Category: Higher Homilies

by The Rev. William Weedon

[Acts 4:8-13 / 2 Peter 1:1-15 / Mark 8:27-35]

Poor Peter went from being the star pupil to the class dunce – and all in a matter of minutes. When Jesus asked: “Who do people say that I am?” the disciples gave the usual answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. But then our Lord turned to them, the disciples who had been with Him now for some time. “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter speaks for them all when he answers: “You are the Christ.” Right answer. Totally right answer. And yet. It is one thing to KNOW the right answer and another thing to realize what this answer means.

Jesus begins unpacking it for them: The Son of Man will suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. He put this plainly in front of them. Peter listens with increased anxiety, thinking: “No, that can’t be right. He’s the Christ, the Messiah.” So he takes our Lord aside and he begins to rebuke him! Peter dares to tell Jesus that Jesus has it all wrong. The Messiah can’t be rejected, can’t suffer, can’t die! He’s to have a kingdom and live and reign through endless years bringing joy and peace to all. Not this death and resurrection talk!

Jesus turns and looks at His disciples, these men he loves so much, and it is looking at them that HE rebukes Peter with the harshest words He ever spoke to anyone. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” You can look at the hurt in Peter’s crestfallen face. From being the favored student to the class dunce in a matter of minutes. He knew that Jesus was Christ, but he hadn’t the foggiest notion of what being the Christ entailed. And so Satan spoke through his lips – for anything that would turn our Lord from the triumph of His cross is Satanic pure and simple. 

But it’s even bigger than our Lord’s cross. He says plainly: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the Gospel’s will save it.”

Peter and the others must have looked at Him with perplexity and fear. What did He mean? “Take up a cross.” Was Jesus inviting them to die? Was He calling them to lose their lives? That’s not the rosy picture they had of fellowship with this Man who had done such great miracles and whose company was joy itself. What could He mean?

If they didn’t understand then, they came to understand. We meet the same Peter again in our first reading. This is the Peter who denied that he knew the Lord Jesus at all, out of fear of suffering and death. Now he stands in the presence of those he had once cowered before, and boldly confesses: “Let it be known to you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom YOU crucified, but whom God raised from the dead – by Him this man stands before you well.” No fear anymore. He’d seen his Lord suffer, he’d seen his Lord die, and he’d seen his Lord triumphant over death and the grave, alive again and promising him and all believers a share in that life that no death can ever take from them. What’s to fear a anymore? He plows on: “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” So the cowering Peter, Peter the Dunce, now Peter the Apostle and bold confessor. He now understands what eluded him before – that for Jesus to BE Messiah meant precisely that He would go to the cross, shouldering the sin of the human race, stretching out His holy hands to be nailed to the wood, to spill the blood that would cover the sin of our race, and then to die so that Death might die itself, and to rise again in a body incorruptible as the first-born of many brothers and sisters. His is the Name that saves – for baptized into that name we have the fruits of all His bitter sufferings and death given to us as our very life.

When Peter knew that his own end was fast approaching, the moment when he literally would take up his cross and follow his Lord into death and through death into life, he wrote one more time to his beloved churches. He reminded them that Christ’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. That He has given us precious promises to make us partakers of the divine nature. That He gives us a brand new life characterized by faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. That these qualities are to grow in us and keep us from being ineffective or unfruitful in our knowledge of the Lord. That whoever lacks them, lacks them not because he’s not trying hard enough, but because he’s forgotten the sufferings of Christ have cleansed him from his former sins. That through those qualities growing in us we begin to live already in this life the joy of the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior. Peter knows that we know all this already, but he writes again before he dies to stir us up by way of reminder so that we may be established in the truth that we have in Jesus. 

And so from star pupil to class dunce, from fearful denier to bold confessor, from reluctant sufferer to a willingly being crucified for his Lord, Peter shows the transformation which faith in the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus brings about. When he lay dying, Jaroslav Pelikan, famous scholar and theologian, whispered these words: “If Jesus is risen from the dead, then nothing else matters; if Jesus is not risen, then nothing matters.” Peter would have “Amened” that all the way! But in fact, Christ has risen from the dead, and so THAT is what matters above all.

Today as you come to feast at His Table, the Messiah who travelled the path from suffering to death, from death to the grave, from the grave to the resurrection and from the resurrection to the Ascension, reminds you that you have nothing to fear: His body and blood have taken away your sin and destroyed your death and He gives them into you that you with Peter and all the others might be a partaker of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through sinful desire. Kneeling before Him we confess with Peter that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved than the holy name of Jesus, to whom be glory with His unoriginate Father and all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen!

Rev. William Weedon is Pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hamel, IL. Pr. Weedon is also on of the plenary speakers for this summer’s Sola Conferences. 

by The Rev. Mark Buetow

Jesus comes to be baptized by John and John says Jesus should baptize him. But our Lord says, “Let it be so now in order to fulfill all righteousness.” Warning! Big church word alert! “Righteousness.” It’s one of those big words we hear in church and don’t really know what it means. Do you know what “righteousness” is? Do you have any? How do you get some. What good does having it do you? It’s really not as complicated as all that. Jesus comes to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness. Right there, in the Jordan River, we learn everything we need to know about what “righteousness” is. So are you ready? Ears open? Paying attention? Here is everything you need to know about “righteousness.” Here, in simple terms, is a definition of “righteousness” that’s easy to remember and repeat. Ready? Here it is: “Righteousness” means “Jesus takes your place.” Practice that. Everybody say, “Righteousness means, ‘Jesus take my place.’” You got it. It’s that simple. Now you can answer the question, “Are you righteous?” Answer? “Of course! Jesus takes my place.” Do you have righteousness? Of course! Jesus takes your place? When you read in the Bible the words “the righteousness of God,” what does it mean? You got it…Jesus takes your place. God the Father desires to save you from your sins. Our sinfulness means we have no righteousness. So the Father sends the Son and makes Him into a sinner and in that way makes us into His children. That’s our salvation. That’s our righteousness.

What was John the Baptist doing in the wilderness? He was baptizing sinners. The Gospel say that John came “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” So if you had sins, the Jordan River was the place to be, because John was washing those sins away by water and God’s Word. Now, we know that Jesus is sinless. He is the pure and spotless Lamb of God. He is the one sinless and perfect man. Even John knows that! Even John figures that since Jesus is perfect and holy and doesn’t have any sins, He should be doing the baptizing. So what a surprise when Jesus comes to get baptized by John! If He’s sinless, why does He need to get baptized? The answer is this: He doesn’t get baptized for Himself. He gets baptized for us. When JESUS is baptized, the sins that were washed away from sinners all stick to Him. At His Baptism, Jesus comes to be a sinner covered with our sins. And not just one person’s sins. He comes to take on EVERY person’s sins ever! And that tears open heaven. And it puts a huge smile on the Father’s face. When Jesus gets baptized, Matthew writes that “Heaven was opened to Him” and we hear the Father’s voice, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased!” Even the Holy Spirit is there, landing on Jesus and pointing out: This is the Guy! This is the One who is becoming the sinner for the sake of sinners to make sinners into children of God! He takes on our sins and then takes them to the cross and flushes them away with His blood and water that gush from His side. Jesus takes on our sins and then goes to die and take them away. He doesn’t just take them and keep them. He takes them from us, takes them to the cross and buries them forever in the tomb from which He rose!

Now understand something. God the Father is pleased with Jesus because Jesus does what He is told and takes the place of sinners. It’s His doing what His Father says and taking our place that makes us right with God. Nothing else. In fact, if you read this Gospel closely, everything good is said about Jesus. Heaven is opened to HIM. God the Father is pleased with HIM. The Holy Spirit lands on HIM. But wasn’t all this about Jesus taking YOUR place? It’s great for Jesus that heaven is open to Him and He’s got the Holy Spirit on Him and the Father says, “That’s my boy!” But how does that do us any good? Here’s how. Maybe you’ve heard the radio ad on WJPF that talks about “closing the circle.” It’s about recycling, so that instead of a car battery sitting on a pile of newspapers in your garage, you recycle them and they make it back into the store as something else instead of going to waste. Well, the Lord’s salvation is accomplished and delivered in a similar way. At His Baptism, Jesus takes your place. On the cross, Jesus is taking your place. But how does that benefit you? The circle is closed when what Jesus did is delivered to you and bestowed upon you. Where does that happen? It happens in YOUR Baptism! When YOU are baptized, that is God’s promise and seal that Jesus took YOUR place. That He died for YOUR sins. That YOU are a child of God. In other words, Jesus is Baptized for you and you are baptized to be given His place as God’s Son! Salvation is accomplished by Jesus taking your place and delivered to you when you were Baptized.

Another way to put it is this: since Jesus, the true Lamb and Son of God takes your place, everything that He does and accomplishes and everything that happens to Him is now yours. Because you are washed with water and the Word in Baptism, heaven being opened to Jesus means that now heaven is opened to you. Because you are baptized, the Holy Spirit who lands on Jesus has come upon you, giving you peace with God. Because you are baptized, the Father speaking of Jesus is now the Father speaking of you: “This is my beloved Son!” Because you are baptized, Jesus’ defeating the Devil in the desert is your defeating the Devil. Because you are baptized, Jesus healing forgiving is your healing and forgiveness. Because you are baptized, Jesus death on the cross is your death, His paying for your sins means your sins are paid for. Because you are baptized, Jesus resurrection is your resurrection and the promise of you too rising from the dead. Because you are baptized, Jesus’ Ascension and sitting at the right hand of the Father is your ascension and being seated in heavenly places. Because you are baptized, Jesus’ eternal glory and the defeat of all enemies on the Last Day is your victory for all eternity over every enemy. Get it? Whatever is Christ’s is now yours through Holy Baptism. All that God is and has and does for you is given to you as a gift at that font, by the washing of new birth by water, the Word and the Holy Spirit.

But be careful! Being baptized means that just like Jesus was a marked man who was attacked and assaulted by the world and the Devil, so those enemies will come after you. The Devil will tell you over and over NOT to trust in your Baptism. The world will tell you a thousand and one ways to find God, none of which are your Baptism. The world will tell you that “righteousness” is all about how you live. The Devil will tell you that your sins keep you from being a child of God. And the great temptation you will have, brothers and sisters in Christ, is to live as if you Baptism didn’t actually do anything. That your Baptism hasn’t changed anything. That you aren’t any different because you are baptized. That you can have some religion and find God apart from your Baptism. That if you a live a good life you can make up for your sins. All lies! Apart from your Baptism, you don’t have Jesus, heaven is shut, the Holy Spirit is nowhere to be found and God the Father calls you cursed and not His child. But in Holy Baptism, all of that is yours because it is Christ’s. Therefore repent of any despising of your Baptism and learn to live in it each day. Learn to make the sign of the Holy Cross and begin and end each day with your Baptismal name.

So, are you all clear on what “righteousness” is? It’s Jesus taking your place. Are you all set on where that righteousness is given to you? In your Baptism. The world and even the church are filled with people who want to make anything other than Baptism the big deal. But Baptism isn’t ours. It’s the Lord’s. Courtney didn’t get herself baptized today. The Lord baptized her. I didn’t baptize her, the Lord did. Sure, He used my hands but it is HIS water and word. Baptism is God’s work and gift! As you come to the Sacrament today, the font still has water in it. Why not splash a little on your forehead with the sign of the cross to remember your Baptism and to confess to the world that by that Baptism, Christ has taken your place and taken everything bad that is yours—your sin and death—and given you everything good that is His—heaven opened, the Spirit of Peace, and a heavenly Father who claims you as His own. Jesus was Baptized to take your place. Now in your Baptism, you have His place, as the dearly beloved Son of God for all eternity. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. Pastor Buetow is also Internet Services Executive for Higher Things.

by The Rev. Bruce Keseman

I see a lot of parents here who have sons. I have a question for you. You celebrate your son’s birthday every year, just like we celebrated Jesus’ birthday last Sunday, right? Well, this Sunday we’re celebrating the circumcision of Jesus, so why don’t you have an annual celebration of that event for your son, hmm? Why don’t you sing “Happy Circumcision Day to You” and bake a Circumcision Day cake and give him Circumcision Day presents, hmm?

Circumcision just doesn’t seem like an appropriate thing to commemorate, does it? So why do we even celebrate Jesus’ circumcision-especially since there is only one sentence in all of Scripture about that little surgery on Mary’s child and the accompanying bestowal of the moniker “Jesus”? Today we learn that the little blood and big name remembered in that single sentence of Scripture make a huge difference in our lives as we enter 2009 and always.

Mary and Joseph did what every Jewish parent did with a male child. They did what the Old Testament told them to do. Eight days after he was born they took their son to be circumcised. And they have him a name. A lot of us Gentiles circumcise our sons, too. It’s no big deal. But among Jews, circumcision is a big deal. Circumcision shows that that child is part of God’s covenant people.

And back in Biblical times, naming your son was almost as important as circumcising him. Isaiah named his son Maharshalalhashbaz-because that name contained a message God wanted to speak to his people. My parents could have named me Frank, Leo, Fritz-almost anything except Maharshalalhashbaz-and it wouldn’t have changed my life a bit. That’s because names are just labels to us. We use them to identify people, so everybody in the whole church won’t respond if I say, “Hey, Fred.” But to most people in the Bible, a name was a whole lot more than a label. Your name described who you were and what you were all about. For instance, “Eve,” means “living,” because she is the mother of all living humans. “Adam” means “ground,” because he was taken from the dust of the earth. Abraham means “father of many,” because his descendants are as numerous as the stars in the sky. “Peter” means “rock,” because on the rock of Peter’s confession Jesus build his church. When David was king, there was even a man named “Nabal.” David’s wife said Nabal’s name fit him perfectly. “Nabal” means “fool.”

Back then, people and their names were inseparably intertwined. Maybe if we realized that God and his name are still inseparably intertwined, we’d be more careful about the way we use his name. “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord.” That’s the second commandment. But how many times do you hear one of us say, “Jesus Christ” or-the one that’s really in vogue right now-“Oh, my God.” God wants us to use his name when we’re praying. But those aren’t prayers. Those are expressions we use when we’re angry or impressed or surprised. Do we think so little of God that we toss his name around as if it means nothing?

And if any of us manage not to speak his name in vain, all of us still wear his name in vain. We’ve worn the name of Christ ever since we were baptized. We’re called Christians. But look back over the year that’s ending, look back over your whole life. How often has the way you lived brought shame to Christ’s name? I know the way I’ve lived hasn’t allowed others to see my good works and glorify my Father in heaven. In other words, we’re taking God’s name in vain every time we do anything contrary to God’s will. And that’s no small thing. God says he will not hold guiltless anyone who misuses his name.

Yet, it’s precisely because we have sinned so grievously against God’s name that we hold that name so dear. The name Jesus is God’s promise of salvation to us sinners.

“Keseman” means “Cheeseman.” If I had ended up as a cheesemaker, my named would have matched my life. But my name would’ve matched my life only by accident. It’s no accident that Jesus’ name matches Jesus’ life. His name was part of God’s plan. The angel told Joseph, “Give him the name “Jesus,” because he will save his people from their sins.” The name “Jesus” means “YHWH saves.” It’s the perfect name for the baby born at Bethlehem. It tells us who he is-YHWH. And it tells us what he does-saves.

My personal name is Bruce. God’s personal name is YHWH. The name YHWH is found hundreds-probably even thousands-of times in the Old Testament. Yet we hardly ever hear it. That’s because most English Bibles replace the name YHWH with the word “LORD” in all capital letters. Take a look at today’s Old Testament reading. YHWH appears four times, and each time it is translated as LORD in all capital letters. And that reading reminds us how precious the name YHWH really is. God promises to bless us with that name. And he does bless us with that name at the end of every service: “YHWH bless you and keep you, YHWH make his face shine on you and be gracious to you, YHWH lift up his countenance on you and give you peace.”

YHWH can bless us with his name at the end of every service, because 2000 years ago, he dressed himself in human flesh and became one of us. As incredible as it seems, the baby in the cattle trough is YHWH-YHWH come to save his people, come to save us people from our sins. Remember, “Jesus” means “YHWH saves.” So his name assures us that he is God. But his name also assures us that he is human. The name Jesus was common name for humans in the first century. Ten other kids around Nazareth might have shared the same name. And except for the fact that he didn’t sin, our Jesus was just like all the other Jesuses in town. He played sports, sang songs, and hung out with the other kids in the neighborhood. In other words, he was just as human as any of them or any of us. Jesus is 100% human at the same time that he’s 100% God. That’s not just theological trivia. Jesus has to be both God and human if he’s going to save us. Only God has the power to save. And only a human is allowed to take our place.

So the name “Jesus” tells us who he is-YHWH, the God of the universe, who has became a human just like us. The name Jesus also tells us what he does. He saves. Again, “Jesus” means “YHWH saves.” Ten other boys in Nazareth may have had the name “Jesus,” because their parents wanted everyone to know that YHWH would come to save his people. Jesus had that name because God wanted everyone to know that YHWH had come to save his people.

When we were hanging from the ledge by our fingertips in sin, when we had no chance to be rescued, when we were slipping, slipping, slipping toward hell, Jesus came to the rescue. He came to the rescue in a livestock trough. He saves us from an everlasting fall. He saves us from the consequences of our sin, saves us from the threats of Satan, saves us from the permanence of death, saves us from the destruction of hell. That salvation is all there in the name “Jesus,” for as Peter once preached, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” It’s by the one with the big name “Jesus” that we’re saved.

But it’s the little blood-in Jesus’ circumcision-that helps us to see how Jesus lived up to his name that means YHWH saves. That seemingly insignificant surgery reminds us that he saves us because he is a human like us, he’s under God’s law with us, and he shed his blood for us.

First, circumcision shows that Jesus is a human like us. Jesus’ name already showed us his humanity, but his circumcision makes it certain. “How does removing a foreskin prove that Jesus is a human?” you might ask. Well, God is a spirit. Spirits have no bodies. And you can’t remove a foreskin from a being that doesn’t have a body. Put simply, God can’t be circumcised-unless God becomes incarnate, unless God makes himself a human. And that’s just what he did. So circumcision shows that Jesus is a human.

That little operation also reminds us that the human Jesus didn’t request any special treatment and he didn’t receive any special treatment. He was just like us. Jesus got no exemptions, because he was God as well as human. Every other person of his gender, age, and race was circumcised, so Jesus was circumcised. But why was Jesus circumcised? Circumcision was God’s way of saying, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” But Jesus doesn’t need a God. He is God. Circumcision is also God’s way of forgiving sins. But Jesus doesn’t need his sins forgiven. He has no sins. Circumcision was God’s way of saying, “I’m making you my child.” But Jesus doesn’t need to be made God’s child. He has always been the Son of God. In other words, Jesus wasn’t circumcised for his own good.

Jesus was circumcised for our good! Circumcision is part of Jesus fulfilling his name. It’s part of Jesus being YHWH saves. To save us, Jesus had to take our place. And to take our place, Jesus did for us what he didn’t need to do for himself-he became a human and he became circumcised.

So circumcision shows that Jesus is human like us. It also shows that he is under God’s Law with us. He’s under God’s Law with us, so he can do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. We can’t keep God’s Law. If we want to stay out of hell, we have to keep all of his commandments all of the time. But we have misused God’s name. And we’ve broken every other commandment as well. Circumcision is Jesus volunteering to keep for us all those commandments we haven’t kept for ourselves. From the moment of his circumcision, every Jew was obligated to keep all the laws of the Old Testament. From the moment of his circumcision, Jesus was obligated to keep all the laws of the Old Testament-not for himself but for us. Jesus didn’t need to get right with God. He is God. But we need to get right with God. Jesus is the only baby ever born who is above God’s Law. He’s above it, because he established it. But circumcision is Jesus’ way of voluntarily taking himself from above God’s Law and placing himself under God’s Law. Circumcision is Jesus’ way of promising you and me that he’ll keep all the commandments for us, so that we can be right with God.

All that sounds wonderful-Jesus volunteering to be circumcised for us. But did Jesus really volunteer to be circumcised? He was only eight days old. It’s not like Mary and Joseph said, “OK, Jesus, waah once if you want to be circumcised and waah twice if you don’t want to be circumcised.” Yet being circumcised and obligating himself to keep all the commandments was Jesus’ choice. He consciously chose to be born of a Jewish mother, Mary, in part because he knew that would mean he would be circumcised and would have to keep God’s Law. He wanted to keep the Law for us. And he did keep the Law for us. On that day of his circumcision and on every day of his life before and after, Jesus did everything the Old Testament said he had to do and nothing that the Old Testament said he couldn’t do. He did cared about everyone. He helped countless people. He did all the things we should do.

And here’s why that’s so important: God counts every one of those works that Jesus did as though it were a work that you did. That’s one benefit of Baptism. Baptism is God putting Jesus’ saving name on you so you get credit for everything Jesus did right in his entire life. That’s why people being baptized so often wear white. White is the color of goodness. The person being baptized may not have done an abundance of good deeds, but Jesus has done a multitude of good deeds. And when you’re baptized, all his good deeds are counted as yours when the water is poured and his Word is spoken.

So his circumcision is Jesus’ way of putting himself under God’s Law with us, so he can keep that Law for us.

Remember, Jesus means “YHWH saves.” We’ve already heard that circumcision shows us that he fulfills that name by becoming human like us and by putting himself under God’s Law with us. His circumcision also shows us that he fulfills his name by shedding his blood for us.

To be saved, a person has to have all good works and no sinful works. Jesus has given us all his good works. But how do we get rid of our sinful works? Circumcision is Jesus volunteering to shed his blood to get rid of our sin. Both Leviticus and Hebrews tell us that without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness. But Jesus shed his blood. The little blood that he shed on the eighth day of his life was a promise that he would shed all of his blood in the thirty-third year of his life on a cross. On Good Friday, he shed blood from his back when he was beaten, from his head when he was crowned, from his hands and feet when he was nailed, and from his side when he was stabbed. He shed that blood for you. By the shedding of that blood you are forgiven! Your sins against the second commandment and against every other commandment are gone.

And so that you can be sure of his forgiveness, the same Jesus gives you the same blood that he shed to save you when you come to his altar. As he places his body and blood in your mouth, he is pledging that your sin is gone and his name is fulfilled. His name means “YHWH saves” and at his Table you taste and see not only that YHWH saves but that Jesus saves you. What his circumcision hinted would happen did happen: his blood has been shed for you

A circumcision doesn’t seem like an occasion for celebration. But as we begin the year 2009, we’ve discovered that a little blood and a big name make a huge difference every day of our lives.

The Rev. Bruce Keseman serves Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church, Freeburg, Illinois. He is a member of the Higher Things Board of Directors. Pr Keseman is also one of this years speakers at Sola.

by The Rev. William Cwirla

Luke 2,22-40

In Nomine Iesu

Today is the fourth day of Christmas, and I hope you’re still going strong with the holy days now that the holidays are behind us.  It makes me sad to see the Christmas trees already curbed for the trash man. It’s like baseball fans who go home in the sixth inning to beat the traffic and miss the best part of the ball game. There’s plenty more left to Christmas, so don’t give up yet.  We’ve even kept the candles burning to keep you in the mood.

The Gospel according to St. Luke records only two events of Jesus’ infancy – His circumcision and naming on the eighth day of His life, and His presentation in the temple when He was forty days old.  The eighth day is the day every Jewish boy of Jesus’ day received the sacrament of the covenant in his own flesh.  And he received his name, his identity in the community. Luke is very careful about all this.  He never mentions Jesus’ name through the entire story of His birth in Bethlehem.  Did you catch that at Christmas? He’s simply “the child,” because up until the 8th day, you didn’t officially have a name.

Circumcision was a sacrament that revealed your belonging to Israel. It meant that all the promises spoken to Abraham and through Moses to the people of Israel pertained personally to you. At your circumcision you became a “son of the covenant” and a “son of Israel,” and so that’s when you officially got your name. Luke delivers all of this in one short sentence: On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Y’shua – Jesus -, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. The Child who laid in the manger, who came to save His people, that is, all humanity, from sin, the Word become Flesh to dwell among us, now feels the sting of the Law for the first time. He is born of woman, born under the Law to redeem those under the Law with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.  this is the beginning of all of that.

And then on the fortieth day the infant Jesus makes His first appearance at the temple in Jerusalem. Again, this is all according to the Law of Moses. The first-born male was considered holy, he belonged to the Lord and his parents had to redeem him, buy him back with blood sacrifice – a lamb and a dove, if your could afford it, or two doves if you couldn’t. Every first born male was a sign to Israel of God’s only-begotten Son whose blood would redeem the world from sin and death.

The fortieth day was also purification day for the mother. Now you might wonder why Mary should need to be purified of anything since her Son is sinless. But that’s precisely the point. No exceptions are made for Jesus, or for His mother. He is treated just like a sinner, and she is treated as though she had just given birth to one.  He is “born of woman, born under the Law to redeem those who are under the Law.” The whole weight of the Law falls on Jesus, and He fulfills it, literally places Himself under the Law and fills it up with Himself.

You may look at it this way.  Whatever Jesus does, or has done to Him, fulfills the Law. When Jesus was circumcised, the Law of circumcision was fulfilled. When Jesus was presented in the temple and bought back with blood, the law of the first-born was fulfilled. Circumcision came to its purpose on the eighth day of Jesus’ human life. It was fulfilled, filled up with Jesus. The law of a mother’s impurity and the redemption of the first-born came to its purpose when Jesus’ was forty days old. It was fulfilled, filled up with Jesus.  And, if you take that all the way to Jesus’ baptism, and His suffering and death on the cross, the entire Law came to its purpose when the Son of God died on the cross.  It was fulfilled, accomplished, finished.

Everything in this morning’s Gospel speaks fulfillment. Even the numbers demand our attention. The fortieth day of Jesus’ life is exactly 490 days, or seventy weeks, since the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the same temple next the incense altar. And so there are exactly 70 times 7, or “seventy sevens” as the angel Gabriel told the prophet Daniel, between Gabriel’s appearance to John in the temple and the Incarnate Son of God’s appearance in the temple.  Coincidence? No – fulfillment.

If you’re into numbers, think about Anna, the prophetess who was also there that day. She had been married for a perfect seven years, and she was now eighty four years old (that’s 12 times 7). The numbers of her life shout out “fulfillment.” God is true to His word. She spent all her days and nights in the temple waiting for the Messiah, certain He was coming in her lifetime. And when she sees Jesus, 40 days old in His mother’s arms, she can’t help but praise and give thanks to God, and tell everyone about Him.

We have no idea how old Simeon was. We know that God told him he wouldn’t die until he’d seen the fulfillment of God’s promise. Every day he went to the temple, watching, waiting, wondering if this was the day. One day he sees a man and a woman walking in the temple courtyard, and the young woman is carrying a little boy in her arms. The man is carrying the poor man’s redemption price – two small pigeons. And the Holy Spirit whispers to old Simeon, “That’s the One. He’s the One you’re waiting for.” Tears must surely have come to old Simeon’s eyes as he received the 40 day old baby Messiah in those ancient arms. It was as though the entire OT, the whole Torah and the prophets were cradling the little Child and singing His praises. And when Simeon breaks into song and says, “Lord, dismiss your servant in peace,” he speaks on behalf of all of Israel. Israel’s purpose is fulfilled.  Israel can depart in peace, because the Glory of Israel had come to the temple.

This Child that Simeon is holding in his arms, He is God’s salvation in human flesh. He is the Light that reveals God’s goodness and mercy to the Gentiles, the outsiders. He is the Glory of God’s people Israel, the insiders. He is the Savior not of some but of all. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph “marveled at these things” just as they marveled at what the shepherds told them the night Jesus was born. These are marvelous things – that a little Child should be the salvation of God, the promised Light of the nations, the Glory of Israel.

The world looks and sees nothing more than an eight day old Jewish boy screaming at the top of his little lungs. Or a forty day old with his parents in the temple. Only two people took notice of Christ that day – Anna and Simeon. No priests showed up to pay homage. No teachers of the Torah gathered around to see the fulfillment of their teaching. No Pharisees came to stare in the face of perfected humanity. No, only Simeon and Anna were there to welcome and embrace Him. And the only reason they recognized Him is the Holy Spirit told them. Otherwise they wouldn’t have known either.

He’s the world’s Baby, but don’t expect the world to embrace Him. “He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him.” Simeon warned Mary that the cross will mark this Child’s life. He would be destined for the rising and falling of many in Israel. Many would rejoice in His coming, especially those who were on the fringes. Many would also greet His coming with hostility, especially those who were invested in the religious institutions of Israel – the priests, the teachers of the Torah, the Pharisees. You can never be neutral about Jesus. You either receive Him for who He is, or you reject Him. But there is no agnostic, undecided, third way. There is no saying, “I’m not sure.” You have His claim and the testimony of the Scriptures. He’s the Son of God and the Savior of the world or He isn’t.

Simeon said this sweet little Child “would be a sign spoken against.” Wherever Jesus is, there is controversy. He came to announce God’s pardon and peace, but He drew hostility and anger. People get mad when they lose their religion. The Gospel isn’t “good news” for those who want to justify themselves. But for the broken, the desperate, those who don’t have a leg to stand on before God, it’s the best news you could ever hear. Here is God’s little Lamb, the perfect unblemished sacrifice for the sin of the world, making His first appearance in the temple, the place of sacrifice.

Many come to church to feel good about themselves. They seek approval for what they are doing. They seek to boost their self-esteem.  They want uplift, inspiration, escape, an alternative drug. When Karl Marx called religion the “opiate of the masses,” he was right. That’s what the masses want – a drug. They don’t want to hear about their sin. They don’t want to deal with their death. It doesn’t feel good.

It’s us too. Each of us. It’s me. I get caught in the same thing. It’s Christmas and you’re supposed to be joyful and happy and peaceful and loving to everyone. And that would be fine except for the fact that people make it so difficult to be joyful and loving. Christmas has this way of bringing out the best and the worst in us all at the same time. Tempers run short in this season of peace. People get depressed in this season of joy. We expect that God is going to fix all that, somehow.

We all say that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” but we sometimes forget the reason Jesus came in the flesh in the first place. It wasn’t so He could have a birthday party once a year. He came to die with our sin. He came to reconcile humanity to God. He came to be humanity’s new Head, the second Adam who gets it right. He came to embody all of us in His own body – born of Mary, circumcized on the 8th day, presented and redeemed in the temple at 40 days, baptized in the Jordan river, crucified on Calvary, raised from the dead.

The cross hangs large over the whole scene. You can’t escape it. Christmas has a cross shadowing over the Christ Child. It’s there in His circumcision, the shedding of His blood as a “son of the covenant.” It’s there in the sacrifice to redeem the world’s Redeemer. Simeon spoke soberly to Mary. A sword was going to pierce her own soul too. Her being the Mother of the Messiah was going to mean heartache and sorrow for her. You mothers of sons, you know. You have hopes and dreams. Imagine the sorrow of watching your first born son mocked, rejected, ridiculed, crucified. Not even Jesus’ own mother is exempted from the cross. Nor are any of us.

If you are less than joyful on this fifth day of Christmas, that’s OK. If your Christmas was less than merry, that’s OK. If all the talk of “peace, peace” when there is no peace rings a bit hollow in your ears, that’s OK. You are sensing the cross that lies under Christmas. But remember, and cling to this. The cross is the way to resurrection and life and joy that has no end and peace that surpasses our understanding. Your weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Or maybe your Christmas actually was joyful, happy, filled with family and friends, pleasant memoriesand gifts. Perhaps you felt a little closer to God this year, held the Christ Child a little closer. And that’s good too. And you must remember and cling to this, as Mary did: Christmas comes with a cross, and all who follow the Christmas Child will know the sword that pierced Mary’s soul.

You and I are like a lot like old Simeon and Anna in the temple.watching, waiting for that Day when it all becomes visible to our resurrected eyes and we won’t have to trust anymore. God still gives us the signs, those little signposts for faith to cling to – Baptism, the Word, the Body and Blood. We embrace Him as old Simeon and Anna once embraced Him. And we take up Simeon’s song and make it our own: “Lord now let your servant depart in peace according to your Word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people. A Light for revelation to the Gentiles, the Glory of your people Israel.” When I was little, I used to think this song meant, “Great, church is almost over and we can get out of here.” But that’s not what Simeon was singing. He was saying, “Now I can die and rest in peace. I’ve seen Your salvation and I know it’s mine in this Your little Child.”

Old Pastor Korby said it best. Commenting on Simeon’s song which we sing after the Lord’s Supper, he said, “We go to the Sacrament as though we were going to our death, so that we might go to our death as though going to the Sacrament.”

Like old Simeon and Anna, receive God’s Child, Jesus your Savior, and leave with a song on your lips. “Let your servant depart in peace.” You can rest in peace. Your life is in Jesus’ hands. His birth is your birth; His circumcision is your inclusion, His presentation is your presentation – all of that and more are yours in God’s Child your Savior Jesus.

A blessed 4th day of Christmas to all of you.

In the name of Jesus,
Amen.

The Rev. William Cwirla is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, CA. Pr. Cwirla is president of Higher Things and a frequent guest on Higher Things Radio.

by The Rev. Matthew D. Ruesch

Isaiah 52:7-10

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Kids like Christmas for the presents.  I obviously like it for the food.  Oh, there are many other reasons I like Christmas…as a Christian I absolutely love the good Gospel news of Christ’s birth.  But it’s still okay to like the other things…just keep them in the proper perspective.  Unfortunately, our plan is to spend this afternoon traveling, so my Christmas dinner likely won’t be until tomorrow.  But in the meantime, I’ll reflect on Christmas dinners past.  Grandma always used to make two hams for Christmas: one for grandpa and one for the rest of the family (no kidding).  Being a not-so-small person, I’ve always had a big appetite for Christmas dinner.  I remember in particular one dinner when I was about twelve years old.  I think it was the first time that dinner was not at my grandparents’ house, but Mom decided she was going to play host.  My grandpa sat next to me at the dinner table and decided that he was going to fill my plate.  I don’t know if he had Christmas visions of his grandson eating like he could but he stacked my plate with enough ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberries, Jello, broccoli and cauliflower, and whatever else was on the table to feed the entire Minnesota Vikings.  I ate…and ate…and ate…and ate…and then I didn’t feel very good.  The joy of Christmas soon turned quite sour—literally.

Christmas within the church also in a sense turns “sour.”  This is after all the Feast of Christmas—the table before you is set for this feast of our Lord’s salvation.  Christmas is one of the two “high feasts” of the church year, along with Easter.  It is right that you and I should eat…that there should be a meal set for us this Christmas.  This gives us reason for celebration on this Holy Day, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’”  On this day you and I rejoice that God had saved his people!  He has reigned over both heaven and earth by descending from the former to take on the humanity of the latter.

But let us be clear about one thing—this is not really a cause for a party.  Our celebration is tempered by the realization of why this child has come.  Mary and Joseph didn’t know it.  The shepherds in the fields didn’t know it.  The animals who wondered why there was a baby in their manger…they certainly didn’t know it.  You and I, standing on this side of history…we do know why he has come.  The child has come to die.  The child has come to walk to Calvary and pay the price of sin.  Our feast is less like a celebration…and more appropriately like the Passover.  God had told those Israelites, “In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.  And you shall eat it in haste.  It is the LORD’s Passover.”  So you and I stand here on Christmas, the Christ before us in his birth…and we’re on the tips of our toes…the edges of our seats…because as you and I see Mary’s child, we become aware of the fact that her “soul will be pierced.”  The joy will turn to sorrow.  The laughter will turn to tears.  The precious life that has come from heaven to dwell as flesh among us…that life will meet death.

Our two great Feasts of Christmas and Easter form the bookends of the Christ’s life.  In fact, our text from Isaiah 52 is the perfect place to take us from today, Christmas Day, straight to Good Friday.  It is today that we sing like the angels sang…and we find the great comfort in those words, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,” and “The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”  But before chapter 52 even ends, the cost of that salvation is revealed.  “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.”  Then in chapter 53: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”  Did you know that’s the text for Good Friday?  That may not seem like very ‘cheerful’ words for a Christmas Day.  But they are necessary words…for they show the price he paid so that there could be “good news”… “peace”…and “happiness” for us this Christmas morning.

There is a Christmas meal for you and me this morning.  The child born to Mary has given himself so that you and I might be fed salvation.  It is the cruelest twist of irony that this child who was laid in a feed box…the dinner plate of the cattle…he would give himself as the sacrificial meal…the Passover for the people of God.  The glitz and glamour of Christmas certainly does turn somber and sour.  The child hailed as a king by angels, shepherds, and wise men…the one who was given gifts of incense, gold, and myrrh…this child becomes the gift.  This child becomes our feast of salvation.

Perhaps the passing of this Christmas will leave you too feeling “sour.”  Soon the realization sets in that this break from life comes to an end.  The feasting in our homes will come to an end and the normalcy of life will return.  Even if you’ve got a week off of school yet…you can’t avoid it forever!  Life will return, the holiday will pass, and you will realize that you are once again face to face with the world…face to face with the devil and his wily ways…face to face with your sinful flesh that seeks to overcome you.  The warm and fuzzy feelings of Christmas will have faded away by then.  The cute images of baby Jesus snuggled in the manger or close to his mother Mary’s cheek…the light of that picture will have dimmed from your mind.  You can’t carry the “feeling” of Christmas with you.  It will just as surely fade away as one day fades into the next…then one week into another…and so on.

But the Christmas meal continues.  The one born to us this day—born to die in our place and be the body and blood we receive this day—he is the one who is born…to die…and to live again.  He is the one who continues to come to us in his body and blood to this very day.  No, the child has not gone away.  He is the eternal “Logos”….the Word who was there from the very beginning, with God, very God himself.  He is the eternal God who comes in human flesh to die, but to live again—and at the same time be the sacrifice for sin in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine.  The meal continues because the Christ continues.  He comes to us today and promises to continue to come to us whenever you and I, his people, gather together in his name. 

You will turn “sour” upon leaving this place, because you will leave here and return to the sinful world to which our sinful nature is captive.  But though our sinful appetites crave those things that are death to us, we return here to the meal…to the feast that itself is a foretaste of the feast to come in heaven.  Here, the LORD has bared his holy harm before the eyes of all nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation before our God.”  Here before you and me is salvation.  It is not only salvation that you and I can see, but that we can also taste…chew…and swallow.  It is the Word on which we are literally fed, because it is the Christ come to us, as very real as he was in that manger bed 2000 years ago. 

Some people like Christmas for the presents.  Jesus is certainly one of those, isn’t he!  He is the gift of salvation wrapped in humanity.  Others like Christmas for the meal.  Jesus is the Christmas feast as well.  He comes to our hungry souls with bread of life and blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins.  Our gathering this Christmas is therefore not aimless celebration, but rather a joyful remembrance of the child who comes to die for us and lives unto eternity to feed us his shed body and blood.  In Jesus’ name…Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

The Rev. Matthew D. Ruesch is pastor at Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church in Garrison, MN.

by The Rev. Mark Buetow

St. Matthew 25:1 -13

Ten Virgins went to meet the Bridegroom. Five were wise and five were foolish. The Greek word for “foolish” is “moron.” The Bible says, “The FOOL says in his heart there is no God.” The foolish virgins were foolish because to them the things of God were not worth worrying about. Perhaps they never thought the Bridegroom would come. Perhaps they live as if there might be a God or maybe not. Maybe they don’t care whether or when Jesus is coming back. The gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation are not things they care about our delight in. Perhaps they have some sin that they want to hold on to. Whatever the case, they are foolish because they leave behind the gifts of faith and when the Bridegroom comes they are not ready. On the other hand, the Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of WISDOM and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” The wise virgins fear the Lord. They know they cannot survive on their own. They know they owe their existence to the Bridegroom. Their whole life is one lived waiting for Him. They live by His mercy and grace. They live in the forgiveness of sins. The oil of that forgiveness is what keeps their lamps lit and they know they will need it on the Last Day. They are ready to meet the Bridegroom because they live in that forgiveness.

Where does the oil come from? Lamps in Bible times were fueled by simple wicks in olive oil. Olive oil comes from olives. And the oil is gotten out of the olives by taking them from the olive tree and crushing and squeezing them. The oil in the lamp of a Christian, the oil in YOUR lamp is from the tree of the cross. On that tree, the Son of God in the flesh is squeezed and pressed and crushed for your sins. And as He is crushed and killed by the weight of your sins, blood and water flow out of Him. Olive oil is squeezed into a jar to be carried with your lamp. Christ’s blood and water flow into the vessels prepared for them: the water into the holy font and the blood into the holy cup. The oil that the virgins carry is not some oil they made themselves or came up with. The oil that fuels are lamp is not our good works or good intentions or even our own faithfulness and believing. The oil that fuels our lamps, that gives us light, is the oil of Christ Himself pressed out of Him on the cross as He gave Himself for the Bride to make her spotless and holy and perfect for Himself. The oil you have, brothers and sisters, is from Christ Himself. Only what is from Christ Himself burns purely and supplies you light at the nighttime of your death and at the midnight hour when our Lord comes again.

Take a minute to make sure you’ve got that oil! That oil is poured into your vessel at the font when it is poured on you with water and the word. The gifts of Holy Baptism—God’s name, the death and resurrection of Jesus, the peace of the Spirit and the adoption as a child of God—these gifts are poured into you in Holy Baptism. More gifts poured into you. The words of Jesus which are written to tell you what He has done. The words of Jesus spoken that declare your sins are forgiven. More oil poured into your vessel for the Last Day. And also the body and blood poured into you. Given to you to eat and drink, this food of Jesus Himself promises and delivers the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Why life and salvation? Because when the Bridegroom comes again you will be ready with a lamp that is burning brightly, filled from these heavenly gifts. Do you get it? When Jesus comes again on the Last Day and wakes us from the sleep of death, we trim our lamps and they burn brightly because of Him and what He has given us. It is Jesus we are waiting for and it is Jesus Himself who gives us the oil of Himself so that we might be prepared to enter into the wedding feast when He comes again.

But which of us is not foolish? Which of does not despise their Baptism and Christ’s gifts? Which of us does not think we can coast through life, slipping through church, pretending we’re Christians, while all the while paying no attention to how much oil we’ll have on the Last Day? You and I do this all the time: we figure we can show up in church, do the “church thing” and then go right on living the way WE want to back in our daily lives. You know, still hating the same people, still giving in to the same sins, still pretending we’re religious to a world that knows we aren’t really. Still finding other things to love and attract us more than the Lord Himself. Still finding other ways to please and worship ourselves instead of serving and caring for others. To live like that is to despise our Baptism. It is to hang on to our lamps but have no oil. It is to fall into the Devil’s trap of thinking, “Live how you want, you can always go and buy your oil, get your religion, have some Jesus at the last minute!” But there won’t be any oil to be found on the Last Day. And while the world wails at the coming of Jesus, those who pretended like they were Christians but had no oil will be shut out of Christ’s presence. How terrifying a thing that is!

That is why Jesus speaks these words. Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord tells us about the wise and the foolish virgins, and we hear about them every year to warn us! To call us to repentance. To wake us up from our laziness and remind us that we need oil! And that we have been given oil! And that the oil is plentiful for us on the Last Day. Your Lord doesn’t want you to be without oil on the Last Day. He also doesn’t want you to try and come up with the oil on your own or go buy it somewhere. He has provided the oil from His own body given into death for our sins. He has delivered that oil and filled up our vessels through His holy gifts of word, water and body and blood. There is not a one of us who has not lived foolishly, more happy in our sins than with the Lord. There is not a one of us who has not in some way despised the gifts Jesus gives. But that is why His Words save us. The parable of the wise and foolish virgins wakes us up from the sleep of sin so that when we fall asleep in death we will not wake unprepared but ready to go in with our Bridegroom to His feast. Wake up, sleepers! Throw off your sin! Cling to Christ. You are filled with His oil. His salvation. His forgiveness. He’s coming soon and you will be ready. That’s His promise to you in His church where His holy gifts are given.

Our oil and fuel prices were really high recently. Now they have dropped dramatically. They said gas and oil for heating our homes this winter would be very expensive but now they’re not so sure. I have no idea what those crazy prices will do. But I do know this: the oil that matters, the oil which fuels the lamp of your life as a Christian never goes up in cost—because it’s free! The oil that Christ Himself gives you from Himself is the oil that will burn brightly on the Last Day. As we prepare in this life to fall asleep in death, we do so knowing that when our Lord comes again, our vessels will be filled with oil. When the Lord wakes you up on the Last Day, get ready to trim your lamps and follow Jesus, being filled with Jesus Himself. You see, that is our life as Christians, to wait for the coming of the One who has already come and given Himself for us and to us. Our life is to eagerly await the coming of Jesus, who Himself has made us ready to receive Him. Wake up! He’s almost here. The feast is going to start. Light your lamps and live in Christ. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. Pr. Buetow is the editor of the Higher Things Reflections and Internet Services Executive. He has also been a guest on Higher Things Radio.

by The Rev. Mark Buetow

St. Matthew 25:31-46

Judgment Day! The prophet Daniel tells us about the throne with fire coming out of it. The court is seated and the books are opened! The apostle Peter describes how the earth and the heavens will be consumed by fire on that day and this heaven and this earth will pass away. These are scary images. They are the sorts of pictures that, if we stop and consider them, should frighten and terrify sinners. They should cause us to fall down and cry out in repentance for our sins! Then comes our Lord Jesus’ words. He describes that Judgment Day and speaks of the separation of the sheep and the goats. And our sinful flesh, which only ever thinks of itself, grabs onto the idea that what is going on is that Jesus is judging people based on how they lived. Those who served their neighbor get to go to heaven. Those who didn’t do good works for others go to hell. If you do good works, you get rewarded. If you don’t do good works, you get punished. Brothers and sisters in Christ, if that’s what you get out of this Gospel reading, then repent! Do you think that Jesus preaches His works and His grace and then the apostles preach that we are saved by grace through Christ’s work and your pastors preach that you are saved by what Jesus has done and then, on the Last Day, it’s suddenly going to change so that no you are actually saved by how you lived your life? The Lord doesn’t change. His grace doesn’t disappear. His work of saving you from your sins doesn’t end on that Last Day! Let’s listen carefully to what Jesus is actually saying as He teaches of the sheep and the goats and we’ll be comforted against our sins and rescued from false fear of that Last Day.

First of all, let’s look at Jesus’ work on earth. The prophet Daniel says that the Son of Man received a kingdom from the Ancient of Days. That is, Jesus receives a kingdom from His Father. How does Jesus receive this kingdom? Does He come to earth and teach people how to live a good life so they can be a part of His kingdom? No! He comes to live a good life in our place. He comes to keep the commandments that we break. He comes to fulfill the Law that we cannot. Yet Jesus comes to do more than just live. He comes to die. To die for sinners. To die in the place of sinners. To die covered with the sins of sinners. To give His life as a ransom for sinners. Everything Jesus is about in His earthly life is accomplishing, achieving, winning FOR US, the forgiveness of sins. Just think about when He hung on the cross as a King, crowned with thorns. There is a a thief who despises and mocks Him. A goat, we should say, who has no share in Christ’s kingdom because He despises Christ. On the other side, though is a sheep, a sinner who has nothing to trust in or cling to than Jesus’ mercy. And that day he was in paradise with Jesus. So let’s be clear. Everything that Jesus comes to do and accomplish is HIS OWN work done on our behalf, for us, and in our place. That doesn’t change on the Last Day. So knowing what our Lord has done for us in His flesh, let’s listen carefully to the words He speaks about the sheep and the goats and we’ll be rescued once again from despair or false hope.

Jesus says that He will separate the sheep from the goats on the Last Day. It doesn’t say He will decide who’s a sheep or a goat based on what they’ve done. When all people stand before the Lord on the Last Day, they will already be sheep and goats! Jesus says elsewhere, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” He knows the sheep before that Last Day. What is it that makes you a sheep? Your Baptism into Christ. Jesus dies on the cross for the sins of the whole world. That salvation is given to you, bestowed upon you, becomes yours at the holy font. At the moment you are washed with water and the Word, you are born again from above. You are made a part of Christ’s kingdom. At the moment of your Baptism, you are made a child of God. One of Jesus’ little lambs. I want you to realize, dear Christians, that when you stand before the Lord on the Last Day, it will be as His holy and beloved sheep. If you ever doubt that, then remember you Baptism. If you ever are uncertain, if you ever worry that perhaps on that day you will be in the goat line, then hear it again: you are a sheep of Christ because you are baptized into Him! Don’t ever doubt that!

Now listen carefully to Jesus’ next words to His sheep. “Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Think about that for a second. From the foundation of the world. Before we were created or born, our heavenly Father had a kingdom prepared for us. Now, how can we inherit a kingdom by our good works if that kingdom was planned to be given to us before we were even alive to do any good works!? Think about that. Our heavenly Father has already made ready our eternal kingdom before we were ever born or did anything. Which means that when Jesus is speaking to His sheep on the Last Day, He’s not telling them about some reward they’ve earned. He’s giving them a gift that has always been a gift. It has always been something from God’s mercy, not what we have earned or deserved! This is important! These words of Jesus, that the kingdom has already been made ready for the sheep demolish ANY notion that somehow the sheep are getting something they’ve earned or worked for. The key to understanding all this is Jesus, of course. The Bible says that Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That the Father has always intended to send His Son to save us from our sins. The kingdom is prepared before the world was made because it was decided that Jesus would save the world before it was even made! Again, how can you be certain that this kingdom is prepared? That it’s ready for you? That’s what your Baptism says. When you are absolved of your sins, you are being reminded that nothing will keep you from the gift of a kingdom that your Father has prepared. When you eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood, you are united to your Savior in such a way that when He receives His kingdom, it’s YOUR kingdom too. In Christ, all that He has is now yours. And that’s exactly what He’ll say to us on the Last Day. “It’s all yours! Come and enjoy it forever and ever!”

Now we come to the good works part. Again, by listening carefully to what Jesus actually says, we’ll be prevented from reading His words wrongly, misunderstanding them and falling into false fear and despair. Jesus tells the sheep all that good things they have done and then says, “Then the sheep will say, ‘When did we see you all these ways and do all these things?'” When they did it for the least Christian brother, they did it for Jesus. Notice that Jesus tells us that the sheep don’t even know they did these things! They weren’t aware they were serving Christ as they helped their neighbor. In other words, the sheep were NOT doing good works because they were keeping track and trying to get into heaven by doing enough good works! They lived their lives as Christians and what they did, the Lord counts as good works in Christ. Dear Christians, what good works have you done? What will be said of you on the Last Day? The answer is: you have no idea the things you have done for the Lord! You don’t even know how many works you have done! There is so much you have done and accomplished for others and thus for Christ that you don’t even know! But you will on the Last Day. For all the world to see, your good works will be commended by your Lord. They are not commended now. What you do you don’t always know and if you did, you might get smug and proud and self-righteous. But on THAT Day, everyone will know what you have done: not your sins. Those are forgotten in Christ. They will know what good you have done in Christ. Not of yourself. It is the Holy Spirit working through you by faith. As for those who have done no good works? Apart from Christ, their works are nothing. They have despised Christ and their neighbor and they will be sent away to torment! But you, dear Christian, never worry about how you’re doing. Because you are in Christ, your good works are piling up and you don’t even know it!

So beware, dear Christians, of despairing of salvation when you hear the story of the sheep and the goats. Beware of thinking that somehow its all going to come down to what YOU’VE done. If it did, we are all indeed doomed! But on that Last Day, it all comes down to Christ. As it always has. It is His life, death and resurrection that have won salvation for us. It is His Baptizing us that makes us His sheep before that Day. It is His gaining us a kingdom that means it has been prepared before we were even made. It is His living in us through His Word and means of grace that means all our works done in Him are good works. Don’t fear but rejoice in that Last Day. Look forward to it! Because on that Day all that Christ has done for you by His life and all that He has given to you in your life will be fulfilled in the gift of an everlasting kingdom for you to enjoy! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. Pr. Buetow is the editor of the Higher Things Reflections and Internet Services Executive. He has also been a guest on Higher Things Radio.

by The Rev. Mark Buetow

St. Matthew 24:15-28

So the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. Their enemies lay dead on the seashore. They journeyed through the wilderness to Mt. Sinai. Moses went up on the mountain to speak with the Lord. And the Israelites waited. And they waited. And they waited some more. Finally they got tired of waiting. So they told Aaron, “We’re tired of waiting. We don’t know what happened to Moses. So never mind the mountain stuff. Make us gods to lead the way!” So Aaron collected their gold and made a golden calf. But here’s the kicker: what was the calf called? It was called “The Lord.” The Israelites didn’t just make a false god. They attached the True God’s name to it! God’s people are always in danger of this, dear Christians. Since His Ascension, the Lord’s church has been waiting for His return. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Still waiting. And instead of holding on tightly to Christ’s Word and promises, people begin to think, “We don’t know what happened to Christ. Let’s make our own Christ because we don’t know what happened to Jesus.” And so turning away from the true Christ, people make their own Jesus. False Christs and false prophets. But we knew it would happen. Jesus said so. Christ is turned from being the Savior who dies and rises for our sins into some other kind of Christ. A help-with-all-your-problems Jesus. A personal life coach. A philosophy teacher. An angry and mean Judge. A good pal. A Jesus who says that anything goes. The true Jesus is tossed aside and a false Christ arises. Some might even do miracles. The terrible thing is that people put their trust in these false Christs and thereby deny and turn from the real Jesus, the only one who can and does actually save us!

The Lord was ready to wipe those Israelites off the face of the earth. And they deserved it! How could they be rescued by the Lord and then turn around and make Him into a cow? That’s what sinners do. But Moses reminds the Lord of His promises. God had promised to make a great nation from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So for the sake of His Word, because of His promise, the Lord does not destroy them. Oh, they’ve got it coming! But what turns the hand of the Lord’s wrath and anger? His Word. His promise. You and I, who love to trust in something other than the Lord, who, given the opportunity, would nail Him to a cross, are saved by the same thing: The Lord’s promises. Because Jesus dies for the sins of the world, and because He has baptized you into His Son, He will not punish you for your sins. Oh you deserve it, and you’ve got it coming. But it falls on Jesus. The smoke and lightning and thunder of Mt. Sinai are transferred to Mt. Calvary and come pouring down on the Son of God instead of us. Not because we deserved to be saved. But because the Lord promised He would do it. It’s a promise that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. And the Lord doesn’t break His promises. We make our confirmation vow to keep the faith even until we die and we turn away the first chance we get. But our Lord does not turn from us because His vow to save sinners cannot be broken. It’s why Jesus came and did what He did. The same grace of God that spared the children of Israel after the Golden Calf is the same grace which spares us from the punishment of our sins in Jesus Christ.

Notice that the children of Israel didn’t suddenly remember God’s mercy and grace and stop what they were doing though! No, Moses interceded for them. When the Lord was ready to march down the mountain and blast the Israelites into smithereens, it is Moses who reminds the Lord of His promises. In fact, in one of the boldest prayers recorded in Holy Scripture, Moses tells the Lord to repent! And the Lord does! Because Moses prays for those evil people, because Moses throws God’s word and promises back in His own ears, the Lord spares them. Same for us. We don’t suddenly wake up one day and decide we’d better stop sinning and get right with the Lord. We would keep dancing around our idols until our golden cows come home. Instead, Jesus intercedes. He comes to us. He takes on flesh. He stands between the wrath of God and us sinners. He puts Himself between the Father’s judgment of sin and us sinners who have that judgment coming. Christ stands high above us, nailed to the tree of the cross to be a lightning rod to take God’s punishment of sin so that it doesn’t fall on us. And whenever we would sin now, He pleads to the Father for us. As long as Jesus stands before His Father, the Father will never remember our sins or punish us for them. Understand, dear Christians, that what rescues us from our idols is Christ who came and took our place. Now He has taken His place with the Father, praying for us, interceding for us, reminding the Father continually that He has taken our sins away and we are to be spared from everlasting death!

Moses did punish the Israelites for their idolatry. He ground up the golden calf, sprinkled it on the water and made them drink it! Sounds gross! If you want this false god so much, why don’t you eat it! And they did! But in the mystery of God’s grace, since the coming of Christ, we are not made to eat our idols. Rather we are given to eat the Lord Himself in His body and blood. Where the children of Israel were joined with their false god in a way that pointed out their sin and probably made them sick, we are joined to the One who takes away our sin. In that meal of His body and blood, our Lord reminds us that He has taken away our sins. When we eat and drink His body and blood, we do it for His remembrance, that is, He remembers what He has done for us and holds no sins against us. Not our idolatry or any other sin. The true miracle is not some trick that the devil plays with his false Christs showing off. The true miracle, the true sign and wonder is that the Son of God takes the place of sinners to free us sinners from our sin and death.

And that leads us to Jesus’ warning in today’s Gospel about false Christs and false prophets. False Christs and false prophets don’t preach the forgiveness of sins. They may do miracles. They may do signs and wonders. People might look like they’ve been healed. People might have some sort of spirituality or connection to the supernatural. But all of it is the Devil’s tricks if Christ isn’t preached. The Devil wants us to look to other things than Christ but to call them “Christ.” Our repentance is that of the children of Israel: to turn away from anything that is not Christ but is called Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ, that means turn away from any church, any Jesus, any preaching, which isn’t about the forgiveness of sins always. It means run from any teaching that doesn’t point you to your Baptism, where you are certain that you are the Lord’s. Flee from anyone that won’t absolve you for Christ’s sake and comfort you by forgiving your sins. Run from any preaching or teaching that says the Lord doesn’t give His body and blood for you to eat and drink. Run and flee from anything and everything that seeks to have you put your trust in something other than Christ crucified and risen for you, delivered in the means of grace in the church. Oh, other churches or religions may look holy and pious and religious and like they’re having a good time, but they will simply be the objects of God’s wrath on the Last Day. Hear Jesus warning. But hear it and be comforted. Your Lord has told you what to watch out for. And He promises to keep you in His faith and to intercede for you, so that your sins will never stand against you before the Father.

Our countdown to the end of the Church Year has begun today. Time to start paying attention and looking for Jesus to come back! Jesus warns about something called the “abomination of desolation.” We see that all around us as the world makes up and invents false Christs. When people put their trust in these fake Jesuses, that is the abomination. Anything that robs a person of true faith and trust only in the true Jesus, that is the abomination. Should we be worried? No. Because our Lord has warned us. He has given us His Word and that Word cannot be broken. When you are troubled as you look around in these last days, then do as Moses did. Pray with God’s Word. Call upon the Lord in repentance and faith. Cling to Jesus in His holy gifts at the font and altar. Then you will be ready with St. Paul and all the saints for the glorious coming of Christ. And so we wait. And wait. But that day will soon come. And on that day, the trumpet blast won’t be the one of Mt. Sinai, to frighten and terrify. It will be the trumpet blast of our Savior coming to raise us from the dead and bring us to Himself forever. Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. Pr. Buetow is the editor of the Higher Things Reflections and Internet Services Executive. He has also been a guest on Higher Things Radio.

by The Rev. Dan Feusse

by The Rev. David Kind

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Revelation 14:6-7; Matthew 11:12-15

Grace, Mercy and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth – to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people…” The church is both the result of that heavenly proclamation and the body that continues to promulgate it throughout the world. Everything the Church is and does, from the work of her pastors to the activities of the men, women and children that are part of her, is centered in the Gospel, in that glorious proclamation that Christ Jesus has suffered and died on account of our sins, and has been raised for our justification, so that God can say: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” The Lutheran Confessions say that wherever that Gospel is rightly proclaimed, through preaching and the giving of the Sacrament, and where people are gathered to that Gospel, there is the Church.

And yet there are other voices from within the Church that often seem to drown out the angel’s proclamation, and attempt to replace it with something else. Such was the case in the time of the Apostles, when Jewish Christians on the one hand, and Gentile philosopher Christians on the other, attempted to replace the Gospel of Christ with something else, either with an Old Testament piety rooted in keeping God’s Law, or with a supposedly loftier knowledge that could lead one to unification with God on your own with Christ merely serving as a sort of guide. Such was the case during the time of the Early Church where heresies about the person and natures of Christ sprung up all around, seeking to undermine the Gospel by undermining faith in who Jesus really was. And such was the case in the Middle Ages leading up to the Reformation, where the Gospel was thought to be just one part of the salvation equation, a part that required the addition of the believer’s own efforts of will and of good works to attain justification before God.

Today we commemorate the Reformation because through it the din of that false Gospel was quieted so that the angel’s voice could be heard clearly once again in the Church. When Luther nailed his 95 Theses to door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg it was just the beginning. Those hammer blows were the sound of the Gospel starting to knock on the door of the Church once again. The Gospel had been obscured for so long. It was still there, though clouded and overshadowed by the Church’s false teachings. It could still be found, though it was not being proclaimed rightly. But now, at last, it could be heard again. And the sound of it grew through the faithfulness of Luther’s preaching and writing, through the bold confession of faithful lay people, through the preaching of pastors, through the hymns and chorales that were sung in churches and schools and homes, the Gospel was heard with all of its power and clarity and joy once again. Luther’s struggle was always concerning the Gospel. Everything the Lutheran Church fought for in the Reformation had the Gospel at its center.

In the Church there must be more than just a commemoration of these historic events, there must also be a continuation of them in our own time. There must always be an on-going reformation for the sake of the Gospel. Yes, the reformation, or at least what it was about, must go on in every generation. The angel St. John saw in his apocalyptic vision proclaims an “everlasting Gospel”. And so that Gospel must be proclaimed by the Church and in the Church today. More than that, it must be at the center of all of the Church’s thoughts, efforts, and activities. In short, the Gospel must define every aspect of the Church’s life.

But now, as in ages past, there are other voices, other proclamations, that threaten to muffle or drown out the Gospel. The challenges to the Gospel have not and do not go away. Rome, to this day, teaches the same basic thing that it taught before the Reformation, that one must cooperate with the Gospel and add your good works to Christ’s in order to be justified before God. The protestant and non-denominational churches all around us clamor against the Gospel when they root salvation in the will of the believer and his or her decision to follow Jesus and to lead the Christian life. Liberal Christianity shouts another gospel altogether, one not of eternal salvation, but of worldly causes and social justice. And many have now replaced the Gospel with “missions” and the methods to achieve mission goals as the center of their theology and proclamation.

You see, the struggle to be faithful today is really no different than in Luther’s day. The battle today is still over the place of the Gospel in the Church. So is the Gospel just one of many things in the Church’s life, or is it at the center of everything the Church is about and does? St. Paul said to the Church of his day: “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Paul knew that the Gospel had to be at the center of everything. It was not one thing among many. It was the only thing. And if there was something that was not in accord with it, not rooted in it, then it was not to be a part of the Church or her life. And as soon as you put something other than the Gospel at the center of the Church’s life, you will have become one of the other voices, the voices which compete against the voice of that heavenly angel and against the Gospel he proclaims.

But the Gospel will never be silenced. It can’t be. It is an everlasting Gospel. That angel is still flying and still proclaiming. This is the Church’s life, her joy and her hope. And when the Gospel is kept at the center of the Church’s theology and activity, everything else will fall into place out of concern for that Gospel proclamation – liturgy & music, church structure, missions, social action, what have you. They will all come out right. For that which is in complete accord with the Gospel, which has the Gospel at its very core and is suffused with it throughout, is well-pleasing to God. And so the Church must continue to look after itself to make sure that this is the case, that the Gospel is not only a part of what she believes and does, but is at the heart of everything she confesses and practices.

But this is not just a challenge for the Church, it is also a personal challenge for each one of you. Will you hold this Gospel faithfully? Will you allow it to stand at the center of your faith and life? Every force out there outside of the true Church wants you to doubt Christ’s love and forgiveness of you. The heretics tell you that you have not done enough or have not been committed firmly enough, or have not loved Christ enough to be saved. Funny isn’t it, because that’s exactly the message the devil brings to you, accusing you in your conscience in order, not to bring you to repentance, but into to despair. But that’s not his only tactic. He’s happy not to do that, if he can get you to be religious in a different way, in any way that causes you to put your trust in something other than Christ, or even along side of Christ. Because he knows that if he can get you to do that, can convince you of something other than the Gospel itself, that you will be easy prey for him.

It even seems at times that the Scriptures themselves are set against the Gospel. There are two messages there, after all. There’s not only the grace of Christ’s love and forgiveness. There’s also the Law of God with all of its demands on you. So in which should you put your hope? Should you trust in the keeping of the Law in order to become pleasing to God? Or should you look to Christ and His grace? The answer is actually crystal clear in the Scriptures if we will listen to them. It is as the Lord said today through Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah – not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke…” It is not the Old Covenant of works and of Law that brings salvation. And it was never intended to do that. It is the New Covenant of grace through Christ that has always been the means by which God grants salvation. The Law serves the Gospel, the Old serves the New, in that the Law brings us to see our need for the Gospel. It shows us our sins in order that we may turn away from them and seek God’s grace. The Old Covenant was never an end in itself. It was meant to point us to Christ. And so the Gospel, not the Law, is God’s final Word to you.

So what must you do in your personal Reformation? How can you regain the centrality of the Gospel in your life? Just listen. Listen to that angelic proclamation and believe what God says to you through it. And once Christ has laid hold of you by His Gospel, you must also seize it. Having received it by grace, lay hold of it forcefully, as Christ says in today’s Gospel lesson. Now what does that mean? It means let nothing wrest this Gospel from your grip. Let no other voice draw you away from it. For this is your life, you salvation, your eternity. Hold it tight and say to all challengers: “I am justified for Christ’s sake and no other. I have nothing to add, nor could I. And I don’t need to. God has forgiven my iniquity and my sins He remembers no more.” Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, to life everlasting. Amen.

The Rev. David Kind is Campus Pastor at University Lutheran Chapel in Minneapolis, MN. He served as the head Chaplain at “Amen” in Scranton, PA and is a member of the Higher Things Board of Directors.