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.            

Funeral for Lib Duffau

In Memoriam +Sara Elizabeth (Lib) Duffau+

May 24, 2025

Text: Ecc. 3

            Lib has always had this way of cutting through the nonsense, hasn’t she?  That is, she could make herself clear.  Always nicely.  Always with class.  Always with elegance.  Often with humor.  But clear.  I think she may be doing that with us today in the readings she has chosen.  Especially the reading from Ecclesiastes.  She didn’t choose these readings haphazardly.  She wants us to know some things, and think about some things today, even as we weep, and laugh, and weep some more, and miss her, and remember her, and tell stories about our times with her.

            This morning, she’s teaching us about life.  Real life.  Life here and now, in this world.  Life in the flesh.  Life day-to-day.  And life as it comes into its fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us, redeemed our lives, by His death for us on the cross, and who gives us eternal and abundant life in His bodily resurrection from the dead. 

            It’s a rich life, isn’t it, this life we’ve been given?  There is a season for everything, for every matter under heaven.  Everything is beautiful in its time.  We are given to eat and drink and take pleasure in our toil, the work we’ve been given to do, full of meaning and purpose.  Nothing better for us than to be joyful, and do good, as long as we live.  And in that, we have an example to emulate in Lib. 

            But it does run its course, this life.  This earthly life, anyway.  For the righteous and the wicked… that is, those in Christ, and those outside of Christ.  Everyone has to die.  It is our common lot.  “All are from the dust, and to dust all return” (Ecc. 3:20; ESV).  Lib is cutting through the nonsense by giving us this reading, compelling us to look the reality of it in the face… death… and she’s doing it for our good.  And the point is not to devalue this life.  Quite the contrary.  It is to marvel at the givenness… the gift… of this life, and the sanctity of it.  But it is also to point out that there is a defect, a deficiency, especially if this life is all we’re living for.  Because of our sin and the resulting separation from God, this life comes to an end.  Full stop.  And everything we’ve done, everything we leave behind, all that eating and drinking and taking joy in our toil… even the good we do… all of it eventually fades and perishes, too. 

            And that is why God has put eternity into man’s heart (v. 11).  So that we would crave something more.  Long for something fuller and more real, something that endures, something that lasts.  A life without defect or deficiency.  A life, full and fulfilling, and never-ending.  Beloved, that is something we can’t make for ourselves.  That is something only God can do.  And He does.  He does it for us.  “I perceived that whatever God does endures forever,” Lib wants us to read, and hear, and know; “nothing can be added to it,” not even by us, “nor anything taken from it,” not even by us.  “God has done it, so that people may fear”… fear, in the biblical language, means some combination of reverence and faith… “so that people may fear before him” (v. 14). 

            What Lib wants you to know, and believe (trust!), and confess by your words and actions, is that true life, real life, life that never ends, is found only in God.  And she even tells us how to get it.  Namely, in Jesus Christ, God’s Son.  Look… there is a road map right there in the third reading Lib chose for us.  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” says Jesus.  “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  If you want life in all its fulness, as it was always meant to be lived; life, real and abundant and eternal; true life; believe in Jesus.  Jesus is the only way.  His death.  His resurrection.  For you.  Lib knew that, and believed it, and confessed it in her words and actions (even right here this morning).  And so, though Lib has died… she lives!  She lives!  Right now!  Her body has expired, it’s true.  Even “everything beautiful in its time,” only has its time.  But her spirit is with Jesus in heaven, where He has prepared a place for her.  A room in her Father’s House.  And there is something more.  Jesus Christ, who is risen from the dead, will raise her.  Bodily, as he is risen.  And what Lib wants you to know, more than anything, is that what she has in Christ, you also have in Christ.  Believe in Him.  Be baptized into Him.  Come to His Church to hear Him, and to eat and drink and take joy in what is imperishable: The crucified and risen body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Holy Supper.  See, in that way, you can start living this real and abundant and eternal life right now.  With Lib!  In fact, you can meet her as she lives, every time the Church gathers around the altar, lauding God’s holy Name with angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven.  There is Lib, living and lauding among them… among us! 

            And you know what having this life in Christ does for day-to-day life in this world, in this flesh?  It transforms it.  Because now you live this earthly life in light of your life in Christ.  Now you know that you are a beloved child of your heavenly Father.  Now you know you have a place in His Kingdom, His House, at His Table.  Now you know that whatever is wrong in this world is redeemed, and will be made right, in the End, when Jesus comes again and raises Lib, and raises you, from the dead.  So, now you can hear and appropriate what Jesus says, and what Lib wants you to know, from the second reading (Matt. 6:26-34):  Do not be anxious.  Do not be anxious about food and drink.  Look at the birds of the air.  Hear their sermon.  God loves us, they say.  God takes care of us.  He feeds us.  We trust Him.  How much more value God places on you.  He loves you.  He takes care of you.  He feeds you.  And the lilies of the field.  Mere grass that withers and dies.  What is the sermon they preach?  Look how God clothes us!  We don’t worry about it.  We don’t toil and spin.  God loves us, and cares for us, and provides for us.  How much more will He do it for you!

            Because He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up into the death of the cross for us all, will not forsake us now.  He’ll graciously give us all things needful (Rom. 8:32).  Lib doesn’t want you to spend this life worrying.  Instead, do what?  Eat.  Drink.  Be joyful.  Give thanks to God for all of it.  But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that all these other things will be added to you (Matt. 6:33).  Live in Christ, because then you’ll have the real thing.  Then, even when you die, you won’t die.  You’ll live forever.  And you’ll get to be with Lib, again.  Forever.  You’ll be raised together, bodily, so that you can embrace again, and laugh together again, and she can tell you when you’re full of nonsense again.  Life in Christ.  Life full and fulfilling.  Life resurrected.  Life made new. 

            “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1).  Ironically, for us, today is a time for both weeping and laughter, both mourning and dancing.  We’re sad.  Of course we are.  We miss Lib.  But we rejoice.  Because she lives.  Because Jesus lives.  He is risen from the dead.  He’ll raise Lib, and us.  Let’s cut through the nonsense, for Lib’s sake.  Death is coming for us all, so live in Jesus.  He is the Way.  And don’t waste your time being anxious, worrying about things.  Trust God.  He’ll see you through.  He will provide.  Rejoice.  Eat and drink with thanksgiving.  Toil in joy, doing good.  And know that what God has done, and is doing, for you, in Christ… that endures forever.  It is a rich life, isn’t it?  And it is all gift from God in Christ, our Savior.  Listen to Lib.  She chose these readings for you.  No nonsense.  Believe these words.  Because these words are life.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

           

 

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Fifth Sunday of Easter (C)

May 18, 2025

Text: John 16:12-22

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

            And because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, no one can take your joy from you.  Because you know how this ends.  You know where this all leads.  The resurrection of the body.  Eternal life.  New Creation.  A new heavens and a new earth.  All that is wrong made right… Perfectly right.  The Holy City, New Jerusalem, Holy Church, prepared as a Bride adorned for Her Husband.  The Wedding Feast.  God Himself dwelling with His people, wiping away their tears.  No more death or mourning or crying or pain.  For the old order of things has passed away.  He who is seated on the throne says, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5; ESV).  That is the reality in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  That is our eternal destiny.  So no one can take your joy from you.  Not a chance.  Not with you in Christ, and Christ in you. 

            Though your three main enemies, the devil, the world, and frankly, your own sinful flesh, will certainly try.  Christian joy, in this world, does not mean the absence of sorrow.  You suffer your heartaches and you shed your tears in this earthly life.  Of course you do.  Even though you believe in Christ and His salvation, you know that things in this fallen world are not how they ought to be, how they were created to be.  All people, believers and unbelievers alike, know instinctually that something is dreadfully wrong.  This is why depression is an epidemic.  Unbelievers assign the blame to meaningless evolutionary chance, or bad karma, vindictive gods, or powerless ones, anyway.  Believers know precisely what went wrong all the way back at the beginning with Adam and Eve and their serpentine rebellion.  And we know what continues to go wrong in our own rebellion.  Our flesh is fallen.  Creation itself has been subjected to our fall.  And so, there is injustice.  There is war.  Terrorism.  Vandalism.  Poverty.  Oppression.  Broken relationships.  In fact, we need look no further than our own bodies for the brokenness.  We die.  The wages of sin is death.  We deteriorate.  All things decay.  We decay.  There is no evolution, only devolution.  You know that if you keep anything at all for any length of time.  It all falls to pot.  Including your own body.  Your friends and loved ones get sick and die all around you.  You get sick.  You are dying.  You mourn.  You have real tears for God to wipe away.  But you do not mourn as those who have no hope (Cf. 1 Thess. 4:13-18).  You know your Savior, and you know what He is doing about it in the end (though, to be honest, the specifics of it may leave you wondering).  Still, you mourn as those who long for that Day when your mourning will be at an end.  Therefore, the deep and abiding joy of the Christian, far from being an absence of sorrow, is a joy that looks through the tears to fix itself on Jesus, who is risen from the dead. 

            “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me,” Jesus says to His disciples (John 16:16).  They do not know what He is talking about, but they will.  They are with Him in the upper room on the night in which He was betrayed, and He is telling them about His death on the cross for the sins of the world… “you will see me no longer”… and His triumph over death and hell in His bodily resurrection… “again… you will see me.” 

            His death, of course, will cause them unimaginable sorrow.  They will grieve, as one does in the face of death.  But they will not grieve as those who have hope.  Because all their hope was in Jesus, and now He is dead, and they have never understood this talk about Him rising from the dead on the Third Day.  As far as they are concerned, when Jesus is nailed to the cross, suffers, and dies, that’s the end of it.  All their hopes are dashed.  Three years wasted.  And they’ll probably come for us, next.  The world, and the devil himself… all hell rejoices when the Son of God is killed.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.  You will be sorrowful…”

            BUT!  “but your sorrow will turn into joy” (v. 20).  See, He is risen!  And that is what makes the difference.  He appears to them.  Eye witnesses.  They touch Him.  He eats in front of them.  This is no ghost.  This is the Body that was crucified, dead, and buried, now animated with life and breath, beating heart and coursing blood.  And sorrow is put to flight.  There can be no more sorrow where death no longer holds its prey.  In fact, the very sorrow of Jesus’ death is what is turned into joy.  For His death is the sacrifice of atonement for your sins, my sins, the sins of the disciples, and the sins of the whole world.  And death didn’t win.  It couldn’t keep Jesus down.  He killed it.  By dying.  And now Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, never to die again.  And He will raise you from the dead and give eternal life to you and all believers in Christ. 

            All your sorrows, whatever they may be (and they are very real sorrows), are the death throes of death itself.  All that is wrong in this world and in your life, all that causes you to mourn, is the handiwork of sin, and has the fingerprints of death all over it.  But it is precisely sin and death that is defeated in the death and resurrection of Christ.  The very event that turns the disciples’ sorrow into a joy that cannot be taken away, is what turns your sorrow into a joy that no one can rob from you.  God’s answer to your sorrow is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

            Now, the disciples find this all so confusing, and who can blame them?  Frankly, so do we.  Because we know the sorrow by sight.  It is plain to the eyes and to our very nerve endings.  But the joy?  That is by faith.  Sure, we get little glimpses of it in this life.  Beautiful music.  The splendor of the setting sun.  As Jesus says, the joy we have at the birth of a child.  In fact, even unbelievers can be happy… which is not the same thing as joy… not in the biblical sense.  Happiness is a surface emotion.  It doesn't mix with sorrow.  Joy… Christian joy, again, fixes its gaze through the sorrow on Jesus, the risen One.  And that is what sustains it.  Jesus.  Risen from the dead.

            If you want to see this in action, just go to a couple of funerals.  Watch how unbelievers deal with death.  There will be one of two things, or a combination of them.  There will either be denial manifested in all the silly things people say to one another in order to cope: “He lives on in our hearts.”  “We scattered his ashes around that tree, and now he gives life to that tree, so we can always think of him in the spring when the tree turns green.”  “He is that star up there, shining down on us.”  “ Now he’s playing that great golf course in the sky.”  I could go on.  Or there is utter hopelessness.  Everybody dressed in black, sitting around silently, staring off into space.  I’ve been around those situations.  It’s devastating.  And the couple times that I’ve been given a chance to say a prayer or a few words into the hopelessness, all I do is talk about the resurrection of Christ, and you can almost see the darkness fleeing the light.  Do that, if you’re ever at one of those affairs.  Speak the risen Christ into the darkness.

            Then go to a Christian funeral, especially a good, old-fashioned Lutheran one (you have an opportunity for that on Saturday).  Of course, there are tears, and there is sadness.  Death is always a tragedy.  We were created to live forever.  Sin messed all that up.  It’s all very sad.  But unlike the funerals of unbelievers, we stare that reality right in the eye.  “This, our brother, died because he’s a sinner.  The wages of sin is death.  Death is ugly and cruel.  Here it is, in the casket.  Don’t look away.” 

            BUT!  But… this body will rise.  We’ll say that of Lib on Saturday.  Because Christ is risen from the dead.  He died to redeem this body, and He rose to raise this body and give it eternal life.  So at the Christian funeral, we sing.  And not dirges, but Easter hymns.  Alleluias.  Praise and thanksgiving for the Lord’s faithfulness to us and to the one who has died, but lives, and will arise on that Day.  We look death in the face, only to spit in its eye and proclaim the everlasting Easter Gospel.  “Death, you can go to hell, because Jesus has defeated you.  He is risen from the dead and He’s taking me with Him.”  Then, of all things, we go into the fellowship hall and have a feast.  Lutheran ladies know how to set a table, and there is no lack.  We eat and drink and laugh… and cry, but not only cry.  It’s a joyous affair.  Almost irreverent in the eyes of unbelieving mourners.  But see… Our sorrow has been turned to joy.  Because Jesus died, and Jesus is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia! 

            Now, we’ve spent so much time on the second half of our text, that we’ve virtually ignored the first half.  I guess you can’t do everything.  But suffice it to say, our sorrow turning into joy depends on this first part; that is, the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus Himself didn’t say everything there is to say to the disciples that night.  They couldn’t bear it then.  But there is the Promise of the Spirit.  He will be poured out on Pentecost.  Then they will understand, after Jesus is risen from the dead, after Pentecost.  The Spirit will guide them into all the truth.  Which is to say, the Spirit will give the apostles to write the truth down.  The Holy Scriptures.  And in this way, He will guide us into all the truth.  This is an inspiration of the Scriptures text.  The Spirit speaks to the apostles all that He hears from the Father and the Son.  The Spirit takes all that belongs to the Son, which He has received from the Father, and declares it to the apostles, and they write it down.  And that is what we read and preach in the Church, through which the Holy Spirit comes to us and gives us faith in Jesus, who reconciles us to the Father by His death and resurrection.  It is only in this way, by the Spirit coming to us in the Scriptures, that we know the death and resurrection of Christ for us.  It is only in this way that we know how all this ends, where all this is going.  Resurrection.  New Creation.  Eternal life.  God wiping away our tears.  All things new.  That turns all our sorrow into joy. 

            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.