Lent Mid-Week 1

Lent Mid-week 1
February 28, 2007
The First Commandment
Text: Exodus 20:1-21

You shall have no other gods.

What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.[1]

This commandment is the first not only because it is the first on the list, but because it is the chief commandment. It is the foundation for the whole Law of God. Whenever we break any one of the commandments, we also break the first, for any time we sin, we are declaring to God that He is not our God, that we fear, love, and trust other people and things above Him, and certainly that we fear, love, and trust ourselves above Him. When we sin, we declare that we would rather follow our own will than God’s will, that we would rather seek our own pleasure than God’s glory. We become our own gods. So, as St. James says, “whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (James 2:10; ESV).

Crass idol worship is not the only way of breaking this commandment. It is certainly one way, and that is why as Lutherans we include the prohibition of making and worshiping graven images under the First Commandment. (Incidentally, Roman Catholics number the commandments this way as well.) But I suspect that most of us in this congregation do not keep idols for worship at home. We also break this commandment if we worship any creature or thing as God. We see this among the New Agers of our time in all the various forms that New Age cults take on. For example, certain cults worship the goddess Gaia, or Mother Earth, thus worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. So also Satanists worship a created and fallen angel rather than the God who created him. Other examples of such worship may be more restrained, for example, when some forms of radical feminism worship the divine goddess in every woman. This is idolatry. It is having other gods above the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

But again, I suspect most of us in this congregation do not, at least explicitly and crassly, worship created things. Our problem is much more subtle. The primary way we break this commandment is when we fear, love, and trust other people and things more than we fear, love, and trust the Triune God. When we trust in our checking account or our job or possessions above the Lord our God, we break the First Commandment. When we trust in our physical health, education, or the honor of men above the Lord our God, we break the First Commandment. And when we trust in government or even when we love and trust our spouse and family above the Lord our God, we break the First Commandment. “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes” (Ps. 118:8-9). Man cannot save you from the Lord’s wrath and your own sin, nor can your station in life or possessions. “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!” (Ps. 52:7). Repent. The Lord our God alone can save you. He alone is your refuge. We must avoid the danger of fashioning false gods out of our material possessions and even our family and spouse.

There is also a misunderstanding prevalent in our culture and even in the Christian Church… even among some in our own church body, the LCMS, that those who worship the so-called “God of the Old Testament” worship the one true God, but do not know the full revelation of Him in Jesus Christ. They mean, of course, Jews and Muslims. It is true that Jews and Muslims are monotheists, which is to say that they believe in only one god, as we do, and in fact they claim to believe the Old Testament. But, dear friends, there is no God other than the one God in three persons who reveals Himself in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ. Jews and Muslims and adherents to all other religions have forsaken the God of the Old Testament, for the whole Old Testament looks forward to and proclaims Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.

There is no God but the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three in one and one in three. The Father sent His Son into the flesh, to be born of a Virgin, to be born under the Law that He might redeem those under the Law. That is, that He might redeem us, lost and condemned sinners, who constantly fashion other gods for ourselves and trust in them for deliverance. The Holy Spirit convicts us of this sin and directs our faith to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, for our salvation. In Jesus Christ there is forgiveness for our every act of idolatry. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. His blood covers all our sin. He died for you and for me. He died in our place. He suffered our punishment. By His stripes we are healed. And He has fashioned us as His own people. He has taken us captive by His Word, so that we are no longer captive to sin and false gods. He has made us new. So to Him alone be all our fear, love, and trust. He is our God. We are His people, for He has marked His Name upon us, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] Catechism quotations from Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986).

First Sunday in Lent

First Sunday in Lent (C)
February 25, 2007
Text: Luke 4:1-13

Beloved in the Lord, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’” (Luke 4:4; ESV [cf. Deut. 8:3]). What, then, does he live by? Certainly bread is necessary for the maintenance and well-being of his physical body. Bread sustains human life. But the Word of God gives life. A man does not live by bread alone, “but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). God breathes His Word into us so that we live, and His Word sustains our lives, both physical and spiritual. It is by the Word that we have bread in the first place, for God speaks and the rain waters the earth and nourishes the soil and produces wheat. And it is by God’s Word that we live spiritually, resisting the flaming darts of the devil in his relentless attacks against us as the people of God.

The Word of God is our primary weapon in resisting temptation. As we know all too well, our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We must “Resist him, firm in [our] faith” (v. 9). We do this when we wield “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). Our Lord Himself is the perfect example of this in the account of His temptation in the wilderness.

Immediately after His baptism by John in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit led our Lord into the wilderness to be tempted 40 days. During this time, our Lord went without food. It was a period of fasting much more severe than our own Lenten discipline. Needless to say, at the end of 40 days, Jesus was hungry. The devil saw his opportunity. He sought to introduce doubt about Jesus’ Divine sonship, and to entice Jesus to misuse His office as Son by serving Himself by His miracles. “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread” (Luke 4:3). If You are the Son of God, then prove it. Satisfy Your own hunger. If You are the One who fed the children of Israel with manna in the wilderness, do it again and make fresh bread from this stone. If You’re really the Lord, start treating Yourself like it. Had Jesus given in to this temptation, He would have forsaken His mission as Son of God in the flesh for us. The devil sought to tempt Jesus to be satisfied with repeating the miracle of manna in the wilderness, rather than completing His mission as our Bread of Life. But Jesus rebuffs Satan with the most powerful weapon in God’s arsenal: The Word! “Man shall not live by bread alone.” Get behind Me, Satan. You cannot win that easily. The hunger of the stomach is nothing compared to the eternal hunger of the soul forsaken by God in hell. Nor have I come to serve Myself with these miracles. I came not to be served, but to serve, and to give My life as a ransom for many.

But of course, the devil does not give up that easily. He takes Jesus to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms in the world in a moment, declaring, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours” (vv. 6-7). Of course, it already belongs to Jesus, and the devil knows that, but the temptation here is for Jesus to bypass the cross and manifest His glorious Lordship now. But Jesus is immovable. He is determined to complete His mission of salvation for us poor sinners, and for our salvation. Once again, He rebuffs the devil with the Word of God: “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord you God, and him only shall you serve’” (v. 8; cf. Deut. 6:13). You shall have no other gods. And here the Lord not only affirms His own resolve to worship the Father alone, but also reminds the devil that the Lord is his, that is, the devil’s God as well, and the time for the devil’s judgment has been appointed.

But the devil has one more trick up his sleeve. He takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and, once again seeking to introduce doubt, says, “If you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone’” (vv. 9-11; cf. Ps. 91:11-12). Ah, the devil, too, knows Scripture, and here he manipulates it and misapplies it in order to tempt our faithful Savior. This he does with us, too, through the false teachers who parade around in sheeps’ clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves. But Jesus knows Scripture better than the devil. It is true that God and His holy angels will guard Jesus from all harm. But there is one time that they will not. That is when Jesus will have to suffer and die on the cross for sinners. That is when the Father will forsake Him, for Jesus will bear the sins and guilt of the whole world on His own head; your sins and mine, that we might be declared righteous, justified, and holy. Jesus knows this, and He is determined that it come to pass according to His Father’s will. So once again He rebuffs Satan with God’s holy Word: “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (v. 12; cf. Deut. 6:16). Jesus is the devil’s Lord and God as well. At this Word from Jesus, the devil must flee. “One little word can fell him.” Our Lord is victorious. You see, we have a High Priest who can identify with our frail human condition, for He has “in every respect been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

Jesus has resisted temptation for us, in our place, as part of His active fulfilling of the Law on our behalf. And He has overcome! He has won the victory over the temptation of Satan. This is a great consolation to us who are constantly buffeted by the attacks of Satan. We are daily tempted to sin against God’s holy will, to act as if we were not the baptized children that God has made us. Our weak flesh, time and time again, gives into these temptations. The devil tells us to look out for number one, to serve ourselves rather than our neighbor, to engorge ourselves with food for our stomachs rather than food for our souls, and we so easily give in. But our Lord did not give in. He reminds the devil, and He reminds us, that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. The devil tempts us to seek power and prestige for ourselves at the expense of our fellowmen and even at the expense of our souls, but the Lord reminds the devil and us that we should have no other gods, that we should worship the Lord our God and serve Him only, that He alone should be the object of our fear, love, and trust. The devil tempts us to doubt God’s promises and to put them to the test, but our Lord reminds the devil and us that we should not test the Lord our God, but trust Him and believe His promises. In every temptation, our Lord remained steadfast, immovable, and His steadfastness and righteousness have been credited to our account. Our Lord first resisted temptation for us, in our place. And now, in our daily lives, He resists temptation in us.

Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells in each one of you by Baptism, empowers you to resist temptation by pouring out His Holy Spirit upon you in the Word and in the Sacrament. He gives you His Word to resist the temptations of the devil and to send him packing. And He uses even these temptations for your good, as He has promised, “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Our Lord uses temptation in us to test us, purify us, and illuminate us.[1] Temptation tests, or refines, our faith by casting us on the mercy and help of God and driving us to Scripture. It purifies us as “Our great Physician, Christ, employs many bitter remedies to expel the malignant spiritual diseases of love of self and love of the world.”[2] It reminds us that trust in man is a vain hope, and drives us to trust in Christ for deliverance. And temptation illuminates us, for it drives us to Christ alone for consolation in times of trouble. Our gracious God promises, “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Ps. 50:15).

So, dear children of the Heavenly Father, resist the temptation of the devil by being constantly in the Word. Commit it to memory. Read it and meditate on it daily. Have it preached into your ears and hearts. Call upon God to “lead us not into temptation.” And remember that your Lord Jesus Christ has won the victory over the devil for you, and continues to fight against him in you. Man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God. Jesus is the Word made flesh, the very Bread of Life. He invites you now to feast upon Him and be strengthened in your life under the cross. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] See Johann Gerhard, “The Advantages of Temptations,” Sacred Meditations, The Rev. C. H. W. Heisler, A. M., trans. (Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 2000) pp. 229-234.

[2] Ibid., 231.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday (C)
February 21, 2007
Text: Matt. 6:1-6, 16-21

Beloved in the Lord, this is a solemn night of reflection and repentance. Tonight we set out on our journey through the penitential season of Lent. The journey will be a long one, forty days not counting Sundays, until the festival of Easter when our hearts are lifted up by our Lord in the joy of His resurrection. But as we learned along with Peter and the disciples on the mount of Transfiguration, suffering and the cross must come before resurrection. Death comes before life. The Law crushes us before the Gospel enlivens us. We must suffer here in this fallen world before we come to the glory of heaven. And so we must proceed through Lent and Holy Week before we come to Easter. In this season we reflect on our sinful condition. We turn to the Lord with contrite hearts for the healing that only He can give. And we turn our attention to the events surrounding our Lord’s suffering, cross, and death, the price of our ransom.

Let us set out together this night on our journey as Lenten pilgrims who go the way of the cross. Let us remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return, “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23; ESV). Let us rend the garments of our hearts and clothe ourselves in sackcloth and ashes. Let us mourn our sin and turn to the Lord for healing. He is gracious and merciful, and He will do it. Let us receive the mark of His cross upon our foreheads and bear the stigmata of Christ, for in His death there is life for every one of us.

Lent is also a season of discipline, a time of killing the Old Adam and beating the body into submission. As a practical means of doing this many people give up something during Lent, or perhaps instead take on a new discipline, such as increased Bible reading or other devotions. None of this is commanded. It is within the realm of Christian freedom, and is up to each individual. But whatever you do in devotion to your Lord, whether it is fasting or some other sort of discipline, our Lord gives us some strict warnings this evening about the sin of calling attention to our piety. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 6:1). The problem here is not whether you are seen by others in an act of piety. We all engage in pious practices at home and when we come to church, and others see us engaged in them. For example, some of us make the sign of the cross. Others do not. It’s all in Christian freedom. Some of us bow our heads at the Name of the Holy Trinity. Others do not. Again, it’s a matter of Christian freedom. And it’s not a sin if others see you do these things, anymore than it is a sin to pray the table prayer aloud in a public restaurant. But the question is one of motivation. Do not practice your piety in order to be seen and praised by men. Then it is a false act of piety. It is not then a matter of spiritual discipline or devotion, but a show and an act of pride.

Notice, however, that our Lord does not forbid acts of devotion. He even expects that we will engage in them. He says, “And when you fast” (v. 16), not “if you fast,” and it is not that Christians must fast, but fasting was among the most common acts of devotion in Jesus’ day, much like folding our hands to pray is among us today, and so Jesus commends it. He doesn’t command it, He commends it. This important difference makes it all a matter of Christian freedom. But it is a timely reminder during this season of repentance that whatever you do as a matter of devotion, whether it be fasting or sacrificial giving to the Church or to the needy or a renewed commitment to prayer, all of which are good things, “sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues (or we might say churches) and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward” (v. 2). “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward” (v. 16). If the reward you seek is the praise of men, you will get it. But your body and soul will not have been disciplined. It will not have been an act of devotion to God, but rather an act of devotion to self. Repent.

Bring your sacrificial offerings to God, but do not call attention to them. Rather, call your own attention and that of others to God’s sacrificial offering on your behalf, the sacrificial offering of His Son. That is what the season of Lent is all about. Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training, but that person is truly worthy and well prepared to receive our Lord’s gifts who has faith in these words, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins (Small Catechism). That is the main thing. It is not what we do for God, but what God does for us in Christ. Tonight we cry bitter tears of repentance as we embark on our Lenten journey. But we know that the joy of the Lord’s resurrection is ahead. First we must pass the way of the cross. But as we go that way, we go in the knowledge and trust that our Lord, who first went the way of the cross and shed His blood for us, forgives us all our sins. He forgives us and He renews us. He showers His gifts upon us in Word and Water and Supper. We do not go alone. He goes with us and carries us. And we do not go as those who have no hope. Our hope is in our Lord Jesus, who loves us and gave Himself up for us. Not unto us, but to Him be all the glory. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Struggling with the Flesh

The question was asked during our Sunday morning study of 1 Cor. 7, whether Paul’s urging that those who do not have the gift of celibacy be married might be an argument for early marriage, since adolescents above all do not seem to have this gift. I spoke of the difference between our current cultural context and the cultural context of Paul’s day when adolescents were regularly given in marriage. In our day, the answer may be not so much teenage marriage (especially considering our culture’s disparagement of marriage as a sacred institution) as parents teaching their children about the 6th Commandment and God’s good gift of marriage and sex, so that our children are outfitted with the weapons necessary to resist their burning passion, the pressures of the world, and the attacks of Satan, and also so that they have a right and chaste regard for these gifts of God. Christian children will sincerely desire to follow the will of God in matters of sex, even as they struggle against their own sinful flesh.

Luther has some things to say about this topic in his lecture on Psalm 2:11:

“Many young people fear the Lord, and they do not fall down before the passions as slaves of Satan. If you examine their hearts, you will see that they are so disturbed by the storms of passion that they do not feel even so much as a drop of chastity. Nevertheless they wish with their whole heart that it would be given to them. Why waste words? They themselves judge and feel that their hearts are like whorehouses, in which there is no purity. And yet chastity lies hidden deep within their hearts, though oppressed by the feeling of passion until the time comes when they marry. For even if they cannot be free from the lust of the flesh, their hearts still sigh for the purity which they feel is lacking. They wish it were present, and they bear those flames of lust unwillingly.”[1]

In other words, Christian adolescents engage in the same struggle as every one of us, and of which St. Paul speaks in Rom. 7: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (v. 15; ESV). And we must admit that though adolescents struggle with rushing hormones, adults are just as guilty of lust and impure passion. Our sin is just a little more practiced and refined. The cure, for adolescents and adults alike, is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin, a timely reminder as we enter upon the penitential season of Lent.

[1] Psalm 2, Luther’s Works, 55 vols., Jaroslav Pelikan, ed. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1955) 12:78.

The Transfiguration of our Lord

The Transfiguration of Our Lord (C)
February 18, 2007
Text: Luke 9:28-36

The account of the Transfiguration of our Lord is puzzling to say the least. What do these events mean, and what should we learn from them? The fact is, these events were puzzling for Peter, John, and James as well, at least at first. Even these faithful disciples are left scratching their heads. They’re along with Jesus on another trip to a secluded place for prayer. Here we find them as we’ll find them once again the night Jesus is betrayed: while He is praying, they are sleeping. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Their Old Adam gets the best of them and their eyes are too heavy.

But then something extraordinary happens. They awake to see Jesus transfigured before them. What’s that supposed to mean? Well, Luke tells us. His face and His countenance are changed. Jesus’ Divine glory is shining through His humanity. His face is as bright as the sun and He is clothed with light like the flashing of lightening. And two men are with Him, Moses and Elijah, the author of the Torah and the first among the prophets, discussing Jesus departure, or as the Greek says, His exodus, which He is about to accomplish in Jerusalem. It’s so much to take in. Peter doesn’t even know what he’s saying when he suggests that the disciples build three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He wants to preserve the moment. He recognizes that heaven and earth have come together on the mountain, but he has no clue what it means. He just knows that it’s good for them to be there, and of course, he’s right. But they can’t stay. Not now. Not yet. The cross still lies ahead of them, and they must follow the way of the cross before they can stay in glory.

But they are there now, basking in the glory of Jesus. And this happens for a reason. But that reason is not clear, and it’s about to get even more confusing. A great cloud envelopes them all and the voice of God the Father speaks, taking us back to Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan where we began this Epiphany season, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35; ESV). Then all at once the cloud is gone, along with Moses and Elijah, and the disciples see Jesus alone. What is all of this supposed to mean? It’s no wonder the disciples didn’t tell anyone about what they had seen until after the resurrection.

This is a lot for us to take in, too, and it would be so easy for us to remain silent about it as well. There is so much going on here that it is overwhelming. Where should we even begin in our consideration of these things?

First of all, the Transfiguration is an epiphany, a manifestation or revelation, and indeed it is the granddaddy of them all! Here Jesus is once again revealed as God in the flesh. He lets His divinity shine through His assumed human nature. That’s where all the light comes from. And it’s no wonder the disciples are dumbfounded. Remember, up to this point, even though they had witnessed Jesus perform many miracles, they had never witnessed Him in His Divine majesty. To them, Jesus looked like any other Joe Schmoe one might meet on the street. But now there was no denying it. Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father from all eternity. And it is this Son of God who has made His dwelling among us in the flesh, so that “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Col. 1:19). He is not only true God, but also true man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is the God-Man, God in the flesh, Emmanuel, God with us.

But what to make of the appearance of Moses and Elijah? They represent the whole content of the Old Testament, the Law and the prophets. In this epiphany we learn that Jesus is the fulfillment of the whole Old Testament. It all points to Him. He is the culmination of the Scriptures. Jesus Himself once said, “You search the Scriptures (meaning the Old Testament) because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). Christ is in every passage. Moses is the author of the Law, the Ten Commandments, which drive us to Jesus Christ for help and salvation. And Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of every prophecy uttered by Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the others. It was Moses himself through whom the Lord spoke saying, “I will raise up a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (Deut. 18:18). Jesus of Nazareth, God in the flesh, is the prophet like unto Moses who also supersedes Moses, for He does what Moses could not do. Moses led the people of Israel in an exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, but Moses was not allowed to finish the job. He was shown the Promised Land from afar, but on account of his sin he was not allowed to enter. He died on the other side of the Jordan, and the Lord buried him in a place that is unknown to this day. But Jesus has led His Israel, the Church, in exodus from her bondage to the slavery of sin, death, and the devil, into the Promised Land of salvation, heaven, and the resurrection from the dead.

It was this exodus of which Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus on the mountain. It was the exodus that would be brought to completion by Jesus in Jerusalem not many days hence. This is the whole purpose for which the Son of God came in the flesh. This is what He would do with the Divinity He had just displayed. Moses and Elijah were speaking with Jesus about His suffering and death and resurrection and ascension. That is the exodus. That is the journey. And it must be in that order. Suffering and death must come first. It is the only way. That is what Peter and his compatriots do not understand. They want to stay on the mountain and bask in the glory of the transfigured Jesus and the company of the heroes of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah. They don’t understand that Jesus’ true glory is in His suffering and death, for that is the payment for our sin. That is the ransom price. That is what it will take to appease God’s righteous wrath. That is what it will take to make us holy.

Jesus is glorified on the cross of Calvary where He pays for the sins of the whole world; for Peter’s sin, and for John’s and James’ sin, and for your sin and my sin. He pays for the sin of sleepiness and laziness. He pays for all the times we take His Word and the gift of prayer for granted, neglecting them because our eyes are too heavy. He pays for the Old Adam which constantly drags us down. And the Father accepts the sacrifice of His beloved Son, the Chosen One. It cost the Son of God His life, but the price is paid in full so that we may cross that River Jordan into the Promised Land. Our sins can no longer hinder us, as they hindered Moses. The journey, the exodus, is complete when Jesus rises from the dead, the conqueror of death and sin and Satan, and ascends into heaven where He reigns at the right hand of God, intercedes for us, His saints, and is constantly present with us in Word and Sacrament.

This exodus is the topic of all heavenly discussion. We witness a little sampling of it in the account of the Transfiguration as Moses and Elijah are speaking with Jesus. Jesus’ exodus is always on the mind of His people, for the disciples follow their Lord in this exodus. And this is where the account of the Transfiguration takes on significance for our everyday lives. Our own exodus as the Baptized is patterned after Jesus’ exodus. Our footsteps follow in the way Jesus trod. We, too, must proceed through suffering and the cross to the resurrection. There is no other way. Like Peter, we want to stay on the glorious mountaintop, but we cannot. We must go the way of the cross. But our Lord is with us. We follow Him. He provides for us. He sustains us with His Word and Supper. And we have the privilege of speaking with Him on the way. We do so again today. “Pilgrims on that path are privileged to lift up their hearts and enter into that heavenly conversation with Moses and Elijah and all the saints about the Lamb who was slain and raised again. This they do, when ‘with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven,’ they sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy... Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. …’ and ‘O Christ, the Lamb of God. …’”[1] Here Jesus is present with us in His risen and glorified body. He nourishes us with that body and with His precious, sin-atoning blood. As on the mount of Transfiguration, heaven and earth come together for us and we are once more commanded by the Father to hear Jesus. We want to hear Him, for His Word is life to us. It is good for us to be here. But unlike the disciples, Peter, John, and James, we are not silent about what we hear and see. We confess Jesus, God in the flesh, to the world. We have the prophetic Word made more sure (2 Peter 1:19), for we have the Holy Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit who has opened our minds and hearts by the power of the Word, so that we, too, see Jesus alone, Jesus only, Jesus, God in the flesh, come to save His people. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] Arthur A. Just, Jr., Concordia Commentary: Luke 1:1-9:50 (St. Louis: Concordia, 1996) p. 404.

But Before we Bid Goodbye to Epiphany...

... and before we enter Lent, we receive a glimpse of the Easter glory to come in the Transfiguration of our Lord. Lest the apostles have any doubt about who Jesus is or what the outcome of all of these things (the events of the Passion) will be, the Divine Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ shines through the human nature. Jesus is God in the flesh. If He is God untied to our flesh, He has the power to conquer the sin and death of our flesh. Like the disciples, we wish we could stay on that mountaintop. We wish we could bypass Lent and Holy Week and Good Friday. But we must learn, as they did, that the cross must come before the resurrection. Death must come before there is true life. Suffering must come before glory. Good Friday must precede Easter. But Easter will come. After His suffering and death for our forgiveness, Jesus will be raised for our justification. And in the Transfiguration, we receive a foretaste of the Easter Feast to come. Tomorrow, as the Church puts away her alleluia for a season, she sings it one more time with gusto. As we set out on the Lenten journey, we do so knowing where the path ends. We will sing alleluia again, for death cannot hold our Lord. A blessed Transfiguration.

Epiphany's Lenten/Easter Schudule

The penitential season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 21, and will be observed in a special service with the imposition of ashes and Holy Communion that night at 7 pm. The theme for this year’s Lenten Mid-Week services is “The Ten Commandments.” Mid-Week services will take place on Wed. nights at 7 pm, the time of our normal Wed. night Eucharist. Supper will be offered at 6 pm. These services are an important component of our Lenten observance and penitential reflection. Please plan to attend. Invite your friends and neighbors.

Holy Week is the first week in April this year, beginning with Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion, April 1, at our regular 9:15 am Divine Service. The schedule for the rest of the week is as follows:

Maundy Thursday: Service of the Sacrament, April 5, 7 pm.
Good Friday: Tenebrae Vespers, April 6, 7 pm.
Easter Vigil: Service of Light with Holy Communion, April 7, 7 pm.
Easter Sunday: Sunrise Divine Service, 7 am
Festival Divine Service, April 8, 9:15 am.

6th Sunday after the Epiphany

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (C)
Baptism and Confirmation of Daniel Kyle Smith
Reception of New Members
February 11, 2007
Text: Luke 6:17-26

In the Gospel lesson we hear our Lord pronounce a series of blessings and woes. The blessings seem to be conditional. The woes are immediately applicable to each one of us. We may think we can get out of the first woe, “woe to you who are rich” (v. 24; ESV), but the reality is that the poorest among us in this fellowship has more to his name than many others in this nation and the nations of the world who have no place to lay their heads. And what the Lord is really getting at is our trust in money and possessions, an idolatry of which even the poorest in the world are guilty. Woe to you who trust in riches. Woe to you who trust in the food that fills your bellies. Your god is your stomach (Phil. 3:19). Woe to you who laugh in your wickedness and sin. Your time of mourning is coming. Woe to you who seek the flattery of men at the cost of your own soul. You know that flattery is an empty lie. It is the false prophets who are honored in that way. Woe to you. Repent.

Repent, for that is not who you are anymore. You are the blessed, and the blessings are not conditional, at least not in terms of anything that you can do. The state of blessedness is rather your new reality in Christ. It is dependent upon Him. You are poor, for you bring nothing to the table in your dealing with God. Rather, you come to the table empty handed, hungry, with great weeping over your sinful condition. You are a beggar. But you are blessed, for your Lord Jesus Christ fills you. He fills you with Himself. He fills you with His own righteousness. He fills you with life and the forgiveness of all of your sins. He fills you with His death and resurrection, so that you who are poor and wretched receive all of His riches. He absolves you from your self-idolatry and mammon worship. He gives you new and clean hearts and directs all your trust to Himself alone by the working of His Holy Spirit in the Word. He washes you clean and gives you new garments of white purity. He gives you the family Name, the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and His Father becomes your own Father.

In other words, you have been baptized. That is what you saw happen today. That is what happened to you today, Daniel. You were washed clean. Actually, more than that, you were killed today. You were drowned in the baptismal waters. But you were also raised from the dead as a new man. It was a rebirth. It was a total renovation. It was a renewal. It was a baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ so that His death and resurrection become your own. The Holy Spirit brought you here today by working through His Word for many years in your heart. And His Word was effective. It did what it said. It brought you to faith. The Holy Spirit called you by the Gospel. He brought you to the Adult Information Class where He enlightened you. He continues to enlighten you with His gifts. And today He gathered you into His Church, your new home, gave you the family Name, which is the Name of God Himself, and adopted you as His own child. He washed away all your sins. He made you squeaky-clean. He has sanctified you, that is, made you holy, and will keep you in the one true faith unto life everlasting.

This is now who you are. You came to the table empty handed today, and the Lord has filled you with His gifts, given you His Spirit, given you His forgiveness, His life, and His salvation. You are blessed. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord,” we heard in the Old Testament Lesson this morning (Jer. 17:7). “He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit” (v. 8). The Lord has brought you to faith in Himself. You trust Him, and you are blessed. That’s what it means to be baptized. Now nothing can harm you. It may give the appearance of harm. You may have to suffer all, even death, perhaps even on account of the faith you just confessed in the Rite of Confirmation. But you aren’t anxious. You know you are safe. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23). You are honored when you suffer for His Name and for His sake. You are counted worthy to partake in the sufferings of the prophets. They can take your life, but they cannot take your soul. And even the life they take they cannot keep. Your body will be returned to you, only made perfect, on the Last Day, at the resurrection of all flesh. For you have been baptized, body and soul.

And this promise is for all who have been baptized. It is an objective reality. You are blessed, for you are baptized. The Lord has filled you. No one can take that away from you. Not even Satan. The promise is unconditional. It is fact. There is no more woe. You are blessed, for your Lord has pronounced it. He has made you so. He who called you by the Gospel also continues to enlighten you with His gifts and gathers you together into the fellowship of His Church today to receive His gifts anew. We rejoice that He has gathered new members into our fellowship today. He sanctifies and keeps you in the true faith of Jesus Christ. And for you who are hungry, He has prepared a special banquet, the feast of Christ’s Body and Blood. Come, dear blessed ones, baptized into Christ, for you will be satisfied. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.