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Higher Homilies

The River of Life

by The Rev. Dan Feusse

Rev. 21:9-22:5
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” 
In the Lord’s Prayer you pray for the Lord’s will to be done – on earth as it is in heaven.  You pray that often. But do you realize what you are asking?  You are asking for the Lord to break and hinder every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and your own sinful nature.  You are asking for the Lord to strengthen and keep you steadfast in His Word and Faith until you die.  To put it simply, you are asking for heaven on earth.
Today you’ve been given a glimpse of heaven.   There is the throne of God.  And on this throne is seated the Lamb of God.  Gathered around the Lamb seated on the throne are all those who have His Name on their foreheads.  And flowing out from the throne is the River of life.  All those who are gathered around the throne in heaven continually drink from this River of Life.  And see where this River of Life flows from – it flows from the Lamb who is upon the throne.
Today we observe All Saints Day.  And All Saints Day is a day to remember.  To remember those who have gone before us.  To remember that our Lord Jesus Christ only has one Bride – the holy Christian Church.  To remember that the Church exists both here on earth as well as in heaven.  To remember that all those who are part of the Church are Saints – whether here on earth or in heaven.  To remember that the River of Life which flows from the Lamb is given to the WHOLE Church at the SAME TIME – both here on earth and in heaven.
This is the mystery recalled on All Saints Day.  The mystery of the blending together of heaven and earth.   The mystery of the blending together of the past, the present and the future.  The mystery of the blending together of time and eternity.  The mystery of partaking in the FORETASTE of the feast to come – and at the same time actually partaking in the heavenly feast itself.  The mystery that Christ’s Bride – the Church – is one Bride – and consists of all Christians of all time – even all the angels and archangels.
And YOU are part of that mystery.  Being made so because you have been washed in that river of the water of life.  That river – clear as crystal – which eternally flows from the Lamb – the Lamb given by the Father as the once-for-all sacrifice – the Lamb who’s blood was shed to take away the sin of the world.
This is the mystery recalled on All Saints Day.  The mystery of the Church being one in both time and eternity.  The mystery of the blending together of heaven and earth.  In the Holy Christian Church on earth, this mystery takes on outward forms.  These forms are called the “holy mysteries.”  And what makes these “holy mysteries’ so mysterious is that what you see taking place here on earth are – at the same time – taking place in heaven.
In the Church these holy mysteries have been given names.  Holy Baptism. Holy Absolution.  Holy Communion.  The Office of the Holy Ministry.  These are the holy mysteries of the Church.  And it is through these holy mysteries that the Lord makes Saints – holy ones.
Just like those holy ones that St. John sees in heaven, the holy ones here on earth  – gathered around the Lord’s earthly altar – are also gathered around the Lamb seated on His throne.  And just like the saints in heaven – you saints too have the name of the Holy Trinity sealed upon your forehead.
But this you can only see with eyes of faith.  For the Lamb is hidden under  the earthly forms of bread and wine.  The great throne seat is hidden beneath the earthly form of the altar.  And yet it is truly Jesus.  It is truly His throne seat.  What you drink from the throne is truly the river of life flowing eternally from the side of the Lamb.
Gathered around the altar – the throne – you are truly gathered with all the angels and archangels and the full company of heaven.  Which means that you are truly at the place where heaven and earth have become one.
The holy mysteries.  That which takes place here on earth taking place at the same time in heaven.  This is the great mystery of the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church.  The blending together of earthly time and heavenly eternity.  The church militant and the church triumphant.  All one Church.  All one in Christ.  All drinking together from the River of Life.
This is the entire purpose of the Divine Service.  The Divine Service is not given for the purpose of evangelizing the world.  It is given so that the Lord can draw the world into heaven.  The Divine Service is not your chance to show God how much you love Him.  It is His way of pouring out His love upon you.
And so the Divine Service does not look like the world.  The Divine Service does not sound like the world.  The world is not holy.  The world is not heavenly.  No, the Divine Service neither looks like the world nor sounds like the world.
But the Divine Service is precisely what the Lord has given you in answer to your prayer – “Thy will be done – on earth as it is in heaven.”  This is your prayer.  And it is through the “holy mysteries” of the Holy Christian Church – served through the Office of the Holy Ministry- gathered around the throne, being washed in and drinking deeply of the River of Life – that the Lord’s will is done, breaking and hindering every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and your own sinful nature.  Strengthening and keeping you steadfast in His Word and Faith until you die.
You have prayed for it and the Lord has given it to you.  Heaven on earth. The great mystery of the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church.  The blending together of earthly time and heavenly eternity.  The church militant and the church triumphant.  All one Bride.  All one Church.  All gathered together around the throne.  All drinking together from the same River of Life.  All one in Christ.  Forever.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
Rev. Daniel J. Feusse is pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in Clearwater, Nebraska.
Categories
Higher Homilies

Taking the Gospel Forcefully

by The Rev. David Kind

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Categories
Catechesis

Saint Luke: Beloved Physician Serving the Great Physician

by The Rev. Rich Heinz

Many people don’t enjoy doctor visits. Some even avoid them. In spite of that, the time spent in hearing the doctor’s advice and receiving his treatment can be soothing, healing, and even life-saving.

October 18 is our annual appointment with Dr. Luke. Today is a day that the Church remembers Saint Luke the Evangelist. But why? What good is it to give any thought to this person from history? Pastor Stuckwisch has a Higher Homily that will soon preach this in even more detail, but today we have some thoughts to ponder.

We don’t know a great deal about him, but through the Apostle Paul we gather some information about this human author of the third Gospel. He teamed up with Paul for missions within the modern borders of Turkey and Greece. He also remained with Paul during his final days in Rome, even when others had gone their various ways: “Luke alone is with me.” (2 Tim. 4:11)

In Colossians 4, Saint Paul refers to him as “Luke the beloved physician.” Yet this beloved doctor had a far more lasting impact than touching lives through medicine. The Lord used Luke to proclaim His Gospel. Luke tells us in his first chapter that he gathered information to record the story of our Lord’s life and work.

Luke, led by the Holy Spirit, crafted a literary masterpiece. His skill with vocabulary and grammar, explaining Jewish customs to Gentile hearers, and general eloquence have served the Church in every age well, preaching Christ incarnate, crucified, and risen for you!

Having completed the Gospel according to Luke, the Beloved Physician continued the story with its continuation. We know it as the Acts of the Apostles. He knew it as a second volume of the Gospel, the life and ministry of our Ascended Lord!

 

What good is it to give any thought to this person in history? No good if we are simply attempting to consider Luke’s personal accomplishments. In the end, it has no effect on salvation whether he painted the first icon of the Christ Child with the Virgin Mary, or whether he actually “interviewed” the Blessed Virgin to provide information for his book. It doesn’t matter how great of a doctor he was or what his bedside manner was like. The people healed or medicines used are not significant to people of all times and places. But there is a significant thought!

 

The true reason about today is not to dwell on the “Beloved Physician,” but to receive healing from the Great Physician! Our Lord Jesus is the Author and Giver of Life, who also brings true and lasting healing through His Gospel and Sacraments. He anoints our wounds with the “oil” of His Baptism and pours out the “wine” of His Blood, soothing, nurturing, and restoring our health of body and soul.

The Great Physician used the Beloved Physician to present His Gospel to Gentile converts. Jesus gathered (and continues to gather) even more people to be strengthened and made whole through the forgiving Gospel message preached by Luke. Christ uses the voice of this dynamic doctor to proclaim release from sin, death, and the devil in every time and place. Our Lord Jesus continues to use Luke’s “orderly account” so “that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:3-4 ESV)

Yes, today we give thanks to God for the appointments He gives us with Dr. Luke. Our Great Physician still uses him to give you certainty concerning the things you have been taught!

Rev. Rich Heinz is Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lanesville, IN. Pastor Heinz also serves as editor of the Higher Things Website.

 

Categories
Higher Homilies

Sent Before His Face in the Ministry of the Word

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.

Categories
Pop. Culture & the Arts

Higher Movies Rewind: Sisterhood or Sonship?

by Johannah Miesner

When I first read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, I was intrigued by the dedication of four girls to each other – and a pair of pants. I have to admit that I am by nature a person who always prefers the book to the movie. Therefore, I was quite dubious of the idea of these well-crafted books being made into two hours of excitement worthy of the big screen. I was pleasantly surprised by the first movie, as long as I thought of it separately from the book. However, when I heard that there was to be a second one and I heard the storyline, I was confused how the girls got to the point in their lives where the movie started. In the end, I discovered that those in charge of the movie decided to put three books into one movie, perhaps fearful that there would not be the same excitement in a third or fourth movie about a pair, of what can only be described as most likely extremely smelly after their four years of cross-continental traveling, pants.

As you may have deduced from the first paragraph, this movie is the story of four girls, all friends from childhood, who discover a pair of magical pants, a pair that can fit all of them, despite their different body types. They decide, as they head off into a summer filled with travels, that they will mail the pants in a rotation so that all the girls can use the pants to help them make friends, become successful, find love, and have an enjoyable summer as they all head off in different directions.

In this movie, the girls have been separated by more than a summer, as they are all finishing their first years at college. The connection between the girls seems to be unraveling, though the denim fibers of the pants are just as intact as they were four years ago. After dealing with new and old loves, finding unknown talents, and a theft of a younger sister, the sisterhood must face their biggest problem – the traveling pants have traveled right out of the movie. In the end, the girls renew their friendship as they head to Greece to find the pants. They thank the pants for bringing them to a place, yet again, back together.

In this movie, the girls end up where they started, just four girls who have known each other all their lives. They have survived what life has given them and have grown stronger through their tribulations, because of the pants.

I will go to what might seem to be a bit of a stretch and ask, is the Lord not like those pants? The pants are a reminder of our loving Lord. First, He “fits” us all – or, rather, He makes us “fit” Him in the righteousness He gives through Christ.

He also reminds us of the wonderful gifts we have been given. In truth, we know that the pants could not give anything. But our gracious Savior never stops giving Himself in His Gospel and Sacraments!

Our “Better-than-Pants” Savior promises a long future with Him (though He will not get lost in Greece, making our future with Him much longer than the girls with the pants!) Even when it seems we are on our own, and it seems that God is far from us, He is there all along. He remains with us, assuring us through His Gifts of an eternal future in Christ!

And get this! Jesus never needs to be laundered! Actually, He launders us! He brings us to His Holy Font and washes us. Once baptized, we don’t need to be washed again (only absolved, and that’s another topic.) In that miracle, He clothes us with Himself, covering us with His righteousness.

Finally, God will unite us, together with Him in heaven, just as the girls were united again in Greece. Our Savior will bring us amazing joy as He gathers us all in His presence, blessing us beyond understanding.

Though we may not have a magical pair of pants, we do have a wonderful and amazing God who blesses us! Far better than this sisterhood, we have been given sonship by our Savior, laundered, reminded, and given His Good Gifts!

Johannah Miesner teaches the 7th and 8th grades at Saint John’s Lutheran School in Lanesville, Indiana. A native of Perry County, Missouri, Johannah is a graduate of Concordia University – Nebraska. She previously has written The Big Screen vs. Small Screens: Cinemas and Cell Phones for Higher Things.

 

Categories
Catechesis

Jesus, the Biggest Loser

by The Rev. Rich Heinz

A few seasons ago, before watching, I thought it was a mean, voyeuristic concept of a show. Put a bunch of overweight people on a ranch, make them work hard, and vote them off if they did not work hard enough.

Yet when I actually watched the program, I came to see it as much more. Even when the trainers are hard on their contestants, they are pushing them to excel and teaching them to cope with food, exercise, and life in general. When competitors are voted off, many others cry, as they actually become friends and support each other.

Of course, as I sit on the couch, eating a brownie and sipping Starbucks, I don’t think I’m complying with the choices that the show encourages – at least not all the time. On the other hand, the previous week my wife and I went outside and ran the hill of our driveway a couple times when the show was over.

As Pastor Borghardt and the entire HT staff would say, “Ah! The freedom of the Gospel!” Both the brownie and Starbucks, and the exercise are gifts from the Lord; and there is a time and a place for each.

On Biggest Loser, we see people taught good nutrition choices, great exercise in and out of the gym, and simply living a healthier lifestyle. The show is not about mocking large people. It is not about pitying them either. Biggest Loser is about teaching and encouraging viewers to live healthier lives, becoming Big Losers themselves.

When you think about it, Jesus is the Biggest Loser. Saint Paul directs us to “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5b-8 ESV) Jesus humbled Himself to lose it all for you.

On the show, the one who ends up losing the most weight (unless unfairly voted off) becomes the “Biggest Loser.” Yet in Jesus’ case, He made a major adjustment to this concept.

First, Christ released you from the weight of your sin. As He was baptized in the Jordan, He soaked up the oppressive load of your trespasses. You became “lighter,” as His “weight” increased. It would seem that He was actually being defeated in this contest!

Then Jesus, under the burden of the whole world’s sin, suffered and died. But wait! At the moment of His death, the weight was removed. The pounds of punishment – the tons of trespasses – all gone for good. Jesus indeed became the Biggest Loser!

But in a bizarre twist, Jesus decided not to remain simply the “Biggest Loser,” but to be the Biggest Loser FOR YOU! The Winner, the Champion hands out His delivery through His Holy Gifts, one of which (irony of ironies) is through eating!

Yes, the creators of the show Biggest Loser might be perplexed, but the Lord shares His victory and new life with you as He feeds you! And kneeling at the Lord’s Table, longing for the Holy Food and Drink He gives there is one food addiction that is to be praised and encouraged!

Jesus became the Biggest Loser that you too might be Big Losers – losing the control that sin, death, and the devil have in your lives. You lose the burden of constantly being accused by the devil. You lose the hopelessness and despair that come from our failures in this world. You lose the weight of Old Adam, as Christ, the Biggest Loser, feeds you His victorious Body and Blood! Congratulations! Jesus has made you a bunch of Losers!

Rev. Rich Heinz is Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lanesville, IN. Pastor Heinz also serves as editor of the Higher Things Website.

Categories
Pop. Culture & the Arts

Jesus, the Biggest Loser

by The Rev. Rich Heinz

A few seasons ago, before watching, I thought it was a mean, voyeuristic concept of a show. Put a bunch of overweight people on a ranch, make them work hard, and vote them off if they did not work hard enough.

Yet when I actually watched the program, I came to see it as much more. Even when the trainers are hard on their contestants, they are pushing them to excel and teaching them to cope with food, exercise, and life in general. When competitors are voted off, many others cry, as they actually become friends and support each other.

Of course, as I sit on the couch, eating a brownie and sipping Starbucks, I don’t think I’m complying with the choices that the show encourages – at least not all the time. On the other hand, the previous week my wife and I went outside and ran the hill of our driveway a couple times when the show was over.

As Pastor Borghardt and the entire HT staff would say, “Ah! The freedom of the Gospel!” Both the brownie and Starbucks, and the exercise are gifts from the Lord; and there is a time and a place for each.

On Biggest Loser, we see people taught good nutrition choices, great exercise in and out of the gym, and simply living a healthier lifestyle. The show is not about mocking large people. It is not about pitying them either. Biggest Loser is about teaching and encouraging viewers to live healthier lives, becoming Big Losers themselves.

When you think about it, Jesus is the Biggest Loser. Saint Paul directs us to “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5b-8 ESV) Jesus humbled Himself to lose it all for you.

On the show, the one who ends up losing the most weight (unless unfairly voted off) becomes the “Biggest Loser.” Yet in Jesus’ case, He made a major adjustment to this concept.

First, Christ released you from the weight of your sin. As He was baptized in the Jordan, He soaked up the oppressive load of your trespasses. You became “lighter,” as His “weight” increased. It would seem that He was actually being defeated in this contest!

Then Jesus, under the burden of the whole world’s sin, suffered and died. But wait! At the moment of His death, the weight was removed. The pounds of punishment – the tons of trespasses – all gone for good. Jesus indeed became the Biggest Loser!

But in a bizarre twist, Jesus decided not to remain simply the “Biggest Loser,” but to be the Biggest Loser FOR YOU! The Winner, the Champion hands out His delivery through His Holy Gifts, one of which (irony of ironies) is through eating!

Yes, the creators of the show Biggest Loser might be perplexed, but the Lord shares His victory and new life with you as He feeds you! And kneeling at the Lord’s Table, longing for the Holy Food and Drink He gives there is one food addiction that is to be praised and encouraged!

Jesus became the Biggest Loser that you too might be Big Losers – losing the control that sin, death, and the devil have in your lives. You lose the burden of constantly being accused by the devil. You lose the hopelessness and despair that come from our failures in this world. You lose the weight of Old Adam, as Christ, the Biggest Loser, feeds you His victorious Body and Blood! Congratulations! Jesus has made you a bunch of Losers!

Rev. Rich Heinz is Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lanesville, IN. Pastor Heinz also serves as editor of the Higher Things Website.

Categories
Higher Homilies

Covered with Jesus

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.

 

Categories
Life Issues

Nothing More Important

by Nathan Fischer

There is nothing more important, more vital, and more necessary to the world than putting an end to suffering. At least, that is what we are supposed to believe. Suffering is the worst kind of evil. It affects everyone everywhere indiscriminately. Children go hungry, the poor freeze in the cold, and the rich contract deadly diseases. There are too many situations in life that are out of our control, ensuring that at some point, in some way, suffering comes for us all.

Therefore, one of the primary missions of the world has become to point an end to suffering. Death is a huge problem for us, so through modern medical science the life expectancy of people has been doubled from that of the past. Of course, now that people live longer, we have to deal with previously rare diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. In recent years, cancer has reared its ugly head and now AIDS and other viruses are becoming more of a problem.

That seems to be the way things work in the world. One problem is crushed, affliction is put down, only to have three or four new diseases or terrible incidents take its place. From tornados to violence, diseases to earthquakes, starvation to tsunamis, there is no end to the suffering that plagues this world. Oftentimes our attempts to fix these terrible events even make them worse.

Ending suffering has become such a goal, that even death is seen as better than suffering. Through breakthroughs in medical science, they can now save someone who has been shot in the head. However, when that someone ends up in a vegetative state, suddenly the world does not know how to respond. Would it have been better had they died? Should we pull the feeding tube? The aged and infirm suffer from so many afflictions that perhaps it would just be better to let them die “honorably” through physician assisted suicide. Never mind the fact that it is because of modern science that they are living so long that they need to be put to death in the first place. In a very sad way, it is quite ironic.

All of this begs the question, then, of why it is so important for the world to eliminate suffering. Why pour so much time and effort and resources into ending something that appears to have no end? Quite simply, that is the world’s only hope. For the world, the only heaven that can exist is a “heaven on earth” – a place where all get along peacefully and there is no pain or suffering or death. The world looks fervently for this utopia that they are sure is bound to come. So many believe that it is just around the corner. If only we could stop all of the wars, find a cure for cancer and AIDS, and preserve human life through every technological means at our disposal.

For the Christian, this is a difficult topic. On the one hand, it seems that the world is doing something good and right – putting an end to suffering is a worthy cause, isn’t it? On the other hand, it does seem as though the world takes the matter too far sometimes. How do we deal with suffering? How do we deal with the world’s constant battle to end it? Do we unite with the world, oppose them, or try to find some sort of middle ground?

The fact of the matter is, those are all the wrong questions. For the Christian, there is only one way to view suffering in the world, and that is through the lens of the cross. When the elimination of suffering becomes our ultimate goal, and the cross of Jesus Christ takes a second-place seat in our theology, then what we do is just as evil and wicked as if we lied and cheated and stole from our neighbor.

There is no good deed apart from Christ. There is no end to suffering apart from Christ. That is not to say that we should not strive to help others – not at all. However, the end of suffering cannot be our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal must be Jesus. In the cross of Christ, there is peace, and sometimes it is a peace through suffering, not a peace apart from suffering. There is nothing in Scripture that places an end to suffering above everything else. Heaven is not found on earth alone. Heaven is found in Jesus. Heaven is found in the death and resurrection of the Son of God.

It is through the Suffering Servant that heaven is brought to us; it is through the death of Christ, received through God’s holy gifts, that we inherit eternal life. We then have compassion, because we have Christ.

The goal to end suffering has become an idol to the world, and is an ever-present temptation to Christians. That is why Jesus came. He forgives you for your failures, He bears your suffering in Himself, and He leads you through this life and into the next. He is what the world seeks. He is yours, because you have been baptized into His suffering and death. There is no other answer to the suffering found in this world. There is only Jesus Christ.

Nathan Fischer is a graduate of Concordia University – Wisconsin. Among other interests, he and his wife Katie enjoy watching movies, playing video games, and comparing and contrasting them with our faith. Nathan and Katie are also expecting their first child.

 

Categories
Higher Homilies

“With the Angels and Archangels”

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)