Quinquagesima Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Luke 18:31-43
In Christ Jesus, who is patient and kind, ever ready to show mercy in our suffering and helplessness, dear fellow redeemed:
How can you tell if you love someone, and how can you tell if they love you? Is it by how they look? This might be the reason for an initial attraction. A girl thinks a boy is handsome, or a boy thinks a girl is pretty. That could be the beginning of a crush—what is sometimes called “love at first sight”—, but that’s not exactly love. Love is much deeper than physical appearance or a feeling of attraction. And love is more than romantic or flattering words.
Today’s Epistle Lesson from 1 Corinthians 13 describes love as selfless action: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (vv. 4-6). “Love at first sight” is more about what you could do for me. Love that flows from Jesus is about what I can do for you.
And what did Jesus say He would do for others? He said, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise.” The disciples did not hear this as love. They heard it as suffering and especially as loss—their loss. They had big plans for Jesus and for themselves as His closest associates. Those plans did not include Jesus’ suffering and death.
Instead of letting Jesus’ plan and promise “sink into [their] ears” (Luk. 9:44), they insisted on their own way. And if they had gotten their way, they might have enjoyed more earthly glory, but neither they nor we would have a Savior. Jesus’ love for sinners compelled Him toward suffering and the cross. Nobody forced Him to go to Jerusalem; He went willingly.
That’s another quality of godly love—it can’t be forced. When love is a “have to,” it is motivated by the Law. When love is a “get to,” it is motivated by the Gospel. The Law says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and mind… and your neighbor as yourself” (Mat. 22:37,39). But only the Gospel can move our hearts to show this love gladly and freely. Only when we have been brought to faith by the Holy Spirit, can we bear the fruit of love toward others.
Jesus was acting out of love when He explained what He would do in Jerusalem. He was going there to pay for the sins of all people of all time, even though He had never done any wrong. This was the ultimate act of love, accepting the eternal punishment that everyone else deserved. The disciples in their selfishness would have stopped Him from going to do this, but His love for them and us compelled Him forward.
As He made His way toward Jerusalem, a large crowd went with Him. It was shortly before this that Jesus had raised His friend Lazarus from the dead, and He continued to do other miracles besides. The reports of His miraculous power traveled in every direction, and they also reached the ears of a blind man who lived in or near the town of Jericho in Judea. He was begging by the road outside of town when the crowd passed by with Jesus. As soon as he learned that Jesus was near, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The members of the crowd had referred to Him as “Jesus of Nazareth,” but the blind man called him “Jesus, Son of David.” This tells us that from the reports he heard about Jesus, he was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, the Savior long-promised to Israel. Though he could not see physically, the blind man “saw” Jesus by faith. He believed what He had heard about Him. He is a wonderful example of what Jesus later said to His disciple Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Joh. 20:29).
This man’s faith shines the more brightly when we think about his situation. He was blind and probably had been his whole life. He had no source of income, so he was forced to beg on the side of the road. If you were in his shoes (assuming he had any), would you be more likely to complain about what God wasn’t doing for you or cling to His promises? Trust Him to provide for you or turn away from Him?
Jesus heard the blind man’s cry for mercy, just as He hears yours. Psalm 34 says, “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry” (v. 15, NKJV). Perhaps no one else knows your particular struggle, your pain, how helpless you sometimes feel. But He does. For you, He was “mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.” He was treated like the blind beggar on the side of the road that no one wanted to look at or listen to. “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3).
He endured all this trouble and suffering, so you would have hope in your trouble and suffering. Maybe you have been hurt or harmed by those who were supposed to love you. Maybe you feel like your efforts to love have been thrown back in your face. That is a lonely place to be in, like being stuck by yourself in the darkness.
Jesus does not leave you alone. He does not withhold His mercy from you. Look how personally He dealt with the blind man. “Bring him here to Me,” He said. Then He asked the blind man this grace-filled question: “What do you want Me to do for you?” This is how Jesus invites you to pray. He says, “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luk. 11:9). No problem is too big or too small for Him. No request is too hard. You don’t always know what is best for yourself, but He does, and He wants you to bring your petitions to Him.
The blind man said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” He said this about his physical sight, but we say the same about our faith. The less we hear Jesus’ Word, the less clear His love for us is. The more we hear His Word, the clearer He is to our faith. Our sinful flesh and the temptations of the world and the devil cloud our faith. We get to thinking too much about human glory like the disciples did. We become bitter dwelling on what we should have received but didn’t. But getting exactly what we want when we want it is not the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is.
That’s another lesson the blind man teaches us. If you had been blind your whole life and could suddenly see, what would you do? Where would you go? This is what the formerly blind man did: he “followed [Jesus], glorifying God.” Whether physically blind or seeing, what mattered most was that this man believed in Jesus. Jesus said as much, “your faith has made you well.”
When we come to church, one of the first things we do is confess our sins. We acknowledge that our spiritual vision is not as sharp as it should be. Our love is lacking. Our faith is weak. As we confess, we say with the blind man, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” “Let Your mercy be upon me. Let me see Your love. Forgive me all my sins. Show me the light of Your grace.” And Jesus says through the mouth of the pastor, “I forgive you all your sins. Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”
The faith that you have, that the Holy Spirit worked in you through the powerful Word, is what connects you to the love of God in Christ Jesus. Faith sees Jesus “mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon,” flogged, and nailed to a cross and says, “Jesus did that to redeem me.” Faith hears Jesus cry, “It is finished!” and says, “He finished the work for me to win my salvation.” Faith sees the empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning and declares, “Jesus conquered death for me.”
Jesus did more than tell you He loves you. He showed it. And He keeps showing it by calling you back to the grace of your Baptism by which He joined you to Him, by filling you with comfort through His Word of absolution, and by strengthening you through the Supper of His holy body and blood. He is not about to pass you by, especially in your times of greatest suffering and need. Whether you are in Jerico, Iowa, or Jericho in the Middle East, He comes to you in love through His Holy Word.
We won’t fully understand the extent of His love in this life. Our sinful flesh keeps us from seeing it in all its “breadth and length and height and depth” (Eph. 3:18). But the day will come when we will see Jesus as He is. Like the blind man who had the shadows lifted from his sight, we will look upon Jesus in His glory and see perfect love embodied in Him. 1 Corinthians 13, the great love chapter, describes how this will be: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (v. 12).
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 “Jesus Healing the Blind in Jericho,” Netherlands 1470s)
Sexagesima Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Luke 8:4-15
In Christ Jesus, who promises all who abide in His Word that they are His disciples, set free from sin, death, and every lie of the devil (Joh. 8:31-32), dear fellow redeemed:
If we studied Jesus’ parable by itself without the interpretation He gave, we would miss the point of the whole thing. We might first of all question the method of the farmer who sowed the seed. Couldn’t he be a little more precise about where the seed was broadcast? Three quarters of the seed fell where it was unable the survive and thrive—the hard path, the rocky ground, and the patch of thorns. Only one quarter fell into the good soul, grew up, and yielded fruit. We might conclude that it was the farmer’s fault that the seed did not do better.
Or perhaps we would blame the difficult conditions for growing seed. With all the birds flying around, with all the rocks, and with all the thorns, what chance could the seed have? It seems that the seed was destined to fail. Or possibly some would also criticize the seed. If the seed were better engineered to handle the challenging conditions, a crop could grow even there.
But Jesus does not interpret the parable in this way. His focus is not on the one who scattered the seed, the challenging conditions, or the seed itself. His focus is on the people who hear His words. As He spoke the words of the parable, He called out to everyone around Him, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” That should have told the people that Jesus wanted them to learn something from His words, something that applied to their faith and salvation. But what were they supposed to learn? Were they the farmers? Were they the seed? Were they the birds, the bad ground, or the good ground?
Jesus’ disciples were not sure themselves, but they knew this was important. They asked Him what the parable meant. We learn to ask the same question from our study of the Catechism. We recite something from the Bible like the Ten Commandments, and we ask after each one: “What does this mean?” We don’t just want to know the words, we want to understand them. We want to know how they apply to our lives. We want to meditate on what God is saying and receive the rich blessings He wants to give.
But many don’t take the time to dig into the Word like this. They have a basic understanding of who God is and what Jesus has done, but they don’t go any further. They think they know as much as they need. They don’t have any strong desire to learn more.
This is something like people who have never watched a football game before. They turn it on and figure out that the players with light stretchy pants are going against the players with dark stretchy pants. They both want to play with the same ball. Sometimes they throw it, sometimes they kick it, and sometimes they steal it. They seem to want to punish one another. That kind of watching might entertain to some extent. But the game means a lot more when you know the strengths and weaknesses of each player, and how the offense and defense are looking for leverage against each other.
The more understanding you have, the more appreciation you have. Isn’t that how love develops between a young man and a young woman? They want to spend time with each other, learn about one another’s likes and dislikes, talk about their difficulties and their dreams. You and I won’t have a love for God’s Word unless we spend time with God’s Word, learning what He has done for us and how He wants us to live, sharing our problems with Him through prayer and hearing about the plans He has for us.
So we don’t read the Bible like an ancient history book, as though it’s only about things long past. We don’t read it like an instruction book that we can set aside as soon as we know the rules. We don’t read it like a children’s book either, looking only for a cute story or a simple message. We take the Bible in our hands and soak it in line by line like the love letter that it is. We pour over it as we would the smallest details on a treasure map. We read a passage and then read it again and again, absorbing the words, chewing on them.
I heard about one Christian who writes a new Bible passage on a small piece of paper every day and pulls it out of his pocket throughout the day to keep it in his head. Others read a portion from their Bible each day. They have maybe read the Bible multiple times and are constantly surprised by what they didn’t notice before. There is no right or wrong way to meditate on the Word of God, as long as we are letting His Word speak for itself. We don’t come up with our own unique interpretations of His Word. We read a passage in its context; we compare one passage with another, this part with that part, and the interpretation becomes clear.
In today’s reading, Jesus provides the interpretation for His own parable. After His disciples asked, “What does this mean?” Jesus explained how to understand and apply each part. He did not identify the farmer who sowed the seed, so that is not a detail we need to explore. The seed is the Word of God. And all the types of ground—the hard path, the rocky ground, the patch of thorns—are those who hear the Word.
The seed was the same wherever it fell; all hear the same powerful Word of God’s grace. This shows how God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Ti. 2:4). He generously broadcasts His Word, so that it is heard by people who might not seem to be good soil for the Word. But sometimes they are! Since we do not know in whom the Lord will work faith, our mission as members of His Church is to “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mar. 16:15), to “Go… and make disciples of all nations” (Mat. 28:18).
Since we are all born with the same original sin, none of us is a naturally “good” candidate to hear His Word and believe. Even we who believe need encouragement to “hold fast” His Word because we are always tempted to loosen our grip, to let other things become more important. When Jesus describes the reasons people lose faith, He is not providing a list of excuses. He is not telling us why some are justified in rejecting what they have heard.
The devil snatches the Word from some hearts because the people who hear pursue temptation instead of faithfulness. The seed in the rocky soil does not take root because some turn away from God in times of testing and difficulty instead of turning toward Him. The seed choked by thorns is when priority is given to “the cares and riches and pleasures of life,” when faith is taken for granted instead of being fortified and strengthened.
These things can happen to any of us, and at various points in our life, they probably have. But our Lord is merciful. When He sows His Word, He does not snatch it away from us. He does not withhold the moisture of His “living water” so that our faith cannot sink down roots. He does not send thorny trials to choke our faith. It’s just the opposite: “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench” (Isa. 42:3).
He wants you to hear His holy, soul-saving Word. He wants you to hear the message again and again that He loves you—even weak, unworthy you. He wants His sweet words of absolution to sink into your ears and heart, that He forgives every single one of your sins. He wants you to be confident that “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isa. 1:18). He wants to assure you that a place is prepared for you in His kingdom, and that He will come back in glory to take you there.
When you receive these words in faith, trusting His gracious promises, gaining the comfort He wants you to have, this is the “good soil” in which His Word does powerful work. The more we hear the Word, the better and more fruitful becomes the soil of our hearts. You have seen this in your own life, that difficulties you could not have managed on your own, God gave you the strength for. People you could not have forgiven on your own, God moved you to forgive.
The Word of God is “living and active” (Heb. 4:12). It does not return to Him empty but accomplishes what He wills (Isa. 55:11). His Word creates the faith and strengthens the faith that bears fruit toward the people around us—the good fruit of love, kindness, faithfulness, patience (Gal. 5:22-23)—in our homes, our church, and our community.
Today’s parable is Jesus’ word to us. His message rings out even to the other side of the world and thousands of years after He originally spoke it: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And when we listen, when we treasure up all these things and ponder them in our hearts (Luk. 2:19), Jesus leans toward us and says, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God.” To you! To know the secrets of the kingdom of God!
The secrets are that you are not meant for this world; you are meant for something much greater. You are not destined to die and remain dead; you are destined to live. “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). Jesus came to save you, and He wants you to know it.
Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word
We are gathered all to hear Thee;
Let our hearts and souls be stirred
Now to seek and love and fear Thee,
By Thy teachings, sweet and holy,
Drawn from earth to love Thee solely. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #1, 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 Hortus Diliciarum, a book compiled by Herrad of Landsberg in the 12th century)
The Fourth Sunday of Easter – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Judges 2:10-23
In Christ Jesus, whom God the Father sent to save us from all the enemies who tempted and afflicted us, dear fellow redeemed:
I have had the experience multiple times that I am talking with strangers, and they find out I am a pastor, or I ask them if they ever go to church. And they respond with something like, “Fire would probably drop out of the sky on me if I tried to walk into a church.” Or, “If they knew the things I have done, no one would want me there.” Or, “It’s too late for me.” Their underlying assumption is that they have been too bad or sinned too much to be forgiven.
This is a good opportunity to assure them that “the blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin (1Jo. 1:7), even the sins we think are unforgiveable. The very fact that a Christian is having a conversation like this with a non-Christian shows that God is a gracious God who wants all sinners to come to repentance and faith. But we Christians who know this also wonder sometimes if we have sinned too much to be forgiven. We ask ourselves, “If I were in God’s place, would I still be patient with me? Would I still love me?” We wonder how it will go for us when we finally do “meet our Maker.”
Today’s reading gives us a good picture of who that Maker is and how He operates. What we have in Judges 2 is a summary of what the rest of the book is about. It gives the pattern of the Israelites being tempted toward the gods of the Canaanites and worshipping these false gods. Then the LORD allowed their enemies to oppress them. Then the people cried out for deliverance. Then the LORD in His mercy sent judges to save them. This happened again and again.
What was so appealing about the gods of the Canaanites? Our reading states that the Israelites “abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.” The Canaanites believed that the god Baal brought the rain that caused all life to spring forth. Asherah was a female goddess associated with fertility. The pagan people worshipped Baal and Asherah by engaging in sexual intercourse on hills and other high places, so these make-believe gods would be pleased and would bring fruitfulness to the land.
The Israelites looked at their own religion of strict moral law and of restraining their sinful inclinations, and it didn’t seem nearly as exciting and fulfilling as the religion of the Canaanites. So as today’s reading says, “they whored after other gods.” They rejected the true God, the God who loved them. The same thing happens today. We teach the holy Commandments of God which were given for our protection and blessing and also as a check on our sinful nature. But many reject His Commandments because they want to live their own way, walk their own path, answer to no one but themselves.
That approach to life does sound appealing. But what has this self-centered attitude done to our culture and our communities? It has caused many to walk away from marriage and having children. When there are children, many of them grow up in broken homes. People are lonely, even as there are supposedly more and more ways to “stay connected.” Many wonder what the purpose of life is, and they try to fill the emptiness with possessions, entertainment, and pleasure.
When this happens among the baptized, those whom God in His mercy has brought out of darkness into His marvelous light, whom He has claimed as His own and covered in His righteousness—when this happens to us His people, He may try to wake us up like He did the Israelites. Our reading says, “He gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And He sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies…. [T]he hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned…. And they were in terrible distress.”
A wake up call is not always pleasant. I imagine you have had a number of these as I have. You had to learn the hard way that you were neglecting your spouse, neglecting your family, neglecting your health. Your priorities were out of whack. Your Bible and devotion books were collecting dust. You felt stuck and unsettled. And somehow the Lord exposed your selfishness, or your pride, or your dishonesty, or your stubbornness.
Maybe it was through a sermon or through a conversation with a friend. Maybe it was because someone called you out, or you came to the realization by your own reflection. It hurts to go through this. It hurts to admit you were wrong, that you haven’t made good decisions, that you are not as right as you want to think. But that very recognition of your own weakness and failure, that is a gift from God. It shows He has not left you or rejected you. Once He has broken down your sinful works, He can build something better in you and with you.
This is why He sends crosses and trials; He does it to refine and strengthen our faith. It is too easy to take our prosperity and success for granted like the Israelites did, and to ignore the Word of God like they did. So God uses the troubles we experience to lead us to repentance, to an honest assessment of ourselves. And He uses our troubles to draw us closer to Him. He is not a “three strikes and you’re out” God, a God whose anger against our sin just keeps building and building until His wrath explodes against us.
Certainly His anger is kindled by continuous sinning, like it was toward the Israelites. But the afflictions He sent their way were done out of love. He did not want to lose them forever. He was ready to have mercy on them and eager to forgive them. Today’s reading says, “For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.” He wanted to save them. He wanted them to have relief from their troubles and to know that He, the only true God, was their God.
The Lord was patient with them. None of us would have been as patient with the Israelites as He was toward them. He had brought them out of slavery in Egypt, led them to the Promised Land, given them victory over their enemies, and handed them a beautiful place to live. They repaid Him by worshipping the false gods of the peoples they had defeated. Still, the LORD called them back. Still, He rescued them. Still, He blessed them.
The Lord Is just as Patient with You. He brought you out of the slavery of sin at your Baptism, taught you His unchanging truth throughout your years, absolved you of your sins week after week, and regularly called you to His holy Supper where He gives His own body and blood for your spiritual and eternal good. How have you thanked Him for these gifts? How have your words and actions in your day-to-day life shown your appreciation for what He has done?
When we reflect on this, we see that we are no more deserving of His grace than the Israelites were, but He gives it to us just as He gave it to them. When all we had done was sin, God the Father sent His holy Son to take our place. He sent His Son to be born of Mary, who descended from the same wayward Israelites we are hearing about today. Despite their tremendous sins against Him, God kept His promise to send a Savior and carried it out through them. Though they were faithless, He remained faithful; He could not deny Himself (2Ti. 2:13).
He is also faithful toward you. 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” He wants you every day to repent of your sin and trust His promises. He wants you to rely on Him in times of trouble and triumph, sadness and joy, in good days and bad. The love He has for you is not some weak connection that could easily break and separate you from Him. He loves you with a strong love, a love so strong that He sacrificed His only Son for your salvation.
His Son had the same love for you. He willingly accepted your hurtful words and selfish actions. He paid the penalty for your dishonesty and pride. He suffered for your sinful stubbornness. He died for you, so that you would not be overcome by your spiritual enemies but would rest securely in His grace. His death on the cross for all sin means you have not sinned too much to be forgiven. The fact that you are sitting here today listening to His Word shows that He is merciful to you and wants you to know His love for you.
In His love, He promises to turn your times of suffering and trial into good. It is always tempting to dwell on the suffering, but it is better to cling to our Lord’s promise, the promise He spoke to His disciples in the Holy Gospel. Jesus said to them and us, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (Joh. 16:22).
The Lord, who died and rose again in victory, is with you each step of the way, ever-patient, always gracious, bearing your griefs and carrying your sorrows. He brings you comfort and joy as He meets you in His powerful Word and Sacraments. And He prepares you to greet Him when He returns on the last day to give you eternal salvation. On that day, you will praise Him for His patience with you, and your heart will be filled with a heavenly joy that no sadness or trouble will ever take away.
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 altar painting)
Midweek Lent 2 – Pr. Abraham Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 26:1-2
William Miller predicted that Christ’s second coming would be on April 18, 1844. After that date passed, a disciple of Miller predicted October 22, 1844. Charles Russell, a Jehovah Witness, predicted that Christ would return in 1874. A Russian Mennonite, Claas Epp predicted that Christ would return on March 8, 1889. These are names of people that you have probably never heard of. Why? Because they join a long list of many other people who have predicted things about Christ and other events, which never came true.
These people are examples of modern-day false prophets. Yet, false prophets are nothing new to our times. The Lord even had to warn the people of Israel about false prophets who claimed to have revelations and prophecies from God. The Lord gave criterion to identify true and false prophets. A true prophet was someone who may be enabled by the Lord to perform great miracles. Also important, was that everything a prophet speaks would be in alignment with God’s Word (Deut. 13:1–5). Yet, one of the most obvious marks of a true prophet was that their prophecies came true. If a prophet’s words didn’t come true, clearly, they were not from God. Deuteronomy 18:22 states, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
Jesus was the greatest of all prophets. He is the one whom Moses foretold, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15). In our Lenten series this year, we are looking at some of the prophecies made by Christ during Holy Week. Tonight, our Savior foretells that he would be delivered for crucifixion.
During his earthly ministry Jesus was transparent to his disciples about his purpose and work. Yet, in the last year of his ministry, and especially the week before his crucifixion, we see his discussions with his disciples becoming more and more clear about how and where he would accomplish our salvation. In the Gospel of Matthew alone, Jesus had already foretold of his suffering and death to his disciples three times (Matthew 16:21–23,17:22–23, 20:17–19). He would go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, and on the third day he would rise. He would be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes who would condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified.
Jesus had foretold where and how he would die. In our lesson, Jesus foretells when he would be crucified, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Jesus is speaking fact. Jesus is saying to his disciples, “You know after two days the Passover is coming. Just as certainly as this, I will be handed over to be crucified.”
Here Jesus is indicating more than a prediction and more than supernatural knowledge. This was an act of determining, or fixing, the time of his death. Jesus is demonstrating his authority over all things. Regardless of any plans of the Jewish leaders, it would be as he directs—Thursday night and Friday, and no other time. Jesus’ words were making reality.
What’s hard for us to wrap our heads around is that Jesus was in control. He speaks as if it already happened, because what God determines will come to pass. Jesus showed his power by this prediction, a prediction in which he will be made powerless. He is showing his authority by fixing the time of his suffering, a time where he would submit himself under the authority of a kangaroo court and Pontius Pilate. With this prophecy Jesus is showing his power and authority over time. He is in control. Yet, it’s a paradox, what he causes to be, will make him look powerless, weak, and destroyed.
Jesus was not only a true prophet in the sense that his word came true. He showed his power and control over all things by fixing the exact time of his crucifixion. If you had the same power as Jesus, to not only know the future, but be in control of your future, how would you use it? I’m willing to wager that if we had the power over our future, we certainly would not be planning our own demise. We would not plan our own suffering and humiliation, and a horrible death which was saved for only the worst type of criminals. Instead, we would make a future where we would have peace, relaxation, and glory—where we wouldn’t face hardship, sorrow, or shame. We would want to avoid all pain. If we had this power, we would obviously want to make ourselves as happy as possible.
But not Jesus. He gave up his power and glory in heaven when he humbled himself to be born of a virgin. He gave up the peace of heaven to live an innocent life where he was rejected by his own people, wrongly convicted, beaten, mocked, and crucified. What could drive Jesus to do all this? If Jesus had the power to change his future, why on earth would he choose this path?
Because if he didn’t, it would be you convicted, beaten, mocked, and cast to hell for all eternity. We so often think very little about our sins. You don’t think your selfishness is that sinful, don’t I deserve better? You think your hatred of your neighbor is justified. You think your desire for more and more and more isn’t greed, but healthy ambition. You think your lust which you hold in your heart for someone who is not our spouse isn’t that bad. But any sin, no matter how small we might tell ourselves it is, deserves hell. Scripture says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10).
Christ chose the path of the cross because he loves you. Because he wanted to save you from what you deserve. He gladly received what he did not deserve, so that you could receive forgiveness and his undeserved kindness. God is love and in Christ we see God’s love. Scripture says, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:9–10).
In our lesson, Jesus prophesied when he would be crucified. When we hear this prediction, we should realize Christ’s love for us. His death was no accident or coincidence. It was all part of his plan to save you. Not only did all of Jesus’ prophecies come to be, but Jesus also fulfilled all the prophecies about himself. “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed… And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53).
Jesus showed himself to be a true prophet because his word came to be, which means you can trust his word. His word which says, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37); “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28); “Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2); “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25); “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).
Jesus is the greatest of all prophets. Even now as our resurrected Lord, he continues to carry out his prophetic office by sending preachers to preach his word. So that men, women, and children sitting in pews in Iowa 2,000 years later and over 6,000 miles from his empty tomb, might learn about their Savior. The names of false prophets come and go. But our Savior’s name will forever be. His name is Jesus, “because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Amen.
(picture from “Jesus Discourses with His Disciples” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The First Sunday after the Epiphany – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Genesis 27:1-19
In Christ Jesus, Himself a Child within an earthly home, who with heart still undefiled did to manhood come (ELH #187, v. 2), so that His righteous life would be credited to us, dear fellow redeemed:
If you are from a family of more than one child, which one of you was the favorite? The older children can say, “Mom and Dad were so happy with us that they thought they would have more kids… but it didn’t work out like they hoped.” The younger ones can say, “Dad and Mom kept hoping for something better until they got to us.” These comments are all made in good fun. As much as we might try to get our parents to name their favorites, we know this would not be helpful to anyone.
Today’s reading gives us a clear example of favoritism in a family and the difficulties it caused. We heard last week how Isaac and Rebekah were unable to have children until twenty years into their marriage when God blessed them with twin sons. Carrying twins would be challenging enough, but in Rebekah’s case, her boys struggled inside her. It caused her such discomfort and pain that “she went to inquire of the LORD” (Gen. 25:22), probably through a prophet. She received this response: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger” (v. 23).
When her sons were born, the first baby was all red and his body was like a hairy cloak. He was called “Esau,” a name like the Hebrew word for “red.” The second baby came out hanging on to his brother’s heel, so he received the name “Jacob,” a name that means “heel grabber.” As they grew older, rough-and-tumble Esau, an outdoorsman and hunter, was favored by his father, while mild-mannered Jacob who stayed close to home was favored by his mother.
It is clear that the question of who was to be the chief heir of the family was on each of their minds. Esau was in the position of inheritance as the firstborn, but Rebekah could not forget the LORD’s prophecy about how “the older shall serve the younger.” Once when Esau returned home exhausted, he demanded that Jacob give him some of the stew he had prepared. Jacob sensing an opportunity said, “Sell me your birthright now” (v. 31). In other words, give up the right of the firstborn. And Esau replied, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” (v. 32). So Esau gave up his birthright for a bowl of stew, so little did he regard the promise of inheritance and of the coming Savior.
But it seems that Isaac was not convinced that Rebekah understood the prophecy in the right way. Perhaps through the struggle in her womb, thought Isaac, the younger Esau had prevailed and passed by his brother Jacob. Even by appearance, Esau was obviously the stronger of the two, and the prophecy said, “the one shall be stronger than the other.” Rebekah remained convinced that the son born last should be regarded as the first. Today’s reading shows us that the question had not been settled between husband and wife.
Isaac made it known to Esau that he intended to give him the official family blessing. Esau would inherit the largest portion. Esau would be the leader of the clan. Esau would be the heir of the promise. Rebekah overheard that conversation and quickly made a plan. Jacob would pretend to be Esau in order to receive his father’s blessing. The reason she thought they could pull it off is because Isaac in his old age had become nearly blind. Rebekah justified these actions by holding to the Word she had heard from the LORD, that the younger should prevail.
So Jacob dressed in Esau’s clothes, he covered his hands and neck with goat skin so his skin would seem rough like Esau’s, and he brought food for his father like the food Esau often prepared. And as crazy as the plan seemed, it actually worked. Despite some suspicions, Isaac bestowed the family blessing on Jacob including these words, “Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (27:29). So Jacob received the blessing as the LORD intended. Everything turned out well! Except for the fact that Esau now hated his brother and made plans to kill him when their father died (v. 41).
Nobody comes out of this account looking very righteous. Isaac ignored or explained away the prophecy his wife received. Rebekah schemed to deceive her husband. Esau showed in various ways his rejection of God’s will. Jacob lied several times to his father. Does it surprise you to learn these things about Isaac and Jacob, two of the prominent fathers of the faith in Old Testament times?
What we find in the household of Isaac and Rebekah is not so different from what could be found in our own homes. Perhaps the sins of our household don’t look exactly like theirs, but sins are certainly there. In our homes, husband and wife do not always get along. They do not always willingly and humbly serve one another. Sometimes they get angry with each other and speak harshly to each other. Children do not always obey their parents. They seek to deceive them, they lie to them, and they speak disrespectfully to them. Siblings fight with one another, hurt each other, possibly even express hatred toward one another wishing that their brother or sister were dead.
You know the sins of your own household. You know the part you played in the conflicts from your youth to the present day. You know that you and your family are not as righteous as you would like people to think. We can be grateful that the details of our home life are not recorded in the pages of Scripture for everyone to read like Isaac’s and Rebekah’s were. But their family conflicts are not included to give us something interesting to read and make judgments about. Their family conflicts are included because they relate directly to God’s promise that a Savior would come through their line.
Even in this household of sinners, through these flawed and selfish individuals, God kept His promise. He chose them by grace to carry the seed that would one day take shape in the womb of a woman named Mary. God does great things even in our own sinful homes. He gives us opportunities each day for humble service to one another, opportunities to forgive each other’s wrongs, opportunities to encourage one another in the faith. We are joined to the members of our family by blood, but more importantly, we are—each of us—part of the body of Christ through the cleansing of His blood.
In all of human history, there has only been one perfect Child. We hear about Him today going to church with His parents in Jerusalem. And though we might wonder why He didn’t tell His parents where He would be as they prepared to leave the city, He did not try to deceive them. He had no bad intentions. When they located Him on the third day in the temple, He explained with some surprise, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Luk. 2:49).
They did not understand what He was saying, which I’m sure happened over and over again in His conversations with them. But the perfect Jesus did not become frustrated with His sinful parents. He submitted to their earthly authority, and in so doing, He perfectly fulfilled the Fourth Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.”
Jesus kept that command for you, so that the times you disobeyed or disrespected your parents, your teachers, your bosses, and every other earthly authority—so that these times are covered by His righteousness. Jesus was born under God’s Law to redeem you from your breaking of His Law (Gal. 4:4-5). He took all the sins you have done as a child, as a sibling, as a spouse, as a parent, and He paid the price in full to save you from the wrath of God.
And since God is not angry with you for our sins, neither should you be angry with anyone else. Just because Esau did not get what he wanted, does not mean he had the right to hate his brother. Even Isaac when he learned he had been deceived by Rebekah and Jacob did not disown his wife and son. He forgave them and turned these concerns over to his Savior God, who knows how to work all things—even hurtful and dishonest things—for good.
Perhaps Isaac also realized that his favoritism toward Esau had clouded his judgment. Obvious favoritism in a family is never beneficial. The Bible says multiple times that “God shows no partiality” (Act. 10:34), and the same should be said for a father and a mother. When God grants children to Christian husband and wife, He intends that each child be loved, provided for, and prayed for just the same. I remember hearing about a family with multiple children who admitted after their parents’ deaths that each one thought he or she was the favorite. Each child thought this, which shows how dearly their parents loved each one.
In every station of our life, we want to love the people around us whom God has given us to love. When we fall short in our interactions and our responsibilities, we take comfort that we are loved with a perfect love. We are loved and forgiven by our heavenly Father who holds no grudge against us for past wrongs and has no plan to punish us in the future. He sent His perfect Son, the perfect Child of Mary, to redeem all the children of the world, including imperfect ones like you and me.
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 “Jesus Among the Doctors” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
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 Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Ephesians 3:13-21
In Christ Jesus, who carried out His Father’s loving will by suffering and dying on the cross to set us free from sin and death for all eternity, dear fellow redeemed:
What do you most want for your children or your grandchildren? When you imagine their future, how would you want it to look? About two years ago, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey of parents with children under age eighteen (“Parenting in America Today” posted online, Jan. 24, 2023). When asked what they most wanted for their kids when they grow up,
- It is probably no surprise that 88% said it is very important that their kids be financially independent as adults, and that their kids have jobs or careers they enjoy.
- It might surprise you that only about 20% said it is very important that their kids get married, and that their kids have kids.
- Around 90% said it is very important that their kids are honest, ethical, and hardworking.
- Only 35% said it is very important that their kids have similar religious beliefs to their own.
Does this match what you want for your children and grandchildren? Of course you want them to be successful and happy when they grow up. You want them to live fulfilling lives with rich purpose. You want them to be honest and kind, ready to help others in need. But is that what you most want for them, or are there things you would put higher on your list?
The Apostle Paul in today’s reading gives us a roadmap for how to think through these things. He presents here the main things he wanted for the Christians in Ephesus. He spent more time with this congregation than with the others he helped establish, so there was a close relationship between Paul and the people. He loved and cared for them as we do our children, and they looked up to him and respected him as we do our parents.
Where our reading begins in chapter three, Paul is reassuring the Christians in Ephesus. Although he has been put in prison for preaching Christ, it is all part of God’s plan to have the Gospel preached to the Gentile people. Paul recognized that his suffering was for the glory of those who heard the saving truth, so he suffered faithfully and willingly.
Instead of looking for their pity, Paul expressed his love and concern for the Ephesians. He told them very clearly what he wanted for them by how he prayed for them. He bowed his knees before God the Father asking that God would grant them “to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being.” This first part of Paul’s prayer was that the people would remain connected to the Word of God by gladly hearing and learning it.
This is how the Holy Spirit carries out His work of creating and strengthening faith—through the Word. Even as the Ephesians read Paul’s inspired letter, the Holy Spirit was powerfully working to strengthen their faith. This happens every time the Gospel (the good news) of Jesus’ saving work is proclaimed. As Paul said in another of his letters, “[The Gospel] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). If the Ephesians held tightly to the Gospel, they would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit’s power.
And where the Holy Spirit was at work, the Ephesians could be certain that their Lord Jesus Christ was also present. He is not stuck in heaven since His bodily ascension; He is seated at the right hand of God who is present everywhere. This means that Jesus rules over all things and fills all things as the God-Man. When the Holy Spirit brings Jesus’ forgiveness, righteousness, and life to believing hearts, He is bringing Jesus Himself. Paul prayed for the Holy Spirit to deliver these gifts, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
That’s a comforting thought. For all the doubts we have had, for all the sins we have committed, for all the bad things we have imagined in our hearts, our Savior Jesus still wants to dwell inside us. He is not ashamed to be connected with us. He willingly poured out His blood to save our souls. He became one with us in His Incarnation, He suffered and died for every single one of our sins, and He made us one with Him in Holy Baptism. Jesus specifically prayed for this union the night before His death. He said to the Father, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one” (Joh. 17:22-23).
When we are joined to Jesus by faith, we are joined to His love. Paul describes it as “being rooted and grounded in love.” The love of Christ is a greater love than any we know on earth, greater than the love we have for any family member or friend. His love compelled Him to enter the world that had rebelled against its holy Creator, to suffer all sorts of mistreatment and abuse, and finally to be nailed to a cross to die. No one made Him do it. He followed His Father’s will and laid down His life of His own accord (Joh. 10:18).
The incomprehensible part of this love is that Jesus suffered eternal hell for every single wrong we have done. He suffered for our failures as parents, grandparents, siblings, and children. He suffered for our selfishness, our pride, and the bad example we have been at various times. He felt agony and anguish for all of it. With His enemies mocking Him and laughing at Him—and we should picture ourselves in that crowd gathered at His cross—He was atoning for all of our sins.
This perfect love flows into you and fills you when He dwells in your heart by faith. It replaces the guilt and shame you feel for your wrongs and the anger you have toward yourself or others. His love changes the way you see yourself and the people around you. Yes, we are sinners, but more than that, we are ones who have been graciously rescued—redeemed from our sin and death.
Jesus looked at us in all our weakness and sin, going our own way, heading toward eternal death, and He decided that we were worth His perfect life. We were worth His sacrifice on the cross. He had compassion on us in our procession of death like He had compassion on that funeral procession outside the town of Nain (Luk. 7:11-17). Paul expressed the wonder of this in his epistle to the Romans, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:7-8).
As the Holy Spirit worked powerfully in the Ephesians through this Gospel, Paul prayed that they “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” By focusing on Christ’s love for us, we forget our love for ourselves and our desire to have things go just the way we want in this life. We empty ourselves of our selfishness and greed, so that we are ready to receive the rich blessings of God. When we “know the love of Christ,” writes Paul, we are “filled with all the fullness of God.”
You notice that Paul did not pray for the Ephesians’ financial security, for their good health, or for their happiness in this life. He did not pray that they might avoid all trouble and pain, or that the future would be brighter than the past. He prayed for the strengthening of their faith, for their joy in Christ, for their salvation.
If the survey I mentioned is any indication, that is not want parents today especially want for their children. They want their kids to be successful and happy in life and have a good reputation with others. But they are not especially concerned if God’s truth is passed on to their kids, or that their kids carry these beliefs into marriage and the raising of children.
I’ll go back to the question I asked at the very beginning of the sermon: What do you most want for your children or your grandchildren? It’s a very important question. How you answer it will shape how you raise them, how you teach them, how you guide them. To help you answer it, try changing the question to this: What does God most want for your children and grandchildren?
He wants them “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Ti. 2:4). He wants them to know their sin is forgiven, that heaven is open to them, that eternal life is given to all who trust in Him. He wants them to find their identity not in popularity or achievements that fade, not in possessions that fail, not in success that is quickly forgotten. He wants them to find their identity in His love for them, in His perfect, finished work to save their soul, in the blessings He promises and gives to all His children.
This is what He wants not just for your children and grandchildren, but for your other relatives, your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors. And not just for the people around you—this is what God wants for you. He wants you to have exactly what Paul prayed for.
So Paul’s prayer can be and is our constant prayer for one another, that each of us would be strengthened in faith by the Holy Spirit through the Word, that Christ would continue to dwell in our hearts, that we would stay rooted and grounded in His unchanging, incomprehensible love, and that we would be filled with all the fullness of God, both now and forevermore. God grant us these gifts for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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(picture from the altarpiece in Weimar by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1555)
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Galatians 5:25-6:10
In Christ Jesus, who did good to everyone, even to those who could not see the good and did not give thanks for it, dear fellow redeemed:
“Good” is a word kind of like “love”—it can be used in many different ways and have a variety of definitions. Just as it is difficult in our society today to agree on what is loving, so it is difficult to agree on what is good. Is something “good” if it makes me feel good? An illegal substance might make me feel good in the moment, but it is very damaging and bad for me. Is something good if more people are happy with a certain outcome than are unhappy? What if the majority is wrong?
The politicians are out in full force right now promising to accomplish good things for us. “I will give you more freedom!” “I will give you more rights!” “I will make everything more equitable—level the playing field for you!” “I will get you more money!” “Wouldn’t that be good?” What is good for one isn’t always what is good for another. And what we think is good for ourselves might not actually be what is good for us.
It might be helpful for defining and recognizing what is good to hear what God says is “not good.” Here are some examples from the book of Proverbs:
- “To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness” (17:26).
- “It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice” (18:5).
- “Desire without knowledge is not good” (19:2).
- “Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good” (20:23).
- “It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory” (25:27).
These proverbs tell us that unjust punishment is not good, injustice and unfairness are not good, unbridled desire is not good, cheating or taking advantage is not good, overindulging in food and an appetite for glory are not good. So it won’t do to define “good” as getting or having exactly what I want because that may not be good for me or for anyone else.
Today’s reading charts out a very different course for us as Christians. This epistle (or letter) from St. Paul was first of all “to the churches of Galatia.” These churches had been troubled by false teachers, false teachers who were telling these new converts that they needed to follow Old Testament rules and regulations such as circumcision and certain days of obligation in order to be good Christians. This focus on human works caused pride, in-fighting, and envy among the people. No doubt it also caused the false teachers to be puffed up since so many were now following them and forsaking Paul’s teaching.
“You are forgetting something fundamental,” said Paul, “something essential to the Christian faith. You are forgetting love—both God’s love for you and your love for one another.” Paul summed up this idea with the phrase, “law of Christ.” He said, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
That phrase sounds a little strange to us. We think of Christ as Savior, not as Lawgiver. In fact, we push back against people who say Jesus was just a good teacher or that He intended to replace Old Testament law with a new standard of morality. That’s how some describe His Sermon on the Mount, as presenting a different kind of law than the Ten Commandments.
The “law of Christ” is not a new system of morality, but it did have a different reference point. Its reference point was not Mt. Sinai with all its thunder, lightning, and fire where God gave the holy law to Moses. Its reference point is another mount, Mt. Calvary, where Jesus gave up His life as a sacrifice for us sinners.
The evening before His death, Jesus said to His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Joh. 13:34-35). Jesus’ disciples were to love others just as He had loved them. His love was the starting point.
He showed love for the people around Him by speaking God’s truth, both the law and the promises. He showed love by healing the sick and injured, comforting the hurting, feeding the hungry. Then He showed love by letting Himself be led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7)—“the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh. 1:29). He had committed no sin, but He paid for our sin. He owed us nothing, and He gave us everything. He came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mat. 20:28).
That is love! And that is what Paul means by the “law of Christ.” It is a sacrificial love; it is outward-focused. “Just as I have loved you,” said Jesus, “you also are to love one another.” Just as Jesus gently restored transgressors who were sorry for their sins, so we are gentle and understanding toward our fellow Christians who fall because of weakness. Just as Jesus bore “our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4), so we bear one another’s burdens of sorrow, pain, worry, and doubt. Just as Jesus sowed the good seed of righteousness through His gracious words and works, so we speak and serve one another graciously in His name. We learn from Jesus how we are to love. We learn from Jesus what is truly good.
But just because we know what is good, does not mean we always do it. Like the Galatian Christians, we need to be reminded about our sinful ways that work against God’s ways. “Let us not become conceited,” wrote Paul, “provoking one another, envying one another.” These things happen when we determine what is good by the wrong standard. We are tempted to measure how good we are by how much better we think we are than the people around us, or even by how good other people tell us we are.
We might think that we would never fall into the sins that others fall into, but Paul warns us not to be so proud: “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” In another place he wrote, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man” (1Co. 10:13). It does not take some unique, powerful temptation to get us to sin. The common temptations are effective enough for our weak flesh, temptations like conceit because we think are better, or pointless arguments that cause division, or envy because we want what someone else has.
“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing,” writes Paul, “he deceives himself.” This is why each one of us must “test his own work,” not by comparing ourselves with others but by the standard of God’s holy law. This is how we each “bear [our] own load.” We take responsibility for our own words and actions. We acknowledge our own sins. In humility, we bring this heavy load to our Lord in repentance, asking for His mercy.
And how does He respond? “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28). You see, Jesus is the Chief Burden-Bearer. He took the massive burden of our sin and death on Himself and exchanged them with the free gifts of His forgiveness and eternal life. It is His bearing of our burdens that makes possible our bearing of one another’s burdens. It is His strength we draw on. It is His love that inspires our love. We have nothing to give that He did not first give to us. Everything comes from Him.
It first came to us when He joined Himself to us in Holy Baptism. It was then that we became members of His holy body. This is why Paul said to the Galatians earlier in his epistle, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (2:20).
Christ lives in you by faith, and He works His good through you. When, as our reading says, you “bear one another’s burdens,” when you humbly serve one another, when you faithfully support your pastor, when you do good without growing weary, that is Christ working through you. That is Christ blessing the people around you through your humble service.
You don’t have to guess at what is “good.” You see it clearly in what Jesus has done for you and for every sinner. His goodness, His love, His mercy never run out—there is more than enough for all. And it is our feet, our hands, our mouths that He graciously employs to dispense these gifts.
“So then, as we have opportunity,” writes Paul, “let us do good to everyone”—spouse, children, parents, siblings, teachers, classmates, bosses, employees, friends, strangers, enemies—“let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith”—especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ, all to the glory of His holy name.
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 “Healing the Blind Near Jericho” by a Netherlands artist in the 1470s)
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
In Christ Jesus, whom we confess as Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit, dear fellow redeemed:
If you had to decide between losing an arm or losing a leg, which would you choose? How about between your sight or your hearing? How about the ability to talk or the ability to walk? Those are difficult questions. We wouldn’t consider any of our body parts expendable, though we might give up an appendix or our tonsils if we had to (and maybe you have).
Just after today’s reading, St. Paul writes about how absurd and destructive it would be for the body to rebel against itself, so for example, for the eye to rebel against the hand or for the head to reject the feet (12:21). This would not help the body in any way. It would hurt the whole. Paul continues that “God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another” (vv. 24-25).
What he is talking about is the Church of all believers, which he calls “the body of Christ” (v. 27). Each believer is a member of the body of Christ. So it should be the concern of every one of us that we do not conduct ourselves in such a way that we do harm to the body. We are not just to look out for ourselves. We are not to elevate ourselves, as though we are more important members of the body of Christ while others are less important.
After all, we did not attach ourselves to Christ’s body by our own power or ability. We were joined to His body through Holy Baptism by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body [the body of Christ]… and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (v. 13). “[B]y the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Ti. 3:5), we were brought into the body of Christ, and by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit through the Word, we remain active members of the body of Christ.
In today’s reading, Paul speaks about the work that is done in the Church by the power of the Spirit. It is tempting to think of success in the church according to the abilities of the members. As in, “that church is doing so well because of the programs it offers,” or “that church is growing because the pastor is such a good preacher,” or “that church is successful because of the services it provides to the community.” Whatever good may be seen to happen in the church on earth, the glory must go to God alone.
Again and again, Paul connects spiritual gifts among Christians to the Holy Spirit. Whether it is the gift of wisdom or knowledge or healing or miracles or prophecy, it is “through the Spirit,” “according to the same Spirit,” “by the same Spirit,” and “by the one Spirit.” “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit,” he writes, “who apportions to each one individually as He wills.”
As we think about the gifts of the Spirit, we need to recognize that there is no limit to what the Holy Spirit is able to do on earth if He wills it. If He wanted, He could make us a hundred times healthier or a thousand times smarter. If He wanted, He could give us the ability to jump over great distances or even to fly. He could make it so that we never feel pain or sorrow or fear and would go about our work with perfect courage and strength.
But while there is no limit to what He could do, the Holy Spirit limits His activity to what will build up the Church, what will strengthen the body of Christ. He does not act as a rogue Person of God. He operates within the Godhead in perfect conformity with God the Father and God the Son. Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Joh. 16:13). Then He added, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (v. 14).
The Holy Spirit employs His power to glorify Christ and the Father who sent Him, and to take the gifts obtained by Jesus and distribute them to us. Those gifts are not mentioned in today’s reading, but they are the forgiveness of sin through Jesus’ death on the cross, the bestowal of His righteousness through His perfect life, the victory over death and eternal life through His resurrection. These are the things Jesus had in mind when He looked upon the city of Jerusalem with tears in His eyes and said, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luk. 19:42).
You do know “the things that make for peace,” because the Holy Spirit has given you faith in Jesus’ saving work. You recognize that every good thing you have from God—most importantly your salvation—comes to you by grace. You deserve punishment and eternal damnation in hell, but you receive the opposite—forgiveness and eternal life in heaven. It didn’t cost you an arm or a leg, but it cost Jesus His life which He willingly gave up for you. You believe and confess that “Jesus is Lord,” because the Holy Spirit has planted this comforting truth in your sinful heart.
But the sin in your heart does not want to give up its place so easily. The old Adam in you, your sinful nature, wants you to follow after and cling to lies. It might be the lie that the church could not survive without you—the lie that if not for your talents, if not for your efforts and offerings and gifts, all would be lost—the lie that you are a more important member in the body of Christ than all the other members. Pastors are tempted in the same way too, with the thought that the good things that happen in the congregation are because of their hard work and their abilities.
“The god of what I do” or “the god of what you do” are some of those “mute idols” that formerly led the Corinthian Christians astray. The things we sinfully put our trust in will not speak for us before the throne of God on the last day. Our bank accounts will not speak for us, no matter how full they are. Our possessions will not speak for us. Our positions of power and influence will not speak for us. Our popularity in the world will not speak for us. If we gathered all these things around us to validate that we had lived a good life and accomplished good things, they would not and could not say a word on our behalf. Their mouths would stay shut no matter how much we begged for their support.
It is no good to appeal for salvation to anything we have done. If we have done any good, it is only because the Holy Spirit has worked it in us as a gift of His grace, as a fruit of faith. These are the gifts He gives for the building up of the Church. The gifts that each of us has, whatever they may be, are not meant for our own benefit or our own glory. They are for the good of the whole body, for the Christian brothers and sisters around us and even around the world.
The work of the Holy Spirit among us may not look the same as it did in the days of the apostles when the Church was first being established. “Gifts of healing,” “working of miracles,” and the speaking of “various kinds of tongues” are not common in the Church like they used to be. They seem to have faded when the New Testament books were written by the apostles and disseminated. As exciting as those spiritual gifts may be, we have all we need today for the building up of the Church. We have God’s Word and Sacraments, the holy means of grace, for our growth in wisdom, faith, and strength.
St. Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus that God’s Word is the foundation we are built on as “members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19). Christ Jesus is the cornerstone in whom the whole structure is joined together, a holy temple, “a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (vv. 20-22). The Holy Spirit is just as powerfully active today as He was in the early Church. He still comes among us and works through us “for the common good.”
This is just what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer when we say, “Thy kingdom come.” As we learn in the Catechism, “The kingdom of God comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and live godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity.” That is the purpose of the Spirit’s work among us, to increase our faith in Jesus and to help us live godly lives—lives of service and love toward God and neighbor.
This is how The Holy Spirit Builds Up the Church. This is how He blesses us here on earth, and how He prepares us for our heavenly home where we will perfectly receive, utilize, and praise Him for His holy gifts.
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 Outpouring of the Holy Ghost” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Sixth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Deuteronomy 6:4-15
In Christ Jesus, through whose saving work we have been united with the one true God, dear fellow redeemed:
At various times during His public work, Jesus spoke this phrase: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” That phrase should make our ears perk up. We should be asking the question: what does Jesus want me to learn and keep in mind? In our reading for today, Moses begins with the same message: “Hear, O Israel.” What should they hear? What should they pay attention to and remember? They should hear this: “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” And then, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
First of all, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” We worship one God, the God called Yahweh—I AM—, the name He told Moses to say to the people of Israel. This God is uncreated, infinite, eternal. He is omnipotent (almighty), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent. This one LORD and God is the only God. There are other made-up gods, other make-believe gods, but there are no other true gods.
This is why Moses warned the people, “You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you.” There were plenty of false gods in Old Testament times, just as there are plenty of false gods today. Humankind has been creating its own gods ever since the fall into sin. In Romans 1, St. Paul writes that fallen mankind “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things…. [They] worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (vv. 23, 25).
The devil and the demons tempt us to do this. These demons are not gods, but they are more powerful than we are. They try to trick us into thinking there are other gods, and that those gods can help us. So some people think “the gods” send them special messages through their dreams, through the stars, through tarot cards or ouija boards, or through certain individuals who claim they can connect with these powers.
Even we Christians who have been chosen by God as His own dear children can be taken in by these things. Maybe we want to find a supernatural way to punish those who have hurt us. We want to connect with the spirits of the dead. We want to know what will happen in our future. We want answers to deep questions or concerns or ways to find out other people’s secrets. The devil is only too willing to encourage this thinking which leads us away from God and His promises.
And if the devil does not succeed in turning us toward other gods, he tries another tactic. He seeks to confuse us about the true God. We are taught in the Bible that God is triune—one God in three Persons. That means God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have always existed and always will exist—three Persons of the same essence and power. As one God, the three Persons work in perfect unity. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
It is wrong to think of the Triune God in a hierarchical way, as though the Father were the most powerful, followed by the Son, and then the Holy Spirit. Or that the Son of God did not fully exist until creation or until He took on flesh in Mary’s womb. Or that the Holy Spirit is a motion or a force but not really a Person of God. In recent times, we hear people changing the terms for God by teaching that the Holy Spirit is feminine, or that God is not “Father” but “Mother.”
These attacks on God’s unchanging truth will keep happening until the end of time. But we must not be taken in by them. Our fear, love, and trust should be in the LORD our God only. That is the second thing Moses wanted Israel to hear: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” There is no part of you that should love anything besides God. All your heart should be committed to Him. All your soul should be bound to Him. All your might—every ounce of your power and the force of your will—should be applied to His truth and His service.
But if we are supposed to love God with every part of ourselves, how can we also love our neighbors, including our parents or siblings or spouse or children? Wouldn’t that divide our love? Well God doesn’t tell us to love our neighbors instead of Him. We show love for our neighbors because of our love for God. And He counts the love we show to others as love shown to Him (Mat. 25:40).
We wouldn’t know anything about love if we did not first learn it from God. Love did not begin in the world. It came from outside the world to us. It came from God. The apostle John writes, “for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God…. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1Jo. 4:7,9).
God the Father showed His love for sinners by sending His only-begotten Son to save us. The Son of God became one with us by taking on our flesh. He was “incarnate,” He was made man (Nicene Creed). He did this, so that He could live the life of perfect love on our behalf that God requires of us.
You might think this was easy for Him, since He is God. But Jesus in His state of humiliation did not make full use of His divine powers. He was able to feel weakness and pain. The author to the Hebrews writes that Jesus can certainly sympathize with us, because He “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (4:15). His righteousness far exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees (Mat. 5:20). He fulfilled every tiny detail of God’s holy law (Mat. 5:18), so that perfect life of love could be credited to us.
And so it is! You and I have not perfectly used our ears in hearing and learning the Word of God. We have not perfectly honored the true God and loved Him with all our heart, soul, and might. But Jesus perfectly kept the Scriptures and obeyed His Father’s will in our place. He dedicated every part of Himself in love for us sinners. He did nothing out of selfishness and everything for our salvation, including sacrificing Himself on the cross as the payment for all sin.
This victory over sin and death is yours. You don’t have to earn it by being good enough or by proving your love for God and neighbor. It is yours as a gift from God through His Word. For many of you, perhaps all of you, this gift first came to you through the water and the Word of Holy Baptism, “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Ti. 3:5). At the baptismal font, you were baptized in the name of the Triune God—“in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mat. 28:19).
Through Baptism, the one holy God caused you to be united with Him. Baptism made you a member of the body of Christ. All that is His—His perfect love toward God and neighbor, His perfect life of righteousness—belongs to you and covers over you, so that God does not see your sin or count it against you anymore. St. Paul writes that you who have been baptized into Christ “must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11).
You live in God and for God. You are one with Him. Jesus prayed for this to His Father, and the Father heard His prayer, just as He hears every prayer in the name of His Son. Jesus said, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (Joh. 17:22-23). The one true God—the Triune God—loves you. He gives you every good gift from above (Jam. 1:17). No other god can do this for you, because there are no other gods.
So we gladly hear and learn the Word of the true God. We teach it diligently to our children. We talk about it in our homes and while we are out and about (including at camp). We meditate on the Word from morning to evening. We commit it to our memory, we wear it on our clothes, and we put it on our walls. There is nothing better than God’s gracious, life-giving Word. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
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 “Jesus in Prison” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)