The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity (B)

May 26, 2024

Text: John 3:1-17

            The Father is God.  In the beginning, it was He who created the heavens and the earth, all that is.  In the beginning, He spoke… spoke into existence, ex nihilo, out of nothing.  He spoke forth light into darkness, life into no-life.  He formed and filled what was formless and void.  And He still preserves it, all that He has created.  He still takes care of it.  And you.  He formed you, knit you together in your mother’s womb.  He fills you.  He preserves you, and cares for you.  He is the Source of all that is good.  And He loves His creation, loves you.  He is the God who so loves the world… loves it, that is, in this manner… that He sent His Son, the Beloved, His only-begotten, into the world, to redeem it, redeem us, from all that has gone wrong as a result of our sin; to raise us up out of our fallenness and death; to deliver us from the power of the devil, and from hell itself.  He sends His Spirit to take possession of us; to restore us through Jesus Christ, the Son; restore us to the Father, and make each one of us a child of God, that we may pray to Him as our Father who art in heaven, and take our place in His House, and in His Kingdom.

            The Son is God.  Eternally begotten of the Father, and of one substance with Him.  He is the eternal Word, the speaking of the Father in the beginning, bringing forth what was not.  By Him all things were made.  He is the true Light that enlightens every man.  He is the Life of the world.  And He is the Form, the Image of the invisible God, according to which man was made.  It is He who walked with our parents in the Garden in the cool of the day.  It is He who appeared to the patriarchs in days of old, the Angel of the LORD.  He is the Word of the LORD who came to the prophets.  And in the fulness of time, at just the right time, the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us, the true Tabernacle and Temple of God.  The eternal Son of God was born in time… of a woman, a daughter of Eve, a daughter of Israel, the Virgin Mary.  Flesh of our flesh, now.  Bone of our bone.  The Incarnation.  The Nativity.  God loved the world in this manner, that He gave His only-begotten Son.  To be with us (Emmanuel).  To be one of us.  To take our sin and death upon Himself.  To be our Sacrifice of Atonement.  Crucified, dead and buried.  And on the Third Day to rise.  To be our righteousness, our justification.  To be our life, having defeated death forever.  To live.  To reign.  To ascend on High, seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.  Not only according to His divine nature, which never stopped reigning.  But in our flesh.  Our brother reigns as God.  For us, and for our salvation.  And that, not far away.  Near.  Intimately so.  Hidden, but present.  Bodily.  In words and water, bread and wine.

            The Holy Spirit is God.  Proceeding from the Father and the Son.  Brooding over the waters of creation… over the waters of baptismal New Creation.  Blowing where He will.  You hear His sound (the Preaching, the Scriptures!), but you know not where He comes from, or where He is going.  Except that He will always be where Christ is breathing forth His proclamation, and present in His Signs.  The Spirit is the Divine Breath.  He spake by the prophets, inspired, literally breathed into the writers of Holy Scripture, Old and New Testaments, what they were to write.  And He is breathed out by the proclamation of that writing to this very day, and at this very moment.  Inspiring faith among those who hear the Gospel, breathing Christ into ears and minds and hearts and souls.  That whosoever believeth in Christ, the Son of the Father, shall not perish, but have eternal life.  He is the Spirit who descended upon Christ, the Son of the Father, at His Baptism in the Jordan, and remained on Him.  He is the Spirit who drove the Lord Jesus out into the wilderness to do battle with Satan on our behalf.  He is the Spirit who was present to heal in Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Spirit spoken forth in our Lord’s teaching, driving out demons, enlivening the dead.  He is the Spirit breathed out by our Lord on the cross, and by the risen Christ upon His disciples in the upper room.  The Helper.  The Paraclete.  Descending upon the Church.  A mighty, rushing wind.  Tongues of fire.  Fleshly tongues loosed.  Sins forgiven.  A people gathered (congregated) and sanctified (set apart for holy use).  Gifts bestowed.  A valley of dry bones clothed in sinew and flesh and skin, enlivened, Jew and Gentile, the New Israel, the holy Christian Church.

            So, the Father is God.  The Son is God.  The Holy Spirit is God.  Three distinct Persons.  And yet, there are not three gods, but one God, our Triune God, the Holy Trinity.  The Holy Catholic Faith (as in the faith of all Christians, of all times, and all places) is to know Him.  Not to comprehend Him.  That is impossible for mortal man.  And you know the problems with all the silly illustrations we use to try to explain what is unexplainable.  The apple with its skin, flesh, and core, or the egg with its shell, white, and yolk.  This is the heresy of partialism.  The God who appears, now as Father, now as Son, and again as Holy Spirit.  This is the heresy of modalism.  We’re guilty of modalism, for example, when we use the various states of water (solid, liquid, gas) as an illustration of the Trinity.  It is not that the one God has three different masks, appearing one way at one time, then another, then another.  No, He is three distinct Persons.  Nearly all illustrations of the Trinity end up in some heresy or another.  The Church Fathers do have some good ones… For example, a spring as the source of the flowing water and the refreshment that proceeds from it; the sun with its light and heat.  Okay, maybe.  But the best thing is to stick with the Creeds, which express what we know from Holy Scripture, and nothing more.  See, the Triune (Three-in-One) nature of God is not a concept to be understood by human reason.  It is God’s revelation of Himself, to be received, believed, confessed, worshiped, and adored.

            Now, be warned.  This God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the only God.  And that means that Christianity is the only true religion.  All other gods are false gods.  They are idols.  And, therefore, all other religions are idolatrous religions.  But, of course, Christians, insofar as we are sinners, are pretty good at manufacturing false gods, ourselves.  Idols.  To have an idol, is to fear, love, or trust something or someone more than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It is to place anything, or anyone, above, or before Him.  What things, what people, do you put before our God?  Your spouse?  Your family?  Your job?  Money?  Pleasure?  Sports?  Every sin, remember, is a sin of idolatry.  It is a disordering, a displacing of God from the top, and a placing of another in the spot only God can fill.  Repent of that.  Repent.  Your Father sent His Son to redeem you from that.  The Spirit breathes Himself into you by His Word to turn you from that, bring you to repentance, and faith in the Son, who restores you to the Father. 

            And it is all by grace.  The Father sends the Son in love to redeem the world, and whoever believes in the Son (that is faith, bestowed by the Spirit) shall not perish, but have eternal life.  John 3:16 is a trinitarian verse.  And it isn’t only redemption from death and hell.  It is redemption for relationship with the God who loves you for all eternity.  And so, relationship with one another, the holy Church.  God reveals Himself to you as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  He has given you His Name.  You have access to Him.  You may call upon Him.  You may invoke Him.  And when you do, you may be certain: He is present, for and with you, with His forgiveness, life, and salvation.  And you, of course, are baptized into Him, immersed in His love, and in the Communion of our Triune God.

            Marvelous!  Marvelous.  And in the end, that is all we can do… marvel at the sublime mystery.  “Blessèd be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity.  Let us give glory to Him because He has shown his mercy to us” (Introit).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.   

 

The Day of Pentecost

The Day of Pentecost

May 19, 2024

Text: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

            Why does our Lord Jesus Christ send us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of His Father, the Spirit of truth?  He sends Him to bear witness to Himself, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior.  And to guide us into all truth.  He sends Him to speak whatever He hears in the divine council of Father and Son.  He sends Him to glorify Jesus, to take the things of Jesus, which are the things of the Father, and declare them unto us, to give them to us, all the gifts of grace, and to bring us into them.  Which is to say, He sends the Spirit, as Dr. Luther tells us, to call us by the Gospel, to enlighten us with His gifts, to sanctify us, and to keep us with Jesus Christ in the one true faith, even as He does for the whole Christian Church on earth (Small Catechism II:III).  Jesus sends the Spirit, because that was His Promise to His disciples on the night in which He was betrayed.  And Jesus does not lie.  He cannot.  Jesus always keeps His Promises.

            And so it was, that as the disciples were gathered together (congregated) in one place, in the City of Jerusalem, for the great Feast of Pentecost, there was, all at once, the sound of a mighty, rushing wind.  Now, “spirit,” “wind,” and “breath,” as you know, are all the same word in Greek (πνεῦμα), and in Hebrew for that matter (רוּחַ), and so, what is going on here?  The mighty, rushing wind is the Spirit.  And that means this is an act of New Creation.  God is redoing Genesis, breathing anew into Man the Spirit/wind/breath of life.  The Lord Jesus breathed His last, yielded… gave up… His Spirit in His death on the cross (Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; Matt. 27:50; John 19:30).  And after three days, the risen Jesus appeared in the midst of His disciples and breathed on them (resurrection breath), and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22; ESV).  And gave them, now, and henceforward, to breathe Him forth into others in the forgiveness of sins (v. 23). 

            So, here comes the mighty, rushing Spirit, filling the House where they are congregated, filling the Church, and there are the divided tongues as of fire resting on each one of them (fire, the symbol of the Holy Spirit… the pillar of fire by night, fire on Mt. Sinai, the fire of God upon the altar in the Tabernacle, the fire consuming Elijah’s sacrifice, and so forth, and so on).  And filled, now, with the Holy Spirit, they begin to speak in other tongues, languages (note this, known human languages, not ecstatic gibberish).  That is, they speak the very Word of God, and in such a way that the people can hear, and comprehend.  Whereupon we get the first recorded Apostolic sermon… Peter preaches.  He preaches the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Father’s only Son, for sinners.  And the Spirit blows forth in that preaching, so that the people are convicted, and ask what they should do to be saved.  And Peter declares (and unfortunately we don’t get this part of the reading today): “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:38-39).  And there it is, the whole doctrine of Pentecost in one, short summation. 

            This is what Jesus does for you and me.  He sends His Spirit.  Baptized, you and your children, for the forgiveness of sins, and in this way, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We saw it with little Paul Gerhardt last week.  Gathered into the House, the Congregation, where the Spirit blows through in preaching.  A life of repentance and forgiveness.  And confession, as Elsa will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, confess her Savior this afternoon in the Rite of Confirmation, and receive His blessing for her strengthening.  In fact, the Spirit molds our lives into the pattern received by the Apostolic Church in the wake of Peter’s sermon: “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching,” as we do, as we hear the Scriptures and preaching, “and the fellowship,” the koinonia, the unity and communion, the conversation and consolation of the brethren that happens here; “to the breaking of bread,” the Holy Supper of our Lord’s true body and blood, “and the prayers,” Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of the Church, the liturgy, and our individual and family prayers that flow forth from them.  Another way to say it is, Word and Sacrament, the Divine Service.  The Spirit brings us into the ongoing Feast, where heaven comes down, and the Lord is Present, bodily, with His Church.  And here you are.  He does it for you.  And it is gift.  All gift.  Do not refuse it.  Do not resist it.  Come, with great rejoicing, as the Spirit calls you. 

            And now, what the Spirit does for you, He would do for the whole world.  So He says through the Prophet Ezekiel, “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ez. 33:11).  And so the Spirit blows through the whole world in His Gospel, working faith when and where He pleases in those who hear the Gospel (AC V; John 3).  Now, to be sure, here we run into the mystery of Divine Election, which, for the purpose of time, we’ll have to do on another occasion.  Suffice it to say, we do not understand how God can both will the salvation of everyone (many are called), and yet so many are lost (few are chosen).  But we do know this: Every last person who hears the Gospel is faced with the Spirit’s conviction… conviction of sin, conviction of righteousness, conviction of judgment.  Conviction of sin, because, apart from Spirit-given faith in Christ, they cannot be freed from their guilt.  Conviction of righteousness, because Christ alone is righteous, as evidenced by His resurrection and exaltation, and He alone is the righteousness, the justification, of sinners before God.  And conviction of judgment, because everything the world worships, including the very devil (the ruler of this world) is judged… by the Lord Jesus Christ.

            That is the preaching.  Law and Gospel.  The Spirit blows through in preaching, convicting by His holy Law, thus bringing forth repentance, enlivening and enkindling faith by His saving Gospel of forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus.  A mighty, rushing wind blows forth from the mouth of Christ… through the mouths of His ministers… filling the whole House… filling our ears, our minds, our hearts… resting on each one of us… who then go out into the world and blow forth the Spirit in our vocations, as we confess and embody Christ to the people around us.  See, the Pentecost miracle has not ended.  It is happening now.  The Spirit still blows, the Church is still gathered, the Apostles still preach, the people still hear and believe and repent and are baptized.  God open our eyes.  When He opens our eyes, we cannot help but rejoice, as our hearts burn within us.  “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.  Alleluia” (Introit).

            That is what I pray in those moments before the sermon, as we sing the final lines of the hymn.  Lord, grant that Your Holy Spirit blow through and fill us all in the preaching of His Word, as we know He will.  And never forget, we have Jesus’ unconditional Promise: The Father will not fail to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13).  So, the Spirit blows through on the breath of His Word, and behold, a rattling.  Dry bones in the valley of the shadow, now joined, bone to its bone, clothed with sinews and flesh and skin, enlivened by the very breath of God.  Israel, spirited by the Spirit, raised from the dead.  The Church of God.  Jews and Gentiles.  You.  Here.  Now.  Pentecost. 

            Why does Jesus send the Spirit?  For that.  For that.  The Holy Spirit.  The Third Person of the Holy Trinity.  Proceeding from the Father.  Given by the Son, and so, yes, the Filioque, the “and the Son” of the Creed.  The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.  Who, together, are worshiped and glorified, one God, living and reigning, world without end.  More on that next week.  For now, simply bask in the Spirit who has been poured out on you, who rests on you, who possesses you.  Live in Him.  Pray in Him.  Rest in Him.  And confess His Word.  It is a marvelous thing to be in this House as the mighty, rushing Spirit blows through.  Glory be to Jesus, who gives us this reality by His death and resurrection for us.  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 (B)

The Baptism of Paul Gerhardt Grahn

May 12, 2024

Text: John 17:11b-19

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

            What petitions, what kinds of things do you pray for a child (or an adult for that matter) who has just been baptized?  What should we pray for little Paul Gerhardt?  And what petitions, what kinds of things do you pray for a catechumen, a confirmand, like Elsa, as she prepares to make her good confession of Christ next Sunday, and receive for the first time His saving body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar? 

            It seems to me we can’t do much better than the petitions Jesus prays for His disciples in our Holy Gospel, in what we call His “High Priestly Prayer.”  What does He pray?  First of all, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11; ESV).  That is a prayer that our Father in heaven would keep the dear child in his or her Baptism.  Baptism is where we receive God’s Name, the Name given to, and revealed in, Jesus Christ the Son.  And what is that Name?  It is the Triune Name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  “Keep them in Your Name,” that is, “keep them as Your Christians, Your children, keep them in the one true faith.  That they may be one, even as we are one,” that is, “keep them united to the holy Church, in communion with one another, even as through Holy Baptism You have brought them into the unity of the Holy Trinity.”  High stuff, that. 

            And now, the rest of the petitions flow from that.  “Keep them in Your Name.  Keep them in the Church.  Keep them as Your faithful Christians.”  Which is to say, “Guard them, lest they be lost, like that ‘son of destruction’ (that is, of course, Judas).  Fulfill my joy in in them (the joy of Christ, which is not that illusive happiness that so many wish for themselves and their children, whatever that is supposed to be, free from all pain and sorrow, but the deep joy of the Crucified, who is risen, a joy that permeates and perseveres in pain and sorrow, and redeems that pain and sorrow in light of the resurrection).  Keep them in Your Word.  In spite of the temptations and hatred of the world.  In fact, don’t take them out of the world, but grant that they proclaim Your Word in the world, and themselves be salt and light in the world.  Keep them for the sake of the world.  And keep them from the evil one.  From his temptations.  From his accusations.  From his murderous lies.  ‘Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth’” (v. 17).  “Sanctify,” “consecrate,” they are from the same Greek word, “to set apart as holy,” being the idea.  Jesus says He consecrates Himself, sets Himself apart as holy, namely, by His sacrificial death for sinners, so that they, His Christians, you, may be sanctified, set apart as holy, in truth, which is to say, in His Word.  He sets His Christians, His Church, you, apart as holy, for the purpose of sending you into the world to confess Him.  And here, particularly, He sends His Apostles for this purpose, and the preachers who follow in their train.  So you might say, Jesus’ prayer is that the Father keep His Christians in the apostolic faith, under pastoral care. 

            Those are pretty good things for us to pray for little Paul, and for Elsa, and for all the children of our Church, and for one another, and for all our brothers and sisters in Christ.  The prayer of Jesus informs the prayer of the Church.  Indeed, our prayer, for ourselves and for others, flows from Jesus’ prayer for us.  In fact, when you look through these petitions from the High Priestly Prayer, what are they but riffs on the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer?  Especially the first three petitions, that God’s Name be hallowed, His Kingdom come, His will be done.  And the last two, that we not be led into temptation, but that we be delivered from the evil one.  All addressed, not to some far distant deity, but to our Father.  “Holy Father, keep them,” Jesus prays.  All Christian prayer is bound up in the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.  That is a wonderful catechetical exercise you can undertake as part of your devotional life, your prayer life, and as you teach your children.  How do the things I’m asking for in prayer fit into the Lord’s Prayer?  Because, if they fit into the Lord’s Prayer, I know these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven.  He wants to hear them, and He will answer. 

            And what is His answer to Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, to the Lord’s Prayer?...  “Yes.”  What else could the Father possibly say to His own Son’s prayers?  “Yes.”  And so, to our prayers, too, prayed in Jesus’ Name.  But “Yes” in a way that is so much bigger than our petitions.  “Yes” in a way beyond our ability to comprehend, and so, “Yes” in a way that often appears to our finite, fallen minds as “No.”  But understand, it is as Paul writes to the Corinthians, “the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes.  For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor. 1:19-20).

            Christ is God’s Yes.  And that is not just a nice sounding phrase (though it is very nice… very Lutheran-y, isn’t it?).  Think how the Father does the keeping of us in His Name (our Baptism, the faith), and in the unity of His Church.  He does it by the very voice of Jesus in His Word.  And the bodily presence of Jesus in His Supper.  Jesus prays for us, that the Father keep us, and the Father answers (“Yes”) by giving us Jesus.  Not just spiritually.  Not just in our hearts.  Audibly.  And bodily.  As present for and with you in Word and Sacrament, as you are present here with Him.  In fact, if you can imagine it, He is present more so, and more fully, than you are.  Because our glorified and ascended Lord fills all things

            Okay, but that’s not all… The Spirit is God’s Yes.  Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, and our Holy Gospel this afternoon is pregnant with the Spirit.  As we are baptized into God’s Name, as we are kept and sanctified by His Word, as we receive Jesus in the Supper, what… or better, who… is the dynamic power accomplishing that?  The Spirit. The Spirit who inspired the Holy Scriptures and speaks to us in them.  The Spirit poured out on the Apostles that first Pentecost.  The Spirit poured out on us in our Baptism.  Because He is the Spirit who descended upon Jesus at His Baptism, and who abides with Him, and we are baptized into Jesus.  Where Jesus is, there is the Spirit of the Father, proceeding from Father and Son.  Here is Jesus, audibly and bodily present with us, still breathing His Spirit upon us and into us, the Lord and Giver of life (as we confess Him), breathing life into us, that we live in the very life of the risen Lord Jesus. 

            That’s how our Father answers when you pray for the newly baptized, the confirmands, and all your fellow Christians.  His answer is Christ.  His answer is the Spirit. 

            Now, this prayer is the privilege and responsibility of the whole Church of God, and of every Christian individually.  But it is the special privilege and responsibility of baptismal sponsors (or Godparents, as we often call them) who swear before God and His Church that they will do this very thing.  A number of you serve as Godparents in this congregation, and even if you don’t, you may someday, or you may have occasion to select Godparents for your own children, so, I’d like to say a word or two about this.

            It used to be that the Godparents were those to whom you entrusted the custody and raising of your children, should you die before they are grown.  There is undoubtedly great wisdom in that, because you want to entrust your children to people who share your confession of faith, and will raise them accordingly.  But, be that as it may, that isn’t what Godparents swear to during the baptismal rite, as you heard it today.  What do they promise?  First, that they will pray for their Godchildren faithfully (and I would suggest, even daily).  Sarah and I are up to 8 Godchildren (if I’m counting right), and that is something we take very seriously.  Pray for your Godchildren by name.  And look for Godparents who will do that for your children.  Second, Godparents swear that they will remind their Godchildren of the blessings of their Baptism, constantly encouraging them in repentance and faith.  You do that by your words, true, but also by your Christian example.  Your faithful attendance at Church and Bible Study, your love for Christ, your love for others.  Here, too, baptismal anniversary cards are a good idea, or even just random reminders, “Hey, remember, you are God’s own child, baptized into Christ.  Never forget that.  I was there.  I saw it.”  And third, they swear that they will make every effort to see that their Godchild is brought up in the Christian faith, catechized, and faithfully attending the Divine Service.  Place the Scriptures in the hands of your Godchild, and speak God’s Word into their ears.  Make sure they have a Catechism, and use it, and that when the time comes, they attend Catechism class.  There are some great resources for this at CPH, by the way.  May I recommend just two, especially for young kids: The Lutheran Story Bible, a beautifully illustrated volume with simplified, but Bible text, based on the ESV translation.  And then, a little set of books called Follow and Do, based on the six chief parts of the Catechism.  It’s really an illustrated Small Catechism.

            Now, I want to remind you all that, on several occasions, the congregation, as a whole, has answered as Godparents, so really, what I’m telling you applies to everyone here: Pray for the children of the Church.  Pray for all your fellow Christians of all ages.  As the Body of Christ, pray Christ’s prayer.  Speak God’s Word.  Remind.  Encourage.  Help our children to be here in worship.  Sunday School.  Catechism Class.  Pray.  God hears, and He answers.  He keeps us in His Name.  Christ.  The Holy Spirit.  God’s “Yes.” 

            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.                           

The Ascension of Our Lord

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sixth Sunday of Easter (B)

May 5, 2024

Text: John 15:9-17

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

            Our Lord Jesus Christ does not consider us mere servants.  He calls us friends.  Think of that.  The God of the universe, the Almighty Creator of all that is, the eternally begotten Son of our heavenly Father, calls you and me His friends.  He came for this very purpose, to make it so.  God came down, the eternal Son of the Father, born in time, to be one with us, flesh of our flesh, to suffer and die for us, for the forgiveness of our sins, who is risen and lives for us, that we may have life and friendship in Him.  That is the reality into which we are baptized.  No longer mere servants, but friends. 

            For a servant does not know what his Master is doing.  The servant simply follows orders.  The Master does not owe the servant an explanation, a rationale for the things He commands.  Often the servant has no understanding of the objective of his task, and in many cases, he has no personal interest in it, other than to keep his job.  He is simply to carry out his duties, no questions asked.  We may call ourselves servants of God, and that is certainly true.  But not in the sense of servile obligation.  We have a different motivation for our service.  And that is love for our Friend who has saved us and made us His own.  He has taken us into His confidence and companionship, and He has given us to share in the blessing of His success.  So His business is very much our business.  We know His business, and we get to participate in it, as His trusted and beloved confidants. 

            To be a friend of Jesus is not unlike the ancient office of “Friend of the King.”  That there is such an office is not to say that we have to pay someone to be the King’s buddy.  The “Friend of the King” is the King’s companion and counselor, his right-hand man.  He is the consigliere, the Secretary of State, the King’s closest advisor.  In the Bible, Hushai the Archite (you remember him, right?) served as David’s “Friend of the King” (1 Chron. 27:33), while Zabud (another beloved biblical hero… don’t you know him?) served in that capacity for King Solomon (1 Kings 4:5).  To be “Friend of the King” was a high honor.  The possessor of that office had the King’s ear, His love and absolute trust, and he shared in all the joy and blessings of the Kingdom.  But so also the possessor of that office loved the King and showed himself to be loyal and trustworthy, treating the King’s business as his own, even at great personal risk.  For example, when Absolom rebelled against his father David, Hushai became David’s spy, pretending to defect to Absolom’s camp, and passing on secrets (2 Sam. 15-17).  Imagine if he had been found out.  David had entrusted Hushai with his very life.  So… “Friend of the King.”

            Well, you are not simply the “Friend of the King.”  You are the Friend of Jesus!  You are the Friend of God.  And just think what that relationship means for who you are and what you do, for your very identity, and your mission, your purpose, in life.

            First of all, what does it mean that Jesus is your Friend?  It means that in love, He chose you for Himself.  By grace.  Not because you deserved it.  And not because you chose Him.  You did not choose Him.  He chose you (John 15:16).  (So much for “making a decision for Jesus.”)  Just as the King elects His own “Friend,” so Jesus elects you, He chooses you. 

            And then He brings about the reality by His agape love for you.  Agape love.  Jesus’ love is not just a sentimental feeling in His heart.  Agape is the self-giving, sacrificial love of the cross.  It is the love written in Jesus’ blood and death for sinners, for you.  “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (v. 13; ESV).  The amazing thing about the love of Christ, agape love, is that it does not love what is already loveable.  No, God’s love fashions its own object.  It looks upon what is unlovable, that which rejects all love, and loves it unto death, loves you unto death, fashioning you into the object of His love.  See, this is an acting love.  It does things.  It creates the new reality of this relationship, this friendship.  This love led Jesus to become your Substitute on the cross, to die for your sins.  This is the love in which Jesus is risen from the dead and lives for you, and rules all things for you from the right hand of the Father.  This is the love that keeps you close, so that you abide in Jesus, as a branch connected to the Vine.  And so His love flows into you, and through you, and out toward other objects of His love.  And so you share in the fulness of His joy.

            What does it mean that you are Jesus’ friend?  It means that you stay close to Him.  You abide in Him, and in His love.  Which is to say, you abide in His Word.  You are continually in His House, and at His Table.  You know how it works among friends.  He is ever in your home.  And you are ever in His.  You rejoice in the good things He puts before you, and you are confident in your position before Him, because you know that He chose you and He made it so by His love and death. 

            And so, for this reason, you keep His Commandments.  Not to gain position with Him.  (You already have that.  You are the Friend of the King!  That is your identity.)  But precisely because you are His friend.  Now, of course, this is not to say that you don’t sin, and for that, you constantly repent and ask forgiveness.  As you often must among all your friends.  But it deeply grieves you when you sin (doesn’t it?), because you know you’ve let Him down.  But then, you also know how friends are reconciled.  Confession.  Forgiveness.  And continuation of the relationship in love.  So, restored, you go on living according to His Commandments and doing what He gives you to do, because He loves you, and you love Him. 

            And for His sake, you love one another.  Because finally that is His Commandment.  Love.  Love for Him, the first and greatest Commandment.  And the second, like unto it... Love for your neighbor (Matt. 22:37-39).

            Now, this is not to say that Jesus commands warm and fuzzy feelings in your heart toward your neighbor.  He is giving you to love with His love, and that is to say, agape.  Well, what does that mean?  It means loving your neighbors, and especially your brothers and sisters in Christ, even when they are unlovable.  In fact, it means loving your enemies.  Seeking their good.  Forgiving their sins, being patient with their weaknesses, caring for them, even dying for them.  It is risking rejection, and when rejection comes, suffering it for them.  It is never to require them to earn your consideration.  It is utter self-giving… in Christ, who gave Himself for you.  It is wonderful when those you love are, in fact, lovable.  And that does happen.  Quite often, thank God.  In that case, the loving is much easier.  But Christ’s command is to follow Him, and do as He does, even, and especially, when it is hard, because that is who you are.  Jesus’ business is self-sacrificial love for sinners.  And as “Friend of the King,” that is your business, too.

            And, beloved, that is not just to sit back and love them in your heart, from afar.  That is not how Jesus loves.  Jesus loves you incarnationally.  He came… He comes… in the flesh, to you, and for you.  When you love your neighbor, you become the incarnational presence of Jesus for him.  That means getting your hands dirty.  It means contact.  Action.  Interaction.  For his good.  For his salvation.  Speaking to people.  Responding to people.  Conversation.  Hospitality.  Communion.  “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth,” St. John writes (1 John 3:18). 

            We live in such a virtual world.  Online.  Hands off.  Heads down, buried in screens.  For whatever good it may offer, social media has ruined us.  We don’t know how to be social anymore, really present for and with one another.  After Easter, we visited family in the Columbia Gorge, and went on a hike in the beautiful early spring weather.  So many people on the trail.  But as we walked along, not one of them… not one… would look us in the eye or respond to our greetings.  Not because they were being mean, but because people just don’t do that anymore.  Now, that seemed rather extreme to me.  But you know that is the trend.  What happens when you walk through Wal-Mart (talk about a soul-sucking place)?  Even walking in the neighborhood, I’d say only about 50% of people will interact for the fraction of a second it takes to acknowledge another’s presence and existence… to acknowledge, beloved, the Image of God before each one of us in the face of another human being. 

            Let it never be said of a Christian, that he will not acknowledge the Image of God.  Let it never be you.  Loving with the love of Jesus means many things.  Let me suggest it at least means this: When you see another divine-image-bearing human being, look at them.  Look them in the eye.  Look at them with the love of Jesus.  See Jesus in them.  And say hello.  Maybe that is all that will happen.  Maybe your greeting will be ignored, or rejected.  So be it.  Christ’s love is ignored and rejected continually.  Maybe it will lead to a handshake and a conversation.  Whatever the case, remember that you have been injected into the situation, by God, as the “Friend of the King” (there are no accidental meetings).  You are Christ’s ambassador wherever you go.  Don’t ignore anyone Christ wouldn’t ignore. 

            And now, especially among one another, among your fellow Christians, here, in this place, among those with whom you go to Communion…  As Friends of the King, Jesus calls you to be friends of one another.  Greet each another with Christian love and friendship.  Look one another in the eye.  Encourage each other.  Be for one another, with one another, really present, incarnationally present to each other.  Help one another.  Serve one another.  Sacrifice for one another.  Bear with one another.  Abide in Christ’s love, and so love one another.

            Finally, never underestimate the importance of prayer.  Prayer, too, is an incarnational reality.  In the Lord’s bodily presence, you speak (with your mouth and vocal chords) to Him as to a Friend.  He gives you to speak to Him about His business.  About His Kingdom.  About your needs.  About your neighbors, your brothers and sisters, and about their needs.  And he hears.  And He answers.  Always.  Because He loves you.  “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  Such is the Savior’s love for you.  And that love has been vindicated.  For 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.