In the Shadows, Pointing to the Light

 

St. Andrew, Apostle
November 30, 2021
John 1:35–42

Poor Andrew. Always in the shadow of his younger brother, Peter. You know, Peter. The rock. The one who is always at the center of attention. The one who was the leader of the twelve apostles and then the entire Church in Jerusalem. The one who wrote two books of the Bible. Everybody knows Peter. Everybody loves Peter.

But what about Andrew? Many may not even be able to say that they know Andrew is one of the original twelve apostles. Poor Andrew, standing over there in the shadows. It is John who tells us that Andrew is Simon Peter’s brother. Notice that the older is the brother of the younger.

But we’re also told that if it weren’t for Andrew Peter would not have known Jesus. Andrew is the one who introduced Peter to the Lord. And while Peter was usually the one to be speaking it was Andrew who also brought some Gentiles to the awareness of Jesus.

Andrew also gets the distinction of being the one whose day in the Church Year actually determines when the Church Year begins. The First Sunday in Advent is always the Sunday that is closest to St. Andrew’s day.

So we know a lot about Peter. We don’t know much about Andrew. As with many of the other apostles we’re given to know a little about this man Jesus called to be an apostle. The Holy Spirit has inspired the writers of Scripture to give us what we need to know.

Andrew may have been in the shadows. But he was always pointing people to the light. It may seem that we don’t have much to offer. We’re ordinary Christians. We’re not pillars of the faith, we’re not apostles. We certainly are not like Peter.

But Andrew may have thought of himself more in the way we think of ourselves. Yes, he was an apostle, and there were only twelve of those. But he was in the shadows. All that he did he did not do in the limelight. And so it’s kind of like you and me. Most people don’t know us. And history probably won’t immortalize us. But though we’re in the shadows, we point people to the light. Just like Andrew did.

Andrew was called by the Lord Christ not to fame but to a life of following Him. Where Jesus led him to was death. No, Andrew was not crucified on the cross by Pontius Pilate. That was reserved for Christ alone. He alone suffered on behalf of the world. But Andrew did live a life that was not his own. He pointed people to Jesus even though it meant that he was martyred for the faith.

Now you and I may or may not be martyred. But you and I live a life that is a lot like the way Andrew lived his life. You may be in the shadows, but it is exactly where God has called you to be. Amen.

SDG

Rev. Paul L. Willweber
Lutheran Service Book Lectionary: One-Year, Gospel
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, San Diego, California

The Lord Goes Before You

The First Sunday in Advent
November 28, 2021
Matthew 21:1–9

Do you know what we were doing on December 1 of 2019? It was a Sunday and we were right here where we are now. It was the First Sunday in Advent just as it is today and we were beginning a new Church Year just as we are now. Advent being a season of preparation we were preparing for our celebration of Christmas at the end of the month. Our focus was on worship.

But we had no idea what was coming. Many of us didn’t even know what had already happened in October or November of that year, that there was a virus that was spreading. In the new year more was heard about it and then halfway through our observance of Lent there were lockdowns all over the world. The pandemic brought with it fear, confusion, and division. When we began a new Church Year two years ago none of us knew what would be coming our way.

Those who lived on the island of Oahu woke up on December 7, 1941 unaware that Japanese planes would soon be raining bombs on them. Many of us woke up on September 11 of 2001 getting ready for another Tuesday, having no idea that the World Trade Center would soon come crashing down and bringing thousands of people to their death. Or what about when your own personal world came crashing down? You may still remember what you were doing the day you were given the news that you were stricken with cancer, or that your loved one was killed in an accident, or that you were fired from your job, or that your spouse told you they wanted a divorce.

Some things we can prepare for. Others come out of nowhere and you are shocked and perhaps afraid or despondent. We don’t always know what will happen. We’re not always prepared. At times in life we are left flailing. We’re stricken with grief or fear. We may feel life is hopeless.

Today we are beginning a new Church Year. We are excited about going through the seasons of the Church Year. But we do not need to ignore the real tragedies in life. We do not need to check our fears or doubts at the door of the sanctuary. We are here, right where we need to be, and that includes being who we are. We not only are in constant struggle with our sinful nature but we are battered by outside forces of temptation and trials.

We’re about two years removed from that strange time when Covid first came upon us. We’re still wondering how it will all shake out. Many of us have long since given up on predicting how things will go or even determining how to move forward. But there is a reason we are here today. It is the same reason we were here two years ago. We don’t know the specific things that will come upon us but we do know that living in a fallen world we will continue to suffer trials. How they come about and how they play out, we will leave that to God.

Two years ago we couldn’t know what would happen with the pandemic. But being here in the House of God we were without realizing it being prepared for it. Today we are preparing for our continued life in this Covid world and for any other adversities we will endure. The Church Year is designed just for this. It follows the pattern God set forth for His people in the Old Testament with the various observances and festivals which highlighted God’s saving acts for His people. Now in the New Testament the pattern follows the saving acts of God in Christ. The Church Year takes us through Christ’s life and ministry and His work in bringing about salvation. In this way we are prepared for anything and everything.

The way the Church Year begins is with preparation. On one level it is preparation for our celebration of Christmas. Advent is from the Latin arrival. As the people of old looked forward to the arrival of the Messiah so we look forward each year to celebrating that arrival of Him being born in Bethlehem. So Advent is reminding us to look back to what God did when He sent the Savior.

On another level Advent is turning our gaze to what is to come. As He promised to come the first time our Lord has promised to return. If His first arrival was in humility then when He returns it will be in glory. We don’t know when it will be. But we know He will come again. So we are already prepared. We will not be surprised. We don’t need to wonder if He is coming again. We know He is.

In this way we face the future and live each day of our lives: we do not go alone. Our Lord goes before us. The Church Year has a striking if not strange way of showing us this when it takes the event that begins Holy Week and brings it right to the front. On Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem, as seen so clearly in Lent and at the head of Holy Week, in order to suffer on account of the sin of the world.

But how does Christ coming into Jerusalem on a donkey fit in with the beginning of the Church Year and beginning our Advent preparation? It shows us that our Lord goes before us. Did you feel things were out of your control two years ago when the alarm was raised and lockdowns were enforced? Do you feel like you are not in control when your personal world is upended and you face trials that come out of nowhere? You are not always in control and this is why Jesus did what He did on that Palm Sunday. The Gospel reading speaks of many people doing various things on that day but Jesus was the one who was in control.

Jesus sent His disciples to get the donkey. He directed them to the village where they would find it. He is the one who determined that He would ride in on a donkey. He is the one who made it possible for them to retrieve the donkey that was tied up, even if someone should ask about what they were doing. He told the two disciples, If they say anything, tell them that the Lord has need of it.

Jesus was aware of everything that needed to happen. Matthew tells us that it was in order to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: Tell Daughter Zion, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

See how Jesus is in control. He is the King, the Lord, the God of all creation. And He sets about going into Jerusalem to accomplish salvation by riding in on a donkey. He humbles Himself to go in on a donkey. When things are spinning out of control Jesus has everything under control. He has come and He came in humility. He will come again and He will come not in humility but in glory.

For now, He goes before you. You do not know what will happen, and yet, you do. You know that no matter what happens you are prepared. You go forward in faith; sometimes in agitation, perhaps fear, maybe even doubt. But isn’t that what faith is, believing even in uncertainty? And so you go forward in faith, and Sunday after Sunday the Church Year will take you back, again and again, to your Lord who went to the cross and who goes before you. Amen.

SDG

Lutheran Service Book Lectionary: One-Year, Gospel
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, San Diego, California

The Way of the Lord

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Rorate Coeli

December 23, 2012

John 1:19–28

The day before we celebrate Christmas we observe a man named John. The apostle John, who wrote the Gospel account which today’s Gospel reading is taken from, says that this John he’s telling us about was Baptizing people. We have known him as John the Baptist ever since.

Who was he? Was he the Messiah, the Savior? No, he wasn’t that. Was he the prophet Elijah the Old Testament had prophesied would come before the Messiah would make His way onto the scene? No, he was nothing like that. Well then, was He the Prophet? The one the Old Testament promised would come to take the place of Moses? No, no, no, you’re thinking on too big of a scale.

Who, then? Who was John the Baptist? When asked he made a simple reply: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” I’m not the One. I’m not all the other things you were looking for. I’m just here to do a job and that is to pave the way for the Lord. You see, He’s here, and you don’t know it. The one you’re looking for is in your midst, but you don’t see Him.

So I’m here. I’ve been sent. I’ve been called to make straight the way of the Lord so that you may see. You’re asking me all these questions when you ought to be looking to the one who is the answer to all your questions. You take issue with me Baptizing when you ought to see that in doing so I’m bringing you the forgiveness that He has come to accomplish.

This is the Way of the Lord. But you don’t see that because you go your own way. You say you’re looking for the Messiah, but really you’re just looking to justify yourself. When you see Jesus you’re going to do the same thing. You’re going to question Him. You’re going to take issue with Him. You’re going to oppose Him. Eventually, you are going to set Him up so that He takes the fall for you.

But this is the Way of the Lord. It is His way. And even though you don’t see that, He is going to work salvation through the wicked plans you devise in bringing Him down. He won’t actually be taking the fall for you at all—He’ll be laying down His life for you. He won’t actually be a victim of your cold calculations, He will lay down His life willingly.

The Way of the Lord is that we wait. We don’t jump straight to Christmas as the world does. We go through Advent. Today we come to the point where we have actually gone all the way through it.

We go through Advent because without understanding the Way of the Lord we don’t really understand Christmas at all. Christmas isn’t really about peace on earth insofar as the way of the world. Christmas is about the true peace on earth brought about through the Way of the Lord. While John the Baptist and the religious leaders in our Gospel reading today were butting heads, we see that the coming of the Son of God into the world brought about anything but peace on earth in the world’s eyes. The way of the world wants a god that conforms to its own self-justification. The Way of the Lord is to bring about true Peace, peace that comes from sins forgiven, life restored, being reconciled with God.

The Way of the world brings people to the point where they shed the blood of an innocent person. The Way of the Lord is to willingly sacrifice and offer His blood to be shed, the innocent for the guilty.

This is what John was doing. Paving the way. Making straight the Way of the Lord. How this was done is how it’s still done. It will be this way until our Lord returns again, this time not as one we don’t know but in full view of everyone. Until the Last Day comes the Way of the Lord is made straight by preaching and administering the Sacraments.

The Law is preached in its full force. The Law is preached as if there were no Gospel. John the Baptist did this and he ended up losing his life for it. Countless Christians down through the ages have been martyred for this faith as well. For the message that every person is sinful and has hope of salvation only in Christ. It is plain that this is not the way of the world. It is the Way of the Lord. The Law is preached in such a way as though your heart were stone and the Law were a giant hammer brought down fully to bear so that your notions of righteousness and goodness are shattered.

Is it any wonder the religious leaders didn’t want to hear this from John? Is it any wonder the guy lost his life prematurely? Is it any wonder Jesus, the Messiah Himself, was brought to the same kind of end? Unjustly accused, set up, tortured, and put viciously to death. And lest we think those religious leaders were culpable and thus leaving us off the hook, their hands may have brought about the events, but it is our sin and guilt that worked right along with their evil plans. John proclaimed the Law to them just as every Christian preacher must preach it in each age and to each person.

No one is exempt. And that also tells us something that goes to another aspect of the Way of the Lord, the Gospel. That we are all sinful and in need of salvation is not just the Law that brings us to repentance. It is also the fact that sinners are precisely the people Christ died for. That includes everybody. Everyone is a sinner and Christ died for everyone.

This is the Way of the Lord. It is the Way in which the Lord, the one of whom John said, “the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie,” Himself took His towel off and washed His disciples’ feet. The one who Himself ate with the cast-offs of society. The one who Himself spent countless hours with disciples who often tried to steer Him away from His path and to go the way of the world.

John the Baptist did not see Himself in the way the Old Testament prophesied he would be, the Second Elijah. He saw himself merely as a voice. A voice in the wilderness. A voice who was crying out for all to hear, but knowing that few would listen and take heed and repent. How much he knew, really understood, the Way of the Lord in terms of using humble men of humble estate, doesn’t really matter. John carried out the call he had been given. He made straight the Way of the Lord.

The humble means by which God sent His messenger shows us the way of the Lord. The Way of the Lord is the humble path. That’s why He chose John. A guy who was out in the desert instead of mingling with decent society. A guy who would tell you exactly what the Law of God declared even though you have self-esteem issues, or the opposite problem and believe that you’re above the Law of God. The Way of the Lord is the way of putting to death the way of the world. Now you know why they put Him to death.

The Way of the Lord is the way of God coming. Which sounds exactly like the Way of the Lord. But the Way of the Lord is exactly the opposite of what we’d expect for the way for the Lord to come. He Himself came in humble means, born with no family around. Just Joseph and Mary and some hay for Him to be comfortable on. The Way of the Lord is the way of humility. It is the opposite of the glory you would expect to see from Him. On the Last Day there will be no mistaking the glory.

But until then, it’s the Way of humility. It’s the way in which, when John says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”, they look at Him, that is, Jesus, and say, “What are you talking about?” It can’t be Him. It can’t be someone like Him. It’s gotta be someone who will see us religious people as the upstanding people we are. And see the outcasts as the outcasts they are, as the sinners they are. They don’t see Him and His way that He works because they don’t see that He came for sinners, for all sinners. He comes in humility because sinners can’t make their way to Him. His Way is to go to them.

It is the way of repentance, to be sure. It’s tough. It’s not easy. It’s the way of humility, in which you see exactly what John the Baptist proclaimed, you are a sinner. You need to repent. You are like he was and not worthy to be in His presence.

But His Way is a gracious way. It is a merciful way. It’s a way in which He comes to you right in your sin and your unworthiness. It’s the way in which His true glory is seen not in feeding 5,000 men and their families, or in the radiance of the Transfiguration, or in the pristine setting of a baby cuddling up in Mamma’s arms. His true glory is seen in His outstretched arms on the cross. His true radiance is in the blood streaming down His face and His back. His true power is in His putting to death your sin and guilt in His own death.

John the Baptist walked the dusty paths of the Judean desert 2,ooo years ago. He saw himself as one who was there for a simple purpose, make straight the way of the Lord. He doesn’t preach anymore but the work he was called to do is still carried out. The Christian Church still points to Christ, the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sin of the world. The Gospel is still proclaimed. The waters of Baptism are still applied to people, so that they may be brought to new life. The bread and wine of the Sacrament of the Altar are still given to God’s people so that they may be fed and nourished with the very body and blood of the Lord.

This is the Way of the Lord. It is a way of humility. It is not the way of the world. There is no glory here as we would expect to see it. There is, instead, the questions running through our minds, “That’s it? Words that are preached? Absolution that is pronounced? Water that is poured over a person as a pastor speaks Jesus’ words of Baptism? A piece of bread, a sip of wine? This is the God who comes to me? Isn’t there some greater way He could come to me?”

But the task of making straight the Way of the Lord is to cut all of those questions out and simply look to Him and His Way of doing what He does. In humility He forgives you through the spoken words of the preacher. In simple means He declares you righteous through the simple pronouncement of the Absolution of your sins. In ordinary water He washes away your sins because that water is connected with His word of forgiveness and salvation. In plain old bread and wine he gives you His body and blood, as that bread and wine have been consecrated by the very words of Christ. That bread and wine, and in and with it, His body and blood, are given to you for your forgiveness, for your strength, for your comfort.

Just as the Law is proclaimed as if there were no Gospel, the Gospel is proclaimed and delivered as if there were no Law. John’s call to repentance, bringing the Hammer of the Law down in full force, is followed by His declaration of the Gospel: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” And so in the Lord’s Supper, what do you get? No Law, just pure Gospel. “Take and eat, the body of Christ, for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. Take and drink, the blood of Christ, for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.” You are fed and nourished because your Baptized. What did you get in Baptism? “I Baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” There is no Law here, only the purest Gospel. It is all Christ, all the Savior given directly to you.

This is His Way. It is the way of the Gospel. The Way of bringing life to you. The way of bringing salvation to you. The way of bringing forgiveness to you. The way of bringing Himself to you for all of those things. That’s why He came. That is His way. He will come again. In the meantime, He comes to you through the Gospel with His abundant life. Amen.

SDG

Jesus Has Come to Bring

Midweek in Advent3

December 19, 2012

1Thessaloians 5:17

 Advent is in many ways like life. It encompasses both repentance and joy as well as expectation and confidence. It is a time of preparation and a time of waiting. Except for maybe Lent, Advent like no other time shows how the Church really is different from the culture. For this whole month the culture has been talking about the Christmas season and we’re still here in the Church in Advent. We’re still waiting. We’re still focusing on things like repentance and hope and expectation.

But just like in life that it’s not all waiting and solemnity, so in the Church we observe and celebrate and rejoice in the now. We began three Wednesdays ago noting how Jesus has come. He came at Bethlehem. He went to the cross. He came out of the tomb. Last Wednesday we looked ahead to that Day when He will come again. It won’t be to one little town like when He came as a baby. He will come for all to see. All will know. There will be no mistaking His Second Coming. His return in glory will be glorious and it will be when He in His eternal will sees is the right time.

And so we wait. We prepare. We repent. We meditate and ponder. We rejoice even as we hope. We look back to His birth and death and resurrection and we look ahead to His coming again on the Last Day. And as we wait—as we prepare, as we repent and ponder—we receive. Because not only has Jesus come to fulfill, as we saw three weeks ago; not only has He come to deliver, as we saw last week; He has come to bring.

While we wait He brings. He has fulfilled and delivered and now He brings. You see, it’s not just a waiting game. It’s not just us sitting around. It’s us receiving. That’s what happens when someone brings; when they give. When they bring the goods to you they’re yours. You have them. You have received them because they have been brought to you; they have been given to you.

And so we see that the waiting we do is far from a waiting around. It’s a waiting in which we are just waiting for the icing on the cake. The cake He brings to us now. He brings. He gives. As He has delivered salvation in His suffering, death, and resurrection, He delivers to us the forgiveness of that salvation to us in the Gospel and in the Sacraments. He brings. He gives. We receive.

The Ten Commandments showed us how we need this. The Creed showed us how that need is met. The Catechism now moves us into what flows out of this—holy living. A life of prayer. A life in which we live in the grace of our Lord; receiving, repenting, rising to new life, waiting in hope and confidence.

The Lord’s Prayer teaches us this. Our Lord did not give us the words to say for prayer so that we’d simply have words to say when we pray. He was teaching us to pray. Prayer isn’t just telling God what’s up, what He needs to know so things can get better for you. Prayer is living the life your Lord has called you to.

Now how do we understand this this way? 1Thessalonians 5:17. An amazing verse. Pray constantly. A short verse. A thought-provoking verse. Pray constantly. All the time. Without ceasing.

How does one go about this? How does one pray without ceasing? Becoming a monk? That may give you more time with folded hands, but even monks sleep. So they don’t pray without ceasing any more than we do. No, it’s more than folded hands and being engaged in the actual activity of speaking or thinking your words to God. It’s something that is done constantly, without ceasing, because it’s something that God brings about in you. That’s what the Christian life is, God bringing you to new life and giving you the will and the ability to live in that new life.

The Holy Spirit is helpful here, interceding for you with groans that words cannot express. If prayer were just up to you, and it consisted only of you speaking or thinking words to God then you wouldn’t have much of a prayer life. You wouldn’t have what you in fact do, a life of prayer. The key to all of this isn’t to carve out more time in your busy schedule to pray more. The key is to live as your Lord has called you to live. It is living a life of prayer.

The key, then, is to entrust your life to God. He, after all, has come to bring. And He brings you exactly what you need to live a holy life, a life of prayer. Entrust your life to what He brings you. He gives you His Gospel. He gives you new life in Baptism. He gives you His body and blood in His Holy Sacrament. The key to this is just as it was with the first two, in which we see that Jesus has come and that He will come again. The pattern emerges that it is all about Him. It is fully reliant on Him and His coming. He has come in the flesh, He will come again in glory.

Now when we talk about Him coming to us now, it is the same thing. It is about Him and the fact that He comes to us in grace and mercy. So while the world, and even the Church, emphasizes Jesus’ coming at Bethlehem—and it should, and this is good—it sadly doesn’t pay much attention to the fact that the babe that was born in Bethlehem comes to us still. And in the flesh!, just like at Bethlehem. That’s His body and His blood He is coming to you with when He invites you to His Supper. That’s His very self He is uniting you to when you are washed in the waters of Baptism. That’s Him that is being delivered to you when His Gospel is proclaimed and His Absolution is pronounced.

This is sadly not emphasized much at all in the Christian Church today. The Church will proclaim that Christ is going to return in glory—and it should and this is good. But when it comes to proclaiming that He comes to us now, it’s often spoken of with a message that we know that He’s always with us or in directing us to the conviction that He lives in our hearts. While this is true and good, it falls short of how our Lord has promised to come to us and how He actually does it so that we have certainty of it. He comes to us in specific ways, just like He came in a specific way the first time—born in a stable, and laid in a manger. And just like it will be specific in His coming again on Judgment Day, everyone will know.

The specific ways He comes to us are what we refer to as the Means of Grace, the Gospel and the Sacraments. It’s so easy to think of Jesus as a cute little baby. It’s easy to picture Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and stepping out of that tomb, conquering death once and for all. These are the core actions of Christ in fulfilling and accomplishing salvation. He came to save and He delivered. Now, what do we do with that while we wait; while we prepare; while we live holy lives? We receive. We partake of the Gospel and the Sacraments. These are the means, the vehicles, in which the Holy Spirit delivers to us the forgiveness, life, and salvation Christ accomplished on the cross.

What has our Lord given us to pray? Hallowed by Thy Name. His name is hallowed when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity and when we as the children of God also lead holy lives according to it.

Thy Kingdom come. How does God’s Kingdom come? God’s Kingdom comes when He gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we may believe His Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

Thy will be done. How is God’s will done? God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, so that His Kingdom may come and His will may be done.

We do not pray so that these things may happen. They do. His name is holy, His Kingdom comes, and His will is done—even without our prayer. We pray in these petitions that they may be so among us. That His name may be kept holy among us, that His Kingdom may come to us, that His will may be done among us.

He has come, He will come again, and He comes to us even now in the Gospel and the Sacraments. Because, after all, Jesus has come to fulfill, and He has. He has come to deliver, and He has. He has come to bring, and He does. For you, now and eternally. Amen.

SDG

Are You in a State of Well-Being?

Third  Sunday in Advent

Gaudete

December 16, 2012

Matthew 11:2–10

The Church Year began in the only way it can, if it is going to do what it is meant to do. And so it began by pointing us to the cross. Jesus is carried into town on a donkey only so that He can die. The Church Year moved us further into itself by very plainly showing us what kind of people we are. We are people of hope. When we see Jesus going into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday we see God’s grace. Because of His grace we have hope. Today the Church Year shows us that we are people of joy. Last week we saw how hope for Christians is a very different thing from simply wishing and hoping things to be true. It’s not that we need to have hope, we do have hope. It’s not that we hope for God’s grace, it’s that He is a gracious God and saves us. Therefore we have hope.

Do we also have joy? We are a people of hope. Are we also a people of joy? In the Introit we were exhorted, “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Do we do that? Do you have joy?—period, end of statement? Do you have joy no matter your feelings, whatever your circumstances, whatever you do or no matter what happens to you? Or, even as you can see holding on to hope, do you see yourself as one who knows you are saved by grace, have the hope of eternal life… but the joy? The joy just isn’t there? Do you see yourself as the recipient of the exhortation to rejoice always, because you don’t?

Even as hope in the world is far different from hope the Scriptures call us to, so it is with joy. True joy is not like joy that the world thinks of. To the world joy is conditional. If things are going well, you have happiness, well-being, joy. Even if you’re in a time of trial but you can see light at the end of the tunnel, you have some reason for being glad because you know your circumstances will change. To be sure, there certainly is a blessing in good circumstances. God has blessed us with abundant blessings and provides for us and gives us things in which we can take pleasure and in which we can be happy. So it’s not that the Bible is telling us we shouldn’t be happy.

But it is telling us that we have true joy. No matter our circumstances we have true joy. No matter what we’re going through we can rejoice in the Lord. The practical question then would be, “How is this so?” How is it possible to be people of joy, to have joy no matter our circumstances? If it’s not tied to my feelings, or my circumstances, what is it tied to?

The answer to that we see from today’s Scripture readings. As is always the case in the Church Year we are shown that we must not get so caught up in our circumstances that we lose sight of Christ. The reason the Church Year does this is because the Bible itself does this. Your circumstances are never so great that the truths of Scripture are diminished by them. You are never in so much need, or suffering from so many trials, that the central message of the Word of God takes a back seat.

The word joy in the Scriptures has an aspect to it of being in a state of well-being. Whereas we often associate it with good feelings and good circumstances the Bible takes it much deeper than that. The well-being we have from God, and the joy we have in God, is a fact of being a child of God; not something that we have only when our circumstances give evidence things are going well or when our feelings match what we consider rejoicing. We struggle with this, though, don’t we, because it seems to go against reality. Or at least reality as it seems to us. And that’s why we must go back to the Scriptures rather than looking at our circumstances or checking how we’re feeling.

As we head toward the end of Advent consider what we are met with when we see the great John the Baptist holed up in a prison. One of the benefits of a free society is that we have a system in which people who commit crimes are punished accordingly, including being locked up for punishment as well as for protection for the rest of us. But here’s John, his only crime that of faithfully carrying out his call from his Lord to prepare the way for his Lord and to proclaim the Gospel of his Lord. What does he get for that? Prison. He gets punishment at the hands of men who deserve more than he does to be in that prison cell. Furthermore, how can he continue his calling of proclaiming the Gospel when he’s limited to his cell?

How do you think John the Baptist’s state of well-being was at that point? I hope I never end up in prison, but if I do I don’t imagine I will feel like my well-being matches what it is when I have a life free to enjoy it freely. Whatever trials and difficulties you are experiencing, do they compare with what John the Baptist experienced? I’m guessing you’re like me and you’d just as soon not have to experience what he did. For another example, on this day in this nation it would be hard to imagine feeling worse than those who lost their children and loved ones in the horrific shooting in Connecticut. But even so, this is not the point. God the Holy Spirit didn’t put that little part in there about John the Baptist being in prison so that we could compare our troubles with his and then come to the conclusion that we may have it bad, but at least we don’t have it that bad. Comparing yourself with others is a road that will only lead you to finding others who are either better or worse off than you are.

What your Lord does is exactly what He did for John. Whether you find yourself in prison or in a fight for your life against cancer or can’t stand the pain you endure, whether it’s physical or emotional, what your Lord is telling you is something that actually might make you feel worse. The reason that is is because of our penchant for viewing things circumstantially and conditional. I have joy because everything’s going great! Or, how can I have joy when things are falling apart! This is the worst thing you can do, but we do it all the time, don’t we?

Jesus teaches us straight out that we are in a state of well-being. There are no conditions. There are no circumstances under which this is not true for you. It’s, Rejoice!, because you have cause for joy. You are a people of joy. Note that Jesus never says anything about feelings. He doesn’t even say anything about circumstances. In fact, that’s the whole key to this, He doesn’t point us to anything within us. Rather, He points us to Himself.

How could John rightly believe that he was in a state of well-being when he was locked up in a cell? As they soon after led him to the chopping block where they severed his head from himself, how could he think that God had him in His care? Because, as Jesus responded to John’s question, He, Jesus, was the One. What was it that John had been doing all that time before they threw his pink little body into prison? Pointing to the One. Proclaiming the Christ. Preparing the way for the Messiah, the Savior. That’s what John had been doing. That’s what it was all about. It never was about John. It never was about his feelings, or his circumstances, or the conditions he would have liked to place on his standard of living or his general assessment of his well-being.

No, it was, and was always, about Christ his Lord. It was always about the fact that John, in prison and out, in good times and bad, in moments of happiness and moments of sadness and despondency, was in fact in a state of well-being. In other words, he had true joy. It all stemmed from God’s grace, and gave him hope, and he was a person of joy. One who could rejoice in all circumstances.

That’s the true beauty of joy and rejoicing. You can do it even when you don’t feel like it. You have joy even when it seems there’s no cause for it. Since it’s not based on your feelings or your circumstances, you can know that you have true joy because it’s something that is entirely from and of your Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s really quite amazing how Jesus preaches a sermon. When you consider that preaching the Gospel is always preaching Christ and the salvation that is in Him alone it’s fascinating to see how Jesus Himself does it. What does He first do? He says very simply in response to John’s question, which is, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”, “Well, John, what am I doing? The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” In other words, Yes. Yes, I’m the one. So there you see how Jesus preaches the Gospel, in the same way every Christian preacher must do it, by preaching Christ.

But then it gets interesting. He then goes on to talk to the people about John. One moment He was proclaiming Himself, and so far so good. But then He goes into a thing about John the Baptist. Wasn’t John the one who was supposed to be proclaiming Christ? And now Jesus is pointing the people to John? But Jesus is the true genius preacher, never preaching anyone but Himself. Whereas every preacher falls short at times, Jesus is the one who always focuses us exactly where our sights need to be set and always proclaims exactly what we need to hear. And what is that? Him. Jesus. The Savior, God in the flesh; the one who came to go to the cross.

So is Jesus really pointing people to John here? No. He’s pointing people to Himself. When He brings up the stuff about John it’s in order to show us who God is and how He works. Namely, God promised the Savior. God promised He would send His messenger before Him. When He is pointing to John, then, as this very messenger He’s not pointing us to John at all. He’s pointing us to Himself. In Him, and only in Him, is true joy. In Him, and in Him alone, is our reason for rejoicing.

Think about what you are doing when you look at your circumstances and do not see cause for joy or when you place conditions on your ability to rejoice. You are looking at things other than the one thing you ought to be looking at, and that is Christ. That is what He Himself does for you—He gives you Himself, He gives you true joy, He makes you a person who is a person of joy.

It never was about John at all. And it is never about you either. It is, and is always, about Christ. Because if it’s about you, well, then, yes, there’s not always cause for joy because you will always find reason for lack of joy. But if it is always about Christ there is reason for joy and rejoicing.

He is the one whose conditions and circumstances turned dramatically to the point where prison would have been a summer home compared to His suffering on the cross. All the sin and guilt of every person was laid upon Him. All the wrath of God against sinners was brought upon Him. The eternal punishment every person deserves was dealt Him. All our suffering and sadness is met in the suffering of Christ on the cross.

This is the heart of the Gospel, for it is the heart of Christ. It is simply an unfathomable fact that He considered going to the cross a joy. He rejoiced in His Heavenly Father’s will to go this path. And that, dear friends, is why we have true joy. Amen.

SDG

Third Sunday in Advent

Advent draws more to a close and we pause in the midst of meditation and preparation to consider the joy we have in Christ. Even when circumstances seem to tell otherwise, true joy is ours in Christ. The circumstances of the birth of Christ weren’t ideal but the joy was all the more clearly seen. The condition we are in in awaiting His glorious Return on the Last Day seems to call for something other than joy. Perhaps questions or doubt. But the joy we have in Him is found not simply in the promise of His Return but in His actual coming to us in the Gospel that is proclaimed and the waters that were poured over us in Baptism and the partaking of His body and blood in His Holy Meal. Having true joy doesn’t discount circumstances, it simply shines through in the midst of them.

Jesus Has Come to Deliver

Midweek in Advent2

December 12, 2012

1Corinthians 15:3–5

As we continue with our Advent preparations we see that the purpose of the Catechism is to direct us to our Lord. It is to show us our Lord’s work in how He comes to us and why He comes to us. That is because that is what the purpose of the Word of God is. God has given us His Word so that we may know His Son. His Son is, in fact, the Word made flesh. That is how God has comes to us. In the flesh. In the Person of Jesus. He came at Bethlehem and He will come again. He comes to us often in Word and Sacrament.

The Ten Commandments show us our need. They show us why Jesus needed to come. They direct us to our sin and call us to repentance. Here is where we see our Lord. We see that He has become a curse for us. Though He fulfilled the Law He was placed under the wrath of God against sinners so that we sinners may be saved. The Creed clearly lays out the essential actions Jesus did to bring about this salvation. The Creed is what we hold to. It’s what we believe and what we confess. It’s the declaration of faith Christians down through the centuries have put forth because it clearly and simply enunciates the Gospel.

This is the kind of thing Paul was getting at in 1Corinthians 15 when he said, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” [ESV] He doesn’t just state the facts as if he’s delivering them to them out of the blue. He says he is delivering to them what has been delivered to him. This has been handed down, and that’s what we do with the Creed. We are taught. It is delivered and handed down to us and then we do the same with successive generations.

Paul is very specific in what he is delivering. It is in accordance with the Scriptures, he says. It is the very details of salvation. Christ died, He was buried, He was raised on the third day, and then He appeared to the apostles. He goes on to say in succeeding verses that Jesus appeared also to more people. These facts he is delivering are very Creed-like. In fact, when the Church set out to formulate the Creeds one of the things it did was go to the Scriptures and see how the Scriptures themselves laid out the details of how salvation was actually accomplished. Was it because Jesus spoke of it? Was it because He prayed to His Heavenly Father about it? Was it because the apostles got on board with the whole plan? What Paul writes is very clear: it’s all Jesus and it’s all His actions of dying, being buried, and being raised. This is the Gospel Paul proclaimed and it’s the Gospel the Church continues to proclaim.

The Creed doesn’t add anything to the Scriptures, but simply, and succinctly, sets forth what the Scriptures teach. We saw last week how one of the things Jesus did for us wasn’t simply to take our place in being punished for our failure to keep God’s Law, but also to fulfill that Law. His life is of vital importance. Jesus lived a life fully in concert with His Heavenly Father’s will. Upon doing this He then suffered and died for the sins of the world.

The Church has taught this across the ages and will continue to do so. At the heart, though, of salvation, is the cross. Without the cross every doctrine, every thing Jesus did, the whole Christian faith, is a house of cards that comes crashing down. The Creed ultimately confesses and hones in on the cross. In Advent, when we are preparing our hearts and minds for the celebration of our Lord’s coming at Bethlehem, the point is brought home of why we celebrate that event, of Jesus being born; of God becoming a man, and that by being born as a baby. The reason? The cross. Jesus was born in order to die.

See how the Creed teaches this. A mere comma separates the Creed’s confession that He was born of the Virgin Mary and that of His suffering and death. This is how it reads and how we confess it: “who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” In the Creed we confess that He was born of the Virgin Mary and in the next breath that He suffered and died. This is remarkable. A whole lot of stuff happened between that happy day Mary cuddled Him in her arms and the day the soldiers affixed Him to a cross. There were the miracles, the teaching, the acts of compassion, and as we saw last week, an entire life of living in perfect harmony with God’s will and fulfilling His will as it is laid out in the Ten Commandments. Jesus did in fact come to do all that stuff and it’s all His work of accomplishing salvation for us, but it must always be remembered and always proclaimed and confessed and taught that it is all centered in the cross. He was “born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.”

If we learned from the Commandments that Jesus has come to fulfill we learn from the Creed that He has come to deliver. He fulfilled what we were unable to, He delivers what we are unable to accomplish on our own. He fulfills the Law and delivers to us salvation. We having received this salvation now deliver the Gospel on to each generation. The first reading this evening captures this nicely:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. [ESV]

We confess and then we teach. As Paul’s words in 1Corinthians were very Creed-like, so are the words of the first reading—the declaration that the Lord is one God. The Scriptures beautifully show who this one true God is, He is the Triune God. The One in Three and Three in One. Not three gods or three parts of one God. One God, three Persons. Three Persons, one God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit; all fully God. Notice what the Scripture passages we heard do—they lay out the doctrine. They state the facts of who God is and how He has accomplished salvation. There is no explanation of how God is triune. There is no logical positing of how God became a man; of how Jesus, who is fully God, could die. There’s just the pure unadulterated laying forth of the facts of salvation. The Triune God has acted in such a way as to save us. He has done it by the Second Person of the Trinity becoming man and suffering, dying, and rising.

Notice, then, what the Creed does—the same thing. It states it succinctly. There is no explanation. No attempt at proving anything. No appealing going on. Simply confession. The faith is confessed and we confess it as our own. God the Father, the Creator, God the Son, the Redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, are all perfectly in concert in bringing us life, redemption, and sanctification.

This is all concentrated in the work of the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s why Paul makes the beautiful confession of faith he does in our second reading:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by 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. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [ESV]

He has come, He will come again, and He comes to us even now in the Gospel and the Sacraments. Because, after all, Jesus has come to deliver. Amen.

SDG