Mark 7:31-37; Rally Day; September 26, 2012;

Mark 7:31-37; Rally Day; September 26, 2012;

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Creston, IA;

³¹Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. ³²And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. ³⁴And looking up to heaven, [Jesus] sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Mark 7:31-37 (ESV)

Grace and peace to you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Did you hear that little word about Jesus?  You know the one that shows his compassion, his care, his love, his humanity?  And looking up to heaven, [Jesus] sighed… Jesus signed.  It’s such a tiny point right in very middle of the text, and yet very important.  Jesus signed.  The Greek word is “στενάζω.”  And it means just that, to sigh or groan.  You understand from the text what it means.  Standing before Jesus was this deaf man.  He couldn’t speak correctly because of his hearing.  It is an out in the open showing of the effects of sin on the world.  That is, not what a particular sin has done, but exactly what the curse of sin on the world is.  You know all about this, you know it every time you run into a situation that make you say, “This is not the way that things should be.”  You’ve given this very same sigh.  You’ve had standing in front of you out-in-the-open things that are not the way they should be.  Your child, suffering from a scraped knee, crying for you to do something to make the pain stop.  Your spouse, breathing the last shallow breaths as death claims them.  Late night in the ER hoping against hope that the accident was not fatal, that there is something the doctors can do.  Sitting in the nursing home, disappointed that your loved one doesn’t recognize you again today.  This is the sigh of Jesus.  This man has been affected by sin.  He can’t hear.  He can’t speak clearly.  His friends beg Jesus to do something to make it stop. 

St. Paul describes the sigh to us saying in his letter to the Romans that creation was subject to “futility.”  That is bound to the sin of its most important creature.  God created the world for people.  They were bound to it as a perfect place to live and work and grow and multiply.  He put the first people in a beautiful garden called “Eden.”  They had everything they could ever want.  And yet, they desired the one thing God told them they could not have.  So they took the fruit from that tree and ate it and subjected themselves, and you and me, and indeed the whole creation to “futility.”  That is, death and decay, and pain and sorrow.  They were given the garden as a place where work would be rewarding and pleasant.  I’m sure the first sighs were heard when the first thorns appeared.  Thorns and hard work are a part of the curse that the first couple brought to the land.  Adam and Eve lived some 900 years.  Imagine all they saw, imagine the depth of their signs as the perfect world they knew began a steady spiral into “futility.”  Imagine the sigh as they discovered the body of Abel, their son, murdered by his own brother.  Imagine their sighs as their “many other sons and daughters” spread across the world taking with them the rebellion against God that they started.

And all these years later, generations and generations we’ve suffered and sighed.  Although Adam and Eve began it all they are not solely to blame.  Cain killed Abel in a fit of jealousy.  The monstrous, selfish nature of sin was revealed very clearly with Abel’s blood soaking it to the earth.  Every person since Adam and Eve has the same capacity for that kind of evil.  Sin is a selfish turning into oneself, holding yourself as more important that all else; believing that you are the final judge of right and wrong.  This is the only real gift we give to our children.  It is the only real gift we received from our parents.  It spoils our world.  Generation after generation the perfect creation is subject to our sin.  Generation after generation our bodies and minds are subject to our own selfishness.  Death and disease and suffering, thorns and thistles and hard work, cancer and pneumonia and gout, droughts and tornados and floods, the “futility” of the curse is right at hand for us to see.  And we sigh.  But don’t blame Adam.  Don’t blame Eve.  Look at your own heart and see what you know is there.  Sin crouches in you.  You want what you want, and you want it now.  You put yourself above all else, even those you love most dearly.  When you see all of this, the dangerous world around us, the blackness of sin in our hearts that’s when the sigh reaches is apex.  That’s because there is nothing to be done.  No human struggle can end the “futility.”  You can’t prevent death, even if the cancer subsides.  It is the curse of the Garden.  We know it well, and we sigh.

But, into this sin filled futility steps Jesus.  I said no human effort can do anything, but Jesus is more than human.  That’s what he show us.  That’s what we hear in his Word, Ephphatha. Ephphatha, does what it says.  Jesus makes signs to the deaf man.  He pokes his ears and spits on the ground.  “I’m going to open your ears!”  He looks up to heaven, from whence he came and sighs.  It’s a prayer.  “Father, This is why You sent me.  They have done this to themselves.  But I am about to set everything on the path to redemption.”  He says to the man, “Be opened! Ephphatha!”  It works.  The deaf man hears and speaks clearly.  The “futility” of his ears is reset.  He sings praises to God, praises to Jesus, God in human flesh standing in front of him.  That’s when we know our sigh has an answer not in our effort but in Jesus.

But there is more that Jesus has to do.  That formally deaf man is dead.  In fact, Adam and Eve are dead, too, and all their children, grand children, great grand children all the way to you and me.  That wasn’t the only person Jesus healed.  And yet they are all dead too.  The futility goes deeper.  Death is the enemy.  Death is the final result.  If we sigh about anything we sigh most deeply over death.  We know that it is not the way things should be.  What does Jesus sigh, what does Jesus healing, what does Jesus have to do with death?  That is the whole question of life on earth.  What about death?  If Jesus did nothing more that open a deaf man’s ears, and a few other miracles, the futility remains.  And our sighs have no answer, and we may as well go home. 

That is not all that Jesus did.  All his miracles and teaching in fact, point to another greater, futility ending, sigh answering miracle.  It is also what Jesus’ sigh is about.  Way back in the Garden under the first signs of sin, God answered the sigh of Adam and Eve with a promise.  Humans subjected the world to futility that cannot be undone by humans.  God promises he is the one, who would himself, answer for their sin.  He would pay the penalty, the just sentence, the forever punishment that would make everything right again.  He would make a new creation, like the first, that was perfect without sin’s corruption.  God is in Jesus Christ, reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians 5:19).  That is, removing the futility.  Jesus is God born in human flesh.  Man and God bound together in a way that only God can understand and accomplish.  He is fully, completely human subject to all that humans are subject to, with one exception.  Jesus is without sin.  He is who Adam should have been.  He is who you and I should be.  He lives and speaks and heals and feeds.  But he also dies.  He subjects himself to that futility for us.  He allowed his enemies to hang him on a cross.  This sinless, perfect, God-man suffers a humiliating, brutal execution (born out of the sinful corrupt human heart!).  He hangs naked, beaten, bleeding out on the ground, stretched out toward heaven.  And guess what, he sighs…

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. (Mark 15:33-37 ESV)

There he hangs in futility, rejected by God.  There he hangs suffering what is ours to suffer.  There he hangs and sighs out his last breath.

And again, if this is all that Jesus does we may as well go home and weep for him, and sigh again for ourselves.  There is more.  The life that Jesus gives up is the life that he once again takes up.  In a way that only God can do and understand, three days after he was laid in his grave, Jesus lives again.  This is no wives tale, no vain hope either.  There is ample, tangible proof that it happened.  Jesus sighed out his breath on the cross and breathed it in again in the grave.  He makes the futility of death empty.  His death reconciles human sin with God, that is pays the punishment.  The answer to our sighs is in his death and resurrection.  It is the answer to the promise in the Garden.  The answer to the deaf man’s friends.  The answer to Jesus sigh.  It is a promise to us.  Death is coming but Jesus can and will breathe life into you again.  You will live in a perfect, newly created body in a new creation, a perfect creation, a creation where there will be no sighs saying “that’s not the way things should be.”  Again I direct your attention to the Font.  In ages past the word Ephphatha was used in the Rite of Holy Baptism.  It emphasizes that through the work of God in this washing, deaf, dead, sinful, futile ears are opened and hear the promises of God.  Jesus word does what is says.  The promise in the Garden, the promise of the Cross and resurrection is made personal here.  The sigh is answered for those who have had their ears opened, have heard and hold on to Christ in faith.  In light of the promise made by God in the resurrection St. Paul sighs for us:

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:20-25 ESV)

Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

John 6:41 – 51; The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost; August 12, 2012;

 

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Creston Iowa;

⁴¹So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶not that anyone has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6:41-51 (ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sometimes when you read these texts that are assigned for us to read, it’s kind of hard to figure out what’s going on. Sometimes that’s because you don’t have the whole story. I think that’s the case here with the Gospel for today. It seems to be talking about bread. Jesus says, he’s ‘the bread come down from heaven.’ But to really understand what’s going on here it’s important to know what been going on right before…

John, the Gospel writer, tells us about the great crowds are following Jesus at this time in his ministry. He’s attracting lots of attention because people who gather around him are coming away healed from diseases. Blind people can see again, and crippled people are walking. You can understand it; even in our day we will go great distances to be healed. Just think of how far people will go to get to Mayo clinic.

So on this occasion, John tells us, a very large crowd had gathered because it was close to the Passover. Jesus pointed at the crowd as they were gathering and asked his disciples. “Where will we buy food to feed all these people?”

“What? Philip complained. “You’ve got to be kidding, it’d take 8 months to earn enough to even give this crowd just a bite each!”

Andrew spoke up next, “Well, I don’t know about the crowd but here’s a boy whose brought his own lunch. It’s pretty small, five small loaves and two small fish. It’s not going to go very far!”

“Have everyone sit down.” Jesus instructed. You see, Jesus already had in mind what he was going to do and was setting up the disciples to learn a new lesson. He took the loaves and fish and blessed them and began to pass the small lunch around. Amazingly, that little lunch basket didn’t empty out, instead everyone there was fed. Jesus has used a small lunch to feed a great crowd. And they all had all they wanted to eat.

“Now,” Jesus said continuing the lesson, “gather up the leftovers, nothing should be wasted.” And the disciples gathered 12 baskets of bread and fish from the 5 and 2. And when the people realized what had happened they went wild, “This is a guy we’ve gotta have as our King. Look at what he can do. We’ll never go starving again!” But Jesus slipped away to the other side of the lake, so they wouldn’t make him the king.

But eventually, the next day, they found him again, and crowded around again. Jesus spoke to them again. “You’re looking for me because I fed you, yesterday. But that food, that bread and fish, is the kind that spoils. That’s not the kind of food you should be looking for. What your really need is the bread that comes down from heaven.” It’s as if he was saying, “You need bread to eat to live, but what you really need is to believe in me, to ‘eat my flesh,’ then you’ll really live.”

Now you see, this text makes a whole lot more sense when you know what happened before. You see the people there were grumbling, because Jesus says he is “the bread come down from heaven.” It offended them, when Jesus said what they needed was not bread to fill their stomachs, but the bread that he offered. That meant to believe in him. “Wait a minute!” they grumbled, “What’s this guy saying? He’s the bread from heaven? He’s just the son of Joseph the carpenter, and Mary, his wife. We know them. He’s just a neighborhood boy. He didn’t ‘come down from heaven’ He was born in the normal way.” He may have been a miracle worker but still he was just the neighborhood boy, born in a small nowhere town. What they expected from God is not an ordinary looking man, but an extraordinary, spectacular showing of God. This can’t be God! He’s far too ordinary.

Don’t we complain about how God comes to us, too? We want to make himself present among us through extraordinary ‘spiritual’ experiences. We want to see God in a flashy display of Glory, God showing himself in some visible power in our lives. We want the mountain top experience in worship and have a tendency to think if we don’t ‘feel’ God’s presence that must mean he’s not active here. We want God to show himself in our lives by doing something big, like taking away our illness, or making us successful, or solving out family problems. But “We preach Christ Crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks.

Jesus Christ comes to us regularly in very ordinary non-spiritual looking ways. He comes to us in Water and Word in baptism. When we watch a baptism we see only a baby (or adult) getting water poured on their head. He comes to us in plain looking bread and wine, he comes to us through preaching, the ordinary human voice. It all doesn’t look like much and not particularly special. It is by faith alone that we see that Jesus Christ here. It was by faith alone that people standing before Jesus saw “God’ son” instead of the Son of Joseph.

It was God’s Son there in with the crowd in flesh and blood: God himself, in true humanity, in Jesus Christ. They didn’t know who Jesus was because they didn’t recognize his true father. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” They said. They rejected the idea that God could be man. But only through the man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does the Father come to us and are we drawn to the Father. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (Jn 14:6 ESV)” We shouldn’t expect to see God anyplace else.

It’s what we find here, Jesus speaking His Word to us in ordinary human voices; Jesus washing us clean with His Word and water in baptism; Jesus, giving us the forgiveness He won on the cross through his very body and blood, in, with, and under ordinary bread and wine. Here is where we find the bread of life to eat.

It’s an offense to human ears to hear that this is how God works. And not only is it an offense but it’s impossible to believe. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Jesus says. You cannot know who the Father is, except in the flesh of him who was sent from the Father. Many of us memorized the words of Martin Luther from the small catechism: “I believe I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.” Believing in this flesh and blood Jesus, trusting in him you have eternal life, not only for your future but right here and now. People become Christians, that is they come to faith in Jesus, not by human will, power or choosing, but by God’s will, power and choosing. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph 2:8-9, ESV) It is hearing the word of God, the Good News of the real, flesh and blood Jesus Christ that creates faith in human beings. That is how we eat the bread of life. That is how God draws people to himself. By giving us the Good News of Jesus Christ, living, dying and rising again. It comes through the cross of Jesus Christ, offensive as it may be.

Bread that we eat every day, earthly food, only lasts for a short time. It only keeps us alive for a little while. But Jesus Christ, ‘the bread come down from heaven’ is bread that lasts forever. “If anyone eats of the bread I give they will live forever.” Jesus isn’t just talking in spiritual or symbolic terms either. He says, “This bread is my flesh.” To eat the bread he offers is to take part in the flesh he gave on the cross. When we eat the bread he offers, we believe in Jesus Christ, who came into the world ‘in the flesh’ as God and man.

Even though Jesus isn’t talking about the Lord’s Supper here, exactly. I don’t think we can stop today without talking about the connection there is to it. Just think about it. He says, “⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.” Jesus talks about eating his flesh in faith, and you will not die. “Here is my flesh, standing before you, suffering on the cross, rising again from death. Believe in me and you will not die.” And Jesus says right here Sundays Jesus Christ says, “This is my body, this is my blood. Here at this altar is the bread that comes down from heaven. Here is forgiveness given through the same flesh and blood that hung on the cross to die, so that one may eat of it and not die.” It’s not just spiritual eating, it real physical eating. It’s not just spiritual nourishment, but physical nourishment. Just as we eat food to live at our own table, Jesus gives us his food to eat at his table. He gives us his very body and blood, ‘bread from heaven’. At our table we eat to live for a little while, at His table he gives us food to live forever.

In the Old Testament reading, Elijah was supplied food that he ate ordinary food and water and it sustained him for 40 days. It didn’t look like anything special at all, yet it was what he needed to go on. God gives us bread here in worship that we can really live on. That food is The Bread of Life, come down from heaven. Jesus Christ is the bread that sustains us not just for 40 days, but also for eternity. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21; The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost; August 5, 2012;

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For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:14–21, ESV)

Genesis 9:8 – 17; The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost; July 29, 2012;

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Creston, Iowa;

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Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”” (Genesis 9:8–17, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Today, I'm going to tell you a story. By a story I don't mean something that is fiction. This story is absolutely true and happened exactly as the Bible tells it. This is the story of the great flood that destroyed all the Earth except for the seven members of Noah's family that were safely tucked inside the ark. One of the things I want you to understand from this story is that it is not a cute children's tale. Instead, it is a story of God's anger and wrath over sin. For us it's tainted by children's pictures of cute animals going into the ark two by two. When we see it that way we miss the depth of God's anger and his righteous judgment over sin.

It needs to be understood, the world was completely corrupt. The Bible says

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5, ESV)

It says, that God was "grieved" that he had made man. At this point, I think you and I should shudder. For the people that covered the earth at that time were really no different than what we are. They were people living their lives according to their own thoughts and desires. This is indeed what we so often do. Here I want you to think about Psalm 51:

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:3–5, ESV)

And although we find it hard to believe, God was completely justified, "blameless in his judgment." As we have talked about so many times all sin comes from our inability to live in a perfect relationship with God. The inability to love God with our whole heart our whole soul and our whole mind.

And yet, God is always gracious. In the midst of the promised destruction God saves Noah and his family. The Bible says Noah was a "righteous man and walked with God". That doesn't mean the Noah did not sin. It simply means that his outward character was completely different from those surrounding him. Noah was publicly known to worship Yahweh. God commanded Noah to build an ark. In the ark God would save two of every creature of the Earth. Every animal that had the breath of life in it. Noah faithfully obeyed God. He built the ark. According to God's command the ark was to be 450 feet long 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. If you go the whole length of our property along Sumner Avenue, and go from the street to the first window here in the church, and twice as high as the church from the basement floor to the peek of the roof, that's the size of the ark. Rather than looking like a boat, the ark was probably more like a big box with the slanted roof and an open slot for air and light all around the top. In it God would save Noah and his family and every "kind" of animal that lived on the earth. And when all were inside God sealed the door and sent the flood to the earth. It was a disaster. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The water came from everywhere. It covered the whole earth to 15 feet over the highest mountain. The terror of our spring tornado is nothing compared to the terror of those people on whose God judgment fell. And make no mistake it was God's judgment.

[God] blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.” (Genesis 7:23, ESV)

When the judgment was over, and the land was able to sustain life again, Noah and his family and all the animals came out of the ark. Then standing there on Mount Ararat in the aftermath of God's judgment over sin, God made a promise. Never again would all creatures be cut off by a flood over the whole Earth. And as a reminder God set against the darkness of the clouds the bright colors of the rainbow. It was a sign, not to the people, but a reminder to God himself that he would never again destroy the earth in such a way. When you see a rainbow, instead of thinking about Judy Garland, leprechauns and gay pride parades, you should fear and love God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. It is the visible sign of his grace and mercy. Listen to Martin Luther:

Our merciful God always placed some outward and visible sign of His grace alongside the Word, so that men, reminded by the outward sign and work or Sacrament, would believe with greater assurance that God is kind and merciful. Thus after the Flood the rainbow appeared in order to serve as a convincing proof that in the future God would not give vent to His wrath against the world by a similar punishment…To us in the New Testament, Baptism and the Eucharist have been given as visible signs of grace, so that we might firmly believe that our sins have been forgiven through Christ’s suffering and that we have been redeemed by His death. (Luther’s Works (American Edition) 1:248. This connection between the rainbow-sign and the sacramental signs of baptism and Eucharist is common in Luther: LW 2:144; 20:67–8; 35:86; 36:174; 37:135; and 54:56.)

The rainbow is God's visible sign that he will not destroy the earth with water again. It stretches from horizon to horizon. It reaches up into the menacing clouds as a reminder to God and us of God's far-reaching mercy.

So to, God gives us the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion as visible signs of the forgiveness of sins that Jesus Christ won on the cross for us. But unlike the rainbow these are not just signs. Through these gifts, these visible gifts, God brings to us what Jesus Christ did for us. When we see our sin, and are well aware of the just punishment for our sin, that is eternal death, we are comforted by the visible signs of the Sacraments. Just like Noah and his family were comforted by the visible sign of the rainbow. The sacraments we have are also God's promises to us. Baptism is the flood that drowns our old sinful nature and cleanses us from sin. The whole earth was cleansed by water from sin. In Baptism God makes promises to us individually. All that Jesus did his life, death, and resurrection are ours. So also, we have the visible elements of bread and wine in Holy Communion that feeds us during our life journey, just as Noah fed the animals on the ark, during their journey. Sacraments are our pointers back to Jesus Christ and all that he is done for us. The rainbow was Noah and his family's pointer forward to God's grace in Jesus Christ. God promised not to punish the world in this way for its sin. Instead God himself would come in human flesh and bear the whole world's sin on the cross.

The Bible does speak of a second worldwide catastrophe at the end of history. Jesus himself says that this is "coming soon". All will be surprised at the coming "just as it was in the days of Noah" (Luke 17:26). And in fact, in the medieval days of the church, there was a common image of Christ the stern judge enthroned upon a rainbow. It was a reminder that he would come again to judge the whole world, the living and the dead. But because of God's gracious promises in Jesus Christ, shown to us in the sacraments, and the image of the rainbow, we have God as our gracious Lord. Because Jesus has indeed taken our sin to the cross and suffered the punishment for all of that. Te need not fear the judgment at the end of time. For Jesus is our judge, but he is also and more importantly our Savior. Again listen to Luther:

“Therefore we who come to Christ want to have him as a gracious Lord. The rainbow on which he sits enthroned does not terrify me; it appears for my salvation. We do not look upon him as a judge. He will call for us. He will not reject us.” (Luther’s Works (American Edition) 23:61)

Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Curriculum Vitae

Rev. Jonathan C. Watt
Grand Marais, Minnesota
515-462-0566 • jonathan@wattswhat.net
Pastor, Life in Christ Lutheran Church

Updated August 2026

Education and Credentials

• Master of Divinity, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 2001
• Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science, Concordia University Nebraska, Seward, Nebraska, 1997
• Graduate, International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights, Strasbourg, France, 2011
• Emergency Medical Technician–Basic, National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, certified 2007

Pastoral Ministry

Life in Christ Lutheran Church — Grand Marais, Minnesota

Pastor, September 2018–present

• Serving as the congregation’s first resident pastor.
• Leading congregational growth and ministry development.
• Guiding building and expansion work to support the congregation’s ministry.
• Developing preaching, teaching, and media initiatives for the congregation.

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church — Creston and Mount Ayr, Iowa

Sole Pastor, 2008–2016

• Developed and presented weekly sermons, Bible studies, seminars, and educational programs.
• Led the transition in which First Lutheran Church, Mount Ayr, held its closing service and officially joined Trinity as one congregation with preaching stations in Creston and Mount Ayr on January 12, 2014.
• Invited by LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission to present on congregational mergers at its 2015 national conference.

St. John’s Lutheran Church — Howard, South Dakota

Sole Pastor, 2006–2008

St. John’s Lutheran Church — Burt, Iowa

Sole Pastor, 2001–2006

Our Savior Lutheran Church — Swea City, Iowa

Sole Pastor, 2004–2006

Publications

• Watt, Jonathan C. “Planning Your Funeral.” The Lutheran Witness 126 (2007): 20–22.
• Watt, Jonathan C. “Through the Ages . . .: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of All—in Howard, S.D.” The Lutheran Witness 127, no. 11 (November 2008): 22–23.
• Watt, Jonathan C. “Not Three, Not Two, but One King.” The Lutheran Witness, January 2009. Searching Scripture Bible study.
• Watt, Jonathan C. “We Have Seen His Majesty.” The Lutheran Witness, February 2009. Searching Scripture Bible study.
• Watt, Jonathan C. “Greetings, O Favored Ones: The Lord Is with You.” The Lutheran Witness, March 2009. Searching Scripture Bible study.
• Watt, Jonathan C. “A Building or a Pastor.” Reaching Rural America for Christ, March 2015.
• Watt, Jonathan C. “Words That Matter: A Weekly Look at Christian Faith and Life.” Weekly column, Cook County News-Herald, Grand Marais, Minnesota, 2026–present.

Media and Broadcasting

• Guest, “Thinking About Your Funeral,” Issues, Etc., KFUO Radio, September 6, 2007. Half-hour live interview hosted by Rev. Todd Wilken.
• Broadcaster, God’s Word for Today, a daily two-minute devotional on KSIB Radio and Pirate Christian Radio.
• Broadcaster, Streams of Living Water, a weekly sermon broadcast on Pirate Christian Radio.

Presentations and Teaching

• “Planning Your Christian Funeral,” workshops and conference presentations, 2001–2008 and later presentations.
• Congregational mergers, invited presentation for the LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission National Conference, 2015.
• Apologetics instruction and Bible studies, including Defending the Faith with the Gospel of John and Apologetics 101.
• Technical training at Personnel Data Systems user-group conferences and client sites.

Church Leadership and Professional Service

• Circuit Visitor, Southwest Circuit, Iowa District West, 2012–2016
• District Life Coordinator, Iowa District West, 2014–2016
• Pastoral Advisor, Southwest Circuit Lutheran Early Response Team, 2014–2016
• Chair, Creston Crisis Pregnancy Center Exploratory Committee, 2014
• Education, Board for Parish Services, South Dakota District, 2007–2008
• Chair, South Dakota District Pastors’ Conference, 2006–2007

Community Leadership and Service

• President, Habitat for Humanity of Union County, Iowa, 2012–2015
• Vice President and Member, Board of Directors, Habitat for Humanity of Union County, Iowa, 2011–2012
• Manager, Stage Tornado Relief Distribution Center, Creston, Iowa, 2012
• President, Parent Teacher League, Martin Luther High School, 2015–c. 2016 (one term)
• Vice President, Parent Teacher League, Martin Luther High School, 2014–2015
• Web manager for congregational, community, school-band, and Habitat for Humanity websites

Emergency Medical Service

Union County, South Dakota

Emergency Medical Technician–Basic, 2007–2008

• Responded to emergency calls and provided patient assessment, treatment, triage, and transport support.
• Maintained National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians certification.

Additional Professional Experience

• School Bus Driver, Cook County ISD 166, Grand Marais, Minnesota, 2018–present
• Store Employee, Casey’s, Truman, Minnesota, 2018
• Assistant Store Manager, Walmart Supercenter, Fairmont, Minnesota, 2016–2018
• Technical Consultant, Personnel Data Systems, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, 1991–1994
• Computer Operator, Computer Programmer, and Systems Analyst, BryanLGH Medical Center, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1983–1991

Technical and Communication Skills

• Public speaking, preaching, teaching, and curriculum development
• Research, writing, editing, and radio broadcasting
• Congregational leadership, pastoral care, and crisis response
• Project management, community partnerships, and nonprofit governance
• Computer operations, programming, systems analysis, web development, and technical training

References available upon request.

Amos 7:7–15; The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost; July 15, 2012;

This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ” And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” (Amos 7:7–15, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Every summer, with the exception of this one, my daughter Hannah and I have been able to go to the zoo. It's a trip, I look forward to every year. Personally I like the elephants. But, there's always those big cats, especially the lion, the King of beasts. When you stand outside his cage and look and see that big, powerful guy, he is usually laying lazily. He's got those big paws and sharp teeth and when he looks at you, he looks at you like dinner. I, for one, am glad that he's in the cage and I'm out of the cage. If there's one thing I know for sure, after visiting the zoo and seeing the lion. I want to keep the lion in the cage.

This is what the King Jeroboam, and his priest Amaziah want to do. They want to keep The Lion in the cage. The book of Amos is about, the Roaring Lion. God has called an unlikely prophet, Amos (previously a shepherd and a vinedresser) to be his voice and roar out with charges against the people of Israel, and especially the King Jeroboam. Listen how the book of Amos begins:

The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said: “The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.”” (Amos 1:1–2, ESV)

God gives Amos the vision of the plumb line. He standing beside the wall which is Israel and the wall is all out of kilter. The people of Israel have strayed from who God wants them to be and how he wants them to be his people. Corrupt judges rule among the people. They are easily bribed. The poor go without what they need. Immorality of all kinds is rampant. So God roars against Israel. The people are worshiping false gods. High places have been set up for the gods of the Canaanites. And the King Jeroboam, he forgot who is really in charge. Israel was not like the other nations. The King was not supreme, it was to be God. So, God says. You will not escape my justice. I have warned you before. This time destruction is coming. The sword will be raised against the King. God is no small voice here. He's no tame kitty cat. The Lion is coming out of the cage.

But Amos is inviting God's people to be God's people and to live in a different way, God's way. If you're tired of the way things are you are invited you to a new way of life. Where everything is backwards and upside down the last are first and first are last. Where the poor are blessed and mighty ones are cast down. This is the same kingdom that Jesus proclaims when he comes. He says "the kingdom of God is at hand." Think of Mary's Magnificat that we sing through our evening service of Vespers.

His arm now baring,
His strength declaring—
Sing the greatness of the Lord!
The proud He scatters,
Their rule He shatters—
Sing the greatness of the Lord!
Oppression halted;
The meek exalted.
Full are the hungry;
Empty, the wealthy— LSB 922

Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection brings about this radical kingdom. Amos is talking about Jesus here and the new life that he brings through the forgiveness of sins.

The King and his priest Amaziah want to keep the cat in the cage. They don't like what Amos is preaching. They see the prophet as a troublemaker. They're not going to change their ways. They can't believe that Amos' words were God's words. So, Amaziah warns Amos, "Get out. Take your words against the King and go away."

And here we too stand. God's word accuses us of these very things. We care more for ourselves than the poor. We set up our false gods of our money and our family and our security and our country. We sit quietly in our churches all neighbors all around us go without hearing God's word forgiveness for them in Jesus Christ. And while they suffer under the load of the problems of the world. Amos invites us too, to a way of life that is radically different. A life where the first are last and the last are first. A life where we live for others instead of for ourselves. And sometimes we even tell God to get out. "I don't want to hear your word against me."

Amos refuses to give in. God's word must be heard. He stands in a long line of prophets, Moses and Daniel and Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah and of course he stands before the great prophet Jesus. Jesus is the end-all of all the prophets who stand before the high priest and make the good confession. He does that. He calls everyone into a new life in him, a new life in God the father. A radical life where forgiveness reigns. A radical life that is lived for the sake of others. A new life that he, God himself in human flesh, brings. They couldn't believe that Jesus was God in the flash come to speak his word directly to them. Jesus told them so and they killed him for it.

But in Jesus death on the cross forgiveness of sins is made. He suffers and dies for all the selfishness of the world. Because of his sacrifice we can live a life that is radically different. Through faith in Jesus life death and resurrection we have forgiveness of sins. We have a right relationship with God. Our sins are forgiven, we need not be concerned about our relationship to him. We can live that radical life where we put ourselves last and others first. Where we show God's mercy and love in time of need. And even more so, proclaim the forgiveness of sins in the cross of Jesus Christ for all people. This is the victory won for us by the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev ). This is the new radical way of life we are called to through Holy Baptism, our connection to Jesus Christ and his life his death and his resurrection for us.

Amos, like the prophets before and after him, stands to make the good confession. He speaks God's word to the needy and dying world. He says what must be said. Sinful people deserve God's anger and wrath and punishment. But God is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Repent and believe in God's forgiveness.

We stand here in Creston Iowa, and make the same confession. Here we are called by God's Word to bring God's love and mercy to this community where God has placed us.

There is a old evangelism method it uses the question "If you were to die tonight and God were to ask you, "Why should I let you into heaven," how would you answer?" Imagine if we went around knocking on our neighbor's doors. We might say something like this. "Hello my name is Jonathan, I'm from Trinity Lutheran Church, if we died tonight would you care?" The answer to that question may indeed tell us how we're doing and living God's radical new life for us.

But this is exactly why we gather isn't it? We gather to hear of God's grace and mercy to us. To receive in word and water and bread and wine God's forgiveness. Especially forgiveness for being self-centered and not caring about the people around us. And for not being the church that he has called us to be. Not bearing one another's burdens, let alone the burdens of the people who live around us. But we are the body of Christ. We are here to bear one another's burdens. Jesus makes it so in his presence through the work of the Holy Spirit. Martin Luther said about the Lord's supper, "When you go to the sacrament you lay your burden on Christ and the community gathered. When you leave you pick up the burdens of one another and so fulfill the love of Christ." (Martin Luther via Rev. Matthew Harrison). It is the wonder of that gift that enables us to bear the burdens of the community around us. To show God's mercy in their deepest need. And especially to bring them the Good News about the forgiveness of sins one through Jesus Christ on the cross. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Sixth Sunday after Pentecost; July 8, 2012;

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Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Creston, Iowa

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

It’s a good thing to be strong, isn’t it? In fact, the world is made up of strong people. Politicians, professional athletes, steel workers, firefighters, etc. The world is built by strong people. In fact if you want to get ahead in the world you’d better be strong. If you have a goal you’ll never reach it if you’re not strong enough to do whatever is necessary to accomplish it. You’ve got to push aside every obstacle (thorn) that gets in your way. When bad things happen you’d for sure better not show any weakness, because the wolves out there will pounce on weakness. Don’t get bogged down like weak people who always need a hand to get along. Keep moving forward toward your goal. Be strong.

Strong people are necessarily self-confident. You can’t be successful if you’re not confident in your self and your abilities. You hafta know that you are better than anyone else. Of course that sounds a little conceited, so instead of that let’s call it confidence. You’ve gotta be confident that you are better than other people, stronger than other people. Having faith in yourself is the strength you need to succeed. It is the height of weakness to lack self-confidence and depend on anyone else to do things for you. That only leads to failure. Failure is for weaklings.

And worst of all, the most important thing to remember is this. There is no room in the world for grace. That’s having good things happen for you that you don’t deserve. Of course people win the lottery, or inherit a house, or even get lucky in love, but they don’t appreciate what they’ve got. They waste it. Most of the time it’s quick fortunes are mismanaged and lost quickly. Grace is really a crutch used by people who aren’t strong enough to make it on their own. Weak people depend on grace because of their weakness. You can’t depend on grace either. It’s rather gullible to sit and wait for something to fall into your lap.

But wait a minute… that’s not exactly what this text seems to be saying is it? Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Paul was a weakling. He was constantly under attack, beaten, stoned and left for dead, jailed for years at a time, shipwrecked, struck blind, abandoned, and misunderstood. It’s a pretty strong person who undergoes such punishment… who takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’, as the old commercial used to say. It’s pretty easy, after all to make Paul out to be Super-Apostle. Bullets of false teaching seem to bounce off of him as he confronts his enemies. We imagine him walking all around Greece preaching boldly everywhere he goes. He seems strong and sure of himself. Paul even confronted Peter one time. Didn’t that take a great deal of strength? To stare down one of Jesus own disciples in public! That took a certain kind of strength, don’t you think?

You know, it’s easy to look at Paul’s life and see that strength. But the text for today paints us a very different picture. Paul writes these words himself:

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7–10, ESV)

It’s that last phrase that is the most interesting to me. “…when I am weak, then I am strong.” How can weakness ever be strength? How can a weak person be strong? And does Paul really mean it when he says, “I delight in weaknesses?” What in the world could Paul be talking about?

First of all, we should look at Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Over the years lots of people have tried to decide exactly what it was, what kind of malady Paul suffered from. But he never tells us, in all his writings, this is all that we are told. I could make a list of possibilities but it really doesn’t matter what it was. Paul himself tells us what is important about it. He tells us that it had a purpose. “To keep me from becoming conceited.” What ever it was it had the ability to knock Paul down a peg, and keep him humble… and more than that he says it makes him weak! Paul the Super-Apostle, the human being responsible for founding the Christian Church was really just a weak man.

What did Paul know that we don’t? What did he have that we don’t have? How was he, weakling that he was, able to do all those things that he did? Paul tells us that, too. Well actually Jesus tells us that through Paul’s pen. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Paul knew that with out the Grace of Jesus Christ, he’d be nothing, just a lost and condemned person. He knew that the work God had planned for him to do was at its best when Paul was weak and Jesus Christ was strong. When Paul was leaning on the crutch of Jesus Christ, when he was depending on Jesus to get him through, that’s when Jesus was most clearly seen in Paul. You see; Paul was a weak man who depended on someone else. In God’s economy of life there’s no room for conceit, or pride. What Paul is saying here is that, he really didn’t have anything to do with all that he did. With God, weakness and dependence is strength. With God, his undeserved love, his grace is sufficient for his people.

That doesn’t match up with how we are told life works, by the movers and shakers of the world. Dependent Paul was a weakling. But it shouldn’t surprise us that the world thinks that way. After all in the worlds estimation the crucifixion of Jesus is the epitome of weakness. People don’t see strength in humiliating, bloody, horrible public death. A strong person would never allow that to happen to himself. But the reality of it is that in all of human history no one has ever shown greater strength. It was in the suffering and death that Jesus brought salvation and release to sinful, prideful, conceited human beings. His suffering and death brought salvation to you and me!

Our problem is just like Paul’s… it’s just like everyone. We want to be strong and self-reliant. We want to make it on our own. If we look at our lives we can find lots of things to be boastful about. Our success stories are always me centered. Look at what I did to solve this problem or that problem. Look at the kingdom I’ve built for myself. I’m something special because I’ve beat the odds and become successful. We put ourselves ahead of God and trust our own resourcefulness to get us through our troubles. What we forget is that without the grace of God we wouldn’t even be here. Putting ourselves ahead of God makes him our enemy. We deserve death and hell for it. And the worst of it is that we can’t help it. That’s who we are, and how our mind’s work.

That was Paul’s issue, too. So God gave him a thorn to remind him who was really in control. He gave him a thorn to make him dependent. When Paul’s thorn made it impossible for Paul to function on his own, he turned to Jesus. When Paul was down and out, when he was weak, Paul turned in faith to the One he knew was strong. That’s what faith is. Depending on Jesus’ strength and now our own.

Got thorns in you life? Of course you do. They overwhelm you sometimes. We’d like nothing better than to have them gone. Paul asked God to take his away, too. But he rejoiced in his weakness because of what happened when he was weak. So, thank God for your thorns! Especially those that seem to be more than you can bear. It’s the big ones, the ones that take you down a peg, the ones that leave you desperate, and out of control, it’s those that push you to Jesus. When you’re riding high you don’t think about Him much at all. When trouble stalks you you’re constantly in prayer, just like Paul. When you are weak and depending on Jesus, that’s when His power is being made perfect in you. That’s where your faith is growing. It’s where the ‘rubber meets the road’ you might say.

God’s grace was sufficient for Paul. God’s grace is sufficient for us. But don’t think that God’s grace is a little thing, or of small account. God’s grace is sufficient because it is… well huge. The thorns we bear in our lives are nothing like the thorns Jesus bore on the cross. While he wore a crown made from them, he suffered the pain and death of all the world’s sin. The necessary punishment for your pride and conceit, the punishment for your climbing the social ladder on the heads of others, your self-dependence, were the thorns that pierced him on the cross. His death took it all away from you. It was undeserved. That is God’s grace. That He punished His only Son in your place. That’s God’s grace for you every single day. Pride isn’t in control. Selfishness isn’t in control. God’s grace is big enough that it covers them up.

So, it’s a good thing to be weak isn’t it? Weakness brings you to Jesus and His all sufficient grace. The thorns are there, they will be your whole life. So when the stick you rejoice and turn in faith to Jesus for help. That’s why they are there. Because when you are weak, then you are strong. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.