Rev. Michael Holmen's Sermons

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will save it.” Back home on the farm it was not uncommon for kittens to be born around this time of year. The momma cats liked the hay mow of our barn. The old bales of hay and straw provided nooks and crannies for secluded little dens. We kids liked to find these newborn kittens and tame them. The kittens were terrified at first. Their fur would be sticking out and their claws extended, but eventually they would trust you. You could tell when your job was done when the kitten would start to purr while lying on your lap. The image I would like to bring to your mind is perhaps one you've experienced. Sometimes these kittens would be a few weeks old before we would find them. Kittens grow up quickly. These older kittens would want to run away, but if they couldn't, they would fight back. They were still quite helpless, but they wanted you to believe they were far from helpless. They would puff out their fur, arch their backs, growl, and make that weird spitting sound with their mouths as they would strike out with their paws. This was quite intimidating. The kittens were quite harmless, but they made me think twice. It was 99% bluffing. If the kitten were facing a real enemy, all this play-acting would be futile. All the enemy would need to do is snatch the kitten up in its jaws, and that would be the end of that. Human beings can be like those bluffing kittens when it comes to things that are stronger than us. Sin is much stronger than us. I wish we could always and easily tell sin to take a hike, but sin often gets the better of us. Our guilt is stronger than us. We accumulated so much guilt by our evil deeds. The devil is stronger. Death is stronger. We are quite helpless. We are like kittens. However, it is not uncommon to think we can somehow defeat these enemies. If we bristle out our fur, arch our backs, and strike out, maybe we'll be left alone. With sin and guilt, for example, the most common strategy is simply to forget about them. As time passes, the pangs of conscience lessen, but does forgetfulness really make our sin go away? Does shutting our eyes or pulling the blanket over our heads make the monster go away? Another strategy for dealing with sin and guilt is to fight back. Maybe God's commandments are old fashioned or impractical. Maybe you couldn't live the life that you want to live and still keep God's commandments. God wants us to be happy, doesn't he? “Live and let live” is great advice for a certain kind of peaceable life. However does this make sin and guilt go away? Maybe our conscience is soothed for yet another day, but the enemy remains. The strategies regarding death can be similar. Nothing is more common than ignoring death. Put it out of mind so that you can more fully embrace whatever good might be coming your way. This sounds like good advice, and maybe it has its place, but does it make death go away? Or maybe instead of taking death seriously we can celebrate life. Hopefully the person in question is good enough so that we can celebrate. Hopefully they didn't commit any gross sins—at least not publicly. Hopefully they were only guilty of the common and respectable sins that church people commit. Otherwise it might feel strange to celebrate. But, in any case, what does it matter? It is all for nothing. Even with all this bragging and story telling the person remains quite dead. A few short decades later, they will be quite forgotten. In all our dealings with these forces we are like defenseless kittens. We do what we can. We put on a show. But nothing can really be done. It's all play-acting. It's all bluffing. Our very real enemies have us in their jaws whether we make a fuss or not. I think this might help us better understand a statement of Jesus's that can be quite enigmatic otherwise. He said on one occasion: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but however loses his life on account of me will save it.” We might think that we have no other choice than to playact and to bluff. We have to cope somehow. But if we commit ourselves to these strategies for dealing with these very real enemies, then we will have a very different savior in our minds than Jesus—and what a pathetic Savior it is too. A kitten pretending to be a tiger? By trying to save our own life we will lose it. But what is the alternative? The alternative is to believe in Jesus. However, this belief will be under the cross. That means we will be in unfavorable conditions and will suffer loss. As Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but however loses his life on account of me will save it.” We must lose our life with Jesus. What does that mean? It means that we allow whatever nasty enemies who have invaded our comfy little den to bite and devour us, while believing, at the same time, that they will not be triumphant. Though they do their worst—though they have me in their jaws—I will prevail because my God is for me and not against me. God will save me when the time is right even if I should end up in their gullet, in the belly of a large fish, or in a den of lions. Let's apply this to the enemies we've already talked about. There are a lot of ways to cope with sin, but Jesus is the only one way to be victorious. Repent and believe the good news that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. But even when we have done this, sin remains a powerful enemy. I wish that we Christians could become so strong that we could always tell sin to take a hike, but we aren't. Seasoned Christians know that the devil has very good aim with his poisoned arrows. He can find the gap in our armor so that we fall into sin quite against our will. Our situation with death is very similar. Try as we might, we can't avoid it. This is true for Christians and non-Christians alike. We all die. The difference with Christians is that we believe Jesus when he says: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” The first part of that statement is clear enough. We believe that even if we should die, yet we will live because we will be resurrected. But what about the second part when he says, “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die?” The apostles died. Christians for two thousand years have died. Did none of those live and believe in him? No. They were believers. And they didn't die—not really. They died in the belief that this slight momentary affliction of death would last but a little while; salvation comes with the morning. Sometimes the New Testament calls death a sleep. When we go to sleep at night we do not fall asleep with horror. We know that the morning is coming. Not only will we wake up, but we will even feel refreshed and energized. So it is with those who die with faith in Jesus, the resurrection and the life. Unfortunately, those who really will die are like foolish kittens who think that they can save themselves by playacting. They think they can stave off death or come to terms with it. They think memories or celebrations can make the person live on in some sense. This posturing and fuss and bother are as insubstantial as smoke. They don't know how strong their enemy is. Imagine the horror the kitten feels when their show doesn't work, but they find themselves in the jaws nonetheless. That is death. I understand perfectly why people do playacting. It can seem like the only recourse we've got. It can seem defeatist to admit anything is stronger than us. We are told always to fight, and for good reason. We don't want to be in those jaws. Playacting is a way to convince ourselves that we need not be in those jaws. The kitten is desperate not to be picked up because it doesn't know what might happen. One thing is sure: it will lose control. In order to be a Christian we must lose control, so to speak. We must put ourselves and our futures into the hands of a God who has told us that he has our best interests in mind even as we are going through painful or scary circumstances. And this is not like a fairy tale where the enemy is no more and can no longer hurt us. It will be like that in heaven, but not until then. The apostles said this plainly. They said, “It is only through many hardships that we will enter the kingdom of God.” We kittens have many enemies and their teeth are sharp. However, we have hope! Even if we should die, yet shall we live, and declare the praises of the Lord. On Good Friday it is fitting to think about our enemies such as sin and death, which are more powerful than we are. Good Friday and Easter show us that Jesus is more powerful than sin and death. However, Jesus saves in a very special way. He doesn't ignore sin and death. He doesn't go around them. He doesn't go over them or under them. He goes through them. The jaws clamped on him, just as they clamp on us. However, what looked like defeat, proved to be victory. The same thing is true for us Christians. We cannot get rid of sin. We cannot avoid death. We go through these things. They bite and gnash with dreadful effects, but even while they are doing their worst, we believe that we will be victorious and they will be defeated. Jesus will see to that. Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will save it.” Amen.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:When we use the word “peace” we often think of calmness, tranquility, the lack of fighting. There are different ways to achieve such a condition. For example, a graveyard is quite peaceful in its own way. Even though there are many people in close proximity, there is little fighting. There is also little love, little joy, but there is a kind of stillness and calmness. Another way calmness can be achieved is through the establishment of such severe law and order that everyone becomes too scared to step out of line. Totalitarian governments come up with punishments and displays of power that intimidate the people they rule over. Almost all of the great empires of history have used these tactics.   The Roman government, for example, once crushed a slave revolt and sent a powerful message afterwards. They crucified 6,000 captured slaves along the Appian Way. For 120 miles one person after another hung there dead on crosses. The message was clear: Don't mess with those in power. It worked. People were frightened. There was a kind of peace. This is one way you could understand the events of Holy Week that we have entered into today with Palm Sunday. The Jewish leaders wanted a kind of peace. Jesus had been disturbing their peace. So they solved a problem. Jesus had been getting too popular. He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Upon entering Jerusalem he went to the temple and made quite a scene. He flipped over tables and let animals loose. The Jewish leaders wanted to know who had given him such authority. Jesus was obviously out of control. He needed to be dealt with. The usual measures of getting dirt on someone wouldn't work with him. Nor could they turn the people against him. The people loved him more than they loved the Jewish leaders. There was only one sensible course to take, and they took it. They arrested him in the middle of the night. They immediately convicted him in their kangaroo court. They applied pressure to Pontius Pilate. By the time the people of Jerusalem were hardly finished with their breakfast Jesus was already nailed to the cross! It was already too late. Efficiency like that would make any dictator tip his beret with respect. For some of us, though, this kind of thing really makes our blood boil. It was so unjust! The leaders were supposed to be the best of the people, but in fact they were the worst. They were vain. They were vindictive. They were cowards. They purposely engaged Jesus in an unfair fight. They didn't dispute with him in the open. It was all arranged behind closed doors. Their dirty deeds were done with the cover of darkness. Some of us might like to take our clubs and swords and give them a taste of their own medicine. This might have been how Peter felt. We've been studying Peter in our Adult Bible Study. When the Jewish leaders came to arrest Jesus in the middle of the night, Peter took out his sword and cut off the right ear of the high priest's servant. I can't help it: a part of me says, “Hurray for Peter!” At least one of those scoundrels felt a little pain! But that sets me at odds with Jesus himself. Perhaps you remember how Jesus rebuked Peter. He told him to put away his sword. He said, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me to drink?” He also said, “All who take the sword shall perish by the sword.” Indeed, that is how it goes. History tells this story over and over. The story goes like this: The oppressors oppress until those they oppresse rise up and take away their power. But without fail, those who were formerly oppressed, when it's their turn, also oppress whomever they can take advantage of. They, then, become the target until one day a knife is found sticking out of their backs. The situation is always unstable because hatred is just below the surface. Power is maintained only with the utmost vigilance. Knowing that they hate you, you must strike first, before they strike you. It's kill or be killed. “Whoever takes the sword, perishes by the sword.” The best peace to be hoped for is the peace of the graveyard. If all goes well you eliminate your opponents before they eliminate you. Then you live happily ever after. That was the Jewish leaders' theory of peace, and they dealt with Jesus accordingly. However, this theory did not originate with them. It is much older. It goes back all the way to the gray mists of the earliest recorded history. The first human being born in the natural way was named Cain. He had a brother named Abel. One day Cain became annoyed with his brother Abel. Abel was disturbing his peace. So Cain bashed his head in, and reestablished the peace. Problem solved. No more Abel; no more annoyance. He lived happily ever after… Except he didn't. Maybe you remember the story. He thought that he would live happily ever after, but in fact he was haunted for the rest of his life by the dirty deeds he did in secret. This is some kind of peace, but it leaves much to be desired. Is there another kind of peace? Most do not believe so. Jesus says, “Broad is the gate and easy is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter thereby. Narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to eternal life, and few there are who find it.” Most people believe what simply comes naturally to all of us: We will be better off if we are in control. We will be richer if we take what someone else has. We will be happier if we eliminate those who annoy us. Kill or be killed. This world is made up of winners and losers. See to it that you are like the Jewish leaders, who obviously won, instead of like Jesus, who obviously lost. But did he? That is the question! This is why the resurrection is so important. If Jesus rose from the dead, then he was right and his ways are best. If he did not rise from the dead, then the Jewish leaders were right. The message would be: Let no scruples get in the way of your ambitions. If Abel didn't want to get killed, he should have killed Cain before Cain killed him. If Jesus didn't want to get arrested and killed, he should have dismissed Judas long ago, armed his supporters, and stormed the chief priest's palace. The strategy is not hard to understand. Do whatever is beneficial to you, and don't do whatever might be beneficial to others. What is hard to understand and to learn is Jesus's peace. To learn Jesus's peace you have to change your mind, which is what the word “repent” means. You have to think so differently that the Bible speaks of this change as being born again, or that we must be crucified with Christ and raised with him. So much must change that it is beyond our powers. Faith is a miracle worked by the Holy Spirit. But what comes at the end is worth it. What comes at the end is peace. Jesus spoke about this peace in those chapters in John that we talked about during our midweek series. Jesus said, “In me you have peace. In the world you will have trouble, but take heart: I have overcome the world.” Again, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Those are words of quiet confidence. Although he knows that is death is but hours away, he is not like a drowning rat, desperate to survive. Jesus said, “You trust in God. Trust also in me.” Trust in Jesus because his resurrection happened. The resurrection and judgment that is coming at the end of this world is real too. This is what all those who live only for their own ambitions deliberately ignore. The resurrection is coming! When that happens, those who appeared to have won will lose. Those who appeared to have lost will win. “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. There is nothing that is secret that won't be revealed, and there is nothing that is hidden that won't be exposed.” These are clear teachings of Jesus. Now if you are like me, then you probably have your own dirty deeds done in darkness, the exposure of which would bring about intense embarrassment or perhaps even fear. To you I say, “Do not be afraid so long as your peace is in Jesus.” Your peace in Jesus will be stronger than your sins. Jesus's righteousness speaks louder than our failings. But don't go on thinking that your dirty deeds of darkness will get you ahead in life. They won't. They harm you; they don't bless you. Even if you managed to gain the whole world by unrighteousness, the time would come when you would regret it—even if you somehow managed to make it into heaven. Change your mind; change your ways. Light, truth, life, and all other good things come from Jesus. Repent and believe the good news that Jesus has overcome the world, and his peace will reign forever and ever!

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Our church is known for holding to certain standards that other churches may not emphasize as strongly. We take seriously the sixth commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” This commandment has many applications. We believe that marriage, as the one-flesh union instituted by God, is a lifelong covenant between husband and wife. To go against this is sin. Adultery is sinful. Divorce, when contrary to God's design, is sinful. Fornication is sinful. Living together is sinful. We call for repentance in these areas because unrepentant sin separates us from God, and we cannot, in good conscience, allow members to continue in sin without addressing it. We also teach that same-sex sexual relationships are contrary to God's order. Those who experience same-sex attraction are called to deny themselves, repent, and follow Jesus, just as all of us are called to deny our sinful desires and follow him. This is not easy, but it is the path of discipleship. Additionally, we care deeply about the third commandment: “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” This is why, in April, our congregational assembly will vote on a policy requiring members to partake in communion at least four times a year. If members are absent without explanation or communication, they will eventually be removed. These standards may seem strict, but they exist for a good reason: to help one another get to heaven. If a congregation isn't focused on this, it has lost its way. Repentance is essential for true faith. Without it, we remain alienated from God's commands and promises. However, holding firm to these standards can create a dangerous mentality. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “As long as I follow these rules, I'm good.” Or what's worse: “I easily follow these rules, what's wrong with them?” I'm good; they're bad. This is self-righteousness—a deadly spiritual condition. This was the Pharisees' problem in Jesus's day. They meticulously followed certain rules—washing their hands a certain way, observing the Sabbath with extreme care—but they ignored weightier matters like justice, mercy, and faith. Jesus accused them of “straining out gnats while swallowing camels.” They were so focused on the things that they wanted to emphasize—things, by the way, that they were already doing—that they were unaware of how recklessly they were breaking God's commandments in other ways. Throughout the Gospels it is clear that the Pharisees were annoyed with Jesus. In the end, they hated him so much that they got him killed. Why did they hate him so much? It was because he pointed out those things they didn't want to have pointed out. He showed them their hypocrisy. They saw themselves as the “good people,” unlike the “sinners” they looked down upon. They didn't fornicate, commit adultery, or skip church. Jesus shattered their self-image. He showed them that they were just as sinful as those people they loved to despise, if not more so, because they ignored the deeper commands of God while pridefully clinging to their own self-righteousness. We're no different. None of us like to be told we're wrong. If someone criticizes me, my first reaction is defensiveness. I might think, “Well, you're not perfect either!” or “I'm not wrong—you are!” It's rare, to say the least, to immediately respond with, “You're right. I was wrong.” Yet, if or when we should come to that point, it's exceedingly good for the soul. It's the beginning of trying to live in the truth—however painful that might be—instead of covering our tracks with lies. This brings us to Jesus's commands in Gospel reading today. His words are challenging, even offensive to our natural instincts. I suspect that there were all kinds of reactions among you. Maybe some of you didn't hear his words at all because you were zoned out. Maybe you heard them and thought, “That sounds weird. I'm not smart enough to understand that.” Maybe you heard them, and then purposely put them out of mind. Let me remind you of what Jesus said: “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you.” When have you had affection for the one who was trying to make your life miserable? When did you do something nice to the person who gives you dirty looks? But we're not done yet. Unfortunately, it gets much worse—practically ridiculous: “To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your outer garment, do not withhold your inner garment either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.” This is where a person could get upset. How could Jesus make such awful commands? “Give to everyone who begs?” Most of those people are crooks and drug addicts! And we are to sit idly by or even forfeit our goods to scoundrels? Once they've taken our stuff, we shouldn't demand it back? Let us shunt aside these ridiculous things, lest they should see the light of day! And yet, of course, even while I react this way, I'm still one of the good ones. I go to church, don't I? The failure to do—the failure to even try!—Jesus's commands doesn't make me a bad person. If he wanted me to follow them, he should have made better commands! I don't think there is any other way to handle these commands—at least not at first—if we are to really wrestle with them. The easy way to deal with them is simply to ignore them or somehow explain them away as not being applicable. But if we are to take Jesus's commands seriously, I think they have to make us upset. We really, really don't want to follow these commands. Notice how this puts us in the same position as those people with whom I started—the people who might be looked down upon. Those who struggle with God's commands regarding marriage, divorce, or relationships have their reasons, just as we have our reasons for resisting Jesus's call to love our enemies or give generously. We all pick and choose which commands we follow based on what feels reasonable or convenient to us. The ray of hope comes, when, God willing, we start to come to our senses and think: “God's commands are not bad, like I originally thought, but rather good.” Instead of mocking Jesus's commands, what if we were to realize that being merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful is a good thing? To be faithful to one's spouse unto death—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health—is honorable and sacred. God's Law is not bad or foolish. It is holy, righteous, and good. For that very reason it exposes us as sinners. It exposes our pride, self-centeredness, and unwillingness to suffer. But this exposure is not meant only to shame us—it's meant to heal us. To be exposed as inadequate is painful and embarrassing, but it's part of the cure. John the Baptist and Jesus had a very simple message that is just as applicable today: “Repent, and believe the Gospel.” First of all, with “repent,” if you find yourself resisting God's commands—whether about marriage, generosity, or loving your enemies—I encourage you to pause and ask yourself why. What if our resistance is not because of some defectiveness of the commands, but because of the hardness of our hearts? What if God is calling us to something deeper, something more beautiful than we can imagine? That, indeed, is just what he is doing. He is calling us out of our hypocrisy, fakery, being judgmental, covering our tracks with lies, so that we may come into his grace and his truth. When we come to Jesus we don't need to pretend to be good people anymore. We can confess our sins, and God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Already in the midst of being exposed as evil, we can and should fully embrace God's acceptance of us in Jesus, knowing that his grace extends on an on. The difficulty—the seeming impossibility—of keeping God's commands reveal our need for God's grace. We cannot do these things by our own strength or willpower. But we surely will not do these things if we've made up our mind beforehand that we don't need to do them or won't do them. Believe—have faith—in God's promise to transform us, not because of anything we have done, but because of what Christ has done for us. As we repent and believe the Gospel, do not be afraid. Be very courageous! God, who has begun a good work in you, will bring it to completion on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus chose twelve men to be his apostles. With about half of those we hardly know anything more than their names. With the rest, we know a bit more, but not too much. The Gospels tell us primarily about Jesus, not his disciples. The disciple we know the most about is Peter, who is also called Simon. Our Gospel reading tells us more about him. Our reading begins by telling us about a crowd who was pressing in on Jesus, eager to hear him. They were so packed together, it was as if they were laying on him—their interest was that intense! But where was Peter? Not in the crowd. He was down the shore, cleaning his nets. Why? It wasn't because he hated Jesus. The reason might be hinted at later in the reading: he had worked all night and caught nothing. Fishing was his livelihood—no fish meant no food, no income, no way to pay the bills. He had to get ready to try again. Maybe you've been there—stuck in a job you don't like, grinding through mundane tasks. It's exhausting. It's depressing. A person might wonder how to escape. One of the most plausible solutions for no longer needing to work is money. If you get enough money you could retire early. Move to a beach somewhere. But maybe that goal is out of reach for you. Instead you might just dream about having a nice little nest egg. If only I had a little more, I would have to live hand to mouth. These thoughts make sense. Money can do a lot! Maybe Peter had thoughts like that while he was bending over his nets, cleaning them out for the millionth time. If only he wouldn't have to work so hard. If only he could get ahead. What is interesting about Peter is that if those were his goals, then Jesus made them come true, but then Peter left all of that behind. When Jesus drove the fish into the nets, Peter had never had a bigger catch. The boats were so full they began to sink. So many fish! So much money! But instead of celebrating, and instead of investing, he left it all behind. It says, “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Jesus.” I would like to consider what happened to Peter. Why did he leave that bonanza behind to follow Jesus? But before we begin to answer that, I think it is helpful to point out how difficult the answer will be for us to take seriously. We have been trained since infancy that money and power are the most important and useful things in life. Therefore we have some commands that we live by, according to that principle: Do what is best for you. Seek your own advantage. The more you can get for yourself, the better. These are taken to be the basic facts of life, and only a fool or a fanatic would live otherwise. That is probably how most of us took Peter's actions today when we heard them. We thought, perhaps unconsciously: “That has nothing to do with me. I am not an apostle. Peter is some strange sort of person that I am under no obligation to imitate.” That is not true, if you want to be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus says in another place, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will keep it for eternal life.” This verse is a good way to understand what took place with Peter. Maybe he had been dreaming about boat-fulls of fish that make him rich. If he made enough money, maybe he could start a franchise. Then other people could do all the work, and he could cash all the checks. That's not what happened. If Peter had dreams like that, he left them behind for something better. But was it better? That is the question. Should you or should you not be a follower of Jesus? Is it better to deny yourself, to take up your cross, and follow Jesus, or is it better to indulge yourself, avoid all trouble and suffering, and chase your own dreams? When Peter left behind the many thousands of dollars worth of fish to follow Jesus he was rejecting a way of life that many assume to be the best life possible. Many assume that there is nothing higher or better than chasing after your own success. Peter, in contrast, put himself completely in the hands of Jesus with his kingdom. He became a disciple, which means, “student” or “follower.” The life that ensued for Peter wasn't filled with wealth or prestige, but God did give him each day his daily bread. God gave him a good conscience through the forgiveness of sins. He was given the hope of seeing the glory of God in heaven. On the other hand, Peter faced suffering, embarrassment, and failure. He wept bitterly, was criticized, imprisoned, and, according to tradition, crucified upside down. Was this life better than the self-seeking life he left behind at the beach? Absolutely! Already it was far more honorable, plus there is the resurrection from the dead. Let us not discount the importance of the resurrection. Paul says that were there is no resurrection from the dead, then we Christians are to be pitied above all people. If there were no resurrection, then perhaps it would make sense to live in the way that is so common among us, where the highest goals in life are merely to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. On the other hand, however, if there is a resurrection from the dead, then it is foolish not to live under Christ in his kingdom. Otherwise we will find ourselves to have been on the wrong side. It is safe to say that we live in a time and among a people who do not take the resurrection seriously. We are thoroughly earthly minded. Our culture values profit, growth, and success above everything else. We are taught to be completely self-obsessed. The mantra most of us live by is: “If it isn't good for me, then I'm not doing it.” That is a pathetic and ultimately unsatisfying way to live. Jesus's ways are better. Jesus teaches us to live outside of ourselves in God. God is righteous and just. He loves life. He cares for the poor and hurting. He reaches out to people who are regarded as untouchable and unclean. He is not threatened by bluster and intimidation. He loves what is right. To be is to enter into this realm of God. What he likes we are to like. What he hates we are to hate. What he speaks we are to speak. And this is where disciples get into trouble. There has never been a shortage of people who think that they can dictate whatever they want to have happen, and they will punish whoever gets in their way. The disciples of Jesus get in their way, and this causes trouble. Peter along with almost all of the other apostles would be put to death for continuing to testify to Jesus and Jesus's ways when powerful people told them to stop. Christians' willingness to die for the sake of Christ can be puzzling because people's default understanding is that this life is everything. Why needlessly suffer? But Christians believe in Christ's kingdom that will result in the resurrection. That is the glory we must strive after, otherwise it won't seem as though the sacrifices are worth it. It is always easier to leave the devil be, to leave evil alone, to allow this world to rot with all of its corruption instead of fighting, but that is what you have been called to do. You have been called to follow Jesus. Where should you go? You need not go anywhere necessarily. There is no shortage of evil or corruption all around us. There is a great deal of evil within us, with our sinful flesh, that we can fight against. Peter could have been a disciple of Jesus within his livelihood of being a fisherman if Jesus hadn't specifically called him to be an apostle. There are temptations and evil particular to being a fisherman and businessman that Christians are called to fight against and correct. All of us, no matter what our callings in life are, have temptations and sins and corruption that are particular to our situation. It is easy, of course, not to care. You will have fewer troubles if you only care about yourself. But that is not the point of life. God revealed the point of life to Peter. It is to follow Jesus the Christ. He is at work in his kingdom fighting against the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature. The Holy Spirit is writing God's Law on the hearts of Christians. The world is getting ready for the resurrection from the dead, and we all, as Christians, have our part. We are all members of the body of Christ. Therefore, this life that we have been called into as followers of Jesus is not a hobby, or a way to pass the time. Nor is it senseless or foolish. Nothing is more serious and practical. Let God's kingdom come. Let his will be done. Amen.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript;I'd like to begin today by setting the scene for our Gospel reading. It is from Luke chapter 4, so this is towards the beginning of the story of Jesus. Not long before our reading Jesus was anointed with water and the Holy Spirit when he was baptized. Then he went out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. With our reading today he has come back to Galilee and Nazareth, which is his hometown. Thus our reading today is a report of what was happening early on. People were just beginning to hear and know about Jesus. This was because of what Jesus himself was saying and doing. However, Jesus is not always believed in and accepted. At the end of our reading, the people of Nazareth wanted to throw him off a cliff. In the sermon today I'd like to look more closely at Jesus's sermon, which was based on a section of Isaiah. We will see how Jesus's sermon was applicable to the people at Jesus's time as well as being applicable to ourselves. Then I'd like to consider how and why Jesus was rejected. This, also, I think you will see, is applicable to us. So, let's take up the main point of Jesus's sermon. Here is a portion of what he read from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” When Jesus was finished reading he said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus was saying that this prophecy was about him. Let's look more closely at this prophecy. It says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” We know that the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism. It says, “Because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” This is a good, general statement about what Jesus does. The word “anointed” is the meaning of the word “Christ.” Jesus is the anointed one. The reason why he has been anointed is “to proclaim good news to the poor.” “Good news” is the meaning of the word “Gospel.” Thus we have a couple short statements that well describe Jesus: He is the anointed one, the Christ. He proclaims the Gospel, good news, to the poor. Good news is always welcome to the poor. Poverty is a major hindrance to the enjoyment of life. It prevents people from doing what they would otherwise like to do. People might not be able to buy what they want because they are poor. People might be able to go to the doctor because they are poor. If it gets really bad, people might not be able to buy food. Poverty is the lack of power to do what you want. Throughout the Gospels you can read about how Jesus helped people who didn't have the resources to help themselves. People came to him who were in the grips of evil spirits. The evil spirits made them miserable, but they lacked the power to get them out. People came to Jesus who were sick with various diseases. If any of you have had diseases that don't go away, you know how tiring and frustrating that can be. Helplessness in the face of a disease that is stronger than you can be very frightening. It might mean the death of you. Jesus helped people like that. Let me pause for a moment to point out that Jesus continues to have good news for the poor. This has not stopped, nor has it been lessened from the reports of Jesus's miracles that we hear about in the Gospels. A lot of people assume that since miracles like that aren't very common, Jesus must no longer be at work, or that his work is strictly spiritual and therefore somewhat unreal. The truth is that Jesus's work after the resurrection is stronger and more profound than anything he did before. The works Jesus does and will do are greater. Let me give you a few examples. Jesus forgives sins. Maybe you have grown cold to that idea, but maybe I can refresh it for you by a simple question: What are you able to do to make up for the evil you have done? There's nothing. You are powerless. You are poor. The good news that is proclaimed to the poor is that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Or how about those diseases? How about that progressive onset of death that we call getting old? How about death itself? What can you do in the face of these things? Our options are severely limited, even with all our medical advances. The good news is that by his death Jesus defeated the power of death, and by his resurrection he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Let me give you one more healing that I am especially looking forward to. What can be done with our evil minds and souls? What can be done with our anger? What can be done with our dirty minds, our coveting, meanness, sadness, apathy, coldness towards life, and a host of other evils? We are bombarded with commercials for various drugs, some of which might help somewhat, but they can't ever get to the core. The resurrection means healing not only for our bodies, but also our minds and souls. Believing in Jesus is trusting him to do things that otherwise seem impossible. So, to get back to our text: After he finished reading from Isaiah Jesus said, “I'm the fulfillment of what you heard. I preach good news to the poor. I set people free from unbreakable chains.” And, as it turns out, the people were quite receptive. “How interesting!” they said. “He speaks so well! Maybe I'll sign up for his newsletter. It's especially surprising since one of our own. He's Joseph's son, is he not?” This is the point at which everything changed in the story. The change is so abrupt that it's easy to miss. Everything was going fine, the people were enjoying Jesus, but then Jesus said some more stuff and they were no longer pleased. They started to push and shove him towards the brow of a cliff. What happened? It's Jesus's fault really. Jesus turned on them. After they started talking about him as the mere son of Joseph, Jesus knew that they would eventually be dissatisfied with him, and he told them so. Others—foreigners—would believe in him, but they would be left out in the cold. He brought up a couple Old Testament examples with the prophets Elijah and Elisha through whom God did miracles to foreigners, but not to his own people. This was what upset his hearers in his hometown. If he would have just left them be with their lukewarm admiration, they wouldn't have had such a violent reaction—at least not at that point. Jesus got pushy, and they didn't like that. This is not uncommon. There are several examples in the Bible where people responded to the Gospel by saying, “How interesting. I would not be opposed to hearing more about that in the future.” However, the message that Jesus preaches is not just a pleasant way to pass the time or to be part of a community. Jesus's message is “Repent, and believe the Gospel.” Another way of saying the same thing is: “Change your ways, change your mind, believe the good news that Jesus preaches to the powerless poor.” That is an all or nothing proposition. Either you will change your mind or you won't. Either Jesus will have all of you, or you will reject him. Jesus speaks this way in other places as well. It always make us nervous, because we are afraid to commit completely and totally. So, for example, Jesus says: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” That is being “all in” on Jesus. It is difficult and scary, but it makes sense if you think about it. Jesus is the difference between total bliss and freedom on the one hand or total sadness and imprisonment on the other. Either Jesus sets you from all your enemies—even those that you thought were impossible to overcome. Or you are still stuck—powerless and impoverished—in the face of things much mightier than you. It makes sense that this must be an all or nothing kind of thing. Jesus is not like an insurance policy that you stick in the filing cabinet until you have to use it. Jesus is Christ the king who is at work with the Gospel and sacraments. He is converting one soul at a time by the power of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of his kingdom is to destroy all the evil works of the devil. You don't fight wars with insurance policies. Wars involve total commitment. The people at Nazareth refused to be completely serious about Jesus. They thought he was interesting. They thought he was a good speaker. They would have told you that they were on his side! But they quit being on his side when he told them that their lukewarm approval wouldn't cut it. Eventually their lukewarm approval would turn to criticism, because then it is only a matter of time before Jesus says or does something that doesn't meet their complete approval. It is easy to apply this to ourselves. We are not unlike those Nazarenes! None of us, including myself, are comfortable “losing our lives” as Jesus puts it. None of us are as eager as we should be to take up our cross and follow him. It is much easier to believe that merely being a fan of Jesus is good enough. And, if you think about it, how convenient! We can feel good about being a fan without having to live as a soldier of the cross, denying ourselves. But this fakery only makes sense if there is no real war going on. There is a war. Jesus is our king. He is fighting against the devil and all evil, including the evil that is found in us, his Christians. The nature of the situation requires us always to repent and believe the Gospel. Repent and go “all in” with Jesus. You will not be disappointed!

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Donald J. Trump will begin his term as president at noon, January 20th. Have you been planning for what will happen January 21st? Have you been making lists, getting everything ready, rehearsing what you will do for the day after the inauguration? Probably not. I haven't either. I don't think a lot will change with our new president. It isn't really about him. I'm cynical about what elected officials can do in general. The people who hold the reins of power—the people who are massively wealthy, who can write the checks—won't let too much change, unless it is to their own benefit. Things will probably keep going on like they have for a long time. I am not expecting any massive changes. What about Christ's kingdom? Is our attitude the same there as well? Our festival today is somewhat like Jesus's inauguration as the Christ. Jesus's baptism marks the beginning of his great words and deeds that are recorded in the Gospels. Immediately after his baptism Jesus was very busy. He was tempted by the devil, swamped by sick and demon possessed people, teaching in the synagogues, doing one miracle after another. Things looked like they were changing for the better, but then Jesus was arrested, crucified and died. That was when the cynicism began in earnest. Folks had wondered whether Jesus might have been the Christ, but he couldn't have been since he died. That was the end of the road for the vast number of people who had once believed in Jesus. At one point there had been many thousands who were interested in Jesus being made king by force, but any hope of that was gone when everyone could see him hanging dead on the cross. Even after Easter the picture didn't improve very much as far as the disciples were concerned. John chapter 21 seems to indicate that the disciples went back to their old livelihood of fishing. Acts chapter 1 tells us that the number of believers in Jerusalem was only about 120. That is a far cry from many thousands. Even with the great day of Pentecost, when 3,000 repented and were baptized—that was less than the feeding of the 5,000, or the feeding of the 4,000. Cynicism is a way to protect yourself from being disappointed. Cynicism is when you don't get your hopes up. Having your hopes dashed is painful. The higher the hopes, the more intense the desire, the worse the pain. To prevent getting hurt you can check yourself out. Things will stay the same. Why bother? Just go gentle into that good night. This is a way to insulate yourself from pain. Disappointments will not hit you as sharply. But there is a terrible cost. With cynicism things will, at best, stay the same, but more likely get worse. If you won't get involved, if you won't change your ways, if you won't hope for change, then nothing is going to change. It is forfeiting to the powers that be. This defeatist attitude is disastrous in all areas of life, but it is especially devastating for faith in Christ's kingdom. If we would not have hope in Christ, then we are left with how things are. Paul calls these the elementary principles of this world, to which we are enslaved. We are enslaved to the devil. We are enslaved to our desires. We are enslaved to pursuing mere self-interest. Our chains have been put on by ourselves, which are our fears and insecurities, our dread of pain and suffering. How differently the bible speaks about Christ's kingdom! Paul says: “For freedom Christ has set you free!” The Gospels speak of Christ “proclaiming liberty to the prisoners!” And indeed, Jesus set people free from all kinds of disabilities and ailments in the Gospels. The people loved that! We slaves love to get a little taste of freedom. But a lot of people thought that that kind of thing was over and done with when Jesus died, and even when he rose. The risen and ascended Christ remains at work in his kingdom, but a lot of people would like it better if he would do those old sorts of things that helped people along in their pursuit of their own self-interest. But here is what we should realize: the work of Christ in his kingdom is not less after his death and resurrection, it is more. The work of Christ with his death and his resurrection, the baptism with which he baptizes, and the body and blood that he distributes is more. It's deeper. It gets to the root. The root is evil itself, and Jesus reverses it. The seemingly invincible powers of sin, death, profit, power, and all the rest are not invincible. Jesus promises a reckoning for the powers that be who so often oppress and steal and murder and seemingly get away with it. They will be burned with an unquenchable fire. Everything will be turned upside down. The first will be last and the last will be first. John baptized with water; Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Whatever hopes we might have about Christ's kingdom, they are inevitably inadequate. You want to be healed of an ailment, a defect, old age, and son. You want to be the man that you should be. You want to be the woman that you should be. “For freedom Christ has set you free!” These things and more are yours. If they are not already fixed somewhat in this life by the healing work of the Holy Spirit, then they will be completely fixed by the resurrection. The goodness of the resurrection is more than we can imagine. Paul says, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the imagination of the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.” Even if you try to imagine what Jesus's kingdom will be like, you're going to fall short. What comes to pass will be greater. Cynicism, therefore, is incompatible with Christianity. Cynicism is managing your hopes so that you won't get hurt when they inevitably don't come to pass. If you are managing your hopes for Christ's kingdom, you are simply being an unbeliever. If you believe that Jesus can't or won't help you, then you are an unbeliever. Unbelief is by no means uncommon, even among those who would like to consider themselves to be Jesus's disciples. We see that all the time in the Bible. We see that in particular with the Gospels' accounts of the resurrection. Even the closest of Jesus's disciples lost their faith when Jesus died, and they were slow to believe after the resurrection. They were flesh and blood, just like us, with all our hiccups and insecurities. However, we cannot let our doubts and insecurities interfere with what is plainly testified. Jesus's kingdom is glorious, even if we lack the faith to believe. Jesus's kingdom is glorious among us. Let us not doubt that either. Whenever anyone comes to believe that the seemingly invincible powers are not invincible because Jesus is greater—that is a miracle worked by the Holy Spirit. Whenever anyone remains in the faith—that is an ongoing miracle of the Holy Spirit. These believers will one day be caught up together with the Lord in the clouds for an adventure that is too great for words to describe. It does not please me, therefore, when I hear something that is quite common among us. It is quite common for people to comment on how large or small a gathering is—and usually it is how much smaller the gathering is these days. This strikes me as largely missing the point. It would like the people in Jesus's day who could have scoffed at the smaller number who gathered after the resurrection. I could imagine that some of them must have said: “Do you remember how many people there were at the feeding of the five thousand or the four thousand? The attendance these days is greatly reduced.” Christ's kingdom is not about crowds or impressing those who have the ability to count. Christ's kingdom is about setting people free and changing hearts and minds. This is always an individual affair. Each individual either remains enslaved in their unbelief or they are set free through faith in Jesus. Whenever a sinner repents, the angels rejoice, and we should too. The kingdom of God remains at work. It is glorious, but the glory is only apparent to those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. So as we consider the inauguration, so to speak, of Christ's kingdom with Jesus's baptism, we should cast away cynical thoughts. Cynicism is not very attractive or useful in general, but it is particularly inappropriate when it comes to Christ's kingdom. Our problem is not that we have too low of thoughts and hopes and dreams. Our problem is that we do not think as grandly as we must if we are beginning to understand Christ's kingdom. We are too earthly minded. Therefore, I'd like to close with a passage that speaks to this. In Colossians chapter three Paul says: “If you have been raised with Christ, then seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” When Christ appears, you will appear with him in glory. That is more than enough for anyone who is hungry for that which is good.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:I have been a pastor for many years now, but this is the first New Year's Eve service I have ever preached for. In Iowa neither of my congregations had services on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. If memory serves, I attended a New Year's Eve service when I was a kid. However, my childhood congregation more often had New Year's Day services. New Year's Day is eight days after Christmas, which means that the focus is on the circumcision and naming of Jesus. So tonight is the first time I've every preached for a New Year's Eve service. As I considered the texts that you heard tonight, I was struck by how differently the Bible teaches compared to what is customary with the New Year. For example, New Year's Eve is a well-known party night. A lot of people get drunk on New Year's Eve. Jesus says in our Gospel reading: “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.” Imagine Jesus coming to find people soddenly drunk. How can they open the door when he knocks? Losing yourself in food, drink, drugs, and other pleasures is an agreeable way to pass the time. It's not nonsensical. It's a way to cope, to forget the troubles of life, and to receive some comfort. It's understandable, but how differently our Lord Jesus speaks in our reading tonight! Another thing we associate with the New Year are New Year's resolutions. It's a time to set goals, make plans, and fix what we don't like. If we believe in ourselves and don't give up, we can achieve our dreams. Compare this to our Old Testament reading. God says to his people: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” We do not naturally believe that returning and resting will do anything good for us. We do not believe that quietness and trust are our strength. We believe in ourselves. All that's needed is to be sufficiently motivated. If only we could stay sufficiently motivated, then all our New Year's dreams would come true, and we would be outstanding. All of our readings tonight would have us look to someone else besides what we customarily look to for betterment. How can 2025 be better than 2024? Our readings encourage us to believe more firmly in God. This has to do with the first table of the Law, the first three of the Ten Commandments. You should have no other gods. You should fear, love, and trust in God above all other things. You should not believe in other things, no matter how useful those other things might appear to be. The second commandment is that you should not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Instead of misusing God's name, you should use it well. God's name is used well by calling upon it in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks. But in order for anyone to use God's name rightly, that person must believe that it will work. The reason why we do not pray like we should is because we do not believe like we should. We do not worship God the way we should is because we do not believe in him the way we should. Unfortunately, we believe that we can be better blessed spending our time and energy pursuing other things. So how can we believe in God more firmly? There is only one way to do that. We must hear the Word of God that tells us about him. The Word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is living and active. It produces faith. Therefore, as the catechism teaches about the third commandment, we should not despise God's Word, or assume that we already know it sufficiently well. If that were true—if you knew it well enough already—then your prayers would be much more fervent than they are currently. We should gladly hear and learn God's Word so that we know God better, so that we believe in him more confidently, and so that we can better speak to him with our prayers and praises. The first three of the Ten Commandments have to do with our spiritual health. God spoke these commandments for our good, for our benefit. It is good for us to believe in God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, because he is the only God. The other things that we treat like gods will disappoint us in the end, even if, in the meantime, we manage to get some pleasure or comfort from them. We should be prepared, not just for 2025, not just for some small, momentary, change in our fortunes, but for meeting our Maker. We've made it to the end of 2024. What if 2025 is the last year in which we will live? What if 2025 is the year that gets chiseled onto our gravestone? What if 2025 is the year that Jesus comes back? Jesus said in our reading: “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” We must be prepared to meet to God. To meet God well there is no substitute for believing what he has said. If you managed to climb all the mountains of the world, accumulated all the wealth, all the knowledge—whatever you could possibly accomplish—none of that can ever do what taking to heart what God has said will do. And the good news is that what God has said is good. He has revealed that he is for us, and not against us. Paul says in our epistle reading, “If God is for us, then who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Paul is using sound logic. God is for you. How do you know that? Because you are so awesome, cool, healthy, and what not? No. You know that because he gave his Son, Jesus, to be your Savior. God's good will towards you doesn't depend on you. He is the one who acts. He is the one who saves. God's Word teaches that your confidence should be completely in him. Even if you should end up with troubles, poverty, shame, or danger, Jesus remains the Savior. Even if you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your Good Shepherd is with you. He will take you where you need to go. In conclusion, God's Word gives us the opportunity to reorient ourselves. Instead of looking for happiness in any number of things, look to God instead. There is nothing like God. There is no help like God's help. Listen to what his Word says. Believe in him. Call upon his name with your prayers and praises. Then you are dressed for action, ready for your master to come home from the wedding feast.

Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome. In our reading John puts it this way: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Again, Jesus is spoken of this way: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” Here comes Jesus. Here comes the light. One of the simple statements that the apostles use to describe a Christian is that a Christian has moved from darkness to the light. Peter encourages us to “proclaim the excellencies of God who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Paul says, “You formerly were of the darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.” If the fruit of light is in everything that is good and right and true, then the deeds of darkness must be bad and wrong and false. An example of that was when Jesus was betrayed and arrested. One of the 12 did it. Judas had already been operating in the dark for some time. He kept the money for their little group, and he had been helping himself. He struck a deal with the chief priests and elders. He would lead them to Jesus so that they could arrest him, nice and quiet-like, when there was no one else around. Judas used an amazing sign. He would kiss Jesus when he greeted him. Then the soldier would know who to arrest. Judas, with a band of soldiers and Jewish officials, came to Jesus either very late on Maundy Thursday, or, more likely, in the very early morning hours of Good Friday. He said, “Greetings teacher!” and he kissed Jesus, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” Then Jesus asked the officials and soldiers: “Why do you come out against me with clubs and swords? I have always been public with my teaching, and yet you didn't seize me when I was out in the open.” Then Jesus said, “But this is your hour, and the power or authority of darkness.” What happened there was bad and wrong and false. Jesus was betrayed by his friend. Jesus was rounded up in the middle of the night, when the multitudes of people who loved him were asleep. Jesus's enemies didn't care whether what they were doing was honorable or not. They just wanted to win. Darkness has its advantages. If you want to impose your will without anyone getting in the way, then operating in secrecy and darkness is the way to go. Jesus was arrested when most people were still sleeping, and already by nine o'clock in the morning he was nailed to the cross. The powers that be engineered the whole thing so that it would be over before it even began. Everyone, including the disciples, thought that it was a done deal. The authorities had used darkness, yet again, and carried the day. Paul characterizes the time that we live in as being a time of darkness. The story of history has largely been a story of darkness. One fellow gets the better of another fellow. Now he's king. But today kings don't hold the power anymore. The people who hold the power today are in business. By and large, the story of business is darkness too. Somebody figures out some clever way to get more from his employees or more from his customers or he sabotages his competitors. Then he uses his ill-gotten gains to buy off politicians who will pass laws that will further his empire. The rule he follows is always the same: He wants more for himself and less for others. We are largely powerless against these powers and authorities. Never before have human beings had such ready access to information with the Internet and all, but who can know what is true and not true? There is information, disinformation, misinformation. The darkness is bad enough already, but it is only made worse when false lights and false christs come along and say, “Trust us. We'll fix everything for you.” Jesus Christ is the light of the world; the light no darkness can overcome. Jesus has come for judgement. Jesus says, “This is the judgement: The light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, otherwise he would be convicted of his evil deeds. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been worked in God.” Here is the choice: The light or the darkness. Do you want God to prevail in Jesus Christ or do you want to do what you want to do under the cover of darkness? It seems like it should be an easy choice, but doing whatever we want is awfully enticing. It's how we first learned to lie and operate in the darkness. If you good enough at that kind of thing, nobody else needs to know the truth. When the light comes, you can't hide anymore. You'll be convicted. You'll lose the shiny, white façade and be revealed as a sinner. That's how it is, strangely enough, for those who have been converted. Those who believe in Christ, who believe in the light, are exposed by that very same light as being evil. Christians should not hide their sins. That's the old strategy of fig leaves and bushes from the Garden of Eden that won't get you very far with God. Instead we should plead guilty before God like we do when we confess our sins: I am a poor, miserable sinner. I have sinned with my mind, by the words I have spoken, and by the deeds that I have done. I deserve God's temporal and eternal punishment. That is what the light reveals about me. But the light is not merely like a searchlight or an interrogation light. It does not solely expose what is hidden or evil and to do nothing more about it. The light of Christ exposes, but it also heals and forgives. It obliterates the darkness so that it is no more. We are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Jesus says as much in the same section that I quoted from earlier. He says: “God loved the world in this way, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned.” God has sent his Son. He is the light. This light will save those who are in darkness, but we cannot remain in darkness. If we prefer the darkness to the light, then we are on the wrong side. Jesus heals. He's also coming to judge. The powers that be in this present age of darkness believe that they are on top of the world. They believe that they can do anything they want whether their actions be honorable or dishonorable. But their time is limited. They better hope that they can live long lives, because that is all the good times they will have. What is much more prudent is to embrace Jesus, the light and life of men, who has come into the world. As Paul encourages us, we should cast away the works of darkness. Whatever is bad, wrong, and false will not help us in the long run. Grace, mercy, and truth come from Christ. They radiate out from him like light from its source. You have something better with Jesus. Jesus will win. The light will scatter the darkness. 

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Our Gospel reading is appropriate as we approach the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Our Gospel reading describes something that happened not long before Jesus was born. Mary, Jesus's mother, visited her relative, Elizabeth. Both Mary and Elizabeth were pregnant with very special babies. Mary had been visited by the angel Gabriel who told her that she would conceive and bear a son. She was to name him Jesus because he would be the Savior. Elizabeth's pregnancy was also unusual. Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah were old and had not been given any children. Zechariah had also been visited by Gabriel who told him that he and his wife would conceive in their old age. The child was to be named John. Zechariah and Elizabeth did conceive about six months before Gabriel went to Mary. So in our reading today Mary was pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist. Luke says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She is filled with joy, and she speaks several blessings. She blesses Mary:  “Blessed are you among women.” She blesses Jesus: “Blessed is the fruit of Mary's womb.” She blesses herself. She rhetorically asks: “Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Her thoughts turn to her son. She comments on how her baby leaped for joy at Mary's greeting. Finally, Elizabeth blesses Mary for her faith. Perhaps Elizabeth's thoughts turned to what it might have been like when Mary heard Gabriel's message. Elizabeth said, “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” Not every woman would believe that she could conceive while remaining a virgin simply because the Lord said so. Mary did. She said to God: “Let it be done to me according to your Word.” Elizabeth moves from one blessing to the next. Everyone is blessed. All are exceedingly happy. What I'd like to consider today is why they are so happy. I'd also like to pay attention to our own happiness. Happiness is important to us. We all would like to be happy. So, in fact, before we consider what makes these women happy, I think it would be beneficial first to consider what makes us happy. We can then be on the lookout for what might be different with these women. There are a lot of things that can make us happy. Hunger being satisfied with food makes us happy; thirst, with drink. We have many desires and needs. We want and need affection, comfort, entertainment. We like to be right. We like to be the best. We like making progress. Getting richer is better than getting poorer. Getting stronger is better than getting weaker. There are so many ways to be happy, and we like them all. The more, the better; the more, the happier. Now let's consider these women's happiness. What makes them happy doesn't exactly fit the pattern we've sketched out. They aren't getting stronger, richer, better. Elizabeth's life didn't get easier with her pregnancy in old age. Mary's life was thrown into turmoil to a much greater degree. Mary became pregnant when she wasn't married. Everyone would have assumed that the pregnancy was the result of fornication. Joseph, her fiancé, had no other choice but to assume that she had been unfaithful. An angel had to intervene to tell him otherwise. Mary would have had a hard time of it because most would not believe what sounds like a far-fetched story—that Mary was pregnant with the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Consider, additionally, the several clues about Mary and Joseph's poverty and powerlessness. When they came to Bethlehem they couldn't get a room. If they had more money, they could have compelled someone to provide for them. Later, when the sacrifices were made in the Temple, the cheaper option of two pigeons was offered instead of the more expensive lamb. These clues indicate that Mary and Joseph were poor. The baby was born into poverty: “No crib for a bed” to lay down his sweet head. If we place ourselves into Mary's shoes, we can see how she lacked things that we regard as essential for happiness. So how can she be happy? How can Elizabeth be happy for her when trouble is on every side? She even makes the audacious claim that Mary is blessed over and above all others. The only explanation is that they were focused on things that aren't often looked to for happiness. We might sum up all that they were feeling by saying: They were happy because the kingdom of God was coming upon the earth. What is the kingdom of God, and why is it a good thing? We can't hardly talk about a kingdom without talking about the king. Something you might keep an ear open for the next couple days is how often Christmas carols will sing about Jesus being the king, or the Lord: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come.” Or: “Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn king.” The good news of great joy that is for all people is, as the angel declared on Christmas night, that unto us a Savior has been born who is Christ the Lord. The work of Christ the King in his kingdom is made plain in the Gospels. Jesus did several things. He taught the Word of God that has always been calling people away from evil, away from the devil, towards that which is good and true—life giving and life protecting. Jesus taught people to believe in the only true God instead of the various false gods. Jesus acted with power, performing miracles. His many cleansings, healings, and restorations to life were a foreshadowing of the greater work he will do when he resurrects the dead. Over and above all these things, but also at the very root of them, Jesus suffered and died. As our epistle reading mentions, he offered his body once for all. My favorite line of all the Christmas carols is the one where it says: “Nails, spear shall piece him through. The cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the Son of Mary.” The king sacrificed himself. The result is forgiveness, righteousness, and life for everyone. So if we return to the happiness and joy of Elizabeth and Mary, we can see that it is outside of them. The kingdom of God is coming. Happiness depends on the king, not on themselves. So long as their faith in this king doesn't fail, nothing can take their happiness away. Whatever sadnesses might come, they cannot undo the march of progress the kingdom of God will make. You can see this in both their lives. Both Elizabeth's and Mary's unborn baby boys would eventually be killed at the hands of evil men. Simeon prophesied to Mary in the temple: “A sword will pass through your heart.” Mary mourned at the death of her Son, but God will turn all mourning into gladness. Jesus died, but then he rose. Then his kingdom only entered a new phase, the song swelled to an even higher pitch. Joy will grow, even if, in the meantime, we pass through the valley of the shadow of death. This joy is available to each and every one of you. All that is needed is to be like Elizabeth and Mary: Believe in Jesus's kingdom. To believe is not some great challenge or a puzzle you have to figure out. It is only a matter of believing the testimony that is given about Jesus, and testimonies abound! Elizabeth gave her testimony in our reading. The angel gave his testimony on Christmas night. The apostles, evangelists, prophets, prophetesses, deacons, and deaconesses all gave their testimony, and they all say the same thing: Jesus Christ is Lord. He does all things well. He sets all things right. This is good news, which comes to us from the outside. It does not place any demands upon us. It does not require any preparation. Think of all those people in the Gospels whom Jesus helped. Did the blind man have to start improving himself before Jesus would give him sight? No. The blind man remained as blind as a bat. The deaf man remained as deaf as a stone, until Jesus made them otherwise. The only thing that happened to them prior to their healings was that they were given hope in Jesus the king by the good news that was told them. The same thing is true for us today. We have problems. We might have a bad reputation. We might be poor. We might be blind, deaf, lame, demon possessed. Believe in Jesus. And let's apply this to sin. One of the most frustrating parts about being a Christian is that we end up falling into sin, even though we really don't want to—or at least a part of us doesn't want to. What do we do with that? We almost can't help thinking that we must clean ourselves up in order to become acceptable before God. That seems right. To do otherwise can make it seem as though sin doesn't matter. We have to take our sin very seriously. These are not altogether bad thoughts, but they can make us lose sight of the one thing that makes all the difference—the one thing that makes us happy with a happiness that no one can take away: Jesus is the king. He saves sinners. He baptizes you, you don't baptize yourself. He forgives you, you don't forgive yourself. The kingdom of God is on a roll with the preaching of the Word that Jesus is the Savior. What is asked of us is not a great burden: Stick with the king. Listen to his Word. Jesus will do everything he has promised. Jesus is going to win. So you, like Elizabeth and Mary, may fully embrace the goodness of the kingdom of God that made them so happy that blessings were flying all over the place. The kingdom of God is the best, because Jesus is the best. No matter what is going on, no matter how disappointed you might be in yourself or in others, Jesus Christ is Lord. “Come Thou long-expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free.” Amen.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:I remember being very distressed by splinters when I was a kid. Splinters are not terribly serious. You won't die from having a splinter. They do cause a bit of discomfort, but what's far worse, is that the splinter has to come out. To get the splinter out, the finger must be turned over to an adult. What might the adult do? Armed with a needle or tweezers, the adult must dig around in there until the splinter comes out. I remember asking, “Can't we just leave the splinter in there?” I didn't like how the splinter ached, but I more disliked the much sharper pain involved with getting it out. I think this is helpful for what can happen to us spiritually. Just as it is by no means unusual that a kid gets a splinter while playing, it is very common to fall into sin. Just as a kid regrets doing what he was doing whereby he got the splinter, so also a person can regret having sinned. The advantage or the pleasure of the sin soon passes, and we are left with a dull ache. We've disappointed ourselves. We thought that we were better than that. Maybe we'd promised ourselves, “Never again!” and now look at what we've done. What a shame. But besides that dull ache of disappointment, the splinter of sin doesn't hurt too badly. It's nothing compared to the much sharper pain of being caught. That is very embarrassing. So our natural reaction is to try to manage sin on our own. We'll cover it up. We'll lie about it if we have to. Eventually, with the passage of enough time, we'll forget about it—and that's a relief. If we manage to pass though this experience without too much pain, we might draw the conclusion that our sins didn't harm us. We got a splinter, but—like we so hoped for when we were children—it didn't need to come out. It seemed to have gone away on its own. With splinters we can easily see the childishness of believing that it will just go away on its own. The splinter will cause infection. The poison of infection will spread. The more time passes, the worse it will get. The splinter must come out. We are not as good at seeing how childish it is to believe that sins won't harm us. Just as a splinter inevitably has an effect on the health of a finger, so also sins have an effect on the soul. Think back to the sins that you committed even when you were a little kid—3, 4, 5 years old. Sins darken the mind. They create a habit of lying. Already at a young age we can easily draw the conclusion that sins will not harm us so long as we do not get caught. But sins are nasty and ugly, full of puss and consequences. Unlike splinters, which only affect the person who has them, sins affect others. One person's nastiness draws out the nastiness of another. The bible shows that sin affects the whole community. The entire people of Israel needed to be cleansed when only a portion had sinned. Therefore we should not be so nonchalant to think that sins cannot affect a congregation, a classroom, a workplace, a family, or a couple. Sins are no child's play. However, a very powerful spiritual force fights against this understanding of sin. It is far worse enemy of Christianity than evolution or wokeism or whatever other boogeymen Christians might fear. This spiritual force does everything within its power to lull people to sleep with gentle phrases about the harmlessness of sin. It says, for example, “All this fuss and bother about sin is counterproductive. If we want the church to grow we must focus on other things! What's the use of sticking with old fashioned morals when even the old fashioned couldn't keep them? Or Jesus's commands: aren't they unreasonable? Show me one person who forgives, who gives, who is without anger or lust.” And maybe I haven't quite caught the tune that would make you shut your eyes to the seriousness of sins, but I know that tune is out there, because we human beings all have the same basic hope. Somewhere in all of us is the hope that our sins won't matter. Our sins aren't deadly. We can manage them without any great change. There is no need to go through the sharp pain of repenting them. Just leave them be and hope for the best. When people believe that sins do not matter, that they do not cause much harm, then the devil has won. This is exactly how the devil wants us to deal with our sins. He wants us to believe that sins are fine or natural or funny or unimportant. Everybody does them, so what's the harm? He'll blabber on and on until he finds something that sticks. And he'll find it too, because, as I've said, there is a part of all of us that wants to believe the splinter does not need to be taken out. The devil starts to lose his grip on people when they move from not caring to caring. This happens when people start to hate the splinter, start to hate sin. So long as people believe that they can peacefully coexist with sin, they remain in the devil's grip. But sometimes people get sick of the muck and guck and puss and stench of sin. People hate the lovelessness, the chaos, the shame, the hatred, the broken relationships. They get sick of that splinter that has caused them so much grief. They want the splinter out! This is when tax collectors, prostitutes, drug addicts, liars, porn addicts, alcoholics, scrooges—losers of all kinds—might turn to Christ. They hate their life which has been ruined by sin. They want something else. They long for healing, and they are willing to humble themselves in order to get it. The fundamental posture of all disciples is always the same. It's the posture we see in people in the Gospels. People came to Jesus who were blind, deaf, lame, mute, demon-possessed—absolutely wretched. They said, “Jesus, help me!” It is the same posture of those who hate their lives, hate themselves, hate their sins, hate the splinters with all their puss and filth. “Jesus, heal me!” When such people come to believe that Jesus forgives them, that Jesus died for them, that Jesus will make them better, they then hate all the more the devil with his practically infinite lies, all of which minimize the importance of sin. On the other hand, they begin to like what God has commanded and taught—stuff that they formerly might have rejected and fought against. They've been converted. They renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways, and they have embraced a new Lord and God from whom they want help. They no longer want to be on the side of sin and lies and false hope. They want to be on the side that fights sin, that's true, that embraces the light, even though it means that they have fallen into the strong and terrifying hands of God. If suffer they must, then suffer they will! Suffering is by no means the worst thing. Health, life, truth—that is to say, God's kingdom—this is what they want. What I've spoken about today—a kind of insanely long introduction—is an attempt to get at something that otherwise might be difficult to understand about our Gospel reading. Our Gospel reading talks about how John the Baptist's preaching was successful, particularly among those whom you'd think would be the most resistant. John was successful among the unwashed masses. Why did John the Baptist come to be loved by the tax collectors and sinners? Was it because John the Baptist told them that they were fine just as they were? That their sins didn't matter? No. Just the opposite.   John hated sin. He wasn't scared of it either. He didn't believe that it was inevitable or invincible or any other garbage that the devil likes to say about sin. John himself couldn't really do anything about sin, but he was an ambassador for Jesus, who was coming after him, whose sandal strap he was unworthy to untie. The Christ is the only one who forgives sins. He promises to wash away all the stains and puss and filth for the life to come. So, to use the analogy we've been working with today, John was someone who would speak the truth. He would say, “That's a splinter. That needs to come out. You'll be sorry if it doesn't.” Since we all know the pain of getting a splinter out, we can understand why some people hated John. They preferred their false belief to the truth of God's Word that—even though painful—would have helped them. But some people loved the possibilities that opened up by the Word of God that John spoke. They were so full of splinters, they were so sick of the consequences of their sins, that they embraced John's baptism for the forgiveness of their sins. They didn't want to go on with the misery of loneliness, helplessness, and hopelessness. They wanted health, life, and light. They wanted Jesus to be their king instead of the devil. Disciples of Jesus show up in the most unexpected of places. All of us, including me, have our splinters. They are not cute. They are not harmless. Even if we manage to forget them, they don't stop silently pumping out their poison. They have to come out. How? We can't do it ourselves. We can't get deep enough. We have to turn ourselves over to the adult, so to speak. We have to turn ourselves over to Jesus. That requires courage. What will he do? Is that a needle or a tweezers I see? But don't be too afraid. Jesus is good at what he does. He is the good physician who has come to heal those who are sick, who have need of him as a physician.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Our Gospel reading today gives us a description of what John the Baptist preached. John preached repentance, which means, “Change your ways,” or “Change your mind.” John told people that God's wrath, God's anger and punishment of sinners, was coming. That's why they should change their ways. If they have not been good, they will be judged accordingly. “The axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Some who heard John were persuaded. They repented. They wanted help for how to change their ways. John taught them what is in the Bible: “If you have two tunics, then give to him who has none.” Some people, who were pretty nasty and rough, wanted to their ways. Tax collectors, who were more like the mafia than our modern day IRS, wanted to know what they should do. John said: “Don't collect more than what you are authorized to do.” Same thing with some soldiers. “Don't extort money by threats and false accusations. Be content with your wages.” At the end of our reading John the Baptist talked about Jesus. Jesus would be like John, only greater. John baptized with water. Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. John warned about the coming judgment. Jesus will do the judgment. The winnowing fork is in his hand. He will thresh out the grain. The wheat will be gathered into the barn, but the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. This was John's preaching. Luke speaks of it as being “good news.” At the end of the reading Luke says, “So with many other exhortations John preached good news to the people.” Does what John preached sound like “good news” to you? It might not. It is easy to be troubled by what John says. He says that God is wrathful and that he punishes. People will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Jesus is characterized along the same lines. The winnowing fork is in his hand. He will separate the wheat from the chaff. The chaff will burn. Is all this wrath and all this fire really necessary? Isn't there a more civilized way? Questions like these are unavoidable for modern day Christians. Most Christians refuse to speak as plainly as John the Baptist, because it seems like a very poor strategy. It can be scary for people to hear about God being spoken of like that. What's more to the point is that it can sound unreasonable to talk about God like that. It doesn't sound right that God, who is described as being loving, should punish anybody. Hell is described as a place of torment with an unquenchable fire. How can God be like that? It is much easier to imagine a god (whom many people believe to be the true one) that doesn't have wrath, who won't torture or torment. Having a god like that sounds like a much better deal. A god that basically says, “Live however you want,” sounds nice. He sounds like he would be easy to get along with. And if God isn't someone I can get along with, then why bother? I can live just as well without him. Hearing rhetoric like this is quite common. Many people assume that it is because we have become more sophisticated in our modern times. We've discovered things, supposedly, that discredit the God of the Bible, making him much less believable. However, it is easy to show you that this is not modern or sophisticated. It is the way human beings have been since the beginning, which you can see in the Bible itself. We'll briefly consider the story of Adam and Eve. You will see the very same impulses in them that we have in the twenty-first century. This story should be familiar to you. God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they did, they would surely die. But along came the serpent who introduced doubt. Why should they be forbidden to eat just from this tree? That's kind of random and arbitrary. If they were God, they probably wouldn't make a law like that. They'd let people eat from whatever tree they wanted. Then the serpent explained that God wouldn't punish them as he had said he would. They'd be fine. In fact, they'd be greatly improved! They'd be like God, knowing good and evil. So, having been convinced, Eve ate, and Adam ate too. What comes after this is what I'd like you especially to think about: that time between their eating and before God came. Adam and Eve knew that something had changed. They were ashamed of their nakedness. But what had to be foremost in their minds was the hope that the serpent had been right. The serpent had said that no wrath and no punishment would come. If the serpent was right, then they could go on living like they had. Notice what was “good news” for Adam and Eve during this time. It is the same “good news” that modern people believe in—but not just modern people, all unrepentant people of all times have this hope. They hoped that the God who had threatened to punish them for their sins didn't exist. That God was completely intolerable to them. Maybe they could get on board with the idea of some other god that would be altogether different from this wrathful, punishing God, but they couldn't tolerate a God who might intervene. But their hopes were dashed. God showed up. God did care. God would punish. Adam and Eve showed the great sophistication of the human race, including modern humans, by acting the same way we all do when we have gotten caught. They acted like three-year-olds. They hid in the bushes. They stammered excuses. They tried to pass the buck. They did not care about anything except saving their own skin. God—amazingly—did not give Adam and Eve what they deserved. He didn't kill them that day, although he did pronounce curses against them. God's anger was especially directed against the serpent, the devil. God spoke of the great violence that would happen between the serpent and his Son. The serpent would injure his Son's heel, but the Christ would crush the serpent's head. Already with this first telling of the story of Jesus, there is wrath and punishment for sin. The serpent's head would be crushed, ground into the dirt. God doesn't just say, “Oh well, never mind.” The Law of God is not annulled as though it were unimportant. As Jesus says, “Not one jot, not one tittle of the Law will pass away until everything is fulfilled.” Everything was fulfilled when the wrath of God for sin was poured out on his beloved Son. The wrath was so severe that Jesus cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As Paul says about Jesus, “He who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Is this violent retribution good news? It depends on whose side you're on. If you don't want to change your ways or change your mind, if you don't want to believe that God cares about what you do, if you want to just be left alone to live how you see fit, then this is not good news. “Good news” for you would be that God will ignore you and leave you to your own thoughts and actions. Then you can go on being your own god, so to speak, making up for yourself what is good and what is evil. The rules for wat is good and evil are quite simple. What is good is whatever is good for me. What is evil is whatever you don't like. There is no reference to what is just or right. The refrain that is sung in every possible key is: “My will be done.” The alternative is to say to God, “Thy will be done!” That is a scary prayer if you think about it! Adam and Eve couldn't bring themselves to pray that prayer as they heard God's footsteps in the garden. God's will being done was the last thing they wanted. So it can be for us too! Maybe we have lots of tunics and we don't want to give any of them away. Maybe we've been making our livelihood by cheating and fraud. Maybe we've created the life for ourselves that has no reference to God, his commandments, his promises, or the cross that Jesus gives to all of his disciples. That can be a pleasant life, and we might not want to change. “Thy will be done!” turns our lives over to God. It is a prayer of repentance. It is a prayer for change. My life is clay. You, God, are the potter. Make of me the vessel that you see fit to make! This is the intensity of faith. We can't foresee exactly what God will do. We can only believe that it will be good. Believing that it will be good is the only way we can make any sense of the wrath that is to be revealed when Christ comes again in glory. None of us want to be burned as chaff. None of us want those we love to be cut down and thrown into the fire. But we are obviously dealing with righteousness, justice, and goodness that is far above us. Probably no amount of skilled argumentation will ever make us perfectly comfortable with John's preaching, but maybe that's in the nature of repentance and faith. Despite whatever misgivings we might have, the preaching is actually remarkably clear. We are presented with two fundamentally different alternatives. Either we can repent and believe in Jesus, or we can hope that things will stay the same. Either you must cast in your lot with Jesus, or you must cast in your lot with the serpent who said that no wrath or punishment will come. They cannot both be true. Either Jesus is the king who will set things right or what the serpent was basically correct: “You surely will not be punished. When you die, that will be it.” Hopefully you have heard enough about Jesus to know that you are much better off changing your ways, and casting your lot with Jesus, than remaining as you are and hoping God isn't who has said he is.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” The Gospel reading today is when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. There are some unusual aspects to this story. Jesus told his disciples how they would find a donkey's colt when they entered the village. They didn't need to buy the colt. They would only say, “The Lord has need of it,” and the colt would be sent along. The animal upon which Jesus sat is also unusual. Donkeys are already somewhat small animals to ride. A colt would have presumably been even smaller. Matthew, in his Gospel, tells us that the colt's mother might have also been involved. I'm not sure what that would have looked like. In addition, this colt had never been ridden. That means he wasn't broke. Nevertheless, Jesus was placed upon him and it seems to go fine as he rode into Jerusalem. All these strange details are not just strange for the sake of being strange. They have Old Testament connections. Zechariah, a prophet who lived about 500 years before this, wrote: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; … humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” What was happening with Jesus was not accidental. Jesus is the king that Zechariah wrote about. The rejoicing of Palm Sunday was the rejoicing that Zechariah wrote about. And these last two elements are really the key features. What is most important about Palm Sunday is that Jesus is the king, and that his disciples are recognizing him as such. That Jesus is the king is not always recognized by everyone. It is an article of faith. It is either believed or not believed. Presumably there were a lot of people in Jerusalem that day who did not believe that Jesus is the king. His disciples did. They were convinced by the signs that Jesus had done. You are familiar with the signs Jesus did. These, also, were prophesied in the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah lived over 700 years before Jesus, and he said that when the great king would come he would “open the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf would be unstopped, the lame would leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute would sing for joy.” Jesus had done these things and more. In fact, just before Palm Sunday he had raised Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. He was doing all things well. They loved it, and they were praising God with a loud voice. I would imagine that they were wondering to themselves: “What is he going to do next?” Especially, “What is he going to do next as he enters Jerusalem?” Thus far Jesus seems to have spent most of his time in the north, in Galilee, far from Jerusalem, which was the center of power. The temple was in Jerusalem. The leaders of the Jews were in Jerusalem. Pontius Pilate, the Roman leader, was in Jerusalem. What was going to happen when Jesus, “The King of the Jews,” would come into contact with the powers that be? I'm pretty sure that the disciples on Palm Sunday were thinking, “He's going to keep on doing all things well! He's going to be a good king!” Good kings set things right. They get rid of corruption. They help those who need help. They put down those who oppress. No more lying, cheating, and getting away with it. Jeremiah, another Old Testament prophet, speaks of Jesus this way in our Old Testament reading. He says, “In those days and at that time a righteous Branch will spring up from David.” Jesus is that righteous branch. And what will he do? Jeremiah goes on: “He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” This is exactly what Jesus went on to do during Holy Week. You can read about that for yourselves. The first thing that Jesus did was he went to the Temple. He pushed out all the buyers and sellers and money changers. He caused pandemonium. He flipped over tables. He let loose their animals. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations,' but you have made it a den of robbers!” On the days following this the powers that be tried to entrap and ensnare Jesus. They needed Jesus to slip up with something he might say so that they could nail him. So they sent their sneakiest and best. They tried every which way to trick him, but it didn't work. Just as the disciples had been hoping on Palm Sunday, Jesus continued to do all things well. I think by the time of Maundy Thursday the disciples were almost drunk with excitement. Luke tells us a stunning detail about what happened when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. Not long after Jesus had said, “This is my body which is given for you,” and “This is my blood which is shed for you,” Luke tells us that the disciples were arguing with one another over who was the greatest. They were in high spirits. They were already filling Jesus's cabinet. Who would be secretary of state? Who would be attorney general? Given the disciples' eager expectation, you can perhaps see how the crucifixion, which would happen less than a day later, would crush them. It was cruel—even in the way it got carried out. It wasn't a fair fight. Those in power never want a fair fight. They arrested Jesus in the middle of the night. They rigged their kangaroo courts in the middle of the night. Already by 9 o'clock that morning Jesus was nailed through his hands and his feet to the cross. Those in power know how to get things done for their own advantage. They know how to do things in such a way where they come out on top and none's the wiser to their evil deeds done in secret. History—but often an unwritten history—is filled with power crushing reformers. Those who speak the truth and fight for what is right are marginalized and eliminated. The winners have their perspectives written into the history books that glorify their deeds and ignore whatever evil they have done. Thereby they appear to have won, but appearances can be deceiving. They better enjoy whatever they have gained for themselves by all their sneaking around because a time is coming when, as Jesus said, “Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the rooftops.” This will happen because the king is coming to judge. Again, as Jesus said, “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” It will be as Jeremiah prophesied: “The king shall execute righteousness and justice in the land.” The disciples were not wrong with their thoughts about Jesus being the king. The disciples also were not wrong about this king doing all things well, setting things right, rooting out lies, and establishing justice and peace. Their only mistake was that they weren't thinking quite deeply enough. They were thinking that Jesus would be merely an earthly king. Jesus is the king to which all powers must bow—even the powers of sin, death, and the devil. Jesus continued to do well on Holy Week. By his death and resurrection he set things right in such a profound and fundamental way that it is beyond our understanding. If we lived at the time of these disciples we would rejoice—and rightly so—at Jesus's opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, making the lame leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. These are very fine miracles. Often Christians wish that they could see some miracles like that to bolster their faith. But the truth is that the miracles that Jesus works now and in the future are greater. Jesus works now by the Holy Spirit to turn the hearts of sinners so that they believe in the mercy of their Creator and Judge. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in the hearts of believers so that they have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Instead of joining in with the powers of evil that seem to offer so much advantage for earthly power and for the indulging of our desires, Jesus's disciples resist the ways and means of devil, the prince of this world. They work at not lying, not manipulating, not intimidating, not coercing, and so on. They work on following Jesus's commands that promise blessings to those who have the guts to keep them. These are not small things! And the miracles of the future will be even greater. They are beyond my ability to communicate them. Jesus, the king, helped so many people as we hear about in the Gospels. That same king will help us. He will give us new bodies that will be like his glorious, resurrected body—better, even, than the restored body of Lazarus. He will purify and strengthen our minds and souls with love and light. He will set all things right like a good king is supposed to. Great wonders are in store for us! Therefore, we are not all that different from the multitude of disciples who rejoiced as Jesus entered Jerusalem. We, like they, might wonder, “What is he going to do next?” We, like they, might wonder, “What is going to happen when Jesus comes into conflict with the powers and principalities?” It looks like we're in for show! They'll kick up a fuss, no doubt, wanting to hold on to their wicked ways, but their days are numbered. The king is coming. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:In our Gospel reading we meet a woman with whom we might think we have little in common. She's old. She's a widow. She's extremely poor. The most unusual thing mentioned about her is that even though she is poor, she made a contribution for the poor. Which aspect of this woman's life would you like to emulate? Probably nothing. We want spouses who are living and helpful. We want money and power. However much we have, we are not interested in giving it away. But whereas Jesus might not be all that impressed with us, he definitely was impressed with this woman. He called over his disciples and pointed her out. “She's put in more than all the rest, even though other people put in much larger amounts.” Whereas we might be impressed by donations in the millions, Jesus was impressed by a donation that would be about $2 in today's money. We might not want to be like her, at least not at first, but Jesus admires her. That gives us reason enough to consider her. We should learn from this woman. She might teach us something we need quite badly. The first thing we must consider is why this woman gave what she did. She herself was poor, and yet she contributed to the poor. How can this be explained? A person might simply say that she was insane, or perhaps even wrong to have done what she did. She shouldn't have given that money. She should have kept it for herself. But Jesus doesn't seem to think that she's insane or that what she did was wrong, so there must be some other explanation. It seems to me that the only reason why she could give what she did was because she didn't think she needed it. We might think she needed it, but she didn't. We aren't given her exact thoughts, but maybe she believed that two more dollars would come to her in some other way. We are prone to think in terms of luck or karma, but I don't think this woman believed in those false gods. She believed in the Lord God of Israel. She believed that he would give her that day her daily bread. She was free to give what she did, because she knew God would still take care of her. This faith caused her to be like another creature whom God has made. She was like the birds of the air. Have you ever thought about what kind of life birds live? They've got their little nests, but that's about it. Every morning they wake up not knowing where their food is going to come from. They do not have pantries or storehouses. You might think that they would be very worried about this, but they are not. The first thing they do when they wake up is offer up a cheerful song of praise to their Creator. A new day of grace awaits them. This woman must have been as cheerful and free as the birds. Now you might ask: “How?” From a certain perspective it looks as though everything is going wrong with her life. She's old. She's poor. She's powerless. She lost her husband. What more is there to live for? No great change in her fortunes appear to be forthcoming, especially if she keeps giving her money away. But these are ugly thoughts, prompted by our reason and common sense. Faith has little to do with reason and common sense. The examples of faith that we read about in the Scriptures strike us very often as being close to insanity. This poor woman giving all she had to the poor can seem insane. The similar actions of the woman in the Old Testament reading can strike us the same way. She took the flour and oil that should have fed her son and gave them to Elijah. A classic expression of faith that defies not only reason but even morality was Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. Reason and common sense fight against faith because they operate according to different rules. We are given this rule regarding faith: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” Those who believe are grasping and holding on to God, whom they can't see. They don't know where the path will go that God puts them on. They don't know the quantity or the quality of the daily bread they will receive, but what is important is they know that the one who is in charge of their lives is their heavenly Father. They know that he loves them. He sent his Son to die as the sacrifice for them. If God has given his Son, his dearest treasure, how can he not give them whatever else they need? Therefore, whether a Christian is rich or poor, healthy or sick, young or old, powerful or powerless, it is all the same. God is unchanging with his will and his promises. God will take care of them even though their circumstances might change. Paul says in Philippians chapter four: “I have learned whatever the situation I am in to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Oftentimes that last part, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me,” is taken from its context and used for decorations or for sports teams. I'm afraid that when it is read apart from its context that our reason and common sense might interfere so that it is not understood correctly. “I can do all things” sounds as though I can do anything. If I can do anything, then I would like to be some kind of superhuman. I can have a fabulous life. I can win at all athletic contests. I will have a charmed life because “I can do all things though him who strengthens me.” But as you heard the context of that passage, it is clear that Paul is not telling us that we can be some kind of superhero. Our reason might chime in here and say, “Here we go with all the hedging and managing expectations. Of course it sounded too good to be true.” But believe it or not, he is actually talking about something greater. A superhero is only happy when he or she is winning. What happens when the superhero gets old? What happens when the charmed life is no longer charmed? What happens when your spouse dies? What happens when your kid dies? What happens when you become poor? Included in the “all things” that I can do is to lose, to suffer, to have my life turned upside down. Consider, again, the old woman. We know that she has suffered. We know that her husband has died. We know that she is poor. Being poor carries along with it all kinds of annoyances and irritations. Nevertheless, she cheerfully put in her last two dollars. God, who had taken care of her thus far, would continue to do so. Through faith in him she was doing “all things through him who was strengthening her.” And it was marvelous. Even Jesus was impressed. This power to do all things, even to suffer negative things, through Jesus, is an important corrective for today's world. We live at the end of a period of time when reason and common sense have been used to great effect. Technology has been developed through reason and common sense that enables us to do things that previous generations would have regarded as magic. We have accomplished so much. All of us are extremely rich compared to this woman who only had two dollars to her name. Given all these abilities and all these accomplishments, you would think that we would be happy. But instead it seems that we should be swamped with sadness. There is so much hopelessness. There is so much despair. People wonder what the point of living is. Our birthrates are plummeting. Our liveliness seems to be withering on the vine. Isn't it strange that at the very time when we have reached the pinnacle of what human being have been able to accomplish thus far, that we are swamped with sadness? For what ails us, I do not think that more technology, more reason, and more common sense will help us. I have reason to believe that that would only make a bad situation even worse. We have a spiritual problem. Spiritual problems need spiritual solutions. We need what human beings have always needed, which is God's love. We need faith in this God who loves us, to set us free from our fears of suffering, our fears of loss, our fears of the paths that God might set us on, the outcome of which we cannot see. Faith in God's love enables us to be cheerful, and sing like birds, not only when we are winning, but also while we suffer. Paul says “I can do all things.” He means that. Included in those “all things” are loss and sadness, while knowing that we will have the ultimately victory because of our God. Jesus gives us great spiritual abilities. Jesus gives us the ability to say, “Even though I am a sinner, yet I am forgiven and holy.” “Even though I am poor, yet I am rich.” “Even though I die, yet shall I live.” Jesus makes the future bright! Therefore, do not be afraid. Be bold and very courageous like this woman in our Gospel reading. The God who has taken care of you thus far, will take care of you until the supreme adventure begins in heaven.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:When we think about being blessed or being happy we usually think about wealth, abundance, security, contentment, and so on. Happiness goes together with strength, ability, and freedom. If we have the wherewithal and if we have the opportunity, then we can do what we want. If we should be constrained with our resources or freedom, then we might not be able to do what we want. We most easily and naturally believe that blessedness or happiness comes from being able to do whatever we want. We usually associate not being able to do whatever we want with sadness. Did you notice how Jesus's teaching was strange along these lines? What we usually associate with sadness, Jesus declares as blessedness or happiness. Let's look at a few of the things Jesus said. He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Is being poor ever good? It's always better to be rich. Even if Jesus is not talking about money, doesn't it sound better to be rich in spirit? Someone being rich in spirit sounds a lot more interesting than someone being poor in spirit. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn.” If someone is mourning, then things haven't gone their way. Someone has died whom they would prefer were still alive. Something has gone wrong that they wish wouldn't have happened. “Blessed are the meek.” The meek are humbled. They can't be impressed with their own importance. We enjoy the feeling of being impressed with ourselves. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” If I had to choose between being hungry and thirsty for righteousness and being full of righteousness, I would much rather be full of righteousness. Then I could feel good about myself. From these examples, you can see how Jesus teaches strange things. If we would turn Jesus's statements into their opposites, then they would make much more sense: Blessed are the rich. Blessed are those who are having a great time. Blessed are powerful. If the world would have its own set of beatitudes, or blessings, they would sound like this: “Blessed are the rich, because they can buy whatever they want.” “Blessed are those who are having a great time, because they are making the most of this life.” “Blessed are the powerful, because nobody is pushing them around.” Don't these worldly beatitudes make more sense? We more easily and naturally live our lives when we don't have to rely on God. If we can see to things ourselves, then God doesn't matter as much. What does matter is having the necessary resources and freedom. You better make sure you've got enough of that. And what must be feared above all else is lack and loss. Lack and loss are surefire recipes for misery and sadness. That's one way of thinking, and it's pretty persuasive. It's what comes most easily and naturally. But one of the ways that Jesus is spoken of in the Gospels is that he has come to “proclaim good news to the poor.” The poor don't have anything. The good news is that they are going to get stuff. Where there was lack and loss there will be abundance and life. Jesus will bring this about. Or, at least, that's the claim. Is there a way that I can prove it? No, I'm sorry, I can't. The promises of abundance and life in Jesus can be only either believed or disbelieved. Either Jesus is God and Lord and he will bring about what he has promised, or he is wrong. The poor aren't blessed. Those who mourn aren't blessed. The powerless aren't blessed. Either the rules of life that are laid down by Jesus are how things are, or how things are is governed by the rules that we much more easily and naturally believe. Either a person will put his or her trust in Jesus or a person will put his or her trust in those worldly recipes for happiness. Today as we observe All Saints' Day we must consider this faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus is how a person is a saint, which means a “holy one.” Only those who become holy are in heaven. Saints receive their holiness through faith in Jesus. They believe that he will keep the promises that he has made—promises like you find in the beatitudes. All of the beatitudes, or blessings, that Jesus spoke of contain promises. They are really glorious promises, if you will challenge yourself to think about what they mean and believe that they can actually come to pass. He says, “Yours is the kingdom of heaven.” God's kingdom in heaven can't be described. The Scriptures say that it is beyond us, no matter how hard we try. Jesus says, “God will comfort you.” How good do you think God is at comforting someone? You perhaps remember the comfort that comes from being in the arms of your dad or your mom or your husband or your wife. God will comfort those who mourn. Jesus says, “You will inherit the earth.” World history is full of vain and ambitious men and women who have strained every fiber of their being to attain mastery over the earth. Jesus says you will inherit it.  “You will be filled with righteousness.” Instead of temptations being victorious over you, you will be victorious over temptations. Jesus says, “You will receive mercy.” We hear about God's mercy all the time, but now we only know his mercy by faith. What will it be like to have our empty sack filled up with the undeserved good things of God? Jesus says, “You will see God.” The Scriptures emphatically state that no one has seen God. “No one can see God and live,” it says over and over again. What will it be like to see God? Jesus says, “You will be called sons of God.” This is not a slight or an insult to you female saints. Jesus is the only Son of God. By being called “sons of God” Jesus is saying that you will be like him. These are good promises. But then Jesus makes a different kind of promise. He promises us that we will be persecuted. He says that we will be reviled. That means that people will say that you are a fanatic. You are impractical. You are a fool about money. You are a fool to love your enemy. They will pronounce curses upon you that you will be poor and miserable and abused because you don't follow the rules of this old world. That is what you will get for following Jesus. It can be scary to be reviled and persecuted and to have all kinds of evil spoken against you. And this will not be done just by strangers. Elsewhere Jesus says that this will come from our nearest and dearest. Households will be divided. Families will be divided. This last promise is so bad, that we might think that we should just leave off with all this. It's not nice. It's disturbing. It's divisive. Religion is supposed to be peaceful and serene. Except it's not. Jesus said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Jesus is on the warpath as king against the devil and against all his falseness. Whenever Jesus drove out demons, they convulsed their victims and cried out and put up a mighty fuss. They didn't want to lose control of their victims, and so it is with all the false rules and false gods that possess people today. They don't want to lose their grip. They want to hold us captive. They don't want us to believe in this who has come who proclaims good news to the poor. But these false rules and false gods are bad. They don't keep their promises. They couldn't, even if they wanted to, because their power is limited. They only pretend to be almighty. No matter how rich you are, no matter how powerful you are, no matter how many memories you make, no matter how good of a life you believe that you can make for yourself, none of these things can forgive your sins. None of these things can defeat death. None of these things can fill you with God's love. None of these things can prepare you for seeing God. Only Jesus can do these things. Believe in him! Are you poor? Will you become poor? Are you poor in spirit—kind of dumpy and something of a nobody? Believe in Jesus! He has good news for you even though you lack so much: “Yours is the kingdom of heaven.” Are you mourning? Are things not going your way? Did you imagine that your life would be altogether different? “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Thus and so you can do with all these statements of Jesus. There are promises in there for those who will believe. Faith, therefore, makes all the difference. John says in his epistle: “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” The saints who have gone before us all have this one thing in common: They believed in Jesus. You believe in him too. Believe, and then just wait and see how all the promises he has made will come true. Jesus keeps his promises.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:On my day off last week I was at my dad's farm near Albert Lea. I was there to help with the harvest, but in a different way. My sister and her family were visiting from Florida. She has a son in the sixth grade who loves running machinery. So my help was not so much me doing stuff. I was more riding along, supervising, and coaching my nephew who isn't quite experienced enough to run the tractor all by himself. As I was sitting next to my nephew I couldn't help but remember when I was his age. That was when I was learning how to run machinery. I was seeing the tasks we were doing through his eyes. Some of those tasks are intimidating: Backing up to wagons. Pulling full wagons. Gears could grind. Stuff could break. There is an element of fear. Stuff could go wrong. Not all fear is bad. Fear goes together with learning new things. Fear happens when you leave the safety of what is familiar to master the unknown. Life without fear would be a life without challenge. That would be pretty boring. It is not uncommon for people to think that being a Christian is pretty boring. When was the last time you were afraid to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus? Maybe never! But if that is your experience, then your experience would be different from the disciples we heard about in our Gospel reading. They were frightened by what Jesus said. First of all, Jesus said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” It says that the disciples were amazed. Maybe another way to say what was going on is that they were saying to themselves, “What are you talking about Jesus?” But Jesus did not back down. He went on: “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” It says that the disciples were “exceedingly astonished.” “What in the world are you talking about? How could you say something like that?” The third time the disciples are spoken of as being astonished or afraid is at the end of the reading. As I read that, try to picture the scene in your mind's eye. It says, “And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.” Jesus is up ahead. Nobody's walking with him. The disciples slink along behind. They're afraid. They're afraid to be Jesus's disciples. New experiences are in store for them based on what Jesus said. The challenge that Jesus says down for his disciples is not to cling to wealth. How does a person not cling to wealth? There's really only one way: You have to be willing to give it away. You have to be willing to give more and take less, or maybe even to give it out freely for no services rendered. That is a new experience. No one has to teach us to snatch and grab and horde. We've been doing that since we were toddlers. As we get older we are often trained by teachers and authorities that what's ours is ours, and we don't have to give anything to anybody, and the more that we can accumulate for ourselves the better. Therefore, in the pursuit of ever-increasing wealth, you should give as little as you possibly can, and take as much as you possibly can, and that is how the game is played. I suspect that none of you have been frightened by this philosophy that I have just laid out. It is utterly familiar. What might be frightening—if you are willing to take Jesus seriously—is his statement: “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” And again, he says: “How hard it is for anyone to enter the kingdom of God.” This is new. I thought it was easy to enter the kingdom of God. I thought no change was necessary to enter the kingdom of God—the church word for that is “repent.” I didn't know I had to change. I didn't know that I had to repent to enter the kingdom of God. Now, one way that you could take Jesus's words is that he is slamming the door on all who have wealth: “Get out and stay out!” But there is another way that you can take Jesus's words. You can see them as a challenge to grow up. We can't stay babies forever. We can't remain in our merely natural state where we are grabbing, snatching, and hording. If you want to remain like that you are basically saying that you would like to go to hell, because hell is the place where people go who practiced their whole lives to be masters of snatching, grabbing, and hording. The only problem is that you, also,  would be snatched and grabbed, and you probably won't like that. If we are going to enter the kingdom of God we have to become different. We have to learn from our teacher and master, Jesus, the ways of love. This will be something new. We have to learn about giving, suffering and bearing the cross. We are all naturally afraid of suffering and pain, but Jesus and the Holy Spirit can teach us that the fear of suffering doesn't have to control our lives. If we suffer, we know that we will be comforted. Even if we die in our pursuit of love, we know that we will be resurrected. These are not childish teachings. These are very grow-up, Christian teachings that require courage. These are the teachings of the Kingdom of God that will prepare us for heaven instead of hell. Heaven is a place of love. God dwells there, and God is love. The love of heaven is so pure and rich that we can't even begin to grasp it. Maybe we could try by saying that everyone in heaven loves so purely and richly that they would do anything for you. They would suffer the loss of everything for you. But they won't have to. Because heaven is the place where all things have been made new. It is the place where, as Revelation 21 puts it: “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” To arrive at the place where God dwells, where love dwells—what might a person give for that? Let's say you have 100 million dollars. Is that what you are going to hold on to? It's just a bunch of zeros in some Edward Jones account somewhere. You can't even lie on it like the dragons of old who liked to sleep on their heaps of gold. You would rather have those zeros on a piece of paper than to be kind, to be generous, to be merciful? It's a no-brainer which is better! That is not to say it isn't a challenge—a change—which brings fear, but the challenge is worth it. Suppose I said to my nephew: I know that you want to run the tractor, but just think of all the stuff that could go wrong! The steering could fail. You accidentally drive into the ditch. You could fall out the window and be crushed to death when the tractor rolls on top of you. Those are foul, ugly thoughts. They falsely inflate fears, which might cause someone to remain in immaturity, to remain in safety. Jesus does not want his disciples to remain immature and without fruit. We all have to grow up. We all have to change. We all have to repent. We might be afraid, but let's all agree that a boy learning how to run a tractor is a good thing. How much more, then, is a disciple of Jesus growing up in the love that Jesus teaches a good thing? Jesus's teachings and Jesus's commands set us on an adventure, but that adventure is totally worth it. And you do not go on that adventure alone. If you get rejected, Jesus accepts you. If you suffer, Jesus will comfort you. If you die, Jesus will resurrect you. Therefore, there is no reason why you should ever give in to your fears. You, understandably, might be afraid to give away wealth. The voice of fear might say: “What if I end up being miserable?” Your wealth enables you to do a lot of nice stuff for yourself. Or take another command of Jesus's: You might be afraid to love your enemy. Enemies have been known to do some hurtful things. Don't be afraid. Jesus, your teacher and master, teaches good things, not bad things. You can't go wrong if you will take the risk of being obedient to him. But you can't know that goodness until you take the plunge. But suppose you try to carry out Jesus's commands and you fail. What then? Should you wish that you had never tried in the first place? That's a loser's mentality. If you fail, then ask Jesus to forgive you. Then get right back up on that horse. It's inevitable that a person will get bucked off while learning to tame a horse. How can we expect that it should be easy to tame ourselves? Or what kind of ride might we have if we make up our mind to love our enemy? Who knows what might happen! On these adventures it's almost certain that mistakes will be made. Gears will accidentally be grinded. My nephew, by the way, didn't grind the gears even once this past week. I was the one who accidentally grinded the gears—but don't tell dad. On second thought, maybe you can tell him. I think he would forgive me. Right next to the forgiveness of sins, growing up in love as Christ's disciple and student is the best of things. It sets us on adventures already in this life, and those adventures will continue on into the next. Don't be ruled by your fears. Put your trust in Jesus. He will protect you. He will pick you up when you have fallen. He is your Lord and Savior.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus's commands can seem unreasonable and unrealistic. Let me give you an example. In Luke chapter 6 Jesus commands that we give to those who ask of us, and if our goods should be taken away that we should not demand them back. Upon hearing that we are to give to anyone who asks, and that we should not demand back what has been taken, there is a part of every one of us that rebels against this command. It doesn't seem like it will work out very well for us. All our stuff will be taken away. So we don't do it. We set Jesus's command aside. But there is another way of looking at it. A person could believe that Jesus's commands are good. A person could believe that things will go better if we follow Jesus's command, if we give to those who ask, and not demand back from those who take. God must be the biggest factor in this scenario. God would have to protect you. God would have to repay what was taken from you. Can you trust him? In order to accept Jesus's command about giving and not demanding back we have to believe that God loves us and will take care of us. Jesus's commands require faith. Hearing his commands with faith changes our perception of them. We heard Jesus's commands concerning the irrevocability of marriage and the unsuitability of divorce in our Gospel reading. Divorce is very emotional, painful, and complicated. Nobody gets married with the hopes of getting divorced. I won't be covering all aspects of this topic in this sermon. Pastor Bertram and I would be happy to speak with you more about any questions or thoughts you might have one on one. For the purposes of our time together today, though, I'd like to look at Jesus's commands regarding marriage and divorce as requiring faith. When Jesus was asked about the permissibility of divorce I think his answer surprised both his opponents and his disciples. His opponents, the Pharisees, knew that Moses allowed for divorce. I think Jesus surprised them when he told them that that was an accommodation for their hardness of heart. A hard heart is an unbelieving heart. Husband and wife are not supposed to separate. From the beginning man and woman have been joined in marriage so that they become one flesh. What God has joined together, let not man separate. It seems that the disciples were surprised by this command also. They asked Jesus about it afterwards. Jesus did not soften his stance on the irrevocability of marriage. If a husband divorces his wife and marries another, he is committing adultery against his first wife. If a wife divorces her husband and marries another, she is committing adultery against her first husband. Marriage, in God's sight, is not ended by a certificate of divorce. It is ended by God when he brings about the death of one or the other of the spouses. If God ends the marriage, then the surviving spouse is free to marry another. Upon hearing Jesus's teaching our immediate reaction might be that all of this is way too black and white. What about this circumstance and that circumstance? And there might be validity to those circumstances. Not every divorce is sinful. Some divorces are justified. Jesus himself, in a parallel passage, says that divorce may be granted when adultery has been committed by the other spouse. But we all know that not all divorces are because of adultery or abuse or abandonment. Many divorces happen because husband and wife do not get along. That is not unusual or surprising. We all have our sinful flesh that is as wicked as can be. We also have the devil who is always ready to blow any sparks he can find into a raging, consuming fire. Divorce is not irrational. It seems like it is a good solution to an all too common problem. Why should two people be chained together when they no longer want to be together? Although this seems reasonable, it doesn't seem to play out this way in actual experience. Becoming one flesh with someone is not merely biological or social or economic. As Jesus shows in our reading, God is involved in this union. God joins together. Divorce pulls apart. Those who divorce often feel lingering pains. Maybe some problems have been solved by the divorce, but new ones arise. The happiness that was hoped for doesn't always come or doesn't always last. When Jesus teaches about the irrevocability of marriage and the unsuitability of divorce, he is actually showing us a way for happiness, for blessedness. If you have experienced difficulties in your marriage, or if you are currently experiencing difficulties in your marriage, then Jesus's commands might seem to be offering the opposite of happiness or blessedness. It might seem as though Jesus is only making the situation worse. Now not only can you not have the hope of happiness from getting divorced, if you do get divorced, then you'll have to feel guilty about it. Although this might be a common way of hearing Jesus's commands, it isn't the only way. Consider again the commands that I began with. Jesus commands us to give to those who ask, and not to demand back from those who take. One could interpret those commands in such a way that Jesus intends to make us miserable. Jesus wants us to lose all our money. Jesus wants us to be abused by evildoers and have no recourse so as to defend ourselves. But is this what Jesus really wants? Does he want us to be miserable? He wants just the opposite. He wants us to be happy and blessed. He promises that if we follow his commands that we will be blessed. Strangely enough, if we were to follow his commands we might end up with less money, but we will nevertheless end up with more. Undertaking Jesus's commands with faith makes the scenario appear altogether different. So it is also with Jesus's commands about the irrevocability of marriage and the unsuitability of divorce. If you leave God out of the picture it can seem like the gloomiest of commands. It can sound like God is cruel and wants to take away all joy and happiness by keeping people stuck in miserable marriages. But that is not the only way it can be looked at. We can look at these commands with faith. Looking at your marriage with faith is to realize that God has been and is completely involved. God has joined you together with your spouse. We know that because you have not just been dating or going steady. You have made your promises before God, to one another, and to society. You have promised that you will love and cherish this person for better for worse, for richer for poorer, and in sickness and in health until death parts you. Because God has put you together with this person, you know that that is where you belong. Because God has put you together with this person, you know that God will care for you even if you are going through some troubles. Now, I wish that there weren't any troubles. I wish that everyone always got along splendidly. I wish that everyone always had more than enough money so that they would never have to ask another person for money. I could wish for a lot of things along these lines, but my wishing wouldn't make it so. We live in a broken world with much suffering. How should we respond to this brokenness? Jesus's commands direct us in the way that we should go. His commands help to undo brokenness. We don't have to sit idly by with brokenness, believing with the rest of the world that nothing can be done. We can demonstrate our faith by cheerfully giving when called upon to do so. We can demonstrate our faith by cheerfully looking to the future with the one to whom we have been joined by God to be one flesh. I understand how what I have said could be painful for those of you who have difficulties in your marriage. To be cheerful about your marriage seems like something you gave up on a long time ago. You haven't been looking forward with cheerfulness. You've only been trying to survive. But this is where Jesus's commands can be the most helpful. Although you might not be able to see any light at the end of the tunnel or anywhere else for that matter, God is the creator of light. What might God do if you were to believe? What might God do if you joined yourself wholeheartedly to his teaching? There's no telling what might happen—what adventures God might put you on—but I'm sure that it would be good! There is no way for me to prove to you that obeying Jesus's commands, being his disciple, will be good for you. The only way you can know that is by taking the plunge yourself. You have to believe that giving to the one who asks will do you good. You have to believe that not demanding back what was taken from you will bring you happiness and blessedness. You have to believe that Jesus will protect you and lead you in the way that you should go, even if that path might be filled with painful sacrifices and frightening challenges. What is good for you to know, though, is that you are not stuck. Jesus's commands and promises open up possibilities that are so often deemed to be impossible. Jesus is Lord. All things have been put under his feet. Therefore, there is always hope. Nothing that we do in faith will be in vain. Listening to Jesus brings us on the right paths that bring about love and healing. Hopefully today you have seen that none of us believe as we ought. None of us are as convinced as we should be that Jesus's ways. Therefore we can all change our ways. We can all repent and believe the good news that Jesus is Lord. Jesus forgives and will set right all that has gone wrong. In the mean time be led by Jesus's good commands and promises.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Being recognized is a deep human need. Being recognized is when a person is accepted and appreciated for who they are. People can be recognized for all kinds of different things: “You are talented.” “You are hard working.” “You are funny.” It feels good to be recognized. Usually people cultivate their lives in such a way that they can continue to be recognized. Funny people enjoy being recognized as funny, and so they are always coming up with new bits. What do you want to be known as? Smart, successful, caring, hard-nosed, charming? You'll do what's necessary to continue to be known and recognized as such. This is simply how we are. There would be no sense in trying to get rid of this impulse. We need to be accepted and appreciated. To try to do away with this would be as silly as trying to do away with sleeping, eating, or drinking. That said, the desire to be recognized can go awry. For example, what often happens is that a person not only wants to be recognized, he or she doesn't want others to be recognized. Let's say a woman is pretty. Maybe she'd like to be the prettiest. That means she'd like it if nobody was even close to being as pretty as her. Or let's say there are many children in the family. Which of them is the favorite? There can only be one favorite. To be the child that mom or dad loves most feels good. I think you can see where problems arise. Being the prettiest can bring about meanness and conceit. With favorites in families there can be lifelong resentment. It's not hard to see how these things can be bad. What is to be done? I think a lot of people believe nothing can be done. We have no other choice than to accept things as they are. The best will be the best and the worst will be the worst. Since that is the way things are, you should try your hardest to be the best. Then you'll get that recognition you crave. If someone is not getting recognition, then it's because they aren't trying hard enough. If they tried harder, then they'd be recognized too. This is a very powerful philosophy. It makes sense. It's assumed to be correct. It's everywhere. To learn something different, therefore, will require effort. You'll have to learn new and different rules. Take Jesus's statement in our Gospel reading. He said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” To be first be last. It almost sounds non-sensical. Those are opposites of one another. If the first are last, then they can't be first. The first are first and the last are last. But Jesus helps us with what he says after that. “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Being the servant of all throws a different light on things. It shows us a different way that we might use what has been given to us. What comes naturally to us is to use whatever we have to promote ourselves. We try to make the case that we are the greatest. But if we would serve, then we would use what we have for others—to lift them up, to do them good. Consider something I've already mentioned—prettiness. It can seem to be something that is only good for the girl who has it, but it doesn't have to be used that way. A pretty girl can give her prettiness to her man. She wants him to enjoy her prettiness instead enjoying her prettiness for herself or using her prettiness to distinguish herself from others. Or a pretty girl can love the girls who have not been given what she has been given. She can forget about her prettiness and associate with the lowly—not in some ostentatious, obnoxious, ugly way, but in a genuine, friendly way. Thereby she gives away her prettiness to those who are less so, and who might be somewhat shunned because of it. Boys can do this too. Boys often value different things than girls. Athletic boys can hang out with non-athletic boys—bearing with them, not ridiculing them and demeaning them. Boys who know how to use guns or tools or other desirable things can take in those who don't. In this way a boy gives cover to another. You know how it usually goes, though, don't you? A hierarchy is what comes naturally. The best are at the top. The worst are at the bottom. Those at the top differentiate themselves from the rest with their greatness. They are not like them. They are best. The rest are not. Those at the bottom should know their place and burn with envy. That's the way it is—so so many say. That's not correct if Jesus is correct. Maybe Jesus is a fool. Lots of people don't believe him. But he says that greatness is not when you use what you have for yourself. Greatness is when you are the last of all and the servant of all. Greatness is when you lift up others, when you help and improve others. The lowlier the people you can help, the better, because when you are helping really lowly people you are being like Jesus. Think of the way that Jesus is. If ever there was anyone who is the best, then that would be Jesus. But how does Jesus use his greatness? Does he point at disappointing people and say, “Look at how much better I am than you!” “Look how sinful you are and how righteous I am!” No. Jesus doesn't do this. He could if he wanted. He truly is so much better and so much more righteous than we are. But he doesn't use what is his to stare at himself in the mirror, admiring himself, comparing himself to those who do not have what he has. He uses what is his to help those who are without. He makes others better. And there's no one who's too low for him. There's no one about whom he says, “Ach! That one is too disgusting!” He rejects no one. The rejection is always on the other end. The sinner says he doesn't want to associate with him. The proud one says, “I won't have your condescension and charity!” But as far as Jesus is concerned, he is willing to be last of all. He is the servant of all. The word “all” means without exception. He will help you. You can see how Jesus's friendliness, Jesus's reaching out, Jesus's free acknowledgement, acceptance, and approval of people is beautiful, helpful, and good. Another word that we could use to describe all this activity of Jesus is “love.” Jesus loves us, therefore we should love others. The apostle John has written, “We love, because he first loved us.” There are a lot of people who want to be recognized. They are aching for it. You can give them that. Now I'm sure you could come up with excuses for why you shouldn't. I'm sure that if you used your eagle-eye glasses for fault-finding, you could find faults in anyone. Thank God Jesus didn't do that to you. If Jesus were looking for faults in you, so as to excuse himself from help you, I'm sure he could have. But he didn't. He loves you, so you should love others. And, as I mentioned before, the lowlier the person, the better. The more like Christ you will be. So love that person whom you have found to be distasteful. Love that person from whom you will get no benefit in return. Jesus says that we should love even our enemies. Jesus's saying is a strange recipe for greatness: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” You might be saying to yourself, “That won't make me happy. That will make me miserable.” Don't be so sure. Loving and being loved are the highest things in life. The more you love the more you're loved. There's no limit to how much you can love. Jesus says that he can become the water of life in us so that we become like a spring. A spring of water just keeps going and going. Life and love bubble up even unto eternal life. To do the opposite of this cannot turn out well. This is an important warning. People think it is neither here nor there if they are as vain and conceited as peacocks. Not so! James warned us in our Epistle reading that jealousy and selfish ambition are demonic. Demons hate and hamper and destroy life. So do the proud and cruel self-promoters. Hell, because it is the opposite of heaven, would seem to me to be the place where there is no love—a truly terrifying possibility. No love! You know how good love is, so don't shut yourself up away from it. Do not strive to be the greatest by comparing yourself. Greatness is when you use what has been given to you to make other people better. Greatness is being like Jesus. Love like him. Be the last of all and the servant of all.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:If you can imagine what it would be like to be deaf and unable to speak, then you might understand why Jesus said “Ephphatha,” which means “be opened” in our Gospel reading. Deafness and muteness close a person in on himself. It is difficult to take in the thoughts of others because you cannot hear them speaking. It is difficult to communicate one's own thoughts because the speaking is not clear. Hearing well and speaking well can easily be taken for granted. We don't know a good thing until it's gone. Restoring losses like blindness, deafness, lameness, or muteness dramatically improves people's lives. Our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 35 talks about changing lives for the better. Isaiah lived more than 700 years before Christ, but he talks about things that Jesus did: “The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped; the lame man shall leap like a dear, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.” Jesus did many miracles having to do with precisely these ailments. Think of how their lives were changed for the better. There are several videos on the Internet that show something similar. Perhaps you've seen them. The videos show little kids getting glasses for the first time, or hearing aids or implants for the first time. These kids already know mom and dad, but they had never seen them clearly or heard them clearly. The first time they can see or hear they are filled with awe. Joy comes over their faces. Sometimes there are tears. The world opens up for them. That's life and liveliness. It is as Jesus said, “I came so that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.” Jesus's bringing of abundant life is, again, fulfilling what Isaiah wrote. All of Isaiah 35 is about the restoration of life that the Christ brings about. Dry, dead, and barren places like the desert will come to life and bloom. Fraud, violence, and death will be no more. The redeemed will enter into Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. What features most prominently in Isaiah 35, however, is life with God. It says, “They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.” We heard at the beginning of our Old Testament reading these words, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.'” Those are bracing words if you have the guts to believe them. “You will see God,” and “God is coming for you.” If you think about it, isn't it the case that we need to be “opened up,” so to speak, to this reality of God—that we should see him, that he's coming for us? Blind people need to be opened up to the reality of seeing. Deaf people need to be opened up to the reality of hearing. It's not like sights and sounds don't exist when someone is blind or deaf, it's just that they cannot perceive what's actually there. So it is with God. Our inability or unwillingness to acknowledge him doesn't mean that he doesn't exist. To no longer be severely hampered—to no longer be blind, deaf, lame, and mute when it comes to God—requires a miracle along the lines of the man whom Jesus helped in our Gospel reading. We need to be opened up, otherwise we won't even know what we are missing. So it can be also for those who are physically blind, deaf, lame, or mute. Those conditions can be lived with. They are not fatal. It's just that large swaths of reality and joy are withheld. We can be that way with God too. In fact, that is our natural predisposition. We by nature are closed off from God, and we think that's just normal. Consider your daily routine. It's so easy to go through an entire day without hardly giving a single thought towards God. We just follow our routine: Get up, make coffee, take a shower, go to work or school, come home, watch Netflix, go to bed. God is there the whole time, but we have nothing to do with him. It's as though we were blind, deaf, lame, and mute towards him without even knowing it. I could almost see Jesus groaning over us like he did with the man in our Gospel reading. “Wake up you sleepy head!” I could see Jesus saying to us, “Be opened.” Life is more than food and drink. Life is more than work and vacation. Life is more than amusing ourselves to death. We can be as unthinking and uncaring as livestock, consuming what's given to us, oblivious to the coming slaughter. That's not how we are to be. We are much greater than the other animals. We have been made in the image of God. That makes us capable of high and divine things that we should take in, consider, and interact with. We can know things like truth, justice, mercy, peace, sacrifice, hope. On top of all these things we can even know God. Now, I can hear some critics saying that all that stuff about truth, mercy, and so on is a waste of time and money. There are a lot of people—the most powerful people in our society—who think that jobs, money, business, technology, and so on are the only things that matter. All that other stuff is too high-falutin'. These people usually pride themselves for their practicality and for living in the real world. They're wrong! They don't live in the real world. They've made for themselves a world that doesn't have a Creator in it who daily and richly provides me with all that I need. The real world has God in it. The real world has God's commands and curses, his promises and blessings. Just because a person is unable or unwilling to acknowledge that, doesn't make it so. Imagine if there were a blind man who didn't believe that such a thing as sight exists. He's utterly convinced of that because he's never experienced it. Thus this arrogant man would like to impose his lack and his poverty on everyone else. So it is with those who scoff at God's Word, who scoff at Jesus's sacraments, who scoff at truth, love, beauty, and so on. Why? Because it's work that's important. Or amusements are important. Or it's simply a matter of being anesthetized and vegging out to pass the time. I know a lot of people like this. I know myself. I know that I can very easily pass my days without much thought regarding God. I know, as another example, that I do not love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, and with all my mind. A spiritually blind person might respond, “Well, no one can do that, so who cares?” But what if we really are supposed to? What if we really can? What if Jesus was sent to cure our blindness? What if Jesus is meant to open up in us a closed-off-ness that we just thought was normal? Jesus says, “I came that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.” Jesus turns back the curses that hamper life. He heals physical blindness, deafness, and so on. Everyone can see the goodness of that. What is not realized as frequently is that Jesus opens us up spiritually to things we wouldn't otherwise know. We wouldn't otherwise know these things, because these things are only learned from the prophets, from Jesus, and from the apostles. Just as the blind man doesn't know what it means to see until sight is given, so also we do not know what it is like to know God until Jesus opens us up to that. We can know God by his Word. We can learn how to live with him in his creation from the Psalms. We can learn about our future from prophesies like Isaiah 35. We can begin to love God by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can think about God more often than never or twice a day. We can call upon him in prayer. We can restrain ourselves when we know that going further down the path of temptation would bring us into sin. We can begin to live a new life. What some can't see or hear we can begin to see and hear. But, as the apostle says, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now we know in part, then we shall know fully, even as we have ben fully known.” Paul is talking about how we only get an inkling in this life. I suspect an experience awaits us that is something like those videos that I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon. Those little kids never knew that they could see so well until the first time those glasses were put on their faces. They didn't know how beautiful Mom's voice was until they heard it. So it will be also for us. What will it be like to see God? What will it be like to look Jesus in the face? Jesus opens us up to this hope with his Gospel. No one has seen God except Jesus who came from God. And yet, because of Jesus, we will see God in his holiness and splendor. I suspect that just a moment of that will contain more living in it than our entire life here below. Therefore, do not be deceived. Don't be tricked out of this healing. Jesus warns us against following those who are blind: “If the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the pit.” Do not be blind to God. Do not be blind to truth, love, righteousness, sin, justice, redemption, and many other spiritual things. Our world is full of people who say that none of that matters. They are blind. They are closed in on themselves. “Ephphatha!” Be opened to God and to one another. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Let's begin by defining a couple words: defilement and sanctification. These words are opposites. Defilement is when someone is made unclean and unholy. Sanctification is when someone is made holy. Whether we are defiled or sanctified is of utmost importance for how God regards us. If we are defiled, then we are unacceptable before God. It's like having something rotten in your home. It stinks. Put that stuff outside. It doesn't belong in the house. That is how are we before God when we are defiled. Being sanctified is the opposite. When we are holy, we belong with God. One of the ways that the Bible talks about holiness is by being properly dressed. When we are properly dressed we have no need to be ashamed. If we were found in our underwear, or naked, we would be ashamed. But when we are properly clothed we are acceptable. We can be seen. So it is for those who are holy. Defilement describes a state of being where we have no business being together with God. Sanctification describes a state of being where we belong together with God. Understanding defilement and sanctification is essential for understanding the religion that God gave to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai in the Old Testament. God wanted the Israelites to be holy so that they could be with him and he could be with them. To make the Israelites holy God instituted many laws, rituals, and practices. Moses wrote these down in Exodus, and, especially, in Leviticus. The entirety of Leviticus is God's instructions for avoiding defilement and what is to be done if someone has become defiled. One of the regulations that God gave at that time was about clean and unclean foods. Clean food could be eaten without defilement. Unclean foods would defile the eater. For example, beef and lamb could be eaten. Pork, shellfish, and several other animals would defile the eater. We won't get into the whys and wherefores of this. You can read about that yourself in Leviticus 11. What I'd like to point out is that according to the laws God gave to the Israelites, there was such a thing as unclean food that would defile the Israelites if they ate it. This is important background information for our Gospel reading. For the nearly 1,500 years, from Moses to Jesus, the Jews observed the distinction between clean and unclean food. But then in our Gospel reading Jesus says: “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” Let's apply Jesus's words to unclean food. Unclean food is something from outside. It defiles. Is Jesus rejecting the distinction between clean and unclean food? Yes, he is. Jesus is even clearer, later, with his disciples when they asked him to explain himself. He said, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus Jesus declared all foods clean.) Jesus said, “All foods are clean.” There seems to be an obvious contradiction between what Leviticus 11 says and what Jesus says in our Gospel reading. Leviticus 11 says that there are several foods that what will defile you. Jesus says, “Nothing from the outside can defile a person. What defiles a person is what goes out from a person.” The Pharisees and scribes—always quick to point out any faults they find with Jesus or with his disciples—thought that Jesus was taking away from what God had commanded. We heard in our first reading that nothing should be added or taken away from what God has said. But instead of thinking that Jesus is contradicting the Scriptures or taking something away, it might be helpful to think of what he is doing as fulfilling the Scriptures. The Law that God gave to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai was binding for a time, but that was not meant to be an arrangement that would last for all time. Something new would take its place. This was, in fact, already prophesied at that time. In Deuteronomy 18, which is at the same time as Mt. Sinai, Moses speaks of a mysterious Someone who is to come, who will be like him, but even greater. Moses calls this one the “prophet.” He says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brother Israelites. Listen to him.” Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. Moses says, “Listen to him.” The people had listened to Moses. Now we should listen to this Prophet. Moses says so. So if Jesus declares that all foods are clean, then we should believe all foods are clean. Jesus is Lord. In order to do this, however, you must understand who Jesus is. You must correctly identify him as the prophet spoken of by Moses. The problem with the scribes and Pharisees was that they didn't believe, or didn't want to believe, that Jesus is this prophet. They didn't want to listen to him even though Moses told them that they should. Because they didn't want to believe that Jesus is Lord, having authority over all things in heaven and on earth, they instead saw him as an enemy. They thought that he was contradicting Moses, taking away from Scripture, leading people astray. They became convinced that they would be doing God a favor if they got rid of him, and eventually they crucified him. This question, of who Jesus is, is important and highly consequential for every human being—not just for those scribes and Pharisees. We know what they thought of Jesus. What do you say about Jesus? Your answer is of eternal significance. The Catechism teaches us the correct answer for what we should say about Jesus. It says, “I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord.” That is the shortest creed in Christendom. What does it mean to be a Christian? Being a Christian is believing that Jesus Christ is your Lord. When it comes to what we've been talking about today—defilement and sanctification—Jesus being your Lord makes all the difference. The Catechism goes on to describe Jesus's lordship, what he does as my Lord: “I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.” You can hear defilement language and sanctification language in that description of Jesus's lordship. We hear defilement language when we are spoken of as lost and condemned persons. We are defiled by what is in us and what comes out of us. It is as Jesus says in our Gospel reading, “What comes out of a person defiles him… From the heart comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” Does what Jesus says describe you? Do you have evil thoughts? Are you guilty of sexual immorality, which in the Greek is porneia, which is where we get the word pornography? Do you covet? Do you lie? Do you gossip? I, unfortunately, have done these things and more, which means that I am a lost and condemned person. As far as how I am in myself I am defiled and have no business being together with God. I should be swept out and put with the rest of the trash. But there is sanctification language too—the opposite of defilement. The Catechism says that Jesus has redeemed me—a wonderful word! I am redeemed! I have been purchased. I have been won—not with gold or silver, but with the holy, precious blood and the innocent suffering and death of my Lord and your Lord. The sacrifice of this Lamb of God has brought about an eternal redemption so that all who trust in him will be clothed with holiness so as to live together with God. In conclusion, defilement and sanctification might not be the most common words. But whether we are defiled or sanctified is of eternal significance. Whether we are defiled or sanctified determines our relationship with God. When we are living in sin and unbelief, we are defiled. When we call out to Jesus in faith and say, “Have mercy on me, a sinner,” we are sanctified. The stakes have been raised, so to speak, from what was given at Mt. Sinai. Jesus reveals that our defilement is much deeper than we would otherwise think or imagine. It goes all the way down into our heart, the core of our being. But the remedy is also deeper. God has sent his Son to be the Lord who redeems us.   Jesus is the one about whom Moses prophesied. We should listen to him. What he has to say is not bad for us sinners, but good and life giving. As Jesus himself says, “I have not come in order to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through me.” Listen to him.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Our Gospel reading today is the middle of a conversation that turned into something like an argument. The conversation is between Jesus and some Jews who were seeking him. The reason why they were seeking him was because they had been fed with the five loaves and two fish. That impressed them. They were ready to get on board with Jesus. Why shouldn't he be king? Then we'd have loaves and fishes aplenty. But when Jesus had been found, he put a damper on their plans. He said, “You shouldn't work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.” Jesus would not only feed their bellies, but their souls too. There is a food that does not perish in the eating of it, but endures to eternal life. Jesus is that food. He says, “I am the bread of life.”   As you heard in the reading, this redirection of their intentions didn't go over very well. They grumbled. They couldn't understand him. They had liked the bread that they had eaten before. Why couldn't he just make some more. That would make them happy. But Jesus as bread? What does that even mean and what are they supposed to do? Eat him? That's ridiculous. They want bread made from barley, not bread made of flesh. But Jesus's goal wasn't to do whatever needed to be done in order to be popular. When you understand that Jesus wasn't trying to entertain the crowd, or seek their approval, but instead to speak the truth about his Father and about himself, then his words become more understandable. They become more understandable, but only to those who will believe. If you will not believe, then Jesus's words will be strange at best but what is much more likely is that you will be repulsed by them. If you will believe, then what he says is simple and wonderful. Let's take his main statement, which begins our reading. He says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Jesus is the bread of life. Faith eats him. If you eat this bread, then you will not hunger and you will not thirst. This could be referring to physical hunger and thirst if need be. I wouldn't put it past Jesus who fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. But physical hunger and thirst are not the only kind of lack we might have. Spiritual hunger and thirst are much more important. Spiritually we hunger and thirst after righteousness. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness is another way of saying that we haven't got any. We aren't righteous. We are well aware how damaging it can be to lack food and drink. We can't live very long without them. What about righteousness? Can we live without righteousness? In a sense we can, but it isn't much of an existence. If we are living without righteousness then we are always needing to live in delusions and under the cover of darkness. We have to hide, so we aren't found out. We don't want to be exposed otherwise people will know what we are really like. It is very important to delude yourself about God, or about what happens when we die. If you are not righteous, then you cannot enjoy the thought of meeting God or being judged by him unless you make yourself forget all the stuff that you have done. Without righteousness we do well to stay away as long as we can, until we can stave off death no longer. Then our fear begins in earnest. If a person was righteous, then he or she would not need to worry. It would be nice to have no fear. But many people do not believe that becoming righteous is possible. That's understandable. Consult your own experience. Who hasn't done shameful, embarrassing stuff? Don't we all need to hide from the light lest our evil deeds be exposed? That sounds right to me. We've all blown it one way or another. But this is where Jesus's words in our reading today are so important. They address this need that can seem so impossible to do anything about. Be that as it may, Jesus still says what he says. He's the bread of life. All you who hunger and thirst for righteousness—because you haven't got any—may eat him and be filled. Then you are righteous. Then you can stand in the judgement. You need not fear the light. Why? Because Jesus was punished in your place for your sins, and he gives you his own righteousness as the Son of God in the place of your sinfulness. I admit that the picture is strange. Jesus tells us to heat him because he is the bread of life. The Jews grumbled among themselves. What does he mean when he says that he is bread? How are we supposed to eat him? Our brains work the same way as their brains worked, so I think we can understand their confusion. But Jesus does not back down. He doesn't apologize. He presses forward with his points and, if anything, gets only more extreme. Extreme actions are needed to cure our lack of righteousness. It is not just saying you're sorry. It's not trying harder. Those are some not so extreme actions that come to mind. We must eat Jesus, the living bread sent from heaven. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We desperately need righteousness. Every other attempt will leave us hungry. Then the best we've got to combat our lack of righteousness is deluding ourselves or trying to stay in the darkness.   This is all completely unnecessary. Jesus lays out his Father's will in such a simple way in our reading today. He says, “This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” So simple: Look to the Son. Believe in him. You'll have eternal life. Any sinner can grasp hold of that because he says nothing about making it up to God. He says nothing about paying for your own sins. If you know anything about yourself you know that you haven't got that in you. Instead, it's “Look to the Son. Believe in him.” That's the Father's will. You had no righteousness, but now, believing in Jesus, Jesus has fed you with himself as the bread of life. It's as simple as that. This reminds me of my favorite statement about evangelism. Evangelism is telling people the Gospel, which is the good news about Jesus. Someone has said that evangelism is like one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread. Beggars, as you know, don't have any money. They can't buy anything. No food. So when beggars get food they like it. They might even tell their friends where they found it. So, also, with us Christians. We are beggars when it comes to righteousness. We haven't got any. But then Jesus comes along and says, “I'll be your righteousness. I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. Eat and be satisfied. Eat and live.” The beggar goes from hungry to full. Shouldn't we beggars tell our fellow beggars where we got bread? They too may be forgiven. They too may be completely righteous through faith. Point them in the direction of Jesus who wishes to make himself known throughout the world by means of us beggars. We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:About a month ago we heard a reading that was similar to our Gospel reading today. In that reading Jesus and the disciples embarked in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. All of a sudden a great windstorm arose so that water was filling the boat. The disciples ran back to Jesus, who was sleeping in the stern, and said, “Don't you care that we are dying?” And Jesus rose from his sleep, rebuked the wind and the waves, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Our reading today is similar. The disciples are again in a boat, although this time Jesus was not with them. Jesus had sent them across while he went up on a mountain to pray. In our reading today a strong wind arose, but it was not so strong that the boat was in danger of sinking. It just made for terribly hard work as they rowed against it. They rowed for hours until Jesus came to them walking on the water. The disciples assumed that he was a ghost. No human being can walk on water. Jesus told them that it was him. Don't be afraid. When he got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then Mark says, “The disciples were utterly astounded.” But I think that's lacking something. Perhaps a more colloquial translation might be: “The disciples were out of their minds,” or “Their minds were blown.” But not in a good way—at least according to Mark—because he goes on to say, “They were utterly astounded, because they did not understand about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” Mark brings up the loaves. He is referring to what we heard about last week—Jesus's feeding of the 5,000. Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish so that 5,000 men ate until they were full. The disciples didn't understand this. Their hearts were hard. It seems that what Mark is saying is that after such a magnificent display of Jesus's power nothing should surprise them—not even walking on water. The disciples didn't get it. They were unbelieving. The disciples' unbelief is the aspect of both readings that I'd like to focus on. In both readings the disciples are identified as lacking faith. In the reading from about a month ago Jesus asked them, “Do you still have no faith?” And in our reading today the disciples' hearts are described as being hardened. These twelve men were the people who were closest to Jesus. How could they have no faith? Maybe they did—at least according to their own estimation. I suspect that if we could travel back in time to interview the disciples, we might find that they would not have agreed with Jesus's and Mark's characterization of them. I think if we were to ask them whether they had faith they would have said, “Of course we have faith!” That would be pretty convincing too. They had left their livelihoods behind. They had followed Jesus. They heard his teaching. They saw his miracles. These all seem to be very good reasons to believe that they had faith, and yet they didn't. This shows that there is a difference between saying you have faith or believing you have faith and actually having faith. I think these disciples would have said that they had faith and believed that they had faith, but when push came to shove they had no faith. This wasn't the last time either. When Jesus was arrested the disciples quit believing in him. The shepherd was struck and the sheep were scattered. This was despite their intentions and vows of allegiance. Just a few hours before, when Jesus was instituting the Lord's Supper, all the disciples said that they would rather die than forsake him. Peter said that even if all the other disciples would leave him, Peter wouldn't, but we know what Peter did a few hours later. When repeatedly questioned whether he was one of Jesus's disciples, Peter finally said, “I blankedy-blank don't know the man!” And the rooster crowed. What we can learn from the example of the disciples is that even the “best” Christians, who have the best advantages, can fool themselves when it comes to the estimation of their faith. There's no reason to believe that the disciples were being anything but sincere on Maundy Thursday when they said they were going to stick with Jesus no matter what. They believed their faith was very strong. What they believed didn't matter. They lost their faith. They quit believing that Jesus could do anything. The reason why I am focusing on the disciples' unbelief is because we can be like them. We might like to indulge in thinking about the strength of our faith. We have our credentials just like the disciples. We've been members of this church for a long time. We've been taught. We've sacrificed. We've sent our kids to parochial school. And it's not like these thoughts are altogether bad or untrue. The disciples had similar thoughts: They had left everything for Jesus. They learned from him. They didn't give up following him. Certainly such actions are not bad or without fruit. Where a disciple's faith goes wrong, however, is when faith is put in anything besides Jesus. A false faith is a faith that's in one's own self, in one's own actions, in one's own feelings in one's own estimation of faith. For disciples of Jesus the actions or feelings that we might believe in can be quite pious, having a lot to do with Jesus. Certainly the apostles' thoughts and feelings were very much tied up with Jesus. But faith must be grounded in Jesus as the one who acts, as the one who saves. He can do anything. We don't help him with our actions or feelings or estimations of our own faith. These things seem as likely to hurt as to help. Therefore, as we see so often in the Bible, it is not uncommon for disciples to be humiliated. I know that's a strong word. Being humiliated is related to being humble. Being humble is the opposite of being proud. Pride comes before the fall, so being humiliated is by no means the worst thing that can happen to us. It's not fun, but if we will accept it, it can do us a world of good.   It was good for these disciples. It probably stung when Jesus asked how it was that they still didn't have faith. I'm sure they were ashamed by how they got scared and ran away. This couldn't have been how they had envisioned their faith journey. But their dreams of grandeur were not as pious as they appeared. They were a subtle replacement of Jesus being the Savior. Their complimenting of themselves, and their measuring of themselves as to how they were so much better than others—all these pleasurable thoughts weren't worth a hill of beans. They learned that by bitter experience. They were humiliated. They couldn't trust in themselves. They hadn't stuck with Jesus. What was wonderful, however, was how Jesus stuck by them. He stuck by them when they were so foolish and ignoble and had so thoroughly embarrassed themselves. This is an important lesson. What does it mean and what does it look like to be a Christian? Having become Christians do we now soar into the stratosphere on eagles' wings? That would be nice! If you can pull it off, then good for you! But don't be surprised if your experience should be like the apostles' experience. Your experience could be along the same lines as we heard about in our Gospel reading. We can get worn out. The disciples had rowed against that miserable wind for hours on end. We're not at our best when we are tired. I wouldn't be surprised if the disciples well remembered who it was that sent them on that miserable journey. Why had Jesus done this to them? Why had he made them so miserable? The long and short of it was that the disciples were not looking to Jesus for their strength, for their renewal, for their comfort, for their peace. That is why they were out of their minds when he showed up. They hadn't been thinking of him. Can't you sympathize with that? I sure can. I do not think on Jesus as much as I should. I am particularly bad at thinking of him when I'm tired, when I'm worn down, when I'm looking for comfort. I don't really believe that Jesus can do anything. So it goes. I am always repenting. I've disappointed myself countless times. I wish that wasn't so, but it is, and it's not the worst thing. It's shown me over and over again that I am not trustworthy. I cannot save myself. I have not graduated from God's forgiving grace. I go crawling back again and again: “Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner!” I'd like to believe in myself, but my weaknesses and sins teach me that this would be a very foolish thing to believe in. If I am to have any hope of being judged as righteous before God, Jesus must do it all. Maybe this resonates with you too. We can be friends, sharing our common love and trust in Jesus who saves disciples who are all too often disappointing. Jesus, on the other hand, never disappoints. Trust in him, not in yourself.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Be faithful unto death and you will receive the crown of everlasting life. At the end of last week's Gospel reading Jesus sent out the 12 apostles. They went out and did what Jesus told them to do. They proclaimed that people should repent. They cast out demons and anointed people who were sick with oil and healed them. The apostles were making a name for Jesus by doing the works Jesus had given them to do in his name. Our Gospel reading today follows immediately after last week's reading, and as you can recall, today's reading was about the beheading of John the Baptist. Our reading today is linked in an interesting way with last week's reading, even though they seem to be completely different topics. At the very beginning of our reading today it says, “King Herod heard of it.” The “it” that Herod heard of was the work of the apostles in Jesus's name. When Herod heard of this, he immediately thought of what he had done to John the Baptist. His conscience was bothered, and understandably so. Mark then goes on to tell the story of what Herod and his illegitimate wife, Herodias, had done. Theirs was a story of unbelief and unrepentance. They did not submit to the teaching that John the Baptist taught them. They resisted, each in their own ways. Herod might not have been quite so upset as Herodias, but he still put him in prison and was responsible for beheading him. Herodias was much more straightforward. She hated him. She hated him because John had said that what they were doing was wrong. Herod and Herodias were not originally married to each other. Both of them were originally married to other spouses. Herodias was originally married to Herod's brother Philip. But they wanted to be together, so they divorced their spouses and married each other. John the Baptist told Herod that this was adultery. The 6th commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery.” Marriage is a lifelong promise of love and faithfulness between husband and wife. God is the one who joins the two to become one flesh, and God is the one who ends marriages by bringing about the death of either husband or wife. Then the surviving spouse is free to marry another. When a person divorces their spouse without sufficient justification that is taking the place of God. God is supposed to decide when marriages end, not us. I'd like to pause for a moment to take stock of our own understanding of these things in our time. God's commands concerning divorce and remarriage are perhaps not well known, but they are certainly not well heeded among us. We have a problem also with fornication, which is having sex with someone to whom you are not married. Sexual experimentation with multiple partners is the norm. Living together with someone to whom you are not married is the norm. Whether these things are normal or not is beside the point. God is clear. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not fornicate. You shall not have this special sexual relationship without promising lifelong faithfulness. God's “no” to these things are so that he may say “yes” to a relationship that is deeper, healthier, and life-giving. Whether you or I like or dislike these commands, doesn't change the fact that they are God's commands. The appropriate response to God's commands that we have not kept is to fear God and repent. It is obvious that neither Herod nor Herodias feared God and repented. It is quite likely, in fact, that neither of them thought much about God at all. They justified themselves in their own sight, so that they could do what they wanted to do. When John the Baptist contradicted their justification of themselves, they probably didn't think that God had anything against them. They probably thought that John was against them with some outdated, misplaced zeal for sexual purity laws. Thus they directed their hatred against John, when it was in fact God that they had a problem with. John was just the messenger. John was a faithful messenger, but Herod and Herodias punished him—first by imprisoning him, then by beheading him. Such is the experience Christians will have who want to be faithful messengers of God. Jesus doesn't keep this a secret. He says, “If they have hated me, they will also hate you.” If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, then you will take up his cross and follow him. The hatred of rebellious sinners that is really against God will be poured out on those who remain faithful to his Word. The anger of rebellious sinners is understandable, if you will only consider how you yourself are. I don't know of anyone, including myself, who likes to hear criticism of themselves. My first reaction is to strike out against the one who tells me I'm wrong. Although this is understandable as an immediate reaction, may God grant us grace so that we come to our senses. We should realize that we are not just dealing with flesh and blood. God is behind the faithful messenger. We should not be like Herod and Herodias, who did not come to their senses. They continued on in unbelief and unrepentance. If we are looking for an example to follow, we should be like John the Baptist. He is an example of faithfulness. John loved God and Jesus. Because John loved God, he made it his ambition to please God. John was not ashamed of God's commands or God's promises. John believed that the surest way to happiness and eternal life was by following what God teaches in the Bible. John was very brave. He condemned sin wherever it might be found regardless of the power or authority of the ones who were sinning. He called the highest leaders in the church at that time a “brood of vipers,” because they were a brood of vipers. He called Herod and Herodias adulterers because they were adulterers. This last diagnosis, even though it was true, resulted in his death. John could have easily avoided death and a whole bunch of trouble if he would only have not cared about God's commands or God's promises or God's kingdom. All that John would have needed to do was to say, “Never mind. No big deal. Let's all just life and let live.” Immediately he would have been released from prison. If only John would have melted into the general population, who are quite baffled and cowardly when it comes to spiritual things, he wouldn't have been opposed. John could have had a much more comfortable life. But if John would have been like that, then he would not have been the bright and shining light that he was, leading people out of the devil's kingdom into God's kingdom. He would have left people just the way they were, lost in sin and unbelief. God's Word would remain unused. John wouldn't have accomplished anything that he did accomplish. John's faithfulness to God's Word helped an untold number of people to escape hell by repenting of their sins and believing in Jesus. John baptized an untold number of people for the forgiveness of their sins. He pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John was a good and helpful man. You can be like John too. You are fully equipped with what John had. You have God's commands. You have God's promises. Those commands and promises bring about repentance and faith in those whom God has chosen. You can be a bright and shining light that helps people escape from the devil's worthless lies and leads people to God's truth in Jesus that saves all who believe in him. But this will not necessarily be easy or painless. You will be tempted to please people rather than trying to please God. You must be brave in the face of opposition. There are so many ways that people might want to punish you for being different from the general population, for being proud of God's commands and promises, which are the path to eternal life. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that you could share a similar fate as John the Baptist. You could be thrown in prison. You could have your head chopped off. That wouldn't be the worst thing. If that is the way that God would have you meet your Lord and Savior, then let that day come speedily. You will have lost nothing and gained everything by being faithful to Jesus. Martin Luther says in his famous hymn, “A Might Fortress is Our God.” God is a mighty fortress fully sufficient to save us in uncertain times. With the troubles we heard about last night in our nation, God's commands and promises are still our faithful guide which cannot and will not let us down. A mighty fortress is our God, and he remains that way no matter what happens. Martin Luther says as much at the close of that hymn: And take they our life, Goods, fame, child and wife, Though these all be gone, Our victory has been won; The Kingdom ours remaineth. Be faithful unto death, and you will receive the crown of everlasting life.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus said, “Don't be afraid; just believe.” A person might feel jealous hearing our Gospel reading today. There was a lot of healing. Jesus was told about Jairus's little girl who was extremely sick. While he was on his way to heal her, a woman who had a flow of blood was healed. By the time that Jesus got to the house the little girl had died, and Jesus raised her from the dead. Jesus showed his great powers of healing. Some of you might like some healing for yourself, or for someone you know and love. Why can't Jesus heal some more? In my sermon last week I spoke of fighting or wrestling with God. Our reason is skeptical of there being any benefit for ourselves from engaging in this. How could we ever win? God is much stronger than us. And in a way our reason is correct. In the examples of the fighters and the wrestlers with God that I spoke about with you last week, the people didn't come out of the contest stronger. They came out weaker. But, as Paul says, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” The bones that God has broken rejoice. These fighters were humbled, but they believed that God would exalt them. They came into the fight with an idea of what they would like God to do for them, they came out the other end with God having done something that was different from what they expected, but also something that was more. What I've just described is what some people have called “the theology of the cross.” The cross that is being referred to is Jesus's cross as well as our cross as Christians that Jesus talks about when he says, “If you want to be my disciple, then take up your cross and follow me.” The term “theology of the cross” is a way to summarize the strange way that God works. Think of how God worked when the Father sent his Son to be the Christ. You might expect God to have sent him with great power and glory. Jesus is God after all. But you know what God does. He causes Jesus to be born in a stable. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. Those are humbler circumstandes than you were born into. Even if you were born in a house, that's nothing compared to Jesus's birth. And the humility continued. He gave and gave. Finally the Father had his Son nailed to the cross. To all outward appearances, from the perspective of reason, it was no longer possible to believe in this man was God's Christ. It looked like it was impossible that he could be or remain king. He just became weaker and weaker until he died. We, of course, know that God was accomplishing the most glorious and beautiful things through the bloody, gory cross. We know that God made peace between himself and sinners. Although God humbled Jesus to the point of death, even death on the cross, God has raised him from the dead. God has highly exalted Jesus so that his name is above every name. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven, and on earth, and those under the earth. Jesus Christ is Lord! But who'd have thought it while seeing him gasping and crying out from the cross? Nobody! Not even his disciples could continue to believe in him. They thought it was all over and done with. Thomas, one of the twelve, wouldn't even take his fellow disciples' word for it. He was never going to believe in Jesus again unless he saw the marks and felt the wounds. So it goes. Such is the power of reason. Reason rises up against what God says and does, declaring him to be unacceptable. Reason can strike out at the cross—the very core of our faith. To my mind there is no more direct way to disagree with Christianity than to say that what God did to Jesus was wrong. Perhaps you've heard this referred to as “divine child abuse.” It can have a ring of truth to it. Why did God do it like that? Why didn't God just snap his fingers and make everything all better? Maybe you've wondered that before. If we were God we wouldn't use that nasty cross. So it is that reason and faith go their separate ways. Reason says that the cross is crude, ugly, unnecessary. Faith accepts and loves the cross because faith trusts in the God who put Jesus on that cross. Faith waits for the salvation that God has promised even if that salvation may tarry for a time. Now let's go back to the thought with which I began. I mentioned how some of you might be jealous upon hearing how Jesus did all this healing. You or someone you love needs healing. Our reason can be the enemy to our faith here. Our reason might ask, “Why doesn't Jesus heal right here, right now, in the way that I want him to?” What's his problem? Why doesn't he do what I want? To be a human being means that we have our reason. It is not strange that our reason should act this way. What makes a Christian a Christian, however, is believing that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord with all his forgiveness. Jesus Christ is Lord with all his resurrected power and glory. Jesus Christ is Lord with his cross, with his testing, with his waiting, with his wrestling, with his humbling, with his exalting. Jesus is who Jesus is. We can't pull him apart and take those things that we like best about him and dump the rest in the garbage. Maybe one of the things that you don't really like about Jesus is that he hasn't healed you, or that he hasn't healed someone that you love. If you could, you'd dump that part of him into the garbage. Well, my advice is that if you feel that way, then you should say that to him! We talked about this last week as well. Your prayers don't need to be polite. God already knows how you feel, so you might as well be honest about it. More prayers are better, not less. Tell him what you want. God will hear your prayer. However—and this is a big however—he might not answer your prayers the way you want or expect. He might not answer your prayers the way that you would want to require of him. “If I'm going to pray to you, then you better do what I want.” This is true even in the cases of healing that we heard about in our Gospel reading. I doubt very much that that woman with the flow of blood prayed that she would suffer from her condition for twelve years, that she would spend all her money on doctors, that she would be the victim of medical malpractice. When she touched the hem of Jesus's robe, that was when the time was right. I doubt that the father and mother of that sick little girl prayed that they wouldn't get their request to Jesus on time, that Jesus wouldn't get there in time, and that their little girl would die. They didn't pray that their little girl would lose all the color in her cheeks so that mother and father would cry rivers of tears. I'm sure they prayed, “O God! Save our daughter!” And he did—just not in the way that they were expecting. Nevertheless, at the end of all of this, despite their tears and sorrows, I am sure that all of these people whom Jesus blessed were better off than if they had been healed in the way that they were expecting. God does better to us that we would ever do for ourselves. But to believe that requires faith. Our reason might have all kinds of things to say to the contrary. We can easily apply this to ourselves and our desires. All of us have things we want from God. We should make our requests known to him, firmly believing that he will answer our prayers. If, for no other reason, we should be confident because we know that God has given us Jesus. Jesus is God's most precious treasure. If God has given us Jesus, then he has to give us every good thing. But here's the thing: We don't know how he will do it. We don't know if it will take twelve years. We don't know if we will lose all our money. We don't know if we or that person you love will have to die first before the healing will take place. But it will take place. And it will be glorious. You will be better off on the other end than if God would do everything exactly the way you want him to do. But to believe that takes faith. May God grant you such faith! Amen. Jesus said, “Don't be afraid; just believe.”

Audio recording Sermon manuscript:“When I am weak, then I am strong.” “Don't you care that we are dying?” That's what the disciples said. The wind was too strong. The waves were too high. Some of them were probably trying to use anything they could find to bail out the boat. They were fighting for their lives. What was Jesus doing? Sleeping. Didn't he care? Our Old Testament reading is from the book of Job. Job had been a very good man. He loved his family. He prayed for his kids every day. Then his life became miserable. His property was destroyed. His children were killed. He lost his health. Most of the book of Job is made up of conversations between Job and his friends. They discussed how God could do this to poor Job. Didn't God care? In both of these situations you can tell that there were some pretty raw emotions. When the disciples said, “Don't you care that we are dying?” they were yelling so as to be heard above the wind and the waves. Job, also, in his discussions, said stuff like, “Why did you do this to me God?” and “I wish I had never been born.” They were fighting with God. Fighting with God doesn't seem like it should be a good idea, but this is one of many instances having to do with our relationship with God when we should not be led by our reason. We should let our reason take the lead with many things in life, but not with our relationship with God. Our reason has a surprising amount to say about the topic of God. We naturally have ideas about how things should be, how God should be, what he should do. Our reason says that God should act in such a way where we don't ever have to fight with him. If we are fighting with him, then things must be really bad, our reason says. The Scriptures speak differently. The greatest figures in the Bible struggle mightily with God. Think of Abraham. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loved. What a fight Abraham must have had! Think of Abraham's grandson, Jacob. One night Jacob was at the lowest point in his life. He was pretty sure that at least half of his family was going to be annihilated the next day by his brother Esau and his men. Then, in the middle of the night, a strange man shows up out of nowhere so that Jacob had to fight for his life. This was God. And God played kind of dirty—he popped Jacob's hip out of joint so that he walked with a limp the rest of his life. Jacob, though—that wonderful man—wouldn't let God go until God blessed him. And God did bless him. God gave him his new name of “Israel,” which means “wrestler with God.” The people of God in the Old Testament came to be called by this name, Israel, which means “wrestler with God.” There are almost countless other examples I could give you. Wrestling—fighting—with God is not forbidden. In fact, it seem to be how we grow. But it's hard. It's deeply unpleasant. We don't want God to act in such a way where we have to wrestle with him. We want what those disciples undoubtedly wanted. We want smooth sailing forever. Each day should be better than the one before. But then suddenly, out of nowhere, a great windstorm arises and you are in a fight for your life. What are you going to say about that when that happens? Is it just bad luck? Has the wheel of fortune landed on bankrupt? Does God exist? Would a good and omnipotent God do such awful things? These are the kinds of thoughts that our reason comes up with in order to avoid fighting with God. We want a nice life, and if God isn't going to help us have a nice life, then be done with him. But this is the worst thing that we can do. Even with human relationships, the lowest point is not when there is fighting and wrestling. The lowest point is when the person despises the other, won't have anything to do with them. There's no fighting. There's no heart-to-heart. The best to be hoped for is polite chit-chat. There is a way to have a kind of spiritual chit-chat with God, too. The politeness reveals something terrible—a huge distance between the person and God. God never commands us to be polite with him, nor do the examples from the Scriptures bear that out. The disciples were not polite with Jesus. They screamed at him: “Don't you care that we are dying!” And Job too: “I wish that I had never been born. I wish I had died while I was still in my mother's womb.” Those are ugly thoughts. They are accusatory too. “It's your fault, God!” “Why did you do this?” The many examples of the greatest figures in the Bible give us permission to open our hearts to God and let him have it. This is called lamentation. We have a book of the Bible that's called Lamentations. We have psalms of lament. King David, the greatest of the psalmists, composed the saddest songs. He said stuff like, “God, why won't you answer me?” and “Why have you forsaken me?” and “Turn away from your fierce anger and be merciful to me!” One of the benefits of using the Psalms is that they teach us a much larger vocabulary for our prayers and praises. Our vocabulary is very often limited because our reason tells us we need to be polite. I could imagine that God might get sick of all this politeness, just like we get sick of the cold politeness we receive. God wants our heart. The greatest commandment is that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. We need to open ourselves up to him. Tell him what you really think. And that might mean that you will wrestle with him and fight with him. And what can we expect to happen when we wrestle with God? Our reason is very interested in this question. We want what's best for us, and so will this wrestling and fighting business make us better off? The answer is that we will be better off, but not the way we would expect. We expect that we will become stronger, but what the examples from the Scriptures reveal is that we will become weaker. Jacob, for the rest of his days, walked with a limp. Job finished up his conversation with God by saying, “Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Consider the words that Jesus spoke in our Gospel reading. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Maybe before this ordeal they thought that they were doing pretty well, that they had a strong faith. After wrestling with God they discover that they had no faith at all. Why should a person enter into a contest with God if it is only going to reveal one's own weakness, helplessness, faithlessness, and so on? A person should do that because of this wonderful saying from St. Paul with which we began. He said, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul knew that when he was weak then he was strong because God had said to him, “Don't worry about your failings. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” It's God's power that we want and need, not our own power. When I feel good or strong or righteous or whatever, that doesn't mean that I really am those things. A windstorm could show up out of nowhere, and prove that to me. When I am weak, however, when I'm not relying upon myself, when I'm placing all my trust and hope in Jesus, then I am strong—even infinitely so, because Jesus is infinitely strong. We see this play out in a wonderful way in our Gospel reading today. The disciples' wrestling match with God—the disciple's wrestling match with God's wind and God's waves—revealed that they were not as strong as they thought they were. Their terror during the ordeal revealed that their faith wasn't as resilient as they thought it was. But what does any of that matter? We don't save ourselves by our own strength, nor do we save ourselves by our estimation of our own faith. Jesus saves! And through this experience the disciples were turned away from themselves and became completely captivated with Jesus. They tinkle with fear and say, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?” That is the spot to be in. I know that for some of you terrible windstorms have come upon you. Out of nowhere the smooth sailing is over. Learn from the Scriptures what to do. The Bible teaches us a different way, as we have talked about today. Open your heart to the God who has wounded you. That takes a lot of courage! Don't let him go until he gives you a blessing, and you will be blessed. As David says in Psalm 51, “The bones that God has broken will rejoice.” “Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Amen.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:“The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against Jesus, how to destroy him.” Perhaps you've noticed before that there are some people who like laws and rules, and there are others who don't. Those who like laws and rules usually also like organization. They like to have their things in their proper places. They like to be on-time. Those are nice things that can be said about them. There are also negative things that can generally be said about them. They can be unimaginative and boring. They can be judgmental and rude. Those who don't like laws and rules as much can be somewhat the opposite. They are often more flexible. They can be more fun. But they might not be as good at organization or getting tasks done. Between the two, I think those people are more highly valued who like laws and rules. They often make better employees. They do as they're told. And if the meaning of life is to have a job or to make money, then these folks are better. They're more productive. Among many of the Jews at Jesus's time the purpose of life was to follow the laws of Moses. That can be hard for us to imagine in our money-soaked culture, but so it was. There were Jews whose stated ambition was to follow God's Law carefully and zealously. That doesn't sound like it should ever be a bad thing, but as we heard in our Gospel reading, these people became Jesus's enemies. They hated him and wanted to destroy him. Why? Because he didn't follow their rules. The rules that were especially at issue in our reading had to do with the third commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” God commanded the Israelites not to work on the seventh day of the week. The Jews were extremely careful about keeping this commandment. They came up with well-organized lists of things that ought not be done because such things would be “work.” No work was to be done on the Sabbath. You heard in our reading how the disciples were walking through the grainfields on the Sabbath. What were they doing? Work—according to the Pharisees. They were plucking heads of grain, rubbing off the chaff, and popping them into their mouths. They were harvesting and threshing. And you might think that this is no big deal. It was just a few kernels. But you'd be wrong. Anyone who knows anything about rules knows that if you let them take an inch they'll take a mile. These disciples were just harvesting a few kernels, but what if somebody else started to take handfuls? What's to stop someone from getting out the sickle? Before you know it, the whole field has been harvested on the Sabbath! No! Nip it in the bud. Not even a single kernel is to be harvested on the Sabbath. Then, in the second half of the reading, Jesus came into a synagogue on the Sabbath. There was a man whose hand was withered. They wondered whether Jesus might do the work of healing on the Sabbath. Lo and behold, he did! Just as they suspected. Jesus was a Sabbath-breaker. We might understandably be critical of these Pharisees and immediately come to Jesus's defense, but I think we can learn some important things if we look at the situation from their perspective. They were fully convinced that they were right. They were doing what they'd always been doing, and what they'd always been doing was to be extremely serious about the Sabbath. They liked to get things just right. They had read many books about it. They'd built up a vast knowledge of what was allowable, what was forbidden, and what might be in the middle. According to this vast knowledge they knew that Jesus was dead wrong. This left them in a predicament—although it wasn't really a predicament. Either they could forsake all their learning and all their practices and follow Jesus, or they could reject Jesus. It wasn't a hard decision. Who was this Jesus anyway? Somebody from the sticks. Everybody knows that nothing good ever comes from Nazareth. So the Pharisees were not troubled by their decision, but in point of fact they had made a terrible mistake. They believed that the world needed them and their organization. The world needed their books with all of their wisdom. They were wrong. The simplest Christian knows what the world needs. The world needs Jesus. Truth and goodness will only come through faith in him. Jesus tried to help the Pharisees. He tried to show them that he was the Messiah, the Christ, the King. Jesus mentioned King David. King David and his disciples ate the showbread from the tabernacle that was supposed to be eaten only by the priests. The Jews had been waiting for someone like David, and here he was! Jesus and his disciples could take the liberty of plucking heads of grain just as David had taken liberty with the showbread. Admittedly, that demonstration is a little subtle, but the other things Jesus said and did were not subtle at all. They were very direct. Jesus flat out said that he is the Son of Man—a messianic title. “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath,” he said, referring to himself. And Jesus showed his power by healing the man's withered hand. He produced a miracle to validate what he had been saying.   But the Pharisees were blind. They weren't literally blind, but what they should have seen they didn't see. They should have seen that Jesus is the Christ, but they saw an enemy instead. They didn't see a miracle; they saw a Sabbath-breaker. It's like they were bewitched. Here Jesus was with all his grace and power, but all they care about are their stupid little rules. Their stupid little rules have never saved anyone, nor will they save anyone. There is only one Savior—Jesus of Nazareth. Everything else can and must be cast aside for this pearl of great price. There is no organization, no institution, no proud history that can stand in the way of the One whom God has sent. They were wrong. Let's now consider how this might apply to us. We can learn important things from these Pharisees who rejected Jesus. Imagine if Jesus would have taken a different tack with the Pharisees. Imagine if he come up to them and spoken their language, so to speak. What if he would have talked about how they, as the most fastidious Jews, were the real Jews. The other Jews were Jews-in-name-only. Those ignorant people didn't even know what Rabbi Hillel had said about this or that... If Jesus would have talked with them like that, then Jesus would have been part of their club. They would have loved him as one of their own. So it is with us. Imagine if Jesus were to sidle up to us and say, “I've been paying attention, and guess what? You're the best. Yep. I love everything that you've been doing. Those other people—they just don't get it. But you? You know what's what. Keep up the good work!” I think we might respond: “Well thanks Jesus! I always did think you were a pretty swell guy. I like how you think.” Ridiculous! Jesus is God, not us. Jesus leads, Jesus teaches, and we follow; not the other way around. If we were to reverse this order it would be blindness and stupidity. If we were to reverse this order, then we would only agree with Jesus insofar as he already agrees with us. That is exactly what was going on with the Pharisees. They had no problem with Jesus except when he disagreed with them. When Jesus did disagree with them, they didn't repent and change their minds. They went stubbornly ahead with their own thoughts and actions because they believed that they were right. In our sad and decaying times the one thing that everybody has in common is that everybody believes they are right. The people on the right are completely convinced that they are right. The people on the left are completely convinced that they are right. The people in the middle are completely convinced that they are right. Everybody is completely right. That isn't surprising if you will think about yours. Nurturing the belief that we are so right and others are so wrong feels so good! We like that feeling. The Pharisees liked that feeling. It felt good to harrumph that Jesus was nothing but a lousy Sabbath-breaker. They enjoyed labeling Jesus as an evildoer. They enjoyed their hardness of heart. Nobody has to force us into being blind and stupid, especially when it comes to the belief that we are right. We do that quite naturally. What is so unnatural that it requires a miracle of the Holy Spirit is for us to turn away from ourselves and the celebration of our own rightness, and to glorify, not ourselves, but the Son of God instead. That can be quite painful. These Pharisees would have needed to toss aside all those commentaries that they loved so much. They would have had to toss aside what made them most proud about themselves. What beloved parts of your identity that you pride yourself upon need to be tossed aside? Paul said that he regarded the best parts of himself to be a loss—the best parts of himself were garbage. These were not shameful things. They were things that others would admire, but Paul says they are garbage. Why? Why was Paul so hard on himself? Because knowing Jesus reveals that all that other stuff is garbage. Perhaps the things that we love best about ourselves are the exact things that we should most deeply repent. We aren't prone to worship ourselves for the things we don't like about ourselves. We are prone to worship the stuff we like. That makes us blind. Open your eyes. The celebration of yourself will end badly. Glorify Jesus instead. Jesus Christ is Lord! Amen.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord with all your graces now outpoured. Amen. Christians celebrate three major festivals. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus's birth. Easter is the celebration of Jesus's resurrection. Today's festival is Pentecost. It doesn't get the hype that the other two get. Christians usually have a good grasp of the importance of Christmas and Easter; less so with Pentecost. So today we will speak about the importance of Pentecost, but before that we should speak about what happened. We will begin with Good Friday and Easter. Jesus's death on Good Friday and his Resurrection on Easter changed everything. Jesus died for sin and was raised with power. The Gospels describe how things were with Jesus after the resurrection, and things were a bit strange. Oftentimes people did not immediately recognize who Jesus was. Mary Magdalene didn't immediately recognize Jesus on Easter morning at the tomb. On Easter evening the disciples who were traveling to the village of Emmaus didn't immediately recognize him. In addition to Jesus not being immediately recognized, he would do things with his body that he hadn't done before. He suddenly disappeared from the Emmaus disciples after they recognized him. He suddenly appeared to the disciples in the upper room, even though the doors were locked. Jesus made these different appearances, speaking somewhat briefly—it seems—to his disciples, but the things he would say during these appearances were extremely important. In Matthew 28 he appeared to his disciples and told them to make disciples of all nations. Christians should baptize, teach what Jesus taught, and Jesus would be with them until the end of the age. In John chapter 20, in that upper room, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whosoever's sins you retain, they are retained.” With those words Jesus commanded his Christians to forgive the sins of all who repent, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant so long as they do not repent. These are extremely important instructions that continue to be carried out in the Christian Church. Jesus appeared and spoke with his disciples, here and there, over the course of 40 days. Then Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. We had a church service to commemorate that ten days ago, on a Thursday evening. Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father to reign and rule over all things. The way that he reigns and rules in his spiritual kingdom is through his Christian disciples. Jesus's disciples continue to do what Jesus commanded them before he ascended into heaven. Christians baptize, forgive and retain sins, teach, have the Lord's Supper together and so on. Through these things sinners who otherwise believe in false gods are turned to the true God, which is our Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing more important than believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is where Pentecost comes in with its great importance. About 50 days after Easter and 10 days after Jesus's Ascension, the Jews were gathered together for one of their Old Testament harvest festivals. While they were gathered together there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind, tongues of flame appeared over the disciples, and the disciples spoke with their fellow Jews about the mighty works of God. Some of these Jews came from far flung places and spoke different languages. Our reading from Acts gives us the first part of Peter's speaking to those who were gathered. He speaks with courage and enthusiasm about Jesus Christ being Lord. He vigorously argues that Jesus is the fulfillment of what was prophesied in the Old Testament. Jesus is God's Son, and they had crucified him! But he concluded his message in this inclusive way: “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He assures them that despite their murdering of God's own Son that the promise was for them and for their children. It was for those who were near and for those who were far off. It was for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. Those who believed that day were baptized, and 3,000 souls were added. The most important thing that happened on Pentecost was the work of the Holy Spirit. People repented of all that was false, and believed the truth: Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. Faith in Jesus is what makes a person a Christian. Faith in Jesus is the sole and indispensable requirement for being a member of the Holy Christian Church. It doesn't matter where a person comes from. They could be from Mesopotamia, Judea or Cappadocia. They could be of any race, any skin color. They could be poor or rich, well dressed or poorly dressed. They could come from any background—they could have been wild, inhabited by many demons, or they could be stuck-up Pharisees. Everyone who believes in Jesus the Christ turns away from their false and worthless ways and embraces the forgiveness, life, and salvation that come from Jesus. Pentecost is a festival about the Holy Spirit, who creates faith. Pentecost is also a festival about the Christian Church. It is the beginning of the Christian Church, so to speak, because from Pentecost onward the Gospel, the good news about Jesus, spread. Those who heard the Gospel believed it by the power of the Holy Spirit. Since they believed it, they also spoke it. Since they spoke it, still more believed it. There is a direct line from Pentecost to us being gathering here today. This is not some accident of history. God the Holy Spirit has been at work creating faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus causes those who believe in him to speak the Gospel. But as we consider that direct line from Pentecost to today, we might want to ask ourselves, “Are we still speaking the Gospel?” Before we answer too quickly with a, “Well of course we are still preaching the Gospel!” we might want to consider something. Jesus tells all those who want to be his disciples that they must bear the cross. The cross means to suffer and to sacrifice. Speaking the Gospel will always carry with it suffering and sacrifice. Even on Pentecost there was suffering. The Christians were made fun of. Some bystanders laughed at them and said that they had gotten drunk on grape juice. Already at Pentecost there was sacrifice. Immediately after Pentecost the book of Acts tells us that the Christians sold what they had so that they could provide for whoever was in need. The story of suffering and sacrifice is repeated over and over in the book of Acts. Wherever the Gospel went it caused trouble. Paul was kicked out of one town after another until he was finally carted off to Rome in chains. According to legend, eleven out of the twelve apostles were violently put to death. So, again, we might ask, “Are we still speaking the Gospel?” It seems to me that we are in trouble, and we've been in trouble for a long time. The trouble we have is that we want to come up with a Gospel that doesn't require suffering and sacrifice. We don't want to live how Jesus commanded and as the book of Acts puts on display. We want a Christian life where we get to live just like the rest of the world with all their selfishness, comfort, and ease, but we like to believe that we won't go to hell for it. We'll get a free pass. Why will we get a free pass? Maybe because we went to church all the time. Maybe we even gave a lot of money in offerings. That's not a bad deal is it? It's also not the Gospel. It is a false Gospel that pretends to be the true Gospel. This false Gospel was identified by the Lutheran Reformers. The Catholic Church is as good at this false Gospel as anybody is. They had figured out a way for Christians to have their cake and eat it too. All that was really necessary to be a good Catholic was to show up at church and give them some money. Depending on how much you gave it might even make you down right exemplary. Luther saw through this comfortable and convenient Christianity. It was, in fact, a cheap Christianity even if millions were given in offerings because it laid no claim on the person. As we all know it is not hard for those who are wealthy to write a check. Eventually those who are so filthy rich that they don't know what to do with all of their money start to write checks without even being asked. They want this or that building to be named after them. Christianity is much deeper than that. It requires much more suffering and sacrifice than that. Luther learned this from Jesus and he preached it. The very first of Luther's 95 theses from October 31, 1517 said, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Another way of saying this is that if you do not want to repent, then you do not want to be a Christian. Repentance is hard! It requires humility. A life of repentance and faith will be one of suffering and sacrifice according to Jesus's own words. Why should anyone live this life? We naturally don't like to suffer or sacrifice. The answer is that loving to the point of suffering and sacrifice is beautiful and divine. Such a life is good and beautiful like Jesus's life was good and beautiful with his suffering and his sacrificing. Now you might think, “I can't do that.” I'm glad that you are honest enough to admit that. I can't do it either. So also neither you nor I can raise ourselves from the dead can we? But today is Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is God. When a person is converted, and reconverted, and converted yet again to faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit is given to that person. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. Furthermore, Jesus is Lord. He reigns and rules in his kingdom and we are following his lead. He is on the warpath, beating back the devil, sin, death, selfishness, apathy, strife, and whatever else is evil. Repent, believe, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the Gospel. It was the Gospel at Pentecost. It is the Gospel that gives eternal life today. Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord, with all your graces now outpoured. Amen.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be? Maybe some of you remember a commercial for the powerball lottery. In the commercial different people catch the powerball, which had lightning coming from it if I remember correctly. With that powerball in hand they could point to their regular looking house, and they'd have a mansion. They could point to their regular looking car, and they'd have a Ferrari. If you won the lottery, then you could buy a lot of stuff you can't afford now. Would that get you what you want? Winning the lottery, however, is not very likely. That commercial was a bit fanciful. In “real life” you have to keep your goals reasonable. Since we are so used to living “real life,” it is easy to manage our expectations too thoroughly so that we don't even begin to grasp the meaning of Christ's ascension. We get so used thinking we can't have everything we want—that's fairy tale stuff—that we don't believe in what the ascension means. The ascension means that Jesus is Lord. All rule and authority and power and dominion have been put under his feet. The inheritance we will receive from God because of Jesus is beyond our imagination. Paul says, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the imagination of the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him.” Although we can't fully grasp what God has prepared for us, it is important to try. If we don't try, then we won't get it. At best our imaginations will be limited to those powerball kinds of wishes, and those powerball kinds of wishes are not high enough. Eben the highest kind of wishes that you might have with the lottery aren't high enough. Suppose there would be some kind of lottery that would enable you to suck up every last cent and every last piece of property on this earth. All other human beings become your slaves. Nothing happens without your say-so. Even after winning this lottery so that you are some kind of god on this earth—that would not be good enough. To try to grasp our inheritance we must think higher. We must think about God. There are many things we could think about with God, and they would all be good, but tonight I'll limit myself to just a couple things: life and love. We'll begin by talking about life. Life comes from God. God is the creator. From the smallest thing to the largest thing—all things come from him. We might wonder at the power of the sun, the vastness of the universe—these things come from God. On a more personal level, we all have a craving for life, because whenever we have tasted it we have so thoroughly enjoyed it. Another word for enjoying life is fun. Fun comes in different shapes and forms that vary with each person. One has fun with his or her mind. Another has fun with his or her heart. Another has fun with his or her accomplishments. Romance, friends, laughter, fear, pity, weeping—these are all interesting facets of life. People want to live rather than die because life is good. Life comes from God. Love, also, comes from God. John in his epistle even goes so far as to say that “God is love.” Love draws people together so that they are one. Giving love is reaching out to bring in the other. Receiving love is when you have been accepted and brought in. We all know by experience how good this is. We also know by experience how bad the opposite of this is. We have all experienced rejection: “No, you aren't one with us.” Think of how this happens with children. Second, third, fourth grade—all of a sudden there are in-groups and out-groups. The in group is to be loved and admired. The out group is lesser and are given to know this by being shunned or mocked. The kids get shuffled and sorted, usually on the basis of things that they have no control over. Kids are just like us. They want to be recognized and admired. To be reviled and humiliated is painful. What can be done about this? It's unbelievable how common it is for people to believe that nothing can be done. People are just like that. There's no other choice but to accept it. It's along the same lines as winning the lottery. It is very unlikely that you are going to win the lottery, and so you must adjust your expectations accordingly. We live in the midst of so much that negates life and negates love, and the best that our smartest people can do is to throw up their hands and say, “So it goes.” This defeatist, despairing philosophy is as powerful as it is unchristian. Despair is the opposite of faith and hope. To say that everything is just going to stay the same is a denial of Easter. It is a denial of Christ's ascension to the right hand of God the Father. I began tonight by asking, “If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?” We don't take that question seriously. What if we did? You can have anything you want. That's actually the meaning of Easter and the Ascension. You can have anything you want. There's a catch, of course, although it's not really catch. You can't wish to suck up every last cent and every last piece of property so that all people are enslaved to you and you sit atop the world as though you were some kind of god. God's not going to feed you hog slop like that. Hog slop like that is reserved for the hogs. Nor is God going to make it so that you are better than everyone else, so that you can be worshipped with all of your magnificence. But if you want good things—high things that have to do with life and love and all of the other marvelous attributes of God—if you want good things, then you can have anything you want. Jesus said, “I came so that you may have life and have it more abundantly.” Again Jesus said, “I have spoken these things that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Whatever you want is yours. It's just a matter of time. Maybe we will not have as much life and love and other divine things in this life as we would like, but that might be because we have not prayed for them like we should. But even in the worst case scenario, the maximum we will have to endure is probably 80 years. Most of us are much further along than that. Then we will have whatever we want, and what we will want will only be the good and high things instead of the gross and ugly things. Such is the power of our Lord Jesus Christ that is put on display with his resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven. Jesus's power is certainly a theme tonight with all of our worship. We have already sung, “Look ye saint the sight is glorious.” We've  sung, “This is the feast of victory for our God.” We'll thank God for Jesus's ascension before receiving the Lord's Supper. We'll sing some rousing hymns about about crowns and glory during the distribution. These songs of praise are fitting for the Ascension of our Lord. Jesus is more powerful than everything and everyone except God the Father. The rulers and authorities and powers and dominions would have us believe life is just the way it is, and we have to accept it. They are wrong. They are dead wrong. Things don't have to stay the way they are. Things can't stay the way they are. Jesus is risen from the dead. Jesus reigns and rules at the right hand of God the Father. You are on the winning team. You are baptized into Christ. When Jesus comes again you will be caught up into the air to live with him. Whatever you want will be yours, and only those things that are good will you want. This is good news.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:[Jesus said,] “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” There was once a man who I thought might be interested in joining the congregation. He had attended services. He had family who were members. So I was talking to him about how a person could join the congregation. The first step is learning what we believe as a congregation, so I told him about the class I do with the Small Catechism. I went on for some time about that until I ultimately asked him what he thought. I will always remember his response. He said, “What's in it for me?” I guess that was a good question, because I didn't have a good answer. I don't remember what I said. All that I remember is that I wasn't very satisfied with my answer. “What's in it for me?” is a thought that is deeply seated in our human nature. Nobody has to teach us to look out for ourselves. From the day we were born we have a very keen sense for our own advantage. A good idea is an idea that's good for me. A good deal is a deal that's good for me. If we are only looking for our own advantage, then church membership can be a pretty tough sale. To become a member we start off with maybe 12-15 hours of instruction. Perhaps the most important part of being a member is that you come to church for about an hour a week. A lot of people find that hour to be boring. All the while you should pay for these opportunities with your offerings. And then, if you prove yourself to be a faithful member by doing all these things, and if you have the right gifts and talents, then you might be asked to serve on a board or committee. That's more time, more effort. If you're lucky, you might even get to be involved in some dispute or controversy with all the stress and trouble that goes along with that. Sound like a good deal? I could answer these downsides of membership in several ways. You've probably already thought of some. But I'd like to take on the main idea itself. We naturally believe that a good deal is a deal that's good for me, but who said that that has to be the definition of a good deal? I know that there are many authorities who teach that everyone must look out for their own interests. I know that big businesses follow this rule. I know that even our common sense teaches this. It's as simple as asking the question, “What do you want?” Do you want more or do you want less? The answer seems obvious. However, what is left out from all these thought is that God is the giver of our daily bread. Whatever any of us has or doesn't have is from God. There are people who have worked their fingers to the bone, and they have very little. There are lazy people and foolish people who have hit the jackpot, so to speak. By the seeming accidents of circumstances or heredity they have much more money than any of you will ever have. It is not enough to believe in yourself. It is not enough to ruthlessly follow your own interests. I know that we are taught that over and over, but that doesn't make it true. If God doesn't crown your efforts with success, then you won't succeed. But let's suppose I've failed to convince you. You still believe that you can bless yourself with your smarts and your hard work. In this supposition I'll even grant you the best of successes. You live a charmed life from the time you are 5 until you are 85—80 years of brilliant success! What then? Psalm 49 says: “Even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.” Psalm 49 is a remarkable psalm. It is kind of the opposite of what is so often promoted as wisdom among us. Among us it is almost like people believe that they won't ever die. They think they can grab as much as they can forever. Psalm 49 says, “No.” Man is an animal. He lives for a while, then he dies. The psalm brings up the death of sheep. Maybe you've seen livestock that has died and has begun to decay. That will be our fate too. What good will your living for yourself do you then? What good will your always asking, “What's in it for me?” do you then? You will decay like a farm animal that has died. We are taught over and over again that the way to win at the game of life is to seek your own advantage. We are taught that so insistently as an unquestionable truth. It is easy to believe, then, that this is what we should do. This is what is noble and successful. Living for yourself is not noble or successful. Just the opposite: It's gross. It's animal-like. It's Darwinian. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit teaches another way. The Holy Spirit has inspired the Scriptures to teach a different way to live than what merely comes naturally to us. For example, Paul says that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. I didn't hear anything in that list that talks about you being the greatest. I didn't hear anything that says you must come first. On the contrary, I heard social things—things that have to do with our relationship with others. The fruit of the Spirit makes you to be a blessing to others. I like being around people who are loving, joyful, peaceful, long-suffering, kind, good, loyal, reasonable, and who keep themselves under control. I like being around people like that. I'd like to be a person like that. I'd like the fruit of the Holy Spirit to be in me. How can I do that? There's only one way to produce this fruit. Jesus talks about it in our Gospel reading. He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” You cannot produce this fruit except by being grafted into the true vine. Even if you were to try as hard you possibly can, you wouldn't be able to do it. It would be as futile as a branch that has been cut off from the vine trying very, very hard to produce a nice cluster of grapes. Whatever grapes get produced in such a manner won't be very good. Only by abiding in Jesus, and Jesus abiding in us can we produce fruit. Apart from him we can do nothing. Which means that going to church is not foolish. Going to church is wise. Church, understood rightly, is for the purpose of being connected to Jesus. Jesus is in Church according to his own promise. He says, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them also.” We are gathered in Jesus's name. Jesus is here in our midst. What do we do when we have congregated together? We spend a good deal of our time with the Holy Spirit inspired Scriptures. These Scriptures teach us things that are different. We learn what is truly good and life-giving. And you've probably already thought of how Jesus is present with us in a special way with the Lord's Supper. By that eating and drinking Jesus's body and blood, Jesus abides in us and we abide in him. This communion with Jesus bears fruit, as we pray about in the post-communion collect. In that prayer we thank God for this salutary, or helpful, gift. We then implore God, that of his mercy, he would increase our faith toward him and our fervent love for one another. Those are some remarkably fine fruits. Going to church is not a waste of time. It is the opportunity to be changed by God. God changes us from being selfish, self-obsessed, evil unbelievers to being believers who are being formed in the image of his Son. Jesus is here with his power and grace. Therefore we can put up with some labor and sacrifices to continue to have Jesus in our midst. Without the labor and sacrifices of us members, this congregation will not be able to continue to help people. We need volunteers. We need money. We also need to put up with annoyances and troubles to continue to have Jesus in our midst. Our flesh is prone to boredom, our minds are prone to wandering. We have to discipline our flesh. We need to work at worshipping and listening. We also need to put up with the annoying flesh of our fellow congregants. Unfortunately, our fellow congregants are just like us. They can offend. They can annoy. If we will not put up with other people's weaknesses and sins, we'll quit congregating; we'll quit helping each other. This would be a shame, because these small troubles are nothing compared to what God does through his Word and Sacraments. Jesus is here with his answer to death and his antidote to our evil. He is the vine. We are the branches. If we abide in him, and he abides in us, then fruit will be produced to the glory of God the Father.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Talking about God can be difficult. I've seen how talking about God can cause tenseness and awkwardness. People's defenses go up. What is this person going to require of me? What is this person going to accuse me of? Am I supposed to be converted? People usually don't like it. Because people don't like it, most won't do it. Why should they? It doesn't seem to benefit them. It makes the situation weird. The prospects of something good coming from such an awkward situation seem low. Let the pastors talk about God. You should hold your peace. If this life is all there is, then such a course of action makes sense. If the purpose of life is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain you should not talk about God. It won't make you richer. It might make you poorer. It won't make you more popular. You might, instead, be shunned. Common sense tells you to keep your mouth shut. But if the Gospel is true, then being silent is strange. The Gospel teaches that all things are in the process of changing. Things are changing because Jesus is Lord and King. The old ways of how power and oppression are the most important and the most impactful are passing away. The new ways of faithfulness, humility, and love are how we receive blessing. Evil is in the process of being brought to nothing. Righteousness and life are on their way. Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new.” This is good news for everyone. Jesus being Lord and King is good because he is good. The only way that this good news is ineffectual for anyone is through unbelief. Unbelief, indeed, can be powerful. When Jesus teaches about the coming of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 16 he says that when the Holy Spirit comes he will convict the world concerning sin because they have not believed in Jesus. Among all the sins that could possibly be listed, Jesus singles out this one: Sin is not believing in Jesus. Why is this sin singled out? It's because it's the sin against the Gospel. Without Jesus's work as Lord and King things don't change. Lying, cheating, meanness, trickery, manipulation, abuse, anger, and so on continue to be the best ways to get ahead. The strong will get stronger. The weak will get weaker. The first will be first and the last will be last. And the one who sits atop this slag heap of lovelessness is the devil himself, whom Paul calls “the prince of this world.” Unbelief in Jesus is the desire—whether that desire be conscious or unconscious—unbelief in Jesus is the desire to have the devil rule with all his works and with all his ways. That's why unbelief in Jesus is singled out as the sin. It is the profoundest rejection of God. On the other hand, faith in Jesus is everything. Faith in Jesus means that you accept God's will that his Son should reign and rule instead of the devil. Jesus should reign and rule instead of any other gods or any other powers or principalities. Faith in Jesus means that you believe that you will be blessed by him instead of being blessed in any other way. Our Gospel reading lays these things out nicely. Our Gospel reading describes Jesus meeting his disciples after he had risen from the dead. Jesus told them how all of what had happened and all of what will happen is God's will as it was foretold in the Old Testament. The Old Testament spoke about how the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head. When God made his promises to Abraham he told him that he would be the father of kings, and that all the world would be blessed through his seed. God promised King David that his kingdom would endure forever. God made his promises through the prophets. Isaiah speaks about how this king would suffer and die, but that he would be a blessing. Jeremiah speaks about the new hearts that the king would bring. Ezekiel speaks about this king leading his people to good grazing land. Daniel speaks about how this king would be greater than all the greatest kingdoms of the world. These prophecies—and there are many, many more—are fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is the Christ. He died and rose according to the Scriptures. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations. This last part of what Jesus is doing as king is still going on. Jesus continues to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins through his Christians who speak his word. We live now in this time when repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed by us. The message is simple. “To repent” means “to change your mind.” People have all kinds of ideas about how to get ahead in life, how to have a good time, how to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain. We Christians are to be helpful by advising our fellow human beings to change their minds. Nobody is blessed by breaking God's commandments. Nobody is blessed by ignoring Jesus's teachings. Jesus is king. He sets things right. Repent. Change your mind. And, Jesus says, “You are forgiven.” There isn't a single of one of us who hasn't been tricked into believing that we would be better blessed by breaking God's commandments instead of keeping them. None of us have loved God the way Jesus teaches that we should. None of us have prayed the way we should. None of us have treated our fellow human beings the way we should. Jesus's proclamation of forgiveness tells us that he does not reject us. He accepts us. Jesus tells the disciples that they are to proclaim this simple message, and it is amazing to think of how the Gospel has spanned time and distance to reach our ears today. Jesus spoke. The disciples believed. Since they believed, they spoke to others. Those others believed, and they spoke. So on and so forth the Gospel has gone around the world. There are people who believe in Jesus here in Fairmont. There are people who believe in Jesus in China, India, and Iceland. What Jesus said is being fulfilled: “Repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” On the other hand, there are also places where the Gospel was, but is no more. Northern Africa and the Middle East used to be predominantly Christian. It has not been predominantly Christian for over a thousand years. Europe is largely non-Christian. America seems to be following the same trend. How far behind is Fairmont? Some people believe that this decrease in the number of people who believe in Jesus is inevitable. That is wrong. There is nothing inevitable about it whatsoever. The only way that it could be inevitable is if the Gospel is not true. If the Gospel is not true, then we are slaves to the powers and forces that are over us and are way too powerful than us. If the Gospel is not true, then evil is the way to get ahead. Oppress whomever you can. Squeeze whomever you can. You've got to get to the top of that slag heap, and you're not going to get there by being nice. If the Gospel is not true, then this dog-eat-dog world is all there is. I admit that many believe this to be how things are, but they are wrong! The Gospel is true. Jesus is God's Son. He won. He sits at the right hand of God the Father. He is bringing an end to evil, and creating righteousness and life. The slaves are set free. The former slaves are even children of God. These truths must be proclaimed, however, in order for them to be believed. Faith comes through hearing. In order for there to be any hearing there has to be speaking. For God's promises to be believed, God's promises must be spoken. This is where we come in. I began today by speaking about how difficult it can be to talk about God. I don't have a magic wand or some magic words to make it less difficult. It's difficult because there are powers and principalities and principles that want to keep their superiority. They don't want to hear anything about a king who sets their slaves free. They want their slaves to believe that there is no way out, so we should all just accept our chains as inevitable. They all preach basically the same thing: Life is the way it is, so you better just get used to it. No. Jesus lives! If you think you're stuck because some evil's got you by the throat, then change your mind! Repent! It isn't true. Jesus reigns! All powers and authorities must give way to Jesus. When you believe in Jesus everything must turn out right in the end. You might have to go through some very difficult and painful stuff in the meantime, but your faith in Jesus will not disappoint you. You will triumph because Jesus has triumphed. This is good news. Do not be ashamed of the Gospel, for the Gospel is the power of salvation for all who believe.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:“And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Everybody inevitably learns that there are some things you can't change. Things have been written into our DNA, for example. One is predisposed for this. Another is predisposed for that. It's disappointing, but what can be done? There are so many things like that. Things are the way they are. There's a little bit of comfort that comes from acknowledging things as they are. Perhaps you've heard of the five stages of grief. The last stage is acceptance. That is the stage that everyone is looking for because of that little bit of comfort that comes with it. There's a bit of peace. Prior to acceptance there is all kinds of fighting: denial, anger, bargaining, depression. Those are all ways of saying, “No!” Acceptance is that motherly voice that says, “Hush now. There there. Nothing can be done. In time you'll come to accept it, then you'll be at peace.” The reason why there is peace is because you finally acknowledge the superiority of the forces at work. They are much larger and stronger than you. If you can't beat these forces, then you might as well quit fighting. It's a relief to not have to fight anymore. Having settled down the choke chain can be taken off and a regular leash put on. The apostle Paul in several places in his letters talks about the superior and overwhelming powers and forces that exist in life. One of his favorite terms for this are the orderly pillars of this world, sometimes translated as the “principles of this world.” Paul says that we were enslaved to these things. That's another way of saying that they are overwhelmingly superior to us. We have to accept things the way they are—we have no other choice—because there's no changing them. But Paul proclaims something thrilling: God, in Christ, has set us free. We don't have to resign ourselves to what is assumed to be inevitable. Not resigning yourself to what is deemed to be inevitable is one way to look at Jesus's work. The blind person seems to be doomed to blindness—nothing can be done—and yet he sees. The deaf hears. The unrighteous persons—drug dealers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and such—need not be unrighteous forever. Even the dead person can have those seemingly unbreakable chains broken. Jesus preaches good news. Good news for those who are enslaved to overwhelming forces is the message: “You are free!” Think about Easter. Death is that ultimate force before whose superiority we grieve. Fight as you may, the best option seems to be acceptance. But, as Isaiah prophesied and as Jesus fulfilled, “Death is swallowed up forever.” The angel said, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He's not here. He has risen.” Jesus was no longer enslaved to death. He became its master. If Jesus can break this seemingly unbreakable chain, what others might be broken? The answer is all of them! This is made clear with the festival we will celebrate 40 days from now, which is closely related to Easter. 40 days from now we will celebrate Jesus's ascension into heaven. He was raised up to the right hand of God the Father. This is the position of superiority over absolutely everything except God the Father. Try to think of something that you deem to be absolute and unchangeable. How about the laws of thermo-dynamics? The physicists say that they are unbreakable. Jesus can break them. How about the space / time continuum discovered by Einstein? Jesus is Lord over it. But these concerns can seem rather remote. How about that seemingly unchangeable law about money—namely, that those who've got it are going to keep it and those who don't aren't going to get it? Jesus is Lord. He has spoken about this. He turns things on their head. He says, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation,” and, on the other hand: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God.” Money, finance, economics and so on are certainly things that people regard as inevitable and unchangeable. Jesus is Lord. Or what if you are one of those charmed individuals who's got the world by the tail? You're so charming and dashing. Everyone loves you. In the game of life, you're a winner. Or, on the other hand, you're not one of those people. You've never been popular. You're sad and lonely. The general rule for how things go in this life is that those who are sparkling and charming remain sparkling and charming. Those who are duds remain duds. Jesus, again, has spoken to this. He says, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” And, on the other hand: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.” Jesus is Lord. You are not lord with all your talents and charm. Neither are sadness and loneliness lord. Jesus is Lord. You can perhaps see how Easter has an edge to it. You can see how Easter has an edge to it in our Gospel reading this morning. Did you notice the women's reaction? When the angel told them that Jesus had risen you might have expected them to react with a “Hurray!” What does it say? “And they went out and fled from the tomb.” They couldn't get away fast enough. And it says, “Trembling and astonishment had seized them.” They shook. That word “astonishment” literally means, “they were out of their minds.” Their world was reeling; their heads were swimming. Finally it says, “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” We are all well catechized in how we are supposed to react to Easter. We are supposed to be joyful and happy. So were these women doing wrong? I don't think so. I think they were seeing something that we often don't see. They were seeing that everything is changed. The old masters are no longer supreme. Jesus is supreme. That is to say, Jesus is the Christ! Jesus is the king! They had, of course, believed this about Jesus before, but they thought that he would only be an earthly king—a king of Israel. As it turns out he is king over absolutely everything. Easter changes everything. Easter changes everything towards the good. Jesus as king is going to bring in everything that is good and life-giving and he is going to expel everything that is evil and life destroying. What is good will remain. What is evil will not. The days are numbered for everything and everyone that is evil. Sin, death, the devil, evil people, evil institutions—all of these are going under the boot of this King. If you'd like to get an idea of what this resurrected, ascended, supreme King is like read Psalm 2. The apostles liked to quote Psalm 2, because it is so obviously about Jesus. What this Psalm says, in general, is that the kings, the high and mighty, those who regard themselves as the greatest, are going to have another thought coming. The Psalm says, “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury.” Needless to say, you don't want to be on the wrong side of this King! And you need not be on the wrong side of this King. The good news went out into all the world after Easter, after the ascension, and after Pentecost. The good news proclaims freedom to those who have been enslaved. The only ones to whom the good news is not good news are those who want to remain enslaved—those who want to hold on to their evil. Those who say, “I am the way that I am, buzz off with your talk,” are on the wrong side of this King. Those who say, “Things are the way they are, you just have to accept it,” are on the wrong side of this King. Psalm 2 gives us this pertinent advice, “Kiss the Son—kiss Jesus—lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.” But then there is also this word of hope right after that: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” That is a good way to encapsulate Easter: “Blessed are all who take refuge in Jesus.” Why are they so blessed? Because Jesus is king. Jesus rising from the dead shows that he is Christ the king. If you take refuge in him, then everything has to turn out for the good. Jesus is increasing what is good and making what is good eternal. Whatever evil afflicts you, whatever evil afflicts your family, whatever evil afflicts our society, whatever evil afflicts the whole world is temporary and passing away. Evil is not supreme. Evil is not unchangeable. So don't accept evil. You are not powerless before it so that your only choice is to accept it. In Christ you are not dealing with a superior force against who it is futile to fight. To be sure, it is easier not to fight. Giving up gives us a little bit of comfort, a little bit of peace. Thank God that Jesus didn't accept evil. He fought it! He fought it to the death—and prevailed. Alleluia Christ is risen!

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:People want to be the greatest because being the greatest is a lot of fun. It is fun to be the best at a sport. It is fun to be the best at an activity. Jesus's disciples, James and John, wanted to be the greatest. That is what they are driving at when they say to Jesus: “Let us sit in your glory. One of us can be on your left and the other can be on your right.” Jesus did not rebuke them. He gently says, “You do not know what you are asking.” James and John didn't know what they were asking because glory in God's kingdom is strange. It doesn't operate by the same rules that make for greatness in this earthly life. The rules for greatness in this life are well known: Work hard, practice, prepare, set goals, and so on. If you follow these rules, and if you have been given the prerequisite genetics and talents, then you too might achieve greatness. Greatness in God's kingdom operates by the rules that are seen especially in Jesus. Jesus asked James and John: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” The cup that Jesus speaks about is the cup of suffering. On the night when Jesus was betrayed he prayed to his Father three times that he be spared the cup of suffering that was coming upon him. The baptism with which Jesus was about to be baptized was the baptism of blood on the cross. Jesus would be smeared with it, dying like a criminal in disgrace. Greatness in God's kingdom involves suffering and being regarded as the least. Why are suffering and being regarded as the least the rules, so to speak, for greatness in God's Kingdom? Here, again, we must think about Jesus. Why did he suffer? Why was he regarded as the least? There are perhaps several reasons for that. I would like to offer three. The first reason why Jesus suffered was because of evil-doers who wanted to continue with their evil-doing. Jesus annoyed them because he would speak against them. They wanted everyone to think that they were fine, upstanding people. Jesus, however, knew the truth and spoke the truth. They weren't fine upstanding people. They were liars, hypocrites, hungry for power, honors, and money. Like whitewashed tombs, they kept themselves looking respectable on the outside but inside they were full of death and uncleanness. Jesus could have kept his mouth shut. If he would have left them in peace, they would have left him in peace. In fact, things would have gone much differently for Jesus. They would have given him promotions and honors. They would have hailed him as a great preacher with a pastoral heart. But then Jesus would have become a snake just like them. He would no longer be a reliable guide, teaching people how they may attain eternal life. Which brings us to the second reason why it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and be regarded as the least: He believed. He believed in the power of the Word of God to change people's hearts. He wasn't a cynic. He didn't assume that things are how they are and have to remain the same. If it was impossible for sinners to repent—to change their ways, to turn from evil to righteousness—then there certainly would be no point in the Son of God suffering and dying. If it were impossible for people to change, then people should be left to follow whichever course suits their fancy. The Word of God should die out, and perhaps be replaced by more modern methods of education and inspiration that help people achieve their earthly goals. But Jesus continued to believe that the Word of God would do what God wanted to achieve when he causes it to be spoken. The third and final reason I'd like to offer for why Jesus suffered is love. Jesus loves us. He's a lover who goes after his beloved. Jesus pursues us. He says, “Don't stay off on your own, doing your own thing. Be with me. I want to be with you, and I want you to be with me.” And the amazing thing, of course, is that we are evil-doers, and yet Jesus wants to be with us. Jesus isn't disgusted by all our disgustingness. He truly loves us, and wants us to be together with him and with God eternally. This is where Jesus's cross especially comes in. The cross is how we were redeemed and separated from our sin. The cross is how we have died with Christ to sin. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” The cross makes what should be impossible to be possible. It should be impossible for evildoers to live happily with the holy God. However, we have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. If we have died and it is Christ who lives in us, then it is no longer merely possible to live with God, it's the way it should be! We belong together. These reasons show how Jesus's suffering and cross are awesome. To be sure, it is a hidden awesomeness. When Jesus drinks the cup and is baptized with blood he looks terrible. He looks poor, weak, and utterly defeated. What is really going on, however, is that he is rewriting the rules. Among the rules that are rewritten are the rules for greatness. Greatness is otherwise achieved by killing, crushing, lying, stealing, and, in general, using every resource—including human resources—to their fullest. Chew everyone up until you're done with them. Then spit them out and move on to the next one. There is no other way for anyone to accumulate the powers that the greatest of this world have amassed for themselves. They achieve what they achieve by taking advantage of others, and making sure that they are never taken advantage of. They believe that they are great because everyone tells them they are great. They believe they will always be remembered because they've been in the news. However, how small their victories really are! How fleeting their memories! They achieve nothing that lasts. Contrast them with what you and I have been given. You and I have the Gospel, the good news that Jesus is king. The Gospel connects sad and helpless sinners to almighty God, making them righteous by the forgiveness of sins. You have been given this Gospel. In that way you are no different than the apostles James and John. James and John believed the good news. You believe the good news too. Because James and John believed the good news, they spoke it to others. You should do that too if you believe it. You don't have to be an apostle or a pastor or a professional church worker to do that. The Gospel is no less effective coming from you than it is coming from me. The Gospel does what it says. This is an encouragement to evangelize. You've probably heard about evangelism many times over the years. What you don't hear as often is how you are called to suffer and to be regarded as the least while you are doing your evangelism. Here, again, you are like James and John. You have the very same Gospel as they. You have the very same cross. Jesus first asked them if they were able, then he flat out told them: “You will drink the cup that I drink. You will be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.” Those words apply to all true preaching of the Gospel. The cross is our banner. It is our battle standard. It is how we can recognize true preaching from false preaching. If we preach what is true, then we will suffer and be regarded as the least just as it was with Jesus, James, and John. The reasons why we will suffer and be regarded as the least are the same reasons Jesus suffered and was regarded as the least. We have evil-doers today who want to go on doing evil, and they don't want anyone to say anything about it. They don't want to be disturbed. God's Law, which we are to speak just as forcefully as Jesus ever spoke it, disturbs them. We will suffer and be regarded as the least because we have faith in the working of God's Word. We won't give up speaking God's Word even if the whole world should declare that it is no longer relevant, helpful, or powerful. God's Word converted us, and so we will speak it. Finally we will suffer and be regarded as the least because of love. We will pursue our fellow sinner whom we love, even if it makes us look like a fool. We will talk to them even when we don't know what to say. We'll get turned down, which hurts. We'll be regarded as the least—like that poor, ugly, awkward guy whom the girls laugh at. If our mission and James and John's mission involves such suffering and humiliation, then why should we ever do it? The answer is glory. We should say, along with James and John: “Jesus, let us be seated with you in your glory.” Jesus's glory is that good! That's why James and John wanted it. That's why we should want it too. The writer to the Hebrews agrees. He says: “Look to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Don't be afraid of suffering or humiliation. These powers can look so daunting and intimidating. Jesus is victorious over all things. Whatever suffering or setbacks or hardships we experience are so very temporary. Jesus is forever.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Our Gospel reading proclaims well-known and well-loved promises: Whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. John 3:16 is perhaps the most well-known verse in the Bible: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”These promises are nice. I'm not aware of anybody who gets upset at such promises. A person might think the promises are untrue, but nobody thinks that Jesus is being rude. The mood shifts, however, with what Jesus says next. He says, “Whoever believes in the Son of the God is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” The mood shifts because faith in Jesus can no longer be understood as being optional or inconsequential: If you believe in Jesus, then you are not condemned. If you do not believe in Jesus, you are condemned already. You can't leave Jesus to the side. Either you are with him or you are condemned by God himself. Whereas John 3:16 is nice and wouldn't upset anyone, John 3:18 makes people uncomfortable. I think the reason why this makes people uncomfortable is because this is not the way we do business, and business transactions are the main way that we understand how things get promoted. The salesman sells; he doesn't threaten. We are used to being enticed and allured. Salesmen who condemned their customers probably wouldn't be in business very long. Religion is often—or probably mainly—seen along these lines. There are lots of religions, denominations, and places of worship. They all promote their own versions. It is reasonable, then, to imagine that you should make your choice in the same way you make so many other choices. Take the religion for a test-drive, so to speak. How do you like it? Do you like what it says? With our Gospel reading this morning, for example, you might like what he says at 3:16, but 3:18? Not so much. And if Jesus fails to seal the deal, whose fault is that? Here, too, our way of doing business affects how we think. The customer is always right. So when it comes to what God is promoting, if a person is not convinced, then it is God's fault, or maybe the preacher's fault. Jesus, however, is not a salesman. He doesn't share the salesman's goal of maximizing sales, perhaps by hook or by crook. If you have any familiarity with the Bible whatsoever, then you know that Jesus does not flatter or seek to please his “potential customers.”  Jesus doesn't try to please anyone except his Father. The good news about Jesus wanting to please his Father is that it is the Father's will to save sinners by lifting up his Son on the cross. You heard that at the first part of the reading. But this is not some sales pitch. Either you are in the right, and, in fact, that rightness will save you, or you are in the wrong. That is what it means to be condemned. Being condemned is being on the wrong side. So we are not dealing with a sales situation here. A more analogous situation would be like you being stuck in a burning building. The situation is bad because you aren't able to get out on your own. But, thank God, a rescuer shows up. Believe in that rescuer and you will be rescued. That is to say, let the rescuer do what the rescuer does, and you will be saved. But let's say you're a very silly person. Instead of being thankful that a rescuer has showed up, you immediately start judging the rescuer. His uniform isn't ironed and he's got bad breath. Or maybe this would be more to the point: The fireman speaks bluntly: “You can't keep doing what you're doing. If you stay in this burning building you're wrong. You're going to die!” What the rescuer says is just the truth, but you, being a silly person, would say, “I don't like how you're talking to me! I want to make up my own mind, and I don't appreciate you telling me that I'm wrong!” So also, when Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in me is condemned already,” he is simply speaking the truth. He is the rescuer who has come to rescue us from our sin, God's condemnation, the misery of hell, and so on. In fact, there is no other way to be rescued. You can't rescue yourself. Only God can forgive your sins or make you righteous. So when Jesus says that whoever does not believe in him is condemned already, he isn't trying to manipulate or coerce anybody. Think again of that fireman. Is he manipulating the trapped victim when he tells the person that he will die if he isn't rescued? That is a statement of truth, not just an opinion or one option among many. But there's another thing we should consider, because there are a lot of people who believe it to be the case. A lot of people believe that there is no hell, there is no judgement, there is no sin. Being condemned by God is an old-fashioned idea that most people do not believe in anymore. So, to use the analogy I've been working with, this would be like a person who cannot see the smoke or the flames of the fire. If you put yourselves in their shoes, you can perhaps see how strange Jesus's promises would be to them. It would be like you going home today, sitting in your Lazyboy, everything's fine. All of a sudden a fireman breaks down the door and announces, “I'm here to rescue you!” In this situation somebody has to be crazy. Which one is it? Are you crazy or is the rescuer crazy? Is there a fire or is there not a fire? Are there such things as sin, condemnation, hell, and so on, or are these things imaginary so that you have no need to be rescued? To try to answer whether sin, condemnation, and hell exist, many things could be said. All that I'd like to try to do is point out the smoke and the fire that can go unnoticed so easily. Consider what happens in homes. Look at how husbands harm their wives, and wives harm their husbands. Look at how parents harm their children, and how children harm one another. Children, often deemed to be somewhat innocent, can be terrible to their fellows—a veritable law of the jungle. Consider the workplace. Employers mistreat their employees. They try to squeeze as much as they can from them while paying them as little as they can get away with. Employees mistreat their employers. They don't work as hard as they can. They don't respect their bosses. The workplace can be miserable with all the backbiting and complaining. These are our homes and our workplaces—the places we spend the most time in. The one with whom we spend the most time with is ourselves. So many of us are being burned with self-loathing and self-hatred. All of these signs point to the conclusion that sin is real. Hell is real. The pain is real. These injuries, sicknesses, and crippling effects are not the way that things should be. We were meant to be loving creatures instead of destructive creatures. What God's enemies would like to convince you of is that there is no alternative. Homes have to be traumatic. Workplaces have to be contentious. Self-loathing is inescapable. It is as though we have to accept this darkness, because lovelessness and misery are unbreakable laws of our existence. To believe in Jesus means that you vehemently disagree. We don't have to accept evil as impossible to overcome. Evil is destructive of life and happiness. Jesus says that he will give “eternal life.” In fact, he has said that he has come so that we may have life, and have it in abundance. There are two sides that a person can be on. Either a person can be on the side of light, or a person can be on the side of darkness. Either Jesus is supreme or the darkness is supreme. Jesus Christ is the light of the world; the light no darkness can overcome. In Jesus you are saying, “No, the darkness is not supreme. Jesus is the rescuer who saves us from sin, condemnation, and hell.”  

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Picture in your mind's eye the scene described in our Gospel reading. It's Passover. Many people, like Jesus and his disciples, have come to Jerusalem. It's a busy place. The temple area has many tables and booths set up. Some were exchanging foreign money for the money that was accepted at the temple. Others were selling animals needed for sacrifices. The oxen and the sheep would have been tied up. The pigeons would have been in cages. Jews from far and wide were milling about, perhaps dickering for better rates and prices. This was a normal day, full of busyness. Those familiar with how things were done wouldn't think anything of it.As you heard, Jesus thought differently. He made a whip from cords and went on a rampage. I don't know what else to call it. He had to have been very forceful to make these merchants leave their stalls with all their money, but he did. He drove them all out of the temple. The sheep and the oxen where unleashed so that they were running about in the midst of the people. Jesus took the tills of money and dumped them on the ground so that coins were splashed everywhere. He kicked over tables and pulled over booths.That's quite a scene! Does the thought enter your mind: “Was Jesus in the right here?” It sounds like disorderly conduct. However important that question might be, I'd like to set that question aside. I think there is a better, more interesting question: What must the fire have been like that was burning in Jesus? What spurred him on to do what he did? That took courage. That took energy. Jesus cared. It was as the psalm says: “Zeal for your house has eaten me up!”So what has gotten Jesus so upset? The answer to that question is so foreign that it is almost incomprehensible to us. The reason why Jesus is so upset is because he cares about people praying. He wants people to pray to his Father. The temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations. That purpose was being thwarted by what these merchants were doing. He says in our reading, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house into a house of trade.” The temple was the dwelling place of God's Name. People could call upon God's Name in that place. I must say, and to our shame, we have nothing of the fire that burned in Jesus. When was the last time that you were upset—really upset? Did it have anything to do with prayer? Did it have anything to do with conscience, which is closely related? Having a good conscience towards God is indispensable for praying with confidence. Were you upset because these things were being hampered for you or for others? Probably not.The last time you were really upset was probably because something bad happened to you. Somebody made a mistake and it created an inconvenience. Somebody hurt you. Somebody said something bad about you. Your quality of life was hampered, and maybe you went on a rampage about that. But prayer? Conscience? These are thought to be back-burner concerns. This is why Jesus is so incomprehensible to us. “Zeal for God's house had eaten him up.” When have you had zeal for being in God's house, for praying? Maybe never!But maybe you haven't known any better. That wouldn't be surprising. What most people believe is really important is their quality of life. The stuff they get really upset about is how things are going for them in this life. If any thought is given to God it is usually fleeting and feeble. It's usually not much more than, “Yes, God exists. I try my best, so I should be fine. That's enough of that! Let's get back to the business of living life to its fullest!”The same thing is usually true with those who deny God's existence. They usually don't put a lot of thought into it. They maybe heard of some stuff from the Bible that they thought was impossible or ridiculous. That settles it for them. They say something different from you. They say, “God doesn't exist,” but then what? The refrain is the same: “Let's get back to the business of living life to its fullest!” This life looms the largest for people. This carries over into people's thoughts about heaven too. Most people think that heaven will just be a continuation of this life, but without annoyances. People will spend their time in heaven doing those things that they liked best. The happy farmer on earth will farm in heaven, but maybe without any weeds. The person who loves riding horses is going to ride horses eternally. Although these kinds of thoughts about heaven are extremely common, they are not thought about very deeply. People simply fail to notice, for example, that with this conception of heaven people continue to ignore God in heaven just like they ignored God in this life. Or, again, people will be seeking their own advantage in this supposed heaven, just as they sought their own advantage in this life. But ignoring God and seeking one's own advantage is probably a more accurate description of hell than it is of heaven. God will not be ignored in heaven, nor will any of those in heaven want to ignore him. Nobody will be seeking their own advantage in heaven—just the opposite in fact. The opposite of seeking your own advantage is love. Heaven is the place where love is. God is there, and, as the Scriptures say, “God is love.” In fact, a great transformation must take place in us for us to be happy in this place. We must be made holy. Sin must be purged from us. We must be filled with love from the top of our heads to the soles of our feet. For the first time since we were born we will know what pure love is. For the first time we will be capable of loving with our whole heart. We will receive love from God and from all his creatures and we will love right back. Is there anything better than being loved and loving in return? So how can we go on the way we have been? How can we not care about our relationship with God? How can we not care about other people's relationship with God?Maybe an illustration would help get across what I'm trying to say. I'm sure you've noticed how toddlers like to play with blocks. They like to build them up into a tower and knock them down. They do it over and over again. They are happy to spend their time that way. Maybe, to them, there's no better way to spend one's time. We, who are grown, however, know that's not true. I'm assuming that none of you built towers today so that you could knock them down again. You occupy yourself with higher things that more fully engage your abilities.When Jesus drove the people out of the temple because they were merely engaging in trade while being totally mindless towards God, it was as though Jesus were telling them to quit playing with blocks. You're too old for that. There is something higher, better, and more important. Prayer, conscience, knowing God—this is what we were made for. We weren't made to play with blocks our whole lives. But people can be pretty serious about their blocks. CEOs, presidents, those who are wise according to worldly standards, those who are strong, those who are of noble birth—they easily believe that their affairs are a cut above everyone else's. Their blocks are really important. But even if a person were the CEO of the biggest company, even if a person were the president of the whole world—something that doesn't even exist—that would still be like playing with blocks. Knowing God through knowing Christ is the way that we become the creatures that we are meant to be.In our Gospel reading Jesus is angry and upset because people are being turned aside from what is truly good for stuff that is worthless and passing away. Jesus says in another place: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul? What can a man give in exchange for his soul?” How many jet skis does it take? How many vacations will produce a sufficient quality of life? These are building blocks that give but a little thrill. We would do well to catch a little of the fire that was in Jesus. We would do well to be zealous for the same things Jesus was zealous about, because he wanted what was good and valuable for people. Our hearts and our neighbors' hearts easily and naturally get captured by all kinds of things so that we think nothing of God, or almost nothing of God. This and that capture our love and devotion instead. Well, this and that are lame. God is good. He is life-giving. Missing out on him is more than enough to make a person upset. 

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:In our Gospel reading Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ. This is important and life changing because it is by our confession of Jesus as the Christ that we are saved. However, as we also heard, Peter ran into some difficulty when Jesus spoke about the cross. Today we will talk about what happened with Peter and how this also applies to us as Jesus's followers today. We'll begin with the story. Jesus was going to the villages of Caesaria Philippi with his disciples. Jesus asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples told Jesus what they had heard. Some people said that he was John the Baptist; others, Elijah; others, one of the prophets. Jesus then asked them, “What about you? Who do you say that I am?” Peter responded for all of them and said, “You are the Christ.” This is a very special answer. The word, “Christ,” means “anointed one.” The way that people were made into kings in the Old Testament was by being anointed with oil. Peter is saying that Jesus is king—but not just any king. God made promises in the Old Testament about a great king who would arise. He would be a descendant of Abraham and of David. He would put an end to injustice and wickedness. He would bring about righteousness and peace. Peter's answer, therefore, “You are the Christ,” is of enormous significance. He is saying that Jesus is this great king. Peter does well with his confession of who Jesus is. What happens next, though, throws a wrench into Peter's thoughts about Jesus being the Christ. Jesus began to tell them what was going to happen to him. He was going to suffer many things. He would be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the Law. He would be killed. After three days he would rise again. This was not what Peter had in mind for his beloved king. Stuff like that didn't happen to kings. What good could this suffering and dying possibly serve? Peter rebuked Jesus. Jesus rebuked Peter right back. He used very harsh language. He said, “Get behind me Satan!” I'm not aware of Jesus ever calling anyone else that terrible name. He explained why he called him that: “For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” These words are key. They identify a great divide. A person can set his or her mind on the things of God or on the things of man. What does it mean to set your mind on the things of God or the things of man? Let's begin with the things of God. The things of God are bound up in Jesus the Christ. He is loved by God the Father. What does this king do? You already heard very important things this king did. He suffered many things, was mistreated, killed, and rose again. You are aware of the goodness that the king accomplished by doing that because we talk about that a lot. Jesus's suffering, death, and resurrection brought about the verdict of forgiveness for sinners. Sinners, who otherwise should die and go to hell for their sins, instead are received as beloved children of God for Jesus's sake. Jesus's work as king, however, did not end with his death and resurrection. Forty days after he rose from the dead he ascended to the right hand of God the Father. That is where he reigns and rules as king now. The way that he reigns and rules his spiritual kingdom is through the testimony of God's Word by Christians like you and me. These Christians are scattered far and wide all over the earth. These Christians have been given the Holy Spirit. They believe the Gospel. They urge others to believe in the good news of this king and to follow him. When the last person whom God has chosen is brought to faith, then Jesus will come again. When Jesus comes again he will judge so that goodness and evil will be identified and separated. Evil will be confined in hell. Those who believed in Jesus will receive their inheritance as co-heirs with Christ. All things will be placed under Jesus's feet. Then Jesus will hand over the kingdom to God the Father so that God will be all in all. These are the main points of the things of God, upon which we should set our minds. What are the things of man? What Jesus means by the “things of man” is the way that man operates after the fall into sin. Already in Genesis you can see the things of man by the way that Adam and Eve lived after they disobeyed God. I don't think they were exactly happy, but they tried to make the best of the situation. They solved problems. They were ashamed of their nakedness, so they sewed together some fig leaves. Life went on. So it was also for Cain, their son, and his descendants after they were rejected by God. They tried to make the best of things. They discovered new things. They made instruments to improve their quality of life. Peter, when he was setting his mind on the things of man, perhaps thought that Jesus as an earthly king would be good for life in this world. Instead of him suffering and dying—seemingly accomplishing nothing—he should get busy. He could raise an army, create a following, and if luck was on their side they might manage to bring Israel back to its former glory. So it is also today. We try to make the best of things. We've discovered lots of useful things. Like the men before us we try to push the ball forward. We try to make progress. Jesus rebuked Peter by saying that he was setting his mind on the things of man instead of the things of God. Perhaps when Jesus told his disciples that he was going to suffer and be killed and rise again, it sounded to Peter as though Jesus was going backwards. That's how suffering generally sounds to us. We try to get rid of suffering. We try to fix problems. It sounded wrong that suffering should remain—especially under the rule of this very special, long-promised king! Jesus, however, knew things that we don't know. He knew that our fundamental problems could not be fixed by any amount of reforms or the wisest of leaders. Our problems are too deep for that. We needed to be redeemed. That was why Jesus suffered, died, and rose again. This was good, not bad!  It was how sinners were set free. But Jesus's teaching on the cross was not just for him. He goes on to teach the disciples about the life that they were to live. Suffering would remain for them too. He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” We can understand these words according to what Jesus told Peter. We are to set our minds on the things of God instead of on the things of man. To set our minds on the things of God is to recognize that he is king—he is in control, not us. God's understanding of goodness is better than our understanding of goodness. We might identify something as good that is not good, and, vice versa, we might identify something as being evil which is in fact very good. Take, for example, the problem of being a disciple of Jesus. Being a disciple of Jesus is a problem, because that means we won't always fit in. Jesus didn't always fit in and look what they did to him. Jesus's apostles didn't always fit in. They were severely mistreated. Disciples of Jesus will never fit in because we believe in and testify to the Gospel. We believe that Jesus is the king who will set all things right. The reason why this means we will never fit in is because we will always be seen are raining on the parade of earthly dreams. Man always dreams of making a paradise on this earth. By testifying that Jesus is the Christ we are also saying that all other reforms are at best half-measures, and can never really succeed. The Gospel is always an indictment against setting your mind on the things of man. Although Jesus's message was not always welcome to everyone, Jesus did not change it. People went away from him. People got angry at him. He's going to remain the king that he is. Jesus is open about the suffering that we will undergo as Christians. Suffering will remain. And if you won't deny yourself, if you won't take up your cross and follow him, then you won't be his disciple. It's as simple as that. When the prospect of suffering rears its ugly head, you will betray him to save your own skin. Be prepared, therefore. Jesus says several times, “Be sober and watchful.” That means, “Be sensible. Have unrealistic expectations. Don't be surprised when suffering comes upon you.” You might be tempted to think that there is some way that you could “fix” Christianity so that you don't have to suffer. Maybe you can make it so that it never offends anyone, so that nobody ever feels bad from anything you might say. A lot of Christians set this as a high priority for their life of faith. I submit to you that they are probably doing something similar to what Peter was thinking of doing in our reading today. Peter was trying to fit Jesus into a mold of his own making. This king would then work well for him, solve his problems, and go a long way in creating a paradise on this earth. So also today Christianity can be edited so as to curry favor with a certain segment of the population, or to avoid persecution from another segment of the population. This song and dance, however, is a far cry from the bold and simple confession of Peter: “You are the Christ.” We do not need to play tricks with what we say. We do not need to figure out how to be clever like we so often do with our worldly pursuits. We need the truth. The plainer and simpler the truth, the better. Then let the Holy Spirit go to work. And if it should so happen that we then receive a cross, so be it. God will work good through that cross, even if we don't see it. God willing, and by God's grace, we'll keep on believing in the king, despite the cross. We'll keep confessing that Jesus is the Christ. By that confession we will be saved.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Today I'd like to address something that all people must face: Temptation. Temptation is when we are lured and enticed to do something that is wrong. Where does temptation come from? It doesn't come from God. James says in our reading, “God tempts no one.” Instead, as he says, temptation is when “each person is lured and enticed by his own desires.” This makes sense. If you don't have a desire for something, how can you really be tempted? For example, some people don't like sweet things. Forgoing dessert is not difficult. They have no strong desire for it. Likewise, with more serious matters: Some have an intense desire for money. Others less so. Some have an intense desire to get their own way. Others are more agreeable. What tempts us is closely linked to our desires. The Bible teaches what is to be done when our desires drag us into temptation. This is seen already with Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve's sons. Cain was stirred up with a powerful desire to kill his brother Abel. Cain is told, “Sin is crouching at the door… You must rule over it.” The picture here is that either desires rule over us, or we rule over the desires. Either we are slaves to our desires—forced to obey what our desires command, or we are free. If we are free, then we aren't forced to obey whatever our desires tell us. We can tell them we are not going to obey them. There are a couple of passages that speak like this. Paul says in Galatians chapter 5: “For freedom Christ has set you free.” The goal of Jesus's work as the Christ is to set us free. Jesus speaks this way in John chapter 8. He says, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus reveals something very important about our slavery or freedom with regard to our desires. The only way that we can be set free is by the Son of God setting us free. We cannot free ourselves. The chains are too strong. If we imagine that we have freed ourselves, we are deceiving ourselves. Only the Son sets you free, but, as Jesus says, “If the Son sets you free then you are free indeed.” That's good news! The word “Gospel” means “good news.” Slaves who have been kicked around by their masters are happy to hear that they are free. They no longer have to listen to those old masters. What's more is that we are not just set free now to go about our business, having to make our own way. We have been made into sons in the only Son of God. We belong to the house of God, which we may live in forever. We are baptized into Jesus. We have become one with him. Jesus, as you know, is Lord over everything. He sits at the right hand of God the Father. He is above every power, authority, desire and demand. He is free. He is Lord. And so are we when we believe in him. This is the Gospel that all of us Christians have been given. It says something new about us. “For freedom Christ has set you free.” You are free from amazing things! You are free from death. You are free from hell. You are free from the Law, because Christ fulfilled the Law for you. You are free from the demands of your desires. By the Holy Spirit who is within you you can say “No.” “I'm not going to obey you as though you were my master and I were your slave.” Faith in this Gospel is truly wonder-working. It goes way beyond moving mountains. Moving mountains is nothing compared to the lordship that is ours through faith in Christ. We, together with Jesus, triumph over all evil. We triumph because Jesus is king and God. He's on your side, and, through faith in him, you're on his side. Everything has to turn out well, even if you first must pass through fire or the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus is just that great of a king. Your faith in him is powerful, because he is powerful. But although faith is so powerful, it is, at the same time, easily damaged and lost. This is always how God's enemies attack. They attack our faith with deception and lies. God's enemies cannot attack Christ directly. They could never overcome him. So the only power that God's enemies have is to deceive and tell lies in the hopes that we will give up on the truth and believe the lies instead. This is how our faith is easily damaged and lost. We believe the lies instead of believing the truth. I'll give you a very straightforward example that I'm sure you've all experienced. Let's say a desire comes along and says, “Do this!” Hopefully you know and you remember from the Gospel that you are not a slave. You are free. You can say to that desire, “No, I won't obey you.” But let's say your desire puts up a fight and says, “I'm stronger than you.” You've probably heard the saying, “A good lie always contains a bit of truth.” Goliath was stronger than David. So it may be here too. Your desires may very well be stronger than you! They aren't stronger than Jesus! They aren't stronger than the Holy Spirit. The deception here is that you are too weak for the temptation—just look at you—so you might as well give in. I've been fooled by this simple tactic. There are countless more. They can be extremely subtle and convincing. The apostle Paul himself admits to being deceived repeatedly in Romans chapter 7 as he fought against temptation. There seems to be no end to God's enemies' lying, and, unfortunately, our flesh likes to be deceived. Being deceived is the way that our faith is so easily damaged and lost. We put back on the chains of slavery from which Christ has freed us. What should we do if we find ourselves in this sad but very common situation? The most important thing is that you don't go on believing in lies. Saying you should not go on believing lies is a lot easier than actually doing it, however, because continuing on in lies is the very thing that God's enemies want you to do. Lies can look much more attractive than the truth. Remember Adam and Eve. Hiding in the bushes seemed much safer and wiser than exposing themselves with the truth. The good thing about the truth, though, is that the truth is also good news. If the truth were that God hates you because you've blown it—I'd want to hide from that too! But that's not the truth. The truth is the good news that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. The good work that Jesus has done as king isyou're your salvation. His work does not need your cooperation and involvement. Jesus's work is complete and perfect. He gives it to you as a gift. He gives it to you by having it spoken to you so that you can believe it. Believe this good news and it's yours! And then don't forget what we've talked about already today. What we've talked about is so easy to lose sight of in the midst of temptation. You are not a slave. You have been purchased and redeemed. You have the Holy Spirit. You don't have to obey your desires' demands as though you were their slave. You are free. “For freedom Christ has set you free.” In Christ you are lords over all evil powers. They cannot do what they want to do to you. Accordingly, and this is important too, we can have an assertive posture towards desires and temptations instead of having a posture of weak resignation. I know well—again, by personal experience—the whimpering prayer, “I wish these desires would go away from me. I wish they'd leave me alone.” Behind that whimper is the fear that my desires are too strong for me. There's despair behind that whimper. Despair is the opposite of faith. Of course you are too weak to conquer all your desires, but that is not what we as Christians believe in. We do not believe that we are all alone and that it is all up to us. You aren't alone. Jesus is with you. You are weak, but he is strong. Therefore, you can be assertive. You can see this assertive posture towards temptation in our epistle reading from James. He says, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation.” He doesn't say “Cursed is the man who has been tempted.” He says, “Blessed is that man.” A few verses earlier he speaks even more clearly about this assertive, confident posture. He says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when temptations of various kinds fall all around you.” Consider it all joy? Why? James answers: “The testing of your faith produces endurance.” The testing of that faith you have in Jesus as the king produces endurance. Having been set free, we can try it out. Refusing to do evil is the smashing of evil. It is wonderful and glorious. We can learn by experience that we can endure temptation. We don't always only have to sin. We don't have to obey. That is when we are beginning to entering into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. That is when we are embracing the implanted word that makes us a kind of first-fruits of God's creatures. It is better to smash evil than to cower in fear against it as though it were invincible—as though it were more powerful than Jesus. It's not! Now, in our fight against desires and temptations might we get bloody noses, stumble, and even fall? Perhaps. What of it? In that case we return to the Gospel. We return to the all-conquering truth that Jesus is king and lord over all. Jesus is on the march. Whatever is evil is doomed. As light scatters the darkness, so the light of Christ obliterates the shadow of evil wherever it might be. You are on the winning side. This is good news.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:When Pastor Bertram and I were discussing what we might like to accomplish with this series on marriage, sexuality, and so on, we both thought that it would be good to address what is known as LGBTQ concerns. LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning or queer. Advocacy for LGBTQ rights has entered the mainstream. Our laws concerning marriage have changed. Workplaces are implementing DEI, which stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. No one can afford to ignore what is going on because the stakes can be quite high. These issues have become politicized and are being implemented by force. There are some countries, such as Canada or some European countries, where certain ways of speaking about these issues have been criminalized. Criticism of LGBTQ lifestyles will likely be labeled as “hate speech.” So it is also with workplaces. Say the wrong thing, and you might be fired. So it is also with our families. Say the wrong thing, and you might not be invited to family functions. These issues have become so fraught with drastic consequences. Therefore, we might think that we are already addressing what is most important when we deal with laws, policy, and so forth. Although being imprisoned, or losing your job, or being shunned are very important things, they are not the most important thing. The most important thing was what Jesus said in our Gospel reading. He said, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus is so clear. God is not scanning the earth, looking for whom he might condemn. He wants everyone to be saved. This is similar to another of Jesus's statements. In John chapter 10 he says, “I came that people may have life, and have it more abundantly.” We might put that into simpler, more everyday language by saying, “Jesus wants everyone to be happy.” Jesus's giving of happiness is what is more important than the temporary, earthly troubles we might experience. The salvation of just one soul is infinitely precious. So although there is much that we could talk about with this topic, I'd like to focus on what is most important. Namely, how can those who experience same-sex attraction or gender confusion receive Jesus's promises of salvation and abundant life? The answer is simple: “Repent and believe the Gospel.” That's what Jesus always preached. Repentance for our sin and faith in Jesus the Savior is the only way to eternal life. Let's begin with the first part of Jesus's statement, which is, “Repent.” To know that same-sex attraction and gender confusion is sinful is not difficult. Many people who experience these desires already know in their own hearts that it is not good. They don't even need the Scriptures to tell them so. However, the Scriptures are very clear about these things. You heard that in our first two readings. In our reading from Leviticus it says that a man should not lie with another man as though that other man were a woman. That is an abomination. Men and women should not lie with animals. That is perversion. God threatens to punish those who do these things. He threatens to punish all who live in the land where these things are practiced. God is very clear that this behavior is unacceptable. In our second reading, from Romans chapter 1, Paul identifies same sex attraction as a symptom of a decaying society where the people are alienating themselves from God. Our alienation from God, our worshipping of created things instead of the Creator, is the root cause. Improper desires are but a symptom of the underlying condition. Note how Paul doesn't just speak about improper same-sex relationships. He describes many other symptoms of this societal decay. The things he mentions are so common that we might not even notice them as being sins. He speaks against coveting, being mean, being proud, being disobedient to parents, gossiping—these sins are just as much an indication of our alienation from God as same-sex attraction or gender confusion. To all of this God says, “Repent!” The word, “repent,” is often taken to be a harsh, hate-filled word. It may be harsh, but it isn't hate-filled. Repent means, “Change your ways! You're going the wrong way!” Going the wrong way isn't good for us! Lying, being mean, burning with covetousness, indulging whatever emotion or desire that comes over us—none of these things are good for us. They don't promote life; they hamper life. God would have you turn away from these things, be forgiven in Jesus, be given abundant life. A common problem, however—not just among those who experience same-sex attraction or gender confusion, but among all sinners—is that a person doesn't want to repent. They don't want to change their ways. They've enjoyed the sins they have been committing. They don't want anyone to tell them to live otherwise. This is something that is eternally decisive for each one of us. Jesus speaks to this also in our Gospel reading. He says: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.” What is eternally decisive for each of us is the question of what you are going to do when the light comes? The light of God shows us what's right and wrong. It gives us a knowledge of our sin. What are we going to do about that? One option is to ignore the light. Another option is to fight against the light as being truthful. You can reject what is said about right and wrong. This can be done with same-sex attraction, with divorce, with living together without being married. It can be done with other sins too. The angry person might want to continue to be angry. The gossiper might want to continue to gossip. Whenever we do this, however, we are making a decision. That decision might get to be so automatic for us that it is no longer even a conscious decision, but it is a decision nevertheless. We are stating our preference. We prefer the darkness in which we can continue to live as we see fit instead of embracing the light—the righteousness and healing that Jesus the Christ is bringing into this world. “God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” The light certainly teaches us what's right and wrong, but that is not the only thing that Jesus does. The Son of God lays down his life for sinners. He suffers and dies. He is punished with the punishment we deserve. In him and in his sacrifice is the only way for all the wrongs that we commit to be made right. Many of you have long heard this Gospel preaching, and are well aware of it. I would like to emphasize how this is true for all people and for all kinds of sin. The good news of salvation in Jesus is for those who experience same-sex attraction or gender confusion. The good news of salvation is also for those who have acted on their desires. Jesus died to pay for the sins of those who have lived as homosexual couples, those who have lain with animals, those who have fully transitioned. The word that Jesus has for them is the same word that he has for everyone: “Repent, and believe the Good News of salvation.” Jesus's salvation is stronger than anyone's sins. The grace of God is so powerful and abundant that all the world's sin, taken altogether, is like a spark that falls into an ocean. That ocean has more than enough to extinguish that little spark and more. Jesus forgives those who repent of their sinful desires, including same-sex attraction or gender confusion. He forgives them lavishly and completely. Forgiveness and salvation are in Jesus. This is the main thing. It is only natural, however, to wonder about what life is like after hearing the word of forgiveness as we live in this world. We know that God will bring about the final healing at our death and resurrection. That is when God will finish his work of making us holy. In the meantime what should those who suffer from unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion do? The answer here is, again, not very original. It's the same as we've been saying all along. Those who experience same-sex attraction or gender confusion must fight against their sinful desires just as all Christians must fight against their sinful desires. All Christians have unwanted desires. Some are proud, some are greedy, some are unruly. Unwanted desires cannot hurt us Christians so long as we do not give ourselves over to them. Day in and day out, week in and week out, we confess our sins and receive absolution. That's the life of the baptized. Would it be easier if all our unwanted desires were taken away from us? Seemingly so. But God very often allows these desires to remain. They keep us humble. They keep us from relying upon ourselves and our own righteousness. They force us to live only by faith in Jesus, who is the only Savior. So our unwanted desires might not be taken away from us in this life. That's alright. We will one day experience the truthfulness of Jesus's promise about life, abundant life. However, God might remove unwanted desires too. We should not make hard and fast rules about these things. Don't demand of God signs and wonders. That's on the on hand. On the other, don't reject his healing if he should give it either. It might be that God makes it so that a person who at one time was afflicted by these desires can marry and have a family of his or her own. If that happens, thank God! But even with this happy outcome, it is still not the main thing. The main thing is continuing to believe in the Son of God. In summary and in conclusion, Christians who experience same-sex attraction or gender confusion are not different from their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. The way to live as Christians is the same for one and for all. We all must continually repent and believe in Jesus. The way that unwanted, sinful desires are handled isn't different either. May God have mercy and take these sinful desires away from all of us in this life! But God very likely will allow many of them to remain. As Paul says, “It is only through many troubles that we may enter into the kingdom of God.” They keep us humble. They keep us hungry for the new heavens and the new earth when our abundant life will begin in earnest. The politicization that has occurred regarding LGBTQ rights is unlikely to go away. However difficult or frightening various changes might be, they remain earthly and temporary. We have something much greater—the good news of Jesus's light and life. The Son of God came, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. Jesus came so that we may have life, and have it more abundantly. Hope in him!

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Today we have begun a three week series on marriage, sexuality, and various issues that go along with these things. To do a series like this is a little unusual for us. We tend to follow the lectionary. The lectionary is a list of readings from the Bible that have been assigned for each Sunday in the Church Calendar. Pastor Bertram and I are happy to follow the lectionary. The assigned readings make sure that we hear the whole counsel of God's Word instead of only focusing on certain favorite topics. Nevertheless, we have decided to set aside the normal readings for these three weeks so that we could focus on the topics of marriage, sexuality, etc. To begin our look at this area of life it is good to begin with how God has created us. God made Adam and Eve in a very special way as we read about in Genesis. The way that he made Adam was by taking council within himself, deliberating within himself, gathering some earth, breathing the breath of life into Adam's nostrils. Eve's creation was also very special. She was not made from earth. A portion of flesh was taken from Adam. God made that rib into the woman. None of the other creatures are described as having been created in such a way. Man and woman were created with a strong connection to God. He made them in his own image. There is also a strong connection between man and woman since the woman was taken from man. She was not created as an independent being. When God finished making Eve, he presented her to Adam. Adam was delighted. He broke out into poetry and song, as young men are sometimes known to do. He said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” The woman is like him, and yet not like him. The similarities and differences between him and her bring about wonder and admiration. Here we see another important thing about how God created us. We were created to have an attraction—the male for the female, and the female for the male. God creates us with attractions and appetites. We have appetites for food and drink, for example, that are satisfied with eating and drinking. So also, a man is meant to be satisfied by being with a woman; a woman is meant to be satisfied by being with a man. It is difficult, and a little uncomfortable, to speak about this attraction and appetite. None of us are ashamed to talk about hunger and thirst. It isn't as easy to speak about the desire we feel for another person. This isn't necessarily bad either. Unlike eating and drinking, what a man and woman do with each other is private. It's supposed to be private. However, we shouldn't be so afraid to talk about these appetites that they become taboos. We should help, especially, our children. Children eventually grow into adults. This desire awakens within them. They should not be shamed for having that God-given appetite. They need help to know that their desire can be directed in such a way that they can keep their honor. Where their desire should be directed is toward their spouse or their future spouse. Our reading from Genesis speaks to this also. It says: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” A man is to leave his father and mother when he is ready to take a wife. The reason why he leaves his father and mother is because he is going to create a new family together with his wife. The man clings to his wife instead of clinging to his old family. The man and his wife become one flesh—they are joined together. From this one-flesh union children are created. Thus you see how God makes a new family. Husband and wife become father and mother. The new family begins with the marriage. You see here in Genesis how God has made us—male and female he created us. He made us so that we have a desire for one another. He created marriage as the first and highest of all institutions. Family and society flow from it. Marriage is an arrangement that remains on this earth, and it will continue to remain until Christ comes. Then, as Christ teaches, the situation will be different. In the life to come we will not be married or given in marriage. We will be like the angels, Jesus says. But our focus today is on this life. So, very practically speaking, how should a boy or a girl look at this area of their lives, and how should they look towards the future? First of all, every boy should thank God for making him a boy, and every girl should thank God for making her a girl. The way that God has made us is wonderful, and God deserves to be praised. Praising God for making you the boy that you are or the girl that you are is important work for you to do as God's creatures. Later on, when boys grow into men and girls grow into women, they should be on the lookout for that person to whom they might be joined together as one flesh in holy matrimony. My advice for boys and girls is that they are never too young to pray to God for a good wife or a good husband. You parents and grandparents—you who love your children and grandchildren—should pray for good, godly spouses for them if you want what is good for them. During the teenage and young adult years it is important to guard your body, soul, and mind from the powerful temptations to take what God has not yet given to you. If you have not yet been joined through marriage to someone, you should not pretend that you have been. Wait until God joins you together with that person. A profound promise is asked of those being joined together. You might be familiar with this marriage vow: “I take you to be my wedded husband or wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy will; and I pledge to you my faithfulness.” What this promise means is that you are going to forsake all others and stick with this person no matter what. That's love! Love is not just looking out for yourself. Love is being there for the other even when it is unpleasant, painful, and no longer to your own advantage. By having made those promises, by having been joined together, a new family is made. Within that family there is to be love, honor, service, and sacrifice. God highly approves of all of this. God loves it when a man loves his woman, and a woman loves her man. God loves it when parents love their children, and children honor their father and mother. A very good and rich life is given within this marriage and family. Finally, we should talk about the end of the marriage. A marriage ends when death parts husband and wife. God is the one who determines the end of the marriage, just as God is supposed to be the one who determines the end of anybody's life. If we take our own life into our own hands and end it, or if we take somebody else's life into our own hands and end it, that's rightly called “murder.” God doesn't want us to do that. So also God brings about the end of a marriage by bringing about the death of one or the other spouse. This is what it means when the marriage vow says “till death us do part.” When God determines the time, he ends the marriage by bringing about the death of the husband or the wife. Now, having described how things should go in this area of life, I wouldn't be surprised if there were lots of questions. Some of those questions might be addressed during the next two weeks. There is not enough time for me to say much more than I already have. So I'd like to conclude with a word to those who recognize that this area of their life has not been what it should be. You haven't done as you were supposed to do. Remember that Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus died to set things right that have gone wrong. The work that Jesus does as Savior is not different in this area of life from the other work that we hear of him doing. Jesus went around giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the lame. Your affliction might be with your sexuality, or the sexual sins that you've committed, or perhaps the sins that have been committed against you. Jesus does not wish for you to be left alone in your sadness, disappointment, or regret. Like the blind man, who could not make himself see, or the lame man who could not make himself walk, you also cannot fix yourself. You might not be able to fix yourself for the future. You certainly can't go back and undo what has been done. You can't make right what has gone wrong. But Jesus can. He's the only one who can. This is the miracle of God's blood and God's death. That sacrifice cleanses and atones. Fully aware of your sins, therefore, Jesus says he forgives you. He teaches you. He brings light, truth and healing in this present life. He will bring perfect healing in the life to come. Understand, therefore, that your real enemy is not Jesus, nor is it God, with his Law. You might be tempted to believe that God with his Law is your enemy, because you haven't kept it. But your real enemy is the devil. He is a liar. He says you don't need those outdated, prudish laws. Live however you want! Lust after whomever you want! Be the lord of your own happiness! That's the enemy's message. It sounds good. There's a reason why so many follow his advice! It sounds like it will be just what you want. But those who follow this liar's advice soon find out that on the other side of the supposed freedom and thrills misery awaits. You can't fight against the way God has created us to be and expect to have no consequences. God's message, admittedly, is very different from the liar's message. God doesn't say that you should do whatever would make you happy. He requires some high and difficult things. He says we need to love. He says self-control is good. Being sexually pure and decent is good. Showing honor and respect to your wife or your husband is good. Being faithful unto death is good. These things are good whether you have actually done these things or not. Who of us is without sin in this area of life? Nevertheless, what God requires is good. I think you know that. If only we would be the way that God would have us to be in this area of life, things would be good. It's because we haven't been obedient that we have the troubles that we do.   So we've messed up. Jesus is the Savior of people who need help. Jesus is the Savior of sinners. Repent, believe in him, and be saved!

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Our Gospel reading this morning tells the story of what happened not long after Jesus's birth. The Law of God, given to the Old Testament people, required that eight days after Jesus's birth he needed to be circumcised. Then, forty days after Mary gave birth, she needed to offer sacrifices. This marked the end of her time of ceremonial uncleanness from giving birth. Our Gospel reading describes this. Mary and Joseph went up into Jerusalem. Jesus was presented to the Lord as the firstborn, and they offered two pigeons in the Temple. In a way, these activities were unremarkable. Jewish people had been obeying these Laws for many hundreds of years. Since Mary and Joseph were devout Jews, they did what was expected of them according to the Law. What was unusual about the situation was that Jesus wasn't just an ordinary Jewish boy. He was also God's Son. Since Jesus was and is God's Son, he is the originator of the Law. He is Lord of the Law. He was free. He didn't need to enter under those Laws. The Israelites, on the other hand, were not free either to observe the Law or not observe the Law. If the boys and men were not circumcised, they were cut off from the people of God. If people were not made clean according to the Law of Moses, they were kept apart from the communion of saints. The God-given laws were what gave them their standing. If they were on the right side of the Law, then all was well. If they were on the wrong side of the Law, then they were cut off. Although Jesus, the Son of God, was not compelled to be subservient to these laws, he freely did so. The reason why he entered into these laws was to set people free from the Law as determining their standing before God. He entered into these Laws to keep them on behalf of all. He satisfied what was required by the Law so that his obedience may be credited to us. Our Epistle reading is a clear and memorable passage that sums up what Jesus accomplished. The passage reads: “In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Let's briefly look more closely at these words: God sent his Son at the fullness of time, at the right time. God's Son was born of a woman—not the normal place to find a God. God's Son was born under the Law—not the normal place to find the Giver of the Law. The reason for all of this, though, is for redemption. That is the key word in the passage: God did these things to redeem those who were under the Law. This redemption changes the basis for our standing. Having been redeemed, the basis for our relationship with God is no longer the Law. The Law required certain actions and forbade other actions. Instead of our relationship with God being determined by what we've done, we've been redeemed so that our relationship with God is on the basis of grace. The language that Paul uses is that we are adopted as sons. The reason why he uses the term “sons” instead of a more general term like “children” is because we are adopted only through Jesus, who is God's Son. We receive Jesus's status as God's Son when we are baptized into him and when we believe in him. It's by being connected to the only-begotten Son that we receive adoption as God's sons—regardless of whether we are male or female. So, in one sense, when we look at the happenings that Luke describes in our Gospel reading, they are unremarkable. Israelites had been doing those things for a very long time. However, in another sense, and under the surface, so to speak, the most momentous things were taking place. Fulfillment was taking place. Redemption was taking place. The relationship that human beings have with God was being revealed as being upon a different basis. This relationship with God was not be on the basis of the works of the Law, but upon faith in God's grace. Instead of having a relationship like a slave or an employee, who is only as valuable and esteemed as the work that he or she performs, we are adopted as sons of God, loved simply for the sake of who we are in Christ and for no other reasons. There is a surprisingly practical importance of this teaching for each one of us. It has to do with what we say about ourselves. What makes you who you are? When we think about that question, the most immediate and natural answers are what you manage to accomplish for yourself: You're hardworking. You're smart. You're popular. You're moral. You're good-looking. I could go on with many other possible positive attributes. But even with these few that I've listed, doubts immediately come to mind. Are you that good-looking? Are you that moral? Are you that popular? I wonder if I couldn't find some other specimens of humanity who might exceed the attributes and talents that you have. I bet I could. And besides these answer to the question of what you have to say about yourself—what makes you good—we have the more important criteria that God provides. Have you loved God? Have you loved your neighbor, your fellow human being? Have you thanked and praised, served and obeyed God? Have you honored your parents and other authorities? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm? These commands are different. With the rat-race where everyone is trying to be the best—the best athlete, the best looking, the richest, and so on—there's no divine command about these things. God doesn't command you to be the best, nor does he evaluate you along these lines. Very different powers and authorities are the ones demanding you to be the best. This demand, this law, seems to have been cooked up by God's enemies—the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. God's enemies do not want us to be satisfied or to give thanks. God's enemies what us always to be covetous and never to be thankful. God's enemies want us always to be longing to be the best and always being sorry for failing to be the best. God isn't like that. God won't judge you for failing to succeed in all the stupid contests about who is the greatest. What he says he will judge you for is the way that you have treated him and the way that you have treated your fellow human beings. That is God's Law. Now before I get into how practical and important the change is that Jesus has brought about, I'd like to point out how little we think about God's real Law and how much we obsess about those contests. People think a lot about how pretty or not pretty, how rich or not rich, how successful or unsuccessful they feel. These desires are much more important to us than God's Law. There's a good reason why we do that. We all have this belief that if only I was the best at everything, then I'd be happy. And doesn't that make sense? It appears to be a truism according to our common sense—if only I had everything and was the best at everything, then I would be happy! Again, this is the common sense way that the devil keeps you coveting. Your coveting makes you blind to the riches of God which are new every morning because you are desiring to be the best. Your eyes cannot see his goodness because you are always looking at the performance of your stock portfolio, or the latest workout regiment, or the newest gadgets and furnishings for your home. Your eyes don't go so high as to contemplate God's real Laws about love. You're too busy believing that you need the fake measures of success that hold out the promise of happiness, but never deliver. In any case—whether we are dealing with the fake laws for how to be the best, or the divine laws that require love, the change that Jesus brings about is for the better. God's Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, has redeemed us so that we might receive adoption as sons. This changes the answer to the question we have been considering: What do you have to say about yourself? I can answer that I am the recipient of God's grace. God has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. Now I am his own. I have been adopted as a child of God in Jesus. Since I am adopted as a child of God I am also an heir. I will inherit what God has decided to give me. If I am not already happy, then I know that I will be when the time is right. Everything that I have just said is about God. God is doing all the actions. You are only a recipient. God is the Savior, not you. God gives the meaning to your life, not you. God is the judge, not you. This is all to say that God is in control, not you. By faith you may get on board with that and embrace it as your own. It is no small thing to believe that Jesus is your redeemer. It sets you in opposition to other powers and authorities who would have you interpret your life in very different ways. Very different ways of attaining happiness are held out as being the sure-fire way, and their arguments can be awfully persuasive. The promise of happiness that the Scriptures make is that your happiness will be in Jesus because he puts you into a gracious relationship with God. It is good to be in this relationship with God because God is good. God is wise. As David says in Psalm 103: God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. … He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor does he repay us according to our iniquities. … As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:He rules the world with truth and grace. That line comes from the well-known and well-loved Christmas hymn, “Joy to the world.” “He rules the world with truth and grace.” Who rules the world? Jesus rules the world. Jesus being the king who reigns and rules is a theme that is found in a lot of Christmas hymns. I'll give you a couple examples. O Come All Ye Faithful. O come all ye faithful to Bethlehem. Why? To behold the King of angels. Or Hark the Herald Angels Sing: What are the herald angels singing? “Glory to the newborn King!” Christmas is about the birth of the king. This king was promised to come in the Old Testament. There are so many prophecies about a great king. He would be from David's line. He will bring light to those who sit in darkness. He will bring righteousness, justice, and peace. His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom. I don't think it is possible to overstate the importance of this great, eternal king. But another thing that almost all the Christmas carols point out, however, is the strange scene into which this king was born. A stable is not the normal place to give birth for any human being, much less the great king. Consider these opening lines: “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed…” Didn't even have a crib. Or: “Once in Royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed…” Jesus being born in a barn instead of even just an ordinary house is so strange. In fact, for me, this aspect of the Christmas story is a little hard to believe. When we read the Bible we shouldn't think the people about whom we read are so completely different than us. There's no indication that the people of Bethlehem were especially cruel and heartless that they would all turn away a pregnant woman. Who among us, no matter how poor the pregnant woman might be, wouldn't gladly give up our room or even the whole house if need be? Jesus being born in a stable, it seems to me, was not because of any meanness of the people of Bethlehem, or a matter of chance. God wanted his Son to be born there. He created the circumstances so that it came to pass. The net result is that God's Son, the long-expected Savior, was born in conditions that were much worse than you or I were born into. Even if you were just born in a house, you were born into relative luxury compared to God's Son. There wasn't even a crib to lay down his sweet head. Why did God cause his Son to be born in such lowly conditions? One thing that God may have been indicating is that all the things to which we look for happiness and fulfillment are not where happiness and fulfillment are truly to be found. We so easily believe that if only we had some more riches, some more luxuries, then we'd be happy. Or if only we had some more prestige. Or, even, for those of a more sentimental nature, if only I had that Norman Rockwell Christmas, then my heart would be full. No, happiness and fulfillment must be satisfied by something much higher than any earthly, created thing. That thirst can only be quenched by a relationship with the uncreated Creator. And, indeed, to bring about that happy relationship is the very reason why this great king came. And we see that this great king continues to be a strange king. He was not found in big fancy palaces. He didn't have servants so that he wouldn't have to work anymore or be troubled by anything. Just the opposite: he served instead of being served. And his service continued all the way to the end. He didn't sit upon a big fancy throne. He was nailed through his hands and his feet to an instrument of torture and death. On the cross the king suffered in our place for the sins that we have committed. With all our sins God didn't just say, “Forget about them. No big deal.” No, the great king came to set things right, not to ignore wrongs. He came to bring about righteousness and justice. He suffered the punishment that was due for our sin. By the high and holy sacrifice of the king we have peace with God. The king has brought about righteousness, justice, and peace, reconciling sinners to God by his death and resurrection. The work of Jesus the king is not over, however. He sits at the right hand of God the Father, reigning and ruling all things, but especially his spiritual kingdom. The way that Jesus reigns and rules in his spiritual kingdom is by sending out his Gospel, which means “good news,” so that sinners may repent and believe in the king. So that having been justified by faith, we may have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This message that gets sent out is similar to what the angel was sent to speak to the poor, lowly shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I bring you glad tidings of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The angel tells the shepherds that the great king has been born. Christ the Lord will save them. In like manner the Gospel goes out in our day. Just as with the angel and the shepherds, not everyone hears it. The shepherds heard it; others did not. Likewise, not everyone is in a church tonight. And even though people might hear about the great king, not everyone believes it. Whether a person believes or does not believe does not just depend on their attendance or lack of attendance. Whether a person believes or does not believe is dependent upon the reigning and ruling of Christ the king. When and where it pleases him the Holy Spirit creates faith in those who hear the Gospel. They believe in the king. As John says, “Those who believe in Jesus's name are children of God—born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” Children of God This is all to say that Jesus's reigning and ruling right now at the right hand of God the Father is very special. If you believe in this king—if you turn away from your sins and hate them, if you believe that Jesus is the king who saves you—this is God's doing, and it is marvelous, but how marvelous it is is only apparent to the eyes of faith. There is no outward kingdom of Christ right now with magnificent signs and wonders. He rules by his Word and the Holy Spirit. He converts. He brings people out of darkness and the fear of God's punishment to the light, to forgiveness, to being confident before God because of what Jesus the king has done. Although Jesus reigns and rules as king in a hidden way right now, it will not always be that way. There is more to come with Jesus's kingdom. He isn't done as he sits at the right hand of God the Father. He will come again to bring his reigning and ruling to completion. He will come again on the last day with power and great glory to judge the living and the dead. At that hour, when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, and he will give eternal life to all believers in Christ. Although this day will be tremendous and awesome, some might say “dreadful,” it is a continuation of all that this king has been doing since the beginning. When he comes on the last day he will accomplish yet more righteousness, yet more justice, yet more peace. Jesus will accomplish yet more of the kinds of things we read about him doing in the Gospels. Jesus went about casting our demons, healing diseases, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, raised the dead, so on and so forth. Jesus was working to bring to nothing anything that was evil, sad, fearful, mean, painful, and so on. These will be brought to nothing once and for all on that great and final day. The king will see to it. Thus we have a real parting of the ways depending on whether you believe in this king or not. What do we say about these evils? These evils are so easy to find, so easy to Google, so easy to do? We have evils on the outside and evils on the inside. Even if we were to do everything relatively well time marches on and our bodies get old. Things aren't as fun as they used to be. I think we could come up with a good long list—and we wouldn't have to work too hard to do it. The parting of ways is with the philosophers in our midst. The philosophers throw up their hands and say, “Too bad! That's life! There's no changing it! Might as well just get used to it!” To which a believer in Christ should say: “The Lord rebuke you!” Because there is the king, God's Son, things will not just go on as they always have been. There is nothing evil that is going to endure. Whatever is evil is doomed. The king is going to see to it. A great change is in store for everyone and everything. This is good news. It's strange good news, in a way, because the evil that the king has come to destroy is surely found also in us. You can't keep holding on to that evil. The king won't allow it. The king is on the march. The king is going to be victorious. As our epistle reading said, “He is going to purify for himself a people for his own possession.” Being purified is often not a very pleasant experience for the thing or the one who is being purified. This is where I think it is important to keep in mind who is doing the purifying. Is God, who is purifying, good or evil? Is God for us or against us? Surely God is for us. That is the meaning of Christmas. God is for us. What more proof do we need than that he sent his Son to be king, being born in a barn? In addition to all the strange things I've been pointing out tonight, God's love for us sinners is strange in that he gave up Son, his dearest treasure. So if it is good news even that we should be purified, that the darkness we love by nature should be replaced by the light, then what do we have to complain about? Anything evil is doomed. Anything evil is so utterly temporary. God's kingdom, on the other hand is eternal. His kingdom is unstoppable. Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:I'd like to begin tonight by orienting ourselves. Last week we heard the first two chapters of the book of Ruth. The two most important people in this book are Naomi and Ruth. Naomi used to live near Bethlehem with her husband and two sons, but they needed to leave when a famine came on the land. They had to move to Moab. As they were living in Moab, Naomi's two sons married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. Not long after that all three husbands died. Naomi's husband died. Orpah's husband died. Ruth's husband died. The women were left alone in their widowhood. This was an especially vulnerable situation to be in during ancient times. Men worked to provide for the family. They also protected the family. Naomi, Orpah and Ruth were poor and extremely vulnerable. What I focused on during last week's sermon was how Naomi and Ruth, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, loved one another. Naomi urged her daughters-in-law to go back to their homes, to marry new husbands, and allow Naomi to fend for herself. This was sensible advice. It was their best shot at happiness. Ruth, however, refused to leave Naomi. Wherever Naomi would go Ruth would go. Where Naomi then went was back home. The famine by this time was over. When Elimelek was still living, Naomi and he farmed some land near Bethlehem. Bethlehem was home. So Naomi and Ruth went to Bethlehem. When Naomi and Ruth arrived, they needed to have a way to support themselves. Neither of them had two nickels to rub together. Naomi was old and frail. So it fell upon Ruth to work and support them both. The job she took was very lowly—the kind of work that beggars do. She was a gleaner of the fields. Being a gleaner meant that you would go through the field after it was harvested and pick up the leftovers. If the harvesters missed some grain at the side of the field, the gleaners could harvest that for themselves. Or if some stalks fell out of a bundle, the gleaners could take that for themselves. The gleaners didn't have a right to take what they wanted. They could only take what was left over. The good thing, though, was that Ruth ended up being a gleaner in the right field. The owner of the field ended up being a relative of Naomi's. His name was Boaz. He was also a redeemer, which I'll explain in a moment. It was good that Ruth worked in Boaz's field because Boaz treated Ruth kindly. He commanded his workers to allow Ruth to work right next to the harvesters. He even told them purposely to drop so stalks. Boaz wanted Ruth's gleaning to be worth her time, and it was. When she came home to Ruth with what she had gleaned, Naomi was thrilled. Now I mentioned that Boaz was a redeemer. Our reading tonight was very much about the redemption process that Boaz underwent for the benefit of Naomi and Ruth. So what is this redeeming about? To understand it, you need to know that loans and the ownership of property worked differently in Israel than how they work among us. God stipulated in his Law how the Israelites needed to handle these things. Basically nobody owned land in Israel, according to God's Law. God was the owner of all the land. The people leased the ability to live on the land and work it from God. Now if there came a time when the people who lived on the land came into financial difficulty, they could sell their right to work the land to somebody else, but this was always only a temporary arrangement.   The family who sold their right to work the land could get their original land back in two ways. One way was by what was called the jubilee year. Every 50 years was a jubilee year. During that year all debts were cancelled. The selling of rights to the land was cancelled. Then the family who originally owned the land would get it back, free and clear. The other way that a family could get their land back was by a redeemer. This is what happened with Naomi and Ruth. Naomi and her late husband Elimelek had some land near Bethlehem years ago. When the famine came, they must have sold their rights to that land to somebody else when they moved to Moab. Naomi still had a right to that land, but the debt needed to be redeemed. More prosperous relatives were able to redeem their poorer relatives to restore them to the land. So in our reading tonight we heard about how Boaz set about redeeming Naomi's land, which also meant that these widows would come under his wing. Ruth would become his wife. This was a big commitment. It would be expensive for Boaz. He also would be taking on the responsibility of caring for these women. But this was something that Boaz was happy to do, because, as you heard, he loved Ruth. The real driver behind our story tonight is not the peculiarities the Law that God gave to Israel about debt and property. It's a love story. Last week I talked about the love that existed between Naomi and Ruth. Tonight we heard about the marital love that Ruth had for Boaz, and Boaz for Ruth. For the love of Ruth Boaz redeemed Naomi and her. He had to play his cards right to do that, because a closer relative had the ability to redeem them too. Boaz had to meet with the council, and that's where there was that strange exchange of a sandal. Long story short, Boaz did play his cards right. They married, and in this way God provided for Naomi and Ruth—lifting them out of poverty and danger. They were even blessed for generations after them. King David would be born from this line. This also means that Ruth and Boaz are Jesus's ancestors too. Now as we look to how we might apply what we've heard to our own time and place, I'd like to talk about something that pastors don't talk about very much—the importance of marrying a good spouse. God's Word actually speaks about this in many places, and with many examples, both good and bad. One of the most important factors for people's life of faith is the person they marry—either for good and for ill. A godly, pious spouse is very powerful for helping the other retain his or her faith. On the other hand, an impious spouse will be a powerful hindrance to living faithfully. And this is not only the case for the spouses themselves. It also has its effect on the coming generations. This is easily proven. When both husband and wife are pious, faithful, church-goers, they are going to raise their children the same way. Boys learn how to be husbands and fathers from their dads. Girls learn how to be wives and mothers from their moms. As the Proverb says: Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. On the other hand, when moms and dads are not on the same page when it comes to their faith and attending church, the coming generations will have mixed signals about how to live and what to do. If mom and dad don't attend church, the children won't either. By the time the second or third generation is born, the children might not even be baptized and confirmed. So we should be wise and serious about marriage. We can speak about this negatively and positively. Negatively speaking, Christians should not continue in relationships where their potential spouse is not Christian, does not want to become a Christian, or doesn't actively live a Christian life. Being a Christian is not just saying that you believe in God or in Christ. It also means that you repent of sins, believe in Jesus, and want to do better. It means that you are active in your congregation—helping your fellow congregation members, even as they help you. If the person you are dating is not an active Christian and does not want to become one, then the relationship should end. Positively speaking, Christians should, first of all, pray for God to give them a godly spouse. You parents and grandparents should pray for godly spouses for your children and grandchildren. There's nothing more beneficial you could ask for them. And then, second of all, when an opportunity presents itself to marry a pious Christian, don't just sit on your hands. Get out there and make it happen. We see good examples of this with Ruth and Boaz. When Naomi heard about Boaz, I bet you her wheels started turning immediately. Notice how she encouraged Ruth to go to Boaz and to make known her affection for him. Naomi was a matchmaker. Being a matchmaker is no sin. Making known your affection is no sin. It's risky, of course. Hearts can be broken. But even in a situation where things do not turn out how we would want, it is better to try and fail than to never try at all. If I may be so bold, I'd even like to speak personally. I was captivated by Jana from the moment I first laid eyes on her. The feeling, however, was not mutual. When eventually, years later, I made known to her my long-standing affection in an email, she was not immediately on board. But, being wise, she talked to her father about it, and I'm glad she did. He basically said to her, don't be too hasty. Give it a chance. Long story short, less than a year later we were married. I hope that she hasn't been too disappointed; I know that I haven't been. If it hadn't been for my father-in-law, who knows if we would have gotten married. So romantic relationships do not need to be only how they get depicted in movies or sung about in songs. Movies and songs can be a lot of fun, but that might not be how God would have it be for you with your spouse. What is important to recognize are the things that were recognized by Boaz and Ruth. Each recognized in the other that here was someone who was loving, honorable, generous, pious, and so on. That said, neither was probably “perfect” in every respect. Ruth was practically a beggar. Boaz sounds like he was an older man. Maybe he didn't have the best of looks anymore. But God gave them both the gift of love. God brought them together. The two became one flesh. The blessings carried on for several generations. So my encouragement is that we be wise and serious about marriage for ourselves and for those whom we love. Being wise and serious does not come out of thin air. If anything, what seems to come naturally is getting carried away by the feelings that are stirred up by stories and songs. God is the key factor. He is the one from whom all good things come. You young people, you're never too young to pray for a godly spouse. You older people, pray for godly spouses for your children and grandchildren. There's hardly anything more important you could ask for to help them not only in this life, but even to eternity.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:The book of Ruth is about poor people. Being poor can lead to desperate actions. The book begins with a desperate action. A poor family leaves their homeland when they can no longer make ends meet. A famine struck the land. Naomi and her husband Elimelech have to leave their land behind in search of better conditions. They went to the land of Moab where the people worshipped other gods besides the Lord God. Naomi and Elimelech had two sons who married Moabite women. But one bad thing happened after another for this family. Elimelech, Naomi's husband died. Then both of Naomi's sons died. The family that was left was made up only of widows—three widows, three in-laws. Naomi was the mother-in-law. She had two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Being a widow is bad enough regardless of whether we are talking about modern times or ancient times. Being a widow carries with it sorrow and loneliness. But in ancient times being a widow also brought about impoverishment and vulnerability. Men were important for providing sustenance for the family. There was no social security during those times. Men were also important for protecting the family. Widows could be overpowered and taken advantage of. So with Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth all being widows we are talking about very weak, poor, and vulnerable people. Normally histories do not get written about weak, poor, and vulnerable people. Wretched people live in wretchedness, die in wretchedness, and are soon forgotten. But the attentive reader is going to notice that Naomi and her daughters-in-law are not completely wretched. They have a couple of outstanding attributes that no amount of money can buy. Naomi, first of all, was obviously loveable. Naomi was loved by her daughters-in-law. The way that a person becomes loveable is by being loving. People who love do not look out for themselves, first and foremost. They look for how they can love, serve, and sacrifice for others. Naomi must have lived this way, as can be seen in what we heard tonight. When Naomi's sons died she lost everything. She had no means for any income that could amount to much. The only hope she had was in her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. But Naomi thinks about their welfare instead of her own. She tells them that they should leave her and find new husbands. Naomi was too old to marry and have children, but Orpah and Ruth were young. They could still get married to a man who could support them and whatever children God might give them. And a clear sign that Naomi was loveable is shown by both of her daughters-in-law's reactions. Orpah and Ruth weep at the thought of leaving their mother-in-law. They love their mother-in-law. However, Naomi was right. If they were to have any hope for a better future they needed to marry again. With the famine and everything else that was going on, it sounds like they were living in desperate times. One daughter-in-law, Orpah, takes her mother-in-law's advice. She leaves to find a husband and we do not hear about her again. Ruth, however, refuses to leave. She says, “Where you go I will go, where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” Here we see someone else besides Naomi who loves in an extraordinary way. Ruth, also, is so very loveable because she loves, she serves, she sacrifices. She doesn't look out just for herself. She looks out for the good of her mother-in-law. And how is it that both Naomi and Ruth are able to be so loveable, so selfless, so sacrificial? Both of them have faith in God. God would bless them and keep them. Because God would bless them and keep them, they didn't need to be their own gods. They didn't need to see to things themselves, engineer their own happiness, taking whatever they could get. God would see them through. They believed that even though God had dealt with them in a rather bitter way up to that point. They were impoverished, after all, and God had taken their husbands from them. Nevertheless, they could afford to love, because God would bless them and see them through. Now if we take a step back and look at these two women we can see how rich they are, even though they are so very poor in almost every other respect. You can see how noble they are, even though they would have been outwardly clothed with the rags of poverty. They were living life with a capital L, even though they had nowhere to lay their head and to call their home. They were like the birds of the air. They were getting their daily bread, day by day, without barns full of provisions. We see several of Jesus's sayings fulfilled in Naomi's and Ruth's lives. Jesus said, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Naomi and Ruth were loving and being loved. What more can we ask for out of life than loving and being loved? But this love does not just come out of nowhere. Love comes from God, who, as St. John says, “is love.” And so Naomi and Ruth were fulfilling another of Jesus's sayings when he says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” It is by faith in God's kingdom, in his reigning and ruling, that we receive the Holy Spirit's gift of love. Again Jesus says in another place: “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly. The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy.” The way to have life and to have life more abundantly is to love and to be loved. To love one another means that you are looking out for the other. You love, you serve, you sacrifice. This is abundant life as it reflects the nature of God. The alternative is to steal, to kill, and to destroy. This is the character of every ungodly life. It's where a person looks out only for himself or herself. Others get used for one's own benefit instead of being served. Instead of trusting in God to bless you, you see to things yourself, unable to be generous, because you never know what the wheel of fortune might give you. Looking at Naomi and Ruth from a distance we see that everything that subsequently happens with them is a working out of their faith in God, and their fervent love for one another. These are their riches. Outwardly they are extremely poor. Ruth is practically a beggar and a slave. I'm sure that both Naomi and Ruth would have like it very much if their outward circumstances were different. Nevertheless, they are content. They continue to believe. They continue to love. Faith and love can seem like small matters. History books are not written about faith and love. Nevertheless, faith and love are the truly great things. Faith and love are what prepare us for the eternal things. Heaven is the place where God is, and “God is love.” Those who do not want to love, therefore, do not belong there. Hell, on the other hand, is where everyone is an expert at not loving—that is, manipulating and torturing. They steal, kill, and destroy eternally. They are unable to do anything else. Faith and love are by no means small things. They are the truly great things. But we don't need to wait until we get to heaven to see the effects of faith and love. We can see the effects already in this life. What a difference Naomi made for Ruth already in this life. Ruth loved her so much! And what a difference Ruth made for Naomi. Ruth practically kept Naomi alive. And, as we'll hear about more in the next two chapters next week, Ruth was the great-grandmother of King David, that truly great man of God. The heritage of faith and love can be passed down from generation to generation. Something of David's wonderful, courageous faith, and his burning, passionate love, was from his great-grandmother Ruth. We can easily apply these thoughts also to our own life. We all can probably point to someone in our life or in our lineage who believed and loved, and thereby brought that faith and love also to us. We also are presented with a challenge and an opportunity for our own lives as well. The challenge is to separate ourselves from the great horde of humanity who seeks only to steal, to kill, and to destroy—looking out only for themselves. Or, alternatively, we can believe that God exists and that God blesses. We can trust in him. Then we can afford to love no matter what our circumstances. When we believe and love, there's no telling what might happen. There's no telling what can happen in the coming generations. Think of Naomi and Ruth. Do you suppose that either of them thought that they would be the ancestors of a king while they were going from place to place, barely surviving? So also we do not know how our actions will affect our families and friends and even those yet to be born—either for good or for ill. What we can be sure of, no matter what, is that if we fear, love, and trust in God, and if we love one another, goodness is bound to come. Naomi and Ruth are examples for how we should live and wait for God's blessings.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:One of the unusual features of the times we are living in is how many different beliefs there are. Perhaps you had a taste of that at your Thanksgiving gathering. Your cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws might have very different understandings about what is right and wrong, the present state of things in the world, or what we should do about all of it. There have always been differences of beliefs. No two human beings have ever had the exact same thoughts about everything. But in the last few years the sheer number of beliefs available to be believed has increased dramatically. Sometimes you might hear of people applauding this development. More free speech and more diversity is automatically good. But many of the new beliefs contradict older beliefs. For example, either we have been made to be male and female—and that means something, or gender is just a fluid social construct. Either male and female is something intrinsic and natural, God-given, or what I've just said is judgmental and hateful. It is impossible for both views to be good. They contradict each other. So despite what people might say about diversity—that it should be welcomed, the more diverse the better—they either aren't seeing the contradictions or they aren't being totally honest. If they were being honest they would say that those who hold the older beliefs are deplorable and have no business holding any power or authority in our modern life. They should be run out of the government, run out of our universities, run out of our schools. They don't go so far as to want to kill people, but they most certainly want certain beliefs and ideas to die. The reason why they are so passionate for their beliefs is because they genuinely believe that the death of these old ideas will make the world a better place. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you had some vigorous debates on Thanksgiving whether these newer ideas would make the world a better place. I could take up the rest of this sermon time by giving you arguments for why this or that belief is bad and will lead to worse conditions rather than better ones. That might be an enjoyable way for us to spend our time. I suspect that most of us are pretty much on the same page about the various issues. But glorying in how right we are and how wrong they are would give the impression that we—with our debating, with our fighting—we are what is indispensable for Christianity and for the furtherance of Christ's kingdom. This is a very common, false assumption, which is held to particularly in our circles. Being a Christian is assumed to be the same thing as being a “conservative.” Being a Christian means that you fight for the old beliefs as opposed to the new beliefs. Christianity is us versus them. We're right; they're wrong. And what needs to happen is that either they need to shape up so that they adopt our position, or they must be eliminated. Their beliefs and ideas need to be eliminated. They must be run out of the government, run out of the schools, run out of the libraries. Being a Christian means that you are a cultural warrior. This is not Christianity. This is one of the devil's tricks. We know from St. Paul that the devil likes to dress himself up as an angel of light. There's nothing that the devil likes more than to play around in religion. What a harvest of souls the devil can collect for himself if he convinces people that Christianity is a matter of being either conservative or progressive. Then people will fight with each other over whether we should be conservative or progressive, believing thereby that they are being ever so pious, ever so religious, when in fact they will be accomplishing nothing that lasts into eternity. There is only one way for us to last into eternity, and that is by becoming a new creation. Paul says a couple of times in his letter to the Galatians that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision—an issue hotly debated at the time—counts for anything. What is needed is a new creation. I don't think I am going wrong by modifying that statement to say, “Neither conservatism nor progressivism is strong enough to accomplish anything. What is needed is a new creation.” And what is this new creation? John speaks of this at the beginning of his Gospel. He says, “To those who received the light [that is, Christ,] to those who believed in Jesus's name, he gave the right to become children of God. They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband's will. They were born of God.” That's how you become a new creation. You are born again through faith in Jesus's name. This is very much tied up with baptism. One of the simplest answers to the question of how to become a Christian is that you should be baptized. Jesus speaks of baptism as being “born again by the water and the Spirit.” Unless we are born again we cannot see the kingdom of God. And why is it so necessary to become a new creation? It is because the change that is needed is too great. Neither conservatism nor progressivism can save anyone from death. Neither conservatism nor progressivism can reconcile sinners with God. Neither side can exorcise evil spirits to make way for the Holy Spirit. Neither side can make anybody truly love. If anything it seems that the more we fight the more we hate, the more we dehumanize our opponents. And to what end? For greater diversity, equity and inclusion on the one side? To make America great again on the other? However grand these ideas might seem to be to people, they are far too small and temporary. Christ our Lord operates on an entirely different plane of existence. This is something that our readings today about the end of the world point out so forcefully that it strikes me as being almost brutal. We think the stuff that we deal with is so important, so consequential. The future of our country or the future of the world depends on us winning the cultural war. What our readings today reveal is that it isn't about us at all. The most outstanding thing is Jesus Christ being Lord and God. In our reading from Matthew we hear about how this King comes with magnificent splendor and power. All the souls born of Adam and Eve are gathered before him. Each and every one of you are one of those souls. The most powerful person who will have ever wielded the reins of government will be one of those souls. The most lowly—the retarded, the aborted, the slave—will be one of those souls. And how are they judged? They are judged by the presence or absence of the chief and foremost fruit of faith, which is love. Did they love? And who did they love? Did they love only their own, and to hell with everybody else or did they love the least of these? Our epistle reading is also supremely grand. Paul speaks about the resurrection and what will happen at the end. Paul is correcting the Corinthians, some of whom didn't believe that the resurrection from the dead was likely or possible. Paul says, no, there is most certainly a resurrection from the dead. If there is no resurrection from the dead then Christianity is a joke. It's simply not true if there is no resurrection. But what I find so captivating is what he says towards the end of our reading. He says that at the end Christ will bring to nothing every rule, every authority, every power. All his enemies must be put under his feet. Then he will deliver the kingdom—all those who have been raised together with Christ—he will deliver them to God the Father. Even Christ himself will be subject to God the Father. Then God will be all in all. To be honest, I'm not sure I understand everything that Paul has said. One thing is clear though: Christ's kingdom is what is extraordinarily important and there is no alternative. There is no alternative universe for DEIers, or for Trumpers, or for never-trumpers. “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.” This inclusivity is extreme! It is only in Christ that there can ever be true unity, true oneness. And there will be oneness, because either you will be in him, and one with him, or you will depart from him. This inclusivity is extreme. It seems brutal—harsh, even. But this is where it is important to remember what kind of Lord and King Jesus was. When you are tempted to believe that this is all too extreme, nasty, brutal, and so on, you must remember the way that Jesus was in the Gospels. His disposition towards us has not changed. What the Gospels reveal is that Jesus is an extremely strange king—so different from those who have earthly power. He did not enslave the world so that everybody would serve him. Just the opposite: He poured himself out for the benefit of all. He healed, he set right that which was wrong, he cast out demons, he forgave. And the works didn't need to be extraordinary or grand. On the night when he was betrayed he got out a basin, put water in it, tied a towel around his waist, and washed the disciples feet. What kind of king does that? And, of course, as you are well aware, Jesus was king in a supreme way when he was nailed to the cross, suffered God's wrath for our sins, and died. Because he died, we will not die. Because he is risen, we will rise too. This is the stuff that Paul talks about in our Epistle reading. It is going to happen to us. We will rise at his coming. Death will be destroyed forever. We will be caught up in this whirlwind of Christ's kingdom where all things will be brought to nothing and Christ will rule over everything. Then we will be delivered to God the Father so that God will be all in all. In light of all of this we must all repent and believe the Gospel. Whatever improvement projects we might have for ourselves or for others are futile. They can never reach deep enough. Nothing that we do can ever change the human heart. Only God, through the death and resurrection of his Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit can make us new creatures. This is where the extreme inclusivity, the seemingly brutal oneness, should not be seen as being as brutal as it first appears. It seems brutal because God does all this without asking for our permission or our approval. He's going to do what he's going to do whether we like it or not. Losing control, losing our say about what we think is good or what should happen, is frightening. But what if none of us is good at knowing what is good and evil? What if all our hearts are evil and in need of redemption? Then it is much better for the King, who is wise and good, to take the reins. He continues to set right that which is wrong, to cast out evil spirits, to forgive. Nobody can do what he does. He does all things well.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Our country has been celebrating the National Day of Thanksgiving since 1863. In October of 1863 President Lincoln called upon the nation to consider its good fortune. It had been blessed with bountiful harvests, with healthful skies, with productive mines. The president declared that these things came from a generous God. He acknowledged that there were troubles too. The country had been in the civil war for about a year and a half. But, President Lincoln said, things could be worse. Thus he set aside the last Thursday in November as the National Day of Thanksgiving. For our observance of Thanksgiving Day we could do something similar to what President Lincoln did in his Thanksgiving proclamation. We could consider how things have been with us. God has given us a bountiful harvest. This is true nationally as well as locally. President Lincoln spoke of healthful skies. We, too, have had good weather. The mines are still being mined. Our grocery stores are all fully stocked. We've had our problems just like President Lincoln had his problems, but things could be worse. It is good for us to try to see what is good in life and to give thanks to God for that goodness. The inability to see what is good and our coldness towards God are from our fall into sin. Before the fall into sin Adam and Eve had a free and easy relationship with God. After they fell into sin they were afraid of God. They were suspicious of what he might do to them. We are like them. We've lost the ability to see what is good. Unfortunately, we very often don't see how good something is until it's gone. We don't see how good health is until we are sick. Since we don't see how good it is, we don't thank God for it like we should. We haven't had a famine for well over a hundred years. This has made many people believe that famines, food shortages, hunger—these are all things of the past. We do not see how extraordinary the abundance we enjoy is. We don't give thanks to God for it. And these are just the most intimate of our needs—our health, our food and drink. There are so many other good things that God heaps up on us day in and day out. He makes the sun shine. He makes the rain fall. He gives us the precious gifts of the members of our family. He gives us our community. He gives us the opportunity to serve with good and honest work. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. But maybe as I mentioned just those few blessings that God gives you've wanted to raise some objections. The weather's kind of cold. I hear it's only going to get colder. The precious gifts of the members of your family? They're not always easy to live with. The community? It's not like it was years ago. Good and honest work? Maybe you don't like your work. Maybe you don't like your coworkers. But let me remind you of what I just spoke about. It is natural for us fallen sinners to be blind to what is good. It is always easier for us to be dissatisfied with what we have and to want something better. Thus we do not give thanks. Not only is this what comes naturally to us, but the devil and his demons want to spur on these thoughts and attitudes as well. These enemies of God don't want us to be thankful. The devil would like it best if none of us would receive our daily bread at all. But, barring that, since God is the way that he is, and he gives his daily bread to everyone, the devil would then like it if we would not be content with what we are given or to give God thanks and praise. Instead of being content, he wants us always to be on the lookout for something better—maybe that something that somebody else is enjoying. If only I had what they have, then I would be happy. This is called coveting. The ninth and tenth commandments say, “You shall not covet.” God gives us these commandments for our good, and we truly would be better off if we never coveted, but coveting comes naturally to us. Coveting is also a very powerful spiritual problem, and so the devil wants us to covet. The first step to coveting is to be dissatisfied with what God has given to you. This dissatisfaction can be about all kinds of different things: Your spouse isn't good enough. Your parents aren't good enough. Your job isn't good enough. Your friends aren't good enough. Your personality isn't good enough. Your body isn't good enough. There are two things I'd like to point out about this poisonous spiritual fog the devil is always wafting our way. First of all, it is useful to understand that these things could be true—at least certainly theoretically. Could you have a better body? Yep. We all even know how we could do it too. Could your job be better? Theoretically. If we are considering dreams and ideals, then I suppose anything is possible. In fact, this is just the reverse of something I've already said a few times tonight: “Things could always be worse.” Conversely, things could always be better. Both statements are truisms. Things could always be worse. Things could always, at least theoretically, be better. So that's the first thing—there's truth, theoretically at least, mixed in with the dissatisfaction and covetousness. The second thing I'd like to point out is that this evil spiritual fog makes people miserable. Thinking about how you don't measure up with various aspects of your life is practically guaranteed to make anybody who does it sad. This, of course, is what the devil would like for all of us. The devil likes it when others are made sad. He'd like it if we would all be sad and miserable eternally. So the devil will waft his nasty, poisonous fog towards us to destroy any contentment and thanksgiving towards God that we might otherwise have. The devil would like nothing better than for all of us to hate everything we have in our life, and then for us to be angry at God for making our lives so miserable. But truly it is not God who has made our lives so miserable. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Great is his faithfulness. It is not God who makes us so miserable. It is the devil. The way he does it not even so much by depriving us of what we need for this body and life. Instead he bewitches us so that we are dissatisfied, covetous, and thankless. Shame on the devil for bewitching us so thoroughly. What dreadful misery he manages to inflict upon us. But the good news is that you can fight back. Not only can you fight back, but the real truth is on our side. That's how it always is with the devil. The truth is actually against him. He has been defeated. It is only by lies that he holds on to any power. So when the devil cooks up a lie that you should be miserable and ashamed at how bad things are for you, know that he's wrong. The truth that the devil will probably try to use is that things could always be better. But the real truth is that things are already good now. We don't need any potentialities or idealism. Things are already good. To say that, however, requires faith. We must believe that amid all the things that can happen and do happen in this life that Jesus is Lord and God. He reigns at the right hand of God the Father almighty. He has redeemed us poor, fallen, covetous sinners. He sends his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and gladness, to fight against all lying, evil, and sad spirits. Things are already good now and the truth is that the future is as bright and cheerful as we could ever hope for so long as we remain faithful to Jesus. What we know about the future is that there is nothing that is currently wrong that Jesus will not set right. There is nothing dissatisfactory about us or in us that will not be healed and perfected. Perhaps God will do this to some extent for his children already in this life, but even if he doesn't, do not be afraid. He will surely do it when we are resurrected. Now somebody might object: What about all those things that I still don't like about my life? I want those changed now. My spouse, my job, my health, my wealth, my body—these haven't suddenly changed in these last few moments have they? I want my best life now! This brings to mind the kinds of things that the devil said to Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness. He said, “If you are the Son of God, then change these stones into bread. Why be hungry? Fix it now.” Or, he said, “Bow down and worship me and all these kingdoms will be yours. Why go through that cross and trouble?” The devil, it seems, is a fan of the quick fix. Don't put up with anything. Get it changed right now. But supposing, even, that the goods could always be delivered—supposing that all your wants could be satisfied—what would that ultimately profit you? Jesus once asked, “What would it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul?” The reason why even gaining the whole world would not ultimately profit us is because we were made in the image of God. We were made for fellowship with God. Not even all the world's goods and accomplishments can satisfy what can only be satisfied with a relationship with God. So do not throw away the goodness of God that is renewed for you every morning by being dissatisfied, by chasing after some ideal. Be thankful instead. What is now, what is present, is good. And even if there is something that isn't good, it is without doubt passing away. That is what is so marvelous about what Jesus has accomplished for us. Anything that is evil, unfit, unworthy, sad, what-have-you, will not go on forever. It cannot go on forever. After the cross is the resurrection.  

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:What are you looking forward to? Is there a family gathering coming up? Christmas is around the corner. What gifts would you like to receive? Retirement? Weddings? Children or grandchildren? There are a lot of things to look forward to. What about Jesus Christ's second coming in power and great glory? Is that on your list? Probably not. There's a proverbial saying: “It's not the end of the world.” Behind that saying is a belief that the end of the world would be a bad thing, and that's not unreasonable. The end of the world means the end of our earthly activities. This earthly life moves into the past. A somewhat unknown future rushes upon us. It is scary to think of all the things we are accustomed to failing and being presented with the unknown.   You, who trust in Jesus, though, should not be afraid of him coming in power and great glory. This is not something you can do just by mustering up your nerve not to be afraid. That won't work. There is only one reason why you should not be afraid of Jesus coming again, and that is the message of the Gospel. The Gospel is the good news about the relationship between God and us. The hostility between foul sinners on the one hand and a holy God on the other has been overcome by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This means that when Jesus comes, our future with God will be different from what we otherwise would expect. What would we otherwise expect? An honest look at what we've done will quickly give us the answer. We haven't done what we should have done. We've done what we shouldn't have done. Meeting our Maker, face to face, immediately thrusts before us God's judgment. The books are opened. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. What we otherwise expect, apart from the Gospel, is that we will be horrified and ashamed. There is a stupendous truth here, not often acknowledged. Paul calls it the “ministry of the letter.” The glory of this ministry of the letter is so magnificent that nobody can stand to look at the end of it unless he has first turned to Christ. The glory of the letter of the law is in the way that it brings death and eternal death to all who do not fulfill it. This stupendous truth says that based upon how I have lived, with all my sin, I should be punished by God. He should deprive me of all happiness. He should snuff out my life. I deserve to go to hell. But no matter how glorious this divine truth is, it isn't even close to being the most glorious—at least according to Paul. Paul says that there is the ministry of the Spirit that is far more glorious. By the term, “ministry of the spirit,” he is referring to the Gospel. The Gospel declares that Jesus has taken our place. God is well pleased with all mankind because of Jesus. All who believe in him will have eternal life. So let's go back to how we might feel about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody has at least a little part of them that is afraid. To be perfectly unafraid would require a perfect faith. That isn't possible in this life where we are constantly under assault from the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. There's an element of fear in each of us because the Law is true. The Law says that God should punish us for our sins, and we know that we have sinned. But here we should recall something that happens so often in what has been recorded in the Bible. So often God's people are confronted with terrible facts, terrible laws. People are surrounded by water, or by enemies, or by lions, or possessed by demons. And all these facts and laws seem to lead to one conclusion—“You're lost! There's no hope for you!” But into these terrible situations God steps in and says, “Do not be afraid.” God says, “Do not be afraid,” countless times in the Scriptures. It's as though he is saying, “I understand that these laws are calling for your destruction, but I am the Lord of all laws. So be still and see how I am God.” And so on Judgement Day we will be witness to the working of laws that are more stupendous than anything we might be familiar with from our earthly life here. Even the laws of nature will do strange and unheard of things. As Amos says in our Old Testament reading, there will be nowhere to turn, nowhere to be safe. The only one to whom we can turn and in whom we can be safe is the God who is lord over all the terrible forces. We must turn to the one who is Lord over what will be ripping this creation apart. How necessary, therefore, is the ministry of the Spirit, the word of the Gospel, through which God says, “Do not be afraid. This Law has called out for your punishment, but I have silenced all its accusations against you when I sent my Son to die for all the sins of the whole world—including yours.” So what we can see from all of this is that the Day of the Lord is tremendous. Nobody will have experienced anything like it before it happens. It should not be taken for granted—some future event that is nothing to get excited about. If ever we have been excited about anything, then this day must provoke our greatest excitement. There's to be joy for those of you who believe, but, as we think of it now, there's an element of fear too. We see this in our Gospel reading. Our Gospel reading is a parable about the end of the world. Jesus is the groom. The bride is the Holy Christian Church. The groom is coming for his bride because he loves her. The overall mood of this parable is by no means sad. The ten virgins are not dreading the coming of the groom. If anything, they are sad that he has been delayed. But then the cry comes at midnight: “He's arrived! Come out to meet him!” Those young women must have been roused from their sleep with great happiness. He's finally here! It's like Christmas morning. You don't have to prod the children to get out of bed. They come a-running like calves out of the stall. They can't wait to see him. But Jesus also has a reason for telling us about the foolish virgins as well. Their joy quickly turns to dread. They've forgotten their oil. They can't appear before the groom like that. Maybe they can get some from the others, but it turns out, no they can't. Each must believe for himself or herself. The borrowing of faith is not possible. While they are gone in search of some way to be presentable to the groom, the doors are shut. That shows that the time of grace has ended. The time of preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments has ended. Jesus finished this parable by saying, “Watch, therefore, because you do not know the day nor the hour.” That helps us understand what happened with the foolish virgins, and it gives us our cue as well so that we do not end up in the same boat. It is not only possible, it is easy, for people who self-identify as Christians to quit watching for Christ's second coming. What do they look for instead? Generally, it's all the lovely gifts our benevolent Creator gives us in this early life. They look forward to retirement, to vacations, to the good times ahead. There's no watching or waiting for the day of the Lord. The glory of the ministry of the Spirit leaves no impression, nor do the terrors of the law. Usually they say, at least to themselves: “We know all that stuff already. There's no need to go on talking about it.” Off to sleep they go. So how do we keep watch? How do we keep oil in our lamps? How may we be prepared for Christ's second coming? You might think that fear should work. However, the fear of failure or the fear of punishment will never do it alone. If you prepare only by being fearful, then you are treating God as though he were your enemy. Perhaps by fear you can prepare somewhat for battle against him, but I don't like your chances in such a fight. Fear alone won't do. But, to be honest, an excessive fear of God's judgment is hardly a problem among us. Among us, it is rather the opposite. Fear of the Day of Judgment is shrugged off. No big deal. Or it isn't talked about. A person might wonder while hearing this parable how it is possible that these church members, these virgins, were so foolish and unprepared. Well, might it be that when they congregated as a church they never talked about Judgement Day, or it was explained away as nothing to worry about? Do you realize how rare it is to find a congregation that takes God's judgement seriously? Our land is littered with churches, but I don't know if a tenth of them take such things seriously. And yet they have well-meaning people in them who are quite sure that they are as Christian as anybody else. However, it is a Christianity on their terms instead of on God's terms. A redefined, seemingly improved or more palatable Christianity might be successful by earthly measurements, but true Christianity prepares us for Judgement Day and for the life to come. So we dare not shrug this day off, nor the fear that it tends to provoke. Nevertheless, only that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in Jesus's words. And what are Jesus's words? Why is he coming? You know something he says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not sent his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Is not Jesus the groom, hastening to the bride whom he loves? These are the facts of God that overwhelm all other facts, no matter how glorious those other facts might appear to be. Jesus's love is more glorious. The Christian's strength is never in fear. Fear can helpful. It can be a spur to wake us up or pull us out of ruts. However, fear can't get us one inch closer to peace and to knowledge of God. For that we need God's unfailing promises, in which we believe. The Day of the Lord, the Day of Judgement, lies in the future. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. If ever we have looked forward to anything, then we should look forward to this day. It is a thrilling cry: “Wake, up! Here he comes! Come out to meet him!” May God bless you with faith so that that day will give you the inexpressible joy that it deserves.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:“Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'” Today we commemorate the Reformation. One of the greatest consequences of the Reformation was that western Christendom was divided. Prior to the Reformation the Christians in Europe were united under the pope and the bishops under him. After the Reformation there continued to be Christians under the pope and the bishops, but there were also other Christians who no longer recognized the legitimacy of the pope and the bishops. As you might be aware, this division continues to the present day. There continue to be Roman Catholics who are under the pope and the bishops. And then there are also Protestants, Lutherans included, who do not recognize the pope or bishops as having any divine authority over them. Although the Reformation is a very large topic, and we could spend many hours going through the history and the issues involved, the fact that Christendom was split is a good way to get at what is especially important about the Reformation. Martin Luther's rejection of the divine authority of the pope and of the bishops is what made him so despised at the time. The pope and the bishops would have been willing to put up with an awful lot, but they would not tolerate a Christendom that was outside of their jurisdiction. And as I mentioned, Christendom remains divided to this very day. Therefore, at least among traditional Roman Catholics who have an understanding of church history, Martin Luther is the arch villain. Martin Luther broke the power of the pope over the peoples of Europe. Prior to the Reformation the pope was able to keep kings, princes, and other authorities in line by the power of his excommunication. After the Reformation, vast swaths of Europe no longer recognized his legitimacy. He never again had as much power. And it is not like that was an unmitigated good. A vacuum of sorts was created. What filled that vacuum was the power of kings and princes. The church lost more and more power. Eventually the kings and princes were replaced by other forms of government, but, still, these governments had all the power. And today maybe it's the corporations and hedge funds who have all the power. What power does the church have? Very little. The churches, regardless of their denomination, are very easily ignored. So it's not surprising that people who care about Christianity, who want Christianity to succeed, would trace the church's seeming impotence in today's world to Martin Luther. He broke the power of the pope and the bishops. He divided Christendom. He's the reason why we're in the mess that we're in. But Martin Luther is terribly mischaracterized if it is believed that he was some kind of revolutionary. If anything he was the opposite. He didn't set out to destroy the power of the pope or the bishops. He was quite content to live under the pope and the bishops. The problem, though, was that he was not content to live under the pope and the bishops no matter what. If the pope and the bishops were siding against Christ and against the truth, then that was the end of Luther's loyalty. This was how Luther broke the system that was in place. There was a system for handling disagreements, a chain of command. If a disagreement came up that the local priest couldn't handle, he could pass it along to the bishop. If the bishop couldn't handle it, then he pass it along to the pope. The pope usually could handle it, but he did have the option of calling a church council made up of all the bishops. Perhaps the most important part of this system was that whatever was decided by this structure needed to be followed by the people. And Luther was willing to go along with all of this. Again, he was no revolutionary. But if the end result of this chain of command was something false, then Luther wasn't willing to deny the truth for the sake of keeping the peace. This is what stirred up all the trouble. Luther wouldn't give up on what was true. This is where what we heard in our Gospel reading applies: “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'” It's Jesus's words that matter—not the church's word, not the pope's word, not even any Lutheran pastor's word. Jesus's words teach what is true. And it is the truth that sets free. It's not lies that set free. The truth. And this is where we can easily find much applicability to us today. This is not just some history lesson so that you can better understand the Reformation or Lutheranism. The burning issue at the time of the Reformation remains the burning issue in our time too: Is the truth going to prevail among us or are we going to be content with lies? In fact, this has always been the issue since the very beginning, and it will remain the issue until the end. The truth that God spoke to Adam and Eve was replaced with a lie. Adam and Eve preferred the lie to the truth. God, however, was merciful to them and restored them in the truth. But, as we see in Adam and Eve, it is always hard to come into the truth. When they heard God walking through the garden in the cool of the day they had never been more scared or unhappy. They went and hid in the bushes to try to stay in the lie. It was painful for them to come into the light of God's judgment. They preferred the lie to the truth. And at the time of the Reformation, Luther could have avoided all kinds of trouble if he only would have left things be as they were. If he would have left the powerful officials alone, he could have lived out his days in peace and quiet. He would have been on the wrong side. He would have been an enemy of Christ and his truth—siding instead for those in power and for personal advantage. He also wouldn't have had peace with God. He would have had a guilty conscience, but sins and lies have a way of deadening our conscience so that it eventually doesn't bother us too much after a while. So it is also for each one of us. Are we on Jesus's side or the devil's side? Are we fighting for the truth or are we content to live peaceably with lies? Being on Jesus's side is not easy. Jesus tells us that explicitly: “If you wish to be my disciple, then take up your cross and follow me.” That doesn't sound like a very good deal. If you want to be his disciple, then a cross and suffering are going to be there. Jesus says more about being a disciple in our Gospel reading today too: “If you remain in my word, then you will truly be my disciple, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” So it looks like we have a choice before us. We can either embrace the way of lying or we can embrace the way of truth. The way of lying has its advantages. You can be unscrupulous. You can be extremely practical—do whatever works for you. If you're a good enough liar you can keep doing almost anything you might want to do as nobody will find out about it. And finally, after a long life of wickedness and covering it up, we can hope in one final lie, that there won't be any judgement at the end of it. The way of truth is very different. It is uncomfortable. It is awkward. It can be embarrassing. It can mark you as a target for those who don't want their lies exposed. As Paul says, “We are like sheep being led to slaughter.” Going the way of truth looks like it won't work. It looks like it's a bad deal. Jesus himself appeared to be a failure as he was hanging on the cross. But, on the other hand, there's nothing like the truth. It's divine. It sets us free. The truth of Jesus's words speak of a hope in Christ for a better existence—a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. We don't have to hide. The truth of forgiveness and righteousness in Jesus means we don't have to lie. We know Jesus, and he has set us free. A lot of people have blamed Martin Luther for dividing Christendom, weakening it, allowing other forces to rise up with nobody to keep them in check. These forces certainly are out there living it up, with no fear of God or man. Our churches, in contrast, look weak and miserable. We have so very little clout in the world. But to dream of something different seems to me like the temptation when Jesus was shown all the kingdoms of the world. He could have them all if only Jesus would bow down and worship Satan. That's not the way of truth. Salvation comes through the cross. So we do not need to dream of something different. We are fully equipped for the kingdom of God with the truth of Jesus's words. But we must use of it. If we reject Jesus's word, if we reject God's commandments, if we prefer lies and power to the truth, then we would be doing no good even if we managed to become the biggest church in Fairmont with all the trappings of success. Even if we managed to become as powerful as the medieval popes, it would be for naught, for that is not the way the Church of Christ goes forward. The church of Christ goes forward by holding to the truth of Christ, come what may. This necessarily means that we take up our cross and follow him. When we abide in Jesus's word we ourselves will be saved, and we will prove to be a light to others, leading them to Christ as well. The work goes on. Luther didn't fix things—come up with some magic formulas—so that there is no work, and he certainly didn't wreck everything either. The words of Christ, the truth that sets free, must be presented to every individual of every generation. We must be sure that we don't substitute what is false for what is true just because it is easier or looks like it will work better. The truth is in Jesus. “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'”

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:For better understanding what is going on in our Gospel reading, it is helpful to know the context. Our reading today is during Holy Week. Jesus entered Jerusalem a couple days before on Palm Sunday. The people hailed him as king. He then went to the Temple, clearing out the money changers, flipping over tables and such. All of this made the leaders in Jerusalem very upset. They had always believed that Jesus was no good. So in the readings for the past few weeks we've been hearing about the interaction between Jesus and these leaders in Jerusalem. Our reading this morning is another of those interactions, but in today's reading the Jewish leaders are trying to trap Jesus in what he might say.  So they come to him with something of a trick question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” To understand why this is a trick question, we need to know something about the political situation at that time. The Jewish people had not been able to govern themselves for quite some time. They had been ruled over by foreigners for a few hundred years. The latest of the foreign rulers were the Romans, with the Caesar at the head of that government. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to that guy or not?” I'm not aware of any people who enjoys having foreign rulers over them, and the Jews were no exception. They resented the presumption, arrogance, brutality, and so on of the Romans. They were hoping that they could get their own kingdom back. One of the hopes at the time was that the Messiah, or the Christ, promised in the Old Testament, would come and restore their kingdom. So they'd rather not pay taxes to Caesar. Plus they could add some pretty legitimate sounding excuses. The Caesar was a rank unbeliever. He even styled himself as something of a god. How could tax-payers give their hard-earned money towards something like that? So that's one part of what is going on. The Jews didn't like the Romans or Caesar. The other part of what is going on with Jesus being asked this questions was that it was dangerous for anyone to say that they didn't like the Romans or Caesar. If someone had rebellious thoughts, and the Romans found out about it, they wouldn't think twice about killing especially non-citizens like most of the Jews. I think this is what Jesus's opponents were hoping would happen. I think they were hoping he would say that we should throw off the Roman yoke and start building a better world. And if Jesus's opponents heard something like that, the first thing they would have done was to run to Pontius Pilate. They'd turn Jesus in and all their problems would go away. But Jesus disappoints them. Instead of saying “Throw off the Roman yoke,” he says, “Give Caesar's things to Caesar, and God's things to God.” So Jesus avoided their trap. Now let's think about what Jesus's answer means. There are two parts to his answer: “Give Caesar's things to Caesar, and God's things to God.” We'll take them in turns. With the first part of Jesus's response there seems—to me, at least—to be something of a dismissal of the whole issue. The saying, “Give Caesar's things to Caesar,” strikes me as being something like, “Let sleeping dogs lie,” or “That's all a tempest in a teapot.” Not much to see. To respond in such a manner is unexpected, to say the least. Maybe it would be along the lines of someone saying, “It doesn't matter if Biden or Trump is president,” when we all know that nothing could be more important than who is president. Right? We have about a dozen cable news channels that are dedicated to nothing else than covering every last whisper and wink that comes out of Washington. Jesus just says, “Leave Caesar alone. Give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar.” Perhaps what Jesus's response identifies is a false god that we easily end up fearing, loving, and trusting in. There's no denying that those in government have power, and so we easily believe that if only we were able to get these things straight—if only we could get our guys or our party in there—then we'll be happy. Every four years, every two years, we hear the same things over and over again. Vote for this guy and then you'll be happy. Or, conversely, God forbid the other guy should be elected otherwise the world will fall apart. Our fear, love, and trust belong with the true God instead of in anything else. To fear, love, and trust in those who have power in earthly affairs is just as much idolatry as if we were bowing down and worshiping some statue. In order for you to see how idolatry can be present with our thoughts about government, let me speak briefly about another kind of idolatry, the idolatry of money. Very similar things are said about money as are said about the government. “If only I have money, then I'll be happy.” Or, conversely, “if I should happen to lose any money, then gloom, despair, and agony on me.” Now I have to admit that there's something going on with these things we idolize. For example, does it feel good to come into some money? You bet it does. Does it hurt to lose money? Yes indeed. So also with the government. There are good governments and bad governments. We'd all like to have a good government. Does it feel good to have your guy win on election night? You bet it does. But even though we can get some pleasure and satisfaction through these things, they are not very good gods. They don't really deliver the happiness or blessedness that they are always promising. So do not put your faith in this person or party being elected or not elected. A lot of people at Jesus's time believed that if they could only get rid of that awful Caesar, then happy days would return again. Whether Caesars exist or don't exist is not what will do the trick. What is needed is a new creation. The things of God are what is needed. We need to be born again of water and the Spirit. We need to enter into a new relationship with God where there is true righteousness, justice, peace, and so on—much purer and profounder than any earthly ruler could ever accomplish under even the best of circumstances. So do not obsess over who is in power or not in power. God still exists in heaven above regardless of who is in power. Make it your aim, instead, to please God. This is one thought that I believe Jesus is expressing when he says, “Give Caesar's things to Caesar.” Leave him be. Another thing he is saying is actually the answer to their question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Jesus says, basically, “It is.” Pay the things that belong to Caesar to Caesar. Paul says the same thing in Romans 13: “Pay taxes to whom you owe taxes.” Why? Because government is a gift from God. They need to be supported in the work that God has given them to do. Now I can understand why it might not seem as though government is a gift from God. There is always waste, corruption, nonsense, if not even worse things. It can seem as though government is not a gift of God at all. But just because something that is good can be abused, doesn't destroy what is supposed to be good. Admittedly, the government does not always do what is right. Governments never have! They've all been run by poor, miserable sinners. But there is a lot of goodness that God accomplishes through his gift of government that is easily overlooked. Consider how good it is that we can pick up the phone and call 911, and we don't have to wonder about whether help is on the way. God's gift of government defends us and protects us. God's gift of government also prevents all kinds of evils and mischief. Because of the fact that we have laws, police, judges, prisons, and so forth, those who want to do evil have to think twice before harming their neighbor. They don't want to get caught. They don't want to get punished. In this way God keeps the lid on all kinds of evil that otherwise would boil over. God's gift of government, even if it be ever-so-imperfect, allows us to live quiet and peaceable lives. So with Jesus's words, “Give Caesar's things to Caesar,” Jesus is indicating that government has a God-given role to play. Taxes should be paid to whom taxes are owed, because God works through those who are in government to maintain peace and prosperity. However, we should keep our distance when it comes to our heart. Don't give your heart or your soul to anyone or anything but God alone. Which brings us to the second part of Jesus's response: “Give God's things to God.” What are the things of God? What we must think of first and foremost when it comes to the “things of God” is God's Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus did the things of God. And what did Jesus do? Jesus became Lord over everything that afflicts us the worst. We might think that government or money could fix our problems—and maybe they could fix some of them—but these things cannot even come close to addressing our worst and most pressing needs. What makes us saddest and most miserable is our poor spiritual condition—our coveting, greed, anger, hatred, lust, meanness, fear, self-loathing, and so on. We could sum all these things up with the word, “Sin.” And Sin would like to rule us like a tyrant both now in this life, and eternally in the life to come. Jesus defeats sin. Sin is not Lord. Jesus is Lord. And Jesus defeats the gloomy grave. Death and decay in all around I see. Wave after wave of people go away and there seems to be no stopping it. But death must let go despite its terrible, seemingly invincible, grip. We shall rise as Jesus has arisen. The glory of these things is so magnificent! Jesus gets to the root and source. There is so much talk of happiness: “I would be happy if only I …” and you fill in the blank. Happiness is so much higher and holier of a thing than people imagine. There's no way government, or money, or any other earthly thing can truly bring about happiness. Happiness is tied up with God. So, as Jesus says, “Give to God's things to God.” The way we give God's things to God is by believing him. Believe what God has done in his Son whom he sent, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Believe that Jesus is Lord and God. Faith, simply believing God, is the highest worship. There is no substitute for faith. Either we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord—in him is my happiness. Or you will be looking somewhere else for your happiness. Lots of things seem like they should do the trick. None of them, ultimately, can, except the things of God. Jesus's message is therefore remarkably applicable to us today. The Jews at Jesus's time were lost in the same kinds of things we get lost in—political intrigues, lying, meanness, and so on. A lot of the Jews believed that if only they could attain some change in the government, then we'd have our happy days. But there is finally only one way to happiness, and that is in our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen for us.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:“Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” In our Gospel reading the chief priest and elders are upset about Jesus. The chief priests and elders had never liked Jesus. Jesus wasn't a part of their club. He wasn't from Jerusalem. He didn't go to the right schools. He wasn't from the right families. What's more is that he also appeared to them to be a dangerous heretic. He healed people on the Sabbath, for example. That's work, is it not? That's forbidden. And his disciples didn't wash their hands before they ate. Every self-respecting Jew had been washing his hands a certain way from time immemorial! And here these cheeky disciples were flaunting the traditions of their people. So the chief priest and elders already didn't like Jesus, but what had been going on lately was over the top. The day before our reading took place was Palm Sunday. Jesus entered Jerusalem amid shouts of joy: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Jesus is the King like King David! Hosanna, which means, save us we pray!” The people were joyously saying stuff like that, and it made these people sick. Jesus was a heretic! Jesus was no good! All their best theologians had said so. But then Jesus did something more. He entered into their home turf. He entered the Temple. When he saw what was going on, it made him angry. Buying here. Selling there. And so Jesus kicked them all out. They had set up tables with pigeons, cash registers and such, and Jesus grabbed hold of their tables and flipped them over. Money and pigeons went flying everywhere. Jesus quoted Scripture to them: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer.' You have made it a den of robbers!” Our Gospel reading today is from the day after Jesus did these things. It's not surprising, therefore, that the chief priests and elders should go up to him and say, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” They wanted to know: had Jesus been authorized to raise havoc? They, of course, believed that they already knew the answer. Of course he didn't have the authority, because they were the higher ups, and they certainly had not given him any such authority! But Jesus surprises them by not immediately answering their question. He asks them a question. If they'll answer his question, then he'll answer theirs. Jesus asks, “John's baptism: where did it come from? Was it from God or from man?” You heard how the chief priests and elders discussed how they should answer. If they said that the baptism was from God, then Jesus will ask why they didn't get baptized? But if they said that John's baptism was merely human they knew the people wouldn't stand for it. The people were sure that John the Baptist was a prophet. So they said, “We don't know.” And neither did Jesus tell them by what authority he did what he did. Now let's look a little more closely at what the chief priests and elders were doing. Notice how the chief priests and elders were dishonest right from the start. Already with the first question that they ask Jesus, they weren't looking for an honest answer. It's more an accusation in the form of a question: “By what authority do you do these things?” They don't want to know what authority he has. They already know that he has no authority—at least so far as they're concerned. Then, when Jesus asks them his question, Jesus subtly points them towards the truth. Jesus brings up God—something that wasn't even on the chief priests' and elders' radar. Jesus would have them consider: Might it be that John the Baptist was sent from God? Might it be that if John the Baptist was sent from God, then Jesus, also, was sent from God? Might it be that his authority comes from God? This subtle suggestion is lost on them, however. It was like seed being sown on a beaten path. They didn't think about God. They only thought of how they hadn't liked John the Baptist either. He too wasn't part of their club. He too said stuff and did stuff that annoyed them. No, of course John's baptism wasn't from God, but they dare not say that out loud. The idiotic people regarded John to be a prophet. So notice what these church leaders are doing, or, rather, not doing. They aren't interested in what is true. They don't lay their cards on the table. They operate in a calculated and artificial way. Their thoughts are not on God, their thoughts are only on how their words and actions are going to affect themselves negatively or positively. Since they do not care about God or about what is true the meat and substance of what they are supposed to be about as members and leaders of the church has been lost. They are only dealing with the husks, the outward appearances of faith. This was the very thing that Jesus reacted against so violently the day before. When he came into the temple and saw what was going on he saw that it was mechanical and empty. There was certainly a lot of hustle and bustle, but nothing of substance, nothing of faith. People were coming and going. They put in their offerings. Week after week, rinse and repeat. Jesus looks upon their bored faces and exclaims: “This house is to be a house of prayer!” That means that people are supposed to care, to think, to wrestle and to call upon God. Wrestling with God was not on the table. The husks were. The meat and the substance was gone. That's a good way to understand the contrast between the chief priests and elders on the one hand and John the Baptist and Jesus on the other. John the Baptist and Jesus called out for the meat and the substance. The Gospels summarize the preach of both as being the same. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of God draws near!” That is a clear message. The king is coming. God is coming. That is a simple message that affects every last one of us. God can come suddenly and unexpectedly. Any one of us could die today or tomorrow and that is when we will meet our maker. That is the kingdom of God drawing near for us personally. Or today or tomorrow could be the end of this age when Christ will come with his angels in power and glory to judge the living and the dead. In light of the kingdom of God drawing near both John and Jesus say the same thing: “Repent!” Change your ways! Let the sinner sin no longer. Paul says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor partiers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God!” There's that word: “kingdom of God.” “Those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Now I know that you've done such things. I've done such things, I'm sorry to say. John the Baptist and Jesus say, “Repent!” “Stop it!” To which we might very well say, “I don't want to.” That might very well be the truth! After all, why have we done these things to begin with? Nobody held a gun to our head and said, “Be sexually immoral or else!” “Be greedy or else!” We did these things because we wanted to do. It might be against our will to stop. I'll give you another example: Your dad comes to you, as dads tend to do, and tells you, “Go outside and work!” I've never met the kid who unfailingly responds: “Hurray! I get to go and work!” More often than not we say, inwardly at least, “I don't want to.” Jesus gave the chief priests and elders a parable along these lines. He said, “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, ‘I don't want to,' but afterward he repented and went. And the father went to the other son and said the same. He answered, ‘Yes sir. I will go,' but he never did. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John the Baptist came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.” It is not surprising that someone doesn't want to go work. Likewise, it is not surprising that anyone who likes to sin would want to stop. The tax collectors and prostitutes were the open sinners. They brazenly said: “We don't want to,” but later they changed their mind. They repented. The other son, on the other hand, looked better. He looked more pious. He said, “Yes sir!” when his father told him to do something he didn't want to do. Although he looked different as far as outward appearances and words was concerned, inwardly he was just like his brother. He had the same heart. But, as it turned out, he ended up being worse. He had looked better, he had said the right words, but he was worse because he did not repent. Even when his brother, who had said the wrong words, nevertheless went out and worked, he still didn't repent and go and work. He was content to have merely said the right words and to have had the right appearance. This is a special danger for regular churchgoers like us. We can be content with appearances. We have our church machinery that runs here week in and week out. It is quite easy for us to believe that being minimally involved in that machinery is more than enough. We don't need to repent, unless we should happen to want to. But to this we must say, “No!” The kingdom of God draws near. Husks and outward appearances are not enough. We might fool our fellow human beings with such things, but there's no fooling God. God's kingdom is coming. The king is coming. How will you welcome him? See to it that you are not ashamed! Welcome him with joy! It is not like we need to be afraid of the real substance, the reigning and ruling of God. God's kingdom is good! Jesus is gracious and merciful. The people who greeted him on Palm Sunday were full of joy at the prospect of Jesus being their king. When Jesus appeared to his disciples after he rose from the dead, they didn't go running in terror from him. They were glad when they saw the Lord, even though they knew that they had done much that needed forgiveness. God's kingdom is like our opening hymn: As surely as I live God said, I would not see the sinner dead. I want him turned from error's ways Repentant, living endless days. The Lord bless your communion with him today. May this house be a house of prayer! Amen.

 Audio recordingSermon text:Forgiveness can be difficult. It can be complicated. If I accidentally bump into you as we are passing by each other, that's not hard to forgive. Not all forgiveness is like that. In fact, I don't know if that really is forgiveness. It's more like politeness. Forgiveness is more serious. Being polite is easier than forgiving. Since politeness is easier than forgiveness we often try to have politeness be considered a sufficient substitute for actual forgiveness. There's a phrase that's common, “I will forgive, but I won't forget.” That's like a forewarning for how you're going to treat the person—coldly and fiercely politely. The recipient of this coldness gets the message quite clearly. He or she knows that they are not forgiven. There's no forgiveness from the heart. So when Jesus says at the end of our reading, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart,” we should not think that our cold avoidance of the one with whom we have our beef is sufficient. That's not forgiveness. It also isn't fulfilling what Jesus says at the beginning of our reading when Peter came to him with a question. Peter thought that he was being quite generous when he asked Jesus, “How many times should my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” “No,” Jesus says, “not seven times but seventy times seven.” So how do we forgive? How do we forgive from the heart? I can't pretend that I have some secret formula. We do have Jesus's parable, though, and that might help if we are willing to receive instruction from him. I won't hold my breath, though, because being willing to receive instruction particularly about forgiveness is not automatic. Here's another phrase: “blind with rage.” A person can go blind from anger, not literally, but in the sense that the person is so angry that he or she won't take anything else in. Don't talk to them about forgiveness because they won't have it. You have no idea how badly they've been hurt. So it's not automatic that people will listen to Jesus's parable, but maybe today's the day. Jesus's parable is pretty straightforward. There was a man who owed a huge sum of money to the king. He couldn't pay the debt. He was going to be sold together with his family into slavery until the debt was paid. However, because the man pleaded with the king, and because the king had pity on him, the king forgave the entire debt. Then this same man goes out and find somebody who owes him some money. He took him by the throat and demanded repayment. This debtor said the very same words that the one who was forgiven had just said, but instead of forgiving the man he throws him into prison until he should pay back what was owed. This was highly distressing to those who heard it. The hypocrisy of it, the cruelty of it, made them make their petitions to the king. When the king found out about it he called the man in. “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, and you couldn't have mercy on the one who owed you?” And he threw him into prison until he should pay back the last penny. As we consider this parable, what I'd like to convince you of is that we are all like the man whose debt was forgiven. It might seem extraordinary that he is so blind to his hypocrisy—that he can't forgive as he has been forgiven—but that's not that hard if you have the perspective that comes so easily to us. The perspective that comes so easily to us is always to be looking out for ourselves: How can I get ahead? How can I have more? How can I get without having to give? With this perspective the man's debt being forgiven was a huge boon. Here he got to spend all that money, and now he doesn't have to pay it back. Good for him! When he left the king and found the fellow who owed him money he simply continued to be the way he always was. He continued to look out for himself. Here were some more riches he could accumulate for himself if only he could somehow get the man to pay. With the perspective we've been considering, we have to say, “Good for him!” He was just being a good businessman. As every good businessman knows, you have to pay as little as you possibly can, and you have to get as much as you possibly can. Maybe this man's greed and lack of compassion was what he prided himself most on. It's the way that he had gotten so far ahead in life, you see. So I don't think this fellow who was forgiven by the king was even thinking about what he was doing. He was just doing what he had always done. He'd always looked out for himself. He'd always done what was best for himself. If this fool king wants to forgive him his debt, okay. A fool and his money are soon parted. But this fellow was no fool. He knew how to get ahead in life, and it wasn't by forgiving debts! This way of living is extremely common. It's the default, natural way. Lots of people think there's nothing wrong with it. Maybe you don't think there's anything wrong with it. It wouldn't be hard to find some people who give lectures and write books who would argue that this way of living is good for one's self and it's good for society. With every last person competing for every last resource we have managed to bring about our glorious modern world with all of its abundance. Selfishness has supposedly produced this miracle. And, as well all know, everybody's so happy these days too, right? So, according to them, we don't need less self-centeredness, we need more of it. But if this is the way you will live your life, then you will never forgive. You can't forgive, you see, because forgiving is against the rule that you've made for yourself. The rule you've made for yourself is that you are only going to do what is good for you, what enriches you, what feels good for you. Forgiveness is quite different from all that. Forgiveness is costly. Think of this king. He lost billions of dollars when he forgave the debt. That's what this debt would be in today's money—literally billions, not millions, billions. Such a debt would drag almost all our billionaires into the poor house. He went from being rich to poor. Think of what he could have purchased with those billions of dollars. And the same thing is true with the fellow who was forgiven, but who didn't want to forgive his fellow servant. That forgiveness would have been costly too. 100 denarii is probably about $20,000 in today's money. If a person doesn't collect on a debt like that, that hurts. It means you can't buy what you would have otherwise like to have bought. You can't go on a trip that you otherwise would have liked to have gone on. But it's not always money that we lose with forgiveness. Sometimes it's costlier things like our pride. We like to be right. You were right, of course, with that person with whom you've had your beef. You've always been right. They've always been wrong. So how could you give up your claims against them? They need to give up their claims against you! Or maybe someone has dragged you or your family down into shame. They've wrecked your good name. Or maybe they've wrecked your livelihood. Or maybe they've wrecked your peace and happiness. These are very serious, costly things—often irreplaceable, irreparable things. If you live your life in such a way that you are always going to come first, it is impossible let go of such costly things. Never, ever, in a million years will you forgive—at least not from the heart. Maybe you'll be polite, but you'll never love them. You can't love them because they broke your #1 commandment: You shall not harm me. One of the most surprising things that Christianity teaches us is that there are worse things than being harmed. There are worse things than suffering. The fear of harm, the fear of suffering is at the root of so many evils like lying, greed, anger, and so on. But suffering is not the worst thing. Our God suffered to bring about our redemption. How can anyone say that that suffering was bad? The suffering of God in our Lord Jesus Christ was the highest and holiest thing that ever was or ever shall be. This is reflected in the lives we are given to live as Christians. Jesus has left us with a remembrance of this suffering of God in the Lord's Supper. We are to do this Lord's Supper “often,” Jesus says, “in remembrance of him.” In remembrance of what? Of God's suffering. Paul says in another place, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” This sacrament is to remind us of Jesus's death, God's suffering. Then, also, we are called to suffer. Jesus says, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” To deny yourself and take up your cross is connected to what we heard also today: We must forgive from the heart. That is a call to suffer. Forgiveness is costly. To reach out across the pain, not counting the cost—that is forgiveness. I do not have the ability to make a single one of you forgive anyone. You, in fact, do not have the ability to forgive anyone—at least not really, not from the heart. These precious pearls must not be cast before swine. Only the Holy Spirit can work this. What I can do is praise forgiveness. There is nothing nearer and dearer to our God than forgiveness. In Jesus's costly suffering and death he forgave the whole world! Forgiveness is good. Therefore, also, suffering is good. Suffering is good when it is done for love of your neighbor. I understand how we all fear suffering. I don't like it any more than you do. But it is good. For you to forgive those who trespass against you is beautiful. It is more beautiful than anything that money can buy. So be courageous. To not be afraid of suffering takes courage. Dare to forgive. Dare to reach out and love. By doing so you won't lose anything that is truly precious. You will be able to taste the true spiritual riches of our suffering, loving God.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus said, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” Let me begin by running a couple ideas by you. How about this idea for a marriage: Husband and wife get married. Like most married couples they thought it was going to be great. They had visions and plans in their heads. Not long after they tie the knot, however, they find out who it is that they really married. Who they married doesn't match up at all with the ideas that they had in their head. What now? Have I made the biggest mistake of my life? How can I break free? How's that sound for a marriage? Sound like a good idea? Or how about this idea for a livelihood: A young person goes and gets trained for a good job. The job requires skill and know-how. This young person is fully employed with benefits. This goes on for twenty or thirty years. Then that job is no longer necessary. Technology or globalization mean that somebody else can do the same job a lot cheaper. The person is permanently laid off. Now the young person is no longer young. Well paying jobs are not very available. Only the jobs that nobody really wants are available. How's that for a career? Sound good? If these don't sound like very good ideas to you, then maybe you can hear Jesus's words a little differently when he describes how he was going to be king in our Gospel reading. Jesus told his disciples that he was going to go where all his worst enemies live. The big shots in Jerusalem were convinced that Jesus was a heretic. They believed that the only reason why Jesus could do all those miracles was because he was an agent of Satan. They were looking for an opportunity to get their hands on him, and Jesus said that he was going give them that opportunity. He would fall right into their hands. They would arrest him. They would put him on trial with false witnesses and a kangaroo court. They would blindfold him, punch him, and spit on him. They would kill him. On the third day he would rise. There are Jesus's ideas for how he would be king. Peter can perhaps be excused for saying, “Oh, Jesus, let it not be so with you! May this never happen to you. That's no way for the Christ to be king!” How should the Christ be king? Lots of things could be done. The main thing is to get bigger. More members means more money, more resources. To get bigger we need to let people know what a great king Jesus is. We could take out some ads in the newspaper. That's a little old fashioned, though. Maybe some TikTok videos. Instagram. Jesus kicking it with kids in skinny jeans. Seriously, though, we've got to grow. It's only by growing that we can ever get strong enough. We have to get strong enough so that we can push out the Romans. Only when we've kicked out the Romans can we get Jesus installed as king. What Jesus does is almost the opposite of all this. The movement doesn't grow; it shrinks. He doesn't get stronger; he gets weaker. He becomes so weak that he stumbles about. He can't even carry his own cross anymore. Simon of Cyrene must carry it the remainder of the way. The people at the cross are understandably baffled by Jesus's claims: “Wait, so you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and here you are nailed to a cross? Why would God allow that? Come down from that cross, then we'll believe you. Otherwise you don't seem to be what you claim to be.” When Jesus finally died, everybody knew that the movement was over and done with. The corpse, green and blue and stiff, was right there for anybody to see. How can that corpse be king? Are you going to prop that corpse up on a throne? No. Obviously the disciples were wrong. They thought that Jesus was the Christ, the king, but they were mistaken. All that's left to do is to bury that corpse, move back to Galilee, and try to get on with life. Realize that if Jesus wouldn't have risen from the dead, everything that I've been saying to you would have been the sensible way to react to all that had happened. Peter, in fact, would have been proven right when he said, “Oh no, Jesus. Not that. You can't do it like that.” But that's not what happened. Jesus didn't stay dead. That changes everything. Instead of what seems sensible being vindicated, Jesus and his words are vindicated. The thoughts of man are vain and futile. God's thoughts prevail. What are these thoughts of man that are now vain and futile? We've already spoken about them today. It would be the way we think we are going to succeed. For Jesus to be an effective king he has to be grand and glorious. The bigger the movement the more power it has. This thinking is vain and false. This is proven by what happened. At the moment of Jesus's triumph with the cross and resurrection, the movement dwindled all the way down to exactly zero. Nobody believed in him. Popularity or numbers don't matter when God is the one who is acting. God doesn't need numbers or popularity. Or take the examples with which I began. We are such idealistic creatures. We get an idea in our head of how things are supposed to go. A marriage is supposed to be like this. A career is supposed to be like this. A male body is supposed to look like this. A female body is supposed to look like this. A house is supposed to be like this. Home furnishings are supposed to be like this. A good personality is supposed to be like this. All the popular and successful people look like this. These are all just ideas. Nobody measures up to all of them. Maybe you don't measure up to many of them. Maybe you don't measure up to any of them. If you don't measure up to any of them, then you are what is called a “loser.” Being a loser sounds like it is the worst of the worst, but, you know what, let's not be too hasty. Do you know who the first person was to whom Jesus appeared when he rose from the dead? The very first person to whom Jesus came was Mary Magdalene. There are a few things we know about this woman. She used to be a prostitute. That means that she had sex with strangers for money. She was inhabited by seven demons, whom Jesus cast out. One demon is plenty to wreak havoc on a psyche. She had seven. Let's not romanticize Mary Magdalene. She must have been a very, very troubled person—a “loser” you might say. And she has the honor of being the first to whom Jesus came. Why? Because Jesus loved her. He wanted to comfort her in her afflictions. Note to whom Jesus did not appear: He did not appear to those who saw themselves as righteous, as wise, as powerful, as having the world by the tail. Jesus didn't appear to any of those at all. And consider what people would have thought about Jesus too. They thought that he was a loser. Maybe he was something in the past, but surely he is nothing as he hung naked, bruised, bloody, on the cross. “He saved others; he cannot save himself.” That's what they were saying about him. “He claimed to be God's Son. I guess God must not like people saying that they are God's son, because look at him now. God must be punishing him.” Jesus looked like scum, a criminal, a loser. But then we have all these sayings from the Scriptures like “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” That is a saying that means nothing other than “the loser will be winner, and the winner will be the loser.” Or here's a related saying, “God rejects the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Or, again, a saying that is in our reading today: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will find it.” Jesus teaches some strange things, which all hinge on whether Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus rose from the dead, then all those old rules go out the window. If he did not rise from the dead, then, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, “We Christians are to be pitied above all others.” Our faith is vain. We are living a lie. We would be vastly better off if we would forget everything Jesus ever said, and instead ruthlessly make our own dreams come true. Maybe, if we try hard enough and never give up, then somebody will remember us. But if Jesus has risen from the dead, and he has, then all the world's wisdom is foolishness. The most perfect life, the life that ticks all the boxes, is an empty and lost life, estranged from God. On the other hand, the opposite—being humbled, being humiliated—is not the worst thing. What does it mean to be humbled but to realize that you aren't as great as you thought you were? Isn't that just the truth? You are a fallible creature. What you should have done, you haven't done, and what you shouldn't have done, that's the very thing that you've done. This is the truth that's hard to see and harder to accept. On the other hand, it's easy to dream about what you'd like to be. It's the easiest thing the world! What kind of marriage would you like? The best. What kind of house do you want? The best. What kind of job do you want? The best. The ideas are not even interesting. Everybody just wants to be the best! In contrast to all this fakery, I can say that God has loved you—the real you, not the fake, ideal you. The real you is the you as you really are with all your defects, with all your unchecked boxes. Chasing dreams is supposed to make you happy. I'm not so sure. It's not the only way to be. Be like Mary Magdalene, that very troubled person. She was glad when she saw the Lord. She wasn't much to look at, but Jesus loved her. Jesus loves you too. Scripture says, “If anyone is in Christ, then that person is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!”

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” Let's begin by setting the scene. Our Gospel reading today picks up where last week's reading left off. Last week Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. Immediately after that, as we heard in today's reading, Jesus sent the disciples off in a boat on the sea of Galilee. Jesus went up on a mountain by himself to pray. He was praying by himself well into the night. While Jesus was praying, the disciples were in the boat, but the wind was giving them trouble. The wind was making big waves. The wind was blowing against the boat. The wind was whistling in their ears. They were out there all night long, battling that wind. The fourth watch of the night finally came, which in our time would be somewhere between 3 AM and 6 AM. It was at this time that Jesus came towards the disciples in the boat walking on the water. The disciples must have been very tired, given what time it was. They had to have been frustrated that their journey was not going well. When they see Jesus they don't recognize him. They thought he was a ghost. And that's understandable. People can't walk on water. So try to put yourselves in the disciples' shoes. This was a very unpleasant, even dangerous situation. It's dark. The wind's howling. The waves are crashing. They're probably trying to keep the bow of the boat into the wind so that the bow can cut through the oncoming waves instead of being swamped by them. Then, to top it all off, there's a stinking ghost. What else can go wrong? Jesus's words then break into the darkness, the wind, the confusion. He says, “Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.” It is good to spend a little time here on Jesus's words. The first thing that Jesus says is, “Take heart.” That means, “Be courageous.” The disciples were in trouble. Jesus tells them to have courage. Why should they have courage? Jesus says, “It is I.” With the words, “It is I,” certainly Jesus is telling the disciples that he is no ghost. But Jesus might also be saying something more here too. What it says in Greek is: “Ego eimi.” Maybe some of you have heard that before. “Ego” is Greek for “I.” “Eimi” is Greek for “am.” So “ego eimi” means “I am.” What is the significance of Jesus saying, “I am”? Perhaps you recall God identifying himself to Moses at the burning bush. Moses wanted to know what name he should give to the Israelites when they ask him who sent him. God responds, “I am who I am. Tell them that ‘I am' has sent you.” “I am” is a name for God. Here Jesus says, “I am.” So although Jesus doesn't say many words, the few words he does say are powerful: “Be courageous. I am. Do not be afraid.” “Be courageous because I am who I am. I am God. Do not be afraid.” It appears that Jesus's message hit home with Peter by his reaction, which you might say is unusual. He says to Jesus, “If it is you, Lord, then command me to come to you on the water.” Remember all the stuff that is going on around them. The wind and the waves have not stopped. The wind is howling. They were shouting just to hear one another. Peter's mind, however, has been taken away from what was happening around him. The cares and concerns that have kept them up all night long recede into the background of his mind. He has an audacious idea. Peter believes in the “I am.” So he has the courage to step out of that rocking and swirling boat onto the tempestuous sea. I'd like to point out that there is an obvious alternative to Peter's plan. The alternative would be to focus on what was going on around him. He could have said to Jesus, “Can't you make this wind stop that's been tormenting us all night long? Can't you see we're suffering!? Make it stop! We loathe this worthless sea voyage, which, by the way, you put us on.” The sensible thing would be to get the wind and the waves to stop. That's what a responsible person would do. The responsible person seems to be proven right, also, by what ends up happening. You know how the story goes. He ends up sinking! So a responsible person might say, “See, first things first. Get rid of the waves.” But there's more to the story than that. Peter did end up sinking. He had to cry out: “Lord, save me!” But before that he was walking on the water and was making his way towards Jesus. Maybe if Peter had sunk like a stone the second he stepped out of the boat those responsible people would have a point, but for a time Peter believed, and it was glorious. Now when it comes to applying what we hear in this Gospel reading to ourselves, the applications are almost innumerable. This is a very rich text and could teach us many things. But I'd like to focus just on Peter's reaction and how we might imitate him so that something glorious might take place in our lives too. We all, like Peter had with the wind and the waves, we all have our troubles and frustrations. If we thought hard enough we could all come up with a good long list of stuff that we'd like to have different. All of us would have minor stuff. Maybe we would have some terribly, terribly big stuff too. Maybe your life is in danger of being lost—not by wind and waves, but by disease. Perhaps more important than merely surviving, though, are all the relationships in our lives. Maybe you are estranged from someone. There's a cold war happening in your family or in your house. We all have our cares and worries of every kind, and perhaps they are so bad we haven't been able to make headway no matter how hard we try. It's the fourth watch of the night. When is it ever going to end? Then, to top it all off, Jesus can show up in a sense, similar to how he did with the disciples. What I mean is that Jesus can make himself and his will known to us, and what Jesus says is not always welcome. His thoughts on life are usually not our thoughts. How he says we should live our lives can seem impractical, impossible, otherworldly—ghostly. He tells us, for example, that we should forgive those who trespass against us. What should we do with those who have hurt us? We should do good to them and love them. Love, in general, would be Jesus's way. Can't go wrong with love. To which we might sensibly respond, “Don't you know what's been going on with me? Don't you know the hell I've been through? I'm just trying to survive. How dare you ask anything more of me?” Away with you, you ghost! You're not here to help us. You're just making it worse! But Jesus doesn't remain a ghost to the disciples, nor does he wish to remain a ghost to us. He tells us who he is so that we may believe in him. He says, “Be courageous. I am God. Do not be afraid.” Faith comes first. The life of love, especially to our enemies and to those who have hurt us, would be as impossible as walking on water if faith did not come first. And faith in Jesus is always good and gracious. All the disciples were probably relieved to hear Jesus's voice, but Peter did something more. He also gave up worrying about himself. You will never be harmed by believing in Jesus. But believing in Jesus will mean that the other things that are going on with you will need to be pushed to the background. Imagine if Peter didn't react the way he did, but responded differently. Imagine if he faintly, distantly heard Jesus say what he said, but instead of taking it to heart he would have been too busy with the boat. Look! See there. The bow is turning against the wind! The wind is going to push us sideways! Look at the wave that's coming. It's going to sink us! Everybody on the left row forward! Everybody on the right row backwards! Row for your lives! Can't you see how something like that could happen? Not only could it happen, it's what comes naturally to us. We believe that we must solve all our own problems. How are we going to solve them? How about we start by obsessing over them? That's what responsible people do. It's irresponsible, in a sense, to move all thoughts to the background and focus on Jesus and his words to us. But that's what faith does. Faith in Christ requires us to push all kinds of important and seemingly relevant thoughts to the background. You must, for example, set aside the sins that you've committed. Either your sins are supreme and you should worry yourself to death about them, or Jesus is supreme. Or how about your failures? If you've failed at love, failed at business, failed at life, either this is going to be the supreme thing in your life or Jesus. But maybe you're more of an upbeat sort of person. You've succeeded at life. You've take those waves head on and sailed right through! There's no stopping the wind though. Death must relentlessly and ruthlessly take its prey. There's no stopping that no matter how many waves you've made it through. Let's turn that on its head, though, and say, “I've only got one life to live so I'm going to be glorious!” All that is still just playing around with the oars and the rigging. By nature, with our unbelief, we can't do anything different. We can't help but mess around with all the things in our life. We want to decrease that long list of stuff we'd like to have different. So we pull on this and move that. Patch and mend and reinvent ourselves. Motivate, educate, reinvigorate. Or, on the other hand—and this makes up no small number—we're tired of all that. We sit hunched on the bench, staring at the hapless rudder and the flapping of sails. These two ways of being seem so different from one another, but really they're not. Whether we're busy or whether we've given up—it makes no difference ultimately—the boat is doomed if Jesus is not there. “Moth and rust destroy; thieves break in and steal.” But what if there were something more important, more life-giving, outside the boat? And there is! Jesus does not come from inside the boat, from inside this life. Jesus comes from heaven. And here's the amazing thing: We're safer with Jesus. Peter held on to that strange thought for quite some time as he was making his way towards Jesus. All the disciples would have been safer with Jesus than they ever were in the boat. But, boy!, is it ever hard for us to believe that. It was hard for Peter too. He looked at the wind and the waves. We're not told this by the text, but maybe there was a huge wave coming towards him, towering way above him. He shouldn't have doubted, but can any of us blame him? We are cut from the same cloth. “Lord, save us!” The truth remains, though, despite how we feel: You are safer with faith in Jesus than you are in any other possible place. Jesus is the great “I am.” “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus said, “The things which are impossible with man are possible with God.” In our Gospel reading today we are told about an impressive miracle. There is a very large crowd. Maybe we can use our imagination to get a mental picture of this crowd. The crowd would have been about the size of all the residents of Fairmont. Our town has about 10,000 people. At the end of our reading it says that there were about 5,000 men, not counting the women and children. So if you took every last person who lives in our town, and maybe add a little bit more, then you'd have an idea of how large this crowd was. The occasion for Jesus's dealings with this crowd is that they heard Jesus was able to do miracles. They heard that Jesus was able to cast out demons, give hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, preach the good news to the poor, and so on. So although Jesus had taken a boat on the Sea of Galilee, to go to a deserted place to pray, the people had followed him, going great distances so that he could help them. So, maybe we could get a picture of this in our mind's eye: It would be like the whole town of Fairmont were to leave their homes and walk out to a deserted place. Just so that we have the same place in mind, let's imagine all of Fairmont walking east of town on the highway until they got to the Fairmont airport. There you have a nice, big stretch of grass. The whole town is gathered out there. When Jesus comes and sees the crowd with all their needs he has compassion. He begins to heal and help the people gathered there. It seems that this went on for many hours. The disciples can see that there are too many people and not enough time. Night was coming and the people needed to walk back that distance to get home. So they told Jesus that it was time for the town of Fairmont to walk back home. They had to have been hungry. Once they got to town they could stop at Arby's or Taco John's. Jesus must have surprised them when he said, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” What could Jesus possibly be referring to? You're out at the airport. There isn't any food out there. There aren't any stores out there. There's just a bunch of grass. “You give them something to eat,” Jesus said. Ok. How? In John's Gospel the apostle Philip says, “Two hundred denarii wouldn't buy enough bread so as to give each of them even just a little.” To put that into today's terms, “$20,000 wouldn't be enough to give them all just half a sandwich.” And that's quite right. There's not just the lack of available food. There's also the lack of funding. Tens of thousands of dollars would need to be spent for even something meager. As it turned out, though, they did have something meager. They had five loaves and two fish. When Jesus heard that they had this, he was satisfied: “That'll work. Bring me the bread and the fish.” Then Jesus ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. They were going to have supper. The people probably were as baffled at that idea as the disciples were. Where's the food? Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. We are not told the words of that blessing, but this is not something unfamiliar to us. Our table prayers are blessings. Essentially a blessing is asking for God's goodness to be present. Jesus blessed the bread and the fish. Then the miracle happened, and it isn't perfectly clear to me how it happened in my mind's eye. It says that “he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.” It doesn't sound like $50,000 worth of bread and fish suddenly showed up so that there was a mountain of provisions that were then distributed. It sounds like Jesus broke the loaves, giving pieces to the disciples, and that when they came back to Jesus he always was able to give them more to distribute. In a way the miracle is quite humble. The actions involved are quite humble. A mountain of food doesn't suddenly appear. There's only breaking and giving, breaking and giving, until everyone has had more than enough. On the other hand, this miracle is arguably grander than anything that Jesus had done up to this point. Jesus had already done miracles for this individual and that individual. The feeding of the 5,000 was for a huge crowd, the whole town of Fairmont and more. Having gone through what happened, what can we learn from this? This shows that Jesus has power and authority in his creation. We all know that it is not in the nature of bread or of fish to spontaneously multiply. In physics there is a law called the conservation of matter. The law says that if you start out with a certain amount of material, you are going to end up with the same amount of material no matter what you do to it. You might change it from one thing to another, but you can never make something out of nothing. God, on the other hand, is well acquainted with making things out of nothing. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This means that he made them out of nothing. In fact, the laws that we have in physics or thermodynamics or what have you were created by God too. The Creator of these laws is not bound by these laws like we are. When Jesus creates more bread and fish than what was originally there, he is making use of power and authority that belong to God alone. That which is impossible with man is possible with God. There are other passages that are applicable here too. When Jesus rose from the dead and before he ascended into heaven the apostles met him on a mountain in Galilee. Jesus said to them: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples, and so on.” The part I want to emphasize is that first part: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus.” This is also what is important with Jesus reigning and ruling at the right hand of God the Father. The right hand of God the Father is not so much a physical location. It is the position of authority, God's right hand man, so to speak. Paul in his letter to the Colossians talks about the extent of Jesus's power and authority. Jesus created all things, visible and invisible. He is the creator of thrones, dominions, powers, and authorities. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the first-born from the dead so that he might be preeminent over all things. It is good that Jesus has this power and authority. It has always been good for him to have such power and authority. God already and ordinarily uses his power and authority in such a benevolent and life-giving way. Think of how he sustains life ordinarily and regularly. He's like clockwork. He causes the seasons. He gives us our rain. He gives us our daily bread. In his ordinary way he provides for all the needs of body and soul for not just 5,000, but for billions. What Jesus's miracles reveal in addition, though, is that he can also circumvent the laws that he has put in place if he should so will it. It seems to us that the laws of physics are pretty well set in stone, but Jesus can alter them. Bread and fish spontaneously multiply when Jesus so wills it. He altered the laws involved in order to feed this great crowd of people. Jesus can also do this for us, if need be. That's something always to keep in mind. If we should be in need we can lift our eyes to heaven and ask him for help. We should especially be confident when we pray to him for the things we know he wishes us to have. If we pray the words of the Lord's Prayer, for example, we should have no doubt that our prayers will be heard, because he himself taught us to pray in this way and promised to hear us. I can't be as certain about being able to feed the town of Fairmont or the other things that Jesus did. If the need was there, though, that might be a different matter, as we see miracles being done by God for his people throughout the Bible. Laws can still be circumvented today if Jesus should so will it. But we might not experience the kinds of miracles that we hear about in the Bible. Realize that the people who lived in Bible times did not always experience the miracles you hear about in the Bible. Sometimes many generations would pass, hundreds of years, when the Bible doesn't record even a single miracle. It's not the miracles that are important, but the relationship we have with God that's important. But regardless of whether we experience the kind of miracles you hear about in the Bible you should know that greater things lie in our future—especially in the end times. The Scriptures say, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the imagination of the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.” Jesus has the power and authority to feed the 5,000. We can imagine that. You will experience much greater things—things beyond our imagining. For example, you will experience Jesus breaking the law of death for you. Things that are dead are supposed to stay dead. That's a law. Things that are dead do not have life, they have the opposite. The decompose and decay even further. Jesus, however, has the power and authority to give life to the dead. Scripture says that when he comes he will change our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subdue all things to himself. He's going to use his power and authority to make our worn out, crumbling, sin-infested bodies to be like his glorious, holy body. In summary, it is right to consider Jesus's miracle of feeding the 5,000 to be impressive. It is impressive. It was impressive to those who ate and were satisfied. They were all astounded, just as we would be too if we were gathered together with him at the airport. But better and more unusual things lie ahead for us in our relationship with Jesus. What seems to be unchangeable, inalterable, unredeemable, is not impossible with God. The dead will rise. The perishable will put on the imperishable. The mortal will put on immortality. The power that Jesus used with the 5,000 will be used in an even greater way on each of you and to your eternal benefit. Jesus said, “The things that are impossible with man are possible with God.”