Author: Higher Things

Rev. Mark Buetow

People often think that by ascending into heaven, Jesus has gone away from us. He was here on earth and now He’s “up there” somewhere and isn’t really around until He comes again. But pay close attention to what Luke wrote down in the book of Acts: “A cloud hid Him from their sight.” The Bible doesn’t say that Jesus went away when He ascended. It says they couldn’t see Him anymore. But if Christ isn’t gone then where is He? That is answered in St. Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus gives His apostles the command to preach the Gospel to every creature. And so they did, writes Mark, “the Lord working with them.” When Jesus ascends and is hidden, it is only to be hidden to our eyes so that instead, by the preaching of the Gospel, He would go to the ends of the earth. Before Elijah was taken away in the fiery chariot, he ordained Elisha to be the preacher after him. Before our Lord’s Ascension, He ordained His Apostles to preach the Gospel and Baptize. Understand this: the big deal is not that Jesus Himself is here speaking to us but that His Word is delivered into our ears whether its by His own mouth or the mouths of His preachers. The Good News of the forgiveness of sins is what our Lord gave to His preachers to deliver to the world.

Jesus’ Ascension is the celebration and seal of His work for sinners and it is the beginning of the delivery of that forgiveness. Christ’s perfect life and His bloody death have destroyed the power of sin and the power of Satan to accuse us before God. His resurrection from the dead stripped Death of its power. Now His ascension means that all our righteousness is kept safe for us and no one can take it away from us. Imagine the big tall kid holding the ball while the little kid jumps up and down trying to grab it and can’t. So it is with our salvation and righteousness. It is kept safe by Jesus so that the Devil can’t snatch it away! Our Lord Himself holds on to your righteousness in heaven so that nothing can take it away from you. It is this forgiveness and salvation that is splashed upon you at the holy font; spoken into your ears by preaching and absolution and fed into your mouth with Christ’s own body and blood! These earthly gifts that are given to us with Christ’s Word attached have His promise that where they are given out faithfully, He Himself is there. Jesus isn’t far away in outer space somewhere! He’s right here, on earth, in His church. Hidden to our eyes, true, but plainly visible to the eyes of faith. And you have this promise that everything He gives you in this life: Baptism, Absolution, the Gospel, the Supper, all have the crucified, risen and ascended Jesus standing behind them so that their promises smash any opposition of Satan and cannot be overcome!

Notice that after Jesus ascended, the Apostles weren’t sad. They rejoiced! They were happy! And what did they do? They worshiped! The angels preached that Christ will come again. His Ascension reminds us that just as He departed, so He will come again and one day Jesus will again be seen with our eyes. But until that day, we aren’t sad. We rejoice! And we worship. Until Christ comes again we worship. And “worship” just means we receive Christ where He has promised to be: in His church in His Word and Sacraments. That’s why the angel’s say, “Why are you looking up into the sky?” You don’t look for Jesus “up there.” You don’t look for Him just anywhere. You look for Him where He has promised to be: in His church in the means of grace. There He comes to you and will never leave you. Here He comes and delivers His forgiveness, life and salvation which can never be snatched away from you! On this day, Christ ascended on high! Not to get away from us! But so that He would be with us always and among us to forgive and save us right here where His Word is. All thanks and praise and glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ who has conquered all our enemies and now lives and reigns on high at the right hand of the Father while yet dwelling among us in His holy church through His holy gifts. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Rich Heinz

John 10:22-30

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

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

“Hear My voice.”  Have you ever watched a baby’s reaction to his mother’s voice?  He reacts.  He turns toward his mother, and is soothed by the comfort of His mother’s voice.  He has heard her from within the womb, and finds comfort and nurture and care in her voice. 

Dr. Shinichi Suzuki recognized the importance of listening, even when we are not aware of it.  He stressed the importance of listening to a piece of music over and over to help in learning to play it.  Playing that same piece well is aided immensely by repeatedly listening to it played well.  And he even noted instances when children recognized pieces of music in utero. 

The same is true for the pastor’s voice.  A family that comes to the Lord’s house throughout pregnancy, will have a child that recognizes his pastor’s voice, and responds.  Like his mother, the infant finds comfort and nurture and care in the voice of his pastor.  And even if not from infancy, the more a person gathers around Christ’s gifts in the Church, the more he will know the voice of the Shepherd, and the more he is nourished and known by Christ, and thus follow Him. 

In Holy Baptism, the Good Shepherd stretched His hand out over the waters, and pulled you to Himself.  He called you by name, placing His own Name upon you, and brought you to hear His voice.  As God’s new, baptized creature, you recognize His voice through His Sacred Scriptures, as well as the voice of His servant through whom He speaks to you. 

Yet you do not always want to listen.  There are many voices out there competing with the Lord, and to the sinful mind, sometimes they sound better.  In fact, sometimes your own voice sounds better to your sinful self. 

The contestant stares blankly, dumbfounded.  “No.  I am the best,” she thinks.  “I am the next American Idol!  These judges don’t know what they are talking about.  They don’t know real talent!”  In her frustration, and perhaps even delusion, the singer is refusing to listen.  She does not hear the voice of the judge that says, “I’m sorry.  It’s just not for you.”  She lives in her own fantasy, hearing that she is great, talented, and amazing! 

You do too, when your Old Adam is winning.  You fancy yourself as great, talented, and amazing, rather than recognize the sin in your life that makes you as lowly, dumb, and plain as a sheep. 

But Christ, our Good Shepherd, overcomes Old Adam.  Our Lord has saved you, and He knows you.  Yes, your Shepherd knows you!  And it’s not just some passing knowledge! 

In English we lump it all together with the verb “to know.”  But our German crowd here at St. John’s could tell you there is a difference between “wissen” and “kennen.”  “Wissen” is to know as in to know facts and things.  “Kennen” is knowing something or someone with whom you have a relationship.  The Lord knows you.  Not simply as an object or fact.  Der HErr kennt euch!  The Lord KNOWS you, personally!  

Christ, our Good Shepherd, knows each and every one whom He has saved and forgiven.  He calls out to His sheep and leads them  — not blindly or generically, but personally and with deep thought and care, for He knows them. 

For one hundred years, the Good Shepherd has tended His youthful sheep at Luther Institute, and then Luther High School-North.  When lambs have strayed, He has searched for them, and carried them home.  While the school walks through the valley of the shadow of debt, in reality He has not abandoned the lambs or sheep of the school; His rod and staff of His Law and Gospel will see every one through the hardship, and the Table He spreads will lavish His Means of Grace upon us all.  How so?  He knows us!  He knows us personally as His own.  We know [His] voice, and follow [Him.] 

So just how do we know His voice?  Where do we hear Him?  The confirmands can tell you.  They spent Friday night’s lock-in hearing about these Means of Grace: Baptism, Absolution, Gospel and (the Lord’s) Supper.  In these holy and precious gifts, the Good Shepherd speaks to us and we hear His voice.  He nurtures His relationship with us, and so He continues to truly know us!  He brings us to regularly and faithfully receive these gifts, and thus we are following Him. 

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”      The Good Shepherd called out: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  And He knows the child whom He has called, and that baptized Christian follows Him. 

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

The Good Shepherd cries out again and again: “I forgive you all your sin, in the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.”  And you are absolved – the sin is gone; you are freed from it!  You hear the voice of God that has passed judgment – a judgment that makes you “not guilty!”  He does this out of love for you, as He truly knows you, and He now leads you to follow Him. 

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

The most important words that blessed voice utters each week: “This is My Body, given for you.  This is My Blood, shed for you.”  Jesus gives absolutely everything to protect and nourish and nurture His sheep.  He even gives Himself!  When you hear these sweet and blessed words, you are embraced by them, wrapped up in the ultimate and boundless love of Jesus.  You hear His voice – the voice of God’s mercy – the voice of our Good Shepherd who knows you perfectly – better than you know yourself!  And He brings you to follow Him! 

Other voices may clamor for your attention.  Others may claim to know you.  But your sweet, loving Savior is your Good Shepherd.  And now and always, He causes you to hear His voice, and He knows you, and you follow Him.  Amen!   

The Rev. Rich Heinz is Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church & School, Chicago, IL.  Having grown up in a congregation with a large window depicting our Good Shepherd, and continuing to love the art and music associated with the day, this Sunday of Easter is especially dear to him.  The reference to Luther North is regarding our local Lutheran high school.  Luther North is working through some major financial challenges, and is undergoing a national campaign for funds.

Rev. Mark Buetow

St. John 20:1-18

What has fallen has been lifted up again. What has been lost has been recovered. What was ruined has been made whole again. What was destroyed has been repaired. What was cursed has been blessed. We who expected death have been given life. All this because He who was dead is now alive! Christ who was slain is alive again.

When the Lord made man He gave him life and put him in a garden. When Adam and Eve left the garden it was in shame and death. Our Lord enters the garden in shame and death; He is laid in the tomb. But He leaves the Garden alive and the tomb is left empty. Where man brought death into the world in a garden, Christ brings forth life from the garden.

When Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden, an angel with a flaming sword was stationed to keep them from ever going back. The flaming sword of God’s judgment blocked them from that paradise ever again. Now angels are in the empty tomb, no longer swinging deadly flaming swords but pointing to the risen Christ who is the Life of Mary and Peter and John and all the world. In this Garden the angels are not enforcing the bad news of the curse but proclaiming the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.

The Lord walked in the Garden and Adam and Eve hid themselves. Now in this garden of the empty tomb, Jesus comes, hidden to reveal Himself to Mary as the risen Savior. A serpent preached to Eve. Eve then shared these lies with her husband. The result was the Fall into sin and the judgment of death. Now, Christ speaks to Mary and she goes to proclaim that He is alive to the disciples. The lies of death are replaced by the Good News of life. What happened in the Garden of Eden is reversed in the Garden of Christ’s empty tomb!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, by His death that conquered death and His life which restores life, Christ has overturned the work of sin and death in this world. By your Baptism into Him, you have died and rise with Him. By the preaching of His Gospel He has called your name and turned you to Him. By His Holy Supper He lives in you and promises to raise you up at the Last Day. All the powers of hell and death have been defeated and they cannot hurt you. By his death He has rescued you even from death. By His resurrection He has promised you to be raised and have eternal life. All of the curse that you have been under has been undone by your Lord Jesus and paradise is once again yours. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.