The Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1Co. 15:17).
If Christ has not been raised, all His promises were lies.
If Christ has not been raised, the Christian Church is a worldly organization created by men.
If Christ has not been raised, your Baptism did you no good.
If Christ has not been raised, you eat bread and drink wine in Communion and nothing more.
If Christ has not been raised, there is no place prepared for you in heaven.
If Christ has not been raised, the dead who are buried in our cemeteries will stay dead.
If Christ has not been raised, you got up early this morning for no good reason.
“If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain” (1Co. 15:14), and you might as well ignore it.
If Christ has not been raised, you are of all people most to be pitied (1Co. 15:19).
If Christ has not been raised, all these things are true.
But Christ HAS been raised.
Since Christ has been raised, your faith is NOT futile, and you are NOT in your sins.
Since Christ has been raised, all His promises are verified.
Since Christ has been raised, the Christian Church shall prevail against the gates of hell.
Since Christ has been raised, you were raised with Him in the waters of Baptism.
Since Christ has been raised, you receive His living body and blood in Holy Communion for the forgiveness of your sins.
Since Christ has been raised, a place is prepared for you in heaven.
Since Christ has been raised, the dead who now sleep will also rise.
Since Christ has been raised, you have not wasted your morning.
Since Christ has been raised, our preaching is not in vain, and God’s powerful words of life enter your ears and heart.
Since Christ has been raised, you are counted among those who will inherit eternal life.
Yes, Christ has been raised. That is why we joyfully share the Easter greeting as the faithful have shared it for thousands of years:
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
We sing our festival hymn #348, “He Is Arisen! Glorious Word!”
He is arisen! Glorious Word!
Now reconciled is God, my Lord;
The gates of heaven are open.
My Jesus died triumphantly,
And Satan’s arrows broken lie,
Destroyed hell’s direst weapon.
O hear
What cheer!
Christ victorious
Riseth glorious,
Life He giveth—
He was dead, but see, He liveth!
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Sermon text: St. Mark 16:1-8
In Christ Jesus, who did not do what people expected, but who did do what He said He would, dear fellow redeemed:
“Jesus is dead. He is gone.” That thought haunted their minds ever since Friday afternoon when they saw Him breathe His last. They saw Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take His lifeless body down from the cross, wrap it in a linen shroud with spices, and bury it in a tomb nearby. They saw the men roll a stone across the entrance and depart. Then they went home, too, to observe the Sabbath rest.
These women had traveled with Jesus from Galilee and provided for His needs. They saw the miracles He performed. They watched Him cast demons out of people and raise the dead. They heard His powerful teaching. They believed that He was the promised Messiah. But now He was dead. What were they to do?
Overwhelmed with sorrow, they determined to serve Jesus one last time—they would give Him a more proper burial. They purchased and prepared spices and made their way early Sunday morning to the tomb. They shuddered thinking about the terrible wounds they would once again see on their Lord: the bruises on His face, the gouges from the crown of thorns, the holes in His hands and feet from the large nails, the gash in His side from the soldier’s spear. They had no doubts about what they would find at the tomb: the dead body of Jesus.
They were in for a surprise, or really a series of surprises. They found the large stone rolled away from the entrance. Looking inside, they saw an angel waiting for them. He told them not to be alarmed. They wouldn’t find what they were looking for because Jesus had been raised up. And He was on the move! They were to tell the Lord’s disciples that He was going before them to Galilee, where they would see Him, just as He had said.
The women took off from the tomb, full of trembling, amazement, and fear. But why did they react like this? Why was this such a surprise? If your parents told you they were taking you to the zoo for your birthday, and that you would see monkeys, lions, and giraffes, would you be surprised to go there and see those animals? They might not look exactly as you imagined, but you wouldn’t really be surprised. You saw what they said you would.
So why didn’t the followers of Jesus believe Him when He said He would suffer and die in Jerusalem and then rise on the third day? The evangelist Luke records a longer message from the angel reminding the women about this: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luk. 24:5-7). Jesus clearly told His disciples what would happen. There should have been no surprise. But they did not believe.
They did not believe because they failed to see the big picture. They could not understand what benefit the death of Jesus could have. They wanted to keep things the way they were. Jesus was doing wonderful work. If Palm Sunday was any indication, He was gaining momentum and followers. If He died, all that work would come to a screeching halt. His death was the last thing the Jews and the whole world needed.
Because they couldn’t understand the purpose of His death, which was to redeem the world of sinners, they missed the significance of His resurrection. Something similar happens today. We are generally clear about the purpose of Jesus’ death—He died on the cross to pay for our sins. But we are not always so clear about the significance of His resurrection.
Jesus’ resurrection proves that He is the Son of God, and that everything He said is true. If He could predict His own resurrection and then come back to life, who can doubt the accuracy of anything He said?
Jesus’ resurrection also shows that His Father accepted His sacrifice for sin. Romans 4:25 says that He “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Both things were necessary, His death and resurrection. If He had died and stayed dead, that would prove He was not God and that His sacrifice was not sufficient. His resurrection declares to the whole world that sin is paid for, death is defeated, and we are accounted as innocent before God.
Jesus’ resurrection is also a preview of our resurrection. Because He lives, we who trust in Him will live, even though we die (Joh. 11:25, 14:19). This resurrection victory was handed to us at our Baptism. The apostle Peter writes that Baptism is not about getting clean on the outside. It is deeply spiritual, “an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1Pe. 3:21). The water-and-Word of Baptism is full of the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of Jesus precisely because He has risen. St. Paul writes that through Baptism, “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).
In Baptism, we received Jesus’ resurrection victory. We received the full inheritance of His righteousness and life. We are destined for heaven with Him! But that is easy to forget while we are still here on earth. We often fail to see the big picture. We struggle with sin and the guilt it produces in us. We have doubts and sometimes even crises of faith, when we wonder if God really loves us. We don’t feel much like we’re “walking in newness of life.” Our death is getting closer and closer, and we’re not sure we’re ready for it.
Without the death and resurrection of Jesus, no one can be ready for death. Death is batting nearly .1000, with the exception of people like Enoch and Elijah whom God took directly to heaven. The rest of humankind from Adam to the present has had to die. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). We are sinners, so we will die, everyone in this room, unless Jesus returns first.
But we believers don’t look at death like the women looked at Jesus’ death, as though it were final. We don’t cling to the remains of the dead like the women wanted to cling to Jesus. Instead, we cling to Jesus’ Word, His promise. He promised His disciples that He would rise from the dead on the third day, and He did. He promises us that He will come again on the last day to raise us from the dead, so He will.
On the last day, it shouldn’t surprise us when we “see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luk. 21:27). It shouldn’t surprise us when we see the holy angels with Him, the same angels who shared the good news with the women at Jesus’ tomb. It shouldn’t surprise us when we see all the graves in our cemeteries opened up. It shouldn’t surprise us when we find no one in the caskets. But we won’t even have time for that investigation, since we will be caught up “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1Th. 4:17).
This is what sets us apart from the world. This is why we do not “not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1Th. 4:13). We know that death is not final. Jesus put a stop to death’s terrible reign. He let death devour Him, so He could tear open its insides and free everyone stuck in its dark belly. On the last day, His clear voice will wake us from our temporary sleep. We will blink our eyes and take in the light coming from the One who is Light and Life.
His same voice that will wake us from death is the powerful Word you are hearing today. He tells you today that your sins are forgiven. He paid for them on the cross and left them buried forever when He rose from the dead. He tells you at the altar, “This is My body; this is My blood for the remission of your sins.” He gave you this Holy Meal for your strength and comfort until He comes again.
The angel said to the women, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here.” But the angel would tell you something different about the presence of Jesus in His Word and Sacraments. He would say, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! And He is here!” He is here to distribute the riches of His grace to you and prepare you for His visible return.
He has done everything you need for your salvation. He tells you everything you need to know. So when He comes again in glory and leaves your grave empty by calling you to His side, it will be no unexpected surprise, just exceeding, everlasting joy.
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 “The Empty Tomb” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
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 Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 2 Kings 20
In Christ Jesus, who alone is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Joh. 14:6), dear fellow redeemed:
King Hezekiah, as we heard, was very sick. Our reading tells us that he had a boil, the same word used for the boils the LORD sent on the Egyptians and the boils that afflicted Job (Exo. 9:9, Job 2:7). Hezekiah’s boil had presumably caused a serious infection that had brought him to “the point of death.” The LORD sent the prophet Isaiah to visit him with this message: “Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” That was a shocking word for a king who was only thirty-nine years old at this time and had ruled well for fourteen years.
But as you know, death does not often—or even ever—come at the “right time.” From our perspective, the death of a loved one always comes too soon. Even when a medical treatment or a miracle extends a life by the grace of God, we are still not ready when death comes. No amount of time is enough time. The number of days a person will have is not known to us, but it is known to God.
When He created us in our mother’s womb, He had already determined the length of our days. Psalm 139:16 says: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” The psalmist in another place asks God to keep him from getting too caught up in his life in the world: “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!” (Psa. 39:4).
In the oldest Psalm in the Book, Moses makes this request of the LORD: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” There is wisdom in recognizing the shortness of our life here on earth. There is wisdom in making preparations for our death. As Christians, we know that death is not the end of our life; it is the beginning of our eternal life in the Lord’s presence.
So if a prophet visited you and said, “Set your house in order, for you shall die,” what would you do? I suppose that depends on how much time you had. What if you had two years to live? Two months? Two weeks? Two days? You would get your legal papers in order. You would contact your family members and friends to express your love for them. You might take a trip you always wanted to take.
It is good to give some thought to these things, since we don’t know when our death will come. You can save your family members a lot of trouble by making your wishes known in a will and by doing some advance planning for your funeral and burial. But it is much more important to make sure you are prepared spiritually, to get rid of any sin you have been holding onto, or has been holding on to you.
Are you keeping any old grudges that you could try to resolve? Have you been hiding something that has compromised you spiritually, endangering your faith, something that could cause embarrassment to your family if it were discovered after you are gone? Are you waiting to talk with an estranged family member or friend until “sometime down the road”—a time that may never come?
Our Lord Jesus teaches us to forgive others as God has forgiven us. We deal with anger, bitterness, and pain not by hoping they will go away, but by dealing with them through confession and absolution. This is also what we do with secret sins. We get rid of any snares in our home or life that are tempting us or leading us to sin, and we lay all our sins out in the open before God through repentance.
We do these things each week in the Divine Service, so your attendance here is a big part of preparing for your death. Here you are taught to examine your heart and life for sin. Here you are absolved of those sins by the Word of Jesus. Here you are pointed to the work He has done to save you through His death and resurrection. Here you receive the gifts of His life and salvation through His Word and Sacraments. Here you are encouraged to pray and bring your needs and requests before Him.
After hearing the word from Isaiah about his imminent death, Hezekiah prayed to the LORD. Our reading contains a short version of this prayer. The book of Isaiah records a longer version. In the longer version, Hezekiah acknowledged that he had been prideful and not given all glory to God. He said, “Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back” (38:17). This prayer of confession was accompanied by great weeping. The LORD’s message through Isaiah had hit home; Hezekiah recognized his own mortality.
The LORD listened to his prayer. He sent Isaiah to tell Hezekiah, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life.” “On the third day”—that didn’t make Hezekiah’s ears perk up like it does ours. But it is one in a line of hints about a future “third day,” the greatest “third day.”
Jonah was swallowed up by a huge fish for three days before it spit him back on shore (Jon. 1:17), and Jesus later applied this account to His own burial “in the heart of the earth” (Mat. 12:40). When the Jews asked Jesus for a sign for His authoritative teaching and work, Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple [talking about His body], and in three days I will raise it up” (Joh. 2:19). At least three times before He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus told His disciples that He would be condemned and killed and “after three days rise again” (Mar. 8:31, 9:31, 10:34).
Jesus’ prophecies about His resurrection “on the third day” were not empty words. He was crucified, died, and was buried on Good Friday, and on the following Sunday morning—the third day—He rose from the dead. Death could not hold Him because He had conquered death. And He didn’t just conquer it for Himself; He conquered it for you and me. His disciples didn’t believe it until they saw Him alive in the flesh with their own eyes. Then they wrote down what they saw. Their eyewitness account stands as a testimony to the whole world that Jesus the Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
His resurrection is why we don’t view our physical death here on earth as “the last thing.” We do not want to die, but it does not terrify us like it does unbelievers. They run from death and even distance themselves from loved ones who are dying because they cannot bear the thought of their own death. On the other hand, we Christians sing, “For me to live is Jesus, / To die is gain for me; / Then, whensoe’er He pleases, / I meet death willingly” (ELH #473, v. 1).
We meet death willingly because Jesus has turned our earthly death into the entrance to eternal life. When a believer in Jesus dies, his soul goes immediately to be with the Lord. His body is laid to rest, put to bed in the casket, for an unknown amount of time. The body rests in peace until Jesus comes back visibly in all His power and glory on the last day. He will come with a shout, and all the dead will wake up from their slumber (1Th. 4:16). Then He will gather all believers to Himself, whole, glorified, soul and body joined once again, to go with Him to His heavenly kingdom.
Until that day comes, those who have died in the Lord are only sleeping. That’s what death is to God, nothing more than a sleep. We have no power over death, but He does. He can wake us from it as easily as we can wake someone from an afternoon nap. We often use the term “pass away” for death, but that does not come from the Bible. The Bible often uses the term “sleep.”
Jesus described His friend Lazarus as having “fallen asleep” after he had died (Joh. 11:11). Several times, St. Paul referred to believers who had died as “those who have fallen asleep” (1Co. 15:6,18,20; 1Th. 4:14,15). In today’s Holy Gospel, Jesus told the mourners who had gathered at the house of a dead girl, “the girl is not dead but sleeping” (Mat. 9:24). And in our reading from 2 Kings, we hear that “Hezekiah slept with his fathers.” He died as they had died and was buried where they had been buried.
But for them—for you—death is not final. Hezekiah may have died, but he lives. His soul is with the LORD, and his body will be resurrected on the last day. This is God’s promise for all who trust in Him. He died to blot out every one of your sins. He rose in victory over your death. It does no good to try to hide your sins away or to imagine that death will not come for you. Jesus took your sins on Himself, and He paid the price for them. He took on your death, and on the third day, He overcame it to win for you eternal life. Your hope is not in what you can do about your sin and death; your hope is in what He has done to save you.
As Isaiah said would happen, Hezekiah recovered on the third day and went up to the house of the LORD. Because of Jesus’ resurrection on the third day, you also go to His holy house with rejoicing. You thank and praise Him that He has rescued you from temporal and eternal death. Though you are dying, yet He gives you His life. You receive this life through His Word of life and through “the medicine of immortality”—His holy body and blood—which He gives for you to eat and drink at His holy table.
Because Jesus is “the resurrection and the life,” because He imparts His life to you, you and all who believe in Him will live, even though your body dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Him shall never die (Joh. 11:25-26).
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 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Ninth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Kings 17:7-24
In Christ Jesus, whose storehouse of grace and love is never exhausted, dear fellow redeemed:
The prophet Elijah was used to his food coming by unusual means. Before today’s account, we are told that God sent ravens to fly in with bread and meat each morning and evening as he lived in a remote place east of the Jordan River (1Ki. 17:6). But when his source of water there dried up, God commanded him to go to a town in the region of Sidon. This was a good 75 miles away from where he currently lived. When he arrived, God told him to expect food from a Gentile widow who lived in the town of Zarephath. So not only would Elijah be traveling out of Israelite territory, it would be a poor widow who would keep him alive!
The reason God sent Elijah all the way to the territory of Sidon for food is because the whole land of Israel suffered under a divinely-imposed drought. It was also to keep him safe from King Ahab who reigned over the kingdom of Israel at that time. He was one of Israel’s notoriously wicked kings who led the people to worship false gods. The drought at this time was symbolic of the spiritual condition of the people of Israel. Their hearts had dried up, and almost no one recognized the need for the living waters of the true God.
The spiritual situation was so bad that Jesus would comment many years later, “in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow” (Luk. 4:25-26). Elijah was sent to Gentile territory because of the Israelites’ lack of faith.
This was as surprising for the widow as it was for Elijah. How could she possibly be a good candidate to support an Israelite prophet? She was about to prepare the final meal for herself and her son. The last thing she expected in her desperate situation was for someone to ask her for food! What did she have to give? Couldn’t Elijah find someone else with greater means?
When we think about the topic of stewardship, similar thoughts may come to our minds. “What difference do I make? I can offer so little. Such significant needs require those who have more to spare and can afford to give a lot.” But that is not the way God talks about stewardship. He says that Christians should give offerings regularly in accord with their income (1Co. 16:2). He does not require a “tithe” today—or a tenth of all that one has—like He did in the Old Testament era. But He does want us to give eagerly and generously to support the work of the Gospel.
Some still find it useful to give a “tithe,” a tenth of whatever they earn, to the church. But we are free in this regard. We are free to give less than a tenth of what we have, and we are free to give more. St. Paul writes, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2Cor. 9:7). Did the widow of Zarephath give cheerfully? It’s hard to say. She only had enough flour and oil for one more meal for herself and her son.
But she did what Elijah asked. She prepared food first for him and then for her family. This is consistent with the LORD’s command in Old Testament times, that the people give their firstfruits for the work of the priests. First they should provide for the men who attended to their spiritual needs, and then they should take care of their other needs.
This is what the poor widow in the temple did when she gave her last two coins—“all she had to live on” (Luk. 21:4). She held nothing back. But we see the pile of bills—house payments, utilities, cell phone, internet—and perhaps a growing debt. We convince ourselves that we can’t get by without this or that. We like having nice things. We don’t want our kids to have less than their peers. So instead of our offerings coming as the firstfruits, we often give them as the leftovers.
But why should so much depend on our giving? It may seem to us that if God needs the money so bad, He could easily get it some other way. Couldn’t God fill the offering plate in the same miraculous way that He filled the widow’s jar of flour and jug of oil, with just the right amount appearing? He certainly could. But where would it end? God could preach, baptize, and give Communion without pastors. He could make food appear on tables without work. He could construct roads without highway crews. He could imprison people without the justice system. Instead God chooses to do His work through countless vocations. This includes the support of the preaching and teaching of the Word.
When we think we can’t afford to give offerings to God, it’s usually because we think of what we have as ours. The good things we have do belong to us in a certain respect, but ultimately they belong to God. He sends us abundant gifts—food and clothing, home and family, property and goods—and gives us the duty of managing those gifts. We faithfully give back in our offerings from what God has given us, just as the hymn says, “We give Thee but Thine own” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #445).
Whenever we hand over what belongs to us, we expect to get something in return. Is that how offerings work? If we give generously to God, does God give greater gifts to us? The proverb seems to say this, “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine” (3:9-10). But this is not a promise that only good things will come to those who are generous toward God. It is a promise that God will not forsake those who humbly put their trust in Him.
The widow of Zarephath learned this lesson. She faithfully fed Elijah, and the food kept coming. But then her son died. That doesn’t seem right at all. Hadn’t she proven herself? How could God do this to her? Was it because of her sins, the widow wondered? Thankfully, God does not operate by a payback system. He was not punishing the widow; He was teaching her to trust in Him.
The same goes for us. Our LORD does not give to us based on what we have given to Him. Even if we gave more offerings than everyone else, sharing what we have generously and regularly, God would still reject us on the basis of what we had done. We have not given the perfect amount with perfect motivations from a perfect heart. If the LORD gave according to what we have offered to Him, we would be absolutely, unquestionably doomed.
But God does not pay us back. He faithfully gives whether or not our giving back has been so faithful. The jar of His grace and the jug of His mercy are bottomless. There are times that we imagine we have exhausted the stores of His patience and goodness. We fear we will find His cupboards empty. But the Bread of Life and the living waters are there for our eating and drinking.
These gifts never run out or run dry because God rewards us on the basis of what Jesus has done. Jesus offered more than a tenth of Himself, more than half. He didn’t hold back even one percent of Himself. He offered His entire Person. The Son of God and Son of Man was crucified on the cross for all sinners. He made the full payment for our sin and covered our debt in full before His Father raised Him from the dead in glory.
We see a picture of His resurrection in the widow’s son. After her son died, Elijah stretched himself over the boy three times before God brought him back to life. Jesus the Son of God died and was stretched out in graveclothes for three days until God the Father raised Him from the dead. The boy’s resurrection had significance for his life and his mother’s life. Jesus’ resurrection has significance for the lives of all people.
Because of His resurrection, the Scriptures call Jesus “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1Cor. 15:20). The offering of His own life to the Father on your behalf was no insignificant amount. It is the guarantee that you are going to rise one day also. God will faithfully give you eternal life, because Jesus faithfully gave up His life for you. Your failure to be a perfect steward does not disqualify you like the manager in our Holy Gospel who was fired for his unethical behavior (Lk. 16:1-9). God forgives your mismanagement of His good gifts. And He sends you right back out on the job with more.
He knows what type of people He is working with and through. There were times that Elijah’s faithfulness wavered. The widow questioned God’s care for her when her son died. We are willing to give, but we hold back because we want to make sure we will really have what we need. We don’t fully trust that God will provide. Or sometimes we feel as though God asks more of us than we can give.
Despite our reluctance and selfishness and doubt, our LORD does not stop giving good things to us. He is faithful. He makes sure that we receive our daily bread in abundance, and most importantly, He fills our cup to overflowing with His gifts of forgiveness and salvation. He faithfully gives these things to us as He comes to us personally through His Word and Sacraments. “In [His] presence,” as the Psalm says, “there is fullness of joy; at [His] right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).
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 “Parable of the Unjust Steward” by Jan Luyken, 1649-1712)
The Festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
It feels like Easter. Green grass is popping up everywhere, trees are budding, the temperature is going up, and April showers are in the forecast. But perhaps the most recognizable sign that Easter is here is the lilies. They are often the first flowers to show up in the spring. Even after the lifeless brown of fall and the biting cold of winter, new life has sprouted again.
That is why lilies are a symbol for Jesus’ resurrection. Adam and Eve brought sin and death to God’s perfect creation. Now the ground produced thorns and thistles. Now there was pain and suffering. But God planted hope in their hearts. He would send a Savior to redeem them. He would bring life to the world of death.
Everything looked so dark on Friday. Jesus struggled to breathe on the cross while His enemies mocked Him. Then He gave one last cry, and He was gone. They laid His body in a tomb and sealed it shut. His disciples despaired. They went into hiding.
But then on Sunday morning new life sprang forth. An angel rolled the stone away from the tomb and declared, “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (Mat. 28:6). Then Jesus began to show Himself: to the women, to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, to Peter, to ten of the disciples gathered together. He was not dead, and He was no ghost. He had risen indeed!
St. Paul called Him “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1Co. 15:20). He was the first to rise bodily from the dead, the first flower of a New Spring. This is why we plant flowers on graves. Just as the flowers come forth and flourish, so will the bodies of all the faithful when Jesus returns on the last day with a shout and “with the sound of the trumpet of God” (1Th. 4:16).
The trumpet-shaped lilies anticipate His coming. Our cemeteries might look lifeless and bleak now, but they will fill with new life when our Lord Jesus comes in His glory. The winter is past. Death is dead. Spring breaks forth. And together with all who live in Him, we join our voices in saying: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Let us sing our festival hymn #348, “He Is Arisen! Glorious Word!”
He is arisen! Glorious Word!
Now reconciled is God, my Lord;
The gates of heaven are open.
My Jesus died triumphantly,
And Satan’s arrows broken lie,
Destroyed hell’s direst weapon.
O hear
What cheer!
Christ victorious
Riseth glorious,
Life He giveth—
He was dead, but see, He liveth!
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Sermon text: Joshua 3:5-17
In Christ Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Joh. 14:6), dear fellow redeemed:
There aren’t many people who end up doing what they think they will as children. After all, there are only so many spots open for professional athletes, famous singers, or the President of the United States. Typically a person’s path through life is less definite than they think it will be as a child. We learn as we go that dreams often do not become reality. The person we thought was perfect for us turns out not to be. We move from job to job. Plans change. So the way our life plays out is not so much a “point A to point B,” but a zig-zagging, forward and backward, wandering around sort of path that leads to a different point than we ever imagined.
When the Israelite people left Egypt, they expected to journey to the land of Canaan which the LORD had promised to give them. But they didn’t march straight east and then north right into the land. God led them into the wilderness, through the Red Sea, and to Mount Sinai to receive His Law. Finally He brought them to the Promised Land, where spies were sent to survey the land. But the spies brought back a bad report. “[T]he cities are fortified and very large,” they said. “The people are too strong. They are like giants, and we seemed like grasshoppers in comparison. We could never defeat them” (Num. 13:28,31-32).
Because they did not trust the LORD, He told them they would wander for forty years in the wilderness, and everyone above the age of twenty with the exception of Joshua and Caleb would die in the wilderness (Num. 32:11-12). If you were five or ten years old when the LORD delivered this judgment, the next forty years would have seemed a long time. As you traveled around from one wilderness place to another, you couldn’t help but wonder, “Are we ever going to get somewhere?”
That question was answered in today’s account. The time had come for the people to cross over the Jordan River and enter the land of Canaan. But how would they get across? The Jordan River was estimated to be one hundred feet wide and up to ten feet deep. Besides that, it was springtime when snowmelt from a nearby mountain and new rainfall caused the river to overflow its banks. There was no way the great multitude of Israelites would be able to wade across.
Just before today’s reading, we are told that the Israelites camped near the Jordan for three days (Jos. 3:1-2). For three days, they looked at the churning waters in front of them. Perhaps they scouted up and down the river looking for a suitable place to cross. There was none. Their eyes were also drawn past the waters to the lush, green landscape of Canaan. How good it would be to get there! That’s where they wanted to go! But when? How?
They had no answers. They could not accomplish it. They had to wait for the LORD to make a way. He brought them this far; He would have to bring them across. Through Joshua, the LORD told the people to consecrate themselves, to prepare in repentance for what He would do for them. Joshua told the priests to carry the ark of the covenant toward the river, and when their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from the north stopped flowing. It stood up in a heap like the waters of the Red Sea had done, so that all the people could cross over on dry ground. The impossible was made possible by the mighty LORD.
We have gathered to celebrate another impossible event today, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. None of His disciples expected it to happen. As they waited those three days, they wept together and hid themselves in fear of what might happen to them. All they could see before them and behind them were dark, churning waters of trouble which threatened to engulf them at any moment. Where could they go? What would they do?
Then reports started to trickle in: “The stone was rolled away… the tomb was empty… angels spoke to us… we saw Jesus… He told us what we should do….” The impossible was made possible. Jesus rose from the dead, which means He was not just a man. He is true God who completed the work He came to do—redeem the whole world from sin and death by His death and resurrection. By the Sunday after Easter, He had shown Himself to His chosen disciples, and soon afterward, He appeared to more than five hundred of His followers at once (1Co. 15:6).
Then on the fortieth day after His resurrection, His disciples watched Him ascend into heaven, and angels appeared and said, “This Jesus… will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Act. 1:11). So there is a direct line between the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and His return on the last day to judge the living and the dead. Because He predicted His resurrection on the third day and then rose, it is just as certain that He will return visibly on the last day as He said He would. So if His resurrection is “point A,” and His return in glory is “point B,” then every day is another day down the line closer to His return.
But just as the Israelites wondered if they would ever get to the Promised Land as they wandered through the wilderness, so we wonder if we will ever reach the Promised Land of heaven. We haven’t seen heaven. All we know is the wilderness of this world. And often it seems to us that the sinful plans and pleasures of the moment are better than the promise of future blessings. Is the Promised Land really waiting at the end of the line? Is it really all it is made out to be?
So like the Israelites who had doubts about God’s care for them and His promises to them, we have doubts. Like the Israelites who grumbled and complained when they faced hardships, we grumble and complain. Like the Israelites who wanted to stop aiming for the Promised Land and instead return to Egypt, we are tempted to turn away from God’s promise, go along with the world, and pursue what is wrong.
But there is no life in going back to where we started or choosing a different path than God’s. Those paths are all dead ends. They all lead away from God and back into the slavery of sin. Only through Jesus can we see our way forward to blessings in this life and beyond. But how can we know we are walking on His path? How can we be certain that the way we are going is the way we are supposed to go?
Actually that responsibility does not rest with us, which is a good thing because we have a terrible sense of direction! If our reaching the Promised Land depended on our figuring out the way and on our strength to get there, we would never come close. The only way to get on that straight line stretching from Jesus’ resurrection to His return, is if He puts us on the line and keeps us on it.
It starts with Baptism. At your Baptism, Jesus joined Himself to you. He tied you to His burial and His resurrection, so that your sin was buried with Him and you now walk with Him “in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). Baptism is the beginning of your journey to the Promised Land of heaven, just as the Israelites’ passing through the water of the Red Sea was the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land of Canaan.
Baptism gives you a clear future. It means that where Jesus is going, you are going—point A to point B. In your sin, you might deviate from that path—and sometimes significantly. But Jesus by His grace is constantly calling you back, constantly forgiving your sins, and guiding you in the right direction through His Word and Sacraments. He says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Joh. 8:31-32). And, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life” (Joh. 10:27-28a).
By His holy Word, Jesus leads you through this life toward eternal life with Him. When you die, your immortal soul will leave your body and be carried to the Lord. Your body will be buried for a time. Then on the day of His return, the heaven you have strained to see over the dark, churning waters of this life, will finally become clear. Jesus, your Joshua, will call you from the grave, clothe you in His glory, and lead you to a blessed place, a bright new beginning. He will bring you safely across the Jordan To the Promised Land.
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 “The Empty Tomb” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The First Sunday after Christmas – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Genesis 22:1-14
In Christ Jesus, through whose sacrifice we are redeemed from all sin and adopted as God’s beloved sons, dear fellow redeemed:
Occasionally the newspaper has a story about an old building or an old town where now there is nothing but a parking lot or grass. It may have been a thriving place at one time, but except for a newspaper article, it is all but forgotten. It works the opposite, too, that a place with little activity is now well-known and busy. This church is one example. For most of history, my guess is that this particular location, this exact place, has never had such a gathering of people as in modern times since the church was built. Before the congregation chose this spot, it was a meadow for livestock or wild game, or for ancient peoples traveling through.
Another location like this is the land of Moriah mentioned in today’s reading. It doesn’t go by that name anymore, but you know the place. It is where Jerusalem now sits on Mount Zion. It is here that God told Abraham to bring his son Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering. Setting aside this shocking command for a moment, let us remember how Abraham and his wife Sarah were given this son.
God promised offspring to Abraham when he was seventy-five years old. God did not fulfill this promise until Abraham was one hundred and his wife Sarah was ninety! It was a miraculous birth. But even more than that, God made it clear that through them, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). All would be blessed because the Messiah, the world’s Savior, would come through them and their son Isaac. About Isaac, the LORD specifically promised, “I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him” (Gen. 17:19).
And now God commanded Abraham to kill Isaac and burn him as an offering. The thought of this is horrific. We shudder when we read about the corrupt kings of Judah who offered their sons as burnt offerings to try to appease false gods (2Ki. 16:3, 21:6). We are sickened by the thought of the tens of millions of aborted babies in our own land who have been offered to the idols of selfishness, greed, and sexual “freedom.”
Why would the LORD tell Abraham to sacrifice his son? I’m sure Abraham wondered the same thing. Was this a punishment of some sort? Was God angry with him? What would Sarah think? What would Isaac think? The thought of taking up a knife to kill his beloved son was unbearable. And what would this mean for God’s promise of salvation? Had God changed His mind? No, that couldn’t be! Abraham hardly slept that night, troubled as he was by these questions and the task God had given him.
He got up early in the morning and made preparations for the journey. We are given details about the preparation that seem unimportant, but each one was accompanied by Abraham’s tremendous suffering. He saddled the donkey. He summoned two of his servants. He called his son. He cut wood for the burnt offering. They set off for the mountain God had designated. On the third day of their travels, Abraham saw the place in the distance, and he and Isaac continued on without the servants.
We are not told how old Isaac was at this time, but he must have at least been in his teens or perhaps his early twenties. He was strong enough to carry the wood for the burnt offering as they climbed the mountain. Abraham brought the knife and the fire. But something was missing. “My father,” said Isaac, “Where is the lamb?” Abraham replied, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” They reached the place, and Abraham built the altar and laid the wood on top. Then we are told matter-of-factly that Abraham “bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.”
How could Abraham have carried this out without Isaac trying to escape him or fight against the ropes? Since it seems obvious that Isaac could have done these things, there must be another explanation. Though we are not given the details, it seems very likely that Abraham had a straightforward conversation with his son, along the lines of: “This is what God commanded me to do. We dare not disobey His command. He has promised salvation through our line. That must mean, my dear son, that He will make a way to raise you back to life after you have turned to ashes.” That certainly seems to have been Abraham’s confidence when he said to his two servants, “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
The New Testament book of Hebrews explains exactly this. It says that Abraham “considered that God was able even to raise [Isaac] from the dead” (11:19). This is a tremendous account of Abraham’s faith. He could not imagine that God had taken back the promise of salvation through Isaac. God is no liar. So Abraham would do what God said and offer up his son, and leave it to God to carry out what He promised. The fact that Isaac was willing to be tied up and placed on the altar also shows his confidence in God’s promise.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a faith like this that clings to God’s promises even when the opposite seems to be happening! But when we wish for a stronger faith, what we often want is for God to fill us up with faith like we might fill a car with gasoline—just so quickly and easily. But Abraham’s faith did not grow out of ease and comfort. He bore the cross of a move away from his family and homeland to a strange place, the cross of waiting twenty-five years in his old age for the fulfillment of God’s promise of a son, the cross of then having to sacrifice his son Isaac. The devil tried to use these trials to drive faith out of Abraham. God used these trials to drive faith deeper in Abraham’s heart.
Times of suffering are when people either hold tightly to God’s promises or when they loosen the grip of faith. Some people think their suffering is a sign of God’s punishment or a sign that He doesn’t really care for or love them. The devil wants us to think this too. But we learn from God’s testing of Abraham that He works all suffering for our good. This is what the Bible consistently teaches. Romans 8:28 says: “[W]e know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
And God did work Abraham’s and Isaac’s trial for good. He reinforced for them that His Word and promise was stronger than any love they had for each other. He trained their focus forward in time when His great promise of salvation would be carried out. “I will surely bless you,” the LORD said to Abraham, “and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:17-18).
This account has a happy ending. Abraham and Isaac returned home rejoicing. Will your faith be rewarded as theirs was? It already has been. Through all the trials and troubles of your life—the death of loved ones, the harm done to you by others, the stresses of your own weaknesses and failures—through all of it, the LORD has neither left you nor forsaken you. He has brought you back here to receive the forgiveness of your sins, peace in your heart, and rest from your weariness. Here through His Word and Sacraments, He does strengthen your faith, so that you are prepared for whatever crosses the Lord sends for your good.
He has these wonderful gifts to give you because God Provided the Lamb for the Offering, a Lamb to be sacrificed in your place. This Lamb, Jesus Christ, was born—where else?—in a stable. He was wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger. Forty days after His birth, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to present Him to the LORD as the Law of God commanded. It was the first time the Son of God entered the city of Jerusalem in the flesh.
The mountain on which Jerusalem was built is where Abraham and Isaac once went up to build an altar to the LORD. Just as Isaac carried the wood of the burnt offering up the mountain, Jesus would carry the wood of His cross toward Calvary. Just as Isaac let himself be bound and placed on the altar, Jesus would let Himself be bound and nailed to the altar of the cross. This was God the Father’s only Son, His beloved Son, with whom He was well pleased (Mat. 3:17).
No angel stopped this sacrifice. God the Father poured out His fiery wrath on His Son, and Jesus willingly took it, so that you would be saved. He suffered and died for you, so that your doubting of God’s commands, your unwillingness to do what He says, and your impatience in suffering would not be counted against you. Jesus suffered and died for you, so that all your sins would be blotted out, taken away, eternally forgiven.
And just as the mountain on the third day of Abraham’s and Isaac’s travels changed from a place of death to a place of rejoicing and life, so it was on the third day after Jesus’ death. In His garden tomb outside Jerusalem, an angel rolled away the stone and declared, “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (Mat. 28:6).
This is what we have gathered today to celebrate. We celebrate the birth of Jesus because we know why He came. “God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law”—Abraham and Isaac and you and me and all sinners—, “so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).
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 stained glass depicting the wood, knife, and jar with fire for the sacrifice of Isaac)
The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
In Christ Jesus, whose work and word is life for us, dear fellow redeemed:
Jairus was desperate. His daughter, just twelve years old, was sick, and she wasn’t getting better. The doctors said there was nothing more they could do. Her parents’ hearts were broken; their tears flowed. They would gladly have taken her place. They would die if only she could live. They felt hopeless. Then Jairus learned that Jesus had just come to the area. He hurried to meet Him, knelt before Him, and begged Him to lay His healing hand on the girl so she would live. Jesus agreed to go. Jairus felt a glimmer of hope.
But while they were on their way, a friend from Jairus’ home met them with terrible news, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more” (Luk. 8:49). They were too late. The girl’s time had run out. Her soul had left her body and gone to be with the Lord. Her body lay at rest. But then Jesus turned to Jairus in his anguish and said something strange, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well” (v. 50). They kept going. When they got to the house, a great crowd had gathered, “weeping and wailing loudly” (Mar. 5:38). Jesus now addressed them. “Do not weep,” He said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping” (Luk. 8:52, Mat. 9:24).
The people in the crowd did not respond like Jairus did. They laughed at Jesus. It was not a laugh of joy or even of surprise. It was a laugh that showed their offense at Jesus’ words and their disdain for His message. They knew the difference between sleep and death! They knew the signs: her heart had stopped, she wasn’t breathing, her skin had gone cold. There was no doubt about it—the girl was dead.
And no doubt she was. But just like the people today who tell us to “trust science” since nothing can be verified apart from science, the people in the crowd failed to account for the power of God. Death was too powerful for the people to overcome, but it wasn’t too powerful for Jesus. They were helpless in the face of death, but Jesus was not.
Jesus sent the crowd out of the house and approached the girl’s bedside. She lay there so still, so peaceful, while all around her was so much pain and sadness. Jesus reached down, took her by the hand, and said two words in Aramaic, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mar. 5:41). Immediately the girl got up and started walking.
You and I have also stood at the side of deceased people before. We have seen them lying there peacefully, maybe even touched their hands. We looked at their faces and wished that their eyes might open, that they would start breathing again, that they would step out of the casket and be reunited with us. Why doesn’t God do this for us? Why doesn’t He work a miracle? It’s obvious that He can. Nothing is impossible for Him (Luk. 1:37).
But He does not call us to put our hope in what He can do or might do. He calls us to trust in what He has promised. And He does promise to raise our loved ones from the dead, even if it is not as soon as we want. The inspired words of 1 Thessalonians address this pain of loss and the difficulty of waiting for the day of our final redemption. St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christians, “we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”
It is clear that these Christians were concerned that some among them were dying before the return of Jesus. Would these believers lose out on their chance to be in heaven with glorified body and soul? “No,” says Paul echoing the words of Jesus, “they are only sleeping. Through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.” But how could they be certain of this? Where was the proof? They needed to look no further than Jesus, who “died and rose again.”
When Jesus died on Good Friday, no one called that a sleep. The soldiers found Him dead on the cross and thrust a spear into His side to make sure of it. Joseph and Nicodemus took down His body, put it in a new tomb, and sealed the tomb with a big stone. No one expected Jesus to come out again. The women made plans to return for a better burial. But everything changed on Easter Sunday. Everything changed for Jesus’ disciples who saw Him alive that day, and everything changed that day for you and me as we approach our own death.
Paul writes that the One who died and rose again, who triumphed over death, is going to return to raise us from the dead. He is going to come and wake us up, just as though we had been sleeping, just as He woke up the little girl. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” We think of Jesus coming on the clouds with all the angels. But did you remember this passage which says He will come down with a shout, “with a cry of command”?
What is it that He will cry out? Perhaps we have an insight from Jesus raising the young man from Nain to life when He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise” (Luk. 7:14). Or when He called to his friend Lazarus in the tomb, “Lazarus, come out” (Joh. 11:43). Or when He said to Jairus’ daughter, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mar. 5:41). Whatever Jesus’ calls out on the last day—whether “arise!” or “come out!” or something else—our reading tells us clearly what will happen, “the dead in Christ will rise.”
Jesus’ word of command will awaken the dead. It will wake them up just as though they had been sleeping, just as you might wake up someone from a nap. That’s what His Word has the power to do. It gives life. His Word is how you and I were brought to faith in Him. It wasn’t by a decision we made. It wasn’t because we put ourselves in a good position to be influenced by God. It is because God in His mercy and grace looked with love upon us and called us to believe through the Gospel, through the good news of what Jesus did to save us.
When we hear this message, God the Holy Spirit is at work. He is working to plant faith in the hearts of unbelievers and to strengthen faith in the hearts of believers. This Gospel message comforts us when we mourn the death of our loved ones, and it prepares us for our own death. The promises of Jesus are why, though we are certainly saddened by death, we do “not grieve as others do who have no hope.”
Grieving without hope is celebrating a life without celebrating the life of Jesus and the life He won for us. Grieving without hope is looking for some sign of a loved one’s presence in nature or in the coincidences of daily life instead of rejoicing in their bliss in the presence of God. Grieving without hope is removing all trace of a loved one’s life because it hurts too much to think of them, or setting up shrines to them in our homes as though we can keep their spirit with us.
Grieving without hope is separating ourselves from the means God has given for our comfort and strength—His holy Word and Sacraments. There is no hope apart from God in the face of death. The crowd showed their hopelessness when Jesus told them the girl was “not dead but sleeping.” They laughed at Him. They did not trust His Word, so they received no comfort and encouragement.
But how can we be sure that what the Bible says about the last day will happen? How can we know that the dead will be raised, that we will see the people we love again, that we ourselves will wake up from the sleep of death? Besides the fact that there is no hopeful alternative to what God says, the Bible has never been proven false. Everything the Old Testament said about the coming Savior was clearly fulfilled in Jesus. Everything Jesus said would happen, including His suffering, death, and resurrection, did happen.
So why should we doubt what He tells us about His return in glory on the last day? Paul did not make up the words of today’s reading. “For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,” he wrote. And, “encourage one another with these words.” The words we are privileged to hear today are words of life. They are words that cut through our pain, dispel our sadness, break up the clouds of doubt we have. These words point us to what Jesus has done—died on the cross and rose again for our salvation—and to what He will do—descend from heaven in glory to bring all believers with Him to heaven.
So rest well, dear friends in Christ. At the end of your life, you can close your eyes without a care knowing that through Christ your sins are forgiven and eternal life is yours. By His grace, you will drift into the gentle slumber of death. Your soul will immediately fly to the Lord, and your body will lie in peaceful sleep until the day of our Lord’s appearing.
Lord, let at last Thine angels come,
To Abram’s bosom bear me home,
That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep
My body safe in peaceful sleep
Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face,
My Savior and my Fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ,
My prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee without end. Amen. (ELH #406, v. 3)
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 painting by Gabriel von Max, 1878)
The Second Sunday of Easter – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. John 20:19-31
In Christ Jesus, who dispels our every doubt, dear fellow redeemed:
How could Thomas be so stubborn? The other disciples saw Jesus with their own eyes. They saw the mark of the nails on his hands and the hole in his side from the spear. Why did Thomas refuse to believe his fellow disciples “[u]nless [he saw] in [Jesus’] hands the mark of the nails, and [placed his] finger into the mark of the nails, and [placed his] hand into [Jesus’] side” (verse 25)? What reason did he have to not believe the men whom he had traveled with for so long and gotten to know so well? But even though Thomas was wrong to doubt that Jesus had risen from the dead, the other disciples were no better.
The first people to hear the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead were the women who went to anoint Jesus’ body early in the morning after the Sabbath had ended. When they arrived at the tomb, they discovered that the stone, which blocked the entrance to the tomb, had been rolled away. Inside the tomb, Jesus’ body was gone, which perplexed the women. Then, two angels appeared to them and said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:5–7). Then the women remembered Jesus’ words and went to tell the disciples what they had seen and heard. The women were told to tell them these things not only by the angels, but also by Jesus himself, who appeared to them as they returned from the tomb.
What good news the women gave the disciples! Jesus, who had been betrayed by one of their own and arrested, who had died on the cross, as witnessed by John, and who had been placed in a tomb, the entrance to which was blocked by a large stone, was not dead, but alive! He had accomplished the work that he had come to do. He had paid the price for the world’s sins on the cross and declared his victory over sin, death, and the devil by his rising from the dead. The disciples should have been rejoicing when they heard the report of the women. But, when the women told these things to the disciples, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).
The disciples had no reason to think that the women were just telling them an idle tale and that Jesus hadn’t actually risen from the dead. He had told them many times what was going to happen to him. We hear in the gospel according to St. Matthew that, after Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, “[f]rom that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). He predicted his death and resurrection to his disciples two more times after that. Then, shortly before he was to be handed over to the religious authorities and arrested, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified” (Matthew 26:2). And finally, on the night that he was to be arrested and sentenced to death, Jesus said to his disciples, “[A]fter I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee” (Matthew 26:32).
When the disciples heard the report of the women, they should have remembered Jesus’ words and believed that he had risen from the dead, just like the women did. But instead, they doubted. It took Jesus appearing before the disciples and showing them the mark of the nails on his hands and the hole in his side from the spear for them to believe. The words that Jesus spoke to Thomas in our text for today may as well have been spoken to all of the disciples: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (verse 29).
You are “those who have not seen and yet have believed.” It was two thousand years ago that Jesus walked the earth. There’s no way that any of you could have seen him. All you have are the words that the Holy Spirit inspired the disciples and the other writers of the Bible to write down. Those words tell you that you are by nature sinful and that you deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. They tell you that there is no way for you to escape God’s wrath and punishment or to earn your way into heaven. But those words also tell you that God the Father loved you so much that he didn’t want to leave you to that dreadful fate. So, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to take all of your sin on himself and experience all of the wrath and punishment from God that you rightfully deserved. The mark of the nails on his hands and the hole in his side from the spear is proof of Jesus’ love for you. Jesus was nailed to the cross for you. His side was pierced for you. His death on the cross was so that you would not have to experience that death.
But what God tells us through his Word doesn’t end with Jesus’ death, because if Jesus had remained dead, then you would have no hope. As the apostle Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, “[I]f Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). If Jesus had not been raised, then that would mean that his sacrifice was not sufficient enough to pay for your sins. The good news is that Jesus has been raised from the dead, which means that his sacrifice was sufficient and that your sins have been paid for and forgiven. You have heard the same words that the disciples heard. The disciples were not willing to believe this good news without seeing evidence that Jesus truly had risen. Even though you have not seen any evidence that Jesus has risen, it is through the work of the Holy Spirit that you believe that it’s true.
Does that make you better or more faithful than the disciples? Even though we don’t doubt that Jesus has died on the cross and risen from the dead, there are other things that God has revealed to us through his Word that we do doubt. God tells us that he will be with us in times of trouble, but how do we know for sure that he is with us during those times? After all, it is often during our times of trouble that we feel the most alone. God also tells us that he loves us and will always do what is best for us, but how do we know that this is true? After all, so many others seem to have it better than we do, and not just other Christians, but unbelievers. If unbelievers seem to have it better than we do, how do we know for sure that he loves us and is doing what is best for us? And even though we believe that Jesus truly did die on the cross for the sins of the world, how do we know for sure that Jesus died for our sins? After all, the sins that we have done are so horrible, and they continue to weigh us down. If Jesus really did die for our sins, why do we continue to feel so guilty? What if that means that our sins haven’t actually been forgiven because they are just too great? In all of these instances, as well as many others, our doubts can lead us to not trust in the words that God has spoken to us through Scripture alone. Our doubts can lead us to seek evidence from God that what he has told us is true. In moments like these, we are no better than the disciples, who needed to see the risen Jesus to believe that he had truly risen from the dead.
Whenever we have doubts about what God has revealed to us in his Word and shut the doors of our hearts to him, Jesus passes through the shut doors of our hearts and says to us, “Peace be with you” (verses 19, 26). Jesus brings his peace to us through the means of grace, his Word and Sacraments, and through Holy Absolution. Whenever we doubt that God loves us or that he is with us in times of trouble, Jesus dispels our doubts by pointing us to the promises that he made to us in his Word and saying, “I do love you and will always be with you.” Whenever we doubt that we have been forgiven, Jesus comforts and strengthens us by pointing us to our baptisms and saying, “I have washed away your sins.” Whenever we are burdened with guilt, Jesus leads us to his table to give us his true body and blood in the bread and the wine and says to us, “I forgive you all your sins.” And in Holy Absolution, he uses his called servants of the Word to announce to all of us, “By the authority of Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It is not through evidence that our hearts are put at peace. It is Jesus, working through the Word, Sacraments, and Absolution, that puts our hearts at peace.
While it would certainly be amazing to have evidence from God presented to us that what he was revealed to us through his Word is true, we don’t need it, because we already have the eyewitness accounts from the apostles about what Jesus did. Even though those apostles thought that they needed to see proof of Jesus’ resurrection before they could believe, they now tell us to believe without getting any further proof. As the apostle John writes in our text for today, “[T]hese have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in order that by believing, you may have life in his name” (verse 31). God’s Word is enough. It is through God’s Word that we know why we need a Savior. It is through God’s Word that we know what our Savior has done to save us. It is through God’s Word that we know that the victory has been won for us by our Savior. Whenever we have doubts, we don’t demand that God give us new evidence that what he says is true. We turn to his Word and hear of his great love for us, love that led our Savior, Jesus, to lay down his own life for us, and to hear of the comfort and hope that Jesus used to dispel our doubts, comfort and hope that we have through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
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 Festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! That was not the disciples’ reaction on Easter Sunday. “Christ is risen!” said the angel (Mar. 16:6). “Christ is risen!” said the women (Luk. 24:9). “Christ is risen!” said the Emmaus disciples (Mar. 16:13; Luk. 24:34). But this shocking message, this wonderful news, was met with questions and doubt. “Is Christ risen?” they wondered. “We won’t believe it until we see it with our own eyes.”
We know the truth that Jesus certainly died and certainly rose again on the third day. We know it, because the disciples did see Jesus after His resurrection, and they reported exactly what they saw and heard from Him. His resurrection is a fact. Christ is risen indeed!
But where our doubt comes in is here: “Is Christ risen for me? How can I be sure? How can I know that when I die, I will rise again? Or that my loved ones will rise again?” We can understand the disciples’ doubts—when had anyone ever risen from the dead? Our doubts seem reasonable too—when have we ever seen someone rise from the dead? But experience only goes so far.
The two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus on Easter afternoon were experiencing sadness. Jesus joined them on the road, but they didn’t know it was Him. They told Him everything they had witnessed and heard over the last few days, including the report of Jesus’ resurrection.
And Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luk. 24:25-26). Then what did He do? “[B]eginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (v. 27).
We may not have seen anyone rise from the dead. But we do have the Scriptures, God’s own Word. Jesus’ life and works match perfectly with all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. And everything that He told His disciples would happen during Holy Week, including His resurrection on the third day, did happen exactly as He predicted.
So we do not need to doubt His promise to return on the last day to raise up the dead, or His promise that He has gone to prepare a place for all believers in heaven, or His promise to be present with us now through His Word and Sacraments to strengthen our faith. His resurrection verifies that what He promises, He does.
We rejoice in these promises by rising to sing hymn #348, “He Is Arisen! Glorious Word!”
He is arisen! Glorious Word!
Now reconciled is God, my Lord;
The gates of heaven are open.
My Jesus died triumphantly,
And Satan’s arrows broken lie,
Destroyed hell’s direst weapon.
O hear
What cheer!
Christ victorious
Riseth glorious,
Life He giveth—
He was dead, but see, He liveth!
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Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
In Christ Jesus, through whom you are a new creation, a new lump, filled no longer with the leaven of sin, but with the sincerity and truth that come from Him alone, dear fellow redeemed:
God sent nine terrible plagues on Egypt, but still Pharaoh would not let the enslaved people of Israel go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD. God promised to send one more plague, after which Pharaoh would let the people go. In preparation for this plague, the LORD instructed each Israelite household to take a male lamb without blemish and kill it at twilight. Then they were to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and eat the flesh of the lamb roasted over fire.
They were also instructed to eat unleavened bread. All leaven had to be removed from their houses, and they would eat unleavened bread for seven days. The penalty for eating leavened bread during this time was severe. The LORD said, “if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel” (Exo. 12:15). He repeated the same warning a few verses later that anyone who disobeyed “will be cut off from the congregation of Israel” (v. 19).
In today’s Epistle lesson, the apostle Paul draws on this account of the Passover. He tells the Christian congregation in Corinth to “cleanse out the old leaven.” But he is not talking about their bread. He is talking about the congregation. The Christians there were puffed up. They were boasting, puffed up with pride, and they were not boasting about what their Savior Jesus had done for them. They were boasting about their open-mindedness and their willingness to tolerate what was clearly sinful. In this case, they were boasting about a clear violation of the Sixth Commandment—one of the members of the congregation living in open sin.
This is the kind of approach that is cheered by our culture today. The churches that are willing to compromise the Word of God, change their teachings with the times, and stop calling out sin are praised. These churches probably don’t say much about the Ten Commandments anymore, or they might explain them in such a way that no one in the congregation is really challenged or convicted by them. “Oh, the Ten Commandments are for the bad people,” they say, “and for the people who just want to judge others. But we are doing just fine.”
Paul writes, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” Then he tells us what that leaven is, it is “the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil.” It is the sin that characterized us before we became unleavened, before we were born again in Christ through Holy Baptism. It is the sin that Jesus died to free us from, we who were formerly enslaved to sin and death.
We are freed from this sin, because “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” Here, God’s stunning plan of salvation becomes clear, a plan that was illustrated by the Passover lamb. Right after Jesus’ public revealing as the Messiah at His Baptism, John pointed to Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh. 1:29). He could take the world’s sin, because He had no sin of His own to carry. He was “a lamb without blemish or spot” (1Pe. 1:19).
The blood of this spotless Lamb was poured out for you on Good Friday just before the Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem. This holy blood cleanses you from all sin (1Jo. 1:7). We just sang a verse about this in Martin Luther’s great Easter hymn: “Here the true Paschal Lamb we see, / Whom God so freely gave us; / He died on the accursed tree— / So strong His love— to save us. / See, His blood doth mark our door [the door of our heart!]; / Faith points to it [to His blood], death passes o’er, / And Satan cannot harm us. / Alleluia!” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #343, v. 5).
Jesus’ resurrection on the third day is the irrefutable proof that all sin was atoned for by His sacrifice. Now is the time to “celebrate the festival,” writes Paul. Now is the time to celebrate the Lamb’s victory. Now is the time to celebrate the forgiveness of sins. Now is the time to celebrate the eternal life that is ours because Jesus rose triumphant over death.
But how are we to “celebrate the festival”? Today’s reading says, “not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil”—not by returning to the sin that Jesus has freed us from, not by confirming others in their sin and boasting about how charitable and accommodating we are of them. Remember that the Israelites were told to get rid of every trace of leaven from their homes. In the same way, we are called to get rid of every trace of sin in our own hearts and to recognize that our sins not only affect us—they affect the congregation to which we belong and the whole body of Christ. “A little leaven” in just one area of a batch of dough “leavens the whole lump.”
The way we “cleanse out the old leaven,” both individually and as a congregation is through repentance. We own up to our weaknesses. We admit our sinful actions, words, and thoughts that we have tried to justify or pass off as being “not so bad.” We even pry the lid off old sins that we have done our best to cover up but that continue to trouble our conscience.
We repent of our sins, because they have already been paid for. Jesus carried them to the cross, and when He came out of the tomb, our sins were left buried for now and forever. The payment of His death and the triumph of His resurrection are applied to us in Holy Baptism. Romans 6 tells us that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so through Baptism “we too might walk in newness of life” (v. 4). “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (v. 9). Because that is true for Jesus, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v. 11). His victory over sin and death is your victory.
You are not dead in your sins; you are alive in Jesus. You are no longer a slave to sin; you are free from it. You are free from the “leaven of malice and evil” that used to permeate you and rule you. You are free to “celebrate the festival” of Jesus’ victory “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Paul explained more in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians what this “sincerity” means. He wrote, “we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God” (2Co. 1:12). And again, “we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God (2:17, NASB).
“[T]he unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” is the faithful confession of God’s Word, no matter what cultural winds are blowing, and no matter what pressure is applied against the church. We have nothing to be ashamed of before God, when we believe and teach the Word of God with “sincerity and truth.”
But what if you haven’t spoken His Word faithfully, but instead compromised what He says? Or what if you haven’t done such a good job of “[cleansing] out the old leaven,” so that you are often still puffed up with sin and pride, or you are full of bitterness or anger toward others? Then repent of these sins and listen to these words: “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed” for you. God the Father sent His Son to atone for all your sins.
And He has called me to proclaim it to you. I can stand here today and tell you with no hesitation that your sins are forgiven, because Jesus won your freedom from them through His death and resurrection. Because He lives, you will live also (Joh. 14:19). That is what He promises all people who put their trust in Him. They are no longer full of “the old leaven,” they “really are unleavened.”
“You Really Are Unleavened.” That is how you are in Jesus. You are baptized into Him. You trust in Him. You know that He will return again on the last day to raise up and glorify you and all believers. He really has risen! He has risen for you, indeed! Alleluia!
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 Easter morning sunrise taken by Redeemer member, 3/31/24)
The Baptism of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Peter 3:18-22
In Christ Jesus, who was baptized into our sin, so we would be baptized into His righteousness, dear fellow redeemed:
The ark that Noah built was a very big boat! It was longer than a football field and about as tall as football goalposts from the ground to the tip of the posts. (If you have visited the “Ark Encounter” in Kentucky, you have gotten a sense at how big the ark probably was.) It was large enough to hold Noah and his family, two of every kind of animal, and the food and provisions they needed for the time they spent on the ark, which totaled about a year.
When the waters began to recede after completely covering the whole earth, Genesis 8 says that “the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat” (v. 4). Where exactly that is has been the focus of a good deal of research and a lot of expeditions that have failed to produce any evidence of the ark. As neat as it would be to find a big boat buried in the ice on top of some mountain, I think it would be better if Noah’s ark is never found. Why? Mainly for these two reasons: First, we don’t need physical evidence of the ark to prove that what the Bible says is true. And second, people would be tempted to view the ark as a sacred relic that possessed some kind of holy power.
This has happened all through human history. Churches around the world have tiny bones of the apostles and famous saints on display, which supposedly give spiritual benefits to those who visit them. Many places display pieces of Jesus’ cross (so many pieces said Luther in his day, that they could build a church with them!). Even in Old Testament times, the godly king Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent that Moses had made at God’s command some seven hundred years earlier, because the Israelites were worshiping it (2Ki. 18:4).
The ark that God told Noah to build served its purpose. It brought His chosen people safely through water. Our churches have a sort of connection to the ark. The main part of the church where all of you sit is called the “nave.” It comes from the Latin word navis, which means “ship.” The Youth Convention theme some years back was semper in navi—“always in the ship.”
You are brought into the ship of the Church through water. You became a member of the holy Christian Church through the water and Word of Holy Baptism. This is what today’s reading from St. Peter’s First Epistle describes. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he ties together the salvation of Noah’s family through water, with your salvation through water.
Where you were baptized is not the most important thing, just as where the ark is now is not important. You can imagine how a family could attach too much importance to a church building or to a particular font, where parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were baptized, so that those things become more important than the power and promises of God through His Word.
It is not where you were baptized that is so important, but how you were baptized. If you were baptized with water “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mat. 28:19), you received all the magnificent gifts of God in Christ. What gifts are those? Today’s reading says that Baptism is not “a removal of dirt from the body.” It is not about outward cleansing. You know as well as I do how quickly children get dirty again after they have been washed.
We can see the physical part of Baptism—the application of water. But we can’t see the spiritual part, which is “an appeal to God for a good conscience.” That is an interesting description of what Baptism does. Jesus instituted Baptism as an appeal for God the Father to give the baptized what Jesus won. This is something like a super rich person sharing his bank account information and telling you to go ahead and take it all!
Baptism gives you the goods—the best goods. It is an appeal for God to cleanse your guilty conscience and give you a good conscience. But why should He do that for you? Today’s reading says why: “Baptism… now saves you… as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” We make the claim that Baptism saves, and we have confidence that Baptism saves, because Jesus rose from the dead.
First, He “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.” He had to exchange His righteous life for our sinful lives and die in our place to pay for those sins. Without the shedding of His holy blood to atone for our sins, we would still have to answer for them. We would have to answer for every unholy thought, every mean word, every un-Christian action. But He did shed His blood to reconcile us with God.
God the Father showed that His Son’s sacrifice was sufficient for us by raising Him from the dead. Jesus came back to life on the third day, and before anything else, He descended into hell. He did not go there to suffer. His suffering was already complete, as He said on the cross, “It is finished.” Today’s reading says that “He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison” who “formerly did not obey.” Some have speculated that Jesus went to free the spirits from hell. But that would be inconsistent with the rest of the Bible, which says that there is no escape, no coming back, for the souls in hell.
About as much as we can say is that Jesus descended into hell to proclaim His victory over sin, devil, and death. Those “spirits in prison” now knew exactly who and what it was they had rejected, “when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared.” They ignored Noah’s preaching. They laughed at Noah’s ark. And they were all consumed by the waters of the flood and condemned to everlasting torment.
After His descent into hell, Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to many of His disciples. In one of those meetings, He told them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mat. 28:18-20a). Jesus was using His authority as the Conqueror of sin and death to send out His disciples to distribute His gifts.
Jesus still has that authority, and He still calls servants in the Church to distribute His gifts. Where His Word is purely preached and His Sacraments are rightly administered, Jesus promises to be present with His grace. He told those first disciples, and all the Church who would follow them, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (v. 20b).
Jesus is here now, right here, today. He is here to bless you and comfort you with His gifts. Are you worthy of His presence? Are you worthy to have Him come to you? If your thought is “yes,” because you have been pretty good, that is pride. The proud have no need for a Savior, because they think they are fine on their own.
If your thought is “no, I am not worthy,” that could lead to despair. You might think about the harsh words you said to the people closest to you, the harm you have done to them. You might think of the bad choices you made, the things you have done in secret that burn your conscience, things you wish you could take back. You might think of how selfish you have been, how weak in faith, how you have ignored the needs of your neighbor.
In that state of mind, you might forget something very important, which is that you are baptized! As unworthy as you may feel, and as much as you have fallen short of the glory of God, He chose you. He sent His only Son for you. When He looks at you, all He can see is the righteousness of His Son that covers you. He sees the blood of His Son that cleansed you of all sin.
These gifts were poured over you at your Baptism, and they remain yours by faith in Jesus. You stay in your Baptism by repenting of your sins, even the ones you are stuck in, day after day. You hand your sins over to the Father and cry, “Forgive me, Lord! I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mar. 9:24). And He does forgive you, every day. As He said to His Son on His Baptism day, so He says to you today, “You are My beloved Son, with you I am well pleased” (Mar. 1:11).
Like the flood that washed away the wicked and lifted Noah and his family to safety, your Baptism has done that for you—washed away your sin and brought you salvation from God. The hymn the children just sang says it so well, “Sins, disturb my soul no longer; / I am baptized into Christ. / I have comfort even stronger: / Jesus’ cleansing sacrifice. / Should a guilty conscience seize me / Since my Baptism did release me / In a dear forgiving flood, / Sprinkling me with Jesus’ blood?” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary 246, v. 2).
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 stained glass at Saude Lutheran Church)