The Fourth Sunday in Advent/St. Thomas, Apostle – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 20:24-29
In Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who contrary to all reason was born in a Bethlehem stable, and who gave up His life on the cross in payment for sin before rising from the dead on the third day, dear fellow redeemed:
“Every football team is the same–whether in Iowa or Minnesota or Wisconsin or Illinois–so any one is just as good as another.” “It doesn’t matter which politician you vote for, as long as you vote for someone.” “Whether you work hard to buy what you have, or whether you beg, borrow, or steal to get it, we’re all just trying to get to the same place.” I don’t think you would accept any of these statements as true. In fact, they are ridiculous. Of course not all football teams are the same. Not all politicians will get our vote. And it certainly does matter how we acquire our money.
But as ridiculous as these statements are, they are the way that people commonly talk about religion. “Every religion is the same; they all lead to the same god–one is just as good as another.” “It doesn’t matter what church you go to, as long as you go to church.” “No matter what you believe, we are all trying to get to the same place. What’s important is that you just believe in something.”
Let’s apply this thinking to today’s reading. Jesus appeared alive to the disciples while Thomas was away on the third day after His death. He showed them the marks in His hands and side. He asked them to give Him something to eat. He breathed on them and blessed them. There was no doubt about it–Jesus had risen bodily from the dead just as He promised He would. Then Thomas came along. What did the disciples say? “Thomas, Jesus appeared to us in the flesh. But it doesn’t really matter if you believe it or not, as long as you hold Him in your heart. We’re not here to force our beliefs on you; you can decide for yourself, and that’s all right with God.”
Not quite. No matter how much Thomas denied what they were saying, either from pride or from hurt feelings, they did not stop proclaiming the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection was a fact, even if Thomas or anyone else rejected it. Whether it agreed with their natural sensibilities or not, Jesus had risen. This proved that He was no regular man. He was the Son of God in the flesh, which means He is our Savior and the Savior of the whole world.
It matters what we believe about Jesus. One belief about Him is not just as good as another. The ten disciples believed that Jesus had risen; Thomas did not. That meant that Thomas actually followed a different Jesus. He followed a Jesus who taught many things and performed many miracles, but who unfortunately met an untimely death and was buried. That was Jesus for Thomas–no Jesus who could actually save.
But then Jesus appeared again to the disciples and called Thomas back from his unbelief. Jesus proved He had heard every word that Thomas had spoken by presenting His hands and side for Thomas to see and touch. He then spoke some pointed words to Thomas: “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas had a wrong idea about faith. He thought that faith depended on his demands being met by God, on his being personally convinced by his own standards. Jesus showed him that faith means trusting what God says, whether or not there is any physical or tangible proof.
It is common to hear people say, “Seeing is believing.” But Jesus says the opposite. He says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” If you can see something, you don’t need to “take it on faith.” It is when you cannot see something, when you have not witnessed or experienced it for yourself, that faith is required. This is how Hebrews 11 defines faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (v. 1).
This does not mean that faith has nothing to go by. Faith stands on the inspired, powerful Word of God. We trust what He tells us. We trust what He tells us about ourselves, and what He tells us about Himself. He tells us that He created us to be perfect masters of His creation, but that Adam and Eve gave up their perfection by doing what He commanded them not to do. This plunged the whole world into sin, sin that is passed down from generation to generation. If God did not tell us how far we had fallen short of His glory, we would think we were not far from Him. He tells us that apart from Him, we are dead in our sins.
But He also tells us that He loves us and desires our salvation. God the Father sent His only-begotten Son to take on our flesh and redeem us from our sins. God could not just overlook sin. Sin required payment, and Jesus offered up His holy life on our behalf as that payment. On the third day, He rose from the dead to prove that His work to redeem sinners was complete. He tells us that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Joh. 3:16).
But where did this faith that brings you forgiveness and eternal life come from? How did you get it? Your faith is not a reflection of a better heart. It is not a decision you made to let Jesus into your life. Your faith is a gift from God by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the inspired Apostle writes, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17), and, “this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
God gave this same gracious gift to doubting Thomas, and Thomas responded with the humble and clear confession: “My Lord and my God!” He acknowledged that Jesus is who He said He is and who the other disciples testified that He is–the eternal Son of God who had won the victory over sin, death, and the devil. Once Thomas believed, he spoke. If tradition is accurate, he took the Gospel message of Jesus’ atoning death and glorious resurrection as a missionary to India, and was later martyred for preaching Christ, receiving the crown of life given to all who are faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10).
Faith is not something for us to keep hidden. It is not a secret we have that we keep between us and God. Faith is active in what we say and how we live. John the Baptizer is a great example of this. He had the opportunity to get glory for himself. People crowded around him asking if he was the great prophet Elijah or even the Christ Himself. The evangelist John recorded his answer: “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’… [B]ut among you stands One you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (Joh. 1:20, 26-27).
This is what faith does: it grabs hold of the Lord’s promises and points to Him and wants to live for Him. We Christians show our faith by telling the whole world the hope we have. We tell others that “God sent His Son to save me and you! He died to pay for our sins. He rose in victory over death. He still comes through His Word to give us His blessings. And He is coming back in glory to take us to be with Him forever.” No religion has such a hopeful, joyful message as Christianity. But even within Christianity, not every church points to Jesus alone for salvation.
It does matter what church you go to. It matters what your church teaches. Do we teach that the Bible is a mixture of human and divine thoughts, and that we have to determine what is true and what isn’t? Or do we teach that the Bible is the Word of God, totally trustworthy, accurate in every detail, which has authority over every aspect of our lives? This is why we are compelled to speak. It is our duty like John to confess, and not deny, but confess the truth of God.
This matters! We don’t have permission from God to keep our mouths shut when the truth is being challenged or attacked. It is certainly intimidating when this happens. It is very hard to stand against the crowd. It is hard to open our mouths when we expect that people won’t want to hear it. But if we stop opening our mouths and sharing what God has done for us, who will ever believe? “Faith comes from hearing… the word of Christ.”
The best way to be prepared to speak, to confess the saving name of Jesus in every circumstance, is to keep hearing, learning, and studying the Word of God. The Holy Spirit works through the Word, strengthening us, comforting us, and giving us the conviction and courage to tell others what God has done for sinners. You can probably think, as I can, of opportunities to confess the truth that you missed, that you wish you could have back. You feel guilty that you stayed silent when you should have spoken.
Jesus forgives you that sin–your doubts, your weaknesses, and your fears. He died on the cross for you, and gave His holy blood to wash away every one of your sins. Your failures in the past do not disqualify you from the needs of the present. He gives you grace for today, grace to believe in Him, and grace to speak the glad tidings of salvation to the people around you who need to hear it. Believing and speaking go together like breathing in and breathing out. We breathe in the rich blessings of God through His Word, and we breathe out these blessings to others.
It is not our job to convert anyone; we can’t make someone believe. The disciples did not succeed in convincing Thomas of the truth in the seven days between Jesus’ appearances. Converting hearts is the work of the Holy Spirit. That takes the pressure off us. Our calling is faithfully to confess what God has done for us and all people. As He has freely given to us, we freely give to others. We Believe, and so We Speak.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(woodcut from “Doubting Thomas” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Third Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 11:2-10
In Christ Jesus, who was anointed to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (Isa. 61:1), and who did that for you and me, dear fellow redeemed:
What did the crowds go out into the wilderness to see? They heard about a man, a preacher, a strange man. He didn’t dress like everybody else; he wore camel’s hair clothing with a leather belt around his waist. He didn’t eat what everyone else did; he was content with locusts and wild honey. He didn’t talk like the other religious leaders of the day. He spoke with authority, and he called out their hypocrisy: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Mat. 3:7-8).
His name was John, the son of the old priest Zechariah. Perhaps some recalled how Zechariah had lost the ability to speak while he was burning incense in the temple. He doubted the angel’s announcement that he would have a son. His speech did not return until John was born. “These things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea,” and at the time many wondered what this child would be (Luk. 1:65-66). They could see that he was different even at an early age. “The hand of the Lord was with him,” and he “became strong in spirit” (vv. 66, 80).
Then as an adult, John received his call. We are told that “the word of God came to [him] in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luk. 3:2-3). All sorts of people from every station in society came to hear him teach and be baptized by him. They knew that something big was happening, but they didn’t know exactly what it was.
As they imagined what this could mean, they noted how John resembled the prophet Elijah, who had also worn garments of hair with a leather belt around his waist (2Ki. 1:8). Elijah had stood alone against all the authorities just as John was doing. There was also a prophecy in the last chapter of the last book in their Scriptures, the book of Malachi, where the LORD said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (4:5). Was this man standing before them Elijah himself sent back from heaven to earth? Or could he actually be the Messiah?
John made it clear who he was and wasn’t. He said he was not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet foretold by Moses (Joh. 1:19-21). Then who was he? He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (v. 23). He was “the voice,” God’s voice, a messenger preparing the people for something more. He was not there to tell them what they wanted to hear like a reed shaking in the wind, or to teach them how to chase the finer things in life like a self-absorbed member of the king’s court.
He was preaching to them in the wilderness far away from common comforts and cultural snares because One much greater than him was coming. The people must get ready; they must be prepared. Unlike John with his water Baptism, this One would come baptizing “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luk. 3:16). He would read people’s hearts. He would know who was with Him and who was not. John said He would “gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (v. 17).
This One was revealed to John when Jesus came to be baptized by him in the Jordan River. When He was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and rested on Him, and the Father spoke from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mat. 3:17). John now pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh. 1:29).
John had done his job; he had fulfilled his calling. He had done what God sent him to do. He could have looked for personal glory, for higher status in the religious community. He could have jealously guarded his disciples and shielded them from the influence of others. But John knew his place. He was just the messenger. As more and more people began to follow Jesus instead of John, John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Joh. 3:30).
It wasn’t long after this that John was locked up in prison. He had condemned the adulterous actions of the king, so the king had him arrested. In a short amount of time, John went from a popular preacher surrounded by crowds–including the rich, influential, and powerful, sitting at his feet, listening to his every word–to a man alone, in chains, with just a few disciples stopping by to visit. Was it worth it?
What would you think if you were in his shoes? If you were in prison away from your family, away from your friends, locked up because you told the truth, because you did the Lord’s work, would you be content with that? None of us so far has had to face prison for believing in Jesus and speaking His Word. But we have faced smaller tests to our faith. Would we risk being pushed aside by the popular group because we wouldn’t go along with their sin? Or risk our jobs because we wouldn’t go along with unethical practices? Or risk conflict with family members because we wouldn’t support their bad decisions?
Our faith has been tested in various ways, unique to each of us. Often we stood at a crossroads: Do I take this path which requires me to compromise my beliefs and morals, but which offers prominence or pleasure? Or do I take the harder path, the path God wants, but which requires struggle and suffering? We rarely regret taking the right path when we are looking backwards at it, but it is tougher when we are looking at the options in front of us. We prefer to have it easy. We prefer to fit in. We would rather go along with the world than against it.
But what does that gain us? Temporary happiness, short-lived success, fleeting joy. Jesus asks the important question: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Mat. 16:26). John would not sell his soul for worldly success. “He must increase,” said John, “but I must decrease” (Joh. 3:30).
But was prison starting to get to John? Is that why he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are You the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Was John discontent with the pace of Christ’s work? Did he expect more action? More fire and brimstone? More mighty works? Or did he send his disciples, so they would follow Jesus instead of him? Based on what we know of John, that seems more likely. And Jesus replied to those disciples, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”
John was not offended by Jesus. He trusted in Jesus, and that trust was not misplaced. John soon gave up his life for the Gospel, and his soul entered the heavenly bliss of God. Our Lord promises the same care for you, even if life does not go the way you would like, even if it seems that troubles meet you at every turn, even if your earthly end comes sooner than you expect. Your trust in Him is not misplaced either.
Jesus is the One who gives sight to the blind, healing to the lame and the lepers, hearing to the deaf, and life to the dead. He gives forgiveness to sinners, righteousness to the ungodly, and eternal life to we who were spiritually dead. He is no weak master, no reed shaken by the wind, no effeminate royal. He is not overcome by the world; He overcomes the world (Joh. 16:33). He is not captured by the devil’s snares; He crushes Satan’s head and dispels his accusations against us.
You don’t follow Jesus because He promises glory in the world. You follow Him because He promises an end to all your trouble and suffering here and promises everlasting glory in heaven. He is the Coming One, the One sent by God the Father to redeem all sinners. He went to the cross with perfect devotion and purpose to cancel the debt of your sin. He suffered eternal damnation for your weaknesses, for your taking the wrong path, for your failures to follow Him. You can’t go back and fix what you have done wrong, and you don’t have to. Jesus forgives you all these sins and covers you with His grace.
So you go forward, your eyes on Him. You follow Him through times of trial and triumph, hardship and happiness. Like John, you set aside whatever plans you might have had for this life, and you point to Him. Your faithfulness to Him and your efforts for Him are not wasted. A life lived in His name, receiving the gifts of His grace, is a blessed life. He does not forsake His people. He does not leave you to suffer alone. He comes to you. He saves you. He leads you on till you reach your eternal rest, and so we pray in words of the hymn:
Jesus, still lead on / Till our rest be won;
And although the way be cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless;
Guide us by Your hand / To our promised land. (ELH #587, v. 1)
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “The Preaching of St. John the Baptist” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1565)
The Second Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Luke 21:25-36
In Christ Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and who shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, dear fellow redeemed:
Jesus’ triumphal entry in Jerusalem marked the beginning of what we call Holy Week. Some people, identified as “Greeks” who saw or at least heard about Jesus’ arrival, approached His disciple Philip that week. They were probably Greek-speaking Gentiles who had been instructed from the Scriptures. They came to Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (Joh. 12:21).
Why do you suppose they wanted to see Jesus? There were likely many reasons. The whole city was buzzing about Jesus’ coming. Word had spread about how He had recently raised Lazarus from the dead. There were reports about Him healing many who were sick and diseased, making paralyzed people walk, giving sight to the blind, and casting out demons. He gave attention to children and even non-Jewish people, the Gentiles. This may be what gave the Greeks confidence to approach Jesus.
We imagine what it would have been like to be in their position, to live at that time, to see Jesus perform miracles, to hear Him teach. We imagine Him looking into our eyes, knowing our struggles and pains, and taking them all away. We would never want to leave Him. We would follow Him wherever He went.
That was Jesus at His first coming. But His second coming will be different. All creation will be stirred up. The sun and moon will go dark, “and the stars will fall from heaven” (Mat. 24:29). Our reading says the nations will be distressed while the sea and waves are roaring, “people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
The “Son of Man” is Jesus. He will not come in lowliness then. No Bethlehem manger then, no lowly donkey for His entry to Jerusalem, no crown of thorns, no cross, no grave. On the Last Day, Judgment Day, He will come with “power and great glory”—the power and glory of the God who made all things and who single-handedly conquered sin, death, and the devil. That powerful Lord may not be how we typically picture Jesus. We picture Him gently serving those around Him and willingly suffering for sinners. We wish to see that Jesus, but what about the Jesus who comes on the Last Day? Do you wish to see Him?
The thought of Judgment Day makes us nervous. We read passages like 2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” If you were judged by what you have done or said or thought, how would it go for you? You might try to take the “big picture” approach. Overall if your life was one big scale, perhaps you feel that there would be more on the good side than on the bad side. Some hope to be judged by how hard they tried to do right, or how much better they were than others. None of that is enough; God demands perfection. If you are judged by what you have done, you will come up short, and you know it.
But Jesus does not tell you to be afraid of that day. He says that when He comes to judge the world, you should not try to run and hide. That’s what the unbelievers will do. They will want to crawl in some deep, dark caves to get away from Him; they will beg the mountains and hills to cover them up, so they don’t have to face the wrath of the Lord they rejected (Rev. 6:15-17). On the other hand, Jesus says to His people who trust in Him, to you and me: “when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
When the Son of Man comes on the Last Day, that is your redemption drawing near. That is the day of your ultimate deliverance from the evils of this world and from death. He already purchased you with His holy blood and won eternal life for you. On the Last Day, you will experience this in all its fullness. You will join Him in His glory, your body whole and perfected. You will join Him in the air when He comes and will go with Him to His heavenly kingdom.
So you do not need to be afraid of His coming, but you do need to be ready for it. Wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, the persecution of the Church, the rise of false prophets, the increase of lawlessness—all of these are signs that our Lord is coming. The more we see these signs, the more we should prepare.
It’s like the approach of Christmas. You are surrounded by signs that Christmas is coming. People’s homes are decorated with colorful lights, Christmas trees appear in living room windows, Christmas music plays over the radio and in stores that offer holiday specials at every turn. The closer we get to Christmas, the more the anticipation and excitement build. We don’t become lazier, less and less interested in decorating, gift-buying, and party planning as Christmas comes. We get more focused, active, making sure that everything is ready to the smallest detail.
That is how we should prepare for our Lord’s return. Jesus warns us about getting distracted by the world and being complacent in our faith. He says, “watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life.” “Dissipation” is the loss of sense and control that comes from drinking too much. It is like a drunk person stumbling around, saying whatever he wants, doing whatever he wants, not caring how others are affected. That is the mentality of many who are so focused on self-indulgence and self-fulfillment that they ignore their responsibility to love God and serve their neighbors.
When we let “dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life” overcome us and distract us, then we are not prepared like we should be for Jesus’ return. Then we may be found without faith when He arrives and calls the faithful to come to Him. Jesus says, “watch yourselves lest… that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.”
A good test of preparedness is to ask what in your life demands the most of your attention. What would you have the hardest time giving up? Would it be your work, your home, your money, your smartphone, or your computer? Would it be your friends, even the members of your family? Jesus says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Mat. 10:37).
There are many things vying for our attention, many of them good things. But none of them should take the place of our Savior. None of the things of this life can save us. Only Jesus can. None of the things of this life can prepare us for His return. Only Jesus can prepare us. And He does it through His Word. It’s not just His warnings about what is coming. It is the grace He applies to us that makes us fit to stand before Him.
Every time we encounter Jesus through His Word and Sacraments, a transaction takes place. We cannot see Him as He visits us today, but He is present with His eternal blessings. We confess our sins, and He imparts His forgiveness. We put off our burden of guilt, and He places His holiness on us. We repent of our weaknesses, and He gives His strength. We divulge our worries and fears, and He gives us courage and peace. All of these are gifts of His grace. We do not earn them; He gives them freely out of love.
What we are doing every time we gather together is a preparation or a rehearsal for what is coming. By listening and learning, by receiving the gifts of Jesus through His Word, we are getting ready for the main event, for Jesus’ triumphant return. His Word is true. He is not playing a joke on us or tricking us when He tells us what is coming. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” He says, “but My words will not pass away.”
So He tells us to “stay awake at all times.” This means staying awake and alert spiritually. We do this by staying connected to His living and active Word, not just through attendance at church but also through reading and studying His Word in our homes and even listening to it while we are out and about. Hearing what He says to us moves us to speak to Him in prayer. These go together: Word and prayer, receiving and responding, listening and speaking. This is a holy conversation that we get to participate in as children of God.
Jesus says, “stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” You will stand before the Son of Man as all people will. Those who have denied Him through unrepentance and unbelief and trusted in their own righteousness, will tremble before Him and be condemned. But you do not need to fear that day.
You will not experience the wrath of the Son of Man. You will instead see His gracious countenance, His smiling face. He will have no words of judgment for you because He shed His holy blood to cleanse you from your sins, and He completely covers you with His righteousness. So You Do Wish to See Jesus when He comes again in His glory. Now is the time to get ready and stay ready. For He has promised, “Surely I am coming soon.” And we joyfully reply, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from Jerico Lutheran Church stained glass)
The First Sunday in Advent/St. Andrew, Apostle – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 4:18-22
In Christ Jesus, our King who sits on His throne dispensing the gifts of His grace, dear fellow redeemed:
If someone placed an ad in the paper before local elections, and all that the ad contained was their name, their picture, and the message, “Vote for me!” it would be fair to ask the question “Why?” “Why should I vote for you? What are your qualifications? What are your goals? How will you represent me and work for me? What makes you a better candidate than the others?” Without this information, it’s hard to imagine saying, “Yes, I will vote for you. I will follow your lead.”
The same question can be asked of Jesus: “Why should I follow Him? Why should I trust Him?” The unbelievers of the world don’t see enough in Jesus to want to follow Him. Some of them believe He was a good person who unfortunately met an untimely end, which makes Him no different than any other significant figure in history. Some say He is just a legend, made up by people who wanted to gain influence. Others say that if Jesus is who He said He was, the Son of God, then why didn’t He do more to address injustice and suffering in the world?
They would be surprised to read the account before us today of Jesus calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John away from their fishing nets to follow Him. And immediately, without hesitation, they left their nets and boats—and in James and John’s case, their father—and followed Him. What convinced them that Jesus was worth following?
Well this wasn’t the first time that Peter and Andrew, James and John, had seen or heard of Jesus. John tells us in his Holy Gospel that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptizer. He had been attracted to John the Baptizer’s preaching of repentance and must have been baptized by him. He believed John’s message, that the Savior was coming and was even now present. So when Andrew saw the Baptizer point to Jesus and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (Joh. 1:36), he and another disciple followed Jesus and spent the day with Him. Then Andrew went and got his brother Peter, telling him, “We have found the Messiah!” (v. 41).
So the brothers Andrew and Peter had met Jesus and listened to Him before He walked along the sea and called them away from their nets to follow Him. They believed that He was the great Prophet, Priest, and King foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. They believed that He was God in the flesh, the promised Savior from sin, death, and the devil. Or did they? Sometimes they were unsure. Jesus did not say and do what they expected. They expected Him to set up an earthly kingdom. They could not imagine how His death could accomplish anything good.
An earthly kingdom with earthly glory is probably what was on their minds when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He was surrounded by adoring crowds who shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mat. 21:9). The people welcomed Him as their King. He would heal all their sicknesses! He would feed them! He could even keep them from dying or at least raise them from the dead—Lazarus from Bethany was proof of that! Who could stand against Jesus? His time to reign had come!
They were seeing what they wanted to see. But they were not looking at Jesus in the right way. Really they were thinking too small. He wanted them to see the big picture. Their most pressing problem was not sickness, food, or the rule of the Romans. Their most pressing problem was sin, death, and the rule of the devil. Jesus came to rescue them from these big things—and not just them, but the whole world, all people of all time.
You are not looking for Jesus to free you from the Romans. That kingdom collapsed long ago. But you might be looking for Him to work things so that the right leaders get elected who can fix all or most of the problems that trouble our society. You might be looking for Him to make your life more prosperous, your relationships more fulfilling, and your body more healthy. It is not wrong to want these things, but it is wrong to view these things as the most important things.
Jesus did not come especially to make your life better on earth. He does not promise that you will have a happy or carefree life, that everything you pray for will become yours, or that you will die with more wealth and honor than you were born with. Think of His closest disciples. After His resurrection, the chosen Twelve told the truth about what Jesus had done and said, that they themselves had witnessed. They took this message all over the known world. And for their hard labors, their preaching of salvation by grace, they suffered, were persecuted, and if tradition is accurate, they died violent, painful deaths, including Andrew who is said to have been crucified on an X-shaped cross.
Christ’s kingdom is not of this world (Joh. 18:36). We should not expect it to be established here. His kingdom is greater than this world. You are a member of it, a citizen in it, but you cannot see it yet. Now you “walk by faith, not by sight” (2Co. 5:7). “Walking by faith” means trusting that Jesus is who He says He is, and that He has done what He said He would. “Walking by faith” is what Andrew, Peter, James, and John did when they left behind the family business on the Sea of Galilee and followed Jesus.
When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” the word translated “follow” is literally, “Come! Come after Me!” He used the same word to call His disciples to rest with Him after He sent them out to preach His powerful Word. He said, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (Mar. 6:31). He called them to rest with Him again by the seashore following His resurrection, “Come and have breakfast” (Joh. 21:12).
He calls us to the same rest with Him using the same word, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28). “Come away from your fruitless labor to get ahead in this world. Come away from the burden of trying to be the best, of trying to prove your worth, of always having to win. Come away from the sin and guilt that weigh you down. Come away from the devil and the darkness of this world. Come to Me and have rest.”
You come to Him when you open your ears to hear His Word, when you gladly hear and learn what He tells you. You come to Him when you repent of your sins and humbly listen to the absolution He speaks, “I forgive you all your sins.” You come to Him when you kneel at His table and receive His holy body and blood given and shed for you for the remission of your sins. You come to Him when you trust in Him, confidently pray to Him, and confess His saving name.
This is not so much an act of your will as it is an action of His grace. Yes, the disciples followed Him, but it was His Word that drew them away from their nets, “Come after Me!” So it is His call that brings you to Him. He takes the initiative. He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (Joh. 10:27). And again, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (15:16).
His Word comforts us and compels us. His Word opens our eyes, so that we see Him. We see who He is, the eternal Son of God who took on flesh to save us. We see why He came, to keep God’s holy law for us and to suffer and die to save our souls. We see that He finished the work He set out to do in perfect obedience to the will of His Father. We see that He rose in victory over our sin, our death, and the devil.
Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Mat. 16:13). He is not, as the unbelievers say, just a good person who lived and died and stayed dead. He is not some made up legend concocted from people’s imagination to gain worldly influence. He is not some flawed deity who failed to do anything significant for the world. Andrew’s brother, Simon Peter, had learned the right answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16).
That is who Jesus is, for the whole world and for you. He is the Christ, God in the flesh. He came to save you. He came to shed His blood to cleanse you from your sins. He came to share His heavenly inheritance with you. That is what He rode into Jerusalem to do, as the prophet had foretold, “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey” (Mat. 21:5).
This King, your King, still comes through His Word and Sacraments calling you to lay aside the sins that ensnare you and weigh you down, calling you to come and follow Him, calling you to find rest in Him. He never stops calling you to be and remain in His kingdom of grace.
And when He returns in glory on the last day, He will speak that word again, “Come.” He will say to you and all believers in Him, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mat. 25:34). Then like Andrew and Peter leaving their nets, immediately you will leave your labors and burdens here and will joyfully follow Him, singing with all the saints: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “Entry of Christ into Jerusalem” by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1320)
The Fourth Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Genesis 17:15-22
In Christ Jesus, who leads His people to the heavenly Zion with singing, everlasting joy upon their heads, where they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isa. 35:10), dear fellow redeemed:
Abram and Sarai experienced a particular pain that many have experienced since then—they were unable to have children. This is the first detail the Bible shares about Sarai, that she “was barren; she had no child” (Gen. 11:30). Undoubtedly this caused them much sadness. As the years passed and no child was conceived, they became more and more resigned to the fact that they would have no descendants. They passed into their forties, then their fifties, then their sixties. By this time, Abram had become a very wealthy man. He had great possessions and many servants.
Then rather abruptly, the LORD told Abram to leave his country and his relatives and go to a new land. He said to Abram, “I will make of 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 the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3). If Abram had any doubts about this, they are not recorded for us. He might have wondered how his name would become great and all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. For one thing, he had no children. For another, he was at this time seventy-five years old, and Sarai was sixty-five!
But Abram obeyed. He gathered all he had and traveled to the land of Canaan. When he got there, the LORD appeared to him and said, “To your offspring I will give this land” (v. 7). A while later, the LORD repeated the promise, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them…. So shall your offspring be” (15:5). Abram believed what God said (v. 6).
But ten years passed after the LORD told Abram and Sarai to move. Sarai was now seventy-five. If she hadn’t had a child yet, how could she now? She decided to give her servant to Abram as another wife, so that if her servant conceived a child with him, Sarai would count the child as hers. Her servant did conceive and gave birth to a son named Ishmael. But Ishmael was not the child of God’s promise.
Thirteen years later when Abram was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him again and told him, “You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham” (17:4-5). Abraham means “father of a multitude.” At the same time, the LORD changed the name Sarai to Sarah which means “princess,” and He promised Abraham that he would have a son by Sarah.
Abraham’s reaction is recorded for us. He “fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’” Now as you know, there are different kinds of laughter. Some point their fingers and laugh when they are ridiculing a person or showing their disdain for him. Some laugh when they are shocked or surprised. Martin Luther was convinced that Abraham laughed “because he was filled with great gladness and joy” (Luther’s Works, vol. 3, p. 154).
He was filled with joy because he understood that God’s promise of a son was about more than providing him an heir. It was about making a way for all the families of the earth to be blessed (12:3). The promise the LORD made to Abraham is the same promise He made to Adam and to Noah. God would send a Savior to redeem sinful mankind. Jesus pointed back to this promise when He said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad” (Joh. 8:56).
Abraham’s laugh coincided with the name of his son. God said to him, “you shall call his name Isaac,” a name which means “he laughs.” A year later, that son was born. And the new mother Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me…. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age” (Gen. 21:6-7). And every time they held that little baby and listened to his little grunts and coos, what else could they do but laugh?
But we can’t help but wonder: Why did God do this? Why did He make Abraham and Sarah wait until they were one hundred years old and ninety years old before they had a child? The author of the book of Hebrews writes in a very understated way that Sarah “was past the age” of being able to conceive, and in a more expressive way that Abraham was “as good as dead” (11:11,12). If this amazing birth were not recorded in the Bible, we would laugh at the possibility.
And that is the point. What we consider impossible, God makes possible. No one can say that Abraham and Sarah were the ones to keep the promise of a Savior alive. They were incapable of having children. They were very old. And God gave them laughter. He gave them Isaac. He wanted to show that this child was a gift, just as all children are. He wanted to show that His promise would neither fail nor succeed because of the work of man. God’s promises succeed because He is God.
That means we can trust His promises. What makes this difficult is our sinful tendency to trust ourselves. We act as if everything depends on ourselves instead of God. We offer weak prayers, if we offer them at all, because we are convinced that God will not give us what we pray for. Or we get impatient when we ask something of Him, and He makes us wait—maybe when we are sick or injured or in trouble. We might even attach a demand to our requests: “If You love me, You will do this by this day or this time.” What we are really doing is putting ourselves in the position of God, and by our lack of faith we are calling down His judgment instead of His mercy. When we take matters into our own hands, like Sarai did by giving her servant to Abram, we often experience unexpected and unpleasant consequences.
God’s plans are much better than ours, and His promises are rock-solid. When He makes a promise, nothing will change His mind. He fulfilled His promise to give Abraham and Sarah a son. And He fulfilled His promise to send a Savior through Abraham’s line. Some two thousand years down the road, God sent His angel to another old man, a priest named Zechariah. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were also old and barren like Abraham and Sarah. And the angel said, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John” (Luk. 1:13). Zechariah did not respond in faith like Abraham, and for his disbelief, God made him unable to speak until after John was born.
John was a messenger, “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” (Joh. 1:23). He pointed to One much greater than he, “the strap of whose sandal [he was] not worthy to untie” (v. 27). That One was the Son of God incarnate, the descendant of Abraham and Isaac, the fulfillment of God’s promise to save the world. God sent His Son to take on human flesh because He loves you so deeply and so perfectly. Jesus came to be your righteousness, to live blamelessly under the Law in your place. He came to atone for your many sins by shedding His holy blood on the cross. He came to conquer your death by rising from the dead in victory.
He came to give you hope as you struggle with your doubts and fears. He came to give you peace as the guilt of your sins weighs down on you. He came to give you comfort in your pain and sadness. The hymnwriter Paul Gerhardt put it beautifully in his great Advent hymn:
Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted, / Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn o’er joys departed, / And tremble at your doom;
Despair not, He is near you, / Yea, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you, / And bid you weep no more.
No care nor effort either / Is needed day or night,
How ye may draw Him hither / In your own strength and might.
He comes, He comes with gladness, / Moved by His love alone,
To calm your fear and sadness, / To Him they well are known. (ELH #94, vv. 6-7)
God promises to come to you through His Word and Sacraments. Through those means, He promises to forgive you. He promises to strengthen you. He promises to renew your faith, so that you have joy even when you are suffering, even when you are struggling. You have joy in knowing that you do not walk through this life alone, that there will be an end to the sadness of this life, and that Jesus will return on the last day to take you to His kingdom of glory.
The time of your final redemption is drawing near. The time will come when the joy you have in Christ will be perfected, when sin, death, and devil will no longer bother you, when you will forever forget the troubles you had here. Then we will sing. We will shout with gladness. And with Abraham and Sarah and all the saints, We Will Laugh.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture of Abraham viewing the stars from 1919 Bible primer book by Augustana Book Concern)
The Third Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Genesis 8:15-22
In Christ Jesus, who “always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2Co. 2:14), dear fellow redeemed:
After Noah and his family entered the ark, rain fell for forty days and forty nights. It was no gentle rain. Genesis 7 says that “all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened” (v. 11). The water kept rising and rising until the whole earth was covered. The water covered even the highest mountains by fifteen cubits, or more than twenty feet. Every living thing on earth died. If you were to look down on earth from a satellite view, you would have seen only blue. If you zoomed in, you might eventually spy something small floating on that great ocean—the ark.
God preserved Noah and his family and two of each kind of animal on this ark. They floated on the water for five months, everyone getting used to the constant rocking of the boat. Then suddenly they heard the bottom of the boat scrape something, and the rocking stopped. The ark had come to rest on the mountains of Ararat. But it was not time to disembark. Just as Noah waited for God’s command to enter the ark (7:1), so he waited for God’s command to leave it. This command finally came more than one year after they had climbed into the ark.
It was a big boat, but one year was a long time to be in it. I imagine it felt more and more crowded as each day passed. Wouldn’t man and animal be eager to get out and enjoy the land and the fresh air again? But in the back of their minds, perhaps Noah and his family wondered, “Will we be safe? We’ve seen what God can do. We are not perfect. What if He gets angry with us? Are we safer staying in the ark in case this happens again?” God soon put those potential fears to rest. He told Noah and his family to “go out from the ark” and to bring out all the living creatures, so they might “be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
So they went out, and not in the chaotic way we might imagine. By the guidance of God, the animals “went out by families from the ark.” As the animals fanned out in every direction, the first thing Noah did was build an altar to the LORD and offer burnt offerings from the seven pairs of clean animals that he brought on the ark. This sacrifice offered in thanksgiving and praise was pleasing to God. In wording that emphasizes the closeness of God, we read that “the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma.” It wasn’t so much the smell, as the faith by which it was offered.
Before the Flood, the LORD was grieved by the wickedness of man. The stench of their sin filled His nostrils. Now He smelled the soothing aroma of faithfulness. And the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” That is good news for us, but it is a perplexing statement. God is stating that the people who left the ark were not any different by nature than the people who were destroyed. Before the Flood, God saw that “every intention of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually” (6:5). After the Flood, He still saw that “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
Nothing about man had changed. Ever since the fall into sin, every person is born in the image of sinful Adam. His sin is passed down generation to generation. It came down through his children and their children, through Noah and his family members, all the way down to us. The Flood cleansed the earth of wickedness, but it did not wash wickedness from the human heart. So why did the LORD say He would never again destroy the earth like He did in the Flood? It is not because we are better than the people were before the Flood. It is not because we have collectively learned our lesson or somehow deserve the LORD’s goodness.
It is because God is a merciful God. Mercy means not punishing when punishment is deserved. Mercy is not earned by the one who receives it. Mercy comes from the heart of the one who has every right to punish. So a store owner might have mercy by not pressing charges against a thief. A judge might have mercy by commuting the sentence of a criminal. You might have mercy by not treating your neighbors in the hurtful way they have treated you.
You can see how mercy is tied to love. This is how God teaches us to be, to be loving as He loves us. We can certainly see the wrath of God by the destruction of the Flood. But we see His love in sparing Noah and his family, even though they were sinners too. He spared them because He had made a promise. He promised Adam and Eve and all mankind that One would come from the woman to destroy the works of the devil. No one made God make that promise, and when He makes a promise, it cannot be undone.
He could not have destroyed all flesh on the earth and kept that promise. So Noah and his family were spared. He had mercy on them. In His love for the whole human race from Adam to Noah and to the end of time, God chose Noah to be in the line of that promise, to be a forefather of the coming Christ. Just as the days on the ark must have stretched on and on, so did the years from Noah onward. But God did not forget.
Thousands of years after the Flood, the LORD sent John to preach in the wilderness. When Jesus came to be baptized by him, the heavens were opened, and Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit. John now testified to any who would listen, “He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (Joh. 1:33-34).
Jesus showed who He was by His words and works. In the Holy Gospel for today, Jesus described His work to John’s disciples, “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Mat. 11:4-5). This is mercy work. This is God’s demonstration of His love for mankind.
This love was demonstrated even more clearly when Jesus drew all sin to Himself like the animals were drawn to the ark. All sin was sealed up in Him, so sin would no longer be counted against us. Then as God once poured out His wrath on the wicked world, He now poured out His wrath on His only Son.
The LORD said after the Flood, “I will never again curse the ground because of man.” He would not destroy every living creature. But He was willing to put the curse on His Son. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” Jesus was cursed because God is merciful to you. You deserved the punishment Jesus received, but He accepted it for you. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (Joh. 3:17).
So you don’t need to wonder if you are safe with God. You don’t need to worry that He is angry with you because of your weaknesses and sins. He knows that “the intention of [your] heart is evil from [your] youth.” He knows who you are. He knows what you have done. And He chooses to have mercy on you. He has mercy because He is full-of-mercy—merciful. This is how He described Himself to Moses: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exo. 34:6-7).
This is how He looks upon you, with mercy and grace, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving each and every one of your sins. You hear this each week in the ark of the church, before the LORD sends you out again to be fruitful in your vocations. Whether at home or at your job or in the community, like Noah you offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise to God through your honest words, your good efforts, and your godly behavior.
These sacrifices of love rise up as a pleasing aroma to the LORD. He does remember you. You are His beloved child, washed clean of your wickedness by the blood of Jesus, covered in His righteousness through the waters of Holy Baptism. The LORD’s mercy toward you is as certain as the changing of the seasons, “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.” His love for you does not change. “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:23). Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from Saude Lutheran Church stained glass)
The Second Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Genesis 6:9-22
In Christ Jesus, whom we will see “coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luk. 21:27) on the day of judgment, dear fellow redeemed:
When things are not going so well in the nation or in the church, we might find ourselves dreaming about how it would be if certain individuals were still with us. What would George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln say and do about our current challenges on the local and national levels? And in the church, what difference would Martin Luther, C. F. W. Walther, and U. V. Koren make if they were still here preaching and teaching?
For us, these men have been gone a long time. But if we lived in Noah’s day, presumably all these men would still be with us. Genesis 5 gives the ages of Adam and his descendants. Adam lived to be 930 years old. His son Seth lived 912 years. Methuselah, the oldest man named in the Bible and Noah’s grandfather, lived 969 years. So when you overlap the lifetimes of these men, you find that Adam and Methuselah lived concurrently for 243 years.[1] Methuselah’s son Lamech overlapped 56 years with Adam. Now Lamech was Noah’s father! So even though Noah was unable to speak directly with Adam about what happened in the Garden of Eden and the promise God made to crush Satan’s head, Noah’s father certainly could have.
This makes it all the more surprising that the behavior of mankind had degenerated to the point that it had. The reason this had happened is because the people of the promise, the believers, began to intermarry with unbelievers. Why did the believing men do this? We are told it was because the unbelieving women were attractive (Gen. 6:2). Examples like this are why we teach our children to seek out spouses who share the same faith in Christ. A believing spouse can have a beneficial effect on an unbelieving spouse. But the opposite can also be true and often happens, that the faith of a believer is weakened or lost when the unbelieving spouse does not encourage it.
Because of these intermarriages in that early period of history, the community of believers got smaller and smaller, until “the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (v. 5). The first man and first preacher Adam had only recently died, and yet so few cared about God’s promise of salvation. In Genesis 6 just before today’s reading, we are told that “the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth” (v. 6). He decided that He would destroy mankind and all the land animals. Only one man found favor in God’s sight—only Noah.
Noah was described in glowing terms—he was “a righteous man, blameless in his generation”; he “walked with God.” In short, Noah was a believer. He knew that he deserved nothing but damnation for his sins, but he believed God’s promise that a Savior was coming. It broke Noah’s heart to see all the ungodliness around him. How could so many have forgotten their Creator? How could he alone be left? No doubt, the devil attacked Noah with terrible trials and persecutions. Noah was an outcast, despised by everyone. Did he think he was so perfect? What made him so sure that his truth was the right one?
Then God gave Noah an even harder task: build a boat, a great big ark, out in the middle of a field. The ark had to be big enough to hold Noah and his family and two of every kind of animal on the earth with seven pairs of all clean animals. God told him what the dimensions of the ark needed to be: 300 cubits long or about the length of a football field and a half, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits tall which would be all of the height of our church steeple. In Iowa, we have the nice story of the Field of Dreams, but making a baseball field in the country does not seem quite as crazy as building a massive boat! And yet Noah did not question God; “he did all that God commanded him.”
Noah is one of the great fathers in the faith. He is an excellent example for us who are also surrounded by all sorts of violence and godlessness. Noah believed God’s warning even when everyone else ridiculed it. They attacked his family and probably tried to sabotage his work, but Noah kept building. Day after day, he encouraged his family by the Word of God and led them in prayer. Day after day, he did the work God gave him to do. And after a period of perhaps 100 years, the massive ark was ready.
Noah’s neighbors spent no time reflecting on their actions. They felt no remorse. Jesus said that “in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark” (Mat. 24:38). They cared nothing about crazy Noah and his boat, and even less about Noah’s preaching of repentance. But what about when animals started climbing into the ark two by two? “Must be some kind of coincidence” or “witchcraft,” they thought. Then the rain started to fall, and Noah was nowhere to be seen. Then they noticed that the door in the side of the ark was shut….
What happened next is almost too terrible to imagine. The waters rose higher and higher. People desperately looked for higher ground, young and old, rich and poor, but age, health, and position meant nothing. Could Noah and his family hear the screaming? Did anyone try to pry open the door from the outside? The rain poured down, the boat came free of its scaffolding, and then there was no sound but rain on the roof.
The same waters that destroyed all living people and land animals outside the ark saved the people and animals inside the ark. They were waters of destruction and salvation. That’s the same way we think about the waters of Baptism—they are waters of destruction and salvation. Baptism drowned your old Adam and washed away the filth of your sin—everything in you that rebelled against your Creator and separated you from Him. At the same time, Baptism gave you a living faith and raised you up to new life in Christ.
1 Peter 3 ties the Flood and Baptism together: “God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (20-21). You were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection and made a member of His holy body. Your Baptism is when you stepped out of the world of darkness and destruction and into the ark of the Church.
You might think of the time we are in as the time when the ark was nearly finished and the rain was about to fall. Jesus tells us to stay ready. The day of judgment is fast approaching. But then we wonder, “How soon?” Perhaps we can eat and drink with the attractive people of the world a little longer, or at least avoid some uncomfortable interactions by keeping our beliefs quiet. And besides, being in the ark of the Church is not always the most pleasant thing. We may grow tired of the personalities around us, the little annoyances and disagreements, the criticisms and occasional coldness we feel from others. Being cooped up in the Church makes the air seem a little stale. We want to be outside! We want to breathe deeply and live fully!
Some say they don’t need the Church at all because they can worship God just fine on their own. That may be so, but when the wind blows and the waves roll, would you rather be in the large ark in good company or alone in a little fishing boat? God calls us as Christians to hear His Word together, to confess our faith together, to kneel together at His Table, to encourage one another. If we remove ourselves from all Christian fellowship, we can’t do these things.
Being together helps to keep us accountable. In love, your fellow Christians can call you to repentance when you have faltered and fallen into sin. In love, they can also point you to your forgiveness and salvation through Jesus who has redeemed you from sin and death. In love, they can help you stay alert and prepared for the Lord’s return. Jesus says that just as the people in Noah’s day paid no attention to the preaching of the truth and were caught unprepared when the Flood came, “so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Mat. 24:37,39).
In the ark of Christ’s Church, you are kept ready for His coming on the last day. Here in this ark, there are ample supplies—His Word of absolution that frees you from your guilt and comforts you, and the rich food of His body and blood that nourishes and strengthens you and draws you closer together with your fellow believers. With these good supplies, you can weather the storms of temptation and persecution in this world. You can endure suffering because you know that your Lord Jesus Christ is with you, increasing your faith, hope, and love.
You cannot see Him now, and you cannot see how it will be for you on the other side of the storm, but you know He will carry you to safety. That is your certainty. That is your hope. Noah and his family faithfully followed the Word of the Lord and were preserved from the perils of the Flood until they set foot again on a renewed earth. You have the same promise, that your Lord will preserve you until the day of His glorious return when the heavens and the earth will be made new. When that day comes, says Jesus, “straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luk. 21:28).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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[1] For more details about this, see “From Creation to Jacob: Communicating the Promise” by Pr. Joseph Abrahamson: https://steadfastlutherans.org/blog/2016/06/from-creation-to-jacob-communicating-the-promise/.
(picture from stained glass at Redeemer Lutheran Church)
The First Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Genesis 3:14-4:2
In Christ Jesus, the Offspring of the virgin, who was called Immanuel, God with us, dear fellow redeemed:
“The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you.’” What the devil had done was tempt the most special part of God’s creation—mankind—to sin. In the form of or inhabiting a serpent, the devil had approached the first woman with the express purpose of turning her against her Creator. He first tempted her to doubt the Word of God and then to deny the Word of God. She took fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—the one tree God warned Adam not to eat from—, and she ate. Then she gave some of the fruit to Adam “who was with her,” and he ate (Gen. 3:6).
They did not receive what they were looking for. They were hoping to “be like God,” as the devil had promised them. They failed to appreciate that they already were “like God,” made in His holy image (1:26-27). They did receive part of what the devil had promised, the knowledge of good and evil (3:5). They learned that they used to be good as the caretakers of God’s good creation. Now they had become evil, and they viewed God as their enemy.
This is why they went into hiding when they heard Him walking in the garden. They were afraid of Him. What was He going to do to them? Adam surely remembered what God said about that one tree, that “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (2:17). They went into hiding because they did not want to be punished for their sin. They did not want to die. In fact, they already had. They were still breathing, but spiritually, they had died. They were separated from God. They were on the devil’s side now.
But the LORD would not let the devil keep them. Their punishment would not be the same as the devil’s punishment. God extended no grace and hope to the devil, but He did to Adam and Eve. The key verse in today’s reading and perhaps in all of Scripture is verse fifteen. God said this to the devil but for mankind’s benefit: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Just as the devil had manipulated a woman into disobeying God, so it would be through the Offspring of a woman that the devil’s power would be crushed. Martin Luther called this verse the “first comfort, this source of all mercy and fountainhead of all promises” (Luther’s Works, vol. 1, p. 191). He also suggested that God made the prophecy purposely vague, so that the devil would have to fear every woman going forward since any of them might bear the One to destroy him.
God’s promise terrified the devil, but it gave great hope to mankind. God had not changed His mind about death entering the world through sin. But now He delivered the hope of salvation, that One would come to set everything right again, to overcome sin, devil, and death for all humanity. If Adam and Eve thought another path was open to them, that possibility was closed when God posted “the cherubim and a flaming sword” outside the Garden of Eden to keep them away from the tree of life.
There was no other way to be saved than God’s way. Immediately after this, we are told that “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived.” They trusted what God said, that salvation would come through the woman’s Offspring. They hoped their firstborn son was this Savior. They called him “Cain,” a name that means “acquired” or “gotten” because they had “gotten a man from the LORD.” But Cain was not the promised One. The devil poisoned his mind with anger and hatred, leading to the murder of his brother Abel.
God’s promise would not be fulfilled for many, many years. Child after child would be born, grow old, and die. Women had pain in childbearing like God said they would, while enduring the imperfect rule of men. Men toiled in pain by the sweat of their face to make a living, before returning to the ground from which they were made. Decade after decade, generation after generation, brief life to certain death. Still no Savior.
God’s people might have wondered if His promise would be fulfilled, except that He reminded them with clearer and clearer prophecies as the time approached. The Savior would come from the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah (Gen. 49:10). He would be a descendant of King David (Psa. 110). He would be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14). He would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). God waited for thousands of years after making His promise, until “the fullness of time had come” (Gal. 4:4).
Then He sent His angel Gabriel to a virgin named Mary. “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,” said Gabriel, “and you shall call his name Jesus” (Luk. 1:31). “How will this be,” asked Mary, “since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (1:34-35). The time had finally come! The woman’s Offspring was here. God had entered His creation, taking on human flesh. The devil was about to be ruined.
And all of that, the dark day when the world was plunged into sin, the beautiful, first promise of God, the history of every joy and sadness, hope and pain, life and death, all of it was in the background and in Jesus’ mind as He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. “Hosanna to the Son of David!” shouted the people. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mat. 21:9). No one understood what had to be done. No one knew the suffering that Jesus would endure. No one knew what it would take to redeem mankind from the sin that started in Eden.
The death that was brought on the world through a tree had to be undone by death on another tree. The perfection that was lost through sin had to be regained by a perfect sacrifice. The curse of sin had to be directed against One who had never sinned. He had to pay for man’s disobedience. He had to suffer eternal punishment in every person’s place. This is what Jesus, the eternal Son of God, had to do.
He was witness to all that transpired in Eden. He walked with Adam and Eve in perfection and then found them in their sin. He saw all the wickedness that was done from that point on, all the pride, deceitfulness, abuse, unfaithfulness, violence. He was witness to everyone’s sins from Eden onward. And because He is God, He could see even the sins that stretched forward in time, including the sins done in our lifetime, the sins done by us, even our sins today.
What would you think if you had witnessed all that poisonous evil, the terrible pain and destruction, brought about because of mankind’s sins? What would you do? Would you feel compassion for sinners? Or would your anger burn hot against them? Jesus rode forward humbly to His death in every sinner’s place. We hear this Palm Sunday account at the beginning of the Church Year because it teaches us how to think about sin and salvation and Jesus, and how to prepare for His coming.
If any of us is comfortable with our sinning, then we’re not really seeing what Jesus did in Jerusalem. He was not beaten up for anything He had done. He was not driven toward Calvary for His sins. He did not cry out in agony on the cross for His wrongdoing. He was there because of Adam and Eve. He was there because of Cain. He was there because of Abraham and David and Jezebel and Nebuchadnezzar and Mary and Herod and Pontius Pilate—all the sinful people of human history, both prominent and poor, outwardly good and evil. He was there because of you and me, because of our sins.
He was there for you and me. Jesus went to the cross to make satisfaction for our sins. Adam and Eve’s selfishness, shame, and fear—“Put that on Me,” He said. Our lovelessness, our lies, our pride, our pleasure-seeking, our greediness, our despising the holy Word—“I’ll take the punishment,” He said. He paid for the sins of your past, your sins of today, and all the sins that will be done in the future.
This is what God promised right after the fall. This is what He told Adam and Eve and their descendants to look for. This is what He tells us to look to. God kept that first promise from Eden to Jerusalem. We weren’t in the crowd on Palm Sunday, but we should picture ourselves there. While we’re at it, we can picture Adam and Eve standing there in their garments of animal skin with their sons Abel and Seth; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob looking on; David and his descendants watching with joy. We see there a great “cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1), all who waited for God’s promise to be fulfilled.
And we see there all believers who have lived since that time, up to our day and beyond. We stand there, eyes fixed on Jesus, His praise on our lips. We watch Him go forward, carrying the weight of the whole world. He goes to the cross for our sins. He goes to destroy the works of the devil (1Jo. 3:8). He goes there to save us from death.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “The Procession in the Streets of Jerusalem” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The Fourth Sunday of Advent/Christmas Vigil – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Matthew 1:18-25
In Christ Jesus, who is still with us today, dear fellow redeemed:
The people of this world pride themselves on being able to use their human reason to solve all their problems. They don’t need a God. They’re enlightened. However, no matter how “enlightened” the people of this world are, there are still times when they are faced with problems that they can’t solve on their own. So, what do they do in these moments? They lift their eyes to the heavens and say, “Give me a sign!” Yes, even the so called “enlightened” people of this world, who supposedly don’t need God, are at times faced with problems that cause them to hope that a higher power really does exist that can offer them guidance. However, the “higher power” that the people of this world turn to is usually the universe. The “signs” that the people of this world supposedly receive from the universe can be found in just about anything: a book that has been opened to a specific page; a song that is being played on the radio; how the stars in the sky are ordered and what they mean. However, if they were truly looking for signs that would help them solve their problems, they would not look to the “signs” that the universe supposedly gives them, but to the signs that God definitely gives them in his Word, for God’s signs point to salvation.
In our reading for today, we are told that Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary was a sign that God would save his people from their sins. However, the context in which this sign was promised to be given appears to be a bit strange. The prophecy that the sign would happen was given long ago, and by that time, the nation of Israel had split into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The current king of Judah, King Ahaz, had just found out that Israel had joined forces with Syria to wage war against Judah. And so, he was understandably afraid.
Therefore, God instructed the prophet Isaiah to comfort King Ahaz by reassuring him that the house of David would not fall but would be delivered. In addition to these words of comfort, King Ahaz was also told to ask God for a sign so that he would be able to attach his faith in God’s promise to something tangible. However, King Ahaz did not have faith in God, so he refused to ask for a sign, making it appear as though he piously did not want to put God to the test. But God was not fooled, so he responded to King Ahaz by saying through Isaiah, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). This was not a sign that King Ahaz would see in his lifetime, nor would anyone who lived in Judah at that time. But, to those who believed in God, the promise of this sign comforted them and gave them hope for the future, hope that they would not just be delivered from their earthly enemies but also from their sins.
But this sign was not just meant to give hope to the believers who lived in Judah at the time. It was meant to give hope to all believers of all time, including you. The prophecy shows that it was not just the deliverance of his people in the nation of Judah that God had in mind, but also the deliverance of all his people from every nation. By preserving the house of David, God was preserving the line of the Savior, who would come from the house and line of David. That Savior would be no mere man, for a regular man would not even be able to deliver himself, let alone all people. No, that Savior would be God in the flesh, which is what Immanuel means: “God with us.” And this God-man would deliver everyone from their sins, which is what Jesus means: “The LORD saves.”
Even though we were not around to see the sign that God foretold would happen through Isaiah, God has revealed in his Word that it did happen, just as he said that it would. God inspired Matthew to write in our reading for today that “the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (verse 18). The Holy Spirit caused Mary to conceive, despite the fact that she was a virgin, and the baby that was conceived inside her was God in the flesh. Then, as if we needed it to be any clearer that this is how God fulfilled his prophecy to King Ahaz, Matthew goes on to say that “this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet [Isaiah]” (verse 22).
When the God-man, Jesus, came in the flesh, he experienced everything that you do. He didn’t just experience the joys of life, but also the sorrows of life. He faced your temptations and overcame them. He even experienced everything that you rightfully deserved by taking all your sins on himself, suffering your punishment of hell, and dying on the cross in your place. Through all this, Jesus saved you from your sins, and now, life and salvation are yours.
Therefore, whenever you become afraid when faced with your sins and guilt, whenever you are struggling with temptation, or whenever you are going through a difficult time, Jesus assures you through his comforting Word that he has already delivered you from your sins and that he will be there with you to help you overcome your temptations and get through your difficult times. These words of comfort should be all we need to believe in him, but he has also given us tangible signs to attach his promises to, just like he did for King Ahaz. Those tangible signs are the means by which God brings his grace to us: his holy Sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
In holy baptism, the simple means of water is applied to us as his Word is spoken. Since God attaches his Word to the tangible element of water, we know that he is truly with us to give us faith and wash away our sins through those waters. In the Lord’s Supper, the simple means of bread and wine, over which his Word was spoken during the Words of Institution, are fed to us. Since God attaches his Word to the tangible elements of bread and wine, we know that Jesus is truly with us to give us the forgiveness of sins through the bread and wine, which are his true body and blood. It is not the tangible elements themselves that we put our faith in, but they help us to remember what Jesus has truly accomplished through them and that he is still with us.
These are the tangible signs that God has given to us, and how God wants us to receive these signs is shown in Joseph. Our reading for today begins with Joseph finding out that Mary, the woman that he was betrothed to, was pregnant. Using his human reason, he assumed that Mary must have been unfaithful to him and committed adultery. We have the benefit of knowing that it was the Holy Spirit who caused Mary to conceive, but Joseph did not know this at the time. So, assuming that Mary was unfaithful to him was an understandable assumption.
Adultery was very serious in the Jewish community. According to the Old Testament law, if a woman was found guilty of committing adultery, she would be stoned to death. However, Joseph was a just and kind man. He didn’t want Mary to be exposed to public shame and be stoned, so, he decided to divorce Mary as quietly as possible instead, which was the only way to break off a marriage in those days, after which her father would look after her for the remainder of her life.
However, before Joseph could carry out his plan, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him that the one who was conceived in Mary was from the Holy Spirit: the promised Savior who would save his people from their sins whom Isaiah spoke of in his prophecy. Joseph now had two choices: believe what the angel of the Lord said to him and receive the sign of the virgin birth in faith or put his trust in his own human reason and divorce Mary, rejecting the sign. And Joseph, having faith, accepted the sign in faith and went through with taking Mary as his wife, as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
When we try to rely on our human reason more than God and his Word, it only causes us to doubt the words that God says and reject them. A child being born of a virgin? That’s impossible! The evangelists must have actually added this later to make Jesus and Mary seem better than they were. Baptism being a work of God through which God gives us faith and washes away our sins? That’s impossible! Baptism must actually be a human work that symbolizes the washing away of our sins and demonstrates our commitment to God. The bread and the wine in the Lord’s Supper being the true body and blood of Jesus through which we receive the forgiveness of sins? That’s impossible! The bread and the wine must actually symbolize Jesus’ body and blood to remind us of what he did to forgive our sins. And these are only some of the ways in which we can reject what God has revealed to us in his Word.
If we reject God’s signs, like King Ahaz did, then we no longer stand on God’s promises, and our faith cannot endure. Without faith, we lose all the blessings that Jesus, the God-man, won for us on the cross: the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. But when we receive God’s signs in the faith that God has given us, like Joseph did, we know that God has worked through his signs to bring us his blessings.
Because God works through these signs of Word and Sacrament to bring his blessings to us, we know that he is with us today. Jesus didn’t come in the past only to leave us when he ascended into heaven. He is with all of us today, including you. And because Jesus saved you from your sins by his innocent death on the cross and experienced your struggles and hardships, you know that he will continue to bring you the forgiveness of sins and help you through your struggles and hardships today, as well as throughout the rest of your lives, until the day when you enter eternal life in heaven, where you will never struggle or face hardships ever again. In all of these ways that God is with us, we know that God’s signs truly do point to salvation.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “Joseph’s Dream” by T’oros Roslin, 1210-1270)
The Third Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
In Christ Jesus, who continues to carry out His mission of redemption through the efforts of His faithful people, dear fellow redeemed:
His work had started so well. The thirty-something preacher came in with tremendous energy. He maybe wasn’t the greatest looking guy, and he had some strange habits, but there was a magnetism about him. People came from all over to hear him preach—young and old, churched and unchurched; even important people in their expensive clothes came to see “what this is all about.”
He didn’t let anyone off the hook. With biting words, he exposed their sin as though he could see into their hearts. He was not afraid of anyone, from peasant to prince. He preached like there was no tomorrow. “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees,” he cried. “Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Mat. 3:10). But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. He also told them about God’s grace toward sinners. “Repent and be baptized,” he said; “receive the forgiveness of sins.” Some even wondered if he might be the promised Messiah.
But John was not the Messiah. The real Messiah came to John while he was baptizing at the Jordan River. He urged John to baptize Him, and when he did, the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and the Father spoke from above to His “beloved Son,” with whom He was well pleased (Mat. 3:16-17). What an experience! Preacher John now pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh. 1:29).
Just imagine what these two great men could accomplish. Imagine how many people they could reach by working together. But that isn’t exactly how it went. They did work simultaneously for a little while, and then John’s disciples started to see the crowds shrinking. They realized the crowds were leaving John and going to Jesus! But John was not upset. “I am the friend of the bridegroom,” he said. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Joh. 3:29,30).
John did decrease, very quickly. He called out the adultery of King Herod, who had taken his brother Philip’s wife for himself. So Herod arrested John and put him in prison (Mat. 14:3-4). That is where we find him in the Holy Gospel for today—in prison (Mat. 11:2-10). What good could John do there? He longed to be back out in the Judean wilderness, preaching by the Jordan. A few faithful disciples continued to visit him through his bars. Perhaps that’s why John sent them to question Jesus; he knew his time was short. It was the Bridegroom who mattered.
Would you say that John had a successful ministry? Since He pointed out Jesus as the Messiah, the answer must be yes. But if that had happened in this church, if a fiery preacher had attracted such crowds that all the pews were filled, and it was standing room only. If that preacher helped put your church on the map where it belonged, but then the crowds started thinning and the cars stopped pulling up for Sunday service until it was back to just you. And then to top it all off, that once-popular preacher ended up in prison. Would you be glad for the high point, or would it just depress you to think about what you used to have?
It is tempting to think about success in the church by numbers. You might think back to when each row of pews had people in them, when every member’s social life and spiritual life were largely intertwined and centered in the church. For example, the Young People’s Society had enough kids to raise money for Jerico’s large stained-glass windows. There wasn’t enough room in our church basements for congregational dinners. What has changed? People have more commitments away from home, more on the schedule. Families are smaller than they used to be. Fewer people live near the churches. Church attendance is falling in all mainline denominations. These things are true.
But perhaps you also wonder if the church would do better if it changed a little more with the times. Maybe if we weren’t so strict about moral issues, or if we gave a little ground on our Communion practice or our style of worship. Or maybe it seems like the pastor could do different things to connect with the members and the community—get a stronger youth program going, offer more classes, do more to reach out.
Every pastor wants to be a good pastor, but he often has doubts. “What could I be doing better? Has my presence here really made a positive difference? Would the parish be better off if I left, and someone else stepped in?” How is a congregation supposed to measure its pastor? How is a pastor supposed to assess his own work?
The apostle Paul outlines the standard. He does not mention a trajectory of growth in membership. He does not identify the level of happiness and satisfaction that should be felt by parishioners and pastor. Paul says this about how people should think of pastors: “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
So the important question for parishioners is not first and foremost, “Do I like my pastor?” or “Is my pastor a really good preacher or teacher?” or “Has he brought in new members?” The important question is, “Do I recognize that my pastor, even with all his weaknesses and quirks, is a ‘servant of Christ’? Do I acknowledge that God has put him here to distribute His gifts through His Holy Word and Sacraments?” That is the true measure of a pastor, that he faithfully carries out these duties the congregation has called him to do.
And a pastor should not focus on the appearance of success through things like an increase in church activity and involvement. Paul continues: “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” To be found “trustworthy” means that pastors are faithful to the Word of God. They must be faithful to the Word before they are faithful to any member of the congregation, no matter how influential those members might be. Sometimes that faithfulness to the Word requires them to confront members with their sins and call them to repentance like John the Baptizer did. A pastor’s faithfulness to the Word might even make him some enemies both inside and outside the church.
So there can be tension at times between pastors and parishioners. Paul expresses this tension by telling the congregation in Corinth, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court…. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment.” The times when it is certainly proper for a congregation to judge its pastor and call him to account is if he is preaching false doctrine, if he is leading an openly sinful life, or if he refuses to carry out the duties he is called to do. But it is not proper to judge him for personality shortcomings, for unrealistic or unmet expectations, or for declines in offerings or church attendance.
Most pastors do a good enough job judging themselves without needing parishioners to do it too. Many would have a hard time saying with Paul, “For I am not aware of anything against myself.” Pastors are well aware of their mistakes and failures. So here we are: a sinful pastor preaching to sinful parishioners. What hope do we have for the future? What reasons do we have for optimism?
Today’s reading reminds us that we have “the mysteries of God.” God’s own mysteries have been revealed to us! These mysteries all have their source in the one central mystery of God. That central mystery is Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). It is the mystery of the all-powerful Son of God nestled as an infant in Mary’s arms. It is the mystery of this person maintaining perfect purity according to the holy Law throughout His life. It is the mystery of this perfect man willingly taking the place of all sinners under God’s wrath. It is the mystery of a dead man coming back to life after three days to declare His victory over sin, devil, and death.
These mysteries have been revealed to you and to me through the Word of God, along with still more mysteries: Jesus’ righteousness, grace, and life bestowed by simple water and His Word. Jesus’ forgiveness imparted through the Absolution. Jesus’ body and blood tied to the elements of bread and wine by the power of His Word. These gifts of Jesus all come to us through faith, which the Holy Spirit has worked inside us.
What a mystery that the Son of God was willing to suffer and die to save us sinners! What a mystery that He calls us His own, even though we are so often weak and cold-hearted! What a mystery that He remains patient with us, visits us with His mercy through the means of grace, and sends us out as His own stewards and representatives to do His work! What mysteries! What blessings!
Because Jesus is at work among us according to His promise, we are assured of success. It may or may not be success in attendance numbers, offering amounts, or admiration from the people in our community. To many people, it may appear that what we are doing does not matter, just as it may have appeared to the people around John that his work was all for nothing once he was put in prison. But that is not how God sees it at all.
Paul writes that when our Lord Jesus comes, He “will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation—his praise—from God.” God sees things as they really are. He sees the humble support and encouragement that parishioners give their pastors. He sees the often unheralded but crucial work that pastors do for the people they serve. As unimpressive as all of it seems, it all flows from the love of Christ, and it all points back to Him. That makes the work we do together in Jesus’ name the picture of success.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “The Preaching of St. John the Baptist” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1565)