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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The Name and Circumcision of Jesus

When eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. -Luke 2:21

Adam did not receive a name until he had been created on the 6th day and placed into the Garden of Eden. Adam was named after he already was.

And then the LORD God - knowing that she would forever serve in communion with her husband as a picture of the faithfulness and love of Christ and His bride, The Church – He created “Eve,” the mother of all the living, and placed her together with Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Together this first couple was tempted to sin and together they fell, bringing death and the final judgment to all who followed, to all who are born of a woman.

But the free gift is not like the transgression. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. Jerusalem's iniquity has been removed. She has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins. Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace now reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

Christ Jesus, the 2nd Adam, however, received a Name before He was conceived in His mother’s womb and also had His Name attached to circumcision on the 8th day after His birth.

In this way He was named according to the very work He is to do among men, namely save them from their sins. He was marked in the flesh according to the Law of Moses – A Law given by the LORD God Himself.

Do you think it strange that God would name a person before they are conceived? This is He who of old established the heavens and the earth, not without purpose, but so that the sons of men together with you may thank and praise, serve and obey Him on account of His all surpassing grace and glory, worked out in every detail of creation from the beginning to this day.

Do you think it strange that God would command circumcision in the first place? That is precisely the point. Circumcision for God’s ancient people, Israel, made them distinct from all the other nations and peoples. It must be this way, because the Most Holy God, since the fall into sin, calls out a people from the world by His own Word and promise, a people to be His very own, not like all the nations and people who chase after idols and false gods, who worship created things and themselves in vain.

This name is for you. It is not a name like every name, but the Name at which every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Yes, there are knees under the earth soon to be raised up from the dead, because it is the Name of the crucified and risen Jesus that avails before God the Father and all of creation through the Holy Spirit. It is the Name placed upon you in Holy Baptism and delivered to you in Holy Supper.

The LORD God does not give you His name without also giving you His substance. His substance is holiness and righteousness, both inwardly and outwardly. It is the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, delivered to you in bodily form through the Word and promise of God. The washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit was poured out upon your body and soul lavishly, fully, and completely through Jesus Christ your Savior.

This circumcision is for you, too. It is not a circumcision of the flesh, not a circumcision made of hands, but circumcision of the Holy Spirit, also delivered to you in Holy baptism. Through this circumcision you now flee those things you once embraced: Idolatry and covetousness; adultery and murder; theft and slander. He was circumcised on the 8th Day for you, and He was raised up from the dead on the 8th Day for you, not as a spectacle, but as your atoning sacrifice for sin.

It is not as though you are without temptation and sin, but in these you have a defender, a helper, and advocate Who will not fail you, but Who promises to lift you up and carry you by His Word and supper to which you flee daily and richly for grace, pardon, and strength. Not by New Year, but by everlasting resolution.

The rest of the world, who knows neither you nor the Name you have been given, looks to itself and its own devices to wheedle through one day to the next in service to itself and all sorts of vanity. You, however, having received the Name and substance of God through Christ and His circumcision not made wit hands, cry out together: Our help is in the Name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

The LORD God has given you His Law to discipline your flesh, to show you the way you should live and walk before Him. This also exposes your sin. The Law never would be satisfied in the lives of His people or in you, but is only satisfied and fulfilled in the Life of Christ, who is God in the flesh, in whom the Law is most surely written and fulfilled and completed. Hence, even in showing you your sins, the Law also describes that One who is your Savior, the One who lives in perfect faith toward God and in perfect love toward both God and man: The Son of God, Christ Jesus.

Trusting in Him, you are circumcised, cut off bodily from the rest of the world, so that where Adam once was tempted and fell, you are now tempted yet saved, not by your works, but by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, who was cut off for your transgressions and then raised up for your justification, so that what He has accomplished in His body may be delivered to your body and soul through Holy Baptism, Holy Supper, and Holy Absolution.

With His Name, through the forgiveness of all your sins, He has cleansed and purified your heart. He has also cleansed and purified your lips and your life in the flesh, so that you are able by His grace to sing, to pray, and to keep the Feast at all times and in all places, to the glory of His Name, because you belong to Him. You are in Christ Jesus. That is your identity. That is your sonship, be you boy or girl. That is your salvation of body and soul, here in time and hereafter in eternity.

If you are in doubt as to what is meet, right, and salutary in how to conduct yourself in this life, you may with joy cling to your Lord Jesus Christ and listen to Him, Whose obedience on your behalf falls perfectly within the will of God the Father.

As the Holy Spirit teaches, You are generation called out from the world, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

You are aliens and strangers here, so then abstain from the fleshly lusts that wage war against your soul. You are NOT your own.

Act as those who are free, but do not use your freedom as a covering for evil. Use your freedom instead as bond slaves of God because He has given you His Name and circumcision.

For you have been called for this purpose – live godly lives in this world, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. HE COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.

He Himself bore your sins in His body on the cross, so that you might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His circumcision you are healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now by the Holy Spirit and Gospel of Christ Jesus you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. He is here to keep you in His tender care and mercy. He is faithful to His Name, Word, and promises of old.

Meanwhile, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation, even as you bear His Name and are called out from the world through His circumcision and resurrection from the dead.

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Christmas: The Big Perspective

For my eyes have seen Your Salvation. -Luke 2:30

To say the Holy Gospel appointed for this day has a lot in it would be an understatement. Its length is over 400 words. Included among those words are the following subjects:

The days of purification according to the Law of Moses.
The Presentation
The Sacrifices prescribed by the LORD God for dedication.
The Temple (Herod’s Temple)
The devout man Simeon.
The Holy Spirit.
The revelation to Simeon that he would not die before He saw the Christ.
The Nunc Dimittis (Latin for “now you dismiss”).
The potent and poignant address from Simeon to Mary.
The devout prophetess, Anna of the tribe of Asher.
The “very moment” Anna spoke out concerning this child.
The Redemption of Jerusalem
The devout father and mother Joseph and Mary.
The Child Jesus, Who continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom, with the grace of God upon Him.

It is this Christ Jesus who is at the heart and center of this Gospel and all that is preached and administered to you in this place and on this day.

But let us take things up a notch in the way of “a lot.” Yes, there is a lot in this Gospel text. From a wide angle lens perspective consider this:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

For some time and space perspective – because time and space are created for you in the beginning, consider this, O you who of late have been looking at the skies to see a rare convergence of planets: By all appearances you are fairly well just sitting there, but do you have any idea how fast you are moving right now? How fast are you moving right now?

Just by virtue of the earth spinning on its axis, and by virtue of living near the 41st parallel (the 90th parallel is The North Pole, and the 0th parallel is the equator), you are moving fast enough to get from here to Elkhart in one second. “One thousand one.” 18-1/2 miles just like that.

Because you live on God’s created planet earth which is place in a solar system within a galaxy within a universe, you are moving fast enough to go from here to Buffalo, New York in one second. “One-thousand-one” 375 miles.

It may seem arcane, or odd, that I would bring this up, but the LORD God would have you know that the same creation you inhabit - which at its first was formless and void – has taken its shape and now has you in it because God speaks His Word and through it sustains all things.

And that is not all. Believe me, that is not all.

It is this same creation that came about in and through the same Christ Jesus that Simeon holds in his arms, and whose father and mother bring Him to the temple at the appointed time, the fulness of time – a time when the nations were largely at peace and a common language extended over a wide range of lands, when there was no broadcast media, film, photography, audio recording, internet, Facebook, YouTube, and so many selfish distractions - so that He may be dedicated to God in His Holy Temple for your sake, out of God’s everlasting love, so that He may be your Temple in His very flesh, so that you make take refuge in Him and He shall cover you with His blood and righteousness.

You see, the same Spirit of God that hovered over the waters before there was light has also caused the four Holy Gospels to be written. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, whom the Church recognizes this day, and whose Gospel ends by saying:

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

But it is the Holy Gospel of St. Luke, placed into your hearing this day, that begins by saying (and all this is formed by your Father in heaven out of the cosmos by the Holy Spirit from the beginning for you to hear this day as you move at 375 miles per second):

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

St. Luke’s investigation is not in vain. No other of the Gospels has these passages or references to Simeon, Anna, and all the things listed at the beginning of this message.

So think of it. That whole formless and void “ball of wax” in the beginning has been shaped and formed in such a way that you now are in it, moving more quickly than your reason and senses are able to perceive. The same spirit of God has seen to it that the Gospel of Christ Jesus, by Whom and through Whom all things were created and are sustained, has reached your ears. Through this Gospel His everlasting righteousness is applied to you not only in this body and life, but in the life of the world to come.

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,
My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

“Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word,” says Simeon.

He does not use the word “Kyrie” when he says LORD. He uses the word “despota.” He refers to a master into whose hands all authority is placed, included the authority to cause death and life; to forgive and retain sins. And that is precisely Who this Christ Child is, for He alone can release the prisoners of sin and death and the devil. He alone, though His innocent suffering and death and His resurrection from the dead can satisfy the wrath of God and reconcile all flesh to the Father.

Also, Simeon does not use the word “logos” when he says, “according to your word,” but the word “rhema,” which refers to things that have been spoken and written by God through the prophets. To hold the Christ Jesus in his arms and to look at Him with his own eyes, is a confirmation of, is in accord with, agrees with, and is proof of all he had studied and learned from the Holy Scriptures by the grace of God, for he was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

The same holds for you who are baptized into Christ Jesus and abide in him. You do not cast the Sacred Scriptures aside, but having been saved by your Father in heaven through Christ Jesus, you hold the Scriptures sacred and gladly hear and learn them, for these are they which testify of Christ Jesus.

So then, it is He who made the heavens and the earth who has come down to save you. His right hand and His holy arm are bared and shown before all the nations as this one Child is lifted up, first in Simeon’s arms, and soon upon the Cross, as the sacrifice that delivers you for all time and eternity from the terrors of your sin and death, and from a creation that for a short time is subject to futility.

Consider how small you are and how great is the creation into which God has placed you – not by accident, but at just the right time according to his purposes for you. Then consider how He places three simple words in the middle of this Gospel: “Depart in peace.”

The immensity of the entire creation, both the heavens and the earth, this day come down to these three words, “Depart in peace,” given by the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, for Simeon to speak while Holding the Christ Child in his arms. These three words are also given to you to hear and to sing aloud with joy, having received that very same Christ Child into your body for the forgiveness of your sins and everlasting life. The words “depart in peace” are spoken to you each time you depart from this altar of the Sacrament of Christ’s precious body and blood. That is what your pastors, Christ’s called and ordained servants of the Word, say to you after you have received the body and blood of your Savior, Christ Jesus. “Depart in peace.”

It is interesting to note more precisely what Simeon says, as opposed to the Nunc Dimittis you sing in nearly all instances of Divine Service. You sing and pray by song, “LORD, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace.” The sense of it is that you are asking the LORD to do this, to let you depart in peace.

Yet here is more literally what Simeon, who lives and is counted with you among the saints who abide in Christ Jesus, says. Here is what he says: “Now You send Your servant away, O LORD, according to Your word, in peace.” “Now You send Your servant away, O LORD, according to Your word, in peace.”

Now, whether these words are spoken as a way of asking God to act, or stating that He is already acting, the net effect is the same, because God in Christ Jesus has reconciled you to Himself, brought you to Himself, joined His flesh to yours, married you as His bride. “You are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” He has answered and acted out of His everlasting love from all eternity to let you depart in peace; to dismiss you in peace. To turn you lose from your bondage so that you may love and serve both God and neighbor out of the abundance of His mercies.

For this Christ Jesus is your Peace, and there is no other. Not only the Law of Moses with all the demands for sacrifice, but the whole law of God has been taken up and delivered for you through this Christ Jesus. Where you have failed and been unfaithful, he has gained the victory out of an everlasting love and faithfulness to the Father for you, even as the Father, out of His everlasting love for you gave His only begotten Son into death and raised Him up.

This is a peace for people of every age, no matter what age they are. From the prophetess Anna at 84-years old, widowed and seemingly alone, to the man Simeon, to the infant as yet unborn, for the Word of God who was in the beginning took upon Himself your nature from the very point of conception in the womb. This is a peace the world cannot give.

You were conceived and born into this creation at a time not of your choosing. Your were conceived and born with a condition you could in no way escape apart from the grace of God, as one who could not, would not, and did not recognize or come to your Creator.

It was necessary for Him who was given in the fulness of time to seek you out, and now that He has sought you out and brought you into His kingdom, you may depart in peace, whether it be from this altar of His Holy body and blood week after week, day after day, or whether it be from this life into the bosom of the Father, where He will bear you up just as he has, with His outstretched arm, born up His own people from age to age as He calls them by His Gospel.

There is peace and life — for you and for the many — in this forgiveness because it is a forgiveness that resides in the heart of Christ, and flows from His heart to all the members of His Body. His Body bears with you, and in love His Body shares your burdens as His own. His Body forgives you all of your sins, whatever your trespasses may be.

It is all the blessed good work of this little One who has opened the womb of His Mother, who was brought up to Jerusalem and presented to the Lord: not only in the Temple, but once-for-all upon the Cross.

This One is your Peace.

Though you have not been righteous and devout.
Though you have not kept the Law.
Though you have not been faithful in praying and singing and confessing His Word.
Though you have not fasted, and have not been in the Temple as you ought.
Though you have not honored your parents or cherished your spouse or cared for your children or loved your neighbor.

This little One, the Babe, the Son of Mary is your Peace.

He has performed everything in fulfillment of the Law.

He has grown in wisdom and stature for you, and He is strong.

The grace of God is upon Him, and His grace is upon you. In Him you see not death, but the Lord’s Christ, whose Body bears all your sins and bestows forgiveness.

Take His Body now into your arms, bless God, depart in peace, and live.

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Christmas Adjectives

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. -John 1:14

Christmas Eve. Christmas Day. The twelve days of Christmas.

When it comes to depicting and experiencing Christmas think of all the words. Think of all the music. Think of all the decorations. Think of all the movies and plays and works of art. Think of all the gifts. The plans. The dinner feasts. The family and guests and greeting cards.

To say there is a lot there would be the understatement of the year, and those are just a few things about Christmas off the top of my head.

How would you describe it? There are some four-thousand-eight-hundred adjectives in the English language. As most of you know, an adjective is a word - a part of speech – we use to describe something, like the word “big,” or “small,” or “short,” or “tall.”

Given all the ways to depict and to experience Christmas, which single adjective would you choose to best describe it? Yes, I know. It would be impossible to pick just one. That is part of the magnitude of it all. But you could give it a try for now.

For starters, how about the word “Silent?” The most famous Christmas carol of all time – you sang it just a short time ago - depicts Christmas as a silent night. That word fits extremely well with the idea of being in a little town like Bethlehem in the dead of night with no business transactions taking place and only a starlit sky, doesn’t it?

Some of you will pause in silence as Christmas unfolds this year. What is there about silence that goes so well with Christmas? You know, but you just can’t find the words, can you? That’s okay. In fact silence means you don’t think or say them. That kind of silence happens a lot in your life, too, not just at Christmas but throughout the days and years, because the weights and burdens of life so overwhelm. At times there just are no words.

Besides all those weights and burdens that cause you at times to be silent, the arrival of the Holy Son of God as He is born of the Virgin Mary invites all mortal flesh to keep silence, because the One Who will judge the world at the Last Day has come to save it by His tender mercies from of old. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. They will be silent.

Or how about the opposite of silent: “Noisy.” Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.  Do you think they sang a lullaby? I think not. Singing of the fact that God is now reconciling all fallen flesh to Himself through the flesh and blood of His only begotten Son is the most sublime of subjects to sing about, and the sound must reach every corner of the earth. It must reach into every nook and cranny like those Christmas church bells that ring throughout the land. No city noise ordinances will stop it. Everyone needs to hear it, and everyone is going to hear it! 

Let it be sung loudly: “Peace on earth” because the One Who made the earth and the heavens loves them. “Goodwill toward men,” not because He is pleased with their behavior, but because He has invested Himself completely in their creation and their salvation, a salvation that requires the shedding of blood, a salvation worked out lavishly without any merit, earning, or working on the part of you or anyone else, but by works of love in and through the crucified and risen LORD Jesus Christ.

Truly Christmas is something to make noise about.

Or how about the word “slow” to describe Christmas? Yes, that may seem like an odd choice of adjectives, but think about it. How long had it been since God declared that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. Even as He is born there are still some 33 years to go before He fulfills all righteousness for you and is put to death upon the Cross for you to be raised up in glory for you.

How long had it been? What had all happened since the First Promise of the Seed? You can read about it all in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, Second Samuel, . . . need I go on? You get the point: While your Father in Heaven is eternally quick to forgive sin and iniquity, for that to happen in real time exceeds the experience of any man’s life span. It took generation after generation. It took a long time.

Or how about instead of the word “slow” you choose the word “sudden” or “quick?”

When all was still, and it was midnight, Your Almighty Word, O LORD, descended from the royal throne.

The average length of time for a woman to be in labor is twelve to twenty-four hours. For the Virgin Mary those hours could not have come at a more inconvenient time. They also came suddenly. Not unexpectedly, but suddenly. Birth pangs. The child is making an entrance. Nothing will stop it, and it will be soon.

You see, God is not slow in working out your salvation, though it may seem like it. In truth however, it was finished before it started. Yes, it took a long time as you look at history, but in the heart of God it all happens at once, for He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not bound by time as you know it, but coming soon and suddenly to save you.

The word “peaceful” does extremely well to describe Christmas, even as peace on earth between God and man are bound up in the infant born of Mary.

But so does the word “violent,” because the beatings, the crown, the nails, and the spear necessary to take away your sin are anything but peaceful. They in fact embody the holy wrath of God against sin, but they cannot be separated from the one born of Mary. Moreover, violence follows where the Gospel is preached, because the world and the devil are that way when it comes to Truth. Violent.

Then there is the word “Joyous,” because nothing can take away your salvation as rendered eternally in the works of Christ Jesus done for you and delivered to you in your baptism and His supper and His preaching.

At the same time “Solemn,” or “Reverent” describe Christmas, too, don’t they? because this is not child’s play, but life and death in contention against one another for all time, for you, for and your household and for generations to follow.

Those are only a few choice adjectives to describe Christmas, and all of those adjectives work, don’t they? And that is fairly well the point:

The One who made all the languages with all of their adjectives undertakes to have a Word with you in person.

The One by Whom the heavens and the earth were made has taken upon Himself frail flesh to suffer and to die for you upon a cross.

The One Who made you; the One who knit you together in your mother’s womb sees to it that He will be knit together is His mother’s womb so that His being knit together would become your being knit together in His perfect righteousness, not just as some amorphous, enormous, impersonal, organizing principle, but as your Tender Shepherd Who lays down His life for you and takes it up again, knowing every single hair on your head, and every single fear and worry that has struck you and hounded you in life. Every enemy, even death and the devil, both of which are so formidable that you would never even begin to defeat them.

The Word became flesh. That is Christmas. That is why it is so big that all the adjectives put together cannot begin to comprehend its breadth and depth. What eye hath not seen nor ear heard. Yet it is that breadth and depth your Father is heaven wants you to have, and so He has delivered it to you.

First by seeing to it that from the foundation of the world His salvation for you would be put into place. Then acted out – not like a movie or play, but in real life. Real flesh and blood life just like the life that is coursing through your veins right now.

Second, by making a way for all He has done to be placed into your body through His preaching of repentance, His baptism of you, and His feeding of you from the feed trough known as The Sacrament of the Altar.

Third by using those ways, as He is right here and right now, to deliver to you all that has been in His heart not just as a thought, but substantively by His Holy Spirit Who is keeping you together with all Christians in the one true faith, preparing you to be raised up bodily at the Last Day.

The point is this, really: Everything good for you is comprehended in the birth of Christ Jesus, because it is all laid out for you to receive by God Himself, the Maker of the heavens and the earth. It is laid out in love. It is laid out lavishly. It is laid out gladly. It is given with the smile of perfect love and grace because His face does shine upon you. Not because of your works, but because He is love. He always has been. He always will be.

For that reason there is indeed no single adjective that will express all that Christmas means. There does not have to be when everything that Christmas means and everything that Christmas is, is this night, and at every Divine Service throughout the year, delivered into your mortal mouth, namely the true and living body and blood of Christ Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary and crucified under Pontius Pilate, given for you now and unto eternity.

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Confusion vs. Clarity

“I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” -John 1:23

Did you ever think you would live in an age when there is so much confusion over what we now call “self-identification?”

We have often throughout history wrestled with the question of how we will turn out as we live from one year to the next. The question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” has been asked by many a parent of many a child. Likewise, many a parent has wrestled with the question of who and what they are supposed to be, because, as it turns out the answer is not always so cut and dried, is it? 

But did you ever think you would live in an age where people would not ask the question, but confidently assert, that they are someone or something that totally contradicts the very essence of their biological makeup? It has gotten so far out of hand that boys now declare themselves to be girls, men declare themselves to be women, and they declare you to be a bigot if you suggest any other reality.

But it is even worse. There are people who declare themselves to be cats, or dogs, or some other wild creature. And then there are those who declare themselves to have a range of personal pronouns that completely defies common sense.

It is true that sin, perversion, corruption, and confusion have always found their way in some form or fashion ever since Adam and Eve forsook God for their own pursuit of knowledge and wisdom, but these latter days have seen a depth and range more stark than in prior ages.

The behaviors mentioned above were largely unheard of a few decades ago but now stain the fabric of creation far more widely and more deeply than ever, with those who teach and practice such things insisting that you accept, teach, and practice the same. LORD, have mercy!

But it is not enough to sit back and marvel in disgust over the course of this fallen world. You must accept the truth and the fact that you also by nature are of the same fabric, the same make up, willing and able to forsake the truth of who and what you are in exchange for a lie. Were it not so you would not have confessed your sin this day, or any other day for that matter.

It does not matter what depth of degradation you embrace. That degradation and death embraced you from the moment you were conceived and were intent on dragging you down into hell faster than a whirlpool drags rubbish and debris to the bottom of the sea.

You may say, “There but for the grace of God go I,” and that is true. Yet it stands that even as the grace of God in Christ Jesus has saved you from that which you could not save yourself, the muck, the mire, the sin, the death have not vanished. Whether inside of you or outside of you, its presence is constant, and it will be until your baptism is complete.

It is into this great depth of sin, death, and confusion that God the Father Almighty has intervened. He has, by His Holy Spirit and through the flesh and blood of Christ Jesus to step in with a strong and mighty hand, each step of the way making sure there is absolutely no confusion over Who He is and what He does; a strong and mighty hand hidden under the Cross but revealed plainly by the preaching and administration of His Word.

For the ancient children of Israel this intervention was so plain, so clear, so drastic, so terrible, so loud, and so dreadful that they cried out, “Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.”

For you in these latter days this intervention is so plain, so clear, so drastic, so sweet, so quiet, and so perfect that by water connected to God’s Holy Name you are, as Henry Erik James Horner soon will be, without any merit or worthiness on your part, completely bonded and grafted back into Him from whom you by nature would flee from and hate, even God Himself through your LORD Jesus Christ.

This great salvation - culminating in the bloody Cross whereupon the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world give up His spirit, having made atonement for your sin and death – this great salvation was worked out from the beginning, without confusion or misunderstanding as to purpose and aim, and it was carried to save even those who in this day and age do not even care to accept who and what they are biologically or otherwise.

When the Pharisees came to John the Baptist in the wilderness it was with the sole purpose of finding out who he is. By that time John was not some lowly wanderer, unknown and unseen with his coarse clothing and his strange diet of wild locusts and honey. He was influential. He opened his mouth and spoke so clearly and strongly concerning the coming Day of Judgement that many people’s lives were changing. They were repenting. They were forsaking the ways taught them by the Pharisees.

With that kind of influence, he had to be questioned because, as far as the Pharisees were concerned, they, the Pharisees, were the ones whose words were to hold sway among the people, not this strange fellow, John, whose message was so out of sync yet true and clear.

But there is no confusion. There never has been confusion on the part of God where your salvation is concerned. By His Holy Spirit and by His Word St. John, like Christ Jesus, was foreordained to be the megaphone, the singular loud, clear, voice preaching repentance and faith in Christ Jesus just as your preachers do to this day, not with mumblings and mutterings, confusion and clever new sayings, but with a voice that declares what all faithful prophets, apostles, evangelists, and pastors are given to declare: In Christ Jesus and in Christ Jesus alone you are saved from your sin and reconciled to God. 

John is not confused about who he is. First of all, he confesses and does not deny, but confesses, “I am not the Christ.” That right there would have given the Pharisees pause, because their conception of the coming Christ was messed up.

They thought the Christ would be a man of great political influence, like John was, but they were blind to the deeper purpose and meaning of the Christ’s work, namely that of atoning for sin by giving up His perfect life upon a bloody Cross of death that would result in all mankind having the hope of salvation. 

John is not confused about who he is because his mother and father, Elizabeth and Zechariah were keenly aware of the purpose for which John had been conceived and born.

Before John was even born, Elizabeth felt him leap for joy in her womb as Mary, who would give birth to the Christ, greeted her. After John was born, Zachariah spoke these words by the Holy Spirit:

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; 

For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS;

To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins.”

Do you think Elizabeth and Zachariah forgot these things? Most certainly they did not. They would not only have kept them in mind but would also have told John about them many times as he was growing up.

Even on John’s eighth day, as the holy evangelist St. Luke reports, “fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea.”

So there is no confusion here. John is the prophet of the Most High. He has been designated and given precisely for the purpose of preaching repentance and faith unto life everlasting by the forgiveness of sins, which forgiveness is only available and only avails on account of the Christ at Whom he clearly points his finger and says, “Look here! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.”

All this clarity of purpose, all this lack of confusion, all this action foreordained from the beginning of time, is for you who are so easily confused, so easily disheartened by your life, the lives of others who sin against you, and the circumstances surrounding you in this fallen world, so that you may have one Foundation, one singular and perfect Source to guide you, namely God Himself in and through Christ Jesus, Who has drawn Himself to you, Who has drawn you into Himself through the same baptism of repentance and forgiveness administered to you - and soon to Henry - in this place with all of its rich and tender mercies, this washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.

And so that things are even more clear, and you are even more perfectly and completely sustained in this forgiveness of sin and everlasting life that comes from God alone, He feeds you with that same salvation through the true body and the true blood of the crucified and risen Christ Jesus. Do not be confused. Do not be disheartened.

The Prophet after Moses has been raised up in these latter days, namely Christ Jesus, whose forerunner, John the Baptist was not at all confused. Let your baptism into Christ Jesus be your starting point every day and every hour, because being rooted and grounded in Christ Jesus your path forward is sure.

Your path is joined to the One Whose paths are perfect and righteous, no matter how it looks or feels. His paths reach back and forward throughout all time and into eternity, and they are brought to you bodily and concretely in Christ Jesus, in Whom there is no shifting shadow or lack of clarity.

With Christ Jesus as your Chief Cornerstone, your foundation, your clear and abiding Word, your Rock, and your Salvation everything will be brought to completion, even as He was born of the Virgin Mary for you and crucified under Pontius Pilate for you.

And not only will everything be brought to completion at the Last Day, but even now you are given to rejoice in the Lord always. Your gentle spirit as received from Above will be known to all men. You know The Lord is near.

You need not be anxious for anything - ANYTHING - but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving your requests flow forth to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.

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Local Church Practice

This is a wonderful subject, namely how matters of faith and salvation are practiced among the faithful most evangelically. It is the nature of creation and divine revelation to provide order. We are enjoined to treat these things reverently.

Difficulties come about because we are idolaters by nature, totally disinclined to receive; greatly inclined to invent. Inventing is fine within the context of serving others, but it is detrimental when imposed upon Divine Service without regard for proper order.

The androgynous spirit is alive and well in the Church, not only causing confusion, but also inviting pride and despair. The Church is so arranged that there are givers and receivers. In the context of Divine Service in particular it is important that roles are reverently distinguished and practiced.

It is the Sabbath. The LORD urges that His people receive True Rest. There can be no rest if the merits and righteousness of Christ Jesus are mixed or confused with our own activities, no matter how well-intended.

We have a Place of Rest, namely, Christ Jesus. Yet some prefer not to rest, but to invent and then expect others to heap praise on all but the Vine from whom all life, both temporal and eternal flows freely.

It is good to recognize the order so ubiquitous to God’s dealing with poor sinners; that He deals with us through means; that it truly is a matter of giving and receiving. Yet we altogether are often poor examples who also must feed from the very Food we are given to distribute.

But we do have Rest. We have it whether we serve in the chancel or in selling wholesome merchandise. The latter vocation is every bit as much, if not more substantial in serving our good neighbor than many things a Pastor is given to do from one moment to the next.

Missouri has a bit of a mess on her hands, but it will all come out in the Wash. We may meanwhile rejoice together in so many good things. In this life the Church may appear as little more than a hodge-podge of weak practice and theology.

The beauty is that we are given to participate in His Word on a wide scale with those who are like-minded. To the extent we are given to be faithful in these things, the rest will take care of itself.
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A Stomach for Contentment

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled." -John 6:26

That did not take long. Only about forty-five days. That is how long it took for God’s ancient people Israel to go from rejoicing in their deliverance from the strong hand of Pharaoh by the stronger hand of God, to bitterly complaining against God’s servants, Moses and Aaron, and by extension, bitterly complaining against God Himself. It was not just a few people who complained. It was the entire congregation who said:

“If only we had died by the LORD’S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger!”

The stomach is a strong contender when it comes to priorities and complaints. Strong enough that Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of porridge. The appetite craves satisfaction, but is never truly and completely satisfied. It doesn’t take forty-five days to get hungry and complain. It takes less than a day.

The whole theme here is that of contentment, or discontentment. The key to contentment is simple trust in the LORD God and His gracious provision from one day to the next. The cause of discontentment is a lack of such simple trust so that you seek to satisfy your appetite apart from the LORD God.

For God’s ancient people Israel, discontentment came also from looking back on their past and comparing it to what they had in the present, in the middle of this desert. There was no comparison.

But they forgot one thing. One very big thing: It was the LORD God who brought them there, and in doing so He not only saved them, but continued giving them life from one day to the next under His discipline in order that they may trust in Him for all things.

“Remember the good old days,” they thought to themselves. They completely forgot the oppression of Pharaoh. They completely forgot the salvation worked out for them by the mighty hand of God. It was just the big old pots of meat and so much bread they could eat till they were full that they remembered.

It is that same stomach hunger that causes the crowds to come to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” They did not say, “Man, am I hungry. Can you give us some more of that bread?” That would have been too crass.

Jesus answers them and says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

So it is, that the stomach is not the source for true contentment. It is filled, but then it is emptied, and the appetite comes back. The stomach growls.

And really it is not just lack of food that can cause discontentment is it? The appetites of your fallen nature are all over the place. The comparisons that cause discontentment creep up again and again. “Look how so-and-so makes more money than I do, but he doesn’t do half the work.” “That’s not fair.” “I deserve better.” And then there’s the topper of them all: “Look at how so many people are grumbling.”

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

About ten minutes from now I will be holding a silver chalice before your eyes. Within that chalice will be the blood of Christ Jesus, shed for you upon the Cross. Above that silver chalice I will be holding a small, circular piece of unleavened bread, with will be the body of Christ, given into death upon the Cross for your sins and iniquities. While I am holding those two things before your eyes, I will say these words: “The peace of the LORD be with you always.” Then you will say, “O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us, and grant us your peace.”

That there is the food that lasts unto eternal life. It is Christ Himself, the bread of Life, given into death for your sins and iniquities, for your wrongly directed appetite, for your bad choices, for your idle words, for your idolatry big and small, for your laziness, for your unclean thoughts, for your misdirected hatred, for your lack of love toward God and neighbor, for your misplaced discontentment, and for whatever else would cause you to fall into the pit of hell.

How do you work for this bread, which has already been given to you? Simple. You listen to what Christ Jesus says, and then you get up and come to His altar to receive Him into your body by way of your mouth, and your mouth shall show forth His praise. You act upon what your ears have heard. You ears hear Christ Jesus who says He is the bread of life, and your body responds by coming to this alar and taking His body and blood into your body and blood, for these things are not just signs and symbols, but they are what Jesus says they are: His body and His blood.

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty."

It is not that your stomach will never growl again, but that your soul’s deepest fear and complaint will be answered fully and completely. It is not that you will never crave something to drink again, but that your thirst for righteousness will be satisfied by the One Who made satisfaction for your sins and iniquity.

When you partake of the abundance God has laid before you in this body and life, you will do so with thanksgiving, knowing these things came from Him by His blessing, and not because you earned or deserved them. You will know that even if they take your body and life, goods, fame, child, and wife, let these all be gone. They yet have nothing won. The kingdom is yours through this Christ Jesus Who feeds you with Himself here and now.

No amount of daily food and drink will spare your life forever, but the One upon Whom God has set His seal? He will, and He does. Just as the Father’s seal was set upon your Christ Jesus as He is anointed by the Holy Spirit in the River Jordan and a voice from heaven says, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am pleased. Listen to Him,” so the Father has set His seal upon you in your Holy Baptism, and you listen to Him, receive Him into your ears and body, and are saved from sin, death, the devil, and all that would hurt or harm you.

Because you are recipients of the Bread of Life, you are growing up in all aspects into Him who is the head, clinging day by day to His Word and His promise of forgiveness, forsaking the cravings of your appetite, rejecting the world’s counsel telling you to trust in yourself and live for yourself.

You are content with God’s arrangement not only for you, but for His whole Church on earth, where we are not in competition to see who can do the most for God, but to bear with one another in love, looking first to your need for forgiveness, knowing that forgiveness rains down upon us all through the mercies of God in Christ Jesus Who dwells with us by His Word and Baptism and Supper, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Yes, it took forty-five days for God’s ancient people to go from rejoicing to complaining. Would you be surprised if by the end of this day you were found to be complaining? If not outwardly, at least inwardly. That is not to say all complaining is wrong. In fact, complaints are part and parcel of living in a fallen world with your fallen flesh. Here is the problem: Complaints that are without faith and love; complaints that point the finger at others and at God.

Whether it is a simple baloney sandwich or a sumptuous steak; a glass of tap water or a glass of fine wine, a pair of old blue jeans or a tuxedo, a life of want or a life of riches, all things are yours in and through Christ Jesus, your Bread of Life. Therefore rejoice and give thanks at all times and in all places, even as Christ Jesus bears with you at all times and in all places, for He is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally for you.

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The Fulfillment

"Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." -Matthew 24:2 

The temple buildings must have been impressive. After all, this is the only occasion where the disciples came to Jesus and pointed something out. They never came to him and said, “Check out this tree,” or “Check out this snake,” or Have you ever seen a well like this.” At least not that we know from the holy evangelists. But they did point out the temple buildings, those magnificent edifices that began with King Solomon, ended with King Herod, and were utterly destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

 

It is not as if the One through Whom and by Whom the heavens were made did not know every detail that went into those buildings. As for the disciples themselves, as far as we know, they had no part in using their own hands to build them. It could very well be that, as they spoke and pointed to those buildings, the builders were still at work, putting the finishing touches on them. And of course, there is always cleaning and maintenance to be done.

 

The bottom line however, is that they must have been impressive to the eye. Impressive, even though the Tower of Babel and long since been largely forgotten and the Great Pyramids of Egypt were already weather worn and beaten.

 

This arrangement of matter by human hands, the fashioning and building of temple buildings that are not only meant to endure, but also to glorify God, indeed, were to be the very place on earth where God manifests Himself gloriously in the presence of men. Not just a holy God, but a Holy Holy Holy God Whom no eye has seen or can see directly without the consequence of sudden and eternal death.

 

As for fashioning things with the hands in general, you do that a lot, don’t you? You might not be building the Empire State Building or the St. Louis Arch, but your hands have been busy, haven’t they? So has your mind and body in general. What kind of edifice have you been building?

Take all of your cooking, all of your cleaning, your planting, harvesting, drilling, lifting, exercising, hunting, searching, rearranging, shopping and buying more things to rearrange and lose, your digging, hammering, filing, creating and saving, your talking, planning, collaborating, and everything else you do or have done.

 

What do you come up with? What do you have? Does it even come close to those temple buildings? How about your reputation. Are you trying to build that? How about your body? Are you trying to build that? Your bank account? Your future home? Maybe you cast forth in your mind that time when you can experience what Van Halen sings about: “All the bills are paid. I’ve got it made in the shade.”

 

But you don’t experience that, do you? That garden you dream of, it’s never done. The dream home you want, it’s never complete. You might have that one bill paid, but here comes another one, and it’s bigger. The vanities written of in Ecclesiastes are yours by experience. The struggling and striving never cease.

 

There is a reason for that. You inherited it. It is an unholiness unfit even to draw near to the temple of God let alone look at it or dwell in it. It is your sin.

 

Are you a sinner? “Yes,” you say, “I am a sinner, but so is everybody else.” You take comfort in that don’t you? That, since everyone else is a sinner and we’re all in the same boat, at least you don’t have to fear anyone else condemning you since they are right there with you, right?

 

You forget, however, it is the Holy Holy Holy God Whose temple is being discussed here, and that you, AS AN INDIVIDUAL, must stand before His holy and perfect judgement. Do you think He is impressed with all your work? All your attempts to build an edifice for yourself, whether it is your home or your reputation before God and man, with man coming first?

 

The LORD of heaven and earth declares there is not one stone that will be left stacked upon another. It was true for the temple in Jerusalem the disciples laid their eyes on, and it is true for you even as the Holy Spirit speaks to you through St. Peter only one week ago: “The heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

 

Nothing will be left out of this new arrangement of matter. Nothing you built. Nothing King Solomon or King Herod supervised to be built. Nothing Joseph Son of David the carpenter who taught Jesus the Carpenter built. Nothing any man has ever built, whether it be a great building built by great men, or a Lego town built by a young child, will be left out of the remaking and completion of all things at the Last Day, because that completion will be tied into the LORD of the Heavens and the Earth, Whose intent is not to leave things as they are, but to make them new. New. New, not in a way you can imagine because you, by virtue of your inheritance from Adam, are stuck in the old, but new because the Creator will rearrange things in such a way that no man has yet directly to know.

 

Yet this He has begun and done as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. This He has begun and done in and through His Only Begotten from eternity, and He has done it for you. You need not marvel in any other edifice or have any other edifice. You need not build your own, or struggle on your own, even as before you call, He will answer; and while you are still speaking, He will hear, because from the foundation of the world He ordained to plunge Himself out of pure love into the very heart of the fallen creation you now experience, using His own blood sacrifice to draw you from this  wobbly world of crumbling chaos and into His very presence.

 

That is what He is doing here. That is what He has done by baptizing you into His name. Baptizing you with water. Again as the Holy Spirit says through St. Peter: “By the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.” That same water comprehended in the Word of God has been applied to you in such a way that everything Christ Jesus has accomplished in His flesh as a perfect sacrifice of love before the Father has now been delivered to you, concretely and bodily.

 

The demands of the Holy Holy Holy LORD God of Sabaoth have been met in this Christ Jesus, and now they are delivered to you, completely and fully, so that your works need not be considered or worried about, because His works have become yours.

 

No, it does not look like it or feel like it. Why should it? All things are not yet complete. The Gospel has not been preached in all the world. The end has not yet come.

 

And yet the end and the beginning are all comprehended in Christ Jesus, and it is He who has delivered Himself up for your sin and has joined Himself to you, so that your hope, your building, your works, are His, given to you. The tree of the cross is that building most precious. Sweet, and pure. The snake eats dust and his head is crushed. Your food of heaven is brought to you here in the very body and blood of Christ given up for you. Death and the shedding of blood are attached to His name, a death and shedding of blood that completes and satisfies the wrath of God against all sin. This is precisely what you proclaim when you kneel and partake of Him at this altar.

 

You know that no creature could make satisfaction for your sin; your propensity to build your own edifice in honor of yourself. Only Christ Jesus, Whose works are complete, and Whose works are bundled up and delivered here, can do that.

 

As the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed you by His holy and precious blood, purchased and won you by His innocent suffering and death, and as you are justified and righteous by His grace, through faith in His Resurrection, so then, live an orderly and disciplined life in faith and love. Not to justify yourself or build for yourself, but in the sure and certain hope of His perfect righteousness given to you and for you. For even now you live under Him in His Kingdom, in His righteousness, innocence, blessedness and purity.

 

Sure, there seems to be no end to the apparent worries of this life on earth, no lack of things that are incomplete even as lawlessness is aiming to make your heart turn cold — you name it — but none of these worries undo the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus; nor can any or all of them separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Do not give yourself over to pride or despair, but be on your guard and keep on the alert by listening to the Word of Christ and by availing yourself of His Gospel. Hear and heed His Word, receive and trust His good gifts, no matter how you feel.

 

Yes. Enjoy the many good gifts of His Creation, for they are His, and it is good. Receive His benefits in faith and with thanksgiving, sanctified by His Word and prayer. It does no good to “get drunk” on any of His good gifts, to worship or abuse what you receive  daily and richly from His hand, but let your grip on this world be light and easy. Don’t throw it all away, but hold on loosely, and be ready at any time to let go of anything and everything that is not Christ Jesus.

 

After all, look around you, and notice that everything in this world is passing away. This is not your future. This is not your true and permanent home. This is a pilgrimage in a foreign territory.

 

But your dear Father in heaven has opened His heart to you in Christ Jesus, and He has His eye on you in love. His Kingdom is your fatherland. His holy city is your hometown. His house and castle is your real home, and this sanctuary is a simple start, where you are welcome, where you belong. He is with you, here and now, in the Word of the Cross, and in the fruits of that Tree.

 

Thus, dear ones in Christ Jesus, He grants you the strength to escape all perils, to stand before the Son of Man in His glory, justified by His blood and redeemed by His victory, to live by His grace, mercy and peace, both now and forever, even as He has spoken from the Cross for you: “It is finished.”

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The Feast of the Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity 2024
St. John 3:1-15

It comes around every year. That one day of the year that you, together with those in the midst of this congregation who have been catechized and sing the praises of God together week in and week out, that you confess the Athanasian Creed. Obviously it is the longest one of the three ecumenical creeds, the others being the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed.

These creeds are God’s gift to you. They place upon your lips the very same things Adam and Eve knew and believed and were taught, and taught their children, though some did not believe as it is to this day. In fact they embody in the most succinct form what this day in the Church Year is all about: The Holy Trinity. This is the feast of the Holy Trinity.

It would be very tempting to take this occasion and use it to explain The Holy Trinity. To expound upon the doctrine. To show all the things the world inserts that corrupt the proper confession of The Holy Trinity into Whom you were baptized.

But this is not a school class. This is not an education to be received. This is the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life obtained for you by the flesh and blood, the innocent sufferings and death of the Holy Son of God for you. What The Holy Trinity has spoken into your ears this day is hardly a school lesson. It is life itself.

But what has the Holy Trinity spoken into your ears this day?

Based on the first two spoken sentences – the first by Nicodemus, the second by Jesus - it sounds like a non-sequitur. A series of statements that do not follow one another. It just doesn’t make sense.

Listen to these two statements side by side. The first is from Nicodemus, an individual whose office among the seed of Abraham is very high. He is a “ruler of the Jews.”

He comes to Jesus at night. He does not want to been seen. He has a fear of men, not unlike the fear of men you have right now. He comes to Jesus and says: “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

So Nicodemus recognizes that Jesus has authority that is in accord with Jewish teaching, which teaching acknowledges that the seed promised to Abraham would bring the ONE, the Christ, the Messiah, to save the world from sin and death. If Nicodemus did not consider this fact he would not have bothered to give Jesus a single word.

But what does Jesus say in response? This is where the non-sequitur comes in. The thing that does not follow.

Think about it. If Jesus had responded in accord with what Nicodemus was expecting to hear, he would have said something along these lines: “Yeah. I know. I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I am the son of God. I am God in human flesh. I will prove it to you some day and you will be sorry if you do not believe in me.”

No. He says something so radical, so contrary, so “not following,” as to boggle the mind. You have to wonder how Nicodemus received what Jesus said in response, and this is what He says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

As said in the past, Jesus does not say born “again.” He clearly says born “from above.”

That is what you are. It is His baptism of you through His holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It came from Above to you. It used the one substance of all creation that is most ubiquitous, most present in all of creation, the thing you drink. The thing you swim in. The things you are mostly made of besides the dust of the earth. You know what it is: water. Not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word.

God’s Word is Jesus, Who suffered for you upon the Cross while bearing your sinful flesh and blood yet without sin in Himself.

So just put the two together again. Nicodemus says he knows Jesus is divinely sent on the basis of the signs. The Wedding at Cana. The healings. The following.

Of what Nicodemus’s eyes can see and the wonder of the crowds, Jesus says, in so many words “No. It is not my signs. It is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Who actively is working to save all human flesh from the sin of Adam, and that requires a covering. A payment. A ransom. An atonement. A sacrifice, not of bulls and of goats and of all the law of Moses prescribed for the people of Israel until this time, but of one Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, Who suffered – He truly did suffer -under Pontius Pilate, a governor who could not govern. You know the rest.

He says this by saying, “Unless one is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.” It is not something you do any more than you could have caused yourself to be born in the first place.

Christ Jesus was born from above in order that you might be born from above and born up in His life, His body, His righteousness obtained for you by the shedding of His innocent blood for you. And now born from Above are you, you who sit in this house of God to receive His Word and spirit.

But do you see the kingdom of heaven now? You do, but darkly. Mostly you hear it and sing it. As for appearances what do you have? Not much, really. The daily routines. The worries about how the world is going. The sicknesses, sometimes so distressing and worrisome that they change your whole outlook on life. The bills. The career ahead. The little ones on the way that will soon be born and sing the praises of God in the midst of this congregation while being catechized in word and song. These are all heavy weights, but they are weights the LORD God knows and has born up in Himself as your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.

Again, all of this is comprehended in what Jesus says to Nicodemus in so many words: It is not in the wonders and signs, but in the Cross whereupon the precious blood of the Holy Son of God was spilt for your sake that you must see God. That is where His mercy is. That is where His love is. That is where HE is.

So how do you get there, O you who are born from Above?

You are already there. You are already there. You sit right now in the midst of the apostolic ministry Christ Jesus established from eternity for your benefit. The Holy of Holies, the thrice holy that Isaiah was so concerned about because of his unclean lips, it is delivered into your lips right here at this altar. The tongs are your pastors. The delivery is by their preaching. The substance is the body and blood of Christ Jesus in the Holy Communion He established on the might in which He was betrayed. It is all of the blessed Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity that would have you saved from your own sin and death, and deliver you from your

Listen to this passage in the Athanasian Creed: “Perfect God and perfect man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh.” This perfect God and perfect man says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen . . . .” It is abundantly clear from this, that Christ Jesus does not just speak for Himself. He is inextricably bound to and through the Father and the Holy Spirit, who as One God speak and do what must be done to save you.

This is God reaching down from heaven to make you born from above! He has done this for His whole creation. He has done this both for those who are good and for those who are evil. This is Who He is. A God of mercy. A God of comfort. A God Who begs you to call upon His Name because His name counts.

It counts because He is the Creator of all things and sustains them for your blessing. It counts because all of creation is comprehended in Himself as the One Who was put to death in the same flesh and blood you have to satisfy the demands of His law.

So when St. Paul, who once persecuted the Church writes, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

When he writes that, how can you not agree and say “Amen” together with him.?

The depth. The riches. The depth extends to Christ Jesus paying for your sin while occupying your flesh. The riches are what the world with all its wealth cannot give you, no matter how hard you work to win it, namely the forgiveness of all your sin and everlasting life. The wisdom as begotten from eternity and from the foundations of the world; the foundations that trembled as Isaiah bore witness in His day, that Wisdom is nothing more and nothing less than the Holy, Holy, Holy Triune God Who loves you and greets you, baptizes and feeds you in His holy sanctuary here this day.

Holy because God the Father Almighty preceded you in His creation of You.
Holy because Christ Jesus, begotten of the Father from eternity is without sin yet bears your own flesh and blood.
Holy because the Spirit testifies through the apostolic ministry which Christ established for you, having ascended to the Father, so that you may be joined to Him by hearing, by water, by body, by blood, and by Spirit.

It's really something, isn’t it? Actually, it’s everything. You have your smart phone. You have your entertainment. Your job. Your worries. All that stuff that fails and is failing, and it all will at some point, namely when all things are complete, because it is all subject to the Crucified and Risen One, who right here and right now will deliver what He has accomplished upon the Cross of His holy, bitter, innocent, sufferings and death into your weak, frail, mortal, sinful, dying body, so that you shall live and abode with Him forever and ever.

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. +

Cantate 2024, St. John 16:5-15

Now this is something to sing about: Your Father in heaven has won the battle. He has won the battle against sin, death, and the devil for you. Those are enemies so enormous that all your might and all your life together with the lives of all other people who ever lived could not fight or win.

He has laid down the life of His only Begotten from eternity and taken it up again to live and to rule before His face as your advocate and your friend.

The chasm was too great for you to jump across. No effort on your part would ever make things right. Just as God created you out of love to be here and now, He also redeemed you then and there in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Jesus, Who is here and now, preaching to you

His anger is turned away,
And He comforts you.
Behold, God is your salvation,
You will trust and not be afraid;
For the LORD GOD is your strength and song,
And He has become your salvation.

Your song. Your song indeed. A song He has given you to sing even if you cannot sing in tune. It’s okay. His flesh and blood paid the price. You need not sulk. You need not worry. You need not be afraid. The forgiveness of sins and everlasting life shall be lavishly bestowed upon you, and already has been by the washing of regeneration, which is His baptism of you, as God your Father in heaven reached down with water and Word to encompass you into Christ Jesus, His life, his body, His love, His work for you, all of which He gladly imparts to you not just on this day, but forever and ever.

That’s something to sing about.

When your LORD Jesus Christ, Who laid down His life freely and took it up for you says, “He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you,” He is doing that very thing here and now. He is presenting first into your ears that His life is your victory. His death is your victory. His resurrection is your victory. He is your victory. He is all things. He came from the Father out of His everlasting love. He laid down His life out of that same everlasting love. And by His Holy Spirit He takes of what belongs to the Father and imparts it to you.

That has always been His aim. He did not , and does not, do this under duress. He does not whine, complain, balk, hesitate, or wish, but does what must be done to cleanse you from your filth.

There is no possible way you could wash yourself from sin. You might give it a try. You might try to cover it up so no one notices. But, as you know, in this day, God knows your heart. He made you. He brought you into this world. You’ve heard it. Every hair on your head is numbered.

So do not go about thinking He does not know. The rest of us may not. But we are not your judge when it comes to eternity. No man is. The One Who took upon Himself your flesh and blood and Who was crucified and is now risen from the dead for you is your judge, and He says this: The price has been paid in full. You are free. You need not fear.

That’s something to sing about.

When someone you love says they are going away, and you do not know if you will ever see them again, it fills your heart with sorrow. Their presence brings you friendship and joy. They speak your language. They know what you know. They share in your life in some way, even though, because of sin, there is a kind of distance. There’s always that distance, isn’t there? Even if it is between you and your spouse or your own children.

In this day, Christ Jesus tells you that it is to your advantage that He depart from the world in bodily form.

Let’s just ponder this from the most basic perspective: Just imagine that Christ Jesus, after laying down His life for you and taking it up again were still hanging around in His risen body for TV cameras and social media to make a spectacle of Him? You know that is exactly what would happen. He would be a star greater than Ringo Starr.

But no. He ascends to the Father, and embeds all that He is and says by His Holy Spirit into the Word that is preached to you this day, so that you, to your advantage, may partake of His glory in the midst of the communion of saints. There is no distance now between you and the Maker of the heavens and the earth.

He takes what is the Father’s and imparts it to you. This He can do, because as the Maker of all things visible and invisible, He has taken upon Himself your flesh and blood without sin, and made payment for your sin. He is risen from the dead.

That’s something to sing about.

It is difficult to believe. It is impossible to believe apart from the Holy Spirit. But it remains as a fact, that the benefits, the substance, the very being of God the Father are delivered to you in this place, and also daily and richly through the apostolic ministry He has set forth right here and right now.

That’s something to sing about.

And you do. How can you not? You say you cannot carry a tune in a bucket? I say you carry the most beautiful tune in your body and life as one who has been joined to Christ Jesus and his benefits, even if all you do is cry and scream like an infant.

This love. This love of God. This love which is from everlasting, and endures throughout time and eternity, is a love that will never die, will never grow tired. Will never grow old.

So sing some more, sing loud. Sing in tune our out of tune. Sing while putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness. Sing while in humility you receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. Sing as you, together with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven, come to this altar and receive into your mouth and body His body, and His blood, for indeed He is risen in His body, ascended to that Father, and on this day delivers you from all evil forever and ever.

+ In the Name of the Father, And of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. +

Seeing Blind

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. -John 9:1

The LORD your God has undertaken this day to sound into your ears that which concerns your eyes, both your physical eyes with the iris, cornea, rods, optic nerve and all that is needed to capture through vision all that is brought to light outside of your being, for without light you might as well be blind . . .

. . . And then your spiritual eyes, the eyes of faith, which look not to what is seen, but what is unseen and preached into your ears, namely the Gospel of your LORD Jesus Christ through Whom you are saved from sin and death, to be preserved together with your eyes and ears, reason and senses – your whole being - both now and at the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day.

What the LORD God has sounded into your ears this day is a cast of characters and a set of themes that is, to say the least, wide in compass. As far as characters go, there are the disciples, the blind man, the blind man’s parents, the crowds, the parents, the pharisees, and Christ Jesus, all of whom have a say.

As far as themes go there are blindness, poverty, misplaced judgments, ridicule, fear, joy, and most peculiar of all, a procedure no ophthalmologist today would dare to undertake: making a paste out of his own spit and rubbing it onto the eyes of a patient who is blind from birth.

This whole episode in John Chapter Nine is written so that your eyes would ever be looking to the LORD, who plucks your feet out of the net; so that you may seek one thing, that you may dwell in the House of the LORD all the days of your life. And here you are.

What do your eyes see? They see a baptismal font. They see an altar. They see preachers – vested preachers - so that you do not consider their person but consider Christ Jesus Who has called and ordained them to act in His stead and by His Command.

Your eyes see the bread of the Holy Communion, as small as it is. They see the wine of the Holy Communion, as simple and dark as it is. In seeing these things your eyes see Christ Jesus, Who laid down His life for you and took it up again, and now makes a way for His risen body and life to be imparted to you in a bodily way, so that you are joined to Him and may call upon Him in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

But that is not all your eyes see. For you inherited a blindness from Adam that is worse than that of a man born blind and begging, a blindness that can only lead to an eternal death and an eternal grave where there is no hope or comfort, but only everlasting pain and a regret of indescribable magnitude.

Your eyes may be open, but they also are inclined to take what they see and turn it into an object of worship that is neither meet, right, nor salutary. I am talking about your tendency by nature to worship the creation rather than the Creator.

Think about all the things you’ve seen just in the past week. How much of it has caused you to give thanks to God for His creation? The fact is, very little, if any. How much, instead, did you want more of and worry about what you see? The fact is, very much, if not everything. Your flesh says, “I want it all, and I want it now.”

To dig a little deeper, when was the last time you gave thanks to God for the set of eyes He gave you? Are they not magnificent? Are they not a most precious instrument to take in the blessings and beauty your Father in heaven has placed before you in every way?

And yet you with your eyeballs want more stuff and worry about the stuff you have more than you give thanks for what you already have. I say again that kind of blindness is worse than that of a man born blind, and the poverty it brings is worse than a lack of earthly goods.

But here’s the thing: The LORD God, your Father in Heaven, sought you out with His eyes; the eyes of His mercy. You see it even here as He looks upon this blind beggar. If there is one thing you must see and hear; if there is one thing that sums up the whole of John Chapter Nine, it is that the LORD God has had mercy upon you and saved you apart from any merit or worthiness on your part.

There is absolutely no indication in this text that the blind man saw Jesus coming, or even heard Him coming. He does not cry out for help. “As He passed by He saw a man blind from birth.” He sees you who were blind from birth, too. Blind to His law. Blind to His presence. Blind to His mercies.

Instead gaping about and making judgments about others, like the disciples did – even His own disciples – who said, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” It had to be one or the other, right? The correlation between a major flaw in physical condition and sin must be direct, right?

And when Jesus says, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents,” your proud reason jumps up and says, how can this be, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, so both this man and his parent had to have sinned.”

But that is not the point. Your LORD Jesus Christ, Who created all things and sustains all things, created this man born blind for the precise purpose of showing you that God does not deal with you and His creation the way you think. In so doing, He has made you His child, who walks in the light and does not chase after what your eyes see.

Instead, by baptizing you into His Name and by feeding you with His body and blood He has given you eyes of faith to know and believe the mercies of God are hidden under the Cross of this one Who would use His own spit and the dust of the earth, together with His word on the Sabbath as the One Who fulfills the Sabbath, to give eyesight to a man who in no way could help Himself.

There is a lot of wrangling that goes on in this text. The disciples get it wrong. The pharisees get it wrong. The blind man’s parents who fear getting kicked out of the synagogue get it wrong. The crowds cannot figure out whether the same man who now can see is the one who used to sit by the wayside begging. But the text makes clear Who is right, namely your Christ Jesus, Who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit must work the works of Him who sent Christ Jesus as long as it is day.

This He has done and this He is doing. Working the works. By the mystery of His holy incarnation; by His holy nativity; by His baptism, fasting, and temptation; by His agony and bloody sweat; by His Cross and passion; by His precious death and burial; by His glorious resurrection and ascension; and by the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, He is saving you while it is day, giving you His life this day so that you may walk in it with the eyes of faith wide open, as with daily contrition and repentance you navigate all He has laid before you in the way of good works.

The poverty that was yours in blindness - a poverty that would run away from God or seek to please Him with your own good works – that poverty your LORD Jesus Christ has replaced with the riches of His mercies toward you while you were yet dead in sin, so that the works of God might be displayed in you, and they are; in frailty and weakness, to be sure, in the midst of death, to be sure, with fear and trembling, to be sure, but the works of God nevertheless He works for you and in you, hidden under the Cross, which is His greatest work and glory for you, His own dear Child.

I said at the beginning that there are many characters and many themes in John Chapter Nine, perhaps the longest of any Gospel readings we are given throughout the years, but there is one thing about this text that is especially peculiar, and that is how Jesus uses His own spit and the dust of the earth to make a clay which He then applies to the blind man’s eyes. Can you think of any other time in the Gospels when such a specific means is used in healing the sick or raising the dead? I cannot, but I am willing to stand corrected.

What about this spit? What about this dirt? This clay, this anointing, and this washing that opens the eyes of a man who never in his life has been able to see? It is not that Jesus has some kind of magic spit, or that the dirt was of a special composition meant to be used in an eye-opening concoction. You know, the crowds make a big deal out of how Jesus did it. The man who received his sight did not hesitate to say it clearly: “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

Beloved in the LORD, this is simply how it had to be in this case where “since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.” The ordinary means of clay and washing at the command of Christ Jesus accomplish the extraordinary purpose of bringing a blind man not just clear vision to see the creation physically, but to be joined by the eyes of faith to Christ Jesus, who is greater than the synagogue.

Likewise, the ordinary means of Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, and the preaching of the Holy Gospel under the apostolic ministry of your LORD Jesus Christ accomplish the extraordinary purpose of delivering you from all evil, and keeping you safe within the body of Christ Jesus.

And so it is: The fair beauty of the LORD you may now behold. To seek Him in His temple you may now do, for He has redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, and placed you into His own body and house, a body and house that is crucified, dead, and buried on the one hand for the forgiveness of all your sin, and a body and house that is risen and ascended on the other hand, so that you may live in His innocence, righteousness, and blessedness forever and ever.

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