Luke 13:1-9; Third Sunday in Lent; March 20, 2022;

Luke 13:1-9; Third Sunday in Lent; March 20, 2022;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ” ” (Luke 13:1–9, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
A few years ago, one of those television preachers said that Haiti suffered its earthquake because they made a deal with the devil to get rid of the French. The story goes, according to this preacher, they wanted to end French occupation, so they prayed to Satan to kick them out. He did and that’s how they got Voodoo. This is the kind of thing that these folks were taking to Jesus about. We’re not exactly sure what happed to these Galileans, but it seems they had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and were killed by Roman soldiers, maybe even in the temple. It is a terrible thing. And Jesus brings up another example. Others were killed when a tower fell. The question was the same. Lord, what caused this? What kind of sinful people were these that died so horribly? What they were looking for was a reason for the problem, a reason for bad luck and random death. They wanted to know what these folks did to deserve the death that they got. They must have been terrible sinners. It is a natural thought. But Jesus has a different idea. No, he says. These folks weren’t any worse than anyone else. And in fact, you all deserve the same fate! Ouch! That’s not what we want to hear. That doesn’t even sound like Jesus, does it? After all we kind of think Jesus walks around all day with a smile on his face, feeding people, healing people, holding their hand… these words make Jesus sound, well, not nice! Certainly, he’s not speaking to us! Maybe he’s talking to the drug addicts, drunks, and child molesters out there, but not to his people. Not to people who willingly give up their Sunday morning to sit in the pews here at church. Not to people who drop their hard-earned money in the collection plate. Is he?
Well, yes. That’s exactly what Jesus is saying. The parable at the end really puts the fine point on it. The owner of the vineyard has every right to expect fruit from the fig tree. But year after year he gets none. No one would complain about him axing it. He has the right to expect that the plants will produce fruit. But it doesn’t. The amazing thing is he doesn’t destroy it. The gardener tells him to wait. I’ll tend it some more and see what happens. Perhaps with some care it will produce. Amazingly the owner relents. This is what’s amazing about the world, too. That God hasn’t destroyed it. Even though the news is full of rotten fruit; nations invade nations and kill at will; people kill each other over a trifle; children starve to death while powerful men do nothing; people who speak out about God’s clear will for the world are shouted down and called bigots. And personally, you and me, well our sins seem smaller, but they are sins just the same. We fail to help when help is needed. We push our needs and wants ahead of everyone else. And what is worse is that the people we most often hurt are those who live in our own house. So much for family love. In fact, every day we have that God waits to destroy the world is a gift; a gift to change. That’s what Jesus says after all. Repent. Unless you(all) repent you (all) will perish. Now he’s not really agreeing with the television preacher. The folks in Haiti are no worse sinners than we are. What he is saying is that judgment happens. Every earthquake, tsunami, construction accident, car crash, illness and death are a picture of the world’s deserved judgment for sin, and yours and mine. Now is the time for you and me and the world, as Jesus says, to repent.
There’s that word repent. Tragedies like the tower of Siloam (or the Invasion of Ukrane) and Pilate’s heinous crime against the Jews (or the World Trade Center) don’t show us their sin but show us all the need for repentance. But here’s the thing. You can’t just change what you do on the outside. That’s not really repentance. The word literally means to have change your mind. And this is the real nub of the problem. We must be different people than we are, not in actions, but in heart. Changing what we do is like dipping a bucket into the ocean over and over again and expecting to get to the bottom of sea . The deepest problem with sin isn’t in the doing. The problem with sin is in the heart. We sin because we are sinners. With Jesus word repent he lays the ax at the root of the tree. Good fruit only comes from good trees, and we know, because Jesus tells us so, that we are not good trees.
But Jesus’ parable shows us that God is mercy. He has already taken care of sin. He doesn’t ignore it like some forgetful grandfather. He does cut down the tree. The axe is laid at the foot of Jesus. And it leads him to the cross. All his life he falls under God’s judgment. Every sin he forgives, every person he heals, every mouth he feeds, every hand he holds is good work, good fruit. He is changing sin’s power over people. He brings God’s mercy where there is only suffering and death. As he goes, he gathers up all that evil from everywhere and bears it in himself to the cross. If you would look at Jesus hung on the cross, bloody, beaten, suffering the pain of nails and thorns you might well ask, what kind of a sinner is this that he should deserve such and evil death. Well, the truth is Jesus dies as the worst sinner of all. He carries your sin and mine, and all the people who died at Pilate’s sword, and all the thousands who died under rubble in Haiti. The axe cuts him off. He is ignored by God, rejected to a sinner’s death. There is no mercy there, only punishment. There is no time to repent God’s anger is poured out in full. This is where God deals with sin. This is where the tree is cut down and cast out. Jesus instead of you. Jesus instead of me. Jesus hangs in our place in suffering and death.
You see, apart from Christ you must deal with God on your own for your own sin. And you can’t stand on your own. You will be cut down because your fruit is only bad. Jesus offers you, instead his punishment. And more than that he offers you, his fruit. There is nothing for you to do, nothing for you to change. Jesus earns all that you need. He pays the whole price. His life lived. His death died. Given for you for the forgiveness of your sin. You see, that’s what repentance is. God showing you your need and giving you what you need. Nothing for you to say or do. His gift of love. His mercy in Jesus Christ.
So, what about the tree, and the garden and the fruit? Well, Jesus really is showing us a picture of him at work. He tends the trees. He cultivates the soil and fertilizes, and the trees bear fruit. But here’s the difference. You and I don’t need to do anything for God. God is the one who does everything for us. Through Jesus and the forgiveness, he gives to us we have been changed from bad trees to good ones, so we do bear good fruit. Not stuff we do for God but stuff we do for our neighbors. They are the ones who have needs. They live in a world that is full of trouble, and pain and suffering. Jesus solves our good fruit problem, not so that we can spend our time serving God, but that we can serve our neighbor (and in the process serve God by serving our neighbor).
And when bad things happen, they are our opportunity to humble ourselves and remember our place before God. We are sinners who deserve nothing from God, but we receive everything from him instead. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Jeremiah.17.5-8; Sixth Sunday after Epiphany; February 13, 2022;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN; 5Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6he is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. he shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. 8he is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:5-8 (ESV) Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If you have ever been to court or been in a courtroom you have seen it happen. You have seen it on television, in one of a hundred dramatic courtroom episodes of courtroom drama. You have read it in newspaper and magazines: Laws are introduced by senators and made by legislators. But the law is applied in the courtroom. It is in the courtroom that verdicts are handed down and sentences given. Where justice in handed out. It is in the courtroom where the law is visible. That is where the law is used to judge people.
But in this text, Jeremiah says that God judges people, too. Jeremiah gives us a courtroom scene. God has laws and expectations of people. And based on those expectations he pronounces judgment. God’s verdict is either “Cursed” or “Blessed.” Only those two. The picture Jeremiah paints for us is bi-polar, only cursed or blessed, nothing in between. That is the verdict that was being handed down to God’s people through the prophet. It was as if they were all standing there before God in his courtroom.
It is no different for us. Jeremiah is talking to God’s people right now, right down through time, written in God’s word. God is still handing down a verdict to us. It is a frightening picture, too. You and me standing in God’s court room awaiting God’s verdict over us. God’s law is visible there. God’s standards are judging God’s people. So, what will the verdict be in your case? Are declared cursed or blessed?
Jeremiah lays out the case. “You can tell,” says Jeremiah, “because God pronounces his verdict of ‘Cursed’ or ‘Blessed’ under certain conditions. If this is happening, he says, then you are cursed; if that is happening, you are blessed.” So, which is which in your life?
You know that is just the thing with the God’s law. Since God is perfect, that is what he demands. We do not think it is fair because we can never live up to perfect, ever. We want to say that God only expects us to do the best we can, and that is good enough. But it is clear here: Trust in “man” or depend on “flesh” for strength and you are be cursed. Trust in man that is: depend on government, or your employer, your friends, or your spouse for the things you need in life, and you are cursed. Trust in your own ingenuity, your own strength, your own ideas, be self-reliant and you are cursed. Do these just once or many times, and you are cursed. And that is defiantly not what we want to hear. Especially here in the US where we applaud the virtue of being a self-made man, against all odds living up to his potential. But God says that if our attention, our hearts, our minds, our focus is not on him, always, we are cursed. Listen to it in the First Commandment: You shall have no other Gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things. Always, God first, above everything else. If not, we are cursed.
Just look at Jeremiah’s description of people who live with their focus not on God: he is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. he shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Shrubs alone in the desert. People having no real strength and living fruitless empty lives. Even if good comes they cannot see it because they are on the brink of death.
You and me, no matter how good we are, no matter how much we try, so very often our lives are just like that. Struggling just to get ahead, to pay the bills, feed the family, survive the next round of covid requirements. Depending on everything but God for everything. Living out there alone in the desert hoping for rain and rest that never seems to come. Actually, missing the good that comes because we are just too busy or too self-absorbed. To say it in a word: Cursed.
God pronounces his verdict on the blessed ones, too. Everything is different for them. They rely in him. He is where they find the strength they need in the day of trouble. Trees planted by the streams of water, never have to look for water, it’s always right there with them. Their roots are in contact with it all the time. No drought or trouble phases that kind of a tree. When I lived in Nebraska, we had irrigated farmland. The farmer gives water when it is needed. Iowa is mostly dryland farming. The crops depend on the rain when it comes. Nebraska for plants is the life of the blessed. According to Jeremiah, God has transplanted the blessed plants into a new place out of the dry desert, right near the streams of water. God does this though the Holy Spirit, his Word and Water. 3For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7 (ESV)
That’s being transplanted from the old into the new. God’s word and water… Baptism… Its water applied that brings the blessed one into a vital relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship of faith in what he has done. Listen again, to what’s out in the desert: foolishness, malice, envy, hate, and foolishness. But through water and the word, God brings goodness, loving kindness, renewal, and the assurance of eternal life. That’s exactly what it means to be blessed.
Well, that’s you and me, isn’t it? We are believers in Christ. We are blessed, not because we uprooted ourselves from the desert, but because God transplanted us. Jesus won the right for us to be right there by the irrigation. Jesus was always totally reliant on the Father for his direction and strength. Jesus was always focused on the Father’s will for people. Jesus who lived perfectly in every way, kept every one of God’s laws, from the first commandment through the tenth, and every other one. Every part of the law that we break every day, Jesus kept every day and in every way. He did it, where we fail.
Jesus alone deserved the blessing of God. But he was cursed, there on the cross when the Father turned away from him and allowed him to suffer and die. For him, it was being left alone in the desert, there was no rescue for Jesus on the cross. It’s not just that he was left alone there either. It’s not just that he himself was cursed. Jesus was cursed in your place. He was cursed in my place. All things that we should have received because of our “hearts are turned away from the Lord” were placed on Jesus. He received the curse of an entire world of sinful people. That curse brought him to death and the grave.
Jesus dealt with our curse by his suffering and death, and he deals with our blessing by his resurrection. Just as his death is our death, so also is his resurrection ours. That’s the transplanting. he was dead, now he is alive. We were dead, now we are alive. The water from the font makes it so. God’s promises to us at the font make it so. Baptism connects us to Jesus in death and in new life. 4We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4 (ESV)
Transplanted by the steams of water. Living in the blessing of God, instead of the curse.
Now when Jeremiah talks about bearing fruit, he says it never ends. It doesn’t cease. So, the fruit is there in your transplanted life. It’s that “walking in newness of life” that we just mentioned. You see, it’s a package deal. New life – bearing fruit. Every day you do what you do, as a transplanted tree. God uses your life to help the people around you. Parents raise their children and teach them. Through you, factories supply what people need to make a living, and farms produce what people need to eat, children learn what they need to learn, cars continue on the road, homes are heated, property is bought and sold. All of that is fruit, and it is a part of living your new life. There are other types of fruit, too. Caring for friends and relatives and even strangers who need help. Hospital visits, meals and so many other things. They are good things done, not to earn our blessings from God, but because we have been blessed by him.
And there is one more kind of fruit I want to mention. Out there, still living in the desert, are people who need to be transplanted or people who have forgotten what it means to know Jesus. Their hearts are turned away from him or turning away. It is not hard to find them; in fact, I have a list of members of this congregation who have not been here in years. In some cases, they are friends of yours, in some cases, relatives. Nobody is asking you to pound on stranger’s doors. Just be a friend and look for an opportunity to point them to Jesus again, look for a way for them to return to the life-giving water found here in God’s Word and Sacraments.
I asked earlier whether you were blessed or cursed. And the answer is clearly, blessed. Through faith in Jesus, through God’s Word and Sacraments you are that tree that is never thirsty. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Luke.5.1-11; The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany; February 6, 2022

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Lk 5:1-11, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” I wonder, really, what brought Peter to this point? I mean, I wonder what it is that makes a strong fisherman, whose nickname by the way, is “Rock”, I wonder what makes a man like that kneel among a mountain of fish in a sinking boat, and shout in fear, “Get out of here our I’ll die!” So, you get the full impact of what I’m asking I want you to place this scene in your mind. Peter is a workingman, very strong from dragging waterlogged fishnets out of the water. His skin is dark and leathery from a lifetime of water reflected sunburn. His hair is long, bushy and sun bleached. His eyes are dark and penetrating. Here is a guy who probably gets what he wants when he wants it. You might even imagine that if he were around today, he’d have tattoos on his biceps. Here’s a guy who has worked hard all his life to achieve all that he has achieved, a self-starter, a businessman who is very self-confident. He’s a family man, used to making a living the hard way, blood and sweat. That’s the man that St. Luke would have us believe is kneeling at Jesus knees, pleading to be left alone. And so, I’ll ask the question again. What makes a man like that do a thing like that?
“Well, isn’t it obvious?” You say. Just look at that load of fish they hauled in. Simon said himself that they had worked all night and caught nothing. A few moments with Jesus on the lake and they’re full to capacity and sinking, and not just one boat but two. There is nothing that will humble a man faster than to be a better fisherman than he is. Just ask any angler’s wife who’s had a good day of fishing at the expense of her husband. And everything Jesus tells them to do defies all fishing logic. No one fishes in the heat of the midday sun in deep water and expects to catch anything, especially in the kind of nets they were using. Those nets caught fish that swim near the surface of the water to feed. But Jesus did in minutes what Simon and his partners couldn’t ever do. And the thing I want you to see here is exactly how Jesus does this miracle (it is beyond a doubt, just that a miraculous catch of fish!) “And when [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” There in His makeshift pulpit when the teaching was done, Jesus gives a word to Simon and the other fisherman. And it’s a curious word. It’s a word that doesn’t make fishing sense. “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Here already you may notice that Simon seems to be acting out of character. He doesn’t say, “are you crazy! We’ll never catch anything out there at this time of day!” Instead, he reacts to the word of Jesus doing exactly what Jesus says. “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” He makes it clear that what he’s doing makes no sense, but Jesus words have their effect on him, and he does it anyway. “And when they had done this…” Luke tells us, as soon as they did what Jesus said, the nets were full to overflowing, and not just overflowing but to the point of tearing apart. The question to ask, the question that must have entered Simon’s mind, is “How is it that all these fish have come to this unlikely place at the altogether wrong time to these nets?” And the answer is; because Jesus spoke the words and the miracle happened. Simon was confronted with the reality that what Jesus had spoken to him wasn’t a command, “Put out the nets for a catch,” but what Jesus had spoken was a promise. “Put out the nets and you will catch fish.” When the work was done, when all the fish were in the boat, and water was slipping over the hull, threatening to plunge them all into the water, Simon turned to the source of miracle. He fell at the feet of the One whose spoken word could do exactly what it promised. Simon Peter, the man that is called “Rock,” crumbled at power of the Word of God.
In fact, that is exactly what this text is all about, the power of the Word of God. Look again at the first sentence. “The crowd was pressing in on [Jesus] to hear the word of God.” Notice also, that Jesus gets into Peter’s boat. In reality, he has a front row seat to Jesus Words. God’s Word spoken from the lips of Jesus struck Peter’s heart. When Jesus says, “put out your nets.” Peter responds. Jesus words were at work in Peter before he responded to Jesus. But even though, it’s easy to see the Word of God at work in calling the fish into the fisherman’s nets, because that’s a visible miracle, after all it nearly sunk the boats. But the important work of God’s Word wasn’t on the fish. The same miracle of God working through his Word that was shown to the eyes of Peter was at work invisibly as Jesus taught the people from the boat. God’s Word was there, crumbling hardened hearts of stone, convicting sinful people of their sin, removing mountains of doubt, creating, and strengthening faith. We see it in Peter’s words, “Master, at your word I will do it.” And we see it when Peter confesses his sins, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
What Peter was confronted with was the fact that the God whose Word created the universe, the God who controlled all nature, was seated in that fishing boat with him. The spoken Word of God showed him all his sinfulness and he knew what he deserved. It is evident the same reaction we see Isaiah’s words from the Old Testament reading for today. “Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips! I’m a dead man.” Peter and Isaiah were afraid of the awesome power they saw; the power of God that should have left them dead.
What did Peter see? What did he hear? What does God’s Word say to you? God’s Word often convicts us of our sin. That must be what happened to Peter. He heard Jesus preaching backed up by a miracle and he knew he was in trouble. What do you hear when God’s Word says to you, “You shall not commit adultery”? Do you hear the “you” as you or do you hear the “you” as someone else? Do you say, “at least I’ve never done that sin”? Do you hear Jesus says that adultery is a sin done in the heart first? Do you imagine that yours is free from it? Try to tell yourself that next week while you are watching the Super Bowl commercials with barely dressed young women, or when you wish the camera angle were just a little different when then cheerleaders are filling the screen.
How about “you shall not kill”? Are you very sure you have never done that? Maybe there’s no bodies buried in your back yard and no bloody knives in your dresser drawer. But Jesus says that this too is a sin in the heart. Tell yourself you are free from this sin when that negative comment about your neighbor, your ex-husband, or your ex-pastor, or even your worst enemy slips from your lips. Jesus tells you that any thought word or deed that diminishes your neighbor in any way is breaking this command. These are just the easy commandments to use, but we could go through all ten and it would be the same.
“I can’t help it!” you protest. And there you are right. You cannot help it. That is because Jesus is right. Sin is imbedded in the heart. There is a part of you, a sinful nature that never wants to follow God’s Word in any way or at any time. You cannot stop sinning. You cannot help it. You can’t stand in the presence of a holy and perfect God who demands perfection in every detail. He says that if you do, you are dead. That’s what Peter saw and heard. That’s what Isaiah saw and heard. The God who spoke to and commanded the fishes in the sea, sees right into your heart. And when he finds, what you know is there, he says, “The soul that sins shall die.” God’s Word is the same weather spoken from a boat on the shores of the sea of Galilee, or in this pulpit, is powerful. It cuts us open like a sword and displays our sinful nature. That Word causes us to speak to God like Peter. “Lord go away I’m a sinful man. I’ve sinned against you in thought, word and deed…”
Ah, but the most powerful words in this reading today aren’t Peter’s confession of sin. It is not Jesus words of condemnation. It is Jesus words of comfort and forgiveness. “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus says instead of striking Peter dead on the spot, instead of dropping him in the deepest part of the lake. Jesus doesn’t punish. He doesn’t leave Peter in his sin and fear.
Peter knew why he should be afraid, because God, himself, in the flesh, was standing with him in a boat full of fish on the Sea of Galilee. What he’d have to learn later is why he didn’t have to be afraid. Really, it was the very same reason. God, himself, in the flesh, was standing with him in a boat full of fish on the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus the man at whose knees he fell face down was God who had come not to destroy him, but to destroy the sin he harbored in his heart. We talked about that sin, didn’t we? It’s the same as ours. It’s the same that we can’t get rid of. Jesus, Our Lord, takes ours away, too. One of our hymns says,
Nothing of my own I bring, simply to the cross I cling.
That’s where Jesus destroyed our sin and Peter’s. He put it to death in his body. The pain of pierced hands and feet; the suffering of suffocation; and most important of all the loneliness of being left there to suffer and die by God the Father.
Peter said, “Leave me!” But Jesus didn’t leave, even though it meant the cross. He instead was left alone to bear all of God’s anger and wrath over sin, all the punishment God had to give. Jesus suffered the punishment of eternal hell for the whole world on the cross. Empty crosses are fine. They show us where this all happened. But when Christians see a cross with Jesus body on it (we call it a corpus), we see our sin being destroyed and we see our Savior, saving us.
Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, from now on you will be catching men.” Peter left everything and followed Jesus. It is Peter’s response to God’s saving Word. It is our response too. We leave this place after having received the Word of God, spoken into our ears, and placed into our mouths with bread and wine, and poured on our heads in Holy Baptism, and take that Word to where we live and work every day. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, “Now do this.” He says, “you will do this.” That’s God’s Word working again, His powerful Word bringing about exactly what He says it will do. So, it happens sometimes even when we don’t know it. That’s just the way God’s Word works. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany; January 30, 2022;

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany; January 30, 2022;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN; For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of his sermon one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” (1 Corinthians 12:12–31a, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Ben Franklin once said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." Certainly, the kind of unity that Ben Franklin was advocating is not the same as what St. Paul is talking about here, but there is unity that Paul is speaking of here just the same. He uses the analogy of the body to speak about the unity of Christians. Just like all the parts of the body make the body function properly, Christians bring varied gifts and abilities that make the Christian church function properly. It is our sinful human nature that wants to divide the body as useful parts and less useful parts. As those in the know, and those who are out of God’s council. It is our sinful nature that looks with envy on other parts of the body of Christ for what they have and think of ourselves as less. Or to look down on parts of the body of Christ that seem in our eyes to be less important and think that we have no need of them. This was a very important discussion for the recipients of this letter of St. Paul. The Corinthian church was in disunity. They were divided among teachers and teachings. They were divided by social strata. They were not living in the unity that was theirs in their Savior. St. Paul calls them to account. But he doesn't base this unity out of thin air. He bases it on one single truth that is true for all Christians. It is not something they have done, rather something that God has done to them. It's not something they earned by their living rightly or doing rightly, but something gifted to them. It's how the second sentence begins. It is the word for.
For (because) in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...
What he is saying is that our unity in Christ, in the church, begins in Holy Baptism. We have unity with one another because we have unity in Christ through the water and the Word that was placed on us by the Holy Spirit in baptism. He says it again in his letter to the Romans chapter 6.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3–4, ESV)
"all of us" he says. That's all of us together collectively. When we are baptized, we are baptized into Christ Jesus. We are baptized into his death. We are baptized into his resurrection. We are promised a resurrection from the dead. When I used to speak to \preschool kids about baptism I call it a "special bath". A bath that washes away your sins. A bath where God makes promises to you. In holy baptism God makes true for you Jesus life and saving death on the cross. He takes your sin and punishment to the cross. He has punished for your sin there. In baptism Jesus’ death and punishment is yours. And his new life is poured over you with the water poured over your head in God's name. Although Franklin would never say it this way, we can use his quote to think about it. In Christ we hang together on the cross. Jesus bears the burden of all our sin and punishment. Or we hang separately, without faith in Christ, when we die in our sin, we must receive our own punishment. That punishment is eternal hell. Holy Baptism is God's mark on you that says you hung to death with Jesus and are promised new life, that is no hell for you. We Christians are united together by this promise.
All this unity goes against our American mentality. We think we are the rugged individual. We want to think we don't need anyone. We look at our faith as "me and Jesus". St. Paul puts us in a family of forgiven sinners all. And that forgiveness comes to us by God's gift. There is nothing in us that God looks at and says, "I see something good in that one so I'm going to save him." We are all only sinners deserving hell. God saves us by no merit or worthiness on our part but by grace. The definition of grace is God's undeserved love. The baptism of babies and young children is the perfect picture of this. They do nothing but lay there in their mother's arms while God uses human hands to pour water and speak his name and give all the gifts of Holy Baptism. Baptism is not something we do, but something that God does to us. Baptism is our collective connection to the cross of Jesus Christ and all that it brings. And the fact that faith is a gift of God's grace not based on anything in us or anything we do is the great equalizer. God saves us purely by grace and therefore we are all the same. There are no lesser parts and greater parts. We are a family with different abilities, but all are needed and all are called by God equally to do what we are given to do. This is our common salvation in our common Savior. We are in this together. As Franklin said, "we all hang together."
St. Paul's analogy of the body goes even further. Not only are we all the same but we need each other. If every part of the body were an eye there would be nothing but seeing and the body couldn't function. So, the eyes should look at the ear and rejoice that there is an ear for hearing. For without hearing the body could not function as a complete and whole body. And the eye looks at the foot and rejoices because without the foot there would be no movement. The hand looks at the eye and rejoices because without the eye we would not be able to see the wonders of the created world. The Christian church is this way also. We are called to rejoice in our varied gifts. Some are good at teaching. Some are good at caring. Some are good at meditation and prayer. These are all gifts that strengthen the body as a whole and make it function as a whole body. But we can apply this more broadly also. Congregations are different. They have different strengths and abilities. Some are large, some are small. Some are given many resources some are given few. But because of our unity in Christ large congregations are not more important than small ones, nor are small ones more important than large ones. We all hang together in Christ. God places congregations in specific locations to accomplish the tasks that he calls them to do with the abilities he has given them. And so, we rejoice in the variation of God's calling. Our congregations need each other. What some lack can be found in others that do not. And we will function as the body of Christ more completely when we see this unity. St. Paul says this by speaking about how when some suffer all suffer and when some are honored all are honored.
And so, as Christians united together in Christ we confess our faith to the world. We speak about the Jesus who lived died and rose again for the whole world. And we call people to faith in his saving work. We do it with a gifts and abilities that he has given us and, in the places, where he has placed us. And we do it is the body of Christ. Or as Franklin said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
The Christian religion, though scattered and abroad will in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet)
Never think that you are kneeling or standing alone, rather think that the whole of Christendom, all devout Christians, are standing there beside you and you are standing among them in a common, united petition, which God cannot disdain. Luther, AE 43:198
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Isaiah 43:1-7; The First Sunday after the Epiphany; January 9, 2022;

Isaiah 43:1-7; The First Sunday after the Epiphany; January 9, 2022;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”” (Isaiah 43:1–7, ESV)
Grace and peace to you, Precious… Honored and Loved Children of God, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
She knew it was there… somewhere… it had to be. How could she be such a fool as to lay it down? How could she forget where she laid it? The room, now in shambles, had been scoured from top to bottom in search of her precious treasure, but the wedding ring was no where to be found. And now, she peered over the edge of the sink and gazed in to the blackness of the drain in the middle of the bowl. It was the only place left… it had to be there. Determined she walked to the closet and dragged out a plastic bucket. Tool handles poked up from its rim. Wire and nails rattled as she dropped it next to the sink. She plopped down beside it, and looked over the collection. It was clear nothing would fit over the drain pipe to disconnect it. There was only one solution left in her mind… she had to get the ring. Slowly she began to drag the saw back and forth just above the drain trap. Tiny metal filings began to litter the space below. It would take time, it would be expensive to replace the pipes, but no cost was too high. It was her wedding ring, she had to get it back.
The desert sand blew up from the hot ground and bit Greg’s face. He didn’t want to be there. “Guard that oil well with your life!” Sarge had said. “… with your life!” echoed the final three words in Greg’s mind. How was it possible that that oil was so precious? How could that black slimy gunk be worth more than his own life? Oh, he knew that oil was critical to the war. He knew that factories lived because they had it… he knew that tanks drank it… but what was one single well, more or less, to the effort… what made that one particular well so precious that he was to give his life guarding it? He peered out over the sand, wondering if anyone were out there. Would anyone really kill him for that seemingly insignificant spot in the whole desert? “Would I really kill them,” he wondered, “prevent them from taking it?”
Amy sat, perched on the edge of her couch, with her eyes flickering back and forth from the glowing gray of the television to the brightly colored precious square of cardboard she pinched in her fingers. “… if only this time the numbers match… if only this time, some of the numbers match… then things in my life will be different.” She thought. She had waited almost a week for this one night. This had to be the night that her life would change.
Bob tried to rub the pain from his mind with his fingers, as he sat in the darkness of his kitchen. He couldn’t believe the last 8 hours, they were something from a dream… a bad dream.. No, it was more like a nightmare. Only a few hours ago his little girl was sleeping on the couch, but now… he would give anything to see her lying there peacefully breathing… but now, that just wasn’t possible, his precious little girl was gone. He remembered the horrible sound of the screeching tires and then the dead silence that followed. “Oh my God!” came the voice of the driver as he leaped from his seat to the front of the car. “Somebody please help!” he screamed… Bob dragged himself from the images in his mind back to the darkened kitchen. His eyes passed through the shadowy space, as usual there was a pile of plates waiting to be washed and an opened fruit can on the counter. The milk was on the table… it hadn’t been put away again. All of it blended into the grayness of the room and Bob’s mind. But there was one thing that drew his eye. A beam of light from the street peered in the window and half lit a white crumpled piece of paper on the refrigerator. On that one spot in all the room there was color. Several purple and red lines ran out of the light to form some picture in the darkness. Bob walked to the white box and moved the picture so the light could brighten it all. “Dad” it said with a shaky green line over a stick figure with bulbous hands and a scribble beard. Just as Bob felt he would fold up on the floor in sheer pain, his daughter’s picture spoke again. There were more letters near the top of the page. “Jesus died for me,” they said in red, and below that was a quickly drawn green cross. A child’s faith, marked out in red and green wax. Nothing had ever been more precious. “Thank you, Jesus.” Bob said from his knees.
It was the most precious thing he had ever seen. A small squirming pink mass in the blanket wrapped up in his wife’s arms. Jeremy looked at his wife… she had never looked more beautiful. After all the work… all the time.. all the money… finally they had a child. For them adoption was the only way, something about mumps when he was a boy. But, all the struggle, money, and worry, now fell deep into his memory, this moment was worth it all. Here, right here, was a child to raise, a child to teach, and a child to love. He brushed a finger across her soft cheek, she was so tiny, and she would need him very much.
We know what it means for something to be precious. We have precious things all around us. We may even know what it means for us to be precious in someone’s eyes. I think though, that often we have a hard time seeing that we are precious to God. After all, fears are right here… our troubles are right here… our sins are right here… our lives are right here and God often feels so far away.
It isn’t a new feeling. Isaiah the prophet was dealing with the same feelings when he wrote the words of our text today. The Children of Israel had put some distance between themselves and God. They quit listening to what God had to say. God even called them deaf and blind. And now, says Isaiah, they were in for trouble. Their land, the land that God had given them, would be taken away. And they would be dragged off into exile. Separated from the land they loved and separated from their own people. There would be a lot for them to be afraid of… when they were literally looking down the barrel of the Babylonian army. But in all that, with all that to look forward to, God tells the people to remember who they are… and remember who he is. He gives them a very personal word, to remember that they, despite all that was coming, where his precious people.
Isaiah begins by reminding them who is speaking to them. God, the one who created them. He, the one who formed them with the same care that a potter uses to mold and form a clay pot. They went into Egypt, 12 brothers, and came out a great multitude. He molded them through trials in the desert, water from rocks and manna from heaven. He formed them into a great army that was feared by all the kings they stood against. He redeemed them from slavery in Egypt, and he would again free them from exile in Babylon. Just as they passed through the red sea unharmed, again they would pass through troubled waters that would not destroy them completely. And just as a fire led them in the desert, so they would walk through fire, protected by God. Why does God go to such lengths to tell them this…? because they were his precious people… I am YHWH, he says using the name he gave Moses at the burning bush. “I am your God, and your only Savior. You are precious to me because I have put my name on you. Don’t be afraid, I am with you."
But the real beauty of this text isn’t that it tells the story of God’s love for a group of people who lived so long ago. People long dead, individuals long forgotten, and relegated to words written on dry dusty paper. The real beauty of this text is this… In these same words God is telling us that we too are his precious people.
We are reminded that this God, the one who is speaking here to us, is the one who created us. He carefully knit us together in our mother’s womb, a precious treasure. But he did even more than that, His act of creation continued because of Jesus Christ, and all that he has done for us, his life, death and resurrection. We, just like his precious Israel, have been called by name. We have been Baptized and given his name. He said, “Welcome to My Family, my precious child. I give you my name” I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Fear not, for I am with you, he says. When our fears flood over us threatening to drown us, when our troubles threaten to burn us up, when we face the fact that we are sinful, and God feels far away. He says, "Remember who you are and how precious you are to me my child."
We are more precious to God than a lost diamond in a dark drain, barrels and barrels of black gold, or even a multimillion-dollar lottery ticket. And the proof is as simple as a few words scribbled in red crayon, “Jesus died for me.” We are so precious in God’s eyes, that he sent Jesus Christ, to be a king’s ransom. His life in exchange for ours. He said fear not, I am with you. He sent Jesus to be with us, literally, to walk the earth, to smile and laugh, to eat and sleep, and to suffer and die, for us God’s precious children. He came to be with us right here, right where we are with our fear, right here with our troubles, and right here with our sins. And Jesus promises that he is always with us. “I am with you always to the very end of the age. Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am with you.” You see, it’s the same promise given to us that was given to the children of Israel.
Ok, so we are God’s precious children gathered, in his name, in his presence, to be reminded that we are precious to him. We all need to be reminded often that we are precious to God. Take advantage of what God offers you here in this place. Open your ears, hear the precious good news of Jesus proclaimed to you. Open your mouth, receive the body and blood of Jesus, the very same that hung on the cross for you. Open your heart, Jesus is here for you his precious child. Where Jesus is, in His Word and Sacraments, he comes with forgiveness. Your sin, all of it, is forgiven. You are so precious in God's sight he is provided everything you need to have your sins forgiven and live forever with him. You are precious to God, and he wants to remind you of that again and again.
The Lord says to all his people, “You are precious and honored in my sight, and … I love you.” Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Luke.19.28-40; First Sunday in Advent, November 28, 2021;

Luke.19.28-40; First Sunday in Advent, November 28, 2021;
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;
And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:28-40, ESV)
(from an outline by Rev. Harold Senkbeil, Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol 17, 2006)
Grace and peace to you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Oops! Is that right? That sounds like the reading for Palm Sunday not Advent. That sounds like preparation for Good Friday not Christmas. We seem to have skipped right over Christmas and dropped into Lent and Easter. Are you sure pastor you’ve got the readings, right? Well, yes, I do. The lectionary this text for the beginning of Advent. It is set before Jesus going into Jerusalem to give his life on the cross for our forgiveness. It makes sure we have all our ducks in the right row as we approach Christmas. You see, the cross and the cradle are connected together. Christmas isn’t just a story about the birth of a baby; it’s the story of the birth of a particular baby. He is born for a certain specific task: to die for the sins of the world. But you don’t have to take my word for it, just listen to what the angels tell the shepherds:
And the angel said to them,
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11, ESV) You see, the whole story of the birth of Jesus Christ is told for the purpose of telling us about what He did to be Savior of the whole world. It links together the cross and the cradle.
The birth of Jesus tells us a very important thing about Jesus. It tells us that he is completely human, completely flesh and blood. He was born just as every human being is born. He was a helpless infant just like every human being. It tells us that God didn’t just make some far out way of salvation for us, but He came to us in human flesh. That very same human flesh hung and bled and died on the cross. But to do that God had to take on human flesh, being born of a virgin, in a stable, in diapers, so that the law would actually apply to him. St. Paul says it like this:
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:4-7, ESV)
So, we have the wood of the cradle on one end of the story, and the wood of the cross on the other. So today with the cradle in mind we look ahead to the whole point of the story, Jesus purposely going to the cross to give us peace.
First be clear that what Jesus does is not an accident. He knows where he is going. It’s his plan from the very beginning. That is just what he tells his disciples. They don’t like it. They don’t understand it. But Jesus makes his plan clear. And along the way the way he spends time with sinners in Jericho. These were the folks other folks only want to avoid, like blind people that he gave their sight, and Zacchaeus the tax collector who Luke tells us received faith in Jesus. You remember Zacchaeus hanging up in the tree to see Jesus, and Jesus telling him to get down because he was going to see him at his house. Along the way to die Jesus spends time with those he came to “seek and to save.” (Luke 19:10, ESV) And in our reading today he sets the dramatic stage for it all. He sends the disciples ahead to arrange things. You remember a colt “on which no one has ever ridden” you know the one that Jesus said would be there. The disciples find it just as Jesus said they would, and they bring it and say exactly what they are told to say. “The Lord has need of it.”
It is all dramatic and on purpose. Luke wants us to be clear about what Jesus is doing and who he claims to be. The donkey was an important symbol. By riding into town on it, Jesus is claiming to be the new true king of Israel; the one King Herod was really afraid of; the one he tried to kill by killing every child under two years old in Bethlehem. And not only that but Jesus is saying by this very action that he is God come to do what God has promised to do all along, save his people. The prophet Zechariah:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9, ESV)
And yet, riding a donkey is a very humble pose for God to enter a city.
And not only does Jesus know where he’s going, he knows exactly what he’s doing. He didn’t die by accident. The folks around him didn’t see it coming, but Jesus knows. They couldn’t understand why he would have to die, why (from their perspective everything he had done would end). But Jesus knows it all. He sets his whole being toward the cross. He knew he had to suffer and die and rise again according to God, the Father’s plan. He knew he was the sacrifice for the sins of the world, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
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 5:21, ESV)
The baby in the manger is headed for glory. And yet, it goes away that we don’t necessarily like or understand. Did you hear on the news the other day about the Church that got in trouble for building a Christmas float with a crucified Jesus on it? People what to see the baby, you and I want to see the baby, but we like to put the cross out of our minds. Even if it is just for Christmas, we think that we can put aside Christ’s sacrifice. It’s just as St. Paul said the cross is a public offense. But Jesus glory, his victory over sin, death and Satan only comes through the blood of the cross. We can never hear about it enough.
The disciples didn’t understand it either. Even though Jesus told them what was going to happen, they thought that march into Jerusalem was the beginning of Jesus sitting on the throne right there in their capitol city. Just like the crowds, listen again to what they were shouting:
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38, ESV)
It must have been a surprise to all of them (and a letdown) when he when straight to the temple instead of the palace. Jesus told his disciples that his kingdom was coming in full only on his return. That’s what we sang about that in the new hymn we learned today. Jesus’ road to glory passes through the cross. As his followers our road passes that way too. We enter the glory that Jesus has set aside for us only through much trouble, pain, and death. St. Paul preached that very thing to the young churches he started “saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22, ESV) By the end of the week the king who rode into the city with cheers has other voices mocking him as he dies on the cross. Jesus is the sacrifice for their sin. Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn king; Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled."
“Peace on earth.” We sing. Jesus does all this to bring peace on earth. He breaks the bonds of sin to reconcile sinners to God. Just ask Zacchaeus! Jesus came down from heaven as a human being, born in a lowly stable. He did that to bring peace by joining God to man. He brought peace “on earth” by shedding his blood on the cross. He returns to heave to join man to God. He sits at the right hand of God declaring that human beings are now at peace with God again. In his Word he proclaims to you and me that we are released from the slavery of our sin.
Well, that’s fine, Pastor. Peace on earth that’s what everyone wants. But how can I have peace? What about me? When do I get peace? Life isn’t easy you know, Pastor. It seems to be for everyone else but not me. I don’t have what I need to live. Everything I do turns sour and worthless. The holiday stress only puts my family at each other’s throats. I doesn’t seem like I get to slow down and enjoy the good things in life? When does the ‘holiday spirit’ return for me since my father / mother / sister / brother / child died? The empty space at the table seems to suck up all the joy that should be here. What about some peace to wipe away the memories of the shameful things I’ve done that plague me at three in the morning? At least the baby in the manger story is a happy one. What you are telling me today, though Pastor isn’t a happy story. It’s the story of blood and pain. It’s a story of suffering and death. I get enough of that in my life without smearing the good feelings of Christmas with it.
When you look on the baby in the cradle and see also there the cross that is the best picture, I can paint for you of God’s peace. It is God coming because you lie awake in sweaty guilt; exactly because you suffer the loss of love in death and struggle with living every day, because sin makes life a burden. That’s the problems that Jesus comes among us to resolve.
He brings peace from God, and he brings it right here where you can so easily find it. We hear Jesus speaking words of peace right here. We call it the Gospel. The word means “Good News.” It’s not just good news because it tells us a sweet story, it tells us the good thing about Jesus, who came to our Savior; Jesus who was born into human flesh. That very same Jesus enters our hearts and minds through his Word and the water of Baptism and the bread and wine. He comes to you and me through faith and He comes to hold them us up when life is difficult. From the words he speaks into your heart He reminds you that even though things are hard, he makes sure it all works out for your good. He reminds us that God is in control of everything he even counts the hairs on your head. And that nothing can separate you from his love, even down feelings that seem to pop up this time of year. And He whispers in your heart the truth about love and death. That it isn’t the end it is only a temporary separation for those who live in faith. When we approach this altar and feast with Jesus, we join in a heavenly feast that our missing loved ones are celebrating already, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. And when Satan reminds you that you’ve failed, usually while you lay sleepless in your bed, Jesus is here (in your heart) to calm your fears and remind you that he suffered and died to put away your guilt forever. That’s the peace that Jesus brings. That’s the peace that comes by his cross and cradle. That’s the peace that comes in the name of the Lord.
That’s the peace that we have through God’s Word working in us, and it’s a peace we joyously proclaim. And it’s not just lip service either. We do it by taking time during our busy holiday schedule to serve, and there’s lots to do this time of year isn’t there. We got trees to decorate with mittens, Christmas baking to deliver, and toys for tots to purchase. Not to mention just giving a helping hand and a cheerful word to our neighbors. But Jesus in us isn’t just for this season either. Actually, we serve all year round. We do it every day as we work the work that has been given us to do, like planting crops, baking bread, making pizza, delivering housing materials, teaching children, or whatever it is that you do for work. That too is the peace that Jesus brings through his cross and cradle. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Psalm.149; All Saints Day; November 7, 2021;

Psalm.149; All Saints Day; November 7, 2021;
Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a | new song,*
his praise in the assembly of the | godly!
Let Israel be glad in his | Maker;*
let the children of Zion rejoice | in their King!
Let them praise his name with | dancing,*
making melody to him with tambou- | rine and lyre!
For the LORD takes pleasure in his | people;*
he adorns the humble with sal- | vation.
Let the godly exult in | glory;*
let them sing for joy | on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be | in their throats*
and two-edged swords | in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the | nations*
and punishments on the | peoples,
to bind their | kings with chains*
and their nobles with fet- | ters of iron,
to execute on them the judgment | written!*
This is honor for all his godly ones. |
Praise the LORD!
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son*
and to the Holy | Spirit;
as it was in the be- | ginning,*
is now, and will be forever. | Amen.
Grace and peace to you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now let's be honest. This psalm makes you a bit uncomfortable, doesn't it? I mean, you agree with it at first, then toward the middle it gets a bit rough. I mean praising God with a two-edged sword isn't quite the image we have of church. I forgot my saber at home, what about you? And that "executing vengeance" and “punishments on the peoples" is a bit strong. Does God really mean to slap kings in irons? All of that just doesn't seem to fit with "Sing to the LORD a new song". Well, at the very least it's not a NEW song. It sounds like this is one of those things in the bible that's just a bit outdated, one of those embarrassing things we push under the carpet with a broom when no one is looking. I guess pastor wasn't paying attention when this one was picked for today’s sermon... maybe we should have stopped it with "Let the godly exult in glory let them sing for joy on their beds."
Actually, there are lots of ways to understand this psalm. First of all, in its historical context it made perfect sense for God's people to rejoice in God doing just what the psalm is talking about. They had enemies all around them that we bent on their destruction. God's promise of a Savior extended to his protection of the people from where the Savior would come. They rejoiced in God's protection. And it was right for them to do so. But why in the world do WE read and sing this psalm? Maybe it would be better just to cut it off in the middle.
Well before we get to that point, I think its a good time to review a bit about the Book of Psalms. First, I want you to remember that the Psalms are the prayer book of the church for all time. In them you'll find every aspect of Christian life described, every emotion, every evil called out, every claim and promise of God. Martin Luther thought very highly of them and used them every day in his daily devotions. The Psalter is a book of poetry. But it is much more than that. It is a prayer book, the prayer book of the church. It you want ample proof that it's ok to pray pre-written prayers you have an example here of 150 of them. The way to understand what the psalms are saying is to understand two things about them. First, they are poetry, Hebrew poetry. They have a specific structure. Each verse (usually) contains one thought. The thought is expressed in the first half of the verse (called a strophe, marked by the *). Then in the second half the thought is repeated and expanded or explained. And so, the psalms are written to sing antiphonally. That is, back and forth, person to person. Each thought is sung and then repeated by the other person. That's why we speak / chant them the way we do on Sunday morning. Hebrew poetry is also known for its compactness. In Hebrew the psalms don't often rhyme, but they do have a meter, and lots of alliteration (that is words that have complementary sounds). It's like a conversation about God, from God. It's confessing (same saying) what God tells us about himself.
But the really important thing to remember about the Psalms, and the best way to get meaning out of them is to read them as World War II Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer says: “the Psalter is the prayer of Christ for his church in which he stands in for us and prays in our behalf…In the Psalter we learn to pray on the basis of Christ’s own prayer [and] as such is the great school of prayer.”
“In the first place, we learn here what it means to pray on the basis of the word of God, to pray on the basis of promises…In the second place, we learn by praying the Psalter what we should pray for just as surely as the range of the prayers of the Psalms goes far beyond the experience of any individual, we still pray the whole prayer of Christ in faith, the prayer of the one who was the truly human being and who alone has taken into his life the full range of the experiences of this prayer…In the third place, praying the psalms teaches us to pray as a community…the deeper we penetrate into the Psalms and the more often we ourselves have prayed them, the simpler and richer our own prayer will become.”\
Jesus Christ has brought every need, every joy, every gratitude, every hope of men before God. In his mouth the word of man becomes the Word of God, and if we pray this prayer with him, the Word of God becomes once again the word of man. (The Psalms: The Prayerbook of the Bible, Dietrich Bonhoeffer) A simple way to remember it is to "put the psalms on the lips of Jesus." He did that all the time in his ministry. He quoted them. He prayed them. All at the most important times in his ministry. The psalms are Jesus’ prayer book.
The best example is Jesus on the cross quoting Psalm 22. It tells us exactly what's going on in Jesus, as he hangs there.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest. Psalm 22:1–2 (ESV)
Jesus means for us to see him speaking the whole Psalm there. And there He wants us to understand that there on the cross he is suffering the eternal punishment of our sin. That is, he was abandoned by God. He suffered the eternal punishment of hell. Eternal separation from God. It is what you and I earn for our lives of sin. It is what you and I could not avoid because we are "by nature sinful and unclean." Had it not been for Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross there; all we could look forward to is dying in our sin and eternity separated from God, in the eternal punishment of hell. You see, if it were not for Jesus, there would indeed be no "new song" to sing. There would be no reason for "dancing" and "melody" to God. In Jesus this psalm rings out in praise to God for saving us from our enemies, from sin, death and hell.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Colossians 2:13–15, ESV)
So, the old testament saints sang this psalm in praise for God's deliverance from their enemies, and in light of the Savior who would do the same. And so, we sing it, too, because we have been delivered from our enemies.
And what about those saints whose names we'll read in a moment? Well, they are singing this psalm right now. For them the words of salvation are most poignant. They have passed through death to life.
For the Lord takes pleasure in his | people;*
he adorns the humble with sal- | vation.
Let it be so also for us!
And... there's always one more thing. It's that sword thing:
Let the high praises of God be | in their throats*
and two-edged swords | in their hands,
I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't make the connection here to Jesus himself.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12–13, ESV)
Our message is this Word of God, and it does just what the psalm says. It executes judgment, it binds kings (and all people) to their sin. And that is our proclamation of the Law. Remember the S O S? The Law shows us our sin. It is a necessary part of our message to ourselves and the whole world. So that people see their true place before a holy God, deserving only God's wrath and punishment. Without the proclamation of the Law no one would see their need for Jesus on the cross. But the Sword of Word is also the S O S of the Gospel. It shows us our Savior. Jesus saves us by his life, death and resurrection. The Book of Hebrews continues:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14–16, ESV)
This is our two-edged sword. The Good News of a Savior from sin. And is it ours to wield in the world. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.