Lenten Midweek I

Letters from Our Lord: “The Risen Jesus Is Present in His Church”

Lenten Midweek I

February 21, 2024

Text: Rev. 1:9-20

            Where the Church is, there is Jesus.  That is what He says in our Gospel: “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matt. 18:20; ESV).  And that is what He promises in the final words of Matthew’s Gospel: “And behold, I am with you,” 2^nd Person Plural, you all, the disciples, the Church, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (28:20).  And that is what St. John sees.  The Lord Jesus, standing in the midst of seven golden lampstands, which are the seven Churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).  With seven stars in His hand, which are the angels of the seven Churches.  He is among them, the Churches, holding tight their angels.  He is with them.  And note this: Not just in spirit, like when we say to someone from whose presence we are absent, that we are nevertheless with them in spirit.  We mean by that, that we wish we were with them, but are not.  But the risen Jesus stands in the midst of His Church, present bodily with His congregations.

            And that is profoundly comforting to the Church as she exists this side of the veil.  That is, the Church on earth.  The Church Militant, as we call her.  The Church that must live by faith, and not by sight, listening to her Savior’s Voice in His Word, but unable to behold the reality with her fallen and finite eyes.  The suffering Church… Suffering persecution and rejection from without; sin from within (she is, this side of the veil, simul iustus et peccator, full of saints who are, at the same time, sinners, who sin against one another… and repent, and are forgiven for Christ’s sake, but, nevertheless…).  She bears her weaknesses.  It is messy business, being the Church on earth.  But she lives in hope and expectation.  Jesus is coming again, and that right soon.  And, in the meantime, she rejoices in the redemption of His cross, washed clean by His blood, clothed in the splendor of His own holiness, sanctified by His Spirit, who has called her together in the first place.  Where the Spirit so gathers her, there the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ abides in her midst. 

            And St. John, our brother and partner in the tribulation, and the kingdom, and the patient endurance, is given a glimpse at this reality behind the veil… an apocalypse (which doesn’t mean disaster, like we tend to use the word, but revelation), just a little lifting of the curtain… for his own consolation and encouragement, as he suffers in exile for the sake of Christ on the Island of Patmos.  And for our consolation and encouragement as we suffer whatever crosses and tribulations the Lord deigns to lay upon us for our good.  John writes it all down, is commanded by the Lord so to do, for this very purpose. 

            You should know that.  So many people are afraid of the Book of Revelation, and there is so much hype and false teaching about it, because we don’t understand the purpose of the Book: To reveal to us, not just the future Judgment, but the unseen reality of things even now.  Jesus lives.  And He reigns.  And He is with us now.  Therefore, dear Christians, do not fear.  Be comforted and encouraged to live faithfully as you await the full manifestation of His Kingdom and victory when He comes again. 

            Look at how John describes Him as He is in the midst of the lampstands.  He is One like a Son of Man.  “Son of Man,” that is Jesus’ favorite designation of Himself in the Gospels.  It is a reference to the Incarnation.  God has taken on our flesh and blood. 

            He is clothed like a priest.  Jesus is our High Priest.  He has offered the Sacrifice of Atonement for our sins, and He is, Himself, that Sacrifice.  And now He lives to make intercession for us before His Father, and impart to us the Father's holiness. 

            The hairs of His head are white, like wool, or like snow.  Eternal, wise, holy.  That is how Daniel describes the Ancient of Days, God the Father, in his own heavenly vision (In fact, much of what John sees here is consistent with Daniel’s vision, Dan. 7).  This is to say, Jesus is the very Image of His Father, and, in fact, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, of one substance with His Father (Nicene Creed). 

            His eyes are like a flame of fire.  He sees all things.  Nothing can be hidden from Him.  And His look penetrates to the very soul.  Like Peter, who, after denying Jesus three times, wept bitterly, because our Lord turned and looked at him (Luke 22:61-62).  Not in anger.  But in sadness.  And in pity.  And in an effective call to repentance. 

            His feet are like burnished bronze, as One whose enemies lie vanquished beneath His feet.  And His voice is like the roar of many waters, rushing forth to flood the earth with the preaching of His Word.  And from His mouth comes a mighty, two-edged sword.  His Word judges all mankind, either righteous (that is, those who believe in Him), or unrighteous (that is, those who do not believe in Him). 

            And then, His face: It shines like the sun in full strength.  John has seen this before.  And it has knocked him to the ground before.  Where?  At the Transfiguration.  Where the Spirit enveloped him in a cloud, and the Father’s voice thundered from heaven, and the Son shone with His own divine radiance.  So, there is no doubt who this is among the lampstands.  It is Jesus.  The Man from Nazareth.  But no mere Man.  The Son of God. 

            Again, “Fear not,” He says (Rev. 1:17).  Fear not, dear Church.  “I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (vv. 17-18).  We need not fear, because this is He who was with God in the beginning, from all eternity.  And He is the end and goal of all things, the consummation.  And He is our life.  He is the One who died, but who is now risen from the dead, never to die again.  And He has the keys.  He releases us from death and condemnation.  He gives us His life, so that our end is resurrection life with Him forevermore.

            Now, the lampstands are each, individual congregation.  They are filled with the oil of the Spirit, who is our anointing.  The flame is faith.  The light shining forth from the flame is the works of love we are given to do for our neighbor.  And what of these stars the Lord holds in His hand, the angels of the seven Churches?  For one, we should know that the Church of God enjoys the protection of the holy angels, the mighty ministering spirits who do God’s bidding.  Just as we each have guardian angels, so do our congregations.  They are here now, worshiping with us, helping us, and protecting us. 

            But probably, these angels (the Greek word for “angel,” remember, means "messenger) are the pastors of each congregation.  And I can’t begin to tell you how comforting it is, as a pastor, to know that I am in the pierced hand of my risen Lord Jesus Christ. 

            It is with this in mind that we take up our midweek meditations on the letters from our Lord to the seven Churches.  In each case, Jesus addresses a specific Word to a specific congregation.  But, like the letters of St. Paul to this or that particular Church, the letters are also addressed and applicable to the whole Church of God on earth.  And that means that in each of these letters the Lord Jesus is addressing His letter to us, whom the Spirit has gathered here, in Moscow, Idaho.

            Each letter establishes that the Lord knows each congregation’s situation, intimately.  He knows what His people are suffering, and He knows our struggle to persevere in faith, hope, and love. 

            There are Words of Law.  Our Lord’s love for us demands that He deal acutely and forthrightly with whatever may threaten to extinguish our lamp. 

            And there are tremendous Words of Gospel comfort, and encouragement to be faithful, setting our eyes on Jesus, and on the reward to come.

            The Lord knows our situation, beloved.  He knows that we are a little flock without a home of our own, like Israel of old, waiting for the cloud to settle in a place, or lift up again and bid us follow.  He knows we have but little power, and that we live in a world increasingly hostile to us, because it is increasingly hostile to Him.  He knows our sins.  He knows where we have been faithless, and He will speak to that.  But, so also, He will speak His Promise.  And His Promise, as it is spoken, fans into flame our faith, and our faithfulness, that by His gift, and His doing, we persevere to the end. 

            Beloved, never lose sight of this fact: Jesus is here, in our midst.  We hear His Voice.  And in just a moment, we will eat His body, and drink His blood.  Where the Church is, there is Jesus.  Two or three, or sixty or seventy, gathered together in His Name.  He is with us always, to the end of the age.  Therefore, be comforted.  And be of good courage.  And listen.  God grant us ears to hear what the Spirit says to the Churches… the very Word of Jesus Christ.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                         

First Sunday in Lent

First Sunday in Lent (B)

February 19, 2024

Text: Mark 1:9-15

            A passage through the water.  Driven into the wilderness.  Tested.  Tempted.  But in God’s care.  Receiving the ministrations of angels.  Then, finally, entering into the Promised Land for the realization of God’s Kingdom.

            This was God’s plan for Israel.  In exodus from slavery in Egypt, freed from tyranny, they passed through the Red Sea waters on dry ground, while their enemies were drowned in the depths of the Sea.  But now, driven into the wilderness, the place of nothingness and death and demons, with only God to rely on.  It was a test from Him.  Will they remain faithful?  And a temptation from the devil.  Can they be stolen away from God?  One and the same event can be divine test and demonic temptation, can’t it?  And what is God’s goal for His people in the whole thing?  To bring them, first, to the holy mountain, Mt. Sinai, to hear God’s own voice in the giving of the Law, and to ratify the Covenant.  That is what they need in this wilderness.  The Word of the living God.  His Law and His Promise.  And then to bring them into the Promised Land, to take possession of it, and to live under the blessed rule of God, their King. 

            How did they fare?  If you’ve read much of the Old Testament, or learned any of it from Sunday School… or, for that matter, if you’ve ever seen the Charlton Heston movie… you know how the Israelites failed at every point.  God’s chosen people, His holy nation, failed the test, fell to the temptation, again and again.  They did not trust God.  They did not heed His Commandments.  They wanted to go back, forever pining after the good ol’ days of slavery.  Rebelling against Moses.  Grumbling about the food (you know, the manna, the bread from heaven that miraculously appeared at their door every morning, and the quail that fluttered in every evening; never mind the water miraculously flowing from the rock).  Then there was the golden calf.  Right after hearing the voice of God.  Idolatry and its accompanying sins.  The deception of Baalam.  And on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, the faithless report of the spies.  The refusal to go in.  Rejection of God’s Promise that He would go before them, and fight for them, and give them their inheritance.  Believing, in spite of God’s Word, that the whole operation was up to them, and their military might and prowess, knowing that, of themselves, they were no match for the giants in the Land.  So, except for Caleb and Joshua, that whole generation died in the wilderness.  It was a colossal failure.  Even Moses had to die on the eastern side of the Jordan, a seemingly futile end of his life’s mission.  Under the leadership of Joshua, Israel would eventually make it across the river.  But it would take 40 years.  And they never fully realized God’s gracious plan for His beloved, but rebellious children.

            And so it is that Jesus (His Name in Hebrew is Yehoshua, Yeshua, Joshua) enters the River Jordan to be baptized by St. John.  A passage through the water.  Then, driven by the Spirit into the wilderness.  To be tested by God.  To be tempted by Satan.  To trust in His Father’s Promise and providence, in spite of the hunger and loneliness.  To know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  To be the faithful Son.  To receive the ministrations of angels.  And then to enter again into the Promised Land, to come into Galilee and proclaim: God’s plan is finally in motion.  It is as good as done.  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15; ESV). 

            He is recapitulating God’s plan for Israel.  He is Israel reduced to One.  Where Israel failed as God’s beloved children, Jesus succeeded as God’s beloved Son.  See, He comes to do what no one else on earth can.  Pass the test.  Endure the temptation, and reject it.  Go toe to toe with the evil one, and emerge victorious.  Trust in the Promise of His Father rather than the emptiness and ugliness His eyes behold… and rather than His rumbling and distended tummy.  To be the Faithful One. 

            He does it not only for Israel.  He does it for us. 

            In Lent, we meditate especially on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, His suffering and death for the forgiveness of our sins.  And this is right and good.  This is what we call our Lord’s passive obedience, the things He suffers for us, and in our place, to atone for our unrighteousness and unfaithfulness.  And, to be sure, Jesus’ hunger and destitution in the wilderness are part of His redemptive suffering. 

            But remember, just as important as His passive obedience, is what we call His active obedience, His doing what we have not done, and are unable to do, for us, and in our place.  That is, His perfect fulfillment of God’s Law.  His faithfulness in the face of temptation.  His hearing and heeding God’s Word.  His unfaltering faith.  All of it, He does for us.  And we get the credit.  His righteousness is… and now, this is a big theological word, but one maybe worth knowing… imputed to us, reckoned to our account by God, given to us freely, as a gift… received by faith.  Not earned by us.  Not in any sense.  Given because God loves us.  By grace alone.  On account of Christ alone. 

            You know why God didn’t give up on Israel, in spite of their stubborn rebelliousness, and constant and repeated failures?  Because His plan all along was to have Jesus come and do for Israel, what Israel could not.  Jesus’ obedience, Jesus’ success, applied to them retroactively by God (who is outside of time, anyway).  In other words, God’s Old Testament people, likewise, were saved by grace alone, on account of Christ alone.  And how did they receive the benefit of that?  By faith in the Promised Messiah, the Christ, who was to come. 

            But now, what about you?  Because you aren’t Old Testament Israel, and to my knowledge, none of you are Jewish.  And even if you are, how does this work as a New Testament member of Christ’s Church? 

            Baptized into Christ, you are joined to Christ, grafted into His Israel.  And so, you are baptized into the pattern He has fulfilled.  You are led on a passage through the water.  And then driven by the Spirit (whom you have received in Baptism) out into the wilderness.  And what now?  Tested by God, yes.  Will you remain faithful to Him?  Even when life gets hard?  When you suffer?  When you lack?  Tempted by Satan.  He will (and does) try to rob you away from God.  He will always present an enticing, but entirely false, vision of how grand life can be apart from God.  And he will always remind you how good you had it (though you didn’t really) back in the old days of slavery to the Egypt of your sin and unbelief.  But you will suffer all of this under God’s care and provision.  With the unseen ministrations of His angels.  Hearing, even in this wilderness, God’s own voice.  Not just from Sinai, but from Mt. Zion.  From the Scriptures.  From this pulpit.  It is just what you need, to sustain you this side of the Jordan.  And, finally, entering into the Promised Land for the full realization of God’s Kingdom.  You’re already in that Kingdom now, because you are in Christ, and Christ is the King.  But still to come, heaven, and the resurrection of the body, and an eternal inheritance in the New Creation (the Land).  

            And what of your own colossal failures?  Your stubbornness and rebellion?  Your grumbling and lack of faith?  Your idolatry and its accompanying sins?  Repent of all that.  But know this.  God does not give up on you, either.  Because of His Son, Jesus.  Jesus takes our failed and broken attempts at fulfilling the pattern, and puts His perfect fulfillment of it in their place.  Jesus’ obedience, Jesus’ success (His active obedience), counts for you.  And His Sacrifice of Atonement, His suffering and death for your sins (passive obedience), covers you.  When God looks at you, now, He sees, not your sin and failure, but Jesus’ perfect obedience and righteousness.  You are clothed with Christ.  That is your baptismal reality.  And so, raised with Him to new life, to live faithfully under Him in this wilderness, until He calls you over-Jordan into the Promised Land of heaven.

            Beloved, Lent is a gift from God that stops us in our tracks.  It stops us from going our own way, veering off course, turning back to Egyptian bondage.  It is an opportunity to intentionally stop, and look around ourselves.  To take stock.  Where am I rebelling?  Where am I refusing to hear and heed God’s Word?  Where am I failing to trust in Him in all circumstances?  What idols need to be destroyed?  What distractions need to be stripped away?  How am I, in all of this, depending on myself and my own fulfilling of God’s plan, instead of depending entirely and alone on Jesus?  Our Lord takes all that stuff away and puts it to death on His cross.  And then He takes us up into His faithful fulfillment of God’s plan.  Through the water (Baptism).  Through the wilderness (this fallen earthly life).  Through every sin and temptation.  Rescuing us from the devil, and defeating him once and for all.  Carrying us across the Jordan to dwell with Him in His inheritance.  To see Him face to face.  Jesus is God’s Faithful One.  And in Him, all has been accomplished.  And we have nothing to fear.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                                 

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

February 14, 2024

Text: 2 Cor. 5:20b-6:10

            Now is the favorable time.  Now is the day of salvation.  The opportunity is now, not later.  This is the time of grace.  The Apostle implores you.  He begs you.  And as an ambassador for Christ, he is speaking on the Lord’s behalf.  It is, in fact, Christ who implores you.  It is Christ who begs.  Repent now.  Believe now.  Be reconciled to God in Christ now.  For, if you are waiting for a more opportune time, be warned.  That time may never come.  The Lord Jesus stands before you now with His full and free forgiveness, life, and salvation.  This is it.  Receive it, repent of your sins, and rejoice.

            In the Greek New Testament, there are two words for time, chronos and kairos.  Chronos is sequential time.  We get the word chronology from chronos.  “It is now 7 pm.”  That is chronos.  “The trip will take two hours.”  That is chronos.  Chronos is the ticking of the clock.  It is full of all the busy-ness of life, the joys and the sorrows, the pain and the pleasure, the labors and the distractions.  And as we know all-too-well, chronos is relentless.  The clock never stops.  And before we know it, time has passed us by. 

            But that is not the word Paul uses in our text when, preaching on a passage from the Prophet Isaiah, he says now is the favorable time (2 Cor. 6:2; Cf. Is. 49:8).  This is the other word for time: kairos.  And kairos refers, not to the sequential passing of each moment, but to the appointed time, the right and proper time, the time of determination, God’s time. 

            This is the time we’ve heard about so often from Jesus over the past few weeks: “The time [καιρὸς] is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15; ESV).  This is the time appointed for our Lord’s self-giving: “The Teacher says, My time [καιρός] is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples” (Matt. 26:18).  That time is the time of the cross.  And it is the eschatological (the End Times) time: “the time [καιρὸς] is near” says the angel to John in the Book of Revelation… the proper time (καιρὸς), St. Paul says to Timothy, at which our Lord Jesus Christ will appear (1 Tim. 6:14-15) to judge the living and the dead.

            The Isaiah passage St. Paul recites in speaking of this favorable time in our text, is actually a reference to the Year of Jubilee.  What happened during the Year of Jubilee in the Old Testament?  It was a year of forgiveness.  It was a year of release.  Every fiftieth year, appropriately beginning on the Day of Atonement, at the blowing of a trumpet, everyone forgave everyone else their debts, slaves were freed, property was restored.  It was a great national reconciliation.  Flowing from the sacrifice of atonement by which God released His people from their sins, thus reconciling them to Himself; the people now released one another, thus reconciling themselves, one to another. 

            Well, if that is what happens in Israel as a result of sacrificing a goat, beloved, what must happen now that the Lamb of God has taken away our sin, and the sin of the whole world?  Full reconciliation.  Comprehensive release.  Jubilee!  Now is the time for that… here and now, among us.

            This time is a gift from God.  He injects it, this kairos, into our chronos, by the preaching of His Gospel.  When you hear it (the Gospel), grasp it, believe it, live in it joyfully.  For you are released.  And you are reconciled.  To God in Christ.  And so, now, to one another.  Releasing each other.  Being “kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32).

            Now, in order to inject His kairos into our chronos… that the Gospel thus be proclaimed to us… God has given us Apostles and pastors.  He has given the Office of the Holy Ministry.  I don’t know why the Epistle appointed for Ash Wednesday begins with part b of 2 Cor. 5:20.  Part a goes like this: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us,” and then part b where we pick up, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”  The “we” of whom Paul is speaking, the “ambassadors,” are St. Paul himself, and his fellow ministers… in this case, particularly Timothy, who is writing the letter with him.  The Apostle and the Pastor.  As ambassadors for Christ, they speak for Christ.  What does an ambassador do?  He speaks for the government he represents.  When an ambassador speaks in his ambassadorial office, his word is the word his sovereign.  And oftentimes that word means the difference between war and peace. 

            What word from Christ do His ambassadors speak to you?  You have sinned.  You have initiated hostilities with God and His Kingdom.  You have separated yourself from Him.  You have rejected His rule.  You have sought to take possession of God’s Kingdom for yourself.  And so He should rightly obliterate you.

            But He doesn’t.  Instead, He sues for peace.  And what are the terms?  Your transgressions, your rebellion against your Lord, cannot simply be swept under the rug or ignored.  No.  Someone must die.  You are the sinner, so it should be you.  God is righteous.  He is righteousness itself.  So, it should not be Him.  But it will be Him.  It will be Jesus, the eternal and beloved Son of the Father.  Jesus, God’s Son, born into our flesh.  Jesus, who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  Jesus, who was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, who suffered our chastisement that we may have peace with God, that by His wounds, we be healed (Is. 53:4-5).  It is an incomprehensible mystery.  God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cord. 5:21).  That is our justification.  And in being thus justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1). 

            In preaching that, the Apostle Paul, and Pastor Timothy, and all Christian pastors, work together with God, appealing to you not to receive the grace of God in vain (6:1).  That is, hear it, receive it, believe it, and it is yours.  This is the kairos, this preaching.  Let it invade your chronos.  Let it invade your whole life and being, your body, your soul.  Let it captivate your every relationship, with God and with one another, and with the world.  It will even transfigure your sufferings.  Just ask St. Paul.  You heard his list of all the things he endured on account of the Gospel.  He did it as a faithful servant of God, one who follows Jesus on the way of the cross, joining his suffering to that of his Savior, in sacrifice, not just for the Corinthians, but also for our sake, that the Gospel be preached to us (as it is tonight), that we receive it, believe it, and so be reconciled to God.  This is the Jubilee.  Now is the favorable time.                            

            And so, the ashen cross.  Hope rising from the char.  Redemption.  Peace.  New life emerging from the rubble.  Dust you are, and to dust you shall return, but the cross…  Resurrection springs from cross and tomb.  The Crucified One is risen from the dead.  God takes the destruction wrought by your sin, and wields it for your life and salvation.  This is the moment.  The cross is the sign of Christ’s victory and of our reconciliation.  And tonight… now, in this favorable time… it marks you as His own.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

The Transfiguration of Our Lord (B)

 February 11, 2024

Text: Mark 9:2-9

            The bookends of the Epiphany Season, beginning, as it does, with the Baptism of Our Lord, and culminating in His Transfiguration, underscore the purpose of this holy time: To reveal… to manifest… that this Man, Jesus of Nazareth, is God.  And He is God for you.  He is the eternal and beloved Son of the Father, anointed with the Holy Spirit as our Messiah, the Christ, our Savior. 

            St. John baptized our Lord in the River Jordan at the inauguration of the Savior’s public ministry.  And when he did, as we heard, heaven was torn open, and there was Jesus, the Son of God, in the water, the Spirit descending upon Him as a dove, and the voice of the Father declaring: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11; ESV).  As we observed on that occasion, what happened to Jesus at His Baptism is what happens to us at our Baptism into Christ.  There is Jesus, the Son of God, in the water for us, and we join Him there, being made one with Him.  And the Spirit of God descends on us.  And God, His heavenly Father, now speaks to us as our heavenly Father, “You,” you, now, who are united to Christ Jesus, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  Baptism not only writes the Name of the Trinity upon you, body and soul.  It does do that, for you are precious to God, and He never wants to lose you.  He wants you to be His forever.  But so also, now, it tucks you into the life and being of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  You are enveloped by Him.  You live and move and have your being in Him.  You walk in Him.  Your very identity, now, is in Him.

            Now, today, we commemorate our Lord’s Transfiguration.  As He is about to undertake His Passion for us, His suffering and death for the forgiveness of our sins, Jesus goes up onto the holy mountain and is transfigured, metamorphosed, before the eyes of His disciples, Peter, James, and John.  What happens?  There are at least three things we should note. 

            First, Peter, James, and John serve as the requisite two or three witnesses upon whose testimony a matter is to be established.  They fulfill the biblical legal standard (Deut. 19:15; Matt. 18:20).  That will be the Apostles’ job from now until the end of time, to bear witness to what they have seen and heard.  They heard the teaching and saw the miracles.  These three saw the Transfiguration.  The Apostles were there when Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified (albeit hiding in the shadows, afraid).  And they saw, heard, and touched the body of the risen Lord.  So they testify.  They bear witness in their preaching, suffering, and by their writing it all down for us in Holy Scripture.  We see through their eyes.  We hear through their ears. 

            Second, there is the presence of Moses and Elijah with the glorified Lord.  The Law and the Prophets, what we call the Old Testament Scriptures, are all about Him, and He fulfills them.  What the ministry of Moses and Elijah anticipated has come to pass in the flesh of Jesus.  And (don’t miss this) it is this that finally brings Moses into the Promised Land.  It is the return of Elijah.  And they live, these two saints of old.  They are not dead, but living.  Jesus has power over death.  Moses died and was buried, only God knows where.  But here he stands with Jesus on the mountain, as He once did on Sinai.  Elijah was taken up bodily into heaven in the whirlwind, as we heard again this afternoon.  But here he stands with Jesus, talking with Him about the salvation now to be accomplished in the Lord’s sacrifice.  This is to say, heaven itself is open in Jesus.  Heaven appears with Jesus on the mountain.  And yes, we know one another in heaven.  That is apparent, here.  The Apostles know Moses and Elijah.  And they commune with them, around the Person of the glorified Jesus.  That is what heaven will be like.

            And, now, this is the Third thing… All eyes now on Jesus.  The uncreated Light of divinity is shining through His humanity.  And even His clothing is intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.  The Source of the light is Jesus Himself.  Like fire in iron.  Like the burning bush on Sinai, Jesus’ flesh is radiant with divine glory, but is not consumed.  It reveals who He is.  One Person, two natures, divine and human.  This Man, born of the Virgin Mary, is our God, before whose flesh Peter, James, and John, rightly fall in worship and adoration.

            And then the cloud, and then the voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mark 9:7).  It is like a re-run of our Lord’s Baptism.  In fact, it is the Baptism’s fulfillment.  It all happens again.  There is the Son, this time not in the water, but on a mountain.  There is the voice from heaven, the Father once again identifying Jesus as His Son, this time telling us to listen to the voice of His incarnate Word.  And where is the Spirit?  He descends, this time not as a dove, but as a cloud.  The cloud.  As He did on Sinai at the giving of the Ten Commandments.  As He filled Tabernacle and Temple at their respective dedications.  The cloud of God’s presence.  The cloud that contains within it the divine, and now also, since the Incarnation, human, presence of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  The Spirit brings Jesus in whom we hear the voice of our Father.

            Do you see the connection?  In both Jesus’ Baptism and His Transfiguration, our Triune God appears, revealing that this Man is God.  And in our Baptism into Christ, we are united with Him in such a way that we now look forward to our future transfiguration, when we, too, will shine with His glory, made to be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

            Well, this transfigures our whole life, even now.  Our baptismal life is, as St. Paul says, “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).  And what does that mean?  The life is there, and necessarily so.  For a thing to be hidden necessarily means it exists and is present.  But we know that Christians, this side of the veil, don’t look all that different than our unbelieving neighbors.  We suffer the same setbacks and misfortunes, the same illnesses, and by all appearances, the same end… we all die.  We still sin.  And we still struggle.  In fact, some unbelievers struggle and suffer less than many Christians.  It is not the case that baptismal immersion into the life of the Trinity suddenly makes everything easier for the Christian, that our life is suddenly carefree.  Often quite the contrary.

            And now we must descend with Jesus down the mountain, to walk the way of Golgotha.  Where will that end?  The cross.  Suffering.  Darkness.  Death.  If we didn’t know better, we would despair.  It is for just that reason God gives us, at this very point, the Transfiguration of our Lord.  It is just a little glimpse, a little lifting of the veil.  Remember who He is, the Man, Jesus.  Now you’ve seen His glory.  Death cannot keep Him.  Things are not as they appear.  Behold, the light of resurrection and life radiating through the cross and suffering.  He is working all this for your good, for your life and salvation.

            That is the truth to which we must cling, beloved, in Lent, and in life, until that great Epiphany on the Last Day when Christ is finally and fully revealed, and when we, ourselves, are revealed as the sons of God.  That is the reality.  We have that life now.  But how do we know it?  The Father tells us how.  “Listen to Him.”  Listen to Jesus.  Live in Him.  Live in your Baptism, where you are immersed into the life of the Holy Trinity.  Live by every Word that proceeds from His mouth in Scripture, in Preaching, and in Holy Absolution.  Recline at His Table, and believe what He says you receive there: His very body.  His very blood.  Jesus Himself.  By faith, behold the radiance of His divine glory shining through the bread and wine.  “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).

            So, beloved, come what may, rest in that reality.  You are in Christ, and Christ is in you.  God is your Father, well pleased with you for the sake of Christ.  And you are possessed by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, heaven is opened.  And Easter is coming.  Soon, soon, the trumpet will sound.  But first, Ash Wednesday and the Lenten journey.  Let us, therefore, take up our cross, knowing the cross is not the end.  And let us, with confidence and joy, follow Him.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.     

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (B)

February 4, 2024

Text: Mark 1:29-39

            We know the content of Jesus’ sermons.  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15; ESV).  He is not preaching that the Kingdom of God is merely coming at some future moment.  He is preaching the Kingdom’s arrival in His own Person, in His own flesh.  God’s Son is on the scene.  The Creator has come into His creation to heal it of its brokenness, to fashion it anew, to cast out Satan and the demons, to raise up fallen mankind, and to restore man to life with God in His Image once again.

            And He does it by preaching.  That shouldn’t surprise us.  God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them by speaking.  So, it is by His speech, that He makes all things new.  We heard the beginning of the episode in our Holy Gospel last week (Mark 1:21-28).  The members of the congregation were astonished at Jesus’ authoritative Word, and by that Word He even commanded unclean spirits and they had to obey: “Be silent, and come out of him!” (v. 25).  In this week’s Gospel, the service is over, and Jesus retires with His disciples to the home of Simon and Andrew.  Note what happens in the wake of our Lord’s preaching.  The Word is not simply left in the dust as the people head home for Sabbath brunch.  The Lord Jesus goes with those who hear and believe His Word.  He comes into their homes, and into their lives, reclaiming them whole and entire, from the devil, and for Himself.  The Kingdom of God comes where Jesus is present, speaking His Word. 

            Now, what do the disciples find when they arrive home?  Simon’s mother-in-law is seriously ill, in bed with a fever.  Yes, THAT Simon.  Peter.  The Pope.  He has a mother-in-law.  He is married.  I mean no disrespect to our Roman brothers and sisters, but it is worth noting.  And here they find that creation’s fallenness has touched dear mother to the very core.  A sickness is attacking her body.  It has stopped her in her tracks.  So the disciples do what all disciples should do when one they love is in need.  They immediately speak to Jesus about her.  They put it in His hands.  They pray. 

            Now, the Kingdom of God has come in through the front door.  What will He do when confronted with sin’s wages, the mortal effects of the Fall, the brokenness of His creation, and the suffering of this daughter of Israel whom He loves?  He will stand it no more!  Taking her by the hand, touching the sick woman with His lifegiving flesh, He raises her up.  And the fever leaves her.  He commands even fevers and they obey Him.  “Be silent, and come out!”  And the healing is complete and instantaneous.  She wastes no time, but begins to serve them.

            It is a picture of what Jesus does for each one of us when He comes to us, present with us, speaking His Word, and touching us with His lifegiving flesh.  Peter’s mother-in-law is the pattern.  We are often blissfully unaware, but that is our condition apart from the Kingdom of God coming to us.  There we are, suffering sin’s wages, dying and dead.  Spiritually so, and when we least expect it, physically so.  And so, Jesus comes.  He takes us by the hand and raises us up.  Spiritually so, and when we least expect it, physically so.  He drives out death and the devil, and gives us new life, His life.  Baptism.  Absolution.  Preaching.  Supper.  And the Promise of His hand reaching into the grave on the Last Day to pull us out.  And what happens as a result?  We get busy.  We begin to serve. 

            Now, note the order of things.  This is very important.  We don’t serve so that He will raise us up.  We don’t take the initiative, here.  How could we?  That notion is ridiculous.  We’re lying there, dead.  We don’t do good works to merit or prepare ourselves for His grace.  No, He raises us up by His grace alone, apart from any merit or worthiness or self-preparation in us.  And then we serve.  Because that is what healed and healthy, living people do.  Serve Jesus, and serve everyone else in the home with Him, and beyond, outside the walls. 

            Well, by this time, the sun has gone down, and the Sabbath is over.  And now the people are free to get up from their rest and come out of their homes.  And they come to Jesus at Simon’s house.  They saw what had happened in the Synagogue that day with the man with the unclean spirit.  They heard Jesus speak His authoritative Word.  And so, they come to the place where they know Jesus is present.  And they bring all who are sick and oppressed by demons.  They know they simply have to be where the Kingdom of God is breaking in.  Jesus heals many who are sick with various diseases, variations on sin’s curse that bend and break what God had pronounced good.  And He casts out many demons, allies of the serpent who craftily led our first parents astray, and so also us ever since.  He does not permit them to speak, because demons must never preach the Gospel.  They will always pervert it (as they do all things).  They will always bend it toward their own lie. 

            What is Jesus doing, but freeing creation from its bondage to the evil one?  Where the true Kingdom comes, the usurper is cast out.  And submission to the King is the real liberty, for the subjects of God become, with Christ, the sons of God.

            Let us not misunderstand the meaning of the healings.  The miracles are wonderful when Jesus gives them, and He gives them in love and compassion for those He liberates from pain and affliction.  But Jesus is no faith healer, and the miracles are not magic tricks.  The miracles are not ends in themselves.  You know as well as anyone, that not everyone gets the miracle they prayed for.  And even those who do, in time, get sick again, and die.  Every last one of the people Jesus healed in our Gospel is long since dead and buried.  So, if Jesus came just to do miraculous healings and exorcisms, that’s good, I guess, for a relatively few, for a relatively little while, but in terms of being the Savior of the world, it is a rather colossal failure!  Be aware of that when you pray for a miracle, and don’t get it.  You’re actually exchanging faith in the cosmos-shaking, universal reality of God entering into the flesh of His creation to redeem it from sin, death, the devil, and hell, in favor of buying a couple more years of good health.  It’s not a good deal.  Don’t miss the grand forest because you are fixated on an imperfection in an otherwise glorious tree.

            The miracles are signs of something greater, and that is the healing and salvation that results wherever the Kingdom arrives in the presence of the Lord Christ.  The preaching, the heralding of the Kingdom as it comes, as He comes, is what does it.  And then, His presence.  His touch.  The medicine of immortality that is His body and blood.

            There is something else we don’t expect as we hear our Gospel this afternoon.  After a long night’s work of healing and exorcising, taking upon Himself the diseases and afflictions, the burdens of sin and uncleanness from all these people, Jesus rises early in the morning, while it is still dark, to go out to a desolate place for prayer.  The Son of God is fully human, and it is exhausting bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows (Is. 53:4).  How does Jesus rest?  Does He sleep in?  That’s what I would do.  But Jesus needs a rest that sleep can never give.  And really, so do I.  And so do you.  Communion with God, our heavenly Father.  Rest in Him.  Laying before Him all that troubles us and burdens us.  Asking for wisdom.  Asking for help.  Asking for guidance.  Asking for strength.  And then receiving what He gives.  God answers by sending His angels.  God answers by granting His Spirit.  God answers by fulfilling His Gospel promises. 

            And it is a vital part of our Lord’s mission, this prayer.  Prayer is a key component of Jesus’ ministry of healing and preaching.  His time in prayer renews Him.  And it is prayer that strengthens Him to go on to the next towns to preach in their synagogues and cast out demons.  It is prayer, finally, that strengthens Him to go to the cross for our sins, knowing the Third Day, and resurrection, and our salvation, lay on the other side. 

            When we pray in and through Christ, we are given to participate in His mission.  We pray for ourselves and our own needs.  But so also, we name before God those who need the healing Word and touch of Jesus, all those who are afflicted physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.  As the disciples spoke with Jesus about Peter’s mother-in-law.  “She is sick,” they say, and then they trust that Jesus knows best what she needs, and will do all things well.  Prayer invokes Jesus, and His Father, and the Holy Spirit, and so brings the Kingdom, Jesus Himself, into the presence of those for whom we pray. 

            And prayer brings you into His presence.  You pray, and He brings you here, to the place where you hear once again the preaching of His authoritative Word: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  And then the Kingdom invades your very body and soul: “Take, eat; this is my body.  Take, drink; this is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  And all at once you are healed, and whole.  Refashioned.  Restored to God’s fellowship, and in His Image.  Rescued from sin, death, and the devil.  Don’t you know it yet?  You will, soon, when you see Him.  Just a little more time for your body and mind to catch up to the reality.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.