Tag: LCMS Christ Lutheran of Irvington

This One Thing Needful: listening to Jesus

Posted on by nfuller

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, listen to the first stanza of the hymn One thing’s Needful. “One thing’s needful Lord, this treasure teach me highly to regard. All else though it first give pleasure, is a yoke that presses hard! Beneath it the heart is still fretting and striving, no true lasting happiness ever deriving. This one thing is needful; all others are vain- I count all but loss that I Christ may obtain!” 

We are here today for the greatest treasure to be found in the world: God’s Living Word.  Anything else we might seek with all our energy and devotion is in the end a yoke of slavery that presses down so hard that you cannot have peace. 

“There must be more to life.”  People think this all of the time, when the minutes and hours pass by looking at your phone, watching the news, taking care of daily responsibilities. Even things we put a lot of time and energy into, a home renovation project, a personal hobby you work a long time on, a cooking recipe you carefully develop- all brings eventually that feeling of is this all?  “There must be something more!”

St. Paul saw this when he writes in Philippians, Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  There is something more to life- but not exactly something, but some person- Jesus.  Verse two of the hymn shares this joy in knowing Jesus as our true calling in life:

Mary listens to Jesus in joy “all earthly concerns she forgot for her Lord And found her contentment in hearing His Word.”

The phrase Jesus speaks: “One thing is needful” brings simplicity and sense of purpose to our lives.  When we feel overwhelmed with the number of uncertainties to a day, we can look to Jesus and know that one thing is needful- to listen to Him, to look to him in faith. We may feel there are things we must do, they are the number one priority.  But after one thing we must do is finished, we always find the next thing that is so urgent. We lose the big picture, that knowing Jesus is the one thing all of us really need. 

I have said the words out loud plenty of times, “I need to do the dishes, I need to visit this person in the hospital, I need to eat something” Less often do I hear myself say, “I need to just stop everything and study the scripture.

Mary and Martha have the privilege of hosting Jesus at their home.  Jesus and the disciples were passing through the village and they stopped at their home.  In other words this was an unplanned visit. 

Talk about a once in a lifetime surprise visit.  You can imagine the desire to impress and be a gracious host would continue for as long as Jesus was there.   It might be a little difficult relaxing and taking in the evening with Jesus as a guest.  Can I fix you anything else Lord?  

There is nothing wrong with putting great energy and devotion into your role as host.  It is likely that Martha was the owner of the house and therefore had the responsibility and privilege of preparing a meal for Jesus. 

We see a very similar situation in the appointed Old Testament reading (Genesis 18:1-10) where Abraham works to prepare a feast for the Lord in the form of these heavenly visitors that have come to his house.  Abraham works hard in his role as host.  He does not even try and make small talk with his guests until the task is complete. Abraham’s service is welcomed by God.

In our American culture, people are lonelier than ever. Hospitality, being a host, taking the time to focus on the physical and emotional needs of another is rare.  Public places where people can gather and talk also are much less common.

It has required extra time and work- but our congregation has developed routines of offering hospitality to guests and visitor and regular attending members, time to share together over food after the service. 

Yet even in the act of love of being a host, there is a risk of missing the forest for the trees. If you are spending too much time getting everything just right so that you are not able to focus on the people you are hosting- then in a way it is your own pride you are feeding instead of your guests.

Martha falls into this category, as she losses touch with Jesus and Mary and is doing the preparations all herself. She wants her work to be recognized as more valuable than the work of listening to Jesus.  Work that began as a devotion to Jesus became complicated by the sins of resentment and envy.    “Lord don’t you care that my sister just sits, while I am slaving away here in the kitchen?”

In her mind she was completely justified in her complaint.  Clearly it was unfair that she was left to do all the work by herself.  But then Jesus turns his attention to her, and lovingly turns her perspective upside down.  Jesus tells her that one thing is needful and Mary has chosen that thing.  Nothing can be said against her. 

It is a characteristic of the kingdom of God that man’s idea of right and wrong is not the same as God’s.  In this case Jesus was not expecting to be pampered with the best Martha could offer.  Jesus did not come to be served by us, but to serve us and even lay down his life for us.  He does not need us to work to please him, but instead he is here to be our Savior and fill us with the joy of his Word.

In verse 38 as the gospel reading begins, we read the disciples were on their way. Where were they on their way too?  Simply put they were on their way where Jesus was leading.  Jesus was on his way to the cross.   

There would be perhaps no other opportunity like this for Mary and Martha to hear from Jesus.   For Mary it was a time to listen from the start, for Martha it became a time to serve to the exclusion of listening. 

The scripture describes Martha as being distracted.  For Martha the distractions were not necessarily self centered pursuits.  Martha was doing things that a person can reasonably expect to do.  Likewise, we often find ourselves with situations in which others need our help to the point where we become distracted from other things we are also responsible for in life.  

The number of things that may happen in a week to distract us is seemingly inexhaustible.  Because it is so easy to become distracted, these words of Jesus are so important: One thing is necessary.  There are many times when we must order things in our lives, but when the time comes for us to receive God’s Word, that is beyond doubt the only thing necessary.

God’s Word challenges us to ask, Do you view hearing God’s Word as a fundamental basic necessity of life? As part of our human nature we experience an internal battle between balancing the things that we really need to do and those things that we would like to do. 

Our greatest need is to receive the gospel and receive God’s perfect love in Christ.  The things we consider most needful by our human perspective are exactly the things that can and will go wrong.  The gift of the gospel never disappoints us. 

If I look honestly at myself and at my sin, when it comes to properly choosing what is needful, I fail every week, and even every day with some of the decisions I make to be busy doing what I want to do instead of listening to God’s Word.  All of us fail, just like Martha in putting the right priority on our time with Jesus.  Because of sin we make the wrong choice all the time as far as what is needful.  

But just as Jesus forgave Martha and lovingly corrected her priorities, He forgives us and leads us back to His Word. He leads us to confess the words of Psalm 27 “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

St. Paul closes his letter to the Philippians encouraging them to think about and see opportunities to live according to the order of God’s kingdom:  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Sometimes in counseling appointments, I hear people who feel stuck in life say: I don’t have any answers, I don’t know what to think.  When you feel stuck, when you wonder what to think in life, you can find clarity and simplicity of purpose by reminding yourself that Jesus has come to you, he forgives you and restores you as a new creation.  When things look complicate, we need only look to Jesus and there is simplicity. Looking to Jesus we see what it is honorable, just, pure, and lovely.  Those things that threaten to distract us, we can see that they do not meet this same standard of truth, honor, purity. Certainly you will not find many movies or shows on tv meeting this standard.   

May our Lord’s love for us shown on the cross provide this perfect clarity to us each and every day.   and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  Amen.     

With Jesus: the best is yet to come

Posted on by nfuller

At weddings, wine is more than just a festive beverage. It’s a sign. In the Old Testament, wine was a sign, a symbol of God’s grace.  A symbol of joy and abundant blessings and even hope for the future. And at weddings it’s that for us too. Wine is a sign, a symbol that God has blessed this couple and this family with good things. Wine is an invitation to make merry- with appropriate moderation. 

Wine is even a sign, a symbol of the couples joyous future life together- as wine takes time, loving care, patience and the payoff is down the line, something to enjoy to the fullest a little later.

In our gospel reading Jesus goes to a wedding, and that wine which is a wonderful sign of God’s blessing runs out.  Jesus is going to take care of that.  But in doing so he gives a gift greater than just wine for a wedding feast.

At the wedding at Cana Jesus gives us signs of things to come. Filling the six stone jars was a sign that the old Covenant was coming to fulfillment in the new. The famous wedding at Cana for whatever reason was a wedding that wasn’t well planned for.

Relatives had come from all over the region to celebrate with a couple whose names we are not told. The emphasis is never on the couple who are married, but on the wedding party and their family as a whole.  Jesus and his disciples are there at the wedding, connected in some way by a close family relationship.  In one way or another this wedding is part of Mary’s family.

And Mary informs Jesus of the problem the wedding is encountering early on in the celebration. She tells Jesus, “They have no wine”.  Nearby there are six stone jars, usually used to hold water for ceremonial washing before offering sacrifices and prayers.

As is the case throughout the gospel of John, symbols are used as signs of deeper meanings. The Holy Spirit is communicating something about God’s kingdom with the stone jars. The stone jars are a symbol of the old covenant between God and his people Israel.  Now after the Word made flesh was born to us and is at this wedding at Cana, the purification jars stand empty.

If wine is a sign of abundance and blessing over time, what are empty stone jars a sign of? Like an empty swimming pool or an empty store front avenue that is not what it once was, the jars were no longer serving the purpose they were made for. Purification would no longer be coming from ceremonial washings and sacrifices at the temple or any of the other mean revealed to God’s people- instead people will now become holy and pure through Jesus- God’s own Son.

Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says, and he gives the commands. The stone jars are to be filled with water.  What was once used for ritual washing is now turned into the wine of the new kingdom. 

The covenant was always intended to run its course as a placeholder, and now keeping the law has been replaced with a new covenant of the forgiveness of sins through new life in Christ.  This new covenant is a gift, it is a God’s grace, it is a joyful wedding celebration that we are all invited to.

God’s perfect law, that light to guide our path, now had begun to be fulfilled by Jesus the light of the world. His light will lead his people into eternity. 

What an amazing sign Jesus gives with those 6 simple stone jars- the Old Covenant coming to fulfillment in the new. But there is more in the miracle. Before Jesus turned the water into wine he spoke about the time it is.  Not the time such as 3’ o clock in the afternoon, but the time in God’s kingdom, the season in salvation history.

Turning water into wine was a sign that the coming Messiah was here. As Galatians describes, the Fulness of Time had come. The servants take a sample of the wine from the water jars to the master of the feast.  The master of the feast tastes the wine and discovers that it is better than what they had before. The wedding party now was in possession of gallons upon gallons of the choicest wine, the good stuff.

The feast can now continue without embarrassment.  Only the servants are aware what has happened behind the scenes with the wine shortage and the provision Jesus created.  It is our human nature to be highly motivated to avoid embarrassment.

People will indeed go to great lengths to give to the public the appearance that all is well.  In our previous few generations in America, covering up embarrassment was from my observation- particularly important to people.  So many of us Midwestern European Americans cared more about their family looking good to the outside world than they cared about how healthy those within the family are. The result of this foolish concern with outward appearances is that love and empathy toward one another in the family was often put aside.

God’s Word is not concerned about such outward appearances in society.  Saving people from embarrassment in society is not the great priority of God’s kingdom. The miracle of changing water into wine was about more than saving the wedding family from embarrassment. It was about things that matter far more. Things of God’s kingdom.

As is the case with so many of Jesus’ miracles, he took a bad situation and made it a moment to show the kingdom of God is at hand, he showed the time of the reign of the Messiah was now here.  This first miracle of Jesus, this first sign as John calls it, brings them to believe in Jesus. The Messiah the world has been waiting for is here!

Jesus’ words to Mary were a sign of things to come. Recall how Jesus first answered his mother: “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come”

Although it sounds to our modern ears as a put off, it is not impolite at all.  Jesus knew he would not put off when his hour would come.  Jesus’ words to Mary were a sign of the time, the hour for which he had come into the world. 

Jesus knew the cross loomed ahead of him. That would be his hour, his time. This would be the hour the time when he would redeem the whole world from sin.

That is what it, everything is all about- your life, your family and friends, your joy and abundant blessings, your future hope -Every good gift is our because Jesus’ death on the cross has reconciled us to the Father, brought us back together with the Giver.

The master of the feast comments how refreshing it was to save the best wine for the end, when people are not going to notice as much in the spirit of merriment.  This man had no idea how true his words were with respect to Jesus.  Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world

In the fullness of time Jesus came as the last of the prophets because all prophets pointed to him. And Jesus death on the cross was the- save the best for last- act of unimaginable love. The greatest of his miracles was the crucifixion and his resurrection.

Because Jesus turned the water into the wine and showed he was the Messiah, because Jesus willingly laid down his life on the cross and became exalted above every name under heaven and on earth, we know with absolute certainty that the best is yet to come for us.  

In the meantime, our Christian faith is one of waiting in patience and in prayer for those gifts Jesus brings to us. When you feel weighed down by life challenges, that is particularly when the events of John chapter 2 are very important to listen to and meditate on.

Jesus made himself known as Messiah with his first miracle in a context of merriment and joy- at a wedding feast.  This joy is here for you and I today.  The Lord’s Supper is given to you today as a sign and participation of the wedding feast of the lamb and His kingdom, of we the church the bride and Christ the bridegroom. And as we pray in our liturgy, this is indeed a fore taste of the feast to come, this is only the beginning.

Water into wine at the wedding at Cana is more than a party saved- It’s a sign of the time, the hour Jesus would save all of us- save us from our old sinful lives, save us for new lives of love and marriage and caring and serving, save us for eternal life, and the feast where the wine never runs out. Amen.  

Jesus cares for us in the desolate place

Posted on by nfuller

Have you ever had someone lead you astray from the path you were going on? I think of the college student who is all prepared to spend the evening studying for a test until a friend comes along and says, ‘you will have your whole life to study, this party is only going to be tonight.’ Or the desert you are not planning on eating until someone says, ‘are you sure you want to skip it, it is homemade with the best of ingredients.’

We have only ourselves to blame when we are no longer on the path we set out to be on.  But it can be hard to stay focused if you see what others have and you think, ‘why not me, what is the worst that can happen.’ It is like we all have this fear that if we stay on the path of righteousness, then we will miss out on some appealing and enjoyable things.

But the risk of being led astray is not only from that which is within our sinful hearts. Satan is trying us and challenging us to go astray every day. Remember the movie “Back to the Future”, where the one insult that Mary McFly cannot manage to let slide has a way of shaping his destiny. “What’s a matter McFly, Are you Chicken?”

As he chants his rally call that nobody calls him chicken- he has relented from any form of self control or composure that he would normally aspire to.  What might be the weak point that Satan uses to take you off your game? You should probably know what it is, because Satan certainly does.

The world around us also stands as a ever present obstacle to our focus on the way of righteousness.  There are people all around us with the potential to lead us astray.  Some people in our world cannot get enough of opportunities to influence and lead others in their image. Perhaps it serves to validate their sense of identity.

The directions the world pushes us to go is part of what it means to live in a fallen world, everywhere you turn there are going to be people who are looking at what you might bring to them, often seeking their own interests instead of yours.

Have you heard of YouTube channels that people run? You can find people who put on their own content up for hours each day on You Tube channels with the express purpose of getting a following of devoted subscribers.  When people are accumulating followers, we should ask, what influence do they have on their followers?  Are they encouraging their followers to abide in Christ, or is there some other path they are leading people to?

Picture what it would be like if people were following you through every step in life.  What guidance would you give to people? How do you know you if you really have their best interests in mind?

In our Old Testament reading from Jeremiah chapter 23 we hear a pronouncement of severe judgment toward those who lead others astray: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!”  Who are these shepherds? Those in charge in society, heads of households, leaders of families, priests scribes, elders.  They have scattered the people in hopelessness. Following the example of Adam, they have cared for themselves before others. And soon there is more division than unity, more discord than peace.

How did the shepherds of Israel get this way?  Did they think to themselves, let’s go as far from the Lord’s guidance as we possibly can.  Not likely. Instead, what happened is that the shepherds of Israel lost sight of the Lord and tried to lead the people out of the reservoir of their own impoverished and empty hearts.  Without a connection to the Lord, they had little to offer to the people they were entrusted to care for.

The Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah that this kind of leadership would not go on forever unchallenged. The LORD promised to bring back those who have been scattered, to shepherd those who have not been attended to. Where people failed, the LORD himself acts.

And so the people were promised shepherds who will care for them.  And what is more a promise was made of a shepherd who would come from the branch of David who will bring justice and righteousness to the land.  And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Jesus of course is this shepherd of righteousness. The Lord Jesus is the only one who can shepherd us and give us security. The name ‘the Lord is our righteousness’ helps us to see that when we are in the wilderness of this world, the Holy Spirit connects us to Jesus and makes us righteous. He leads us on the right path, the narrow path of salvation and righteousness. And Jesus does this through love and mercy and kindness.

Jesus does not scatter the people who come to him. Instead, he cares for them and offers hospitality. As we heard in the feeding of the 5,000 this morning, Jesus has compassion on others in a way that could easily change or complicate his agenda for the day.  Jesus’ love puts to shame all of those other paths in life that we may be drawn to. Jesus drives away Satan one lie at a time, showing with God’s Word that His truth prevails over all.

We are much like the shepherds of Israel, the fruits of our self centered agendas in life can easily serve to scatter or destroy the sheep fold. In our human capacity we do not have what it takes to shepherd people. After all, how much provision can we give to others when we ourselves so often struggle to stay afloat- glad if we are at least treading water for the time being. 

But the truth is in Christ we are not just treading water, we are soaring out of the water. Jesus has overcome Satan and the sting of death. Whenever Satan tries to hold us down, it is only a temporary trial. We know in Christ we will soar through the air, and on the last day we will soar into the sky and meet Jesus in the air. 

In the desolate place Jesus provided to the people. We face wilderness day by day as we are tested by Satan and endure spiritual attacks. Jesus alone gives us strength to manage trials of this word- and to care for those who are our neighbors.  Only in Christ as a new creation can we live out our relationships where we care for one another day in and day out, year by year.  

Think of what it would be like to journey through an actual stretch of wilderness and desert. How much water would you need to carry with you? Think of how important it would be to know where you are going so you do not go in circles.  Consider how important it would be to have a supply of food, and how some foods with empty calories would not be worth carrying.

It is the same in the wilderness of this life. How can we afford to go in circles by looking to Jesus one day and looking to the false idol of the week the next day?  How can we afford to pack liquids that does not satisfy or quench our thirst? Only in God’s Word can we find all of the refreshment and strength we need.

We have the gift of the Holy Spirit so that the Lord is our Shepherd wherever we go. As we prayed at the start of our worship  service: “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

Coming out of the Great Tribulation

Posted on by nfuller

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
    and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
    the sun shall not strike them,
    nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

As we hear from chapter 7 of the book of Revelation, what did John see? As he was exiled on the Island of Patmos on account of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus John was shown many amazing things beginning with a vision of the glorified Jesus and continuing with visions of the saints surrounding the throne of God.

Our reading from Revelation chapter 7 began with John seeing an additional angel besides those who had been given power over the physical earth. An angel who ascended from the rising sun, with the seal of the living God.  John heard the angel call out with a loud voice to the four angels that were given power to harm earth and sea.

John heard from the angel the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Each and every tribe from Judah down through Benjamin. 144,000 This number of completeness, this multiple of 12, communicated that all of the people of Israel were preserved and saved. The promises the Lord made to his people have been kept.

Remember Genesis 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.  The promise has been kept. 

And the promise was not only made to the tribes of Israel.  The LORD told Abraham, “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all families of the earth shall be blessed.”  John heard the angel speak, and then John looked, and behold:

“A great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”

Earlier in Revelation chapter 5 the song of the Lamb described how Jesus won and ransomed this multitude. “Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation”

This multitude John saw, this was the result of the victory Jesus won on the cross.  This was the reason Jesus taught that the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those persecuted for righteousness sake- all of these are blessed because they have the victory in Christ.

John saw, and heard, and beheld these things and then John was asked to speak, “Who are these clothed in white robes, and from where have they come from?”

John answered in faith, rather than his own explanation he invited the elder to speak God’s truth: “Sir you know” 

We confessed these words as a congregation in the Introit: “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.”

What is the great tribulation?  It is the suffering and trial that is a part of life in this fallen world.  The tribulation includes the attacks of Satan and the attacks of sin in the world on the believer. The tribulation is the last gasp desperation attempt of the darkness to undo the victory Christ won on the cross. It is like the villain or beast in movies that at the last moment while it is falling down into the abyss, grabs a hold of the ankle of the hero. But the last desperate attempt is too late:  Satan is defeated.  Tribulations come at a fierceness that tests our resolve and fortitude, but Satan is defeated.

Jesus warned of the great tribulation, the trials believers will face. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you”

Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master “If they persecuted me they will also persecute you.  If the world hates me they will hate you.”

For some the great tribulation is persecution. Last week in a country and culture very similar to ours, France, believers were struck down and killed while worshipping in church, the third attack in the last few months.  For others persecution may mean the loss of job or livelihood or reputation in society on account of their faith beliefs.

In Matthew Chapter 24 Jesus foretold the destruction of the temple and the tribulations that were coming. “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”  Jesus described shortly after this tribulation how the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heaven will be shaken.”

And after these tribulations are over. Like the breaking of the dawn, Jesus will appear. “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

The time of tribulation began already after Jesus ascended into heaven. The church has long throughout its history understood that we are in the end times, we are in the tribulations that happen before Jesus will return.  We can feel the weight of the tribulations as we consider all of the sufferings we face in our world. Sin and illness, and even viruses that take us to our knees.  When we reflect on loved ones we have lost in our lives, we feel the tribulation of the greatest enemy of all in death.

All of these who have gone through this great tribulation, including all of the saints over the years who are unknown to us, we celebrate Christ’s victory in their lives today during All Saints Day.  And it is not only those who are unknown to us from the past that we celebrate, but also we celebrate that included in this vision John was shown are people like you and I who yet live faithfully on earth. 

All those faithful in our world today, brothers and sisters in Christ who we know and have been impacted by in our life, are also counted as those who have washed their robe and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

This is why we pray in the proper preface to the Lord’s Supper that we join with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven in celebrating the marriage feast of the lamb.  It is a great blessing that we can celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s Day, because each time we gather for worship and come before the throne of God in the Lord’s Supper, we join with those who have gone before us, those who we miss, we join with them before the throne of God.   

What are the robes, what do they mean?  The robes are the garment of Christ’s righteousness that covers us, and makes us worthy. The robes help us to see ‘to God be the glory, not us.’

Forget everything you were ever taught about how to do laundry and how colors mix. Because our God has made a new thing, where red makes white. The blood of the lamb cleans the robes of righteousness and makes them perfectly and completely white.

And with these robes we are perfectly prepared and qualified to be there before the throne of God.  This is a marvelous picture of heaven, beyond what we can imagine, as we offer service or worship before God day and night.  We can hardly imagine what it means to no longer hunger or thirst, to no longer feel scorching heat or numbing cold.

How incomparable to anything we have experienced that Jesus will be our shepherd and guide us to springs of living water.  And wipe away every tear from our eyes. 

There are so many reasons for tears, the aging process we experience, the inevitable march of change from one family context to another, graduations, bitter sweet moments of change, losses- sometimes even before the expected time. 

In a world full of tribulations tears are the normal and here it was revealed to John what t he new normal is, not masks or procedures for safe public engagement but instead palm branches and songs of triumph.  One of my favorite verses related to perseverance through trial in the Lutheran Service Book is stanza 5 of For All the Saints: 

“And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song, and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia, Alleluia.”  The triumph song although distant comes to us especially when we are worn and weary by the troubles of this passing world. 

John saw and heard some amazing things while he was exiled on the island of Patmos. And these things are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, that in believing we may have life in his name.  We see what John sees, the Lamb reigning on His throne.  Amen.