Category: The Weekly Message Blog

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate once again the Sunday of the Reformation, we can turn our attention to one word in particular that is essential to our knowledge of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That word is truth.

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus taught that there is one and only one way to know the truth- to abide in His Word.  And knowing the truth is freedom. 

The nature of man is to try and find the truth for ourselves- and to believe we have the truth when we experience self gratification. Yet no matter how many experts you listen to, no matter the news source you subscribe to- you will not have the truth through the wisdom of man.   

The Reformation is important for us to celebrate because there is always a fierce battle for the truth in the public square.  The Reformation affirmed that truth comes from the Word of God, even if the Pope should begin to say that he has the ability to determine truth and speak truth out of thin air.

Today just as much as in the 16^th century the world we live in, our surroundings shape how we perceive what is the truth. The examples and attitudes of parents and teachers , and our neighbors all shape and influence your character and attitude. Whether I realize it or not, I am going to either imitate or avoid the behaviors I have experienced during my life. I live my life much more like those who influenced me than I might realize.

All the more important that I am shaped more than anything else by God’s Word.  That I am shaped by God’s Word to be the beloved child the Lord has made me to be.

Martin Luther was certainly shaped by the world into which he was born a little over 500 years ago. Jesus was always shown to him as a judge ready to punish what he had done wrong, with a sword in his hand.  The image of God Luther carried and learned from his surrounding culture made him scared. He even confessed , “I hate this God!”

The problem was that the church of his time had fallen away from the truth of the Bible in place of the truth of man, the way of the law. It was all about what you have to do, you have to please God by doing the right things. It’s all about the obedience and sacrifices you make.

Yet God was gracious to Luther and led him to contexts in his life where he was immersed in God’s Word- not man’s word. Although entering a Monastery only made Luther’s desperation worse, he eventually was led to reading the Bible under the guidance of a compassionate mentor Johannes von Staupitz who counseled Luther as any faithful pastor would, to look to Christ instead of looking obsessively at his own sins and his failure to keep from sinning.

Luther read through the scripture and especially in the Psalms he saw that God comes to the aid of his suffering people. As we chanted today: God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.  

In time Luther received a Doctorate in theology and he was appointed professor at University of Wittenburg, where he had to read and study the Bible even more to prepare for his classes.  God was working through his living Word in Luther’s life. Luther was no longer living under the darkness of a gospel obscured- he was living in the dawn of knowing and cherishing God’s truth.

As God’s Word was working in Luther at this time, the Reformation was already taking shape years before October 31^st of 1517. Luther was beginning to see that God is not just a God of justice, but a God of love, who sent his Son Jesus to accomplish all righteousness required from man. As the book of Romans teaches, there is nothing more that man must accomplish for his salvation – everything was paid for by Jesus on the cross.  Jesus brought us from being enemies of God to being beloved children. This is the most important truth about ourselves and about our world that there is to know.

When Luther realized that salvation was a free gift of God by faith in Christ Jesus, he felt he was born anew. He was indeed beginning a new life, where he was no longer living under the shadow of threats and fears, but a life of a free beloved child of God.

And we also are free to live this new life in Christ, Christ has freed us from the bondage and slavery to sin. We no longer need to be slaves of our sin, our envy and coveting of others need not drive our life experiences.  Our continual desire to look out only for ourselves need not drive our lives.  

Jesus has freed us from our obsession with looking out for ourselves, because he has shown us that since he is in charge of our lives- we do not need to look out for ourselves so persistently, we can serve God and serve others, knowing that the Lord has provided and will continue to provide for our every need.      We desire to do the Lord’s will out of thanksgiving for what he has done for us.  As Psalm 143 celebrates: Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!  Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

The Lord provides for us according to His Word and promises, so much better than we could ever achieve on our own.  This truth is greatly obscured by the world, which insists that man knows better than God what is good for him.

But no matter how fiercely the world preaches about the might of man, or the freedom of man to be whoever he wants to be- we do not need to listen to a single word of it. Because we know true freedom comes only from serving the living God.

For we can see right through Satan’s lies. We do not need the world’s truths about anything, because we have our own world in the church where the truth is known and treasured and proclaimed to the world.

We can rejoice that there is a place where Jesus’ truth is proclaimed. If the church itself cannot be relied on to have the truth, then you cannot find truth anywhere.  If even the church you go to only gives you a partial truth, how difficult it would be to see clearly.

What a gift that we have a church right here, where God’s Word is freely taught without hidden agendas! The church is an oasis of freedom in a world overrun by Satan.  And although the church is surrounded by the lies of this world, we continue to be free- because Satan’s lies have no hold here.  Let us be thankful for this most precious of gifts- the truth of the gospel that is alive and well in the Lord’s Church. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you can find much cause for sorrow and even violence in our readings today. In Isaiah chapter 5 and in our gospel reading we have agricultural images that paint a picture of prophecy and judgement. These are negative examples of judgement from a Holy God.

And yet all things in scripture are written for our learning. It is good for all people and God’s people alike to remember the fact that the Lord will judge, that there will come a time when his mercy and patience toward us can end without repentance. Vines that bear bad fruit are cut down and plucked out.

As Jesus tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard, his audience would have Isaiah chapter 5 come to mind, where Israel is the vine that has been carefully propagated by the LORD.  After all of the careful care and support and love put into the vine the tragic result is that the vine produced sour grapes. This parable in Isaiah chapter five is told as a judgement on all of Israel for it’s lack of faith.

Yet, although Jesus begins with the imagery of a vineyard, the focus changes drastically from the parable in Isaiah chapter 5. The focus of the parable is not on the produce of the vineyard or any problem with what fruits are yielded. Instead, the focus is on the care takers. The stewards and the caretakers of the vineyard represent the leaders of Israel, the pharisees and scribes and ruling class.

To describe this ruling class Jesus gives details in the parable that are exaggerated and unlike real life, already at the first attempt to harvest the fruits of the vineyard the tenants prove themselves to be exceedingly wicked, they beat one servant, kill another and stone a third. 

The land owner’s response is unlike what would happen in real life.  Instead of punishing the tenants and driving them out, the owner sends more servants, this time more than the first group.

Are the fruits of the vineyard really worth risking such losses? By human standards the fruits of vengeance against the wicked tenants would be sweeter than salvaging what is left of the fruits of the vineyard.

You can picture that in sending the second larger contingent of servants to collect from the tenants the master is giving the tenants an opportunity to finally be good tenants by finally surrendering the fruits of the land.  With such a larger group of servants bearing down on them, surely the tenants would change their ways.

Yet, to add insult to injury, the larger contingent of servants is now met with the same fate from the wicked tenants.  

It almost seems as if the patience of the master was foolish.  I remember hearing this gospel reading at St. John when Isaac was a baby. As a new parent, I felt more fully the tragedy of the details of the parable that these servants should be killed, for nothing other than lust for power and control of the land.  And how much more tragic that the master should send his son next. By human reckoning, no vineyard is worth salvaging to put your own son at risk.

We would argue it is not worth it even to send more servants after how the first group was treated.  Look how the first group was treated, you can just anticipate more of the same.  

Sending that second group of servants, it’s not going to go well for them, you might as well not send them at all. And not only for their sake, but for your own reputation, so that you are not insulted by having servants of your household shamed and even destroyed!

There is a reason Jesus gave this first detail about more servants being sent over to the vineyard. He is describing how the Father sent one Old testament prophet after another to Israel, despite their treatment of prophets of the past.  The prophets spoke to Israel on behalf of the Father. They called the children of Israel to repentance. They called Israel to trust in the Lord and worship him instead of the false gods they were so enamored with.

The prophets may have been well received at first, but in the long run, the message from the Father was rejected. Many in Israel preferred the messages of the false prophets who said, it is well with you, we are on your side.

In the story of the parable it is unreasonable for the tenants to think that by overpowering and destroying all who come to collect the fruits of the land, that they will become the owners. Or that by killing the heir that they would somehow gain inheritance of the land.  But this is exactly what they say to themselves when they see the son: This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him

It is just as foolish for false prophets to think that by getting rid of the Lord’s prophets and promising things that people want to hear, that God will overlook or bless that deception.  

Israel rejected the prophets in failing to learn and listen to the message about the Savior who would come from the offspring of Eve, who would be a prophet like Moses yet greater, who would be a King in the line of David.  The prophets told of a Savior to come who would rescue them just as God rescued through Moses in the Exodus.

Instead, Israel made its own alliances to protect them, instead of putting their trust in a Savior to come.  The leaders and the Pharisees put their trust in what they can do for God with their rigorous practices, they put their focus on their self righteousness instead of their faith in the one to come who would save them.

What need do they have of a Messiah, so well tuned into following scripture and extra Rabbinical laws so that they were more holy than the common people of Israel?

But it was not just the prophets who the Father sent, though they were rejected. He sent his own son. It makes no sense for the landowner in the parable to send his own son, but that is just what our Heavenly Father did for us, he sent his son to the wicked tenants who ruled Israel with self righteousness.  

The Father does not see us as lost causes. Just like the people of Israel of old rejected the prophets, our sinful nature leads us to want to reject God’s rule in our lives and establish our own rule.  Yet instead of condemning us, the Father planned for our sinful nature to be condemned and defeated through the work of the Son.  

There have been times when my wife and I have tried to salvage a houseplant that is not happy and is not thriving. You try to repot it and you get the same results, next a different spot in the house with more light or less light coming through. After a while I begin to think that it is just me that the plant does not like.  I have given away plants that don’t work out as well as I would like. Other times I have just put them outdoors to make it as long as they can until the first frost. A lost cause is a lost cause after all.

The Lord Jesus does not know lost causes. He takes what is dead in us and brings life. He plants new life in us in the barrenness of our hearts.

The judgement to those who do not listen to the prophets or even to the Son is severe. Yet there is a bigger picture we have as God’s people. The Lord sees beyond our short sightedness, the Stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  The vineyard of the Lord may indeed produce only bloodshed. Israel may have failed the Lord, we may have failed the Lord, but the Lord still has a way to salvage what is lost and worthless.  

And the Lord is patient with us until the time when we can be brought back to life! If you look at the patterns in your life you can see how many times you have born bad fruit despite all of the gifts the Lord has provided in your life.

The Lord has blessed you in planting you in the church and nurturing you with His Word, cleansing you with the forgiveness given in the Lord’s Supper.  And yet we still can look at our lives and see our failures, see sins that have hindered us and become snares for us. The Lord is patient with us, leading us back to Jesus, leading us back to Him.

And the Lord has a purpose for us. Jesus is our master gardener who is designing us to become more like him. Pruning us, and propagating our fruits so that we look more and more like the Son, more like the heir- so that when we meet the Lord we will be prepared to receive the inheritance of children of God- life everlasting in the Father’s presence, life everlasting with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, listen again to the start of our Epistle reading from Philippians chapter 2: So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

St. Paul make a beautiful appeal through the work of Jesus in our lives that the church should be all together in every way.  He yearns for the church to be of one mind. The same mind, the same love, being of full accord- which means agreeing fully in matters of life purpose.

It seems St. Paul did not get the memo about the wonders of diversity of thought. Instead of encouraging every church to have its own unique perspective about who Jesus is and how to worship Him and proclaim his salvation to the world- the scripture instead is describing what is the same- the same mind, the same love, the same purpose.

How can Christians be of the same mind and the same purpose? If we are honest we can observe that there are always things we find to disagree about, whether the color of the carpet on a local level within a congregation, or divisions regarding the meaning of the sacraments between different denominations- there always seems to be disagreement.

In the 1950s and 60s many seeds of differences grew in American Christianity. Some traditions bought into historical critical methods without looking back. These were ideas from Universities that tried to use scientific rational methods and historical research theories to reinterpret Christianity through a lens of skepticism as far as what actually happened in Old Testament history. People began to think they were being of service to society by questioning what is recorded in scripture, questioning what Jesus actually said as compared to what the church came to believe and recorded in the scripture.

Our own LCMS needed to face this cross roads in the history of the church. The same questions were asked within the learning institutions of the LCMS, culminating with a poorly reasoned student walk out of seminary in a day in February of 1974.

The students walked out because they succumbed to a group think where they felt the need to defend the professors who they spent time with and looked up to- even though these professors were teaching false doctrine. They were foolishly following false teachers who questioned things like whether Jonah could really have survived in the belly of a great fish.

Professors who tried to make distinctions over what is that which Jesus taught and that which is more of a teaching of the early New Testament Church that collected the gospel accounts- as if there is a difference between what Jesus taught the disciples and what the church confessed throughout the Apostolic age by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But in the end as a church body the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod determined to be of one mind that the Holy Scriptures are indeed the inspired Word of God and that we will be a church that seeks to follow Jesus alone, and not the whims of cultural movements from one generation to another.

The reason why the church was able to choose the truth of scripture over the academic historical methods of the day, was because of the faithful beliefs of the members of congregations throughout the synod who sided with the president of the Synod in his resolve to fire the professors who had departed from the right teachings of the church.

Because the church had been of one mind in doctrine for so many years, the LCMS was able to choose orthodoxy of practice over a departure of the faith.  As a result of being in one mind at this crossroads in the church nearly 50 years ago, we are now of one mind in doctrine today as a church body- as we mark another three year period of the church’s history through the LCMS convention that met over the summer.

No matter how much division our society has over the cultural issues of the day, we can count on the congregations of the LCMS to always choose the side of what is taught in God’s Word- not what is popular with man.

And that is the gift and blessed intention of the Lord for us, that we are of one mind as the church- so that God’s Word can continue from generation to generation without changing. It is indeed vital for the church’s confession to the world that we give a clear witness to the world of who Jesus is and what it means to follow him.

The reading clarifies this: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition, or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” The seat of false teaching always comes from individuals who are self serving in what they are teaching, those who seek to change what the church teaches for the sake of their own ambitions to remake the church in their own image.

History teaches us that the town of Philippi was populated with a high concentration of retired Roman soldiers. As Paul was writing to the Philippians church he was writing to a population who valued being citizens, who are proud of their nation and the service they gave. As a result their ears would have perked up as Paul writes about a deeper and more true citizenship- our citizenship in God’s Kingdom. He was giving them instructions on not just how to be a good citizen in the land you live in, but how to be the perfect Christian citizen, being of one mind in Christ.

Being of one mind does not mean that the church is agreeing to blindly stand together without understanding what we are standing together on- just for the sake of saying, look we agree, look at our unity!  No, instead the reason for being of one mind is entirely from the model of who Jesus is for us.

We look out for others and not ourselves based on the model that Jesus gives to in looking out for others and not advancing himself in the form of his role as a servant who has nowhere to lay his head, who came to serve and not be served, who lived to die for us, obedient to the will of the Father, even to the point of death on the cross.

By sharing in the mind of Christ we can truly be of one mind as a church, we can work out our salvation with fear and trembling which means that living our faith as something that is of first priority in life. We can do this as the rest of the sentence goes in the scripture, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  And God’s good pleasure is for his kingdom to come.  

We are of one mind in Christ so that we can be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in a crooked and twisted generation among whom we shine as lights in the world!

It is true that as a congregation we have many different personality styles, one person is outgoing, another is more quiet. One person likes upbeat fast hymns, another hymns that are more meditative, slow, and almost somber.  But the differences don’t mean anything in light of the mind of Christ. 

If we agree that Jesus is our source of life, then we are of one mind as a congregation. Last week I changed the letters on the church sign to capture as much as I could fit on the sign the short hymn “On My Heart Imprint Your Image”  The hymn summarizes what we all have in common- the desire to reflect the image of Jesus from our heart. “On my heart imprint Your image, Blessed Jesus king of grace. That life’s riches cares and pleasures, never may your works erase. Let the clear inscription be, Jesus crucified for me, is my life, my hope’s foundation, my glory and salvation.”  What a great summary of being in one mind in Christ.

The world is always busy and it is easy to feel overwhelmed or feel insignificant in comparison with all of the different things that matter to this world. It is in fact impossible to be of one mind with the world, because the world is in rebellion against God and is going in countless contradictory directions.

In my work as a counselor, I have heard from many people who describe how they don’t feel like they fit in with society very well, “I am different, I move by a different wavelength and people don’t understand me, and I am not sure I want to understand them.”  It is almost like people are making a testimony to the fallen nature of the world and their own awareness of their fallen nature as individuals.

In Christ, we are a new creation and we are citizens of a New Creation, the kingdom of God. In Christ, no matter how different the way we relate may be, we are of one mind in Christ. And we are of one purpose to live by his mercy, and to rejoice in the place of service he we have in his kingdom. Amen.  

The basis for our meditation this morning is from our Old Testament reading, the account of Joseph and his fearful brothers.  The setting of this reading from the very end of Genesis is so rich with conflicting emotions it might as well be a scene in a well acclaimed movie.

In the midst of the long expected death of the family Patriarch Jacob, there is considerable unease as to where the chips will now fall. You can almost picture a group of men gathered around a table secretly meeting over candlelight.  Joseph’s brothers are exceedingly fearful for their safety.  They suspect that their powerful brother Joseph will take this opportunity of their father’s passing to exact some long in coming revenge. Not just any revenge, but a 20 years in the making, you left me in a pit in the wilderness and faked my death so father wouldn’t come looking for me kind of revenge. 

To add to the intrigue of the story the brothers have come up with a desperate intervention of defense. They will tell Joseph that their father had a message for him, “please forgive you brother’s offense to you” The moment of truth is now at hand. One of the brothers serves as a messenger. Just as they rehearsed it, those words are recited… your father gave this command…

Will this plea even make a difference they are not sure, but before they know it Joseph is down on his knees in tears. The rest of the brothers come.  They begin to see in that moment how completely unfounded their fears were. They are all now on their knees overcome with emotion.  In fact they now are hearing from Joseph as if from the Lord.  “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Joseph manifested to them the unconditional love of God to them as he forgave them. They received undeserved grace as they saw Joseph down on his knees in tears. He pointed them to the unconditional mercy and love of the Son of God who had appeared to their father Jacob and wrestled with him and blessed him. His forgiveness of his brothers pointed them to the ladder their father had seen where the angels of God where ascending and descending from heaven.

This passage in Genesis was further expanded upon in the book of Romans where in the 8^th chapter St. Paul writes “We know in all things God works together for the good to those who love him and have been called according to His purpose.”   From the previous content of Genesis we know that the good God worked out of the trials Joseph experienced was the long sequence of events where Joseph became second to Pharaoh in authority in all of Egypt and had the divinely given foresight

 to store up surpluses of food for the long drought and famine ahead. And in a much greater sense the good accomplished from the evil Jospeh experienced was none other than the settling of the children of Israel in Egypt as the stage by which Israel would be delivered by the Lord with a mighty hand- pointing forward to the same Exodus our Lord Jesus Christ would lead the people of God out of the grips of sin death and the devil.

Have you ever felt like Joseph’s brothers, gathered together plotting for their survival by deceit and desperation? Have you ever felt like the sins of the past are going to catch up with you? As if the amount of sins you have committed against God and against others is so great that it is more than you deserve forgiveness for? 

Have you ever found yourself doubting whether God’s forgiveness could apply to you? Have you ever doubted if someone could really forgive you for what you said or did to them?  The reason why they doubted was because they were looking at themselves, and not that salvation is outside of themselves. 

We heard in our Introit the proper response a believer has when confronted with the danger of enemies all around us. The response is to flee to the Lord for refuge.  This is the way we should handle the times when we feel that we have messed up too much and are in a hole we cannot get out of- flee to the Lord for refuge and seek his forgiveness.

In fact when we know we are forgiven by the lord- our enemies have no hold over us, for we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, neither death nor life, neither persecutions or things to come.

Sometimes as I recall particular things I have said or done in the past that were hurtful, I feel a sting of embarrassment or regret.  Sometimes it is over something as trivial that I could easily never think of it for years at a time. But then all of a sudden there is that painful memory of regret of sins against others.

What I have said in the spirit of sinfulness, God can turn into good, whether through my learning and maturity or through some other means.

Today’s reading from the gospel of Matthew demonstrates how vital it is that we forgive others considering that God has first forgiven everything of us. We have been forgiven the great debt of our sin.  

We are in this way just like Joseph’s brothers, we have shown mercy and forgiveness when we know we deserve none of it.  In fact, we are not only like Joseph’s brothers, we are more specifically Jesus’ brothers. 

As humans we badly mistreated Jesus in a way that even exceeds the mistreatment of Joseph.  We rejected Jesus and inflicted onto Jesus the completely undeserved punishment of death on the cross.  Despite our great offense Jesus has forgiven us completely.  

We can either accept this forgiveness, or we can look inward and live in fear and doubt about our own unworthiness as did Joseph’s brothers. We need to look at the salvation Jesus gives us- instead of looking at our own shortcomings.

In this fallen world we live in we can expect the experience of being hurt deeply by others. God’s word tells us that our life is not defined by the hurts we experience in life.  Instead, our lives are defined by the healing Jesus brings to our lives.  Forgiving others is not simply an exercise in proving that you are a mature Christian or the more mature person in a relationship.  

Forgiveness means that you believe the ways of God’s kingdom are bigger and greater than the ways of this world.  Forgiveness means that you treasure the new life you have in Christ far more than your own sense of pride. Forgiveness because of Jesus and through Jesus, frees us from everything that oppresses us and has a hold over us in our life today.  

Valuing the riches Jesus gives to you more than your sense of pride or fairness means that you forgive before or regardless of whether a person is repentant over the sin against you. This is because the Lord’s Forgiveness is a freely given gift that is not earned. It is no different than the servant who owed the impossible sum of 10,000 talents is shown mercy and forgiven his debt.

 This is the truly liberating work of the gospel in our lives.  We are freed from our debts and thereby freed up to love our neighbor unconditionally and offer unconditional forgiveness- regardless of what our neighbor’s behavior is like.   

This freedom means we are not expecting particular actions from others in order to forgive. And it means we are not seeking to perform our own actions of penance to make up for what we have done wrong. That would make an insult  of the gracious gift the Lord gives to us.

Iti s easy to focus on what we do not have and what vulnerabilities exist in our life, and what can go wrong next. Instead, we rejoice at the power of God’s Word to heal us and make us whole again. Although this fallen world brings us all many uncertainties, we have the perfect certainty of the gifts of God’s Word. We have perfect certainty of our salvation in our Baptism and in the reassurance of the Lord’s Supper.

 May the Lord bless us with a living faith that abounds with unconditional love to others. And may this living faith set us free from all of our fears. Amen. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have you ever thought about what impresses Jesus?

The large stones of the temple built up by King Herod did not impress Jesus. While the disciples looked at the construction in wonder, He warned the disciples that not one stone would be left on another.  The size of the Roman empire or the authority of Pilate to condemn or release him did not impress Jesus. We even hear at times how Jesus is underwhelmed by the disciples in their response of faith.  “O you of little faith.”  

The faith of the Canaanite woman however caught Jesus’ attention as she asked for her daughter to be healed:  The Canaanite woman came to Jesus in a time of great need, seeking help for her daughter oppressed by a demon.  She appealed to Jesus with recognition that he is a descendant of David, that he is of the people of Israel.  She acknowledged in her appeal to Jesus her position as an outsider. She communicated by her speech that she was out on a limb in her appeal to Jesus, depending completely on the mercy of Jesus. 

“O woman great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”  Jesus seems to have reacted in a similar way as he did to the faith of the Centurion in Matthew chapter 8: When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israelhave I found such faith. Faith, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit, is what Jesus treasures in this world.

Jesus celebrated the faith of the Canaanite woman knowing that she represented one of the first of many who would come to faith as gentiles- grated into the vine of Israel.  God’s word rejoices in the plan of salvation that the gentiles also would come to know God, through a continuation and an extension of the salvation God gave to Israel.  

these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer;  their burnt offerings and their sacrifices  will be accepted on my altar;  for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”⁸ The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,  “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

Just as Israel has its outcasts who need gathering back in, so also the LORD promised to gather the nations back to Him. It was never the plan to only provide salvation to Israel and leave everyone else out. Abraham was called to faith so that all nations would be blessed through him. 

The promise is there in the scripture that the Lord’s house is a house of prayer for all peoples. Yet just before Jesus praises the faith of the woman, it appears by our modern sensitivities that Jesus was insensitive to the Canaanite woman,

 that he was closing the door on her faith in an unloving and unrespectful way.  Can you imagine how it would sound in today’s world for someone to tell a woman from another culture that giving to her is like taking food from children and giving it to dogs. This would be called prejudice of the worst kind. 

But Jesus is not talking abrasively to her because she is a woman or because she is of another culture- he is simply addressing the fact that she is not an Israelite, she is a gentile- and gentiles did not at that time have a share in the covenant. They were without God’s law in their lives.  Jesus is protecting the holiness of God by observing the distinction between Jew and Gentile, clean and unclean.

Jesus sounds insensitive to our ears because the world we live in struggles with accepting that Jesus alone is the way of salvation.  Jesus’ short response served to illustrate that there is a way to have a relationship with God, and it is through the covenant, through the temple. If salvation were dispensed to anyone who came up to Jesus, regardless of what they believed, then where would the teaching of God’s Word be?

We are included in the all nations the LORD promised to save- and we also have reason to come before the LORD as beggars, as those who are not worthy of the gifts we receive, as those who ask for mercy- for crumbs from the table. By faith we can recognize that crumbs from the Lord’s table is a richer feast than anything we could make on our own.

The disciples preferred that Jesus would just help her and send her away so that she would not be a bother anymore. They were looking at what inconvenience she brought to their day and missed the big picture that Jesus had come to bring people back into the fullness of God’s love and care.

This woman was a very unlikely candidate for God’s mercy. The people of Canaan were ordered driven out of the promised land for their false idol worship. As a Canaanite woman she would not have grown up following the law, participating in the sacrificial system as a means of receiving God’s mercy and love. The disciples would not have expected her to know much about who Jesus is and what he could do for her.

When Jesus turned her down, it would be human nature for her to plead her case and say how she was deserving of the same bread as everyone else in Israel, or to say all of the good things she had done in her life to deserve what she is asking for- and to talk about how great her daughter’s need was and how innocent her daughter was in this possession that afflicted her.

 But she did not try and advance herself before Jesus- instead she stayed focused on His authority to provide for her needs in abundance.

We are all like the Canaanite woman, very unlikely candidates for God’s Mercy. We have done nothing to deserve God’s mercy. We are full of sin, any case we make for our deserving mercy falls flat.

We heard in our Epistle reading from Romans: ³² For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.   By disobedience St. Paul is describing Israel’s rejection of the gospel as going against God’s law, and those who are gentiles were in disobedience already before the gift of the gospel.

The result is that nobody can say that they deserve mercy more than another. We cannot say that we deserve mercy more than the people of Israel who rejected the gospel, or more than those people in our neighborhood who would never consider coming through the doors of a church. We are not entitled to God’s mercy as our birthright. It is a gift given to us, which we gladly receive.

The gift sometimes seems to take longer than we would like.  “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers them out of all of them.” What must it have felt like for the Canaanite woman to work up the courage to ask Jesus for mercy only to be told he has not come for her people?

Did her heart sink for a moment, did she think all was lost?  It seems her faith kept her from doubting, so that she could look past rejection and instead keep making the case for the deliverance she knew Jesus was able to give.

We can learn from the perseverance she has in looking to Jesus for her needs. When life presents problems so deep that relief does not seem present to us, when we feel darkness holding us in its grasp, we need to see that Jesus’ mercy does not run out. Mercy to Israel and mercy to the gentiles, mercy that abounds for all.  Even the mere crumbs from the table are all we need for a living faith and hope in Jesus.

And Jesus provides us with much more than crumbs. He provides his very body and blood for us.  There is more than enough of God’s mercy to go around to us as we approach the Lord with humility and repentance.

As we receive the Lord’s Supper on a weekly basis, we are asking in faith for the Lord’s mercy, repentant of our sins, examining ourselves and seeing that we have once again done nothing to deserve God’s mercy. We taste and see that the Lord is good to us, that even as unworthy as we are the crumbs fall down to us and supply us with all that we need. There in the Lord’s Supper, Christ’s body for the life of the world.

We are here, part of a church at worship because the Father revealed Jesus to us.  Considering the unbelief in this world it was through very unlikely circumstances that you received the gift of faith- much of the world is designed to keep you away from faith. It was only because of the grace of God in your lives that you have been given the gift of hearing God’s Word with your ears in faith for your very life, your very salvation.

Jesus was amazed at the faith of the Canaanite woman, and Jesus sees our faith.  When we confess that what He provides is more than enough for our needs- then Jesus is greatly pleased. Amen.

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.”

Can you picture yourself going through what Job went through? With tragedy after tragedy and painful boils all over your skin. What would you do? What would you say to God?

With all of the suffering Job went through, he said many things… he may not have felt proud of. He cursed the day he was born and wondered why he was not a still birth. But he also directs his attention to the ways of God’s Kingdom.   He lamented all of the wrongdoing and evil the unrighteous commit.  And he pleaded his cause as someone who has stayed faithful in his life purpose.

Job closes out his speech describing the punishment he would deserve if he had knowingly transgressed God’s law, using the phrase: “If I have.”

If I have walked in falsehood, and my foot has hastened to deceit, If my heart has been enticed toward a woman and I have lain in wait at my neighbors door, if I have withheld anything from the poor, if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, if I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him. 

Could you picture yourself saying these things to the LORD? Have you ever thought to yourself, but I am a good person and wickedness is not ruling my heart? How could these troubles be upon me now? If I have done something to deserve this than so be it.

What have I done to deserve this trial? We know that the wages of sin are death.  Yet still we wonder why now, why this trial.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD.” Isaiah chapter 55.   The answer is that God knows why we face such pain and suffering, God knows those things we cannot understand.

We want to make the case for ourselves and put a lot of thought into what we have done right- ways we have followed God’s law. But in the end what is most important is not how much effort we have put into living our life well, not what case we can present before the judge, but only the righteousness of Christ. 

Can you imagine if the LORD asked you to dress for action and provide all of the answers to the mysteries of creation? The law hits very hard and deep in these words, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Do we ever question why things are the way that they are and why do the wicked prosper and we dry up? Have you ever questioned God’s love and care for you in the midst of a long suffering problem or struggle? Of course you have. In our state of sin, we all have.  

God’s response to our prideful belief that we know it all is the same response to us: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements- surely you know!”

The reading continues with further details of God’s creation, beyond what we can possibly know.  Yet through our faith we do not need to feel worse and worse as we hear more and more evidence that we know less than nothing as compared to God.

Through faith we can see that through hearing about the unsearchable majesty of God’s creation we can Be Still and know that The LORD is God. As we hear these words about the foundations of the world and the morning stars singing together and start to let go of the burden and pressure we put on ourselves to make sense of things in our life and in our world.

We can let go of thinking we need to have everything in order just how we would like it to be or else our lives would fall apart.  We can let go of the grip on life our sinful human nature holds and we can open ourselves to see by faith that Jesus holds the world in his hand.

Consider what it means that the LORD measured the length of the foundation of the earth and laid the cornerstone.  The earth was built exactly how it needed to be in order to stay together for as long as needed, through the flood, through seasons and years and centuries, through a time period of thousands of years and counting until the time when the new heaven and earth will be created when Jesus returns. 

Science has identified numerous factors that all needed to be fine tuned in the right way in order for life to be possible. Water is different than other liquids in that it is more dense in liquid form than in solid. As a result ice floats to the top of rivers and lakes and artic ocean areas. We may not think of this much, but if ice sank instead, more and more surface water would be exposed to the cold leading to more and more frozen lakes and streams making life uninhabitable.

If Saturn and Jupiter were not so incredibly large compared  to earth it appears comets would make life on earth continually in peril.  The strong gravitational pull of these large planets pulls in the most dangerous comets that would threaten life, like a mighty defense shield circling our planet.

If the moon were not the right size the earth would not be tilted by gravity to have 4 seasons.  If the earth were smaller there would be a weaker magnetic field that would result in solar winds stripping away our atmosphere.  If our electromagnetic force were smaller or gravity less, larger atoms would not hold together and no chemical bonds could occur.  Only God knows the exact measurements that make our world hold together.

We have not been there day after day as the LORD has commanded the morning and caused the dawn to know its place- each new day a miracle of creation.  

 No, we were not there, but God’s Word is telling us about it, and the fact that Jesus holds all of creation together is a tremendous cause for relief and security.  Pondering the wonder of creation and God’s perfect design can heal our troubled hearts and give us reassurance that no human words or knowledge can. We were not there, but we did not need to be, God took care of it all.

The LORD took care of it all for us.  “Immediately Jesus spoke to them saying: “Take heart it is I. Do not be afraid.”

When the disciples saw Jesus walking on water, it was far beyond what they could ever imagine or expect.  The one who shut in the sea with doors and said ‘thus far shall you come and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed.’ He who was there from the beginning told the disciples, “It is I, do not be afraid.”

We are no more righteous than Job, we also like Job need the forgiveness of Jesus that comes to us not through knowledge of how the universe is made, but through the gift of faith.

Like Job who looked to the promise of the Savior and said “I know that my Redeemer lives.”, we are invited by our Lord to look to his cross and see that no matter how difficult the circumstances of our life, God is certainly for us. God sent His Son to die for us. 

No matter the hardship we need not fear as God’s Word tells us that Jesus is here with us: “Take heart It is I, do not be afraid.”  By our human wisdom we often try and find security through the knowledge we can obtain. We look at weather forecasts, we read about economic outcomes and polls forecasting about the next election.

Yet our knowledge is always imperfect, and our knowledge is not what we need to put our hope in. Our needs are not met by the right circumstances of chance in the future, but instead by a Savior who reaches out his hand for us, who commands the winds and the waves, who has known us from the womb, and will see us through.

The storms of life in this fallen world come at us time after time, and sometimes it seems so fiercely!  The scripture does not hide the fact that we go through so many afflictions. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” 

Although the storms may intensify day by day, we are indeed delivered from them in a way that the world does not understand. We are delivered through the promise given in our baptism, that although our human nature should fold under the weight of the storm, our new life in Christ grows ever stronger, even in times of affliction.

So that you can look at your week ahead and know one thing for certain: Behold I am with you, even to the end of the age. The risen Lord Jesus is with you through the storm, and he says: “Be still and know that I am God.”

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

This morning our gospel reading is short.  Just 6 verses, and only two main ideas- that the truth of God’s kingdom is hidden from the wise in this world and only revealed by those who the Father chooses- and that Jesus gives not more work and challenge to his people, but a lighter yoke and rest.  The simplicity of the reading is appropriate to help reinforce the simplicity of the message. Following Jesus is not an exhausting enterprise, but a nurturing and a life giving process.

To the wise and understanding of this world following Jesus is not desired or understood.  Those who are so high on themselves and their wisdom cannot see Jesus and the way he offers. They can only see the way they set for themselves, and they have little desire to repent of their chosen way.

For those of us who are able and willing to repent of our sins, we can see Jesus, we can know the path he sets out for those who desire life and salvation from him.  And with this right understanding in our hearts of what it means to follow Jesus we can see that it is an easy burden to carry.

Of course, we try and make things harder, we try and make things in our life more difficult than they really are. We want to prove ourselves and make a name for ourselves with hard work. We want to earn our salvation.  And we know this is not quite what the scripture teaches us, but it is just so hard to resist earning your place in life, that we move forward. And soon we are exhausted by our efforts.

One way this plays out is in trying to avoid sinning and covering up our sin. We hide our sins from one another, so that when we come to church on Sunday morning, we do not confess our sins to one another. We lie and cover up our sin- we believe that if people knew about our sins they would no longer want to talk to us.  Soon our Christian life can become just as much about keeping up with appearances and concealing our sinful nature as it is about abiding in the Word and abiding in Jesus.

This hard work of keeping up appearances has a cost. It perpetuates the lie that being Christian is all about being a good person- it obscures the gospel that Jesus died for us and calls us as his own regardless of how good or bad we are.

When Jesus talks about how his yoke is easy you can’t help but think about the opposite heavy yoke that Jesus describes of the Pharisees. The Yoke of the Pharisees is to add extra laws and regulations to God’s law, to essentially prove that you really mean it in following God’s law.  Because this takes so much work and effort to keep up extra regulations, it keeps a person from living according to God’s design and brings a person instead to become preoccupied with man made regulations. These man made regulations are a heavy yoke because they do not point to Jesus, they do not point to the gift of salvation to us in Jesus. Rather they point to man’s works and a self righteousness that professes that we can stop sinning and that tries to show off to the world that we are more devoted to God than others.

Our Epistle reading for today Romans chapter 7 shares about the futility of trying to be without sin: For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 

This is an amazing section of scripture because St. Paul is sharing the complete truth about our fallen human nature and how we will fail to live without sin. If the scripture was selectively edited like some cynical unbelievers would wishfully believe, this is the type of passage that would be worth editing out. Why tell people that they will fail?

What if a high school English teacher told students on the first day of class- you are just high school students, you know so little about literature and Shakespeare and the other classics, that whatever you think you know about literature is probably wrong or at best partially wrong. How hard would the students work? Would some just give up and let artificial intelligence write their papers for them?

The scripture shares this failure of our human nature to keep God’s law not to discourage us from trying to follow God’s law- but to point us to Jesus as the only way we can keep God’s law.

God’s law is good and there is certainly good in following the teaching in scripture in how we are to live our lives. We are not to just throw out what the scripture teaches in how to live a righteous life.  Even though we cannot live up to the full extent of God’s laws. Instead we are to keep the law through the power of Christ and the power of Christ alone.

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

When we see that Jesus is the one who can bring us to keep God’s law, then we experience the rest for our souls that Jesus promises.

The rest for our souls is in recognizing what we cannot do for ourselves. When you stop trying to hold everything together with your own effort, life can get much easier. This is the freedom Jesus brings, that you can be who you are as God’s child, you can confess your sins and your failures and you can look to Jesus for your strength and your belonging.

Instead of looking to prove yourself, you just look to Jesus as the one who is pulling the ox yoke and taking you along for the ride.

And what does this look like for your life? What does this look like for Christ Lutheran Church if we see that Jesus carries the weight of the yoke? How can we truly learn from Jesus and stop trying to carry ourselves?

It starts with our understanding the full gift of forgiveness we have in Jesus.  Since he has carried all of our sorrows and sins on the cross we know that we have a very light load in life indeed.  If we find we are carrying too heavy of a load we have to ask if we are carrying a load more for issues of pride than for the joy of God’s kingdom

Knowing the gift we have in Jesus is the light load that we are called to carry. If we have a heavier load to carry in our participation in the church, we can only carry it with Jesus as our help.   On our own we will fall exhausted.

Our hymn of the day put it well: “I heard the voice of Jesus say “Come unto me and rest; lay down thou weary one, lay down my head upon my breast.” I came to Jesus as I was, so weary worn and sad; I found in him a resting place, And he has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold I freely give the living water thirsty one, Stoop down and drink and live.” I came to Jesus and I drank of that life giving stream; my thirst was quenched my soul revived, and now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say: “I am this dark world’s light. Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise And all thy day be bright.”  I looked to Jesus and I found In Him my star my sun; And in the light of life I’ll walk Till traveling days are done.

This time of the year in Indiana is strawberry season. The strawberries all become ripe at the same time and you have to be able to pick the strawberries and use them while they are ripe, eat them quickly or can them or they will not keep. Without enough labor and effort, the window of time passes quickly and the proceeds of the land are not captured.

This urgency of timing is what Jesus is referencing when he says: “The harvest is great but the laborers are few.” In the ancient world a harvest of wheat or other crops came once a year and there were not combine harvester machines back then to gather all that the earth produced.

Since a crop like wheat provides a significant part of diet and economic livelihood, the timing of collecting the harvest is of great urgency. Receiving the returns of much work requires everything to come together with enough laborers to harvest. You can picture the excitement of a great harvest, with the right amount of energy expenditure a high percentage of the crop can be preserved, and with a poor effort much could be lost.

So it is with the harvest in God’s kingdom. The riches of God’s word are vast and limitless, we treasure the word in our life as the church as we learn more and more about the meaning of God’s Word.  We know the Word of God has the power for the great gains and the timing is very sensitive as Jesus is coming soon and the time to labor and harvest will at that time be past. The conditions are ripe, all that is needed is enough laborers in the harvest field.

Sometimes we convince ourselves that the unbelieving world that walks in darkness are having all of the fun, that they are living it up while we as Christians make sacrifice and settle for simple lives following God’s law.  There are always those times when the wicked seem to prosper because they are of the world and love the world.

But we should not forget that those who walk in darkness are without the light of Christ, although they may fit in with the world, they are fitting in with the emptiness of the world, their need is great, and the power God’s Word has to bring life and hope to those in darkness is great. The emptiness of our society provides conditions that are ripe for the work of God’s Word.

Certainly today we can see that our nation, is drowning in an epidemic of selfishness and rejection of God’s order in daily life. People do what is right in their own eyes. People are lost in their sin walking in darkness, and do not understand or know the light of Christ.  We heard in our gospel lesson how Jesus saw that the people are clearly lost, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus has compassion on those who walk in darkness, Jesus knows how empty their lives are without his fullness.

The Collect of the Day asks for faith to believe God’s promises that we may receive eternal salvation.  This is language about how the harvest works. We take on the role of harvesters because we believe God’s promises.  Our faith in Jesus is what allows us to collect any harvest. Without this trust in Jesus, we can do no harvesting for God’s kingdom.  The work all revolves around our trust in our Savior, our faith in God’s Word. 

The workers are few because there are many without faith or with a stunted faith.  Many are called, few are chosen.  Those who are indifferent in their faith or doubting are not qualified for the job. The influences of the world lead many away from a mature faith. Some love the world more than they love God’s Word.

Because the workers are few we continue to pray for more laborers. And even as we pray for more workers there is much harvest for us.  There is a big percentage of the pie our role of service in the kingdom left for us to dig into.  We do not have to fight off others for the cultivation of the harvest. There is plenty of fruitful work for us to pursue. Our leader and guide in doing this work is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen again to Jesus’ reaction to the needs of the people: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  In the New Testament this Greek word for compassion is only used of God. Only Jesus who is without sin can fully understand how lost and helpless we are without Him.  Only with Christ as our Shepherd can we extend this compassion to others.

A shepherd leads and guides. Think of the great commission from Matthew chapter 28, the 11 disciples at that time, were called to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching.  The answer to the helpless condition of our world is the new life in Christ, and the teaching of God’s Word that comes with this new life.  We tackle the unbelief and darkness of the world with one baptism at a time, one lesson of instruction at a time.

As we work in the harvest field and pray for laborers, we should always see that it is the LORD who brings the harvest.  No matter how discouraged we may feel of the overall demographic decline of the church in America, we should never lose sight of how the Lord brings results with His Word.  

A few weeks ago a heating and air conditioning serviceman came to my house to fix a part that was covered over warranty. Since I was returning from a funeral that day around the time he arrived, he asked me about what work I was doing that appeared to have worked up a sweat.

I told him how I was the officiant for the funeral and how I had the opportunity to share about the comfort in sorrow and the hope of the resurrection our Lord brings to those who mourn. Soon he told me that he had lost two close family members in the last year and how important support and compassion from the Lord’s church was to him in his time of grief.  He commented on how God’s Word really works because he was never raised in the church, had little exposure to God’s Word and did not believe and now he is listening to a Bible app every morning. Through hearing the Word he has faith and he described how he is now experiencing that everything in the scripture holds true.  The harvest in his life is just beginning.  The Lord brings the harvest.

Our reading from Exodus chapter 19 helps us see how the harvest is all produced by the LORD. “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”  Faith for the people of Israel was clear as sight, the LORD’s deliverance of them.

Israel was carried to salvation from Egypt as on wings of an eagle. Because they were carried in this way, they were put in a position to be God’s treasured possession among all the peoples. “and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” 

The harvest is so great at the time of the book of Exodus that a whole nation stands before the world as a kingdom of priests. So plentiful the harvest is today that the church which is present in every country in the world shares the good news of the kingdom.  

With verse 10 in our gospel reading we see a distinction between all of the disciples that followed Jesus and the particular 12 he sent out.  We can easily overlook the importance of Jesus establishing twelve disciples.  It is not just a symbolic honor to the twelve tribes of Israel that Jesus called 12 disciples. It is much more. Jesus is using the 12 disciples as a new creation for the world, a renewed faithfulness to the Lord which the twelve tribes of Israel failed to faithfully fulfill.

The twelve disciples were established by Jesus to show what it looks like when the twelve tribes of Israel are united and not at war with one another, when Israel is a people for God’s own possession.  And when Jesus talks about praying for laborers in the mission field, he is praying for laborers who are converts of the 12 disciples for a common purpose in ministry, and the establishment of the pastoral office.

We as the church are the priesthood of all believers who are built on the foundation of Christ and the 12 Apostles.  We are chosen for this calling. It is the Lord’s doing, He is the master gardener designer the beautiful and awe inspiring results.  Amen.   

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, there is something satisfying about completion. The end of a school career is celebrated with graduation. A wedding celebrates the completion of the joining together of a man and a woman to be a family united in Christ. Retirement celebrates the completion of a working career. Life always brings new chapters and new events that eventually reach a fulfillment or completion.

Today we are at the close of the Easter season. The risen Lord Jesus has led us through these almost 50 days now, with many high points in rejoicing in the joy of the Kingdom.  Today we think about the completion and the fulfillment that our Lord’s Passion on the cross, resurrection and Ascension into heaven brings to our lives.

 We prayed in the Collect prayer this morning: “O King of glory, Lord of Hosts, uplifted in triumph far above all heavens, leave us not without consolation, but send us the Spirit of truth whom You promised from the Father.”

First comes the Ascension of Jesus and the glory and triumph far above the heavens, and then comes that which brings the glory down to us, the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

 The gospel of Luke ends with these words: “Then he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.”

In older churches that have painting of Jesus behind the altar, a common theme of these paintings is the Ascension. These altar backdrops show Jesus holding his two hands up in blessing. Jesus gesturing in blessing to them is what the disciples last saw as He was lifted up and a cloud took him from out of their sight.

We easily remember the last words of Jesus on the cross: “It is finished”  Less familiar to our memories are the last words the resurrected Jesus said to his disciples before he ascended to heaven “You are witnesses of these things , and behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus gave the disciples this single purpose to witness to his death and resurrection and to teach that the scripture is fulfilled through him. And as the scripture was fulfilled there was nothing more that needed to be said.  They saw him holding his hands up in blessing and they worshiped him.

As we come to the altar of God in worship we still see Jesus holding his hands in blessing. Just as Jesus blessed the disciples, so also he is blessing us as we hear his words and receive his gifts. When Jesus returns we will see him again with hands out in blessing, we will see him blessing us and blessing all of creation as he makes the New Heaven and Earth and brings things to this blessed completion.

With his Ascension Jesus is lifted up and reigns in the highest of glories. And as he reigns at the throne of heaven, at the right hand of the Father he raises us up with him.

The closing verse of See, the Lord Ascends in Triumph LSB 494 summarizes what Jesus has done for us in his Ascension. “He has raised our human nature On the clouds to God’s right hand; There we sit in heavenly places, There with Him in glory stand. Jesus reigns, adored by angels; Man with God is on the throne. By our mighty Lord’s ascension We by faith behold our own.”

Jesus is fully man and fully God, which means our human nature is there at the throne of Heaven. And in sending the Holy Spirit to us, we may have this same completion as Jesus, we too will one day be glorified with the perfect righteousness of Jesus. At the new heaven and earth we too will be raised up with Jesus. 

There is a reason it feels special to be in this space.  And as we live our lives as Christians, already today we partake of God’s glories, already now we receive his very body and blood, already now we receive the gifts of heaven on earth.  Here in this church the Lord brings the joys of heaven to us.

We stand with Jesus in glory. This is the completion of what Jesus came to us for. He assumed our human nature, he joined in our suffering, and he obeyed the Father in perfect righteousness where we failed. He resisted Satan’s temptations and reversed the curse of sin. He restored our human nature back to the image of God, he completed the course of our salvation so that we are now in a degree of glory far far greater than Adam and Eve were before the fall into sin.

Such lofty themes of the completion of God’s design puts things in perspective. How many things do we waste our time with that have little importance? Colossians chapter 3 says it well: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

We can attach great importance to different things that may or may not go our way.  But these things that seem so important in the moment mean little in light of the big picture that Jesus has ascended into heaven and we now wait his return.  We heard in our gospel reading today that Jesus prayed for the well being of the church as he knew he was returning to the Father. “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.”

Jesus in this speech is showing that he is very concerned about how the church will fare living in the world that he is leaving. Jesus knows that until his return the church will need watching over and protection. That is why he prays: “Holy Father, keep them in your name.” He says, Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” 

To keep them in the Father’s name is to keep the disciples faithful to the revelation of who the Father is.  Jesus told Phillip, if you have seen me you have seen the Father.  Seeing Jesus rightly and worshipping Jesus rightly is the way to see and worship the Father rightly.

We see Jesus rightly through seeing the scripture rightly, this is the fulfillment that was brought to us by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that if we have God’s Word and listen and obey, then we are close to Jesus. This is the completion and fulfillment the Father planned for us. That we would recognize Jesus as the king of all, and that we would live our lives in a way that rejoice at confessing that Jesus is king.

No matter the uncertain future we face in life, let us confess in how we live our lives that Jesus is Lord of everything, and that he will return, he will bring you to the completion the work that He began in you and continues refine until the great day of the Lord. Amen.  

Brothers and sisters in Christ, when medical problems come up for you or for loved ones, aren’t we all grateful that there are people who have devoted so much focus in their lives to medical care. I don’t often think about what things are required in the event of different medical emergencies, but EMT’s doctors and surgeons think about these things and deal with them everyday. You might even say they live in that world of emergency care for the body. And because they live in that world, it can make the difference on any given day whether someone lives or dies.

In our gospel lesson today Jesus said: “Because I live, you also will live.”  Because Jesus is the living God, we also live.  Because Jesus is risen, we also shall one day rise. His death on the cross has saved us. Because Jesus lives to do the Father’s will, we now have life.

And Jesus invites us to also live in his love of the Father. Jesus wants us to be like the grad student who does not think about anything but classes for the sake of survival in the program. Jesus wants us to live in God’s Word.

It is true that you can have too much of things in life. Coffee or wine, an apple or dark chocolate all have been found to give health benefits. But only in moderation.  If you consume too much of a food with health benefits it can become basically toxic for you and harm you considerably.

This principle of moderation is not true in regards to receiving the gifts of faith. We can never have too much of God’s love, grace and forgiveness. Jesus did not leave us as orphans, not only did he promise his presence would be with the disciples always, he also promised the presence of the Holy Spirit.

To live our lives the fullest means that we live our lives always in the love of the Lord, that we do not hold back.  Part of how we do this is that we confess our sins and recognize that we in no way deserve all of the good gifts the Lord gives us. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We live in the love of the Lord, eternally grateful that He has brought us from the death we deserve to his marvelous and abundant life.

When we practice Confession and Absolution in our worship we are brought from humility to joy by the power of God’s Word, because Jesus lives, we experience the new lease on life of our sins forgiven.  

And when we recognize that we are forgiven, we respond in thanksgiving. In the last year we have continued to learn to sing the psalms.  The Psalms are a great illustration of what it means to respond in thanksgiving for what God has done for us. Listen to the words of Psalm 100:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!  Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing! ³ Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him;           bless his name! ⁵ For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

How good it is to together with God’s people to praise God in our speech and singing and give thanks for his faithfulness to all generations.   Worship is part of what Jesus means when he says, if you love me, you will keep my Commandments. Keeping Jesus’ commandments is best explained in terms of sharing the gospel, the commandment to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching everything he has taught the church.

To love Jesus is to gather for worship and to hand on to the next generation the teachings of our Lord. Caring for the church is to practice love for Jesus. In the summer time there are so many activities that we look forward to and perhaps treasure.  Church attendance goes down as people also travel for vacations or family visits.

Yet the summer time does not need to be a vacation from God’s Word. Instead it is an opportunity to renew daily routines of devotion to God’s Word.  Often the summer can involve more free time and more energy as longer days lighten moods that were darkened by winter. To love Jesus is to ask if not now when? We can recognize the time before us as a time to be daily transformed by the Word.

Jesus talked about keeping his commandments earlier in John 13: ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

To live in the Lord also means to love others and Jesus loved us.  Loving others is to truly live your own life. If you only care for yourself, you are not living your life to the full, you are living in a closed off existence that makes you also by association closed off from God.

As Martin Luther began to take on more and more responsibilities for the sake of protecting the true proclamation of the gospel, he learned a life lesson about putting his priorities in order in the face of growing demands on his time. He is quoted as saying: “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without three hours of prayer.”

To the world this does not sound like a winning formula for success in managing a busy schedule. But for Christians, it makes sense to make sure you are aligned with God’s kingdom before starting your labors. How foolish it would be to spend only a few minutes in prayer and not have the right priority to your day, and then spend hours working tirelessly toward things that are against God’s will.

In the same way, when we need to be able to follow our Lord’s teaching “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”  God’s Word challenges you today to ask, am I living only for myself today, or is my purpose grounded in love for others?  Jesus desires that everyday you remember that you have been baptized into his kingdom, that your old sinful nature can be drowned as you remember your baptism and repent of your sins.

Mothers are known for typically having priorities straight in terms of the care of children. Maternal care passions are a gift of God and part of God’s design in creation.  The selflessness mothers so often demonstrate aligns closely with Jesus’ command to love one another.  

We began reflecting on people who live for competency in their professions and how this can save lives. When we live to serve Jesus, when we live to love others- we can become God’s instruments to save lives not just for a certain number of extra years, but for eternity.  If you were to ask a person who lived as an unbeliever for many years and now has come to know the Lord, think about how thankful this person must be to those who lived to abide in Jesus, who shared the gospel because it is the most important thing in life. Amen.