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The Fullness of Time

Text: Galatians 4:1-7
Date: Christmas I + 12/29/13

The light of God’s Word has once again led us with angels and shepherds and, soon, wise men to the remembrance of the miracle of the arrival of the Christ, the world’s savior from sin. Some criticize all the other things and thoughts and “meanings” that have cropped up over the centuries, some which may cloud, hide or even eliminate the one, true meaning of the Christmas season. Yet there are many levels of the true joy of Christmas. Consider the birth of a brand new son, daughter, nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter, and dare I add great-grands? The emotions of joy and thanksgiving especially for a Christian cannot and should not be ignored, denied or avoided. So our joy over especially the gift of our family complete with the almost magical joy of children amid the lights and gift giving and receiving can all be expressions of the joy of God’s gift of salvation, redemption from sin and death and adoption into the grander family of the faithful, reborn to new life in Christ. It was just plain fun watching granddaughter Annika (soon a year old) take in all the unusual activity around the Christmas tree on her first experience of Christmas Eve. Continue reading “The Fullness of Time”

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Glory Appeared

Text: Matthew 1:18-25
Date: Christmas Eve + 12/24/13

It is Saint Luke that reports the detail of the Christmas Eve appearance of a heavenly host of angels singing the Gloria in Excelsis, “Glory to God in the highest.” He paints a dramatic picture of angels and shepherds responding to the birth of the Christ child. Saint Matthew, on the other hand, narrates a “quieter” scene, if you will, a relatively silent night. The glory of this night doesn’t need a multitude of colored strobe lights pulsating to a reverberating rhythm track of eighty beats per minute. In Matthew’s account is no decree of Caesar Augustus, no crowds of hometown sojourners, no innkeeper and, as we said, no angels or shepherds. Well, there was one angel! In the scriptures angels tend to show up when you need more information than you can possibly know by merely observing the situation at hand. Joseph certainly needed more information! And so do we. Continue reading “Glory Appeared”

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He Came Down from Heaven

Text: Matthew 1:18-25
Date: Advent IV + 12/22/13

Come let us walk in the light of the Lord.

We are going to take advantage of an interesting wrinkle in the lectionary for this year as the exact same Gospel reading is appointed for both today, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, and for Christmas Eve, St. Matthew’s account, as he calls it, of “the birth of Jesus Christ.” On Christmas Eve we will marvel together at the glorious event of the birth of the Savior. Today, however, let us contemplate (as the Name Day of our congregation) the doctrine of The Incarnate Word. It is summarized in the Nicene Creed in the words, he “came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man.” We say those words every Sunday at every celebration of the Mass. It is an article of faith, faith initiated, inspired and worked in us by God the Holy Spirit through the divine revelation of God’s Word, the Bible. We will see on Christmas Eve how important this revelation was for the virgin’s husband, Joseph. Today we need to see how important this doctrine of the two natures of the Christ is for us. Continue reading “He Came Down from Heaven”

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A Thrilling Voice

Text: Matthew 11:2-15
Date: Advent III + 12/15/13

Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord, for the once blind eyes are being opened to see it and the deaf ears to hear the thrilling voice announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. We need this light and this voice because they are like no other. This light, as our brother John said, “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). Or has it? Continue reading “A Thrilling Voice”

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The Leather Belt

Text: Matthew 3:4; Isaiah 11:5
Date: Advent II + 12/8/13

“Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Is 2:5). For God is searching us out and calling us out of the darkness of our sin and the dark prospect of our grave, calling us into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). That search and that call began already in the garden of Eden after sin had entered the picture. God searched for Adam, saying, “Adam, where are you?” (Gen 3:9), and He called to both of them promising a Savior and clothing them with forgiveness. So to this day God searches for every soul of His creation lost in the darkness of sin and calls to all to repent, believe and be saved. Continue reading “The Leather Belt”

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Walk in the Light

Text: Isaiah 2:1-5
Date: Advent I + 12/1/13

Shall we start another new year? Shall we do this all over again? Shall we like a battle-worn army continue to march, limping and hobbling, not only because of physical ailments but with all the signs and effects of sin, all forgiven of course, bandaged and supported by God’s grace, sin still hampering and weighing down our progress? Is it worth it? Oh, yes it is, and oh, yes we shall! For on this first Sunday of telling the whole story of God and His world again we continue to be drawn to a light like none other. Especially in a day when it seems the world is increasingly antagonistic toward God’s people—the increased ancient attacks of Islam, the political correctness of many who would rather eliminate anything, any word, any mention of God from the public square—especially in a day when the Christian Church seems to be becoming weaker and smaller and poorer in the unbelieving darkness around us, the prophet Isaiah shines a light, a hopeful light of the great reversal of things waiting for the last day when (believe it or not) all nations shall be attracted to God and shall flow into His dwelling like a river. Sound too good to be true? Then, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Continue reading “Walk in the Light”

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In Paradisum

Text: Luke 23:43
Date: Last Sunday Proper 29 + 11/24/13

On the last day of the church year we are taken to the cross to hear the last word concerning the entire Gospel we have heard and rehearsed in the past twelve months. We do not repeat the entire great and holy week nor even of the entire six hours of the crucifixion. Rather, today we join in with the weeping women following Jesus in procession. “Daughters of Jerusalem,” He says, “do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” Here He was already declaring the fact that the death He was about to experience would not be strong enough to hold Him. He was already relying on the prospect of His resurrection from death and by His resurrection breaking the hold of death for all who believe in Him. So, “do not weep for me.” Then when He says, “but weep for yourselves and for your children,” He shows that life in this world, as long as we carry this body of sin and death, we will experience all sorts of troubles. But for those Christians whose bodies finally give out and die the scriptures say at that moment the soul is completely free of sin. The idea of a purgatory is pure invention. On this truth Martin Luther therefore called death the last “purgatorium” of the soul. The old American Negro Song by J. W. Work which Martin Luther King, Jr. made so memorable is true:

Free at last, free at last
I thank God I’m free at last
Free at last, free at last
I thank God I’m free at last. Continue reading “In Paradisum”

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The Day of the Lord Comes

Text: Luke 21:5-28
Date: Pentecost XXVI + Proper 28 11/17/13

The Day of the Lord Comes. Today is the Day of the Lord, O come let us worship Him. When the Lord Jesus first came on the scene, as He approached His final week—His final offering, goal and purpose—He first warned of the coming destruction of the Jerusalem temple—“The days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another.” Then He spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem itself—“These are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.” And finally He spoke also of the end of the world, judgment day when “they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” These are the three events He speaks about in today’s gospel reading. However, these otherwise fearful words are, rather, the occasion of joy and comfort for the believer, for faith that says, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” Continue reading “The Day of the Lord Comes”

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I Look For the Resurrection of the Dead

Text: Luke 20:27-40
Date: Pentecost XXV X 11/10/13

To faithfully say, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord,” you first need to see Him coming. The first human eyes to see Him, of course, were those of His mother the Blessed Virgin Mary and her husband Joseph. Then there were the teachers in the Jerusalem temple when He was about twelve years old, though they didn’t realize that they were gazing upon someone more than merely a very smart child. The first public eyes that looked at Him were of the crowds whom John the Baptist pointed to Him saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Since His sacrificial death, resurrection and ascension back into heaven, now only the eyes of faith see Him. Your eyes of faith first saw His arrival in your Holy Baptism. Then they are enlightened to see His coming through the holy Word of the scriptures as explained by the little catechism. Then, every year in the quickly approaching end of the Church Year and the beginning of a new one with the season of Advent, the ears of faith hear our Lord’s command to see, to be watchful, “watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt 25:13). Watch for what? Well, for the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Today we address that not-so-little phrase of the Nicene Creed which the Sadducees of every age reject, “I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” And talk about eyes! On that day of our Lord’s final return not only the eyes of faith but, as my most beloved hymn says it, “And then from death awaken me, That these mine eyes [my physical eyes!] with joy may see, O Son of God, Thy glorious face, My Savior and my fount of grace” (LSB 708:3). Continue reading “I Look For the Resurrection of the Dead”