The Festival of All Saints (observed) – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Matthew 9:18-26
In Christ Jesus, who conquered death so that we may live, dear fellow redeemed:
Death can be a scary thing. This is especially true for those who have no hope. To them, death is the end. So, to make death seem less scary, they try to “soften it” by describing it in nice sounding terms, such as “he is playing eighteen holes on the golf course in the sky,” or, “he lived a good life, and now his legacy lives on,” or, “he will continue to be with you forever, so long as you keep thinking about him.”
The New Testament describes death as a peaceful sleep for those who die in Christ. To the world, describing death as a peaceful sleep is another one of those ways to try to “soften it” and make death seem less scary, but the world does not expect a waking up from that sleep. We can even think this way too, especially when we have just experienced the death of a loved one. However, while (1) death seems like the end to us, in reality, (2) death is only a sleep that Jesus will wake us from. Jesus gives us hope.
Our reading for today begins with a ruler kneeling before Jesus and asking him to lay his hand on his daughter so that she will live. We find out from the Gospels of Mark and Luke that this ruler was named Jairus. We also find out from these two Gospels that Jairus’ daughter wasn’t dead yet, but she was near death. This doesn’t mean that the Gospel of Matthew is giving an inaccurate report of what happened. The account was simply condensed.
Even though Jarius’ daughter wasn’t dead yet, she was so close to death that Jairus had little to no hope that she would be able to recover. The only hope he had was that Jesus could heal her. Jairus wasn’t basing his hope on nothing. Jesus had already healed many people who were sick. He healed an official’s son who was at the point of death (John 4:46–54). He healed a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years (John 5:1–17). He healed Peter’s mother-in-law, who was sick with a high fever (Luke 4:38–39). He healed a paralytic (Mark 2:1–12). And he healed many others besides these (Matthew 8:16–17; 4:23–24).
Jairus had more than enough proof that Jesus had the power to heal his daughter. And then he watched Jesus heal a sick woman who touched the fringe of his garment on the way to his house. Seeing Jesus heal someone right in front of him no doubt gave him even more hope than he already had that Jesus had could save his daughter’s life. He had no reason to fear that his daughter would die so long as Jesus made it to his daughter in time.
Then the bad news came. According to Mark and Luke, after Jesus healed and reassured the sick woman, some men arrived to tell Jairus that his daughter had died. Jesus didn’t make it to Jairus’ daughter in time after all. Hearing this news could cause anyone to lose hope, but Jesus reassured Jairus by saying, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well” (Luke 8:50).
What Jesus said to reassure Jairus he also says to reassure us. Jesus entered this world to save us from death by his own death and resurrection. As Jesus said to Martha when her brother Lazarus died, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25–26).
Despite knowing this, death can still be a scary thing. We can fear the deaths of our loved ones, not wanting to experience the loneliness caused by them no longer being by our sides, or worrying how we will provide for ourselves and our families without their help. We can also fear our own deaths, worrying that it will be painful or that we will leave our families without the help that they need.
But it’s not just physical death that we can fear, but also eternal death. We know that we are by nature sinful and that we rightfully deserve eternal punishment in the fires of hell because of our many sins, a fact that can become clearer to us the closer to death that we get. As a result, we can wonder whether we lived a good enough life or whether we have a strong enough faith to get to heaven.
When any of these fears enter our minds, Jesus offers us reassurance and hope by telling us, “Do not be afraid; only believe” (Mark 5:36). Jesus gives us the faith we need through his Word and Sacraments. Because of this, we believe that Jesus experienced all our sufferings and took all our sins on himself on the cross. We believe that he paid the price for all our sins by his innocent suffering and death. We believe that he did everything necessary to save us. And we believe that he will remain with us through all our struggles, giving us the strength to persevere until the day we enter the peaceful sleep of death and enter eternal life in heaven.
Jairus believed and put his hope in Jesus, even after he received the terrible news that his daughter had died. His friends did not have the same confidence. In fact, the men who came to deliver Jairus the bad news also told him not to bother Jesus anymore since his daughter was now dead (Mark 5:35). In addition, the people who had gathered at Jairus’ house to mourn his daughter’s death laughed at Jesus when he told them that “the girl [was] not dead but sleeping” (verse 24).
Like those who didn’t believe that Jesus could raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead, we are tempted to doubt Jesus’ power over death. We know that God has revealed through his Word that we will rise again on the Last Day and that our bodies will be reunited with our souls. However, despite knowing what the Bible says, it can be difficult for us to have hope that we will rise from the dead. After all, Jesus’ power over death doesn’t change the fact that our loved ones are, for the moment, gone. We might even wonder why Jesus didn’t prevent the death of our loved ones if he has so much power.
Additionally, when our loved ones die and we are faced with the immediate reality of death, we might think that death is the end. Since we have only ever experienced life on earth, we tend not to give much thought at all to life in heaven. So, knowing that we will not see our loved ones again in this life might cause us to think that we will never see them again, despite knowing that the Bible says that we will see them again in heaven.
When we are tempted to doubt Jesus’ power over death and think that death is the end, Jesus gives us reassurance and hope. Jesus simply saying that he has power over death is one thing, but he also backed up his words with his actions. One of the ways he did this was by raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
Even though no one besides Jairus seemed to believe that Jesus could raise his daughter from the dead, Jesus proved them wrong. He entered Jairus’ house, took his daughter by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:41). And she arose.
This is not the only time that Jesus raised someone from the dead. He later raised the widow of Nain’s son from the dead (Luke 7:11–17). He raised Mary and Martha’s brother, and his friend Lazarus from the dead not long before his own death (John 11:1–41). And, in the greatest raising of all, Jesus raised himself from the dead on the third day after his death.
If Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would have no hope. If death had kept its hold on Jesus and kept him in the ground, then that would mean he isn’t God. And if Jesus wasn’t God, then he would not have paid the price for our sins. But Jesus did rise from dead, and by his resurrection, he proved he is God and defeated death, giving us hope.
But it was not just physical death that Jesus saved us from. He also saved us from two other kinds of death: spiritual death and eternal death. We are all by nature sinful, meaning that we were spiritually dead from the moment we were conceived and could only sin all the time. Even our good deeds were like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:4). Because of the sins we committed, we rightfully deserved to suffer for all eternity in the fires of hell. We couldn’t escape this fate on our own, because we couldn’t choose to do good, let alone choose to believe in Jesus. However, on the cross, Jesus paid the price for all of our sins so that we will not enter eternal death in hell when we physically die, but eternal life in heaven. Additionally, he applied his perfect life to us so that God the Father no longer sees us as his enemies who deserve eternal death in hell, but as his own dear children who deserve eternal life in heaven. So that this reality can be ours, Jesus brought us to faith through his Word and Sacraments. In the waters of Holy Baptism, our sinful natures were drowned, and our new selves rose up.
Through Baptism, Jesus has already raised us from the dead, making us a part of the saints triumphant, even though we have yet to physically die. Jesus has made us members of his holy body, as he does with all believers. Therefore, our believing loved ones who are already sleeping are not so very far away from us because we are all united in Jesus. Now, whenever we pray to God, join together in praising him, or receive his body and blood at his holy table in his Supper, we are joining in praying, praising, and feasting with the saints triumphant who are already sleeping.
Since Jesus defeated death in all of its forms, the death of the body is no longer the end for those who believe in him, but a peaceful sleep. Death is no different than falling to sleep peacefully in our beds. When our bodies enter the peaceful sleep of death, our souls will be with Jesus in heaven. Then, on the Last Day, the sure hope that we have in Christ will come to pass. When Jesus returns, he will wake all those who believe in him from their peaceful sleep, which include us and our loved ones who are already sleeping, and will reunite our bodies with our souls. But our bodies will not be the imperfect bodies we died in. They will be perfected, and we will never experience the sufferings of this world ever again. Then, Jesus will take all believers in him to heaven—all the saints—to live with him for all eternity.
Those who have no hope do not believe that this could possibly be true. To them, the sure hope that we will live again is a misguided and empty attempt to make death seem less scary. However, this sure hope is a reality for those who die in Christ. Jesus has conquered death by his innocent death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Because Jesus has conquered death, we will not die, but live. Because Jesus has conquered death, we have hope.
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)
Festival of All Saints (Trinity 24) – Vicar Cody Anderson sermon
Text: St. Matthew 9:18-26
In Christ Jesus, who with touch and His Words can bring people back to life, who rose from the dead destroying death, and with a great shout on the last day will raise your bodies from the grave, dear fellow redeemed:
The funeral has been set. The casket has been walked into the church by the pallbearers. It is shut and sitting long ways across the front of the church. I don’t even have to ask you to imagine this scenario because everyone has probably witnessed this exact scene. Funeral’s make people uncomfortable and that is understandable because death, is not natural. With the Fall into sin, this became the outcome. The LORD told Adam and by association all of Adam’s descendants, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19) There it is as plain as day in Genesis from God. He gave us breath and he can and will take it away. The question is how do we face what is to come of this? What can we do when our casket is the next one in front of the church?
The Holy Gospel for today shows us the comfort that we have when we are facing death. Matthew dives right into specifics, the synagogue ruler’s daughter is dead. He has faith that Jesus can heal her, that she will live. We don’t know what happened to this girl. She could have been sick; she could have been injured in an accident or had a sudden health crisis. What we do know is that the gospel records that her health turned to the point that she was dying and that she died. Her time of grace was up. On their way to synagogue ruler’s home, a woman who has suffered for twelve years with chronic bleeding has faith that Jesus can heal her. The other gospels record how she had gone to doctors and suffered under them, trying to find a cure. She had run out of options and she knew in her heart that there was only one option left. Now her disease is chronic. If she isn’t healed this bleeding condition will stay with her until she dies.
The girl and the woman have the same problem happening to them. Problems in this life can arise that hurt the body, in the woman’s case, the bleeding that she had would have stayed with her. We have many illnesses and various types of cancers that we face. The doctors will do all that they can, but it can be hard to hear the words that there are so many months left. The girl experienced the problem that will happen to all earthly bodies. A sickness or aging, or even a perfectly healthy body can and will die. There is no getting around it. Unless the end of the world comes now, our fate will be a casket in front of the church that all of your loved ones will see. A fate that we do deserve. As Jesus provides assurances, he shows that the world mocks the assurance that he brings.
He told the mourners that the girl was only sleeping. He brings out comfort, but the world doesn’t see it that way. How can death be a sleep? It most certainly doesn’t look like a sleep. You have been to funerals; you have seen the lifeless body lay in the casket. It’s sometimes hard to disagree with the world when they say that’s all we get for an ending from this world. A lifeless body in a box, dead in utter darkness never to wake up again.
In the woman and the girl, we see the physical outcome of sin and we see the spiritual outcome. We can have our physical ailments that can stick to our bodies, our sins stick to our bodies as well. It’s not the harshest of sins that sticks to us. It is every single sin that we have committed. All of them, every bad thought, word and deed against God. They cover us and we cling to them, then God tells us what happens to us because of our sins. It is stated clearly in in the first half of Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sins is death!” There is only one outcome for us when we stay in them and let them cover us. Our sins put us at God’s wrath. We have done what is wrong and because of our sins, we deserve the most severe punishment. The world has a hard time dealing with death, the world wants to live forever. It does its best. Many medicines, hygiene products, lifestyles, etcetera. The world has come up with many things to try and beat death. Our text for today shows us that death isn’t looking for a ripe old age. The other gospel writers record the girl was 12. The wages of sins is death.
We know how hard death can be. Our text shows us. What it boils down to is that we deem death as being unfair. Why did that little girl die, that’s not fair? Why did my mother or father die, that’s not fair? Why did my brother, or sister die, that’s not fair? We easily find ourselves saying this. Usually when we say this then we come back at God and say, “You’re not being fair God. Why do you get to determine who lives and dies? Why do you get to decide when my child, when my mother, my father’s time of grace is over? As we try to tell God what to do because of what we think, God comes back and tells us how just and fair he is. He asks you and I, is it fair that you have broken my laws and commands? Is it fair that you have done what I have commanded you not to do? What punishment should be handed down for your sins? This was the command since the beginning of the world. The wages of sins is death.
Verse 25 reads, “But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.” Jesus is the conqueror of sin and death! Jesus tells us exactly who he is, that He is true God. The woman had faith that if she even just touched His cloak, she would be cured. Jesus tells her it is her faith that made her well. The faith that she had in him. This wasn’t a superstitious thought. This was putting all hope on something outside of herself. She put her weight on His shoulders. Just as Jesus takes the woman’s disease away from her, he takes our sins away from us. Romans 6:23 Fully reads, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Nothing that we could earn. Only Jesus could live a perfect life—a perfect life lived for us. Then Jesus conquered our death.
He showed His power over death by going into the house where the girl had died. Jesus steps into the presence of death and shows that death is just a sleep. He ignored the mourners. He ignored the reports that she was truly gone. Jesus took the dead little girl by the hand and she came back to life. Death is conquered by Christ who with his Word can bring anyone back to life. We see how he is the master over death. He faced death for us. He took our punishment. After Jesus died on the cross, he rose three days later! Death is just a sleep. Where oh death is your victory? Where oh death is your sting? (1 Cor. 15:55) Jesus raised the girl with His Word so he will also raise us too with His Word. Because of Jesus resurrection we know that our death is only a sleep, we will rise from our sleep when our Savior calls us out of the grave by the power of His Word.
Jesus calls us to trust in Him like the woman and the synagogue ruler did. They did not get what they asked for because of some power in them, but because they knew they could not make their situation better. Only Jesus could. Faith always looks to Jesus. Jesus does not waver, but faith can. The trials of this life can cause our faith to dwindle. Just looking at our Scriptural account and there is no way that I could hold it together, to hear that my little daughter has died. The faith that we have is a passive faith not of ourselves but a faith that is found in Jesus alone. We receive this gift from Christ as it all works in one motion. The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts, that we put solely in our Savior because He has never lied to us. Jesus has told us that he has conquered death. He tells us that he will raise you from your sleep.
For believers, Jesus tells us that death is only sleeping. As sad as it is when we see a casket of our loved ones whom God has called home, what comfort we have because of our Savior Jesus Christ. He said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” (v24) We do not need to fear what is to come like the world does. The world sees death as final. They are worried about what they think is unknown. They can have that sadness lead them into despair. It can be hard to live with no hope in what is to come. Therefore, we celebrate All Saints Day and it brings comfort to believers! Jesus teaches how death is only a sleep because of what he has done. Jesus has destroyed death and because of this the bodies of the saints are only sleeping as our souls are in heaven. Death has no hold on us. It is a peaceful sleep. Just as Jesus raised the girl by taking her hand and telling her to rise, He will tell us to rise with a shout on the last day. This glorious shout will raise all the dead, just as Christ raised himself from the grave. We will be with Christ in paradise.
The fear of the casket has been overcome and it wasn’t by our doing. Death tries to crush us. Death wants us to fall into despair because of the sins that we have committed. Death is the law laid out in front of you. It stares you down because this is the wages for your sins. Again, death has been overcome. Jesus has destroyed death. The world will laugh at us. We know that it is only a sleep. Death cannot hurt us.
Unless Christ comes bringing the last day with him, we will eventually find our bodies lying in the casket. We will continue to see our loved ones in them. We know that they are sleeping. We know that this is not the end. Our sins do not hold us down in the grave. Death has no sting. Christ has put an end to death. In the third article we confess our faith knowing that our bodies will rise. We have comfort as we confess, “I believe… in the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” This means that when Jesus comes with a shout on the last day, the Holy Spirit “will raise up me and all the dead, and will grant me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.” (3rd Article Meaning) Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by Gabriel von Max, 1878)
The Third to Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
In Christ Jesus, who gives us hope in our uncertainties and comfort in our struggles and sorrows, dear fellow redeemed:
We could list a lot of things that make us feel more pessimistic than optimistic about the future. Our country is divided politically, and the sides seem to be moving further apart rather than closer together. We have ongoing concerns about a virus that infects more people each day. We wonder how stable the economy will be going forward. But in the middle of these divisions and uncertainties, the inspired words of today’s text give us hope.
The apostle Paul sent these words to the Christians in Thessalonica. He had preached and taught among them for only a short time before he was forced to leave the town. Some jealous opponents had stirred up a mob against him and even dragged one of the new Christian converts before the authorities (Act. 17:1-10). From this time forward, it would have been uncomfortable and perhaps even dangerous to be a Christian in Thessalonica.
But the Thessalonians remained faithful. They endured suffering and waited eagerly for Christ’s return in glory. They were told to expect His second coming very soon. But as time passed, these new Christians faced a new problem. Some of their fellow believers were dying. What were they to make of that? Would the dead miss out on the glorious return of Jesus and the promise of eternal life in heaven?
Paul’s letter brought them great comfort. He referred to the dead in the same way Jesus had spoken about a deceased little girl, that she was “not dead but sleeping” (Mar. 5:39). The crowd laughed at Jesus then, but they weren’t laughing when He took her by the hand and brought her back to life. For Jesus, waking the dead is just as easy as waking someone up from a nap. Death is only a sleep to Him, a temporary, peaceful slumber.
We should not wonder if Jesus can do this. We have the examples of His raising the little girl, the young man from Nain, and His friend Lazarus. But the most compelling evidence of Jesus’ power over death is His own resurrection from the dead. Not only could He raise others, He could even raise Himself! Now that’s power!
A whole bunch of people regard Jesus as a good teacher but nothing more. They lump Him in with teachers like Confucius, Buddha, or Muhammed. But when those men died, they stayed dead. Their flesh decayed, and perhaps by now their bones have even turned to dust. Jesus died, but His flesh did not see corruption. Death held Him for parts of three days—and only because He let it.
He entered death when He wanted to, and He left it again when He wanted to. There was nothing death could do to stop Him. Death was utterly overcome, defeated. Jesus triumphed over death and will never be subject to it again. That means death won’t be able to overcome us who trust in Him. “But how can you be so sure?” the skeptic asks. “Show me an example in modern history of someone being dead for a matter of days and coming back to life again.”
The world always wants proof on its terms. Past evidence does not count. They need to see it with their own eyes today. We sinners repeat the same mistakes as the sinners of the past. We hardly ever learn. Each generation thinks it is better and smarter and more righteous than the generations before it. It is our common human pride and conceit.
This self-centeredness is why many refuse to believe that Jesus rose from the dead two thousand years ago or that He will raise the dead in the future. They are like doubting Thomas. They won’t trust the multiple eyewitness accounts of others. They need to see it with their own eyes, or they won’t believe it (Joh. 20:24-25). “If Jesus has this power,” they say, “let Him come down here and show us. If He brings someone back from the dead, then we will believe in Him.”
But even that wouldn’t be enough. Sinful people always find something to question, some reason for doubt. If Jesus came back and raised a dead person to life, many would say it was a trick. They would come up with some logical explanation for it. Seeing would not lead to them believing.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Joh. 20:29). He wants us to take Him at His Word. He has the right to expect that, doesn’t He? After all, He is the one who predicted His own resurrection and then followed through on it. If He made good on that promise, why wouldn’t He make good on His promise to raise the dead on the last day?
Paul made it clear that he wasn’t putting down his own opinions or wishes in his letter. He said, “this we declare to you by a word from the Lord.” The Lord promises that those who are alive when He comes on the last day will not have any advantage over those who are asleep in their graves. He will come with a great shout, and His powerful Word will awaken the dead. Then all believers will rise with glorified bodies that no longer show any effect of sin.
After the dead have risen, “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” The word translated “caught up” has the sense of a sudden and intense action. We will be snatched up to the clouds by the Lord. We won’t have to wait for our redemption. It will happen immediately when Jesus comes.
It won’t come a moment too soon. We long for Jesus’ return. This world is not where we want to be. As Christians first sang in the 12th century, so we still sing, “The world is very evil, / The times are waxing late” (ELH #534, v. 1). In the Holy Gospel for today (Mat. 24:15-28), Jesus describes the tribulation of the end times. “[I]f those days had not been cut short,” He said, “no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”
So what is Jesus waiting for? The apostle Peter reminds us “that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2Pe. 3:8-9). Jesus is not sleeping on the job or dragging His feet. He is showing patience with sinners. He wants them all to repent and be saved and join Him in heaven.
But we are not patient like our Lord is. This is why many are tempted to follow after “false christs and false prophets” (Mat. 24:24). We are tempted to follow after the smooth-talking liars who promise a prosperous life here on earth, a life without suffering, a life without trouble. Even if they could deliver on those promises, these false teachers can’t give life to the dead. Anyone who promises hope and salvation apart from the crucified and risen Christ is of the devil.
Apart from Jesus, there is no reason to be hopeful about anything. But with Jesus, we are filled with hope. So while our country is divided, and many of our politicians seem more interested in serving themselves than others, Jesus reigns as King over all things at the right hand of the Father. While people are getting sick this year at higher rates than usual, Jesus has the power to heal the sick or bring the souls of believers to heaven to be with Him. While there may be uncertainty in our financial plans and holdings, Jesus has secured eternal riches for us that will never pass away.
You can wring your hands and worry and lose sleep trying to control things you can’t control—and we all do plenty of that. But the Lord calls you to trust in Him, to trust that He will keep His promises toward you. Now leaving your life and your future in God’s hands like this is difficult. Your sinful flesh does not want to give up any of its independence or its perceived power. If you are going to place your trust in Him, you want proof that He isn’t going to let you down.
“You want proof?” He says. “Then look at Me hanging on the cross for you, shedding My blood to cleanse you from your sins. And come look into My empty tomb. I left it because death could not conquer Me. I rose from the dead to win victory over your death. I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus will not leave you to fight for yourself in this evil world. He came to save you not because He had to but because He wanted to. And He still fights for you, coming to give you strength through His Word and Sacraments and dwelling within you by faith.
As long as you have Jesus, your situation will never be hopeless. He promises to carry you through all your pain and sorrow in this short life and to take your soul to be with Him when you breathe your last. Then He promises to come again to wake your body from its peaceful sleep, so that you can enjoy the eternal bliss of heaven in both body and soul.
You can be certain of your resurrection because His resurrection is certain. The Holy Spirit states it definitively through the mouth of Paul: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.” Put Your Hope in the Resurrected One. Then you will have a living hope, a hope that no one can take from you, a hope that will never die.
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 by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)