Brothers and sisters in Christ, our scripture reading for this morning’s message comes from our Old testament reading from Isaiah chapter 66. “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her, rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her, that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast, that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.”
Rejoice with Jerusalem, see for yourselves the visitation of our God who comes to meet us in the person of Jesus. See for yourself how Jesus is the long awaited Messiah sent to God’s people, who has come to meet our every need.
Have you ever noticed how beautiful the sight is when you are waiting and waiting for someone and then finally the person arrives? When I was a boy I was at a little league baseball game that was rained out quickly after the start time. I told the coaches I did not need a ride home because someone from my family was coming.
As I stood near the parking lot I watched cars drive away and some come in, but not the familiar sight of one of the family cars. As the storm started to roll in quicker and quicker, my clothes getting wet, the lightning on the horizon, I wanted to see that car drive up right now and I wished I could will it into existence. What an instant relief when that familiar vehicle rolls up and the fear and the unbearable waiting are over.
When you are worried about a cat that has ventured off somewhere outside nowhere to be seen, how sweet is the sight of the familiar fur patterns walking through the crack in your fence back home.
Sometimes there is nothing like seeing evidence that things are well. Sometimes there is nothing like seeing the church come together, being reminded that you are not on your own, seeing that Satan is outmatched, like the 72 who Jesus sent out who said, “Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name!” How wonderful when you can see the results with your very eyes.
This is also a Sunday where we are celebrating the Installation of Camille as Deaconess Intern. The Lord’s promise to us his people is that we can rejoice and be glad because of what the Lord does for Jerusalem, His church.
The Lord sends messengers to preserve our church in peace. The office of the pastor is the way in which the Lord cares for His people. As a support to the pastoral office, the office of Deaconess provides God’s people with service, mercy, and compassion. Through listening and caring, and teaching and pointing people to Jesus- a Deaconess helps build up the body of Christ.
Today as we begin a period of time of a year with the support of a deaconess intern, we can all together as a congregation find in God’s Word the abundance that the Lord provides to His church, the abundance of mercy and Love, the very presence of Jesus that our reading from Isaiah compares to a baby nursing at a mother’s breast- receiving everything needed in abundance.
God’s people are carried upon the hip and bounced upon the knee. And God’s Word says His people will see for themselves the comfort he provides, like peace of a gentle flowing river. The glory of the Lord overflowing like a stream that overflows and pours out onto the land. “You shall see and your heart shall rejoice.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, do you see the Lord’s mercy to you? Can you see it there on the cross? Can you see it with the baptism font, and the elements of the Lord’s Supper? Can you see the Lord’s mercy overflowing to you, welling up like a spring from the ground?
I see the Lord’s abundance when I look at this church. I see the hands that change the colors of the altar and pulpit as the church seasons change. I see the dutiful work of those who set up and take down the elements of the Lord’s Supper. I see the LWML mite box in the back and other things that ushers take care of.
I see new pieces of artwork in the church through the help of people in our church working together. I even see my own family lighting the candles, keeping the music going, and making children’s messages special.
How beautiful the sight of a sister in Christ sent by the church to assist us in ministry here at Christ Lutheran. There is a phrase, “ Sight for sore eyes” and when I look at Camille I see relief sent from the Lord, for me, for my wife and family, for the congregation. When the road is hard and difficult as a congregation, when we realize that Jesus sent out his messengers as lambs in the midst of wolves- When we consider the challenges of living in a fallen world, the sight of help is glorious.
There are so many challenges out in the world that keep us from that peace like a river, that keep us from the satisfaction of comfort like a baby nursing at mother’s breast. There are challenges that lead us to lose sight of the glory of Jerusalem.
However despite the challenges, we will not lose sight of the glory of God in Christ Jesus, here with us in the church in Word and Sacrament.
Jesus told the 72 that the reason to rejoice was not what you can see, and accomplish by God’s power, yes the demons submit to the Lord’s name, but more important than all those sight for sore eyes moments in life that makes it feel everything is ok, more important than that momentary relief, is the permanent relief Jesus won for us in the cross, more important is the fact that our names are written in the book of life.
The true sight for sore eyes for us is the inheritance that awaits us in heaven, that is not subject to unexpected losses or failures. Just two weeks ago, our brother in Christ Lynn Hastings was here with us in worship, I believe for the first time. He even signed the guest book. It was indeed a sight for sore eyes for me to see him come in, yet one more Peace Deaf member, here in worship, in this new setting. Someone I looked forward to getting to know.
And then less than a week later the Lord called him to Himself to his inheritance in heaven. We rejoice that he is with the Lord, even as it would have been a pleasant sight if he were here today.
We are all God’s children, deaf and hearing alike. We see Jerusalem and we rejoice. We see the pastoral office and the reminder it gives of Jesus’ presence with us and we rejoice.
As St. Paul celebrates in Romans chapter 10 “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” The beauty is in seeing that the messengers come from Christ Jesus himself, they come bearing his good news. St. Paul then goes on to say: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”
St. Paul is writing about both seeing God’s messengers and hearing God’s Word through them. And we have seen and heard because their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. There is no stopping God’s Word from going out.
It is just as our Introit says: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
Psalm 19 gives this amazing picture of how God’s creation is told by the beauty of creation, we see the glory of creation with our very eyes all around us. But the Psalm does not stop there. It is not just that we see that there is a God through creation, but we also hear about who this God is, through the Words God creates and delivers through his messengers.
We know and hear about what God thinks of us, we know that we are loved by this God, we know that we are His children as he tells us over and over again in His Word, which rings out all through the earth.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Old Testament Jerusalem was the very place where people could look and see the temple and the priests and the sacrifices. It was the way that God’s mercy was preached to the ancient world, people came from afar to learn about God in Jerusalem.
Jesus was born for the purpose of dying in Jerusalem, to take on our sin and make the sacrifice of his life on the cross in Jerusalem. Jesus the embodiment of God’s mercy, and how beautiful his feet are. How beautiful the steps he took to call his disciples and send them out through all the earth.
Now we can see that same embodiment of God’s mercy that Jesus is here in the church, which is called the New Jerusalem. See the pastor’s robe and stole and know with certainty that God’s love has gone out through all the earth, and right to you. Hear anew those words Isaiah spoke thousands of years ago, fulfilled in our midst through Jesus: “13As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”