Psalm 68:11

Recently in our Bible class discussion on the ministry, while making the point that God Himself established the Office of the Ministry, I indiscriminately used Ps. 68:11 as a proof passage on the basis of Walther's Church and Ministry. We ran into an interesting difference between the translation used in Church and Minstry and that of the ESV. I told the congregation I would dig around in the Hebrew and get back to them the next week. This little paper is the result of my wrestling with the text and with Walther. You Hebrew scholars out there in cyber space may feel free to correct me if my conclusions are misguided...

Ps. 68:11 and Walther’s Church and Ministry, p. 177

The literal rendering of Ps. 68:11 (68:12 in Hebrew): “The Lord gives the Word. The ones [or women] bearing the tidings are a great host.”

If those announcing the news are women, then this verse is excluded as a proof text for the Holy Ministry, for the Scriptures limit eligibility for the pastoral office to men.[1]

Walther uses this verse as a proof text for his thesis that “The ministry of the Word or the pastoral office is not a human institution but an office that God Himself has established”[2]: “In the fist place, from the predictions of the prophets that God Himself would give to the church of the New Testament pastors or teachers: ‘The Lord gave the Word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it’ (Ps. 68:11).”[3] The King James Version, New King James Version, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and New International Version all translate with the gender neutral “those who.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version[4] renders the verse: “The Lord gives the Word; the women who announce the news are a great host.” Here the host proclaiming the Word is identified as women. Several versions follow suit, including the New American Standard Bible, The Holy Bible: An American Translation (Beck), Moffat’s translation, and God’s Word to the Nations. The New American Bible, the official Roman Catholic English translation, excludes the second half of the verse, thus avoiding the necessity of assigning a gender to those announcing the news.

Are the translations that identify the news-bearers as women wrong? Or is Walther wrong to use this verse as a proof text for the Holy Ministry?

The translation is difficult. It all hinges on one Hebrew word, תורשבמה (hamevasroth), a feminine plural participle, thus “women” is not an inappropriate translation. But the participle is followed by the noun אבצ (tsava), which is masculine, and means “host” or “company” or “army.”

Here the best translation of the Hebrew participle itself is “the women bearing the tidings.” This excludes this verse as a proof text for the Holy Ministry. It affirms, however, the privilege and duty of the priesthood of all believers, including men and women, to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel and the marvelous deeds of the Lord to one another and to their neighbors. In the context of Psalm 68, this is exactly what is happening in Israel: “God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!” (Ps. 68:1; ESV). It is precisely this news that the women are proclaiming. The Lord is victorious over His enemies. While the men are away with the army, the women are proclaiming the news of the victory (v. 11) and dividing the spoil (v. 12).

Why, then, did Walther use this verse as a proof text for the Holy Ministry? My guess is (and this is purely speculation) that he probably memorized the verse from Luther’s German Bible, which rendered the verse in the gender neutral. When he used it as a proof text, he probably never consulted the Hebrew, and thus missed the gender problem. No one can really fault him for this. Most pastors in the LCMS (and in American churches in general), for the sake of convenience, go to the English versions they are most comfortable with when looking for proof texts to support their points. Once in a while this convenient method of Bible study results in an unfortunate misapplication of the text.

Incidentally, the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) translates “the words of those proclaiming the good news” (gender neutral). It may be for this reason that so many translations (including Luther’s?) render the verse as gender neutral.

[1] This paper assumes the traditional position that women are not eligible for the Holy Ministry, based on a number of clear biblical passages including 1 Cor. 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-15; the order of creation; the example of the apostles; etc. It is not the purpose of this paper to examine the issue of women’s ordination in detail.

[2] Thesis II on the Ministry. C. F. W. Walther, Church and Ministry, J. T. Mueller, trans. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1987) p. 177.

[3] Ibid.

[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001).

Martyrdom of John the Baptist

In commemoration of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, I recommend reading the account of his martyrdom, Matt. 14:1-12. Then check out St. Ambrose on the Martyrdom of John the Baptist, quoted by Pr. Petersen over at Cyberstones, http://redeemer-fortwayne.org/blog.php?msg=4447.

12th Sunday after Pentecost (B)

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (B)
August 27, 2006
Text: John 6:41-51

The Jews grumbled about Jesus. They grumbled because He said that He was the Bread of Life. He was speaking mysteriously, they thought, and rather arrogantly to say the least. “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?” (v. 42, ESV). How, then, can He say that He came down from heaven (v. 43)? How can He say that He is the true manna which endures to eternal life? We know Him. He is Galilean, like us. He cannot possibly know what He is talking about.

Jesus’ reaction to the unbelief of the Jews was not to carefully respond to their objections point by point. He did not seek to convince them rationally of the truth of His coming into the world as God in the flesh. In other words, He did not come to them on their terms, but on His own. They should not have been scandalized. They knew salvation history already through the writings of Moses and the Prophets. No, Jesus did not attempt to rationally convince the Jews. But He rebuked rather sharply their stubborn refusal to believe. “Do not grumble among yourselves” (v. 43). Do not grumble like your rebellious forefathers did, who ate the manna in the wilderness. You think you know Me, but your intellectual knowledge cannot save you.

We should not be surprised that the Jews objected to the idea that Jesus is the Bread of Life come down from heaven. Their reason got the best of them. It got in the way of faith. The Jews thought they knew this Jesus to be the son of Joseph, and so they could not see that He is in fact the Son of God. It is not that the Jews didn’t want the salvation Jesus offered. Remember, in the Gospel lesson from last week, they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always” (John 6:34). But they did not want to receive that salvation in the way God wants us all to receive it. They did not want to receive it through Jesus, the Son of Mary, and who they thought to be the son of Joseph. They wanted to receive it by means of their obedience to the Law of Moses. They wanted to receive it by means of their genetic connection to their forefathers who ate the manna in the wilderness. But that is not how one is saved. “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died” (v. 49). Your connection to that manna is insufficient. But if you go along seeking salvation on your own terms, that is the only manna you will find. Needless to say, this offended the Jews, who did not think they needed anything more than their genetic connection to Abraham and the children of Israel who were brought out of Egypt.

But they were wrong. Dead wrong. What is needed instead of the manna that perishes, is that manna that does not perish, but endures to eternal life. “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” says Jesus (v. 41). The Jews in our text perceive this to be a conceited, self-serving, and self-divinizing claim on the part of Jesus. It is certainly self-divinizing, for Jesus is God, but it is certainly not conceited or self-serving. Jesus did not come to serve Himself, or even to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for the life of the world. Jesus was directing the Jews’ attention to Himself as the Bread of Life which He gives for the life of the world, the Bread that is His flesh (v. 51).

Jesus is our Bread of Life, as well. Jesus directs our attention today away from our own plans to save ourselves, and to Himself as the Bread which is given for the life of the world; indeed, for our life. He also tells us how we can get hold of that Bread. We cannot seek it out for ourselves. When we try, we get distracted by the manna that perishes. Salvation does not come to us on our terms. We cannot reason it out. We cannot choose the manner in which we wish to be saved. We cannot choose at all. We can’t even choose Jesus. “No one,” says Jesus… not the Jews, not the Gentiles, not anyone, “can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (v. 44). Here all human effort at coming to faith in Jesus Christ is excluded. Your ancestry will not save you, nor will your works. There are no decisions for Jesus here. There is only God’s decision for you in Jesus Christ. “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” Jesus says to His disciples of all ages (John 15:16). It is by grace, not by works, not even by choice. Jesus’ decision for you brings you to faith, and faith believes the Promise and receives the Bread of Life. To the one whom the Father draws to Jesus, Jesus promises, “I will raise Him up on the last day” (John 6:44). The Bread of Life imparts life. Receiving the Bread of Life results in reception of life itself; life eternal. It is all the free gift of God who draws us to faith in Jesus.

The Father draws us to Jesus, and then Jesus shows us the Father. “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me – not that anyone has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father” (vv. 45-46). But when the Father brings us to Jesus, He shows us Himself. Jesus says elsewhere, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The Father would have us see Himself through the lens of His Son, Jesus Christ. What was spoken of in the Prophets, namely, “they will all be taught by God,” is fulfilled in Jesus who teaches us to know the Father who sent Him. We know the Father when we know the One whom He has sent. That One teaches us and that One nourishes us, for He is the Bread of Life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life” (vv. 47-48).

Yes, the Father reveals Himself in Jesus the Son, who teaches us about the Father. And all of this happens in the Spirit, through whom the Father draws us and the Son teaches us. Here we catch a glimpse of the working of the Holy Trinity in our lives and for our salvation. But notice that we see it all in Jesus. Jesus reveals the Father to us. He reveals to us a merciful God who has compassion on us poor sinners and sends His Son to die for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. He reveals to us a merciful Father who will not allow death to be the last word, as He raises His Son from the dead and promises that He will raise us also. He reveals to us a God and Father who is intimately concerned with His creation and the daily lives of His children. If it were not so, He would not have sent His Son to take on our flesh and live as one of us. And so He gives us each day our daily bread, and gives us to feast on the Bread of Life.

Jesus is the Bread of Life. “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (vv. 50-51). Here is the comfort and here is the scandal. The comfort is that when we receive Jesus as the Bread of Life, sin and death no longer have any power over us. But the scandal is that this is impossible for our reason to accept. We all sin daily and we all know that death awaits us at the end. Here the truth of the Gospel contradicts what reason thinks it knows to be true. But remember, intellectual knowledge cannot save you. Only Jesus can. Of course we do sin daily, and unless the Lord returns first, we will all die physically, as our fathers did before us. Nonetheless, we will live in the righteousness of Christ, just as our fathers in the faith who have died so continue to live. Our Lord Jesus has won our forgiveness by His death on the cross, and conquered death in His resurrection from the dead. Our sins are wiped out forever. And though we face death, we only face it physically, and only temporarily. When we die, our soul is in heaven with Christ while our body rests in the grave. And on the day of resurrection, because Christ has been raised from the dead, our bodies, too, shall rise. Perhaps reason cannot accept this, but faith trumps reason. Faith believes what it cannot see. The Father draws faith to Jesus, the Bread of Life. We receive Jesus and His salvation on Jesus’ terms rather than our own, for Jesus on His own terms means life on Jesus’ terms, which is life eternal.

Jesus offers us the Bread of Life free of charge, despite all reason, by grace, without works. Those are His terms. He offers this Bread, which is His flesh, to you today in His Word and particularly in His Holy Supper. The Lord invites you to feast on Him, for He is the Bread that is given for the life of the world (v. 51). He does not seek to convince us rationally of this truth. He simply invites us. The Father draws us to faith in Him. And faith believes Jesus’ Word. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Joy of Forgiveness

I don't think there is anything in the world, for a pastor, that measures up to the joy of pronouncing a sinner under a load of guilt and shame forgiven in Jesus Christ (except, of course, when the pastor receives that forgiveness himself). Absolution means life for the dead. It is God who imparts the forgiveness and life to the dead sinner. But I get to be the instrument. My mouth gets to speak the life giving words that Jesus speaks to the sinner. And I get to watch first-hand as the sinner is released from the sin. It is humbling. But what a privilege. What a joy. Thanks be to God.

11th Sunday after Pentecost (B)

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost (B)
August 20, 2006
Text: John 6:24-35

How shortsighted we human creatures are. We seek the bread that fills our bellies only for a moment. The satisfaction this bread offers rapidly passes, and we are off to find our next loaf. The Lord knows that we need daily bread for the sustenance of our bodies. Indeed, the eyes of all wait upon Him and He gives them their meat in due season. He opens His hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing (Ps. 145:15-16). It is not that this bread is unimportant. But it is fleeting. We receive God’s gifts for the support of this body and life with thanksgiving. But Jesus would have us focus our attention not on bread that perishes, but on the Bread of Life over which death has no power.

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Jesus is the Bread of Life that never perishes, but endures to eternal life. Death has no power over this Bread, for this Bread conquered death in His resurrection. It is He who “comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (v. 33). He nourishes us with the life that He has in Himself, for He is Life. Let us therefore fix our eyes “on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2), the very Bread of Life, and not on passing earthly bread.

But how shortsighted we are. It is hard to look to that Bread which Jesus offers in our text when our bellies are empty. Hunger pangs have a way of shifting our focus very narrowly to the needs of the moment. If my stomach is empty, I want food now. I am not thankful for the food that has been provided for me in the past and I don’t care about the future, much less eternity. I just want the pain of hunger to go away. Our culture today is a hungry culture. Oh, we may have plenty to eat, but we are hungry, and we don’t know what can possibly satisfy us. We have a craving for something, but we know not how to assuage it. We certainly try. We try to satisfy our craving by seeking our own ultimate pleasure. And so “Appetite becomes gluttony, ambition becomes greed, and desire becomes lust – the insatiable drive toward self-gratification.”[1] Our craving is never satisfied, because we have only consumed the bread that perishes. We hunger for something more, something real, something tangible. It is to us that Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

St. Augustine wrote, “you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”[2] Our Lord made us to feast on the Bread of Life. Our hunger is not sated until it is sated on Him. We are not satisfied until we are satisfied with Him. He is that for which the whole world hungers. If the world only knew! He gives of Himself in rich supply. And He gives freely.

When Jesus told the crowds surrounding Him in our text about the food that endures to eternal life, they asked Him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (v. 28). It is only natural, we think, that we must work for our bread. An honest day’s work brings home the bacon. But again, we are being shortsighted. The Bread of Life, the Bread that truly satisfies and endures to eternal life, is offered by our Lord absolutely free of charge. It is priceless Bread. You could not purchase it even if you tried. “What must we do?” is the wrong question. Your works cannot earn this Bread. You can only receive it from the bountiful goodness of the Lord. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (v. 29). This Bread cannot be earned by works. It can only be received by faith.

Jesus is the Bread of Life to be received by faith. He is the manna that sustains us in the wilderness of this world, our wandering between the exodus from sin and the entrance into the Promised Land. He sustains us by His Word and in His Supper. He sustains us with Himself. He gives us to eat of His very Body and to drink of His very Blood. No richer feast has ever been laid than that which He has laid out for us on His Table this morning. Where can you get this Bread of Life? You get it here, where He has promised to be present for you, for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith, granting you real life and salvation in Him. The “bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (v. 33). We pray along with the crowd, “Sir, give us this bread always” (v. 34). Lord, give us this day and each day this Bread which cannot fail to satisfy. Give us this Bread which brings life to a world of death. Give us Yourself, that we may no longer hunger or thirst, but be satisfied in You. Grant us this heavenly foretaste of the feast to come in the Supper of Your Body and Blood. You alone can feed us. We cannot feed ourselves. Have mercy on us, and grant us the Bread of eternal life.

This Bread is real and tangible. In fact, it is more real and tangible than the earthly bread that perishes. It is as real and tangible as Jesus Himself. But it is hidden under weak elements that do not appear to our reason as though they would satisfy us. Still, they are tangible elements. Jesus imparts Himself in real words spoken and heard, His Word, the Word of Life from and about the Bread of Life. He imparts Himself in real water that really washes the sinner. It is not just symbolic water. It really gets you wet. It really gives you Jesus, and along with Him, the forgiveness of sins. And of course, speaking of the Bread of Life, Jesus imparts Himself in the bread that is His very Body. Yes, there are a number of means by which Jesus imparts Himself as the Bread of Life to us. These means seem so lowly and weak, like they could never satisfy and certainly never confer eternal life. But they do, because they have the power of Jesus’ Word of Promise behind them. He has promised to be there as our Bread of Life. And so we believe He is.

“Faith must unquestionably follow the Word,” says Luther. It believes what Christ says even if Christ’s Word contradicts reason. Luther writes, “See to it that you fasten your attention to God’s Word and stay in it, like an infant in the cradle. If you let it go for one moment, you have fallen away from the truth. The one intention of the devil is to get people away from the Word and to induce them to measure God’s will and works with their reason.”[3] The devil would have us doubt Christ’s Word, doubt that He is the Bread of Life, doubt that He is able to impart life by such common means as Word and water and bread and wine. But faith does not fall for the crafty seduction of reason when it contradicts Christ’s sure and certain Word. Our Lord promises to feed all who believe in Him with the Bread of Life; that is, with Himself. Here reason is held captive to the Word. It believes and trusts what our Lord says.

It is only by the mercy of God, in faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we are able to overcome our fickle shortsightedness that seeks after the bread that perishes and ignores the Bread of Life. The 5,000 men plus their wives and children who ate and were satisfied at the miraculous feeding of loaves and fishes wished to take Jesus by force and make Him their king. He is their King already, but He is no mere bread king. In His might, He is King of all heaven and earth. But in His grace, He is our King who grants us bread… bread now for our bodies, and more importantly, the Bread that does not perish but sustains us for eternal life, the Bread that is His Body. Faith trusts in that King who gave Himself willingly into death for our forgiveness and now gives His Body that we might live eternally. This God-given faith is not shortsighted. It certainly trusts that our Lord will give us all that we need to support this body and life. But it knows also, with absolute certainty, that our Lord gives us all we need to support and nourish our bodies and souls for the Day of Resurrection. It is this Bread of Life for which we truly hunger. And He satisfies our hunger here today in His Word and Supper. Thanks be to Jesus, the Bread of Life, the Bread that endures eternally, who gives Himself to us and for us. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] Dr. Harold Senkbeil, “The Marriage Bed Undefiled,” Mercy Works, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer 2006), p. 8.
[2] Confessions, Henry Chadwick, trans. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991) p. 3.
[3] What Luther Says, Ewald M. Plass, ed. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1959) p. 795.

The Seduction of the Law

American Christians will defend their favorite pop-Christian books come hell or high water. Even card-carrying, life-long Lutherans who are otherwise orthodox, and whom one might expect to know better, are not immune from infection by the latest Christian fad. What, exactly, is the draw?

One thing that every pop-Christian fad has in common, be it Prayer of Jabez, Purpose Driven Life, Your Best Life Now, and even the Left Behind series, is that they offer something you can do to make yourself a better Christian. And here is the problem. Here is the seduction of the law to which even orthodox Lutherans so easily fall prey.

“But Pastor, I know that in terms of salvation Christ does it all. I know that I don’t earn anything by following Rick Warren’s advice. But I want to serve God. His book points out some areas in which I need improvement. What’s wrong with wanting to do good works?”

Of course, there is nothing wrong with wanting to please God and do good works, understanding that they do nothing to merit your salvation. And it is true, the Law of God tells us what works are God-pleasing. It informs us (3rd use of the Law). But it never only informs us. It always accuses us. It always points out our failure to keep the Law and that even our “good works” merit God’s wrath (Is. 64:6) because in this life, they do not measure up to God’s standard. Even when the Law is a guide (3rd use), it is simultaneously a mirror (2nd use).

These books seduce us by making us think we can do the Law. They make us think we can “make God smile” by our good works. They fail to take into account that the Law always accuses. And by directing us to the Law to make ourselves better Christians, they direct our attention away from Christ, away from the cross, away from the Gospel, and to ourselves.

The problem is, once Americans get it into their heads that they can do something, they don’t want to be told by someone that they can’t. Once we get it in our head that we can, in fact, do the Law, we don’t want anyone to tell us otherwise. Not even a pastor. Of course, this problem is true of all people, not just Americans. It is a part of our fallen nature to want to do something to become better Christians. But we can’t. It is all by grace.

Pop-Christianity points us to ourselves and our works. There we will find nothing but sin and death. The true Gospel, however, points us to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It creates faith in Jesus and His saving work. Then “from faith thus flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a joyful, willing, and free mind that serves one’s neighbor willingly and takes no account of gratitude or ingratitude, of praise or blame, of gain or loss” (Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian. Martin Luther: Selections from his Writings, John Dillenberger, ed. [Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1961] pp. 75-76). The Law tells us what good works we can do, but gives us no power to do them. The Gospel, however, produces faith, from which flow all manner of good works. Pop-Christianity leaves us with the Law, telling us what to do, but giving us no power to do it. The Gospel, however, which is not proclaimed in pop-Christianity, produces good fruits in all whom the Holy Spirit brings to faith by means of it.

Rev. David Petersen had an excellent post about Law and Gospel a week or two ago on his blog, Cyberstones (http://redeemer-fortwayne.org/blog.php?msg=4262). There he writes:

“The solution is in the Small Catechism. There we see clearly that Luther understands the Law has an instructive and positive use. This is seen in both the Ten Commandments and in the Table of Duties. While the Law accuses there, it also guides and teaches. This is good. The Law is good. We need to be accused and exposed, and we need to be taught. It is good to bring the flesh into submission and to set one's mind over the body. But that is enough for the Law. The Gospel is not found in the Ten Commandments. But it is found in the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments: Baptism, Absolution, and Holy Communion. These things are not only Gospel. There is Law in them also. They contain more of God's revealed will than simply forgiveness. But they are Gospel. They hold before us who God is for us in Jesus Christ. The [sic] tell us how He welcomes us to Himself and declares us to be His own. And they deliver and bestow His love for us into us.”

The Law of God is good. But it does not give us the ability to perform it. The law of man seduces us into thinking we can perform it and thus please God. Not so. The Gospel, however, truly bestows the forgiveness of sins and makes new men out of us. It creates faith in us, and it is from faith that good works flow. In fact, “faith alone is the righteousness of a Christian and the fulfilling of all the commandments, for he who fulfills the First Commandment has no difficulty in fulfilling all the rest” (Luther, 62).

What is really important is that Christ’s righteousness becomes our own in the happy exchange of the Gospel. He who knew no sin became sin for us, paying the penalty for our sin on the cross. In exchange, we receive Christ’s righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). And there is no “Better Life Now” to be lived than that which we live in the righteousness Christ gives us. There is no better life than the Baptismal life where the Old Man is crucified with Christ and the New Man raised to new life in Christ. You simply cannot improve upon that. That life is your best life now.

Why Evangelicals Can't Write

Over at Cyberbrethren, Rev. Paul McCain copies an excellent article from Credenda/Agenda on "Why Evangelicals Can't Write," by Peter Leithart, http://cyberbrethren.typepad.com/cyberbrethren/. I highly recommend this excellent article on the relationship between sacramental theology and good fiction writing. In literary terms, Flannery O'Connor (perhaps unintentionally) embodies Luther's 21st thesis in the Heidelberg Disputation: A Protestant writer calls a symbol reality and reality a symbol. A sacramental writer calls the thing what it actually is.

St. Mary, Mother of Our Lord

A sermon on this day from my vicarage year at Messiah Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington:

St. Mary, Mother of Our Lord

August 15, 2004

Text: Luke 1:46-55
Mary’s song sings sweetly the whole Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, for in Mary’s womb abode our Savior in His wholeness as God and Man, the Creator united with His creation for the salvation of the whole world. God was mindful of the humble estate of His servants, so captive to sin and death. And so, “when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). Through the Holy Seed of Mary, God’s mercy has been extended to all who fear Him, from generation to generation. The proud have been scattered in the imagination of their hearts and the rulers cast down from their thrones so that those bowed down in humble repentance may be lifted up. The hungry are filled. The blind see. The deaf hear. And the dead are raised to life again. Indeed, through the birth of Christ Jesus, God “has helped his servant Israel,” He has helped His Church, “remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever” (Lk. 1:54-55), just as He promised.
Yet, while Mary’s song is sweet, our pitiful songs remain sour odes to self. We delight in our own honor and glory. As self-righteous Pharisees, we stand in the Temple and pray about ourselves, thanking God that we are not like other men and women, not like robbers, or evildoers, or adulterers, not like those we see on the streets, or on the evening news, or even those sitting next to us in church (Lk. 18:11). After all, we faithfully attend services on Sunday morning, we tithe our money, we volunteer our time, and we share our talents. We’re pretty good Christians, and, we might add, model citizens. But of course, being the humble pictures of humility that we are, we wouldn’t want to toot our own horn.
Oh, conceited generation, repent, for it is only the lowly who can be lifted up. Have no pride in yourselves, for in your corrupt and sinful flesh you are nothing. God is not pleased by your sacrifices of false obedience. He knows your murderous and adulterous heart, you who hate your brother and lust after your neighbor. He knows your covetous desire for earthly honor, fame, and material wealth. Repent, oh sinner, for God does not forsake the humble. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Is. 42:3). All those bloody and bludgeoned by the righteous commands of the Law God will heal, and all those dead in their trespasses and sins God will raise to new life. He will do it because His own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but humbled Himself to become one with lowly sinners, taking His humanity from the lowly Virgin Mary, suffering scorn and shame, stricken, smitten, and afflicted, and finally nailed to the cross for our sin.
Jesus of Nazareth, Very God of Very God, became the lowest of the low for us lowly sinners and for our salvation. And for this reason, God, our Heavenly Father, no longer holds our sins against us. They have been paid for by His Son. Humanity has been lifted from its lowliness. We have been lifted from the pits of death and hell. It was the ultimate expression of love for fallen creation when God sent Jesus to dwell in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. The Ruler of heaven and earth was brought down from His throne that the humble might be lifted up, enthroned on high as kings and priests, a holy nation belonging to God.
God’s grace to Mary serves as a picture of His grace to the Church. Mary was nothing more than a typical Jewish maiden, a young woman, a virgin, pledged to be married to an older man named Joseph. Of herself, she was nothing special. There were hundreds just like her in Israel. Never would it have entered her mind that Almighty God would choose her to bear His only-begotten Son. Never would it have occurred to her that she would be the mother of the promised Messiah, the Mother of God. It was enough for her that a marriage had been arranged to a local carpenter, Joseph of Nazareth. She would be his wife and bear his children and live a rather inconsequential life in relation to the big picture of human history. She was a sinner among sinners, living each day in the grace and mercy of the God of Abraham, trusting that He would one day send a Savior to release Israel from their bondage to sin. And so it was with complete surprise that she received the salutation of the Angel Gabriel on that divinely appointed day: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” (Lk. 1:28). At this Mary was “greatly troubled,” for before her very eyes she beheld an angel of God. But the angel continued, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” (vs. 30-33). So it was that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her and she was with child. The lowly Virgin was given the title “Mother of God,” and this she accepted in submission and humility. “I am the Lord’s servant… May it be to me as you have said” (v. 38).
Now is the gift of the Holy Seed of Mary given to the Church, this one holy Christian and apostolic Church made up of sinners among sinners, living each day in the grace and mercy of the God of Abraham, trusting in the Savior whom God has sent to release the Church from her bondage to sin. Here in the Church dwells the same Jesus who once made His dwelling in the womb of the Virgin. Here He imparts His gifts. Here He accomplishes His mighty deeds, scattering the proud and bringing low the rulers of men, lifting up the humble and filling the hungry with good things. He who was once lifted up on a cross now lifts us up to save us from the fires of hell. He whom God raised from the dead now lifts us up who have been drowned in the waters of Holy Baptism to a new life in Him. He leaves no repentant and burdened soul behind as He leads His people in exodus from their slavery. To each one of us He gives a new song. No longer do we sing our self-centered ditties. Now, along with Mary, we sing, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble estate of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed” (Lk. 1:46-48).
Mary’s song, called the Magnificat, remains on the lips of the Church today. Often sung during the offices of Vespers and Evening Prayer, the faithful continue to magnify the Lord for His mercies and His mighty deeds. It has always been so. In our Old Testament lesson, the Prophet Isaiah praises God in words remarkably similar to the Magnificat of Mary. He sings, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness” (Is. 61:10). Isaiah knew the salvation that was to come through Mary’s Son hundreds of years before Mary’s birth. And it was that salvation, the mercy of God in Jesus Christ that lifts hell-bound sinners into heaven, that was the basis of the song of Isaiah as well as that of Mary and that of the Church today.
We cannot help but sing. We cannot help but sing to the world concerning our Lord’s mercy which extends to all who fear Him. We cannot help but sing of the mighty deeds of His arm by which He raises up lowly sinners, granting them eternal life. Because of that song, all generations will call us blessed. And through the song of the Church, the Holy Spirit will work faith in the hearts of many more who do not yet know the mercy of God, whose lips are still polluted by self-glorifying songs of their own composition. Their songs, too, will be changed into glorious magnificats as they join their voices with the saints of all times and all places. They, too, will hear the life-giving Word of God. They, too, will be drowned and raised to new life in Holy Baptism. They, too, will receive the Holy Body and precious Blood of Christ at His altar where He gives Himself for us, for the remission of all our sins.
This morning we sang “of Mary, mother/ Fair maiden, full of grace./ She bore the Christ, our brother,/ Who came to save our race” (HS98 880:9). It is good and proper for the Church to sing of Mary, for not only is she the great example of humility before God, she is more importantly the mother of our Lord. But just as it was in the hymn verse, so it is that on this festival of St. Mary, our focus shifts from the Blessed Virgin to her most blessed Son. Mary wouldn’t have it any other way. It was not for her own glory that she sang the Magnificat, but for the glory of her Son, the Redeemer of the world. It is He alone who is the mediator between God and men, for He is both God and Man, Jesus, the Son of God. It is to Him alone that we give all praise and glory for Mary and all the saints, and especially for His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection which makes saints even of us. We sing in another song of the Church (a paraphrase of the Magnificat, in fact), “So praise with me the Holy One,/ Who cometh in humility./ Divine Redeemer, God’s own Son,/ Eternal glory be to Thee!” (TLH 275:6). Indeed, eternal glory be to Thee, oh, Lord, who humbled Yourself to be born of a Virgin; who united Yourself with lowly humanity, taking on our nature and our flesh; who took our sins upon Yourself, suffering hell and the cross that we might live; You who were raised again for our justification. May our songs ever sing of You. Amen.

Grant, we humbly pray, O Lord, to your servants the gift of your heavenly blessing that, as the Son of the virgin Mary has granted us salvation, we may daily grow in your favor; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

See also the great article on Mary over at Aardvark Alley, http://aardvarkalley.blogspot.com/.

Experimental Blogging

I have stated publicly in a number of other venues that I am by no means computer savvy, nor do I really consider myself a blogger in the grand tradition of a number of other Lutheran bloggers whom I greatly admire. But this blog is an experiment. Can I do it? Will I keep up with it? And is it really beneficial to anyone?

A few other bloggers have had very kind words to say about this blog. I would love to return the favor and list them in some sort of blog roll. But, again, not being computer savvy, I can't figure out how to do this. Can anyone help me?

9th Sunday after Pentecost (B)

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (B)
August 6, 2006
Text: Mark 6:30-34
“The Lord our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:6) has come to be our Shepherd. His compassion compelled Him to come, for He sees that we are “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). He comes to teach us many things; things about ourselves, and things about Himself. He teaches us that “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way” (Is. 53:6). How easily we sheep wander away from the fold. Our wanderlust gets the best of us, but we do not see the danger that lurks in the shadows beyond safe-pasture. We do not know that we need the safety of the Shepherd’s tending and the collective security of the flock. If a shepherd is not there to keep the flock together, each sheep goes its own way, often to its own peril.
For there are wolves. They devour the sheep. And the sheep often fail to recognize the wolves for what and who they are. These are the false teachers. Don’t think that you are beyond their grasp. None of us are when we wander off on our own, away from the Shepherd and away from the flock. Some wolves are easier to recognize than others. Some are ravenous and brazen and we know to avoid them. But not so, the false teachers in the Church. Remember that these wolves come in sheep’s clothing. Their disguise may even include their own best of intentions so that they do not even know the harm they are doing to the sheep. Some wolves come preaching that there is no sin or accountability to God, that the Bible’s authority is relative to each individual. Such false teaching has invaded and consumed most mainline Christian denominations. On the other hand, there are the false teachers who want to prescribe the steps you should follow to effect your own salvation. They come preaching faith-healed, purpose driven, best lives now! But their preaching harms you, for it is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is law, but not even the Law of God. It is man-made law, law that is displeasing to God. It is not the voice of the Shepherd. In fact, it directs you away from the Shepherd. As St. Paul says, “But even if we or an angel from heaven (or, we might add, a well-meaning false teacher in the Church) should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9).
But still we run after these teachers, unaware of the danger, because their words tickle our ears. They preach a message we feel is relevant to us, as if true doctrine was not. You see, the wolves get to us best when they trick us into thinking we are our own shepherds, that we know on our own what is best for our spiritual lives. It’s the crass, self-idolatry that comes naturally to every one of us. And so the real wolf is exposed. It is Satan, and his weapon is sin. Oh, people of God, sheep of our Lord Jesus Christ, repent. You know the voice of your Shepherd. Hear Him and follow Him.
We cannot follow Him, however, when we are still in the clutches of the wolf. And so our Shepherd comes to us. He has compassion on us, seeing that we are like sheep without a shepherd. He comes to be our Shepherd. He not only teaches us about our wicked, fallen state, and the dangers of the wolves. He also teaches us about Himself. He is long-suffering and merciful. He would do anything for His sheep. He would even give His life for the sheep. And that, of course, is exactly what He did. The Good Shepherd dies for the sheep. He died for you, for your forgiveness, life, and salvation. He threw Himself to the wolves for you, so that they would release you from their death grip.
That’s the kind of Shepherd we have. He is faithful unto death, even unto the death we sinners deserve. He is not like the unfaithful shepherds of Israel of whom the Prophet Jeremiah speaks. At the time of Jeremiah, God said to these wicked spiritual leaders, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” (23:1). It is a warning and judgment that unfaithful shepherds of this age would do well to heed. “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord” (v. 2). Here is the indictment of these false teachers and the warning of God’s wrath. But then there is promise and comfort for the sheep who have been treated unfaithfully by wolves in sheep’s clothing. “Then I will gather the remnant of my flock… and I will bring them back to their fold… I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (vv. 3-5).
This righteous Branch for David is none other than Jesus Christ, the Lord who is our Righteousness (v. 6). He is the One who punishes all wicked and unfaithful shepherds of His sheep and now shepherds them Himself as the Good Shepherd. And He charges His New Testament undershepherds, Christian pastors, to faithfully tend the flock in His Name and in His stead. This the pastors do when they proclaim the Word of the Good Shepherd to the flock, reproving and forgiving sins, Baptizing and teaching and distributing the Body and Blood of the Good Shepherd, given and shed in behalf of the sheep. Through these undershepherds and by their hands, the Good Shepherd tends you Himself. You know His voice. He speaks to you wherever and whenever His Word is proclaimed. It is He who has made your peace with God. He Himself is your peace. St. Paul writes in our Epistle lesson, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace” (Eph. 2:13-14). He is our peace because He is our righteousness. We are baptized into His righteousness. We come before God not with righteousness of our own, for all we have on our own is unrighteousness. No, we come before God with the righteousness of Christ wrapped around us. When God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of His beloved Son. That’s why we call Jesus, “The Lord is our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:6). It is His Name and it is our reality. And it is He who came to shepherd us.
The Good Shepherd, who threw Himself to the wolves for the sheep, dying on the cross for the iniquity of His sheep, is now risen from the dead. He has conquered the wolves. He has conquered Satan and sin and death. He is the Living Shepherd who leads His sheep to green pastures and quiet waters. His rod and staff comforts us even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We have no fear of death, for our Shepherd is risen from the dead, He has been through this valley before. It could not hold Him, and therefore it cannot hold us who have our life in Him.
The Lord, who is our Shepherd, does not leave us in want. He feeds us. He has prepared a table for us. Come and eat and taste and see that the Lord is good, our Good Shepherd. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Church - Invisible and Visible

I've always been a little uncomfortable describing the Church as invisible because this is so easily misunderstood. There are not two churches, one invisible, made up of all believers in heaven and on earth, and the other one visible as the earthly institutional structure made up of believers and unbelievers (or elect and reprobate) alike. No, there is but one Church. That is what we confess in the Creed.

If this one Church is, as the Lutheran Confessions say, "holy believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd" (SA III:XII:2, Tappert), then it cannot be visible to the human eye. But then how can one know where the Church is? The classic answer is in the marks, the Word, Baptism, the Supper, etc. In this sense, the Church is visible. The one Church, then, is both invisible and visible. It is a Lutheran paradox.

But it is so important in explaining this paradox to distinguish this Lutheran understanding of the Church which is both visible and invisible from Calvin's understanding of an invisible Church that is related to and given birth by the visible Church, but distinct from it. Calvin's distinction between the two makes two churches. Both are important to Calvin. "Just as we must believe, therefore, that the former church, invisible to us, is visible to the eyes of God alone, so we are commanded to revere and keep communion with the latter, which is called 'church' in respect to men" (Institutes of the Christian Religion 2, John T. McNeill, ed. [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1960] p. 1022). The invisible Church includes only the elect. The visible Church includes elect and reprobate alike.

Once again, Dr. Kurt Marquart does an excellent job of clearly explaining the invisible/visible paradox in a way that avoids the Calvinistic error of makind two churches. He writes:

"It is self-evident that the external marks define, constitute, and identify the church as outward fellowship in the means of grace. This outward fellowship, however, is not another or a different church from the inward fellowship of faith: it is that self-same church, in its visible 'mode.' That unbelieving hypocrites, who do not belong to the church, are nevertheless indistinguishably mixed up with the believers in their outward gathering round the means of grace, is of course a fact. We have here a sort of 'complementary principle': We can determine exactly who the church is and where it is, but we can never combine the two into an identification of the believing individuals in any given place. When we talk about who the church is, we must define it as the believers, whom we cannot observe or identify as such anywhere. And when we talk about where the church is, we must locate it by its public marks, but we cannot tell who the individual believers are. In other words, the marks always tell us where the believers are to be found, but they can never identify particular persons as believers (except of course by the rule of love, which is often deceived). The marks attach to the church, not to individuals.

"The one conclusion that must not be drawn is that there are two churches" (The Church and her Fellowship, Ministry, and Governance [St. Louis: The Luther Academy, 1990] p. 22).

I was trying to make this distinction between the Calvinistic understanding of visible/invisible Church and the Lutheran paradox between the Church visible/invisible. I think I failed miserably, and many were probably confused. Unfortunately I had not yet read these words from Prof. Marquart. I am profoundly indebted to my beloved teacher.

On Forgiveness and Mel Gibson

Father Jonathan on the Fox News website has an excellent (for a secular) article on forgiving Mel Gibson, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206746,00.html. Here is my decidedly non-secular email response...

Father Jonathan, thank you for your article about forgiving Mel Gibson. These are words I think the public needs to hear. Perhaps the reason the press is so willing to crucify Gibson has nothing to do with his drunk driving and little to do with his sad remarks about the Jews (after all, celebrities act brutishly every day and the press winks and nods and then moves on to the next gossip-worthy celebrity sin)... I wonder if perhaps it's a chance to rake the man who made the Passion of the Christ through the mud. Mel told the story of God in the flesh dying for the sins of the fallen world by means of the highest cinematic art. This is a story secularists HATE and cannot tolerate. The sins of Mel Gibson are detestable and worthy of damnation. By the way, so are mine. But Mel and I have been forgiven by the same God about whom he made a film a few years back; namely, the God of the cross. Before that God and before His people, the blood of Jesus Christ has erased all sin, separated it from us as far as the East is from the West (Ps. 103). We are absolved. Thanks be to God.

There is no excuse for Gibson's drunk driving or his remarks about the Jews. His actions are deplorable. But there is forgiveness. He has confessed his sins. Before God, he is forgiven, through the blood of Christ.

Making the Sign of the Cross

Epiphany's Newsletter is called The Echo. The lead article is the Pastor's Window. This is my Pastor's Window for August, 2006.

Why Your Pastor Makes the Sign of the Cross

By now you’ve probably noticed that I make the sign of the cross over myself at several points during the Divine Service, and whenever we name God’s Name, the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Undoubtedly the members of Epiphany are not unfamiliar with this ancient practice. Some of you cross yourselves as well. But why? What does it mean to make the sign of the cross? When should one make it? And how?

Let me begin by saying that no one should ever feel compelled to make the sign of the cross. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it. But let me share with you why I choose to make the sign of the cross.

Making the sign of the cross over one’s body is an ancient Christian practice. No, it’s not distinctly Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. It’s Christian, being a part of the daily prayer life of Christians from the earliest times. And, in fact, it’s very Lutheran. Martin Luther himself, in the Small Catechism, recommends that each morning and evening, upon rising and before going to bed, you “make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen” (Daily Prayers). So also our Synod’s 1941 Hymnal, The Lutheran Hymnal, says in the general rubrics on page 4, “The sign of the cross may be made at the Trinitarian Invocation and at the words of the Nicene Creed ‘and the life of the world to come.’” So making the sign of the cross is a thoroughly Lutheran practice.

But here is the most compelling reason that Christians may wish to make the sign of the cross. It reminds us of our Baptism. Making the sign of the cross is the physical action that goes along with naming God’s Name, the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. That Name was given to us and put upon us at our Baptism as we were Baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Each time we say those words and each time we make that sign, we are remembering our Baptism, that God has given us His Name and made us His own children, that He has washed away all our sins and created us anew. Making the sign of the cross is optional for Christians, but remembering out Baptism is of the utmost importance. If the sign of the cross helps you remember your Baptism, you should feel free to make us of it. That’s what it’s for. If you prefer to remember your Baptism in other ways, that is fine too, but the point is always to draw comfort and strength from your Baptism.

So when and how do you make the sign of the cross if you want to make use of this tradition? The quote from The Lutheran Hymnal above indicates two appropriate places to make the sign of the cross; namely, whenever there is a Trinitarian Invocation (the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit). Also the final words of the Creed. Whenever there is a little + sign in the printed liturgy, this indicates that it is appropriate to make the sign of the cross. Some other places in the liturgy where it is appropriate to make the sign of the cross include the Holy Absolution where God is named again, the beginning and/or end of the sermon when the Trinitarian Name is invoked, the Sanctus at the words, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord,” when the pastor says, “The peace of the Lord be with you always” (which is really an absolution), the words of institution in the Lord’s Supper and after receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord, and finally, the Trinitarian benediction or blessing at the end of the Divine Service. There are other appropriate places in both the liturgy and your daily prayers. Practice differs from person to person and congregation to congregation. You can never make the sign of the cross at a wrong time. It is always a good way to ground our worship in God’s gifts to us in Baptism.

To make the sign of the cross, move your hand from your forehead to the center of your chest to one shoulder and then to the other (it really doesn’t matter which shoulder you start with). The more you do it, the more natural it will become.

Again, no one should ever feel compelled to make the sign of the cross. This is a matter of Christian freedom. But if you do want to make the sign of the cross, I encourage you to make use of it as a means of remembering your Baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. For “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). That’s the promise and truth we hold onto and in which we ground ourselves every time we make the sign of the holy cross.

Pastor Krenz

8th Sunday after Pentecost (Series B)

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (B)
July 30, 2006
Text: Mark 6:7-13
When Jesus sent His disciples out two by two, “they went out and proclaimed that people should repent” (v. 12). The Prophet Amos was sent to the erring house of Israel to proclaim that they should repent, turning from their wicked rejection of God back to the Father of Mercies, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We learned last Sunday that the prophets and the prophets’ sons are charged with preaching repentance and faith as the content of God’s Word, the whole doctrine confessed by the Church. The disciples proclaimed that people should repent. What does it mean to preach repentance? And what does it mean as poor sinners to repent before a righteous and holy God?
The Greek and Hebrew words in the Holy Scriptures used for repentance literally mean a turning or returning from something to something else. Repentance is a turning from sin, a turning from the self, so corrupted by original sin, to God, who alone is Holy and Righteous. It is a returning from the exile and bondage of sin and death to the forgiveness and life offered by God to all people through Christ Jesus, our Savior. The preaching of repentance is the preaching of God’s Law, by which we come to know our dire predicament as sons and daughters of Adam, that we are born into that original sin which caused the fall of the world into chaos and death, so that it is impossible for us to escape the burden and guilt of the sin so ingrained in our nature. The Law must put to death the Old Adam in each one of us. And such is the task of the preacher. It is the call to repentance. You are a sinner. By nature, you hate God and His will. You want to be your own god. You love yourself above God. Repent.
That is the preaching of repentance. But how do you repent? Another word for repentance is contrition. The Lutheran Confessions define contrition in this way: “We say that contrition is the genuine terror of a conscience that feels God’s wrath against sin and is sorry that it has sinned. This contrition takes place when the Word of God denounces sin.”[1] Notice where contrition, or repentance, starts. It starts with God’s Word. God initiates repentance. So it is not a good work you do in order to be saved. But it is something God does in you by means of His Word. That is, He brings you to genuine sorrow for having offended against His commandments and having merited His wrath.
But He does not leave you there. No, remember that repentance is a turning from something to something else. At this point, God has turned you from sin, bringing genuine sorrow over sin by means of His Word. But His Word and His Holy Spirit have not finished with you yet. Now God will turn you toward Himself and His mercy, revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ. He will turn you toward the cross on which the sinless One became sin for us and was crucified for our forgiveness. He will direct your faith there, to that One who hangs there bloody and dying on the cross, so that you trust in Him for your salvation and restoration and resurrection. That’s the preaching of the Gospel, and only one who has been subject to the preaching of repentance, the crucifying of the Old Adam by means of the Law, can be raised to life again by the Gospel.
The disciples went out two by two preaching that people should repent, turn from their wicked opposition of God and look to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. The Prophet Amos was called by God to take his preaching of repentance before the very king of Israel, Jeroboam, who was by no means willing to hear the message. But not even kings are exempt from the Word of the Lord. “Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from this land” (Amos 7:11). It was a crucifying of the king and the people for the purpose of calling them back from sin and evil to the right worship of God. Sadly, Jeroboam did not repent, and the people of Israel did go into exile under the cruel hands of the Assyrians. But the Lord is merciful. He not only kills and destroys, he also raises His people up again. Though Israel went into exile, the Lord promised them, “‘I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,’ declares the Lord your God” (9:14-15). Not only did the Lord restore the nation of Israel to its land a generation after the exile; more importantly, He restored spiritual Israel, the Church, by sending His Son Jesus Christ to pay for her sins, to call her out of exile to the true Promised Land that will be revealed in all its fullness on the day of Resurrection.
Repentance is a turning from sin to the God of mercy. The turning is both begun and brought to completion by God through His Word. This is most beautifully illustrated in the account of David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12). When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, Uriah, he had done great evil in the sight of the Lord. The Prophet Nathan was sent to David to preach repentance to this king of Israel. He did so by means of a parable, telling of a rich man with many lambs who took the one little ewe lamb of a very poor man to entertain his guest. David was enraged! “As the Lord lives,” he declared, “the man who has done this deserves to die” (2 Sam. 12:5). Nathan said to David, “Thou art the man!” (v. 7, KJV). The man who had done this did indeed, deserve to die, and here the Old Adam in King David was killed by the preaching of God’s Law, the preaching of repentance. David confessed his sin, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan immediately pronounced the absolution, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (v. 13). O David, rejoice, for though you do indeed deserve death, you will have abundant life instead by the mercy of God. The Son of David will die in your place and create you anew. Rejoice and trust in Him. The Word of the Lord crushes and makes alive again. God turned David from his sin back to God’s mercy. And so God turns each one of us from sin back to the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.
When God’s Law is proclaimed, it points to each one of you and declares, “Thou art the man! Repent!” Your Old Adam has been drowned in the waters of Holy Baptism. You have been crucified with Christ and cleansed by His blood. Confess your sins. Receive the Holy Absolution Christ freely gives. “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” O children of God, rejoice, for though you do indeed deserve death, you will have abundant life instead by the mercy of God through the death of the Son of David on your behalf. You are forgiven. The Body and Blood of Christ are the payment for that forgiveness, offered to God as an atoning sacrifice on the cross, offered to you for the strengthening and preservation of your faith on the altar. You have been turned by God from sin and death back to God, your Father. Rejoice, and trust in Him.
He is faithful and worthy of your trust. He has never failed you. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who never once sinned, became sin for you and suffered for you on the cross and died for your redemption. That’s how faithful He is. And then He rose again. Your faith is not in the dead, but in the Living. The Crucified One is risen. He is risen for your justification. Repent and believe the Good News. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:10-14). But as we know, it is from the dust that God forms man and breathes into him the breath of life, the breath of His own Spirit. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] Apol. XII:29, Tappert.