Category: Lectionary Meditations

“But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven….”

Isaac was the son of the promise. Abraham had waited long for Isaac. But then God instructs Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. It is a harsh lesson, a harsh reminder. Even though Isaac is a gift, the wages of sin remains death. And Abraham sees the creeping death of old age advancing in his body; he’s lived and fought and killed. Abraham knows death, and He knows that God is right to demand death. Even Isaac’s death.

So Abraham goes. He knows that there needs to be death on account of sin, but Abraham also trusts God. He tells his servants that both he and Isaac will return. And Abraham and Isaac go to the mount, and they build the altar. Isaac knows something is off – there is no lamb. God will provide the lamb, just as God had provided Isaac.

And then there is Isaac, bound on the altar. Abraham, with his knife raised. The wages of sin is death. Death. Death is coming. But then Christ Jesus speaks – for He is the Angel of the LORD – and Jesus puts an end to Isaac’s death. Isaac will not die, for another will go in his place. This day it was a ram.

But Christ Jesus is not content to rescue just Isaac, nor is He content to rescue him for just a few more decades. Jesus Himself would come to be the true and full atoning sacrifice. He would be the true Lamb of God that takes away the sin and death and shame of the whole world. He would go to the Cross. Jesus values the life of Isaac, the life of Abraham, the life of you and me, more than His own. And thus, Jesus wins for us forgiveness and life. Abraham saw this and rejoiced. Likewise, we see in Christ’s death our own salvation and life, and we rejoice at this wonder too.

“-for in truth the LORD sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Jeremiah had stirred up a hornets’ nest. He had been calling the people to repentance from their wickedness, and they didn’t like it one bit. In fact, their response to his preaching was, “You shall die.” Kill the preacher.

Of course, in reality it wasn’t Jeremiah who caused such a consternation that day. The LORD had sent him. It wasn’t Jeremiah’s word, it was the Word of the LORD. And this is what Jeremiah points out – I’m not making things up, I’m not preaching on my own whims or fears or wishes – this is simply what God says. And you can kill me if you want, but this is the word of the LORD.

Jeremiah lives that day. Doesn’t always live comfortably – they end up dragging him off into exile. Other prophets do end up killed. But these are all prologue. The day would come when the LORD Himself would come to His people, the Word Incarnate would preach, and people demanded His death. And they killed Him. They put Jesus on a cross just to shut Him up.

And the temptation that we face, especially when Jesus’ Word hits too close to a sin that we hold near and dear to our hearts, is to try to shut Him up again, to silence Him, to ignore His Word. But instead Jesus still sends preachers, preachers who proclaim the Word of the Lord. They proclaim your sin – your deadly and vile sin, but they proclaim Christ the Crucified who died to redeem and free you from that sin. God grant that He keep sending preachers to us!

“He shall bruise your head” – Genesis 3:15

So the LORD comes into the garden, and Adam and Eve have sinned. They have listened to the Serpent instead of Him, and all His good creation is shaken and tarnished and left to fall apart. And His Adam and His Eve are hiding and afraid. Even when, especially when He comes to them.

And they come out and they start talking, and the ravage of sin is already evident. Passing blame, not protecting or caring for each other. It’s a mess. Their lives will be messes. Creation will be full of messes because of them. And that’s going to be rough news to break to them – Eve’s going to hear about pain in childbirth and Adam’s going to learn about the ground being cursed.

But first things first. The LORD’s first response isn’t going to be to lay into Adam or Eve. No, the first thing to do is to deal with Satan. And there, in the Garden, Jesus told Satan that He was coming for him. There Jesus promised that He Himself would come and crush Satan under His feet to free His Adam, His Eve, His you, His me. All the other stuff – the impact of sin – that can wait for a moment. Jesus will bear that and pick that up too, but first things first – Satan, you are toast.

Even before the impact of sin is declared and shown, the LORD Himself declares the defeat and destruction of the Evil One. And this is precisely what we see play out in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Oh, to be sure, Satan strikes at our Lord, bruises His heel – but the Serpent’s head is shattered by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Come quickly, O Christ Jesus our true and living Head!

“Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” – Isaiah 35:4b

Revenge doesn’t sound like a very Christian thing. In fact, we are instructed not to seek out revenge because vengeance belongs to God, He will repay. And then we have Isaiah talking about this vengeance actually happening. God coming and there is vengeance, recompense, payback.

So what does God’s vengeance look like? How does His recompense take place? Sometimes, in our fears and doubts we think it might look like boils on our skin or pain and suffering – God striking us down for our trespasses. But that’s not what Isaiah says. What does God’s vengeance and recompense look like? It looks like Jesus coming to save you.

God vengeance is this. He becomes man, and He Himself opens the eyes of the blind and heals the deaf. He makes the lame to leap as a dear and makes the mute sing for joy. His vengeance is not against you, but it is a vengeance against sin and Satan and death to rescue you. The recompense is not pain or suffering for you, but rather Jesus Himself takes that all up upon the Cross to deliver you from it.

God is not some petty tyrant. He is not a nagging relative who is going to sit around and say, “I told you so,” after you do something stupid. The LORD saves. That’s what He does. He saves you, and His vengeance, His might, His power – these are all for your good, to rescue you from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Jesus died and rose so that you would be rescued from sin and death and raised to life everlasting.

“You shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” – Exodus 17:6

Poor Moses. Hardly out of Egypt in the Exodus, and even with plagues and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the grumbling kicks in. It kicks in so badly that Moses is worried that he is going to be stoned to death. There’s no water.

The solution is simple. The LORD commands Moses to strike the rock, and then water will come, and people will drink. Very simple and straightforward. God provides for His people, even in the midst of their grumbling. However, St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 notes that “the Rock was Christ.”

There is no life apart from Christ Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And just as those folks would have died of thirst in the wilderness without the LORD intervening, so too we would die, we would cease to exist without Jesus giving us life. This is true physically, but also spiritually.

Christ Jesus, the Rock, would be struck. A spear would pierce His side when He was on the cross, and from Him flowed water – not a water to drink but a water to be washed in. Your faith, your everlasting life flows from Christ Jesus, and without His Word, His Spirit, His gifts of Baptism, your faith would dry up. Christ Jesus is the Rock that provides life for you.

Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God – Exodus 34:29

The children of Israel had messed up. Royally. Moses had been on Sinai getting the ten commandments and the law, but they decided to make a golden calf. Idol Worship at the holy mountain is a big mistake. It is so bad that God even suggests that He not go with them “lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff necked people.” (Ex. 33:6)

But Moses interceded for the people, and asked that God continue to be with them and to be their God. And so God called Moses up to Sinai again a second time, and the Commandments and Law are given again. And the people wait. They wait knowing that the last time they had to wait for Moses, they messed up drastically.

Then Moses comes down the mountain… and his face is glowing. And the people are terrified. Of course they are! The last time Moses came down the mountain there was death and destruction, and now his face is glowing. And so Moses does a kind thing. After he is done talking with them, he wears a veil. It keeps the children of Israel from getting too freaked out, too aware of their sin and shame so that they become paralyzed. It was too much glory for them to deal with.

Sinful man cannot handle even the reflection of the presence of God. It points out our sin, our lack, too clearly. Moses wore the veil so that the children of Israel could handle him being around. Likewise, the Word became flesh so that He would be able to dwell among us in a way that we could handle without fear or terror. Jesus rarely lets His glory shine forth fully – and when He does people are terrified. Instead, the True God comes to us as True Man, so that He can be with us. Even today, Jesus gives us forgiveness and life not through fear-inducing glory bombs, but through simple things. Water and His Word. Bread and Wine now Body and Blood. Things that we can handle – the wonder and majesty hidden for our good and for our sake.

Because Jesus wants to be your God, and so He will come to you in a way that you can handle, even until that day when He comes again and you are raised from the dead and can enjoy His unveiled and unbridled presence for all eternity. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD – Jonah 1:3

Jonah had been told by God to go preach to Ninevah, to call out against it. He would warn them of the impending wrath against them. Understand Jonah’s attitude towards Ninevah – Ninevah wasn’t just the enemy; they were the brutal, violent, vicious enemy that would end up destroying the northern kingdom of Israel. In fact, no one in the ancient world mourned when Ninevah eventually fell.

But Jonah doesn’t want to go. (It turns out it’s because he’s worried that Ninevah would repent and that God would be merciful, but that’s later on in the book.) Instead, he attempts to flee from the presence of the LORD. He will just run away and try to forget God and forget what He has said.

It doesn’t work. Even in the midst of the storms in a far flung sea, God is there. Even in the depths of the sea into which Jonah is cast, the LORD is there. The LORD wants Jonah to get to Ninevah, and the LORD will get him there. Period.

We don’t get to run away from God. Oh, we may certain end up pouting and disobeying and being quite stupid – but that’s our problem, not God’s. He remains faithful and just. His Word remains true. And if we try to run, well, He’ll use our running against us. Jonah’s life was more difficult and less comfortable, but the LORD remained faithful to him. And the LORD remains faithful to you. He claimed you in Holy Baptism as His own, and so you are. And there’s never a good reason to run from that.

“My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it?”

We are told that Christ Jesus took on the form of a servant. There was a servant once, a little girl who had been ripped and torn away from her family and home by Syrian raiders. And she sees the man who had abducted and enslaved her suffering from leprosy, and what does she do? She points him to the prophet Elisha.

And her master Naaman goes, seeking healing. He has a mighty large bribe, wants to get kings involved, all sorts of power and might. But that’s not how God works. His means are simple and quiet. Elisha tells him by messenger to dip seven times in the Jordan and be healed. And Naaman is incensed, leaves angrily – couldn’t Elisha have come to me and dealt with me directly in a hand-waving sort of way?

More of his servants come – perhaps ones with stories of woe even greater than that little girl – and they say to Naaman gently – “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you.” You will be healed, Naaman – go wash. Don’t grouse – do it, receive this healing. And Elisha does it and is clean.

Christ Jesus took on the form of a servant for you. He suffered and took up burdens for you. And why? To speak gently to you words of forgiveness and life, words that cleanse you from all unrighteousness and open up to you the way of everlasting life. Words tied to water in Holy Baptism, words tied to the messengers He sends to His pulpits, words that even we little children speak to each other. Rejoice, for Christ Jesus is gentle with you, and He still points you to forgiveness even when you are tempted towards being haughty and arrogant.

In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen…

Picture it. There’s an old, ramshackle building. Back in its day it must have been something grand, built with beauty and skill far above the cookie cutter blandness that our buildings tend to favor. Quality was put in, rather than quick and cheap construction. But that old building, as lovely as it was, has fallen in – it’s vacant, run down, and lost.

The house of David, the Kings of Israel and Judah weren’t what they used to be. The empire had long crumbled. The army was no longer feared, kings no longer came to pay homage – they came demanding tribute. And the new things were just not as good as the old things. That’s the setting when Amos speaks this promise.

The Messiah would come, and the line of David, his House would be restored – oh, but not just to the piddly glory that the folks in Amos’ day might have hoped for. Not even the mere political power that the zealots in Jesus’ day wanted. You see, Jesus knew the rot and decay went deeper. It wasn’t just one kingdom that had fallen – the whole of human race, the whole of creation was falling further and faster into decay.

And so Christ Jesus came into the world – the Word became flesh and dwelt, tabernacled, set up His booth among us. And He set about the most wondrous restoration project. It wouldn’t be a quick turn around flip-this-house special. No, things would have to be torn down and rebuilt. And so, upon the Cross He Himself died and rose. With His death he pulled out every last bit of sin and rot, and with His resurrection He showed and demonstrated the new plan – you will be raised, and you will be like Him, for you will see Him as He is. He has claimed you as His own – you are a little booth belonging to the Lord. And yes, there are times you see how terribly fallen you are. Fear not – the Lord will raise you up, even as He Himself is raised.

“And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.”

The highlight of the building and dedication of Solomon’s temple was the glory of the LORD filling the house. The glory cloud was the visible sign and manifestation of God’s presence with His people. From the exodus onward to the tabernacle, and then to the temple, the cloud of glory was the evidence that the LORD was there for His people.

That goes away with the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. Ezekiel speaks of this in chapter 8 of his book. And even when the temple was rebuilt after the exile and rededicated, the glory of the LORD did not return as it had at the tabernacle or Solomon’s temple. Even when Herod expands the temple and really gussies it up, still the glory of the LORD is not there.

Until the day when Christ Jesus arrives in the temple. Whether that’s the presentation where we get Simeon singing, or the boy Jesus in the temple teaching, or all the other events – then the glory of the LORD is there in the temple. And when He comes to the temple the last time during Holy Week, Christ Jesus is glorified upon the Cross, and with His death the priests are put out of work. No more will they need to minister or perform the sacrifices, for the true Glory of the LORD has come – the Word has become flesh and dwelt, tabernacled, tented with His people, and He Himself has work atonement and forgiveness and mercy with His own death and resurrection.

This same Christ Jesus comes to His Church throughout the world, to buildings around the globe, where He has gathered His people together. There in the House of the LORD, Jesus comes to us all in the preaching of His Word and in His Supper. This is His glory – not a glory the world would recognize or understand, but the true glory of God – to be with and redeem His people, to be with and redeem you.