Category: Higher Homilies

by The Rev. Dr. Rick Stuckwisch

There is both an important similarity and a significant contrast between the Twelve Apostles and these “seventy others” who are sent by Christ in the Holy Gospel appointed for the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (St. Luke 10:1-9). 

The seventy are called, ordained, and sent by Christ Jesus, in His Name and with His authority, to every place where He Himself would go.  So Jesus goes nowhere apart from those whom He sends.  This sending is the continuation of the Apostolic Ministry of the Gospel of Christ; also to this very day, and also to you within His Church on earth.  It continues on the foundation of the Scriptures, including those recorded by St. Luke.  Interestingly, some traditions hold, not unreasonably, that St. Luke was one of those seventy sent ones described in this Holy Gospel. 

In every case, it is the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, who calls and send the Ministers of His Word into His harvest.  And it is the same Lord who provides for them through the agency of His Church and through His people in each place. 

Because they are His Ministers, His sent ones, they bear the Gospel of His Cross; not only in what they say and do, but in their very bodies and life.  They are themselves, He says, like sacrificial lambs sent out among wolves.  They live and work in a hostile world, which would crucify them, as it does Christ Jesus.  Even in this they embody and convey the Gospel, which is of the Cross of Christ, unto repentance and forgiveness, life and salvation, peace and rest. 

So, too, it is by and from and with the Cross of Christ that St. Luke the Evangelist has recorded the Holy Gospel, and also the Acts of the Apostles as the continuation of the Gospel of Christ within His Church.  This Gospel is not simply an historical report, but the living and active Word and work of Christ Jesus Himself, the Good Physician of both body and soul, unto the life everlasting. 

In the Holy Scriptures recorded by St. Luke, it is the voice and the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ that is speaking, and which continues to speak unto the world.  Just as He promised to the seventy sent ones: “He who hears (and listens to) you, hears (and listens to) Me.”  Nor is it possible to know or believe in Christ Jesus apart from the Word that He has spoken and recorded by His holy Apostles and Evangelists.  Faith comes by hearing this Word of Christ.  The Holy Spirit calls you by this Gospel. 

It is on the basis of the inspired record of the Gospel that the called and ordained Ministers of the Word are still being sent to speak and act in the Name and stead of Christ our Lord.  They are sent to speak the “Peace” of Salvation to the household of His Church in every city and every place where Christ Jesus thereby goes.  They are sent to cast out demons, to heal the sick, and to raise the dead, in the name of Jesus; not for immortal life in this sinful, dying world, but for the resurrection of the body to eternal life with Christ and His Father in heaven.  Hence, they are sent to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins by the external Word of the Gospel of Christ.  They are sent to baptize, to absolve, and to commune His disciples, and with these means of grace to give them His real and abiding life in place of death. 

In a way particularly fitting to a physician like St. Luke, the ministers of Christ are sent to administer His medicine of immortality, that is, the Gospel-Word and Sacraments, for the health and strength of body and soul, unto the life everlasting in Him, in His victorious Cross and glorious Resurrection. 

It is by this Ministry of the Gospel that the Kingdom of God comes near to you, and is both among you and surrounding you in the life of the Church on earth; because Jesus is thereby with you, in person and in the flesh.  Therefore, also, it is by this Ministry of the Gospel-Word and Sacraments that Satan continues to be cast out and defeated; although he storms about like a roaring lion, and slithers about like a slippery serpent, seeking to entice you, to capture you and devour you forever. 

To hear and receive this Ministry of the Gospel, is to hear and receive your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ — and in Him, your dear Father in heaven — and the Holy Spirit, for divine, eternal life.  So also, then, to reject this Ministry of the Gospel, is to reject Christ Jesus and the Kingdom of God, and to bring down the wrath and judgment of God upon yourself. 

This is a sobering confrontation with which you are met in the Word of God, one that is to be taken with the utmost seriousness.  But you are not thereby cast upon yourself and your own strength, wisdom or resolve.  The Word that is spoken to you, and the Word by which the holy means of grace are administered to you, is no ordinary Word.  It is no mere body of information for you to process and act upon, but a Word that does and accomplishes (for you) and gives (to you) what it says.  It is a sharp, two-edged sword — of the Law and of the Gospel — which cuts you to the quick, and puts you to death, and then raises you to new life in Christ 

This Word is the scalpel of a Good Physician and expert Surgeon, who cuts you and “kills” you, in order to heal you and make you alive. 

It is especially the Word of the Gospel — incarnate, crucified, and risen in the Person of Christ Jesus, the Son of God — which Prophets, Apostles and Evangelists proclaimed and recorded in the Holy Scriptures by the authority and inspiration of Christ and His Spirit — which your pastors, even now, are called, ordained and sent by the same Lord Jesus Christ to preach and proclaim to you — it is that Word which forgives all your sins (including even your sins of stubborn disobedience and prideful opposition to the Word of God).  By this forgiveness, this Word of the Gospel grants you life and salvation (in place of death and damnation).  It grants you the healing and vitality of the Lord’s New Creation; the peace that surpasses human understanding; and the Sabbath Rest of Christ. 

The Word of the Gospel does all of this, not in some vague or abstract way — out there somewhere, someday, over the rainbow — nor like some warm, fuzzy feeling in your heart, which could just as well be heartburn).  The Gospel, rather, bestows genuine peace and reconciliation with God, the Lord of heaven and earth, and the real life everlasting of both body and soul. 

Thus do we give thanks to God for St. Luke and the other Evangelists, for the holy Apostles, and for the Ministry of the Word of the Gospel in every age and every place.  In our own time and place.  And so do we rejoice in the Holy Communion of Christ that we share with St. Luke, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of the Church in heaven and on earth, both now and for ever.   

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

by The Rev. Mark T. Buetow

St. Matthew 22:1-14

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, how can the Kingdom of God be like a king who sends soldiers to destroy and burn!? How can the kingdom of God be like a king who throws a man into the outer darkness because he has no wedding garment on? How can the kingdom of heaven at the same time be like a wedding reception? How can it be a place of joy when misery is described!? How can such punishment be a part of God’s kingdom when such joy is to be found there?

Jesus’ parable of the Wedding Garment reminds us that for those who reject God’s invitation of salvation, and those who would come without being dressed properly will be cast out and thrown away from the Lord. He has no use for those who despise Him and His grace. On the other hand, there is the beautiful and majestic picture that Isaiah gives us: that the Lord invites us to come and to feast. As we would say, to “pig out!” He invites those who have sinned and turned away to once again cling to Him and return to Him in repentance and know that their sins have been forgiven. Or to put it another way: for those who don’t think they’re sinners and have no use for the Lord’s gracious feast of salvation, there is nothing but despair and death and eternal punishment. But for those who are sinners, cannot save themselves, have no hope of earning such an invitation, they are brought into Christ’s kingdom and made a part of this eternal celebration.

The King sends His servants out to tell people: “The feast is prepared!” Those servants who have gone out are the holy prophets of the Old Testament who continually called God’s people to repentance and faith in His promises. Now they are the preachers who call us to repentance and faith. The feast that is prepared is the feast of salvation. Jesus is the lamb or fattened calf that is slaughtered for our celebration. It is the feast prepared the day our Lord gave His life into death on the cross for the sins of the world. The Wedding Feast of God’s Son is the feast of salvation given on the day that our Lord meets with His Bride, the Church. It is the banquet in which the Son of God is main course, who gives us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink. It is this feast of which we have a foretaste in the Holy Supper of our Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you are invited. You have been brought to the feast, to Christ’s kingdom and church. He has invited you, the good and the bad, all of us who are sinners and unworthy to be here. We don’t have to earn our place. We don’t have to get the right religion or the right piety or some kind of holiness. All is prepared by the Lord Himself. He offers His Son as the sacrifice. His Son gives Himself as the main course. And yet the Son is the Bridegroom for whom the Feast is given! You don’t have to cook or clean or get your life straightened out in order to be in attendance at this feast! The Lord has brought you here to celebrate with Him the marriage feast of His Son, your Savior.

But hear the Lord’s warning. There are those who despised that invitation, some just ignoring the call of “Supper’s ready” all the way to those who slapped the messengers around and then killed them! So the King will show them! He’ll muster his army and march them off to kill those murderers and burn their city! There is a prophecy being made by Jesus here. For centuries, the Lord sent His prophets to remind His people, the physical children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their Savior was coming and to turn from following their false gods. But when that time finally came, rather than welcoming their Savior, they crucified Him. And even when He had been raised from the dead, those people still persecuted and killed the apostles who preached Christ. What was the result of their rejection? In the year AD 70, the Romans came and they wiped Jerusalem off the map. Oh, it’s there today, but can there be any greater insult to the Jewish people than that a Muslim mosque sits where their temple used to? This is a warning, dear Christians, of what happens to those whom the Lord graciously invites but despise His invitation and want nothing to do with Him.

So the Lord sends the invitation to the whole world. Christ’s apostles carry to the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Now, everyone is dragged to the wedding reception. Everyone, bad and good are brought into the Lord’s church. The Gospel is preached around the world. YOU have been brought to the Son’s wedding feast. Now, it was tradition for the father of the groom, who was hosting the wedding, to provide everyone with a special robe to wear during the wedding feast. It marked you as one who was truly invited to the feast (and not a “wedding crasher!”) and who had received an invitation.

You, brothers and sisters in Christ, have been brought to Christ’s wedding feast. In the waters of Holy Baptism, you have been given the wedding garment. You have been, as St. Paul says, clothed with Christ. To be baptized is to be covered with Jesus. And it’s only that robe of Christ’s righteousness that allows you to show up for the wedding feast as an invited guest! In this feast, what do you get? You have the never ending banquet of Jesus’ body and blood. You have the wedding toast raised to sins forgiven, to which we shout not, “Here, here!” but “Amen!” Here, in the church, you have Isaiah’s invitation to come buy and eat without money! Wouldn’t you love to go to Wal-Mart or Kroger and come out with two or three carts full of groceries for FREE? But that is exactly what our Lord gives us in His church: forgiveness of sins, life and salvation for FREE! You don’t have to earn it. You don’t have to pay for it. There aren’t any strings attached. There aren’t any conditions. There aren’t any qualifications. He’s accomplished your salvation on Calvary. He brings you into His church to receive and enjoy His salvation. He prepares you for the Last Day when the final and eternal Wedding Feast begins. Nothing for you to do but live in it. Enjoy it. Receive it. Revel in it. Rejoice in it!

When we are baptized, we are brought into the Lord’s kingdom and given a wedding garment. But here was a man at the wedding who wasn’t wearing one. Why not? I guess he took it off. There’s no reason he shouldn’t have had one on. But he didn’t. And when the King asks why he doesn’t have one, he’s got no answer! Brothers and sisters in Christ: the Lord gives us everything! Only in our sinfulness would we cast off our wedding garments and say, “No thanks, I don’t want to be dressed like Jesus!” Here is our repentance: Not that we sin, but that when we do, we would rather hang onto it and deny it or try to take care of it ourselves.

Who is the one without a wedding garment on the Last Day? It’s anyone who says to Jesus, “No thank you, I don’t want my baptism. I’m not a sinner. I’m fine. Don’t need YOUR wedding garment.”

The church is full of people who have been brought in but they refuse to wear their wedding garment. They want to be members of the church but they don’t want to learn God’s Word, receive the Sacrament often, confess their sins and trust in Jesus. On the Last Day, the Lord will ask them and they’ll have nothing to say. No words to use. No confession to make.

That’s our repentance, brothers and sisters. Here is a warning from Jesus NOT to toss off the wedding garment that we have been given. Here’s a warning from Jesus that what damns is not our sins but if they aren’t covered by Him! You already have the clothes! The wedding garment is already yours! Don’t ever take it off and throw it away! Rather rejoice to stand before you heavenly Father dressed to the nines in the robe of Jesus! His feast. His robe. It’s all yours!

So come to the feast! Everything is ready! The Lord’s got it all prepared. Come and eat and drink without cost! Come and receive Jesus and the forgiveness of sins! Come and celebrate that we are the Bride of Christ. And come and receive all this with no strings attached. It’s already yours! You’ve been given the invitation. You’ve been brought to the Wedding Feast of Christ! Rejoice! The King wants you here! After all, you are the very Bride that His Son has taken for Himself! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Qoin, Illinois. He serves Higher Things as Internet Services Executive and Reflections Editor.

by The Rev. William Cwirla

Readings: Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3; Rev. 12:7-12; Matthew 18:1-11

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10)

In the Name of Jesus.

With the Lord there is always more. More than we dare ask or expect, more than we deserve, and much more than we can see with our eyes.

Today we rejoice in the angels. The angels remind us of a world that is bigger than we are, dwelling in eternal light, incorporeal yet creaturely, easily gliding between heaven’s eternal kairos and earth’s ticking chronos. Spirit-warriors, guardians, heavenly heralds.

Angels are rarely seen, and when they are, they are not like the prettified angels and chubby cherubs you see depicted on Christmas cards. The first words they utter when seen by men is “Fear not,” and for good reason. Their appearance frightening. It drives grown men to their knees. Should we expect any less from one who would twirl the Dragon from heaven by his tail?

Though there are an innumerable myriad of angels, we know only two by name from the Scriptures – Michael the warrior, the protector of Israel and Gabriel the herald, the preacher of the Incarnation. There are the mysterious seraphim, six-winged fire angels who flutter around the throne of God singing an eternal “Holy, holy, holy” to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And there are the cherubim and the countless throngs of heavenly creatures too mysterious for us to comprehend, yet one together with us in worship.

We confess the angels when we confess God as the Maker of all things “visible and invisible.” We human beings are the top of the visibles; the angels are the top of the invisibles. They are stronger than we are, and somewhat higher in the rank of things, though we are the crown of God’s creation. Only Michael and his angels were strong enough to evict the devil and his demons from heaven. But even the angels didn’t do it on their own strength, but on the strength of Christ the Lamb, and His shed blood, and the Word of the Gospel. What gives the angels their strength is the same as what strengthens us: the blood of the Lamb and His Word.

The angels rejoiced on man’s creation day, astounded at the creativity of God that would dare make a creature in His image. The angels rejoice today over the repentance of one sinner who is turned from the lostness of sin and death and found redeemed and restored in the death and resurrection of Jesus. They proclaimed the happy news of Jesus’ conception, His birth, His resurrection. They were on hand for His ascension and welcomed Him to His throne at the right hand of the Father. They will gather the nations together and sort the catch of the resurrection, like fishermen sorting a day’s catch at the seashore or harvesters separating the wheat from the chaff.

Do we still have a place for the angels in our days of Intel processors and iPods and space stations floating in Earth’s orbit? Is there room for the angels in our skeptical age that believes nothing that cannot be counted or measured in some way? Are angels nothing more than a child’s fantasy, along with fairy stories and Santa Claus? They are the “more” of faith, opening faith’s imagination to the splendor of the things unseen.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven,” Jesus says. The “little ones” to whom Jesus refers are not children but disciples, those who trust the promises of God’s Word with childlike simplicity of faith. It is not childish to speak of the angels, but childlike, in the way of a little one who trusts and receives. That is the way of faith in Jesus.

The Lord sends His angels to watch over His baptized, believing little ones. Michael the warrior, who hurled the ancient Serpent from heaven by his tail, together with his angelic armies who conquered by the blood of the Lamb, watch over the Lord’s militant Church and all of her little ones. They do the Lord’s bidding, and His bidding is that you should be guarded against the wiles and deceits of the Evil One. You have angels watching over you. “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.”

Don’t try to get a bead on the angels, though, lest you irritate them. You wouldn’t want to do that! The angels desire neither your attention nor your worship. Their faces are ever turned toward God, where they would point you as well. For it is not by angels that we are saved from sin and delivered from death, but by the blood of the Lamb once slain who lives, Jesus the crucified and risen Son of God, who though equal to the Father was made a little lower than the angels in order to rescue us by His death, whom the angels now adore with unending worship praise.

“Therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Your glorious Name, evermore praising you and saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of heavenly hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” So we sing with the angels in the liturgy, and so they sing with us.

Still let them aid us and still let them fight,
Lord of angelic hosts, battling for right,
Till, where their anthems they ceaselessly pour,
We with the angels may bow and adore.
(Lutheran Service Book #520)

by The Rev. Paul L. Beisel

Matthew 9:9-13

Tax collectors at Jesus’ time were not known for their honest business principles and spotless reputations. Like today’s car salesmen, tax collectors were renowned for taking a little more than was necessary, just to fill their own pockets. They were also a sign of Roman occupation. They were a constant reminder to the Jews that Caesar, and not their own king, was in charge.

Needless to say you would rarely find a devout Jew interacting with one of these tax collectors. By avoiding such public sinners, the Jews thought that they were fulfilling the law. However, by holding themselves on a level above others, they violated the principle of mercy, the characteristic which, above all else, identifies one as belonging to God.

It is God’s mercy, not His holiness that makes it possible for men to approach Him and even sit and eat and drink in His presence. And it is this characteristic of God that Jesus demonstrated by eating and drinking with tax collectors and other sinners, as we heard in the Gospel. It was His merciful attitude toward those who were lacking in personal merit that both attracted unholy sinners to Him and shocked the holier-than-thou Pharisees.

Among these unholy sinners with whom Jesus associated was Matthew. As we heard in the Gospel: “As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.” Matthew’s self-description is less than flattering. If we were to leave our imprint upon a document that we knew would be viewed by many people, we would not hesitate to describe ourselves in the best possible light.

Not Matthew though. In telling the story of his own call by Jesus, Matthew is brutally honest about himself. He makes it known to every generation who reads the Gospel which bears his name what kind of person he was when Jesus found him—a tax collector, a sinner.

For whatever reason Matthew included this detail, it illustrates beautifully the point that Jesus makes in response to the Pharisees: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick […] For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The call to repentance issued by Jesus is not a call to a higher morality, or a call to try harder to obey the Law. If anything, the call to repentance is above all a call to give up on self, and follow Jesus who is a friend to sinners. Followers of Jesus find in Him not another set of demands but a righteousness that is given to them from above, as a gift.

In Christ the same Law that condemns all men to death because of their sins is fulfilled. As Jesus himself said, he did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. For the believer, the Law’s condemning power has been removed since Christ was condemned in our place. Thus St. Paul says: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The righteousness of Jesus, like medicine for the sick, is given to those who have no righteousness of their own. It is, in reality, a higher righteousness than that of the Pharisee, because it comes from God, not from men.

Matthew saw himself in this light, as a sinner who was not worthy to be in the presence of Jesus. But he also saw himself as part of the “many,” the community for whom the Son of Man had come to give His life as a ransom and atoning sacrifice. Through his written account of the words and deeds of Jesus, Matthew beckons other sinners to find their life in the One who says: “Come to me all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

His words, which are essentially the words of Jesus, invite you and I to give up on ourselves, to stop trying to justify ourselves by our own efforts, confess our lack of holiness and to follow Jesus, who has mercy on the poor in spirit, and sacrifices his life for the sake of his enemies.

Without the preservation of these words and acts of Jesus the message of the early Church, that Jesus is the Messiah who became incarnate for our sakes, suffered and died for our sins, and rose from the dead on the third day, would have been subject to error and change without the accurate accounts of it recorded for future generations.

Thus it is fitting for us today to honor the first of the holy Evangelists, St. Matthew, and to praise God for enlisting him in the service of His holy Church. We praise God for the Evangelist that gave us, among other things, the full revelation of God’s name as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is Matthew to whom we are indebted for the institution of Holy Baptism, and the story of Jesus’ escape from Herod and the visit of the Magi.

From Matthew’s pen we learn that Jesus is not only the King of the Jews, but also Emmanuel, God with us. The other Gospels give detailed accounts of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but Matthew’s Gospel is unique in explaining the Lord’s Supper and Jesus’ death in terms of the forgiveness of sins.

From Matthew we learn that Jesus is the promised Messiah, that though he is flesh and blood his true origins are in God. Matthew includes Jesus’ teaching on the Law, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Prayer, Confession, and the Sacrament of the Altar, which may explain why Matthew has occupied a place of honor in the church since the beginning.

Much like pastors’ sermons, the Gospels are to a certain extent windows into the minds and lives of those who wrote them. Matthew was not only a Christian who had been called by Jesus to a life of faith, he was among the Twelve, one of the Apostles, a herald and teacher of the Church, one of those to whom Jesus said, “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.”

The same words that give comfort to many today no doubt served Matthew in the same way: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness; Blessed are the meek.” Matthew learned that there is a cost that comes with being such a public figure and disciple of Jesus. Tradition has it that Matthew, like most of the other disciples, was martyred for his faith.

We may never know what the threat of Martyrdom is like, but we can learn what it means to make daily sacrifices for the sake of this message. At the very least we know that to be a confessing Christian and a disciple of Jesus is not likely to win us any friends. Those who are the most vocal about their faith in Christ to their relatives and friends surely know what Jesus meant when he said that He came not to bring peace but a sword, putting father against son and mother against daughter.

We all must learn that Christianity is more than just a set of principles by which to live, but involves following Christ daily in his death and resurrection. This path begins in the saving waters of holy Baptism, where the Spirit comes to us and the Father declares us as His beloved children.

From there it leads to the altar where Christ nourishes our souls with His true Body and true Blood. And finally it will lead us to our eternal dwelling place where with angels, archangels, and the whole host of heaven we will glorify the name of the Lord forever.

It was for this reason that God became flesh for us and put sin to death in His flesh, so that we might find relief and comfort from the burdens of sin in Him. It is for that reason that Jesus gives us that same flesh and blood to eat and drink in the Sacrament, to renew our flesh and spirit, to unite our flesh with his.

He who once offended the Pharisees because He ate and drank with sinners continues to be just as offensive and surprising, for He eats and drinks with you. He continues to this day to turn heads, not because of his holiness, but because of his great mercy by which He lets undeserving sinners feast in his presence.

This, then, is the greatest miracle of all, not that Jesus makes us better people, but that in Him, in His crucified and risen flesh, our heavenly Father declares us unholy sinners to be righteous in His sight through faith. It was for this message that St. Matthew lived and died, and it is by that message that we are saved.

The Rev. Paul Beisel is Pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Warsaw, Illinois. He also served as an assistant chaplain for Pastor Rick Stuckwisch at Amen in Saint Louis. Pastor Beisel thanks Dr. David Scaer for insights and ideas incorporated into this sermon.

by The Rev. Mark T. Buetow

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Do you know how foolish you are? According to the world, you are morons! Think about it! You get up early on a Sunday morning, a day that most people are sleeping in, or out having a communion of coffee and donuts, or just relaxing or whatever. You come out to sit on the sort of bench you only sit on once a week. And you come to hear a guy wearing what amounts to a dress, almost, stand up and talk to you for 20 minutes about something that happened 2000 years ago. Every week. The same thing that happened 2000 years ago! Don’t you see how ridiculous you look? Don’t you realize how silly this is? Don’t you get it, that it’s a waste of time? That’s the world’s way of thinking! And St. Paul demolishes that sort of thinking with these words from our Epistle for Holy Cross Day: “We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength!” For we know that what happens here, in Christ’s holy church—while it looks utterly stupid to those outside—to those who are being saved this preaching of Christ crucified is exactly how God saves us from our sins!

So thanks be to the Father that He is so foolish as to send His Son to die for sinners! Thanks be to Jesus who is so foolish as to obey the Father and be crucified for our sins. Thanks be to the Holy Spirit whose foolish message of the cross preached into our ears gives us eternal life!

Paul says that “God was pleased to save us through the foolishness of preaching Christ crucified.” Think about that! God saves us by preaching into our ears the Good News that Jesus, true God and true man, was nailed to a cross for our sins! When some Greeks come looking for Jesus at the Feast, all Jesus does is point them to the hour of His death. It’s no good having a Jesus who is a good teacher or a best buddy. He’s not here to make friends and have parades thrown for Him. Here’s here to go to that hour, the hour of His death for sinners. He is here to be lifted up on the cross and take away our sins. He is here to accomplish our salvation by obeying the Father, keeping the commandments, and shedding His blood as the ransom price for setting us free.

Everything Jesus is about, everything He came to do, comes down to the cross. To the suffering He suffers and the death He dies on that horrid instrument of Roman torture. Everything in heaven and earth and all creation and all time and history past and present comes down to this hour of Jesus, the “hour,” the time of His suffering and death. All that God has done and will do is centered on this hour, this moment, this time of the Son of God taking our place in death under the judgment against sins. All of our hopes for any mercy from God rest on Jesus being the perfect Son and the perfect sacrifice for our sins. And having accomplished that salvation, and been raised from the dead, the Lord sends His preachers out to preach nothing else. Because nothing else saves us but the delivery of what Jesus did on Calvary. Delivery through preaching and the sacraments.

But the world doesn’t want THAT sort of religion. The world doesn’t want THAT sort of Jesus. It doesn’t want a dead and bloody Jesus. It doesn’t want a cross covered in Jesus’ blood because WE are sinners! Even most so-called Christians don’t want that! What do people want? Well the really rational and intellectual and thinking people want some “wisdom.” They want preaching that challenges their thinking. They want preaching that stimulates their minds, you know, gets ’em thinking. This stuff about Jesus dying for sinners and miracles is silliness and nonsense. Just give them something practical for their everyday living. Those are the Greeks who seek wisdom! Others are like the Jews: they want signs. They want a Jesus who is knocking people on the ground and making them shake and shiver! They want every disease to disappear instantly. They want miracles and wonders and a changed life! They want a religion they can SEE!

But St. Paul is clear. Wisdom, cleverness, facts, data, information—these things don’t save people. Neither do miracles and strange tongues and preachers slapping sick people on the forehead. None of this is salvation. It’s only true foolishness! No, what saves us from our sins, what makes us Christians, what our religion is all about, is Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. St. Paul won’t let us have a “Jesus, my buddy. Jesus, my pal. Jesus, my guru or life coach.” No, it’s Jesus, and Him crucified for us. THAT is our salvation. Repent of wanting any other Jesus than the one who hung on the cross in your place!

On Holy Cross Day, we celebrate the cross, not for its own sake, but because, like many earthly things, God has attached His Word to it so that it accomplishes or delivers our salvation. We remember, of course, that Baptism is water combined with God’s Word. The bread and wine, when Christ’s Word is spoken, are the body and blood of Jesus. The cross, with the Word—literally, Jesus, the Word!–attached to it, is the means by which our salvation is accomplished. When Adam and Eve sinned and ate from the Tree of Knowledge and brought death, misery and the curse into the world, the Lord kicked them out of Eden so that they could not eat also from the Tree of Life. What would have happened? They would have lived forever cursed and cut off from God! A horrid eternity!

But there IS a new Tree of Life. That tree is the cross. And it is a tree, it’s logs cut from some tree and placed in the ground as a place to hang criminals. But the tree of the cross has fruit that is even better than the original Tree of Life. The tree of the cross has as it’s fruit, hanging on it’s branches, the body of Jesus, and it drips its fruit of blood and water right into the church where we wash and eat and drink and hear His Word and our sins are forgiven and we are saved. The fruit of the cross, it’s bounty, its produce, is the forgiveness of sins!

So why are you here? I think it’s obvious that if it were up to us, we would go the way of the world. We would look at the church and what goes on here and laugh and say, “That’s foolish! What a bunch of morons, those Christians!” But Jesus says, “When I have been lifted up above the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” You have been drawn to Jesus. The whole world has! Some are drawn to Him and all they can do is laugh and make fun of Jesus, the Son of God nailed to a cross. But others, like you, have been drawn, brought to faith by the preaching that St. Paul calls foolishness.

You have been drawn to Jesus by the fruit of His tree, the water that poured from His side into the font. Drawn by the Lord to the font, you were washed and named with the Lord’s own name. When you hear the preaching of the cross, you are being drawn to Jesus. When you are forgiven of your sins, when you despair, when you are troubled, it is the preaching of Christ crucified that draws you to the wounds of Jesus where you have certain and lasting peace. When you come to the Lord’s Supper, you have been drawn by the Lord to eat more of the fruits of that tree, the cross, by eating and drinking the body and blood that were broken and shed on Calvary now given you to eat and drink.

By His gifts, Jesus, brings you to Himself and bestows upon you and gives to you all that He won for you on the cross. In a sense, Holy Cross Day is a celebration of preaching and Baptism and the Lord’s Supper because it is by those holy means of grace that what was accomplished on the holy cross by the Son of God is given to you and made yours. It is by those gifts that you live by the cross and what happened there: the death of Jesus for your sins.

I know, it’s pretty silly. It’s foolish even! But God’s foolishness is way wiser than any wisdom and knowledge of man! What a crazy and outlandish thing that the Son of God would become man and then be beaten and nailed to a cross! That saves us? It sure does! What a crazy thing, foolish even, that the Lord would take that salvation and splash it on you with water or feed it to you with body and blood given with bread and wine. It’s crazy, isn’t it? But it’s life! The world doesn’t know anything about it! The world is dying in its sins because it thinks it’s so smart! Jesus prayed to His Father that He would glorify His name. The Father replies, “I have glorified it and will glorify it!” To glorify His name doesn’t mean that the Father says, “Oh, I’m God, I’m so great!” No, God’s name is glorified when Jesus hangs on the cross and sinners are saved. So you are here today, brothers and sisters, because God’s name has been glorified in you. You have been drawn to the cross and made a child of God by Jesus’ holy gifts. All glory be to Jesus who hung upon the holy cross that it became the new Tree of Life and by His death we sinners are saved! Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Qoin, IL. Pastor Buetow is Editor of the Higher Things Reflections and Internet Services Executive.

by The Rev. Brent Kuhlman

Acts 2:38-39
Baptism of Tyler Joseph Gilsdorf

“The Son of Man came to save that which was lost,” (Matthew 18).  Jesus died for everyone.  There’s none He didn’t die for.  Can you name anyone Jesus leaves out of His Good Friday Calvary dying?  . . . I didn’t think so.  Jesus died for you.  Jesus died for Tyler too.  Winning and achieving the salvation that only He could do.  And He did!  “It is finished!”  The sacrifice for all sin is done in the death of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

Jesus would bestow on sinners for whom He died the forgiveness of sins won by His Good Friday dying.  And so He institutes Holy Baptism.  “Make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28).

So the church baptizes according to the Lord’s mandate.  According to His bidding.  Always has.  Always will.  Until the Last Day that is.  Right away, then, the blessed apostle Peter invites sinners to Holy Baptism.  “Be baptized every one of you.”  “Every one of you.”  Not some.  Every one means “every one.”  What part of “every one of you” don’t you understand?  The “every one of you” of Acts 2 matches the “all nations” of Matthew 28.   

“Be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus, (the Jesus who died for you).” 

And then Peter extols the benefits promised in Holy Baptism.  Remarkable benefits.  Heavenly benefits.  Salvation benefits.  Listen again.  “Be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”    

Whoa!  Did you catch that?  It’s right there in the Bible!  Very clear.  No doubt.  From an apostle who learned it from Jesus Himself.  “Receive Holy Baptism everyone.”  For what reason Peter?  For what gift Peter?  “For the forgiveness of sins.”  The forgiveness won by Jesus on the Cross.  Holy Baptism delivers that forgiveness!  Good Friday forgiveness!  Outstanding!   

“Be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus.”  For what reason Peter?  For what benefit Peter?  “And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life.  Life!  New life.  New birth!  Regeneration!  In Holy Baptism.  The water together with the mandate and institution Word of Jesus Himself. 

St. Paul agrees.  That’s in Titus 3.  “God saved us . . . through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.”   Washing.  That’s Baptism.  And with that the regeneration  or gift of new life from the dead by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told Nicodemus that sinners are received into the kingdom of God through Holy Baptism:  “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” (John 3).  Water and the Spirit.  Everyone knows that’s Holy Baptism.  Sounds just like what Peter said.  “And you (you who are baptized) will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  Told you Peter learned it from the Lord.

I can just hear it now.  “Well Reverend, we’ll grant you that Jesus says ‘all nations,’ and that Peter says, ‘every one of you.’  But Scripture nowhere says that a little one like Tyler should be baptized.  Got you there Reverend!”

Not so fast my friend!  Better listen to the rest of what Peter says.  You might just be delightfully surprised.  Go ahead Peter.  I’ll let you tell them.  “All right Pastor Kuhlman.  This promise   . . . (the promise of forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit) in Holy Baptism IS FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN.  And what is more . . . IT IS FOR ALL WHO A FAR OFF, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 

For you.  For your children.  For all. 

Jesus died for you.  He died for Tyler.  Baptism is for you.  For your CHILDREN.  For all.  Because it gives Calvary’s forgiveness and new life through the Holy Spirit.  No wonder Jesus makes the promise is Mark 16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” 

The “little ones” who believe in Jesus are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18).   Belief.  That’s faith.  Trust.  In Jesus.  Who gives such wonderful salutary gifts in Holy Baptism.  The Father’s will is that none of the “little ones” who believe and who have angels to watch over them should ever “perish.” 

You are a “little one.”  Tyler is a “little one.”  For whom Jesus died.  Winning your salvation.  And then bestowing what He achieved at Calvary in Holy Baptism.  “Be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This promise is for you and your children.”  Happy Baptism Day Tyler!  Happy remembering and rejoicing in your Baptisms, dear Christians!

In the Name of Jesus.

Rev. Brent Kuhlman is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Murdock, NE. Pastor Kuhlman serves on the Higher Things Board of Directors as Vice President.

by the Rev. Mark T. Buetow

St. Matthew 6:24-34

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God has given you all things in Jesus. Forgiveness is yours. Life is yours. Heaven is yours. The Lord Himself is yours in Christ. You are washed and claimed by the Lord in Holy Baptism. The sins that once stood against you have been cast aside by Holy Absolution. The Body and Blood of Jesus are your regular feast. The Good News of the Son of God’s death for your sins is the testimony of the Lord Himself that He loves you and cares for you in and through His Son. That is true riches!

St. Peter tells us that we have been given an inheritance, set aside in heaven for us. The Catechism reminds us that gold and silver are not the treasure, but the holy, precious blood of Jesus which rescues us from our sins. The Catechism also reminds us that our Father in heaven gives us ALL that we need for our body and life. From our earthly life to eternal life, our Lord’s got us covered!

So, why, oh, why must we get all worried about stupid Mammon!? Why do husbands and wives have to fight about who spends what and how much? Why do kids hate their parents when they don’t buy them what they want? Why do we spend, spend, spend on the latest stuff that will be out of date a few months or years from now? Why do we worry and fret when it’s time to pay bills? Why does the church struggle to pay her bills and every meeting is either about how to spend the money we have or why we don’t have enough? Money, money, money! Mammon.

Understand: our idolatry is NOT that we have stuff. Not that we buy things we want or get sad when the things we have are taken from us. No, our idolatry is that we don’t believe that the Father has given us EVERY good gift in Jesus Christ. Sure, we’re baptized and have Jesus’ body and blood and the preaching of the Gospel. But does that put food on the table? Does that mail a check to the credit card company? Never mind church. We’ve got real problems to worry about! Repent of that thinking, dear Christians, as if EVERY good gift in Christ is somehow not enough.

To rescue us from the despair that mammon brings, Jesus lifts our eyes to look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Think about this. Every time you see the mess that a bird left on your windshield, you can say, “Yep. My Father in heaven is still feeding the birds! I guess He’ll feed me too.” Every time you see flowers growing at the side of the road, you can be certain, “Yep. My Father in heaven is making the flowers look beautiful. I guess He’ll make sure I don’t go around naked too!” Think about that, brothers and sisters in Christ! Birds and lilies! Birds that take target practice on your car. Flowers that are beautiful one day and dried up and gone the next. The Father in heaven makes sure they are fed and clothed. And you’re going to worry if He’s going to take care of you? Doesn’t that even sound silly? Aren’t you more valuable than dive-bombing pigeons and dried-up petunias? Of course you are! But not because there’s something valuable in you by yourself.

You’re valuable because you are in Christ. Because you are God’s child in Jesus. Because the Son of God became what you are. Because He came and took on your flesh. You are valuable because the Son of God gives you value by taking on your sins and taking them to the cross. The value you have is that you have been redeemed, bought back from sin and death by the death and resurrection of Jesus. If the Lord has bought you, claimed you, made you His own, do you think He’s just going to throw you to the wolves? Let you starve? Keep you out of heaven after all? No way! You are His. Do you suffer? Jesus has suffered even more. What pain you have from this life, Jesus had more. He came into this world to take every bit of your pain, your suffering, your worry, and all your sins upon Himself, to take them away. When you are tempted to worry, to get cranky about your mammon, to get all worked up over the stuff and junk of this life, then stop a minute and behold the cross and there be convinced and certain that your Father is looking out for you.

So what about your clothing? No worries there. You have been dressed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness, given you at your Baptism. By water and the Word, the Lord has claimed you and marked you as His own. You’ve been given the Spirit, the down payment of your inheritance. Everything is yours in Jesus, Child of God! What about what to eat? A never ending feast: Jesus’ body and blood given for you to eat and drink. It won’t run out. Because there’s no running out of Jesus. He always has more to give. Brothers and sisters in Christ, when you find yourself worrying and fretting and getting all worked up over silly mammon, just look up at the birds. Just look around at the lilies. Come to church and hear all of what God has given you in Christ. Learn of the Father’s goodness in and through Jesus.

Now, I know, because I doubt it myself, that all of these gifts of God sound great, but they don’t pay the bills. So what then? Do you think that even though the Son of God gave Himself into death for you that just for kicks, the Father is going to watch you starve? Brothers and sisters in Christ: what Jesus is teaching us with His Words today is that the ONE thing that matters is our salvation. EVEN food and clothing are not concerns to God, because He will take care of it.

The Scriptures are full of examples of people who are at the end of their ropes, yet the Father provides for them. For example, the widow we heard about who had nothing left but enough for a last meal for her and her son. Yet the Lord provides for her a never failing bottle of oil and jar of flour. They don’t run out. Or consider the children of Israel who wandered in the wilderness for forty years, yet their clothes and shoes never wore out. Consider the preaching of the apostles who had little or nothing of their own, yet were provided for wherever they went.

And what about you? Do you still think that your Lord would give His life for you and then let you starve? If you are down to wondering where even your next slice of bread will come from, then come to your pastor. I’ll make you a sandwich. And if I’m down to my last crust of bread, then we’ll go to Maggie and Gene’s for fresh chicken. And so on, you get the idea. All that clothing and food stuff, that’s no problem for the Lord. And even if He were to take it all away. What then? Well, you still have all things in Jesus. You do. You really do.

It’s easy to worry about that stupid mammon. Jesus teaches us that such worry is an attempt to serve mammon. But you can’t have two masters. So Jesus comes and He has one Master, His Father, to whom He is obedient by dying for us mammon-loving sinners. He gives His life into death for our sins. He rises again to show that He has conquered sin and death and worry about mammon. He has washed and claimed you at the font, clothing you in robes more beautiful than lilies. He feeds you with His own body and blood, a feast far better than the birds get. He has prepared for you mansions in His Father’s kingdom, far better than the high-maintenance houses we live in now. So the next time a bid lays a big splatter on your car, just smile and say, “Amen.” For that means you have such a Jesus as has gotten you a kingdom and given you His righteousness and will add all the other things too. Amen.

Rev. Mark Buetow is Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quion, IL. He is the Internet Services Executive of Higher Things.

by The Rev. Brent Kuhlman

St. Matthew 22:1-14

Absolutely incredible isn’t it?

Who would not want to party at a wedding feast?  Especially when King God’s throwing the party.  The Good Friday salvation of the world party.  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world party.  Feasting on the salvation won by King God’s Son Jesus Christ.  Eating the bread which is His Body.  Drinking from the chalice of wine that is His Blood.

Yes, the wedding feast of God’s only Son, the Savior Jesus.  The Father has splurged!  He has spared no expense.  Gave His Son into death for your sin.  Sacrificed everything.  And now He invites you to the feast.

Everything is ready.  Enjoy.  It’s all for you.  Eat and drink.  Eat and drink some more.  Salvation’s banquet is for you.

And there are those who would rather fast.  Diet.  “No thanks!” they say.  “We’d rather not party with you or your Son.”  Others just ignore or “File 13” the King’s invitation.  One guy has his fields to tend, chores to do, and fences to mend on his farm.  Another has important pending business.

Haven’t you heard?  The economy’s tanked!  We must give our full attention to saving the farm – saving the business – salvaging our investments – following Warren Buffet’s lead.  No time then to be at the Son’s table!  Maybe another time.  . . . Yeah, right!

And then there are those who are so irritated by the invitation, that they kill the King’s servants for doing their duty.

Absolutely incredible isn’t it?  Saying no to the Son’s Good Friday salvation of the world-wedding banquet.  Filling time for worship with all kinds of stuff.  Everyone has an excuse.  No, everyone has millions of excuses.  But they all ring hollow compared with the abundant generosity and richness of the Son’s wedding banquet.

Jesus says:  “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.”  You’d think people would be mobbing the doors of our congregation to receive such a wedding banquet gift.  The medicine of immortality.  Offered right here at the Sacrament.  But (yawn!) it doesn’t happen.

But the King is persistent.  Very persistent.  He wants you at his Son’s wedding feast.  More servants are sent to gather “as many as they can find.”  Even – “the good and the bad.”  When Israel wouldn’t come to the feast, the invitation went out to the Gentiles.  That’s you and me.  And if you won’t come, then the invitation will go out to others.

After all, when God throws a party it is the biggest shindig the world has ever seen.  And He doesn’t leave anyone off the invitation list.  Jesus died for all.  He died for all sin.  He leaves no sinner outside of His death.  He excludes no sin from His dying.

Now, if you want to stubbornly refuse to feast or remain apathetically indifferent to the Lord’s party of free salvation, then go right ahead.  But I warn you.  You’ll get what you want.  You’ll be left out of the feast and thrown into hell where there’s forevermore weeping and eternal grinding of teeth.  And the only person you’ll have to blame is yourself.  Don’t blame God.  Don’t blame the servants who are sent with His invitation.  God’s will is for you to be at His Son’s party.

And so incredibly the King even supplies the clothes for the wedding party’s bash.  Wedding garments.  Provided most graciously.  He clothes His guests with His Son’s perfection.  His Son’s righteousness.  “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ,” Scripture says.

The ticket into the feast is Christ.  Being robed in Him and the Good Friday forgiveness He won for you.

But then the King spies someone.  He dares to attend without wearing the wedding garment.  He comes boasting in himself.  “I’m the big cheese!  Christ?  Who needs Him?  I’m just fine on my own!”

No wonder the King is disgusted.  Outraged.  The bouncers are called.  And the man is thrown out.

Then comes the end of the parable:  “Many are called but few are chosen.”  Not an explanation.  Just an observation.  In other words, all are invited but few end up at the party.  That sure isn’t God’s will.  It isn’t the King’s fault.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus died for you.  Jesus rose from the dead for you.  He has clothed you with His perfection and holiness in Baptism.  You are forgiven.  The banquet is here.  You are the invited and honored guests.  Happy eating and drinking.  The feast is ready.  Come to the feast.  The good and the bad.  Come and be glad.  Greatest and least.  Come to the feast.

In the Name of Jesus.

Rev. Brent Kuhlman is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Murdock, Nebraska. Pastor Kuhlman is Vice-President of Higher Things.

by the Rev. William Weedon

[Proverbs 3:1-8 / 2 Cor. 4:7-10 / John 1:43-51]

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Those words from today’s Old Testament reading set up for us the opposition that frequently arises between our ways and the ways of the Lord. We have our notions of how He OUGHT to act; what He ought to do; how things should be. But He consistently blows us away with doing things in a way that appears downright silly to us. His ways, though, pan out in the end, and we’re left confessing that we’re not nearly so smart as we thought we were.

Along comes Philip with news to knock the sandals off a devout Jewish believer of the first century. “We’ve found Him!” he cries to his buddy Nathanael (also known as Bartholomew, whose festival we celebrate today). “He’s the One Moses and the Prophets wrote about. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph!”

It was the “of Nazareth” that was the sticking point. To Nathanael, that made no sense whatsoever. As the Pharisees would point out later: No prophet arises from Galilee. Nathanael, using his mind, his reason, was thus skeptical of Philip’s news. “Nazareth?” he repeats. “Can anything good come from there?”

And here we see Philip being wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove. Does he argue with his friend? Does he attempt to reason with him and show him the fallaciousness of his argumentation? Nothing close! Instead, with (I suspect) a twinkle in his eye, Philip spoke three words that we need to take to heart: “Come and see.” (John 1:46)

Come and see! That’s the constant invitation of the Christian Church when she encounters those who are skeptical of our Lord and His claims. We invite them to come with us to where the Lord may be found – here as we gather in His name, around His words, and His Holy Sacrament. We gather to Him, and we know the great task of evangelism isn’t persuading others to believe, but rather inviting them to come with us to meet Jesus of Nazareth and let HIM do the persuading.

How well does it work with Nathanael? As he comes trailing Philip, skeptical of what he will find, our Lord looks up and says of him: “Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” (John 1:47) A man who simply calls things as he sees them, no pretense and hypocrisy. The sort that makes most folks uncomfortable, because he won’t engage in the polite lie.

But Nathanael is confounded by this. Confused. HOW did Jesus know this of him? How could He know what sort of person he was? Has someone been talking about him? “How do you know me?” he asks. (John 1:48)

And well might those whom we invite to meet with Jesus here in the Divine Service proclaim the same. For how many times have WE had the experience, where the Word of God revealed to us things about ourselves that we weren’t even prepared to see or face, and we wondered: how does He know me so well? For He does know us. Inside and out. Behind all the pretenses and the pretentions; behind all the fears and the failures. He knows us. And even so, He welcomes us, just as He did Nathanael, Matthew, Mary Magdalene, and any other poor sinner who came to Him and sought His fellowship.

“How do you know me?” Nathanael had asked. Jesus answers: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” (John 1:48) From Nathanael’s response it is obvious that our Lord was nowhere in sight – nowhere where he COULD have seen him in the ordinary way. But He saw him nonetheless. Though we may introduce our friends to Jesus, Jesus never needs to be introduced to our friends. He sees them and knows them through and through long before we even thought of asking them to come meet Him. He’s waiting for them.

Nathanael is blown away: “Rabbi,” he cries. “You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49) Our Lord appears amused by that. “Because I said to you I saw you under the fig tree do you believe? You will see greater things than these. Amen, amen, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:50-51)

Some have opined that Nathanael was reading or meditating on that passage about Jacob and the vision of the ladder, so that Jesus’ words would be all the more astonishing. He is the link between earth and heaven, the eternal Son come down to earth precisely so that we can ascend in and with Him to the Father. Not under a fig tree, upon a tree nonetheless, He will hang between heaven and earth, uplifted on His Cross, pouring out His blood, so that all who shelter beneath that TREE in faith, receive forgiveness for all sins and rescue from death and the devil, and can come home with Him to the Father’s house.

Trust in the Lord Jesus with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. That’s what Nathanael did when he left behind his skepticism and came to faith and became an Apostle of the Lamb – he spent the rest of his earthly days inviting others as Philip had invited him to come and meet the Lord Jesus Christ, to know Him as Son of God and King who reigns from a cross. Not leaning on his own understanding, but strengthened by the promises of the Gospel he faced a horrific martyrdom – flayed alive according to Church tradition –yet he joyfully gave up his life trusting that in Jesus he had a life that was stronger than death, a forgiveness so complete and full that set his heart singing even as the knives dug in.

The Rev. William Weedon is pastor of Saint Paul Lutheran Church in Hamel, IL. He and his wife Cindy enjoy time with their teen and twenty-something children, reading, bike riding, and swimming.

by The Rev. Mark T. Buetow

St. Luke 10:23-37

OK. I’ll admit it. Jesus is making me nervous. As a Lutheran, it’s been drummed into my brain my whole life: we are saved by grace, not by our good works. Jesus saves us, not what we do. Our sins are forgiven because Jesus died for them, not because we do good works for other people. So when this young expert in the Law of Moses says, “Love God. Love your neighbor” and Jesus says, “Do this and you will live”–that makes me nervous!

Is Jesus telling this guy that if he loves God above all things and loves his neighbor as himself, he’ll be saved? Get to heaven? Have eternal life? The Law says “Love God and love your neighbor.” To show us what that means, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan which shows that we’re supposed to help people in need. And THAT is what most people think the Christian faith is all about: be good to other people and you’ll get to heaven. That’s why I say it makes me nervous when Jesus tells this guy: “Do this and you will live.” But as always, Jesus’ words aren’t there to condemn us but to save us. His Word isn’t given to us to teach us how to earn eternal life. His Word is given to teach us how HE saves us. Jesus doesn’t tell the story of the Good Samaritan to teach the guy some moral lesson on how to be nice to people. He tells him the story to save him from trying to save himself.

The Gospel says that when Jesus answered him, the young law expert “wanting to justify himself” asked, “Who is my neighbor.” There’s the key. He wanted to justify himself. To justify means to show why he’s right. He wanted to save himself. To show Jesus that he can keep the law. And it’s our problem too. We want to justify ourselves.

To justify means to make up a reason why we’re right. Husbands and wives often try to justify themselves when they buy something they weren’t planning to come home with. Kids justify themselves when they make up reasons why their grades weren’t as good as they should be. To God, “justify” means to “be right and make right.” For us, though, “justify” seems to mean “make up excuses.” The Law of God is simple, as the young law expert knows: You love God above all things. You love your neighbor as yourself. In fact, you can’t love God without loving your neighbor, as Jesus taught him. But we, like the lawyer, want to justify ourselves. The Law says, “Love God. Love your neighbor.” We say, “But I can’t do it.” The Law replies: “Love God. Love your neighbor.” And we say, “I can’t do it. But I have a good reason for not doing it.” And the Law replies: “Love God! Love your neighbor!” “No, we say, it’s impossible.” And the Law just does its thing: “Love God. Love your neighbor. Or go to Hell!” That’s what the Law says. That’s all it says. You can’t make excuses. You can’t get around it. Either love God and your neighbor or you are doomed.

That is why, when the man gets beat up and robbed and left half dead in the story, the priest and the Levite pass by on the other side. What Jesus is teaching this lawyer who wants to justify himself is that HE, the man, is the guy who is beaten up and robbed. His righteousness is stolen by the devil and he is beaten to a pulp by sin. And when the Law comes, what does it do? It can’t help. It can’t save. It can’t rescue. It just tells us what to do and what will happen if we don’t do it. That is why the priest and the Levite, who represent the Law in Jesus’ story, just go on their merry ways. They can’t help. But a Samaritan does. He has compassion on the man. And having compassion doesn’t mean he just stands there and feels sorry for the guy, it means he does stuff. He cleans and bandages his wounds and takes him to the inn to recover. He pays the expenses.

So when the Law doesn’t save you, the Lord has compassion. And God’s compassion doesn’t mean that He sits up in heaven feeling sorry for you. It means He does stuff. And what He does is to send His own Son into the flesh. And Jesus is born and has compassion on sinners. Not by feeling sorry for them but by doing stuff. He suffers Himself to be arrested and mocked and beaten and spit upon and jeered and hated and crucified. He carries our sins on Himself and dies for them on the cross. He is beaten and hangs all the way dead on Calvary for sinners. That’s the Lord’s compassion! The compassion of our Lord is not in His somehow taking pity on our puppy dog eyes! His compassion is to come to us who are half-dead from sin, who have been beaten and robbed by the devil, and to save us. To rescue us. To heal us.

But the Samaritan’s compassion doesn’t stop there. He takes the man and carries him to an inn and puts him in the care of the innkeeper and makes sure to provide for all his expenses. So it is that Jesus doesn’t just die for us and then go away. He pours His oil and wine from His own wounds into the wounds of our sins. That is, He washes us in the waters of the holy font and pours into us His own blood. He carries us, by the preaching of the Gospel to the inn of His church. There he puts us under the care of his pastors, his innkeepers, that we might have rest from our sins. He covers all the expenses and makes sure that he’ll cover more if there are any. That is why in the Christian church there is no limit to the forgiveness of our baptism, no limit on how many times the absolution can be spoken or Jesus’ body and blood be given and received.

Do you see, dear Christians? We are half-dead and lying by the side of the road. And we’ll die all the way, eternally, if the Law has anything to say about it, because it just passes us by. But not so Jesus, our Good Samaritan. He comes into our misery and mess and saves us. He is teaching this young lawyer guy that it is HE that needs saving. He is teaching us that it is WE who need to be saved. No justifying yourself. No making excuses to the Lord. The Law will pass you by and leave you dying. But the Savior gives His life to save yours. You will not die because Jesus has gone through death and suffering for you, in your place. That is what it means that God truly justifies you. Not your excuses, but the wounds of Jesus. Not your works, but the Word and Sacraments of Jesus. You can’t justify you. But Jesus does by what He has done for you and in your place.

Now, I don’t want you to think there is nothing to do for your neighbor now. The lawyer’s problem was that he wanted to say he loved God without doing anything for anyone else. God doesn’t need our hugs and kisses. We love God BY loving our neighbor. What Jesus is teaching this man and us is that our neighbor was not put on this earth to be the way in which we get ourselves to heaven! But our neighbor is given to us to love and serve. Jesus is teaching us to have compassion on others not by thinking about them but by DOING for them. When you see someone in need, don’t mess around with whether you like them or don’t like them or whether they’ve done anything for you or things like that. Rather, if you see them in need, help them out! And NOT because it saves you. Your salvation, your justification, is a done deal. Squared up by Jesus. The price is paid by the Samaritan and His money purse. You—you are free to have compassion on your neighbor, precisely because you DON’T have to impress God. Which is a good thing, since we often mess up loving our neighbor so much. Never mind! Back at it. When you find yourself trying to be religious without loving your neighbor, repent! Likewise, when you find yourself trying to justify what you do or don’t do to God, repent! Back to the inn, back to the church, back to oil and wine, that is, font and altar and Word. More Jesus for you. For He doesn’t leave you but comes back to check on you. That is, He comes over and over to give you His gifts for forgiveness and healing.

There is a wrong way to read the story of the Good Samaritan. The wrong way is to think that Jesus is teaching us how if we do good things for other people, we’ll get to heaven. That’s what the young lawyer thought. Jesus spoke to rescue him from that way of thinking. The right way to read and hear this story is this: in our sin, we are the guy in the ditch. Jesus is our Good Samaritan who rescues us and saves us. Yet if Jesus is the Good Samaritan, then we are the Good Samaritan too. Because in Jesus, God the Father smiles upon all of our good works, no matter how weak they look to us or the world. If Jesus ain’t the Good Samaritan, ain’t nobody the Good Samaritan. But since He is the Good Samaritan, so are you in God’s sight. And that’s not you justifying yourself. That’s God Himself justifying you in Jesus. That’s Jesus being your neighbor. Amen.

Pastor Mark Buetow serves Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. He also serves as the Higher Things Internet Services Executive and taught as a Plenary Speaker at the Amen conferences.