Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8B)

June 30, 2024

The Holy Baptism of Daniel Fides Bromen

Text: Mark 5:21-43

            Desperate.  Despairing.  Daddy’s little girl is sick unto death.  Falling at Jesus’ feet, the synagogue ruler, Jairus by name, begs the Savior to come, lay His hands on her, that she may be healed, and live.

            Desperate.  Despairing.  For twelve years, a flow of blood, rendering her, and everything, and everyone, she touched, unclean.  Thus isolating her.  Thus robbing her of dignity and honor in the eyes of others.  All her money spent on doctors.  She never got better.  Only worse.  But now, here He comes, and, sneaking up behind Him in the midst of the clamoring crowd, she reaches out her hand, saying, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well” (Mark 5:28; ESV).  And, though left unsaid in the text, undoubtedly she thought: “No one will even know.” 

            Desperate.  Despairing.  And where is Jesus?  He is in it.  All the way.  Bid to come, He comes.  He went with Jairus into death’s dark vale.  Jostled by the crowd, pressed in on every side, yet He is there for the woman seeking His cleansing and healing touch.  And, even among so many, He knows the hand extended in desperation.  Power goes out from Him, to heal, to save, a daughter of Israel receiving her Shalom.  He turns… “Who touched me?” (v. 31)… and she thinks He is angry.  His disciples are bewildered.  But He would cast His compassionate and merciful gaze upon the one who believes.  And He would speak into the despair.  And so He does.  Now, the woman, falls at His feet and confesses.  And what does He say?  “Daughter…”  “God’s own child, I gladly say it!”  And think how this fell upon the ears of one who, for twelve years, had been shunned as unclean, not to mention, barren.  “Daughter,” He calls her… “your faith has made you well,” or, we could also translate it, “your faith has saved you.”  And then, “go in peace,” Shalom, “and be healed of your disease” (v. 34). 

            Words of wholeness and restoration to this dear woman.  But now, what about Jairus and his precious daughter?  Time has been wasted on a woman who could wait.  And here come some from Jairus’ house.  “Your daughter is dead.  Why trouble the Teacher any further?” (v. 35).  Nothing He can do about it, now.  Desperate.  Despairing.  And now… hopeless.  “Jesus, where were You when I needed You?  Distracted by her, You forgot to help me.  And now, I am beyond Your help.  As we all know, death has the final word.” 

            But not with Jesus.  Never with Jesus.  Remember, where is Jesus in the face of despair and desperation?  He is in it.  All the way.  In our flesh.  In our suffering.  In our uncleanness.  In our very sin.  Immersed in the whole clamoring crowd, yet for us, each and every one.  And there is no further in for Him to go than death.  And so, that is precisely where He goes.  There.  Even there.  The cross.  The anguish.  Torn flesh.  Blood.  Talk about desperation.  Talk about despair.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Mark 15:43; Ps. 22:1).  And it looks, for all the world, like there is nothing Jesus can do about it.  Death claims the ultimate trophy.  Death has the final word.

            But it doesn’t!  Not with Jesus.  Never with Jesus.  “The third day He rose again from the dead” (Apostles’ Creed).  His whole life had been driving toward this.  The Sacrifice that makes atonement for our sins.  The resurrection that brings us healing and peace, life and wholeness.  Shalom.  And so, no, Jairus… and no, all you who think death has the final word, that there is nothing more Jesus can do once a body has breathed its last… Jesus has not forgotten you, or forsaken you.  For the Christian, there is no such thing as hopelessness.  Jesus is in it with us, all that afflicts us, up to and including death itself.  And He has overcome it.  And so, what does He speak to the ruler of the synagogue?  What does He speak to us in our desperation and despair?  “Do not fear; only believe” (Mark 5:36). 

            And now it’s just a matter of time.  For Jairus, a few seemingly eternal moments.  For us, who knows?  Only God knows the day or hour.  But Jesus will undo death.  He already has for Himself.  He’ll do it for us.  Along with every other affliction.  It’s as good as done.  He goes with Jairus into the house.  He rebukes those who have surrendered to death in their grief.  Now, understand, not the holy grief of those who mourn over the wages of sin.  But the grief that laughs in the Savior’s face at His Words of life and hope.  The grief of unbelief.  And, certainly, that of the professional mourners, which is probably the majority of those making the commotion.  All of them, He casts out.  He goes into the room with the child’s parents, and with Peter, James, and John, the requisite two or three witnesses.  (It’s a little practice exercise for their job as witnesses of the Lord’s resurrection.)  And He marches right up to the corpse, and He takes her hand.  Remember, this would ordinarily have rendered Him unclean, just like the woman's touch would have rendered Him unclean.  But Jesus undoes the uncleanness of it all.  And He speaks: “Talitha cumi… Little girl, I say to you, arise” (v. 41).  And she does.  Immediately.  And with energy.  She starts walking around.  And now, the punchline.  She’s twelve years old!  Her whole life within the span of the woman’s flow of blood.  Twelve.  The Twelve Tribes of Israel now receive their cleansing.  Twelve.  By the Twelve Apostles (by the Apostolic Preaching), healing, cleansing, and resurrection life will go out from Jesus into the whole world.  Now, give the girl something to eat, because resurrection and feasting always go together. 

            And what has happened to desperation and despair?  Because Jesus is in it all the way, with us, and for us, it must give way to Shalom.  That is, again, cleansing, healing, wholeness, resurrection life… peace.  Only in Jesus.  And always in Jesus. 

            You have your own times when you are desperate and despairing.  That’s life in this fallen world, and in this fallen flesh.  You suffer your own afflictions.  Uncleanness.  Sin.  And death.  Your own impending, and your grief over that of others.  But you know that none of those things has the final word.  Not in Christ.  And so, “Do not fear; only believe.”  For the Christian, suffering always comes in the shape of the holy cross.  And so, for the Christian, relief from suffering ultimately comes in the shape of resurrection from the dead.  The ultimate hope in the face of the ultimate despair. 

            What do you do in the seemingly eternal moments when you’re waiting on Jesus and His deliverance?  You fall at His feet in prayer and confession… like Jairus… like the woman.  You cling, for all your life, to His Word of Promise, and you listen to it again and again.  You believe it.  You memorize it, and you give your whole mind and heart into the possession of it.  And you put out your hand for His healing and life-giving touch.  Which is to say, the cure for all that ails you, including death, is right here in the Preaching and the Sacrament.  Jesus.  Speaking to you.  Touching you.  “Daughter… Son… Baptized Child of God… your faith has saved you.  Go in peace, healed and whole.  Shalom.”  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                           

Third Sunday after Pentecost

Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 5B)

June 9, 2024

Text: Mark 3:20-35

            It may be true, as they say, that blood is thicker than water.  But mere blood is not thicker than baptismal water, and the cleansing and life-giving blood of Jesus.  “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus asks (Mark 3:33; ESV).  Now, Mary and Jesus’ brothers are standing outside, calling Him.  But Jesus looks about at those sitting around Him.  He looks at His congregation.  And He says, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (vv. 34-35).  That is, those who sit at the feet of Jesus and cling to His every Word, basking in His presence… and then live in that… these constitute the new Family of God.

            What would it be like if we really believed that, and acted accordingly?  Gathered, as we are, here now, in this place, around the bodily presence of Jesus, our Brother.  In the House of our Father.  In the one Holy Spirit.  In the bosom of our Mother, the Church.  Bathed and anointed.  To feast at the Family Table.  What would it be like if we acknowledged and surrendered to the reality, brought about, created by the death and resurrection of Jesus… that all those sitting around us in the pews this afternoon, each and every one, are family, our blood-bought brothers and sisters, beloved of our one Father, redeemed by our one Lord Jesus, possessed of the one Holy Spirit?  And, therefore, we love them, and they love us, love being, of course, not a warm and fuzzy feeling in our hearts (though that is wonderful), but seeking the good of the beloved, choosing and acting, always, for the good of one another?

            How is it in families?  Or, at least, how should it be, recognizing that every family of sinners falls far short of the ideal?  What does love look like?  Mutual support.  Patience… well, we do not all have the same skills and abilities, and we all have our strengths and weaknesses, so… Forbearance.  Forgiveness… we’re all sinners, and we’re pretty good at sinning against each other, as siblings are wont to do.  How about the Fourth Commandment?  Honoring our fathers and mothers in the faith, those still present with us this side of the veil, and those who join us from the other side, with angels and archangels at the altar.  Nurturing our babes in the faith.  It’s hard to teach our little ones to sit and participate in the service, and it calls on every one of us to put up with a little noise and commotion.  But we have to do it.  That’s how they learn.  Discipline, yes.  For young and old.  Training.  Sacrifice for one another.  Self-sacrifice for the good of the whole.  Everybody contributes.  Money, sure.  Work.  Talents.  Everyone has a role to play.  All hands on deck.  We each do what we can.  And we pray for one another.  Pray for your family.  Pray for your Church.  Every day.  And always, always point one another to Jesus, and to His Word. 

            Celebrate one another.  We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and important milestones in families.  Celebrate each other.  Baptisms.  Confirmations.  Wedding showers.  Baby showers.  Grad parties.  Rejoice with those who rejoice.  Weep with those who weep.  Console one another in grief.  Show up at our congregation’s funerals.  Yes, even if you didn’t know the person well.  If you can be there, be there.  Send cards.  Speak faithful and encouraging words.  Pick one another up.  Help each other.  Leave no fellow Christian behind.  Leave no one unaccounted for.  Leave no one unprovided for.  “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).   

            I’m sure you can think of a lot more, particularly in terms of concrete examples, and I encourage you to do so… think of them, and do them.  But for my part, here is just one more: Even as Christian families are to be open and welcoming to new family members, to God’s gift of life, to those who join by marriage, to guests who need an oasis on the way, and to those who, to one degree or another, need our family to step in where their family has failed or is absent… so it is with the Family of God that is the Church.  Hospitality.  Love for those who wander into our family circle, by invitation or by chance.  Love for those passing through.  Love for those who marry in, new transfers, baptized Christians who come into our Communion from another after due instruction.  And those newborn by water and the Spirit, the newly baptized.  “God settles the solitary in a home,” sings King David (Ps. 68:6).  Let us be that home for as many as He may settle with us.

            Now, we need each other.  Because the world outside, they think we’re crazy.  Because they think Jesus is crazy.  In fact, they think we are possessed by an evil spirit, because they think Jesus is possessed by an evil spirit.  You know that.  The world doesn’t understand how you could possibly believe the things you believe.  The world calls you ignorant.  The world calls you hateful.  The world, as Isaiah says, calls evil good, and good evil; darkness light, and light darkness; bitter sweet, and sweet bitter (Is. 5:20).  Woe to them. 

            And Satan loves this.  Satan wants the world to think the Holy Spirit is evil, while he himself poses as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).  Where demons are actually cast out, the demonically deceived world regards it as blasphemy.  Where the Holy Spirit blows through in His Gospel, the world self-righteously blasphemes Him.  The Spirit at work in Jesus, and therefore in His Christians, must be Beelzebub, the world maintains.  In the end, there is no forgiveness for this.  Because it is, finally, unbelief… the utter rejection of Christ.

            Satan would trick you into this sin, as well.  You know how he often does it in the Church?  By convincing you that the Spirit at work in your pastor, or your brother and sister Christians, is not the Holy Spirit, but an evil spirit.  That is, that this or that fellow Christian is out of his mind, a lesser Christian than you are, or perhaps no Christian at all… that he is unworthy of your love, unworthy of your attention, unworthy of your honor and respect... that he should not be here.  Christ, have mercy.  You see what has happened?  Far from casting out Satan, you’ve acquiesced.  The House is divided.  And such a House cannot stand.  Stop.  Just stop when those thoughts creep in.  They are the lies of the evil one.  They are blasphemy.  Repent of thinking them.  Repent of listening to them.  Pray for Christ’s help.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to possess you, and change you. 

            Even Mary and Jesus’ brothers fell into this trap.  They thought He was crazy, and they wanted to shut Him up at home.  He was embarrassing them.  In public.  In Church, no less.  Maybe you are embarrassed by other Church members.  Maybe they are embarrassed by you.  Maybe your family is embarrassed that you belong to this Church, and believe what this Church teaches.  One thing is clear: Jesus is a scandal for sinners, including the Old Adam in you and me.  So, we must examine ourselves.  Where have I chafed at the Family of God brought forth in the blood of Christ?  Where have I contributed to the division of the House, rather than to its unity?  Where have I failed to honor my fathers and mothers in the faith?  Where have I neglected my brothers and sisters, and the children of the Church?  Where must I repent? 

            Confess it.  Don’t deny it.  Confess it.  And believe the Good News.  Jesus has bound the strong man, Satan, by His death and resurrection.  And now, in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.  And you forgive, and are forgiven by, one another, every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer: “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 

            So, now, forgiven of all our sins, justified by grace alone in Jesus Christ…  What would it be like if we really believed what Jesus says here about the new Family of God in Christ, the Christian family?  What would it look like here, now, in this congregation?  How could you foster that?  Not how could others foster it?  Not what could that guy start contributing?  No, you.  You, personally.  How can you help unite the Family?  How can you love your brothers and sisters?  How can you strengthen the bonds where they already exist?  How can you help bring it about where it doesn’t?  What is your role?  Where do you fit?  Because you do fit.  You do have a role to play.  Every last person here is important. 

            This congregation is a family.  And, like it or not, it’s your family.  Love it.  Rejoice in it.  Jesus has brought this about by His own redemptive work.  He labored for it on the cross, brought it to birth in His death.  He lives to be this family’s life.  The mission of this congregation, beloved, is to be the Family of God in this place.  It is to nurture and support this family’s every member, and bring more family members to birth.  I wonder if we’ve sometimes lost sight of that mission.  I confess, I often lose sight of it.  Catch the mission, again, dear brothers and sisters.  It’s not hard to catch.  Look around you.  Jesus is present here, looking around Himself at those gathered.  And He speaks His creative Word: Behold, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of God,” and that is to hear the Word of God, and do it, “he is my brother and sister and mother.”  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 4B)

June 2, 2024

Text: Mark 2:23-3:6

            The Lord Jesus Christ is our Sabbath.  Sabbath, rest, to cease from work.  In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was a day, the seventh day, Saturday.  As God rested on the Seventh Day of Creation Week from all the work that He had done, not because He was tired, but to set the pattern of work and rest for His people, so now Israel was to rest on the Sabbath Day.  Thus the Third Commandment as we have it in Exodus: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:8, 11; ESV).  In our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy, the Commandment is framed by another rationale: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).  So, first of all, you are to have some empathy with those who work for you, your servants (here, we may say, employees, or students, or family members), and even your beasts of burden, because you know what it’s like to be a slave and have no rest.  Give them a break.  But second, and even more profound, in the resting of the Sabbath, you are confessing that you are no longer a slave, thanks be to God!  You are free.  The LORD has freed you.  Therefore, you can rest from work.  And so, far from being a burden, a restriction, a binding of freedom, the LORD gives the Sabbath to free you from burdens.  Do you see where the Pharisees got it all wrong?  Do you see where you get it all wrong, this whole idea of Sabbath?

            But now, in the New Testament, Sabbath is no longer bound to a day of the week.  Sabbath is not a day, but a Man.  THE Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the culmination and fulfillment of the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was, all along, a type, pointing us to Him.  He is our rest.  Submitting Himself to the taskmaster of the Law in exchange for our freedom…  A Slave in our place… Suffering under whip and scourge… Having died for our sins on the cross… Then, taking His Sabbath rest in the tomb on Holy Saturday, the Seventh Day, having completed the work of New Creation… Inaugurating the eternal Eighth Day by His resurrection on Easter Sunday… our rest is now every day, every moment, in Him.  Faith, that basks in His presence, and clings to His Word.  He gives us rest from our endless quest to justify ourselves, to save ourselves, to work our way into God’s good graces.  No, all of that is at an end in Christ.  He gives us rest from our preening and positioning, posing and pretending that we are what we’re not… that is, good people, who have it all together, and are always on the right side of every issue.  You know… the way we paint ourselves on social media and when we tell our stories.  Unlike everybody else, whom we know to fall far short of our own glory.  Although we also know, in those rare moments of honest self-evaluation, that it’s all a sham.  We’re lying to ourselves.  We’re lying to others.  We’re lying to God.  But all the lies come an end in Christ.  He puts them all to rest.  He has taken them all away in His suffering and death.  And now, He alone is our righteousness.  And so, Sabbath.  Rest.  Shalom.  Peace.  Healing.  Wholeness.  Christ.

            The Sabbath frees you from all burdens.  Now, insofar as Old Adam still hangs around your neck and must be killed (because otherwise he’ll try to convince you the Sabbath is a great burden), you still need the Commandment.  You still need to hear this as Law: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,”[1] or, “You shall sanctify the Holy Day.”  But if it is not a day for us in the New Testament, but a Man, then how do we keep it holy?  Dr. Luther helps us out in the Small Catechism, doesn’t he?  “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”  That is, go to Church, listen to the sermon, receive the Sacrament, as often as possible.  Read the Bible.  Study it, at home, and with your fellow Christians here in Bible class.  Say your prayers.  Teach your children the faith.  Raise them to be faithful Christians.  You can and should hear that as Law insofar as you resist it and chafe at it.  Repent of that.  This is a holy Commandment.  Christians are to do these things. 

            But then, stop a minute and really listen to what God is saying to you in this Commandment.  “You shall receive My free gifts in Christ, My Son.  You shall receive the forgiveness of all your sins, redemption, eternal life, and salvation.  His righteousness for your own.  My love.  My Spirit.  My unfailing providence.  Again, My Sabbath rest.  My Shalom, which is to say, peace, healing, wholeness.  Freedom.  No longer a slave.” …  Dear God, why do You have to burden us with all that?!  Do you see how ridiculous we are?  It’s like saying to your kids, “You must open your Christmas presents and eat your Christmas cookies!”  “Ah, gee, do we have to?”

            In our Holy Gospel, we see what the Sabbath means for disciples of Jesus Christ.  Grain for the hungry.  The Bread of the Presence (the Showbread in the Holy Place, indicating God’s presence with His people in the Holy of Holies).  The Bread of Life, the bodily presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Far from violating the Sabbath, the disciples are reveling in its fulness.  There is the grain in the field, and there is Jesus with them.  The healing of the man with the withered hand.  This is what the Sabbath is all about.  Releasing him from his burden.  The doing of good, and not evil.  Healing and wholeness in Christ, our Shalom.  Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?  What else is the Sabbath for, if not for that?  Filling what is lacking.  Mending what is broken.  Relieving.  Restoring.  Raising to new life. 

            That is why we are here.  Now, it doesn’t have to be Sunday.  Sunday is not the new Sabbath.  Jesus is our Sabbath.  But we do need a day to literally rest from our labors, and we do need a day when we all know to come together and have opportunity to hear God’s Word and receive His gifts, bask in the Presence of Christ, eating His Bread (the Bread that is Him!), and receiving His healing.  Sunday is a good day for that, because Sunday is the day Jesus rose from the dead, and now every Sunday is a little Easter Feast for us.  Let not hardness of heart prevent you from participating in that.  Let it not hinder you from receiving that.  Let it not resent Jesus for pouring His gifts out upon your neighbor.  And don’t you dare resent your neighbor.  That hardness of heart… be warned… makes Jesus angry.  That is what it says in our text (v. 5).  And it grieves Him.  He grieves when you despise what He gives you.  (As your pastor, I grieve, too.)  And that kind of hardness of heart, understand, eventually seeks to destroy Him.  But you can’t destroy Him.  Not finally.  He was destroyed on the cross, but He is now risen, never to be destroyed again, therefore He will destroy all who reject Him in the End.  Be warned.  You either have Jesus as your Sabbath, or you will have no Sabbath for the rest of eternity.   

            So… just repent.  That’s always the answer.  Repent and believe the Good News.  Your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.  And you’re completely restored.  Just believe it and receive it.  It’s really that simple.  Come and hear it anytime you want in Holy Absolution.  And then… rest in it.  Rest in Him, your Lord Jesus Christ.  Here He is, for you.  To feed you, and release you.  That is what He does in His Word and Sacrament.  This is the balm for all your care and sadness (LSB 906:1).  This is your healing for body and soul.  Everything you are seeking, everything you need… the elusive rest and peace for which you are yearning… It is all here for you in Christ.  He is your Sabbath.  He is your Shalom.  “Come to me,” He says, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you”… what?... “rest” (Matt. 11:28).  Rest.  The Lord Jesus Christ is your Sabbath.  And here He is, now, for you.  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). 

The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity (B)

May 26, 2024

Text: John 3:1-17

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The Day of Pentecost

The Day of Pentecost

May 19, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Seventh Sunday of Easter

Seventh Sunday of Easter (B)

The Baptism of Paul Gerhardt Grahn

May 12, 2024

Text: John 17:11b-19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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