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A Law Question and a Gospel Question

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    One thing I’ve discovered through the years is that most people, even unchurched people, don’t usually mind discussing questions about God and morality.  Even those who never have time for divine service will often still have time to express their opinions on this or that religious topic.  But that’s where the problem often is: what we end up doing is simply to make God an object of discussion and debate.  Folks talk about theology the same way they discuss politics or the economy or sports:  creation vs. evolution, the presidential race, gay marriage, Lutheranism vs. Roman Catholicism, police shootings, racial protests and riots, Islam and refugees, what’s wrong with the Packers offense–these are all just things to talk about and take sides on.  Spiritually speaking the problem is this: when the things of God become simply a topic to discuss and debate like anything else, that can actually become a way of keeping the Lord at arms length–religion’s an idea out there that we can safely control and manage.  It then becomes about concepts rather than about a person: the God we live under and are accountable to, Who desires that we live in communion with Him, the Redeemer who is our very life.

    And one of the easiest ways to talk religion without actually having come to terms with the living God is to debate morality, to discuss the Law–which, of course, is fine and good.  But as we see in today’s Gospel, for the Pharisees it had become a bit of a game and a litmus test.  Jesus had just silenced the elite Sadducees, who were sort of the liberals of the day.  The conservative Pharisees liked that.  Now, they thought, let’s see if Jesus passes the test and can fit properly into our group.  With their question, they wanted to be able to categorize Jesus and put Him into one of their boxes, so that they could handle Him and manage Him.  null

    “Teacher,” they asked, “which is the great commandment in the law?”  It was a question intended to bring Jesus down to their level.  Notice how Jesus was supposed to pick just one commandment.  If Jesus answered the right way, the way that agreed with their group’s thinking and shared their priorities, then He would simply be one of them.  But if not, then they could debate Jesus’ answer as if they were His equals and dismiss Him, all the while reducing the living voice of God’s Law to a matter of ethical points.  Either way, they were using the Law in a lawless way, as a way of exalting themselves rather than humbling themselves before God.  Beware of trying to argue moral questions simply for the sake of being right or winning a debate or justifying yourself.  That’s not why God gave the Law.  The Law is always meant to lead us to repentance and to Christ.

    Our Lord’s wisdom would not play the Pharisees’ game or submit to their litmus test.  He did not choose a single commandment.  Instead, He summarized them all.  He cut through their vain request and exposed the foolishness of pitting God’s Word against itself.  Love is the fulfillment of the law.  So Jesus answers in two parts.  First, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  That’s not something you can reduce down to a bunch of do’s and don’ts.  For that Law commands you to love God with every fiber of your being, all that you are, all that you own, with nothing held back from Him.  He wants the entire devotion of your heart; all of your love, your allegiance to be with Him alone.

    And Jesus doesn’t stop there, in case someone thinks that loving God means leaving ordinary life and your fellow man.  He goes on, “And the second (great commandment) is like (the first): ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  These two go side by side, hand in hand.  The love of God and the love of the neighbor are inseparable.  You cannot claim to love God if you don’t love your neighbor.  For God seeks to be loved in your neighbor.  The Lord Jesus–who took up our nature and truly shares in our humanity–is present therefore in all those around us, particularly those in need, to receive our acts of kindness and self-giving.  As the proverb says, “He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord.”  That’s why Jesus says that the commands are alike: Because God is served both in love for Him and in love for the neighbor.  This love is limitless in how it is to be expressed and shown.  

    That is where the living voice of the Law nails us and condemns us for falling short.  It exposes our lovelessness.  It exposes our self-satisfying motivations when we do engage in loving works.  It brings nothing but judgment and death.  

    Repent, therefore, and turn to Christ.  For Jesus here gets us back on the track that leads to salvation and life.  The Pharisees had asked a Law question, but now Jesus asks a Gospel question, not one that focuses on us, but one that focuses on who He is.  Jesus gets us away from moral concepts and religious debates and gets us to meditate instead on personhood of the Messiah Redeemer.  Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah?  Whose Son is He?”  They said to Him, “The Son of David.”  And that was correct.  God had promised King David in the Old Testament that the Messiah would be one of His descendants.

    Jesus then asks them this question, “How then does David in the Spirit call the Messiah ‘Lord’ in one of the Psalms?”  You see, under ordinary circumstances in Jewish culture it would be the son who refers to the father as lord or master, not the other way around.  And yet here David, the father and the great ancestor of the Christ, refers to his descendant as Lord.  Jesus asks them, “Why is that?”  Just as the Pharisees had tried to trap Jesus into a debate with a Law question, Jesus here tries to “trap” them into thinking about the truth about the Gospel with this question, to get them to see the saving reality of who He is.

    The Jews had been conceiving of the Messiah as being a combination of a great prophet and a powerful political leader, but always in the end only a man.  But Jesus here leads us to see that while He is truly human, He is more than just a man.  David calls Him lord and master because Jesus, his literal descendant, is also truly and fully God.  The Son of David is the everlasting Son of  God.

    Here, then, is where the good news is for us.  Jesus, thankfully, does not come in a way that fits into our mental categories and according to the expectations of whatever groups we align ourselves with.  He isn’t a liberal or a conservative.  His ways are infinitely higher and better.  He comes not in the way of fallen man but in the way of His perfect self-giving humanity.  Jesus is the only man in whom God’s love is perfectly embodied.  Jesus kept the Law perfectly for us and in our place.  He loved His heavenly Father with all His heart, with all His soul, and with all His mind, devoting Himself entirely to doing His Father’s will.  And Jesus loved His neighbor as Himself.  He gave Himself completely to those around Him, healing them, helping them, teaching them saving truth.  In the end He gave His life away, laying it down for us on the cross.  There is no greater love than that a man lay down His life for His friends; and you are His friends whom He died for.  Through that perfect act of love and self-giving, Jesus won for you the full forgiveness of your sins.  
    Jesus said that on these two commandments of love hang all the Law and the prophets.  Jesus, who is love in the flesh, hangs on the cross for you to fulfill the Law of love perfectly.  Baptized into Him, the Law’s condemnation is taken away from you, as Romans 8 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  You are free, released, forgiven, right with God in Christ.  His self-sacrifice has rescued you from judgment and has brought you everlasting life.  For Jesus has made your enemies to be His enemies–sin and death and the devil–and by rising from the grave He has made them His footstool.  The grave is conquered; sin is taken away; Satan’s head is crushed.  All of this that you now know by faith you will see with your own eyes at Jesus’ return–when He who is at God’s right hand is revealed in all His glory, and all things that are under His feet will be put under your feet with Him.  

    Therefore, brothers and sisters of Christ, remember that theology is not just something we talk about, it is the God, the Redeemer we come face to face with, and whom we confess, the Jesus who is our life and who desires that we share in His life and have fellowship with Him forever.  He is present here now–not as a concept but as pure love in the flesh, giving you His true body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.  Here is living theology, where the love of God and love of the neighbor all come together in Christ, love’s flesh and blood.  You are sanctified and cleansed in Christ Jesus.  You are saints before God as the epistle said–not because of the Law and what you have done, but because of the Gospel and what Jesus has done.  Continue, therefore, to believe in Him and cling to Him, eagerly waiting for His return.  For He will confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful; He will do it.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

This Man Went Down to His House Justified

Luke 18:9-14

Trinity 11

 
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
 
When you are considering a Biblical account and how it applies to you, one of the things to do is to figure out where you fit into the story. Who am I in this particular portion of Scripture?  Which character represents me, my thoughts, my actions?  Well, in today’s Gospel, you’ve got two choices.  Either you’re the Pharisee or you’re the tax collector.  Either you’re the self-righteous puritan or you’re the thieving, unclean sinner.  Not much of a choice is it?  But those are your options.  Who are you?
 
“Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.”  “Well,” you say, “that’s certainly not talking about me.  I know I’m not righteous.  Nobody’s perfect.”  However, don’t be so quick to dismiss what Jesus says.  Sure, I don’t think there’s anyone here who would stand up and say that they’re perfect and righteous.  We’ve all made mistakes; we all have our flaws.  But on the other hand, most of you think that the flaws you do have aren’t all that serious.  And you’ve got pretty good justifications for your mistakes.  “Some person did something to me and set me off.  This or that happened to me in my childhood; my parents are to blame.  The circumstances I was presented with left me no good options.”  Trying to justify yourselves and your sin like that is the opposite of being justified by God through faith in His mercy.  And it’s certainly the opposite of a repentant heart.null
 
You see, most think, “Sure, I’m not without sin, but who is (as if that were a justification)?  All in all I’d say I’ve lived a decent life.  There’s more good than bad in me, and certainly that counts for something with God.  I try my hardest to do what’s right, and when I mess up, God’s not going to send me to hell for that, is he?  I mean, come on, I go to church when I can, I give offerings, I volunteer.  Compared to a lot of others in this society, I think I’m doing OK.  Look at our presidential candidates and politicians.  Look at the immorality and hypocrisy of celebrities; look at all the weirdos and perverts in society.  I’m a better person than they are.  I thank God that I’m not like that.  I’m just regular person, doing my best to live a good life, and I think in the end God will reward me for that.”  Does that sound a little more familiar?  That’s how the contemporary Pharisee talks and despises others.  If that is how you are tempted to think or talk, God help you and grant you repentance.
 
The Pharisee’s problem was not that he thanked God for where he was in life.  We all should do that.  If we suffered the worst consequences of our sins, every one of us would be in awful shape, right?  As the saying says, “There but for the grace of God go I.”  Nor was the Pharisee’s problem that he tried to live an outwardly righteous life.  Wouldn’t it be great if all of us would be more pious and zealous in seeking to do what is good and right.  Wouldn’t it be great if all of us would give the full 10% tithe in our offerings (especially looking at today’s bulletin).  No, the Pharisee’s problem was that he trusted in those works of his as if they were the thing that would put Him right with God.  The problem was inward and in the heart.  He didn’t place His confidence in what God had done for him but in what he had done for God.  He really was worshiping Himself. 
 
You can see that the focus of his religion was backwards in the way that he prays.  Five times in his short prayer he uses the word “I.”  “I thank You that I am not like other men–extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.”  In fact, Jesus says the Pharisee prayed “with himself,” almost as if God was the bystander and he was the main event.  Beware of prayers and worship in which God is simply there as a prop and window dressing while the focus is really on those doing the praying or on their worldly agendas.  In the end that is self-worship and self-righteousness.  That’s the problem with so much of so-called contemporary worship.  God’s name is used, but the center of attention is the people on stage and what they’re doing and how they’re performing and the agendas they’re pushing, not the words and works of God.
 
God gave His good and wise Law not so that you may justify yourself but so that you may see how much you need His help and deliverance, how much you need Him to justify you.  The Law is there not so that you can see how good you’re doing compared to others.  It is there so that you can see how you’re doing compared with the holy God and what He requires.  The purpose of the Law is not only to show you how you must live but also to expose how greatly you have fallen short of its demands. 
 
When all is said and done, the Pharisee and the tax collector are in the exact same condition.  Though one looks good and impressive and the other doesn’t, both share the same heart disease called sin.  Both of them are foul and unclean within.  The tax collector is showing symptoms of his sin-disease, whereas the Pharisee seems to have his mostly under control (except for pride).  But both have the same root disorder; both are just a heartbeat away from death, as the Epistle says, “You were dead in trespasses and sins.”  
 
Let me ask you:  Who’s in the better position, the man about to go in for heart surgery or the one unaware that he has the same condition who’s about to keel over dead?  Who’s in the better position before God, the Pharisee who falsely thinks that everything’s fine, or the tax collector who understands the true diagnosis?  Learn from the Pharisee and the tax collector.  Believe the terminal diagnosis that the Law has made about you.  Humble yourself before God in true repentance; seek His healing, His cleansing, His righteousness. 
 
For it is written, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart–these, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).  The Lord certainly did not despise the tax collector as the Pharisee did.  For the tax collector comes not in pride but in lowly penitence and faith.  This is not fake humility or going through the motions.  The tax collector stands afar off from those praying in the temple; for he knows how his sin cuts him off from God and others.  He does not raise his eyes to heaven; for he knows he deserves no heavenly blessing.  He beats his chest when he prays in token that he is worthy to be punished severely.  He cries out his only hope, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”
 
The tax collector places his confidence and trust not in anything about himself but entirely in the Lord and His mercy.  He despairs of his own merits and character and entrusts himself completely to the merits and character of God.  He relies not on his own sacrifice but on God’s sacrifice.  For when the tax collector prays for mercy, he uses a word that has to do with the offering up of the animals there in the temple.  He desires the atonement for sin that only God can provide through the shedding of blood.  Remember, it was at these times of public prayer in the temple when an animal would be sacrificed on the altar according to God’s command to cover the sins of the people.  Therefore, at the very moment in which the tax collector prays, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” his prayer was being answered right there in the sacrifice which the Lord provided.  The tax collector trusted in the Lord’s sacrificial mercy, and he yearned for the day when the Messiah would come and bring all these things to their fulfillment.
 
The Pharisee thought he was righteous, but he is not the one who is justified before God.  No, it is the tax collector who goes down to his house justified, declared righteous in God’s sight.  And so it is also for each of you who pray in humility and penitent faith, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”  For the sacrifice has also been made for you, not in the temple, but in Jesus’ body, on the cross.  There Christ, the Lamb of God was offered up once and for all.  By His shed blood your sins have been fully atoned for, and you have been put right with God.  As it is written, “You who once were far off (as the tax collector stood far off) have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”  You are justified before God, declared righteous in His sight through Christ.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  It’s all yours because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  That’s what we boast and brag about.  Just as the lifeblood of Abel the shepherd covered the dust of the ground, the blood of your Good Shepherd Jesus covers you who are made from the dust and gives you new life.  For His blood cries not for vengeance but for mercy.  Just as the ground opened its mouth to receive Abel's blood, so we open our mouths in the Sacrament to receive the blood of Christ for our forgiveness and to raise us up to new life.
 
I began this sermon by pointing out how, in applying a Bible passage to yourself, it’s good to find where you are in the story.  But even more so, it is of utmost importance to find where Jesus is in the story for you.  In today’s Gospel He is there in the temple, the place of God’s holy presence; He is there in the sacrifices, which foreshadowed His own.  And Jesus is also there in the tax collector, who humbled himself and was exalted in the end.  It is written that the Son of God humbled Himself even to the point of death on the cross, in our place and for our sins.  Therefore, God the Father has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  
 
Fellow baptized, to be a Christian is nothing else than to follow in this way of Christ–to be laid low with Him through repentance and death to sin, and to be raised up with Him through faith to new life and the resurrection of the body on the Last Day.  So don’t look within yourselves like the Pharisee, for there is nothing there but sin and death; look outside of yourselves like the tax collector.  Look to Christ alone, for in Him there is full forgiveness and life.   God grant you all to know the truth and the wisdom of Jesus’ words, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
 
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

As a Little Child

Concordia Catechetical Academy Symposium–"Keeping Our Children in the Faith"
Thursday, June 16, 2016
 
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit
 
In the kingdoms of this world, privilege usually comes with age–you can drive, or order a glass of wine at a restaurant, or get a specialized job when you’re old enough, when you’ve met all the necessary standards and requirements.  But in the kingdom of God privilege comes with youth.  What is necessary is that you’re young enough, before you can even begin to point to any personal merits and accomplishments or try to justify your behavior.  “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
 
This is something that our sinful nature despises.  Of course, we like the imagery of little children; we’re not so harsh as those disciples, of course.  What we don’t like, what we rebuke, in fact, is the idea that our resume and the entrance application that we’ve worked up isn’t what gains us acceptance into the kingdom.  Our flesh still wants to believe that our own credentials and the status that we’ve earned must play at least some part in making us suitable to come to the Lord.  But Jesus is greatly displeased at this thinking.  Repent of it.null
 
Hear what Jesus is saying with His words, “Let the little children come to Me.”  It’s not that they’re innocent–parents of little ones know that well enough.  It’s not even that they’ll believe pretty much whatever you tell them.  To be as a little child, indeed as a nursing infant, is to be completely dependent on the care and providing of another, to be utterly helpless apart from the Lord, to have nothing to give and everything to receive from Him.  For Jesus has everything to give.  “He took them up in His arms and blessed them.”  “To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? (Is 53:1)” but to such little ones, even to those whom the world considers foolish and weak.
 
This also is how the fruit of the womb is a reward and a gift that is not to be hindered or despised.  God helps us to be as little children by giving us little children to teach raise and to learn from–to see the faith again through their eyes.  For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
 
Some have wondered why it is that we baptize infants before teaching them but teach adult catechumens before baptizing them.  There is no pretense in an infant at the font; there may be with an adult.  We catechize those who are older first, in part, to make sure that they’re young enough, that they receive the kingdom of God and the Word of God as if they were a little child.  So it is that this Gospel reading is used at a baptism regardless of whether it is an infant or an adult who is being baptized.
 
This is also why we all are urged to return to our baptism daily.  That exhortation is nothing else than a call to go back to being little again before the Lord, to humble yourself before Him that He may lift you up in His arms and bless you with His mercy and life.  To repent is to be turned from your self-indulgence and your self-justifying pride and to be brought to Christ so that He may be all in all for you.  It is as John the Baptizer said, “He must increase, I must decrease.”  In decreasing like that, John was declared by Jesus to be the greatest, for Christ was everything for Him.
 
It is only in becoming small that one becomes great in the kingdom of heaven.  In fact it is only by becoming nothing, dying to ourselves that we truly live.  God has chosen the things which are not, Scripture says, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should boast in His presence (1 Cor. 1:27-29).  It is out of the barrenness of Sarah’s flesh, and Abraham who was as good as dead, that God brought forth life and carried on the promise.  
 
The little children of God’s kingdom are those who have been born again by God’s doing, from above, by water and the Spirit. 
Martin Luther famously said in the Large Catechism, “I am a doctor and preacher, yes, as learned and experienced as all those may be who have such presumption and security; yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism, and every morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms, etc. And I must still read and study daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am glad so to remain.”
 
Keeping our children in the faith, then, has to do with helping them to remain children in the faith.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  No matter how much one grows in the faith, this beginning of humility and reverence for the Lord can never be left behind, or there is no growth at all.  When we’re always going back to the beginning, we’re always going back to our dependency on the Lord who made the beginning, and who is the beginning and the ending, the Alpha and the Omega.  He alone is the one who does the keeping, as we say in the Benediction.
 
For Jesus is the One who made Himself small for you–not only when He was a little child in the arms of His mother–He even made Himself nothing, humbling Himself to the point of death on a cross to redeem you as His own.  Depending entirely on His Father, entrusting His spirit into the Father’s hands, He was fully confident that He would be vindicated in the resurrection.  Now the Son is taken up to the Father’s right hand where He lives to intercede for you.  In Him who is in the bosom of the Father, God blesses you and keeps you.
 
It has been observed that when we near the ending of our lives, there is a similarity to the beginning of our lives, when we need to be cared for, when we become more dependent on others.  That feels like a curse, and it certainly is a result of the fall.  But in Christ, who tasted death for us, even this is redeemed.  The Lord teaches us here once again to become as little children, not grasping for control of our own lives, but entrusting ourselves into His hands, like an infant at the baptismal font.  In death we are entirely as little children in the Lord’s strong arms, awaiting the blessing of the resurrection of the body.
 
Jesus prayed, “I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.  Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight” (Matthew 11:25-26).  So then, little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21).  As newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby, now that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious (1 Peter 2:2-3).
 
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit

Rest for Your Souls

Matthew 11:25-30

 
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
 
For all of the leisure time we have in our modern era, for all the hours we spend engaged with our various screens and technologies, it’s amazing how often people complain about being tired and worn out.  It may not only be a physical weariness of difficult or tedious work, but a mental exhaustion, too, information overload.  As the warm weather finally arrives, people are eager to get away from it all and take a trip or a vacation, decompress and recharge.  Of course, as enjoyable as a getaway can be, most people realize they need a vacation after their vacation before they will actually feel rested and refreshed.  We keep seeking after things that will de-stress and rejuvenate us and give us peace, but we never quite seem to get all the way there. 
 
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about the rest that He gives to those who are tired and burdened.  He is not talking simply about outward, temporary relaxation bur rather inward, lasting restoration and peace, rest for your souls.  So today, we will be seeking first to identify what it is that makes our souls so weary, and then second, to discover where and how we may obtain this rest which Jesus is speaking about, the true rest which continues forever.
 
What is it that exhausts our souls?  For some it is very simply the stress of fulfilling their many responsibilities in life and all the things you have to deal with as a parent and a spouse and a worker and a volunteer and a caretaker.  The anxiety that comes from doing everything that needs to be done can cause more than just bodily tiredness, it can drain a person's spirit.  For others, it is struggling to live up to the expectations and social pressures of family members or friends that makes them inwardly worn out.  They never feel like they quite measure up.  For many, burdens of the soul can be caused by bodily troubles and sicknesses, which wear a person down mentally and can raise the nagging question, "Why is this happening to me?"  And for still others, spiritual weariness comes from the fact that they've been dragging around a load of guilt with them for years and sometimes even decades.  Some failure or something they deeply regret having done won't leave them alone but seems to hang on to them like a ball and chain.null
 
But in the most ultimate and truest sense, the thing that makes our souls "weary and burdened" is the all-encompassing demands laid on us by God's Law.  Now at first we might think that we can handle God's commands.  "Don't murder.  Don't steal.  Don't commit adultery.  Honor your parents.  Remember the Sabbath Day."  Those aren't always easy, but with a little effort we can usually pull that weight.  But then we learn that there's more to it than that.  "Don't murder" also means that we should help our neighbor in all his physical needs, even to the point of loving our enemies.  "Don't commit adultery" also means that we should constantly honor and love our spouse.  "Don't steal" also means that we should help others to improve and protect their possessions.  That’s a lot heavier load.  And then we discover that we can also break God's commandments in our hearts.  Lust is adultery.  Anger is murder.  Greed is stealing.  Now, it takes all of our might just to drag that burden an inch.  And that's not even the end of it.  We're stopped dead in our tracks, drained of all our strength when God says in His Word, "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."  And, "You, therefore, must be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
 
God's Law is like a gigantic boulder to which we are chained.  And He says, "Pull it!  If you want to get to heaven on your own steam, you must drag it all the way there."  And not one of us can.  Our fallenness burdens our conscience and makes life an exhausting spiritual struggle. 
 
So where do we find rest?  The kind of rest we are speaking about is not to be found in a vacation trip or a six-pack or in any other earthly pleasure.  No, in the Gospel Jesus tells us where real, lasting rest is to be found by saying, "Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  Notice the gift language there.  No purchase necessary.  “I will give you rest.” To those who are weighed down by the burden of anxiety or stress, Jesus says, "Here, let me carry it."  To those who've been dragging around a load of guilt Jesus says, "Here, let me pull it."  To those who've been worn down and worn out by the demands of God's Law Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
 
A yoke, of course, is a wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals, like horses or oxen, are joined together for plowing.  So it might seem a bit odd at first that Jesus would invite us to come to Him for rest and then say, "Take my yoke upon you," as if it was not rest He was offering but hard labor.  However, that is clearly not Jesus' intent.  What He is saying rather is, "Stop your exhausting and futile efforts to pull that load alone.  Hook up with me; let me do it."
 
One of the parts of a yoke is a piece called an evener.  This evener can be adjusted so that the stronger of the two animals pulls the heaviest portion of the load.  Well, in our case, the evener is adjusted all the way so that we pull the whole load through Christ and by His strength alone.  For only He has the power to move it.  Only He has the power to fulfill the Law of God and to overcome sin.  We are yoked together with Christ by faith, so that His work counts as our own.  He does all the pulling and we get all the credit.  By His grace Christ joins Himself to us in such a way that His righteousness is our righteousness before God the Father.  Jesus bears the yoke of the cross, and so do we.  But He bears the full burden of it; He’s the One carrying the load.  Christ walks beside us day by day in this world and dwells in us by His holy words and sacraments, that He may live His life through us, a life of faith and love that is well-pleasing to the heavenly Father.
 
You see, Jesus' purpose in coming to this earth was to do for us what we had to do but could not do.  Having taken on Himself our human nature, He, the Son of God, began to live a holy life for us.  He overcame temptation.  He loved and gave of Himself for others.  He fulfilled all the requirements of God's Law.  And then He submitted Himself to a cruel and torturous death in our place in obedience to His heavenly Father.  He dragged the weight of the entire world's sin up the Mount of Calvary.  There He was crucified.  Our sins were paid for that day, nevermore to accuse us, nevermore to burden our souls.  Jesus became weak so that we would be made strong.  He became weary to the point of death so that we would have rest and life.  And now that He has conquered death by His glorious resurrection from the grave, we are made certain that this rest He gives is real and this life He bestows is everlasting.
 
Jesus' invitation to each of you today, then, is to renew your faith in Him, the faith by which you are yoked together with Him.  For when He says, "Come to me," and "Take my yoke upon you," that is the same as His saying, "Believe in me.  Place your confidence in what I've done to save you.  Let your heart take refuge in Me.  Trust in me to help pull you through the struggles of this life."  You were yoked together with Christ already in your baptism, where He said to you, "I have called you by name; you are mine.  I will never leave you or forsake you."  Jesus is walking with you even today, every step of the way, through the high points and the low points, through the good and the bad, so that regardless of your circumstances, you may have His restfulness and His peace in your souls, that peace which passes all understanding.  Christ gives you rest along the way by speaking into your ears His comforting words of absolution.  And He offers you refreshment by placing into your mouths His holy body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins, to strengthen you with His real presence, His very life.  
 
That is why the day of the divine service is rightly called the Sabbath Day, the day of rest.  For it is especially in the liturgy that Christ gives you true spiritual rest and recreation.  It is here that the Holy Spirit uses His instruments of life to re-create you and renew you in the image of Christ.  Our Lord will finally lead you from here to the eternal re-creation–the new creation–and to the unending rest and peace and joy which is being prepared for you in heaven.
 
Of course, to the world, this may all seem foolish, even childish.  But remember what Jesus said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babies. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”  The so-called smart people of this world keep searching for rest in places it cannot be truly found–in the idols of things and people and false spirituality.  Only those who are weak and lowly find real rest in Christ, for He is the One who is gentle and lowly in heart, who comforts the afflicted, who declares sinners to be righteous, who gives rest to the weary and life to the dead.  
 
To conclude, Revelation 14 speaks of heaven and hell in terms of rest.  Of unbelievers, it says this:  "The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night."  But of believers, yoked together with Christ, it says this:  "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth.  Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors."
 
God grant, then, that you who are weary will heed Jesus' invitation and come to Him with trusting hearts.  For He gives you the rest of your life–both in this world and in the one to come.
 
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Have No Fear, Little Flock

John 10: 11-18, 27-30

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    “They’re all just a bunch of sheep.”  You’ve heard people use that phrase before.  It’s not meant to be a compliment.  It carries with it the idea of blind allegiance and ignorant loyalty to a person or a cause or an institution.  And I suppose that’s how the world often thinks of Christians and the church–that we’re all just a bunch of people mindlessly holding to the faith, not thinking for ourselves, following a Messiah with some foolish herd mentality.  

    Jesus does refer to you as His sheep, but of course not in the way the world does.  It’s actually quite a good thing in the end that you’re a bunch of sheep in His flock.  What are we to learn from this image that God uses throughout the Scriptures?  There are several points of comparison, but the main point is our total spiritual helplessness and therefore our complete dependence on Christ our Shepherd.  Sheep are not particularly well-suited for survival when left to themselves.  They can’t run fast to flee from a predator. They have no powerful jaws or claws to fight off an attacker.  They’re basically an easy meal for whatever bear or wolf might want to ravage the flock.

    And that’s how it is with us.  The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  The grave opens its jaws wide and lunges at us to drag us to the depths.  And sin, like a beast from within, constantly tries to fight its way out and gain dominance in our lives.  And were we left to our own devices, those spiritual enemies would easily win the day and destroy us and leave our bones for the scavenging vultures.  And all the more so because of what the Scriptures say, “We all like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way.”  We’ve seen those TV shows featuring the harsh realities of nature and what happens to animals that stray from the herd out in the wild.  That’s exactly how it is with us who stray from God, thinking we can live independently from Him, doing things our own way, according to our own rules.  We wander from the flock.  Little do we realize that in our pride we’re entirely defenseless.  And the predator attacks, and the jugular is pierced, and the evil one would drag our carcass away.  null

    But today’s Gospel is not primarily about the sheep but about the Shepherd.  He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, even the foolish, sinful sheep who stray.  Jesus is a Good Shepherd in the way of David before Him.  You may remember when David was applying before King Saul for the job of taking on the Philistine warrior Goliath, the number one thing David put on his resumé was his experience as a shepherd:

    David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!” [1 Sam. 17.34-37]

    Jesus, the Son of David, protects us sheep from sin and death and the Goliath Satan by facing them head on for us.  He stands in between us and the predators to shield and shelter us.  He opens up His own body to their slashing and onslaughts to take them down and keep us safe.  

    In this way Jesus is not like a hireling.  The hireling runs away from the fight because he doesn’t truly care about the sheep.  He’s just there to earn a buck.  He doesn’t own the sheep.  It’s not his loss if the flock is scattered a bit.  At the end of the day, he’s going to save his own skin.  But Jesus truly cares about you.  He’s not using you for His own ends, just to dump you somewhere down the line.  You belong to Him.  He wants to have you with Himself for all eternity.  And so He defends you as His own treasured possession.  He puts His own life on the line for you, even to the point of the cross.   Like David, He grabs hold of sin and death by the scruff of the neck, and He drags those predators down into the pit.  They kill Him, and then suppose that with the Shepherd dead, the sheep would be theirs. But in attacking Him, they walked into a trap.  It was beyond their comprehension that the Shepherd could live again, arising from the dead and leaving them behind, crushed and defeated in the pit forever.  They bit into a man and found God.  Seizing their Victim, they themselves became the prey.  As David beat back the lion and the bear with his knife and club, so great David’s greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has turned the wood of the cross into a mighty weapon by which those wolves that threatened us, Satan and death, are slain and crushed.

    Always remember, then, that Jesus alone is your Good Shepherd, your Good Pastor and Bishop.  For He alone is the One to whom you belong as His flock.  As the Epistle said, “For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  All of us who bear the title of “pastor” are simply undershepherds of the Chief Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.  All trust is to be placed in Him alone.  For in every undershepherd there is a hireling called the old Adam, the sinful nature.  No sure source of confidence there, whether it's your local pastor or the Pope himself.  Our only confidence is in Christ to whom the sheep belong.

    And notice how it is that we know Jesus: through His Word.  Sheep don’t have particularly good vision, but they do have good hearing.  Jesus said, “My sheep listen to My voice and they follow Me.”  Usually when we think of herders dealing with animals, we have in mind something like ranchers who drive their animals and push them to go where they want them to go from behind, forcing them to stay in a tight bunch–lots of yelling and dogs barking and that sort of thing. But here Jesus says, “My sheep follow Me.” Jesus is out in front. The sheep stay together and follow because they recognize His voice, His voice of mercy and forgiveness in the Gospel. There’s no force and coercion involved here, but the gentle invitation of Jesus’ Word. Do you see the difference? We’re not just nameless cattle to our Lord. We are beloved sheep whom He calls each by name. Jesus says, “I know My sheep; and My sheep know Me.” You follow Him, for you love and trust in Him. You stake your life on Him. For You know His voice and you listen to it; it’s unlike any other out there in the world. Your ears perk up at the sound of it. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you fear no evil; for He is with you. Even if you can’t see Him, if you can hear Him, you know it will be alright; you know it’s safe. You’re in His care. He restores your soul. He leads you beside still and gentle waters to drink of His Spirit in the Word and in Holy Baptism. He prepares a table before you in the presence of your enemies, the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, which draws us into communion with Himself and with His Father; for Jesus and the Father are one. It is for all of these reasons and more that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. It is for all of these reasons and more that we follow Him.

    We dare not forget, of course, that following Him means that we are given to live as He lived, too, in this world. We heard about this in the Epistle, that Christ left us an example, that you should follow in His steps. Being a sheep of the Good Shepherd’s flock means living a different kind of life, walking the path of the cross. When Jesus suffered, He did not threaten but forgave. So also, it is not for you to seek revenge on your enemies but to do them good. When Jesus was reviled and mocked, He did not revile in return. So also, it is not for you to return evil for evil, but to pray for those who make life difficult for you. As Jesus did, so you also, commit yourselves to God the Father who judges justly. Trust that all these matters are in His righteous hands.

    For we heard in the Old Testament reading that Jesus Himself will come for the weak and the injured and the broken and the sick.  You can probably find yourself somewhere in that group.  None of us is untouched by bodily weakness, or damaged psyches, or challenging family situations, or disappointments or  overwhelming obligations, or nagging addictions and compulsions and lusts.  You are not alone.  All we like sheep have gone astray and are weak, wounded, damaged and frail.  But Jesus says, “I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out and gather them and feed them in rich pasture.   I will bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick.”  “By His wounds we are healed.”

    And finally don’t forget that the way our Good Shepherd saved us sheep was by becoming one of us, the Lamb who was slain.  It is written in Revelation 7, “The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. . .  They shall neither hunger any more nor thirst any more . . .  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  

    So let me say it again:  You’re all a bunch of sheep.  But in this case that’s a good and wonderful thing.  Because you’re the sheep of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who listen to His voice and who follow Him to the eternal life that He alone gives.  His promise stands sure:  nothing, nothing at all can snatch you out of His good and merciful hands.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

I'm Not Spiritual, I'm Religious

Easter 1
John 20:19-31 (Ezek 37:1-14, 1 John 5:4-10)
 
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit
 
It’s become a very fashionable cliche’ for people to say nowadays, “I’m not religious; I’m spiritual.”  It’s a way of talking that seems open-minded and non-rigid while still embracing the idea of faith and the divine.  But in truth, I think what is often meant is, “I want to deal with God on my own terms and in my own way, and so I’ll treat my faith like a buffet line at a cafeteria, and take only what I want and what appeals to me.”  St. Augustine once said, “If you believe what you like in the Gospel and reject what you don’t, it’s not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”  All of this is in the same category as those who say they don’t believe in organized religion.  While it’s true that religious institutions populated with fallen human beings are often going to be a mess, the rejection of any sort of organized religion is in actuality a rejection of any sort of tangible, concrete, real world, real life faith that involves real people.  In the end it’s a rejection of Christianity which is all about God in the flesh.  It’s an incarnate faith in the One who came to redeem human beings and all creation through His bodily death and bodily resurrection.  That’s not just some free-floating spirituality; that’s real doctrine, real people, real, organized, congregation-type religion. 
 
What our sinful nature wants is a generic, easily managed belief system of self-fulfillment.  We like being “spiritual” because it sounds pious, but in fact, being “spiritual” often means taking the body out of the equation in favor of some sort of divine energy within.  The sinful nature loves this because then you can claim to have faith while your bodily life is involved in unfaithfulness: gluttony or overdrinking with the mouth, lusting after others or viewing pornography with the eyes, taking part in ungodly gossip or crude joking with the mouth and ears, physical laziness in carrying out your real-world, organized, ordinary vocations that serve the neighbor. 
 
It’s no coincidence, then, that our “spiritual, but not religious” culture grows more and more sexually immoral, as if one’s bodily behavior or one’s created gender is disconnected from one’s faith in the God who Himself made our bodies.  A purely spiritual faith doesn’t necessarily concern itself with chastity, or for that matter with visiting “orphans and widows in their affliction” and keeping oneself “unstained from the world” as James 1:27 describes it.  But in fact St. James calls the doing of those things “religion that is pure and undefiled before God.”  
 
Focusing only on the soul and “being spiritual” is to miss the whole point of what the human spirit was created to do: namely, to animate one particular human body, to dwell in human flesh, to live in the perfect glory that God meant for us when He made man and breathed life into his physical body.  There are those who think that the ultimate spiritual occurrence would be to have an out of body experience.  But there is actually a term for an out of body experience, the separation of the spirit from the body–it’s called “death.”  And the Bible refers to that as a curse, and our enemy.
 
To be truly alive is to be like Jesus after the resurrection.  For on that first Easter evening, the disciples were locked in a room in fear.  And who came to visit them?  Not a ghost. Not a spirit.  Not an idea in their heads or feelings in their hearts.  Rather it was Jesus, the incarnate God, the bodily resurrected Son, who came to them. He did not come bearing a socially-acceptable, safe, and self-serving spirituality. Rather He came bearing His body, standing in the flesh among them, and He said to them: “Peace be with you.”null
 
This is exactly what they needed to hear out loud in the midst of their fears and guilt and uncertainty about the future as they huddled behind locked doors.  And it’s exactly what we need to hear, too.  Jesus is saying, “Do not be afraid; I took away all your sins and failures in my death on the cross.  I have conquered the grave for you; it has no power over you any longer.  I have reconciled you to the Father.  All is well.  Let not your hearts be troubled.  Peace be with you.”
 
This peace of God comes bodily. It is not an abstract idea, but a fleshly reality in Jesus, the Prince of Peace and the Source of Peace.  Having given the apostles this gift, Jesus goes on to give them the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive sins: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.” And even here, the Spirit is not given to the apostles spiritually, but rather bodily. For notice how it says that the Lord “breathed on them.” He ordained them in this physical way, just as Jesus touched the sick and sinners to heal and release them.  The apostles would later pass on this authority to forgive sins to other men, not through silent prayer, not through mystical divine energy rituals, but through the physical laying on of hands with the words of God.
 
Here’s another way of putting it and thinking about it:  Jesus did not come to make the world more spiritual, but rather to restore and renew and glorify its tangible, concrete createdness.  In a very real sense our bodies right now are only shadows of what they were created to be.  The way the Bible speaks of it, what we look forward to as Christians is not so much us going to some spiritual existence in heaven, but heaven coming to earth, God coming to dwell with His resurrected people in a renewed creation freed from the curse.
 
So when St. Thomas the doubter was present the next Sunday, our Lord Jesus did not offer Him a mystical vision, positive energy, or an aura: rather He offered St. Thomas His very fleshly body, and His wounds, given physically for him to see and touch. Thomas did not look within for a spiritual experience with his eyes closed, but rather stuck his finger into the Lord’s hand and side. And Thomas confessed: “My Lord and my God!” He did not believe in Jesus the ghost or Jesus the literary character. He believed in Jesus: the Son of God, the Son of Man, who took flesh in order to die, who died in order to rise, who rose in order that we too might rise, and do so bodily.
 
There was another son of man from we heard about in the OT reading who had an encounter in the Spirit of the Lord that was anything but a “spiritual” experience. For Ezekiel saw a field of bones. And when the prophet preached the Word to these bones, the breath, that is, the spirit, entered them. But the result was not spiritual, but physical: “I will lay sinews upon you,” says the Lord, “and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live…. And there was a rattling and the bones came together.” And then came sinews and flesh and skin. And when the breath, that is, the spirit entered the flesh, the flesh came to life: “an exceedingly great army.”  The Lord did not speak through Ezekiel promising a vague spirituality, but something starkly physical: “Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves…. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O My people. And I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live.” (Ezekiel 37)
 
How remarkable this Word is, this promise fulfilled before the doubting eyes of Thomas, whose hands touched the reality, whose eyes saw physically.  Thomas himself would go on to baptize, preach, and administer Holy Communion in the flesh until his dying day.
 
Anyone who would try to “spiritualize” Jesus is attempting to tame Him, control Him, and reduce Him to a moralizing, milquetoast guru, instead of submitting to the Almighty One who conquered death by dying, and who physically rose from the tomb so that we too might rise.
So let me say it once more:  Christianity is not about generic spirituality, but about Jesus: His body and His blood, the water that flowed from His side, and the touch of His nail-scarred, forgiving hands. This is very Good News for you, and part of the good news is that you experience this Gospel physically, through your bodily senses–from your Holy Baptism which you experienced in the flesh through feeling the water and the sound waves of the words; from the preached Law and Gospel and Holy Absolution, receiving by faith that which comes by hearing with your ears; and from Holy Communion, the flesh and blood of Jesus eaten with the mouth by flesh and blood sinners, for forgiveness, life, and salvation.
 
“For everyone,” says John in the epistle, “who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ.”
 
Fellow believers, fellow religious Christians, our Lord does not compare us to phantoms that run on positive thoughts, but rather to “newborn babies” who “desire the pure milk of the Word.” For Jesus is risen from the dead, and He stood on His feet in the midst of the disciples and said with His mouth words that ring true still today, “Peace be with you.”   This is how we now can confess with our mouths: “I believe in… the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”  For Jesus has come in the flesh to join us to Himself and to make us to be members of His risen body.  May we all confess the same thing about this incarnate One that Thomas did, “My Lord and my God!”
 
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit
 
 (With thanks to the Rev. Larry Beane for much of the above.)

Revelation 2: To the Church in Smyrna

Revelation 2:8-11
Midweek Lent 1

✠ In the name of Jesus ✠

    The second letter of our Lord Jesus in Revelation is to the church in Smyrna.  Smyrna was a city in Asia Minor that had become fairly well-to-do because of its firm loyalty to Rome and the Roman empire.  Smyrna was the first city in the ancient world to build a temple in honor of the goddess of Rome.  There was also a temple built to Tiberias Caesar, and to the Roman Senate.  Because of Smyrna’s strong allegiance to the empire, they were rewarded with imperial monies that built a well-known stadium, a noted library, and a large public theater.  Rome referred to Smyrna as “the crown” of Asia.

    These circumstances presented some trouble for the Christians who lived there.  For believers could not take part in the various pagan temple rites that would’ve been common among the citizens of that city.  This caused economic hardship to many believers.  How were Christians supposed to get a decent job when everyone thought of them as irreligious and unpatriotic for not taking part in the imperial worship?  Even though the church would pray for the Caesar as God’s civil authority and would obey the laws and pay the taxes, they would still be looked on with suspicion.  Through a serious distortion of what the Lord’s Supper was, rumors abounded that Christians were cannibals, eating the body and drinking the blood of some victim.  In this sort of context, it’s easy to see how most believers were poor.  Jesus says here, “I know your tribulation and your poverty.”

    During certain periods in the early church outright persecution of Christians would take place.  All someone had to do during these times was to bring a charge against someone for being a Christian, and they could be imprisoned or put to death.  Often those who had been charged as Christians would be given an opportunity to deny their faith or recant it by offering up incense to Caesar and saying “Caesar is Lord.”  If they performed that act of worship and loyalty to the Roman emperor, then they could go free.  However, if they didn’t, then they could lose their life.  Believers could not say, “Caesar is Lord,” but only, “Jesus is Lord.”null

    One of the groups that was giving Christians trouble in Smyrna was the Jews.  Jesus says here, “I know the blasphemy of those say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”  True Jews, true Israelites believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the Savior.  But these were blasphemers, in league with the evil one.  For the name “Satan” literally means, “accuser.”  And they were accusing the Christians to the authorities in order to do them harm.  These Jews did not like the pagan worship of the Romans, but they seemed to hate the Christians even more passionately.

    One famous Christian from Smyrna who was martyred was a man named Polycarp, who was the bishop of the church in Smyrna.  This old man was brought into the stadium before the crowds, who shouted at him, “Away with the atheist!”  See, they thought of Christians as atheists, because Christians had a God you couldn’t see and wouldn’t bow down to their gods, whom you could see.  But bishop Polycarp turned to the crowd, and with a wave of his hand said to them, “Away with the atheists!”  After refusing to renounce the Lord Jesus whom he had served for 86 years, Polycarp was burned to death.

    So, how does all of this apply to us?  Well, thankfully in one sense, things aren’t so dire for us yet as they were for those in Smyrna.  But still, consider this: Roman citizens made a god and a religion out of their empire and their rulers.  In a similar vein, are people in this country sometimes more religiously fervent about their patriotism than about Christ and His Word?  Do we ever see symbols of our country and symbols of religion being combined and intermingled–angels holding the American flag, or flag draped crosses, or July 4th church services that are more pro-USA than they are pro-Jesus?  We must always be on guard against the mixing and confusing of the civil realm and the spiritual realm.  For to make any worldly thing, even our country, the object of our worship and highest loyalty, is to commit idolatry.  

    On the economic side, being a Christian can also present challenges to God’s people today.  Refusing to engage in unethical practices like everyone else seems to be doing can close the door to advancement at work.  Likewise, having it known that you’re against abortion or homosexuality or living together before marriage, or that you believe that the Bible is literally true and that Jesus is the only way to eternal life can cause you to be ostracized or thought of as extreme.  That’s certainly how the cultural elite today want to paint the church.  We’re not yet faced with demands to deny the faith or be executed.  But we are tempted to compromise and downplay what we believe and go with the flow so that we don’t lose our social or economic standing.  Giving such homage to the spirit of the culture is also a form of idolatry that we must be on guard against.

    To all of this Jesus says, “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.”  To live in fear of what men can do to us is not to live in trust of our Creator and Redeemer God.  In the Gospel Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”  Rather, let us learn to fear, love, and trust in God above all things.  For we are of great value to Him.  Jesus reminds us here, “I am the First and the Last.”  In other words, “I was here before your enemies were, and I’ll be here long after they’re dead and gone.  So do not fear them; I will deliver you from them.”  “I am the One who was dead and came back to life.  They did their worst to me and failed.  So also, they may cause you grief or pain or even death, but they can do nothing to separate you from My love.”  “You will have tribulation, but it will only be for ten days; in other words, it has a limit and an end when it will all be over.”  “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  

    Smyrna may have been called the crown of Asia, but it wasn’t long before it’s edifices were piles of broken stone, as was the case also with Rome.  It was a crown that faded.  But Jesus gives a crown that does not fade away, that not even death can touch.  For the crown of glory we wear is His own.  The life that we have is His own eternal life.  That is how Jesus can say to those who are poor, “You are rich.”  For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  St. Paul writes, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”  Not only will we be with our Savior Jesus, but we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

    We are given to wear the crown of life because Jesus was given to wear the crown of thorns.  He bore our curse and died our death–not only our first death, but also our second death.  That is to say, not only did He suffer temporal death but also and especially He suffered eternal death and hell for us on the cross.  That second, eternal death is conquered by Jesus’ death and resurrection.  It has no power over you any longer.  That’s why Jesus says, “He who overcomes [by faith] shall not be hurt by the second death.”  Rather, we look forward to the resurrection of the body.

    “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father in heaven.”  To confess Jesus before men is to say “yes” to Him when the world wants you to say “no” or “maybe” or “I’m not sure.”  To confess Jesus before men is to be willing to let it be known that Jesus is your Lord and the One you stake your life on.  And if you’ve faltered in confessing Jesus in the past, remember Peter, who denied Christ three times but was three times forgiven and restored.  So also, all your sins are forgiven, and you are restored in Jesus.  He has said an unwavering “yes” to you in your baptism, confessing your name before His Father in heaven.  And on the Last Day He will again say, “Yes, this one was born in Zion; this one is Mine.”

    “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

✠ In the name of Jesus ✠

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