Category: Higher Homilies

by The Rev. Mark Buetow

Genesis 3:1-21

Dear children of God: Never let go of God’s Word! It will keep you safe! Never stop hearing God’s Word. It will protect you from the Evil One. Adam and Eve show us our repentance for this First Sunday in Lent. They let go of God’s Word. They ignored it. Adam didn’t preach it when he should have. Eve didn’t hold on to it when tempted. Together they let God’s Word go and then they were sitting ducks for the Serpent. You, dear Christian: cling to God’s Word. Hold on to it as the greatest treasure. Please, hear my plea, today, brothers and sisters in Christ. NOW is the time of God’s favor, NOW is the day of salvation. Don’t put it off. Don’t wait. Don’t think that learning God’s Word is something you can find time for later. Parents, please! Don’t let your kids avoid God’s Word in Sunday School and Catechesis. Don’t teach them that there are things that are more important and can scoot God’s Word to the side. Adults, we have Bible Study twice a week in addition to Catechesis on Wednesdays. Please don’t think you’ve learned enough or have nothing else to hear from God’s Word. Children and youth, listen! As you grow older, as your time gets filled up with all sorts of other things, don’t think that you don’t need God’s Word. Keep coming to hear it preached. Come and study it and learn it. All of you Christians, don’t be like Adam and Eve who listened to the Devil, and gave up God’s Word. Rather, come and hear it. Read it every day. Learn it. Study it. Cling to it. Make your pastor answer your questions about it and teach it to you. Make it your highest treasure and joy! Of course I can’t make you hold on to God’s Word. And in fact I know that neither you nor I will do it. We will fail, as Adam and Eve did. So listen carefully today, again, to God’s Word. To the Promises of Christ which save us by His Word.

The story of Man’s fall shows us clearly three things which befell Man when they let go of God’s Word. But the Lord was right there to give His promise of salvation in the One born of a woman. So Jesus comes and undoes what we have done and saves us. First of all, Adam and Eve didn’t listen to God’s Word. They knew it but they didn’t follow it. There’s our first repentance. We have God’s Word. We’ve learned our Catechism. We know the Commandments, the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. But when the devil, the world and our sinful flesh get going tempting us, we forget all about that. What the world says we should do and get and how we should, that’s what sounds better. We struggle through life as if the Word of God doesn’t teach us how to live and act and behave and get along with our neighbor. Even worse, we let the world tell us about God instead of learning about Him from God’s Word. When we reject the Word like that, we deserve nothing but eternal death. So Jesus comes. And He takes on flesh. And He gets baptized and then He goes into the wilderness. The devil twisted God’s Word and caused Adam and Eve to fall into sin. The devil comes to Jesus and also twists God’s Word. But this time, the devil doesn’t win. This time, the Man wins. Jesus holds fast to God’s Word. He clings to what His Father has said. And it drives the devil away. When you despise God’s Word, recognize it! Confess it! And hear the Good News: Christ has kept it. His keeping and holding on to God’s Word counts FOR YOU.

When Adam and Eve gave up God’s Word, then they were suddenly ashamed of their nakedness. They were exposed. You and I know the feeling. We do things we don’t want anyone else to see but we’re always looking over our shoulders. We do things we should not have done and we are quick to hide it. Cover it up. Quick switch to a different computer screen. Or bury that bad report card at the bottom of your backpack. Or blame the problem on someone else’s work. We hide and run from our sins. But God sees. The Lord knows what you have done. He sees what you have done and His eyes penetrate into your sinful heart and mind where you think no one can get to. The Lord beholds your nakedness behind your silly fig leaves. He sees and in His mercy He covers you. The Lord killed some sheep or goats and made shirts for Adam and Eve. He covered their nakedness. And He covers your sins. Your nakedness. By the death of another Lamb. The Lamb of God. The Lamb who is His Son. When Jesus sheds His blood, it is so that you will be covered. When you are Baptized, the Holy Spirit puts Christ on you, clothes you with Jesus, covers your sin-nakedness with the Son of God. So that neither you nor God have to look at yourself exposed by sin but covered by the forgiveness of Jesus.

When Adam and Eve sinned, God brought punishment and a curse to them and the world. Suffering, heartache, pain in childbearing, the toil and drudgery of daily work to eek out a living, thorns and thistles and sickness and death: These are the things our sin has earned. And they are no different for us. When we get sick, when we fail, when we die, when nothing is as we wish it were, then pay close attention: you are witnessing the punishment of God upon sin upon earth. The Lord has cursed this earth so that we will never trust in it. It won’t save us. The Lord is punishing His creation for what Adam and Eve have done. And we bear that punishment and suffer it because of our own sins. Dust you are and to dust you will return. And what is dust? It’s what the Serpent gets to eat! So Jesus comes to take that punishment upon Himself and free us from God’s wrath. Jesus comes to wear a crown of thorns to show that He is carrying the curse not for Himself but for all of us. Jesus comes to offer Himself as a target for the Devil. And why? So that the worst and final punishment of God—eternal death—is not given to us. Jesus suffers the punishment for our sins so that we are set free. When you eat Jesus’ body and drink His blood, remember that He has taken your punishment. Adam and Eve ate the fruit which brought them death. Jesus feeds you with Himself, the fruit of the tree of the cross, flesh and blood given for you that give you life and rescue you from the punishment and torments of eternal hell.

Do you see the ways in which Adam and Eve’s sin was undone by Jesus? Pay close attention to those ways in which the faults and transgressions of Adam and Eve were cured and fixed by Jesus. See how what was ruined by Man is made right by the Son of God. And know this: the way in which the Lord saved Adam and Eve is the same way that He saves you. Before Adam and Even fell into sin, the Lord gave them His Word. They abandoned that Word and plunged the world into death. But the Lord gave them His Word again. More Word. This time a Word of promise and salvation: The Seed would come and crush the Serpent’s head. The Lord saves Adam and Eve by His Word. That is how He saves us. By giving us His Word. Word and Water. Word and Supper. Word in the Bible. Word preached and taught. Word. Word. Word. No matter how much you despise it, ignore it, don’t want it, that’s what the Lord has for you, dear Christian. His Word. Words that call us to repentance for despising His Word. Words that give us life by absolving us of our sins. Everything, dear Christian, and I mean everything in your life, is by and about and through the Word of God. Give that Word up, ignore it, despise it, cast it away, find other stuff that’s more important—well, go ahead and you’ll see what happens. A life lived apart from God’s Word is a life of misery and hopelessness. So pay attention to God’s Word. Hold on to it. Treasure it. Believe it. It’s your true and only defense against the devil who wants you to be nothing more than dust for him to munch on. But Jesus has come, the Word in the flesh, and He has crushed the Serpent’s head. God’s Word says so!

On this first Sunday in Lent, brothers and sisters in Christ, parents and kids, and all Christians, learn your repentance from Adam and Eve. Learn what happens when you pay little or not attention to God’s Word. Learn what happens when you let God’s Word go and listen to the whisperings of the devil. And repent of that awful sin! And learn what God does about such things. Learn how God continues to give us His Word. Learn How He clothes us. How He takes the punishment we have coming. How in every way and from every angle, our Lord Jesus rescues and saves us from our sins and makes things right with God. Lent has begun. All eyes and ears on Jesus who is the Word. The Word God the Father has given to save us! The Word who crushes the Serpent’s head. The Word who crowns your head with glory! Amen.

by The Rev. Rick Sawyer

2 Peter 1:2-11

Dear Christian, you have nothing to prove – not to me, not to yourselves, not to anyone. Not even to God. What I mean is this: Your life is already guaranteed in Jesus. Now – with nothing to prove – begin the season with ashes, with fasting and praying and rending your hearts.

You have nothing to prove by that. That’s why you are the only ones who can do them freely – without drawing attention to yourselves, without the selfishness of those who think they have something to prove.

The world’s religions talk about good works as if they are necessary to salvation, instead of its fruit. I have many conversations with Christians who are bothered that we Lutherans say that works contribute nothing to salvation, that heaven depends entirely on Jesus. Apparently, many think they still have something to prove.

Tonight, Our Savior says to practice your righteousness, but not so as to be seen by men. He says, give to the needy, but don’t even let yourself take too much notice. It’s your NEIGHBOR who needs your works. Do them for YOU and they aren’t good any more!

Give as people have need. Give as the Gospel requires – so the Gospel is always preached and the Gifts of Christ are readily available – here and all over the world. Then, forget you ever gave.

Pray also, even in church, but not to be seen. Not for a show. Not so people are impressed by your faithfulness. If you come to be seen, you have your reward, says Jesus. Still, come and pray. Beyond this, pray in private, where no one can see but God. You have nothing to prove.

The same is true when you fast . . . Our Lord doesn’t seem to think we shouldn’t fast. We need self-discipline. We need to learn that man does not live from bread alone, but from every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So, fast. Give up the food you crave and learn some hunger for the Word of God. How will your neighbor be served if YOU don’t learn to live completely from God’s Word?

You have nothing to prove by any of this, dear Christian. Do these to PROVE something – so people see and believe you are Christian – so God is convinced you are His – and you have done NOTHING. Our works are only good for something when we have nothing to prove.

St. Peter tells us why this is. He says . . . “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him . . .”

You already HAVE ALL THINGS, dear Christian. So, what’s there to prove? GOD is not waiting to see something in you. He has ALL that pertains to your life in Him. He has Jesus, His Son. He has all things that pertain to your life and godliness. He has the innocent suffering and death of His Son in your place. THAT’S the only proof and evidence God needs to say: “Your sins have been forgiven. You will live and not die. You are godly and holy – because of Christ Jesus.”

HIS fasting – HIS prayers – HIS giving of Himself in behalf of the needy. THAT has granted to you ALL things that you need.

Then, WHY do any of these things, dear Christian? If they aren’t needed to MAKE you a Christian, to PROVE things with God or with men – why do them? Why fast? Why pray? Why give to the needy? Why show up on a night like this and receive ashes on your foreheads? Why commit yourselves to the Faith as outlined in the Catechism? Why come on Sundays and Wednesdays? Why devote yourselves as families and as individuals to the things of God every day?

St. Peter tells us. Because, “through His precious and very great promises, you become partakers of His divine nature!”

What does THIS mean?

It means the Life of Christ is YOURS, dear Christian. It was laid over you in Holy Baptism. You were grafted into it, clothed with it, crucified, died, buried and raised anew in it. The Life of Christ is YOUR life now. And Jesus – with nothing to prove before God or men – freely went to His Father in prayer. He fasted and prayed, as we will hear in the Gospel this Sunday. He gave gifts to the poor. He is Jesus. And your life is hid in Him. In fact, it is no longer you but HE Who lives!

How can you NOT be about the things that Jesus mentions in our Gospel reading for tonight? Through Baptism, you have become partakers of His divine nature. Here – at this altar – you become partakers of the same. You eat and drink His Flesh and Blood in bread and wine. These are the Body and the Blood of Christ, Our Savior; true Man, true GOD. The Flesh and Blood that fasted so that YOU’D be saved, that prayed so YOU would not be subject to the devil anymore . . . The Flesh and Blood that gave to the needy – not only for this life but for eternity – The Flesh and Blood that stretched out on a cross and died  . . . THAT Flesh and Blood is placed into your mouths this evening.

By them, you ARE partakers of His divine nature!

How can you NOT fast and pray and give to the needy? How can you NOT rend your hearts over all the ways you fail at that? How can you NOT think more about each other than you do about yourselves? How can you NOT devote yourselves to the things of God?

You are partakers of His divine nature!

Rend your hearts, dear Christian, for losing sight of this. You don’t wear ashes on your foreheads to prove anything. Take them as reminders that you’re heading back to dust, but you are partakers of His divine nature, so if you die with Him, how shall you not also be raised in Him? “Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood HAS eternal life, and I WILL raise him up at the Last Day!”

What gets in the way this? YOU do! Your hearts. Your sinful, fallen natures. Your Old Adam, who only wants you forgetting that you’ve been cleansed from your former sins and the world’s corruption.

Fast? You mean, give up my food and drink? To pray?

Give alms to the poor? You mean, devote a tenth of what I make to GOD and to the help and service of my neighbor?

Pray? You mean, DAILY? You mean, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Our Father, and other portions of the Scriptures? DAILY?

We show ourselves to be such sinners! If we DON’T have to do these things, we think: “Why do them?” If we DO these things, we think: “Somehow, someone ought to see, take notice. Commend me for trying!”

Be careful, dear Christian. St. Peter tells you that through God’s promises in Jesus, you are now partakers of His divine nature. You have “escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Then he says, “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”

Why do these things – if our salvation is completely guaranteed in Jesus? Why do these things – if we have nothing to prove to God?

The Life of Christ included all these things, dear Christian. Read the Holy Gospels this Lent. None of what He did MADE Jesus the Son of God. He did them anyway. Because WE needed Him to do them!

There’s your repentance and faith this season. You do these things – freely – as Jesus did. Not to prove yourselves with God and men, but in praise of God, and in service of others. You do them, not selfishly to be seen, but selflessly to serve! You do them, because even the sinless Son of God fasted and prayed for strength against the devil. What easy targets WE are when we treat our Life in Christ complacently.

Our Lord fasted and prayed for US – that we might be delivered. So that He might have something to give to the needy. To sinners.

He did not rescue you so that you should be ineffective, dear Christian. St. Peter says, “if these qualities (virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love) are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If you lack these things, if you ignore these things, your forgetting God’s forgiveness. Please repent.

Unlike Jesus, you and I are sinners. We have the Old Adam, constantly warring against our life in Christ, and tempting us to be unfruitful, ineffective – that means – to live for no one but ourselves!

You have no reason to do anything to gain something for YOU. You have all things in Jesus. That means you have a Father to call on in prayer; His Words to devote yourselves to and live from like food and drink. You have a life of service and love, by which you rule over your passions and do good for your neighbor. Do all of this in the most Jesus of ways, dear Christian. I mean, FREELY. With NO thought of gaining heaven from God or praises from men, but SERVING, HELPING, living – as if your calling and election are sure because of Jesus. So there is nothing for you to do this side of heaven than this: bear fruit – to the glory of God and for the sake of your neighbor. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

Reverend Rick Sawer is Pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Brandon, Missssippi.

by The Rev. George F. Borghardt III

2 King 5:1-14

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Naaman knew what he needed. Everybody knows how someone gets cured from leprosy.

First, the prophet has to come out of his house. Then, he stands and calls on the name of the Lord His God. Then, he waves his hand and cures the leper.

But that’s not what happened to Naaman. Instead, the Man of God didn’t even come out of his house to meet him. Some messenger comes with a message, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”

I mean, why the Jordan? Wasn’t his rivers of Damascus more impressive?

The whole thing lacks real religion. There needs to be more. More than just water and a command. There needs to be something…. spectacular.

Something like, put your right foot out, put your right foot in, put your right foot out, shake it all about… move your hands like this, turn yourself around, that’s what it’s all about!

And if the man of God had told him that, I’m sure Naaman would have done it. That’s religion! The more spectacle the better.

Naaman, like everyone in this world, dear friends, is an expert on religion. Everyone knows what they need and how to get what they need.

What we need to do is do something awesome to fix our situation with God. Something spectacular. Something out of the ordinary. Something that will blow God away!

That’s what we do with religion. We are the expert. We know what’s going on with God. We don’t need someone else to tell us. We know what we need to change.

The Son of God took on your flesh, was born of the Virgin, and lived the life you should live. His death, is your death. Death to sin. Death to hell.

His resurrection is your justification, God’s proclamation that the war between the two of you is over. He’s your God. Your His child.

That’s scandal to the world. No, no, no. That can’t be right. All of salvation wrapped up in a man hanging dead on the cross two-thousand years ago? There should be more. And it certainly can’t be that all of God’s salvation is splashed on me at the baptismal font!

There’s got to be something more, something more impressive, something me. I have to decide to be washed. At least put my left foot in the water. It just can’t work if I’m a baby being splashed. I mean, everyone knows, “God helps those who help themselves.”

Now, that doesn’t work in the world. A month ago when I put my suburban in reverse and the car moved forward the last person that I needed to help me was me. What I needed was a…. you can say it… was a mechanic!

When I am sick, I’m not the right person to get myself well. What I need is a… doctor!

God doesn’t help those who help themselves. We need to repent of all that. What Naaman needed …what we need… is to repent.

You and me too. Turn. Turn from what you think. Turn from what you know. Turn from the religion that’s you. And cling to the external Word from God’s messenger.

The Lord is calling us away today from all that we think we know about religion, faith, and baptism, and to cling to the external word – His word alone.

Naaman needed to get… in… the … water. Seven times, please. Just as the Lord commanded. Naaman’s salvation, his cleansing, was in the water. There in the Jordan River.

Your salvation, your life, is in the water too. Salvation achieved on the Cross by Jesus and delivered in the water. His water. His command. Not seven times, just once. Your sins washed away. You are cleansed in the font.

The Lord has sent His messenger today, not to wave His hand or turn himself self around, but to remind you: You are baptized. You bear God’s name. The Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are a child of God.

No matter what you may think. No matter what you have done or will do. He won’t forget that Name. He’s not gonna forget you.

It’s too good to be to true. It can’t be that because He splashed water on you, marked you with His Name, that you are a child of God.

Turn from that thinking. Trust the Lord’s words from His messenger. Your sins have been washed away by Christ in Baptism.

And when you fail, when you want to run back to the way you used to do things – that religion where you gauge how things are going between you and God by what sin you have and haven’t done today.

I’m closer to God today, I didn’t do that. I’m farther, I did. Yuck!

Run back to the water where you were cleansed. Drown that old religion again and start anew. Trust the external word.

Remember He has washed your sins away and that the final word for you on the Last Day will be: Your sins are forgiven.

Naaman knew what he needed. He needed to go into the waters of the Jordan. In the water with the Lord’s command, He would be cleansed.

You too. In the water and God’s command. You have been cleansed and forgiven.

He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Grant this Lord, unto us all. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

 

 

The Rev. George F. Borghardt III is the assistant/youth pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, Texas.  Pastor Borghardt is the Conferences Executive of Higher Things.

by The Rev. William Weedon

Isaiah 42:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 3:13-17

The Ethiopian Eunuch had been up to Jerusalem. He was riding home now, maybe with his brand-spanking new copy of Isaiah, and he was reading along and puzzling over what on earth the prophet was saying in what we call chapter 53 – this Lamb that is silent before its shearers, whose generation none could declare. The Holy Spirit sends Philip to run aside and ask him if he gets it. “Course not!” the Eunuch replies. “Come up and explain it to me.” Then it gets very interesting. St. Luke says that beginning from that passage, Philip preached Jesus to him.

What do you think Philip preached about Jesus? Well, look at what happened next. The first glimpse that the Eunuch gets of water, he puts the breaks on, and asks excitedly: “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” It gives ones furiously to think, to quote Poirot.

Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian Eunuch in such a way that he extolled the gifts of Baptism. Jesus and Baptism. They go hand in hand together. For Baptism is how Jesus gives you all that is His.

Think about today’s Gospel. There He stands in the Jordan. John pours the water over His sinless head, and things begin to happen. The Blessed Trinity is revealed to the world with great splendor and glory. First, the heavens are opened. In the parallel account in Mark, the word is “ripped open” above Jesus and John. Then, the Father’s voice speaks: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” And as if that were not enough, down comes the Holy Spirit, descending upon Christ as a gentle dove.

Now, what’s all going on here? To get it you have to realize what St. John the Baptist realized: Jesus didn’t need any of it. It was ALL his ALREADY. To HIM heaven was already open; His heavenly Father was from eternity His heavenly Father; the Spirit eternally rested upon Him from the Father. So what gives? Why the Baptism? Says our Lord: “In order to fulfill all righteousness.”

You and I, WE needed what all happened with Him in the water. To US heaven was closed, from the day when the door closed in Eden and the Cherubim began their long vigil. WE were not children of God by our birth – rather, our wills from infancy are allied with God’s enemy, the devil. Every last one of us comes into this world insisting: “My will be done.” And you know the damage and hurt we inflict on each other as we live out that insistence. WE were bereft of the Holy Spirit, for what is born of the flesh is but flesh and thus the very thing for which we were created went unfulfilled, for we were created to be temples of the Spirit!

Because God was not content that it continue so, He sent His Son not only into our flesh, but sent Him into the waters of Jordan, into Baptism, where sinners gather. He is there because all that is ours, He will take to Himself; and all that is His, He wants to give to us. And the great exchange, the sweet swap, happens for us exactly where He appoints: in the water.

When you get into the water with Jesus – watch out! Miracles happen. Standing with Him in the water, heaven is opened to you, His Father says that YOU are His beloved child with whom He is well-pleased, and you get the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And all this is so because in the water Jesus stands with you in your sin and promises that it will all be His. There’s not a bit of it He doesn’t lift off your shoulders. When He steps down into the Jordan He is beginning His journey to Calvary where He who had no sin will be made sin for you so that in Him you might become the righteousness of God. When the water pours over His head He is promising already that He is headed for another baptism – the baptism of suffering upon the Cross. He will stand with us in all that is ours so that we can stand with Him in all that is His.

Which means your Baptism is a most precious thing, the greatest moment of your life, in fact. King Louis IX of France so well understood this. He once said: “I think more of the place where I was baptized than of Rheims Cathedral where I was crowned. It is a greater thing to be a child of God than to be the ruler of a Kingdom: [this kingdom] I shall lose at death, but the other [to be a child of God] will be my passport to an everlasting glory.”

And so for you: there is no more important moment for you than the moment you were baptized, when the water flowed over you and heaven was opened and God owned you as his beloved child and the Holy Spirit came upon you. It’s a moment you can cling to and crawl back to over and over again, as long as you live in this age of grace. The door that flung wide in your baptism remains open to you; God’s covenant with you there, His promises to you, He will ever be faithful to. When we forget our high birth and fall back again into living as children of this perishing age, we might think that God will wash his hands of us. But no, in Baptism, He doesn’t wash His hands; He goes on washing us! The door stands open and He calls us one and all to come back, to come home, to claim again our adoption rights as His children.

To go back to the Eunuch, do you see what was the Gospel that Philip preached to him so faithfully that day? Just what our Lord said the Gospel was at the end of St. Mark!

“Go and preach the Gospel to all creation.”

But what is that Gospel?

“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” That’s the Gospel in a nutshell.

That’s how Philip preached the good news and so at the first sign of water, the Eunuch is ready to stop everything and take the plunge. He went into the water with Jesus a child of flesh born of flesh, a man destined for the grave. He came out of the water a child of God, filled with the Spirit, and destined for heaven, His true home.

This is the Gospel of the Lord which the Church proclaims in all the world: Come, get into the water with Jesus, that He who took all your sin to death on Golgotha may impart to you all that belongs to Him – forgiveness for all that comes of your thinking and living the lie – “My will be done” – and a life that never ends! Come, get into the water with Jesus, that He may lift you to the joy of being a coheir with Him of an everlasting kingdom! Greater than any kingdom or crown of this earth! Here you are made kings and priests with Him to His God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

by The Rev. Randy Asburry

Everyone loves browsing through the family photo album. “Ah, what memories!” we say as we take in the faces and the antics of the past. Grandmas and grandpas; aunts and uncles; children and pets; holidays and other festive times; even just good ol’, ordinary, day-to-day happenings around the house. But why look at the photo album? We like the trip down memory lane. We might be just curious about what sweater Grandma was wearing that day. But let me suggest a deeper reason. Why keep and look at the photo album? Because it gives us an anchor to our past. It reminds us who we are. It gives us a foundation for carrying on the family line and living the family life.

This is also why we celebrate All Saints’ Day – technically, November 1, but we celebrate it today. All Saints’ Day is the big day when the Church stops to look at her own photo album. How comforting to look at past saints and see how God dealt with them in His mercy and forgiveness. How comforting to have the family history of God’s people. It reminds us who we are as God’s people. It reminds us that we are not alone on this journey of faith. It reminds us that we are not home just yet. We are merely passing through this world.

So, what makes a saint? When you look at God’s saints, you can see it. When you listen to our Lord Jesus today, you can hear it. What makes a saint? The answer is simple: God’s blessing—being in the right place with God, living in communion with the true “Holy One,” our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, we poor, sinful human beings cannot make ourselves saints. So, Jesus tells us how saints are made. Four blessings focus on our emptiness, our need for God’s favor; four blessings focus on saintly lives of love.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What makes a saint? Being poor in spirit, having nothing to offer God, being empty of yourself and your pride. Not only do the poor in spirit receive the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of heaven is made up of the poor in spirit. When Jesus makes a saint, He does not begin with spiritual supermen or religious wonder women. Instead, He uses spiritually poor people who faithfully receive His mercy, His life, His forgiveness, and who lead holy lives as a result. God blesses the poor in spirit and uses them to make up His kingdom.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. What makes a saint? Being comforted in the midst of sorrow. Jesus does not preach against grieving. We all mourn—loss of loved ones, pain of family trials, stress on the job, confusion over the chaos of the times. Those who mourn are emptied of their own, self-made comfort. Instead, their comfort comes from the Lord Himself. They seek the Lord and He delivers them from their fears. Jesus blesses the mourners by comforting them with Himself.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Being meek does not mean being weak or milquetoast. Meekness is strong gentleness. The meek do not have to assert themselves with aggression. Instead, they have the poise of faith, the same poise Jesus had when He was falsely accused and slandered. There is strength in that gentleness. It’s the strength of Jesus. That’s how saints inherit the earth. They don’t look to themselves to control or dominate. There’s nothing there but sin and death. The meek rely on Jesus. His love controls and strengthens His people.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. It’s amazing how Jesus keeps praising those who are empty of themselves and their own goodness. You see, if you are full of your own goodness and rightness, then Jesus can’t fill you up with His. But when you hunger and thirst for “rightness” with God that means you don’t have it, you couldn’t get it, and you can’t buy it. And speaking of hungering and thirsting, how can we not think about the Lord’s sacred meal of His Body and Blood? When you hunger and thirst for Jesus and His “rightness,” the Lord’s Supper is where He fills you. Jesus fills you with His “rightness” when you eat and drink Him.

So, what’s the result of God blessing you in these ways? You show mercy. You are pure in heart. You are peacemakers. And you are even persecuted because Jesus makes you His saints. First, Jesus fills you with His mercy and life, with the riches of His dying and rising, with His forgiveness. Then He teaches you how you live as saints in the world.

The merciful show mercy because Jesus first showed His mercy to them. We love because He first loved us and sacrificed Himself for us. The pure in heart watch and ponder what God says. Their ideas get replaced by God’s pure Truth. Their impure, man-made priorities and solutions get replaced by God’s pure Gospel priorities and solutions. That’s seeing God! The peacemakers are those who bring other people to God’s peace. Jesus probably had in mind the Hebrew word SHALOM. SHALOM means wholeness. Peacemakers are “whole-makers.” They seek to make people whole by bringing them to the peace of Jesus. Peacemakers don’t just get rid of conflict by glossing over problems or differences. They resolve the conflict by calling people to confess their sins and then giving rich doses of Jesus’ forgiveness. And the persecuted—they are scorned, despised, gossiped about, attacked, and all out condemned because they want Jesus to be the center of attention. Again, God’s kingdom is made up of these people.

But is all this just the perfect picture of sainthood? Is this only a target that we try to shoot for, but we know we’ll never hit it? No. Let’s open the Church’s photo album. Let’s see how Jesus made saints of two other people, because He makes us saints in the same way.

Let’s look at St. Ansgar. He lived in the 800s. We know of “Murphy’s Law,” but back then they might have called it “Ansgar’s Law.” For St. Ansgar everything that possibly could go wrong did go wrong. Yet he’s still a saint. Every mission effort he started failed. He preached Christ and Him crucified and risen, but very few converts resulted from his preaching. He went to Denmark and Sweden to preach the Gospel, but just when he seemed to make progress, pagans would invade the land. Sure, some received the Gospel. King Erik and his subjects believed the Good News of sins forgiven in Jesus. St. Ansgar shows us that when Jesus makes us His saints, He doesn’t call us to be successful, just faithful.

And then there’s St. Bridget. She lived from 1303 to 1373. Did she know death and tragedy! Her mother died when she was young. She became a widow early in life. Two of her eight children died; the others had marital problems and extra-marital affairs. St. Bridget stands out not for how she avoided the trials, but for how she endured the pain and tragedy. She was known for her education and her devotion to Christ. She was made chief lady-in-waiting for the Swedish queen, Blanche. Bridget was able to influence the king’s policies for better human rights. Later she moved to Rome and taught Christian women in the ways of prayer and Christian charity. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. It was true for Bridget; it’s true for you.

As we ponder our fellow saints, it’s very comforting to know that they were just like us and we are just like them: poor in spirit, mourners, gentle, and hungering and thirsting to be right with God. The Lord Jesus died and rose for them; He also died and rose for you. In a world of fast-paced change, it’s good to know that some things never change. God blesses us in Jesus in the very same way He has blessed all His saints through the centuries. God even uses His saints of yesteryear to inspire us to trust in Him and to love one another. What makes a saint? Jesus, His bloody death and His glorious resurrection. Jesus is the merciful One, the pure-in-heart One, the one true Peacemaker, and the One who endured persecution to make you right with God. That’s what makes you saints. Blessed All Saints’ Day!

 

The Rev. Randy Asburry is pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Saint Louis, Mo.  His RAsburry’s Res is a new addition to the blogosphere where he recently posted this sermon.

by The Rev. Randy Asburry

Luke 10:1-9

On this day the Church commemorates St. Luke the Evangelist. He wrote the Gospel account that carries his name, and he wrote the sequel that we know as the Book of Acts. In his first book St. Luke did his historical research and interviewed eyewitnesses to tell “all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up” (Acts 1:1-2). In his second book St. Luke records how the Holy Spirit began leading the Church into all truth (Jn. 16:13) by making the apostles “witnesses [of Jesus] in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). As St. Luke gives us the life of Jesus and the life of the Church, he shows us that he is God’s gift as a physician of the soul.

We know from the Bible that St. Luke was not a Jew, but a Gentile. He was also a physician, schooled in the medical arts. In the Book of Acts St. Luke shows up as a companion and missionary partner of St. Paul. When others had abandoned St. Paul, St. Luke remained faithful and brought comfort to the apostle.

According to Church Tradition St. Luke was born in the town of Antioch in the country of Syria. This is also the city where the followers of Christ were first called “Christians” (Acts 11:26), and there were probably quite a few Christians there at that time. Church Tradition also says that Doctor Luke heard about Christ and traveled to hear the message of salvation from the lips of the Savior. And while Holy Scripture doesn’t name the 72 preachers whom Jesus sent out, Tradition says that Dr. Luke may have been one of them. And it may very well be that Dr. Luke was also one of the two disciples whom Jesus met on the road to Emmaus and taught after His resurrection. At that point Dr. Luke certainly would have learned that it was “necessary that the Christ should suffer [death and resurrection] and enter into his glory” (Lk. 24:26).

When it came to writing his Gospel account, many in the Church have held that St. Luke learned the details of Christ’s life and saving work from St. Paul and even from the Virgin Mary. And in addition to writing the Gospel and the Book of Acts, St. Luke is said to have preached the Gospel in various countries and suffered martyrdom in the city of Thebes.

So while we do not gather to worship St. Luke, we do thank God for this great physician of the soul. We do honor him for faithfully proclaiming the Great Physician, Jesus Christ Himself. It’s because of St. Luke that we have the beloved account of the Holy Spirit coming to the Virgin Mary to announce the Birth of the Savior. It’s because of St. Luke that we get to hear the Christmas story every year and learn how the Son of God became Man to restore us to God’s image. It’s because of St. Luke that we learn many parables of Jesus and how He, the Lord of Life is the Good Samaritan who rescues us from our death of sin on the side of the road. It’s because of St. Luke that we learn to trust God our Father who welcomes us prodigal sinners back into His family and puts on us the robe of Christ’s righteousness. It’s because of St. Luke that we can rejoice in Jesus as our atoning sacrifice, saying “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” And it’s because of St. Luke that our hearts can burn within us as we know and receive the risen Lord “in the breaking of the bread.” These things that Jesus began to do and to teach are the healing medicine for our souls, and St. Luke, the doctor of the Gospel, delivers the soothing balm.

It’s also because of St. Luke that we can rejoice in the Church and the Holy Spirit coming to give us Life with God. Just as the Spirit breathed life into the Apostles to proclaim the forgiveness of Christ, even in the face of opposition and persecution, He also breathes life into us to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of [our] sins” and to “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The Higher Things devotion for today invites us to thank the Lord for St. Luke. Here’s how it reads:

“Thank the Lord for St. Luke! He is one of the men that the Holy Spirit used to publish the Good News of Jesus to the ends of the earth. St. Luke carefully listens to the eyewitnesses of Jesus birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. St. Luke is used by the Holy Spirit to write down for us the Good News of Jesus’ life and death in our place. He records Jesus’ words and work, which the Lord spoke and did for our salvation. St. Luke, in the Gospel that bears his name, has given us a record of the salvation accomplished by Jesus for us.

“Thank the Lord for St. Luke! He didn’t just stop at the cross or grave. He didn’t end his writing with salvation accomplished. He also recorded salvation delivered! St. Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles. In this book, he records the preaching of Jesus by the apostles, the conversions of Jews and Gentiles, and the ministry of St. Paul, who brought the Gospel of Christ to the very heart of the Roman Empire. In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit, through the writing of St. Luke, teaches us God’s grace in saving us through the preaching of the Holy Gospel, through Holy Baptism, and through the Lord’s Supper. The Holy Spirit teaches us what the church is and how He has founded it: upon the preaching and teaching of Christ by the apostles.

“Thank the Lord for St. Luke! The Gospel that bears his name and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles are the Lord’s gifts to us so that we may hear the Good News of salvation in Jesus and be pointed to where that salvation is given to us in His holy, Christian Church. Thank the Lord for St. Luke! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

The Rev. Randy Asburry is pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Saint Louis, Mo.  His RAsburry’s Res is a new addition to the blogosphere where he recently posted this sermon.

by The Rev. Randy Asburry

Luke 7:11-17

Did you know that Jesus ruined every funeral that He ever attended? Consider what we just heard. As Jesus approaches the city of Nain, He meets a funeral procession. Obviously, all of the funeral arrangements had been made. The dead young man was in his coffin. The pallbearers were leading the procession as they carried the young man out of the town. Behind the casket came the young man’s grieving mother. She had no other family members to help and support her, so close friends were escorting her as she wept. And there were, no doubt, the professional mourners, people actually hired to weep and lament the death of this dear young man—you know, put everyone in the proper mood for mourning. They had all of their fine funeral arrangements made, and they were going out to finish the service by burying the young man in the family tomb. But Jesus comes along and ruins this perfectly good funeral!

Some time later Jesus ruined another funeral—the funeral of Jairus’ daughter. When Jairus approached Jesus, he simply asked the Lord “to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying” (Lk. 8:42). Jesus was momentarily distracted and delayed by a woman ill from “a discharge of blood for twelve years” (Lk. 8:43). She touched Jesus and was healed immediately as power went out from Him. After Jesus had healed this woman, someone from Jairus’ house came and told Jairus: “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more” (Lk. 8:49). You would think that Jesus would respect that. Now the family needed to make funeral arrangements. But Jesus loves to ruin funerals, and so He decided to ruin this one before it even began. When He arrived at Jairus’ home, He took Peter, James, and John, and the girl’s father and mother into the house. He told all the mourners not to weep because she was only sleeping, but they thought He was crazy. They knew that the girl was dead! Then Jesus took the girl by the hand and said, “Child, arise” (Lk. 8:54), and she did. Jesus ruined this funeral before it even began!

And who can forget Lazarus! I mean he had had his funeral; he had been buried. Let him rest in peace! Let the family, especially sisters Mary and Martha, get on with their grieving. But no! Jesus insisted on raising Lazarus. Oh, sure, Martha and Mary believed that their brother would rise on the last day, but Jesus was talking about raising him now, four whole days after he had died. So Jesus wept and sighed and prayed, and then “He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out’” (Jn. 11:43). And when everyone saw Lazarus come out of the grave, they knew that his funeral was all in vain. Jesus ruins funerals!

So, Jesus went to three funerals, and He ruined every one of them. All three funerals ended in resurrection. I sure hope that Jesus comes to my funeral, don’t you?

You see, dear saints, this is what makes Christian funerals different from any other kind of funeral. Jesus comes to meet death – your death and mine – head on. And when He collides with death, He conquers it, for you and for me. So, Christian funerals are not, as many people think, about celebrating the life of the deceased. No, Christian funerals are about the Life of Jesus—the life that cannot be held by His cross or His grave, the life that energizes the whole world, the life that transforms you and me and refashions us into God’s image. Let’s thank our gracious God that Jesus, His incarnate Son, comes to ruin our funerals, so that we can have life and fellowship with God.

Let’s remember these three funerals that Jesus ruined. Remember how He raised Jairus’ daughter. She was a young girl and barely dead. Remember how He raised the widow’s son. He was a young man, providing for his mother. He had been dead only long enough to be prepared for his the funeral but not yet buried. Remember how Jesus raised Lazarus. It’s thought that he was an older man, and he had been dead four days. Not only was he already buried, but, as people thought in those days, he was beyond hope of resurrection. What does all this mean? No matter how young or old you are, no matter how long you may rest in the tomb, Jesus still comes to ruin your funeral and raise you to life with Him. By His death He conquered death, and in His Resurrection, He gives life for all to have and enjoy.

Now, this is very good news, because we live in a world plagued with death. Six years ago death and destruction gripped our nation when terrorists attacked us on our own soil. Merely saying the words “September 11” brings to mind crumbling towers and 3000 dead. Two years ago Hurricane Katrina brought more death and destruction to our land, especially in and around New Orleans. We can’t say “Katrina” without thinking of death in some form. And, of course, death hovers over our land in the holocaust called “legalized abortion.” What a horrible spectre! Let the story of Jesus raising the widow’s son be your Easter hope in the midst of national death. You see, Jesus comes to ruin funerals; He comes to conquer death and give life; He comes to us who hate death because He hates death even more than we do.

But we don’t have to wait until we remember September 11, or the tragedy of New Orleans, or even ponder the abortion holocaust to worry about death. Each of us already faces death each and every day. You see, death lives in us. It’s what leads us to give in to our passions, those self-serving desires. It’s what leads us to turn from God’s merciful care. It’s what leads us to do wrong to another person. It’s what leads us to injure God’s creation. The death that lives in us causes us to “look out for number one” in so many ways. You see, when you are looking out for yourself, you are really trying to defeat death on your own terms, with your own ingenuity, with your own cunning. The disease of death leads a health nut to think that he can extend his life based on what he does or doesn’t eat. An overeater thinks he can keep death at bay and enjoy life the more he eats. The thief tries to keep death at bay by stealing and trying to find life in material goods. The town gossip tries to find life by putting other people down or spreading news, whether true or false. Yes, we all must face the death that lives in each of us, but we cannot conquer it; we cannot give ourselves life.

That’s why Jesus comes into our midst, just as He came into the village of Nain. That’s why Jesus stops not only our physical funeral processions, but also the processions of our daily attempts to give ourselves life. He tells us not to weep, because only He, the Son of God, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, can give life. When Jesus says to the young man, “Be raised,” He is also talking to you. He is raising you from the death of your sin. After all, you live in your Baptism. You’ve been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. That’s where He truly stopped your funeral procession and ruined your funeral long before it happens. And remember this when you come to the Lord’s Table today. When you eat and drink the Lord’s Body and Blood, you consume Life itself. There’s nothing better for ruining a good funeral than the Eucharist celebrated often and regularly. After all, it is the very medicine of immortality. As you eat and drink, this day and every Divine Service, remember that Jesus is putting His eternal life into you. He is giving you His life so that you can love Him and serve your neighbor. Even at this Altar, with this very Body and Blood, Jesus is already ruining your funeral.

The 4th century pastor Ephrem the Syrian said this about today’s Gospel reading: “The Virgin’s son met the widow’s son. He became like a sponge for her tears and as life for the death of her son. Death turned about in its den and turned its back on the victorious one.” Yes, Jesus soaks up our tears as we remember and mourn national tragedies and the devastating death that comes with them. Yes, Jesus soaks up our tears as we face our own mortality or as we confess the many sins we commit, vainly trying to give ourselves life. But remember this: Jesus soaks up our tears. In fact, He soaks up our tears by weeping with us, because He hates death even more than we do! That’s why He comes to ruin funerals. But also remember that Jesus came to be life for the dead young man, and for us. Yes, His death on the cross caused death to turn around and cower in its den. And the same goes for you. Jesus comes to ruin your funeral by giving you His life. And when He gives you life, He gives you back to each other so that you can serve one another and together rejoice in the life that He gives, both now and into eternity. Amen.

 

The Rev. Randy Asburry is pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Saint Louis, Mo.  His RAsburry’s Res is a new addition to the blogosphere where he recently posted this sermon.

by The Rev. George Borghardt III

In the name of Jesus. Amen. Two men in the temple. The first with tons of religion. The other with nothing but sins. Who goes home justified?

Imagine the first. He is basically good – in fact before every bad thing he could come up with was a “am not.” “I’m not swindler. I’m not unjust. I’ve never committed adultery.”

I’m an upstanding member of my church. I give my ten percent – off the gross. Other people only give a tithe from the take home. But, I give ten percent of everything.

I am a good man or a good woman. I have sins, but unlike some people, I’m working through them. Thank God, I’m not like… that guy.

Now, imagine>that guy. Sitting next to you in church. I mean – a filthy rotten sinner. Maybe they are simply different than you – in the way they dress, or they not from your culture, or maybe they are a different color than you.

Perhaps she’s a woman who is pregnant and shouldn’t be or a man who has a history… and not a good one. >They’ve made mistakes, they’ve not lived as they should. They wronged me, they messed up, they just don’t carry their weight in this church. Why are they even here? We all know what they did. They just don’t fit in. They just aren’t right.

They do>that for a living. It’s unbecoming. It’s disgusting or kinda sleezy or whatever we just don’t think someone should be doing.

Like in the ancient world – you don’t get much worse than a tax collector. They were extortioners and thieves. They would over charge taxes and keep the extra bit. No one likes that guy.

It’s true even today – who wants an IRS agent around?

All of this is missing Christ. Not one mention of Him from the Pharisee – just us us us. Me, me, me. Me against you. You against me. People who think they haven’t sinned vs. people who know they have.

Christ died for both the pharisees and the tax collector. In doing so, He reconciles all of us with the Father not by us making ourselves something else, but by His death for us.

Jesus died for all – for you, for me. Not just for the good people here, but for the bad people. He died for the bad people who despise the good people. He died for the good people who despise the bad.

In fact – his horrific bloody death shows that good and bad are all sinners in need of saving. No one is good, not even one. The wrath of Almighty God doesn’t hit you, but hits Him. But it’s so great, so mighty against your sin, that it kills Him. Kills God Himself.

We are so twisted, so out of wack, so messed up, we turn this parable into a chance to look down on people. What do I mean? Try this…

You’re here and other people judge you. They wreck and squish your joy with their funny looks. They complain, cause drama, moan and groan. They are the problem in our church – with all the nasty looks they give you. They are grumpy. They don’t know what it’s like to sin. They just popped out holy, it seems. Thank God for this text, finally Pastor is preaching against them.

How many people will leave church this week through out our church body thanking God that they aren’t Pharisees?

Yet, by our despising of the people around us, we have become just that…

Repent. Both Pharisee and Publican. Repent. Stop despising one another and justifying yourself before Almighty God. Stop justifying yourself before God as if you aren’t evil.

All about you is exalting you. All about me exalts me. We will be humbled. We will be laid low. How on earth will God not simply demolish us?

Oh God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Beat your breast. You have no hope inside yourself. Nothing within you can save you.

At that point, when you realize the wretchedness that is you. Then whether we are in church or alone in your room, you are on your knees will beat your breast and plead for mercy.

The one who exalts himself is humbled. The one who humbled Himself is exalted. Christ. He is the one who truly humbled Himself. Nothing He did was for Himself.

That counts for you. That counts for me. His humility. His saving. His life. His death. He is your Justification. Freely given – paid by His death. Freely received, that’s faith.

God is merciful. He won’t treat you as you merit. He sets your sins aside, sets them on Christ. Christ keep the Law in your place, humbled Himself before God for you, suffers the punishment due you for all your exalting yourself before Him.

St. Paul says it today:   Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

Christ is crucified. The just for the unjust. He is the one who justifies you – who declares you righteous.

Christ is crucified and was buried. We are crucified with Him in baptism. We were buried with Him. Our sins remain in the tomb. The pharisee who despises those around him dies at the font. Dies as little baby Mariah died today.

Christ rose from the dead. The One who humbled Himself has been exalted above all things – to the very right hand of the Father.

Christ rose from the dead. Little Mariah rose too. You rose too. He is exalted, you too. Right hand of God. All because of Christ.

You have risen. You need not to despise others or justify yourself any longer. His death saves you. His resurrection is your justification.

So, how can someone like you be saved? Christ died for me. Christ rose and I rose with Him.

Are you are a pharisee or the sinner? Both. I behave like the pharisee all the time. Christ died for even me and I rose with Him. The only hope I have is in Him alone.

What’s the final Word on your life? Christ died. Christ rose. Not me, not what’s up with you. Instead, Christ died and Christ rose for me.

Then, instead of looking down on others, you can serve them. You can put them first – the tax collector, the sinner, that guy, the person with>that job, the person you don’t like, the one who sinned against you, the one who hurt you at church. Them before you, as Christ put you before Himself.

Christ, not you. Always Him. He reconciles. He makes one. He does that today at His Supper. He puts His body into you, you, you, and me. Into each of us He puts His Body and Blood and so bodies and bloods us together at His Sacrament. There the many are made one with the one bread.

His forgiveness. His life. His salvation. His reconciliation. His justification. His resurrection. Yours too in Him.

Two men in the temple. The first with tons of religion. The other with nothing but sins. Who goes home justified?

You do. I do too. Christ died for us. Christ rose for us. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

by The Rev. George F. Borghardt III

St. Matthew 28:19-20

In the name of Jesus. Amen. Mountains. Mountains. Mountains. On all sides of us. It gives both the feeling of safety and the feeling of awe. It’s like the mountains have us surrounded, like they have us where they want us…

They don’t. Jesus does. We are gathered by Him. Passive. Jesus provides the time and place. He’s tending us – providing for the delivery of His Calvary-won gifts. That’s the Gospel.

Good thing He provides the place. A year ago, when we were working out the sites for Higher Things. Had we been in MN this week rather than last week, we’d have heard the bridge fall. Wow. God forbid if we’d been crossing that bridge!

We didn’t know. He knew. Now, we simply watch on the few televisions in this place praying for our loved ones and our new friends in Minneapolis.

And we thank God too, don’t we? That He does the appointing. He always does – He gave the disciples the place where they would see Him. There on the mountain, the eleven worship Him and the eleven doubted.

Not some “worshiped” and some “doubted.” The Scriptures say that the disciples did both – they worshiped Him and they doubted.

You do both too. Gathered this week surrounded by these mountains to hear the Word of God. Everything is just right. Singing hymns, confessing your sins, hearing the Gospel, you feel safe. Couldn’t possibly get any closer to God, could you?

Then things don’t go the way you thought – she breaks up with you, your grades aren’t what they should be, you get sick.

Or worse, what if you’d been there. Been on that bridge. What happens when the bridges in your life can’t be trusted. What happens then? Would that mean that He loved you less?

Dear children of God, the word for “doubt” used in this evening’s reading means “wavering, double minded.” That’s you.

And to such double minded people – to you – Jesus gives His salvation! Salvation won on the Cross. His faithfulness for your waiving. His single mindedness for your double mindedness. His death in the place of your death.

He rose. You rose with Him in Holy Baptism. That’s why He sent the Eleven – make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Teach them to hold dear everything that I have commanded. I am with y’all always even until the consummation of all things.

What confidence! What certainly! In your Baptism, you are disciples. In your Baptism, you are saved. As certain as the name put on you – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are a child of God.

For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.

So the Father says you are saved. The Son says you are in. The Spirit fills your ears with the Word and faith says, “Amen, I’m God’s own child.”

One God, three persons, all three confessing that in Baptism and in the hearing of His Word you are His disciples.

And that’s true no matter what’s going on in your life – when we are safely tucked away in the mountains or if we are right there when the bridge falls.

My problem is that I don’t believe that. I think that He only loves me when He makes things turn out the way I want them to. I think that He is being good to me only when I escape harm.

Do you think that way too? Repent of all that double-minded doubt.

The Gospel – the FOR YOU – is so much bigger than our doubts. Yes, God is for you when you are far away from calamity.

But, Christ is so for you, so on your side, so has your back, that He is MOST for you at the moment when you have nothing to cling to – when you think that things can’t get any worse and then they find away to do just that.

When things hurt so much you can’t breathe, when you can’t take another step, when you are just worn out by what has gone wrong in your world. When the bridge falls under your feet, when you breathe your last breath – At that moment, with nothing left, you have Christ.

Or better, He has you. For what happens to you, happens to one who is baptized, one who bears the name of God, who is a child of God.

Don’t believe that? That’s ok. God’s testimony is greater than yours. His certainty more sure than your certainty.

For this is the testimony of God: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

You see, the glory of the Holy Trinity is not that God is big and powerful. It’s not that He can surround us and tuck us away in the mountains. That’s cool, but it doesn’t save you when things come tumbling down around you.

Glory of the Holy Trinity is that the Father gives His Son and the Spirit marks you – even marks me – with His Name and you are a child of God. Me too.

A child of God if things go well and especially a child of God when they don’t.

This is the glory of God…. Christ crucified for you.

All glory to our Lord and God For love so deep, so high, so broad; The Trinity whom we adore Forever and forevermore.

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

 

The Rev. George F. Borghardt III is the assistant/youth pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, Texas.  Pastor Borghardt is the recently retired (?) Internet Services Executive for Higher Things, and has now assumed the office of Conferences Executive.