Speaker: Warren Graff

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11, c)                        July 17, 2022

 

COLOSSIANS 1:21-29

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. ²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, ²⁵ of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶ the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. ²⁷ To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹ For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The Apostle Paul is preparing the Church for suffering. He’s preparing us for suffering.

 

The Church suffers. We don’t want to. But there is no escaping it.

 

We see the obvious suffering of the Church—the martyrs of the faith throughout the ages. Our brothers and sisters killed by Colosseum lions under Nero. Those Christian families murdered for the faith in the siege of Constantinople. Christians such as Jon Hus burned at the stake. Christians even now being kidnapped and murdered in northern Africa.

 

That suffering is obvious. But also the not so obvious. Christian families in our own nation having their children taught in the schools immoral teachings about marriage and family. Christians under threat in the workplace if they don’t publicly approve and endorse such prevailing doctrines as unnatural marriage and unnatural sex.

 

The Church suffers.

 

We suffer not just due to our sinful world, but also due to our own sinful flesh. We’re not done with that, after all. In our sinful flesh, we walk ourselves, with the help of the devil, into all sorts of sin and arrogance and pride and envy and all forms of despising our Lord’s gifts, walking ourselves finally into trying to justify ourselves before God, which is the ultimate insult to our Creator.

 

Yes. The Church suffers. Until our own sinful flesh is buried, and until our Lord comes again to judge the living and the dead, the Church suffers.

 

This is not the suffering of the cross. That was suffered by Jesus alone. The Lamb of God bearing the sin of the world, the Son of Man standing in for all sinners, the promised Messiah sent to save, he alone suffered the death for all sin on the cross. Then from the cross he said, It is finished. As he gave up his dying breath, the suffering of the cross, the suffering to shed the holy blood to cleanse every sinner, at the words “It is finished,” the suffering for sin is over, finished, complete.

 

Then what is the suffering of the Church? What is the suffering the Apostle Paul speaks of when he says,

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.”?

[Colossians 1:24]

 

The suffering Paul is suffering, the afflictions of Christ for the Church, this is not the affliction of Jesus’ crucifixion—that’s over and complete. This is, rather, the affliction Jesus, who is now resurrected and ascended, gives to the Church.

 

Yes, Jesus gives his Church affliction. He gives us to suffer in the world. He places the Church in the world in weakness.

 

Because, the Gospel goes forth in affliction. The Gospel is spoken in weakness.

 

The Gospel is a strong word, to be sure. It is God’s strong Word forgiving sin, cleansing the sinner, justifying you and me. The Gospel is the strong word bearing life into a dying world and bringing life daily to you and me and our children.

 

But the Gospel is spoken in weakness. The Gospel is given to our neighbor not by force or coercion or political action, but as gift.

 

And a gift never comes by coercion, or it is no gift.

 

 

So Jesus, as he gathers sinners into his Church, as he calls us into his Church as those he has reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present us holy and blameless and above reproach, he places his Church in the world to suffer. Not to come to our neighbor in strength and power, but to speak to our neighbor in the weakness, in the kindness and gentleness of the Gospel, to speak to our neighbor as those who have been reconciled by Jesus in the body of his flesh, and who are now given to speak that forgiveness of all sin to our neighbor.

 

For in that word of the forgiveness of all sins, Jesus is gathering the sinner into life and salvation.

 

So Paul rejoices in the suffering the Lord gives him. For as Paul says, he is suffering for the sake of the Church, for the sake of his fellow Christians, that even in his own flesh Paul is filling up what is lacking in the afflictions Christ gives to the Church. [Colossians 1:24]

 

We may all see our suffering that way. We are suffering as those who belong to Christ’s body, the Church. The affections we suffer are filling up, that is, are bringing to completion the afflictions Christ gives us to suffer for the sake of his body, the Church. [Colossians 1:24]

 

 

We may not understand this, of course, for any particular affliction; we may not be able to see how the affliction is part of the affliction of the Church, or how the affliction the Church suffers is part of her witness of Christ to the world, but we are to know, as Paul says, that this is of the riches of the glory of [God’s] mystery, which is Christ among you, and it is our hope of glory. [Colossians 1:27]

 

This is our hope and confidence of resurrected eternal life. For just as we have been baptized into Christ’s cross and death, we have been baptized also into his resurrection and life.

 

It’s by Baptism that Jesus put his Name on us. It’s by Baptism that he made us members of his body, the Church, setting us in the world as those afflicted for the Gospel.

 

It’s by Baptism that Jesus this morning put his Name on little Koa.

 

 

Two parts of bearing the Name of Baptism.

 

Go and make disciples of all nations,

said Jesus,

by baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to observe all things I have commanded unto you.

[Matthew 28]

 

That is the gift to Koa—the gift of being made a disciple unto eternal life, of being made a member of Christ’s body, the Church.

 

Two parts.

 

First, Baptism into the Holy Name, so that Koa belongs to that Name by promise for eternity.

 

Second, parents given to bring little Koa to the Lord’s gifts, teaching him to observe all the that Christ has commanded.

 

What has Christ given to the church by his command, his promise, given to little Koa?

 

The Gospel. The proclamation of all sins forgiven. The word justifying the sinner and brining into eternal life. The Body and Blood Christ gives to his Church each week for the forgiveness of all sins.

 

All the gifts of Christ, all the gifts of his cross, of his teaching of grace, of his blood—all the gifts given never by force or coercion but always in the weakness of the spoken promise, in the gentleness of a gift given to a sinner to bring into life, all the gifts given this morning to little Koa, given each week to the Lord’s Body, the Church.

 

We will be afflicted. But afflicted as those who belong to the Lord, who belong to the promise—afflicted as those who, along with Paul, rejoice in our afflictions.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

PALM SUNDAY/SUNDAYOF THE PASSION                           April 10, 2022

 

JOHN 12:12-19

¹² The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ¹³ So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” ¹⁴ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, ¹⁵ “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” ¹⁶ His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. ¹⁷ The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. ¹⁸ The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

 

Here we are given to see our King. It’s Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. The donkey is only a colt: it’s never before been ridden.

 

The Lord has taken a work animal.

 

Not a mighty steed, not a warhorse, not a horse for a battle chariot. That’s what would expect for a king.

 

But Jesus takes a common donkey, a farm animal. Kings don’t ride on farm animals. A farmer, a laborer, a merchant not with a king but with a farmer or merchant, that’s who rides on a donkey.

 

The Lord takes this lowly donkey up into his use. It’s never been ridden before. It’s been taken up into no other uses. This one is set aside for the Lord.

 

So this Lord rides into Jerusalem gentle and lowly—that’s the way he comes to save the sinner. Not the waving of victory flags at the front of an army of warhorses, but a single man, with no armor, no sword or spear, with no way to intimidate or harm anyone, riding in on a common work animal.

 

He has taken this one up into his own use. In this way, it is holy. It is a common thing, this young donkey to which the Lord has bound his Word of promise, by which the Lord is working salvation, upon which he’s riding, gentle and lowly for everyone to see.

 

The Lord riding on the back of this donkey is he who came into the flesh by mother Mary.

 

She, too, was common, she was unremarkable; she, too, the Lord took up into his use—in the most kind and dignifying way, she who had never bore children, who had never been married, the Lord honored her by taking her up into his use; he came to her in his word of promise, a word making her to be with child, that she would be the honored servant to bear God in the flesh. In this way, she is called not just Mary, but St. Mary, that is, Holy Mary.

 

She is holy in that the Lord set her apart for his use, bound to her his word of promise, so that through her he was working his salvation, and by her, as his holy instrument, he was coming into the world as a child, gentle and lowly, for everyone to see.

 

 

Mary’s child, now a grown man, rides into Jerusalem.

 

Here we are given to see our King—gentle and lowly, on the back of the colt of a donkey, riding to his trial.

 

Caiaphas the High Priest, Herod the king, and Pontius Pilate the Roman governor—this Christ will take them up into his use too.

 

Caiaphas thinks he is serving himself, just protecting his own jurisdiction and political standing by putting this Christ away.

 

Herod, too, thinks he is serving himself and his own power, protecting his throne, by putting down the threat of this Christ.

 

Pilate, too, thinks he is serving himself. He’s keeping strong the jurisdiction given him by the Caesar in Rome by getting rid of this problem of the Christ.

 

And they are all serving themselves, protecting themselves. What are they protecting themselves from? From this Christ riding into town gentle and lowly on a donkey, giving himself no way to intimidate or harm them, posing no threat to their earthly thrones and power.

 

But even their malice—the malice of Caiaphas and Herod and Pilate, their use of the laws and regulations to protect what’s precious to them—even all this evil they do in putting Jesus up for trial and then crucifying him, even all this, Jesus takes up into his use.

 

For he rides into town for just that reason, to be tried and falsely convicted, to suffer and die, in order to give himself the ransom for many. The one who rode in on the donkey, he has taken even their evil up into his use, so that by their hands he will die on the cross. This is our salvation.

 

So, see the one riding in gentle and lowly on the donkey.

 

Here look on our King. Here look at our atoning sacrifice, sent by the Father to satisfy justice.

 

We see the One who on the cross will willingly stand in our place to cleanse us from all sin. We see our delivery from all guilt, we see the covering of all our shame, we see the One who names us as his Bride, the church, and who presents us to his Father, holy and without blemish. He took us, too, up into his use, making us his servants.

 

He knows we are sinners. He knows our guilt, our malice, our deceit even better than we do. But he makes us his own. He cleanses us with his Word. He declares us to be righteous. He takes us up into his use. And for the sinner, that is the best news of all.

 

We see the One who loves us, who comes to us in his Word of Gospel even now, who makes us his own—we see our salvation.

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

The 10^th Sunday after Pentecost, (Proper 13 [b])               August 1, 2021

 

Exodus 16:2–15

2The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

4Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” 8And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11And the Lord said to Moses, 12“I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning, you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning, dew lay around the camp. 14And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The Lord gives gifts. Without count, with no stinginess, he freely gives gifts. To you, to me, to our families, to the church, to all sinners looking for relief, he gives gifts. To the church, he gave some to be Apostles, some to be prophets and evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, all for the benefit of his people. [Ephesians 4:11]

 

He gives gifts to sinners. That is the depth of it. To give gifts to not-sinners, that wouldn’t surprise. Those who are not sinners would receive the gifts with joy and thankfulness.

 

But to give gifts to sinners, unappreciative sinners who think they are owed to, who instead of breaking out in rejoicing, grumble—that is the depth of the Lord’s giving of gifts. Exodus 16:2:

The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

 

They grumble. The Lord had brought them out of slavery in Egypt. They already have the Lord’s oath of the promised land; they are already children of Abraham! As Abraham’s children, they have the promise given Abraham that the Lord forgives sins and justifies the sinner by faith—all this already belongs to them. And they grumble.

 

They bear the Lord’s Name. He put his Name on them in the covenant of circumcision. And yet they grumble.

 

Things are a little tough out in the wilderness on the way to the promised land, that much might be conceded.

 

But you are the people of the promise, we would want to say to them. You belong to the Lord. From your lineage will come the Savior of all sinners.

 

You’re hungry out in the desert? Maybe pray to the Lord, speak in faith, bring your needs to him. Maybe go to your neighbor and speak words of encouragement, maybe even arrange some hunting parties.

 

When you’re hungry, is there a better time to go to your neighbor’s tent and sit down with him and remind him of the promise given to Abraham, and of the Name of the Lord which we bear, and of his gifts?

 

What better time to be the people of God? What better time to speak encouragement, to remind of the hope of the promise, to rejoice in the gift of the Gospel, what better time than this to be the people of God rejoicing in his gift of faith? But they grumble:

The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full.”

 

What’s the Lord to do? The Lord who justifies the sinner, what will he do when gifts are met with not thanksgiving and rejoicing, but grumbling, as if the Lord’s people should determine which gifts they will receive from him.

 

What will the Lord do? He will be true to his Name. He located his Name on them, and he will not let them go. He gave them his Name, and when they drag his Name into humiliation, he will be with them, he will suffer, he will redeem them, and he will again call them back to the gifts of the Name.

 

 

He doesn’t leave them out in the wilderness, he doesn’t leave them to their own desires and efforts, he again sends his prophet Moses, and Moses’s brother Aaron, to once again call this people back to the Name.

 

The gift of repentance, of being returned to the Name, this is the Lord’s greatest gift to the sinner.

 

His greatest gift, to accuse the Israelites of their sin, so that by the accusation of the Law they are brought into contrition, and then to once again announce himself as their Lord who gives them gifts.

 

Repentance—for the Lord to turn you from your sin, from your self-justification, back to him, to hear his promise, to be cleansed, to be restored to his people who bear his Name. Exodus 16:9:

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning, you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

 

The Lord’s greatest gift to the sinner: to be returned to the Gospel, so that then you know that he, the Lord, has made himself your God.

 

 

From the lineage of Abraham, from the lineage of this people Israel, the lineage of this grumbling people out in the wilderness, Jesus comes.

 

Born of a daughter of Israel, Mary, born under the Law, circumcised on the eighth day, Jesus comes.

 

He came to give gifts. The gift of himself, standing in for all sinners. The gift of his life given over to death on the cross, shedding the blood to ransom all sinners. The gift of his resurrection, defeating for all sinners our enemy death. He came giving gifts.

 

Then, having been crucified, having been raised from the dead, he took captive everything that held us in captivity. Our sin, the sin of this world which covers us in shame, the devil and his demons who afflict us, Jesus took it all captive, and, says Paul, he gave gifts to men.

 

To mankind, to all men and women, to all bound by sin and death but now freed by his blood, to all he gave gifts.

 

For the sinner, he gave to the Church some to be Apostles, some to be prophets and evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, in order to build up the saints, in order to do the work of ministry, that is, the work of handing out his gifts, for the building up of the body of Christ. [Ephesians 4:12]

 

 

Without counting, with no stinginess, in all abundance, the Lord gives gifts.

 

That’s why we are here. This Sunday, every Sunday, at the preaching of the cross, at the administration of the sacraments, that’s why our Lord gathers us here—to be given to, to receive his gifts, to be rescued from our grumbling and self-justification, and returned always to the gifts of his Name.

 

The gifts of his Name? It is the Name he put on you in Baptism. The Name of promise. The Name he will never depart. It is the Name of the Lord who ascended on high to distribute gifts to all people, and the gift he gives to you is the forgiveness of all your sin. The gift of being reconciled to his Father and thus, being reconciled also to one another.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The 5^th Sunday after Pentecost [b]                              June 27, 2021

 

Mark 5:21-43

²¹ When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. ²²Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet ²³and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” ²⁴And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. ²⁵And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, ²⁶and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. ²⁷She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. ²⁸For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” ²⁹And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”³¹And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” ³²And he looked around to see who had done it. ³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. ³⁴And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

³⁵While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” ³⁶But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” ³⁷And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. ³⁸They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” ⁴⁰And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. ⁴¹Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” ⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. ⁴³And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Will the Lord allow himself to be touched by the unclean, by sinners, by you and me? Mark 5:30:

[Jesus] immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. ³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

 

The woman was unclean. She had, Mark tells us, a discharge of blood.

 

With Moses, the Lord had given gave the Levitical law. This Law told who was to serve in the Tabernacle, who was to bring sacrifices, how the priests were to declare sinners clean, and of who was to not come to the Tabernacle.

 

Those who were not to come to the Tabernacle were the unclean—those with such things as skin diseases or leprosy, also those who had eaten unclean foods. And it included sicknesses such as this woman had.

 

Why did God call this unclean? Did he not love the lepers and those with unhealthy skin? Did God not want to show kindness to those who had a sickness? Is God trying to say that good people deserve life and bad people deserve death?

 

None of that. God loves all and wants all to be cleansed. The God of love and mercy, the God who created us and also who justifies us from our sin, he gave the Levitical law through Moses to draw a sharp distinction between the holy and the unholy, a clear line between the clean and the unclean, a distinction between that which is of life and that which is of death.

 

So when a person was unclean, whether by skin disease or food eaten, or the impurity of sin in the heart, God wanted to cleanse.

 

So he set the Tabernacle and the Altar of sacrifice and the Ark of the Covenant in the midst of Israel, so that every person, no matter what manner of uncleanness, no matter what stain of sin or what covering of shame—every Israelite would know where to come to receive God’s cleansing and purification by the declaration of the priest.

 

 

But, the distinction between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the profane, is not blurred. The unclean one is not to touch the Tabernacle until first being purified in the way God ordained. The unclean one is made clean by the priest making atonement.

 

But the holy is not to be touched by the unholy, clean not polluted by the unclean. Will Jesus let himself be touched by the unclean? Mark 5:24:

And a great crowd followed [Jesus] and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

 

Jesus will let himself be touched by the unclean. He came for just this purpose.

 

We think of the Incarnation, of God coming in the flesh as man, to be a great miracle. And it is. But it is more than just the miracle of God becoming Incarnate; it is God coming in human flesh in order to walk among sinners and be touched by them. In order for the holy to be touched by the unholy, without the unholy being consumed in the fire of judgement. In order for God in the flesh to take all our uncleanness, our impurity, all our shame upon himself, in order to then give himself over to death to atone for the unclean.

 

That’s what he was doing with that woman. He was letting the unclean touch the clean, and in that, her uncleanness belonged to him.

 

And his holiness belonged to her.

 

 

Jesus let that happen to himself. He let her touch him. He let himself be made unclean with her impurity.

 

Will he go out and touch the unclean himself? Not just let it happen to him as he places himself among sinners, but will he seek out the unclean and actively touch? Mark 5:41:

While [Jesus] was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. ³⁸They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

 

Nothing is more unclean than a corpse. The touching of a dead body put you outside the camp of Israel until you have been ritually cleansed.

 

Jesus goes up to the body and gripped the dead hand with his own.

 

Jesus will touch the unclean. He will make it his own. He takes the death upon himself. He takes upon himself the death of every sinner—that’s what we see his death on the cross.

 

Because he takes our death upon himself, our death is not death. It is, indeed, the death of our body, of our sinful flesh, but it is not the big death; it is not death before God.

 

Before God, when we die, we are only sleeping.

 

When the little girl died, she did not die, her personhood was not annihilated, she did not lose her personal existence. She belonged to the Lord. She belonged to life. Before the Lord, her earthly death was only sleeping, a waiting for the resurrection of the body.

 

“Talitha cumi,” Jesus says to her. Stand up. You belong to life. For you, there is no death, only life.

 

 

Jesus in the midst of the unclean, of the sinners, of those covered in shame—Jesus does not shrink back. He touches us. His body and blood to our body and blood.

 

Take and eat, the unholy ones given to receive the holy one. Take and drink, the unclean ones receiving the holy one, and now themselves cleansed.

 

It is all for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus among sinners is always for the forgiveness of sins. For where sins are forgiven, the unclean are made clean, the unholy, holy, those belonging to sickness and death now belong to life.

 

You are clean. You belong to life. Jesus says no less.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

The 4^th Sunday after Pentecost [b]                          June 20, 2021

 

Mark 4:35-41

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

We are given to pray for our world. Our world, so afraid of death, yet so willing to sacrifice to death even the most vulnerable to gain a few more advantages in life.

 

Our world filled with kings and queens, princes and lords, presidents and governors placed in office to protect the weak and the innocent, and bring justice to the evildoer, set in office to uphold the Lord’s institution of the marriage of man and woman, of family and home, of property and wealth, yet so willing to negate their offices by doing the opposite—we are given to pray for our world.

 

The Apostle says to the Church,

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

[1 Timothy 2:1]

 

So we intercede for all. For good kings and bad, for those presidents and governors who protect the innocent and vulnerable and for those who don’t.

 

We have a prayer for our world. But what prayer? We can start with the Apostles out on that violent lake in a sinking boat. Jesus was there. But he was sleeping. Mark 4:38:

[Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. [The disciples] woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

 

A small prayer. Just nine words: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” But we may start with that prayer.

 

Teacher. They address Jesus as their teacher. From him they learn the words of eternal life.

 

From him they learn the fulness of their own sin, a fulness they will see fully displayed when he hangs bleeding on the cross because of the weight of their sins which he willingly took upon himself.

 

Our sins too. Do we know the fulness of our own sin—not just the outward sins so easily seen, but our sin in its fulness, deeply seated in our hearts, the sin of who we are—will we know the fulness of our own sin, except that we see it displayed as Jesus hangs dying for it the cross?

 

They address Jesus as Teacher. So do we. By his death, we are taught the depth of our sin.

 

But, it’s “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” This is not a prayer to the Teacher who came just to show us the depth of our sin; this is prayer to him who cares for us.

 

Does he care that the disciples are being brought to their death on that sinking boat? Does he care that we are being daily enmeshed in death in our own world? Does he care for our world, so afraid of death yet so willing to sacrifice the vulnerable for just a little more supposed happiness in life?

 

 

[Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

[Mark 4:39]

 

What we chiefly must see in this sinking boat on a violent lake is not that Jesus has all power over wind and wave, over all creation—he does, he along with his Father created all things including the disciples, including us—but what we chiefly must see is not his power, but his care.

 

He cares that they are perishing. He cares that we are perishing. He cares that our world is perishing.

 

And he has a word for us. He is the one hearing our intercession, and as our teacher, he teaches us that all sin—of the disciples, of us, of our world—all this sin, no sin left out, he has taken upon himself.

 

He took it and put it to death in his own body on the cross.

 

He has taken it upon himself so that our sin—the sin we have already committed, the sin we wished we would not commit tomorrow but we find ourselves doing it anyway, the sin so deeply set in our heart we cannot even fathom its fulness except by looking to his death on the cross—he has taken it upon himself so that it belongs to him, not to us.

 

So what Jesus teaches the disciples in that boat to learn from him, what he teaches us to learn from him, is not chiefly that he has all power—though he does—but that he cares for us and forgives our sin.

 

 

Why not just learn the power of Jesus—learn the power he has over the waves, over the wind, even over death, is it not enough just to learn the power of Jesus?

 

No. Jesus is teaching us something much better.

 

When the disciples saw Jesus’ raw power, seeing him calm the waves and push back the wind, it brought them no comfort, it did not strengthen their faith—his display of power did not give them peace in their hearts.

[Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

[Mark 4:40]

 

Seeing Jesus’ power does not create faith, it brings fear.

 

And why not? What should be more fearful to a sinner that to know that you stand at the face of holy God and he has all power and you don’t?

 

But Jesus says, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

 

That’s what Jesus teaches us. Not chiefly his power. But his care, his forgiveness, his grace. And hearing Jesus’ word of grace and forgiveness bestows faith.

 

For that’s what a sinner must have faith in—a Lord who teaches grace, who forgives sin, a Lord who takes our death upon himself in order to bring us into his life.

 

 

So we pray for ourselves, for our families, even for our world: “[Jesus], do you not care that we are dying?”

 

He answers that prayer. He answers that he died for us, in our place, on our behalf, on the cross, because he cares for us.

 

His answer is that he continues to speak to us his Word of grace and life. He continues to gather us into his church. For he knows that we are in a perishing world, and he cares for us.

 

And his answer for our world, for any sinner in despair, for any person in fear, his answer is that he cares for you, he has mercy for you, and by his Word of Gospel, he has for you the gift of faith, and that is life.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

Seventh Sunday of Easter [b]                                   May 16, 2021

 

John 17:11b-19

[Jesus said,] Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

What is your reality?

 

There was once a story in the news—this was some years back—of a man diagnosed with a terminal disease; so he bought a yacht, threw expensive parties, and went gambling until his savings were no more. Why leave anything behind? Then he found out it was a misdiagnosis, his death was not imminent, but now his money was gone and he had nothing.

 

His problem was, he didn’t know his reality. He had a false reality. He thought he was a dead man walking, and he acted accordingly.

 

What is your reality? My reality? Our children’s? Perhaps we have a misdiagnosis? We do, actually, have a misdiagnosis. And because of that, we end up living like a man thinking he’s dying when he’s not.

 

 

Jesus prays to his Father for us:

[O Father,] they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

[John 17:19]

 

Jesus asks his Father to would sanctify us, to make us holy in the truth.

 

“Truth.” We all want truth. None of us wants to live by the lie. Jesus uses this word “truth” many times in John’s Gospel.

 

John 1:14:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

John 14:6:

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

 

And now in chapter 17, Jesus prays to his Father that he would make us holy by the truth.

 

What is this truth of which Jesus speaks? The word Jesus uses for truth is the Greek word aletheia.

 

We think of truth as the opposite of the lie. We teach our children to tell the truth and not lie. So truth and lie are opposite—it’s either one or the other.

 

But the Greek word has a more full meaning. Aletheia is not just the truth over against the lie, but it means “reality”—what is real over against falsity.

 

In misdiagnosing the man with a terminal disease, the doctors gave him a false reality. In his true reality, he was healthy with more years to live, and he should’ve held onto his savings for just that. But in the false reality handed him by the doctors, he was a dead-man walking, and he acted like it.

 

Jesus speaks to us of our aletheia, our reality.

 

He knows the reality we see around us. But Jesus wants us to know that what we see is a false reality. The reality we see around us is the façade put up by our enemies. Our enemies are, as the Catechism says, the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh.

 

By these three enemies, here is the reality we see:

 

We see our flesh subject to sickness and death, and we get afraid.

 

We see people who will hurt us, and we get afraid.

 

We see everything that can go wrong, and we get afraid.

 

We see the malice in our world, the willingness of those in authority to divide people against each other in order to gain their power, and we get afraid.

 

We see the guilt in our conscience, we see the shame covering us, for the devil and the demons keep pounding us with the Law so that we are kept under the accusation, and we stay afraid.

 

With this reality, who would not fear? Sin, death, sickness, the devil, who wouldn’t want to just hide in the house trying not to get hit by it all?

 

And Jesus says, “Fear not.” Do not be afraid.

 

How can we not be afraid?, we say to Jesus. Have you seen the threats, Jesus? Have you not seen our enemies of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh, Jesus? Do you have no understanding, Jesus, of our reality?

 

 

That is not your reality, says Jesus. I am your reality. John 14:6:

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

 

I am your aletheia, your truth, your reality, says Jesus.

 

The devil? That great liar? He afflicts your conscience, using my Law to accuse and cover you in shame as long as you live in your life of flesh, but he’s a liar. I have defeated the devil, I have broken his power, I have—in my death on the cross to atone for you—I have ripped the Law out of his hands; he can no longer accuse you. I am your aletheia, your reality, says Jesus.

 

The world, its malice, its diseases, its setting up of false gods and false ways to make yourself acceptable, its temptations—all which the world throws at you as long as you live your life of flesh, this is not your reality. I am your aletheia, your reality, says Jesus.

 

Your flesh, says Jesus, that’s your problem. As long as you live in your life of flesh, you will see that reality which is, indeed, true to your flesh—the sickness, the death, the sin, the temptation, the guilt and shame belonging to all sinful flesh. That’s the reality you see in your flesh, says Jesus.

 

But that is not your reality, your aletheia. I am the truth, your aletheia, your reality, says Jesus.

 

When Jesus says, I am your truth, your reality, he is giving us our life of faith.

 

By our life of flesh, we will continue everyday to see that which we can perceive with our eyes. As we sang in the hymn, this is what Thomas saw,

The warmth of blood, the chill of steel,

the grain of wood,

the heft of stone,

The last frail twitch of flesh and bone.

 

But this is not your reality. It was not Thomas’s either. Not, anyway, when Jesus came to Thomas and rescued him from the reality he saw in his flesh.

 

Jesus spoke forgiveness to Thomas, he showed him his resurrected body, and he brought him into the new reality, the new aletheia.

 

I am your reality, says Jesus. My crucifixion, it atoned for your sin, that is reality. My blood, it covers all shame, you stand in honor, that is reality. My resurrection, it is your resurrection, it is the standing-up and breathing of your body on the Last Day, that is reality.

 

 

The old reality of the life of our sinful flesh, our life of fear, Jesus calls us out of that. This is the life of our old Adam, our old Man of sin and death, and we do not belong to it.

 

Jesus gives us our new reality, our new aletheia. It is the life of our new Adam, our new Man of faith, and Jesus calls us into it daily by speaking to us his Word of forgiveness and life.

 

 

After telling us that he is our truth, our reality, our aletheia, Jesus then turns to his Father and prays for us. John 17:17:

[Father, I pray for them,] “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

 

The Father hears the intercession of his Son, that is reality.

 

By the intercession of his Son’s blood and his Son’s prayer, the Father sanctifies you, makes you holy, in the truth.

 

What is this truth, this reality by which the Father makes you holy? Jesus is your truth, your reality, your aletheia. The Father makes you holy by his Son.

 

By the Blood of Jesus and his Word, you are holy. That is your life of faith. And that is your reality.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

THE FEAST OF THE ASCENION OF OUR LORD [c]                May 13, 2021

 

EPHESIANS 1:15-23

¹⁵For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, ¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you, re­membering you in my prayers, ¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the know­ledge of him, ¹⁸having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might ²⁰that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹far above all rule and au­thority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²²And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

 

If we want to know what is the blessing of the Ascension of our Lord, we need not look far.

 

We see fear, despair, confusion.

 

We see angry faces, social media arguing, name-calling—even many in authority playing on divisions instead of instilling calm.

 

The confusion, the antagonism against even natural law and the gifts of creation, against what we are given to be as men and women, as families and neighbor. What does tomorrow bring in the economy, in rising costs, in a failing job market, in cultural decline?

 

In the uncertain times following World War I, William Yeats wrote a poem describing our world. He used the imagery of a falcon circling ever further and further from the falconer at the center, until, as Yeats wrote,

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

 

Yeats’s imagery works for our generation, we know that.

 

What does a Christian do in a world coming loose at the center where no one knows what comes tomorrow?

 

 

These are the times in which our Lord has placed us. He has us here. This is no accident. Paul gives us the prayer to pray. Paul told the Ephesians what he prayed for the church:

I do not cease to give thanks for you, re­membering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the know­ledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

[Ephesians 1:18]

 

We are given our prayer. We pray, first of all, for each other, giving thanks to our Lord—I do not cease to give thanks for you, says Paul, remembering you in my prayers.

 

The thankfulness is prayed in confidence. The prayer recognizes that what we possess is not of our own making anyway, but is gift from the Lord.

 

The fellowship we have with each other, the joy we have together in hearing the word of Gospel and in addressing each other not according to our sin but according to the righteousness given us in Baptism, the honor we are given to care for each other, to speak encouragement, to see one another, each brother and sister, as unique gifts from the Lord—this is all by the Lord’s gift, so we give thanks.

 

[I pray,] says Paul,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the know­ledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

 

This is a prayer for our times!

 

In an unhinged world and uncertain tomorrow, in a world is shaken by fear, so that, at Yeats put it, Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold, we may boldly say, But we belong to the Lord!

 

As his, we are given to pray for our brothers and sisters in the church that the Father give us wisdom that we may have the sureness that in every uncertainty, we belong to him—for his Son redeemed us with his own blood.

 

And we are given to pray that our eyes are enlightened, so that we are called back from what Yeats described as “things falling apart and a center that cannot hold,” and called into the certainty of knowing that Christ is raised from the dead, he is ascended to Heaven, and, despite all which we see in our unhinged world, he is seated upon the Throne, above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

 

All this, Paul says, so that you may know what is the hope to which your Lord has called you. [Ephesians 1:18]

 

Our Lord gives us the great reversal—the reversal of living fearful in our times, the reversal of malice we see around us, of the divisive language of those in authority, the reversal of all the despair of tomorrow, of things falling apart and a center which cannot hold—it is all reversed by the knowledge of the hope to which your Lord has called you.

 

For this hope is not an empty wish that things somehow start centering themselves again.

 

Rather, it is looking at tomorrow with a certainty.

 

It is the confidence of the resurrection of Christ Jesus—that it is your resurrection, no matter what comes tomorrow in our world.

 

It is the confidence in the Ascension of our Lord Jesus, the knowledge that he reigns upon the Throne, so that nothing comes to us outside of his knowledge and care. It is the faith that he is the One who has given us his Name and has promised us he will never depart it.

 

The hope is the sure and certain confidence, then, that we do know what comes tomorrow.

 

We don’t know what comes tomorrow in rising crime rates or riots in streets, nor with rising prices or anything else—our predictions are no better than anyone else’s, but we know what comes tomorrow.

 

For our tomorrow belongs to the hope to which our Lord has called us.

 

This hope is the sureness and certainty that our Lord hears our prayer and answers with his forgiveness; of knowing that he reigns in Heaven to intercede to his Father on our behalf and that on the last day he comes again, the day promised in our Baptism, the day of the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

 

The center does not fly apart. He is ascended; he is upon the throne. Our tomorrow, our eternity, belongs to him.

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

Sixth Sunday of Easter [b]                                          May 9, 2021

 

1 John 5:1–8

1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

        6This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

God bears witness to you: There are three that testify, says the Apostle John, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three are of one. This is God bearing witness to you and me and our families.

 

To testify, to bear witness is to speak the truth in such a way that your name is at stake.

 

This isn’t me saying such as, “It sure is hot outside,” or you saying, “This apple tastes good.” In saying subjective things such as that, we don’t really put our name at stake; it’s not as if being wrong would bring dishonor.

 

Bearing witness is you or me stating a fact for which we want to be held accountable. It’s stating something in such a way that if we are lying, our name is dishonored.

 

God the Holy Spirit bears witness to you and me and our families. His puts his at stake. He bears witness to us by the water and the blood.

 

 

The water. Jesus walked down to the Jordan to be baptized by John. In that water, the One who had no sin was joined to all sinners. The author of life took death upon himself. The holy one was set into the office of bearing the sins of the unholy ones, to stand in for us to give the ransom. Mark 1:9:

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, [Jesus] saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from Heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

 

The water bears witness. This one, Jesus of Nazareth—the testimony of the water of his Baptism is that he is God the Son sent by the Father to save sinners. By the mouth of the prophet John, the Holy Spirit bears witness to us that this Jesus, by his Baptism, is now bearing our sins.

 

The blood. Jesus’ Baptism took him to the cross. The water anointed him for this, that he would shed blood to atone for all sinners. The blood now bears witness that the price has been paid, the death has been exacted, the sinner is redeemed. This is the blood that cleanses us of all sin. [1 John 1:7]

 

The water and the blood—the water of Jesus being baptized to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and the blood poured out on the cross to atone for all sin and cleanse every sinner. All promised by the Holy Spirit through the prophets.

 

 

But this testimony is only good as God testifies it to the sinner. If the sinner doesn’t hear it, how does it help? So God speaks the testimony to the sinner, to you and me. 1 John 5:6:

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

 

The water and blood are to you and me, and this is by the Holy Spirit.

 

The water to you and me. Matthew 28:18:

Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded unto you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

 

This water testifies to you and me and our children, as God the Holy Spirit, by the water and the word, places the holy Name on us, so that in this Baptism given us, Jesus is with us always, even to the end of the age.

 

In this water of Baptism, Jesus testifies that he sanctifies you, cleansing you of all sin and gathering you into the Church. Ephesians 5:26:

Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

 

This is the testimony Jesus gives to little Luke this morning. Publicly, in the midst of the Lord’s people, the Holy Spirit testifies, This one belongs to the Lord. This one bears the Name. This one belongs each day to the forgiveness of sins and life-everlasting. Hearing the testimony of the water of Baptism, along with little Luke the whole Church is brought into the rejoicing.

 

 

The blood to you and me. The blood shed on the cross, the blood ransoming sinners, it is given to you. Matthew 26:26:

After a blessing, [Jesus] broke [the bread] and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the [new] testament, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

 

This is the ongoing testimony of Jesus in the Church as through all generations he continues distributing his blood of the cross to those who come after the cross.

 

This is all by gift given you by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is gathering the baptized to the Lord’s Name where they hear the testimony of Jesus.

 

Jesus is testifying to the them that his blood is for them, for their benefit and salvation, for the forgiveness of every sin. This blood is his Last Will and Testament. He spoke it right before his death, so that upon his death, the wealth and benefit of his blood would continually be distributed in his Church. The wealth and benefit of his blood is never to be left unknown. The wealth is this: the forgiveness of your sins, for where sins are forgiven, there is life and salvation.

 

The Spirit and the water and the blood, there are three that testify.

 

The testimony of the water: Jesus baptized, being clothed with all the sin of every sinner; the Holy Spirit baptizing you, clothing you with the righteousness of Christ Jesus.

 

The testimony of the blood: Jesus shedding the blood of the cross to atone for the sins of the world, those sins into which he, though he had no sin himself, had been baptized. And this testimony is the Holy Spirit gathering you into the Church to bring to you the holy blood for the forgiveness of sins.

 

God the Holy Spirit testifies to you. He is there in the Word. He testifies by the water and the blood. That testimony is the Gospel. By that testimony, you are saved.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

Fifth Sunday of Easter [b]                                          May 2, 2021

 

John 15:1-8

[Jesus said,] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

To live a clean life, wouldn’t it be nice? A life minus all the pressures and anxiety of a busy life.

 

A clean, simple life, that would be nice. Especially for our consciences! To go to bed at night with no worry, no lingering doubt about shortcomings, even about malice in the heart, to be done with all of that, wouldn’t it be nice?

 

How do you get to the point of a clean, simple life? Especially of a conscience at peace?

 

This desire for cleanness and simplicity is nothing new. Four hundred years before Christ there was a school of Greek philosophers who taught to reject all desire for wealth and fame; they rejected all power; they would live a life free of possessions. This is the ascetic life. One of them, Diogenes, didn’t even have a house. He lived in a barrel on the street.

 

The simple, clean life, devoid of possessions, worries, pressures, and entanglements, wouldn’t it be nice?

 

The church has been tempted with it, too, at different times. Be done with all your possessions. Live a life free of worldly entanglements. If you’re a man, it’s the monastery. If a woman, the nun’s convent. Or, just go out and live the simple life in the desert. Some three hundred years after Jesus ascended, a Christian monk in Egypt named Anthony made himself famous by selling the property he inherited from his family; he left his sister with a group of virgins and headed off to be a hermit, living on only bread, salt, and water. He would touch no meat or wine.

 

He ended up holed up in an abandoned desert fort where people would throw food to him over the wall. But at least Anthony saved himself the trouble of worrying about farming or fishing or paying bills or attending to children or getting along with his neighbor!

 

Asceticism, a life devoid of sensual pleasures, a life pursuing spiritual cleanness. Fasting, celibacy, poverty, hunger, scratchy clothing, strict schedules, but at least you’re living a clean life.

 

How does our Lord give us to live a clean life?

 

Our society strives for this too. To live a clean life, you eat the right foods. Eat only vegetables and turn away from meat. When people want you to live a clean life, there is no end to the rules and controls they will put you under. Eat the right food, drink the approved drink, wear clothing made by the right company, listen to only approved voices, use only permitted speech and have only permitted thoughts, then you’ll be living the clean, accepted life.

 

People around us do listen to this, so obviously there’s some sort of desire to live a clean life.

 

How does our Lord give us to live a clean life?

 

 

All these attempts to live cleanly, is it perhaps nonsense? The Greek philosophers teaching simplicity, did they not have the same sinful thoughts as everyone else? The ascetic hermits, did they not have the same lusts and troubled consciences as everyone else? If not, then why flog themselves every night and rob their bodies of sensual pleasures, even of marriage itself? And those stone walls Anthony hid behind in the Egyptian desert, they protected him from approach by his neighbor, but did Anthony really think stone walls would stop the demons from getting to his conscience?

 

We know something here makes sense. No conscience will be cleansed by a diet out of the blender. No conscience troubled with guilt is brought into peace by eating no meat or drinking no wine. No Christian will be protected from the demons by hiding behind a wall and refusing to talk with neighbor.

 

How does our Lord give us to live a clean life?

 

 

Our Lord cleanses with a word. He wants no one left with an unclean conscience, no one troubled in their heart.

 

In the Old Testament, when the Lord gave Israel to build the Tabernacle, he told them how he would gather them to the Tabernacle to be cleansed of all sin. He gave instructions to the priests to give sacrifice and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice to cleanse the people. Leviticus 16:19:

[The priest] shall sprinkle some of the blood on [the altar] with his finger seven times, and he shall declare it clean and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the people of Israel.

 

When someone was unclean with leprosy, the Lord said he could go to the priest to be cleansed. Leviticus 14:7:

 [The priest] shall sprinkle [the blood] seven times on him who is to be cleansed … Then [the priest] will declare him clean.

 

How does our Lord make a person clean? By having the priest give the blood of the sacrifice to forgive sin and declare the person clean.

 

A sinner is made clean by the Lord speaking a word. Not by diet or regimen or soap for that matter, not by ascetism or denial of pleasure or refusal of marriage, not by hiding from other people behind a brick wall.

 

A sinner is made clean by the Lord speaking a word. If the Lord says you are clean, you are clean. John 15:3:

[Jesus said,] already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

 

Jesus is our priest. Those priests of the Old Testament? They were the Lord’s servants to deliver the cleansing word of the cross to those who lived before the cross.

 

Now Jesus, here in John 15, is on his way to the cross. After speaking to his disciples of cleansing them with his Word and giving them to abide in him, he will then pray to his Father for the Church, and then he will be betrayed and and taken before Caiaphas and then Pilate, where he is sent to the cross.

 

But on his way to the cross to shed his blood of sacrifice, he tells his disciples how he cleanses them:

You are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

 

 

How does our Lord give us a clean life?

 

Our Lord is no Greek philosopher rejecting possessions and worldly entanglements with your neighbor, no ascetic hermit hiding behind a brick wall, and no modern man eating only the approved diet and spouting only the permitted platitudes.

 

Our Lord drank wine, he even supplied it for a wedding party. He enjoyed meat, he loved getting together with his neighbors, he gathered large crowds, he was known as friend to tax-collectors and sinners.

 

How did Jesus live a clean life? By living from the gifts of his Father, by giving gifts to his neighbor, by forgiving sinners and releasing sins, by speaking grace to those who were unclean.

 

He gives us a clean life. By the Word he speaks to you, you are already clean.

 

How to remain clean?

 

By abiding in his Word. By holding on to his Word of grace. By daily hearing his Word of forgiveness, by commending yourself to him, especially when you are stung in your conscience by uncleanness, by knowing that there is no sin not forgiven, no guilt not pardoned, no shame not covered, for he is our Great High Priest standing before the Father to declare us clean.

 

How do we remain clean? By abiding in him, receiving every good gift from him, as a branch receiving life from the vine.

 

John 15:4:

[Jesus said,] already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

St. Mark, Evangelist                                                                   April 25, 2021

 

Mark 16:14-20

¹⁴Afterward [Jesus] appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. ¹⁵And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. ¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” ¹⁹So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

There are some things we assume, so we don’t need to talk about them.

 

The sun will come up in the morning. We don’t go around reminding everyone that the sun will come up, everyone knows it. If you drop a hotdog on the floor, the dog will eat it. Who needs to be told that? It’s assumed.

 

In the Church, maybe we assume something too. Because, we know it. We’ve learned it since childhood. It’s the proclamation of the Gospel.

 

Jesus Christ crucified is your Savior. Jesus forgives your sin and cleanses your conscience. Jesus is resurrected from the dead, and his resurrection is your resurrection. We’ve learned this from childhood. We’ve heard the proclamation of the Gospel in our family devotions. Our families repeat it each week in the Creed at the Lord’s Service.

 

It’s assumed, taken for granted—as sure as the dog eats the hotdog fallen to the floor. So we don’t need to keep saying it to one another, as if we didn’t already know it.

 

But we do need to.

 

 

In the Church, it is the Day of St. Mark, Evangelist, and we learn something of the proclamation of the Gospel in the account Mark left for the Church.

 

We know a little about Mark. He was a young man. He was not one of the twelve Apostles, but came along it would seem later in Jesus’ ministry.

 

Mark even seems to slip in a sly little reference to himself toward the end of his Gospel account. As Mark gives the account of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest at Gethsemane—that’s where Judas brings into the garden a group of thugs from the chief priest wielding swords and clubs to arrest Jesus, and where all the Apostles flee Jesus out of fear, leaving him alone in the grip of Judas and the thugs, Mark writes of a certain young man who was there. Mark 14:51:

And a young man followed [Jesus], and he had nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized the [young man], but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

 

Not a very flattering story to tell of yourself. But maybe that was Mark’s way of keeping our eyes upon Jesus and his suffering, even as his disciples ran away and abandoned him.

 

These disciples who belonged to Jesus, the twelve Apostles but also some others such as young Mark, were not men of impressive faith.

 

They were sinners. They thought of themselves and their own safety. But they were cared for, and brought back and restored, and given the gift of faith again and again by the Lord who loved them and was on his way to the cross for them. But they were not men to impress us with their faith.

 

 

Now, in the text we have before us, in the last chapter of Mark’s Gospel, we hear again of their faith.

 

It is after his crucifixion, and after he has been raised from the dead, as Jesus is preparing them for his Ascension to Heaven, whereupon they will no longer see him in the flesh. The Apostles are gathered around a table, and Jesus appears. He’s giving them last instructions before he ascends. But first, he rebukes them for not having faith. They had disbelieved that he would be resurrected from the dead. Then, when he was resurrected, they disbelieved the reports of the witnesses who first saw Jesus resurrected.

 

With Jesus, it’s all about his Gospel for the sinner, it’s all about faith. He wants no one to be left living without the gift of faith in his forgiveness. He wants no one on their own, trusting in their own strength, or their own worthiness, or their own ability to justify themselves. So, he rebukes them for not having faith in him and his resurrection. Mark 16:14:

[Jesus] appeared to the eleven as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.

 

Why did Jesus need to rebuke them? Had they not heard the Gospel enough times before? Did they not already know of his cross where he ransomed all sinners, of his resurrection from the dead?

 

With their own eyes they saw Jesus cleanse the lepers; with their own ears they heard him forgive sins; they heard him call Lazarus out of the grave. They sat at table with him as he was on his way to death; he gave his last will and testament, telling them to eat this bread and drink this wine in which he was giving them his Body and Blood for the forgiveness of their sins. They were there at the cross. They saw it all.

 

So what did they not know of forgiveness of the Gospel? They knew it all. Can this Gospel not be assumed? Do you need to tell a child that the family dog will eat a hotdog dropped to the floor?

 

We should think that the Gospel should be able to be taken for granted. But it’s not. The proclamation of the Gospel is never assumed.

 

For we still live in sinful flesh, and sinful flesh does not want the Gospel—sinful flesh wants to justify self by its own works and feelings and decisions.

 

And we are afflicted the demons. And the demons do not want us to live confident in the grace of Christ Jesus, so they daily tempt us to doubt that our Lord is faithful to his promise to us.

 

And we live in our sinful world. And our sinful world does not want to live by the free gift of the Gospel, but wants to control everyone with the Law.

 

 

So when Jesus appears to the eleven, he doesn’t assume the Gospel. He knows their sinful flesh. He knows the affliction of the demons. He knows the sinful world they live in. So he doesn’t assume their faith; he doesn’t assume the Gospel.

 

He rebukes them for unfaith, calling them back from unbelief in his promise. Then he again gives the Gospel, as he has done so many times before:

[Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

[Mark 16:16]

 

The Gospel to be proclaimed is the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus. The Gospel to be proclaimed is the promise given the sinner in Baptism. This Gospel is never assumed, but is given to the sinner again and again, daily, and at every Lord’s Service to dispel every doubt, as Jesus did again and again with his Apostles.

 

Whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved. Baptism begets faith. Faith clings to Baptism.

 

So it’s not the absence of Baptism which condemns a sinner, but the refusal of faith—whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

 

It’s unbelief, unfaith which condemns.

 

But Jesus desires always to bestow the gift of faith. How? By going to his Apostles who disbelieved, and giving to them once again the Gospel, and sending them out to baptize families.

 

How is Jesus bestowing the gift of faith? By never assuming the Gospel even for us and our families, but calling us again and again back to the promise of Baptism, and again and again to the table of his Body and Blood for the forgiveness of our sins.

 

And he is bestowing the gift of faith among us as he gives us to never assume the Gospel among ourselves and in our families, but gives us to continually build up one another in his grace, and to daily speak to each other the compassion and mercy of his Gospel.

 

In the Name of Jesus.