Publicity

Jesus, when He began His ministry, was about thirty years old, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph . . . . -Luke 3:23

Public proclamation on a wide scale seems to be the dream of the everyman, and there is way too much of it. If holding public office does not represent the dreams of human ego, being a public broadcaster and/or public performer does.

Publicity. Power. Glory. These guys bring home a good paycheck, too. The louder and more wide-ranging is my speech, the wider and more wide-ranging is my power. "Gimme that mic!" "Look at me!"

There is a proper place for public office, public broadcasting, and public performance, but not for the sake of self-service, and certainly not at the expense of truth. Take a look at the current condition of these vocations today and ask yourself what's happening there. Do you hear and see eternal things; higher things? The things of our crucified and risen Christ?

What kind of things would you like to say if given the opportunity to speak to the whole world at once? There are some who to this very day have this as their chief aspiration in life. And you know what? To the extent we want to exalt ourselves over God, we all do. "My will be done." That's the ticket!

Or, if that isn't enough, we'd be so fearful of what everyone else thinks, the last thing we would want to say out loud to the whole world is, "Jesus loves you." How many yo-yos in Moses's camp would have liked to blurt out notions of their own? And they did. And we read of the result: A golden calf out of "nowhere." Sudden death, and we're not talking sports.

Orders pertaining to the Church and presence of God are not subject to our egos. The line of publicity instead derives from above, from the One I AM, to whom all flesh is subject for all time. That line of publicity takes place through the most humble of means, yet is clearly delineated. It is found in the Pastors of the Church who have been given to preach the Gospel of the LORD Jesus Christ, whose life and blood were given up as eternal satisfaction for the sin of the world.

Believe me, you will not hear that shouted into microphones and broadcast on TVs. If you do, watch for a public crucifixion, if not literal, then figurative. Jesus, the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, was no publicity hound, but spoke an acted perfectly in accord with the Father for your sake.

But you will hear it spoken softly, both in public and individually in those places where the Word of Christ is faithfully preached, His body and blood and distributed to poor sinners, and His Baptism washing over the sworn enemies of God to bring them over into His body, the Church.

Jesus explicitly made it a point at times to tell His disciples NOT to speak. The Prophet Isaiah and Apostle Peter explicitly testify concerning the Christ that He "did not open His mouth." That is because His every Word is one by which we must live, and they are not egotistical words. They are not human ideas. He does not open His mouth to defend Himself or exalt Himself, but to becaome a sacrifice for sin and to forgive sin. All of it.

Be still and know that I AM God. It's a polite way of saying "shut up." Not just your mouth, but your rambling and idle thoughts all tangled up in who you are and what you are about, which is nothing but sin and death. It's also a way of saying you do not need a microphone. You do not need to be famous.

You are a beloved child of God despite all evidence to the contrary. The crucified and risen Christ is not just evidence. He is the Maker of Heaven and earth come down to suffer and die in your place, and to be raised again for your justification.

He is not ashamed to call you family. Quietly. Laying down His life. Forgiving sins. No boasting or publicity here except of just the right kind in just the right place, accompanied by weakness and service to others.
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Now You See Them, Then You Won't

I have seen a wicked, | ruthless man,*
spreading himself like a green | laurel tree.
But he passed away, and behold,
he | was no more;*
though I sought him
he could | not be found. -Psalm 37:35-36

The holiness and righteousness of God will not, and cannot tolerate, let alone live side by side with, wickedness. Wherever it is, it must be cut off, abolished, pass away, and be no more.

That fact stands for all human flesh under the sun, where the wickedness of Adam took root and flourished "like a green laurel tree." In other words it went on as if it would be sustained and live without interuption and without a care for any consequences.

The wicked, ruthless man you inherited still tries to raise his ugly head in pride, but at the same time he is no more and has passed away. How so? By the waters of Holy Baptism that drowned him. Those waters applied the holy benefits of Christ: His innocent sufferings and death, and His resurrection from the dead, all of which take away your sin, having it killed in him together with all its eternal consequences.

To be sure, there are those who still walk this earth uncaring and unaware of the holiness and righteousness of God: The scoffer, the mocker, the murderer, the advocate and champion of evildoing. Do you think they will remain forever? Not so. They, too, will be erased from history forever.

You may see them now, but one day you won't.

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Not Like Before

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. -Jeremiah 31:31-32

The new covenant is Christ Jesus, Who as true God has knit Himself into your being.

He did this first by taking on the same flesh and blood as you, except without sin. Then He made ways for you to receive and be joined to that very same, holy, innocent flesh and blood: Preaching for your ears, Baptism for your cleansing, and Supper for your comfort and sustenance.

These are not like the covenant in former days that required the blood sacrifice of animals on a continual basis. These, instead, are continual benefits bestowed by grace through faith, so that you need not be taken by the hand, but have the Holy Spirit indwelling.

But why was not this new covenant present from the start? In all truth, it was. This has always been in the heart of God. It is just that history must take place as foreordained, with the prophets and apostles taking their place in this great scheme of history both temporal and eternal.

Rejoice, dear Christian, insofar as your Father in heaven has brought you into His presence through Christ Jesus. Flee idolatry, rest in Him, and serve gladly as your days come and go in His holy Name.

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He Comes Wearing Red

Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." -Isaiah 63:1

Translations of this verse from Isaiah are various, but there is no question that Edom is the geographic point of origin for this mighty One who speaks in righteousness while wearing garments of scarlet.

Edom is a quintessential designation for the enemies of God. For the ancient people of Israel, the Edomites proved especially nettlesome and provocative, not unlike the unbelievers of today who mock and scoff at God's people.

The prophet Isaiah, like all the prophets, bespeaks truths that are universal yet play out in history. This is no different. A vengeance is wrought upon God's enemies, and this is done by one wearing garments of scarlet, dripping with blood. The vengeance is carried out with great might, being wrought by God Himself.

For you, dear Christian, this vengeance was placed upon Christ Jesus for your sake. Where your blood should have been spilt His was instead, upon the bloody Cross.

It is a mighty spilling of blood because it avails before God for all of time and eternity and for all people, even the Edomites past and present.

His speaking in righteousness takes place as the Holy Gosepl is preached and administered, so that the hearers may comprehend and believe the breadth and depth of His mercies, and thus live out their days with thanksgiving and rejoicing while serving their neighbors.

Who is this Who comes to you? It is Christ Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilte, and now risen from the dead to reign for you both in might and through humble means.

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Waiting in Silence

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. -Psalm 62:5

Whether you do so out loud or do so in silence, you talk to yourself. Here the Psalmist is speaking to his soul, which is very much the same thing.

It is not weird. It is not a matter that needs to be taken up by psychology or psychaiatry. You are a creature of God, made in His image, and He is one God in three Persons.

Here the Holy Spirit while inhabiting the human flesh of the Psalmist, which Psalmist is incorporated into Christ by faith already, cries out to wait in silence, which is somewhat ironic, because in crying out the silence is broken.

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. -Isaiah 62:1

So which is it? Silence or sound? It is both, and it can be both without contradiction.

The soul experiencing distance from God can do nothing but wait for Him in silence. The soul in close communion to God can do nothing but speak. It is the condition of sinful man that he is both apart from, and joined to, the Creator in and through Christ Jesus.

At any rate, here the urging is from the innermost being: be quiet. There is nothing from inside that will help. The hope that satisfies must be delivered from the outside.

That Hope is Christ crucified and risen, of Whom the soul speaks and sings, yet for Whom the soul waits.

Life in this world is like that. The Psalmist knows. Jesus knows. Jesus is the Psalmist Who carries your soul from one day to the next until you are made complete.

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Sundered by Circumcision

And when eight days were completed so that it was time for His circumcision, He was also named Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. -Luke 2:21

Of all the practices that seem out of touch, circumcision seems to be the most peculiar. Given as a command to the people of Israel through Moses, the foreskin of the male member was to be removed eight days after birth as a way to mark that male child bodily and place him into a covenant between God and man.

To be sure, this practice calls to mind what the LORD said through the Prophet Isaiah, "My ways are not your ways." The idea of shedding blood at the very location on the male body wherewith the pleasure of procreation are associated seems wildly contradictory.

Yet procreation takes plain within the painful reality of sin. This reality is one of no escape without bloodshed; innocent bloodshed. So it happens, when the Holy Son of God reached the age of eight days - a number filled with fulfillment in terms of sabbath rest - His holy, innocent blood is shed for the first time.

It was indeed painful physically, but it was not nearly as painful as being forsaken of God upon an accursed cross of shame in the midst of mockery and sheer bandonment by men as well.

Yet this is what it took, and what it takes, to fulfil the Law of God. Jesus, Whose Name is above every name, Whose name literally means "He shall save His people."

The other reality that attends to circumcision is a separation of the circumcized from the uncircumcised. The people of Israel were to be unlike any other nation. The practice of circumcision was a way of marking them as separate from all other nations, because from them and through their seed, despite sin, the Christ would come in the flesh as God come to save.

Today it is you, the Christian, who are separate from the rest, sundered from them by Holy Baptism into the circumcized Christ Jesus, Whose body and life avail before God on your behalf, and upon Whom you may rely as a High Priest, tempted in every way for you, but victorious for you.

It is His blood and His name alone, that save you.

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