Category: Articles

Looking for past articles from our website? Find them here categorized.

Categories
Lectionary Meditations

Easter 2 Lectionary Meditation

“Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”

So much fear. Understandable fear. The disciples had just seen Jesus killed in a most horrific way by an angry mob, so they were hiding for their lives. Even having heard of the resurrection, they hide. Yet, the fear of man has never stopped Jesus from being a merciful and gracious Lord. He shows on up right there in the middle of that locked room and proclaims peace. Peace – you are forgiven. See, I’ve died and I have been raised. The strife is o’er, the battle done! And you will be proclaimers of that same peace!

And yet, what do we see a week later? Still locked doors. Still fear. Of course there is – the world still is a scary place. The disciples have lived a week full of that fear, full of doubt and disbelief. And so the doors get locked again – but Jesus is persistent. He shows up anyway and proclaims His peace again. He even does so to poor fearful Thomas. Yes, Jesus’ peace is really for you, even you hiding in fear.

In the meaning to the first commandment, we say that we should “fear” God above all things. With these words we are actually acknowledging that there is a lot in this world that we could (and to a certain extent should) be afraid of. And there are a lot of people who gain power and profit off of making you afraid. And our fears drive us to do crazy and strange, horrible things. Things that are destructive to ourselves and to our neighbor. Yet, in reality, rather than listening to our fears, the One that we should fear, the One we should be most worried about ticking off or annoying, is God.

And we think He’s going to just hammer us, but there comes Jesus, striding into this rat’s nest of fear, and He says, “Peace be with you.” Peace – I’m not here to smite, I’m here to establish peace and conquer sin, death, and Satan. I’m here to show that all the punishment has been taken up by Me. Fear has to do with punishment (1 Jn 4:18), but you are in My perfect love. You are mine, you are in Me, and so there is no condemnation (Rm 8:1). This is where you live. This is the truth that the world and your sinful flesh want you to forget. You are baptized into Christ – and He says Peace be with you. And He means it. And His peace is stronger than any fear you face in this world – His peace raises folks from the dead.

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: Absolution in the Wilderness

Leviticus. It’s a messy book. Open up to Leviticus and you’ll find pages bleeding with words of bloody sacrifices. Goats, bulls, and rams all give their lives for the sins of Israel.

Leviticus drips with the blood of beasts. But, why is this particular book in the Bible filled with so many sacrifices and so much blood? The writer to the Hebrews states, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). In other words, sin must be accounted for, a price must be paid to atone for sin. Forgiveness cannot be dispensed without a blood sacrifice. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Sinners cannot commune with a holy God. So, in His gracious mercy, the Lord provided a way in which to cover and cleanse Israel of their sins. In Leviticus chapter sixteen we read about the Day of Atonement, the day the Lord appointed for the whole of Israel to be absolved of their sin every year.

“For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins” (Leviticus 16:30).

There were two important elements specific to this Day of Atonement. On this day of sacrifice, two goats were to be selected. One of these goats was to be a blood sacrifice for the sins of the people. The other would be brought alive to Aaron, the High Priest. The High Priest then confessed all the transgressions of Israel, placing them on the head of this goat. Now, bearing the full weight of the iniquities of Israel, the goat would be cast into the wilderness where it would die along with sins of the people. Instead of Israel paying the pentalty for their own sin, a substitute was given to them.

Leviticus is not filled with laws, commands, and ordinances so much as it is filled with promises. Israel is passive on the Day of Atonement. Their sin is taken from them and placed on the shoulders of another. God, Himself, cleanses them of their iniquities and provides a way to graciously be with and bless His people.

Martin Luther once remarked, “Wherever you cut the Bible open, it bleeds Christ.” Here, in Leviticus chapter sixteen, the Scriptures point to the blood of a greater substitute.

The hymn, In the Shattered Bliss of Eden, points us to that greater substitute when we sing,

“What these sacrifices promised
From a God who sought to bless,
Came at last — a second Adam —
Priest and King of righteousness:
Son of God, incarnate Savior,
Son of Man, both Christ and Lord,
Who in naked shame would offer
On the cross His blood outpoured.” (LSB 572, 3)

Just like Israel, we do not answer for our own sin. We do not clean ourselves and atone for our own sin, we cannot. Jesus, as our Great High Priest, cleanses us of our sins through the sacrifice of Himself once and for all (Romans 6:10). He took up the full weight of all our transgressions and iniquities. Our confession fell on Him as He traveled into the wilderness of Calvary to be a sin offering in our place.

As we enter into the divine service, we confess our sins to our High Priest confident that His blood now covers and absolves us of our guilt. He has answered for our sins on the altar of the cross.

The Lord commanded that the gift of absolution through the Day of Atonement be delivered to His people. After His resurrection, Jesus sends His Apostles out to deliver the gifts He won for you and me on the cross. Jesus sends out His disciples to be priests absolving the sins of the penitent.

 “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20: 21–23).

Pastor Norman Nagel describes the working of our Great High Priest when he says, “He is the One who, by the marks of Calvary on Him, is the One who has answered for our sins and therefore is the One who can give the forgiving words to the apostles to speak. And His words are alive with the Spirit to bestow the gifts that they bring, here, the forgiveness of sins in Holy Absolution.” Leviticus, just like the divine service, is all about the Gospel gifts.

Categories
Catechesis

Did the Resurrection Really Happen?  

By Rev. Jonathan Fisk

It’s kind of an important question.  I mean, if the resurrection didn’t happen, what on earth are we Christians doing?  It’s not like its gaining us any power or money or anything.  But if the resurrection did happen, then how come so many people in the world don’t believe it?

The resurrection did happen, and I can tell you how you can be certain of it.  More than that, I can do it without telling you that you have to believe it just because the Bible says so.  That’s the key thing.  A lot of non-Christians in our world think that Christians are just a bunch of willfully ignorant nincompoops who believe in some book that fell out of the sky.  But nothing could be further from the Truth.  Christians are Christians because something happened in history unlike any other thing ever: A guy named Jesus was murdered, but refused to stay dead.  It’s not a leap of faith.  It’s a historic fact that is as easy to prove as any other bit of history, that is, if you aren’t too close-minded to consider the evidence.

  1. Jesus was a real human.  Even without the Bible, modern scholars have to admit that there was a Jewish man named Jesus who lived in the first century.  Non-biblical writings like Flavius Josephus, Mara Bar-Serapion, and the Jewish Talmud all mention Him as a real, historical figure.
  1. The real human Jesus died by crucifixion and was buried.   In the same way, some of these extra-biblical texts mention that Jesus was killed.  They don’t go into detail, but only an ignorant person who gets all their information from internet forums will try to tell you that the real Jesus didn’t die, and wasn’t even buried.
  1. This Jesus had real followers who took his death very hard.  At this point, we have to start trusting the books of the Bible as eyewitness accounts.  We don’t have to believe they are true.  We just have to trust that they tell us what the people who wrote them actually thought.  That’s what we do with every historical document about any piece of history, at least, until we find other histories that tell us something different.  So the guy who wrote John’s Gospel around 90 AD also claims he followed this real guy Jesus and believed He was the Savior of the world before He was murdered, watched Him die, and then fell into despair.
  1. Jesus’ tomb was found empty three days later.  Next, the followers of Jesus who despaired after his death also tell us that they stopped despairing because He appeared to them risen.  But not just to them.  Extra-biblical sources from Roman historians tell us that after Jesus was killed, “a most mischievous superstition…again broke out.”  Yet another document, traced to Jewish sources, tells of a gardener named Juda who stole Jesus’ body.  When you put all of these pieces of history together, and combine it with the fact that Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection all started within walking distance of His tomb, there is only one reasonable historical answer: Somehow, some way, that tomb was empty.
  1. The disciples stopped despairing and started preaching, even though it meant their own deaths.  Both biblical and extra-biblical documents tell us that Christianity came from the meeting together of these followers, in order to worship their leader “Christ” and listen to his teachings.  Rather than give this up, the same disciples who once fled, willingly faced gruesome and painful deaths.
  1. Antagonists convert.  James, Jesus’ brother by blood, and Saul, a man who made a business of killing Christians, were among these converts.  More so, Saul’s own writings claim his reason for conversion was a face to face meeting with the risen Jesus.
  1. This is the event upon which Christianity is founded.  Christianity is not direct proof that Jesus rose, but it is proof that people who knew Jesus personally before His death believed that He rose.
  1. Christianity was founded in Jerusalem.  No one in the town where all this was happening could present the dead body so as to put a stop to it.  Instead, the “stolen body theory” is preached even by the first skeptics.
  1. They worshiped on Sunday.  These new Christians, a bunch of Jews (whose religion insists they worship on Saturday) start worshiping on Sunday because Sunday is the day when they believe the resurrection happened.
  1. Do the math.  The challenge for the non-Christian or the skeptic (which they are usually unwilling to take up) is to find an alternative historical explanation for where this Christianity came from which also fits all of these simple, documented facts.  What could make orthodox Jews change their most sacred rituals, and go to the ends of the earth to tell others about it even though it only gets them killed?  They say it was because they themselves saw this man risen from the dead.  On top of this, the tomb was clearly empty and the man was nowhere to be found.  So, what other explanation for all the facts can you come up with?

Over the last several hundred years the skeptics have tried.  There’s the hallucination theory, and the swoon theory and that good ol’ stolen body theory.  But none of those theories explain all of the above facts.  You can’t steal a swooned body that gets up and walks away.  Separate groups of people don’t experience the same hallucination.  A Jesus who needed to be taken to the hospital would hardly have convinced terrified disciples to go out and die for him.

The simple reality is that there is only one explanation of the evidence that fits all the facts.  It might be unbelievable, but it is anything but unreasonable.  So put it in your pocket for the next time a skeptic attacks you with his claims about you being ignorant.  Ask him how he explains what Tacitus says.  Ask him why the Talmud called Jesus a sorcerer.  Ask him to explain all the historical facts.  Then, when he won’t (since he can’t), feel free to go right on believing the truth: that the resurrection did happen.  Not only is it the best explanation for all of the real historical evidence, it also happens to be what the Bible says was God’s plan for the precise purpose of saving you.

Categories
Catechesis

Going to Hell with Jesus

by Rev. Shawn L. Kumm

Hell. Who wants to go there? Jesus tells us just enough about heaven that we know we want to be there. Jesus tells us just enough about hell that we know we don’t.

The word hell was spoken at your baptism. Right smack dab in the middle of the Apostles’ Creed, there it is: Jesus descended into hell. Big deal, right?

Yeah, hell is a BIG deal. Misery loves company, and Satan desires nothing more than to have lots of company. That is why Jesus suffered on the cross so that you wouldn’t ever have to. You don’t need to worry about hell.

But did Jesus descend into hell in order to suffer—or did He go there for another reason? There are those who understand these words to mean that after Jesus died upon the cross He wasn’t quite finished with His work, so He needed to suffer in hell. This doesn’t make sense, since Jesus exclaimed on the cross, “It is finished.” This literally means, “It is finished and stands finished forever” (John 19:30). On the cross, Jesus has already suffered hell. Period.

The Apostles’ Creed summarizes the Christian faith in the tightest, shortest language possible. There are churches that confess creeds. There are churches that do not confess creeds. There are churches that sort of confess creeds.

The sort-of-confessing-creeds churches omit the words, “He descended into hell.” Since the phrase doesn’t show up until later in history, these folks believe the words shouldn’t be said.

But a later addition to this creed shouldn’t bother us. The words may very well have been added to combat the wrong teaching that the effect of Jesus’ death and resurrection wasn’t as far-reaching as everyone thought. Even now it appears Satan is still in control and hellish things still happen in this world.  So some conclude that Jesus’ work on the cross just wasn’t quite enough. But remember Jesus said, “It is finished.” His devil-defeating work reached the very pits of hell. In fact, Jesus descended there to tell Satan himself.

At least two passages of Scripture teach us this:

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison . . .” (1 Peter 3:18-19).

“He [that is, Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him” (Colossians 2:15).

In all of His resurrected glory, Jesus descended into hell so you wouldn’t have to. If Jesus’ death is your death and if Jesus’ resurrection is your resurrection (see Romans 6:3-11), then Jesus’ descent is your descent. There is great comfort in that for you. Who of us could stand face-to-face with Satan and proclaim such Good News? Not a single one of us. I know I wouldn’t want to and I don’t have to. Neither do you.

But there is the pesky question about timing. We know when all but one of the events of Holy Week happens. But the one event we wonder about is Jesus’ descent into hell. Does His descent happen as soon as Jesus says, “It is finished?” Does Jesus go to hell when the sun rises on Easter morning? We simply do not know. God, in His wisdom, chooses not to say much of anything about the invisible world. Think about, for example, how He does not tell us during which of the six days of creation the angels were made. There is a curiosity on the part of God’s people to have answers about angels and demons. But God’s Word tells us just enough to know they exist.

So why don’t we know when Jesus descends?  Perhaps, just as in the same way when we focus on what we know about the angels or demons, the more we are tempted we will be to know less about Jesus. Jesus wants us to focus on Him and no one else. Jesus goes victoriously to hell for us so that we don’t.

Categories
Catechesis

Judgment Day: You’re Ready

Judgment Day is coming. It is! You can’t escape it. One day it will be here, and then what? What ever will you do? What will you hear? How can you stand? What will the Judge say when you stand before Him on that day? You know, don’t you? What you’ve done, haven’t done; said, haven’t said; even what you’ve thought.  All of it condemns you. There’s no escaping it. There’s no putting your head in the sand like there’s no Last Day—as if not thinking about it means it won’t come. But it will. It’s inevitable.

Yes, there is a Last Day—a day not when all good things come to an end, but a day when all evil, wicked, and sinful things, and when all sinners will come to an end. That end is the second death—eternity in hell. When will that day be? “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32 NKJV) So what will you do? How can you prepare for something that’s coming at an unknown time—a time even Jesus  doesn’t know?

Well, that’s the rub of it, isn’t it? What to do? People out in the world—and we do it, too—think that if there’s a Last Day coming when all people will be judged, then they need to get some good to balance out the bad. If we’re kind enough, then God might be merciful, which might mean He’ll give us a pass on our misdeeds because of our good deeds. This sort of thinking pops up when we think, “Well, I’m not that bad of a person.” “I’m not as bad as she is.” “At least I don’t do what he’s doing.” We treat God on Judgment Day as if He were a bear: You don’t have to outrun the bear, just run faster than the other guy! “I don’t have to be perfect. I just need to be better than you, and thank God I am!” But no one else will be there with you when you stand before God’s throne. Each person will face the Judgment Seat of God. So what are you doing to prepare?

Repent of such a thought! That’s not how Judgment Day works at all! You don’t get yourself ready for Judgment Day. Jesus gets you ready for that Last and Final Day. What else is there for you to do for Judgment Day that Jesus hasn’t already done? Answer: Nothing! That’s right. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Jesus’ Word from Calvary rings true, not only then, but now, and even forever and ever. “Tetelestai! It is finished!” The holy, precious blood and the innocent suffering and death of Christ cleanses us from all sins. There isn’t a single sin that He hasn’t paid for. Jesus finished it all. He drank the cup of the Father’s wrath for sin and every sinner down to the dregs. There’s nothing unfinished. That’s why Jesus said, “It is finished!”

Yes, it’s all finished. Good Friday became Judgment Day—God’s wrath satisfied. Jesus’ work is finished and complete, but now He’s about the business of delivering it. In delivering it, Jesus gets you ready for Judgment Day.

How can you stand on that great day? You shall boldly stand “on that great day, Cleansed and redeemed, no debt to pay.” (“Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness” LSB 563:2) Jesus gave you this in the waters of your Baptism. He washed your sins away that day. His death and resurrection are yours. You’re justified, “declared innocent” in Him. That’s what your Holy Baptism delivers as Paul says, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5–7 NIV).

What will you hear on that day? You will hear Jesus say what He’s been saying your whole life and what He said from the cross on Good Friday:  Not only “It is finished!” but also, “Father, forgive them.” And Jesus doesn’t just say this from His cross. He says this to you, too. He says, “I forgive you all your sins.” He sent His preachers, His pastors to say that very thing. He said to them, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you…Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you retain them, they are retained.” (John 20:21–23 NKJV) What your pastor says to you, you will hear again. How can you not? The very one who will be your Judge on that Day is the one who was crucified and raised, who sent your pastor to say, “Your sins are all forgiven you.”

What will you do on that day? Well, Judgement Day isn’t a scary day for you, dear Christian. No, not one bit! It’s party day! It’s the wedding party of the Lamb which has no end. You’ve feasted on the flesh and blood of that Lamb in His Supper. Through giving those to you to eat and drink Jesus is getting you ready for the eternal party by forgiving your sins, giving you new life, and awarding eternal salvation. All that is yours. He dwells in you and you in Him by the eating and the drinking of His Body and Blood. Now that you’re in Him, you won’t be locked out of the party. You’ll get to celebrate with Jesus forever.

Judgment Day is coming. It is! You can’t escape it. Yes, there is a Last Day—a day when all good things will continue and begin for you, dear Christian. There’s nothing you have to do. Jesus has already done it all. “Tetelestai! It is finished!” He delivers the benefits of His cross and empty tomb to you. So? Well, that means you receive the benefits of Judgment Day beforehand! You have a clean garment for Judgment Day, with Christ’s righteousness splashed over your forehead at the font. You’ve already had the judgment ring in your ears—“I forgive you all your sins.” You’re ready for Party Day. You’ve already feasted on Jesus’ Body and Blood!

Eternal life awaits you on the Last Day because of Jesus—what He’s done and delivered to you. You’re ready. You have to be! Jesus your Judge, your Savior made sure of that on Good Friday and every day thereafter!

Categories
Catechesis

The Lord’s Supper IS the Gospel!

By Rev. Brent Kuhlman

The Lord’s Supper IS the gospel.  After all, the Lord’s Supper is all about how, Lamb of God Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world, gives away the forgiveness and salvation that He won and achieved on the cross to His sinners.

How in the world does He do that?  Through His words!  He preaches.  He speaks.  What He says He does.  What He promises He gives.  Check it out in Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-25.

On the night when He was betrayed Lamb of God Jesus preaches a Passover sermon that had never been preached before.  He does what He does.  He gives what He gives, because He is the God-man.  There is no other God than this man, Jesus!  His mouth is God’s mouth.  His words are God’s words.  His sermon is a divine promise by which He gives His last will and testament.  Yes, that’s right, I said it!  Lamb of God Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world, draws up His last will and testament.

He would do that?  Absolutely!  And He does it FOR YOU!

Lamb of God Jesus is the Maundy Thursday testator who anticipates His Good Friday death.  He identifies the estate that He leaves behind and He names the heirs.  Incredibly you, His sinners, are the beneficiaries!  You, His sinners, are given the inheritance—the very salvation achieved for you on the cross!  The Lord’s Supper IS the gospel!

Many would object!  Seriously?  He’s got to be out of His mind.  Nuts!  Wacko!  Cuckoo!  A few cards short of a full deck!  Doesn’t He see what’s happening and who these men are?  Good grief!  Look around the Passover table.

James and John always want to be the big shot bosses.  All the rest of the Twelve resent them.  They constantly bicker and fight amongst themselves.  Iscariot is an embezzling, good-for-nothing thief.  In addition, he is going to commit one of the most outrageous and notorious betrayals in the history of the world—with a kiss, no less!  For a little bit of cash!  Peter, James and John won’t keep watch but will snooze soundly in Gethsemane.  Peter’s, “even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you,” bravado quickly turns into a profanity-laced, liar, liar pants on fire, renunciation:  “I’ve never ever seen this Jesus!  I don’t know him at all!”  Total  denial!  Not once, but three times!  Three strikes and you’re…

Well, at least you’d think so.  But not with Jesus!  Even though He is surrounded by hard-core sinners, He is of sound mind.  He knows exactly what He’s doing. He’s in charge.  He determines the place to celebrate the Passover meal. He’s taken care of every detail.  In fact, He unmasks his betrayer and pronounces divine judgment on him ahead of time.

Lamb of God testator Jesus speaks or bequeaths His will in that upper room.  “Eat this bread.  It is my body.  I give it for you.  Drink this wine.  This cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  The estate that He leaves is:  “the forgiveness of sins.”  For His sinners!  I’ll say it again:  the Lord’s Supper IS the gospel!

His Good Friday Body and Blood are given with the bread and wine.  He says so.  And you, like those notorious sinners around the table, are named as heirs—given to receive the eternal inheritance.  Testator Jesus promises that His body and blood are given and shed FOR YOU.  He promises that all your sin is forgiven. Name the sin.  He guarantees it’s forgiven.  What about the ones you can’t remember or didn’t know you did?  Forgiven!  What about the sin that you don’t want to do but ended up doing?  Or how about the sin that deserves God’s temporal and eternal punishment?  All forgiven!  Totally absolved!

Like all wills, this one on the night Jesus was betrayed, when it is read out loud every Sunday, is contested as well.  Bitterly.  Some flat out reject it.  “Body?  Blood?  How primitive!  Is this some sort of religious cult like cannibalism?  And forgiveness?  Who needs it?  I sure don’t!  I’m not even a sinner!” 

Others, like Satan, death and the world will be indignant.  Horrified.  They will get in your grill and they will accuse, bind, and condemn you for your sin.  “Look at you!” they scream.  “You call yourself a Christian!  Really?  You’re no better than Iscariot.  You’re just like Peter.  In fact, you’re worse.  You’ve got betraying and denying Jesus down pat.  According to all decency as well as all law and order, you’ve excluded yourself from Jesus’ last will and testament.  You are a betrayer!  A denier!  Sinful!  Unclean!  Unworthy!”

What will you do in light of these accusations against you?  What can you say?

Step up to the plate and tell the truth!  Produce the evidence.  Give them the goods.  They’ve caught you red-handed.  Confess:  “Yes, that’s exactly right.  Truly I am Christ’s betrayer, denier and sinner.  I even colluded in his death!  I gave Him up.  I ran from Him.  I helped spit in his face.  I pounded the spikes into His hands and feet!  Not denying it!  Not one bit!  But He died for me  AND He names me—the sinner—in His last will and testament.  He promises that His estate belongs to me.  I will do as He commands.  I will eat and drink.  I believe His promise.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world—my sin!”

Yes, Lamb of God Jesus gives his estate, the forgiveness of sins in the sacrament, to those who needed it.  Only the sick need a physician.

So the next day, Good Friday, He goes to his death.  Crucified.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  That’s when his last will and testament goes into effect.  Probated.  He says so every time you hear the Words of Institution in the divine service.  It is the public proclamation and reading of His will, just as He intended in that upper room.

And with the promise of forgiveness of sin, Lamb of God Jesus bestows the whole enchilada of His kingdom on you:  SALVATION!  The salvation won for you in his dying on the cross.  Indeed!  The Lord’s Supper IS the gospel!

Categories
Lectionary Meditations

Easter Sunrise Lectionary Meditation

Of course Mary was weeping. It wasn’t just that she loved Jesus – we skirt by that idea so quickly that it almost doesn’t really mean anything. Mary knew that Jesus loved her, that her life was better because of Jesus. She had been isolated, possessed by demons, and many think trapped in prostitution. Then Jesus came to Mary, and He loved her. And suddenly, because of Jesus she was cleansed, she had friends and companions, she had good relationships. Jesus loved her. And Jesus is dead. Is this all going to fall apart, is it all going to go back to the way it was? Jesus had held everything together; now is it all going to fall apart?

It looks that way. A scattered panic. Even when she goes to Peter and John for help, they just ditch her, leaving her sobbing by the tomb. When she turns and sees the “gardener” the best Mary thinks she can hope for is to drag a dead body across a garden all by herself.

Then it all shifts for the good. Jesus, her risen Lord and Savior, calls her by name. It is only when she hears Christ Jesus, now raised from the dead, call out, “Mary” that Mary is ripped away from her fear and sorrow. Her Jesus is not gone – He is here. For her.

Jesus is not gone – He is still here and present for you in His Word. In fact, He tied that Word to water and called you by your name at your Baptism, bringing you into the joys of His resurrection, sealing you with a promise that you would always be His, that not even sin or death or anything in this world would be able to separate you from His love. And He promised you a resurrection like His. And we shall see it. Until that day when we see Jesus face to face, we whom He has called by name are still called to gather around His Word, the preaching of the Gospel, and His Supper, where we hear and receive Him again and again. In a world that tries to rip everything asunder, the Risen Christ calls us together by name.

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, alleluia!

Categories
Catechesis

Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted

“Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, see Him dying on the tree! ‘Tis the Christ by man rejected; yes, my soul, ’tis He! ’tis He! ‘Tis the long-expected Prophet, David’s Son, yet David’s Lord; proofs I see sufficient of it: ‘Tis the true and faithful Word.”

Holy week. The most stressful time of the year for our pastors and church workers, and the one week of the year that has more services than any other. It is also the one week that 2,000 years ago changed the course of human history through the person of Jesus Christ. This week, we especially remember how God in the form of man took on every sin that was ever committed from the beginning of the world and every sin that will ever be committed until the end of the world, suffered under that weight, and gave up His life for us. I believe this is the most sobering and yet comforting thought in the world. That God would come into the world as a human is sobering enough, but that God would willingly give up His life for His creation that rejected and continues to reject Him is cause indeed for silence and reflection.

For even we who have heard the good news that comes on Easter Sunday cannot believe that Jesus is Lord without the help of the Holy Spirit. Though we were not physically present at the crucifixion 2,000 years ago, through our spiteful human nature we too have rejected Christ and caused His death.

“Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning, was there ever grief like His? Friends through fear His cause disowning, foes insulting His distress; many hands were raised to wound Him, none would interpose to save; but the deepest stroke that pierced Him was the stroke that Justice gave.”

“Ye who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great here may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate. Mark the Sacrifice appointed, see who bears the awful load; ‘Tis the WORD, the LORD’S ANOINTED, Son of Man and Son of God.”

The prophet Isaiah reminds us in chapter 53 verse 6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have t

urned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” There is a penalty for sin. These days when you hear people apologize, the person who has been wronged generally says “that’s alright” or “don’t worry about it.” We are trying to pretend that sins are not as big of an issue as we know they are, and since we pretend that among ourselves we also want to pretend that God will brush away our sins as if they are not important. We try to run away from our sins just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Ed

en- we think that if we hide ourselves, God will not notice the sins we commit daily both against God and against each other.

The only problem with that line of thinking is that sin IS a big deal. Adam and Eve could not hide their sin from God and neither can we. God hates sin, and we run after sin and away from God just like sheep. We run distracted by the cares, troubles, and temptations of the world, and we always fail to see why that is wrong. We think that what we do does not matter; that since Christ died we are fine to do whatever we want since we have forgiveness. Yet consider what God went through for us. Consider the pain, suffering, and death of One who never sinned, who never disobeyed God, who gave up eternal life for humans that He created out of dust. When faced with the stark reality of the cross, how can we do anything more than fall befo
re God and beg Him for mercy?

“Here we have a firm foundation; here the refuge of the lost; Christ’s the Rock of our salvation, His the name of which we boast. Lamb of God, for sinners wounded, sacrifice to cancel guilt! None shall ever be confounded who on Him their hope have built.”

Holy week allows us to focus our attention firmly on Jesus Christ-the author and perfecter of our faith, and the one foundation that can never be taken away from us. The death of Jesus is a sobering fact yet it had to happen or else we would be lost forever, trapped in our sin, and separated from God. While we always want to jump right to the resurrection and the joy found there, let us not forget that Christ first died before He rose from the dead. He took the entire weight of the world’s sin upon Himself, was forsaken by God, and died so that we, His creation, might never know what it is like to be abandoned by God and damned for all eternity. What a comfort that thought is and what a marvelous foundation upon which our faith is built. Christ took everything that we deserve and everything that we should have suffered upon Himself because He loves us. On that cross, He stands between us and the wrath of God, shielding us from everything we should suffer. Thanks be to God for His mercy!

Categories
Lectionary Meditations

Lectionary Meditation – Palm Sunday

The rage and hatred of Satan is palpable. Satan’s hatred of God is so strong, so intense, that whenever He sees something good from God, he wants to ruin it, crush it. And then comes Jesus, and all throughout Jesus’ ministry Satan is frustrated and defeated. He tried to tempt Jesus into wickedness – that normally worked with humans – but it didn’t work with Christ Jesus, the Son of God. And Jesus leaves the wilderness, heads back into Israel – and Jesus,the Holy One of God, messes with Satan. Where illness corrupted the body, Jesus would heal. Where lack and hunger brought sorrow, Jesus would bring plenty. Where demons held people in bondage, Jesus would set free. On and on it goes, until Jesus even rides on into Jerusalem, the abode of peace.

Enraged, Satan is determined to strike at Christ. There is nothing the devil would love more than to wound the Holy one, than to get at Him somehow. And an opportunity presents itself, and Satan strikes. This loyal Jesus is betrayed. This just Jesus suffers injustice, both of a sham court as well as rulers who would not protect Him. This Jesus, the Lord of Life, is handed over to death. And there, at the Cross, Satan thought he had finally gotten the upper hand – the ultimate defilement. The Living One of Israel would die.

Satan knew the scriptures, but he did not believe them. He did not understand them. What Satan thought was his victory over Jesus and His holiness, His righteousness, His purity was in fact an invasion. The strong man thought his goods were safe, but He just dragged the stronger Man, Christ Jesus, into His palace. With His death, Jesus would wreck and destroy death. He would shatter the power and terror of Satan. Satan bruised Christ, but Christ crushed the Devil. Satan pierced Christ’s side, but Jesus deranged the old serpent. This One you foolishly killed, Satan – He will rise, and because He rises, we all do with Him.

Categories
Lectionary Meditations

Lent 5 Gospel Meditation

“Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My word.” – John 8:43

The end of John 8 has Jesus in one of the great arguments in Scripture. It is such a bad argument that by the end people are ready to stone Him. So why? What gets folks so angry? Well, Jesus notes that they cannot bear to hear His word – but what word is that? In verse 32 Jesus had said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This should be a good thing, right? Except their pride was pricked. They didn’t want to be helped; they wanted to do it on their own. They didn’t like being told that they were actually enslaved to sin and that they needed a real rescue from sin and death.

We can have a hard time hearing God’s word in its full, unbridled power. We don’t like the full, unabashed Law that shows us our sin and that we deserve death; we will often instead try to water it down into mere moral advice. We fight against the full, unabashed Gospel where Jesus does everything; we will instead try to water Him down into a mere teacher who gives us a gentle push in the right direction. That’s what all false teaching is – a blunting of the law and a gutting of the Gospel. That’s what our sinful flesh likes. We want to be the hero of the story, and when Jesus tells us that He is the One who does the saving (and that we really needed some real saving), our flesh gets all riled up.

Yet Jesus is persistent in His desire to save you. He has baptized you, not just to forgive your sins once, but so that daily His word would drown and beat down your sinful flesh that wants to get all proud and boisterous. He continually and repeatedly gives you His Word and Spirit, so that you would have His life. He comes to you and gives you His Body and Blood so that He does in fact rescue you from sin and death, both now and eternally. He opens your ears to hear, so that you receive from Him every good gift.