and understanding.  It is only by the Spirit that our confirmand, or any one of us, can stand before this assembly to make the good confession.  The Spirit, poured out on the Church at Pentecost (and on us in Baptism), gives us to love Jesus, and keep His Word, and become a dwelling place for our gracious Triune God (John 16:23).  The Spirit, the Helper, whom the Father sends in Jesus’ Name, teaches us and brings to our remembrance all that Jesus says to us (v. 26).  The Spirit takes the peace (the Shalom, the wellness, the wholeness) Jesus gives, and makes it our own, so that our hearts need not be troubled or afraid (v. 27).  The “ruler of this world” (v. 30; ESV), the old evil foe, is working his deadly woe, but he can harm us none.  Because he is judged, the deed is done.  He has no power over the Lord who has conquered him by His blood and death.  And so, he has no power over us, whom the Spirit has joined to our crucified and risen Lord.  Sins forgiven.  Life bestowed.  We’ll confess it unto death.  Because we won’t really die.  We live in Christ.  We live by the Spirit.  And we’ll live forever, risen, bodily, because that is the Promise of the Father in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit delivers it, and gives us to believe it and confess it.

            And so, this is not nothing, what Brandon is doing here, today.  Or better, what the Spirit is doing in Brandon today.  And it’s not nothing, what the Spirit has done, and is doing, in you and me.  Confirmation is not nothing.  It is a glorious something.  A miracle wrought by God, that a poor sinner, once lost, but now found, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, is given a mouth to confess Him, even unto death.  When God says, through the Prophet Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17)?… This is it.  This is what is happening here.  It is our participation in Pentecost.  This Scripture is being fulfilled today in your hearing.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.               

Seventh Sunday of Easter

 Seventh Sunday of Easter (C)

June 1, 2025

Text: John 17:20-26

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            Jesus prays for His Church.  Our Holy Gospel this afternoon is a selection from what is often called our Lord’s “High Priestly Prayer,” prayed on the night in which He was betrayed.  Priests pray.  Prayer is one of the important sacrifices a priest offers on behalf of the people.  So, here, our High Priest, Jesus, prays for us.

            He prays that we may all be one, just as He, the Son, is one with the Father.  He is praying for our unity.  Unity of doctrine.  Unity of life.  Unity of love. 

            Division is from the evil one.  The things that divide Christians from one another… and the Holy Christian Church into denominations… are evil.  False doctrines divide us.  It is not true doctrine that divides us.  True doctrine… biblical doctrine… unites us.  Jesus is praying that we be united in believing, teaching, and confessing what God Himself gives us in Holy Scripture to believe, teach, and confess, and that we be protected from everything that is wicked and false. 

            Sin divides us.  Some denominations teach that certain sins are to be tolerated and affirmed.  They do this because they think this tolerance and affirmation will unite us.  But they are mistaken.  This is a lie from the evil one.  Sin always destroys.  It destroys relationships.  It destroys lives.  It destroys unity.  In contrast, God’s Word gives life.  It forgives sins, and imparts wisdom.  It fosters relationships and bestows unity.  Holy lives, lived under God’s mercy in Christ, and according to God’s Word, unite us.  Jesus is praying that God would keep us by His Word and Spirit, so that, as Dr. Luther says, we “lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.”[1]

            Lovelessness divides us.  Manifested as pride, selfishness, or simply despising our neighbor, lovelessness destroys unity.  By definition, it destroys our relationships with one another.  It destroys friendships.  It destroys families.  And it is deadly in the Christian congregation.  The devil delights in this destruction.  But Jesus prays for us.  He prays that the very love with which the Father loves the Son, would be manifest in us, and among us.  To be sure, our Lord would have us hold one another in high esteem, and give of ourselves for the good of one another, even as He has given Himself, His very life into death on the cross, for our good, and for our salvation.  But the love between the Father and the Son is something even more surprising than a feeling or self-sacrificial action.  This love is a Person.  This love is the Holy Spirit. 

            Jesus is praying that the Holy Spirit would be in us, and that, in this way, He Himself (Christ) would be in us.  So that we be swept up into the very life of the Holy Trinity, and into His glory, where there is nothing false or sinful.  Where there is no lovelessness… there could not be, for “God is love” (1 John 4:16; ESV).  Where there is no division… there could not be, for “God is one” (Rom. 3:30). 

            And Jesus doesn’t only pray that we be swept up into this unity, the life of the eternal Trinity.  He effects it.  He makes it so.  How?  By His holy, precious blood.  By His innocent suffering and death.  To atone for our false beliefs, our sin and shame, our pride and selfishness, our lovelessness.  To do them to death on His cross.  In order that our sad divisions cease.  And that we all be one, gathered together by His outstretched arms into the Kingdom of His Father, the Temple of His Spirit, the one, holy, Christian, and apostolic Church. 

            That is, He does it by sacrifice.  Priests sacrifice.  Our High Priest, Jesus, sacrificed Himself on our behalf.  Our unity flows from that sacrifice.  And we receive all the benefits of that sacrifice right here, in words and water, bread and wine. 

            Jesus prays for His Church.  Jesus sacrificed Himself for His Church.  Jesus lives for His Church.  He lives for you. 

            Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.        

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[1] Catechism quotes from Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986).

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sixth Sunday of Easter (C)

May 25, 2025

Text: John 16:23-33

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            As promised, due to the length of Catechism time, I hope to keep this sermon brief.  And so, I’d like to concentrate on these words: “In that day you will ask nothing of me.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.   Until now you have asked nothing in my name.   Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:23-24; ESV).

            “(W)hatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”  On the basis of these words, we have a practice in the Church of concluding most of our collects… the collect is the short prayer in the bulletin that collects the petitions of the congregation into one petition based on the readings from Holy Scripture… we conclude these collects with the words, “through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord,” or some such similar formula.  Likewise, we often append to our prayers at Church, or in our personal prayers, the words, “for Jesus’ sake,” or even more to the point, “in Jesus’ Name.”  It’s a good practice, because it reminds us of this text.

            But what does it mean?  First of all, what it does not mean…  It does not mean that this is some magical formula that, if we remember to say it just right, we’ll get what we want, and if we don’t remember, we shouldn’t expect to receive anything.  We should not reduce this practice to mere superstition.  Nor should we think of these words like dollar bills deposited in a vending machine.  The recitation of these words is not the same thing as remembering to say “please” when you ask somebody for something.  In fact, sometimes we don’t actually say these words at all.  The Lord’s Prayer is given us by Jesus Himself, and so is the most perfect prayer we could pray.  We do pray it in Jesus’ Name, but we don’t conclude with these words.  So, you get the point.  It’s not the words so much as the fact.  Whatever we ask of the Father, whether we say the words or not, we ask only, and always, in the Name of Jesus Christ, His Son.

            And what does it mean to ask, or do, anything, in the name of anybody?  It means to ask in that person’s place.  It means to do a thing with the authority that person has bestowed upon you.  If I cash a check in my wife’s name, it means she has given me the authority to do so by signing it over to me.  We will often send one of our children close at hand to ask, or command, another of our children far away, to do this or that.  They are asking, or commanding, in the name of Dad, with all the authority of Dad behind the commandment or request.  So it is with praying in the Name of Jesus (only in this case, of course, the Son is not commanding His Father).  You are asking in the authority He has bestowed upon you, so that when you ask, He is really the One asking.  And you are asking in His place, which is to say, as the Father’s beloved Son.  Well, you are baptized into Him, after all.  He has given you to be God’s own child, and so He says to you, “When you pray,” then, just like Me, “say: ‘Father’” (Luke 11:12)… Our Father…

            You are asking with Him, with Jesus, the Son.  Or, perhaps better, He is asking with you.  He holds your hand as you come before the Father’s throne.  And you’re asking according to His will, as He reveals it in Holy Scripture.  Well, you have no authority to ask for anything else, anything outside His will.  You can’t ask to sin, for example.  That wouldn’t be asking in Jesus’ Name, because He doesn’t want you to sin.  Just like me cashing a forged check in your name wouldn’t really be cashing it in your name.  This is why, when we know something is God’s will, because Scripture says it, like asking for forgiveness of sins, or eternal life, we don’t say “if it be Your will.”  We already know it is.  But if we’re praying that it doesn’t rain today… or that Safeway has a good sale on ground beef… or that we don’t die today… we do say the words, or at least pray with the understanding, “only if it is Your will.” 

            And this gets to the Promise in our text, a Promise which often confounds us: “whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you”… “Ask, and you will receive”…  That doesn’t mean, “Lord, please give me a million dollars… in Jesus’ Name, amen,” and then I get it.  I can ask that.  And it could happen, if it is God’s will.  But it probably isn’t His will, because it probably wouldn’t be good for me, and God’s will is only and always for our good.  So I want His will to be done, even if, at the time, I don’t really like His will. 

            But here is what He will do.  He will provide for me, all my needs of body and soul, and so much more besides.  And that is really what I’m praying for when I ask for a million dollars.  I pray it better when I use the words of Jesus: “Give us this day our daily bread.”  And that’s also not so selfish, because I pray it for us, and not just for me.  And see, in doing that for me… for us… the Father is really saying “Yes” to my prayer.  It’s just that His “Yes” is infinitely better than my silly, stupid, selfish request.  And I can trust Him on it, because He is my Father, and I am His child.  He will give me what is good.

            And that is really what it means to pray in Jesus’ Name.  To pray as a child of the heavenly Father, trusting that He will do all that is needed, all that is right and good.  For this reason, we should always be motivated to pray.  We should discuss everything with our Father in heaven.  Commend everything to Him.  Ask His help and blessing in everything, knowing that He hears and answers, because that is the Promise.  Every day, everything before you, your concerns, your endeavors, everyone on your mind and heart… discuss it with Him.  Every evening, all that has happened, your successes, your failures, your sins, your ongoing concerns… bring it all before Him.  In Jesus’ Name, which is to say, covered with Christ.  Clothed with Christ.  Immersed in Christ, in the blood that cleanses you from all sin, in His death, in His life.  You in Christ.  Christ in you.  And then relax.  The Father will do it.  That is the Promise.  You will receive what you need, when you need it, as He knows best.  And your joy will be full.

            Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.