Advent Midweek III

Rescue and Redemption in Daniel

Advent Midweek III: “Christ, Who Shuts the Mouths of Lions”

December 20, 2023

Text: Dan. 6; Matt. 28:1-10

            We have to give our leaders and those who govern us this benefit of the doubt at least: Often their worst decisions are the result of bad advice and deceitful counsel on the part of their cabinet members.  Darius is no fool.  He is a mighty king.  But even mighty kings fall prey to flattery.  And anyway, what is never spoken aloud, but tacitly believed by our politicians, is stated explicitly in most ancient nations: The ruler is divine.  The king is a god.  And in Darius’ case, a rather successful one.  So, why not?  Establish the injunction and sign the decree, which cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians: For the next thirty days, anyone who makes petition… anyone who prays… to any god or man, except to the god-man Darius, shall be cast into the den of lions.

            Now, when Daniel knew of the decree, he simply did what Christians do in the face of idolatry.  In his upper chamber, windows open toward Jerusalem, in full view all the people, including those conspiring for his blood, he knelt down and prayed, and gave thanks to his God, the one true God, three times a day.  He worshiped.  He confessed.  Whatever the consequences.  Daniel remained faithful.

            Now, Darius, as so often happens when rulers make impulsive and imprudent decisions, finds himself caught in his own trap.  Or, perhaps more accurately, the trap set by his advisors.  Note the tremendous irony of the situation.  Darius is supposedly a god, but he is impotent to help his favored servant, Daniel.  The law cannot be changed!  Not even by the king.  Try as he might, he cannot deliver the innocent man.  So it is commanded, and so it is done.  Daniel is cast into the den of lions.  “And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den” (Dan. 6:17; ESV). 

            Daniel is, for all practical purposes, dead and buried.  And as happens when we bury someone, our hearts are troubled, and often sleep eludes us, and we don’t eat, and no diversions can cheer us or hold our attention.  So it was with King Darius; really, mourning his trusted servant, Daniel. 

            But the morning light reveals what has been, until that moment, an unseen reality.  Daniel, servant of the living God, was safe in his tomb.  God sent His Angel to shut the lions’ mouths.  They could not harm Daniel, because he was found blameless before God, without sin, justified in the presence of the Angel.  And we know this is no mere angel.  It is He, who will be for us, the true God-Man, the Father’s only-begotten Son.  He is the preincarnate Christ.  God sent Him to be with Daniel, and with him all the way. 

            With him in the pit.  With him in suffering and in the face of death.  With him before the lions.  Shutting their mouths.  Bringing him through, without harm.  See how God turns everything on its head?  The law of Darius is overturned by the Law of God.  Wickedness is overturned by righteousness.  Death is overturned by life.  Daniel is brought up out of death.  No harm is found on him, because he trusted in his God (v. 23).  But those who maliciously accused him were cast into the pit.  And before they reached the bottom, the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones. 

            It is a foreshadowing.  This would happen again, on a much grander scale.  Pilate is no fool.  But he is operating on bad advice from the chief priests and teachers of the Law.  He is caught in the trap of his own law, Roman law.  And in the name, and on behalf of an Emperor claiming to be divine, he condemns an innocent man, THE Innocent Man, to death.  He throws Jesus to the lions, to the beastly crowd.  They shred Him.  They murder Him.  They cast Him into the pit.  They lay a stone over the mouth of the tomb.  But on the Third Day, the morning light reveals the unseen reality.  God has turned everything upside down.  Jesus was, indeed, dead.  But now He is alive.  Risen from the dead.  It is the lions who have now been consumed.  Death has been swallowed up by Life.  That is why the Angel could deliver Daniel.  That is why the Angel delivers us.

            Yes, we live as Daniel in the midst of lions.  Our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).  The demons are hungry for human flesh.  Never mind the world; governments that see themselves, not as servants of God, but as gods in their own right, who would usurp the place of God in your life, mind, and heart.  Never mind your own sinful nature, enthralled, as it is, by the enemies’ fangs.  Never mind the yawning jaws of death even now closing in on you. 

            Life is perilous in this fallen world.  We think today of Katie Luther, Katharina von Bora, pledged to the convent while still a child, smuggled to Wittenberg with several others in herring barrels, seeking the freedom of the Gospel.  Her world was one of constant danger.  Now, she lived her life in faith, as a faithful Christian.  Married to Dr. Luther, the mother of six children, able manager of the ever-busy Luther household, and brewmistress of Wittenberg’s most famous beer.  She was the very picture of a Proverbs 31 woman.  But her husband was a marked man, under constant threat of martyrdom, and presumably, she was, too.  Eventually widowed, she suffered in poverty, lived through plagues, and the horrors of the Schmalkaldic War.  In 1552, when the Black Plague once again stole through Wittenberg, as Katie and her family fled from the city to Torgau, there was a cart accident.  Katie was thrown into a watery ditch.  Though she held on for three months, coming in and out of consciousness, she eventually succumbed to her injuries. 

            None of us makes it out of here alive, do we?  Even faithful Christian lives are hard lives, marked by suffering and death.  Again, we live as Daneil in the midst of lions.  But ever and always in the confidence of the risen Christ.  The Angel, the Lord Jesus, is with us in all suffering, trial, and temptation.  He is with us in death, and all the way into the tomb.  And He, who conquered death, will lead us out again.  The stone of death has been rolled away.  And soon enough, our own headstones will topple and crack, as the risen Lord takes us up out of the tomb.  And no harm will be found on us, because we trusted in our God.  

            On that Day, our enemies will be devoured by hell.  Like Darius’ advisors, they will have to lie in the bed they made for themselves, and be crushed by it.  But we will live, and we will see every knee bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess (including Darius and his counselors) that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11).  Or, as Darius himself once wrote: “he is the living God… his kingdom shall never be destroyed… his dominion shall be to the end… he who has saved Daniel,” and us, “from the power of the lions” (Dan. 6:26-27).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

 

Third Sunday in Advent

Third Sunday in Advent (B)

December 17, 2023

Text: John 1:6-8, 19-28

            What do you look for in a sermon?  What makes a sermon good in your estimation?

            St. John the Baptist doesn’t care.  And neither do I. 

            John has a Word to proclaim.  A Word from God.  He is to cry out in the wilderness, whether anyone approves, or not; whether anyone cares to hear him, or not.  He is sent to prepare the way of the Lord, to go before Him, and herald His arrival, that the people may receive Him.  How?  We heard it last week.  Repentance.  John is to call you out for your sins.  He is to preach God’s Law in its full severity, drawing you into the baptismal waters, driving you to confess your sins.  And then, the Gospel in all its sweetness.  The forgiveness of sins.  John is to point you to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the One coming after John, the greater One, the One in anticipation of whom John baptizes with water, the One who baptizes you with the Holy Spirit. 

            When the priests and Levites, sent by the Pharisees, come to question John, clearly unhappy with his sermons and his ministry… Who are you to say such things?  Who are you to do such things?  Who authorized you to preach this message?  Who authorized you to baptize in this way?... John does not play their game.  He keeps on saying what he’s been given to say.  He keeps on doing what he’s been given to do.  All of which is unswervingly focused on the coming Messiah.  He is to point away from himself, and to the Savior.  When questioned concerning himself, he mostly says who he is not.  “I am not the Christ.  I am not Elijah.  I am not the Prophet.  And I am not worthy.  But here is what I am… I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.”

            The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare.  Make straight.  Because the true Light, which enlightens everyone, is coming into the world, to shine in the darkness, and the darkness will not, and cannot overcome it.  John is not the Light, but he is sent from God to bear witness to the Light, to preach the Light, to shine the Light into the darkness by his preaching.

            And that is what you should look for in a sermon.  That is the criteria by which you should deem a sermon good.  A sermon that shines the Light into all the dark places of your life, your mind, your heart.  Exposing the darkness.  Defeating the darkness.  And every dark misdeed.  That necessarily means preaching you don’t like.  Preaching that makes you uncomfortable.  Preaching that calls a thing what it is, calls evil “evil,” and good “good.”  Preaching that calls you to repentance for sins you like to do, and that you justify in your mind.  Preaching that rips you out of yourself, crucifies your sinful flesh, changes your mind, turns you from self and every self-obsession, to the God who created you and loves you, the God who became incarnate to suffer and redeem you, the God who would possess you whole, body and soul, sanctifying you to be His own.

            John is entirely caught up into that.  With single-minded devotion, he is obsessed with Christ.  Well, that’s what you should want in a preacher.  That’s what you should want in preaching.  But what do people think they want in a preacher and his preaching?  First of all, nobody wants to be made to feel bad about anything they think, say, or do.  They don’t want their preconceptions challenged.  They don’t want to have to change their minds.  They don’t ever want to be told they are wrong.  That’s what they don’t want.  What they do want, I suppose, may differ with every individual.  There are as many opinions as there are people.  Some want a good-looking preacher with a charismatic personality to inspire them with excitement for God.  Some want to be entertained, others educated, others to receive practical tips dressed up as biblical principles for living healthy, wealthy, and wise.  Just about everybody wants their own opinions confirmed as true, and one and all would like to hear that their own behavior is righteous after all.  Some would like clever sermon illustrations, others flashy Power-Point on a screen.  Some want poetic prose and eloquent rhetoric, while others want homespun and folksy familiarity.  And some (and perhaps they are the majority) just want the sermon over with already.  Perhaps you could add some other criteria to the list.  Because the “they” and “them” in these examples, should really read “you” and “me.” 

            John doesn’t care about any of that.  And as your preacher here in this place, neither do I.

            Christ.  It’s all about Christ.  The voice cries in this wilderness to prepare you to receive Christ, who comes to you.  And not just to prepare you.  We may be in the Season of Advent, but we are Christmas people, and Christ is here, now, on the scene.  The voice not only cries to prepare you to receive Him, but to give Him to you.  And to bring you into Him.

            His death for your sins.  His resurrection for your life.  His washing away of your iniquities.  His righteousness as your own.  His Spirit, now upon you and in you.  His Father, your Father, and you a beloved child of God.  His body.  His blood.  Given and shed for you, now given to you to eat and to drink.  A Feast of salvation.  A Repast of joy. 

            And see, when He is in you in that way, and you are in Him, caught up in the River of Life flowing from His pierced side, carried along by His living and life-giving Spirit... when you are brought into such single-minded devotion to Him, obsession with Christ and the things that come from Christ… you don’t mind finding out you’re wrong and that you’ve sinned in thought, word, and deed, because Christ is now your right-ness, your righteousness, and your mind is now captivated by Him.  Never mind entertainment, education, and practical tips for worldly prosperity.  Your attention is fixed on Him, as He fills you with all wisdom and knowledge, forming and informing every facet of your life, and prospering you eternally.  You want your opinions, now, to be conformed to His judgments, and your behavior, to His righteousness. 

            This newness of attitude, this newness of life, is given to you in the preaching.  Whether the words flow forth with high and lofty elegance, or in weakness and simplicity.  Whether the preacher is clever and good-looking, or the man now standing before you.  Because the Word preached is not the preacher’s word, and the power of that Word has nothing to do with the preacher’s personality.  And, by the way, the Word preached is not your word, to do what you demand with it.  And the power of that Word has nothing to do with your personality or personal felt needs.

            The Word is the speaking of God.  He sends the preacher.  To speak it to you.  “Who are you to say such things to me,” you may say.  The preacher is nobody, and no one should be under any illusions about that, least of all the preacher himself.  “Who authorized you to say and do such things,” you may further enquire, and the question, actually, is not wrong.  God did.  God authorizes this preaching and ministry.  God sent the Prophets, including St. John.  God sent the Apostles.  And God sends the called and ordained servants of His Word, to preach what He tells them, and to preach it faithfully.  Whether people will hear, or refuse to hear.  God has given the Office of the Holy Ministry for this purpose.

            I pray that you will hear and heed the preaching.  Repent and believe the Good News.  But I pray for even more for you.  I pray that you would fall into a deep and enduring and all-encompassing love for your Savior, who loves you and gave Himself for you.  That you would receive Him in all His fullness, with all His gifts.  I pray that you would hang on His every Word, enthralled by His Scriptures, yearning for ever deeper understanding, that it would form all you think, say, and do.  I pray that the Spirit would stir your heart and mind, always, and in everything, with the faith, and hope, and love, and JOY of Christ Jesus, as a blood-bought child of your heavenly Father.  And that such stirrings then would flow outward, spill over, in love for one another, and for the world that God so loves.  That is what preaching can accomplish in you.  The Word and the Sacraments.  Nothing else can do it.  It is all God’s work.  The Spirit is in the Word.  He makes it a powerful Word, to accomplish what He says.

            And now, I have preached it to you, which is to say, the gift is yours, if you will have it.  Beloved, have it.  Do not refuse it.  Lean into it.  Embrace it.  Cling to it.  Live in it.  Be obsessed.  Let it form you.  Let it permeate you.  Let it infuse all your relationships.  Let it prepare you by making the way straight.  Let it give you Christ.  Christ is yours.  You are Christ’s.  That is your life.  And that is all St. John cares about.  And me, too.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.   

Advent Midweek II

Rescue and Redemption in Daniel

Advent Midweek II: “Christ In the Fire”

December 13, 2023

Text: Dan. 3; Matt. 27:45-54

            No sooner do we read (as we did last week), King Nebuchadnezzar’s confession (in the wake of his troubling dream about the image), that Daniel’s God is God of gods and Lord of kings (Dan. 2:47), then we find in the very next chapter that Nebuchadnezzar sets up an image of his own, to be worshiped!  So much for learning his lesson!  Now he commands that at the sound of any kind of music, all people everywhere are to fall down immediately in homage toward the idol. 

            Needless to say, this was unacceptable to faithful Jews, and in particular, to Daniel’s three friends, the young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They refused to worship the image.  They knew and believed the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything… You shall not bow down to [such images] or serve them” (Ex. 20:3-5; ESV).

            Note the fury of idolatrous governmental powers when one refuses to worship the state-approved gods.  In a furious rage, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the men to come before him.  And he gave them a choice.  It is a choice faced by countless Christian martyrs throughout history: Fall down and worship these idols, or suffer and die as an enemy of the state.  “Listen here, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: Fall down and worship my idol, or you will be cast into the burning fiery furnace.”  “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands” (Dan. 3:15). 

            What is a Christian to do?  What should you do when faced with that alternative (as well you may one day!)?  You know the answer, but it is not an easy one.  Many throughout history made the (spiritually) deadly decision to deny Christ, fall down before the idol, burn the incense, and save their necks in this life.  God preserve us from apostasy in the moment of decision.  Undoubtedly, the thinking went something like this: “I can deny Him, and then repent later.  He will forgive.”  But we must remember, with trembling, our Lord’s warning: “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32-33).  God grant us His Holy Spirit, to answer faithfully and courageously when the moment comes upon us, entrusting ourselves to Him who is mightier than any world power; indeed, than Satan himself… As the three men answered: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.  If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Dan. 3:16-18).

            What gave them the courage to answer that way?  Faith.  Trust.  They trusted that their God could deliver them from the fire, and that He would.  And even if He didn’t… that is, even if, in His wisdom, He let them perish in the fire, they would faithfully suffer it, endure it, as confessors of the one true God, who would deliver them even through death. 

            Well, you know what happened next.  Nebuchadnezzar, burning up in his own fury, ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal, and the mighty men of his army to bind the three young men in their cloaks, tunics, hats, and garments (probably to prolong the burning), and cast them into the furnace.  And the furnace was so hot that the mighty men were killed by the flames in the process.  Notice how the burning rage of those who hate and persecute God’s people ends up burning the persecutors themselves.  That is a warning to them.  And in the end, it will be true even of the devil. 

            Now, here, a little musical interlude (no, I’m not gonna sing).  But in the apocryphal chapters of Daniel, at this point in the story, the three men sing a Psalm of praise!  In the midst of the flames! …  By the way, apocryphal doesn’t mean untrue.  While we should not read the Apocrypha as inerrant and inspired Holy Scripture, Lutherans have always maintained that it may be beneficial devotional material, and that much of it is true.  So they may actually have sung this.  It’s possible.  And we have it in our hymnal, Hymn 931.  You should read it this week, or even sing it.  It begins, “All you works of the Lord, bless the Lord—praise Him and magnify Him forever” (v. 1). 

            They are praising because they believe, and now even see the Lord’s deliverance, His Angel, present with them in the flames, protecting them from harm.  Nebuchadnezzar sees it, too.  “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?... But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods” (Dan. 3:24-25).  We know this is no mere angel.  It is the preincarnate Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, not of the gods, but of the one true God!  Christ is in the fire with the three young men.

            To save them.  Not from the fire, but through it.  This is so instructive for our Christian faith and life.  The Lord does not spare the three young men from being cast into the fire.  But He is with them in it.  And so it is with us and our suffering.  Of course, we can’t even begin to imagine how much suffering the Lord spares us in the first place.  We can never know all that doesn’t happen to us by the grace of God.  But sometimes God gives us to be cast right into the thick of it.  And when He does, the comfort is, we are never alone.  There is the Angel of the LORD, the Son of God, with us (Immanuel) in our suffering.  Only in our case, not preincarnate… incarnate, in the flesh born of Mary, our flesh.  He is not just with us in our suffering, in spirit.  He is with us all the way, bodily.  And we know that most profoundly in the Holy Supper.

            And not just with us in our suffering.  For us in His suffering and death on the cross.  Our Lord Jesus Christ bore the fire of God’s wrath for our sins.  The Innocent was cast into the burning fiery furnace of God’s fury, by, and for, the guilty.  The arrogant.  The tyrants.  Idolaters.  Even apostates.  Us.  For us, and in our place.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:25).  And beholding Him in the fire… like Nebuchadnezzar… the centurion (the representative of the Roman Emperor) acknowledged the truth: “Truly this was the Son of God!” (v. 54).  And His suffering is our deliverance.

            In the case of the three young men, the Lord delivered them before death could overtake them, before the flames could begin to harm them.  That happens to us sometimes.  You’re in a car accident that should have killed you, but you walk away without a scratch, or with only minor injuries.  You are sick unto death, but your recover.  The cancer disappears without a trace.  It happens, and that is from God.  We should acknowledge it, and give thanks.

            But often the Lord delivers us, not from death, but through death itself.  To go the way He, Himself, has gone before.  To follow Him through the grave, into resurrection and life.  Tonight, we commemorate just such a deliverance in St. Lucia, St. Lucy, Santa Lucia.  Her name means light, and, indeed, from an early age, her Christian confession and charity shone the light of Christ upon all who knew her.  That is why, in Christian art, she is often pictured in her bright white baptismal gown, with a wreath of candles on her head.  She was a bright light in a very dark time.  These were the days of Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians.  When Lucia refused to marry a pagan noble, the jilted suitor turned her in as a Christian to the governor of Syracuse.  Now, the governor gave Lucia an ultimatum (and this will sound familiar after hearing the account of the three young men this evening): Worship my gods, or suffer the punishment.  When Lucia refused to commit idolatry, remaining steadfast in the faith, well… some of this may be legendary, but who knows?  Who knows?... the governor ordered her to be taken to a house of prostitution and publicly defiled.  But the soldiers could not move her from the floor.  The Holy Spirit held her fast.  So, instead, she was tied to a stake to be burned, but the fire would not light.  Who knows?  Who knows?  It isn’t your Christianity that objects to the miracle.  It is your rationalism.  By some accounts, Lucia’s eyes were also gouged out, which is why she is sometimes portrayed as blind (and St. Lucia buns are baked to look like eyes).  But regardless, the idea was to torture her into denying the faith.  Finally… and mercifully… she met her death by sword, confessing her Lord to the end.

            But understand, she was not abandoned.  She was rescued by the Lord through death, through her martyrdom, even as He rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  And as He will rescue, and is even now rescuing, you.  That is the very meaning of Advent.  Jesus comes to us in the very midst of the fire, the suffering, the fallenness of our lives, to suffer for us, to be with us in it, to rescue us and redeem us. 

            And note this: Even as He who died for us is now risen from the dead, He will raise us.  He will call us out of the grave, as Nebuchadnezzar called the young men out of the furnace, as the Lord Himself called forth Lazarus: “Come out, and come here” (Dan. 3:26; John 11:43).  And we will come out before the Lord.  And just as Jesus now stands in His risen and glorified body; and as the three young men came out with no harm to their bodies, or even their garments, no singed hairs, and no smell of fire upon them; so we will come out and stand before the Lord, healed and whole, no harm to our bodies, no singe or stain or stench of death. 

            Our Lord Jesus is able to deliver us from the fire of God’s wrath, and from every trial.  And, in fact, He does.  So we fall down before Him alone to worship.  For it is as Nebuchadnezzar says: “there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way” (Dan. 3:29).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                             

             

Second Sunday in Advent

Second Sunday in Advent (B)

December 10, 2023

Text: Mark 1:1-8

            “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Mark 1:3; ESV). 

            Christ is coming.  He has come.  He comes.  He is coming again.  That merits some intentional preparation as we anticipate receiving Him.  It calls for meditation.  Forethought.  Introspection.  A putting of things in order.  “(M)ake his paths straight” (v. 3).  What is crooked in your life?  In your mind and heart?  In your relationships?  Your home?  What is disordered?  What valleys need to be filled… What is lacking?  Where have you fallen short?  What are your sins of omission?  What mountains and hills must be laid low…  What pride humiliated?  What thoughts, words, and deeds (sins of commission) forsaken?  What self-justifications abandoned and disowned, that you be prepared to receive the justification the Lord alone brings?  Examine yourself.  Confess your sins.  Let no corner of your being remain in darkness.  Shine the light of Christ and His Word into every nook and cranny.  Christ has come.  He comes even now.  He is coming again.  Prepare.

            God knows that you are weak.  He knows that, apart from Him, you are, in fact, helpless and hopeless, dead in your trespasses and sins.  And so, the preparation must be His work in you.  And for that, He sends a preacher.  A voice cries in the wilderness.  St. John the Baptist proclaims a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (v. 4).  It is the culmination of all the prophetic preaching that came before.  It anticipates the preaching and Baptism of Jesus Himself, carried on by His Apostles (some of whom began as disciples of John the Baptist), inscripturated by the sacred writers (inspired, as they were, by the Holy Spirit), the charge of all Christian ministers, so that this very moment, in this very place, into your very ears, the preaching resounds: Prepare the way of the Lord.  Repent of your sins.  Believe the Good News.  Jesus comes.  Be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you, too, will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the Promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom our God calls to Himself (Acts 2:38-39).

            The preacher comes, clothed in self-effacing garb.  For John, it is camel’s hair and a leather belt.  His peculiar dress is not designed to draw attention to himself.  Rather, his appearance calls to mind the great Prophet Elijah, who was likewise attired (2 Kings 1:8).  So we cover the Christian minister today with the garments of his office, to assist him with pointing away from himself, and to the Mightier One who comes, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

            How do the crowds prepare in our text?  First of all, they come to hear and heed the preaching.  They do not stay away.  They come to the place where the Word of God is proclaimed.  And where, of all places?  The wilderness.  But this, too, is a proclamation.  They hear, and they know, that they are rebellious Israel, wandering aimlessly in the waste of death, in need of a Joshua to lead them across the Jordan.  They must confess it.  And so, they do.  They come to John, confessing their sins.  And they are baptized, washed, bathed by him in the River Jordan.  Repentance and cleansing.  That is how one is prepared.  Hear the preaching.  Confess and be absolved.  Which is always and ever a return to the cleansing waters of Baptism.

            But what is repentance?  The word is bandied about a great deal in the Church, and we think we know what it means, but it does us no good if we don’t actually know what it means.  The Hebrew word for repentance means to turn, or return, as in a turning from faithlessness and sin, and a return to God, who loves us and forgives our sins.  The Greek word for repentance literally means to change the mind.  To repent is to change your mind.  Your thinking is all wrong.  It is centered on self.  Self-pleasure.  Self-fulfillment.  Self-justification.  What is needed, then, is a change of mind, a turning from such self-centered, self-obsession, to God and His Word and His will, and to the justification that comes from outside yourself, from Christ alone. 

            Our Augsburg Confession  (Article XII) says that repentance has two parts.  The first is contrition, which the Confession defines as “terrors smiting the conscience through knowledge of sin;” but understand, contrition is not primarily a feeling.  Contrite literally means with grinding, with crushing, as in being ground or crushed by the accusations of the Law.  Contrition, then, is the objective knowledge that the Law’s accusations crush you and condemn you.  Then, the second part of repentance is faith born of the Gospel, born of the Absolution, the forgiveness of sins pronounced upon you for Christ’s sake.  So, repentance begins with the Law exposing you for the self-centered sinner you are, to which you say, “Amen,” and confess your sins to God, and perhaps even to your pastor (as the crowds did to John the Baptist), naming the sins, so that they lose their power over you.  And then hearing the Word of forgiveness, the Absolution, pronounced over you for those very sins, and for all sins, in the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ.  It is a change of mind, a turning from sin to God.  It is a cleansing, planting you again in the saving baptismal waters.

            Then, from such repentance (says the Confession), grows the fruit of repentance, which is to say, love and good works.  Because, once your mind has been changed from focus on self, turned instead to be focused on God, you are able to see your neighbor and his needs, and what love obligates you to do for him.

            Do you see, beloved, what this means concretely in your own life as you prepare to celebrate once again the Lord’s coming in the flesh, the Babe born of Mary?  For His coming to you here and now in preaching and Supper (yes, you should prepare for that)?  For His coming again in glory, with the holy angels, to raise the dead and to judge? 

            Repentance is not just a theoretical concept.  It means daily time spent in God’s Word and prayer, reading and hearing, believing and heeding His Law and Gospel, and speaking to Him on that basis.  Parents have a particular obligation to lead your children in this (that is why we’ve provided the Advent wreath devotions and daily devotions).  That they may impart it to their children (God grant it), and so for generations to come, God may have for Himself a people prepared. 

            It means daily self-examination, confessing and lamenting your sins and failures to God each evening, asking His forgiveness for Jesus’ sake, which you know He is ever ready to grant you. 

            It may mean private Confession and Absolution with your pastor, the preacher God has sent you, where you can name your sin aloud to God, and hear God Himself declare through the voice of your pastor, that all your sins are forgiven. 

            Above all, yes, it means attendance at Divine Service at every opportunity.  You and your children.  Here with your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Plunged back into the baptismal water.  In the Ark that saves you from the flood.  Here, where this sad sack of bones is clothed with an Office, to speak to you, and upon you, and into you Christ’s own Words, His death, His resurrection, for your forgiveness, life, and salvation.  To be fed by the Lord’s own body and blood, and so to have His body and blood, His life, flowing through your very veins. 

                That is how you prepare.  For Christ is coming.  Advent.  He has come.  He comes.  He is coming again.  Bodily.  For you.  Do not plug your ears to St. John’s preaching.  Instead, let that preaching open your lips to confess your sins, and your hearts to receive and believe His forgiveness.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                    

Advent Midweek I

Rescue and Redemption in Daniel

Advent Midweek I: “Christ, the Stone that Shatters the Kingdoms of the Earth”

December 6, 2023

Text: Dan. 2; John 18:33-40

            What is this great image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream?  What do the details represent?  And what does it all mean?  It is an image, an idol, and that is worth noting.  And in general, it stands for the great idol of worldly power.  Now, we know, as St. Paul says, that government is a good gift of God, to bring order and prevent chaos: “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Rom. 13:1; ESV).  So, the point is not that governmental authority is evil as such.  Quite the contrary.  But it is true that such authority very easily becomes (and nearly always does become) an idol, both to the rulers, and to the ruled.  And when this happens, such world powers become hostile to the one true God, to His Word, and to His people.

            But in specific, each component of the image represents actual, historical world powers.  The golden head represents Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, and the might of the Babylonian Empire.  Then each succeeding component represents the power of an empire yet to come.  The chest and arms of silver represent the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians; the middle and thighs of bronze, the Greeks under Alexander the Great; the legs of iron, the Roman Empire, strong to break and crush all who are in its path; and finally, the feet, partly of iron, and partly of potter’s clay, an ill-advised mixture in marriage, probably a reference to Rome’s intermixing with the Germanic peoples, which led to Rome’s brittle condition.  Notice that the kingdoms of the world come and go.  All of them.  The great powers are exalted one moment, and cast down the next.  So it goes with all the kingdoms of the earth, including our own.  Let Americans take heed. 

            Now, there is an arrogance, a hubris innate in human power, a pride that overcomes those in power, so that they think: 1.) They have exalted themselves to this position by their own intellect, talent, might… as Nebuchadnezzar will say in Chapter 4 (v. 30): “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty.”  2.) They are above the law of any god, much less the God of Israel… Think here of Nebuchadnezzar’s heir, Belshazzar, in Chapter 5, who shamelessly carouses with his court, drinking from the sacred golden vessels stolen from the Jerusalem Temple.  3.) Their power will never come to an end.  This is why Nebuchadnezzar, upon his arrogant proclamation of self-praise is reduced for a time to live as a beast in the field, and why, on the very night of his drinking party, Belshazzar sees the handwriting on the wall, and is killed, and Darius the Mede (the chest and arms of silver!) takes over the kingdom.  This is to say, rulers have a predisposition to self-idolatry.  They think they are gods.  And they bid their subjects worship them.  It is true of every one of these kingdoms represented in the dream.  And if we’re honest, it is even true (and increasingly so) of America.  And when there are subjects who will not worship these earthly powers, but insist on worshiping the one true God, exclusively, and living in faithfulness to His Law, even when it contradicts the laws of men, these powers seek to rid them from the world.  They punish.  They persecute.  They kill.  “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed,” which is to say, His Christ (Ps. 2:2).  And they do it by setting themselves against His Church.

            But “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision” (v. 4).  How does the dream end?  This Stone is cut from the Mountain by no human hand.  It strikes the image, the idol, and smashes it to pieces.  And the Stone itself becomes a great Mountain that fills the whole earth.  What is this Stone?  Or, better, Who is this Stone?  It is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is a Stone from the Mountain… that is, He is eternally begotten of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.  He is cut by no human hand… that is, He is conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.  He smashes the kingdoms of the earth so that they become like chaff.  “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:12).  All the kingdoms of the earth come to an end.  But His Kingdom will stand forever.  It fills the earth, even now, by the preaching of the Gospel.  And in the End, the whole earth will be filled with His glory (Ps. 72:19).  “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 118:22-23).  “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.  Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps. 2:7-9). 

            Now, this side of that great Day, it often appears as though the earthly powers have the dominion.  Even as, one Friday afternoon, it appeared as though the Chief Priests and Pilate had the final word, even to the point of killing God!  As a matter of fact, they did kill God.  “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.”  There stands the image, proudly towering over the inhabitants of the earth.  Ah, but the Stone is not done.  “The third day He rose again from the dead!  He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty!”  He rules.  Even now.  Even Nebuchadnezzar cannot deny it: “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings” (Dan. 2:47).  In the end, even he must acknowledge the preaching of Daniel: “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (4:25). 

            Beloved, do not let appearances deceive you.  The earthly authorities are not God.  Do not fear them above the Lord your God.  And do not look to them for rescue and redemption in your time of need.  “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation” (Ps. 146:3).  Do submit to them.  Honor them.  Pay your taxes (Rom. 13).  Live as a good citizen.  Seek the welfare of the city in which you live, and pray to the LORD on its behalf (Jer. 29:7).  Pray for kings and all who are in high positions (1 Tim. 2:1-2).  But do not worship them.  Whenever their word comes into conflict with God’s Word, resist them, for we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).  And then suffer the consequences faithfully, in faith that God will deliver you… whether here and now, as we’ll hear in the next two midweeks, or ultimately then, when every eye sees, every knee bows, and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2). 

            We have to make mention here of St. Nicholas at the Council of Nicaea in 325.  Legend has it, he hauled off and punched that arch-heretic, Arius, in the face, for denying the full divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (some say it was a slap, but this is, after all, a legend, so you choose the version you like).  Nicholas knew his Lord Jesus to be the Stone from the Mountain, cut by no human hand, very God of very God.  It pained him to his core to hear Arius’ blasphemies.  And so, in front of Emperor Constantine and all the holy Fathers of the Church, Nicholas decked the old snake.  Who knows, maybe it didn’t happen, but according to legend, it got him thrown in prison!  Fine.  So be it.  Not that I’m encouraging you to punch, or otherwise do violence to, your theological opponents (perhaps that was a bit much).  But follow St. Nicholas’ example in this: Faithfulness to Christ, and faithful suffering for it, even at the hands of earthly powers.  Always in hope.  Always in faith that the Lord sees, delivers, and rewards.  These are our marching orders. 

            Look, “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter,” but “he utters his voice, the earth melts.  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Ps. 46:6-7).  Jesus comes, beloved.  He lives.  He reigns.  And soon all the world will know it.  “The King shall come when morning dawns And light and beauty brings.  Hail, Christ the Lord!  Your people pray: Come quickly, King of kings!" (LSB 348:5).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                 

First Sunday in Advent

First Sunday in Advent (B)

December 3, 2023

Text: Mark 11:1-10

            The great G. K. Chesterton once wrote, “If I am to answer the question, ‘How would Christ solve modern problems if He were on earth today?’, I must answer it plainly; and for those of my faith there is only one answer.  Christ is on earth today; alive on a thousand altars; and He does solve people’s problems exactly as He did when He was on earth in the more ordinary sense.”[1]  (The quote is worth its weight in gold, though quality may vary with the rest of the essay.)

            How does Christ solve problems ancient and modern?  He comes!  He comes into them.  He comes into their very midst.  Advent (Adventus, which means, coming).  He comes into our flesh… then, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary… now, in that same flesh, the crucified flesh, the risen flesh, the glorified flesh that sits at God’s right hand and clothes Himself with bread and wine by the power of His almighty Word.

            He clothes you with Himself in Baptism.  He speaks Himself into your ears, your heart, your mind, your body, your soul, and into every situation, in Scripture and preaching.  He invades you, bodily, in the Holy Supper.  He does not abandon you in misery and sin.  He comes.  Really.  Substantially.  Present for you.

            What a mess this life can be.  How is your marriage?  Perhaps it is strong, fortified by the Savior’s Word and gifts.  In which case, thanks be to God!  That is His doing.  But do not become complacent.  Your marriage can only be strong by His continued presence.

            And what if it is not strong?  What if relations are strained, and spouses are hurting?  What then?  What is the answer?  Jesus comes.  He comes into your marriage with His faithfulness to His Bride, the Church… with His faithfulness to you.  H e comes with the salve of forgiveness, for your sins against God, and for your sins against one another.  He comes to reconcile what sin has separated, to make whole what iniquity has divided.  Now, He does not dispense some magic pill that makes all your problems go away.  But then again, what disease ever magically disappears?  The cure takes time, a physician’s care (your pastor), and diligence to follow the doctor’s orders.  It comes in the skillful application of the disinfecting and healing medicine of God’s holy Word, which can sting.  It can hurt.  But there is hope.  There is help.  You will find it in the presence of Jesus Christ.

            How is your family?  The pressures of, and upon, family life today, are immense.  Time.  Money.  Effort.  Academics, activities, financial pressure, social pressure, within a society hostile to marriage and children and family.  The temptation, so often, is to cope with these pressures, not by confronting the source of the pressure itself with that alone which can help, God’s Word… but seeking relief in the neglect of that Word…. Neglect of the spiritual life, the Gospel, the Church.  Neglect of Jesus Christ.

            Perhaps your family is doing well at this moment.  If that is the case, praise be to Christ!  But you know the next conflict, the next crisis, under pressure from the outside, or boiling under the surface on the inside, is coming.  No family is immune.  Not even the Christian family.  Perhaps especially not the Christian family, which is under constant attack by Satan.  Which is why our Lord Jesus Christ was born into an all-too-human family, embroiled in conflict and drama, compelled by the government to travel at the most inconvenient of times, for the purpose of census and taxation.  An unwed mother.  The threat of divorce.  Gossip and slander.  Perilous travels.  Poverty.  And no room in the inn.  Into a stinking stable, surrounded by beasts, He comes.  To redeem it all.  Again, no magic pill.  Rather, His suffering.  His blood.  For you.  For your family.  Infiltrating your home and all your relationships with reconciliation and relief, rest and refreshment, by means of God’s redeeming and renewing Word and Sacraments.

            By the way, this Word is for the single, too; those single by choice, and those who long for a spouse and family.  It is for the lonely.  For the widowed.  For the orphaned.  For the estranged.  God hears your cries, and He sets the solitary in a family (Ps. 68:6).  Here you are, in the Father’s House, with brothers and sisters who, for all their faults and failures, love you, and will love you into eternity.  Because they are in Christ, and you are in Christ, in one holy Communion.  He comes, this One who tread the winepress alone (Is. 63:3), who knows the bitterness of loneliness and desertion and abandonment.  This One will not abandon you.  He will never leave you or forsake you (Heb. 13:5).   

            How about your work life?  Oh, why must you bring that up, Pastor?  Is your work fulfilling, or is it mundane?  How are your relationships with your coworkers?  And what about your stress-level?  Our Lord knows what it is to work, to labor.  The carpenter’s Son undoubtedly learned the trade.  But that would not be the only wood upon which He would toil.  Upon the cross extended, by the cross expended.  By the sweat and blood of His brow, bearing the curse of your sin.  Carrying it upon His shoulders.  Nailed to it.  Pierced by the accursed thorns.  And all this borne, in many a case, and by all appearance, in vain… for those who would reject it.  “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Is. 53:1; NIV).  But for those who do believe it, who do not reject it, but receive it by faith, you… the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ invests your work… even the most mundane, even the least rewarding, even that which seems to be for naught… with Himself, and with profound meaning, as He, Himself, provides for your neighbor through your hands, your efforts, your labor.  He has redeemed your work, and He speaks His blessing over it, and into it, as it is consecrated (as are all things) by God’s Word and prayer (1 Tim. 4:5).

            What about the great national and geopolitical problems of our age?  What about the miseries you bear within your own heart and body?  How does Christ solve problems ancient and modern, cosmic and personal?  He comes!  Advent!  It is not at all an easy answer, though, on the face of it, it is really quite simple: “The Sunday School answer,” as we say… Jesus.  But you know as He rode upon a donkey to the acclamations of the Palm Sunday crowd, He was riding to His death, to suffer your death, and your hell.  The answer to the problems of the fallen creation is the coming of the Creator in the flesh of men.  The answer is the death of God.

            And the life of God!  Given as He comes still in the flesh, to you, and into you, by His Word and Supper.  To mend what is broken.  To release you from all that binds you.  To send away the sins that afflict you in the river of water and blood flowing from His pierced side.  He hears your hosannas (save us, now!).  And He rides in on words and water, bread and wine, to invade and infuse you with resurrection life.

            What do you want?  What do you need?  Where are you looking for relief and the answers to all your problems?  Beloved, look no further.  Don’t you see?  Jesus is the One you’ve been waiting for.  He is your salvation and help.  He is the One who satisfies you and fulfills you.  He is the life you’ve been craving and grasping after in all the wrong places.  But He comes to you.  For you.  Soon, the Lord Jesus will advent visibly, in all His glory, and then you will see clearly what you now know only by faith.  Until then, know that He has not abandoned you in any facet of your life.  Here He is.  In the flesh.  Take, eat.  Take drink.  “Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come… rescue us from the threatening perils of our sins.”  He does.  Thank God, He does.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                  

 

 

 

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[1] G. K. Chesterton, “Our Tradition: If Christ Should Come,” https://crisismagazine.com/vault/our-tradition-if-christ-should-come